Robin

Rich Thais pay tax on their wealth? Not going to happen. How many even pay any income tax?

Somebody please have the courage to give the WHO safe level, not the inflated figure invented by Thailand as the only way it knows of keeping to "safe" levels.

When I got a new passport at VFS, they gave me a letter t Immigration, asking that ,y existing visa stamps be transferred to new passport. Done at my local I/O with no charge.

Renting motorcycles to tourists is a big money maker for Thais, so rental companies are not going to care too much about the renter having a m/c licence. many Thais do not have a licence so why any different for tourists. Throw in the poor quality local crash helmets and lack of maintenance and riding aa m/c is nearly suicidal. Plenty of warnings, motor cyclists are the majority of Thai road fatalities

Koh Tao is a 'holiday island' and lots of young people having a good time. Possibly easily available dink and drugs; local 'home -brew alcohol ' a potent drink is on sale in many shops at low cost, and possibly drugs availabl as well. Too much partying with strong drink and drugs, yabba (speed) and Ice (crack cocaine0, magic mushrooms, and even heroin. Ganga is now legal in Thailand. So, youth free from any parental control just might indulge to excess, with fatal circumstances. It is not unknown for young people on holiday in UK to drink themselves senseless, so would it be any different in Thailand with the local firewater so strong and so cheap?. Locals are veryt tolerant of such bhaviour and local plod is not going to waste effort with D&D charges. Local mafia will rejoice in the booming market for drugs.

How about this scenario. " He was diving to excess, longer that normally advisable, to make the most of his holiday. He comes back to his hotel room tired and takes a rest before the evening's party activities. ( he was on holiday, so entitled to enoy himself with his friends.) Many people sleep in boxer shorts, so nothing suspicious abut that. To get in the party mood, he takes a handful of chemical simulants. These on top of excessive exercise diving, are too much for his heart, so he has a cardiac arrest. It is a well known medical fact that death often follows a heart failure. The musty smell in his room can easily be explained by wet clothes/towels, bad drains, and no windows open. Poisoning is for the conspiracy theorists, could anyone forcibly administer poison to him without a struggle? AN followers should be aware of the Thai tendency to run from or any trouble, so not surprising that locals take the easy way out.... "Nothing suspicious to see here, just heart failure" I am sure that Local Plod remember all the trouble from the two murders a few years ago, so want this to go away as quickly as possible. Hotel owner similarly does not want any bad publicity, so quickly brush this away." Is there any requirement for a thorough medical before taking PADI diving course? Was there any reason why anyone would want him dead? It is not usual to murder someone for no reason I do not believe that any local thug would have the intelligence or means to administer some difficult to trae poison. More likely to beat him to death.

Sensible advice is to wear a helmet, but beware of Thai helmets. The fist one I owned, a standard style Thai Helmet, I once dropped rom about waist height by accident. Helmet cracked on impact with the road. Far less impact than in any potential crash, so I would have offered zero protection. I believe that some of the better Western makes are not permitted in Thailand as they have not bothered with getting Thai government approval Naturally Thailand knows best on how to make good helmets (cheap). Also on hired bikes, it is common for the front brake to be next to useless, more so than usual, as it is thought by some Thai 'experts' that using your front brake makes you more likely to skid. I once let a Thai borrow my Honda dream, and he returned it with the front brake adjustment backed right off, so useless, and told me it was much safer like that. is it any wonder the m/c accident ratee is so high?

Logically ( difficult in Thailand) The bus driver should be fired and go tp jail for some time (12 months?) to contemplate his attitude, but this will not get any compensation for the Bolt driver. Tour company will have to pay this as punishment for employing an idiot as a driver. Up to them to recover the money from the driver. As always in Thailand, unfortunately, nobody is responsible. One wonders if the bus driver actually had a licence?

here is a very radical suggestion:- How about Thais paying some form of ta on their income? How about every Thai with an income above the minimum wage paying an income tax of 20% on any income above this? At the moment, I believe that less than 25% of working Thais pay any form of income tax. Without any revenue, how can any government function? Has there ever been , or will there ever bee a government with the courage o introduce such a from of universal income tax? Without a tax base, Thailand will never become a 'developed country'

If you have a permanent address in Thailand, you can get a "Tambian Bann" or "yellow Book" which is an official Thai doc saying where you live. I believe that it also gets you into national parks at the Thai Rate. Apply at your local land office.

What is difficult? If you qualify, you will get an extension. I have been her on a retirement visa since an I/O first pointed me towards one. Never even thought of using an agent. Did this again last week at Phayao. I took the precaution of going first to immigration and asking them to list the documents I needed from my bank, then took this to bank an got the docs. Charged 300Baht for the work. All I did at immigration was fill in the form and sign the bank docs. Seemed quicker and easier than using an agent and nothing to pay except the visa fees

Why are you even asking such dumb questions? If you love the girl and want to marry her, you should know what you want and not be looking to A/N to give you the answer. if you have doubts, then you know the answer, or should. Remember Mr. Punch's advice to a young man about to get married: "Do not!" Plenty on A/N will confirm that Thai women are professionals at parting young Farang men from their money

Could it be that Phumtham has accidentally found out the commission his predecessor was given, and now wants his share?

he is not the first and will not be the last holiday maker to discover that riding a hired Thai bike can be dangerous. There are enough warnings, so why did he think he was immune to any dangers? Insurance companies are not stupid; they do not cover m/c riding, they know what the consequences are.

Health care in Thailand is no more expensive than private health care in UK. NHS healthcare in UK has become impossible, so better off in LOS. At least it's your choice if you see a Doc. here. You are only as old as you feel