jaywalker

Love the fish story!!!

That's always a great way to screw with your friends.

Those little coffee creamer things you used to get at McDonald's in the US...

Pop a couple open, & stick them under your buddy's car seat in Florida summer weather.

Funny as hell to watch him cussing about how bad his car stinks.

What are friends for eh?

I was working in Taiwan once withe these 3 American guys & they'd never seen durian before. I knew what it was as I lived in Thailand.

Anyhow, we all had hotels rooms next to each other & we'd take turns having a drink after work in each other's rooms. I had bought a durian at the downstairs market just to show them what it was. I put it in my room & forgot about it. About 2 days later it was starting to make my eyes water, so 3 of us hatched a plan to hide it the 4th guy's room.

We were drinking Jack & Cokes in his room when we ran out of ice....I had already transferred it to John's room next door. Nick was leaning against the doorjamb to his room & I tossed him my key, as I had a bag of ice in my fridge. Nick left to get the ice & that was our chance.

John hauled ass to his room, grabbed the durian & we stashed it under the big bed spread that the maids had rolled up & stuck in his closet when we had arrived.

A few days later he was saying something about the maids spraying some kind of "fruity" air freshener in his closet.

Me, John & the other guy all went & sniffed around in his room. With a straight face we all said "I don't smell anything".

A couple days after that poor Nick sat down to breakfast with me & said "I found that damned thing you guys hid in my closet".

I started howling.

He said it was keeping him up so he finally sniffed it out.

Cruel aren't I?

Just watching the Crime & Investigation channel on TMN in Pattaya last night.

They were showing these transvestite hookers in Miami. One was missing teeth & the cop said "Dude, I'm 6 foot 4 and you tower over me...you're a scary guy".

I have to agree with the cop. Tall guys dressed like women are scary.

To each his own I suppose. My wonderful wife of 11 years is 4' 11" (1.5 meters) tall.

Condoms (onus on the couple) & legal prostitution (onus on the government) working together seems to be the only answer.

What are the aids statistics in Holland? I have no idea really.

Just make the warning like a WW2 air raid siren?????

Posts with large font has been deleted.

Some folks may like large fonts. I've had to wear glasses since I was 5 years old.

Thai's have a stomach like an ostrich.

I think my wife could eat broken glass as long as it was spicy.

The only time I ever got sick with food poisoning here was at McDonald's.

Hell, the land lines barely work here. I have True and it is On/off/on/off/on/off every 10 minutes.

I signed up for some 10 Mbs contract a year ago & it SUCKED. My neighbor that lives 50 feet away signed up for the 4 MBS package at half the price. We both got the same problems.

Anyhow, due to idiotic, feudal, mafia, moronic reasons, True is the only choice we have.

I down-graded my subscription last December to match his......EXACTLY THE SAME SHIT as I had before, yet I was paying twice as much as he was for 2 years.

Why not fix that first??? It's called increasing the bandwidth.

Probably would be better to go with a 3(or 4)G wireless, as most bandwidth users are using land line PC's.

Probably faster due to fewer users these days.

The US website states dual nationality is possible but there can be problems arising from something like ... which government is imposing its laws. Say you are a dual citizen of Thailand and the US and you are in Thailand and you do something stupid and get arrested. How are you going to get the US government to help you when the Thai government will say he/she is a Thai citizen. Serious problems could arise for sure.

Does the US Website actually say all that - because it is wrong. There is no doubt about what Country's laws apply if you are a Dual citizen and commit an offence in one of those Counties. The Laws of the Country in which the offence was committed apply; you cannot use your Nationality of another Country to apply for protection - or even Consular assistance.

Patrick

First and foremost is that the US government will not do squat to "help" you if you get arrested abroad. Best advice is to not do anything stupid.

I love my country but I most assuredly despise my government. MILLIONS of worthless, lazy bureaucrats, that suck up the taxpayer's money, just like the staff at their embassies in BKK or Kuwait.

That's why I don't live in the USA any more.

I'm from the USA & went thru this a few years ago. My daughter is 6 now. I was working in Kuwait, but was here for my daughter's birth & about 10 days after I had to go back to work. I had to go to the Thai embassy in Kuwait & get a notarized statement that it was OK for my wife to get the baby a Thai passport (makes sense).

The kid was 3 months old & they came to stay with me in Kuwait.

I went to the US Embassy there, to try & get her a US passport. Their eyes got big as saucer plates.......HEAVEN FORBID! They'd never tackled a problem like this before! They said it would take them 6 months to a year to get it done.....They were like tits on a boar-hog.

My next vacation (I'd looked at the US's Thai Embassy website & NOTHING was mentioned about an appointment at the time), I show up at the embassy & am told I need an appointment. Luckily I had 3 weeks & they were able to squeeze me in 2 days before my return to Sandland.

I show up on time along with a screaming 2 year old that was as MISERABLE as I was with the process, of course I have the wife & certified translations of all documents (done by the Thai Embassy in Kuwait -they were REALLY cool folks) there as well.

The B*tch that I had the appointment with was 45 minutes LATE.

Next they start asking all these stupid questions that had nothing to do with the price of eggs in China....Where did you meet your wife? Did you live together before you were married?

They have that thick glass between us & them for a reason, as I could have strangled an elephant by the time I was done.

Oh Yeah....Make sure you have applied for and received a Social Security Number for the child prior to applying for the passport (for USA citizens). They claimed (online) that this was a 6 month process for overseas residents. I had mine shipped to my friend's parents in Miami. It took about 2-3 weeks. He picked it up when he was there on vacation.

Thanks to ZZaa09 for posting these photos. I can't believe anybody complaining about your efforts.

Photos were made to be SEEN, and what you have doen is make them available to THOUSANDS of people.

Thanks again!

Whether the million or so bangkokians should return yet I'm not sure. Water is hard to get and so are things like eggs. Makes me laugh when I see 100,000 bottles of water per day being distributed - that's a spoonful each. Same with 3 million eggs - a quarter of an egg for everyone then finished.

And imposing price controls exactly the kind of way to deny free enterprising traders to supply the situation.

Might I assume you wanted to write "BLACK MARKET PROFITERS" but because you are a good heart man you choosed a less blunt wording??????????????/ Or are you supporting those vile creatures who take advantage of the misery of others???????????

Waah! I hate Capitalism and free markets.

Government has all the answers.

Go join the hippies and occupy Wall Street.

The military will mobilize 1000 vehicles? What exactly are they mobilizing? The generals' fleet of mercedes? Seriously, the army doesn't have that many trucks. Just what are the small "jeeps", tanks and APCs going to do? Has anyone looked at the motor pool inventory for the Thai army? This suggests tome that resources are being diverted from other flood crisis zones to Bangkok. Understandable, but the news source gives the impression that somehow new vehicles have been sourced. There are a limited number of heavy trucks available for army use, unless the army is taking over private fleets of vehicles?

The Army has around 1500 US made HMMWV's (HUMVEE's). I used to be a field rep for the company that manufactures them so I know.

They also have a huge fleet of Mercedes 2.5 ton trucks (that'd be a lorry for our British friends).

Both models can operate in up to 1.5 meters of water. The HMMWV's need a snorkel kit for this, but they have many that are outfitted with this equipment already.

"here is a great video of flooding in BKK circa 1942. click "

Great video Dude!

I love the pith helmets.... Don't know why but they always looked cool in the movies.

Looks like far more people had sampans than cars back then. Far more klongs for then to navigate in & probably 1/10th the population & pollution of today.

Thanks for the Way-Back ride!

It is surprising people just don't recycle the plastic bottles they use and fill them up at the Iso water machines. I have yet to buy one bottle of water in this crisis we keep 60L worth of storage 6LX10 plus another 15 in 1.5L bottles. I keep the 6L's filled constantly cost me 4 Baht(4 x 1.5L). To all those people raising their prices what do you expect? They have a lot more to lose. Its cruel but they pull this kind of stuff on us everyday. The flip side of this is the huge number of people helping. I have been helping at the stadium in Bang Kapi and it is amazing how many people are bringing in 10,000's of baht worth of food,water,medicine. Businesses are incurring a lot of extra costs I am sure those brick walls don't come cheap and they serve no other purpose other than flood protection. They are a preventative expense and hence no financial gain only financial asset protection.

Hope you have a work permit to volunteer to help.

7-11's, Tesco, Makro, Big C running low on many things in Pattaya....At least my house is dry so can't complain too much.

We have the RO water dispensers to get drinking water here & Lake Mabprachan is FULL.

Sukhumvit is PACKED with BKK car tags. Can't blame the folks for getting out of a city that is sinking. The floods are having a bit of a further reaching affect than those just under water.....Can't find eggs & such at the moment. Traffic was almost like Songkran traffic here yesterday.

Bloody hell!

Thanks for sharing those videos Mate!

I've been silently HOWLING with laughter over them for DAYS now.

You either get it, or you don't.

I can't quit laughing!

A 4 digit number is actually a concession from the government. Any telecom company can help you fill out the paperwork, but it is not the operator that is providing you with the number. It comes from the telecommunications ministry.

There is a fee associated with the concession. It used to be around 100k per month for the privilege of a 4 digit concession, but I haven't investigated one in a long time.

I would suggest you apply through TOT, as in the final analysis they are the ones who will need to activate the number. You will get the best service at the source.

Thanks Greg,

I think you hit the nail on the head. I asked my Thai business partner to look into it. He says it must be approved by the National Telecommunications Commission, which sounds like what you just said.

Thanks again for the help guys.

Jay

Contact TOT: http://www.tot.co.th/index.php?option=com_linkcontent&categoryid=125&Itemid=115〈=en

Hey George,

Thanks for the link. My original question is due to some business research I'm doing. Do you know of any other companies that provide this service?

I looked at the CAT site but don't see where they are offering this. I don't "think" AIS or DTAC or True offer it.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Thanks again,

Jay

Does anybody know which company provides the 4 digit phone numbers to McDonalds, Pizza Company, Pizza Hut etc?

Thanks,

Jay

They always do it differently here in Pattaya.

If anybody has a clue, please reply.

The "P" in Thailand stands for Planning.

Hey Mod's,

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place but your website looks like a zoo website from 1999.

Rather difficult to find an appropriate category.

Anyhow, has anybody heard anything more on WHEN/WHAT/HOW/WHO/WHERE will be offering 3G mobile services????

Thanks,

Jay

PS..........Those flashing banner ads I see off to the right are annoying at best.

Was in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. They have FREE 4G on their rail service into the city.

Bloody Neanderthals here.

Almost missed my flight today. Took around 70 minutes to get thru passport control.

Yep it sucked standing in line for 70 minutes.

I had to run to the gate.

Shitty airport is all I can say.........rather ridiculous.

Have been to 45 countries, so voice of experience talking here.

Why they they don't share International flights w/ good old Don Muang is a mystery....though not really.

Don Muang...........been in and out a gazillion times.............Never, ever one complaint...........SuvarnaBOOM or howerever they pronounce it is a NIGHTNARE.

Corruption, corruption, corruption. It's the only reason Svarnabumi was built & the only reason Don Muang is out of the picture.

Incompetents and corruption........been here a long time,

Thailand's airports are the hub of incompetence and crony-ism.

Was in Timbuktu Nonthaburi today. I zigged when I should have zagged.

Had made a wrong turn and was desparate for ye'olde U-turn bridge.

Sure as hell I clipped a solid white line and there was a Kamikaze cop (he has death wish...he jumps out in front of traffic).

He was amped because I almost ran him over. I was amped as well.

I knew exactly what my traffic transgression was. Did not mean to break the rules but did not want to let that U-turn bridge I was shooting for fade into my rear view.

He was wearing a dust mask, so I could not read his features at all.

He slapped the front fender and YELLED at me to PULL OVER.

Dark tinted windows I have.

He gave a military salute when I rolled them down.

I rolled down the window and gave him a High Wai and said so sorry (in Thai).

He wrote me a ticket..........INCREDIBLY ENOUGH he gave me my International license back.

I asked how much......He said you go pay at Police Station.

This cop was bouncing off the walls/cars what have you. He was YELLING at me.

A high wai and a few words in Thai. He was butter in my wai paws. He was super nice.

I gave him my International License.

He wrote down my first and middle names on the ticket and told me to pay it within 7 days, and let me go with all documents intact.

It's cool that the cop wasn't a brain-washed idiot cop like in the West...........

No idea.....I think the high wai and my basic Thai apology probably helped.

Have been fined by the police hundreds of times over 10+ years. Mark this one down.

Feb 24th 2011. After 12 years I finally meet an honest cop.

Jay