Orac

I personally hate shopping and therefore my wife, who for some reason cannot go out without buying something, has ended up buying most of my clothes. Unfortunately she prefers 'value for money' so rather than look like a over the hill surfer I tend to have more of a refugee appearance.

Even if you passed your driving test at the youngest legal age 17?, 18? How does this prove you've experience of driving on an expressway?

All you have to do is drive around 2 cones and reverse into a parking space. Failing that just slip a little 1000 baht note to someone and off you go...

A very pertinent observation, I would add that most of the driving techniques learned by the average Thai driver is purely what they observe around them. Thus the sins of the older Thais are perpetuated by the younger.

But in this specific case it was mentioned (not sure of the definitive source though) that she holds a US driving licence which would suggest that, although still driving illegally here as she is underage for Thailand, she has possibly had more instruction in driving techniques than the average Thai.

"Government spokesman Panithan Wattanayakorn said Panich had told Abhisit that he would visit the border area in Prachin Buri province."

Can someone else help me out here as I was not aware that Prachin Buri had a border area???

Following my 1st post approx 1hr ago I am back to follow up my interest and make a comment I have what I call my wife and her daughter 14yrs old they both ride a motor bike the wife wears a skid lid all the time the young wears hers until she is out of my sight

when I ask why she takes the skid lid off she pretends not to understand which angers me. I have now come to the conclusion that I am wasting my breath but see,ing how I have not seen many of her school chums 3/4 on a bike without skid lids and BIBs outside the school allowing this I now understand that there is not much LAW in Thailand.

As posts have stated the BIBs are only interested in TEA MONEY. In the 4yrs I have been here I have had a motorbike and car licence THAI I have only been spoken to by BIBs once and they only asked where I lived and that did not cost anything touch wood but I never ride a bike without my lid on I have known a few mates in the U/K who are now dead and seen many accidents here and that did not have to happen mostly because of what I call STUPIDITY .

As for the punishment of parents HOW can you Punish if there is no LAW

Surely you can impress upon a child there will be no more money forthcoming from you if she does not wear a helmet at all times when on a motorcycle.

I could be misreading this post and the child is on the bike with her mother though it did appear at first glance that she was riding it alone. If she is riding it alone surely he shouldn't be condoning this by saying it is ok if she is wearing a helmet.

Again, I could be wrong and stand ready to be corrected, but do you not have to be 15 to legally have a motorbike licence here???

I guess that's where you and I differ. You misread the Bangkok Post article by saying Abhisit ordered him into Cambodia when it didn't.

I point out where it hasn't been established yet as to who Panich was talking to or what was said and you fill in all the gaps on your own.

The title of the Nation piece - PM says he assigned Panich to inspect disputed border area - is pretty much an admission that Abhisit instructed him to go to a place that Cambodia believes is their sovereign territory which seems pretty stupid to me. That Panich went even further into what appears to be undisputed Cambodian territory doesn't let Abhisit off the hook for excercising a serious misjudgement be it for the original instruction or the person he picked to carry it out surely??

And again down to the whims of the day I think.

I had an IDL which they accepted, but I had to do the eye test and reaction AND the theory.. But I know others who only did the first 2.

Also when I went for my 5 year I had to do nothing, just took my 1 year and paperwork. Someone posted about having to do some tests to get the 5 year.

Basically it just depends on which way the winds blowing ?!?!

As you say - can be arbitary. One year car licence from Pattaya 2 weeks ago with IDP and only eye and reaction test - no movie or theory.

Abhisit must surely despair at the assortment of idiots that he's obliged to work with.

Yep - that kinda says it all. And whose story do you believe? Foreign Ministry says they were in Cambodia, the Thais (of course) claim they were in Thailand and the comment about stirring up 'nationalism' is real. Thai's love that stuff! Thai rak Thai. But if they were in Thailand then why didn't Thai troops resist the Cambodian soldiers arresting? Muddied waters continue with this political football.

It is one thing to be obliged to work with idiots but, according to an AFP report, "Abhisit said he had tasked Panich with seeking information about the border issue."

Granted he didn't tell him to get together with a bunch of ultra-nationalist nutters and go and invade Cambodia but there is a limited amount of involvement here.

All very well in theory...oh wait I'll just wave my magic wand and invent a highly effecient anti terrorist unit in a few days. The best that can be taken from the Red led terrorist events in Bangkok is that the Governement and Army are now wise to the need to defend Thailand from such cowardice attack in the future and should now be training those who served in the 2010 operation, and other units loyal to Thailand, to a higher level of achievement.

Maybe they should have deployed the Pattaya SWAT team in their yellow humvee - or did they get lost trying to find Bangkok???

The Russian eye candy is very sparse on Pattaya beach. Baltic whale preserve is a more accurate description.

I was on Tien beach on Koh Larn a couple of days before christmas and it was heaving with them there.

According to one of the four passengers who survived: He was sitting in the second row of the van in the seat closest to the door (if you are familiar with the Thammasat vans, it is the seat that can be folded up so that the other passengers can move to their seats in the back). He said that the van driver was driving normal (not swerving and driving straight and even smiled to him when he entered the van). When the accident occured, he initially felt a crash into the back of the van. Then he remembers spinning and says that he thinks he fell out before the van crashed into the wall. He was lying on the tollway in pain and yelling for help and water. He remembers looking over and he saw a girl outside of a white car and using her cellphone (at the time, he didn't know that she was the girl that caused the accident) . She was on her phone while he was on the ground yelling in pain for water and help. She did not provide any assistance to the injured. He finally got help when rescue help came.

What you can't see from the camera is that the accident occurred approximately 100-150 meters from the Kasetsart exit.

This account seems to contradict the statement from her mother which says she was trapped in the car and freed by rescuers???

Not secular representative parliamentary democracies like Israel;

secular??

"Jewish and Democratic State – Is the definition of the nature and character of the State of Israel, as the Jewish nature was first defined within the Declaration of Independence of 1948, and the "Democratic" character, was first officially added to the "Jewish" nature, in the amendment to the Basic Law: the Knesset that was passed in 1985 (amendment 9, clause 7A)."

from Wikipedia

Yes but it's not just about that is it? it's about the culture here of irresponsibility - letting kids ride bikes and drive cars - paying people off if they get caught or cause damage etc. In this case it just highlights the total cultural irresponsibility and that's why there has been such a reaction - she's just a catalyst. This sort of thing could happen everyday of the week - the driving here is appalling - most of it lack of education and training but most of it sheer selfishness. Tragic... wasteful loss of life.

A very good point. As a number of posters have pointed out there is no enforcement of the rules on the roads here and it is not at all uncommon to see young ppl driving cars and motorbikes who are very clearly underage. I have been stopped by the police outside schools a number of times so as these kids can get out on the motorbikes. The greatest tragedy here would be that, in peoples desire to see this girl punished, the cultural issues involved with driving here are brushed back under the carpet.

Congratulations!

It's the UDD asking us to believe, not the DSI. Okay then, show us.

UDD? Reuters claim that the reports were leaked to them directly from the DSI and the Nation attributes them to a 'reliable source' though this source did say they would be published in full which I have not seen anywhere yet.

The UDD has the most to gain from these revelations. I'm sure they're pushing for the public distribution of this 'leaked' report as much as we are. Let's hope this 'reliable source' pulls through soon for the sake of clarity.

Something we agree on!

If the documents are not available to the public can they still be considered "leaked" ?

How many days has it been now? What could possibly be the delay in producing the report along with all its damaging content? Are they waiting to drip-feed other revelations in the report to the media? But what could they be given we've already seen the alleged conclusion which might as well be laying the blame on Elvis...?

The longer they leave us waiting, the more this begins to smell of Juttaporn.

You could equally argue that they have not been released because they is more damaging info to be seen. It seems very odd that, since there seems to be no doubt that these reports exist, they have not been officially made public since this would be the easiest way to prove that the 'leaked' reports are a fabrication. I assume the problem with this is that the government would have to act on them if this were the case.

There seem to be far too many posts on here trying to discredit these leaks rather than calling on the government/DSI to officially publish them so that the 'truth' can be known.

It's the UDD asking us to believe, not the DSI. Okay then, show us.

UDD? Reuters claim that the reports were leaked to them directly from the DSI and the Nation attributes them to a 'reliable source' though this source did say they would be published in full which I have not seen anywhere yet.

If the documents are not available to the public can they still be considered "leaked" ?

How many days has it been now? What could possibly be the delay in producing the report along with all its damaging content? Are they waiting to drip-feed other revelations in the report to the media? But what could they be given we've already seen the alleged conclusion which might as well be laying the blame on Elvis...?

The longer they leave us waiting, the more this begins to smell of Juttaporn.

You could equally argue that they have not been released because they is more damaging info to be seen. It seems very odd that, since there seems to be no doubt that these reports exist, they have not been officially made public since this would be the easiest way to prove that the 'leaked' reports are a fabrication. I assume the problem with this is that the government would have to act on them if this were the case.

There seem to be far too many posts on here trying to discredit these leaks rather than calling on the government/DSI to officially publish them so that the 'truth' can be known.

Curious,

a Chilean, issued a Swedish passport in August of 2010.

Any Swedes on the forum here (?), is it easy to get a Swedish passport if you are not from Sweden?

Possibly not a great deal different from my daughter who has a UK passport but was born in Thailand.

Quite a Big difference I because he is not half Swedish, he is an immigrant... and when your daughter is 18 she will have to make the choice which nationality she will take... I take it her mother is Thai, if her mother is not Thai , then she will never have a Thai passport , born here or not.

Still not seeing the difference - I do not see anywhere in the OP information that clarifies the issue or states that he is not half swedish. Just to drag things further off topic, though not common, it is not unusual for ppl to have a country of birth that differs from their country of residence or where they class themselves as a citizen - you only need to look at arguably the two most important ppl in Thailand as an example.

Can't say about the 5 yr renewal but I was there last Wednesday for my first 1 yr - IDP so only paperwork and reaction/vision tests. Got there at 0930 and left with 1 yr car licence at 1120. It was very busy but they seemed organised enough.

I think you're lost, Harry! To get to Soi Buakhao from Walking Street try getting a bahtbus along Pattaya Tai from the traffic lights. Some may turn left into Buakhao but most will carry on towards Sukhumvit. If they carry on, ring the bell and walk up Buakhao or wait for another bahtbus going up Buakhao. Motorbike taxi might be the best option for you though.

I think he's lost too

If I walk the not insignificant distance up second road to Soi Bukhao

Second Road doesn't meet Soi Buakhao and the walk up South Road to Buakhao is only about 500m.

There's a shorcut from Second Rd. through the back of The Avenue, and also the road just opposite Soi Pattayaland, depending on what part of Buakhao you want

the last one sounds interesting

where is soi pattayaland please?

Boyztown area!

About time this scam was addressed.

I've heard of too many Brits living like wretches and claiming benefits in Thailand.

Surely if they are claiming benefits they aren't living like wretches - they are the ones without the money???

Several posters seems to think that Pattaya is like Iraq or Afghanistan, that's not the case. If you behave yourself and don't get so drunk that you can't stand on your feet and walk alone at 0300AM you will be OK.

I been in Patts for over 3 years now and I never had any problems. When I get too drunk, I catch a MC taxi home

And how about renting a jetski what I like to do when my Philippine gf comes to Thailand ?

Some police even touristpolice seem involved in the scams.

So after reading all the threads on here and elsewhere about the problems with renting jetskis all over Thailand and particularly in Pattaya, you intend to arm yourself with a Taser and come and rent one - where can I buy a ticket for this event???

Curious,

a Chilean, issued a Swedish passport in August of 2010.

Any Swedes on the forum here (?), is it easy to get a Swedish passport if you are not from Sweden?

Possibly not a great deal different from my daughter who has a UK passport but was born in Thailand.

I assume they mean the Bay Breeze Hotel

Yet another reason to avoid Pattaya...

Maybe the OP could let us know when he is planning on visiting Pattaya 'tooled up' so you know when to avoid it???

Switzerland used to allow holders of a UK settlement visa entry for up to 3 months, but Switzerland signed up to the Schengen Agreement in December 2008 so I don't think this is still possible.

Moot point anyway as the OP's wife doesn't have a UK settlement visa.

Thanks for the correction - saved me a bit of embarrassment as I was planning on taking the wife there again in few months!