NanLaew

MM2H = Malaysia My Second Home BYOB = Bring Your Own Bacon YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary The most peaceful and beautiful bits of peninsular Malaysia are the northern bits, nearer Thailand but where the northern states have integrated Sharia law and associated religious mandates, most of which foreigners struggle to accommodate. Southern peninsular Malaysia is where their successive corrupt governments have invested in impressive highways and other infrastructure. Most savvy locals and foreigners chose to live in a condo as house burglaries and break-ins are worse than Thailand. If you think the RTP are lazy and only motivated by money, you aint seen nuthin' yet. Over in Sarawak and Sabah, life is more laid back but the under-investment in infrastructure means terrible roads and messy cities with poor garbage and traffic management. Oh yes, once you decide to settle down, only then is their jumbo sized immigration can of worms opened.

If you want all that other stuff tested, there's absolutely nothing stopping you taking your Vigo to a DIFFERENT test station. Just another example of life's variables here like immigration, amphurs, etc., etc..

And only double that for someone to make it appear remarkable. Well done.

Smiling, or rather a facial rictus with teeth exposed is also a broadly Asian expression of shock or discomfort. Hence some become confused or offended when they see Thai people 'smiling' after they've had a fender bender or knocked someone over with their motorbike. Same goes for pictures of the 'smiling' guys from those rescue services that are first responders at nasty highway accidents. The ones pictured after being asked to point at victims aren't really smiling.

To the OP. There has been a trend over the past couple of years where vehicle inspection stations are actually doing what they're supposed to do with regard to roadworthiness and legality. A lot of owners with after-market stuff such as extra lights, especially LED type are also being bailed up. Truck owners who have added a Carryboy top, replaced the front air dam with a bull-bar or done a custom paint job are being dispatched to get their blue books updated. I am not surprised that illegal tires and rims are being pointed out but for now, there's still the option to try another test station.

Thai Parents! Once again, there's plenty of juvenile delinquents wrought from broken family units created by discriminatory government policies and deeply ingrained cultural biases all over the world. In the grand scheme of things, Thailand just is not all that special or unique.

You actually keep tabs on that stuff? Are you some sort of closet (farang) activist for radical social change in Thailand or what? I mean if it's not for the temples or the totty, is that all that's left?

First they've got to talk about demolishing all the illegal restaurants/Go-Go bars on the beach side, no?

I recall Helensburgh in Scotland has the largest community of Syrian refugees in the UK. If only the First Minister could take care of her own, eh? I am quietly confident that the OP will find all the help and assistance that he's entitled to. However, if the English keep him at the back of the queue, he could do no worse than 'tak the low road'.

Have you totally missed the regular occurrence in our 'more civilized' west where when charges aren't pressed, the alleged perpetrators are mostly allowed to go free? If this biting incident happened in say London, there may well be some arbitrary public intoxication or public nuisance penalty applied by the police and they get fined but unless someone claims to have been the victim of physical violence, there's not a lot else they are legally obliged to do. Amazing England!!

The tabloid cited never mentions anyone being under the influence of anything. The only reference is that according to friends of the driver, he met his passengers at a 'shisha restaurant'. Nothing to confirm that either. Maybe the OP fancies getting a job at the DM?

But probably only 25,000 of those have any immediate plans to go anywhere. Wasn't there a similar "OMG!" panic moment maybe seven years ago that was coincident with a badly managed restructuring of the HMPO in the UK and the relocation of the VFS services in Bangkok? Loads of bandwidth was wasted over a bad situation that was exacerbated by a similar sudden rush to get a new passport for the holidays. My understanding is that this current 'crisis' has been precipitated by the work from home edicts and more recently when the UK government changed their advice for those testing +ve for omicron just to stay home until they home-tested negative again. This latter drain on manpower and staffing levels has affected a lot more than just the HMPO.

Only if you read (and believe) everything in the Daily Mail.

The accumulated costs of processing all these momentary increases and decreases in pension payments is paid by who? I'm not knocking anyone for claiming their full entitlements especially when the mechanism is in place to do this. However the absurdity of having a room full of helpful and polite ladies answering the phone, asking questions and typing the answers into some humongous government database is quite bizarre.

I bet they were a gang of immigrants, fresh off the dinghy as well.

High on Shisha? Shisha Killer? Which is it?

People who are offended. Which is agreeable when the people specifically being offended speak of being offended. The OP has already verified that the person accused of being well endowed in the nasal department by the oafish new employee wasn't offended... but the OP considers that he should be? The dictionary of new-fangled malapropisms calls that 'woke', no?

I think the confusion is about declaring broadly what the contents are rather than what the specifics of any letter are. In a similar way to a declaration on a FedEx or DHL from overseas to Thailand. It asks for contents and for mail being forwarded, I call it 'correspondence'. I am sure if you say จดหมาย or จดหมายส่วนตัว or maybe จดหมายโต้ตอบทางธุรกิจ that will be enough. PS: Note the more savvy members get their Thai partners to do the needful.

KK has 83% more shops in a 1% larger leaseable area. From my recollection of a couple of visits, the KK shops are smaller, walkways and thoroughfares are narrower which lends to that bigger and busier illusion. UD seems more open and less crowded even at its busiest. Both create nightmare local traffic scenarios on weekends and holidays though.

This being Thailand, that will be one month for the authorities to secure all the extra payments needed for these illegal businesses to carry on operating as normal.

Yes, it's all a bit of chore having the misfortune of being born in a nation that doesn't have a sophisticated social security safety net. I mean just look at the UK, especially in the cities where their 15 year-olds run about at all hours, stabbing people and nicking Corsa's? So, so much better than fobbing their spawn off on granny up in Kendal or an auntie over in Exeter.

Then why imply that it was "compulsory" with your comment that it has "been standard form pretty much everywhere, forever." Obviously you may wish to do so as your "standard practice", why I have no idea, but it has never been mine! I say old bean, looks like our @JayClay has quite made your day, no?

No return address on my letter... YMMV (but you knew this already)

That's an assessment that I can broadly agree with. The term racist is bandied about far too cavalierly these days.

No racism was implied her nor inferred. The guy in question is what we call an oaf or maybe dolt is more appropriate? Hitting on and flirting with female staff is doltish behavior, especially if it's not being reciprocated. In his own mind, he's probably a big star in NEP already. He's probably too arrogant and ignorant to appreciate that the Thai woman's smile, eyes averted while shyly demuring in the face of his embarrassing public behavior is their way of politely telling him he's a dolt. The OP has apparently upbraided the dolt on his rude and inappropriate behavior and he's 'on watch' now. However, if he persists, and since he's German, maybe the OP should talk loudly about the war? He may even quit and then everyone can get back to work.