NanLaew

Over a week to get the store front sorted? is there a shortage of shop fitters in Samut Prakan or what? My mate had a pretty bad fire in the carvery area of his restaurant a week last Friday. He was open for business only 5 days later.

Yup Wani, you were proper pished.

Another example of their driving dip<deleted>ery this morning coming back from the second school run. That irresistible rush they have to cut a blind corner or to turn early at a junction, ahead of oncoming traffic so that they enter on the totally wrong side of the centerline. As someone suggested earlier, these tricks maybe inculcated from driving recklessly on 2-wheels without regard to how much bigger their bloody car is. ABS, floods and airhorns getting plenty exercise today.

The majority of the planet. When in Rome, etc..

I think there's also something to be said for a possible failure of, or at least deficiency in, depth perception? In the three times I have had to renew my Thai DL, I have observed that the 'two sticks' test is the one that the locals have the most 'mulligans' at. After that, it's the braking response test. Combine their penchant to 'shoot the gap' when they see some impediment to their forward motion, with an inability to judge closing distances and an innate tendency to relegate the brake pedal to last option (after lights and horn), it's little wonder it's a bloody shambles.

Not to detract from the high likelihood of a bad driver behind the wheel of the pickup, you make a very valid point. Who's to know that her husband possibly looked the 'wrong' way first, totally overlooking the pickup coming from the other direction and she followed, not even looking? It's a very common error for pedestrians from certain countries when they try and cross the road here, they look the wrong way first and totally miss the closer traffic (which doesn't often 'miss' them). RIP.

Sad ending to a bike ride. But it's not just bike or the 'lesser vehicles'. About an hour ago, I'm taking my oldest to school and there's a point where road construction narrows it from 3-lanes to single-lane. It's reasonably well signposted and has been this way for well over 4 months already. Doing the school run before 6:30 is great because of the lighter traffic. I was about the third vehicle merging into single-file doing around 45 kph and I checked in the rear view and saw everyone was doing the same. However, an idiot in a pickup came flying up on the 'fast lane' and I only picked up his movement in my wing mirror at the last moment. Suddenly he's alongside and closing, making no effort to slow down and hell bent on cutting me off. It was definitely a Hamilton v. Verstappen moment and with concrete bollards on my passenger side, I had nowhere to go so I nailed the brakes and avoided the side swipe. Luckily nobody run up my <deleted>. I gave him the floods, airhorns and bird but funnily enough, after the road opened up again, he had slowed right down and was tootling along at the same speed as everyone else. I would like to think he probably shat himself as he had bollards and oncoming traffic on his drivers side.

It works just as well with English. Just pretend you do not understand what they are talking about long enough and they will let you go. Fìor, ach a’ bruidhinn dad ACH tha Beurla tòrr nas luaithe.

I have a friend from the Czech Republic. Whenever he gets pulled aside in a regular traffic check here, he speaks Czech and very quickly get waived on his way. I am now practicing my Gaelic.

I despair of these random, spontaneous scam callers. I really do. Everything is covered in the terms and conditions aka the small print.

I have also changed from visa exempt entry to Covid Extension to 90-day Non-O (children) to 1-year Ret Ext without leaving the country. What's your point? A visa-exempt entry isn't any sort of visa. It's a time-limited permission to enter.

Correct. They aren't educated.

You will need to self-fund. You said that Pacific Cross stopped responding? Is that PC here in Thailand? That's a bit unprofessional just to stop talking or did they definitely advise you that the atrial fibrillation issue was a game stopper for them? I would pursue closing that door if it's been left open by poor communications. Did you approach PC directly or have you sought the help of an insurance broker? A broker can advise on alternatives and help whittle away the ones that aren't likely to address your personal circumstances, economically or otherwise.

Is Tops still in the basement?

AIS fibre mostly has a good reputation up here in Udon. I know a few people who have it and it's my option for a backup service to my current 3BB service. I don't know if AIS bundle their fiber with multiple phone SIM cards. The popular bundles seem to be home broadband, MESH Wi-Fi routers, cloud storage and their Playbox? Two offers I have seen recently are 400/50 Mbps for 399 baht/month (+tax) or 1000/300 Mbps for 599 baht/month (+tax). I think if you opt to accept their "free" installation/hardware, you can be locked into 12 or 24-month plans where they can re-charge for installation/equipment or cancel without refund if your circumstances change. For info, I use 3BB fibre for home internet but I have a 90 baht/month (+tax) 2 Mbps unlimited data package on my AIS phone which is more than adequate when out and about. I don't stream anything other than audio apps like BBC Sounds or TuneIn or Radio X. That may be a cheaper option than their Fixxy if your roaming internet demand isn't a lot? I used to have a DTAC 30-day 512 kbps unlimited internet add-on that was 300 baht/month (+tax) but I never came close to maxing out the monthly allowance unless I hot-spotted for the kids and they were either gaming or watching YouTubes. It's a very dynamic market so best to check at the source or online. Sometimes you get special offers by SMS that are based on your personal usage and accounts status and otherwise don't appear on their website. You can also get special 'unpublished' offers by asking at their stores.

out of interest, what precautions do you take when banging LBs or being banged by LBs? Make sure theirs is smaller. I thought everyone knew that.

The OP says she doesn't want to change the name on her Thai ID card. Since she already has an Aussie DL, she can easily get an Aussie IDP and that will have the same name and have the same vehicle exclusions as her Aussie DL. I would tell her to get the IDP as belt and braces. She would also need to get her sister to make sure that her car insurance covers either 'any driver' or have your wife listed as a 'named driver'. Her sister also needs to confirm with the insurance company that any driver with only an IDP linked to a full foreign license doesn't invalidate any coverage in the event of a prang. Beyond that, the chances of getting pulled over will depend on the circumstances; random check or at-fault (for a moving violation) or an accident. Random checks are usually at night and mostly related to alcohol testing so that's easily avoided. Speeding or running red lights can also easily be avoided. Having an accident is reduced if one drives more defensively but one can never rule out circumstances totally beyond one's control. It's not rocket surgery. Good luck.

I think most are already familiar with using immigration agents in Thailand. This is the multi-entry Non-O marriage visa at Savanakhet thread.

Yes, last month was the first month with the new office aircon. It's only a 9k BTU unit, but the household bill went up by about 800 baht as it's running at least 6 hours/day. Monthly 'hot season' electric tab went from 5,600 baht to 6,400 baht. We now have 3 air-condtioned rooms with average 6 hours/day being cooled. However, we also have a Siemens washing machine that easily does two and sometimes three hot-water loads a day (big tribe). That's a water hog AND an electricity hog as it preheats the water. I am having a hard time convincing the users that most, single-wear items can be cold washed as Thai washing powders are formulated for cold water washing but this old-fashioned 'technology' is falling on deaf ears. Working on two flat stones and the nearby river.

Maybe because that's what the OP paid? The OP hasn't stated his nationality. The Lao eVisa site had most nationalities pegged at US$50 but some are US$35. However, the visa-on-arrival option is still available and the new official rate for that is US$40.

Right now, the master bedroom aircon goes on at 19:00 in de-humidify mode and 26°C for an hour and then normal, low-speed cooling until midnight after which it turns off. If we wake up in the wee small hours and it seems muggy, we give it a quick blast to get things more comfortable. If not beforehand, I turn it off when I get up before 05:00. It may get turned on a few hours earlier if it's really hot and humid or if I am going to bed early. This is in conjunction with a ceiling fan on low speed. However, Mrs NL will also turn on a floor-standing oscillating fan which in conjucntion with all the above, gets me reaching for a blanket. In my small office, the aircon is started on 24°C default normal speed for an hour and then switched to Economy mode. It needs the extra couple of degrees with the computers, fridge and water cooler running in there. On sunny days, it gets down to a comfortable 26°C inside. I made the mistake of leaving it on overnight and it was a chilly 24°C when I opened up for business. The other airconditioned bedroom is for the kids who have no concept of running with the automatic timer settings or turning it off when they decide to ignore them. Then they wake up in the morning swathed in blankets like frozen penguins and the unit set on 21°C. I mean how difficult is it to reach out, grab the remote from beside the pillow and turn it off?! When this happens, Mrs NL confiscates the remote!

I guess you don't travel outside of Thailand too much. (rhetorical)

The kor ror 2 is an extract from the Thai marriage register to show that you are not divorced. It is pretty much mandatory for dealing with most Immigration offices within Thailand for extensions but I don't recall this being required at either Vientiane or Savanakhet before Covid but happy to be corrected. However, I did witness Savanakhet asking Non-O marriage visa applicants for a kor ror 5 which is the certificate of name change (when Thai partner takes their foreign partners surname). It looks like a marriage certificate but has a green border. The lady at the shop across the street from the Savankhet Consulate who does the unofficial pre-screening of documents couldn't explain why some applicants needed it and some didn't. I found out later that if one was married in Thailand prior to certain date, this information was never separately recorded so wasn't available when they digitized their national marriage/divorce database (this is what enables you to get your kor ror 2 from any amphur). We were married in October 2007 and according to the amphur in Udon Thani, this is why I couldn't get one before I headed to Savankhet, ie. it cannot be created digitally as the data was never captured. Any Consulate or Embassy will know that this is the case when looking at the date on the marriage certificate. NB: Before Covid, it was never published on any Consular website that the kor ror 5 was a requirement, hence some getting 'inexplicably' denied at Savanakhet. If the OP can confirm his marriage registration date, it may clarify if this document is still required for the newer marriages or not (and they're still not telling anyone).

I recall reading that their new visa fee is US$40 which is still cheaper than 2000 baht.

Great! Just in time for work.