NanLaew

You know these schoolgirls "personally"? I see.

6 am. Coffee and a couple of slices of toasted sourdough with Rose's Lime marmalade. 8 am. Small bowl of Kellogg's All-bran with low-fat milk. 10 am. Big dump.

It is a violation of the law to be inside Thailand WITHOUT a valid passport. That's one of the reasons given for the double-shuffle UK passport renewal in Thailand allowing you to keep the "old" one until the "new" one is received, with the old one cancelled after you have checked the new one for correctness. However, if certain countries think this isn't relevant, then you don't have an option. For the OP, despite cutting it fine already with Christmas and New Year holidays in Canada, I doubt the local embassy uses snail mail. The UK passport renewal involves DHL and the turnaround is typically between 2 and 3 weeks. My Australian mate just renewed his passport via their Bangkok embassy and it was only 12 days, again they use either diplomatic bag or courier. Good luck!

There's absolutely no need for this long drawn out "missed mediation" nonsense. The police have apparently already charged the car driver with several offences. The only reason they aren't issuing any arrest warrants is the police, and by talking to the victim's family about a civil case option, the prosecutor's office are both holding out for the bigger payday that death or injury on Thai highways still appears to mandate. Still holding out for a Christmas Day mediation? It is alresdy way past time to take this upstairs to social media and get K. Guntouch on the job. https://www.facebook.com/Guntouch2

The fundamental premise here is, if an individual is alive and breathing anywhere on this planet and has any sort of income, that individual needs to be, at the very least, fully aware of their personal income tax liabilities. This is regardless of the type of bank account they hold, where it is or where they claim to reside. Thailand has applied to join the OECD and as such, needs to enforce their own tax laws first, including the one's that apply to non-citizen residents of the country.

I have a Norwegian friend who is convinced that he can pick and chose which domicile he claims to reside in based on whichever one gives him the biggest break on income tax. I may not be familiar with Norwegian tax legislation but I doubt his claims.

I am only pointing out that the requirement to provide more specific information is a trend, so a bit of context here. The offshore account I referred to was opened over 30 years ago and no questions were asked about tax residency and no need for proof of address. About eight years ago, the same bank's "KYC" procedures required that one confirm one's domicile with proof of that address. These were to comply with international banking regulations, primarily the US-mandated ones. In the past year, the same bank has required not only reconfirmation of the address and proof thereof, but also the tax ID if one is claiming non-UK domicile. I had no intention of distorting anything that you have posted with regard to opening an onshore "high street" UK bank account. But please note that when I last opened a regular, domestic bank account in England in 2018, they didn't ask me to declare or confirm UK tax residency. However, this does appear to be the case if opening an account now. With a lot of people working in non-traditional environments with non-traditional revenue streams, either online or remotely, and increasing oversight by revenue departments, I feel that need to provide more specific information along with your signature of agreement, will be inevitable, regardless of the bank being high street, offshore or online.

Yes. For some reason, the locals don't like us commandos.

And you can't have anything with batteries in the left luggage. They scan the bag and if they see anything with batteries, they will ask you to remove those items before accepting the bag for storage

My offshore UK bank DID eventually require the non-UK tax ID number. Telling them I was simply not tax resident in the UK worked for them last year, but not this year. They wanted proof, ie, they needed that foreign TIN.

For clarity, how come in your 33 years of "superb" and absolutely trouble free travel by booking through an agent, you encountered the direct booking EVA and Etihad "basketcases" you speak of?

Why should we care about a country that fundamentally doesn't care about you or I? Sure my immediate family loves me and I love them, but the rest of the people? The country? I didn't mean the specific law or road traffic act or whatever you call it, I meant the "law" that among many, is neither enforced nor respected. If the police fined the helmetless with more vigor, the police will be better off and the helmetless rider will be out of pocket but non the wiser. Neither road safety nor society will benefit. The Thai police did not get "everyone to wear a mask". If they coordinated this "crime" with their regular money grab on motorcyclists, it wasn't anything to do with ensuring better health outcomes for their fellow man. Vietnam's policing and successful enforcement of this law had not so much to do with beating up offenders as it was with NOT being Thailand.

What's this "we" you talk about? What's this "law" you talk about? It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the laziness of the Thai police, nothing whatsoever.

Back to the topic of yabba, our moobahn has seen a steady increase in thefts from property. These are mostly happening during daylight hours when homes are either unoccupied or the occupant is busy elsewhere, dogs are sleeping, and the gate isn't secured: an Isaan thing! Bicycles, water bottles, plastic chairs, even aircon condenser units and wiring: anything that's not secured and they can sell for the few baht they need for their high. Night time sees our motion detectors (and dogs) triggered by the desperate snooping around to see what they can get. A couple of months back, we had a yabba head walk through the house at around 10 pm as he escaped over the wall from the neighbors pit bull. The thing that bothered me and the wife (we were away on vacation when it happened), that despite several adults being on the property, nobody did much about it, including still not locking the back door of the house after this had occured. Mrs NL read the riot act to the "lodgers and squatters" on that revelation!

Most ALL Thai barber shops do shaving as well. Real good close shaves with a proper razor too. If you have "designer stubble" rather than a beard, buy an electric razor on lazada or shopee and DIY.

How can you possibly make that observation when car windows are tinted so dark, you can't see inside? I bought two car child seats for each of my youngsters here in Thailand. I had to "import" the first one as they were unknown back then. The second one was bought in Central where by that time, they had a big choice. I am sure they weren't selling them only to responsible foreigners. In both instances, about eight years apart, we had no issues using them at all. The kids accepted it as normal with very few complaints and those few complaints were due to hunger, tiredness or a full diaper, same as kids everywhere. Just to say that responsible parenting isn't a lost art. You cannot make that judgement solely based on your personal experience. As for castigation of a younger generation just because they're different from your older generation...

Wasn't it ever? I was working south of Haiphong back in the early 90's when the police started to really enforce this law. They succeeded by pulling over and relentlessly beating the helmetless motorcyclists. And I mean a real beating with thick bamboo canes. Somehow, I can't see the RTP beating up anybody. Suffocating with a bin bag maybe but beating with sticks and clubs?

In a recent forum poll asking, "Why did you choose to retire in Thailand?", the option of "To set an example to the locals" wasn't even offered.

yes, they are way more capable of learning than you are of insulting them

Getting closer, but nothing to with the locals learning anything. It's more about the hot-and-bothered foreigners posting on these 'road carnage' threads, learning about and appreciating the causality of karma.

You are not new here, so stop bleating about irresponsibility, awareness, education or laziness. It has nothing to do with it.

Now, now @PJ71, there's no need to make a post that will only end up in you being accused of projecting by some other forum member.

And you know this how?

While others focus on the victim and the alleged deeds of the miscreant. Fair enough.

I love a good stretch first thing in the morning too.