MangoKorat

I believe GP Autoparts in Bangkok sell NGK. I've bought parts for several cars from them and all have been genuine. They seem to have changed their name but this is they.......and they do have English speakers. If not NGK, they will have another proprietory brand. https://www.gpmobility.co.th/en/home-page/

That slightly limits things. There are plenty of 'naked' bikes that would not be classed as sports bikes + touring bikes. Sports bikes are things such as an R1 or a Fireblade. Collectively and with an unwritten mininmum capacity of around 650cc - they are broadly known as superbikes. Then there are Harleys - I won't comment on them .

Oy!!! Why should majority of responsible bikers be banned? Weed out the culprits by all means but we face enough restrictions already thanks!

Superbike and Harley Davidson do not sit happily in the same sentence.

Don't foget the airports that many budget carriers use which can be many miles away from the main airport for the area.

Its time that the Thai government stepped in and sorted this out. Its not perfect in the UK yet but some regulation has been introduced and things are better. One of the UK's budget airlines, I think it was Jet 2 used to charge extra for checking in! Several methods were on their website, including online check in but all of them carried a charge. Clearly a rip off additional charge - there was no option to not check in and clearly can't be. The airlines claim that the 'add on's' are about giving customers choice - its quite clear that in a lot of cases, its more about allowing them to advertise a cheap price - a cheap price that is not in fact, realistic. A similar thing still goes on in the UK regarding luggage on long haul flights. Many of the so called cheaper prices that are seen on price comparison sites do not include luggage - not even a carry on bag. There may be one or two people that don't carry luggage on a flight from the UK to Thailand but the vast majority do. Add your luggage and the price goes up by £100-£150. Worse still, the poor folks that didn't spot that luggage was not included and have to pay megabucks when they check in for their flight. Inexperienced flyers might not notice this - purely through expectation.

I'm pretty sure I've seen the wording a little different at other embassies - can't remember which. Something like 'citizens of that country and those who have legal residence'. It may just be possible, depending on how long you've legally been in Laos, to obtain a METV. Your permit of stay must surely help? I would ask them - asking is free.

You have to laugh at some of the checkpoints though - the ones between Surin & Burriram. Those who smuggle illegals for a living will be well aware that they won't have a problem from 12pm to 1pm, after 5pm and when its raining.

Yes, come to think of it, I seem to remember that.

I am 100% sure they do not, they speak English. Why do you think we have an international language? But you know all that - you're just trying to be a smart8**

Was I talking to you?

The uneducated would say you've been in Thailand too long, you're now driving like they do. However, sometimes it the only way. I wouldn't dream of driving in the UK, the same way I do in Thailand but you just have to. I used to sit behind that car doing 60kmh in the outside lane on the motorway, flashing my lights for kilometer after kilometer. Now I just undertake and weave through the traffic the same as they do.

Oh, just remembered - there was one other time that I paid - more for the fun than anything else. I was in a rented pick up just outside Surin on my way back to Khao Yai - lots of checkpoints around there, often looking for illegals. Copper starts pointing at my windsreen and saying "parsee, parsee" - I looked over, no tax sticker, I hadn't noticed when I picked the truck up. So I decided to play dumb "no understand", "parsee, parsee" - "sorry I don't speak Thai", "parsee, parsee" - this went on for a while until he was clearly getting angry. He didn't believe a word and I don't blame him - here's a foreigner, alone in a Chonburi registered truck, single cab and miles off the usual tourist routes, claiming he doesn't understand Thai. He knows very well that I'm not a tourist. Frustrated, he shouted "PARSEE, PARSEE" - to which I shouted back "MAI KHAO JAI"...........damn, blown it!! "Ahhh" he says, big grins all round, holds his hand out, slipped him 200 and on my way.

The man's got bloody Leukemia for christsake - just keep your snotty comments to yourself.

Another favourite with them was on Highway 2 in Korat just north of the fork to Khon Kaen. They used to pull just about everyone (foreign) over there and show you a photo of your car. Just a photo mind, no speed recorded on the photo. If you challenged it they would say you either pay 200 baht or you have to go back 5km to the photo point. I did my own 'hybrid' version, I'd tell them I would go back to the photo point but I didn't. As the stop was a scam, I doubt they even watched to see if I u-turned - I was a lost cause to them by that point. I never heard anything afterwards on any of the 4 or 5 times I was stopped at the same place. I will admit to having paid once on Rama 3. That was for not indicating right in a right turning only lane - I kid you not. There was a massive concrete wall stopping you from going straight on, no point in indicating whatsoever, it was a sort of u-turn controlled by traffic lights. I argued the toss with the guy and he was clearly about to give up when he spotted my mother-in-law wasn't wearing a seat belt - banged to rights, 200 baht!

First was as I said - joining the expressway from Rama 4 near Lumpini. Second was on the expressway not long after joining - we were heading for Rayong and if I remember correctly I'd gone the wrong way so left and re-joined in the correct direction. I couldn't swear to whether we were stopped before or after we finally went in the right direction. The signs were not so good in those days - you'd see 1 in Thai/English then the next 5 would be Thai only - it could be quite challenging at times if you didn't know your way .

Not everybody's the same - my sister is terrified of air travel. The furthest she'll go from the UK by plane is Jersey and even then she starts stressing weeks beforehand. Nothing people with that problem can do about it.

Yeah well I will beat them. I order online and when the prescription is ready, I get a text message with a PIN code for the automated collection machine. I'll be coming home at least twice per year so I'll just place my order online and get my daughter to collect my medication. I should therefore, only have to buy the meds in Thailand for 6 months.

That's not how it used to be though - being pulled in was a regular occurrence. I was once pulled over/stopped twice within 15 minutes - both times for BS reasons. First time was joining the expressway from Rama 4. Not sure if its the same now but you used to drive under the expressway to join it (junction before Lumpini Park, Rama 4 West bound). At that time immediately you drove under there was a choice of lanes with the destination of each lane arrowed on the concrete wall in front of you. At the time I could not speak any Thai but I had a Thai friend with me. As soon as we drove under the expressway with the arrows on the wall in front of us, a policemen jumped out and stopped me. He told my Thai friend we were in the wrong lane and he had to fine me. There was just one problem with that - he hadn't asked where we were going, how could he say we were in the wrong lane? I won't repeat what I said but I didn't pay any fine. Second time, 10 to 15 minutes later, we passed through a toll and as we did I saw a cop look at me, lift his radio to his mouth and say something into it. I'd had this 'scam' before so I knew what was coming. I told my friend that we would most likely be pulled over at the next toll, she asked me how I knew - just watch I said. Next toll, paid, drove through, pulled over! This cop spoke English and told me I had been driving too fast and had to pay a fine. As I knew what was coming, I knew damned well that I had not been driving too fast. I asked him where his evidence was - all of a sudden his English was poor. A little more back and forth chat and he, realising he was getting nowhere with this 'farang' that dared to question him, said "OK sir, we have to go talk with the big boss". I told my friend to get out of the car and locked it up. The cop stood there looking lost for what to say, he clearly had no intention of taking me to see the 'big boss' and expected the prospect to worry me. He then patted me on the shoulder and said "OK but cha cha (slowly) na". I, and just about every other foreigner I knew at the time was pulled over on a regular basis but it seems to be different now. I have no idea why, its not that they've realised we won't pay because plenty used to pay them. I never have, not when I know I've done nothing wrong.

This is almost as funny as the planned 'Moon Mission' - I have no idea what they've been smoking but I want some.

I defy anyone to be able to tell the difference in Thailand. Never has the saying 'They're all the same' been more applicable. The only slight differences between the various past governments in Thailand is that they maybe vary the way they stitch the electorate up each time. The country is run for the rich by the rich and anyone who gets in the way of that, or even tries, ends up in prison on trumped up charges/is publicly disgraced or in the worst cases - just disappears. However, never have I seen the Thai electorate stitched up as badly as they have been in recent years. First there was a coup, then a promise to return to democracy, then the army general who staged the coup changed his jacket and became 'democratically elected'. He knew however, that he and his mob wouldn't last forever so concocted the stitch up of all stitch ups - created The Senate to ensure the retention of power. Fast forward to the next election and what might just have had the possibility of being a truly democratically elected government looked likely - I think the result even shocked the 'jacket changer'. Not to worry though. The Senate did what they were put in place to do and the democratically elected member of the winning party was not allowed to run the government. Amazing Thailand. The stitch ups continue however.........'people', with an 8 year jail sentence have yet to spend one night of that sentence in an actual jail and in any case, their sentence has been reduced from 8 years to 1.

Nothing's changed much then.

I thought similar but they will only give me 2 months worth in the UK.

Correct Nick but actually, you know exactly where I live . As It appears we have the same problem - there's one sure fire way to check if the meds are working. I check my blood pressure every week using a £20 machine - worth its weight on gold.

I'll be in Khao Yai/Pak Chong but regularly visit Korat.