tattoodrob

ah well, tattoodrob, as long you feel good about yourself, no need to worry.

dont think you get the point,giving advice is aimed at helping people to think more about their actions and save them hassle/problems and not to make me feel better but yes i DO feel better that i have given friends this advice because i wouldnt like them to say after why didnt you warn me,you live here etc. same on t.v forum,if we know what could happen to our fellow human beings in thailand then im happy they have a chance to get advice whether they take it or not is not up to me

I want one tooooo

it always look better when you have two

One extra actually, two isn't enough these day.

wooo hoooo

ive still only got two hands so wouldnt know what to do with the 3rd.......ooops just had an idea

x'cuse me ! who say i will do for you sir ?

x'squeeze me madam,youre right its got nothing to do with me and my hands.........i got carried away .sorry

i think there was a misprint somewhere and thats why theres been problems;

project finished in 4-5 years was actually meant to say 45 years,i think there getting all original contracts back and correcting it

come on you 2 kiss and make up now

im the only one that seems to be living in pattaya currently so surely i know best

seriously lets agree to disagree on this one........i believe police are prejudice and over corrupt here,some may think otherwise.

if i saw illegal driving thais getting pulled over everytime they passed a cop then i would have been more legitimate(and wore a hat) but as its obviously a very variable thing then i joined in with the thai way and found out farangs cant do the same. thats my tuppence.good morning

...despite its being legal tender...

I'm Scottish - Scottish bank notes are not actually legal tender...not even in Scotland.

I remember being able to change them in Bangkok 14 years ago for rates poorer than Bank of England notes but I believe that most, and possibly all, banks here no longer exchange Scottish notes.

ehhhh?? theyre not legal tender in scotland,so how do you spend them and whats the point in having them.....wales aint got there own notes,nor ireland .........im lost. you gotta change them before you leave scotland to do anything,pain in the arris.

Works both ways..

Technically English notes aint legal tender in Scotland either but long standing aggrement is that both countries banking systems accepts them.Also only one banlk in England issues their notes whereas noth of Hadrains/Antoniones Wall you got 4 ...assuming that they aint all gone bankrupt ...think they have actually.

Also it was as you probly ken a Jock ..Bill Patterson that actually founded the Bank of England....laddi on the make.

Ref changing them in LOS you will be lucky ...I find myself having problems trying to cash a £100 note in my local pub ...sometimes.... on a round of ale...but the landlord knows me so OK.......otherwise its the bank.

Did actually change some in Germany once a long time ago and actually got a BETTER exchange rate than for English money but then I was always a bit more pro-Euro enthuastic...and it was Germany...

a 100 quid note?? i have trouble changing the english ones too

you probably got a better rate in germany as they were a note collector and aint seen one ever before,sell them on the specialist note market later or more than likely they like the sweaties more than the english as they werent after your cold northern land back in the day

I want one tooooo

it always look better when you have two

One extra actually, two isn't enough these day.

wooo hoooo

ive still only got two hands so wouldnt know what to do with the 3rd.......ooops just had an idea

...despite its being legal tender...

I'm Scottish - Scottish bank notes are not actually legal tender...not even in Scotland.

I remember being able to change them in Bangkok 14 years ago for rates poorer than Bank of England notes but I believe that most, and possibly all, banks here no longer exchange Scottish notes.

ehhhh?? theyre not legal tender in scotland,so how do you spend them and whats the point in having them.....wales aint got there own notes,nor ireland .........im lost. you gotta change them before you leave scotland to do anything,pain in the arris.

sorry flaming todd,i posted an informative post(as my mrs has had it done twice) but maybe had some humour that wasnt appreciated as post dissappeared

tattoodrob ---- dear ... nobody called you a liar, just that many people do not see it your way...

so relax ... but if you read in this thread apparently many other people do not have these issues. I won't say there are not any corrupt police here, but I wouldn't say that about anywhere else either!

ok im relaxed now .....i understand others havent had these issues,infact these issues only happen more in very central pattaya so maybe others havent noticed it if they arent a regular bike rider there, i was pointing out more that if i wasnt wearing a hat and thais werent wearing a hat that the farang(me in this instance) would definitely be waved over,and i would point this out to the cop and ask why others were not being pulled over,obviously they usually just ignore you or very rarely ,after i have said this, they have even waved at thais to stop and the thais have just ignored them without any problem(by the way i tried this once...not a good idea,dont think they like losing face with a farang ignoring them).

anyway i know i should wear a cap(and do now) at all times and so its my own fault but i dont like being singled out,thousands of thais ride around town without bike number,licence ,hat,4 on a bike etc and do so regularly but everytime i had no helmet i would get problems and then see more serious lawbreakers riding around without problems. do you think 3 or 4 farangs on a bike even with hats wouldnt be stopped.....i think they would for sure and very quickly..........i dont mind the law being applied to everyone in the same manner but the law seems to change depending on the individual copper involved.

as i said maybe my bad luck and my fault for sticking out more in a crowd of thais.....im still relaxed

The police set up checkpoints regularly all over.

They don't single out farang and are quite nice .... so .....?????

duh!!!!! if you read my post you would see that they do single out farang(unless im lying just for the sake of it) .......not at those large regular official checkpoints with 20 cops on sukhumvit rd,3rd road,pattaya tai etc ......but happens on a regular basis at intersections and other places around town where theres only 1 or 2 cops working. if they aint seen a farang for a while then might start on the thais......but i think as less farangs about then thats why they now make it look like there playing fair,come high season(open hunting season) it will change against farang more .sorry to be negative but i call it as i see it and not from hearsay

duh!!!!!!

not my experience (or apparently that of many other farang that live or ride there)

oh well,just my bad luck then

next youll be saying there arent any corrrupt coppers here.......its all in my head

The police set up checkpoints regularly all over.

They don't single out farang and are quite nice .... so .....?????

duh!!!!! if you read my post you would see that they do single out farang(unless im lying just for the sake of it) .......not at those large regular official checkpoints with 20 cops on sukhumvit rd,3rd road,pattaya tai etc ......but happens on a regular basis at intersections and other places around town where theres only 1 or 2 cops working. if they aint seen a farang for a while then might start on the thais......but i think as less farangs about then thats why they now make it look like there playing fair,come high season(open hunting season) it will change against farang more .sorry to be negative but i call it as i see it and not from hearsay

duh!!!!!!

not my experience (or apparently that of many other farang that live or ride there)

do you actually drive in Thailand? and if you do, what you drive and where you drive?

Yes they're all polite (Thai are polite people unless you seriously annoy them), but some take delight in stopping drivers (foreign or Thai) whom they believe they have the slightest excuse to fleece money. One things that annoys me is how they demand your driver licence, get hold of it and then walk away, returning a minute later still clutching your licence and not letting it go until you paid them tea money.

Q. when a traffic/motorway policeman stops you, ask you questions and then he start stroking your stomach, what does that mean?

A. i would think he quite likes you to stroke your stomach,was he asking personal questions?..... or have you got the brit belly(look pregnant) then maybe he was inwardly laughing at you while touching you there,otherwise i got no idea.

just a quick post...........ive noticed there are a lot less members/posters here on T.V over the last 6 months to a year.anyone else noticed this...its the same few that do most of the posts! doesnt this show a lot less interest in pattaya/thailand in general unless fed up with the mods hahah....only joking mods!!

A bit off topic but.

I think the problem is more to do with people socializing out

side of the forum, this has tempered peoples opinions.

Thai visa a victim of its own success.

4X average Uk salary paid here and you are looking at prices.You must be really cheap or shop at the wrong places.

It must be £100k! That a s%itload of money:-)

i wouldnt mind living here on that!!!!

he obviously likes the hi so lifestyle....sheraton.......5 quid juice,etc thats daylight robbery but hey hes doing well ..living here on a top wage,nice one........wish i could be his assistant haha.

just out of interest would be nice of him to tell us his job/position here in thailand as cant be many on that out here .

Perhaps some British Hooligans could be called in to coach them!

seems like they were doing pretty well on their own..........axes check,knives check,wrenchs check etc.

bet there wa a luvalee atmosphere the next day at work.........."could you pass the hammer old chap" clonk

you base this post on a gut feeling???

dont scare the tourists

on second thoughts,carry on with your assumptions as less tourists are good.

i base it on news reports,without counting then cant be sure the numbers are up

if you want statistics ,this will scare ya...or the tourists anyway;

thailand is or was the 3rd from the top(in the world) of list of intentional murders with a gun . south africa was first,usa 4th. thailand was about 20000 up and usa was around 9000,uk was well down the bottom with 114.

to check out the source then google nationmaster but i saw it on old thread about guns/police in phuket section of t.v.......do a search if you dont believe,also check out some of the things happening in phuket too....aint so good either.

i was very surprised at these figures especially as thailand beat the massive gun culture of the usa..........so i guess its not all roses here.

theres obviously a gun(or user) problem here and it needs sorting

The police set up checkpoints regularly all over.

They don't single out farang and are quite nice .... so .....?????

duh!!!!! if you read my post you would see that they do single out farang(unless im lying just for the sake of it) .......not at those large regular official checkpoints with 20 cops on sukhumvit rd,3rd road,pattaya tai etc ......but happens on a regular basis at intersections and other places around town where theres only 1 or 2 cops working. if they aint seen a farang for a while then might start on the thais......but i think as less farangs about then thats why they now make it look like there playing fair,come high season(open hunting season) it will change against farang more .sorry to be negative but i call it as i see it and not from hearsay

I guess the question is what will you be doing when you return to Thailand.

It may be in your favour now to exchange Baht to GBP, but when you return to Thailand will you then be exchanging your savings of GBP back into Baht? if so you could be worse of then, if your changing money twice I dont think you could be onto a winner unless the exchange rate changes dramatically before your return.

its late but let me think....i live in thailand so if i change thai baht now into pound at say 56 then wait till baht goes up then sell my pound back at say when it gets to 62 then surely i have made 6 baht to a pound which is about 10 percent.....not bad if it goes up in say 3 to 6 months.....bank only gives max 3 per cent on a long term account. am i right?? ive had a few beers and only just thought of it that way

sorry to gatecrash a thread but what does anyone think of my post.......is it worth the risk of 1 mill or 500k baht??? or have i missed something,obviously if the rate goes down then i lose so has risk involved

Not sure the returns are worth it on a small investment 1 million baht, however the pound has dropped to 51 today, so it is cheap, but the downside is you may have to hold onto the pounds for a long time before it gets back into the 60's again. Plus you pay commission on buying and selling so you have to take that into account also. Maybe check out http://www.fxcm.com/ if you are interested in currency trading. Good Luck

thanks for link.

no commision to pay when changing at banks here(thailand)...what they buy and what they sell for are the exact rates they advertise to customers. i understand its not a great investment but if it pays double the bank rate then its better than leaving it there and hopefully it will improve enough within 6 months...i hope .

thanks for input.

just a quick post...........ive noticed there are a lot less members/posters here on T.V over the last 6 months to a year.anyone else noticed this...its the same few that do most of the posts! doesnt this show a lot less interest in pattaya/thailand in general unless fed up with the mods hahah....only joking mods!!

it wasnt too hard no,but slightly pointless as i dont see how it helps any other members whereas informing of crime/scams and all the bad things that happen here would help newbies/tourists and keep them on their toes and might stop it happening to them.

I absolutely disagree with this one.

Whenever I told newbees to avoid a certain place, that's where you would find them on their first night out.

It is my experience that negative reporting has absolutely no effect on people, and if any then it's just the opposite.

Anyway as my father used to say, experience is the best school.

cheers

onzestan

yeh its up to the individual if they listen but at least you can feel good about warning them and if something bad happens to them you can say"told you so" or "som nomna". i agree experience is a good school but if a bit of advice saves their lives or a lot of money, heartache etc then i believe its worth it.if no one tells anyone there bad experiences then how would we stop it reoccuring on many more occasions. i understand about people not taking advice as a friend of mine lost a fair bit of money by not listening to me and others......i feel better that i warned him,that doesnt help him but i can sleep good knowing i tried my best

Pleasant, but uncommon experience this morning, police pulled me over and simply told my wife and i to put on our seatbelts, quick salute and on the way, no tea money, no ticket, no liscence check!!!

now that is a WOW, he must have been in a big rush or has your wife got high up relations

And what's with all the unhelmeted sikhs?

Because of the inability to fit a helmet over a turban, sikhs are excempt from the need to wear a helmet in the uk. Presume the law must be the same for thailand

Same in Canada. They argued in court is was religious discrimination to force them to remove their turbans and wear a helmet. Funny though, I know a few, and see a lot more, that don't wear a turban at all (unless it's convenient for them I guess, like when riding a bike).

As for ticketing, I agree with Tropo. Far more Thais get ticketed for not wearing helmets than farangs. I'd like to see better control at intersections as well, but I guess from their perspective, it's easier to pull over a motocy and give out a ticket, than to have to chase down a car that has just blasted through the intersection.

It's a start though. It wasn't that long ago that they weren't even enforcing the helmet law. Maybe in a couple of years they'll start enforcing some of the other laws as well.

i think id rather wear a helmet than put a turban on instead

in pattaya maybe police ok about it as their turban is probably safer than the plastic cheap useless crap most wear........maybe il open a turban shop and sell to farangs who dont like wearing helmets,can u imagine it ...hundreds of european tourists all driving around town in turbans,those indians would be well wound up

i agree that in numbers more thais probably get tickets,but i have been singled out at intersections even when lots of thais have no helmet and even seen thais drive past a waiting copper with no problem but then when i go past i get waved down and ticketed..........thats my complaint and think thats a valid one .anyway i wear one now just to save myself hassle

i agree about kids on bikes,not safe especially with no helmet etc but then i understand why they ride around with whole family on bike as cant afford other options in most cases. baht bus are only cheap when on a standard route and they would be more dangerous on bicycles everywhere.

red light jumpers and then blocking intersection is another big wind up and also very dangerous as lots of people really jump the lights at high speed,im surprised i aint seen real bad accident..seen a few very nr misses

thais on or in vehicles tend to push there luck beyond belief and im not sure how or when this will ever change,they just think its just bad luck when in an accident and dont realise most are caused by stupidity and not adhering to the laws or learning road sense to help themselves.

my bike had problems out in huay yai district and i was stuck with flat battery,my thai not brilliant so difficult to ask general public for help,tried bump starting it....no joy and extremely hot and bothered but started pushing it as not a lot of choice!!!! a nice thai guy comes past on his small bike and decides to help push me by using his leg and motorbike...he pushes me to the nearest bike shop aprox 2 to 3km.thankyou very much i say,he smiles i smile.no tip asked so shows thai/pattaya people do help and not always for reward.

See ? That wasn't too hard now was it ?

I think that was the original intent of the thread, to show that it isn't all doom and gloom, thieves and scammers, louts and losers in Pattaya. We do get more than enough of those threads as it is. Enough that some people do actually seem to get the impression that if they even fly over the city, they may become the victim of a crime.

Just like in the News Clippings.,People complain about all the negative stories, but if someone posts a "good" story, it is passed over, forgotten and buried while everyone concentrates on the bad news (and then whine about it).

There are good stories, and good people out there, just as there are bad ones. Just because there are bad ones though, doesn't mean they should, or do, outweigh the good ones.

But alas, it's the "bad" ones that seem to catch everyone's attention and dominates the headlines (and topic titles). Kind of a sad commentary on today's society. Just like the movies, where pain, bloodshed and violence are glorified, but heaven help you if you show any sex or nudity !

it wasnt too hard no,but slightly pointless as i dont see how it helps any other members whereas informing of crime/scams and all the bad things that happen here would help newbies/tourists and keep them on their toes and might stop it happening to them. if something good happens to an individual then thats good but maybe we could report good things like "this restaurant has super friendly staff" or " this motorbike mechanic did something free " etc then we could benefit from these positive reports but random good things by unknown thais is nice but not so helpful.....maybe someone could start a new thread with positive posts of exceptional services...business,bar,restaurant etc that did a good deed and not just for the money. thats all im saying

Ok I will start with it.Last night I had a really exceptional service and she didn't do it just for the money.She works ......... oops I'm not allowed to mention this on the forum due to forum rules.Sorry guys

i just got a pen to write down where she works.......dam you ,you could always pm me it

They should do a better job if they stayed at the traffic lights and catch the potential murders that jump red light all day and night.

they do stay there sometimes but aint bothered about red light jumpers ,i think its easier for them to catch helmet or helmut dodgers

poop

I want one tooooo

it always look better when you have two