BusyBee123

If an accident does happen, and it happens to a farang, no doubt the old Thai "anti logic" will raise its head - "It was the farang's fault - if the farang had not been there in the first place, the accident wouldn't have happened". And similarly, if the accident happened to a Thai, and the speedboat driver was a farang - "Same, same".

Sounds like warped, racist, farang anti Thai, bs to me.

Not at all. it's been said to me many times before, by my long time (8 years) Thai girlfriend and others, if anything untoward happens. And basically, it's all come about because of the fact that for the most part, the average farang/ tourist has more money than the average Thai ("Otherwise they wouldn't be able to afford to be here in the first place".) Take a typical scenario where a Thai and a farang have a "coming together of motor bikes" and the police are called. Odds are that the Thai has little or no money, but the farang has a few thousand baht about his person (in case of emergencies.) Who do you think that the police will try to blame for the accident? No prizes for the correct answer, as I personally know of a couple of cases where this has happened, and the police have altered the "evidence" to suit the circumstances. (Not saying that it happens in every case, but is certainly another of the "tea money" scams (50% cash to the police, 50% cash to the Thai) Funny how the problem goes away if the farang has a Thai driving license, and the Thai doesn't? Once again - happened to a friend of mine, so don't give me "warped, racist, farang anti Thai bs"!

You're 20 years out of date and have no idea how wealthy middle and upper class thai people are. Seems to me the average farang only has more funds than those on minimum wage in Thailand or the average bar ho from bumpkin land.

Just dont go to Koh Samui.

I made that mistake once.

Yet you still snoop around the samui pages how weird, was there anything in particular you were expecting to see?

Why not talk about the real idiot parents on Samui. I was shocked when eating food a moped with a stupid fa rang mother and her 5 or 6 year old on the back shoot off the road and up the pavement. She clearly couldn't ride and yet still put her daughter in a life threatening situation. Her husband was on a second moped with their other 2 young children. Why not hire a car or is the safety of their children not high on their priorities? Either way they go straight to the top of my idiot parents awards.

Having just flown back to the island I observed what you first see from the plane and passing big Buddha from the air all you see is thousands of houses and zero greenery! Unlike flying past koh phangnan which still looks lush and green. Pointless harping on about how the island used to be it is what it is now, some places ruined by never ending building other areas still lovely and unspoilt. That's the price islands are paying all over the world for tourism IMO.

I've seen many of your offers and would love to come from hua thanon but as a drinker I would need to get a taxi... At some stage all the expats in the various communities around the island must sort a local expat community taxi service with people they know who charge reasonable rates... This is for another thread I know but just thought I'd put it out there anyway

Lamai is quite popular with families and I'm off there tomorrow with my son he loves bouncy castles even got him a small one in mine. Not sure how a bouncy castle harms the environment as you just pack it up at night however it does knacker out the kids and give parents a few extra hours of us time whilst the kids sleep earlier than usual. Having said that if it was only a weekend thing I would be happy with that too.

Never noticed them myself as I'm usually thinking about a shower and shave having travelled for 20 hours and of course a traditional bottle of Heineken

Can't help but feel it is just a temp solution, when the next elections happen I can see the structures returning and even bigger in size as they now have a nice blank canvas to work on. Expats and tourists complaining about the number of building works on the beach will become the norm again. To much money swirling around to miss an opportunity for a quick baht.

It's blackpool, benidorm and magaluf on steroids. NO educated or indeed wealthy man/woman would live there ( not to say they wouldn't enjoy a few days though).

Have you booked a place for a few days in lamai? You can get a place for your budget but I do wonder why people pay for the flight and then live like a homeless person don't your children deserve better?

_{further to the arrest what's the breakfast arrangements after a night in the cells? In the UK it tends to be egg and beans on toast with a brew in a plastic cup.}

Yes it has the visa in just picked it up today after a long wait.

Thanks

Thanks everyone for your help and advice but special thanks to 7by7 it has been resolved, she is going on Monday to pick it up as she doesn't want it to get lost again!

Brilliant result.

Dear ,

Thank you for your email dated 20 February.

We have your passport and bank book here at the British Embassy Bangkok. I would like to apologise that we did not return your passport with the other documents we returned. This was due to an internal error, and I would also like to apologise for any distress caused by this situation.

I have asked for this matter to be investigated immediately to ascertain exactly what has happened and so we can ensure this is not repeated.

We will return your documents to you as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Customer Manager

Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam

UK Visas and Immigration, Home Office.

British Embassy, 14 Wireless Road, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

Ok I have sent this to both emails thank for that makes me feel a bit better. My girlfriend will go to the visa centre on Monday and if she gets nowhere stop at the passport office on the way home for a new one.

Re: APET/

Application ID: GWF

Application Date 27/01/14

Passport No:

Name:

DOB:

20/02/2014

Dear Sirs,

I wish to make a complaint about the appalling situation I find myself in. Having applied for a visit visa and receiving the documents back last Thursday 13^th Feb 2014 we found that 2 things were missing.

1. Passport
2. Bankbook

Obviously this was a concern as these are the 2 most obvious documents for someone to go to a bank and try to obtain money fraudulently. This has not happened and I have informed the bank that it has been stolen.

The passport is of even greater concern, where is it? I have tried the visa centre several times and each time they say they will call me back but never do and have a distinct lack of interest in finding out what has gone wrong. I call the embassy and they tell me to call the visa centre. I'm going around in circles.

I can think of only 2 possibilities.

1. Whoever put the documents in the sealed package at the embassy forgot to put the passport in or even worse has put it in with someone else’s application.
2. The package has been tampered with from leaving your embassy and arriving at my home ..... Pathum Thani . I do not believe this has happened as it did not look tampered with.

This is causing a considerable amount of stress and I do not know whether to give up on the embassy and the visa centre, report the passport stolen to the police and get a new passport, then redo a visa I have already got causing me considerable and unnecessary expense. I will also have to pay extra for a fast track service as I am due to fly on the ^.. March 2014 with my son who holds a British Passport.

I really need some help on what to do here. If I get a new passport will I be able to come direct to the embassy to get it stamped again?

Please can someone respond as I am now at a loss at what to do and no one seems to want to listen.

Regards

^{Still no passport and no phone calls back the embassy told her to phone the visa place and they told her to wait but time is short I fly out in 3 weeks. So if she gets a new passport will she be able to go to the embassy and ask for a new visa stamp or do we have to pay again for a new visa application and a fast tracked one at that incurring unnecessary costs. Really annoyed now.}

Well all her funds were still there and she has taken them out just in case. I'll report back tomorrow with regards to what the embassy say.

If the visa was issued will she be able to present her new passport for the visa to be stamped on it or will I have to apply again? I was hoping she could produce a police report saying it has been stolen which may allow her to circumvent another fee for applying again. How would she find out if it had passed!

Thanks she is going to the bank to withdraw her cash I never thought about option 2! With no money being in the bank I think we can wait until the morning and see if anything turns up. She phoned the visa office where she submitted the documents but the second time she tried they were closed, do you think she should phone the British Embassy? is that where the actual documents get sent then back to the visa office for forwarding to the applicant?

Thanks for any advice much appreciated.

Greetings,

having been initially excited that our UK visa application had been processed and would be with us in 2 days I looked forward to my girlfriend telling me we had passed again. Alas this was not to be as somehow her passport and bank book were not included in the documents sent back! After phoning they said they would look into it and phone her back but never did.

So where do they get sent from in Bangkok? Can I get my girlfriend to go there and kick up a fuss? Do I write it off and get her a new passport and do another application or are there any other suggestions?

How the heck does this happen has anyone heard of this before?

I too got refused a few years back on income even though I earn over £50k per year. I immediately reapplied but on my letter I did an income expenditure table which clearly showed available funds after all bills were paid. I can see why they refused initially as I was transferring money all over the place and my bank account went overdrawn for a couple of days! which I explained and showed other bank accounts with savings etc but once I did this the visa was granted.

You can reapply anytime.

went today and everything was fine just changed it in front of the woman who checked the passport...

I sent post from the Uk to Pathum Thani it usually takes 1 week by registered post but this time it took 2 weeks and arrived on Monday

Thanks Tony.

Surad it was for a visit visa to the uk. You pay online now(not turn up with a bankers draft) which then allows you to book your appointment for biometrics, presentation of documents and visa application.

Morning campers,

I was rushing with my girlfriends visa application, paid for the appointment the looked and realised her birthdate should have been 07 not 17, can she change it by overwriting the 1 and making it a 0 in front of the appointment person and initial it or do I have to pay again?

Social media has taken off since the 2008 and 2010 protests, yep even the bumpkins have iPads and all are far wiser and richer (land prices going up faster than Bangkok) I feel the days of a preacher on a stage are long gone it's quite clear people are seriously fed up with it and want things done the right way or no way just not the hold us to ransom way