peter267

On 4/22/2024 at 8:08 AM, JBChiangRai said:

 You can use your Thai driving licence in the UK for up to 6 months, I do it with rental companies there every couple of years.

 

I can't speak for America, but probably.

I have rented a car in USA, Canada UK & Germany with just a Thai Licence - the essential key is a Thai licence is a photo card and  dual Thai/English language that the rental company can read.  Sending a scan of Thai license when booking may be double check worth doing and blab about being a resident in Thailand to give context

I may not have read all the threads - but are you very sure there is no leak on the pipework going to your errant tap - somewhere where you can't see it?   Hmm glue a valve in pipe work leading to that tap.   If closed, the pump stops - open the valve if the pump starts up a bit , it's leaking where you can't see?

On 8/10/2023 at 1:35 PM, Elektronek said:

Hi,

 

was being told at Pathum Thani immigration that they no longer issue Certificate of residence (probably because someone commenting in their Google reviews that it did cost 800 THB). I need it for a driving license.

 

What are my other options please?

Yup, this was me about the 800.  The Issue of cert has moved into the private sector.  If you are able, see if you can hookup with an "agent" who could purchase it on your behalf? Maybe lower than 800?   UK embassy does not issue 

End of the Driving Licence Story - For Me!

Still at an impasse between Immigration and expectation of Affirmation from Embassy.

Went 7.00am to DLC for allotted apointment for final reaction, colour and other stuff - 1st day after 3 day holiday not very busy with staff or punters.   2 desks went through my paperwork paying attention to my current visa stamp validity and my blue work permit book that has my residential address inside. photocopies and signed.  All OK passed through to testing, photo and issue of new 5 year licence. 

I did meet a fellow Falang in DLC on a retirement visa same immigration office as me.  I asked about residency letter - he said no problem at all,  taken to an immigration back office and 800 baht letter done - however no receipt given.    I think conclusion is Immigration Dept do letters of confirmation but welcome cash donations to thier "benevolent fund".   Also different staff at DLS doing the checking today.     TIT.   If at first you dont suceeed ............................

To all,  thanks for the responses and the options offered.    

I did, and am following up with the Embassy - filed an online case and waited the indicated 1-3 days to get no response!.  However on a call back to what I assume is the UK call centre with the established "case number".   They then transfered call  to the embassy in Bkk where  I spoke to a Thai working for embassy.  They are going to call Pathum Thani Immigration to say "UK does not do proof of residency any more".   "Watch this space".    I have appointment later this week to do the some of the DLT process,  colour blindness and reaction test etc I assume - hope that proceeds and fingers cross can establish identity by getting agreement between immigration and DLT over the line.   3 days intervening public  holidays,  more patience required.     

Yes, my Work permit has my address in Pathum Thani - but no blue or pink card issued by my landlord or local authority - which I have never had or been asked for.  (yet).  My blue work permit & visa in my passport align - with my address - and  current and valid

Just now, freeworld said:

Apply for Resident Certificate at Chaeng Wattana.

That was the reason to contact them,  my immigration office is Patum Thani and was told to go back to them - CW could not issue.

Just renewing my Thai Driving Licence ( 4th time, been here 15 years) - and near the end of the process, to be tripped up.    Applying where I live and work Pathum Thani.   The Road Ministry is asking for a certificate of residency despite having copy and sight of my original blue and current work permit & valid visa in my passport.    These used to be additionally authenticated by a letter from Immigration to Road licence.   Patum Thani Immigration has recently decided not to do these letters and advises they must be issued by the Home Embassy,  in my case UK.   

UK embassy used to do an "Affirmation of Residency".  visit to the embassy  50 pounds signed and stamped.   UK embassy no longer doing this or offering an explanation or, more essentially, a public written notice (Thai & English)  that could be passed to Thai authorities to establish a " Certificate of Residency  - Not available from  Embassy".   (UK only, or are other ambassies able to do this still?) 

Checking with Chang Wattana Immigration, they apparently still issue letters of confirmation.   Pathum Thani do not, just last few months?

Need to break this impasse.  UK Embassy has gone very corporate (not in a good way) - Call the .local number and click to consular call service takes you to a UK 24 hour call centre.  Their primary advice is everthing is solved on thier web site from UK.GOV.    hmm we wish - and from there on in not overly helpful with advice - than filling in a web form to complain.   UK Gov websites are a complete mess.  Google UK.Gov surely leads you to a Thai list of consular services which no longer include service of "Affirmation of Residency despite this being an income generation exercise.    Google Search  Thai Affirmation of Residency certificate leads you to UK Gov site where you can actively book an appointment at the embassy down load the self fill Affirmation of residency & a booking form - to be then let down with no accsses to payment.   Yes, I had a booked and confirmed  appointment on the UK system before falling at this last hurdle.

OK it is in an ongoing  impasse and a long story.  Hope to get  a breakthrough.  

Am I alone in this wilderness? 

21 hours ago, rodknock said:

another year, another story why there is flooding.

the government has no idea how to come up with a plane to prevent flooding.

it is either flooding or drought, they have no idea how to handle it.

 

Post 2011  Pathum Thani & Ayutaya provinces to my direct knowledge had some major engineering works lasting many years not only to just rebuild road surfaces  but in many cases raising road levels to create dykes and some huge under road drainage canals - quite likely creating 'monkey cheeks' with greater storage capacity - if that is improved capacity its effect will only be measured  as people begin to get their feet wet now.  Sure the river is at full overflowing banks capacity now set to the maximum volume that can travel to the sea through Bangkok the "bottleneck" .     Thailand is far from the only country to be caught out by environmental events already this 2021 that many might argue could have been avoided

Have to observe that 'both' parent child raising not the norm in the 'west' anymore with very high divorce separation rates.   Also consider child raising here in Thailand  has different social factors with prevalence for strong traditional family groups - with a lot of children commonly being raised by aunts & uncles and grandparents.   Parenting is not about punching the clock to input the requiste hours of  parenting but about the nature and quality of the input given by the nurturing & loving adults involved.   Sure alarm bell always ring on all the other aspects of building a long term relationship  with a Thai lady enough bad stories predominate - but not all these relationships end in disaster.  Along with the bad are some good stories.     Seems like you have personal friends here in Thailand better to reduce your scope of getting advice away from this forum my final offering in this post.  

This is not the first time this subject has come up on TV.    I work in the 'water industry' mostly in rural africa and have learned a bit.   In my house in Thailand for 10 years I installed a Terraclear filter made in Laos. https://www.terraclear.org   Elegantly very simple, rugged ceramic filter that has some impressive testing results verified by others.   It does just the same as the cartridge filters water passing through just porous membrane to filter out microbes both the good & bad it just uses what is in effect a ceramic flower pot.   Sits on my counter top and just works. Stores up to 30 litres of ready to drink water

They do sell the in Thailand. - But sure you have to trust in the method and the job it does to truly believe.

Sound like your borehole has treatment to correct issues of what is 'dissolved' in your groundwater from the borehole.  You could get this lab tested to see nothing nasty chemical left in and then just invest in a UV tube disinfectant tube that zaps any microbes in the water that you take in the house shower, washing up water etc etc.   Its quite unusual to find harmful microbes in borehole water if source deep and away from cess pits etc etc.

Ultimately total security is as practiced in town water treatment, chlorinate the water so microbes cant live anywhere in the water through the distribution system.   Any filter system,  however hi the spec, the water delivered from a microbe contaminated faucet or water storage vessel.   Get it right and the chlorine does mostly evaporate off - but really the Terraclear does the job perfectly.   For me I cannot contemplate carrying bottled water into my house when its already piped and then have to carry out and dispose of the empties.

Hi Peter - a very exciting idea. Wish you all success. I wonder if you have read the books on Thai river journeys written by two other adventurous souls: Steve van Beek, "Slithering South", 1988 (paddled a wooden boat from source of Chao Phrya River all the way down its mouth); and Patrick Lemmon, "A River Less Travelled", 2012 (sailed home made boat down part of Ping River). 

http://www.stevevanbeek.com/2a2_slithering_south_intro.php

Can contact Steve or his Thai wife Piyawee:

http://www.stevevanbeek.com/contact.php

https://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/citylife-articles/a-river-less-travelled/

Best of luck!

Thanks for this & found "Slithering South" as a kindle read on Amazon and bought it.  I will have to give thought to an equally good title to give my venture............. Return of the Pastel de Nata?   

On 8/9/2019 at 4:36 PM, LA8RAT said:

Sounds a great adventure, fair play to you for having the spirit and the get up and go to want to have a go at something like this. did you sail you yacht from the UK to Asia or did you buy it in Asia?

Its barely a yacht - its a  6m long open day sailer - it came to Thailand in a 40 foot container - could not commit to living here and not sail -  The Hawk is a very good sea boat - strong & safe - but shallow draft perfect for rivers and beaches

As plans develop I have to consider do I build confidence the plan is viable and acceptable and just do it or do I go 'cap in hand' to the authorities to seek approval.   

There is a South East Asia Pilot that writes up a bit the entry into the Chao Praya and passing up to the 'central plains'  that does not mention 'no sail' areas.

However

I have re-read the "ACT ON NAVIGATION IN THAI WATERS, B.E. 2456 (available in English)

I think, if I approach the 'Master of the Harbour' I need to do so with some preparation - photo's of the boat detail the running lights, anchors etc etc, my UK Yacht Masters certificate and a planned itinery and ask for some guidance - rather than just arrive in the river one fine day,  dressed as a pirate.   

I also think at least in the lower parts of the river it would be wise to have a Thai national on the boat and involved in visiting the 'Master of The Harbour' 

Phoohy, Thanks for your input. 

Thanks for some interest guys,

OK I typed I wrote Nm as it looked right & familar & sure Nm metric for Nm a measurement of force - journeys over water classically nm =  nautical miles.  "torque" has little part in this trip but hoping "talk" might.

Yes, there are some very busy bits of the river thats for sure.  In theory under international rules sail boat has the right of way in many cases and as Nancy L observes - however like a "Pavlov dog" I still line up at many zebra crossings in Thailand to cross busy roads after years of observing it appears drivers speed up and take aim rather than get near to stopping. I will sail on the river with caution & little expectation! 

I don't have right of way over a tug boat & 4 barges. In maratime  law or practically.

Ahh yes the Hamble Cheeryble good bit wider at the busy bits,  and with the tide flowing with you at 5 Knots a sail boat is a jet powered "Pooh stick" !!  A proper sailor can bring a boat onto an anchor buoy or alongside a jetty under sail as could the Portugese.   My boat has 2 anchors, engine & tows a sit on canoe

The busy part of the river is maybe 10-15km and at normal day time - this just 2 hours motoring and most of the low bridges in this section.   But imagine the photo of the  blue & green spinnaker set with Rama VIII bridge suspension wires framing the shot, with sunset or sunrise  in-front, or even lit up.   Surely got to hang around and do that one.

Damrongsak,  You very welcome in uniform but,  sword plastic,  AlexRRR I will  PM message when I advance my planning.

I have used Airbnb both inside and outside Thailand.  No problems to report.   Even for odd night stop overs when passing through on road trips in Thailand it works well listing well organised and given a good review get some confidence it will 'work out'.   Can book and pay one button 'click' job done,  location loaded

into Google Map easy to find.   There should never be extra's to pay on top if this happens surely report it and Airbnb system will sort it out.    It works well from both sides - generally, you can cancel and get your money back with some notice - but you surely pay if you just 'no show'.    Sure most Thai listings for dominated by what are effectively hotels were in US & Europe it more nearly private accommodation listed.  

I sail a smallish boat in the Gulf and would observe this.  It is just about possible to sail most days and of course very exciting in the rainy season thunderstorm's!!  But outside the winds very modest  lets say 10-20km/hr on the coast  middle hours of the day - and mostly a sea breeze induced by heat rising from the shoreline.

Sailing  windward or on reaches the boat  crew is cool a breeze keep bodies in check.  Breeze drops or sail directly downwind  - crew immediately get hot & tetchy - definitely stifling and uncomfortable - so on goes the engine for artificial breeze  & always sail broad reaches never  sail directly downwind.

I have reservoir sailed (cruised & raced)  in UK - the wind is generally more fickle in the lee of high banks and woodlands -  My feeling is there is not enough wind reliably blowing inland Thailand to get a good sail reliably.

Maybe 'Wind Guru'  could statistically prove this in your location maybe.  Thailand has  not adopted wind turbines - as simply available wind regime does not make it viable

I would  finally observe the 'litmus paper'  is to follow the 'kite boarders' - this very popular in Thailand and they have hunted down the best wind spots for sure.

It's actually the Thai irrigation department who control the dams and monitor weather,  dam levels, river heights and flows with a network of measurement stations.  They do near daily reports and its in English here http://www.rid.go.th/eng/

They knew 4-6 weeks before them floods 5 yeas ago that the dam levels at that time and the volume of rain that had fallen in the North flooding in the Chao praya delta was going to happen.

After those floods for better or worse a huge amount of civil engineering projects were undertaken - living near Pathum Thani  - under road concrete drainage sections 5m x 5m were set across the road every km - all designed to take water from somewhere to somewhere else - all over many many heightening of road levels ditches and dykes.   Yes, monkey cheeks - are probably there,  just nobody know if they live in the wet or dry side!

Even last week after our wet few weeks the Chaopraya was rushing by near Pathum Thani  - probably prudent management of getting a volume of water safely out into the Gulf  measured against the volume that is anticipated to flow into the dams in the balance of the predicted rainy season.

That flood year the political objective was to ensure  by all means there were  full dams to allow full dry season irrigation that interfered with prudent water shed management.

If rainfall is somewhere between minimum and maximum annual range is should be managed at this time, the information & tools are available and in place.

Is my humble opinoin

There are orchards around Pakchong  - just outside Kao Yai National Park and in season  available for 25/40 baht a Kg  - from the table 'under the tree' and ripe they taste great.  I think the issue in Thailand  is distribution & market.  First the Thai market & cuisine not that keen on them, demand is not high,  it is a demand largely based on a small falang market - this leads to as example Macro putting local advocado's on their  shelves very green and hard hoping for a long shelf life  that take many days at home to ripen and soften if they don't turn black.  This allows for an extended shelf life  for them to be 'available' to the few - and still probably a  substantial stock lost to degradation in store - so no wonder the sales price jumps to 100 Baht Kg.   

It is a puzzle that Thai's don't embrace the taste of a guacamole loaded with chili - Indonesia love them pulverised in a  fruit shake mixed with chocolate - more calorie loaded than a Guinness. 

It seems like they need some altitude to grow fruiting trees - maybe cool nights to allow them to flourish - unlike mangoes.

16 hours ago, fruitman said:

 

They do have to pay that 10foulded price at the national parks. Why not? They are farang and the Thai don't give a poop if you helped their country in the past or never at all.

 

It's the same with the tsunami, they got big money from my homecountry but still treat them like criminals. And only the G7 have special visa-rules, the others are all the same to them.

Hmm thats not quite right about the Tsunami and funding - despite fading memories of 12 years ago.   By and large Thailand looked after its own disaster costs at that time - the man in charge said at the time something like "Thailand does not need the worlds money - if the world can do something for us -  please buy our chickens again"  - yup  Tsunami was proceeded by the big bird flu epidemic - possibly the  Tsunami wave caused by the dumping of frozen chickens en mass off the west coast of Indonesia and not an earthquake (more data required to support this theory).   Thailand was kissed by the wave and 6000 souls died on Phuket beaches - but the news hit the  world media instantly and put Thailand at the centre of the story - 3 days later people wondered why nothing had been heard from Banda Aceh in Indonesia where 130,000 lives were lost and an entire city flattened.   OK it was surely  images from Thai beaches that got hands into pockets around the world - and duly that relief aid made available  mostly to Banda Aceh  and the sum was truly substantial.  

More on the original topic - recall the free hotels being freely offered to survivors,  free mobile calls, flights support - the Thais truly offered all they had in a show of direct assistance - did not look at it as any way a money making venture.   In general in Thailand  outside clear tourist areas I personally found Thai traders at pains to demonstrate a flat payment  very little evidence of dual pricing.  I do remember 10pence cans of coke on sale to thirsty foreign visitors in London for £1 in the 80's  no great example to the world there. 

There  is a lot more to Thailand and its people than mithering about the money traders make.

On 10/30/2016 at 7:10 AM, williet98248 said:

Thais in general are not readers; definitely want to stay out of the sun.  Nothing to do with availability of Kindles.  The other day I actually saw a Thai reading...a book.  Not a smart phone or a comic.  I remarked to myself as to how unusual that is.

hmmm apparently irony has to be added to things it is not possible to ship to Thailand either

20 minutes ago, longtom said:

 

You know Thais that like to stay in the sun and even read in the sun? Must be aliens in disguise! 

 

 

Hmm You need to qualify your question.  How many Thais do I know or even see that read a Kindle.   Then once we know that  we  can worry about the next sub group of their preference to being in the sun.

Maybe Kindle to consider their KIndle design for Thailand, if it had a camera, could use with Line,  have games and maybe  make cell call - and a bit smaller screen it would be more popular??    Oh and use in both the sun & shade

Problem solved. 

46 minutes ago, OMGImInPattaya said:

Wouldn't it be easier to buy some tablet in Thailand and then download and use the Kindle App? You would get 90% of the functionality and zero percent of the hassle.

2 hours ago, Eneukman said:

I was trying to buy a new kindle from Amazon. Amazon in the UK wouldn't ship to Thailand but their parent company in America did, though only certain models. Fortunately, one of them that did ship was the one I wanted. 

 

I had big problems with FedEx, who handle Amazon's worldwide shipping from America. My kindle arrived in Hong Kong in good time but from there went to:

 

China

Back to Hong Kong

To Taiwan

Back to Hong Kong

To China

To Korea

Back to Hong Kong 

To China yet again before finally being sent on to Bangkok.

 

Amazon were very good and refunded all delivery charges yet. surprise, surprise, FedEx in Bangkok saw absolutely nothing wrong with it being bounced from Hong Kong to and from Taiwan and Korea.

 

Alan

Ok  So bit lazy too ask google before - B2B  bookstores stock 4 models of Kindle in Thailand - yes more expensive not least because of duty & VAT .  But thats why at least Kindle would try and support their presumably sales agent - with an interest so see Thai language books in wide circulation.

Whilst falang not possibly want to read a Kindle in sun - the Thais will  love to - they don't because just not enough Kindles to read with yet for sure?