Bangkok Barry

Further thought is that you collect a ticket showing the date and time when you arrive and then pay on leaving once the fee has been totted up.

Your experience, not mine. But thanks for your comment.

Long straight road, daylight, good weather, and still too difficult for some to negotiate safely. And then come the excuses - it wasn't my fault, it was someone else's. Jerasak claimed he was en route from Chaiyaphum to Nakhon Ratchasima when he collided with the E-tan vehicle at a declining slope. He alleged another vehicle was driving recklessly, which he barely avoided.

Jeez! How difficult is it to drive a kilometre instead of 300 metres? It's not as if you have to walk it.

One of my biggest frustrations about living in Thailand is that it is very difficult to buy anything that isn't made in China. And most of what comes from China is of very poor quality. I once, in my diplomatic way, asked a Chinese colleague why everything I buy that is made in China is such c*ap, and he was surprised, saying he never has problems with things he buys there. I can only imagine that Thailand only buys in the lowest quality for the lowest price, which suits the country's own standards. If I am able to buy Thai instead of Chinese I have the same problem. Bought a toaster and it lasted less than a month. As a Korean I worked with once said, the standards here are so low.

Similar thing happened at a friend's house there, after he died. Within hours the locals has swooped in like vultures and striped the place bare, even taking sheets and the bed he had died on, as well as his SUV. Scum.

Well, that free car park is often full and the parking spaces are tight. I'd rather pay the 'massive rip-off' fee of 250. Seriously, if paying 250 is a problem for anyone then it is they who have a problem. But each to their own. Someone wrote that you pay on leaving. My memory is that you pay on arrival, but I might be wrong. I wouldn't say it's secure as the people who collect the cash don't know and don't care who owns what, but it's under cover and out of the sun and rain.

And that hope will be extinguished once more, as it has been in recent weeks and several times before. Groundhog Day until the end of time.

It's easy to imagine the international outcry about democracy being stamped upon by unelected groups, if Thailand meant anything at all to the outside world. But it doesn't so it's ignored, as are the many thousands of deaths in the South. The world doesn't care, as whatever happens in Thailand is only important within its borders. Nowhere else.

I'm more concerned about when they might prescribe something unsuitable. People's health, even lives, are at stake. Would you want an unqualified mechanic working on your car? Oh, wait...... As you say, what else can we expect in a country where rules and laws are routinely ignored.

Someone earlier in the thread posted photos of that. I wonder too. Just another law that is selectively applied? Perfectly normal in Thailand.

Thanks. And I like your 'name'.

And you are entitled to your opinion. As I am in offering the OP the best way to find a hotel, the same way that I am sure many thousands do each day. Asking for recommendations from us is what is useless, as everyone has differing tastes and ideas of what makes the best place and the best location. Which path he chooses is up to him, not you.

Useless…. Could you explain why a system I have been using successfully around the world for many, many years is useless? Compared to what system you use to book hotels? How is your method superior to checking booking sites and reviews? I think we'd all love to know.

I know Thais have a reputation of being able to sleep anywhere at any time, but it's better not to do it when you're driving.

Google hotels in Bangkok. Easy as that. So many to choose from. Look at the booking sites, pick your area, read reviews on Trip Advisor and make your choice.

Me me me. Does having chicken pox, which I did as a kid, mean I'm unlikely to get shingles though?

The thing is, we'd never actually see them would we. Unless we were invited into one of their roadside booths.

Who would you want then? What fine, upstanding person of high intelligence and impeccable integrity do you think would be a suitable person for PM? Sadly, almost anyone who achieves high office or is very successful in business didn't get there by being My Nice Guy, so the choice is close to zero anywhere, not only in Thailand.

1 - Wasn't her son too young to be driving a motorcycle? 2 - Don't Thais get most of their medical attention for a nominal charge? 3 - Is anyone every going to do anything about the countless low hanging wires?

That's a bizarre statement. Many billions are spent to enable very clever scientists to develop the drugs that treat countless illnesses and prolong the life of countless millions in any one country. Yet you don't trust most of them. Interesting. i wonder why that is.

I've only ever seen one politician I would trust, but he is in the UK so doesn't qualify to become Thai PM. Since you were wondering, it's Andy Burnham who resigned as an MP to become Mayor of Manchester. Actually, I did know another as a teenager. My father knew our local mayor and then MP (I think they went to school together) and he would give me tickets for the Stranger's Gallery in the House of Commons, and he even treated me for a meal in the Member's dining room. There was nothing in it for him as I was too young to vote. He was simply a very nice and kindly man. Whether he would have made a good PM or not, I have no idea. He probably wasn't nasty enough.

13 in 14 pharmacies. That's pretty frightening. You just can't trust anyone or anything in Thailand.

Anyone wearing safety glasses or other headgear?