floridaguy

My wife changed her surname in the blue house book and got a new ID card on the same day at the same office in Bangkok because that's where her house is. She did the house book first using the marriage certificate. Several months later she used both documents to be issued with a new passport.

This nonsense about the OP's wife having to do an extension isn't needed; she has to go to the district office where her house is, but the entry change takes mere minutes and getting a new ID card at the same place takes little over an hour depending on how busy it is.

She cannot get a new card right now, at least not the plastic ID card. Thailand is involved with a payment dispute with the smart card supplier, and since the government is withholding payment, the supplier is withholding cards. I know because I misplaced my card and would have had to get the paper ID card, but luckily found my ID.

You could possibly have a family member do it at her home town if you grease enough palms, gift money of course. For us Thais, the Tabien Baan almost seems more important than anything. All ID's and Passports depend on it. So, see if one of her family can change it for her, then fax her a copy of the Tabien Baan with the page showing her new name. From there, it is all in an hour or two in Bangkok for a new ID, paper or otherwise, and a new passport on order. New ID or paper ID is immediate, passport takes 3 days or so.

Good luck.

Have you not a Thai friend who speaks English and can help you through this and 500 baht maybe a 1000 baht can work wonders wink. wink.

a THOUSAND? I spent 200 baht on that cake I gave her and she was ecstatic.

As well both 91-95 "Benzine" are far more rare and even more so 91 these days, here in Bangkok I've yet to find 91 and that also includes some travel to other places like Pattaya and I only know of one station that carries the 95 here as well out of dozens I've checked in different parts of Bangkok.

Warp, don't you live around Thonglor-ish, or are you Chaeng Wattana-ish? There are several on Petchburi between Asoke and Phra Khanong. I fill up at a station just east of Thonglor on Petchburi, heading west toward Centralworld, near the big blue Siemens building, search google maps for 13.744143,100.587001. They have 91 benzine, the good stuff my bike requires. There is at least one more along that stretch on both sides, forget where. There are alot of high end cars - Bentley, Mercedes, Aston Martins, BMW - being sold along that stretch so they tend to carry both 95 and 91 benzine.

They probaly try to drive the same in Thailand as in states, talking on phone, talking to friend, or text message, wham bam thank you mam going home in a box.

That is how we drive here! We just do it with more people on board, balancing a bag of coca cola.

If you are going for an interview, why not go have a shirt and trousers custom made for about the same price or less? Certainly cheaper than Emporium. They can have it made in 6 hours if you really need. This would be more appropriate than off the shelf clothing, and it will fit your perfectly. Tailor shops are everywhere, they all try to rip you off so bargain hard, and the quality is nearly the same. In fact, the shops are a front for the true tailors, who all produce clothing for multiple shops.

I guess it depends on the dress code at the type of company you are interviewing with. Offices require office apparel. And if it is office clothing, ie button up shirts and trousers, then fashion is not quite as important, as truly good office styles are nearly timeless. Go for classic styles, not too trendy, but don't buy a double breasted suit with pleated pants! Nothing screams old man more.

BTW, I am not a woman, but I do try to dress smartly, and not too smart, if you know what I mean.

okay,thanks for information!

hope the can send back the card to another bank,but i think not...

is it on everys thai bank the same?

when is the emergicy number i have to call,when kredit card stolen during traveling?

It is probably the same with most Thai banks. I have personal experience only with Bangkok Bank and Siam Commercial, and both require any replacement cards to come from the branch that you opened it up at. Check on their website to find the emergency number.

Good luck.

I need receipts for reimbursement from the company. But, I have often been given hand written receipts. I don't care, as long as I get a receipt for the amount that I paid. I have never been given this offer, but I suspect some of those handwritten receipts could potentially be doctored.

There are 2 types of non-diesel gasoline. There is what is locally called benzene, or "benz" which is your regulare gas. This comes in 91 and 95, of course 95 being premium. Then there is gasohol 91 and 95, which has ethanol mixed in. Search the forum and you can see the new color code. Basically, if you want real gas, ask for benz in whatever octane you want, if you want ethanol, ask for gasohol in whatever octane you want.

This is actually a more accurate naming system, since it shows the actual octane of the fuel. "Premium" is not accurate enough, since it doesn't specify the octane. In the US, premium can refer to anything over 92 octane. So this is a better system, as long as you can understand the basics of fuels and octanes.

You have to go back to the original bank branch, and it is free. They will give you a new card on the spot. I just did it last week at Siam Commercial Bank.

r transfer the money from your ATM after calling the number on the back of the ticket and they will mail the license back to you without having to go down to the office to get it.

Have you actually done this? How do you tell them your address?

Yes, last year I got a jacka$$ cop who asked to see my drivers license, then walked away without saying a word, only to return, hand me a ticket and walk away and jump in his car and drive off with my drivers license. I called the number on the ticket and told them the ticket number and they told me the fine, which I bargained down. The agreed upon price is noted on the ticket, and you transfer the money at the ATM to the account number on the ticket. After that, you call them and they verify the money is there. Once they do that, they mail it back to you. Make sure that you tell them your address if it is different from your license, or they will mail it to the address on the license. All told, I received my license on the 3rd day after I transferred the money. I think I had to pay the 35 baht post fee, can't remember. Painless, you don't have to go down to the office.

This is on the landmark side of the Suk?

Yes, when you turn onto Suk Soi 8, walk about 50(?) meters it is on the left side, can't miss the sign for Soi 8 Bar, big yellow sign. BTW, if you have your meetings on Fridays, they have free BBQ food

Clint, go to Settings, General, About and scroll to the bottom and look for Modem Firmware. What is that number? I have a 3G on Firmware 05.13.04 and am jailbroken on 4.1 using AIS. It depends on your firmware version. If you can, I can point you to where I got my custom firmware and used it to jailbreak my 3G from 4.01 to 4.1 last month.

Other option, go back to MBK and pay 500 baht for a turbo sim adapter, it goes with your sim card into the phone and allows you to use the phone as a, well, phone. I had to do this last year until a software unlock was released. It was a pain in the a$$, whenever I left Bangkok, I had to reboot the phone when I returned or the phone wouldn't "see" the AIS network and I couldn't make or receive calls.

Limera1n works fine, just used it to JB my iPhone 4 on 4.1

It's a thing of beauty- GeoHot style. It's literally one click, it doesn't come with instructions and more importantly it doesn't need instructions. It just works, and installs a Limera1n app on your phone which you can then use to install Cydia.

nikster, cydia wasn't installed by default?

The test itself is very easy, but the english translation of the test appears to have been done by a non-English speaking person. Many of the "correct" answers are wrong or do not apply to the question asked. There is, however, salvation. In Pattaya, at least, there is a machine upstairs in the license processing area that has all (or almost all) of the actual test questions and gives you the "correct" answer. You don't have to understand it or understand why it is correct, just repeat it when asked on the acutal test. You can run through the sample test on the machine once or twice before taking the test in about 20 minutes and hopefully remember the correct answers long enough to repeat then on the real test.

This is correct, I was explained this by the test administrator before taking the test and failing by 1 question. We repeated it together. She felt sorry for the poor Thai guy who couldn't read Thai. I translated the english questions to her in Thai, and she gave me the answers. Passed 100%. So after the test I brought her back a coconut cake!

If you can't find the test answers, just explain to the test administrator that you can't take the Thai version, and that the English questions are mistranslated and often wrong. Take some candy or food with you to give to her (you just HAPPENED to have some that she can have for helping you) and I am sure they will help you.

True about right lanes and motorbikes, but somlor's also must stay to the left unless turning/overtaking. I assume you aren't in an area where pedaled samlors are illegal, such as anywhere in Bangkok?

This happened in Nonthaburi. We went to the Nonthaburi police station. Samlor claims he was in the middle of the road (a small bridge without streetlights) waiting to cross. Is it by Thai law required to cross only at zebra crossings? I also tried to find out whether samlors are legal in that area (on krungtep-nonthaburi rd) but wasn't able to find anything.

We have not heard anything back from the police or anyone. I'll keep you guys updated if anything further happens. Once again, thank you all for your replies.

You won't. Good luck. And if you are in the Bangkok part of Nonthaburi, they are still illegal. He said/she said about where you were, unless the police on scene painted the outline of your bike and his samlor like the do with cars and fatal accidents. They it is easy to get a photo before it wears off. If not, no one can prove one way or the other, without witnesses.

If Iam a long way from home and pulled over and suspect they may be "legit" I tell em I don't have a licence.

Thanks Spoonman, but I do have a Thai driver's licence. It was the one thing I seem to have omitted from my question. Anyway, I'm looking for the answer on how the law stands really. Perhaps the Traffic Code has sections on this, which can be presented to a policeman who doesn't know the law properly.

Pointing out points of law will make the situation worse. Trust me, I have personal and anecdotal experience. My last encounter involved being stopped by a group of police on Sukhumvit for have an "electric" light, as he called it. It was a Xenon headlight on my motorcycle. I tried to point out that all Mercedes, BMWs, and Audis and others have it, and he should pull over all those cars, but if he did he knows he would lose his job. Well, he didn't like having this explained to him, and also didn't like the other cop telling him to let me go since I turned my Xenons off.

Don't try to argue points of law with a cop, you will always lose. You are causing him to lose face, and he will never let this slide. If you don't want it taken away, don't give it to him and pay the 200 baht fine for that along with whatever other fine he stopped you for. Otherwise, show him your license, and if he takes it, either pay him the 100 or 200 to get it back, or transfer the money from your ATM after calling the number on the back of the ticket and they will mail the license back to you without having to go down to the office to get it.

My company does cleaning, mostly factories, but also offices, all over the world for large automotive companies, sports stadiums, racetracks, government buildings, etc. We currently clean in Chonburi. If you want to send me a PM and we can chat offline.

This happens to me everytime I have a cigarette, but not so severe. I know exactly what you are talking about OP. This is why I only smoke 1 or 2 cigarettes a year. For me, I think it has to do with the nicotine giving me a rush. I know most smokers say they are chasing the rush they got from their first cigarette, so I may be that since I only smoke once or twice a year, it is like a "first" cigarette for me everytime.

Borrow money to give back to another lender. Could become a sort of perpetual motion

Folks use to do this in the US

The system was to use the checks that credit cards give out & pay off the balance of the card before it was 1 cycle old.

Thus it incurred no finance charge. You could circle the debt round & round without it growing.

If you had 3-5 cards with high limits folks use to actually do some rather large schemes.

In fact you ended up with a great credit rating because you paid large balances each month in full.

But like all good/shady things it came to an end.

The banks saw what it was & then started a transfer fee.

These pay-offs are now considered what they are...transfer of balances with a 3% or more fee.

So now these do grow even faster than a good finance charge.

But stay away from credit cards...they are the devils toys :lol:

Of course you & I need them to move about the world but .....carry no balances.

As long as you are responsible and don't push it too far, this is correct. It was one of the tricks I would use to give my clients a quick boost in their credit rating to qualify for a lower home or commercial mortgage. I did it myself a couple of times and it does work. But as flying noted, it usually comes with a fee now. Thai banks may not know about this, as the credit card business is not quite as mature here. Just don't fall into a downward spiral and not pay the charges. Then your credit takes a huge nose dive.

I have checked with all the Apple authorized resellers in Bangkok that I can find and they are all out of stock. They are getting shipments in periodically, but they are on a first come first serve basis. I would like one with a warranty. I bought my 3G from MBK a year and a half ago, and I never had a problem, but iPhone 4's are more prone to damage, so a warranty this time around would be nice.

Two sides to every story etc. To the OP you say you could hear the Harleys reving behind you when you were going down soi post office,

Yeah, EVERYBODY could hear all the noise from the time they entered the soi, as they revved and backfired all the way to the end. The point was to make as much noise as possible; it echoes well between the buildings.

They caught up with me about 2/3 of the way down. However, I didn't pay much attention really. Just Harley riders having a wank and fantasizing about their importance. Their money, not mine. But my not paying much attention kinda ruined the wank I guess. Everybody was supposed to be intimidated and clear the road, as for royalty. I didn't feel intimidated.

you then turned into the outside lane on second road and again they apparently got frustrated being stuck behind you.

Soi Post Office is rather narrow when you consider the cars and bikes and food carts parked along the sides, which can pull out unpredictably; and pedestrians can walk out between them at any time, perhaps drunk pedestrians. Riding close to the side isn't as safe as riding closer to the middle, where I was. There's a reason I haven't had any collisions during my years in Pattaya.

Now, it's not my fault these riders have absurdly big and unmaneuverable bikes for Pattaya streets & traffic. It doesn't mean they own the road. At the corner, there was a rare lucky opening in 2nd Rd. traffic, so I could turn all the way into the far right lane of 2nd Rd. No way my little Phantom could block the entire three lanes of that road! At that point I'd about forgotten about them; I instinctively figured they'd move into the next lane and pass if they wanted to. A sportsbike woulda been past me in a flash and halfway to Soi Diana by the time I completed the turn!

So, thinking back, I believe they had decided to try to harass me. They succeeded well in making themselves look ridiculous. That arrogant little smirk on the first Harley rider's face as he turned right after he cut me off! I mean, really. A grown man, fer Chrissake.

Why didn't you just move over a bit and let them past, you were on a small bike a phantom or something wouldn't have been hard to move over a bit.

I didn't hear no siren or see any flashing lights or see any brown uniforms, pal. Didn't hear no horn either. I had no legal obligation to pull over, and I was anticipating the turn at the corner. And, as mentioned, I figured they were enjoying a wank with their revving noises, as many Harley riders do. For all I knew, they might enjoy slowing down to give the denizens of the soi even more enjoyment. Pulling over out of their way didn't even occur to me, frankly. It wasn't a situation in which it should be expected at all.

From your first post it sounds like you were deliberately blocking them going down soi post office.

Hardly. But it happened that I was ahead of them on a rather narrow and busy soi. I wanted to stay towards the safer middle of that soi. And I wanted to be first out of the corner, with a clear view, because they themselves might cause delay and confusion (you learn to be wary of farang drivers). Being ahead of them, I had the right to be first out, unless they went around. Actually I think they probably could have gone around on the right side, at the corner, if they could have gotten their minds off their revving for a second.

Now, do tell us how many times you've driven your motorbike down Soi Post Office? I'd estimate I've driven down it, over 15 years, at least 1,000 times (at once every 4 days or so).

Ultimately, they succeeded in what they truly were trying to accomplish. You pissed them off, so they pissed you off. It seems they pissed you off more than the other way around. I would bet they forgot about you an hour after it happened. Maybe you should let it go.

I sure wouldn't waste a trip to the Land Transportation Department without a Police Report, just because they didn't ask you for one sarahsbloke doesn't mean anything

It is the law that a Police Report be presented before they will issue a new drivers license so why waste your time and end up making two trips

Must be a different law in CM then ,,,,,, I still got a new one.

As in most things in Thailand, it depends on who you get at the counter. The police report is free and takes 10 minutes. If you went without it and were turned away, we would be discussing that in a new thread "Why do I need a police report to get my lost license back?"

If not under the software list installed... only way to rid yourself of it is to delete the directory... then search the registry for entries concerning said software then delete them. Then reboot. Word of caution be careful in the registry because if you delete a key you shouldn't you may well have fked up your computer.

That is not the only option, just the most tedious. There are many programs for free that will hunt out and delete orphan files, and fragments of installed programs. A quick google will work.

I remember the days when cell phones came out and people said that there was no way anyone needed to have a mobile phone. I also remember Bill Gates saying no one would ever need more than 4 megs of ram or some such, maybe it was hard drive space. There is a value to new technology, such as smartphones, ABS, etc, that some will always denounce and ridicule.

There are some very legitamate reasons for a 13 year old to have a smart phone such as the iPhone. There is the safety factor. iPhones 3GS's have built in GPS, and compass and you can track the phone from your own phone. As a parent, I like to know where my 14 and 12 year olds are. I like being able to see exactly where they are if I need to. Also, if they are lost, they can get turn by turn walking or driving directions in their own language, bus routes, subway routes, etc. If my children are lost, I would rather they relied on technology to get them somewhere safe than taking the risk of asking a stranger. There is also the convenience. Shopping, barcode scanning, photo taking, email, text. If I want my kids to pick something up from the market, they can't read Thai, so I can often email or SMS them a photo of what I want. No 900 baht Nokia will do any of this.

I wouldn't want my 14 year old walking around with a professional camera, which costs several times more than an iPhone, around their neck. That invites thieves and kidnappers. And if my kids want to learn piano, then they can download and read the music sheets on their iPhone on the train home. After that, they could photoshop the photos they took on their hi-res camera on their iPhone and post it online for their friends and family back in our home country to see.

Meanwhile, a 900 baht Nokia is just a phone.

If you know how to use this functions and you have a good reason for having it, sure it's nice it's there ! But I don't need a GPS device as I have no transport company, etc. Often the reason for buying an iPhone is mainly based on stupid emotions.

I know a middle aged dude who is proud owner of a glossy iPhone but doesn't know how the dam_n thing works, so he tried to make me the person responsible for changing ringtones and other settings. When I say 'no thanks, too hard for me too, why don't you get a normal phone like me, at least then you know how to make a call' He doesn't like that..

Back to basic !

That is funny. Then I agree that guy has no reason to have one, because he doesn't want to know the possibilities of the phone. For me, I am often caught on my motorcycle and realized I left my GPS in the car and the iPhone works great to get me unlost. We all know how easy it is to get turned around in Bangkok and lose an hour getting back to where you needed to be. But, if all you need is a phone and a clock (I use mine for that also, since I stopped wearing a watch when I moved here to Thailand), then any model will do.

Officially they are only available through AIS, DTAC, and True with two year contracts (work permit and passport required) and there is a wait list. We bought two through AIS when they were at the mobile phone expo at Queen Sirikit convention center this month. 16GB was 21,000 baht and and 3GB was 23,000.

They are available and plentiful at MBK shopping center, as well with prices still a bit higher at about 24,000 and 27,000. Prices vary a bit. As the iphone4 becomes more readily available the prices in MBK will drop.

No contract required, but price is a bit higher. Like 26000 for the 32gb.

If you go to MBK, make sure you get what you want. They have tried to sell me software unlocked phones as hardware unlocked phones. Just make sure you check you are getting what you want.