MTH

My temp licence expires in dec.

Should I go for renewal just days after it expires?

Yes, if you before the expire date you will get again a 1 year temporary license.

Oh, that changed years ago... You can apply for the 5 year license 60 days before expiry of your 1 year license.

I wouldn’t say large, but I recently used the Double A shop on Thepprasit, recommended here on the forum, for printing a 12 page Acrobat file. Cost 3 Baht per page.

To make it easy for revelers, Loy Kratong is always celebrated at the full moon early November (and occasionally late October). Just check any lunar calendar and you'd be spot on. This year it's the 6th of November as mentioned.

in and around Central World - hardly the high season of old,

Even the low season exceeds the high season of old, unless you define "old" in terms of months.

Central World hasn't even existed long enough to be used for "old" comparisons. The shopping Meccas were Royal Plaza and Big C Festival on Pattaya Nua in the "old" days.

Of course even ten or 15 years ago people were complaining about too many condos (and that they would never sell) and the supposed declining numbers of tourists. The more things change ...

sorry but why don’t you get your fact straight before you post inconsistencies?

Central World is located in Bangkok, the shopping center referred to is named Central Festival. Royal Garden was and is the name commonly used not Royal Plaza, maybe at a stretch it might have been called Royal Garden Plaza, which actually would be the proper name. Big C was at that time referred to as Central Festival and it’s not located on Pattaya Nua, it’s located on Second Road.

Numchai is often recommended here on TV. They are an authorized service provider for Panasonic.

There is a hidden gem in terms of Thai restaurants to be found in South Pattaya. It is with some reluctance that I will divulge it on TV (as I want it to stay exactly as it is).

It's name is Jar Toi, and it is located on a small Soi (a dead end) off Soi 17, 3rd Road (the Soi from 3rd Road to Threppasit Road). If you were driving from 3rd Road up Soi 17, you come to the Lion Pub in front of you, follow the road around to the right, then approx 100m further on the road bends left, the restaurant is located at the end of the Soi to the right on this bend.

This restaurant serves IMHO the best Thai food in Pattaya. It is full every evening, and busy pretty much each afternoon, and it is very, very rare that you see anyone other than quite well to do Thais there (including a lot of off duty police officers, I'm told it's owned by a police officer but cannot confirm that).

It's an outdoor restaurant, and very rustic, in fact it's hard to believe that you're still in Pattaya (it's as if you've gone back in time!). There are large old wooden tables to cater for groups, and private small tables in wooden pagoda type settings to cater for couples or small groups.

The service staff comprise mainly of older katoey's (much older) who are very efficient and friendly (I don't know why so many work here but all I can presume is at their age their previous possible career options had become limited).

The food is aimed solely for the Thai palate and clientele, is excellent value, and in no way is the restaurant aimed at tourists, in fact you hardly ever see a farang there (until now I suppose).

Can you please provide a Google Earth placemark or Google Maps coordinates?

Here you go: Link

Haven't been myself, but looks interesting, will have to give it a try.

Thanks. Went there last night and the food was good, although very spicy - even for my Thai wife. The waiter warned us that the food they served was spicy so we ordered it medium spicy, but still it was hotter than we like it.

Having said that the food was good (and cheap). I saw several dishes on the menu I've never tried before and that's always something I'm looking for.

We had a sour soup with smoked chicken that was very nice. The wife had a kaeng som which she claimed was good (don't eat it as it's always sweet) as well as steamed egg with crab meat.

The total bill with two large Chang Export and a bottle of water was just over 500 Baht. They had quite a lot of costumers, both Thai and foreign. The decor is a bit to rustic for my taste but I will definitively go back at some point.

My pleasure. We ended up going there tonight to check the place out.

We ordered 3 dishes:

Pat Pong Gari Ruam a non-spicy dish that was quite tasty but a bit to oily.

Chuchi Pla pretty much prepared as a Geng Kiaw Wan alas to watery, however still very tasty and this dish ended up being my favorite of the three.

Tom Yum Ruam nam kon, the soup was good but it had mostly squid as a filler with just a few shrimps and mushrooms, additionally they’ve put a piece of a fish carcass in there without any meat on it. Bet the shrimp only version would have been a much better choice.

We ended up paying just shy of 600 Baht for these dishes, two plates of rice, one bottle of water, one large beer and a bucket of ice.

It was an interesting place and I’m happy to have tried it, but doubt that we’ll be back in the near future. Food was good but nothing special, for about the same price there are quite a few other restaurants I’d rather frequent. To name a few that would be, Mum Arroy on 3rd road, Leng Kee on klang, Bpoo Bpen at the south end of Jomtien beach and the sea food restaurant behind rompoo market.

There is a hidden gem in terms of Thai restaurants to be found in South Pattaya. It is with some reluctance that I will divulge it on TV (as I want it to stay exactly as it is).

It's name is Jar Toi, and it is located on a small Soi (a dead end) off Soi 17, 3rd Road (the Soi from 3rd Road to Threppasit Road). If you were driving from 3rd Road up Soi 17, you come to the Lion Pub in front of you, follow the road around to the right, then approx 100m further on the road bends left, the restaurant is located at the end of the Soi to the right on this bend.

This restaurant serves IMHO the best Thai food in Pattaya. It is full every evening, and busy pretty much each afternoon, and it is very, very rare that you see anyone other than quite well to do Thais there (including a lot of off duty police officers, I'm told it's owned by a police officer but cannot confirm that).

It's an outdoor restaurant, and very rustic, in fact it's hard to believe that you're still in Pattaya (it's as if you've gone back in time!). There are large old wooden tables to cater for groups, and private small tables in wooden pagoda type settings to cater for couples or small groups.

The service staff comprise mainly of older katoey's (much older) who are very efficient and friendly (I don't know why so many work here but all I can presume is at their age their previous possible career options had become limited).

The food is aimed solely for the Thai palate and clientele, is excellent value, and in no way is the restaurant aimed at tourists, in fact you hardly ever see a farang there (until now I suppose).

Can you please provide a Google Earth placemark or Google Maps coordinates?

Here you go: Link

Haven't been myself, but looks interesting, will have to give it a try.

I’ve also been upgraded automatically over the years, while the price has gone down.

Initially signed up for TOT silvercyber 7 years ago, 1 Mb down at 700 Baht. Today I have 10 Mb at 590 Baht.

No your right MTH I'm confused and naive. I have just arrived and a little overwhelmed.

I mean usually I will research something before replying. So many others have drilled down to the differing amounts involved, the photo of the funds and the location of the incident. I only went on the words and photos of the initial story. in short I spoke to soon.

In a sense I did the same mistake, by shooting from the hip before I’d let your post sink in.

I definitely agree with your statement, do some research before posting.

I doubt many posters here have even read the whole news article, nor seen the picture with the cash/travelers checks on display.

I’m amazed that there are so few here on the forum realizing that most likely the amount of money lost was about

220K not 2.2M Baht

Handing over 10K as a finder’s fee is close to 5% and maybe a bit on the low side, but still a very nice reward for a good deed.

Sorry to everyone for jumping the gun.

I let this persons title and disheveled look prejudice my opinion of his actions.

Cleaning up my mistake and leaving my sincere apologies Wiceman!

Is Makro a membership only store? Did you need to show that you run a business to get a membership card?

Well yes, “supposedly” it’s a membership only store. However you can easily circumvent this by requesting a onetime shopping pass when entering the store. Just query someone at the information desk.

I did get my membership card affiliated with my business at the time the Jomtien branch opened. Granted at that time, it seemed that they were more than happy to issue anyone a member card if they could just provide a Thai driver’s license. Doubt it’ll be more difficult than that today.

Thailand's army has told the press that the Curfew REMAINS IN PLACE 10PM to 5AM no exceptions and that variations and rumours that they have ended are unfounded.

Please see HERE

so according to that the curfew is set for 10pm till 5am until further notice ?

Reading george's post that Rimmer linked to, I'd say that's plain as a pikestaff, wouldn't you?

Well throw me in the pokey for asking for clarification.

Initially the curfew was "suggested" to be ending on Wednesday. I heard otherwise and asked about it...... I got an answer that did not actually answer my question.

Clarification? Really, ending Wednesday, are you sure that’s what you asked about?

We’re not mind readers here you know and rimmer’s link was spot on to your question.

Thailand's army has told the press that the Curfew REMAINS IN PLACE 10PM to 5AM no exceptions and that variations and rumours that they have ended are unfounded.

Please see HERE

so according to that the curfew is set for 10pm till 5am until further notice ?

Reading george's post that Rimmer linked to, I'd say that's plain as a pikestaff, wouldn't you?

My 1 year drivers license will expire in August but later this week I will be leaving to Australia for work for 3 months so only returning in September so should i renew beofre leaving or can i renew after I get back or will this be expired too long and will have to start all new?

Renew when you come back.

You can renew a temporary license 2 months before and up to 1 year after expiry, before having to take any additional tests. So you do have plenty of time to apply for your first 5 year license when getting back in September.

Did you miss the news about the Thai Navy taking over soi9 police station?

You might have missed these comments:

petercool

TommyDee

As posted above, need to be the 5 years license.

Yes, it's definitely valid in Cambodia.

It's valid in all the ASEAN countries (and some additional countries), since the change to the plastic credit card style license.

Unfortunately that's still not a guarantee that the local policeman won't try to fine you anyway

I think you might ne wrong there pal, was in Sihanooky last month and got stopped

several time by the local fuz and all they care about was getting $ 1-2 " fine on the spot"

even though I have Thai driving license, and was told by the copper that Thai d/l means

nothing in Cambodia....

Actually I do think I’m right, however I did add the standard disclaimer for any traffic violation in Asia

Think Lancelot narrows it down pretty well:

As posted above, need to be the 5 years license.

Yes, it's definitely valid in Cambodia.

It's valid in all the ASEAN countries (and some additional countries), since the change to the plastic credit card style license.

Unfortunately that's still not a guarantee that the local policeman won't try to fine you anyway

Yep, the law is what the local cops says it is....

Thanks for the response.

Yes, you're correct there isn't an official fee for the residence certificate. However they've been asking for a "tip" for quite a few years in Pattaya.

You have to realize that when posting a statement like:

This is not a Jomtien procedure it is the same at every immigration office inThailand, a national policy

Your reliability gets questioned. As you say, there are tons of other treads regarding residence certificates. However you don't seem to have read many of them. If you had, you'd be well aware that there's a growing number of immigration offices that won't issue these certificates. Whether for free nor if you'd offered them money.

I might question the "fee" the next time I apply for one, and I might not, depending on the overall feeling I get when applying. I'd rather have this service available for a small fee, then having to get it from my embassy, while spending a lot more, i.e. both monies and time.

I need a pension verification letter from my embassy, each year, to obtain my 1 year extension of stay, I was not aware that my embassy issued residence certificates , for use at the verification center(motor vehicle office)( land transport office) or whatever you want to call that place a long ways out of town.

Your Embassy, without knowing your nationality, should issue you proof of residency, if provided proper documentation. However the cost will most likely be way more than the official tip at Jomtien immigration for a residence certificate.

If as you say some offfices are refusing to issue these certificates , that are required , not by us, but by another branch of the Thai paper shuffling bureaucracy, then how does one renew, obtain, transfer, buy, or otherwise use the licensing, registration process? Work permits and house books aside.

Yes, this is when you get into a real quandary, what do you do if you cant get one from your local immigration office?

Well, say you do get a letter of proof of residency from you Embassy, the requesting department officer might want it in Thai. Then youd have to get it translated and probably certified. Granted there are a few other options if you cant get one from your local immigration office, and thats to try with the local police or amphur, but thats no guarantee either. So to rephrase myself, Id rather pay a small tip at immigration for this service and keeping it intact, than having to go through the hoops these poor guys that dont have this service do.

As posted above, need to be the 5 years license.

Yes, it's definitely valid in Cambodia.

It's valid in all the ASEAN countries (and some additional countries), since the change to the plastic credit card style license.

Unfortunately that's still not a guarantee that the local policeman won't try to fine you anyway

Vietnam did not sign the protocol. It insists on you getting one of theirs. You have to take your 5 year to them and I think it is a direct issue.

Yes, when you mention it, remember reading something about these problems with Vietnam.

I am not sure where posters get mis-information about the residency certificate. While in other parts in Thailand if it is a blue moon you get blessed by 20 monks win the lottery get bitten by a great white shark & zapped by lightning, You will never get a free residency certificate in Pattaya like this since 2004 & never saw 1 person recieve any freebies for the certificate regardless if your Shagging the head matron of immigrationor if your father in law is the head of immigration. Not gonna ever happen in Pattaya. I don't think Pattaya or BKK is that foolish to give up free tea money. You may get scammed for the 300 baht express service foor the document but never free!

Agreed, I queried one of his earlier posts (link), but never got a response.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/720873-residency-certificate-where-at-immigration-office/?p=7732775

Try this link, there are several other threads regarding residency certificates, ad nausem, this map guy say it well.

I went to Jomtien Immigration in February, to renew my one year extension of stay, and get one of these free certificates to renew my drivers license, they asked for 300 baht and my secret for getting a free certificate was to reply to their request for a fee as follows, politely, remind them that there is no fee, they then quit trying to steal from you and continue doing their job, the fee schedule inside the door, to your left , makes no mention of a fee for a residency certificate, because there is no fee, if you paid a fee that is your mistake, you are misinformed, I have lived here for 14 years and have gotten 20 or so of these forms, and never paid anything, I must sometimes wait for them as they do not like to give them away, but if you want to pay for a free certificate, go ahead, try asking for a receipt for the tip they call a fee, and watch the song and dance , shuffling and frowning, they will then admit there is no fee, and process you. This is not a Jomtien procedure it is the same at every immigration office inThailand, a national policy,

I have renewed my yearly extension of stay 13 times at this office, the same people, there is no animosity, no games, me not giving them a tip has not made the process any more difficult whatsoever,

Thanks for the response.

Yes, you're correct there isn't an official fee for the residence certificate. However they've been asking for a "tip" for quite a few years in Pattaya.

You have to realize that when posting a statement like:

This is not a Jomtien procedure it is the same at every immigration office inThailand, a national policy

Your reliability gets questioned. As you say, there are tons of other treads regarding residence certificates. However you don't seem to have read many of them. If you had, you'd be well aware that there's a growing number of immigration offices that won't issue these certificates. Whether for free nor if you'd offered them money.

I might question the "fee" the next time I apply for one, and I might not, depending on the overall feeling I get when applying. I'd rather have this service available for a small fee, then having to get it from my embassy, while spending a lot more, i.e. both monies and time.

As posted above, need to be the 5 years license.

Yes, it's definitely valid in Cambodia.

It's valid in all the ASEAN countries (and some additional countries), since the change to the plastic credit card style license.

Unfortunately that's still not a guarantee that the local policeman won't try to fine you anyway

Depends on which type of " ofc cables" the OP is after

ofc stands for either optical fiber cable or oxygen free copper cable

Since he’s querying about 2.5 mm² speaker cable, it should be pretty obvious.

Not sure if Amorn, basement of tukcom has it, but it would be worth a check.

I am not sure where posters get mis-information about the residency certificate. While in other parts in Thailand if it is a blue moon you get blessed by 20 monks win the lottery get bitten by a great white shark & zapped by lightning, You will never get a free residency certificate in Pattaya like this since 2004 & never saw 1 person recieve any freebies for the certificate regardless if your Shagging the head matron of immigrationor if your father in law is the head of immigration. Not gonna ever happen in Pattaya. I don't think Pattaya or BKK is that foolish to give up free tea money. You may get scammed for the 300 baht express service foor the document but never free!

Agreed, I queried one of his earlier posts (link), but never got a response.

There are a few independent shops along the west side of Sukhumvit that will do it for you.

Just look for the yellow cog sign. Not sure if there is one near the Kawasaki dealer, but I know there is one between Thepprasit and South Pattaya Road and one between Central and Norh Pattaya Road, just by the on ramp to Highway 7, Google Map.

Here's an old but accurate tread with some more info.