. I've seen some stupid things but that is up there with the best of them. Hotels/bungalows would save a lot of money by regularly cleaning out the filters. First thing i do when i check into a room is pull out and wash the filters; 9 times out of 10 they are clogged which means the air con has to work harder to keep the room cool.

500 Baht is a joke for allowing something like that, no wonder the tour guide has a smirk on his face in the photo.

it's to do with painting the living room at Buck Palace in purple or mauve; i vote mauve.

1 hour ago, AGareth2 said:

tragic

but was he wearing a safety belt?

a lot of the times the belts can't be used because the buckle is missing. i've gone fishing around for them behind the seat (god knows what germs i picked up!).

obviously i am an old fart as i don't understand the wearing of braces or retainers for fashion, they look terrible. When i was a kid it was embarrassing to have braces, even though they were huge silver monsters and not the dainty colourful ones you can get today.

Thailand - Hub of Beg-packers!

Just like most of their thousands of other hubs, it is over blown.

1 hour ago, Langsuan Man said:

I question if the reliability of these "underpass architect views ", if superimposed on the actual location as seen via Google Earth, the Ocean Marina will have to give up a lot of land to accommodate them 

 

i think this the Utapao end, you can see in this google map link the buildings are the same as in the superimposed photo

google map link 

Edit: i see Thailand J has answered the query!

there is/was one on Tai opposite the entrance to the temple, but not sure if it sells the raw ingredients or just capsule herbs.

i haven't checked it out personally but was told there is another chinese place in Naklua, basically if you head north on Naklua rd, go past the fish market and old tree and it is on the right with a green canopy (opposite the 2nd Gold shop, which on the left side). Again, not sure if it has the raw ingredients or not.  i think this might be it   google map link

1 hour ago, sandrabbit said:

Looks wise it's my 2nd favourite after the 246, if i could pick one though it would be a 308GTO 

i prefer the front engine V12s, though i wouldn't say no to a 308GTO!

was a time when the early fibreglass bodied 308GTBs were less desirable than the later steel bodied ones, i think it is probably the other way round now. As for colours, red ferraris especially normal road going ferraris tend to be a bit boring after a while as there are (relatively) so many of them. Nice to have something different and some of the other colours were stunning on the 60's and 70's models. Had a 356BB that was gorgeous in Pino Verde.

If some you guys want to be boring old farts, then go for Red.   Though i do like the Red Metallic.

Up until now i have been looking at stepping up from the Ninja 300 to MT07, so the R6 would be interesting for me. The MT07 is 309K Baht, the R6 i am not sure of but did see a price of 549k Baht mentioned in a post. The big difference is a 599cc 4cyl (116 HP) in the R6 and a 689cc 2cyl (74 Hp) in the MT07.

I love the 300, it has plenty of power for what i want and is a nimble bike. But i do crave a slightly bigger bike. The R6 at this stage for me would be a handfull while the MT07 would a nice cruisie bike for a lot less than the R6.

So, depending on your experence level (the many years before, that you mentioned) maybe a step up to the MT07 is not too far. As for other choices, the Ninja 650 would be good if you are after a sports style bike.

it was clearly his fault. Even the silver car pulls out long before he is on the scene. the woman in the white car was no where near it, her mistake was trying to help! The cop is a dick, 3 people on  a bike and seems the passengers weren't wearing helmets. He only gets angry because he realises what a dick he is and has lost face.

as mentioned different offices have different requirements. i went to a different amphur and province than you. i had to get a certified copy of my passport from my Embassy in Bkk, then go to Nonthanburi to have the translation done and certified there. Took a whole day just to do that. Then take that back to the local office. BTW if you still want to go ahead with it then you will need to transliterate your parents name into Thai, which can be done at the translation service in the Nothanburi Immi building.

there have been a few posts on it over the years in the visa section. a quick search found these but there are more.

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/749330-got-my-yellow-tabien-baan-house-book-for-farang-today/

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/940583-saga-of-the-tabien-ban-yellow-book

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/969134-yellow-house-book-tabian-baan/

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/911296-yellow-house-book-tabian-baan/

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/875898-yellow-house-book/

yellow book topic search on Thaivisa

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/search/?&q=yellow book&type=forums_topic&nodes=1&search_in=titles&sortby=relevancy

nice story. good to see older cars still used rather than mothballed. i've always been fond of the 308, and Fly Yellow is the best colour for it!

hey, i don't like the fact that the OP has tarred us Keyboard Warriors with the same brush!!

hope he rots in hell.

The Australian Bangkok Embassy does not require you to back up your Stat Dec with any proof of the income stated in the Stat Dec. Though the Phuket Consular website states that it is required there. Of course Thai Immi might want it, so i have it ready anyway.

i emailed the Bkk Embassy and this was their reply:

" We are able to witness your signature on a statutory declaration in which you declare your income.  From our experience, this is acceptable proof of income by Thai Immigration.  Please note however, we are required to witness your signature in person. There is no requirement to provide us with proof of your income nor to make an appointment to have your documents notarised.  The current cost for witnessing a signature on a statutory declaration is THB1,830  please bring you Australian passport as evidence of your identity."

 i don't mind the trip to the Bkk Embassy though it would be good if you could do it by mail. The problem is that being a Stat Dec you need to sign in person in front of the witness. It is interesting what the Brit Emb does, maybe the Aust Emb likes to have visitors rather than a pile of mail! At least they should be able to do a mail back if it can't be done on the spot. An outreach to the NE area is a good idea, 2 or 3 visits would probably be enough. They could cut the visits to Changmai from 6 to 4 to accommodate it!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolichandrone_spathacea

9 minutes ago, robblok said:

Guys, again the finance company handled in good faith... only if you can prove they had to know they blue book was gotten illegally could you build a case against them. Otherwise.. its just you and the employee. 

 

I know this is not the case in US law.. but it is in Dutch and other laws.. also Thai law. 

it is still a stolen car as far as the OP is concerned. First thing i'd be doing is trying to get the police to impound the car until the mess is sorted out. That way the finance company can't hide it or sell it on.

The finance company may have acted in good faith but it does seem some of the checks involved in issuing the loan may have been bypassed, if the OP can prove that then he has a good case.

As others have stated, sometimes officials need 'incentive' to act. Usually it comes down to who gives more 'incentive' that wins. I was staying at a condo and the manager was issued fines by the Land Office (due to co-owners), the fines stayed in the draw at the local police station until the police officer was persuaded to issue them, which he did that night. The manager was too sick to come to the station after each letter and eventually nothing was done because the manager allowed the police officer to stay in one of the condos rent free! Eventually it got sorted due to an offical in the Land Office being 'persuaded' to take some other action!

What is Chonburi's slogan; "Please make Pattaya part of another province"?

gutless <deleted>! Bullets could've also hit other people.

11 hours ago, freedomnow said:

Generally are Shark and LS2 helmets the safer/decent entry-level vs the local shoddy brands ?

depends what you mean by shoddy; i wouldn't call REAL Helmets shoddy but i also haven't seen any test to confirm the ECE rating.

The Australian NSW Transport Dept has a website showing tests they have done including some flip-up helmets like LS2 and Shark

http://crash.org.au/ratings.php

Out of interest the laws recently changed in Australia so now European UNECE 22.05 helmets are allowed to be worn in Australia. There seems to be a bit of confusion about labelling (insisting on showing UNECE instead of just ECE)  but In theory it means a REAL helmet could be worn in some parts of Australia.

Some info here on the break down of the ECE compliance markings label on the chin strap

http://www.mccofnsw.org.au/a/372.html

A bit of info on the helmet label confusion in Australia

https://motorbikewriter.com/helmet-compliance-confusion/

http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/stayingsafe/motorcyclists/motorcyclehelmets.html

how embarrassing, is that what i did last night!

yeah, don't want to end up like Hong Kong; a 99 year lease to the British and then handed back to China.

i think the idea behind it is that when a van crashes, as there are less people in it then less will die, thus bringing down the overall toll.

38 minutes ago, webfact said:

start ticking next year

the perennial 'next year'