horsewell

They tried this the better part of 10 years ago. As far as I can remember it was something to do with using anonymous sims in remote bomb detination, so it could have been just in the south. Had to fill out a form. Said that if we didn't register the number it would be turned off... a few months later it seemed like everything was back to normal.

Really, a photo of the person and / or ID and sim is probably a good idea. Easy to do a probably easy to retrieve the reference later. It wouldn't matter if it was verified or not. If it was verified it would help with locating people but then if you are going to do criminal acts why would you register it in your name!? You may create a black market for sim cards for people that still want anonymity, for whatever reason.

I just recently helped someone get a driver licence in Phuket, before the increased regulations. They needed a international permit and even though they had a bike licence on their home licence they didn't have it on their international permit and had to do the full test. Some people can "swing" things that others can't but having an international permit with your home country licence will assure you a licence without having to do the test.

If you live here long term you will need a lease (or rental contract) for things like your driver's licence. An English language lease will not be able to be used for this, it will need to be in Thai language. They have Thai form lease contracts where they only have to fill out a few items, like the price of the room, the deposit, water and power and how long the lease will be.

If you want a lease in any other language it would be best to get the Thai lease and get it translated at one of the language schools or a translation service, google translate is probably good enough, if you want to retype it. The Non-Thai language version one is just basically for you and doesn't have any legal standing in Thailand.

At only a few thousand Baht a month most locals wouldn't care about a lease. Most of the time the deposit will be forfeit for one reason or another but when it's so small then you may as well just look at it as the cost of moving in.

As costs rise there is either two ways for sellers to deal with it: higher prices or smaller portions. I think we see smaller portions until prices can move higher. It seems that the small sellers have a problem pushing prices higher. I must say the local fruit carts are one of the best examples. Prices can't go higher but portions sizes are so ridiculously small I gave up years ago. Rather go buy a whole watermelon, papaya, guava or whatever at the market.

I see my neighbours and there are a lot of people that do at least some cooking themselves. Even with a electric cooker it's still only about 50-60 Baht to cook a Thai style meal, enough for two plates. Cooking myself allows me to choose the types and quantity of food.

I pay 6 baht but the owner has taken to only turning only 1/2 the walkway lights on. Mind you, when things break in the building I live the owner fixes them quickly, usually within a day: water pump, power meter, ordering a water truck, issues with cards and keys, etc... I used to pay 8 baht a few years back now and they just decided to up the rate the month I moved in but no one knew until a week before the bill... I didn't stay there for very long.

Unless you are running air-conditioning on a regular basis then it's not going to be that much to worry. Mind you electric stoves seem to be rage in Thai kitchens and they can use a bit of power. I met a guy who had a more than 4500 baht power bill for a 2 week condo rental... my jaw dropped! I'm sure that the power rate must have been closer to 15 baht in that case.

It's probably not anything bad... 5000 Baht for a largely absent child or mother to go back to the village is nothing!!! I have been to the village (even visiting children the Bangkok) with multiple women and 10000 or 20000 is not enough. There are gifts, special food, things that need to be sorted out and the like. Unfortunately it will all happen at that time and it's expensive. They are happy to get away because they feel drained as much as the foreigner is by the end of it all.

I speak Thai and understand a lot of what is going on at the time and in conversations afterwards.

As a man who has had a lot of bad relationships I can only think that it could only end badly. If one chooses to stay you could work it out (or ignore it) but you will most probably end up splitting up. I would just leave, if it was me, I can't abide being belittled in this fashion. There are millions of other fish in the sea and there is surely someone that will understand you, be patient, have the same temperament as you somewhere, probably just down the street.

I've heard of people being tested but never been formally tested myself while on the ED visa. Mind you I write as much info as I can on the immigration forms in Thai language. Actually, I have heard that some people get a real going over as regards to their language skills. I think it may depend on the general mood in the office, the particular officer you talk to or the manager in charge, your personal presentation and that of your photos and whether or not your school as a "good working relationship" with the immigration office.

It's because "money is god", I hear that a lot from my Thai friends. While it doesn't matter about vehicle checks, training, laws or fines. As long as those people in places of authority don't take action to make sure that drivers are well trained, vehicles are well looked after and all the proper safety checks and balances are met there will be no end to the carnage on the roads. However, it's not just the vehicles the state the roads is important too.

As much as you have to applaud the fact that an illegal substance has not made it to it's destination. You have to think, if they are only capturing the mules, dealers and users it's like bailing water out of your boat rather than getting the producers and distributors that would be like plugging the damned hole and cutting all supplies. I'm sure that there are a lot of well meaning people but putting a obviously desperate woman in gaol is clearly punitive and doesn't help any of the "victims". It would probably be punishment enough to take the drugs off her and leave her to the whim of her local contact or better yet use her to catch the local contact picking up the drugs.

It's probably not too hard to figure out reasons that those higher up the food chain are not captured.

Let's just hope that world governments change their course on victimless crime, allow free commerce (like they keep prognosticating about) and look for real criminals like murderers, thieves and others that deliberately aim to harm others.

I have issues with 3BB in Phuket but either waiting a few minutes and trying again or reloading the page usually is enough to get things moving again. It seems to me that data on 3BB ebbs and flows a lot more than TOT, which I had a few years back, which at the time seemed to be rock solid most of the time. Anything that is "streaming" is almost out of the question, I've started using skype out and paying for a Thailand subscription to get to have any conversation over skype.

I'm lucky that in the building I live that I can physically access the main router. I can't change settings as I think collisions with other Wifi networks is probable, when it was first installed it was the only kid on the block now there is 20+ active networks at any given time. Turning the router off, waiting a minute and then back on seems to do the trick if nothing else works. Don't know if the machine has some sort of problem that builds over time or if the the connection some how stops working. I don't have access enough to troubleshoot it, so I'm not thinking about it too much.

It will be interesting how this pans out. Most people just use landlines for the internet... really we are just waiting for the internet service on mobiles to be as good as or better than the landline and no one will be using the old system at all, including fibre to your door, except for businesses. Is it that the landlines not viable at a fixed cost or is it that there is jealousy of the mobile providers? One way to sweeten the deal is to up the monthly line rental and offer X number of free calls and other services that are rarely fully for increased profit.

A friend of mine is being pestered for blood and has decided not to give because there is no incentive. This guy has certificates from royalty for giving blood in the past and has the negative group that everyone needs for emergencies. There is a lot of short sightedness going on towards the people that want to be "useful" in [this] society. If the powers that be don't care... it should be on their heads. Not those of rare blood groups or others that could contribute in a meaningful way.

Everything that LivinginKata said and I have always required a slip from immigration with my address on it. So if you have a copy of your rental agreement you just need to take it to the immigration office and get a verification of your address. Last time I did that it cost me 300฿.

Mind you it seemed like a superfluous item so who knows if they still require it or not.

Regardless you may want to check with the office to figure out what the current requirements are.

If you want to learn to speak Thai you need to speak it everyday. You need to have a number of people that you speak to that will not get too used to your mistakes and that will try and correct you, most people will not correct you if they know what you are saying. Also, if you have a good vocabulary building program with audio you will be able to at the very least know what people are saying and be able to read Thai script (transliteration is practically useless outside of "farang" message boards and there is so many styles that it would be like learning 10 different written languages). However, many vocabulary programs use formal language, have mistakes and much of the material is irrelevant to daily life.

The problem with being in a class situation is that most people aren't really interested in learning (much) Thai and most group classes I have been in people will revert to (mainly) English when other students want to express themselves. It is really something that the teacher should manage.

Walen Phuket is in Chalong (I asked about a course once but they didn't seem too interested, maybe you will have more luck).

I think the photos are expensive, and not that good either, but photocopies are only a few baht. Anyhow, you can turn up in a singlet and I get the "Kodak" photography shop to add a suit and even Photoshop your image!

It's the constant compromise that is so frustrating for everyone. They say we will clear the roads... then 3 per stand... then 10 per stand... then they can do what they like we will set up meters. I pity the fool that has to enforce the meters... or the fine would be randomly applied, advance notice of crackdowns so for a few hours the road is clear on that day and then business as usual... or something similar I suspect.

Probably get a new top cop rather than take on the establishment.

I thought it was a foreigner when I read the title, people have to know it's not personal, it's just what they think they can get away with. Jesus there are so many girls that are willing why rape!? desperate little lives, ha?

In Thailand's search for high end tourists they should have high end penalties for any crimes, however minor, against any foreigners. That being said, I assume that most tourists never receive any acts of physical violence against them and probably only have see: taxi scams, double pricing and the like.

Why not require a bond of $1,000,000 Euro for foreigners to enter the country? Then they could really say that it's a "high end" tourist destination. That would sort out this debate of tourism in Thailand forever.

Hope that the owner of the building that I live in doesn't ever run into money problems. 555+

Really, you have to think about why these things happen... you would hope that at 6am no one was around. If they were, then that's a probable cause.

Even knowing Thai most people will have at least one dialect up their sleeve. However, if they know you speak Thai and they have any self respect they will keep their views to themselves until you are out of ear shot. There are rule people everywhere and it may seem like it's an us against them situation but really:

Those rude people (talk bad about you in front of you or whatever), are rude to everyone!

If they can get away with it, they will. This is with other locals, foreigners of all nationalities, their boss and yes, probably even their parents. You are not being victimised specifically, you just aren't that important to them.

You know what they say: Lies, damned lies and statistics. I'm sure there are various under and over reporting going on and a lot of people that take care of their own business. I'm also sure that any statistics would be be "interpreted" to show whatever narrative the powers that be would like to show. Regardless of who does the crime it's the job of the powers that be to control it, is it not?