lee68

You will never stop it,as the parents are mostly to lazy to take the kids to school,or with work commitments they cant, so they think the sensible thing to do is teach junior to ride a bike and send them off to school on it, my son never wanted a motorbike, 3 of his school friends were killed on bikes, put him off completely. when he was 18 he passed his driving test and i got him a car as he wanted to drive to school, and guess what the principal would not allow students to take a car into school. I went to see the principal and asked why, she said not enough parking for cars, so i said you let 500 kids ride motorbikes in here everyday and have parking for them and most have no licences and no helmets, and my son has a valid licence and there is no room for him.Lets just say she would not answer me! 

I have lived here 22 years and dont speak fluent Thai but can get by,and have traveled all over the country, and still find it safer than most UK towns after dark, ive never been beaten up or robbed, but ended up drunk with the locals in a few places off the beaten track!

I remember when the price went up to nearly 50bt a litre in 2008 it cleared the roads here in chiang mai,i drove up to chiang rai and there was nothing on the roads,all the parents at the school were taking the kids in on motorbikes not the usual suv.

4 hours ago, sanukjim said:

No ,Buy from a dealer thats been in the neighborhood for many years and has ties with the area..They can save you money and the direct airline's cost is much higher.As a farang living here you are helping your community and showing that you belong here.If you are a tourist on Sukhumvit then by all means ask your hotel to help you with the tickets.

I bought the tickets from the same tour agency i had used for years, the woman in there ripped off over a 100 people in the end, she ended up in jail but nobody got there money back.

Nothing new, i was scammed by one years ago called mau travel,one of many hundreds of people.ALWAYS BUY DIRECT FROM AIRLINES!

The locals just dont like any form of competition full stop, its not allowed! 

The age to buy alcohol is 20, my son is 19 and the 7-11 won't serve him! But strange I've been in there and you got kids 15 being served with wine coolers.

Just the police making a new business plan, enforce an existing law and then take the kick backs for the club's and bars that want to open later,simple realy! 

I see a few people hitch hiking on the highway outside my house in chiang mai,usually heading for chiang rai on the 118.

This happens worldwide, plenty of greedy people eveywere, my wife got done years ago in phuket, she was lucky and got her money back. Lesson learned.

When I first came here,I bought a pick up for my business that was easy as I could get a few people in the back as well.I went to renew my insurance and they asked,do you carry people in the back,I told them yes,they said do you realise that only the people in the cab are insured,and if you have a accident you will have to pay for the people in the back. After that I never allow anybody in the back of the truck. That was 15 years ago,the wife still gives me hassle when I won't let the family in the back.

I used to drink with a police captain many years ago in phuket, he had transferred from Bangkok ,told me it cost him a million  baht but it was worth it to him,as he could make it back in a year.

My brother in law was hit by a hit and run driver 2 weeks ago  as he was walking through the village in the evening and is still in intensive care, theres cctv in the village, but they still cant find the culprit, the cops aint intrested as hes only a poor farmer, lifes cheap here!

In my wifes village nobody will pay to get it collected, they either burn it at night, or they take it up the mountain at the back of the village and dump it there or lastly throw it in the river!

On 10/10/2015 at 9:23 AM, farangmick said:

May be wrong, I often am, but I thought only the retro Triumphs were built here. If you have a Speed Triple as your name suggests,(lucky man), wasn't that built at Meriden? And until quite recently the Thai Triumph factories here were bonded, so the company saved on some Thai taxes, but even bikes built here were treated as imports.

I just bought a triumph, they are now assembled in chon buri so the tax has been cut right down,the bike I bought is around the same price as it retails for in the uk, just the exchange rate is low for the £ at the moment so makes it a tad more expensive. 

3 hours ago, alien365 said:

I look forward to seeing this guy being shamed on TV once he's found. 

He has been found and was on tv this morning getting a talking to from the cop!

The one in doi saket is broken already, they have been fixing it for 2 days! must of overloaded the amount of cars it caught over the new year.

My friend died and left his wife 10 mil in cash and a house in phuket and a 5 series bmw, 1 year later she was broke and had sold everything, blew it all on gambling and drugs and the many new friends she found who helped her spend it.

9 hours ago, catinthehat said:

Based on the fact that last weeks major death toll with a public van only thus far has prompted lots of empty rhetoric. Which, given time will all evaporate.

 

I presume it will take a bus accident with a similar proportionate magnitude of fatalities. Then the record will replay itself all over again. No one at the top really cares as:

• life is cheap
• they believe they go to a better place after fattening the coffers and lifestyles of the temples/monks
• and anything that costs more money than the penny pinching current expenditures in overhead and operating costs to save one baht

changes. But remember if you never ever learn what common sense means in your youth, how can you apply it to help affect change.

What does amaze me is that the parents never seemed to express any alarm over this kind of behavior.

Cultural differences playing out every minute of every day.

So horribly sad, senseless and so much of this could be avoided.

True about common sense,been here 20 years and never yet met a Thai with it!

3 hours ago, Michaelaway said:

Out of curiosity, what type of vessel do you think would be better, even ideally suited to the HH-PTY route?

A small conventional car ferry, more chance of making a proffit, the fast craft are expensive to run and, fuel and maintenance are expensive on them and there restricted due to weather,a small conventional ferry can run in most weather conditions, maybe a bit slower but more economical.

I worked on larger fast craft for a number of years, and these vessel's need constant maintenence to keep them seaworthy, maintenance is a thing here in Thailand is non existent, just fix it when it breaks attitude. Plus they don't take the weather very well,can't sail in anything over a 2 m swell,so expect many cancellations and delays, the people that started this project did not really  do there homework.

It will never happen, simple. 

The speed camera in Doi saket will make a fortune,all the cars and busses fly down that hill!

14 hours ago, madmitch said:

Does this mean there won't be a burning season in northern Thailand next year?

Its already started in chiang mai.

Words fail me, locals wont even stop for traffic lights, but a train! that takes stupid to a new level!