Jaggg88

georgegeorgia -- I've been with a number of cancer victims at the end here in Thailand and the lucky ones get morphine. Not everyone does. I've witnessed some awful deaths. So, please don't beat yourself up about accepting morphine for your Mum. You did the right thing. I've been with cancer victims who would have been so thankful for the final gift of morphine.

OP you have nothing to be regretful about - morphine is the only humane treatment at the end - you made the correct decision.

I plan to return home to the UK should I need any major health treatment.

You can get 120 days cover with Saga

http://www.saga.co.uk/insurance/campaigns/travel-insurance/over-70-travel-insurance/

did not realize it was illegal to have a small knife in the car.

Its not - this was just a blatant shake down by typical corrupt Thai police that brig shame a ridicule to their country.

You can always post it in at a lot of Immigration offices.

As for me I just go to Nakhon Sawan every 90 days and it is usually done in about 10 minutes depending on the queue. My last one was done in 3 minutes.

It is a 125km each way trip for me and I treat it as a day out end enjoy myself.

takes my mate 10 mins to walk to the Nakhon Sawan office - lucky bugger

do like me, dress like a bum, no hastles

Same as me - then you fit right in - look like a local not a millionaire

Never wear a gold chain or any valuables that is visible, simple as that. It happens all the time, both in Bangkok and Pattaya.

and just about every major city in the world - I was robbed like this in Barcelona by two prostitutes

love you long time, same same but different, now stop the bullshit, hand over the money....i have three sick buffallos at home, that needs new tv, car and a house

and my mum is ill I need hospital money

and my scooter been stolen I need money for new one

and mafia at home will steal my family land if we don't pay back money we owe

and on and on and on....... until the ATM is empty

Went to the licensing office this morning. Had all the the paperwork, IDP, Visa, etc. Apparently (in Pattaya at least) you have to do the entire process (colour vision, depth perception, written test, etc) even if you have a valid license and International Permit. Was kind of hoping that all I'd have to do was sign a paper, pay a fee and walk out with a shiny new 1 year license. No such luck !

I've been through this just before xmas last year in Pattaya. It's a longwinded 3 day process.

Day 1:

The first day you come in and find out what's going on for you, maybe you miss something, maybe you have a IDP or not, but most important, you have to sign up for the next day video lesson and color blindness tests. You get a yellow receipt which you have to show next morning so you can jump through the queue straight to the classroom on the first floor. Everyone has to do this.

Day 2:

Second day, everyone had to sit through the 4 hour video's. From 9-12 and then after lunch from 13pm till 14.30 or so. The first video is the most informative, the second video showing the same things as the first, kind of repetitive and everyone lost quickly interest, are chatting around or sleeping. The afternoon video is a kind of Thai soap equivalent, family drama and what can happen around breaking the laws on the road. It's at least a little entertaining compared to the other videos, so I will not share too much detail ;-)

In the morning, half hour into the first video, a lady interrupted and had everyone get out to do the color blindness test and some sort of 'distance judgement' test on a machine. Took around 10 minutes or so.

The whole thing is finished around 14.30pm.

Now the important part: All people with valid International Driving Licenses could do the written test on the computers, and, provided they passed, got their Thai license and are finished. No practical test required.

Day 3:

Everyone else without IDP or IDL, was scheduled to come next morning to either do their practical Motorbike driving and/or Car driving test.

The people who passed the practical test in the morning, are scheduled to do the written computer test in the afternoon. If you do your car & motorbike license at once, you have to do the same test twice. One for the car, one for the motorbike.

The people who failed the practical test were not allowed to take the written exam, but were re-scheduled to come back one week later for another practical test.

Overall, even with the rule changes, it's not difficult, but all very time consuming. For sure, if you don't study the written exam questions beforehand, you have a big risk of failing the written exam.

Loads of people, one after another failed it, both, Thais & Farangs.

Just study these exam questions: http://phuket.dlt.go.th/index/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=98&ltemid65

They all show up 90% the same questions as in the exam, many multiple times. There is no need to fail if you prepare yourself a little bit. 45 out of 50 questions in 60 min. have you passed.

(The exam and videos are based on the following Land Traffic Act: http://thailaws.com/law/t_laws/tlaw0140_5.pdf). If you study the test exam questions, you should be out of the computer room within 15 min.

If you are interested, someone posted the practical motorbike test on youtube:

As last tip, to reduce more risk of unexpected failure, no matter how great of a driver you are, if you have a big car or pickup, don't bring it to the practical test. The parkour is pretty narrow & tiny and it's much easier to just rent a small Honda or something for 300Baht for the test. You can do this outside of the Land Transport Office.

So you get your 1st year temp driver license, which you can renew one year later to a 5 year license. I'm not sure about the requirements, but it was my understanding that you have to do the written exam again, could be wrong though on this.

In any case, be prepared and you're done fast. Fail to plan = plan to fail. Good luck to all!

My neighbour told me he did his in Nakhon Sawan 2013 - IDP, UK Licence, proof of residence - eye test & depth perception - all done less than an hour. Picked up DL later that day. has it changed so much?

Fair enough. If you want discount as a local show your residency.

You need to prove residency to get your Thai driving licence so why is that no longer good enough?

Let George Soros have a run at them. He did a number on the bank of England some years ago.

Yes he did, when the UK tried to keep within the limits of the 'Exchange Rate Mechanism'. A financial device designed to prove the UK were strong enough to join the Euro. UK interest rates hit circa 15% in an attempt to prop up the £. It failed miserably and cost many ordinary ppl their homes, but the good news was it stopped the UK joining the Euro. Soros made billions! The Bank of England lost billions.

What were we talking about? who are you? where's my beer?

just skulled a can of cheers from 711 and i already forgot about my altzheimers

Yeah mate keep drinking you don't even know Alzheimers is just a type of Dementia

Keep up your good work

I think not getting the clue of a joke is also a type of dementia.

Me neither????

Only fair...

The showing of live premiership football by bars is for one purpose only, to generate more revenue for the bar, (or retain customers who would go elsewhere), only fair they should pass on some of the profits to the service provider, also only fair to those bars that do pay.

What are the subscription charges in Thailand for showing premiership football in bars?

Just looked up the price for pubs in the UK, Sky PAYG package starts at £35 (1750THB), if the charges are compatible in Thailand that is under £1.20 (60THB) per night.

You are confusing a residential package with a commercial license package. Many bars in Thailand that show premier league do have a CTH subscription. But this is for private use only. The costs for a business package are much higher. In your example for the UK, the sky package for a pub ranges from around 350 to 1000 pounds!!! per month.

Just asked my local landlord and he says he pays £1160 per month for Sky Sports and £246 per month for BT Sports. He says the prices are crippling!

Does expat.tv cover the BBC channels too as they do not appear on the website list of supplied channels, this would be a deal breaker for me

Looks like they have had trouble with the BBC as all the channels are missing. I'm sure they used to have BBC channels - perhaps someone can confirm. I also would not be interested without BBC.

Can't possibly be true they are not that stupid here are they!

"Additionally, Suwan predicted the increase would not affect the number of tourists who visit the park as fewer than 100 foreigners visited the park last year."

I was one of those 100 but I won't be going again - not at those prices.

Has a new trend emerged, pointing using 2 fingers ! Is this a first ?

mmmmmm not sure its 2 fingers - one is fat and one is thin and I can count six knuckles!

The rules are as they are.

And yes, I don't know of people having problems/being arrested for violating those rules, but those rules are there.

which rules? (i hope not the one that defines all action including breathing as working.. )

i was under the impression this is a grey area, did something change?

Not grey at all, really black.white but not enforced.

Up to the OP to make a decision to base a stay here in Thailand on that yes or no.

It is a very grey area indeed. If as a remote worker he is employed by a foreign company, paying tax in that country and working on their equipment which is based in that country then you are not employed in Thailand. However if you are doing this on a self employed basis it could be argued that you are running your own business in Thailand and therefore and need a work permit. All this is moot tho' as it would be impossible to police. When I holiday in Thailand I often VPN connect to work to finish something I'd forgotten or to check urgent emails - nobody in their right mind would claim I need a work permit to do this, but if I did this on a long term basis the whole boundaries become blurred....

When you see rats,thats when its time to complain,

these people with the little dogs are all trying to be

Paris Hilton,with a role model like that what can you

expect.

regards Worgeordie

with a role model like that I expect to see more sex tapes on the interweb

My wife loves Seafood Paella - she says if they put chilli in it then it would be food perfection.

If you need a private investigator you already have your answer,

I know you don't want to hear that but you feel something is not good or vibes

Good luck mate if u do really need a investigator look on the Internet or as a law firm they usually know also

Thanks mate, I know that the things I think I've picked up on etc.. make me think things are not good .....but I have a baby with this girl so just keep thinking I really need to be 100% sure, to see just how bad things really are.

Stickman

Is he still going? He used to specialize in these background checks

Not so long ago someone transiting at Bangkok thought the same and was caught. All passenger manifests are provided to Thailand, as it happens in all countries. Better to fly to Sillypore and get a flight direct or Vietnam

Are you confusing blacklisted with some one with an outstanding arrest warrant? If you stay airside you do not need a Thai visa therefore being blacklisted is not a problem.

Its not the academice difference that concerns me ....

Its the emotional maturity compared to his peers...

It is no accident he is that way.

Just for one thing amongst many is that I am shocked to see he is pretty much the only kid there that can feed himself...

Thai women mollycoddle their kids. My son is 4 yrs old and my wife treats him like he's still 2. He drinks from a baby spouted cup and he can't even dress himself. The home environment is very important to a child's development but having everything done for you discourages development.

They should just get on and close it... It does nothing anyway, save the money!

OR, make it useful again!

I guess this is on the cards. It is obvious the FCO are winding it down. I can`t think of any reason why I would need to visit the Chiang Mai British Consulate anymore. They no longer assist with passport applications and now they ceased issuing letters and statements I cannot see how the consulate would be of any use to both ex-pats or British tourists, so they may just as well close it down completely and have done with it.

Well obviously that's the plan. I read, a couple of years ago, that the visa & notary section of the of the Brit embassy in BKK made £500,000 profit - not bad for a non profit making institution. Now that profit can be increased if they close the Chang Mai consulate.