trainman34014

I would really love to have seen if there was any structured idea ever put together about how the government intended to hold the global buyers to ransom and get them to buy this overpriced product?

Of course the government has a plan; it is entitled "wishful thinking".

No; it's called..' Sod the people, let us and our cronies get richer quicker'

what happens when or if they take the vehicle test.too loud it will fail.this is a similar issue in many countries so why worry take a sleeping tablet and sleep

There are vehicle tests in other countries and vehicle tests in Thailand....and there is a big difference.....like in other countries the bike will really be tested.....in Thailand you pays yer money and gets yer ticket....test done.....seen it....done it....been there.

If this is the worst problem the OP has had in his life, than he has no problems at all.

Down my way, I hear the chickens cock a dooda looing, the dogs howling, wild cats fighting, heavy vehicles thundering down the highway, motor bikes that sound like airplanes, and worst of all, the wife snoring and my neighbor coughing his lungs up and farting, which goes on all through the night, but I am well used to all that now.

Welcome to Thailand.

Well BJ; there must be two Thailand's because down my way we have none of the things that you mention, just peace and quiet, the birds singing and the silence of the Gecko's eating the mossie's.

Welcome to my Thailand indeed.

Little bit of sugar in the petrol tank used to cure this problem around my way a few years back....or a potato up the exhaust pipe.

Accountability doesn't appear to be high on the agenda.

What can you expect from a government that seems to have only one objective, to bring back a fugitive. One question I would like to have answered is, how are they going to power this high speed rail project? Will we all have to turn out the lights in our homes when it's running?

Don't worry about it; the nearest thing to it they will ever build is a model railway...and you can run that on batteries !

We know they don't teach sums very well in Thai Schools, but hey.....a Thai person has admitted they made a mistake....and they didn't say it was someone else's fault despite massive loss of face. Things must be improving..LOL.

Barmy idea going at that time in the morning for 90 day report. Stroll in a lot later and it's a lot easier without too much hassle.

The Morons running the country have never heard of the old saying....'When you are in a big hole, the best thing to do is stop digging' !

Lost count of the times i have told waiters/waitresses not to pour my beer over ice when it's already been refrigerated. Just seems to pass from one generation of plicks to the next.!

Been using Bangkok Air almost since they started, so much better than Thai with free lounge, eats,drinks, internet and so on. They treat us much more like Human Beings. Thai Airways think they are the 'High So' airline and give the impression you should fly with them just because of who they are. They don't get my money.

Searched for a year and found nowt, so had one built properly with bricks and mortar as it was the only way.

Look Chaps, do it the old Japanese way, put your chopper on the table and hit it with a mallet..guaranteed to clear your ears !

Anyone know what the turn off is to get to the Grand Canyon? Can see anything in Google maps other than a PTT that i cant ever remember seeing out that way.,

If you're coming from Town, Canal Road all the way until you pass Hang Dong Golf Club on your left. About another 300 m on your right you will see a turning with 'Canyon View Restaurant' sign on your right, also look for Cement Works set back beyond the road at the same turning. Proceed up a narrow winding road until you meet a crossroads, go across and onto a dirt road for about 300m, turns to your left at the top and entrance is on the left. Reasonable car parking available and best time is lunchtime.

The restaurant is called ตวงตอง (Tuang Tong Canyon View).

Go up there often. Fab' view and good food at reasonable prices but go lunchtime for faster service. Evenings too dark for the view and too busy as they only have one Chef apparently so it's up to an hour wait for food.

How long until they announce the sling was imported from Cambodia and we have our scapegoat, all face saved, Thais are proud that they would never produce such a sling and Yingluck announces Tom Yam Gung to be the lunch choice at the opening of the new sling factory that will make Thailand hub of slings?

I've been saying since the day it happened that these slings were made in China so none of this will be Thailand's fault. Even the contractor who built it will use the same excuse and subsequently walk away from all liability. This is Thailand where Bullshit baffles Brains at every step and reality is never considered if it means losing face.

Taxi drivers the world over, possibly with the exception of London, often get lost or do not know where certain buildings/hotels actually are. Your guy probably found it by accident in the end ! I've been 'lost' in Taxi's in Hong Kong, Macau, New York, Brussels and Paris, to mention a few.

London is different because they have to take tests and know just about everything there is to know about the City before they get a license.

No honor among thieves anymore, that's the problem!

No Respeckt!

Not like the good ole days when Ronnie and Reggie would smash your knee caps then ask after ya mother.

Then put £5 in yer pocket for a taxi to the hospital!

Big difference nowadays. Ronnie and Reggie looked after their community interests and woe betide any local scumbag or idiot who was daft enough to commit any type of 'crime' on their Manor. Old Granny Smith would pop in for a chat with the boys and ask them to sort out next door's barking Dog or the teenager that spat on her front lawn and they would oblidge. She would be given Tea and Scones and a fiver in her pocket before she left too. No more barking Dog's and no more spitting by the next day. How can you get that kind of service today?

If you know nothing of living in Thailand then you know nothing of the way business matters are settled in cases like this....by the gun. If you show up and start making waves there is a 95% chance you will depart this planet in a messy way within weeks, or maybe even days or hours.

Tell your incarcerated mate to take care of his own affairs; don't be fooled into thinking you will make any money out of this for you will earn only grief.

This time there will be no Prisoners of War to build the railway so it will be a tad more expensive Ms Y. When you get the cost estimates my bet is you will go the Chinese way.

Visit the Amphur first to find out what the requirements are in your particular case. There are many different permutations in each persons individual circumstances. From my experience and that of others they are unlikely to issue you a Yellow Book until you have lived in the Kingdom for at least a year.

Went in Monday 11am, six numbers before me, no problems apart from know-nothings who try to push in when they don't even have TM47 filled in. The Sarg' spend half of his time redirecting people and is impeded from doing his job properly.

Anyway; out in 22 minutes. Oh; plenty of parking space at the far gate of next door for a change.

Despite many comments that will occur to the contrary I have always found that a decent approach to Immigration Officers in Chiang Mai with a reasonable explanation why a mistake has been made will see you through such problems. However; what they will accept and what BKK will accept, as apparently that's where all the papers go before you are granted your extension, may be entirely different and is the unknown entity.

I think if this happened to me I would go there asap and explain it to one of the desk officers and see what they make of it. I'm sure this must have happened before so they must know the score.

Re the papers going to BKK; I've never been sure if they actually do or not. Could be just a delaying tactic whilst more senior officers make decisions locally. Unless we marry a Female Immigration Officer we are unlikely ever to find out !

Good luck with your problem.

Perhaps what causes the age gap police to sharpen their pencils most furiously is the extreme gap.

Picture the scene. Your a youngish (except to people younger then you) guy sitting outside the Indian restaurant in the arcade at the bottom of Soi Diana. Your Biryani is being cooked and you're people watching over a bottle of your favourite beer. Around the corner from the direction of the bars area comes the couple you've been wanting to see. He seems to be in his 70s and she's probably around 30. Your judgement needle flips round to the red section.

Just hold it there and think about that old chap and what his life may have been and has become. He was born during WWII. Other slightly younger models were baby boomers. Whichever Western country he's from, he entered a world that hadn't recovered from WWI when the Depression hit. Then came WWII and he was a lad when his country was struggling economically after 1945. The social culture, at least in Europe and the UK, was little better than austere and you were expected to dress and behave in certain ways according to your age. In Britain, immigration from Asia and the West Indies began a huge revolution in the attitudes of the young, including the man you are watching. The Rock 'n' Roll era into the 60's took the changes many stages further. It's this generation, to which that old man belongs, that created the social freedoms that you young things enjoy today.

So, why should he end his days alone in physical decline, perhaps expecting that the daily carer will find him dead one day when she visits? His body may not be what it was but his mind may still be as active and rebellious as it was when he was a youth. Now that he's retired, he can rebel again rather than wither away. And, of course, he has the advantage of Viagra, probably the last social revolution that he will experience and enjoy.

Today, perhaps, he was woken with a pleasant pull, had a leisurely breakfast, did some walking and shopping with the young girlfriend, had a snooze on the beach, lunch, a beer or two in the afternoon and now they are walking into that Italian restaurant a few doors down from where you sit. He doesn't give a flying fig about the opinions of those who are younger and judgemental. Nor should he, of course. He's going out with a bang!

You must have been spying on me all through my life as you have hit the nail right on the head, as you will have done for many others of our age group. When I explain to my own children and grandchildren what my life was like in the austere 50's and rocking 60's they find it hard to believe compared to the lives they have later experienced. Today young people in the West have never had it so good, but meanwhile they expect all those that went before them to just shrivel up and die instead of shrivel up and continue living the life that they have every right to live no matter what that means. Too bad if the young Farang of Thailand can't be gracious in their approach to their elders behaviour, but hey....their turn is coming and the next generation will be giving them stick in the same way !

I started reading this last night coundn't wait to finish it.SOME background( ihave been visiting LOS a few times.I am retiring there Jan,Feb. ) NOW i am 62 be 63 in Jan 14. The girl i met is spectacular she is funny down to earth and just as genuine as the day is long Her family is poor rice farmers,she loves farming,chickens,cooking and helping others. When we are together we are laughing and have the best time.SHE may not be HI SO in some eyes but for me she is a million bucks. I will ride this "relationship" for as long as it lasts .IF all i end up with is a couple months that will be more happiness than i had in my other two marriages ( yes i am divorced twice so i am damaged goods) But for some strange reason when i am with her all my short commings don't seem to matter. Now as far as the age difference yes it is a factor but no more than the large difference between cultures .I am glad and proud to be with what some call "a girl no thai would want" she was married and had a child and is poor she don't have a degree (but she is smart) she has dark skin and probably more Lao than thai(don't know) NOW BEFORE I TELL ALL YOU sharks how young she is I really don't give a **** what you think of me.I quit living my life for what others think a while ago:) But i just couldn't resist adding my two cents(you know us yanks) SHE will be 23 when i am 63 I LOVE IT. now sorta what i said above i am not concerned about what tommorow brings today is the only day i have. I have survived cancer two exwives the loss of one son,my parents two sisters and i imagine before it is over i will out live my other siblings and my youngest son and my other exwife . But my GF and possible wife will still be putting a smile on my face even if she has already left me well there is more on my mind but that is the gist JRV

Enjoy; and don't listen to all the hard headed and almost inhuman dork's that hover over these pages just waiting for caring people to pick on. You've said it yourself already; you quit living your life for others years ago so just keep it that way and 'up' the lot of them.

In the past many families in my wife's village would dam na, grow rice by initially planting all the seeds in one paddy and then transplanting them to all the fields after a month.

This is the most efficient way as the planter can plant methodically and in a concentrated manner. But it costs money as the farmer has to hire workers to complete the job.

So this year after the 300 baht wage introduction 90% have switched to simply scattering the seeds- wan khao . It requires no labour but is less efficient and means less work for the poor or landless farmers

Yep; exactly the same has happened around my way, but the worst part is that several farmers have given up and sold their Paddy's to build on. If the Paddy's keep vanishing at the rate they are now in the North there will be very few left in say 10-15 years time.