MESmith

"She had a vision"......

My photo doesn't show it, but if you look at the relaid track from the side, it looks like a roller coaster. I hope the weight of the trains will bed it down flatter.

"would certainly increase the travel time"??

Oops

I take it that wasn't on the section between Chiang Mai and Doi Saket?

I think that is the section SW of the steep climb before Kun Chae NP. Near the Windmill resort?

What is the main cause of all those potholes on Thai roads? My opinion is it's overloaded trucks and trailers, so what is the purpose of the Weigh Stations? There are plenty of them, do the truck drivers keep the Weigh Station employees in tea money? does the BiB get their share also? You never see them checking trucks.

Poor road construction, or more probably poor road reconstruction.

Road near our house was resurfaced a few months ago. The potholes that were there before are already "resurfacing".

Plus overloaded trucks.

Quote: "now one lane is flowing"

Excellent choice of word

Update on track upgrade.

They've been replacing the old, rotten wooden sleepers with concrete sleepers.

This picture taken today, just south of Saraphee station, close to Chiang Mai.

Interestingly, the stone foundation for the track has been widened, possibly for double track?

Hard to believe this is an issue.

Most banks have the necessary machine out front available 24/7 and a deposit of 100 Baht would show the book was up to date.

Believe it or not, not every foreigner living in CM reads thaivisa forum. So you turn up for your appointment believing all your papers are in order, to be sent back to the bank. For what? Just jobsworths raising the hoop a little higher. A letter from the bank used to be good enough & should be good enough still.

You can stick your bank book in an atm update machine the same day you go to immigration. Unless you put more money in or make a withdrawal the same day it wont print anything for that day. Ridiculous ruling.

Personally, I doubt that it is 'a ruling'

Maybe a local ruling? What's the point of the letter from the bank then?

A few years ago I showed the bank letter & bank book. The bank book's last update was 3 months previous. They weren't happy with that. I told them that I wasn't supposed to withdraw any money from the 400,000 & that if I put my bank in the atm the same day it wouldn't show anything!! They accepted my papers, saying BKK would probably reject it. Got my extension.

Jobsworths......

You can stick your bank book in an atm update machine the same day you go to immigration. Unless you put more money in or make a withdrawal the same day it wont print anything for that day. Ridiculous ruling.

Songhua, on 21 Oct 2013 - 13:39, said:

Songhua, on 21 Oct 2013 - 13:39, said:

Never mind my responsibility to my passengers.My food comes first.

Food takes priority. When it's meal time. it's meal time. Doesn't matter whether you're landing a 747, catching someone on a trapeze or only driving a bus.

Hahahaaa.. This reminds me the time when I was still back in Hong Kong. While walking around Wanchai with a friend of mine, we saw a hooker standing and eating from a lunch box while at the same time soliciting her services to some guys.. :>

Hands up all those who thought of Linford Christie when they read this.

there is that website where they tell you,where police are.also just remember to wear your helmet and drive slow past the police stops.if you drive ok and not silly you should be waved thru

Methinks wearing a helmet while driving a pickup truck would be a dead giveaway to the BiB

So let me get this straight, the parents were sitting resonably close by, the older child of the Strange' spoke to the strange woman for several miniutes before being joined by her younger sibling, they both then spoke to the strange woman for another ten minutes. Did the parents think to get up from where they were sitting and ask the stranger her name, or even bring the children back to where they were sitting? Or were they otherwise occupied with things other than protecting thier children?

Why did they need protecting while they were on the ferry?

Very easy for a 3 year old to wander off on a crowded ferry & fall down some seriously steep steps to the car deck, or through the railings overboard. Wouldn't let my young kids stray out of reach on those ferries. As for talking to some woman, would just keep an eye on them. But I wouldn't let a 3 year old out of reach.

How much did the first taxi driver ask?

Didn't people use to talk about Nong Hoi getting flooded through the drains? River wall wont help if land is lower & pressure from river forces water up through the pipes. Any truth in that or just rumour?

Very rarely receive TOT bills, occasionally Dtac bills (late) but always get stuff from UK - bank statements, investment literature. We're quite remote, 5 km or so from PO. Postman always friendly when he comes. So what's the deal with TOT bills? Either they don't send them or postman reckons it's not worth his while delivering as we'll pay the bill anyway....

Aranyaprathet to Bangkok many years ago the bus was full and they sat people including foreign backpackers in plastic chairs in the aisle.

Money number one before anything else and that is the reason so many people die on Thai roads.

they still do that on buses between nongkai and bkk...plastic stools right down the middle.

Do the stools have seat belts?

If I was opening a coffee shop or cart selling quality coffee in Thailand, the last name I would want to be associated with or confused with would be St@rbucks

This is potentially one of the biggest things to happen for Thai based expats for years,if not the biggest.

On a par with doing away with 90 day reporting or the advent of 5 or 10 year visas perhaps.

I wouldn't put 90 day reporting abolition quite so far up the list of "game changing events"

Try here 18.769155,99.040654

Still shows up on google streetview, might have what you want.