Thai numberplate with Latin characters?

[jumbo]

7 minutes ago, johng said:

Maybe an expensive "hi-so"   Lamborghini  with blacked out windows ?

No actually it was a Toyota, don't remember the type, just a regular car..

[digbeth]

On 6/11/2018 at 4:36 PM, johng said:

On 6/11/2018 at 4:29 PM, Sydneyboy1 said:

This not the letter J. It is Thai letter Por-pra   " ป "

Well 2 native Thais tell me its J

it's actually Thai letter ง

[digbeth]

Example of pre production car using TC 'Test Car' plate

[johng]

Maybe its a  only in "Bangkok" thing ?

 

or instead of red plates...the now issue TC XXX ?

Edited June 13, 2018 by johng

[KhunBENQ]

6 minutes ago, digbeth said:

Example of pre production car using TC 'Test Car' plate

Wow, after about 60 posts a convincing explanation for the original question/image in the OP. As I wrote the plate in the opening post does not match what I was aware for traveling abroad.

 

 

Edited June 13, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[digbeth]

That original picture of Toyota CHR on test car plate is unusual that it's a car that's already sold to the public, normally TC plates are for pre production factory car, 

 

The new law that creates TC plates also specify a 'QC' plate for 'Quality Control' but that's not been seen in the wild yet

 

When the red plate is outlawed, maybe well connected Thais will use TC plates instead

[KhunBENQ]

And @digbeth 's post is the key!

Found an article in Thairath which confirms that.

And to add some chaos there are even:

QC

plates for some testing of imported cars?

EDIT: you were faster!

 

From the DLT site (with a date stamp of March 2017):

 

Edited June 13, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[grkt]

2 hours ago, jumbo said:

Thanks for the links, funny enough my friend, who lived in Chantaburi, never mentioned any police stops or fines when I asked him about the plate on his car

And I am sure he would have done so as I was seriously thinking at registering my new car with a latin plate as well... just for the fun of it...

 

 

 

No police checkpoints at Chanthabiuri.

 

 

[jimster]

On 6/13/2018 at 8:55 AM, Sydebolle said:

The Latin plates are a "nice to have", correct. The ITP is needed (bilaterally only) with Lao PDR. The documentation (TM3 and/or TM4) are individually required, some crossings want them, others are not interested; TM2 (Information of Conveyance) in duplicate (one on leaving and the copy on returning to Thailand) though is requested by all crossings. 

The Burmese have no use of the ITP (at least when I crossed at Myawaddy) but you need a permit by the Ministry of Hotel & Tourism and Latin plates facilitate the paperwork. Same applies to Vietnam (at Tay Trang/Dien Bien Phu). Both Myanmar and Vietnam have all Latin plates. 

Cambodia is a USD 220 story, tedious with the official paperwork. You can enter "unofficially" but make sure you don't have an accident or get your vehicle stolen as the car is, officially, not in Cambodia.

Easiest of all was and still is Malaysia except that the Latin plate is useless and thy insist on those ugly black stickers with white Latin numerals/letters to identify the (Thai) province; the Latin Thai plates refer to the province by a number in the lower right corner.

Concluding - there is still quite some work in the context of ASEAN and the every so proclaimed unification under the umbrella of AEC2015. Once all this is streamlined, hundreds if not thousands of pencil pushers all over the continent's borders, will be looking for new jobs with hopefully more meaning. 

 

Interesting. Thanks for all that info.

 

I have crossed at Myawaddy 3 times. But only for the day meaning no special paperwork or permits required. Thai customs holds onto your blue book and although they can issue paperwork allowing your car out for 1 week, the Myanmar side only permits Thai cars to be on their side for the day (which is reciprocated by Thai customs for Myanmar vehicles entering Mae Sot) - if you want to stay longer in Myawaddy you would have to return the next day. Tedious for a foreigner because you would either need to pay US$10 for another day permit (and get more stamps in your passport) or have a multiple entry Myanmar visa. However, in the latter case it might get complicated because Myanmar authorities would have nothing to hold onto to ensure you don't drive further than the transport zone so probably best to use the day pass. Myanmar customs holds onto your Thai paperwork and charges 20 Baht (sometimes its free) for a "car pass" a large placard you place in your car.

 

Indeed I would bring along the Latin plates for "official" entries into Myanmar on a guided tour as well as Vietnam. I met a group of Lao vehicles heading into Myanmar from Mae Sot last year. The owner of the vehicles is a personal friend of mine. I don't think they had any English translation of their plates but irrespective, for Thai vehicles at least you get them when you apply for your ITP and thus there is little reason not to bring them along for trips to places like Myanmar and Vietnam.

 

How do you enter Cambodia "officially"? I have received some information from a travel agency and have read info on various fora but would be interested in the information you have. You can send me a PM if you don't wish to divulge these details publicly. Does it help to visit the Cambodian embassy for them to stamp some kind of permission letter or would this be useless? Anyway, as I often travel to Cambodia "unofficially" which is where I am now, there is little reason for me to enter officially being familiar with the system here and knowing how to handle the traffic here, however, it might be useful for a longer trip, to insure against an accident or in case of wanting to exit for Laos or Vietnam (obviously a tour would be required in the latter case though there are reports of third country vehicles being permitted to enter at Ha Tien without a tour, mainly motorcycles).

[overherebc]

On 6/11/2018 at 11:52 AM, KhunBENQ said:

Life can be so easy!

 

 

Areas of Bangkok maybe more than one????

[Sydebolle]

I'm not talking of day trips, for that you dont need a car nor an ITP as crossing by public transport (whatever is available) is easier and cheaper. For Myanmar I needed a visa and the car needed an approval from Yangon. And, as pictured, I would not be able to drive all the way up to Mandalay's Mingun Bell and back in one day ? 

Cambodia is a more difficult thing at the moment - if you go officially. The Ministry of Transportation issues, against something like USD 500, a transport permit allowing you to be in Cambodia for X days/weeks, entering X and leaving X or Y, driven by Z. 

[digbeth]

Do they still insist on local escort when Driving into Laos?

 

When Thailand had too much problems from Chinese driver and cars driven down from Chiang Rai last year they made Thai tour/guide escort compulsory now, even for motorcycles too

[phuketrichard]

there was a guy/tour agent on fb that was able to arrange the OFFICIAL document from PP,  needed to enter Cambodia officially and legally,

$80

He needed u send him copies of ur blue book, photos of car, ur passport copy,which border u were crossing and he would mail all paperwork by ems back to u in Thailand.

 

Laos is easy, never needed a guide/escort ( been in an out of Laos a few times since 2012) or permits except those issued at the border.  all u need is ur cars purple passport and u can even buy insurance at the border...

 

Sydebolle

I'd love to know how u got permission to drive between Kengtung and Taunggyi as its closed to individual travelers, Only know people on tours that have done it

so i assume u were on a tour as Mae sot to Mingun is over 1, 450 kms away...

FYI  all Burmese cars/motorcycles  have seen have Burmese letters/numbers ( there a few Burmese military trucks here in Phuket) and for on all the bikes i have rented in Burma

 

 

Quote

enter at Ha Tien without a tour, mainly motorcycles).

thai cars, ( right hand drive) only allowed in if on a tour

[jimster]

15 hours ago, phuketrichard said:

there was a guy/tour agent on fb that was able to arrange the OFFICIAL document from PP,  needed to enter Cambodia officially and legally,

$80

He needed u send him copies of ur blue book, photos of car, ur passport copy,which border u were crossing and he would mail all paperwork by ems back to u in Thailand.

 

Laos is easy, never needed a guide/escort ( been in an out of Laos a few times since 2012) or permits except those issued at the border.  all u need is ur cars purple passport and u can even buy insurance at the border...

 

Sydebolle

I'd love to know how u got permission to drive between Kengtung and Taunggyi as its closed to individual travelers, Only know people on tours that have done it

so i assume u were on a tour as Mae sot to Mingun is over 1, 450 kms away...

FYI  all Burmese cars/motorcycles  have seen have Burmese letters/numbers ( there a few Burmese military trucks here in Phuket) and for on all the bikes i have rented in Burma 

 

 

thai cars, ( right hand drive) only allowed in if on a tour

 

What do you mean by Burmese military trucks in Phuket? Burmese registered cars and trucks aren't allowed to travel beyond the border crossing they entered. Thai customs are very strict on this and have always been - besides, going in the other direction only the border areas allow you to drive a Thai car in without any documents. Unless you are referring to Burmese trucks no longer used in regular traffic. Nowadays nearly all Burmese vehicles have Latin characters which have replaced the old Burmese letters and numbers in the last 5 years. For example, 1C-2344 KYN (Kayin). Or 3A-8888 YGN (Yangon) etc.

 

There is are some loopholes in the Vietnamese regulations. Entry without a tour via Ha Tien is possible, according to numerous posters on Facebook and overlanding forums. Thai, Malaysian and even Australian bikes have successfully entered there. Cars I'm not sure (though probably not). Officially you need a tour - RHD or LHD makes no difference. The only cars allowed to enter Vietnam by themselves are Lao and Cambodian registrations. The latter are only allowed to travel within the border provinces though I have occasionally seen them further away, such as in Nha Trang.

[jimster]

23 hours ago, Sydebolle said:

I'm not talking of day trips, for that you dont need a car nor an ITP as crossing by public transport (whatever is available) is easier and cheaper. For Myanmar I needed a visa and the car needed an approval from Yangon. And, as pictured, I would not be able to drive all the way up to Mandalay's Mingun Bell and back in one day ? 

Cambodia is a more difficult thing at the moment - if you go officially. The Ministry of Transportation issues, against something like USD 500, a transport permit allowing you to be in Cambodia for X days/weeks, entering X and leaving X or Y, driven by Z.  

 

There are many reasons to cross by car on day trips. Shopping, bringing in supplies or buying supplies to bring back to Thailand etc. depends on your personal situation. I run businesses on both sides of the border hence crossing by car makes sense to me, even with the one day restrictions. For most other people it's much easier to walk across the bridge or take a taxi across (same situation at Mae Sai, though the bridge is shorter there).

 

Sure. I have made many enquiries about driving into Myanmar in my own vehicle. It's quite simple these days, just pricey, which is why I haven't done it yet - I would be highly tempted if the price was 50% cheaper and only one guide (rather than 2) were required.

 

Traveling via the Kengtung-Taunggyi road is also possible depending on the security situation. About a year ago it wasn't allowed, I know one group of Lao vehicles that exited and re-entered Thailand at Mae Sot because of this. Now it seems to be OK again.

 

You drove from where to Mandalay and back? From Myawaddy to Mandalay in one day is possible, but surely not a return trip in one day!

 

I have some Thai friends who regularly cross the border to Myanmar with their Thai cars with no official permission. One of them even drove through the Mae Hong Son border to Loikaw without a tour! He knows some Karen army generals who facilitated his journey. He and his colleagues like many local Thais like to take a shortcut by driving from Ban Phob Phra to Nong Luang district in Tak province, cutting through Myanmar territory rather than taking the winding road up the mountain on the Thai side. Many unofficial crossings also take place from Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces to Shan State.

 

Overall I would not recommend any of this (especially as a foreigner), but many local Thais with connections are able to drive a certain distance into Myanmar without issue.

Edited June 15, 2018 by jimster

[jimster]

20 hours ago, digbeth said:

Do they still insist on local escort when Driving into Laos?

 

When Thailand had too much problems from Chinese driver and cars driven down from Chiang Rai last year they made Thai tour/guide escort compulsory now, even for motorcycles too 

Yes those rules came into effect on June 27, 2016 requiring prior entry permission. Then last year the guide and escort became mandatory as of March 2017. For Laos no need. Perhaps in the distant past yes (20? years ago perhaps)?

 

However, there is an escort requirement to ride a foreign registered motorcycle that enters from Thailand into Laos now at most border crossings. Some Lao/Viet borders are also prohibiting Vietnamese bikes across especially if ridden by foreigners. Also, a minimum number of motorcycles must enter - 1 or 2 is not allowed anymore. Only one border still allows one to enter and ride without an escort as long as there are no more than about 3 or 4 motorcycles entering together.

Edited June 15, 2018 by jimster

[phuketrichard]

18 minutes ago, jimster said:

 

What do you mean by Burmese military trucks in Phuket? Burmese registered cars and trucks aren't allowed to travel beyond the border crossing they entered. Thai customs are very strict on this and have always been - besides, going in the other direction only the border areas allow you to drive a Thai car in without any documents. Unless you are referring to Burmese trucks no longer used in regular traffic. Nowadays nearly all Burmese vehicles have Latin characters which have replaced the old Burmese letters and numbers in the last 5 years. For example, 1C-2344 KYN (Kayin). Or 3A-8888 YGN (Yangon) etc.

 

There is are some loopholes in the Vietnamese regulations. Entry without a tour via Ha Tien is possible, according to numerous posters on Facebook and overlanding forums. Thai, Malaysian and even Australian bikes have successfully entered there. Cars I'm not sure (though probably not). Officially you need a tour - RHD or LHD makes no difference. The only cars allowed to enter Vietnam by themselves are Lao and Cambodian registrations. The latter are only allowed to travel within the border provinces though I have occasionally seen them further away, such as in Nha Trang.

like i said there are a few Burmese trucks down here on the island,,(even one hummer) all running Burmese plates

 

All the bikes i have rented over the passed 3 years in Mandalay ( 2 were brand new) had Burmese number plates.

[jimster]

1 minute ago, phuketrichard said:

like i said there are a few Burmese trucks down here on the island,,(even one hummer) all running Burmese plates

 

All the bikes i have rented over the passed 3 years in Mandalay ( 2 were brand new) had Burmese number plates.

Any pics?

 

They can come on tours, but without escort - highly unlikely (at least I'd be extremely surprised as I've never heard of that being possible for Burmese). Also, where would they have come from? There is no car ferry at Kawthoung that I am aware of. Nearest border to drive across would either be Dan Singkorn or more likely Phu Nam Ron. A long long way from Phuket!

[jimster]

90-95% of all Burmese registrations now have Latin license plates. I go to Myanmar very regularly on business, last trip was just 3 weeks ago. 3 years ago it might have been only 50% or so and 5 years ago 10%.

[stevenl]

6 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

like i said there are a few Burmese trucks down here on the island,,(even one hummer) all running Burmese plates

 

All the bikes i have rented over the passed 3 years in Mandalay ( 2 were brand new) had Burmese number plates.

Never seen those Burmese military trucks here, be very interested in seeing a photo of that.

[HAKAPALITA]

Neithers anyone else. 99% are up north ,perhaps a stray Naval one down there.[emoji571]‍♀️


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Kinnock]

On ‎6‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 3:35 PM, digbeth said:

TC plates are new 'Test Car' used by manufacturer /factory when they have pre-production vehicles, previously these cars would be out on 'red plate'

 

 

as the government try to phase out the red plates, they have made the new TC plates for the factories to use

 

This is separate from the latin alphabet plate that's valid only for going to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, not valid for use within Thailand, they specifically tell that you must replace the plates with original Thai ones upon returning to Thailand, but some people think it's cool and leave them on and they hope that not too many police knows the law or bribe them away

 

Going south to Malaysia Singapore also has a separate system where they made a sticker of the 'translation' and stick them side by side with original Thai plates

Thanks for this.  So perhaps it was a new model in the C-HR range out being tested, or maybe a pre-launch model still running on the Test Car plates, as the C-HR has not been out long?  Interesting info in this thread - and a final answer.

[Kinnock]

On ‎6‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 3:35 PM, digbeth said:

TC plates are new 'Test Car' used by manufacturer /factory when they have pre-production vehicles, previously these cars would be out on 'red plate'

 

 

as the government try to phase out the red plates, they have made the new TC plates for the factories to use

 

This is separate from the latin alphabet plate that's valid only for going to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, not valid for use within Thailand, they specifically tell that you must replace the plates with original Thai ones upon returning to Thailand, but some people think it's cool and leave them on and they hope that not too many police knows the law or bribe them away

 

Going south to Malaysia Singapore also has a separate system where they made a sticker of the 'translation' and stick them side by side with original Thai plates

Thanks for this.  So perhaps it was a new model in the C-HR range out being tested, or maybe a pre-launch model still running on the Test Car plates, as the C-HR has not been out long?  Interesting info in this thread - and a final answer.

[Sydebolle]

The only bridge between Myanmar and Laos, opened some three years ago, is still not open to traffic hence Lao vehicles in Myanmar cross via PR China or Thailand. 

Myawaddy - Mandalay is not possible in one day, the (only) road between Myawaddy and Kyaikto takes a skilled driver five hours already as overtaking the slower Myanmar vehicles, right hand driven (Thai) car on a right hand driven road system does not facilitate driving either. 

The only "decent" road is the madness highway between Yangon and Mandalay, passing Nay Pyi Taw and that can be done in a day. Yet Myanmar is, road wise, not an A to B thing, the journey is the destination. If you want to go to Mandalay from Thailand (including Mae Sot or Mae Hong Son) then by far the quickest and cheapest is fly domestically (i.e. Nok Air) to Don Meuang and from there take Air Asia to Mandalay. 

The "minder" of the Ministry of Hotel and Tourism is an old fart by the Myanmar government; will be history anytime soon as totally unnecessary, costly and incompetent. 

[HAKAPALITA]

Cant say ive noticed any Latin plates, is it IV for 4 and a Sign for Omega.?. Sons got a new funny looking new BKK plate, i glanced it n gave up on the squiggle stuff

[jimster]

12 hours ago, Sydebolle said:

The only bridge between Myanmar and Laos, opened some three years ago, is still not open to traffic hence Lao vehicles in Myanmar cross via PR China or Thailand. 

Myawaddy - Mandalay is not possible in one day, the (only) road between Myawaddy and Kyaikto takes a skilled driver five hours already as overtaking the slower Myanmar vehicles, right hand driven (Thai) car on a right hand driven road system does not facilitate driving either. 

The only "decent" road is the madness highway between Yangon and Mandalay, passing Nay Pyi Taw and that can be done in a day. Yet Myanmar is, road wise, not an A to B thing, the journey is the destination. If you want to go to Mandalay from Thailand (including Mae Sot or Mae Hong Son) then by far the quickest and cheapest is fly domestically (i.e. Nok Air) to Don Meuang and from there take Air Asia to Mandalay. 

The "minder" of the Ministry of Hotel and Tourism is an old fart by the Myanmar government; will be history anytime soon as totally unnecessary, costly and incompetent.  

My Myanmar friend regularly does Myawaddy - Mandalay in one day. I've only done Myawaddy-Naypyidaw in a single day. The former is a long haul of course, necessitating an early start but assuming you floor it on the Mandalay-Yangon expressway, get off at Waw and then from there to Myawaddy via Hpa-an and the new Kawkareik bypass road it's about 6 hours in addition to the time it takes from Mandalay to Waw (or vice versa heading in the other direction) totally it's probably around 12 hours.

 

He drives a RHD car, as do (still) 85-90% of Myanmar drivers. RHD/LHD - doesn't make much of a difference. A skilled driver can't drive faster just because he has LHD as opposed to RHD. On the Mandalay-Yangon expressway it makes 0 difference being a dual carriageway road.

 

Lao vehicles can't cross China to head into Myanmar; the border at Muse is closed to foreigners. Permits are sometimes issued but not for a while as there has been fighting in Muse recently and before that Kokang. The entire northern Shan region north of Lashio has been largely closed to foreigners since 2015. Secondly, Lao plates entering China can only go as far as Sipsongbanna without a guide. In the past they were allowed to travel all over China by requesting permission at each provincial boundary but that loophole ended some years back. The few Lao vehicles entering Myanmar can only enter and exit Myanmar via Thailand. Only Thailand has legal overland crossings to Myanmar for the time being.

 

What do you mean "will be history soon"? The minder or the requirement to have a guide when driving your own vehicle into Myanmar?

 

 

Edited June 16, 2018 by jimster

[jimster]

On 6/15/2018 at 12:02 PM, stevenl said:

Never seen those Burmese military trucks here, be very interested in seeing a photo of that.

If they exist we're talking either show vehicles or vehicles that were brought in by the Myanmar government as part of a bilateral agreement and probably part of a government convoy for the purposes of a meeting between Thai and Myanmar officials, this is allowed under the DLT rules.

 

It is absolutely not possible for a Burmese plated vehicle to travel independently inside Thailand, heading away from the border areas. However, being military vehicles they must have entered as mentioned as part of a bilateral agreement.

[jimster]

On 6/12/2018 at 10:13 AM, Sydebolle said:

As far as I got it they just number the alphabet (pun intended); so done with my cars. 
2nd letter on the Thai alphabet = 2nd letter on the Latin alphabet
Unclear though is what happens after letter 26th Thai alphabet as the Latin version has run out of options. I do not have a car with such high Thai letters so I do not know ........  

They use numbers for the characters after the 26th Thai alphabet, as there are only 26 characters in the Latin alphabet, but 44 in the Thai alphabet. For example, the 27th Thai character is "1", the 28th is "2" and so on.

[Sydebolle]

1 hour ago, jimster said:

My Myanmar friend regularly does Myawaddy - Mandalay in one day. I've only done Myawaddy-Naypyidaw in a single day. The former is a long haul of course, necessitating an early start but assuming you floor it on the Mandalay-Yangon expressway, get off at Waw and then from there to Myawaddy via Hpa-an and the new Kawkareik bypass road it's about 6 hours in addition to the time it takes from Mandalay to Waw (or vice versa heading in the other direction) totally it's probably around 12 hours.

 

He drives a RHD car, as do (still) 85-90% of Myanmar drivers. RHD/LHD - doesn't make much of a difference. A skilled driver can't drive faster just because he has LHD as opposed to RHD. On the Mandalay-Yangon expressway it makes 0 difference being a dual carriageway road.

 

Lao vehicles can't cross China to head into Myanmar; the border at Muse is closed to foreigners. Permits are sometimes issued but not for a while as there has been fighting in Muse recently and before that Kokang. The entire northern Shan region north of Lashio has been largely closed to foreigners since 2015. Secondly, Lao plates entering China can only go as far as Sipsongbanna without a guide. In the past they were allowed to travel all over China by requesting permission at each provincial boundary but that loophole ended some years back. The few Lao vehicles entering Myanmar can only enter and exit Myanmar via Thailand. Only Thailand has legal overland crossings to Myanmar for the time being.

 

What do you mean "will be history soon"? The minder or the requirement to have a guide when driving your own vehicle into Myanmar?

 

 

Well, it took my wife and me a full month to do a proper round trip through Myanmar and Myawaddy-Mandalay in a day is not what I want. The LHD has the advantage of overtaking ? 

Both the minder and the guide will be history soon in Myanmar; give it another few years. A guide though can be helpful as Burmese is not a language I master, neither spoken nor written ? 

[jimster]

33 minutes ago, Sydebolle said:

Well, it took my wife and me a full month to do a proper round trip through Myanmar and Myawaddy-Mandalay in a day is not what I want. The LHD has the advantage of overtaking ? 

Both the minder and the guide will be history soon in Myanmar; give it another few years. A guide though can be helpful as Burmese is not a language I master, neither spoken nor written ? 

Sure. I wouldn't recommend it either. Just saying it can be done. I have also done Hpa-an-Yangon-Pyin Oo Lwin (totalling 965km) in one day (this was with a car and driver). We had a meeting in Yangon hence the detour there and had to be in Pyin Oo Lwin for another series of meetings the next day. It was a long, long day and we only arrived at 2.30am. Our driver was actually a rather slow driver - if it was your average Myanmar driver I'm sure we would have made it by 1am instead.

 

I hope that both the minder and guide will be history eventually and hopefully sooner rather than later.

 

However, what is keeping this requirement in place are security issues. Many parts of Myanmar are still unsafe and closed to foreigners. Having a government minder ensures you don't venture somewhere you aren't supposed to. Such as northern Rakhine state, northern and parts of central Shan State, many parts of Kachin state, some parts of northern and south-eastern Kayin (Karen) state and various other areas.

 

Unless by some miracle all conflicts in the country were to end within the next few months, then I doubt this requirement will change anytime soon. Perhaps however, if the government were reasonable they could allow unsupervised travel by car around the open areas while still restricting travel to the restricted areas. Putting up English signs at roadblocks to these areas would thus deter any attempt to enter them. I don't think the Myanmar government has the foresight to do this at this time, it's much easier for them to just restrict all foreign vehicles from driving away from the border areas and it also generates quite a bit of revenue for the government too.

Edited June 16, 2018 by jimster