StoneSoup

My friend who has run a business in Shanghai for many years describes Chinese tourists as swarms of locusts, who destroy in their path. Good luck with that, Thailand. SS

You need something to show the insurance company, to explain how your car got destroyed.

That should have been: the Nescafe girl was 180 cm - I'm not sure what happened to the "1" in front. She was also wearing shiny black go-go boots, to a bit above her knees.

WTF? It won't let me display the video????????

I post this in case it helps one or two guys get this done smoothly. I've had a Thai driver's license since 2000. You have to get a first license, and then a couple of one-year renewals, and they then let you renew for five years at a time. I had five one-year licenses, and then two five year licenses. The license expires on your birthday. You can renew the license during a window from several weeks before your expiration, until several weeks after your expiration. What I describe applies to renewal of a five year license - ONLY. Rules may differ for one-year renewals, and they definaiely differ for initial application TIP #1 - renew after expiration. I renewed six days after expiration, and the new expiration is on my birthday in 2021- six days short of SIX YEARS. I previously always renewed BEFORE expiration, and just got five years. What you need to bring: Passport Old Thai driver's license Work permit (or - if no work permit - you need to bring Embassy-certification of your residence address) 655 baht per each license that you want (car, and/or motorcycle) Bring an ink pen Tip #2 - you no longer need a medical exam certificate. I paid 500 baht for one, and brought it - and no one was interested I went to the main renewal location at the Department of Land Transport complex near Chatuchak Market. This is a complex of at least six big buildings, spread across a large campus. Where you go for driver's licenses is Building 4 - at GPS 13.797339, 100.554234 . It is about a 700 meter hike from Mochit BTS Station. The building numbers are in Thai script, at top of each building, readable from a km away. The Thai script numeral for four is https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTJQx5ofKRorhZkqpzmejSan1bXWGl5G6a2BNHMVwyz53j5mrop When you get to the building, go to the main entrance, and walk in. Big open space. Head to the left rear - where , at the base of a wide stairway, there is a desk with two girls running copy machines. 2 baht per copy. Hand them your passport and work permit - they know which pages to copy. Two passport pages, and 3-6 work permit pages. 16 baht maximum. Next, climb the stairs - where you face a registration center - big wide counter with maybe six lanes. Slide to the left - where there is a long counter/shelf - and ink-sign all pages of copies. Then - get in any lane. When its your turn, hand over your stuff. They fumble for 45 seconds , then hand you back a bundle of forms - and they have you write only two things: 1) You passport name in block letters 2) Your (mobile) phone number, above a smudged blue ink stamp. They then give you a paper queue number slip - which has the queue number (BIG), and also the desk number. Mine was 3010, and Desk 18. You about-face, and exit the room, and then turn left to go into another "room" - which is basically a big hallway, with desk cubicles off of it. Evidently, farangs are sent to desks 17 and 18 (English-speaking staff) - which are at the right end, as you enter. You sit, and wait for your queue number. When called you go in, hand over your bundle, and they fiddle some more - and then give you back a smaller bundle, and tell you to go to third floor. Go back out, and climb the stairs to third floor. At third floor, there is a big waiting room, facing a TV monitor, and then off to the left, another room, with eye-coordination physical testing. Go to "Information" desk at the the back left of the waiting room, and hand in your packet. They give you a green plastic queue number tag - mine was 261. You then sit in the waiting room, and watch a video about the tests. You end up watching the video about four times, alternating between Thai and English versions. They periodically call out batches of about 20 numbers, and you proceed to the testing room when your number is called (in Thai). Test 1 - Standing, you watch a traffic signal about five meters away, three lense-circles high, which flashes green, red, or yellow, in any order - a total of maybe eight or ten flashes. Each time, you simply state the color. Note: the yellow looked greenish-yellow to me, and I called green the first time - but the next flash was "serious" green - so I realized that I screwed up before. I guess they gave me extra flashes - because I then got the rest easily correct. You then move to Tests 2 and 3, side by side. Test 2 is a depth perception test. The video ahead of time does not really make it clear. You face a box - maybe four meters away - with a black interior background. There are two vertical posts in the box - whitish color. The post on the right is fixed in position. The post on the left moves backwards and forwards along a track. You are presented with two buttons - green and red. Green moves the left post forward and backward, in full sweeps. Red stops the left-hand post in place. What you are supposed to do is move the left-hand post forward or back, and stop it when it is at the same distance from you as the right-hand post. It is actually pretty screwed up - the lighting is bad, the green button seems to have a long lag in movement. The good news is - the "forward and back" tolerance in relation to the reference post is evidently huge. I think they simply passed everybody. You then slide left to Test #3. Two pedals on the floor - gas (petrol) and brake. Vertical scoring panel five meters away, with green and red lamp. You step on the gas pedal - a brief lag - and green lamp lights up. It stays green for a few seconds, and then the display switches to the red lamp - and you have to slam on the brakes. There is a column of lights on the scoring panel, which climb upward with each millisecond between red light going on, and you hitting the brakes. You have to hit the brakes before the light column reaches the top. It goes quite quickly - you have to be sharp. You then go to the final test - Test 4 - Peripheral vision. You place the bridge of your nose into a guide, and stare straight ahead. They then flash green, red or yellow lights off to the far sides. You simply have to state the color. Again, their yellow looked slightly greenish to me - but I think they were not concerned with that distinction - as long as you saw the flashes at all. I think five or six flashes each side. They then give you your document packet, and send you up to fourth floor. Note: I think that after the second floor stage, the sequence can switch between going to third floor or fourth floor next - because I saw a guy who was with me originally, but he then went next to 4th floor, and then to 3rd floor. At fourth floor, there are a bunch of people sitting in a waiting room. You go to the window at front end of room, and hand over your documents. They have you enter your name into a ledger book, and they then give you a yellow queue number, which also has a room number, and a time period. The rooms are 401, 402, and 403. My queue tag had 10:00- 11:00 and Room 403. Bizzaro note: As I reached the fourth floor waiting area, there was Nescafe promotional stand set up, offering free cans of chilled Nescafe coffee drink. The stand was operated by a tall (at least 80 cm), leggy, reasonably attractive Thai chick in shiny black hot pants and vest - looking like a Coyote dancer. As I was sitting down, she was packing up - I guess for a break - and put up a little sandwich board that said (in Thai) "Will be back at 11:00 am" At 10:00 am, they called for everyone who had room 401 - and everyone else went in - and then the lady who had given me the queue card - and had specifically told me to wait for room 403 - now told me to just go into room 401. I then went into room 401 and watched EXACTLY one hour of video about driving, accidents, etc - all in Thai language. My guess is - if they have enough foreigners, they run a session in Room 403 in English. I was the only farang out of maybe 50 people - so they just said the hell with it, and sent me to join the Thais. After one hour, they released everybody - and told everyone to find their document packet from a line of desks along one wall - where all the document sets were laid out in a row. But - as I came out - a lady was standing there - dedicated to me - holding just my passport and one small square of paper. She handed it to me, and told me to go back to second floor. I went back to Desk 18, and sat outside it, in the seating queue. An assistant lady had helped me earlier, and I got her attention, and she took my one scrap of paper, and dug my document packet out of an in-box - and handed it to me, and asked me to proofread my details. She also motioned me to enter cubicle 18 - where another guy was still finishing up. I looked everything over - it was OK - and I signed the place where it said (in English) to sign. The other guy left, I handed the packet to the lady, she fumbled with it for 90 seconds, then made some entries on her computer, then asked me for 655 baht. I gave it to her - and she then asked me to move to the photo-taking seat. She then took two photos - and then asked me to come around to her side of the desk, and pick the image that I liked best (!!). I did so - and she fumbled with the computer for 60 seconds. A printer next to her then printed a page -which she folded into thirds, and then tore into three sections. She gave me one section - my receipt. She then fumbled for another 60 seconds - then left the cubicle to go around behind the row of cubicles to a special printer. 90 seconds later, she returned with my license, and set it on the desk - and told me that I now had another five years. Mission accomplished. And - my new license is actually good for 5 years and 359 days. I entered the building at 8:50 am, and departed at 11:20 am. If you hit perfect timing at all points, it could all be done in about 100-105 minutes. 'Hope that helps someone. Cheers! SS

Yesterday, I walked past the site of the new Soi 11 branch of the El Gaucho Steakhouse, which appears to be nearing completion. Its style is very similar to the original version on Soi 19. The Soi 11 version is on the small Soi that connects Soi 11/1 to Soi 11 - with a long veranda facing the side-soi, and only a small frontage actually facing onto Soi 11 itself - directly across the street from the Zanzibar outdoor restaurant. Cheers! SS

http://youtu.be/g8MYsii4DZY

Which is real life, and which is fantasy? Is "there" the real thing, and "here" is the fantasy excursion, or is "here" the real thing? Does the tail wag the dog? Is "home" the place that you spend nine dismal months per year, or is "home" where you spend three pleasant months per year? Only the shadow knows...... "It's not my circus,. and these are not my monkeys." Cheers! SS

An Aussie friend of mine who runs a business in China told me that China is forecasting that it (alone) will soon be sending 25 miilion tourists per year to Thailand - aided by Thailand's new "no visa required" rule for Chinese visitors. That is basically 2% of the Chinse population. He also describes Chinese as "locusts" who destroy everything they touch, once they are present in large numbers. If 25 million Chinese per year visit Thailand for a week each, that requires 480,000 beds PER NIGHT. Even if you put five people in each room, that amounts to 480 hotels - each with 200 rooms. Crazy numbers. I suspect that Thailand will soon be revisiting their "no visas required" rules, after a "locust plague" decimates a few more tourist areas. Cheers! SS

Hey Jack - You must have overlooked this one: LvCornwallis wrote: “Redlight Hotel†Reviewed July 12, 2014 First of all, every square inch of this hotel is most likely covered in sperm dating back to the 1970's. The hotel is filthy, but I guess it does not matter because I was up to filthy activities anyway. Great location for picking up third world hookers, I even saw a ladyboy knife fight in front of the hotel.

'Sorry to hear of the loss. I have a Bangkaew dog (well, about 90%, anyway) that just hit 10 years old this week. He is already starting to fade. I have always taken him out walking in our gated community late at night, usually around midnight - so that I could let him run around free without him bothering anyone. It never ceases to amaze me how enthusiastically excited he has gotten each and every night for ten years, as soon as I step out into the gated carport where he hangs out - he knows that he's going for a walk, and every time he acts like he hasn't been walked in five years - and just starts jumping and yipping ecstatically. So many nights I've returned home half pickled - and would just love to crash out and sleep - but I just couldn't deprive this mutt of his main joy of every day. Pouring rain - no matter. He just doesn't like close lightning/thunder. KS - you should get a new dog - both for you, and for him/her. Dogs need their people, to be complete..

For Joe Cocker, there is a natural farewell song:

Now, about that work permit (or.... "Never Say Never"): http://stuppid.com/grandfather-busted-prostituting-himself-young-women/ Grandfather Busted For Prostituting Himself… To Young Women 88-year-old grandfather, Edwin Venn, was arrested Tuesday night for prostitution, along with his "john ", Amanda Pearson, 23. Police had been watching Venn for several months and noticed a peculiar pattern. “His johns were all young women. Twenties, thirties. Most quite beautiful. Never really seen anything like this dynamic, but strange things do happen.†Mr. Venn stood most weekend nights with cardboard sign on Hollywood Blvd that read: “I’m for sale.†Pearson admitted during her arraignment that when she found the 88-year-old Venn trying to turn tricks she and her friends decided it would be funny to sleep ‘with an old guy.’ Word spread and lots of girls paid Venn for sex. Pearson said he only charged five dollars and gave them lollipops afterward. Lollipops!?! Man, what a class act! Cheers! SS

Late 1966. I was ten years old. My year group (born 1956) was the last one to actually be issued draft cards - but I think that last actual draft lottery was held in 1972 - the US Military went all volunteer as on January 27, 1973. Cheers! SS

At this website, you can look up US Military pay tables going back to 1949: http://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers/payentitlements/militarypaytables.html I see that as newly-commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in 1978, my monthly base pay was $844.20. I was on jump status with the 82nd Abn Div, so the additional $110 per month jump pay added another 12.4% - which was much appreciated. Military pay used to be pretty awful. Now - given the bad economy in the USA, military pay is looking reasonably attractive, as long as you are not dodging bullets, RPG's, and IED's. Cheers! SS

Well, it appears that white people ("white devils"?) are no longer welcome to even live in parts of Obama's America: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/bk-women-force-tenants-gunpoint-squat-apartment-cops-article-1.1931834 Two Brooklyn women tired of 'white people moving into the area' force tenants out at gunpoint, then squat in apartment: police Precious Parker, 30, and Sabrina James, 23, were arrested Saturday after they allegedly kicked two men and a woman out of an Ocean Ave. apartment on Thursday. Authorities say the crime was partly motivated by race and class resentment. I sure am glad that Obama (and Eric Holder) came along to help build racial harmony, and "heal the wounds" of strained race relations in America. Cheers! SS

'Time to put all the "global cooling deniers" in their places: Surprise! Glaciers appearing in Scotland Hazards common in arctic and alpine areas but described as "extremely unusual" in the UK during the summer have been found on Ben Nevis. A team of climbers and scientists investigating the mountain's North Face said snowfields remained in many gullies and upper scree slopes. On these fields, they have come across compacted, dense, ice hard snow call neve. Neve is the first stage in the formation of glaciers, the team said. The team has also encountered sheets of snow weighing hundreds of tonnes and tunnels and fissures known as bergschrunds. The large, deep cracks in the ice are found at the top of glaciers. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-28885119

OK - it is now September 5th. One week from now, the USA will be sorting through the wreckage of this year's vintage of 9-11 terrorist strikes. In his infinite wisdom, President "More Mush from the Wimp" Obama's administration has announced the removal of funding from some or all of each of the following programs: Hellfire missile Tomahawk missile A-10 Thunderbolt ("Warthog") So - my question is: where are likely to be three targets hit on 9-11-14? My guesses: Texas Colorado Virginia Oh - and Iraq and Afghanistan don't count - the "background noise" explosions would likely make it tough to accurately discern a strictly anniversary-based attack. I will be delighted if 9-11-14 is actually "kaboom-less" - I just don't think that the slavering jihadists will be able to pass up the opportunity to take cheap shots at Uncle Sam, while the feckless Obama cruises the golf links, and fist-bumps his way through various celebrity fund-raising parties. And - those three weapons systems up above? As a former Infantry officer, I have a hard time thinking of any other weapons systems that have done a better job of taking out bad guys, while minimizing risks to the good guys. WTF are they thinking, to diminish or eliminate these programs???? Cheers! SS

Is that maybe a local franchise name for a "Hooters" bordello restaurant ? Cheers! SS

25 Year Ago - Wendy James

For some reason the lyrics reminded me of a lot of realationships in Bangkok: "...playin' detective,wanna' know it, too Goin' through my pockets, searchin' for clues Trying to follow me, you and the desperate crew The end of this relationship was long overdue Now what you did was cute, girl' you spent the loot Easy on the tears, oops, 'mind you'll soil the suit Do yourself a favor, and find a new recruit And don't take it personal. because you got the boot..." http://youtu.be/NTdz0zRAWEM

For anyone who might be interested in the Bitcoin phenomenon, from the standpoint of how things work in Thailand, I have launched a website to serve as a central clearinghouse for relevant information. You can find a directory listing the (very few) business in Thailand that currently accept Bitcoin at: http://www.bitcoinrealmthai.com/ You can read an accurate summary of Thai government treatment of the first fully-legal Bitcoin exchange in Thailand at http://www.bitcoinrealmthai.com/thai-government-regulation-bitcoin-trading/ If anyone is interested in learning more, there is weekly meetup of Bitcoin enthusiasts, as posted at: http://www.meetup.com/Bangkok-Satoshi-Square/ Bitcoin has three main uses: 1. As a store of value - and it continues to take periodic beatings in this regard, due to whipsaw price volatility. 2. As a means of carrying out convenient retail or on-line financial transactions - with an app on your mobile phone, you can make a payment down to 25 satang very quickly and easily, at a merchant set up to acceopt payments; in the future, it will be easy to make (or receive) on-line micropayments - of, say, 20 or 30 baht - opening up new ways of delivering paid content at a very low threshhold of entry. 3. As a method of transferring funds internationally - quickly and inexpensively. In this role, Bitccoin van be thought of as a "magic envelope". You purchase as envelope to hold a specified amount of funds in whatever currency you are using to purchase the envelope at your end. The size of the envelope is determined by the amount of money it contains. You then send the "magic envelope" off to its destination - similary to sending a e-mail message or Tweet - but to a very strange looking alphanumeric address. The "magic envelope" reaches its destination within a few minutes - anywhere in the world that has internet. It can move 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. The "postage" for the trip is about 1 Satang - regardless of the size of the envelope. The recipent "opens the envelope" by "cashing it in" for an amount of money in local currency, roughly equivalent to what you orginally put into the envelope. The "magic envelope" is then ready for reuse by someone else. Right now, due to limited numbers of exchange points, the "exchange rates" between Bitcoin and local currencies can be somewhat unattractive - but that situation will improve, as more players begin enterring the market, increasing competitiveness. Resistance to Bitcoin in 2014 is almost perfectly mirroring resistance to e-mail in 1994. It is only a matter of time before digital currencies become ubiquitous. Cheers! SS

James R. Schlesinger, Willful Aide to Three Presidents, Is Dead at 85 James R. Schlesinger, a tough Cold War strategist who served as secretary of defense under Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford and became the nation’s first secretary of energy under President Jimmy Carter, died on Thursday in Baltimore. He was 85. A brilliant, often abrasive Harvard-educated economist, Mr. Schlesinger went to Washington in 1969 as an obscure White House budget official. Over the next decade he became chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, director of Central Intelligence, a cabinet officer for three presidents (two of whom fired him), a thorn to congressional leaders and a controversial national public figure. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/28/us/politics/james-r-schlesinger-cold-war-hard-liner-dies-at-85.html?_r=0 Quite a resume: Secretary of Defense, Director of the CIA, Chairman Atomic Energy Commission. I remember him for two things: 1. He was the Secretary of Defense when I memorized my first military Chain of Command in 1974 (way, way deep into the recitation) 2. He was the driving force and main proponent for developing both the A-10 Warthog Thunderbolt, and also the F-16. As a grunt, those were guardian angels to be cherished when available. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_R._Schlesinger RIP. Cheers! SS

I will drink this evening to Fred Phelps dying in agony - a slow lingering death would be ideal.

Hal Douglas, "The Movie Trailer Guy", dead at age 89. I'll bet you can recognize his voice: (and this clip will probably put a smaile on your face) Cheers! SS