forcebwithu

Similar in style to Las Vegas Bar is the new Space of Billabong (map link). Mentioned in another post were the music bars in Tree Town. Be aware that while the bands at the back may be good, they ruin it for themselves by competing for customers based on volume. What you end up with is a mishmash of noise assaulting your ears no matter which bar you choose to sit in.

Thanks for the laughs. Looked this one up "Speaking of which, where else in the world would a construction company build a new road and leave an existing electricity pole standing slap bang in the middle of one of the carriageways. Well, it’s there to be seen in Najomtien, where this road is actually now in use. This one you really couldn’t make up." and sure enough, not that I doubted you... Construction cockup leaves utility pole in the middle of Najomtien road

Spotted a Here car collection photo data on this morning's ride. Perhaps somewhere down the line I'll appear on someone's car navigation system that uses their mapping/photo data.

18k, that's steep. Maneerat is 12.5k with no reentry. Of course if you're living up country, you're agent options are limited and they'll charge what they think they can get. The online 90 day report system has been greatly improved over the last couple of years. Now takes me less than a minute to do the report.

Just received my rejection notice for my online 90 day report. For first-time requests of a 90-day notification in each country visit, in-person presentation at the immigration office is required. It would be nice if they had a provision for long stayers that return to their address of record that would allow use of the online system when returning from a trip. Since I'm now within the window of getting my extension to stay done, I'll just have Maneerat do both at the same time. On a side note: I used Maneerat recently for a Resident Certificate which they sent to immigration with my TM30 from 2017. I was a bit worried when I saw them do that as I wondered if immigration would levy a fine for not updating the TM30 after many trips out of Thailand over the intervening years. I was pleasantly surprised to see they updated the TM30 with no fine levied. Most likely because I've been at the same address for the past 13 years, and the use of agent means they already got their "fee" from me.

I agree with the title of this video. Unreal how good AI has gotten.

Paid a visit to a secluded waterfall outside of Pattaya this morning. It's north of the intersection of Huai Yai Rd and Hwy 331 (map link with more photos of the waterfall). It's a great spot to escape the crowds of Pattaya and chill. Quite often you'll have the falls to yourself as it's only accessible via two wheels or two feet.

When they first put down the new road surface it looked pretty good. But as is par for the course here, the shoddy workmanship and poor quality of the materials used is already becoming apparent. There are some chunks of the road surface missing farther north. And instead of concrete rings around the manholes they used tarmac which is already breaking apart on quite a few of the manholes.

The last paint job on Beach Rd lasted nine month before they ripped it up. Let's see how long this paint job lasts.

I saw a couple of agents while there shepherding their customers through the simple process of renewing a license. There was no queue jumping using the agent, which I was happy to see. So that means all they got for the 3500B - 5000B paid was an expensive chauffeur for the ride out there and back.

Finished the process of renewing my five year license today. Here's the steps I went through from booking an appointment to receiving my new licenses, car and motorbike. Appointment Booking It's strange the Bang Lamung DLT office, one of the busiest, still uses a spiral notebook and pen for booking appointments. But as they're not on the online DLT Smart Queue yet, you have to drive out to the office (map link) and make your appointment in person. From central Pattaya it's about 40 min RT to spend five minutes to book an appointment. In my case the appointment was for one week later, but depending on how busy they are, the available dates and times could be farther out. Something to keep in mind when you get your resident certificate as they're good for only 30 days. Times to choose from are either 09:00 or 14:30. The station for both booking your appointment and checking in on your appointment date is at the front of the building to the left of the entrance and has "FOREIGNER" over the desk. Once you pick your date and time you'll be given an appointment slip listing the documents you need to bring with you for the renewal. Part of that renewal process is registering and logging on to the DLT eLearning site and watching a one hour online "training" video. The first 20 minutes are in Thai with English subtitles. The opening scene is really bizarre and quite pointless. The remaining 18 minutes of the Thai portion isn't much better as an actress plays the role of the clueless female driver while the actor plays the role of the tolerant, but wise teacher of road rules. The next 20 minutes are two Aussie actors, mostly facing each other while they ask each other the road rules. The last 10 minutes are a series of gore videos of the consequences of drink and distracted driving. You can't fast forward and you can't shrink the window to surf the internet while they drone on as the minute you click to a different window, the video pauses. They have the Aussie portion of the vid on YT (link). The video is divided into four parts, and at some point during each part you'll be presented with a multiple choice question to answer. Then at the conclusion of the video you'll have to answer the same four multiple choice questions. Hint: Part of the screen lists the four parts with a check mark next to each as you complete the part. You can click on review to go back to a part that's been completed, but don't do what I did out of boredom and click on review while you're in the middle of one part. What happens is when you go back to the part you were in the middle of, it doesn't start where you left off. Instead the bloody program starts the part from the beginning of the part. I don't know if the questions vary, but here's the four I was asked. 1. Before changing lanes or turning, the turn signal should be given how many metres in advance? (A: 30 metres) 2. Which of the following is the main cause of collisions? (A: Tailgating) 3. What should you do when going through a flooded area? (A: Drive slowly and keep back a reasonable distance from the vehicle in front of you.) 4. Before changing lanes or turning, the turn signal should be given how many metres in advance? (A: 30 metres) Once you pass you can then print and/or save as a pdf file your completion certificate. Required Documents - Passport and a copy of the ID/Data page and the page with your visa or extension to stay. - Current Driving License(s) and a copy of each, front and back. - Resident Certificate and a copy if two licenses. - Medical Certificate and a copy if two licenses. - Training Certificate Sign each of the copies. For the Resident Certificate it's easy and straightforward enough to make the trip to the immigration office for the cert. Or if you're lazy like me and like to avoid the crowds and waiting in line at immigration, you can use an agent. My go to agent for all things immigration is Maneerat. Their fee to handle the paperwork is 500B. They said it would be ready for pickup in 2-3 days, but the next day I received an SMS telling me it was ready. You only need one Resident Certificate, but for the one cert you'll need two photos. Plenty of places to get your photo taken around Pattaya. The one I use is the FujiFilm place near the north end of Buakhao. I usually get a dozen made as they're handy to have around and saves me from having to run to the photo place every time I get a new immigration doc or extension to stay. For the medical cert I used a clinic on Buakhao near the LK Metro entrance. All I needed to do there was stand at the front counter and answer two questions. What was my weight and height, then complete a form with my name, address and passport no. Handed over 100B and that was that, walked out with a cert that declared I was medically sound to ride/drive the sois of Thailand. Amazing Thailand. Renewal Process As mentioned above, you check in at the same desk you made your appointment at. They'll check your documents and if all is order you'll be directed to head up to the 2nd floor. The stairway is inside to the right of the main entrance. On the 2nd floor head to the station that is left of the stairway as you exit. There you'll hand over your documents and be given a colored tag with your queue number on it and directed to sit in a waiting room. From what I saw there are two groups of six for each appointment time. The group you're in is denoted by the color of the tag, which they announce when they're ready for you. From the waiting room it's on to the color and reaction time tests. The color test is a stop light with multi-colored lenses. Just call out the color as it flashes. The reaction test are two switches shaped like gas and brake pedals. Step on the gas pedal and when the light turns red, move your foot and step on the brake. Easy peasy unless you're hungover like I was and move your foot too far to the left and miss the brake pedal. Then the pressure is on as you get one more shot at doing it right. Once you pass the tests you then go to the station to pay the license fee. Car is 505B and motorbike is 255B. You'll then be given a slip of paper with a queue number for the photo taking part. Make yourself comfortable and watch the ceiling mounted monitor for when your number is called. When your number is called, proceed to the station number indicated on the monitor next to your queue number to have your photo taken. Once your photo is taken go have a seat and wait for your number to be verbally called out by the person that took your photo. The wait for me was about 10 minutes as it seemed they did the license production in batches. Once your number is called you'll be given a receipt and a shiny new license(s). My appointment time was 09:00 and I had my new licenses in hand at 09:50.

More chaos than usual this morning at Khaos Korners. Typical of Thai planning, after they had taken the no longer needed utility pole down, the traffic police showed up to clear the traffic backup the work caused.

^^^ For those that don't have Photoshop, such as myself, Photoroom has an online free Magic Eraser. Probably not as easy to use as Photoshop's tool, but the price is right. https://www.photoroom.com/tools/remove-object-from-photo

Good to see you found the temple.

Looks like Soi Casino is getting proper drainage in preparation for a proper road surface. With a proper road surface S1 Pool Hall could be the first of many new nightlife entertainment venues in this area. The thought also occurred to me that with the open floor plan of S1 it would be an easy conversion to a casino if when gambling is legalized.

Typical Thai project planning. Reduce the existing Tree Town bathroom to rubble before completing the new bathroom.

I was too slow getting the camera out so missed the guy standing on the edge of the platform painting the trim. The only thing keeping him from tumbling backwards into thin air was a rickety bamboo pole across his back.

Anyone know the story behind this graffiti?

A few shots of the new chinese temple on Soi Nern Plub Wan.

DK Beer Town. Pics in this post...

This will make for an interesting insurance claim.

I'm hoping for another beer bar complex.

A different shape of a new building under construction on 3rd Rd across from the hospital.

The market stalls have their first occupant. Unfortunately customers in their cars and trucks stop to make a purchase and end up causing a bottleneck in traffic at the corner. Didn't capture it in this picture, but saw a backup a couple of nights ago from parked up cars.