Gonzo

I agree with you to some extent. The most useful function of my Garmin seems to be its ability to lock in a new location when find it, so I will be able to go there again with ease. should I desire to do so.. Another good function is, that I will always find my way back home, should I get lost. I always will remember the horror of driving to Bangkok without a GPS and getting hopelessly lost. I miss the days when I was younger with a sharper brain, traveling the world with just an ordinary map and very rudimentary travel guides , like Lonely Planets 1972 edition of South Est Asia on a s

006 seems to work best for me as well when I ring Oz, Vienna or Munich.

I totally agree. Now compare Swampi with Changi airport in Singapore. At the huge Changi airport you will find toilets with about 20 cubicles every 50-100 metres and they are the cleanest toilets anywhere. A couple of years ago on our way back to Oz, we had a lengthy wait for our connecting flight. Mrs Gonzo went to visit one of their many toilets. When she didn't return after about an hour shortly before boarding time, I thought something was amiss. With my heart racing I approached the nearest information desk telling them about having lost my wife. They told me to sit down and calmly to

English language course for Thais I enrolled my TGF of 10 years for an English language course at the Chaimongkrol school (corner 2nd Road Pattaya Thai last January. The language course was organised by the Pattaya City hall on Pattaya Nua. We had to attend there early last January to enrol, as there were only 60 vacancies. She sat for an interview and had to produce her Tabien Baan (house book) and Thai ID card. Only applicants within the Pattaya area were accepted. She has now attended school for 3 weekends (Saturdays 9AM to noon and Sundays 9AM to noon) and her progress so far has been a

Two of the best and charismatic guitar player of all time.

At the moment using a GPS in Pattaya would be confusing to the extreme. In any case, once one knows his way around Pattaya, there is no need for a GPS, especially now with all the traffic conversions. A GPS only has its uses driving any distance away from our city. I could not do so without a GPS. I needed the help of my GPS on my recent trip to Khao Kitchkut in Chantaburi, near the Cambodian border, for the wife's yearly pilgrimage up the mountain. It didn't matter that it was our 4th trip there.

I was impressed by your Ed Sheeran recordings. Ed Sheeran was previously unknown to me, but I have added him now to my music list . He is a great talent and should make it right to the top.

What would be the price of a similar new Fino? If the difference is only a couple of THB K, I would rather buy a new bike. BTW, your Fino looks in excellent condition add was well looked after. Why do you want to sell it?

You caught me out on a point of semantics. I hope that I will keep improving my English language skills, my second language after German.

Suvarnabhumi airport. One of the worst airports I have ever seen in regards to toilets, or the lack of them. If you think about having a beer or two before catching your taxi or bus to Pattaya, forget about it.

I think the registration of phones only applies for prepaid mobile phones. I don't think it is necessary to register smart phones with a monthly paid plan. I also have a fixed TOT phone line in my condo. Naturally that doesn't need to be registered either, as I get a monthly bill for that, showing the credit left on it, as I always pay a few months in advance.

If your previous tests were similar to what I experienced yesterday, we are on a common denominator. They probably change their ideas on how to conduct tests at certain times. I wish you all the best for your renewal of the Thai driving permit next month. I am sure you won't have any problems. The hardest part for me was to drive from my place in Jomtien and then back again late in the afternoon. All of Pattaya seems to have turned into one big construction site and driving my car around isn't what I consider fun any longer.

When I did my last licence renewal in 2010, the colour blindness test involved just looking at a book, where one had to point at the relevant colours to prove that one was not suffering from colour blindness. Now you stand a few metres away from a large board with many different colours. The bloke doing the test points at different colours with a thin rod at various colours. You need good eyesight to come up with the right answers, often quickly, should you have the same prick doing the test, like the one yesterday. The bastard made me do the colour test twice, as he was waving his wand at gre

5-year Thai driver’s licence extension Yesterday I went to have my 5-year licences extended at the DLC on Highway 36 next to the Regent School. I arrived late at 11AM, as I thought I had to get another medical certificate before that. Medical certificates are valid for one month after they are issued, but only required by people applying for their first temporary licence. There is no need to get a medical certificate when applying to have a 5-year licence extended . I had no problems with my two residency certificates either, which were issued by Jomtien Immigration early in February. The

I always stay at the Queens Garden Resort over night with the missus, to break our journey on our way back to Australia. Like steamer said, there is nothing of interest nearby, other than food stalls and a 7/11. The hotel is nice and clean, but I would not want to stay more than one night either. On our last trip we paid ThB1000 for one night.

Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for the guess. I tried to ring Immigration in Soi 5. After not getting anyone to answer the phone for half an hour I gave up. I might as well do all the paper work again. I would hate to drive to the licensing centre and get knocked back by their officious staff.

I intended to have my 5-year licenses renewed last week. I had to change my plans, as I was required to spend a week in Bangkok. The problem is that I obtained my residence certificates and doctor certificates on the 9th of February. Are they still valid when I go to the testing center next Monday? Thanks

Methinks you are living at the wrong end of town. Condos in Jomtien are as cheap as chips at the moment.

I trust my longtime partner with my life. She saved it twice. Nevertheless, there is no chance I will put anything of value in her name, real estate, bank accounts or other chattels. She will be well provided for, should I expire before she does. Most Thais are inherently stupid when it comes to looking after anything of value. My phone gets used for transactions and there is no way I will put it in another persons name.

Aussie passports are good for 10 years. Mine expires in 2017, so I guess I registered the two phones after my valid passport was issued in 2007. On a different note, I have to renew my 5-year Thai driver's licenses in a week's time after they expire on my birthday. The new 5-year Thai licenses will then have an invalid passport number on them, when I have to renew the Australian passport in 2017 with a different passport number. All this bureaucratic bullshit seems to follow one from the cradle to the grave.

Thanks for that. I have two prepaid phones with True and dialed *151#. The instant SMS from True showed my phone number and passport number on both mobile prepaids. I asked the TGF to have a look and she confirmed that all was alright after reading the Thai text. I recall registering my phones about 10 years ago. For anyone with an unregistered prepaid phone it is easy enough to register. Just go to Big C Extra upstairs, or to any other office of your phone company with your passport and have your phone(s) registered. It should only take a couple of minutes.

The railway bypass has been my favourite way back home coming from up North. I usually turn left into Soi Samphan at the traffic lights opposite the Index store on Sukhumvit and then turn right after crossing the railway track, before heading back to Sukhumvit via Soi Khao Talo or at times a bit further South using the Soi going back to Sukhumvit close to Soi Watboon. The traffic going that way has increased a lot over the last couple of years, especially in the afternoon, but it was still a better option than getting gridlocked on Sukhumvit between Pattaya Klang and Threppasit Road. With so

Bloody hell, plaghat. If 220 shots equate to a a lifetime or the rest of my life, then I would be dead in less than two years.

Tim Cahill (ex Millwall, Everton) did Australia proud when he scored two goals against China. One of his goals was a spectacular scissor kick. Australia will now play UAE in a semi final. The other semi final is between Iraq and South Korea.