(Important!!) Using a Thai Person for Assistance (Don't try to do everything yourself!)
Many people move here, thinking they can take care of day to day things as well as getting large projects started by themselves like they did in their home country. In the US or UK, I can easily contact a phone company to order a line installation or a power company to have my power upgraded. These are actual events we have witnessed, some are just amazing!
 Tim had just bought a bar and need to remodel before opening. He contacted several other bar owners and found a contractor that does bar remodeling. He asked another owner to send over the contractor they recommended and on the day scheduled to meet, the contractor gave an estimate to Tim, but he said he could not start now, as he didn't have the money yet, said to come back in a few weeks.
The contractor arrived again to start the project, and again, Tim said they could not start yet. This contractor never went back! A few more weeks later, Tim had his money for the project and tried to get the contractor back, he could not. Tim used another contractor and as it goes, they went over budget and Tim ran out of money. Lesson learned: never ask a Thai to do something, then on the day it is to start, say no. Then, if you give them a time to start the work a second time, and again say no, you are wasting their time, and they will never help you again. Use a Thai person to arrange this for you, give a start date, work to be done, plans, etc.
Another Tim story, about licenses this time. One day my friend and I went down to Tim's bar (still not open yet) and was talking with him and he mentioned that he just got his cigarette license so he can sell cigarettes in his bar, and he paid 15,000 Baht for it! My friend and I asked him why he paid that much and he explained that he went to the office this issues these, asked for it and paid what they asked for.
Later that day, I was in my friends bar and the manager (Thai man) just came back with the bar's new cigarette license, which the manager just got that day, for 1,000 Baht! Lesson learned: simple enough, a Thai person gets the actual price of things, when a farang walks into an office to get licenses and such, the Thai workers see dollar signs and give an inflated price, in this case the office worker made some good money on that day!
A story about the electric company. Calvin had a large shophouse and had a large piece of equipment delivered. The data sheet for the equipment said it required 3 phase power. Calvin called the electric company and told them he needed 3 phase power run into his shophouse since all he had at the time was 2 phase or 220 volts (and ungrounded no less!).
The power company said it would be 2-4 months before a crew could come out, run lines, and install the power, and that they needed 37,000 Baht before they would do this! Calvin did not pay this, but asked me if this was right. He thought the money was OK because they had to run new lines, from where I don't know. I showed him the lines are already run, all the power company has to do is tap three lines, run to a new meter, then run into the shophouse. A few days later he had a farang contractor look at the power lines and confirm everything I said, and that the power company would run the lines and install a new meter for nothing, and that the contractor could install the new outlets for 3 phase for less than 5,000 Baht. Lesson learned: do not go to a utility company, or any other company for that matter and "demand" or "tell them to do something." Have a Thai person or Thai partner in your company arrange things like this, as you can see, the prices are much different!
John called the phone company one day to get DSL installed, the company informed him there were no more lines available. John thought that was strange, no more lines. He called a friend to check this out through a Thai person that contracts for this type of work. The friend also informed John that if you have a working phone line, they don't install another, DSL rides on top of your existing line. The friend contacted the Thai contractor, he called the phone company, and they said sure they install DSL, just have the customer fill out the forms and we'll be over! Lesson learned: A Thai customer service person has limited English, so to get you off the phone the quickest, they will reply with such things as; there is either no service available, no lines available, that is not offered in your area, we cannot ping your router, everything is working fine, and the infamous: it will be working in 30 minutes. Have a Thai call for you and make arrangements, such as for phone or DSL, it is easier and will same you time and a headache.
(Important!!) Never pickup a lady off a street (also called a freelancer)
Every man visiting Phuket (or other parts of Thailand) are told this, I don't know how many times: Never pickup a lady off a street! If one is looking for female companionship, they are told to go to a bar where the ladies are, talk to them, and make up your mind from there. Ladies that work in bars are called bar girls, if you negotiate to take them out of the bar for the night, that is an agreement between you and her, nothing more. If sex is involved, that is nothing more than sex between two consenting adults. All perfectly legal.
Now a street walker or freelancer, who approaches you for sex is a prostitute and that is, believe it or not, illegal. Bar girls are not prostitutes! Freelancers are. Another consideration is what you think is a lady may turn out to be a katoy instead, and katoys that prowl the streets as freelancers, are not the ones to mess with, you will be drugged, robbed, or beaten. Freelancers are not required to get medical checks, bar girls are. As a friend of mine tells people, "picking up a freelancer is like playing with a loaded gun, you just never know what to expect."
The following is a classic example, with a twist, of what can happen when picking up a freelancer for a night of fun. The example happened in Bangkok.
Two good friends who live in Phuket and are quite familiar with the "never pick up a freelancer rule," decided to go to Bangkok for a weekend. They was in a major drinking district, getting on well with their drinks and probably quite pissed when the bars closed at 1:00 am. When bars close, the Thais being the opportunists they are, setup coolers along the sidewalks and small plastic stools for customers to sit on, and drink even more. The two men in this example decided to pull up a few plastic stools at a cooler and continued their drinking. After a short while, a woman approaches the two men and one takes interest in her. Since their hotel was just a few minutes away, one man tells the other, he'll come back in 30 minutes, and took the woman back to his room. The man left at the cooler looks at his watch, 20 minutes pass, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and about an hour or so later when his friend did not return, he decides to check on him, thinking maybe he passed out from amount of drinks consumed.
The man goes to his friend's room and knocks on the door, no answer. Knocks again, no answer, then starts pounding on the door and finally his friend appears looking a little weary, but the alcohol could account for this. Then the man outside the door notices the woman is still in the room, she invites him in for a beer and to possibly to "play" a little as well. The woman opens a beer for the new friend and he begins to drink... Then both men wake up the next morning, 7,000 Baht and 2 cell phones missing! Lesson learned: Never, never, never, pick up a freelancer off a street! Never, never, never, let a woman you don't know, open a beer if you, especially if you cannot see her do it! I asked one of the men, after they returned to Phuket, would you pick up a freelancer in Phuket, and he replied, "never." On a side note, always lock your cell phone and SIM card as well, so if someone does steal it, it is worthless to them.
(Helpful!) Driving
Driving to Patong from Chalong via Kata/Karon Beaches, after leaving the Karon circle and the several curves, you are on a flat straightaway that leads to a large hill. This is a common place where the police setup a check point to check licenses and helmets. As I came around the last right leading to the straightaway, I seen the checkpoint and pulled over to the left as the officer waved me down. I shut of the bike and the officer immediately came over, saluted, and politely asked for my license. As I was getting my license out, another bike was waved over and pulled up right behind me.
This person had no helmet, pulled out a map and was busy looking at his map when the officer asked for his license he shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the officer. The officer returned to me and I showed him my license, he politely asked to borrow it, then returned to the other bike, showed him what a license is and asked again. This time the person replied "I don't have." And then asked the officer, pointing to his map, for directions! The officer just stood there for a moment, wrote a ticket, then simply said, "you, off the bike, go over there and pay."
The person complied and went to pay his fine, no helmet and no license. His fine probably went up because of his rudeness to the officer as well. The officer returned to me, thanked me for the use of the license and apologized for the delay. Lesson learned: be polite with police officers, when they talk to you, reply with yes sir or no sir or thank you sir (most police will talk this way to you as well). If you ignore an officer when asked for something, you just made things worse, the driver on the other bike did this and guaranteed a ticket at that point, and it probably increased because of his rudeness as well.
A similar situation was when I was driving from Patong to Chalong, and was almost out of Patong going towards Karon Beach and another checkpoint. This time I was waved over behind a bike already stopped. I was asked for my license, showed him, and was again asked if he could borrow my license. The officer went to the bike in front of my, showed them my license and asked for a license, the driver did not have one and told the officer, then as the officer was walking back to my bike, the driver hollered out, "do I really have to wear this," point to his helmet, the officer stopped and told him to get off the bike.
The officer returned my license, thanked me for its use, and I was on my way again. Lesson learned: the bike that was stopped first didn't know when to keep his mouth shut. He may not of received a ticket for no license, but when he asked the dumb question and the officer told him to get off the bike, that guaranteed his ticket.
(Helpful!) Food
Years ago I was in Pattaya sitting at my favorite bar have my favorite beer, talking with some friends of mine, who were there on vacation. A girl and I were eating lunch, simple fried rice with an egg on top and some vegatables. The girl I was with had the same but probably 20-30 fried, dried chillies with it and was eating a chili with every other spoon or so of rice. My friend seen this and ordered the same dish, I had warned him about the chillies and that they were not for everyone (the girl I was with was from the north, so she ate more chillies than the average Thai). My friend said, "I'm from Texas, I can eat anything, nothing is too spicy!" And proceeded to order his meal exactly like what the girl was eating.
His meal arrived, and he proceeded to eat, rice first, then popped a whole chili (fried dried chillies are very spicy and hot). He started to chew it, then proceeded to swallow it. At first his face turned red, he asked for water, then started coughing. Pure agony. I tried to get him to eat just the rice and water, he also tried to wash it down with a beer. After a few minutes of this, he put his head down and refused to eat anymore, and tried blaming me and the girl for ordering his food too spicy. Lesson learned: be careful what you ask for! It is OK to sample someones food to see if it is too hot, and most Thais will naturally offer you a sample. If it is too hot, thank them and pass on the meal, but do not proceed to eat it! If you happen to eat some very hot chillies, drinking beer is not a good thing! Drink water, milk if available, and rice. Milk and rice absorb the acid in the chillies and takes away some of the "heat" If you have a plate of rice, do not cover it with the food, place it on the side, this way you will always have some plain rice to put down in case you run into a spicy chili or two.
This is similar to the previous story but involves the type of food, not the spicy part of it. I have seen this on numerous occasions so I just put a few stories together to shorten this, but the food described is what I have seen, in addition to others. Some Thais will be sitting around eating a meal at a bar, and every customer that walks in is offered some. I was sitting at the bar, the bar girls were eating, and a new customer walked in, they offered some food, and he joined them. He was given a plate of rice and a spoon, and could help himself to the several dishes, he put a spoon of each on his rice, and proceeded to eat. He looked satisfied with the meal, although he mentioned one dish had a lot bones in, and afterwards he asked what each dish was, I guess he was trying to learn to make himself, not sure.
The girls told him one dish was chopped up ant eggs fried with green beans, another dish was pieces of buffalo in a thick sauce, and the dish that had the bones, was chopped frog in a curry sauce. The man looked shocked, how could anyone eat ant eggs! The buffalo part had him baffled, the only buffalo he knew of was those in the US (never researched Thailand, so he did not know what a water buffalo was). When he asked about the frog, he said frog legs, the girls replied with, "no, whole frog, chopped up." The man looked disgusted, blaming the girls for deceiving him, he had one more drink and left the bar. I never seen him return. Lesson learned: if your offered food, you taste it and you like it, eat it, DON'T ask what it is! What you eat here is good for you, after all, the Thais have been doing this for a very long time and they are certainly healthy enough, the meals they prepare are very nutritious. If you insist on asking, do not be alarmed by what it is.
(Helpful!) Passports and Overstays
Yesterday I was in the Immigration Office and seen a person try to apply for a change of visa, from tourist to non-immigrant "O", he had all his applications and copies together and additional paperwork. The Officer looked through the passport first, noticed he was an overstay by 1 day. The Officer politely told the man he has to leave the country to get the overstay cleared up, and the man was furious that he now had to spend additional money to leave the country and return, and he stated he did not realize he was an overstay by one day. The Officer asked the man how did he fill out the application and NOT realize he was an overstay, the date of application was 13 Jun 08, the arrival stamp which he had to look at was one date, the leave by date was 12 Jun 08, both dates go on the application. Lesson learned: read your stamps and know the dates, one overstay is no problem, will cost you 500 Baht per day of overstay, and 1-2 day overstay is thought of as you lost track of the dates. More than 1 overstay can be serious. Muliple overstays for many days in a year, can get you banned froom the country.
This is similar to the previous one. A friend of mine did a run to Ranong to get a "visa", this has two points to it. Now let me explain a few things first:
When you enter the Kingdom WITHOUT a tourist visa, business visa, or non-immigrant visa, you will receive a 30 day ENTRY PERMIT, this is NOT a visa as most call it. Know what this is, there are rules to this! You can only enter the Kingdom for 90 days in a 180 period using entry permits, If YOU LEAVE and COME BACK for thirty days each time using an entry permit and do this three times in a row, you will be denied entry after that for 90 days.
Now my friend went to Ranong, found out she was an overstay by 1 day, had to pay 500 Baht to leave the country. She gets to Myanmar, goes through Immigration to arrive and depart and heads back to Ranong. She gets to Immigration there and asks for a 90 day visa, the Officer (who seemed to have a sense of humor) said, "When you do this again, go to Myanmar and back to Ranong, you will then have your 90 days." And he said this with a smile. The next day I seen this friend and she said she would get her 90 visa next time she did the Ranong trip, and about the overstay, the person assumed that if they entered on X day of one month, they should be allowed to stay until the same day the next month. This person really believed this and the 90 day visa thing as well. Lessons learned: 1. Know the dates of your arrival and your depart by, the dates are what immigration officers go by, not one "thinking" they can stay until a certain date. The dates stamped in a passport are not recommended dates, they are actual dates to follow. 2. You cannot get a 90 visa by doing the Ranong "visa" run, period. It is called the "visa run" because people who hold multiple entry 1 year business and non-imm visas have to depart the Kingdom every 90 days. There is no Thai Consulate or Embassy in Myanmar that is across the bay from Ranong, hence, you cannot get a visa there.
|
