[InsManKV]

When I lived in BKK for 6 weeks in 1967 doing an AUA language course it was a very different place. There were few high-rise buildings and the city had a pleasant "provincial city" feel to it. At the Sanaam Luang end of Sathorn South road was a huge roundabout intersection called "Radio Circle" (ǧàÇÕ¹ÇÔ·ÂØ) which has completely disappeared now. And nearby was "Nick's Restaurant" (ÃéÒ¹ÍÒËÒùԤ) which was one of the best restaurants in town. Our Thai language teacher Kun Mattana used to take us there to introduce us to Thai food and we had to learn the names of all the dishes and a different Thai fruit each day. She never let us pay for the meals and it must have cost her a lot as there were five of us Farangs. The food was magic and looking back I think they were some of the best days of my life.

[adverwork]

In the UK it is all called a driving license, just the one document with different vehicle groups on it.

David

[CAxrrAYN]

Welcome to Modern Times,

The title says it all, first time I set foot in thailand was late 1963 as a 20 year old british soldier, Don Muang an airfield surrounded by ricefields, 5 taxis on the rank , and a few samlors,every where smiles and puzzled wais, the pleasant 2 day lorry trip to leong nok tha , north of Ubon , no tarmac roads and rickety wooden bridges, but still everywhere smiles!! but over the years as we return on our yearly pilgrimage to sunny Isaan , we have watched the smiles fade, and the surly demeanor of most strangers in the street, makes us wonder what have we done!! luckily we have grown old with our land of smiles, we have seen and lived with the changes,now our walk is slower and the hair is grey , but when we get off that train in Ubon our English smiles are there and an old english couple know they are in their second home once again, sadly civilisation has caught up with country thailand and pushedthe smiles away, Itsme

[Emunsesoxmete]

in the past 2 weeks, I moved house and got a driving licence. I am very impressed by most services (home delivery, internet customer service, traffic authority, etc). they always try to find someone who speaks English, they have forms in English, they call back, they care, they deliver on time, etc. even if they cannot fix a problem straight away (I've been struggling with my internet connection), they try hard and get upset about failing to help. even if you wait in a line for over an hour, officials are never rude and they help all the time. this is just so much better than what I am used to back home, where officials and service people are rude and they couldn't care less about giving you a good service. there are glitches in Thailand but at least they really TRY and they are HELPFUL.

[Emunsesoxmete]

go and complain.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c...tnG=Search&lr=

[NutChusty]

I know that if you want to speak correctly, you don't say drive a motorcycle, you say ride. but for me, the person who is sitting behind me is riding, and I am driving. (however, this doesn't work for bicycles.) that's how I feel and how I use it and others are using it too every now and then. and driving licence seems to pop up more often than any other term, so that's it for me. I'm not a purist.

In Australia it's called a "rider license" for a motorcycle and a "driver license" for a car.You can say you drive a car, of you steer a car, you can say you ride a motorcycle or handlebar a motorcycle. I get the point that betti considers the point she is in control of the motorcycle so she does not consider she is the rider but the driving force behind the machine, but in reality it is physics that has the most control of a motorcycle. A car you can totally control it's direction by the steering wheel, but with a motorcycle the turn is only done using a partial turn of the handlebars, the majority of the turn is performed by the lean of the motorcycle, which is controlled by a combination of gravity and the centrifugal force in the spinning of the wheels, so since physics has the majority of control of a motorcycle, betty I'm sorry to say you are still the rider with some impute into control.

[NutChusty]

It seems like the good old days are gone, It would have been nice to visit Thailand back in 1963.

[NutChusty]

in the past 2 weeks, I moved house and got a driving licence.

I know you have been riding your motorcycle with out a license for some time Betti, but just so you teach your kids in your English class correct English, when getting a license for a motorcycle it's called a "riders license" not a drivers license.

[InsManKV]

In Thailand, none of those terms are particularly good, because it is called 㺢Ѻ¢Õè or ãºÍ¹Ø*Òµ¢ÑºÃ¶ .

Thats right and the ¢Õ bit means "ride" in Thai, not drive (am I actually agreeing with Paul?). 㺢Ѻ¢Õ means "card (that enables you) to ride".

[adverwork]

Welcome to the year 2008 - the year we say goodbye forever to the over-a-century-old Thai telegraph, the year we start using the so-called "smart" ID card instead of the old version, the year we lucky Thai people see many new developments in Thai bureaucratic services.

Buriram have been using the new "smart" ID card for at least two years now. When we got married and Ubonwan changed her surname she was issued with her second "smart" ID card.

David

[U2DnBGFE]

Don't always expect friendly service in the Land of Smiles

Arusa Pisuthipan
Bangkok Post
October 11, 2008

Welcome to the year 2008 - the year we say goodbye forever to the over-a-century-old Thai telegraph, the year we start using the so-called "smart" ID card instead of the old version, the year we lucky Thai people see many new developments in Thai bureaucratic services.

There are lots of changes, apparently. But one thing that has never changed - one thing that I've seen since I was just a little girl accompanying my mother to a lands office near my old house to handle some paperwork, until now when I am old enough to go to government bureaus by myself. That only thing constant is the faces that belong to the government officers.

No, I am not saying that I usually meet the same faces, but I am talking about those heads that usually lack smiles, not to mention any willingness to help people.

More often than not, I pay numerous visits to government offices handling various types of time-consuming processes - from simple ones like making a new ID card, a new passport or putting somebody in jail to something a little more complicated like begging a police officer to give a discount on my fine for running a red light. (Sorry, I'm not good at that.)

After each of those visits, I usually have heaps of questions on what actually goes wrong with men, and women, in uniform. Aren't they supposed to help and be kind to people?

My latest visit to the Phra Khanong District Office magnified my curiosity. I was there to handle my house registration as well as to make a new ID card. Since a friend of mine suggested that the whole process would take one entire day to complete, I arrived at the District Office at 7:45am hoping to be the first in the queue so that all procedures would be finished quickly and smoothly. I kept my fingers crossed.

At eight o'clock sharp, I reached the reception desk. Trying to be polite so as to get good service in return, I asked a lady at the reception counter, whose face showed no sign of compassion, whether they had started working. I was taken aback by her reaction.

She frowned and said in a tone of apathy "What do you want?"

Oh come on, it's so early in the morning! How come answering such an easy yes-or-no question from the first customer of the day make you get so moody?

While she was checking my documents, with absence of interest of course, a small crowd of customers poured in. And that lady spoke to all of them in the same tone, responded to them with the same reaction, no matter what favours people asked of her.

Silence is golden. I decided to ignore her. Any argument stemming from my complaints would definitely interrupt the already time-consuming ordeal and would not be a smart idea at all.

The house registration process was done within only one hour, thanks to my friend's helpful advice. Now it was time for a new ID card. There I met an even more impolite male official.

Worse, he happened to be the only person who could authorise my ID card.

I had my documents verified before being advised to proceed to a desk where this man was sitting still with a pen in his right hand ready to sign any blank spaces that required his "super powerful" autograph.

He read my papers, then looked up very slowly from the document in his hands and stared at me. That was rude, I thought, but perhaps it was because I looked completely different from the old picture he had. (Was it my fault that I looked 10 years older instead of just six?) But he did that twice. Okay, that's enough, no more staring at me like that. I asked him "Is there anything wrong?"

He did not say a word. He handed me back my papers with a gesture of boredom. The highlight was when he coldly pointed his finger in the direction where I was supposed to proceed instead of explaining it verbally.

So if you look at my new ID card and wonder why in the picture I look so hot under the collar, you now have an explanation.

On my way back home, I tried to rationalise what had just happened to me at the District Office. Despite lots of technology and system improvements during these past decades, why hasn't the standard of our Thai bureaucratic services improved at all? Was it because they charged me only 20 baht for the house registration stuff and another 20 baht for a new ID card?

Is it because, as I always believe, there is no such thing as a good-but-cheap commodity? Is such a low-cost fee not tantalising enough for them to smile at those who pay for it?

Back when I was a kid, I remember my mum's extra pay could simply buy "hearty" smiles from officers at the lands office with almost world-class service as a bonus. Was the system supposed to work that way?

Or perhaps it's all simply because it is government officials' common practice. And we poor citizens can do nothing but let it go and give it a grin, because, after all, we are living in the "Land of Smiles", aren't we?

[Emunsesoxmete]

I know that if you want to speak correctly, you don't say drive a motorcycle, you say ride. but for me, the person who is sitting behind me is riding, and I am driving. (however, this doesn't work for bicycles.) that's how I feel and how I use it and others are using it too every now and then. and driving licence seems to pop up more often than any other term, so that's it for me. I'm not a purist.

[MasTaBlau]

It just goes to show, the university graduates that designed that system in the UK, don't know as much as an apprentices trained motor mechanic. It's about time some of these graduates started getting there information from the so called dump people in society, so they can get thing correct and stop making so many mistakes, to much thinking with there ileitis attitude in my oppinion.

Ahem. Locally issued driving licences were introduced into the UK in 1903 and standardised nationally under the Road Traffic Act 1930.
The system is still working well, thankyou very much!

[NutChusty]

In the UK it is all called a driving license, just the one document with different vehicle groups on it.

David

It just goes to show, the university graduates that designed that system in the UK, don't know as much as an apprentices trained motor mechanic. It's about time some of these graduates started getting there information from the so called dump people in society, so they can get thing correct and stop making so many mistakes, to much thinking with there ileitis attitude in my oppinion.

[gennnniiikk]

In Thailand, none of those terms are particularly good, because it is called 㺢Ѻ¢Õè or ãºÍ¹Ø*Òµ¢ÑºÃ¶ and other terms as well. There is no single correct way to say it in English, and the terms used depend on social and culture factors, as well as the level on formality of the speech ("I need a new bike license" works pretty well for communication).

The original essay is rather ridiculous. Poor service and bureaucratic red tape are hardly unique to Thailand. I agree with Betti; the number of officials that try to be helpful far exceeds the other kind, both in the public and private sectors.

[NutChusty]

In 2002 when I went with my then girlfriend to get a new ID card, we spent about 3 hours to get threw the process, the people behind the counter like to work very slow, so as not to have to work to hard.