edwinchester

"You have to look sadder and remember when you walk one foot in front of the other"

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Wondering if anyone knows if there any filling stations selling benzine 95 in Kanchanaburi. I know there is gasahol 95 but I do not want that preferring 'proper' petrol.
Thanks for reading.

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Just back online after our house was broken into New Years Eve.
The whole experience has been a royal pain in the a** and especially upsetting for my Thai wife.
It has also shown what many would say is the best and worst of Thailand.
When my wife and I woke up early New Years Eve it was obvious something was amiss as soon as we entered the kitchen as both the window and door were open. The door frame had been badly damaged but it appeared entry had been gained through the kitchen window and exit made through the door.
My wife checked all the downstairs rooms and soon realised some things were missing. Both her purse and my wallet were gone, a camera, dvd writer, both our wedding rings, both our phones altogether worth maybe 35k bht.
I immediately cancelled all my UK cards and ordered replacements which was easy and a relief to get out of the way.
My wife went to a neighbour and called the local police who to my surprise arrived very quickly. Both of them reeked of alcohol seemed disinterested and did nothing except call another officer who arrived after maybe another 20 minutes.
When he arrived he totally ignored my 'sawadee' as he walked into our house.
He examined the damage and said it wasn't worth finger printing. I was surprised at this as we have aluminium wiindows and doors which make a good surface for gathering prints and said 'are you sure?' He shot back 'are you telling me how to do my job?'
After taking details of what was missing all the policemen left leaving wifey and me distinctly unimpressed.
My wife used to work in the admin dept of our local police station and decided to call a friend there. Her friend told her that basically the police who showed up were the most useless there and arranged for another one to come out and carry out the finger printing. He was very surprised that the previous officer did not carry out the finger printing but left it at that.
We needed a police report to get replacement for my wifes ID card and went in that afternoon for one. The same officer who refused to finger print initially was the one writing out the report. Just about the first thing he said to my wife was 'you know you're not Thai now that you have married a farang'. This was very upsetting for her but she shot back that she needed the report for her Thai ID card and would then use that for a new Thai passport. I left the room and waited outside as I hated his attitude.
Later on we had a visit from a plain clothes officer who would be investigating our burglary. He was very sure it was someone local as we live in a small quiet village and to be honest it was a very amateurish attempt. He would let us know how the investigation went he said.
My wife has talked with him a couple of times since but he said that without hard evidence it was difficult.
It would have helped to put a trace on my smartphone but AIS will not try and track without a police request and it took about 3 weeks before they even thought about putting one in. Surprise surprise the officer responsible is the same one who gave me the attitude and said my wife wasn't Thai. We still don't know it the request has been sent.
My wife has recently spoken with her police lady friend in admin at the police station. She passed on that she was ashamed to be a police officer sometimes. She passed on that the plain clothes officer must know who did the crime but will not do anything because he is in fact dealing drugs to him and other suspects in the village. We have also learned that the officer is being investigated for being unusually wealthy considering his rank and pay and that this is not the first time to be investigated.
We are fortunate that the value of items lost is low compared to others but have since spent alot upgrading the security of our house.
We are both much more suspicious of people in the village which is a horrible thing to admit to but have learned alot of the murky dealings of some here.
And then there are others who have offered to help. Poor people who offered money when they learned we lost all our ready cash and cards over the New Year holiday and would have to wait until the banks reopened before we had any.
We have also received an offer of help from another police officer. A known 'good guy' who is horrified by what has transpired but he says alot of time has passed which makes things more difficult.
So there you have it. Somchai's 'Happy New Year' gift to us. It is a lesson we have already learned well from.
I am writing this over a couple of days and have just learnt some more details.
My wife received a call from her friend at the nearby shop yesterday and was handed all the cards that were stolen along with her bag. They were found in a nearby sugarcane field by the guys cutting it. They recognised the local address on wifeys id card, her farang surname, put 2 and 2 together and handed them over.
Most interesting is that the sugarcane field is directly and I mean directly behind the house where the prime suspect lives. The other suspect lives a very short walk away.
The police have been informed. We are awaiting their response.
When my wife talked with her friend at the police station she was told yesterday that another farang house in a village mayby 4 km's away had been burgled yesterday. I am going to try and make contact as it seems a good idea that we both go to the police station and try and stir things up as we were told that this was not the first robbery they had suffered and are thoroughly fed up with it and the lack of police backup and support.
Another two days on and more news and goings on.
I went to see the other foreign guy whose house had been literally wrecked and taken apart for the wiring, metal and pipe there. He wasn't in but we called in the local police station and happened to metion our concerns with the way the investigation into our robbery was progressing. Surprise surprise but the 'number 2' at the police station was there, took note of our concerns and asked us to a meeting with the commanding officer at 11am the following morning. There he listened to my wife and my complaint about the way things were going. He called in maybe 7 or 8 policeman, told them it was nowhere good enough what they had done so far and to get things done.
Within an hour a heavy handed pickup attempt had been made of the three suspects which resulted in my wife being labelled a police 'grass' by the suspects. It turns out one of the policeman had said that my wife had given the names of the suspects that is why they were picking them up. My wife was scared and angry. I was livid at what had been said. My wife called the top man and complained and to be honest he appeared genuinly stunned at what had happened and arranged for the police to come back out and try and smooth things out saying that they were in fact acting on their own suspicions due to the fact my wifes cards were found on their property. It seemed to calm the parents of the accused down but whether the yaabaa heads are appeased is anyones guess.
Our faith in the police has been all but destroyed by this latest episode.
At the very least it was unproffessional but the suspicion must be the police trying to cause trouble for us for making them lose face in front of the big boss.
Another day and more surprises. We found out late yesteray that a policeman in the village has been saying they have a week to solve the case and that if they don't that I, the farang from England will be bringing in his own team of police from the UK to get to the bottom of things. Absolute clowns!
The only explanation seems to be a very poor attempt to find a suspect by seeing if anyone goes into hiding over the next few days.
Oh and my wife received her first veiled threat from one of the suspects yesterday too.
The police have been made aware and organised a drive past this morning. Wifey like me has no faith in them and is considering applying for a fire arms license. She also wants to sell the house now asap which is particularly distressing after we designed and built it togther.
I love it and hate having my life affected by these vermin but if either of us are unhappy here then I guess there is no choice but to put it on the market.
Another couple of days on and you really couldn't make this up. If I submitted a work of fiction then it would be turned down as ridiculously unbelievable.
My wife spent a while on the phone to the police number 2 this afternoon. It turns out the letter has only just been sent. Not as we were led to believe by the big boss sometime before the meeting that caused the sh!t to hit the fan. Also the number 2 talked with the policeman who 'confessed' to the suspect that it was my wife who labelled him a suspect. He swore to the number 2 that it was the big boss who pressured him into doing this to cover up for the real person who did the deed. The guy who actually did it is the one dealing drugs and we have been told he is being transferred elsewhere. How this will go down is anyones guess and my wife is getting more and more scared of possible consequences.

Hi, current info on flooding would be very much appreciated as I have to make a trip to Suvarnabhumi in a few days.
My usual route is through Lat Lum Kaew on the 346, over the Pathum Thani Bridge, turn left onto the Rangsit road and then pickup the expressway all the way to Swampy.
Is this route still doable?
I have a Triton so minor flooding is ok.
Thanks for reading, Ed.

After one more visit to Swampy I just have to ask the question. What possible good does the cursery glance under my car do? A bored looking individual scuffs around my pickup with a mirror on a stick. In maybe 30 trips there I have never been asked to open the cover on my Triton or have a look inside which is the obvious place to hide any device.