just got my thai motorbike license today so figured I would post a TR how it worked out atleast in Phuket

Before you go there you need:

medical certificate. I probably went to the most expensive place to get this (Bangkok hospital). I was registered there already and needed to have passport with me. They just took my weight, height and blood pressure and then a doctor asked me some questions about my medical history and listened to my lungs or something and wrote the papers

paid 450 baht for 2 certificates which is probably a huge rip off. A thai friend who made the license too with me today got her certificate for 50 baht

certificate of residence: went to phuket immigration and told the foreign volunteers there what i needed and they gave me a paper to be filled. needed to have passport copy, copy of visa and copy of your lease. he also told me sometimes the officers ask for copy of the landlord's ID. I didn't have it and I wasn't asked for it either. it cost 300 baht to get this but it wasn't a payment you got a receipt for though :/

The actual office where you go do the tests opens at 8.30 and you should have your passport, copy of passport, copy of the page that shows your current permission of stay stamp and the forms above. I needed to pay total of 165 baht for the license.

I didn't have any international driver's licenses so I had to take all the tests

I'm gonna quote some of gigi's instructions that he posted here

I handed my papers to a woman behind some desk. she browsed them through and sent me upstairs where I had to do a test to show if you are colour blind.

After this I had to wait an hour after which I was sent to a room with other foreigners to watch a movie in english about the traffic laws in thailand that lasted about an hour

After this it was 11.30am already and I was told to come back at 1pm to do a test. The test was 30 multiple choice questions with pretty pictures. you had to guess 23 correctly to pass the test. I got the same question 4 times and only managed to rule out 2 wrong answers so i just split my answers 50/50 between the 2 (you could go back and change your answers until you submitted the test)

I scored exactly 23 so I passed and was told to go behind the building to do a driving test. It only included driving around a circle with couple of stop signs and a roundabout and driving on a few boards (for balance).

After the driving test I submitted all my papers to the desk again and got a queue number for the actual license. paid 55 baht to the first desk and then went to another room in where they took my picture and 110 baht and couple of mins later I had my license. I was out the door at 3pm so all in all it took 6½ hours for the whole process

so what?

I'm looking at extending visa in Vientiane , Laos or KL, Malaysia for 2 60 day tourist visas..has anyone done this or know of current status there?

I just came in 3 weeks ago and will need to leave next Wed for a visa run.. would like to get the next 2 taken care of with a small 3-4venture out of Phuket. Any feedback??

Also, how you guys getting your 1 year visas??

Does anyone want to buy a bar, multiple investors? They are for rent in Bangla you know.. not drink profits away, would be good times!?

Most don't need too

so you are looking for places to get a new visa, not to extend your current since you are here on a 30-day visa exempt stamp.

the only place(of the neighbouring countries) that issues tourist visas with 2 entries is vientiane so i suggest you go there.

and remember when you get a double entry you can extend each entry at immigration for 30 days so that means a double entry is good for almost 6 months

whats the best (fastest speeds) prepaid 3G/EDGE operator for my iphone in phuket?

no 3G here sir

just compare the gprs packages between the operators. shouldnt be huge differences in prices/speeds between them

cheers for this Juha. I've been meaning to do this for a while

was where I was looking..thanks for that backup.. I'll do more research online.. anyone living in LAOS??

In Vientiane, go to the Thai consulate and bring a copy of front page of your passport, brring 2 passport pictures, x tourist visa box, and in upper right hand side of the page is a blank fo "numer of entries requested" in that box put "2." Cost is free. Lines are significantly longer on Monday and Friday, try to avoid applying on these days if possible.

I need to get myself to koh samui with bags and big ass monitor in a few days, was going to hire a car, but after seeing the traffic here i'm thinking FTS!

so i fig its gotta be bus or train, and would appreciate any thoughts or recommendations.

also from what i understand pantip plazas the place to get a 24" monitor from right?

Fly. You'll just ha to pay a bunch extra (probly total cost of dbl the airfare)for your luggage but I think you are gonna prefer that to a 9 hr train ride followed by 5 hr bus ride with all ur shiznit.

You do realize it's an Island, right? Flying there, or getting the bus to a port somewhere you can get a boat are your only options I think. I did it once a few year years back and then got the over night boat from Surat Thani to Koh Samui. It wasn't very fun

cheers, did think about it but dont trust the airport throwers sorry i mean baggage handlers, as i dont have hard case. just didnt fancy them odds.


oh yeah and forgot to say i ****ing hate flying!

lol n1, yes i know its an island, and thinking more i reckon the trains out, but is there not like some fancy aircon coach i can get that goes over on the ferry so i dont have to shift my gear till samui.

also, you said night boat! how longs it take then, i was under the maybe misguided idea that it was only a few hours crossing.

cheers for advice guys, and yes i can be a lazy b**tard sometimes, found this crazy thing called "google" and it tells me i can get a - vip 24 seat aircon coach from bkk to samui for 550-650 baht (steal). 13 hours, meh. just incase anyones interested.

spose i get to see some of the countryside, and i'd rather that than fly.

exactly what I'd read..thanks for the 2+2 confirmation! I'm heading up that way next week...

respects

good stuff.. I'm going the opposite way to Nong Khai.. via bus..

FYI..the busses can get cold for the long hauls..hoodie is a blessing sometimes.

My favorite is when there is Karaoke on the bus! good travels

BE WARNED!

Ther eis a high liklihood that this bus trip is going to inole multiple switches and possible 3AM layovers in dark uninhabited bus stations in Surat Thani.

anyone no where i can watch the haye vs valuev fight in phuket, asked in a few places and no one seems to be showing it

The boat took around 6 hours a believe and you had to basically just lay on the floor all lined up next to each other. It wasn't too great imo

It was a while back now and I'm actually pretty unsure where the port was that I left from. I got the bus from Phuket, not BKK though so its likely you will have a shorter boat journey if you're heading from BKK

also anyone no a place showing strike force ?

cheers for the warning!

WTF! yeah that would suck. you sure you didnt accidentally get on some immigrant smugglers boat...

anyone got a go-to website for hotel booking, and/or recommendation for a place, esp last min travel. I'm in BKK for a short wknd vacay from Singapore. I'm fine staying in a *** / $50 type place .... only other trip to BKK was a 1 day on biz and stayed at the Grand Millenium which was very nice, but no need for that on a vacation.