Transport

Today I finally got my Thai drivers license. For the past two years I've been driving with my Australian license with an International Driving Permit. The permit only lasts one year (I was lucky enough to be back in Oz to renew it last year). Driving with the permit is legal and hasn't caused me any problems. The 4 or 5 times I've been stopped at check points, the police have not had any queries about it. However both my Australian license and permit are due to expire soon, which motivated me to go through the steps to get the Thai drivers license. Here's what I had to do.

Documents Required

As I have a valid International Driving Permit, there is no need for a (written or practical) driving test. The procedure for getting the Thai license is taking the correct documents to the Department of Land Transportation (DLT), completing a colour-blindness, reaction and depth perception test, and thats it. The Driving in Thailand website gives an excellent run-down of what is needed. This is what I took:

• Australian license and International Drivers Permit. They both must be valid. You need the orignal plus 1 signed photocopy of each.
• Work permit, as a verification of my address. Photocopies of the pages with printed information about you (address, employer etc.)
• Passport and photocopies of: personal details, the white arrival card, latest entry stamp, and current non-immigrant visa stamp.
• Health certificate. I got mine at Krung Siam St Carlos Medical Centre on the weekend. It cost 160 Baht and the checkup involved: a sight test (the typical read a row of numbers with one eye shut); colour-blindness test (read a number, printed in dots of one colour, surrounded by dots of another colour); measure of blood pressure, weight and height; and a question from a doctor if I suffer from epilepsy. In total, they took about 15 minutes, plus a good hour and a half waiting.
• A translator (Wan was nice enough to come with me)

The signed photocopies of all the documents (except health certificate) are necessary. The people at the DLT mainly looked at the copies, not the originals.

Photos are no longer needed - they take a digital photo of you there and immediately print it and attach to your license.

Getting to the DLT in Pathumthani

There are in fact two DLT's in Pathumthani. The main office in Lat Lum Kaeo, and another office in Klong Luang. Some friends had been to the office at Lat Lum Kaeo, and so I decided to go there. (Out of interest, the office in Klong Luang is, according to these two posts, at the Inland Container Depot in Klong 4. It can be reached by going east on Klong Luang Road until the Eastern Ring Road, but going left along a local road. Although I haven't been yet, I think this is it on Google Earth).

To get to the DLT in Lat Lum Kaeo, travel west on Pathumthani-Rangsit Road (number 346), crossing the Chao Praya river. About 3km from the Chao Praya river is a set of traffic lights at a T-junction. Go right (left takes you into the main business district of Pathumthani town), and then turn right at the next set of a traffic lights (this 2nd set of lights are 5km from the Chao Praya river). The DLT is on this small soi: there is a government building about 200m on the right which is NOT then DLT; another 200m is the DLT on the right (there are some small food and copy shops on the left). See the map below or the find it on Google Earth.

Getting the License

Inside the building is where the translator first becomes useful. We arrived a bit after 9am, and the car park was already almost full and there were quite a few people inside. All signs are in Thai. The license centre is upstairs on floor 2. There are about 6 numbered windows/booths, a couple saying One Stop Service in English, all other signs in Thai. We were directed to window 5 and proceeded as follows:

Received the application form from Window 5. The form is in Thai - the 2nd reason for a translator. It asks for name (in English and Thai), age, nationality, passport number and a set of tick boxes which I still don't know what they mean. Fill it in and return to Window 5.

Behind the booths are some people getting there photo taken and doing sight tests, as well as a small room labeled E-Exam. We were directed there. There were a few people in line and being processed quite quickly. As I approached the woman, who turned out spoke ok English, showed me a single colour-blind test sheet. This was the same as at my health checkup, except only one number (health checkup had about 10) and the same number as the previous guy - I could have just repeated his answer. She then directed me to the other test area (next to all the computer terminals for the written test).

Supposedly a reaction/reflex and depth perception test is required. Four applicants sat waiting for about 20 minutes for a tester to come. There was a seat with accelerator and brake pedal in front of it, and then 6 or 7 metres away a box with green light and a 30cm vertical ruler with a thick line marked on it. You put your foot on the accelerator and after a few seconds some green LEDs start lighting up along the ruler. Once they turn red you must push the brake pedal (before the red lights hit the thick line - less than 1 second). The first guy pushed the brake before the red lights came on - a couple more tries and he got it right. The next older guy, didn't hit the brake before the red LEDs hit the marked line or the top. But he got it close after another try. The third guy was successful, then on my turn I was too slow, slightly going passed the marked line. But before I got a chance at the 2nd attempt, the tester had already ticked all my tests (including, I guess, the depth perception that no-one else did either) and sent me back to window 5.

The lady at window 5 looked at my documents quickly again, return them and a number to me and told us to wait 'over there'. This is the part I hate about such places (in any country). There are people, queues, tests every where. Which line do I wait in? Even the translator didn't help this time: Wan asked another lady where and she sent us into a waiting room, which ran an instructional driving video, as about 30 people wait. It took as 25 minutes before we realised that the people waiting didn't have the number I did - they were outside.

Once I got in the correct queue (of 2 people), the next woman looked closer at my documents, entered in my details and I paid 205 Baht. Then a photo. 3 minutes later my Thai license was produced and we were finished.

It took less than 90 minutes in total. It would've been about 1 hour if I got in the correct queue. That is very good service, and I'm not too concerned about going back in a 1 years time to get my real license. This one is just temporary.

My car is about 1 year old now. Some stats:

• 18,000km traveled which is about 350km per week. I've done a few larger trips: Khon Kaen (3x, 1000km round trip), Yasothon (1200+km), Kanchanaburi (400km); as well as driving to work most days (25km round trip).
• 600 Baht per week spent on fuel (normally Gasohol 91, which is 10% ethanol and 90% benzene 91 octane). Average price of 26.5 Baht/litre. When I bought the car the prices peaked at about 37B/l, but dropped down to 15B/l at one point.
• 14.7 km per litre or 6.8 litres per 100km.
• Insurance was free for the first year, but I just paid for the second year: 16000 Baht for first-class insurance through Aioi; 1600 Baht for government taxes.
• Free service for 100,000km, however I had to pay about 3000 Baht for oil/parts for my 10,000km service.

The car is running fine. Only two complaints so far: my reverse parking sensors don't work very well - they often sound constantly (meaning I am about to hit something) whenever I reverse, even when nothing is nearby. Thats something that Toyota will fix for free when I take the car in next. The other problem is the blind spot caused by the front right frame between the front windscreen and drivers side window. I notice this mainly when turning, especially U-turns, as I need to lean forward to look at the front windscreen or look out the side window. I haven't noticed such a problem in other vehicles I've driven, but mainly its because of the many U-turns that are made in Thailand (on many roads you can't turn right - you need to do a U-turn and go back and turn left). Having good visibility in this area is important especially on large U-turns (e.g. under bridges) when you may find motorcycles on the wrong side of the road coming directly at you!

But in summary, I've been very happy with the purchase. The fuel statistics are constantly updated here.

I've had two run ins with the law since buying my car in April. My first traffic infringement was on a Sunday trip to Lop Buri with Brenton and friends.

On the previous Wednesday night I had noticed my front license plate was missing - stolen! Some background: when you buy a new car in Thailand you get issued with temporary red license plates. These are until the dealership completes your registration documents, which could take between 2 and 4 weeks (so they say). Then you are supposed to get the official white license plates. There are all sorts of rumoured restrictions on the red plates (cannot drive at night with red plates; cannot drive to other provinces; must record a log book of all trips) but I didn't listen to any of them.

I'd had the red plates for 4 or 5 weeks when I noticed the front plate missing. About a day or two earlier I had noticed the front plate was not attached too well. I wasn't sure if it had always been like that or had become loose. I didn't do anything about it, thinking I'll be getting my new white plates soon. On the Wednesday night the plate was gone. Closer inspection revealed it had been pulled or jimmied off. Some of the plastic on the front panel had been broken so the plate would come off easier. What do I do - report it stolen to the police? Or just forget about it and get new red plates? Or wait for the white plates? Well I thought I'd see the car dealer the next day to get advice.

Unfortunately, it wasn't easy explaining the situation to the Toyota dealer. When I arrived and said something about red plates, they immediately assumed I was asking about where are my white plates? So they start telling me a few excuses for the delays, and said the white plates will arrive next week. It took me a bit of effort to explain that wasn't my immediate concern - what do I do about the stolen red plate? The conclusion was: don't worry about it. Drive around with just one plate until I get the white plates next week. They will fix the hole where the plate attaches for free. Oh, and I will lose half of my 2000 Baht deposit (for not returning one of the red plates).

So a couple of days later, Saturday, and only two days before receiving the white plates, I'm driving on the Expressway from Mo Chit to Rangsit heading to Lop Buri. I come to one of the toll gates, a common place for police to pull people over for all sorts of things (speeding, invalid registrations, no license plates). And of course the pulled me over. After the first cop realised I didn't speak Thai he got his mate, who then explained that its illegal to drive without a license plate and he'd write me a ticket and I'd need to pay at a 500 Baht fine at the local Police Station. Having heard from my friends what to do in such a situation, I said could I pay now? After some spluttering he said ok. I got out 300 Baht and he politely reached in through the window and slipped it into his pocket. I got the hell out of there. The biggest concern was getting stopped again during the day - that was 30km's into a 300km trip.

The next occasion was much simpler. I did a left turn onto a two lane side road and wanted to enter the 3 lane main highway. So I did. However just as I entered, behind a wall (of a U-turn bridge) were a couple of boys in brown pulling people over for changing lanes across a solid white line. Fair enough. This time I offered up 100 Baht, but he said 200. I'm slowly learning.

So they are my two infringements so far, costing a total of 500 Baht and avoiding any tickets and trips to Police Stations. Both cases (against me) were valid, so I've got nothing to complain about. Of course I'm very nervous when seeing police on the road now, especially as they wait at toll gates waving cars down. Lets see how I go over the next 6 months.

After 18 months of living in Thailand, I've finally purchased my own set of wheels. A new Toyota Vios for 659,000 Baht. Here are notes on the car itself and the process I went through in buying it.

The Car

The car is a Toyota Vios G, which is the top of the 3 standard models (J, E and G. There are also two limited models: G Limited and S, or Sports, Limited). It is a four-door sedan, equivalent to the Yaris Sedan in Australia. It has a 1.5 litre engine, and includes dual airbags, ABS and other standard features. The Toyota Thailand website has a good comparison of the features of the different models.

It is a silver exterior, with dark grey interior. The G model includes leather seats, as well as 60/40 fold down rear seats (so you can get into the boot/trunk). Also standard on the G model (compared to E/J) are: front fog lights, an improved speedo and information display, antenna printed on rear windscreen (as opposed to sticking up in the air), and the airbags. The optional accessories that came with the car are listed later when discussing the price. The Vios comes with

The website includes useful maps of the terminals, including which terminals serve specific airlines, of the Don Muang International and Domestic Airport. Note that a new airport is being built and is supposed to replace Don Muang as the international airport in 2006.