Udon Police, House book, License, Car buying, Property transfer
Do not leave home without a walking dictionary; the time passes better if you have a soft-cover, long-hair one. Always carry your passport and documentation of where you are staying: a letter from your landlord and a copy of his ‘Blue Book’, or a ‘Blue Book’ with your lady-Thai’s name in it. Have the first page, visa, and the entry stamp page of your passport translated in Thai. Don’t blame me if no one asks to see the Thai translated pages; for B600 I spent to have them translated, I was flawlessly prepared. Make a zillion copies of all these documents, sign each page, and carry them in your suitcase everywhere you go. In case you have been sloppy and have lost face at the counter for not having a copy of a document, each office has a lady doing a business copying documents for you.
Udon Police
Before you do any of the following, you should go the Police Office to report where you are staying.
I did not know about that and that caused a minor problem at the immigration in Nong Khai. But, for B800, the immigration people took care of the paperwork.
Yellow Book
I was advised that it is best to get this book first that certifies where you are staying before hitting the other offices. So I did go first to the office that issues that book. Here is where I was asked to have passport pages translated. When I brought to them all the documents that they had asked for, I was told that it may take 2-3 months for the process. Fortunately, for the other offices, Yellow book was not required but would have been convenient to have.
Comment: Better not say anything in public.
Thai License
I came with an International Driving Permit, good for a year. So, I was not under any pressure, but I wanted to get it done:
1. Go to the ‘Motor Vehicles’ office on Kon Kaen Road. They will write a letter for you to take to the immigration office in Nong Khai.
2. At Nong Khai, produce the letter from the license office, and they will in return give you a letter to take back to the license office.
3. Go back to the license office. Get tested to prove that you are not color blind, and that you have an acceptable reaction time to changing traffic signals. Then wait to be photographed and get your license.
License office
General:
The license office (purple palace) is a fair distance to the south of the Ring Road on the north-bound side of the Udon-Kon Kaen road. If you do not have private transport, #44 will take you there. Go upstairs and turn left on entering. If the place is busy, take a ticket for the computerized queuing and wait to be called in a Public Address system, like in many banks.
Comment:
Office is spacious, and the staff, all wrapped in purple, is efficient and reasonably pleasant. Grade : A
Immigration Office- Nong Khai
General:
The immigration office is at a short distance from the exit for the Thai-Lao friendship bridge from the Udon-Nong Khai road, on the right side of the road. If you do not have private transport, you can take a tuk-tuk from the bus station. This office neither has a queuing system nor a Public Address system. Listen carefully for your mangled non-Thai name to be called.
Nong Khai is a cute little town; why not stay a night or two there. I stay at the Mut-mee guest house.
Comment:
The space is cramped, but the staff, all 5 ladies in uniform, were hard working, efficient and reasonably pleasant. Lowered only because of the less than totally satisfactory facilities, not the staff, Grade: B+
Car Buying
If you want to buy the car in your name, the dealer will give you a letter to take to the immigration office in Nong Khai. Read ‘Thai License’ above. To avoid going to the immigration office twice, I took the letters from the License Office and the Dealer at the same time. You then take the immigration letter to the dealer for them to sumit the paperwork to receive the plates
Comment:
It is not clear to me why the immigration people cannot issue the form letter at your request, without the letters requesting that. The letter only certifies your residency status in the country.
In the interim, the dealer can put on a ‘Red Plate’. My dealer said that they did not have one. Why they did not? Is that an expensive accessory? And why they did not tell me that before I handed over the Bahts? Even if they did, with the red plates, you cannot drive from sundown to sunrise. May be they are trying to make sure that you do not damage your new car!?
Got stopped in Nong Khai for a B200 fine, but I am still driving around without any plates. Either you do the illegal thing in driving around without the plates or do not drive for several weeks after you have paid for the car.
Please tell me that it is not asinine. Practice 3Cs: stay cool, calm, and collected.
Must say that the Udon police are very focused on the job. When they are after the motorcyclists and when they are after the commercial vehicles, they don’t seem to care that my car has no plates.
Before you buy
After you have selected the car you want to buy, you would have no choice in dealership. I had been told(!) by my lady-Thai to buy a Toyota, so I headed directly for the TOYOTA dealer. I now think that it is a worldwide social phenomena that the car sales people lack integrity. In the U.S., TOYOTA is rated the best or the second best in the quality of cars, and the worst in sales people. Also in the U.S., in a poll for the trustworthiness of a profession, the car sales people are judged to be just above the bottom, just above the politicians. So, be very careful in dealing with them. My salesman did a side business in selling me car insurance when I thought that he was working for the dealer. Of course, neither he nor the dealer would have been the insurer, only take their cut before passing on the papers to an agent of a Bangkok based company for his cut; the Bangkok based big agency in turn..….. Will the real insurance company please stand up?
Property Transfer
This will not concern you unless you and/or your lady-Thai are involved in property transfer, chanoot, etc. I just wanted to say that my experience at the Land Office was at per with the License office, that is Grade: A. My business was handled by the Issan Lawyers out of Khorat; I can recommend them for your business.
