Addressing issues

In my many years in Thailand I have bought 12 second-hand motorcycles and one new one. Due to the discrimination between ownership by Thais or by foreigners it has always been easier to drag my wife, or son once he was old enough, along to do the paperwork at the Department of Land Transport. This week I once again enquired about the rules for my newly obtained motorbike and was informed I’d need a certificate of residence from the Immigration office in Chiang Mai, being located 200km away from my home. My nearest Immigration in Fang province is not allowed to produce this form, which by the way comes at a cost of 500 baht and also requires an overnight stay in Chiang Mai because it takes 24 hours to print those few lines.

Amazingly, as Thailand likes to say, I have a form clipped in my passport as demanded by immigration, that states my address but that obviously wouldn’t help raise more money from us longterm stayers. I also happen to have not one but two driving licences (obviously difficult to put car and bike on the one) which clearly show my home address printed on the back. Proving that all this is nothing more than a fund-raising work creation scheme for govt officials I can change address days after registering this bike and not have to inform anyone of my new address. LUNGSTIB