patongphil

Plenty around in Maha Sarakham. Drive past 2 on the way into the local town.

I sent my 2 girls to Cravens in Chalong, off the Cha Fa Road, near to Home Pro at the roundabout.

Place is run by Daniel and his wife, Danny is from Manchester and runs a real decent place, predominately they teach in ENglish but they also have some thai lessons its the law in thailand. They have a great play area and everything is clean and above board. My girls loved it.

Take a run past and visit them, they are always friendly and the staff are excellent and long staying unlike other places.

Just tell him Grace and Summer's dad sent you.

Interesting. Please forward details of staff turnover in the other schools compared to Cravens. As you can imagine with our childrens futures at stake such aspersions need to be followed up on.

Can't remember. Too drunk off the plane from Manila in 1991. The days in Manila before Cardinal Sin did his clean out.

Hope you have a work permit

All I can suggest is stay away from Phi Phi as it is a real dump nowadays.

So, Are you bragging or complaining?

Just to clarify things I am not the person who was caught by Immigration. This was posted on Facebook by the person caught by Immigration. It seems he wants everyone to know about it.

Seems you want everyone to know about it - sort of if they can ever decipher the OP.

Just a fairy.

U2 Bar 1992. Still there.

Sheet that is one hell of a piss up

BBQ at my place, bring your own beer and girl.

Sculpture garden in Nong Khai!

Been there too - pretty weird place. Never got to understand exactly what it is all about!

Something very fishy going on here I suspect.

Borabue, Maha Sarakham all the reservoirs, ponds klongs etc in very dire straits. We have our rice planted but at this rate expecting the same as last year when we had an approx 70% drop in yield. Pathetic really considering yields here pretty poor normally anyway. We didn't even bother trying to reap about half as mostly grass and weeds.

I checked out about six here in the Rawai/Chalong area.

I settled for Buds International Kindergarten, and have been very impressed to date:

www.buds-phuket.com

Also there is a good supply of rental accommodation in the area.

I too intend to send my daughter to Buds in a few months time. Good to hear some positive feedback from a present pupil.

As a matter of interest a good way to discover which language is prevelant in a school is to visit during playtime/ break and listen to what language the kids speak to each other in. No better proof.

Our daughter (4yrs old) is going to Mataneedol. We found KKVS isn't setup as well for younger children. It is the same pay as KKVS for the age group and Mataneedol is better on all fronts than KKVS. That said, Mataneedol only goes up to Grade 6 and then we will have to look for another school. We really liked the fact that it has CCTV to see what is happening in the classroom. Also like the parent fingerprint scanning for child pickup, staff nurses that will administer your medicine of choice (even homeopathics), forehead temperature fever scanning on drop off and positively promoted hand washing basins at the entrance/exit to the school.

KKIS is apparently teaching the Australian curriculum with Aussie teachers but it is (hear say) 140K baht per term (2 terms) as opposed to Mateendol and KKVS at 60K baht per term (2 terms).

If I had to guess I would say 15% of the students are from mixed racial marriages.

Every school will tell you that their teachers are authentic with previous work experience in their home country. It's bunk (maybe KKIS will be the exception?). They're TEFL teachers. Doesn't concern me much as I don't believe you need a teaching degree to teach youngsters. I'll take a fun, intelligent and energetic TEFL teacher over a teacher with a teaching degree and previous experience who can't speak English properly any year.

I see that KKIS is actually not even open yet. From their web site fees per annum are around 70,000 baht with a few extras on first registration etc which bring it up to 150,000 PA for first time registrations.

Cannot see how they will be able to employ only authentic teachers at such low fees but only time will tell.

Why do the Griswalds come to mind?

I have 3 all about 18 months old and no problems.

I've been asking myself what is a "boutique" hotel ?

I know a boutique is a small shop so is a boutique hotel a small hotel ?

It's a fancy description to justify charging more money ...

the prices look reasonable for the patong terrace boutique hotel. when i booked it in april i got the deluxe room for 1,300 baht a night

Great ! About the same price as a guesthouse room. Looks nice.

Not sure whether the OP booked for April or October as he mentions both. Anyways neither are in peak season and most guesthouse are charging around the 600 to 700 range at those times with even lower rates in the wetter months. Prices at present along Nanai, Banzaan, San Sabai extension etc are all around 500 with some even quoting 450.

Near enough dead every time I go past.

Sounds like Rawai to me.

My little 2 year old daughter and the next little one on the way. What could be more satisfying?

Anyone have any personal information regarding suitability/ standard of education regarding the various schools in KKC for a soon to be 3 year old Luke Krueng? Interested in feedback on KKVS, KKIS, Mataneedol, Patanadek, NEBS and any others I am unaware of?

Thanks in advance.

I've never had a problem with the caddies here. They aren't the most knowledgeable bunch but the ones that I have experienced in the last 12 years of playing golf here have all been willing and friendly.

Not to mention that a lot of them will let you go for the 19th.

55555 very good!!