timmyp

Dodgy schools abound in Bangkok and Pattaya, no surprise there. People not attending more than once annually is commonplace. Won't name the most prominent school where this is permitted but you can guess.

In Chiang Mai, the "ed visa culture" couldn't be more different. People actually attend regularly, can speak, read and write Thai, and after the first year, you don't have to extend the visa every 90 days, its for a full year.

I expect many of the dodgy schools to be closed down because they are "visa schools" not "language schools". Good.

Lots of folks in Bangkok are legitimate. I have attended Thai language classes for 3 hours per day, Monday thru Friday for 3 years. Although my ED visa has ended and I am now stuck on a tourist visa, I am still studying Thai at the same pace.

I know that there are lots of folks here on an ED visa who don't go to class, but I just see the ones who go to class like me.

I don't really care if the gov cracks down on such ED visa holders or not, but I wish that I could legitimately get another ED visa because I actually go to class and study. After 3 years, there is still lots I could learn.

Get an ED visa to study. It is good for 3 years. It is a bit troublesome in that you have to go to immigration to extend the ED visa every three months over the course of those 3 years, in addition to the 90-day report, but it is a way to stay here.

Normally the office will adjust the reporting dates (that are kind of flexible) so to make them coincide with extensions.

The reporting dates are every 90-days, and cannot be adjusted. If you leave the country, then it resets the 90-day time period. If you leave the country once every 3 months, then no 90-day report is required (cuz they have a record of your whereabouts from you entering and exiting the country).

If you don't leave the country at all, then of course your 90-day report and your 90-day extension can be done on the same day. If you leave the country, though, then they will be out of sync with each other, and you will have to go to immigration on different days (or leave the country to reset your 90-day report timeline).

Get an ED visa to study. It is good for 3 years. It is a bit troublesome in that you have to go to immigration to extend the ED visa every three months over the course of those 3 years, in addition to the 90-day report, but it is a way to stay here.

Some schools expect you to study, others don't care if you come to class or not.

Mail in your 90-day report. It is no big deal. How troublesome is that?

Consider yourself luck those in charge are still allowing foreigners to have any sort of visa. That's probably a better way of looking at your "troublesome" problem.

I was told by my Thai school that I have to check in myself because of the ED visa I had (it's different from what university students get)... I just assumed that was required cuz of what they said. Mailing in my 90-day report would certainly be much easier than driving out there.

That story was unnecessarily long (did we need the play by play of his search?), but more importantly I hope the authorities take this seriously, and that he finds his kids. Mom is evil, and her new husband as well...

Incidentally, in Japan, there are several cases of the same thing happening (Japanese and foreign national having a child, and the Japanese parent kidnapping the child), but in Japan, it is not considered a kidnapping, and the authorities side with the native-Japanese parent. At least the law is in this guys favor, although the law in Thailand isn't necessarily followed...

Get an ED visa to study. It is good for 3 years. It is a bit troublesome in that you have to go to immigration to extend the ED visa every three months over the course of those 3 years, in addition to the 90-day report, but it is a way to stay here.

Some schools expect you to study, others don't care if you come to class or not.

I like dogs, but not when they attack people. I have no idea what the law is in Thailand about this, but I imagine the dogs are probably supposed to be euthanized after an attack like this, and that the owner must pay fines. Just talking about the written law, I doubt much will happen cuz the guy is a cop.

God, what kind of a jackass keeps pets and doesn't arrange to the have them fed? 

While these dogs can be cute and lovable, I'll go out on a limb and say that this jackass cop fellow wasn't raising the pitbulls cuz they're cute, he was raising some mean-ass attack dogs, as is evidence by how they behaved. Even if they were hungry, that is the behaviour of an attack dog. 

 

Religion is so beautiful and so well thought out. 

I can't tell if you're being real or facetious, methinks the latter.

 

 

 

I was being feces-ish.

>I include Buddhism as a religion (contrary to those who defensively say it's only a philosophy)

No argument from me on that point. Buddhism is completely a religion, It shouldn't be given special status as a philosophy any more than Sufism or aesthetic practices in Christianity. Sorry, off topic for the thread at hand, but it had to be said. 

Religion is so beautiful and so well thought out. 

I am looking forward to sitting next to an infected person on a train, but will avoid smearing their vomit and feces in my hair. 

Everybody keeps saying, and I gotta scream aloud myself: This guy got off seriously light for dealing.

Thought 1.326 grams is seriously seriously minimal... I'll gamble he had more on him, and negotiated his way down to the police re-weighing what he was carrying, thus discovering that in fact it only weighed 1.326 grams... 

That's a scary photo accompanying the "URGED NOT TO PANIC" headline.

There should have been a photo of the soothing and happiness promoting military instead. 

God, that was in the newspaper? 

Sympathy to the homeowners in her situation, and equal sympathy to the readers who wallowed through that overly dramatic piece of drivel. 

Is it illegal to sell dog meat in Thailand?

I sometimes read articles about people getting arrested who were selling dog meat or transporting dogs, but it's often not clear what the specific crime is.

This article says that they got busted for not having a permit for butchering animal carcasses without a permit. So is it possible to get a permit to prepare dog meat? Just curious...

The article also said "illegal trade", but I would like to know what that specifically encompasses.... no darker motives here, just curious...

Last year using information I found on TVF, Google and Bing I cobbled together an estimate ('guestimate') of the number of Westerner foreigners who live in Thailand.  The number I came up with was around 550,000.  Add to that another 100,000 to 150,000 'other'  (Asian, African, assorted islanders, etc.) and my 'guestimate' comes to 650,000 to 750,000 foreigners who are living permanently or semi-permanently in Thailand.  

I can promise you that the number of Asians (non-Thais) living in Thailand are far beyond the number of western foreigners even without doing an estimate or guesstimate. You just don't see them cuz they aren't as visible and you don't mix with them.

There is a decent buffet (i.e., "all you can eat") at the "Cafe G" inside the Holiday Inn next to the BTS Chit Lom station. It's on the ground floor, right across the street from Hagen Daz.

As of last year, the price was about 300 baht. It's not Bangkok's best food, but it's pretty tasty. There is a Thai-Farang food selection there.

I have been to several other all-you-can-eat spots. Most of them I found in Thai as internet deals, time limited promotions at hotels and restaurants. If you can't read Thai, then get someone who can to do a quick search. These deals come and go all the time, prices are usually 400-700 baht per person, but the food can be quite nice.

Wow, they really cashed in their karma chips on that one. I hope they still have some left over for when the trespassing lawsuit gets underway.

Date rape drugs are seriously, seriously evil sh!t.

I am a bit bewildered how they were mentioned in the same article with people smoking shisha pipes? That trivializes the importance of taking more aggressive steps to get rid of date rape drugs. 

Wonderful for the boy and his school. He is clearly a talented kid, and I hope his talent is recognized more than he is seen as an example of a foreign threat or an example of how ethnic Thais are falling being. It is just an example that kids who work hard and have talent will perform well.

I thought it was necessary for foreigners to always carry ID anyway? This means they are going to enforce what has always been the case?

I'm not a fan of the recent changes, but this doesn't really seem like it's a big deal or anything new. Please get excited and upset about the other changes that are more substantial and meaningful that this one.

How many Thais were injured? Oh, we don't care about them; only the foreign tourists.

I was thinking exactly that when I read the article. I skimmed it again, sure that I missed the information about other passengers, such as, "There were no other injuries," or, "Fifteen other passengers were also taken to hospital."

Goofy reporting.

Is this alluding to specific "dark influence" and "hired gunmen", or just a general meaningless statement to give the impression that the military is here to bring order to the perceived chaos? And are these dark forces anti-gov forces, or organized crime? (in as much as they are separate)