KVJ

Thailand should be a federation of largely autonomous states. Possiblities could be the North and North East as one region (or two seperate), Central Thailand and Southern Thailand could be grouped together as another and Muslim deep South as another.

They would be largely self governing but sharing national defense etc on the federal level wiht free movement of people and trade through the regions.

One can dream

I get the impression that kids here in Thailand in the lower and possibly upper grades of primrary school are actually ahead of their peers in developed Western countires due to the old school emphasis on disicipline and rote learning. Somewhere along the way though this must become counterproductive as global school rankings bear out.

My guess is a dysfunctional secondary school system and a lack of mental stimulation in the home and society in general causes Thai kids to fall behind their peers in other countries.

Certainly not ahead in anything else but standing neatly in line singing the national anthem and kings song.

Schools in developed countries fritter their time away on a whole bunch of assorted fluff. Only difference is they don't seem to be spending the rest of the time on rote learning like Thai schools.

I get the impression that kids here in Thailand in the lower and possibly upper grades of primrary school are actually ahead of their peers in developed Western countires due to the old school emphasis on disicipline and rote learning. Somewhere along the way though this must become counterproductive as global school rankings bear out.

My guess is a dysfunctional secondary school system and a lack of mental stimulation in the home and society in general causes Thai kids to fall behind their peers in other countries.

Australian inventions? Just off the top of my head.

The drip-less tea-bag.

The cure for stomach ulcers.

The orbital engine.

The black-box flight recorder.

The heart pacemaker.

Plastic bank-notes.

The electric drill.

And there are many, many more.

The dual flush toilet!

Apologies if this has been covered already.

For anyone with doubts or is curious about the e-visa I've just completed the process. Couldn't have been easier. I received the official visa in 4 days by email.

The system works! The system is sound!

Well done Myanmar.

Thanks SVB. Something tells me I'll have more luck getting an answer from the travel agency that the government office.

I'll post back if I come up with the goods.

I'm having a frustrating experience trying to pin down exact dates for this festival so I can book my trip. Basically we can either be at Inle Lake from either the 12-15th Oct or 10th to 22nd Oct. Obviously I want to chose the dates that will best fit in with this gig but I can't for the life of me get accurate dates.

If anyone can give any clarity on this will be extremely grateful.

The first thing I'd do is cut back on the oil use in general. The OP saying they use "tons of it" already has alarms going off.

I use the best olive oil I can afford for dressings and to cook Mediterranean food, the rest I like Rice bran oil.

We eat predominately Thai food so there's lots of stir frys hence the need for a decent cooking oil.

Read the articles about different oils and fats on http://www.marksdailyapple.com/.

That site is positive on Palim Oil which is unusual given the consenus.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/palm-oil-nutrition/#axzz3A3ILhOzc

Great chart. Thanks.

Thanks for the replies so far guys. There's a lot of conficting information out there so it's been hard to get a good fix on it.

Looking for advice on a reasonably healthy cooking oil for my family to use. We use a hell of a lot of it so price is also a factor - I think olive oil is probably out of reach unless somebody knows of a reasonably priced brand.

Is the regular Palm Oil sold in Thailand really as bad as is they say?

Any thoughts much appreciated.

My son is 6. He couldn't speak a word of Thai or English until after 3. He understands spoken English but can't speak it. His Thai is not too great either - his pronunciation is poor and he has trouble stringing sentences together. It's a hereditry problem on my father's side. It's not a massive problem but it's caused us a bit of worry. We just have to accept it for what it is and be grateful that he's doing fine in other areas.

Right thanks. But you need to use a fair bit of toilett paper to dry yourself off right?

OK serious request. Can someone give a step by step guide to using the bum gun on a western toilett. I've always avoided it because the whole procedure seemed too messy and complicated (water getting everywhere, mopping up operation etc).

A Dummie's Guide to the Bum Gun if you will. I'm sure it can be done without being too graphic!

Hi All,

Hopefully I'm in the right place. I would like to know what kind of issues are involved with outsourcing internet related work to Thailand. If a Thai national is classified as an independent contractor and I pay them per job does it then become a relatively simple matter to send them money per job/invoice from abroad? Are there any implications for tax in Thailand or is that a matter for the independent contractor to sort out based on income received?

Finally, how does a Thai national go about registering themselves as an independent contractor?

Any info on this highly appreciated.

Cheers all.

Great stuff. Thanks everybody.

Hitting the road tomorrow!

Hi All,

Appreciate if anyone can tell me the best way to drive around Bangkok (coming from Chumporn) to get to Khon Kaen. First time driving so would like to get a simple bypass to avoid Bangkok.

Cheers for any help.

Thanks for the replies. Do you know if it is possible to do this more than once during a one year visa?

Hi All,

I've done a bit of a search here and am sure there is information on it somewhere but have come up empty handed.

I have heard that it is possible to get an exemption from doing a 90 day border run if you are unable to travel due to health issues (non-immigrant 0 one year). I'd appreciate if any one can help with information on this and also how many times someone can do this during one year.

Cheers in advance for any advice.

Good information. I guess the lesson in this is always take the regular bus option rather than the minibus.

Just thought I'd put this up for the benefit of anyone thinking of traveling to Phuket with Bamboo House: DON'T!

An advertised 6 hour trip turned into a 12 hour one with multiple changes of minibus en route. The Holiday Travel office in Surat (where you change to the minibus) flogs additional tickets for 300baht per person (on top of the original fare!) to take passengers directly to their hotels in Phuket.

Total disaster.

Thanks for the replies. Not too keen on pulling an all nighter but will have a think about the ferry option. From what I can tell the first ferry back is at 7:15am. Does it ever get full up? I can imagine a lot of people would be wanting to get on at that time. Then again it is a decent sized ferry.

Thanks again for the info.

Hi All,

Thinking of going with a mate to the full moon party (staying on Samui). We only want to go for one night so we know that Haad Rin is out for accommodation. I figure the most hassle free way (doesn't sound to be much hassle free about the full moon party at all though!) is going to be the speedboat option from Bangkrak. My only question: does anyone know if you can get a return ticket that more or less guarantees you to come back at the time stated on the ticket? If it's all a mess coming back and we're going to have to stand around for hours trying to get a boat or get shafted into having to buy a new ticket will probably not bother going.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.