mystwoodcol

Does any know of a good jsat installer in the Chiang Mai area, they advertise here on the forum but are based in BKK and do not have preferred installers in this area.

Good selection of english channels it looks like?

I would love to use their services but if I cannot find and installer it will be as usual a waste of time and added frustration to my life

Hear hear well written my friend

I've often had the feeling that Thai's are indifferent to the problem. I fail to see how someone can be a habitual predatory pedophile in LOS without anyone knowing about it.

And yet, this is exactly the case every single time a pedophile is caught in every other country as well. "He was such a nice man!" would a neighbor say. Guess what, pedophiles for the most time don't look and act like monsters, nor are they any more likely to be 'old & dirty'. Bottom line: is the restof the world "indifferent" too?

Especially given the native's infamous inquisitive nature when it comes to the lives of other people. Media reports of these men getting busted are often accompanied by neighbour accounts of children hanging around the perpetrator's house all the time and the pedo always surrounding himself with children. Which often makes me wonder why nobody thought to report it sooner?

Because it's not a crime to be nice with children. Pedos by and large are very nice to children. They see themselves as a child's greatest friend, and then in their own mind somehow extend this to sexuality.

Where else in the world do certainly tens, quite plausibly hundreds of thousands, of foreign tourists travel to for sexual gratification in whatever form suits them? Brazil, India, Cambodia and Mexico cater to much of this trade but the market leader remains the LOS.

All countries have prostitution and all countries have paedophiles, who are found in every social class and occupation, but obviously concentrated in areas with ready access to children such as teaching and religion. What sets apart Thailand is the industrial scale of the abuse and its ability to function with little interference by law enforcement.

Prostitution as the "world's oldest profession" has always been present in Thailand but the Vietnam War era catapaulted it into the industrial league, servicing the 50,000 US troops based in Thailand and the hundreds of thousands "de-pressurizing" here before heading back to Vietnam or home.

Cultural pressures underscored by Buddhism's view of women being inferior and having a functional role to play for men, exacerbate the tolerance of and indifference to the sex industry. This, together with the levels of poverty and inequality in northern and north-eastern areas, provides the children and women for the industry, coupled with an ingrained sense of duty that providing for one's family, by whatever means, makes merit for the next life.

But the key feature is the fact that child abuse is an integral part of a multi-billion $ industry (some respectable estimates put it at least 5% of Thailand's GDP), particularly driven by the fact that up to a third of Thailand's prostitute are HIV positive (another hidden little detail of the business, can't put off the punters can we), so child sex enables users to think they are getting a "cleaner" option.

The amount of money involved and the active participation of politicians and law enforcement personnel ensures that the laws against prostitution (BTW both the initial 1960 Act and the subsequent 1996 Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act were a result of foreign pressure; obviously more of that farang interfering do-gooderism) are rarely enforced.

It seems there is recurring theme on this thread of NGO bashing and criticism of do-gooders. While I would be the first person to be sceptical of missionaries, whether religious or social crusaders, and I fully accept that abuse is found in these fields, show me any business, industry or occupation that does not have its fair share of wasters, coasters and self-important prigs. Perhaps if we look in the mirror we might not always see perfection in our good selves.

At least these people are doing something and not just excusing what they see and excusing inaction as "its a cultural thing", "I'm a foreigner it's not my business", "it's all too big/scary/difficult".

Slavery was central to many economies and industries 200 years ago, but has been largely eradicated as opinions were mobilised against it and laws passed and enforced. What was the norm became unacceptable. Industrial child abuse in Thailand will eventually go the same way if enough people decide that change has to happen.

New type of car wash called Tub-Tow-&-Go

I went to Fiji with my Thai wife who had the same visa as yours.

Not a problem getting there and getting back and there is some great deals for Fiji at the moment

Phone rings:

Me- hello!

Them- hellooooaaaw

Me- yes, hello

Them- helloooooaaaaaw

Me- can you hear me?

Them- hellooooooooaaaaaaaaw

Me- can't deal with it so hang up.

Now what is that about? Why can they not say anything, in any language even?

This happens all over Asia not just Thailand.

Usually the phone just gets put down and they hope you will hang up and go away as they don't want to be impolite and tell you they cannot help you.

Asian manners.

Paraniod

If most of the expats are like myself forced by custom to wear a suit all my working life with the most ridiculous western garment a tie, the freedom of shorts and sandals in a hot climate is the way I choose to spend my greying years

You can try the glue for catching rats. Take a chopstick (or any other stick) and cover it with the glue, then put some sugar on the glue. After 5 minutes the stick is black with flies. And they are stuck.

WOW

What a good idea, then you could deep fry the sticks and sell them at the night bizzar

We got our 309 spouse provisional resident visa through late 2010 it took just over 5 months from date of lodgment. I can only second the other OP give them heaps of paper, photos, stories , 888 stat decs. I know what you will go through, we were apart for those 5 months as i had to return to OZ for business commitments.

Good luck I found out it was better for me to step out of the picture and let my wife do all the talking and discussions with the case officer Thai on Thai as I was getting too wound up over the lack of activity

Hope it didn't damage the Karoke downstairs lounge

Been to Maisai a couple of times recently on the Visa run bus prices vary on that also from 600 to 750 bt for the return trip..

500bt is the way to go now and not even entering burma is a better idea for less hassles for the family from the beggar boys etc. Just tell them you are going straight back when you hand over your 500bt and they will stamp your passport and just turn around and walk back across the bridge and do your paper work and your back. Careful buying wine and sprits at the duty free on the bridge as some of it is not genuine its so cheap and only come in BIG bottles so they get one big bite of you. Parking & food I agree with the OP just drive up the side road on the left near the border crossing ,good parking and a good clean food there.

Posted 2011-02-23 09:02:40

I hear different stories on the possibility of get a NON B visa when getting married, I'm dutch been together for 5 years and have a child, since the child is in my passport I have to pay double for all the visa, so now we're considering getting married to avoid visa runs and make life more easy.

Anyone? Or if there's a topic on this already [sorry didn't find it] please post the link.

Thanks

Getting married to avoid visa runs ? What happened to LOVE

They just LOVE to spend more time together,not separated by visa runs

Generally they will run a mile if you flash your Amex or ask you to pay an additional amount if they really want the sale.

Most will just say NO

It may seem laid back until someone tries to run you down in a zebra crossing.

When will people learn Zebra crossings are not the same as they are in your home country. Here they are just the area they use to put the left over paint from the line marking , they don't mean anything.

Be a little more specific please

Is the city friendlier to negotiate - yes

Are the farangs friendlier - depends who you meet

Are the local Thai people friendlier - same as above

Is the climate friendlier - most certainly

etc

etc

Make sure your return air ticket is flexible as you might have to move your departure date.

You might get fed up with trying to be P C Correct all the time.

You might get mugged or robbed and have to return home.

What is negative to one person

can be positive to another.

Freedom of speech - the right to express all sides of a discussion from Negative to Positive and all that is in between.

I have had that experience before with my g/f but she got around it with some sweet Thai talk and a cake.

I for one greatly disagree with the OZ embassy sub contracting a very important function like this.

She could get put to the bottom of the pile if she complains its happened before.

A problem now arises what to do?

I could be wrong but it was my understanding that a good teacher put in a number of hours per day at home doing prep work.

During my PGCE placement, It took me 2+ hours to plan for every hour of teaching practice. Linking learning objectives to assessment methods, promoting inclusive practice & setting appropriate differentiation (not calculus) tailored to each class, were some of the least challenging tasks. I was keen, green & lean on resources back then.

Hourly pay for agency teachers in the UK is £27, which explicitly includes 0.5 hours prep & nervous breakdown time.

Lesson planning in LOS seems to consist of turning up to class sober & wiping last night's stains from your tie.

Do you have to wear a tie in CM when teaching?

As one the ex-pats who has maintained a residence in Mae Rim far longer than most, I fail to see the good in this. I don't want to see Mae Rim turn into another Hang Dong or San Sai. No need to spread such dreariness to yet another district. Mae Rim already has one of the better traditional markets around in kat muang pa, and we have any number of small shops along the main street whose owners go out of their way to be helpful and who have competitive prices to the larger chains. At least they have the decency to situate this store south of town. I just hope they don't connect the parking lot to the back road. Oh well, I'm trying to talk the wife into relocating up to Wat Chan, but without much success as she is delighted at this news.

But people need their marmite and peanut butter!

Peanut Butter:

The market mentioned by Johpa has peanuts. It will have an electrical food blender. It may even still still have some cooking oil. Combine the three and hey presto: peanut butter.

Marmite:

The market mentioned by Johpa will have pick up trucks parked in front. Find an old Isuzu KB. Scrape some black crud out of the exhaust. Add soy sauce and K.Y. Lubricating Gel and hey presto: Marmite.

I hope you don't run a guest house or resturant

Once the siphon starts, it doesn't stop until there is no more!

Think about that before you do anything.

Get the wife or one of the kids to drive you.

If the car crashes it's not your fault.

then again who caused you to have a heart attack?

Was it your unhealthy life style?

Gods wrath?

Catch up from a previous life?

So many questions

So little time

Does anyone know of a good factual book on the Japanese time in Thailand during WW2

I have some cane toads that will eat anything and everything, they would love to come and visit.

They can't do that is OZ we don't have gold shops.

Convicts and criminals yes