talisman01

According to BBC news today Nepal has yet to receive any of the funds pledged by the various governments. Their Finance Minister said that "Not a single dollar has been deposited into government accounts."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-32561985

"The Ministry of Transport is to propose electric buses to ply Bangkok streets alongside the NGV-powered buses to see which is more appropriate and save operation cost. Initially it will seek approval for 500 electric buses first on a trial run."

It seems odd to me that the MoT should seek to have 500 such buses for a trial run. Why so many ? The OP mentions electric buses in the UK and in London, for example, the Mayor approved 4 electric buses for trials last year.

https://www.tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2014/july/first-british-built-electric-buses-enter-service

Supposing the trial does not go well or that overheads for them are greater than the MoT imagine then the 500 buses are likely to become another grotesque waste of money.

The problems in the far south have a long history. An ancestor of mine spent some years as a mining engineer in the border region between Malaya and Siam, as they were then. In one of many letters he sent home in 1925 he described the then on-going conflict between the "fanatical" Muslims and Buddhists pointing out that the majority of locals "have little or no religion" and that "any attempt to alter a man's religion has one of two effects, either to harden his original belief or to render him agnostic in his outlook".

True - travel has changed a lot over recent decades but maybe it is worth remembering that it was Robert Louis Stevenson who said in 1881 that "Little do ye know your own blessedness, for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour"

I can recommend Hot Chilli on Ratchadamnoen road, just past Wawee Coffee travelling from Tha Phae Gate, where I have eaten many times when in Chiang Mai. It has a great atmosphere, interestingly decor and has an eclectic menu. It is also very popular and I no seats have been available on a couple of my visits.

Another reason for the low unemployment rate, apart from the problems with measuring methods mentioned, is conscription. It was reported in the BP a few days ago that this year alone the Thai army needs 99,373 new recruits when the lot drawing process takes place next month. Only those entering the process that draw a black ticket are going to be contributing to the Happiness Index.

I currently use moneycorp.com to transfer funds from the UK to my Thai account, or to any other account for that matter, and they charge a flat fee of £8 for their express service and you can choose which currency to transfer.

Over the last three years I have been invited to visit some of these administrative offices at both tambon and provincial level and walking around I noticed numerous staff sitting around "playing" the internet, doing their nails or just loafing around chatting or eating and those that appeared to be working had piles and piles of papers and files on their desk. My impression is that these offices are over staffed anyway so downsizing is probably a good thing and, anyway, as more services are mad e available online even fewer staff will be required in the future.

To save you time walking around and trying to find the Acer you want, JJB, Invadeit, Banana IT and Tesco Lotus can all be searched online very easily.

How about the very photogenic mountain-top Wat Phu Tok on the eastern side of Nong Khai province ?

There was no discernible change to the hawker stalls on either side of Silom road last night

i googled "t-shirt maker thailand" and several potentially suitable companies were among the first hits

For the UK lottery the only rule for winners is that they must be over 16 years of age so anyone of any nationality can be a winner.

"Most people would recognise a legitimate need for microphones during Cabinet meetings. The spacious meeting room accommodates 34-35 persons and communicating without the aid of amplification might be difficult. Perhaps Prime Minister Prayuth speaks loud enough to be heard, but others among his ministerial staff might have problems."

If 34-35 supposedly responsible and well behaved adults need such a sophisticated and expensive system to be able to communicate between themselves and the PM perhaps they should urgently seek advice on how to achieve the same result for free from some of the teachers amongst us who have to make themselves heard and understood on a daily basis in school in front of classrooms full of the same number or more noisy, inattentive and often disruptive students!!

This is a programme initiated by the British Council and the details are here

http://www.britishcouncil.org/study-work-create/opportunity/work-volunteer/thailand-english-teaching-programme

I use moneycorps.com which charges about £8 to send £400 to Thailand from the UK. The site is easy to use and everything can be done online.

how about this idea which has attracted 207% of funding to date

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/solar-roadways

this site is also good www.olx.co.th/ which used to be known as dealfish

I keep seeing references in this and other threads to the "hundreds" or "thousands" of school without electricity, has anyone experienced one recently or can anyone point me to a survey or reference to substantiate this claim ? Some of the rural schools I have taught in were in dire straits for many reasons but they all had electricity despite the wall sockets falling off and the cables dangling dangerously all over the place. I am just curious as to how a school can manage without electricity in this day and age.

I left my card in a Kasikorn bank ATM once and realising this shortly afterwards I went in to the bank and told them what happened and a cashier came outside and unlocked the ATM, pulled it out like a drawer, and recovered my card. In the last year I have twice had to get replacement ATM cards from the KTB and not had any problems.

In the UK the Daily Telegraph are currently running a promotion in conjunction with Moneycorp http://www.telegraph.co.uk/financialservices/money-transfer-and-expat/foreign-ex-and-money-transfer/ offering easy cash transfers to various countries including Thailand. I opened a free account online with Moneycorp recently which was a straightforward process. The Telegraph offer includes the first money transfer with no fees added, thereafter for a non-express transfer the fee is £8. I have made two transfers already to my Thai bank account with no problems at all.

I should say that I have no gainful interest in Moneycorp or the Telegraph whatsoever.

use skyscanner to check their latest cheapest prices then book direct with the airline

On the topic of adaptors, though I know it is not the type that the OP is looking for, I came across this wall-mounted adaptor in a small hotel which I thought was very nifty.

My M6 students take the O-Net this weekend and while I agree with most of the comments above there is another difficulty my students face which is that my rural school uses the World Club series textbooks for M4, M5 and M6. For my M6 students there is a huge leap to make between the topics covered in the textbook and the questions asked in the O-Net. I have given my students a lot of practice with recent O-Net papers but some of the words used, in the passages and the questions where grammar mistakes have to be spotted and replaced, are quite advanced. It makes me wonder what kind of student the examiners have in mind when setting the test because there is a world of difference between an urban and rural student.

Talisman

Changing the dates would certainly seem a more sensible way to go rather than closing completely. As I was told about this by two different teachers in different parts of Thailand I thought I would seek come sort of verification here. I was just curious.

Talisman