dao16

This would be a horrible idea. Keep the place in Hawaii, rent it out and you can use all that cash here. I really wouldn't enjoy seeing a post on here in a few years (or months) detailing the woes since buying your "dream home" in Thailand.

Unless, as some posters have mentioned, the sum of money you plan on spending for the house here is a very small percentage of your net worth. In that case, good on you and enjoy it.

You won't make near anywhere what you need to achieve your goals if you work in Thailand.

Try elsewhere, or go back to Korea. You can earn much, much more than 2,500 USD a month if you look around or do privates.

Depends on what you want. There are places that will give weekend classes and then issue a certificate upon completion, as mentioned above. I am not convinced of the actual educational value of these, but the people do attend classes.

Otherwise....if you just want this person to learn, get them a tutor.

I find that most kids don't really eat proper food until they are in their teens or just before it. Most Thai kids will go running away when it is time to eat and then demand snacks just after dinner time. The parents immediately fork out the money. Or, a lot of kids will only eat pork sticks with eggs and rice every. single. meal.

You don't really develop very well in physical terms based on lays and coke--the diet of most kids under 12 here.

In my experience, anything that is around and not perceived as being in use currently is fair game here. This doesn't just relate to foreigners. On the flipside, I have had Thais offer up insane things for me to use or just take, even though I said no. Everything is pretty much communal. If you don't want it being used, lock it up. End of story.

Honestly, a ticket to Europe is the equivalent of a few months' salary for many Thais, and yes, even for ones with "good" office jobs in BKK. I know some very wealthy Thai business people who make trips around Asia, Europe and North America, usually a mixture of business and pleasure. But those people run their own companies (usually more than one). When students go abroad, it is usually on a scholarship or it is backed by the entire extended family unless the family is loaded.

Regular workers like an office worker in her 20s or 30s are still looking at pretty low salaries and just won't have the money. What is she making? Like 15-30 thousand baht a month or so? You would be surprised how low those salaries often are.

Get used to it.

In the " Seedy Soi " where i live nearly all of the Thais earn about 9,000 baht a month. ( not a bad wage for Thailand )

F.J x

Yeah, definitely. I was quoting the 15,000 mark as a starter from the several Thais I know who have professional jobs based on degrees in BKK. A person with a university degree working in an admin type position getting 15,000 would have some trouble paying for a ticket to Europe.

Your 9,000 sum makes sense as well. I was being generous to make a point. The OP should consider this fact, though.

I agree with the army thing. I know it might sound somewhat archaic (believe me, I would never have imagined I would ever say this), but I have seen several wayward young Thai guys completely sort their **** out after a few months in the military.

I have a few friends in the states that say the same thing about their military service, and my Thai brother-in-law did a complete 180 after starting his soldierly life. The discipline he experiences there has spread into the rest of his life (he wasn't criminal or anything....just a lazy guy who did absolutely nothing all day, every day--not now).

Honestly, a ticket to Europe is the equivalent of a few months' salary for many Thais, and yes, even for ones with "good" office jobs in BKK. I know some very wealthy Thai business people who make trips around Asia, Europe and North America, usually a mixture of business and pleasure. But those people run their own companies (usually more than one). When students go abroad, it is usually on a scholarship or it is backed by the entire extended family unless the family is loaded.

Regular workers like an office worker in her 20s or 30s are still looking at pretty low salaries and just won't have the money. What is she making? Like 15-30 thousand baht a month or so? You would be surprised how low those salaries often are.

Get used to it.

I used to go hiking in the mountains quite a bit and it became second nature. I was always safe, but every year I would sort of cringe at the deaths each season. Condolences to this lady's family. It could happen to anyone, really.

So strange....by the looks of it, though, he won't be around when body modification really goes to the next level.

The headline really should be "Confirmed: Chinese People Push In Front of Everybody." Don't worry...they don't discriminate. Take a trip to China, where this kind of stuff is the norm (Koreans are pretty good at it, too). Then they go abroad where it isn't normal and cat fight!

Have read in a few reliable sources (don't remember now, but major finance/econ publications) that it would break 34 some time in 2015. Of course, you never know, but I read it from analysts in North America and Thailand, for what it's worth.

I am hopeful, haha.

I have seen much worse than this. This story is pretty tame, actually, OP. Yes, the whole country is like that, in one way or another.

Using Kansas as an example about anything for anywhere else.....oh, man....

I think it was, has has been, long overdue for a while. To understand why, you need to look at Florida and its importance in elections. Then the Cubans who live there, most of whom do not want normalized relations with the island (at least the older people). In a state that is won or lost by small margins, an issue like this is very important, politically.

incomprehensible logic : The American was intervening on behalf of the Thai girl and she attacks him for helping her ?

I have seen a similar situation where someone tried to break up a couple fighting. They stopped fighting and both turned on the interloper.

I used to ignore the warnings, too, but then I knew someone who had the same problem as the OP. Now I actually do those exercises they advise and then get up, walk and even do stretches like I would when I was playing sports. I do that about once an hour or two hours. It looks a little ridiculous, I guess, but I actually feel better after a long flight than in the days when I would sit down for hours on end.

Nothing really Chinese looking about her at all. Not saying it couldn't be true, but you don't look at the picture and think "oh, a Chinese woman."

Now, the kid may see you as a walking ATM, but there is another possible explanation....

When we moved the kids into the town (they had lived their whole lives--less than a decade--in the countryside), they thought that every day in town meant trips to stores, games, movies, snacks, etc. Once I thought about it, it made sense. For their whole lives, there was regular life in the village and then the town was the place you went once in a blue moon and spent a ton of money and got everything you wanted.

So, I had to sit them down and explain to them that when you live in the city, you don't go out and do everything the city has because you simply can't live like that every day, but that we would have special days when we could go out and do those things. It took a while to sink in, but they got it eventually.

And yes, I would stop the car and refuse to drive until the little bleeper sat down and put on a seat belt.

The clinging on mom and barging into the room at night? Get used to it (although those things can be tempered as well, with time).

The bigger issue in your case is if you really want to tackle this problem in the way it has to be done. It is a pain in the rear (you an search some posts by me and others on this thread about being a stepparent here). It is one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but now the kids are older and have changed and they are great.

It's not for everybody. You might want to seriously consider if it is right for you.

Aeon has worked well for me. They have offices in places like Tesco. They will want to see your passport, work permit, other forms of ID (just bring everything you can think of, including marriage certificate and wife's ID--don't worry...the card will still be yours...they just wanted a reference). Also, I brought several months of pay slips to verify my income. Then they sent that off to HQ and I waited a few weeks. I essentially got a credit line equivalent to my monthly salary, about half of which can be used for cash advances. I have made all my payments on time and they send the bills to my house. There is also one called "First" card or something and people have told me it is good.

EDIT--By the way, I didn't have to put up a deposit of any kind.

Yeah, I wouldn't even bother. Instead, check into a nice hotel by the river and explore. There is a lot to see, do and eat in Vientiane.

If conditions are perfect and you try to get there on time, it won't happen 99.% of the time. You will be lucky to be out of the airport and in a cab by the time immigration stops receiving applications.

My two kip.

Nothing wrong with eating dog meat. If you are a vegetarian or a vegan, fair enough, you can argue against it. If you eat beef, pork, chicken or fish, though, you can go ahead and just be quiet about eating dog meat.

After teaching here at the university level for a few years, I would say no, don't waste your time. Again, there are probably a few exceptions if you are focused on something specific and a scholar in your field (probably related to SE Asia). Even then....you would really have to research it.

I have been given dissertations at the MA level from people at big universities in big cities in Thailand and seen work that corresponds with what I did in high school. I wouldn't have believed it myself before I taught here. And the problem isn't just the English--it's the ideas themselves. A few more years in the UK will set you up much better for a career. Otherwise, as others have said, try another country for a degree first. Thailand will be here waiting for you when you finish the degree.

A friend of mine was employed by an agency and they didn't make him a visa for like the first 6 months or something. Essentially, he wasn't supposed to be teaching, but that is how the agency seemed to operate.

Anyway, one day they told him they had some extra work for hi teaching adults. At the government office where immigration is located. Being a small complex (not like BKK), all the workers know each other, regardless of their departments. One time he went in, extended his tourist visa and then came back and taught in the office adjacent to immigration. Again...they all HAD to know. They just didn't care.

I walked into my local store a few months back and before I got to the door the woman was saying "hey, come translate!" I was lead into a room with a computer and another woman (fro the shop across the road) showed me an email form a man in the West. There was a scan of a UK passport, a receipt of a transfer for well over a million pounds and a letter. The letter was in pretty bad English, which didn't match the profile. Plus, who is going to wire a million pounds to a random woman to build a house, etc.?

It was all pretty ridiculous and I told the woman as much. She didn't want to hear it (I think she was pretty embarrassed as she had been talking to the scammer for months). Of course, yeah, it was driven by her greed, but she also had no idea how much 1 million pounds was!!!

Thailand is an emerging market for these guys.