dao16

Well, the refugee camps have been a mess along the lines of Guantanamo for years and years and everyone in the know knows it. If I go there and say something about the poor conditions, who cares? Where are the news articles and everything from Joe Schmoe's trip there?

It may not actually look pretty watching the sausage being made, so to speak, but she goes there and the press follow and she does so with truckloads full of money (hers and that of others) with her. More impact than most of us could ever imagine having the power to make.

I have always thought it was funny that they don't actually enforce traffic laws, given how much they like money. With all the violations happening on a daily basis, they could basically take their pick!

Instead, what we get is no enforcement at all and then the occasional roadblock that is just them stopping people for papers or helmets and extracting money. I guess that is less work.

One day I went through a checkpoint and they were checking dumb stuff to get money from people. Then, later that same day outside of a nightclub, a drunk guy was doing donuts at this intersection where tons of cars were parked. Result: the guy who doesn't have the right registration has to pay 500 or 1000 baht, but the guy who is endangering lives and property (cars and bike within meters of his spinning) gets nothing. In theory, you could fine that guy MUCH more! Lazy.

Not sure what to make of the framing of your question. The first thing that pops into my mind when you ask this question, though, is where else are you going? If you can't enjoy Luang Prabang, I'm not sure if the rest of Laos (or SE Asia) will be very attractive either (unless you are looking for fast, easy women or one of those things--if so, get thee to another spot).

I went there about 8 years ago and absolutely loved it. That was part of a month-long trip through Laos from the South to the Border of China. I have been to Laos a dozen times or so after that, as well. I liked a lot of towns, but Luang Prabang was just idyllic and we rode bicycles (you could do motorbike, too) around town and outside of town. The temples are gorgeous, as is the scenery (don't remember the name, but one of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever been to is there). I have not experienced or heard of any scams there, but I live in Thailand, so I am always hyper aware of what people are doing after all these years. The River (Mekong) is beautiful and we used to get up and have breakfast right by it and get ready for the rest of the day. The market has some pretty stuff and the architecture is nice. Lots of antiques around and we visited some museums.

I don't know why you are so skeptical about it. I understand if you are dubious about flying out from BKK just to see it for a few days, but if you are already travelling in the region and it is within a half days journey some where on your route, I think it would be foolish to miss it.

EDIT-- Oh, and decent French food, if you have been eating Thai/Laos food and miss eating something different.

It depends. If someone is being crazy and belligerent while drunk, honestly, nothing you can really do that won't just drag you down in the muck. However, I have had a few times where a drunk foreigner was just starting to panic because he had lost track of his friends or couldn't find his hotel but couldn't communicate with Thais. In a few of those situations, I have stepped in and figured out where they were staying or whatever.

The Thais in those cases were not trying to do anything bad--they were trying to help get the guy home. They were happy to have someone speak to him in English and it was all smiles as we got the guy onto my motorbike and on his way.

So, it does happen, but don't expect strangers...yeah, "falang" strangers, too, to jump in regardless of the situation. Anyway, like others have said, I rarely see this kind of stuff, but I don't live in one of the big foreigner areas.

Ahh....have some fun with it, man. There are definitely some "<deleted>" on the forum from many different places. Just ignore them and focus on stuff that interests you. Also, you will probably find it kind of fun to learn some of the different lingo from English speakers from other countries if you are in the right mindset.

Alternatively, if you start a thread that said something like "Question for American Citizen: blah blah..." it would mostly be looked at by Americans.....I doubt anyone else would waste time clicking it.

I would say suck it up and do it, but keep your eyes open down the road. If they do start abusing you, you will have to figure out how to duck out. So, in short, I sort of pick my fights (and if you know how Thais are, you can sort of tell which events are more important to them). Good luck.

That is a good deal. Maybe if I make it to BKK by then I will try it. Especially with a family to take around, you could really get a lot out of it.

Hmmm....I will grant you that most conversations here are very superficial in nature (what are you eating, what did you eat, where is he going, who is breaking up with whom, etc.), but I have some friends who like to talk about other subjects, like football (Thai and International), politics, different cultures, heck, even water management in the Mekong Delta.

That type of conversation is rarer, but I definitely have some with Thais.

It was a horrible call. Tough blow for the Croatians, but I think they can still make it out of the group and get a new lease on the cup. Brazil, on the other hand, really needs to up its game and thank its lucky stars right now.

Any time money is involved it taints everything. "Help" like that should be avoided unless it really is life or death (which people will try to convince you of when it really isn't the case).

However, we have done everything from housing an aunt with cancer for a long, long time (we lived near the hospital) to returning a lost phone to helping someone with a heavy load. All of them thanked us profusely and even offered money/beer/meals in return--some we accepted, some we didn't since we didn't do it for some reward. Too many to mention.

Also, on a side note, there are subtle ways in which people say "thank you" without words. Just a slight bow or or a curtsey recognize what you have done, but many westerners might miss it. Experiment--go to an elevator and watch people enter and exit. Watch out they move their bodies to express thanks for holding the door open or as they walk out (not so much a thank you, but a polite way to exit the elevator first). Other things are happening that don't happen in the West.

My question is: why pay $50. if you have legitimate income of B800,000 or more? I go to Bangkok Bank. ask for a letter of international deposits to my account. Pay the B300 fee and I am done in 20 minutes.

My thanks to the OP for the informative post. 40 minutes is indeed good service. But what I focused on is the $50 fee. That seems a bit much for a routine piece of paper. But visa services everywhere are drawn out, complicated and expensive. If the embassy can do it's part efficiently I am satisfied.

I paid 90USD (oviously, listed official price at the embassy....nothing sketchy) for an affidavit at a US Embassy in another Asian country to certify I had never been married. Cheaper here for whatever reason. Could be worse.

There certainly could be fraud through this system, but I assume there are other checks in place.

That said, anyone lying to an embassy official for an affidavit should know that they are committing perjury (or, apparently, any of another in a broad range of crimes, depending on circumstances) and, if caught, will face time in a not-so-fun federal prison and/or other penalties. They would have no problem extraditing someone like that just to remind people. That is the power of the document, something I am sure the Thai government is also aware of.

I wai to the immigration bloke doing me visa,that's about it,i have done it at the temple the few times i have gone,but otherwise i don't,the most pathetic thing is westerners wai-ing to other westererners.

The immigration bloke and elders I will initiate the wai,

I have been taught to always reply to a wai with a wai..... however I was taught 3 levels, not 2 as Miss Mod said. The chest one without bowing the head to respond to kids wais, thumbs about at your chin for most people, and the thumbs to eyebrows for monks.

For those that don't wai, how do you feel back home when you extend your hand for a handshake and it is brushed aside or coldly ignored?

Yeah, I never got the "I don't wai" people. It is just the Thai way of greeting, etc. Just like a handshake (and just like with the wai, I have actually had to teach students in another country how to shake hands, since they always did the "dead fish" handshake. It was important as they were going to study in the West).

I think the biggest one is not to wai kids or dogs or just random people on the street. The first one in the video looks like the "lap wai" (gather wais) one to me, which is when someone of lower status to you wais you and you are just acknowledging it. It is what I was instructed to do for groups of students wai'ing me....can't wai each one....you just do a subdued one like the first one in the video.

Anyway, figuring this stuff out just helps you fit in a little bit better--doesn't mean you have sold your soul.

There have been several people who survived jumping off of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fran (most don't survive). Apparently, every last one of them says they knew they wanted to live the second after jumping.

Some people have mental issues that really make them want out, but most actually don't truly want to go through with it--they just can't see that until it's too late.

I think it is a very antiquated thinking and behavior to believe a "one fits all" education program can make us "all" smarter. You always gone have intelligent and less intelligent people. Maybe we need first to teach "know where your abilities are".

Very true. And this brings up another problem with how things are usually run in schools here (again, probably not all, but most of the ones I know about do this). Students enroll and get assigned a class group. This group stays together for all 4 years of the degree program. They do all their classes and activities together (groups of about 30).

Unfortunately, this means that the strong kids don't advance as much as they could and the weak ones don't get the focused lessons they need. As a teacher, it is hard to craft a class that can be challenging enough for the best students (ones completely fluent in English, very smart and just tuned in) and the worst (been "studying" English for a dozen years and can't string together a single sentence).

Not sure that this can be overcome very easily, though, since the Thais value the group cohesion more than creating tiers of classes based on ability.

I live in a rural area, so it isn't so common out here to have people try to speak to me in English. I have experienced it in bigger cities. If they actually can speak, I go ahead and speak to them in English. Otherwise, I just keep speaking to them in Thai and they usually switch once they realize I speak Thai better than they speak English.

One thing you can do when you are first learning is to strike an agreement with store owners or whatever, depending on what you or they are good at. Like if you want to practice numbers, ask them to always tell you the numbers in Thai and that you will tell them some new English expressions in exchange (ie., when you walk out each day you say "See you later," "take it easy," "have a good one" and so on). That has worked for me in other places.

Good luck.

Well......

Yes. A recent good example was Iran. Russia is taking its own measures to essentially turn off the international Internet and only host things locally. We shall see how that goes. And then, of course, the is the Great Firewall of China, which is relatively effective against people like you, but not against more savvy people. North Korea--well, they are old hands at it, mostly by starving people.

I think Iran was the most complete shutdown just after the green revolution, but you would have to google search that. Anyway, they are unlikely to do it here, but watch your postings online and be aware that certain things might be blocked. Ask people who were here for the last regime just under 10 years ago. Changed, but nothing too drastic.

Yeah, have just received notice that we are closed from the 23rd until the 25th, as per the notice the helpful gentleman attached above. Thanks all.

Its all over page 16. Hope you dont teach reading at uni lol

Sent from my LG-P970 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

LOL...page 16 of TV breaking news is where I start every Internet search. Not sure how that one got by me.

Still don't see it on the breaking news thing, but will keep looking. Unfortunately, I assume I still have to go work tomorrow as I am at a uni. Guess the daughter is off the hook!

Somehow it is being rumored that schools are shut tomorrow. I don't believe this, but things are blasting around the Internet. Anyone heard anything similar? In my case, have to take the daughter to school and then go teach myself.

I would think no, as they said all government workers should continue their activities (yes, I am a gov't employee), but you never know.

It's just for censorship purposes. Will have to bypass it.

Mine pays for both the WP and the visa every year. As the money isn't very good, I made a point about it. I later found out some other teachers actually pay for their own. So, I guess it all depends on what you negotiate.