anblick

I was treated at Ram, with the immobilisation harness fitted by a consulting surgeon they brought in from the government hospital.

Phrasing in my original post probably wasn't entirely clear: surgery's the only way to get the bone back in one piece, but lacking any symptoms (so far) beyond a slight bump on my shoulder the advice I have is to just deal with having two bones for the price of one .

There's still some rehab to go - flexibility is mostly there but strength needs quite a bit of work. That's why I'm after a second opinion to make sure I'm doing the best I can to look after my posture and reduce the risk of complications. It sounds like Rajadev is the place to go. Thanks!

I have a broken clavicle (yep, scooter accident - I was lucky to come out this easy) that failed to knit after two months in a sling .. the advice I've been given is that surgery's the only option to restore it now, but given the site of the break (very close to the distal end - maybe two inches in) and that I'm not experiencing any pain or apparent restriction of movement, it's not neccessary.

The physio exercises I've been given so far are very basic - it's worked so far to restore my range of motion after two months immobilisation, but if I'm going to be living with this break and having to protect it possibly for many years, I'm keen to get more advice. Can anyone recommend good physios or other practitioners that might be able to give me more advice on dealing with this?

wow that site's a great resource - thanks! Lots of great links in there.

I haven't found any translations in the few songs I've checked out, but simply having the lyrics transcribed as selectable text and broken into words I'm sure will be useful.

So my reading and parroting is good enough that with a bit of repetition and work I can sing along with simple pop songs by following the karaoke ... but I often have no idea what the lyrics mean, mostly because my vocab for words and phrases that don't directly relate to food is pretty weak.

I thought I remembered seeing a link in here for a collection of songs with translated lyrics, but searching has failed me. Does such a translation exist? Or if not, do I have any hope typing the Thai lyrics into google translate and making sense of the result? Or is this a completely flawed approach and I should go back to children's books (probably more practical, but less fun and less mnemonic)?

If you can get the names written in Thai, it's not hard to find mp3 downloads or youtube videos (often with Karaoke-style subtitles, which is great) for pop songs through google.

Posting partly to bump this topic as I've recently grabbed a bunch of Thai pop songs I'd like to use to build my vocab, but even with decent phonetic reading and typing performing word-for-word translations is pretty tedious.

You shouldn't have much trouble finding what you want in that price range Don't put too much stock in the websites - they're pretty crappy in my experience, possibly a bit better if you read Thai fluently. What I did was stay in guest houses for the first month or so while I walked around areas to find where I wanted to live, and just go in to likely looking buildings and ask: there are often notices up in the lobby, or simpler places that rent unfurnished will be able to tell you what they offer in the office and show you a room. CM City Life magazine has a good classifieds section that is also very useful. I'd only say don't be in too much of a hurry - allowing a month to find a place you really like is well worth it: deals available vary week to week and you'll be staying there a while. Check out things like how noisy it is at night.

You can rent on a tourist visa, only paperwork needed is a passport copy and deposit up front (2 months is common). Usual commitment is 1yr, but 6mth and even 3mth leases are available, only the price tends to go up as the lease gets shorter. There are even some decent serviced apartment style deals that you can rent monthly, which might be better than a guest house if you want to have your own bathroom and a fridge for the initial period.

Mmm too late to still sign up? Put me down for one please!

This thread has been great! Lots of information for a prospective Thai student in here.

I have a few questions which I hope the forum can answer as email replies from Payap have been a bit slow.

My plan is to arrive in CM in early May, look for accomodation and begin the application process to start in the next batch of classes. I am a bit concerned that time-wise I'll be cutting it a bit fine because the application deadline is 25th of May and I will need to hop across to Luang Prabang to get my visa sorted. Can anyone comment on the application process and whether this is a reasonable time line?

I notice also on the timetable at payap's website that classes start on 5th of June, but the module Thai 1 is only starting in the 2nd term from 9th July. As a new student, which term would my classes start in?

I'm really excited about the prospect of an extended stay in CM and some formal language study instead of dipping into Paiboon pocket dictionaries and asking locals to give me more words. If anyone can direct me to more information on the forum, or offer any advice or tips, it would be much appreciated! Feel free to PM me if you would prefer to discuss in private.