chowny77

Check out this website as it has alot of audio files linked to English teaching books. http://www.englishtips.org/

Her and her party robbed the country. The sad thing is they hurt the ones they were supposed to be helping which is the farmers. Look at the farmers now, in debt, having to take out loans which they will most likely not be able to pay back for the next 20yrs due to interest rates. Loan sharks are loving this as they will gain land and property from lack of payments. The rice scheme was the biggest F Up that Thailand has faced in a very long time. Of course all the farmers jumped on the band-wagon at the start because they did see some money and were promised more, it never came. I would like to see the court not only charge Yingluck with gross negligence but also find who else made a killing on this scheme. I am expecting that if they did it would lead to many Thai/Chinese families who basically have raped this country for the last 100 years.

My home town team! Well done to them and the supporters!

Ok cool. I was just worried after the last time I had to cross into Laos but at that time I was on a Non-B, but at this moment in time it is a non-o. I will play dumb and not mention anything about being employed. Thanks again guys!!

What type of one year visa are you planning to get from Savannakhet ?

Multi-entry Marriage visa.

My school is currently looking to get my WP renewed but in September I will need to do a land crossing into Savannakhet. I was wondering if I leave Thailand to apply for a new Visa would this bugger up my WP? I had hassle about 5 yrs ago when I tried to leave to Laos through Nong Khai as my WP was still valid and I did not have a letter of termination. I am not planning to terminate my contract with the school but just get another 1 year visa. I hope someone can shed some light on this and hopefully Ubonjoe will know the answer. Cheers!!

The most important thing is to get decent health insurance, which I'm sure you will, being the sort of person you are.

I agree with nausea. Get a decent health insurance that covers everything, including motorcycle/car hire. You will get sick and that is a 100% guarantee, not because you did anything but because of the change of location/foods/accidents. Thailand can be dangerous but so can anywhere else in the world, keep your wits about you, use the common sense your parents gave you and you will be fine.

This is NEVER going to be a political hot button issue here as it is in the USA.

The reasons are simple:

-- no power to Christian fundamentalists here

-- ancient culturally specific tradition of "ladyboys" here that has a very different cultural meaning than transgender in the USA

-- men are used to women in the toilets, cleaning right next to them while they pee; if they happen to have a look (they must be so bored seeing dicks all day) NOBODY cares

-- Thais are not CRAY CRAY in this particular bathroom mania American way, and yes, that's a good thing!

I agree with Jingthing on this subject. Those poor cleaning ladies have to go in to the mail toilets and clean up after some of the filthy guys that use the facilities without a care in the world. They have most likely seen so many penis's that they are sick of them. Now looking at it from the other view point, who enjoys it when you are standing and taking a piss and the dude comes up behind you and slaps that damn hot towel on your neck and starts giving you a bloody massage. I seriously nearly pissed all over his shoes when it happened to me the first time in Bangkok. That was more freaky for me than to see the women cleaning the male toilets. But back to the OP's question, I don't really care. If I need to use a public toilet it is because I need a dump and I am in a cubicle, so I am alone to collect my thoughts while I am fertilizing the world. I am pretty dam sure trans people are not looking for more hassle than they already get, so why would they create it? Live and let live!

I have found it on-line and downloading the PDF file plus the audio to go with it

I had to go on a school trip once and had to share the room with the schools mini van driver. Luckily enough he is alright and it was not a problem for me.

Most of the schools in my area will start Monday 16th of May

Too much of a common occurrence over the last few years that are coming know through the media now. I wonder how many more children have suffered a similar fate but it was not shown or covered up in the past......

Ahh. Thanks for the heads up guys. I guess I will be giving this one a miss.

It's bloody 42 degrees here in Uttaradit city. Please bring the rain but you can keep the high wind and hail!

They can come to my house as those nasty red ant B*^%$rds keep making nests and I am sick to death of them. Evil little S#@ts.

He just went into his house and bought out a SWORD??? <deleted>, a sword!! Who has a sword kicking around their place??

For once the foreigners outnumbered the locals and S*^T happened!

Before I came to Thailand I would just read the normal dross magazines. Now after using the train system in Thailand I have found a love of reading books. When ever I have a chance to go somewhere that has a second-hand book shop I will usually buy at least one book. When I first arrived here I had one book, which was the "Lonely Planet" guidebook. Since then I must have over 70+ books. I have Stephen King, Dean Koontz plus Terry Pratchett and a few others from other authors. I would be lost now if I did not have a book to read to kill time. I tried to use e-books but I still prefer a "real book" but I understand that it is easier to have kindle or similar device.

For me the most trouble that almost came to violence was with other foreigners. So far after 11 years of living here apart from the usual could have been an accident incident, no Thai person has threatened me personally. Maybe I am lucky as I do not live in a tourist fueled environment or I just do not seem worth the bother, either way I am also not naive and I know that violence does occur. Just so far not directly towards me.

The Chinese are trying to screw the Thais??? Well i never, and the Thai Govt have just realized this??

Most people could have told them that 2 years ago before wasting that time.

Exactly. However, the Thais are at least a little smarter than China's South-East Asian lapdog, Laos. That country has virtually already turned into an economic colony of China, with Lao citizens who protest their eviction from their homes because a Chinese investor wants to build something being taken away and never heard from again. Large agricultural concessions and at least one major casino, and Chinese writing all over the place are evidence of this.

In parts of Northern Laos, the problem of Chinese investment and illegal immigration is so significant that not only does it look like you're already in China, but you can't get anything done if you don't speak Chinese! That means Lao living in their own country, can't order food, can't check into a hotel without knowing Chinese, in their own country! This is true in parts of Udomxai, Luang Nam Tha and especially Phongsali provinces. Also in Bokeo at the Kings Roman casino where most gamblers are Chinese and everything including restaurant menus, the currency, the timezone and even the mobile/cellular networks are all Chinese!

The Thais are right not to want too much Chinese influence in their country, because these sorts of deals always have strings attached, with the Chinese ultimately receiving all the spoils, while the host country loses out.

The Lao for their part did at least delay the construction of the part of the railway that would be going through their country by a few years after they realized the original deal would be tantamount to China taking away a large chunk of their territory. The deal would have had China getting exclusive rights for mining, warehousing, and any other development 5km on either side of the railway line, which is supposed to be 421km long.

More recently, there have been reports that the project is going ahead, with constructing starting on the Lao side now, possibly in early anticipation of the Thais agreeing to it last year. It could be however that it has quietly stopped since a railway line to landlocked Vientiane would end up being a white elephant project for China. However, perhaps the Chinese are so sneaky that they think that the Thais may still change their minds again and thus will go ahead with the Lao construction anyway, on the off chance that perhaps the Thai side will eventually agree by the time construction is nearly finished, or when a new government comes into power? At least they would be able to exploit Lao minerals more easily while shipping in hundreds of thousands of otherwise unemployed workers, many of whom will stay after construction has finished and open up Chinese shops rather than going back home.

Another alternative which could eventuate if access to the sea is really the main reason for building this line (which I think it is) they could route the line through Laos to go down to Cambodia, ending up at Sihanoukville. Since Cambodia is China's second main lapdog in SE Asia, this wouldn't be difficult to do either, as it would face almost no political opposition, though the line would become a lot longer than the original one through Thailand, but that would at least be a compromise solution.

Note that while this hasn't been proposed, but I'm fairly sure it's at least been considered as an alternative. Of course by the time that happens, there's always a chance Cambodia might wake up and realize what China's true intentions are and abandon any such project, as Myanmar has done in recent years after many decades of strong political support and Chinese investment that has exploited Burmese natural resources with little of the money flowing back to Myanmar's citizens. Of course in Myanmar's case it was abandoning it's old isolationist policy and opening up to the west that resulted in these changes.

The Chinese are pretty much like parasites. Take what they want and then move on the next host (country). They are already raping Africa of its natural resources.

I was looking at the Siam Technology college website as they offer a BA TESOL program. Has anyone joined it? Is it genuine? I tried to use the contact by e-mail for information but the page just goes blank. Any info would be great as I am not going to sign-up for something that could turn out to be a con.

Thanks Ubonjoe. I wanted to send you a private msg about this but thought maybe it would be of help to other posters, so that is why I put it on here. Again thanks!

I have used my last re-entry before my visa for non-o multi entry before the expiry date. This gives me til the 4th of July. I was wondering if I could extend in country for another 60 days, obviously with all the documents but without the bank statement? I plan to go to Savannakhet but July is not ideal but September would be. The visa I am on now was from Savannakhet last time, so is not an extension.

Seeing as tomorrow and Monday are holidays granted by the government you should be ok to rock up to Chaeng Wattana on Tuesday and not be made to pay a fine. I am sure others will say the same.

I believe it is a world wide craze. Females I find do seem to do selfies more than males as males seem to me more drawn to doing videos of stupid pranks they can pull on their friends.