Ajarn

Lots of latest model phone, vendors in Tachilek, Burma across the border from Mae Sai.

Nokia N from 4000 baht and other bargains.

Anyone know whats the catch?

Are they fake or what?

They're NOT made by Nokia...

I've had experience over the years at Lanna, Suan Dawk, Mcormick, and Ram 1 and 2.. and many others throughout the Kingdom. As for the 'cultural' differences, Like slow folks or non-treatment..

I think this mostly due to a lack of language understanding. You sometimes must ask questions and 'be alive'. Waiting just pisses me off, so maybe that's why I remain calm by speaking out politely, and the crap is rare and (mostly) tolerable to me...

The other type of complaints to be had mostly revolve around who your doctor is. I've had many bad experiences when I had lousy, overworked doctors, but good experiences when I've had good doctors. I've never had experiences with nursing bad enough to complain about, so maybe I'm lucky, but once I learned about what I had on the internet ( when possible) and had a decent doctor, I've had great service, (seemingly at a high price at Ram) and no complaints. It has amazed me what ram has done for me, personally. I hope everyone has this experience..

Well now, where will we start.

Hardly, where I live and work so why should it bother me.

Chiang Mai , now that's another den of iniquity.

Crackdown in Thailand means more corruption, more innocents getting hurt.

Maybe we should just shoot every prostitute, bar owner, cutained hotel owner,on-line game shop owner and karoke business owner.

Why don't these guys do their real job, suppressing human trafficing, jailing child molestors and exploiters and convicting corrupt officials.

Because you wrote this earlier..

That's it, I'm going to Pattaya.

They want to turn the north into some sore of sacred shrine , just because Thaksin came from here

I'm afraid this 'reminder' is just more B.S. from the government, but I hope they succeed in cleaning things up.

You want to see Pattaya then, if you think the north is bad.

Let them start in the real den of iniquity, Pattaya, Nana, Patpong, etc, etc or maybe the bribes they get there will deter any crackdown for a long time.

But northern cops have nothing to do with Pattaya, Nana, Patpong... Why not start in their own areas?

Maybe because it will bother you?

I'm afraid this 'reminder' is just more B.S. from the government, but I hope they succeed in cleaning things up.

Thais normally have family and such locally, which normally helps to keep them honest.

yeah right!

Probably not true in Pattaya, where you live...

No disrespect intended and I wasn't aware of your disability.

My point was that 10,000 baht a month is an excellent salary compared with teachers, policemen and civil servants.

The fact that you get great care probably justifies the salary.

Sorry for the quip.

No problem, thanks...

But any of the karachagans (teachers, cops, civil servants) that I know would be quite unhappy with 10,000 per month. Even though their basic salary seems low, there are the extras that increase their compensation by around 50% a month. Some get free housing, free vehicles, and extra money from outside sources, plus tax advantages, health care, etc. normally given to all karachagans. There is almost always more than the basic salary

My housekeeper gets only free housing from me.

Also, I want to add a point about hiring non-thais as workers. In years past, my (ex) wife used to hire them, too. But we stopped when we had things stolen from us and they disappeared... That is the big

disadvantage, the fact that they don't have ID, and can easily disappear from anywhere. Thais normally have family and such locally, which normally helps to keep them honest.

Bloody hel_l , most Thai teachers in Thailand don't get paid that.

You must be getting something extra

No, I'm not getting what you think. I'm getting someone who I can trust that she will do her job to the best of her ablities. When you're disabled by a stroke and can't walk or talk well, you'll wish for that too, I'm sure.

Ajarn's is obviously an unusually good maid. Does she have basic english literacy too, I wonder

No, she doesn't. But I have lived here for 22 years, so my Thai is pretty good. As for finding a good maid, it's pure luck. In past years, I've had only one other good maid.

Why are you so generous with the time off?

Because that's the way it is in Thailand. Live-in's don't get much time off. Her grown kids come to visit her here, and she's happy with that.

The contractors are dredging the river so deep that in some places the banks are falling in complete with houses/shacks belonging to guess who – the poor of course. Plus the contractors are making a killing selling the sand. The river is going to flow so fast now from the upper reaches that flash flooding is even more inevitable in the city area.

I was watching them dredging out the sand one day, and I asked one of the drivers how much they sell the sand for.. He replied, "No, were not allowed to" and, "but no, we don't know where it goes from here"

"We shouldn't try to solve the four days per year [when there is flooding] by allowing a large number of farmers to suffer from drought for eight months a year," a villager said.

valid point

To a point, maybe. But of the other families who suffer from the (longer than 4 days) flooding each year? I think you'll find that most othe 'others' are already among the poorest in the area. And what do the farmers give up in return for their convenience?

And when has the river ever dried up??

Many house holds in Chiang Rai are using hilltribe and Burmeese maids paying as low as 2000 baht a month.

Ya get what you pay for in my experience.. 2,000 baht a month will get you somebody who will work until they get something better in terms of salary. It's the same deal with Thais at 4,000 a month. You'll find workers, but very poor quality...

I pay 4,000 for the first month only, because that's what anyone is worth the first month. The second month it's 5000, then I look at them closely. Are the dependable? Are they trustworthy? Currently I have a great maid who does most everything, cooking, cleaning, errands, etc. She has been with me for 5 years, so I know her very well. She gets 10,000 a month, but she started at 4,000... I know I can leave for a month with no problem. She lives in, and doesn't get any days off, but once a month or longer, she gets a couple of days off to spend with her family. She and I are quite happy with this setup.

My advice is don't worry about how much you will pay, but worry about dependability and trustworthyness.

I went to Overbrook a few months ago and spent the night.

I thought overall that the staff was excellent and the care was good.

My deluxe room was not expensive and my doctor spoke enough English.

But....

When the time came to check out, I wasn't allowed to leave without paying my bill in full. I had to borrow money from a friend on the spot just to leave the place.

Most Farang that live here know that, but I was new and didn't.

Thailand is generally not diligent about having English posted more clearly and having staff around that speak English. That was very frustrating. They ignored my pleas for someone that could help me, spoke over me and took the money from my Thai friend.

But the problem is systemic. Thailand is low on the list of English competency in Asia. And Overbrook hospital, although full of wonderful people, could use more people that speak English and more sensitivity to this critical shortcoming.

Perhaps God can teach them English?

Your entire rant came about because they did not want you to leave before they were paid...Na'?

Maybe your expectations are to high for this country, or any other I can think of.. Who would want you leave without paying them first? Without insurance, nobody.

In my opinion and observation, the English spolen currently is much greater than just a few years ago, and they're getting better quite fast... If you are so interested, why not offer to teach them? That is the hardest part for many- getting decent English training...

Or you can learn some basic Thai...

More like The Village Voice?

From New York? Sorry, I've never had a reason to read it...

We shouldn't forget that this is a very new endeaver and they are concentrating on the basics.

It may take a while to turn into The New York Times!

Hopefully, their 'basics' could include fewer ads and better (CM related) writings. I don't expect The Times, but they could do better than they currently do.

I would say that the last guesthouse upstream might be your only safe bet. The have a large area, with various rooms built around the place... Sorry, can't remember their name

Another option is the best hotel in town, Wang Thong Hotel, wich has a good sized decks outside each room, which they might give an okay to a dog. Why not call and ask?Wang Thong Hotel Wang Thong Hotel Wang Thong Ho

Sorry for my 'unusual' reaction...

First, too many ads, boring writings (mostly)....

I had to go to page 9 before I found something interesting to read (thai language help), and then up page 12, I only saw a couple more interesting things (the listing of Organic Markets, and.... nothing)

Please, don't take this as all negative. Good colorful ads with some good/interesting info...

incidently, the quake earlier in the week prompted us to update our house insurance policy to include quake damage.

Now we can shake feeling safe our house is covered

Good luck collecting

Nothing. No breathing problems or anything else

This is the slow season, and as normally occurs, people leave and people close down, but everyone complains...

I was just in Chiang Dao (transiting through on motorbike trip) this past Sunday. Just read up about both restaurants in Lonely Planet.

Methinks I might plan a sojourn soon to check out the caves, and try #1 & #2. It's not that far away, and the mountain roads are beautiful for motorcycle riding. Thanks for the tip, lannarebirth!

McG

I completely agree with the restaurant choice, and the drive there with a couple of things to mind for the bikes....Most of the road north of the Pai turnoff is under-construction dirt road, and the new turnoff that avoids the town of chiang dao isn't totally finished yet, but looks like it is.... the turnoff is for the trucks from mines out near Wiang Haeng. I don't know why, but they have not completed a section of road, instead forcing everyone to take an ectremely rutted-out dirt road for about half a kilometer. It's been like this for the last 2 or 3 years... The easiest and safest way for a bike is to head into chiang dao on the old road, and a left in town to the cave/restaurants.

Perjhaps Ajarn likes the plastic pizza places because they deliver. Now if paradise pizza were to run a home delivery service.....

Yes sir, to me their delivery is why I've used them, and if paradise delivers, then I'll try them, too.

Obviously, as I suspected, all of N. Thailand was not down. My CyberGold back up late Sunday afternoon and has been normal. I seldom have trouble with my ADSL as it is relatively new in my area and was also installed on a new phone line so I was surprised at all the problems in the past week.

All I can hope for is maybe they were down to install new equipment or something (wishful thinking?).

I have the same setup, and I'm not in the least bit surprised when problems occur. Maybe you need a readjustment of your expectations here. A lot of benefit when it comes to headaches.

Not at all. I have been using dial up for 4 years and I have read most of the posts regarding ADSL and it's problems here. I have been quite pleased with my ADSL which has been operating almost flawlessly for the past month or so. I expected many more problems than I have had. I don't like to be lied to by TOT staff. Just trying to find out what may have actually occured this past week.

Sorry, I don't mean anything, but it seems to me that the 'lieing' is another issue.... How do you know she lied? You don't know anything if you're fair. Maybe she told you what she was told, na?

I think if you start to think about service people in this way, then you leave yourself open to a lot more headaches...

No way that you'd be doing that with a rental house.

I don't agree with that... I've been living in a nice 5,000 baht per month house, which I pay yearly to a Landlord in Phrae, who never had the time to deal with renters before, and appreciates what I've added to the house (Pool, garden, 3 waterfalls, and lots of reconstruction inside the house). I figure it's around 300k I've put into it so far.. Figure it out for the last 5 years I've been here, and, it's only another 5,000 a month... A few more years and it's a lot cheaper. And the landlord is happy, too, obviously. I like and appreciate what advantages I have as a renter; I can move anytime with no loss, no thai person to 'take' my house money (law), no worries about selling a used house...

Is it just me, or have other people noticed that often the sale prices are quite reasonable but the rentals way over the top?

Well, based on where I used to live in the US, they normally figured it at 1/100th of the sales price. When I've thought about it here, it seems a lot cheaper... Could be just a few greedy landlords, too. Also, it seems to me that most renters are farang, with Thais being buyers

Obviously, as I suspected, all of N. Thailand was not down. My CyberGold back up late Sunday afternoon and has been normal. I seldom have trouble with my ADSL as it is relatively new in my area and was also installed on a new phone line so I was surprised at all the problems in the past week.

All I can hope for is maybe they were down to install new equipment or something (wishful thinking?).

I have the same setup, and I'm not in the least bit surprised when problems occur. Maybe you need a readjustment of your expectations here. A lot of benefit when it comes to headaches.