Bryan in Isaan

Good, well informed answers. I will pore over them for awhile. It does appear that the sort routine sorts on the first character, then the second and so on; putting the vowels first for some reason.. This results in several errors in the following list. I have been fixing these manually, but if it is a large list, say 1000 words, that could be time consuming.

เครื่องหมาย

เวลา

แท้

ใจความ

กริยานุเคราะห์

กำหนด

ขยาย

ข้าราชการ

ครบบริบูรณ์

ดังนี้

ตัวอย่าง

ทั่วไป

ประโยค

ประกอบ

ประธาน

ระเบียบ

ระดับ

ราชาศัพท์

วิกรรตถกริยา

สมบูรณ์

สมุหนาม

สุภาษิต

I will look into this, and would be happy to share anything I come up with or work with someone, though I am not any kind of computer programmer. Maybe there would be some kind of macro that could be written.

Thank you all,

Bryan

3.  Learn how to use the Thai dictionary...alphabetical order in Thai dictionaries is a bit more difficult than how its done in English....

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Just a little snippet from another thread...

I have been making myself Thai wordlists for self study in Excel. When I sort them it puts all the แ เ ไ and โ at the head of the list, rather than sorting according to the consonants as in a dictionary. The alphabetical sort is just not smart enough (or maybe its the operator). Has anyone else had this problem and solved it? I have an early version of Office XP on WinMe.

Thanks,

Bryan

Hi Totster. I'm a little late joining this thread, but maybe can still add my $.02 worth. I can relate, because I am trying to teach myself to read Thai. Your wife has a good head start because she can already speak and understand, unlike me. My wife is fluent in English and lived in the States for many years. We always speak English so I don't get any practice in speaking Thai, Lao, Putai, etc...

My wife and I have been frustrated trying to teach English here in Kalasin, because it seems like no one knows anything, including the English teachers. There is no place to begin - to find anything for most students to relate to - to get them to begin speaking English. Your wife has an advantage over those students.

I agree with some of the other posters about the children's books, including school textbooks. Get the full set of them starting from about 3rd or 4th grade. We see that some of the textbooks we have seen are actually good, and dirt cheap. I think the lack of English proficiency here in NE Thailand is not the fault of the books. There are other factors, possibly the school system, culture, or other things. Have a native speaker like myself or you, add audio on tape or better yet, computer CD if your wife has easy access to a computer. Then she can learn phonetics+reading by practice.

Is your wife in Kalasin city? We are in Amphur HuaiPhung in the east end of the province. We plan to start English teaching in an adult education facility in town. There is probably not much money in it, but we hope we can be successful in helping at least a few people learn English. This is not meant to be a plug, we have plenty of students waiting for this already. I admire your wife's interest in learning how to read. I hope we can get some serious, genuine students like her in our class.

Bryan

10 years ago Disneyland negotiated with the Roi-et government to set up Disneyland here. Market survey showed that climate is a key factor. All year round profitable because of the ideal climate. It failed because of water shortage. A business like this requires a lot of water. Now this problem is solved.

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Mr. Roiet:

I am very curious about this. I recently talked with another friend of mine in PonTong who also said that Disney tried to come to Roi Et and the gov't turned them down so they went to Malaysia instead. Thats all I heard. Are there any articles or websites talking more about this? I'm here in Kalasin and that might have brought some activity to our area of the country. I heard rumors of a similar nature that Kalasin province has kept out some foreign supermarkets. Maybe this is common.

Bryan

.... let her loose in your garden. Before you know it you will have your own supply of chilli and other Thai herbs.

......

buy DVD's of VCD's with Thai subtitles for her...(the list goes on)

Once she has a daily routine she won't have time to be bored.

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Great ideas, but I think most of the Thai herbs would have some trouble in Ireland. We lived in Seattle (NW USA) for a few years. We grew some basil and it did OK, but the growing season was short. You might get lucky and find some seeds that are hybrid for cool climates. You could also build a greenhouse or sunroom to create more heat.

Good luck!

Bryan

edit - Oh yeah, almost forgot this - Somchai? Another Somchai arrested for very serious crimes? What is it about people with that name? Seems like every second, murderer, rapist, procurer, pimp, thug, trafficker, and corrupt cop or politician's son is called Somchai ......

Apologies if this comment has already been made in this and the other similar threads.

I agree with the posts talking about the creative punishments, etc.. for these sick farangs and the Thai families pimping out their kids. There is no punishment too painful for people like them, but one thing still makes me angry.

I know of a "somchai" up here in a village in NE Thailand who has been doing the same kind of things to little girls around the same age. He has been round and round with the police and the families of the victims already. Yet I have still not seen the news report in BKK post, TheNation, Thaivisa.com or anywhere else and last I heard he is still free after almost a year. Neither do I see many other such "somchais" in the news, yet out here in the villages they are very common. I hope the Thai government, families, police begin to flush these creeps out and put them to shame, just as they do with the foreigners.

There. Said my piece.

Bryan

Good luck to all the farmers in Khorat. My wife and I have been going to Ram U., Khon Kaen branch, between Khon Kaen and Khorat. There are some rice fields and some which are just now being planted, but not much rain there either. Same thing as the note above, every day is cloudy, but not very much rain. On the way home, from the time we cross into Kalasin province there is plenty of rain.

Bryan

We are (well just my wife at the moment) from Chiang Khrua... about 30 mins south of Kalasin. 

totster 

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My wife has not heard of the place, but hopefully we'll catch up with you some time when you get back to Thailand.

bb

Mind you.... cheat on your missus and "som num naaa" ... all beit a little harsh.. 

totster 

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I wouldn't dare.

By the way, which village in Kalasin are you from? We are in HuaiPhung, at the east end of Kalasin.

Bryan

Ouch

That report brought tears to my eyes.

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It will keep hurting for a while, every time I see that category heading -

Thailand News Clippings

Bryan

We have really come to enjoy our upstairs bathroom. Someone will probably tell me cobras can climb stairs, but I doubt they would. We live some distance from the nearest neighbor and there are no small kids nearby. We see them once in a while. My wife also is the first to go after them, with me running to catch up(had to laugh at Mpdkorat's post above), but we have decided to just let them go from now on. They are more scared of us than we are of them.

Bryan

Up here in the Isaan, on the country roads, I notice that there will be a 5 km stretch of good smooth road that lasts a few years and next to it, another 5 km stretch of very bad road that falls apart almost immediately after it is built, and on and on in varying degrees. While I realize that subsoil, water table and other conditions might vary, I think the bottom line is - um - "human influence" - those beer tokens.

Bryan

OK, I'll feed the pet troll a little before it dies... I have occasionally heard rumors going around the village similar to what Pett is talking about - that I am a loser, reject, can't find job in my own country, etc... We usually hear these rumors after someone tries to get money from us and we turn them down. Do you suppose the Pett has a "stingy farang" in his life?

Bryan

I suggest putting a little vaseline, moisturizer or something else slippery on the seat. That might help cure those who squat on the western toilet - but then again, I guess I wouldn't want to sit on it then. Oh well.

Bryan

Believe it or not you can get molasses at farm supply stores.  Its used as an ingredient in making silage.

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It's true, up here in the Isaan farm country. It is used for "food" for the composting organisms. I have bought it in two grades. The large jugs are supposed to be agricultural quality and the smaller liter size bottles, slightly more expensive, are suppose to be suitable for eating (at least I think thats what he said). I have tried it, and it tastes strong, and not very sweet, like blackstrap mollases back in the USA.

Bryan

I just got a strange, sort of incoherent email from an old friend from the states, who I had not heard from for a while. This thread explains it!

Bryan

It was fierce. Lots of roofs blown off around our village in Eastern Kalasin. I'm curious about the nature of this storm. The wind started blowing hard like it does frequently, but then suddenly kicked up like a jet engine for about 20 seconds and then gradually died down over the next several minutes. I have never heard of tornados here, but I wonder if this could have been one. Scared the daylights out of us as it was happening, and we lost an awning and a sheet metal roof on an attached bathroom.

Bryan

Is anyone familiar with the 6th grade Thai language proficiency test, or has taken it? I'm not even sure that is the exact term for the test. I am not sure of the practical value of it, but I like having goals and milestones as I teach myself Thai. Maybe I just like getting more certificates to hang on my wall . Maybe there are even study materials specific to the test. As I recall there are some jobs in LOS that require this credential. Anyone know about that?

Thanks in advance,

Bryan

Thank you for the good detailed info. I'm getting old enough to know that "feeling fine" is not always the end of the story. Besides lots of water, salt seems to help, as the body uses a lot of it while sweating. The wife and I find that we get dehydrated the most on a "cool" day <28C. We are not thirsty, don't sweat and don't drink enough water.

Bryan

I just read the article.

Lets see....

These despicable swine marry Thai women - whom they subsequently go to bed with.

Give her some support money each month.

Donate some money to schools - PETTY amounts.

Solicit more charity donations from their home country, USING PHOTOGRAPHS.

Some of them even live in the Northeast!!!!

Anybody who fits this profile ought to be thrown out immediately!

And throw their petty money out with them!!!

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I agree that strenuous exercise helps. Up here in the Isaan I can go running 5 to 8 km even at 30 to 34 deg C. I come back from the run and everyone sitting around at the house is wilting in the heat and I feel fine. Does anyone know if there is a temperature limit above which it is dangerous to run or do vigorous exercise? These days it has been 35 to 39 deg C during the day. I would still like to go for a little jog once in a while to get some fresh air, but am concerned that there might be some medical risk.

The air is fresh up here, too, other than some dust and a trace of smoke from farmers burning brush, and very dry. I don't know if I could do much exercising in Bangkok.

Bryan

my 2 cents worth:

I miss REAL mountains - with snow on them. Streams and rivers with clear water in them and real hiking. Some inlaws took us to see a "waterfall" one year and it was almost dry. You gotta have a sense of humor sometimes.

I don't miss the cold rain, American liberal politics or Christmas shopping. But I do miss the Christmas get togethers with family and friends.

Bryan

I tried to get the letter and failed once because I was near my annual renewal date. Immigration office (Mukdahan) wrote a "letter" for me but included disclaimers that I only had a short time left in Thailand, thereby making the letter worthless. After visa renewal went again and got a good letter and off to the driving test. Part of the test was a depth perception. It seemed a little difficult. The time reaction test was fun (slam on the "brake" on the machine when the red light comes on). The actual driving test consisted of driving forward and backing up about 20 meters between pylons.

Good luck,

Bryan

I agree with Pudge that snakes would rather go away than attack, usually. I have observed that a lot around our place in the Isaan. We have lots of snakes here, including cobras. I also don't see the point in the natives automatically beating a snake to death and then seeing what kind it is. I usually try to identify it and then let it go. Usually they are trying to get away. Once while I was raking brush, a poisonous snake crawled right over my bare foot. He was trying to get away from my rake. I don't like to get that close to the poisonous ones.

I would not stake my life on it, but it looks like the poisonous snakes run away slowly and stand and fight if you provoke them, whereas the non poisonous snakes run away fast, and usually seem more afraid.

I would rather leave them alone, but I am concerned that my dogs will get blinded by the spitting cobras. They flush them out and bark like crazy. I feel like I have no choice but to kill the cobra (this just happened about 3 hours ago). Maybe Pudge or other snake experts have a better solution about snakes and dogs.

Bryan

Took a local mechanic along when i wanted to view second hand cars and gave him a hundred baht for each car we looked at.In the end got a seven year old Isuzu for 220,000 and never had a problem.

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I also had good luck with my used 1997 Isuzu. I bought it three years ago with 200k km on the odometer. I paid about 290k Baht for it, maybe too much, but it has run well. I have only had to buy a few front end parts and a waterpump. It now has 350k km on the odometer and still runs fine.

Bryan