simon43

Yonks ago I did actually study for an MA in Thai at Chulalongkorn University. I sat the course but never took the final exams, because a large 'exam fee' was required and I was only learning for fun. But my knowledge of Thai enabled me to interact with the local Thais in where I lived, with useful phrases such as: - Conversing with my mad #2: "You are completely mad, please do not throw another plate" - Conversing with the local police guy: "I agree with you. She is totally mad - please arrest her next time" - With the local pharmacy: "Do you have any stronger medication? The previous medicine did not affect her" and finally with the local travel agent: "Get me the next flight to Burma, but tell her that I have moved to Cambodia if she asks" My use of Burmese and Lao is generally much more mundane phrases!

Lol, my parents took me out of the government primary school in the early 1960s and put me in a private prep school after we started having morning assembly in (probably) Hindi - the Urdu-speakers arrived a few years later...

Educate yourself! The report was not from the Jewish Chronicle but from the Henry Jackson Society. The Wiki link is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Jackson_Society and that society has absolutely nothing to do with Jews or the Jewish Chronicle.......

For me, it's a matter of being polite and showing effort to learn the local language. When I'm in Thailand, I speak/read/write Thai... When I'm in Myanmar (Burma), I speak/read/write Burmese... When I'm in Laos, I speak/read/write Lao... I'm far from fluent in these languages, but I make an effort and it's very much appreciated by the locals 🙂

Wear bathroom slippers AND hold onto firm surfaces AND don't enter the bathroom when p*ssed out of your mind....

I remember many years ago when I built a small hotel in Phuket - I installed sliding smoked glass doors in the showers and assumed that the glass was safety glass (forgive me - I was a newbie in Thailand). Some time later a young boy staying with his parents ran straight through the glass door! Shards of glass everywhere, but amazingly the boy only had a few small cuts. It could have been so much worse. In another incident (this time in Vietnam), a stone on the road flew up and hit the windscreen of our tour car that I was sitting in as a passenger. The windscreen shattered into shards - it was standard glass, not safety glass.... Over the years there have been more than a few fatalities where foreigners have slipped in their bathroom and died, typically after hitting their head on something sharp. Some of these deaths were where the person was elderly and unsteady on their feet. Others were younger but drunk. Many bathrooms in Thailand do not have non-slip floor tiles, some are like an ice-rink when wet. It is always advisable to move slowly and hold onto firm surfaces when taking a shower.

Nowhere in the article does it mention that 'she' is a ladyboy or man who is pre-op or post op. The military draft (as the article says), is for men. Therefore, without further information, I must assume that 'she' is actually a man, (because if she were female, then she wouldn't have to attend the military draft).

I know you don't probably don't want to consider this, but the Labour Department will regard what you're doing as work (regardless of whether you make any money out of it). Your project is (I assume) intended to earn you money, so for that you'll need a work permit (which you won't get without employing Thai staff etc etc, so a non-starter). It wouldn't be bad if you could fly under the radar, but you started this thread and detailed your plans, your PEA guy knows what you're doing and (thanks to the Thai grapevine), that old Thai lady living 500km away from you in a small village also knows exactly what you're doing. It only takes one disgruntled neighbour and your Mining project will be .. er .. toast.

You may be right - I have no way to tell because I haven't visited Thailand for a couple of years. I guess I need to wait until the rainy season and then see what % wear masks, and ditto here in northern Laos where the burning season is upon us. For me, wearing a simple mask definitely helps my health by filtering out the smoke particles in the air. (If I were trying to avoid virus infections then I would purchase a mask designed for that purpose).

I won't quote your long post, but thanks for introducing some scientific FACTS into this thread, but sadly which will go right over the heads of many posters 🙂

Lol, many people in Laos wear masks, especially right now since it's the burning season. As I mentioned in my post, I have a chronic lung illness and wearing a face mask has absolutely nothing to do with virtue-signalling. But perhaps you don't understand that some people wear masks because the masks do what they are designed to do....

Santisuk, I have exactly the same long-term illness as you, and I appreciate the benefits of wearing a mask. I live in Laos and people can make their own decision as to wear or not wear a mask. I always wear a mask when entering shops or close to others and my health benefits from it. I visited Bangkok last week for a few days and I see perhaps more than 50% of Thais wearing a face mask. I say 'Good on them' for considering the health of others and minimising the risk of spreading bacteria etc). As for the 'I hate face-nappy' brigade, I don't want to waste a moment in my life listening to the rubbish spouted by them..........

I just started reading page 1 of this (currently) 10-page thread, and realised after a couple of posts that this was an April Fool's Day joke. Honestly, I need to block almost every poster in the next 10 pages because (apart from a few), you all fell for this joke - time to count your brain cells! 🙂

Clearly, your moral compass is different from mine .....

So you would lie to the insurance company?

[quote] ... So then, you can teach, these days, with just a stick, and some sand? ... [/quote] Yes!! I have taught for many years in poverty-stricken Myanmar, and even the international schools were woefully lacking in facilities. Usually all I had to teach Science were a blackboard and chalk, no textbooks, no Science lab, no overhead projector, no electricity in the classroom, no internet. As a Scientist and teacher, I used my own knowledge of all the science topics required by the curriculum to teach these topics in a manner that engaged my students and brought the subject 'to life'. I also teach computer software - PHP, Scratch, Python, Javascript, C+, Arduino, STEM topics etc, so I'm no Luddite. But if I'm not teaching computing topics, then I definitely don't need a computer! Anyway, off-topic....

[quote] For a decent health plan a disease is a disease [/quote] Yes, but there has to be some responsibility by the insuree. It's like riding a motorcycle without a crash helmet and drunk. No insurer would pay up in case of an accident because you have 'brought it upon yourself'. If you engage in bare-back sex and are infected with HIV or another STD, surely the insurer would want to know the background details. "I knowingly engaged in bare-back sex with a whore" might not gain their sympathy to pay up 🙂

I'm a Scientist 🙂. So I can think of many clinical differences. For a start, smallpox is (was) a virus and gonorrhoea is caused by a bacteria. Smallpox is eradicated in the world whilst gonorrhoea is 'rampant' and increasing in the number of cases (Cases of gonorhoea increased by about 50% in 2022 - latest stats). Therefore, I'm still amazed that you are reimbursed for the conditions stated. Enjoy it while it lasts because with the increasing STD stats your insurer might not be so generous in the future 🙂

When I started teaching in Myanmar I had no teaching qualifications except for an in-class TEFL certificate. I did have my Bachelor and post-grad degrees in electronics, but I was initially employed to teach English to 5 year olds.... (being paid $2,500 tax-free to sing nursery rhymes was fine by me). Subsequently, I did study for various CPD certificates in Phonics and speech therapy and child pedagogy (so I could understand how young people learn etc). I was offered a place on a iPGCE course at Nottingham University, but turned it down because a) I would have to pay about 4,000 quid to study the course and b) the lack of a teaching degree had not held me back from obtaining good teaching jobs in both Myanmar and Laos.

Your medical insurance covers the medical costs that enables you to bang working girls without using a condom? Amazing...

A bad workman blames his tools..... Stop bleating on and on about Adobe Pro. I teach for more than 20 years and use whatever software (or none) is available to effectively teach my subjects. I have never had to use Adobe Pro, whether it be for teaching university students, high school, primary etc. I use my own skills and professional experience to teach the subject. Alternative and free software apps are available that offer the functionality of Adobe Pro, albeit that you may need to use more than one app if you are unable to teach effectively without the crutch of Adobe Pro. Go find the apps yourself by searching online - it will be useful practice for you to learn how to use a search engine.....

You have consistently failed to answer the questions posed by forum members in this thread? What do you need to use Adobe Pro for? The only reason that I can think of is that you are actually teaching your students how to use Adobe Pro, and thus need to demonstrate its functionality etc. Otherwise, there are other applications that provide some or all of the functionality of Adobe Pro. As for not paying a subscription etc for use of these professional software packages, that's your problem. Software developers are in it for business and profits, a fact of life. I'm intrigued as to what subject you are teaching and who are your students.

The women have moustaches...... (trust me, I know this!).

My only recollection of Albania is about 55 years ago and sitting on a sunny beach on the Greek island of Corfu (east coast, directly opposite Albania). I saw a guy way out at sea swimming towards the shore. This took him some time. Finally he crawled exhausted on the beach. He had swum all the way across the strait from Albania, dodging the gun boats which at that time patrolled 24/7. All he had were his swimming trunks and a small waterproof bag containing ?... Still, he looked happy to have made it across the sea.

I came into Thailand last Wednesday at Swampy. The IO looked in my passport for a visa (since I have been living and in/out of Thailand for the past 22 years or so. I explained (in Thai) that I had no visa to enter Thailand because I was just coming for shopping and would return back to Laos in a few days, and I pointed out my 1 year Lao visa in my passport. "Ah no problem" said the friendly female IO and stamped me in for 30 days.