earlofwindermere

In my search for MBA programs, I also discovered Ramkhamhaeng University. It's an open university based in Bangkok. According to my staff, it has a good reputation in the country.

They have a satellite branch in Chiang Mai and people can study for Bachelor or Master degrees on the weekends. They have education and business programs in English. You'll have to check to see about computer science. From the info I collected, the professors are often US or UK profs from other universities who are on sabbatical years.

I would disagree with JMM about the holidays. From what I've seen, it is standard practice to give at least 13 national holidays per year to staff. I've seen this in small businesses, golf courses, foundations as well as governments and banks. I have asked my current staff about this and all of them were given at least 13 national holidays or they given a day off in lieu (or paid double time).

In addition to the 13 national days, there is also a requirement for personal days off. Legally, everyone is entitled to 5 personal days per year after working at the same place for 1 year. So, this brings the total to 17 days per year minimum.

I'd agree with what others may say...this does seem like a lot. However; this is the law in Thailand. You can follow it or ignore it. However; don't expect all Thai staff to stay with you long if you do not follow the minimum legal requirements for holiday time.

Based on my experience and knowledge, the law says that you must give at least 13 of the stat holidays per year. There are two system:

1. Government Holidays

2. Bank Holidays

I give my staff the Bank holidays. This can be found on the Bank of Thailand website at least 1 year in advance. It's clear, simple and seems to be what most companies and organizations follow (at least those who I am in contact with). I also give my cleaning lady the same days as my office staff.

This means that I usually give 16 stat holidays per year instead of the minimum 13.

The guys at the Podology Center are not Podiatrists. They refer to themselves as Podologists. From what I know, a Podiatrist is a medical doctor. A podologist is not.

What I find interesting is that the news article confirms what I've been hearing around town. He's being investigated for corruption and (according to some), there will be another election.

I know that several Lahu villages are having their Thanksgiving weekend in two weeks. I'm not sure if there is a national day in Thailand though.

For those of us who know that the real date for Thanksgiving is this weekend (Canada), I'm wondering if anyone has seen any ads for a turkey dinner anywhere. I know that the Holiday Inn has turkey with its Sunda buffets but would like to know if there is anywhere else having a special dinner this weekend?

Thanks,

I had a discussion with the #10 candidate (a good guy in my opinion). According to him, there is already a grievance filed against the winner for bribery charges. He told me that the election will likely be annuled and a new one called. Has anyone else heard this?

They're the only one that I know in the province. I doubt you'll find any other companies like them around unless you start looking into eastern Thailand.

There is a large Dutch owned company that does this now. Their office is behind Lanna Hospital. They also do tomatoes. Their name is DATT. Google them and you'll find it.

I have scanned part of the menu. Sorry that it's upside down. Each day, there are 4 choices. Depending on your package, you get all 4 or you must cross off one.

Menu.pdf

Thanks for the info Pim.

I'm curious. Why don't these people report the bribe attempts? If it's so obvious, why don't any election officials notice? Is it that widespread?

Ironically, the delivery guy just dropped off the menu. I guess they do deliver on Mae Jo Road.

The one that I have has the following info:

Delivery is 6 days per week (not on Saturdays).

Cost for one month service:

2 people (3 dishes) 1550 baht.

3 people (3 dishes) 1750 baht

4 people (4 dishes) 1900 baht.

I've heard that the food is good so I'll update after I have started the service. However; I know a few others on here have tried it and say that the food is good. Who knows, maybe rat is tasty

My staff also told me that Ruenpae Restaurant (on the Ring Road between Rimping and Nakorn Payap International School) also have a daily delivery service. Ruenpae advertises in Citylife so you may have heard of them before. Their cost is 20 baht per dish (includes delivery).

It's all Thai food. Several other posters can better describe than me. I've seen the menu but haven't looked at it much since I still have not been able to get confirmation that they deliver in my area. From what I've seen, there are 4 choices per meal. Depending on your plan, you choose 2 or 3 items out of the 4.

Several other TVers have told me about a Thai food delivery service that they use and enjoy. It's not teh Meals on Wheels 4 U (which is also good for selection).

This new-found service is to have food delivered to your house each day. You are given a menu and choose food for each day for the entire month. The cost for daily delivery for one month is something like:

1 person - 1000 baht per month (two items)

2 people - 1560 baht per month (three items)

3 people - 1750 baht per month (three items)

From what I've been told, the food is regularly delivered at the same time each day. All you need to do is make your own rice.

I've called the company for several days now and it appears that they currently do not deliver to my neighbourhood (Moobaan Tanawan on Mae Joe Road). Does anyone else have information about other delivery services such as this? There must be other Thai restaurants that do this.

Thanks.

For the past 2-3 days, the air has been pretty bad... especially in the morning. In my five years of living here, I have never seen the air bad during this time of the year. (Although it's not nearly as smokey as it gets in Feb/March)

The rice is half-way through its growing season so farmers are not burning their fields. Does anyone know why it's been so bad lately?

I know of an Australian midwife who is also a Registered Nurse. She does provide services in the city. PM me and I will send you her details.

Interesting observation Ollylama but I think that you are wrong. From what I know, the CMM is affiliated with a newspaper in Pattaya. Both places have foreigners working for them. Prince was/is the editor of the local branch. I was told that he is an Indian. I also heard yesterday that there is a new manager for the CMM office. His name is Michael/Marc or something like that.

Looking through the articles, a lot of the regular columns are written by local expats. I have to agree with cmdream and NeilRob. It seems that people who criticize the paper are either those who have not read it in a while or have an agenda to discredit.

I do agree with Ollylama's point that Citylife is getting better and better. Their articles are more indepth articles and are quite excellent. However; since people complain that the CMM's news is usually from two weeks ago, I don't think that a monthly edition would work any better in covering local news.

There is a group who meet at the Seven Year's Stadium at around 5:00pm near the kid's park.

Citylife and Chiang Mai Mail are the two hard copy publications that I find useful. Each is unique and useful in its own ways.

I also think that it's also important to include the Chiang Mai Community Classifieds Email that is sent out on a weekly basis (with a readership of 1950 locals on the email list). It also provides a lot of good information.

If seeing photos of people holding a cocktail is deemed as important to cover, then I would agree that there is less of those kinds of photos.

However; my opinion is that there seems to be more local news lately. For example, there was a very interesting article in the paper this week about the local police raiding a lot of NGOs who work with migrant workers.

Whoever is sending out the "Sunday Funnies" is obviously trying to drum up readership by slamming others. The simple fact that the email says that the Chiang Mai Mail has "eliminated all articles and photographs of interest" is a tad bit extreme.

Rumour has it that JOMA bakery is planning a large expansion into Chiang Mai sometime in early 2010. For those who have never had the pleasure of eating at their bakeries, they are found throughout Laos. They apparently also just expanded into Vietnam. This will certainly give the other bakeries a run for their money.

Personally, I like the Chiang Mai Mail and find it quite informative for local information. As an expat, I do enjoy reading about some of the local expat news. However; as a longer term resident, I prefer to know what is happening in the wider community. Local politics, news and events are far more significant and important to my life than the latest happenings at the Chiang Mai Expat Club.

For a small ENGLISH paper in a Thai-speaking city, I think that the Chiang Mai Mail does a decent job.

I'm curious, what specific expat events or news is not included that you would like to see covered? From my experience, a simple phone call or email to the paper usually results in a reporter covering events.

For those interested in this topic, the Bank of Thailand is coming out with new microfinance laws in October of this year. Companies like the above will be more common in this country. I am involved with a foundation in Northern Thailand that currently operates a microfinance program. However; most microfinance usually is done on a for-profit basis by banks or investment funds. Thailand is unique only because of the current laws. For your information, this is what is already known about the new lending laws....

1. The 15% interest rate cap will be removed. Interet rates will be market-based. For those who think that 15% is too high, take a look at all other countries. This is incredibly low and is considered too restrictive. Even Nobel-Peace winning organizations like Grameen charge about 30% interest per year. Heck, my own credit card from Canada charges more than 15% per year. Unregulated moneylenders in Thailand are in the news frequently for charging up to 20% per day in interest charges.

2. Some kind of change will be done to remove the restriction of foreign capital for lending companies. The exact change is not clear but there will be a change.

While this may seem to be bad news for some, it will increase the number of players in the industry. With more competition, the assumption is that organizations will be forced to be more efficient and reduce the interest rates that they charge. I guess only time will tell. A group of us post any activity about microfinance on www.microfinancethailand.com for any of you who are interested in this sector.

Thanks for the responses. I actually have a Premier account so this doesn't solve the problem. I guess I'll get a technician in to see what the problem is.