cmsally

Sorry it sounds like a tricky situation but as the child of a UK mother and Thai father he should get both nationalities.

In a Thai school he needs documentation to get his certificate for passing Prathom 6 level, so better sorted out sooner than later.

I suppose to renew the UK passport your husband needs to sign as you are not divorced??

Logically it would be better to sort out the Thai nationality before you get divorced (unless you already are).

The UK part should be no problem but I imagine they need to either see proof of divorce or fathers papers and signature.

I presume you have no Thai birth certificate which would be required to put him on a Tabien Bahn. One possible option might be a combination of UK birth certificate (with father's name) and a letter provided by the district chief/headman/kamnan whatever where he lives signed saying the father is Mr... of ... address etc.

Might work I don't know, I'll try and ask someone who might know more and get back to you.

Absolutely agree with Chownah.

For goodness sake you can't believe that you can just pick anyone off the street to teach English or any other subject.

To teach well you need to have the right knowledge, attitude and dedication. Better be good in psychology and people managing skills especially if you teach the big classes. Not every farang in Thailand fits the requirements!

I don't have experience working in any of the schools but many close friends do. I have many close friends who are both Thai and Farang teachers and both have much the same grievances except foreigners are more exacerbated by language problems and lack of information..

In general I find there is very little jealousy between the 2 groups of teachers. If a problem comes up with a farang teacher it's normally because someone not suitable to do the job was hired or that teacher has a problem with the administration.

In fact ALL problems I've seen are sourced at administration. They seem to chug along OK when it comes to administrating Thais but do not have the skills to hire the right farangs and create and sustain a good working atmosphere.

Most farangs think that the administrations are too big and have no useful function, a lot of people think most administrators should be teaching part time, so they know what goes on. After all this is what schools are about, education and students NOT petty disputes, rivalries and office politics. As soon as most Thai schools (both Thai and international) wake up to this fact they will have a better education system and happier teachers.

I am sure there are schools out there who do not suffer these problems, but from what I've heard the majority are overshadowed by a group of power zealots who are driven by other motives than giving their students a decent education.

Story number 1,034a as we say

Why in one version does he get beaten up with his friends being held back but another version all 3 of them are beaten up. As with any story did the incident happen and if it did why. If he was beaten up and didn't retaliate why did everyone join in or were they busy beating up the girls (second version) (which doesn't usually happen here).

Whatever the why's and if's - some of the backpackers really leave their brains at home.

Why don't they just learn that if you are polite and considerate to people then you will get the same back. If you are anywhere late at night with alcohol, it doesn't mean you lose your manners - it means you are EXTREMELY polite and considerate.

It's called common sense which some people seem to lack.

"ps. so you have a british housekeeper?"

No!! I'm translating!

Another good one - which you can translate yourself as not sure how well it translates.

Or Bor Tor - Ao Bor Dtair

(Should actually be Ao Mu Dter - but the slightly Isan version works better)

Or Bor Tor elections. Tambon district council or whatever they call them.

Living in the middle of the city seem to have escaped this one. But full force anywhere outside of the city.

Never mind elections are held tomorrow so campaigning should stop this evening.

Quote my housekeeper who was quoting a candidate in her area. "If you elect me I will die for you if necessary"

Quote my housekeeper " I would like to bloody well see that."

That about sums up the substance of most of the discourse probably.

I think you'll find www.hostelworld.com takes debit cards for some hotels/hostels on their site. They have mostly guesthouse/hostels but also many hotels in bigger cities like Bangkok. Not sure how the discounts compare to other sites though.

SCB is at the Night Bazaar - Changklan intersection. NOT the bank right on the corner (that's the old Siam City Bank).

It has 2 entrances, one on Tapae Rd , one on Changklan. Tapae Rd you just see entrance to car park. Changklan you see steps up to foreign exchange and another entrance for cars. I bet they have some of those purple SCB umbrellas outside, they are everywhere!

SCB is a good bank, I bank there too, as well as Bangkok Bank. SCB better for anything to do with credit cards and online transactions. They are generally more with it than the rest.

Queen Sirikit Botanical Gardens out past Mae Rim towards Mae Sa. Stop at the Mae Sa Elephant Camp too. Used to have a place out there making elephant dung paper - interesting. Umbrellas at Bo Sang always interesting along with Celadon at Ban Celadon.

Old Chiang Mai Cultural Centre for Khantoke dinner.

Orchid farm a must do.

Occasionally see it in Chiang Mai, but tastes very bland.

Can get rhubarb pies in Rimping , Chiang Mai again very bland.

The rhubarb in Europe has much more flavour.

Absolutely agree, people spend too much time thinking about food and take it too seriously.

BUT my 2 favourite meals are

omelette with cha-om and nam phrik gaphi (can't spell it and don't have Thai on computer)

& nam phrik kha and yam manoon

Both if made properly come highly recommended - try sometime!

First one with ordinary rice and second one with sticky rice.

I think if people are honest, it must change the way they perceive things.

Personally when I'm next in London I won't be going near any Muslim looking people with backpacks.

I spent a lot of time in London when the Irish "were blowing things up" and never stood near a litter bin ( a favourite place to hide the bombs before they got rid of most of them), later it was pubs if I remember rightly. I still find myself avoiding them (the bins that is) wherever I am even today. You didn't tend to react too much to Irish people as you weren't dealing with suicide bombers.

But you basically do whatever you have to and can do to keep safe, its common sense. Everyone wants to protect themselves.

Try www.hostelworld.com for anything from very budget to hotel standard. They're good I've used them before.

Also www.precisionreservations.com list just about every hotel in BKK

Royal Hotel on Rachadamnoen Rd near Grand Palace is an old favourite. Should be able to get a room for about 1200Bt but they don't list on many internet sites.

I agree at the bottom or top. Not down the side, you just feel like skipping the posts and going to next page , but there they are again, so you go to the next page and so on and so on .....

On my yearly trips to UK never switch on the TV for exactly that reason, its a load of trash. Occasionally there are a few good programs of course but the majority of the popular stuff is rubbish. Same goes for the TV in Thailand most of the time.

A lot of programs are probably reflecting where the film crew like to go, so if that happens to be the full moon party then that's what you get to see!

In Northern dialect I don't think there's an "r" sound. Most r's are an h sound instead.

In Lanna script probably no r .

Maybe someone else knows more as I'm not sure on this.

But another one is instead of mai reu you get meu hoo etc.

Those figures are correct I believe.

You have to remember the figures cover only those registered on the tabien bahns as living here. Doesn't cover those coming in to work or study. Although some who come in to work longterm might be on a tabien bahn of someone they know in Chiang mai.

If you were to pick 100 people at random on the street and look at their ID cards, chances are only a very few would have an address in Chiang Mai city area.

Most ready made clothes here seemed to be directed at smaller size market in general but there are many larger size Thais around. Many seem to get their clothes made up as tailors are so cheap. So check out the fabric stores and the possibilities are endless.

Not all farangs are large by the way just to put the record straight! But in Thailand I have more competition for the 27-28" waist jeans on discount that's for sure - gotta be quick otherwise only 32" upwards left.

Absolutely agree with Galong. There are many good guides although never enough it seems and it also takes many things to make a good guide.

TAT training is definitely not thorough and no guarantee someone has the ability to be a guide.

A very tricky situation in that you want to push up the quality here and not have hoards of foreigners who maybe only have the language skills and nothing else.

One solution for the situation might be to only hire foreign guides for speciality tours that there is a demand - they have to have experience, qualifications etc.

Agree that no more US$10 tours is a good thing but unfortunately some customers only look at price and not quality.

Would be interested to hear what kind of tours Galong has, as I am a tour operator too but not in Phuket.

Traditionally they come from Isan - either Mukdahan or Yasothon (always get those 2 mixed up). If you need in big quantities ask the Belgian/Dutch guy in the Night Market, he produces at a local factory in big quantities. Main Night Market building - up the stairs, right hand side.

I think a little fairness for the Thais.

I tend to side with bossman.

Firstly I do agree on the fact that there are only a few guides who really know their stuff but they are out there.

There are a lot of people who work only part time as a guide and do it because they have an interest in history etc and like to share this. They are of course normally very very proficient.

Income for most full time guides is meagre and also irregular - very difficult to achieve any kind of steady income. Tourists have a nasty habit of coming all at once and disappearing all at once! Most agencies don't pay very good wages, which is probably a mix of oversupply and price cutting from tour companies.

Training for guides is substandard and done mostly by people who have never been a guide or had any experience of the tourism business. By all means let them improve themselves by becoming more competitive, but wouldn't it be fairer to give them the access to better training and skills first, at least to give them a fairly even starting point.

It's all very well to say they are all substandard and that they need to pull their socks up but the government needs to recognise the value of tourism and that the guides are one of its main faces in the service sector. Therefore they need to make the investment in their training and education (NB quality not always in proportion to money spent). And no that doesn't mean they all have to have degrees, some of the best guides do not.

It sure looks like an easy way out for the government. Let them come in from abroad where they have access to better education and training.

Why not take your homegrown resource and improve it or is that the harder and less profitable option.

Good one !!

Chinese tea is a big help for intestinal disorders as are many herbs such as holy basil.

If it occurs at regular intervals can be due to an organism living in you gut that goes through a lifecycle and gives you problems at one stage of lifecycle. Get a stool sample done. A friend of mine picked up one of these in India.

Try Computer Plaza, north of Chang Puak intersection and the other Computer Plaza near the Kuangsingh intersection.

How about a colour that doesn't resemble the 20Bt note so much.

Have met a few people who have got them mixed up.

It is difficult to tell when you have a bunch of notes in your pocket.