ThePyawkt

I'm wondering if anyone has information if any of the local Chiang Mai hospitals offer the laser tonsil ablation?

I'm new here, we just moved up in September, from Bangkok. I had been having trouble with mild but frequent tonsillitis while living there, but was told by my ENT there that if we moved to a cleaner city with less air pollution, it would disappear.

Well, the end of last week saw the beginnings of the worst bout I've ever had, and I've been off work yesterday and today, and will be out at least tomorrow. The infection is so bad, the doctor is having me come in for IV antibiotics because the oral ones didn't phase it.

I really don't want these problems anymore, and being the relatively new teacher at school, it's not good.

I've been reading online about the laser ablation technique of removal, and saw the ThaiVisa thread for a place in Bangkok, but was wondering if anyone knows of a hospital in CM that offers it? I'm going to be talking to my doctor about it tomorrow when I go in for the IV, at Chiang Mai Ram, but any personal stories or knowledge would really help!

Thanks!

A friend of mine, a western raised Thai, is a programmer for a small company located on Hangdong - Samoeng Rd. Seems to know his stuff. PM me if you want his contact info.

Shiva leung (ศิวะ ลึงค์) or the smaller amulet versions bpalat khik (ปลัดขิก) worn on the body. Its origins are in Hinduism, representing the penis of the god Shiva (Siva), and is simply a lucky talisman inviting good business and prosperity.

Thanks!! Much appreciated!

Hi!

I really want to know what the Thais call the stone or sometimes wood penis that you always see in the cash box of merchants. Anyone out there know the name and specific meaning behind it? One can guess the meaning easily enough, but I was wondering if there was a story behind it.

Thanks!! ;-)

Hello Everyone!

This is Rob - some of you know me - my partner and family have been living in Bangkok the last few years. We have chanted several times with the Rainbow group in Bangkok.

We send you all love and Diamoku in the new year!

As some of you know, I got a new job in Chiangmai, and now that the dust is starting to settle down from the move, I am hoping to contact members in the Chiangmai region. Does anyone have any leads?

Thank you for any leads you can offer. I will be visiting Bangkok Dec. 14th through Jan. 2, so I would love to see any of you.

Cheers!

~Rob

PS: my phone was stolen, so my number has changed. PM me for the new number if you would like to chat!

Tragic, in so many ways.

I wonder how CM compares to european cities.

Dundee in Scotland (as a place my family came from) has the same official population stats as CM - looking on the web i find

NON-SEXUAL CRIMES OF VIOLENCE 27.2 per year. but doesnt break that down into homicides.

http://www.upmystreet.com/local/police-cri...s/l/dundee.html

however i did find the statistics for WOMEN charged with homocide: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business...a-06/wa0830.htm

about 7 a year. I guess you can assume there will be more men, but i cant find the figures.

I wonder how many CM has a year?

I think the local demographics might be a bit different....

A news update on this. Appears the girl's old boy friend was responsible for this plus the police are looking for two more men they think were involved. He stole her motorcycle and all the jewelry (gold) she was wearing and then dumped the body. There is no news about a 2nd (male) body in that area. My wife thinks that one is rumors.

Chiangmainew update

no, that one is not rumors, it's true - my neighbor saw both bodies retrieved; the girl's on Wednesday, the man's on Thursday... I really wonder why we are not hearing anything about him...

The Pyawkt....

i receive it already....

u so nice, help me do this artikel...dun noe how to say thanks to u......

i think i will safe with this artikel d....

thanks yah..........................

My pleaseure!

Check your inbox.

Cheers!

Wow, this has all the makings of another Sherry (surname??) case that happened in BKK many years ago.

The girl is apparently half Thai, half Danish (from Samut Prakarn) and worked in a Karaoke bar.

Apparently had boyfriends/clients who were Japanese, Thai lawyers and some well placed persons in Chiang Mai.

Yes, that is what my family read to me from the Chiangmai News link that Tywais put up. Amazing! I wonder if the article will be updated as they find out more (I know, hard to say that with a straight face...). And now for John Doe the following day.....?

This may be the one you are referring to. She was found on the 15th (Wednesday) in the area you mention. It's in Thai so if not up to it get the GF/TW to read it. Chiangmai News. My wife doesn't think it is her friend now due to the ID card registered in a different province then her. But looks a lot like her.

YES! This is the lady they found on Wednesday near my house. Any leads on the guy they found the following day, Thursday, at the same place?

I think it is more than mere cooincidence they would dump two bodies, two days in a row, at the EXACT same location.... But this may escape the suspicions of the Thai Police....

thank X10000000000

hope u can help me!!!!!thanks...............

u so nice!!!!!!!!!!

I just PM'd you with the file. Let me know when you get it.

Hello~i cum from Malaysia...i need to translate a article from thai to english..pls kindly help me......

thx so much...pls~~~~~~~~~ urgent~~

I'll have my spouse look at it - I'll try to get it back to you today

~R.

Hi,

I have had that machine for about 2 months now, and can give some insight.

The version of Linpus they provide standard with the system stinks - I dinked with it for weeks, with little improvement, and ended up installing XP. It runs ok with XP, as long as you do some install mods. There is a great user forum: www.aspireoneuser.com They have good instructions for doing almost anything with that machine.

That being said, there is a new version of Mandriva Linux that is made with the AAO and Eee in mind. I plan to try this, and make a dualboot system if it is as good as it looks.

As far as Thai-English dictionaries, I have found no good ones for westerners - they all have the Thai words in Thai character, which does me no good.

I;m heading up to CM next weekend to heading out ito the mountains with the GF bike riding. I did this a few years ago on the MHS loop and hired a 400CC Honda something Harley style but can't remember where from.

It was ideal and want to get something similar (or bigger as GF will be on back). Anyone recommend? And prices? Anytjhing else?

Two places worth looking are Tony's Big Bikes (English) in the top of Rachamanka Rd, down there on the left (as you walk, it's one way against you, not that anyone seems to care) about 30m west of Moon Muang Rd, and Mr Beer (Thai with good English) in Rachawitee Rd, about 100m down on the right from Moon Muang.

Confess I have not seen either for many months but guess they are still there.

Safe journeys!

I strongly caution against the one mentioned as "Thai with good English". I rented a bike from him 2 months ago - the rear axle was loose, and came apart while I was on the MHS loop - I could have been killed. I dragged the bike to a mechanic near by and called Mr. B. with my mobile. His wife screamed at me, demanding I pay for the damage. No matter how nice I was, she got more and more aggressive.

The mechanic talked to her and explained that this was not my fault, and that the bike had not been properly maintained. Finally, they were supposed to send a truck to fetch me and the bike. Three hours later, the guy appeared, drunk, and took me back. There, the wife again berated me for an hour, refusing to give me back my passport until I pay for the bike. I got another mechanic to come over, look at it, and they told her again that it was not my fault. I had to threaten to get the police before she finally gave me my passport, after screaming at me that she wished I had been killed by the bike. It was a nightmare - I highly DO NOT recommend doing business with that place!

I folks!

Sorry I have been away a bit - I did relocate to Chiangmai, and the dust is just settling from the move....

Wow! Thanks for the responses - it looks like there is definitely enough people and will to get something going! Now that things have settled down a bit, I want to get going on setting up a LUG. I am starting to research this, and will let you know what i find. I hope we can get this going!

On a side note, I noticed a new release of Mandriva, that is supposed to cater to the new subnotebooks and laptops. I've been looking at reviews, and just downloaded the 32-bit version. I plan to try an install on my daughter's Eee soon. Anyone else played with it yet? Anyone with any Mandriva experience with comments?

Cheers!

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone had any information about the dead bodies found on Hang Dong Road (on the Samoeng side), last week, Wed. and Thurs.? This was literally only a few meters from the apartment where I stay, but I have not been able to get any information about it. My kids and I play in the river where the dump occured, almost every day.

It was clearly a dump, with the actual murder happening probably in town, but I would like to know what else was found out...

I've tried asking some of the locals, but I just get wild speculation and rumor, that often defies all logic - as with most topics....

Any info would be great, thanks!

Hey - it looks like this topic has been dropped... anyway we can revive it? I am a Mac addict, am new to Chiangmai, and am looking for some good geek friends.... Anyone out there?

maybe this is off-subject, but is there anyone who really knows their Linux stuff, and would be willing to try to help me get my Acer Aspire One and Eee PC ironed out? A semi-bilingual Thai would be fine, and I could pay by the hour or a flat rate.

Right now I am in BKK, but looks like I might be moving to Chang Mai...

I really need some help. any suggestions would be great!

I am soooooo sad! I bought my daughter an Asus Eee PC 4G Surf in June - Linux version. I was able to effortlessly, through the connections manager, set up a connection via USB for her Nokia 6300, using DTAC (Happy). I followed the exact same steps as I had on my Mac - it worked perfectly.

Two weeks ago, the touchpad button on her Eee stopped working and I had to take it to the service center in Fortune. They kept it a day and I picked it up the following day. They informed me that the main board had a problem and was replaced - now the touchpad and buttons were fine. They informed me that the memory had been wiped as a result, since the main bord with mem module had been replaced. No biggie - just rebuild her network connections....

Since I got the Eee back, I cannot, for the life of me get it to connect with the phone. I create a new connection, select dial-up, and it detects the Nokia 6300. I select the one that has it as /dev/ACM0, and go on to type *99# for the dial number, then went to initiation string and typed AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","www.dtac.co.th"

It initializes the phone, dials the *99# code, and then immediately, the connection fails, saying there is a problem in the initiation string.

What is happening? Any ideas? This had worked just fine until the trackpad issue - VERY FRUSTRATED1 Any ideas would really be helpful!

I am sure that you will find another job soon. "keddy' is right. The school does seem very dodgy and you are probably better off not working for them.

True, Point taken and understood, but when you have a family, a bad job is better than no job....

im not sure if that information is accurate. i was fired by a former employer for no real reason (they said they didnt want a foreigner in the job any more, and went on to hire a malaysian - go figure - racism at its worst, but thats a whole different thread i guess) and i took them to court and won.

the payout was definitely NOT 3-4 months per year worked. in an ideal situation, you should get 1 month in lieu of notice, if no notice was given, and then on top of that you get severance in accordance to the below, which has been taken from an english translation of the Thai labour law:

Section 118.

• (2)An employee who has worked consecutively for one full year but not a full three years shall be paid at least an amount equivalent to ninety days’ pay at his or her most recent wage rate or not less than the wages earned for the last ninety days of work in respect of an employee who is paid a wage on te basis of piece work.

The MOE had expanded this for teachers, putting it to 90 days of pay for each year completed, because schools have done this to teachers (thai and farang) so much in the past. One of my spouses aunts was a teacher for a private school for 12 years, when they were bought. The new owners were not wanting to pay the higher salaries of the seniored teachers and fired almost everyone. The teachers took them to the labor court and under MOE laws, they each received 90 days pay for each completed year. Our auntie got 4 years of salary because of this and retired early.

When it's Thai against Thai, they do demand a bit of equality, but when its us against them, it seems clear that we are kept as the underdog.....

Both ThaiVisa and Ajarn.com (and ajarnforum.net) have rules against naming and shaming. Thai defamation law

There is at least one website that does name the school, and has had lots of posts, but the posters are careful to disguise themselves, and the website had to change its server to one overseas, because of exactly this problem. You can get in HUGE trouble for telling the truth, if it marks someone's face, in any way.

Lawyers we approached for help were reluctant to help us because the case was simple, well documented, and we had volumes of evidence against the school, showing the school's full intent and premeditation of their actions - to put this in court, you are making the school look bad, and they can sue you and your attorney for defamation! It seems like the uglier the offender is, the more social protection and intimidation they wield....

keddy, I am not a lawyer, but as it has been explained to me, Thai law is totally different. You can lose a defamation lawsuit even if you prove that your statement was true. Also, I have heard that there is no 'tort law' in the English tradition, in Thailand.

This appears to be true - as we were pursuing this case, we were strongly cautioned by attorneys that anything we say that "damages" the school could and would spell severe penalties and future suits against us, EVEN IF EVERYTHING WE SAID WAS TRUE AND INDISPUTABLE.

It's pretty hard to argue a case in which every revelation of factual wrong-doing will only get you in trouble - again, the big fish are protected and the little ones left to be eaten....

Upon careful research, by myself and the labor court, the law IS TRUE, and there appears to be no way around it. Thus, there is NO LONGER A PENALTY FOR THE WRONGFUL TERMINATION OF FOREIGN WORKERS AND TEACHERS in the Thai courts - this makes us all very vulnerable, not to mention the very racist implications of such a law!

Can you point to any documents?

I have copies of them - their codes are all in Thai - I am unsure how to communicate the actual codes... I've been trying to get an English translation, but none appear to exist. Let me see if I can switch to Thai language on my keyboard and I will try to peck out the codes... It will take time, I will try.

Thanks for the interest - I think we all need to be aware of this situation - it essentially invites us to be abused and condones discrimination, whether we are "farangs", or even poor migrant laborers, both groups that this society's economy heavily depends upon.

From a western perspective, this law would seem to be deem able by a judge to be unconstitutional and for it to thus be ignored. I wonder if such a thing could be pursued, granted that you would have to find someone willing and resourceful who could pursue it... ?

I tried 2 of the Windows Mobile PDA phones, and STRONGLY suggest AVOIDING THEM COMPLETELY. They crash and hang constantly, and are a nightmare to try to make the vendor give proper product support or service if the phone dies. Symbian phones and the iPhone are the best, in my experience - AVOID WINDOWS!