tim armstrong

Welcome to LOS

The general gist of responses is right. Thai degrees at any level are not at the same level as other countries. Why don't you shop around internationally for a bit. I know that several Australian unis would give you maybe half your Masters units as credits depending on the subject of your first degree. PM me if you want to talk more. Cheers Tim

Mine was quick to adopt my surname when we got married, because she thought mine was more lucky. Her son - now 18yrs has recently changed his first name - I still call him by the old one as his luck doesn't seem to have changed.

Today I heard a bird in our forest next door that sounded a bit like a kookaburra, but without the full chorus. Couldn't see it but wondered if anyone has any ideas ? .. and I wasn't in another headspace, on the gunja, or feeling homesick.

We have stopped using the large bottles, but not because of contamination, - because the supplier was unreliable. We now have a small filter on our tap water which works well.

Ilived and worked around Kanchanaburi for a couple of years. I didn't notice or hear of any particular concerns about tourists. It was a much safer place than Pattaya, Bangkok or Phuket.

True - many farangs meet their future wife/gf in a bar in Pattaya or elsewhere. Also true the majority of bar girls come from Isaan because they can earn more away from home. Also true that many Thai women who work o/s for a few years have a very different and more realistic view of farang and their 'wealth'. Probably most of these women don't come from Isaan.My wife is one. She worked o/s in factories for 10 years before I met her, doesn't come from Isaan and has never been a bargirl. TRy reading some history about Isaan post WW11. The whole area was pillaged of its natural resources long ago and hs never really recovered.

Yes, leave him be. If he wants to be a recluse that's his choice, as it is yours to live next to him.

My wife has now been to Oz 3 times. My siter and BIL love her and she loves them. My two 30yr+ sons love her and think she is crazy - in a nice way. So do I. My sons stay in Thailand maybe every 15 months or so . We've been married for 12 years now. Its more companionate than sexual, but I'm an old bugger so that's ok for me and my wife is not bothered. She still talks about money a lot, but is really quite happy with our life. Most of our concerns are about my unmotivated 18yr old stepson, whose main activities are his phone and skateboard.

Costas you probably should have left it to your wife, but good thing not to pay the 20 baht. My neighbours are the inlaws, and my wife half lives there so no problem. On the other side a young army guy, wife and baby, seldom there. He is a great snake catcher. Country life is different

Stand very still and talk to them calmly but not too loud. Hold their gaze you are the Alpha male, let them know it.

Good choice. I wish him well, and hope he hasn't inherited a poisoned chalice.

The evidence about marijuana is very clear. Long term regular use causes depression. Short term regular use signidicantly affects cognition, coordination and mood. The legalisation debate is a whole other story. Personally I support bot its legalisation and its use as a pain reliever.

My wife regularly goes to our large weekend market and buys secondhand clothes, as well as factory seconds. !2 years on we haven't caught anything.

A longer lead in to the license would be a start, with learner, provisional and full license categories - much like Australia, where the death rate from road accidents has improved dramatically over the past 20 years. Its still not good, but now more than ever its related to alcohol abuse rather than bad driving.

The guy that built our house 12 years ago has about five houses on the go at once. He is a country builder, equally at home building houses and rice factories.The quality is obvious, sometimes the design similarities are too. Our house is large, modern, two storey Thai style that will never fall down and would probably withstand a small nuclear bomb. The builder is not the cheapest, but he delivers on time, his quotes are accurate to the last baht, and his workforce have been with him for more than 10 years. But this is country thailand - it's different here.

Really the only chance of getting it back is for someone to actually see it, which is a bit unlikely. If the lady knows its value it may even get exported . How to track that option down may be difficult, but I imagine that there are not too many car shippers in Thailand, but don't know. Best of luck.

I believe the originator of the post title is actually HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. I can't remember the context.

The problem is that many of these students are not smart enough to get into a university. ...And at 18 or so they are not very employable as they are not 21. So for them they have to wait out 3 years still being at school -which they have disliked most of their lives. So what's left is to 'belong ' to a local gang of similarly dissaffected young people. If they don't get into drugs or minor crime what's left is fighting with each other. Some type of paid community service scheme might help a few.

Leave it alone, as troubling as that may be to your conscience.

Beetle juice summed it up well. I presume you have already decide what will happen to any property that you actually own here ?

Hope you find it,I will spread the word

RIP to her. I don't think this was the first accident in this spot, I seem to remember one about two years ago.

I wondered who was paying the hospital too?

A few years ago UNICEF I think it was came out with a report on a long term study of what would lead a country into being a 'failed state'. Surprisingly, it did not rate finance, infrastructure or politics as the main culprits, but rather the education or lack of for women. Maybe the idea of woman's place being in the home is too entrenched to change anytime soon, but I believe it will, and I can see it happening already in Thailand. But some changes need to take place first - stop the rote learning principles at schools and universities, so students are taught to think and understand,rather than blindly accept what they are told.

Employment based on skills and competence and equal employment principles rather than family or social connections should become the norm, particularly in the public sector may considerably improve efficiency and reduce nepotism and waste. but education is the key and it needs some worldly, intelligent, Thais who are open to new ideas to provide the inspiration. I'm sure they are there, they just need to be let out of the box.