stereolab

Has she got the option of becoming a Monk (female type) for 7 days? And therefore expunging all her sins.

14 hours ago, DoctorG said:

Why don't you see if you can rent a really good house in her village and see how that works out for a year.

Why not rent 2, in completely separate locations within the village, 1 for you and g/f, and 1 for the family.

1 minute ago, Gandtee said:

Was he drunk??

 

He could not possibly have been drunk, as he had family members in the car.

The local Monkery house has been inundated for requests from locals to purchase the Level Crossing amulet.

On 10/9/2016 at 9:37 AM, JetsetBkk said:

 

Silly old fool - stick to acting, or are you doing that now?

 

Just wait until Kanye West opens his big mouth.

7 hours ago, balo said:

I don't know what it is with Thais and the need for putting the volume to max outdoor, indoor, anywhere really .  

My theory is that their ears are somehow different than ours, they are all almost deaf,  or maybe they are afraid of ghosts so they need the noise to scare them away . 

 

I attended, unplanned, an outdoor Morlam concert last week in Udon, the noise was indescribable, distorted and unbalanced. I love Morlam, and I love loud music, Mogwai and Swans , especially, but luckily for me after 20 minutes the rain came on and we made a hasty retreat. These concerts are very well attended, and a lot of young children there, including many babes in arms, not good for their hearing health.

On 10/6/2016 at 1:23 PM, transam said:

Went for an extension, they said if they came to our house it would have been 4000bht, we said been here years, always filled in address on forms and have a yellow book......800bht and a smile...Receipt given..

 

Yes all here are treated like children because those in control don't have a clue and don't talk to each other....Pisses me off when I think of Thai folk in the UK are taken care of in every way....

On 10/6/2016 at 1:28 PM, OMGImInPattaya said:

They must have it in for you  

Transom hits the nail squarely on the head, there is insufficient supervision in Immigration offices, rules vary from desk to desk, and the supervisory officer never interferes. A 'STANDARDS' task force is needed to travel round the country ensuring the published rules are fully adhered to, but not, supplemented, by local low-level officials.

3 hours ago, CharlieK said:

 

Would go one stage further, and suggest this document isn't actually an official immigration form! there is no TM number on it?

  

At my latest extension of stay - retirement -, i handed over my completed T-M 7, taken from this websites templates, and it was thrown back at me, "not need" the officer said, and he handed me 3 other forms, 2 without a tm number, the other, a photocopy of a photocopy had a hand written tm number. 

With all the Monks operating in Thailand, at least one of them will get this weeks lottery result correct, you will hear a great deal about his fungus, or lucky cat, or whispering tree etc, you will not hear about the 99.9% who failed to predict correctly .

What would they do here in Thailand without the availability of photocopiers. As an ex Military Administrator it pains me to see all the needless copying of passports, yellow books etc. Each person has a file, whether physical or computer based, and it should reflect that a passport is still valid until Year 20xx, once the master copy is in place, no further need for 90 day reports or annual extensions to be accompanied by copies which simply repeat already available information. Why does my bank need a copy of my passport, my signature on the copy, when all I need is a statement of account? Plus 200 baht!!

3 hours ago, trogers said:

 

I don't understand your confused mind. Driving on the wrong side and not using headlights is normal in Thailand, thus, the car driver is clearly in the wrong to crash into what is deemed normal driving in Thailand...

I have seen this type of behaviour a lot recently, I have been lucky not to have hit someone, a few close shaves, and yet, the Thai carrying out the illegal dangerous manoeuvre looks at me, as if I was in the wrong. The poor driver above has my sympathies.

On September 2, 2559 BE at 11:49 AM, Linesy said:

The ilikehd Sky Sports channels are now supplied by HD+ Streaming and the back up channels look like the originals, a change from last weekend.

There has been a noticeable change, for the good, in ILIKEHD recent output. 

A smart Thai policeman will surely stick a big knife on the end of his pole..

I was told on Friday, by an American friend, that Nong Khai is now requiring extension of stay (retirement) applicants, to provide photographs of the individual and his wife, standing outside their property, with the house number showing, and also a hand written location map. I am hoping that he is perhaps confusing the requirement with a (marriage) application. He says that the IO insisted on seeing his wifes ID during the process. If the foregoing is correct, perhaps I will attend alone next time. He also said that his pre-printed TM7, taken from the ThaiVisa templates, was thrown back as not being required, and he was handed 3 other forms. None of these forms are numbered, so possibly unique to NK.

5 hours ago, lostinisaan said:

"We picked 350 teachers who are considered to be the cream of the crop for English boot camp training," said the official.

 

From there, the best 28 teachers will be chosen as master trainers and will be spread out around the country to 18 English-teaching facilities where school administrators and educators in the nearby area can receive training from the centers.

 

The millions of tourists who visit Thailand each year usually face little difficulty in communicating because they mostly interact with hotel staff, salespeople in malls and markets, and other tourism-related staff who would have learned the language on the job

 

It's not just the lack of good English speaking Thai teachers that makes the whole system to a big joke.

 

  So, 28 Super teachers will finally change the whole system and will be "spread around" the country? 

 

   These people do not seem to know how it is to walk into a Thai classroom, even the grade one kids know that they can't fail.

 

   The two classes of grade six I've got for an hour a week, can't even write their names in English, they don't understand the easiest questions after "studying English" for more than five years......

 

 If there's a meeting at our school it's always conducted in Thai, nobody wants to lose face and that's where the problem is.

 

  How can teachers teach kids English if they can't even speak a few words in a meeting? 

 

  I know quite a lot of teachers who've got a Master's in English, but can't even understand very easy English. Our grade six teacher's using 95 % of Thai in her English lessons.

 

  After the CEFR dilemma where it turned out that most, or at least too many of them were under A 2 level, it was all in a sudden changed into successful and satisfying results? 

 

To understand what a CEFR A 2 level English is, it's about the level of a 6, or 7 year old native English speaking kid.

 

   Here's an article from last year where they thought it would "boost" the peoples' ability in English, but....

 

      https://asiancorrespondent.com/2015/04/thai-schools-adopt-european-framework-to-boost-english-language-proficiency/

 

    Even the little kids know that they'll come to the next grade and nobody fails. Would a foreign teacher really submit the grades the students deserve, the foreigner would be jobless.

 

     All students receive a minimum of at least 60 %, nobody fails and even students at high schools who never attended class, pass the final test.

 

    A classic example at a well -known high school in lower north east, when it turned out that too many grade 12 students failed their tests made by their foreign teachers and the ones from Bangkok.

 

    A one weekend "immersion camp" and all students had the right grades. I could go on and on and on, but that's not changing anything.

 

  Let the guys who want to become English teachers study abroad, they do come back and speak good English and they don't lose face anymore.

 

 Allow all students from grade one to 12 to ask their teachers questions if they don't understand a lesson. A teacher can't lose face by not knowing the right answer. 

 

Even Einstein made the statement : "I know that I know nothing.". Do Thais understand the meaning of the sentence? 

 

Let the students fail who think they can do what they want and let them repeat the school year and they'll change their attitude. 

 

  If  English teachers, including foreigners aren't able to score at least C 1 in a CEFR test, then don't let them teach English.

 

   If a flight attendant who usually speaks more than two languages has to have at least B +, how can a guy with a TOEIC under 600 be able to teach English? 

 

   But it seems that nobody really wants to know what's going on. Blame others for it. 

 

If they were really serious about teaching English, they should be training each and every teacher in the country how to speak, read and eventually how to teach English. Cherry picking a handful will simply not achieve the governments aim. 

   

 

      

 

      

 

     

 

 

 

   

 

   

On 30 July 2016 at 8:45 AM, Jip99 said:

Just a couple of points:-

The letter is valid for 6 months so you can apply when it suits you.

You don't need to mess around with money orders, you can now pay by credit card authority.

Just received my 2016 income verification letter from the UK Embassy, 5 working days from despatch to receipt, via EMS. Used the CC payment option, much easier than obtaining a P.O., certainly as far as my local Post Office is concerned. Very efficient service all round.

For the Zenphone 3 Deluxe, it looks a very impressive machine, with great specifications and a classy look. It is getting to be a very crowded marketplace, with phones looking the same, but this is a stand out machine.

In previous years I have qualified, using an Income Verification letter from the UK Embassy, based upon my 

MOD Pension and monthly rental income. However, my tenants left the property in March and I sold the house last month.

The house remained empty in the months between.

Can I use, either part of this "income" or the whole amount, to get over the 800k threshold. The money is still in my UK bank, awaiting a better exchange rate.

I transfer my pension here monthly, and this is something that Nong Khai checked last year. The pension alone is sufficient for an extension

of stay - marriage. However, I would prefer the "retirement"  stamp in my passport.

18 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

Maybe, but, it would be nice to be told what....

It is a crying shame that Immigration still has not fully sorted out the site functionality. It is in everyones best interest that the system is fully operational, accessible through ALL the commonly used browsers. I have had 4 successful online attempts, 1 failed, no reason given, and my latest is at the "pending" stage. Once you are on board the online Immigration system it is a very simple process. A drop down box which details , specifically, why your application failed, would assist users like Karen Bravo.

On 30 July 2016 at 11:59 AM, Eclipse said:

Typical of U.K Embassy.

How many retirees in Thailand actually have a credit card?

Or for that matter a working debit card.

I don't know of one who has either.

It remains to be seem if the Kasikorn Virtual Debit Card will be accepted.

It's a poorly thought out move if you cannot manage to retain access to a credit card or debit card at home. 

It's a very vague question, what type of insurance are they referring to? Why would the British Embassy be asking? Are they perhaps considering a health insurance scheme, not very likely. More parameters are needed when a question like this is posed, male/female, age range, health condition of individual.

There is a 1 billion baht discrepancy in the report by Thai PBS. The people you can trust!!

As above, instal CC Cleaner, its a free programme, and run it daily, use it to uninstall unused programmes, but go carfefully.

Upgrade to the professional version later, if required.

Have a look at what WINDOWS is using, and deselect as required. START,COMPUTER,DRIVE,RIGHT CLICK select properties. Run the various tools within.

It is amazing what rubbish will have accumulated.

GerryBScot writes a compelling little story about his early life on booze. He is to be congratulated on his achievement. It is sad to see other forum members denigrate his changed life. It is an "if only" scenario, had he not boozed as a young man, where would life have taken him. I hope your Mother will be very proud of you.

This must be a joke.... immigration is working on bad people in, good people out , so, how they gonna arrange to be the 'hub"

A Quick walk around our small town and surrounding area will show that very little is being done for the indigenous aged population. Local hospitals are a joke, weigh yourself, tell them what height you are, accept a drip inserted into your hand, regardless of the medical problem. Friends and families sleeping under the hospital bed of the aged patient, and halls full of accompanying families.

Who are these aged care providers that are undertaking the DSD "business development programme"? The key word here being "business"

A poor reflection on the country. This is a poorly thought out idea.