speckio

15 hours ago, Snackbar said:

Shock horror, no mention of the ubiquitous face mask.

 

To what extent does a breathable face mask protect the user from an airborne virus?

 

0

 

 

its been said the corona virus is a large particle so a face mask has a chance of catching some particles. is it 100% effective ? not a chance! is it 50%? probably not.... but if its at  least 10% it helps. IE some protection is better than no protection

On 3/14/2020 at 3:00 PM, JCP108 said:

This is good for me to know as I am heading to the U.S. tomorrow via Japan and returning via the same transit in about ten days. Will prepare to "self isolate" at home for two weeks upon my return. Let's just keep it at that, though. So, no new restrictions, please. I just need the U.S. to not ban people coming in from Thailand or Japan in the next 48 hours. 

If I understood the article correctly does this mean you will be required to get tested for covid in the states before returning to Thailand?

20 hours ago, petedk said:

It was interesting to see how the different countries are taking different approaches to tackling this virus.

 

In Korea they are doing mass testing to try and catch the virus at an early stage. I read the other day that a Covid-19 test in Thailand can cost up to 13,000 Baht, so some people avoid being tested. Wouldn't it be a good idea for the government to give a large budget to the health authorities and make testing free for everyone?

people who have absolutely no symptoms and absolutely no reason to be tested will get tested. waste of time energy and resources. you will overload healthcare workers for very little to no gain. not to mention people who actually do have the virus and show up to be tested will have a chance to infect perfectly healthy people who show up also. thousands and thousands of healthy people who have no logicial reason to believe they are infected show up to be tested only to get infected by the one person who actually should be there.

allot of foreign teachers in Thailand work through an agency... its very rare for a school to hire a teacher directly unless its a University or an international school.

Most agencies will only pay for the time worked during the school year + plus normal scheduled holiday days (which there are quite a few)... during the school break teachers will usually have to fend for themselves by doing private lessons or camps. (be warned most agencies are shady they will try to overwork you without extra compensation... and will not pay on time... read your contract very carefully before signing or agreeing to anything)  In some cases an agency wont even do a proper interview before offering you a contract... which means they are desperate and cant keep the position filled..  take the position at your own risk if you come across an agency that is to eager too hire you.

its worth noting that some agencies will hire you if you don't have BA... but you will need to have a BA if you want to get a work permit.

you look at the thai average salary... yet you will notice high end cars everywhere in Bangkok... especially Mercedes which can run up to $250,000 because of import taxes (economics in this city make no sense)

If you want to live in bangkok on a thai salary you will need to make quite a bit of adjustments..

Example- a cup of coffee at starbucks will cost about 120 baht ($4) which is OK if you are living on a western salary...but if you are on a thai salary its very expensive... you can easily feed yourself for the entire day for 120 baht... average plate of rice or bowl of noodles is around 40 baht.

note... living on 12,000 baht in Bangkok doesn't leave much wiggle room for non essentials.

You need to making 40k and up if you want a semi western living style imo.

120,000 baht/month and up is possible if you get head hunted by a western/international company operating in Bangkok.

i believe minimum wage is 300 baht a day 12 hour shift.

its not uncommon for some people to work 6-7 days a week on this salary.

gas attendant, security guards, and construction workers live under these conditions

It's best not to think too much while eating haha

If you saw some of the stuff that goes on in the back of a restaurant in the United States you would probably stop eating out... Even restaurants that get an "A" from health inspections 

the community cup thing is news to me... just ask if they have bottled water problem solved.

IN regards to double dipping In the past it might have bothered me... but after seeing what happens in some kitchens during food preparation i am not really phased anymore...

As stated earlier its not wise to think too much while eating.....  there are tiny roaches everywhere in this country soo there is probably a good chance at some point they have gotten into your food.

As long as the food is served hot and fresh i usually have no problem eating whats in front of me unless its something i consider to be gross.

is the baby male or female?  if the baby is male you might want to take into consideration that all male thai citizens are required to serve time in the military.. before getting that Thai passport for your child

I have dual citizenship... US/Thai but I bypassed military service due to obtaining my thai citizenship in my 40's 

You might be better off finding a new place to stay.. and quietly move out.

On 3/25/2018 at 10:56 AM, janclaes47 said:

Really? Never seen 24K gold jewellery in th. i always thought westerner's stayed away from 24k jewelry because it was to soft and would bend to easily... hence why most western jewellery stores sell 14-18k

i thought the same thing

being able to communicate via English is a nice skill to have considering its an international language that is used throughout the world... but if you are a farm girl with no interest in leaving the country or real aspirations to get a higher level of education then there is no point.

Also the Thai government has pretty much already tried to make English the secondary language of the country... everyone knows the English alphabet, but overall knowing or not knowing English doesn't affect the daily life of most Thai citizens. 

its very hubristic to travel to a foreign country and get angry or agitated that the people native the country aren't fluent in your native tongue and look down on them because of it.  

I am hoping you meant "comprehension" and not "listening"

cause a person can listen and hear the words clearly coming out of your mouth but still not understand what you are trying to say

Not every male has the same taste in women... believe it or not here are some straight males out there that aren't interested in a tall blonde with a nice pair of boobies.

Not to mention there are so many other factors I can think off...

-cant find a woman he likes in his home country (100"s of reasons behind this one)

-maybe there is something off about the guy that women in his home country don't like (again hundreds of reason behind this one also)

also why should you care? if the guy is happy that's all that matters and can probably do with or without your approval or judgement!

If you are looking for something serious its best not to look to "bar girls"

Most if not all...

- Probably have a low upbringing 

- have questionable morals

- looking for someone to take care of them and not looking for a soul mate

- Will continuously ask for things and throw a tantrum when they don't get what they want.

- will probably ditch your ass when they get bored or find someone more to their liking.

- Will expect a certain lifestyle and will either drive you crazy or leave you if expectations aren't met.

- and will probably not be able to bring much to the relationship other than their personal baggage and sex...

I can't what really happened in the video.

Is it possible the American threw the first punch and the other people jumped in to stop him?

$2000 is way about the national average in Thailand.  What you might want to take into consideration is your lifestyle... Most Thais can live a decent lifestyle on less than $1000/month. When I first moved to Thailand I was being paid about $1200/month my family who lived in Thailand where quite surprised because they considered it fairly high starting salary. but I was from California and making 6 times this amount. So i had allot of difficulties adjusting for several months. I learned that I could no longer eat a nice restaurant or at the Mall on a regular basis like i use to.. but once i dropped that down to about 1-2 times a month I was able to start saving money.  In anycase goodluck... You should be able to live comfortably on $2000/month and be able to save money if you can adjust to the thai way of living.

6 hours ago, z42 said:

Who are this 5.7% though? You would have to be exceptionally stupid to argue that the system is fair to all here. There are just far too many cases in the public domain that show otherwise. Frightening

the 5.7 were either wealthy or influential duh!

5 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

Somethings don`t make sense. 150 beds in 12 rooms. That means 12 beds in each room. Guests must have been crammed in like sardines. Seems details have been misconstrued in translation. 

 

If she was renting out 150 beds per night, that`s 37500 baht per day, a very lucrative business. My guess is that this woman must have been involved with more than one hostel.

 

it is unlikely that she would have been able to fill every single bed consistently.  I would say she would be lucky if she got a quarter of the beds filled.  I sure as hell wouldn't want to stay at a place like that.. it's probably infested with bed bugs.. I can only imagine what type of person would stay at a place like that...(No money and poor hygiene is probably the normal type of customers she attracts)

Very first thing i would do is get rid of and replace all the ancient buses and  trucks that are spewing out thick black smoke 

I can't help but be amused 

It doesn't surprise me that Donald Trump would want a military parade...

-It's flashy

-It's expensive

-It is pointless

-It's tacky

- It's a way to brag and inflate one's self-worth without any actual substance.

Haha this pretty much is definition of Donald Trump!

If this is true then that means Jose straight up attacked and murdered someone without providing any type of warning...(there goes his claim of self-defense)  IF he had stopped for a split second and maybe said something along the lines of "Hey stop that you are hurting her" its very possible none of this might have occurred. Another extremely tragic and heartbreaking story that could have easily been avoided.. ..

Jose needs to go to jail he is obviously a danger to society and hopefully, he can get some help with the mental issues he has.

if you really have a problem with it you can threaten to report them to law enforcement... The government has stated on several occasions tickets must be sold at 80 baht. Vendors are asking for 100 Baht due to barely making any money selling at 80 baht. Also vendors will try to charge you more for a set or packet of duplicate numbers...  IE 5 tickets with identical numbers will usually ask for 550 baht.  I paid 1700 for a packet of 15 one time.

you said, Girlfriend correct not wife?

Why would she think she should be entitled to your house especially after breaking your heart????

I would have immediately said no without a second thought ... Anyone with a once of common sense would never consider giving their house to an ex-girlfriend!   

Absolutely Astounding that you are even thinking about giving your home to someone that will more than likely no longer be in your life within the next year!!!!

tell her if she wants your house you should get married see how she reacts to that.

What is up with all these stories of farang getting duped by thai women? this is quickly becoming a cliche like the "African prince scam"

Yeah...

Sounds like Your friend doesn't have much common sense.... 

She probably could have passed herself off as royalty and the only way to gain access to her fortune is to Marry.

Goodluck, ignoring her might not be the best action if your friend ever wants to marry in the future... 

Better to clear things up now rather than later and having to explain why you can't get married. Plus it will probably cost you a whole lot more if the thai wife finds out she has you over a barrel.