Tod Daniels

Sorry I got timed out and couldn’t edit the previous post.

In perusing the T/V Thai Language Sub Forum I saw a post by none other than Mac Walen himself , which would seem to indicate his Phuket branch has just opened.

Maybe in a few months we’ll hear from some of the students about their experiences dealing with Phuket Immigrations.

BTW: Lest there be some confusion; other than being a former student at the Walen School ‘O Thai, I have abso-tively posi-lutely NO affiliation with Mac or his schools .

I’m just offering out info as I’ve come across it

FWIW: I tried to find the info on the two schools I phoned in Phuket, but I've got more private thai language school stuff squirreled away on this p/c and couldn't be bothered to sift thru it all

FWIW: This topic came up once before, so I called and talked to the foreign owners/directors (whatever) at two different private thai language schools based in Phuket. Mostly just to be nosy . ..

They both said, once their students have their first single entry 90 day ED visa, getting a one year extension of stay based on education and studying thai at a private thai language school thru the Phuket Immigration office was the 'norm', rather than the exception. I know strange huh?

Conversely it is just the opposite here in Bangkok and in Pattaya, 90 day extensions of stay are norm and usually all theyll hand out for continuing education for attending a private thai language school.

Unless I am mistaken (which I could be ), I believe 'forum sponsor' Mac Walen early on at his Pattaya location did have a few of his students receive extensions of stay for a year. However, from the recent reports Ive heard it seems they dialed that back to the 'usual' 90 day extensions now.

As Macs ad says Phuket coming soon it will be good to see what, if anything, his students in Phuket will say or receive as far as extensions of stay once he's up and running down there.

P/S: As far as the O/P dpoing his 90 day reporting in Nong Khai, more and more private thai language schools now offer online classes for people to study thai but who don't live near the location of their school. Perhaps saying you attend online would fly, dunno. It certainly wouldn't set you back to try, all they could possibly say to you would be; "Cannot!" . I also agree call Phuket and see if you can mail it in to them.

To the O/P; I'm sure you made quite the impression on the young(ish), friendly, and for the most part quite the good level of english speaking staff which mans the 'info desk' when you first enter the place before you go and get a number at the equally friendly queue number area.

What an inconvenience having to make your way out there a whole 4 times a year! The incredible injustice of it all is just too much for me to even fathom. ..

An intelligent person might be lead to ask you several questions which have already been asked & answered, so I wont waste my time posting them.

IMHO: After having gone to both the old and the new immigrations locations many, many, many times; even on its worst day (like after a long holiday when they're busiest) Changwattana is about a MILLION times better than Suan Plu was on its best day (of which they were few and far between). At Suan Plu air con sucked, there was no organization or design for efficient thru-put flow of customers; toilets, amenities, etc were sorely lacking. It really was a dump which was WAY past its 'use by date' given the sheer volume of foreigners they dealt with on a daily basis.

Conversely, Changwattana is a breath of proverbial fresh air; tonz of parking, open building design, cool, nicely laid out, adequate seating, and clearly delineated areas for different functions. The entire basement of that building has more copy shops, photo shops, coffee shops, fast food places, bank branches, not one but TWO thai food courts and even a 7/11 than you could ever find around the old immigrations at Suan Plu. You can access them all without ever leaving the air con, instead of slogging around on the street like before. I give them two thumbs up for moving it, and in its design.

When you mention the location, did you bother to look at the buildings in the immediate area when you went down Changwattana Soi 7? That area has nearly ALL the governmental main offices are out there. Perhaps you noticed the catchy name for the new building housing Thai Immigrations? I guess they got it right calling it something like the Changwattana Governmental Complex . Once they finish the construction on Changwattana, with the flyover(s) and the traffic light on Soi 7, itll have a LOT better access too.

As far as friendliness goes; most of their staff is the same people who were at Suan Plu. In all honesty, I don't know how pleasant I'd be after a long day of dealing with the; kine (cattle), obstinacy (buffaloes), band (gorillas), mischief (mice), tribe (monkeys), scurry (squirrels), gang (weasels), wisdom (wombats) or insert your catchy classifier for groups of animals in regards to the horde of foreigners which descend on that place every single day; day in, day out, from opening to closing.

FWIW: having sat out there for hours and hours, as well as making over 100 trips there this year alone, it's most definitely a tough row to hoe being a worker there. It must be truly mind numbing job to do on a daily basis! If I even had a single baht every time I overheard a foreigner say to an immigrations officer But, my situation a special one , Id be a millionaire (at least in thai baht, ).

The things Ive heard foreigners spout off out there has made my mind literally wobble . The O/Ps complaint included. Sometimes it almost makes ashamed to be a foreigner living here, (as I said, almost ).

To the people who question the rules as to why foreigners are compelled to report their address every 90 days, why is the extension process the way it is, why is blah, blah, blah. Last time I checked, (which I do periodically for my own state of mind ), were in the glorious Land O Thais, its their country, and that might possibly give them the right to make up ANY rules in regards to foreigners living here. I guess "we ain't in Kansas anymore Toto".

Conversely the O/P could always go to Bumrungrad Hospital and shell out the 500 baht they charge as a fee to report for you. Then again thats probably too far a slog for him too. ..

There is a word for coupon in Thai

บัตรลดราคา = but - lod - ra - ka

Not to disagree, or be picky (even if it may seem that way ) but. ..

It is my experience that บัตรลดราคา or using thai-language dot com's pronunciation guide; bat^L loht^H raa^M khaa^M; is two or three thai words (depending on how you parse it out) combined to carry a meaning. คูปอง khuu^M bpaawng^M however is the stand alone foreign loanword used in thai for 'coupon'.

In the quoted previous post; บัตร bat^L just means card, as in บัตร เอ-ที-เอ็ม; ATM card, นามบัตร; business or name card, บัตรเครดิต; credit card, etc. The word ลด loht^H means to reduce or lower, and ราคา raa^M khaa^M means price/value. When eavesdropping on thais ordering McDonalds, Burger King, etc via the phone I've only heard them use the word 'coupon'; even if that coupon gives a lower price or something for free with the purchase.

In many super markets they have a บัตรสมาชิก bat^L sa^L maa^M chik^H or 'member card' where indeed you do get a ลดราคา 'lower price' on sale items.

Still, I hear the english word ‘coupon’ with the thai pronunciation spoken much more and every thai in the country seems to understand it too. In fact more and more thais are starting to use the english word 'card' การ์ด gaad^L nowadays over the thai word บัตร bat^L.

Be that as it may, I think you're 100% safe using 'coupon' as long as you pronounce it like a thai would. ..

The thai word for coupon is coupon, spelled like this in thai คูปอง BUT pronounced with thai pronunciation rules like this; khuu^M bpaawng^M.

You will hear them sometimes use the word แลก; laaek^F as that means exchange. Like when you're changing money, exchanging an item, or redeeming a coupon for a product.

However in EVERY thai food court I've wandered thru in the entire country which uses a coupon based system for purchases; the counter where you buy coupons always uses the word coupon spelled in thai (sometimes even the english word 'counter' spelled in thai as well ), and the shops all have signs saying they only accept coupons not cash.

FWIW: thai has more 'loan words' from various and sundry languages than you can shake a stick at.

P/S: to make it plural or more than one coupon you use the thai classifier ใบ bai^M which denotes multiples of mostly flat objects. So two coupons would be คูปอง สอง ใบ (except with no spaces between the words ). That translates literally as "coupon two piece"

I know of several private thai language schools in the Bangkok area which rely almost exclusively on Benjawan Becker’s books; Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced in their programs for teaching thai to foreigners. (Dunno what Benjawan thinks about it though , lol!!)

Even though a person may possess a high number of thai vocab words, nouns, verbs, time markers, etc, unless you know how the thai language is structured you're gonna still be wading in the shallow end of the pool as far as thais understanding what you’re sayin’ when you speak thai.

After you go thru the Beginner book of Benjawan's, where you can read thai to some degree I'd suggest getting a book called "Everyday Thai for Beginners" by Wiworn Kesavatana-Dohrs. I say AFTER you go thru at least the first Benjawan book because "Everyday Thai for Beginners" is written ONLY in thai!! There is NO karaoke thai written with english and a mish-mash of other characters, no pronunciation guides, just thai and the english translation. This book teaches thai language structural patterns, using situational settings to introduce vocab, verbs, how to answer questions, how to ask questions, etc. It also has an accompanying c/d which makes it a fair value for its price of 695฿.

I would also caution you; DON'T buy the Benjawan books without the c/d, even though they are cheaper. Without the c/d's those books are about as worthless as 'tits on a tomcat' .

Oh, one other good thing about the first three Benjawan books is; there is a website which has extra study aids on it. They have word matching, jumbled sentences, comprehension, and other online exercises for free.

Here's the link to the exercises for the first book;

Beginning Thai Exercises

Good luck, good learning,

I don’t know that I’ve had a real honest to goodness “Ahhhh Moment” , but this is about as close as it comes for me.

Friday night I had the choice of;

A.) Sitting outside my apartment gate with my thai friends and drinking.

OR

B.) Going to some bars with my foreign friends and drinking.

Truly, it was quite the conundrum as both choices included my ‘hobby’; drinking.

However I decided to stay with my thai friends rather than go hear the same old stories from my foreign friends which seem to run on an ‘endless loop’ kinda thing.

Sitting outside with my thai friends; listening to, participating in their thai conversations about various and sundry things we share as common interests; (in random order; politics, sports, women, world news, etc), me trading english for thai and them trading thai for english, at least at this point in my life here is a far more enjoyable nite out for me. I couldn’t even work up the slightest interest in trudging off with my foreign friends to some bar beer to hear the same old song and dance.

This could be due to several reasons; I have really good thai friends , I have piss poor foreign ones or any combination of the two .

Like I said, whilst it’s probably not an “Ahhhh Moment”, I thought it was worth mentioning.

It took me a while, but I also found this one on thai-language dot com.

ตายประชดป่าช้า (dtaai^M bpra^L choht^H bpaa^L chaa^H)

thai language dot com

They have the literal meaning as; "to die just to spite the cemetery", and use the american idiom of "cut off one's nose to spite one's face" as the definition.

In reading the RID definition of the idiom I think it would lend credence this phrase carries the connotation of doing something against another party, only to have yourself become the party who suffers the most from the action.

FWIW: Here's the RID definition of the phrase;

ตายประชดป่าช้า /ตาย-ปฺระ-ชด-ป่า-ช้า/

[กริยา] (การใช้: สำนวน) แกล้งทำหรือพูดแดกดันประชดอีกฝ่ายหนึ่ง แต่ตัวเองกลับเป็นฝ่ายเสียหายจากการทำหรือพูดนั้น.

I am in no way discounting David Houston's post ! Plugging his phrase into thai-language dot com yields the same meaning, (just no accompanying RID definition of the text).

thai language dot com

Sadly, I have no idea which phrase is more colloquially spoken or would be understood by thais easier.

(Apologies for making the thai font big; otherwise I can't read it . I have also found bigger font often helps people learning to read thai )

FWIW: I hafta agree with "Rikker" on this

The strings of thai letters you type, especially ones that are either above or below your 'home key finger set' are just muscle memory, NOT typing! By moving your fingers up a level or down a level anyone can type the string quite easily.

However, it is my experience; once your fingers come off the ‘home keys’, it’s like you're ‘walkin' in the dark without a flashlight’ as far as tryin' to touch type thai. In other words, you’re just bumbling around . .

Those home keys are the gold ring to touch typin’ thai, (even if the finger load in thai is skewed to the right hand), Well at least in the Kedmanee keyboard set up it is. Which is the standard thai set up as opposed to the Pattachote one (which spreads the finger load out more evenly, but NOONE uses, as it never caught on. ..)

If I don’t keep my two index fingers almost glued 100% to the home keys, I am suddenly typing gibberish thai. That can be disconcerting in ‘chat’ scenarios via the internet, lol..

Now if they had consonants or even small short words (of which thai has plenty) which used the different levels whilst keeping your two index fingers glued to the home keys, it'd be far better of a program.

<SNIP>The absolute dire flaw of Thai-Typing Tutor v 1.04 was this muscle memory issue. Indeed, it made the programme pointless.

On this point we must agree to disagree;

The one thing I liked about the old thai typing tutor program (v.1.04) was you could add any ‘note pad’ file into it that you’d previously typed or even ripped off the internet and then practice typing “real thai”. In that program I’ve got 30 or 40 ‘text’ files which I used when I was first learning to touch type thai that I just copied off the internet; short stories, songs, bits of news, etc.

<SNIP>

I want to congratulate the maker-- much appreciated. I have been using it all evening. I have complained so long for somebody to come along who has some notion of what typing tutors look like. Have a look at Mavis Beacon for a perfect typing tutor programme, but this is an excellent attempt.

On this point I agree 100%, no question about it , for a totally free resource, it’s pretty darned good .

I give them allot of points for trying .

There is a poster here on the T/V Forum whose user name is; "Colabamumbai".

He recently did a trip to Vientiane and received a Single Entry 90 day Non-Immigrant Type-B visa without too much trouble and with just the 'normal’ required documentation.

However, if I remember correctly, I believe he was already in possession of a work permit, so this may NOT be applicable in your situation. Still it is pretty recent info about getting a Non-B visa in Vientiane Lao.

I'd use the search function and look for him under 'members' to find his post(s) about the experience.

Good Luck, and if you use Vientiane, let us know how it pans out for you. .

FWIW: Alla Bout is going to give a 'press conference' today at 2:00PM. It'll be at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailands main place on the top floor of the Maneeya Center Building near Chitlom Station;

Here's the FCCT blurb about it;

Alla Bout Speaks Out on Viktor Bout's Sudden ExtraditionPress Conference; 2:00 pm Monday, November 22

(This is not an FCCT-sponsored event. It is a paid function and responsibility for program content is solely that of the event organizer)

Alla Bout, the wife of Russian alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout, will hold a press conference to discuss his sudden extradition to the United States to face terrorism charges lasts week by Thai cabinet order, information she has been given on the matter by Thai and Russian authorities, her position regarding the U.S. charges and the extradition, and upcoming plans as the legal process against her husband moves now to New York.

And I have NO affiliation with FCCT!! I just thought it might be something people might wanna go listen to; seeing as the threads about "ol' Vik" are runnin' hot 'n heavy on T/V right about now.

I think it'll be quite interesting to hear her 'take' on things.

Oh, and BTW, it's free too!

Actually I hafta totally revise the earlier post I made about the program locking up .

I just came back from the local internet shop. First they had to FIND a keyboard with thai characters on it as all they had out were ones with KOREAN and engrish . After he found one, I spent about 90 minutes using the program. It worked flawlessly, not a single hiccup.

Obviously my ancient (3+ y/o) Acer desktop has more than a few issues with it and appears to be the source of the problem(s).

I honestly hafta say that’s really one slick thai typing tutor program!! My hats off to the person who developed it, :jap: especially as it's a free resource!

I think I worked thru about 34 or so of the lessons. It's a great brusher-upper for people who can type already and a super good one for people just learning.

Again, if anyone thinks my earlier post was at all negative, (and I didn't mean for it to be in the least ), believe me ALL the negativity is now directed towards my home p/c.

There's a new, web-based Thai typing program available at http://thai-notes.com/typing/typing.shtml

WOW!! That looks like a great program!

It'd probably be even better, IF I could get it to work without locking up my browser mid lesson!

I was able to get thru a couple lessons, then it locks the browser. Dunno why.

I sent feedback to the site, and maybe will get an answer about what I'm doing wrong.

Still from appearances it's a great improvement over the program I used when I taught myself to type thai a few years ago.

Hopefully I get it sorted out, because it sure looks like a great resource to learn to type-thai-by-touch; which as I said in an earlier post, is definitely a tough row to hoe. .

FWIW: I made a special trip down to Rachaprasong today (really I needed to go to MBK to fix my mobile phone )!

Be that as it may; I stopped a while there and thought they were pretty peaceful (compared to when the soldiers went in and ran 'em out with bullets!).

I talked to many of the ‘thais-on-the-street” meaning thais wearing either ‘red’ or ‘black’ t-shirts. Were there a LOT of ‘em, hel_l yes! They were 'thick as ticks on a dogs back' but of course that is an American idiom, so no one understands it. !

For the most part they seemed like they didn’t have a clue why they were there (at Rachaprasong).

Many of them told me ‘in thai’, “They told me to come so I came…”

You figure it out for yourself. .. .

While this may be incidental, as my cats came here nearly 5+ years ago;

I brought my TWO cats from the US, which had previously lived with me in Mexico, Dominican Republic, Brazil and Peru (but just for 6 months), and then they went back to the US before comin' here.

FWIW: I was able to import them, (with the proper documentation) to Thailand, and actually went out on the tarmac with the people who collect 'live animals' and get them OFF the plane they came in on! There was NO quarantine, no nothing. The thai vet on duty just checked the papers, stamped them and I was able to put them in a taxi to my apartment.

Sadly now (mostly for me) they have both died already. NOT because of Thailand, but because they were already OLD cats. And yes, I had them cremated and have their ashes (bones) in small wooden boxes on the top of my television. After all, I had them with me in 5 countries!

Importing cats to this country is NOT fraught with peril, contrary to what some people might say. ..

As an aside: when my cats flew here from the US, they had to spend a night in Amsterdam Holland, as the 'in air' time was too long from the US. Sheesh, I've never even been there, yet my cats have. I hope they had a good time too!!

But really (as in note to the MODZ) this thread is far better served in the "Plants, Pets & Vets in Thailand" section of the forum and NOT on the visa for thailand one, (because that forum has TONZ of stuff about importing animals into the 'kingdom') but that is just my take on things.. ..

Actually now that I took the time to read thru the entire magazine;

OFF TOPIC:

I found the articles about Leopards and Hyenas, as well as the one about a girl with lesbian feelings, and even the one about breasts, and what constitutes pretty breasts versus ugly ones of far more interest than the thai woman scorned; foreign bashing one referenced in this post.

BACK ON TOPIC

I’d concentrate on damage control at your place of employment with your boss, and staff (seeing as, from the videos on their website, it does look like a pretty nice place to work! )

The quicker this gets swept aside and becomes ‘old news’ the better off you’ll be for it. I don’t think you’re likely to find any satisfactory resolution to this via legal channels. Then again, &lt;deleted&gt; do I know .

However, I concur with the poster known as “jazzbo”; even a brief perusal of your posting history just here on T/V could be interpreted as lending credence to an opposing party’s perceived grievance. (Darn the internet for making that stuff so easily to find! ).

Even a semi-intelligent thai lawyer could pick your posts to pieces and quote you outta context, giving quite a different spin than you originally intended when you posted .

Factor in ANY legal proceedings are gonna be carried out totally in thai, the oh-so many ambiguous ways that engrish can be translated into thai often carrying a totally dissimilar meaning than the original english context, and I think you’re tryin’ to paddle upstream pursuing this.

Good Luck though, let us know how it pans out.

Well in all honesty; you're gonna be kinda screwed tryin' to get any name to actually end like it does in english with an 'r' sound. Not a single word in thai can end with that sound, and even the thai character for 'r' (ร) morphs into a 'n' sound when it ends a word. I think the closest you'd get is using a silencing character on the final r like this ร์.

Actually just for fun I went to thai-language dot com and looked at their list of common foreign names in thai. This is what they had for Trevor; เทรเวอร์ (thaehn^M wuuhr^M), they even used that silencer the garan over the final 'r' so thais don't automatically change it to an 'n' sound.

I dunno and other more learned posters must weigh in. Possibly by using the consonant clusters ดร or ตร which are kinda like 'dr', or a 'dtr' sounds along with some vowel might word, but again far more cunning linguists than I must weigh in on this.

A quick Google.th search of the thai spelling เทรเวอร์ turned up TONZ of hits, so it’s a good bet, that’s as close as it gets here.

If that doesn't play well for you; do like every single thai in this country does and pick a 'nickname'.

Oh, and here's the link to the way thai-language spells it;

http://www.thai-language.com/id/153530

Good luck.

Most of the bigger hospitals in the greater Bangkok area (Bumrungrad, Samitivej, St Louis, BNH, to name a few) all have offices which deal with immigrations on a patients behalf to secure extensions of stay based on medical reasons, so a trip to immigrations in person isn't usually necessary if you're staying in one of them. In fact Bumrungrad has so many extension applications each week that an immigration official visits THEM instead of the hospital running the paperwork out to Changwattana!

As has been posted, nothing can be done about the second entry on the actual visa as the expiration date is cut in stone. A medical extension of stay would stop any potential overstay fines though, until he is 'fit for travel' again.

Just to lighten this thread up a little bit. ..

Here are some memorable quotes from the movie "Lord of War".

Spoken by Nicolas Cage playing 'Yuri Orlov;

"I sell to leftists, and rightists. I sell to pacifists, but they're not the most regular customers.

"I sell guns to every army but the Salvation Army."

"Back then, I didn't sell to Osama Bin Laden. Not because of moral reasons, but because he was always bouncing checks"

"The primary market was Africa, Eleven major conflicts involving twenty three countries in less than a decade. A gunrunner's wet dream. At the time the West couldn't care less, they had a white war in what was left of Yugoslavia."

And the best quote!

"The reason I'll be released is the same reason you think I'll be convicted. I do rub shoulders with some of the most vile, sadistic men calling themselves leaders today. But some of these men are the enemies of your enemies. And while the biggest arms dealer in the world is your boss; the President of the United States, who ships more merchandise in a day than I do in a year, sometimes it's embarrassing to have his fingerprints on the guns. Sometimes he needs a freelancer like me to supply forces he can't be seen supplying. So, you call me evil, but unfortunately for you, I'm a necessary evil.

Granted that was a fiction movie and quite possibly a great deal of creative license was taken in the dialog. But I think that last quote possibly carries at least a little truth in it.

Funny how Russia in the international press immediately softened their fire and brimstone rhetoric once Vic hit US soil. Other than crying ‘foul’ in the media here, they’re pretty quite in “real press”.

Who really knows how this dog & pony show will eventually play out?

Any way you spin it, whether you’re pro-US, or a US-basher (like so many posers, errr posters on T/V, it can’t be bad to get someone like Victor Bout ‘off the proverbial streets’ can it?

Well, I'm actually not studying in a language school. I am studying full time, 7:30 - 16:30 except for weekends. It just takes to much time away.

Well in light of your comment; I retract nearly all my post!! I stand humbly erected err corrected .

Studying thai with that kinda schedule is certainly not something I'd ever opt for . Christ! That's a frickin' full time job! Most foreigners I know who wash outta thai language school do so because the 4 hours a week is just too much for them, lol..

I still think you could hoof it (via various modes of transport) to Vientiane and snap up a double entry tourist visa either ding it yourself or by using one of the services previously mentioned.

It's far safer than 'pushing the envelope' wondering whether the school will or won't report you to immigrations for stopping your studies.

Again, FWIW: I'm sincerely sorry about the lengthy and obviously off topic post I made.

I certainly give you credit for even undertaking that kinda time intensive study program.

<SNIP> no ,,,,,, its a type O VISA <SNIP>

I hate to disagree. .. But the above info could be (and in all likelihood) IS erroneous. However my experience is ONLY in Metro-Bangkok..

FWIW: a visa which is type ED is considered by the thai 'powers that be' to be the same as a type 'O' = (OTHER reason for being here kinda visa), meaning it has the same 'status'.

I have taken MANY people who were on a '90 day extension of stay' based on education and gotten them a thai driver's license. It's out on soi 103/1 (or something like that ). FWIW: It's a ways past the On Nut Sky Train Station on the North side of Sukhumvit, and the sign is ONLY in thai.

Now it's been a month or more since I went there, but last time I had 5 people in tow and they all got a thai d/l. Some even got both a car and a moto-cy license at the same time, based on the endorsements from their country's licenses..

It is a painless IF somewhat time consuming procedure . Providing they hold a valid license from what ever country they come from it's quite easy really and NO driving or written testing is involved at all. You just do 4 cheesy tests; depth perception, color blindness, reaction time, and peripheral vision.

So far got them for people from; China, Singapore, Korea, Japan, US, UK, Ireland, India and an Auzzie too! I’ve never had a single problem getting one yet. The caveat is; IF you have the correct paperwork, it's a walk in the park.

The first time you go they ONLY give a one year 'temporary' license but that is all they ever issue to anyone, even first time thais! Then you go back AFTER that year's finished to renew your license for another 5 years.

The good news is the 'new' thai driver's license is written in english AND thai so it works in other countries AND it looks like a "real driver's license too" as opposed to the 'old style' license which looks like you had it made at MBK or KhaoSan Road. ..

To the O/P: Go to my profile page and send me an email or a message via the forum. .. I'll clue you in. ..

Not to “piss on your parade”, but there are many (as in MANY!) private thai language schools which will routinely report you to thai immigrations when you stop studying with them. True some may not, but most will. .. That could, (as in may, or probably will) cause you some grief in the long run here. ..

Actually I don’t have the slightest idea why any foreigner here in "the glorious Land 'O Thais' would stop studying the thai language for ANY reason! After all the Ministry of Education's minimum requirement is only 4 hours a week. &lt;deleted&gt;, you can’t spare 4 hours a week here to study thai and get an extension of stay for another 90 days? Are you really and truly that frickin’ busy?

I routinely sit outside my apartment with my thai friends and eavesdrop on the foreigners who pass by whilst speaking to their thai 'significant others’. Where I live they, (as in foreigners) pass by in; flocks, herds, droves, gaggles, murders, (insert your classifier for groups of animals!).

Frankly, it is a stomach-churning mix of thai-engrish, or engrish-thai blended into how ever they happen to accent their engrish; American, Irish, German, UK, Scotch, Auzzie, Kiwi, Eastern Block, (insert your screwed-up engrish accent here). Eavesdropping in this fashion is normally the ONLY time I am totally ashamed to be a foreigner living here . UGH. .. It makes me not like foreigners who give up studying the thai language because they ALL have the same excuses; ‘I’m too old’, ‘I’m tone deaf’, 'My g/f, wife speaks emgrish enough', ‘I don’t have time’, blah-blah-blah, "same ol' song and dance" over and over.

After all, where are we? Gimme a minute and lemme check. .. ... Yep, still checkin'. .. Oh yeah, that’s right; we are in THAILAND where they speak Thai as their FIRST language! It is my observation that as a foreigner, you can NEVER, EVER know too much Thai, no matter what you might think to the contrary.

Then again; these are my observations ONLY and you mileage may indeed vary.. Mostly depending on:

A.) where you live in thailand,

B.) if you have a significant thai other

and lastly

C.) who you mostly talk to here.

There are more than enough posts on the T/V forum about how a person secures a double entry tourist visa at the thai consulate in Lao. I suggest you read some, maybe even try the search function too.

But FWIW: Yes I concur wholeheartedly; the website thaivisarun dot com does offer an “all in” kinda service to Lao for a double entry tourist visa. I have used them myself several times in the past, as well as having sent many, many people to them too.

Tried to buy the mag at the local 7/11 this morning, but it was sold out. Went to a bigger thai magazine shop near my soi, also sold out. Finally found a single copy at B2S. I perused it over coffee, and found it well worth the 20 baht price tag even for that single article.

FWIW: Any foreigner with high-basic or low-intermediate thai reading skills won't have very much difficulty getting thru it. It's definitely written more ภาษาพูด (colloquially), than something you’d read in the real newspapers here. Then again it's a gossip rag about thai superstars, much like Dara Daily, or Siam Dara.

The O/P and the poster know as “GarryP” are totally correct in their assertions; the person referred to in the story is most definitely not painted in the most glowing light and accolades (if any) are few and far between . The author signs it "Person who was deceived/tricked" as well as saying she's from พังงา (Phangnga). She did say she's gonna go to post it on her Face Book page too, so I'd check there as well.

It would also appear by going to Google thailand and typing in the thai title of the article that there 6 or 7 comments on the mag’s website about the article. One even took time to comment, only to say they didn't read the article, . One was a warning about foreigners written in engrish by a thai female , and one even asked "I read the story, just how was he terribly bad to you?" .

I think it's definitely up to you and your thai lawyers to see what possibly could be gained by pursuing it. Then again how much good money are you gonna throw after bad to be compensated in any way?

I seem to remember a few years ago when a female reporter for an english language newspaper wrote a totally factual article about Thaksin Shinawatra’s government; she was promptly sacked, and then nearly litigated to death by thaksin's legal team to the tune of millions of baht in libel charges. In the end she was totally vindicated, all the suits were thrown out, and I think even won her old job back or something like that, but it took several years to plod its way thru the thai legal system.

Now if you lose your brand new job over this, or are financially impinged upon in another way, maybe you'd have a better case. In all honesty, I hope your new boss takes this story with a grain of salt, and it doesn’t affect you . The mags that haven’t sold get pulled off the shelves on the 20th to make way for the new edition, and as I mentioned earlier, I had to go to three different shops to find even a copy.

Dunno, but you're certainly in quite the quandary, my posting pal. Good Luck.

wanke_rs . <SNIP>: Rot mot tee neye. Pom ow pie. Toleye? <SNIPPED TOO!!>

And NO, not every bus here in Bangkok has a frickin' engrish translated sign written on it. Especially the ones that say; "This bus is FREE because of the tax thais' paid". (Can you read that one?) Then there are the busses which go MANY places, but their destination(s) are listed on the side of the bus or windows in THAI ONLY.

It also goes without saying (but I'll say it now) that everyone on the forum can't read your crap engrish spelling for thai words without any toning (you goofball, how about writing in thai?) WOW who'da thunk it on the THAI language forum, the mind wobbles. ...

Do you think everyone has the same accent as you do for engrish words? I could name 15 or 20 words that are the same exact words yet sound dissimalar given the various engrish accents out there in the whole wide world. Still you had the balls to preface your post with 'wanke_rs'? Really: &lt;deleted&gt;?

BACK ON TOPIC: the phrase; อยากไปสายหมด (yaak^L bpaiM saai^R moht^L) or translated into very rough engrish "(I) want to go to the end of the line" will work in most instances. But I think "Softwater" posted a better phrase. .. Please note the personal pronoun "I" is left OUT when you are speaking to someone about yourself or something you want, (they already know who you're talkin' about) no need to say it EVER!

Guess I gotta go try to find the mag .

It’s not often I run into famous, or infamous people here. .. Mostly it’s just the nefarious kind. ..

Is the name of mag really คู่สร้าง-คู่สม as in the one from the link another poster provided?

If it is, and in fact is just written without a heading or author; it could very well still be active in one of their many columns the site has online.

A quick perusal of them leads me to believe that’s where most of the “dirt gets slung”.

It’s definitely a question for a competent thai lawyer, and not I think a topic for a general poll of the illustrious posers <sic> I mean posters on T/V.