KhaoYai

Firstly, can I say that this is not intended to be a Thailand Bashing thread. Over the years I've become aware of the lack of education in Thailand - especially in rural government schools. I believe things are improving but when it comes to history, there seems to be a total lack of anything 'Western or European'. It would be fair to say that kids in the UK are not taught much Asian history too but given that the Industrial Revolution, that changed the world faster in 250 years than it had previously changed in millennia, affected all countries. I would have thought that even a basic understanding of what brought humans to where they are now would be at the core of history teaching in any country. The same could be said about WW2 but I believe there are reasons for the lack of teaching on that. Although I've been aware of it for a long time, what really kick started my interest in this matter came in a discussion with an ex wife who believed cars were invented in Japan. From that stemmed a lot of questions (from me) such as where do you think steel comes from? Etc. etc. etc. My then wife either didn't know the answers to most of my questions or her answers were rooted in Asia. We have of course, moved on from the Industrial Revolution and countries large or small, Asian, Western or otherwise are all responsible for technological inventions and general progress. However, it all began in England around 1750 and I do not say that with the slightest arrogance, its just a fact. Why this is of interest to me is that I believe it helps to explain something I have often experienced. Many times I've given advice to (Thai) family or friends and been totally ignored. That advice has not come from any desire to appear smarter than the recipients, it comes from experience. For example, I spent a large part of my working life in the motor trade, I'm a little behind the times now but I still have a broad knowledge of cars, bikes and most things mechanical. Likewise with domestic construction - where I moved to after the motor trade. Sometimes its more than being ignored, its a total dismissal but carried out (mostly) politely. The feeling that comes from it is 'you are a stupid farang, how could you know'? For example, many years ago when I had no tools in Thailand, I took my car to a local garage for repair. I won't bore you with the details but I knew exactly what was wrong with it and how to fix it - I just didn't have any tools. The garage seemd to be struggling to carry out the repair so I offered my assistance, telling them of my previous career. This was dismissed and I was told that they knew what they were doing, it was just proving more difficult than usual. The struggling continued until after several hours I decided enough was enough, walked into the workshop, picked up their tools and showed them how to do it. Prior to that, the overall feeling that I was getting was that I was a farang, how could I know? When I left the garage I didn't get the feeling that I'd gone up in their estimation, it just felt like they thought I'd been lucky. I've had many similar experiences since. The ex that thought cars were invented in Japan also seems to believe that the much of what we have in the modern world began in Japan or Asia. She thought that Toyotas, for example, are a Thai car, totally built in Thailand - although she accepted that the parent company is Japanese. So, have others had similar experiences and can our teaching community shed any light on this? I suspect it comes from the basic lack of any Western and thus 'World' history in Thai education. I'm not engaging in any form of one-upmanship here, I'm just stating facts. Whilst its a fact that the roots of industry began with the Industrial Revolution, nobody can deny that those roots have been refined over the years and utilised/improved all over the world. Some of the finest products now come from Asia and technology has no borders, but the attitude in Thailand still seems to be that of 'you are a farang, you know nothing'. Can it be explained by a lack of education, is it arrogance - or both?

I travel to Thailand regularly and can only do so because I seek out the best flight prices on my chosen carrier - Etihad. I can usually be flexible with my dates. I've just returned to the UK from Thailand this week and that flight cost me a little more than usual for the time of year but after several news reports I was expecting that. However, for reasons I won't go into, I have to return unexpectedly in just 3 weeks time and I can't believe the price I've just had to pay. OK so July/August are always the most expensive summer months to travel to Thailand from the UK and I usually try to avoid them but on the few occasions where I have travelled at that time, its usually cost me around £700. I use a flight comparison site and spent most of yesterday looking at hunderds of different options - I couldn't believe the prices I was getting. The flight I ended up with was available through various agents with prices from £1610 of to around £1700. I'd never heard of some of the agents so checked them out on Trustpilot to try and avoid nightmares - I also won't deal with agents that will not give out their phone numbers. I ended up paying £1677 (economy) using an agent I know for flight on Qatar (an airline I said I'd never use again but Etihad were £2300!!!). I just couldn't believe that price - even with it being in the UK school holidays and allowing for fuel price increases. £1677 - can you imagine paying that if you have a wife and three kids? There were flights available using multiple airlines for around £1200 but the total travel times were hideous (up to 53 hours). I also don't fancy flights using multiple airlines - too much to go wrong. What was also surprising was that flights were disappearing almost as fast as I could find them. I spoke to one agent who confirmed that they are exceptionally busy at the moment - it seems that people haven't travelled for a couple of years and are therefore prepared to pay these prices. The same agent told me that as well as the increased fuel costs, airlines are trying to recoup some of the money the lost when the pandemic brought most travel to a halt. I suppose that's understandable. I can only hope that once people have spent the money they've saved over the last couple of years and fuel prices hopefully drop, airlines will once again return to having to attract customers through competitive pricing. Next year maybe?