ellisg

Hi all, I am just finishing my last assignment for TEFL qualification. Can anyone suggest a lesson plan topic that would be interesting for Thai students (boys and girls) aged 14-16 years old and A2 level (late elementary/ pre-intermediate)?

The lesson plan will be teaching past continuous interrupted but I have to make the topic and activities interesting for them (and not contentious).

Thanks for any help from teachers out there! :)

You might find this thread useful.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Australian-A...on-t163135.html

Thank you

I have a question for any Australian aged pension recipients who have moved or are considering moving permanently to Thailand.

As I understand it, you can move to Thailand permanently but as Thailand does not have a reciprocal Agreement with Australia (and none planned I might add), then after 26 weeks the pension is reduced proportionally. Is this correct, and if you are willing can you tell me how much the pension is reduced by.

Thanks for the info. I have requested this information from Centrelink but I thought it would be interesting to learn the reality "on the ground".

Regards, Ellis

Hi all

Does anyone know of a clean hotel near Prawet, Soi Onuch? We found a cheap place on Onuch 44 (500bht) but it was a dump (what can you expect for the price). The sort of place we are looking for would most likely be for Thai's and not advertise on the internet. Nice homestyle stay would be great.

Any recommendations gratefully accepted.

Cheers

Ellisg

Hi all

We have just 17 rai in Hua Hin growing pineapples. Needless to say it doesn't generate much income! Just wondering if any of you guys can suggest some alternatives that may be a bit more profitable or way to value add.

All replies welcome

I just told the wife about this "news", and she asks why it is not being reported on TV? Then I log on to here and see it is merely a rumor. Passing on rumors this way is not very helpful, in my estimation, anyone can dream up stuff like that. Let's see what happens tomorrow, huh?

I would take anything ripped from The Nation's website with a grain of salt. I worked there for two years after many years as an investigative reporter in the U.S. They're standards for writing articles are quite low. I had many run-ins with reporters trying to write one-source stories based on an interview with an "anonymous" source. The paper is getting worse these days having laid off the majority of its foreign editors and pared down the local staff to a skeleton crew.

"They're" standards for writing articles are quite low...tch tch..and a from a reporter to boot

thanks for the info and no offence taken...I think we invented piss-taking didn't we?

I don't wear a suit in LOS but I spend 50% of my time in Oz and in my line of work it's a pre-requisite unfortunately!

I don't need made to measure as I can get good suits in Oz for 12,000bht off the rack that do just fine.

As for the shoes, I figured that was the case as I've never been able to find anything in Bangkok that fits and is good quality.

Can't agree about the Florsheims though. Never had any split on me and the Roo skin ones are superb! Top price in Perth about 6000bht and wouldn't wanna spend more than that on shoes.

Will check out Findig.

thanks again to all who took the time to respond

E

G'day all

After all the great help I got on another post I thought I'd ask another question. This time I'd like to find out where I can buy european size shoes, eg Florsheim in size 11. I tried the department stores and their biggest size is about 10.

Also interested in buying a suit 'off the rack'. Yeah, I know, why don't I get made to measure. I'm pretty regular size for australian (187cm) and I can get a good 2 pant suit of the rack here in Australia for less than 12,000bht. Just not worth the effort to have made to measure, what with finding a competent tailor and then measuring up and waiting, so if anyone can recommend a retail establishment it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any info

Go to the Factory Outlet shop in Big C opposite World Trade, sure i saw some in there going at a good price.

Another great suggestion, thanks very much

G'day forum members.

Do any of you know where I can buy Van Heusen business shirts in Bangkok? Had a look in most of the major stores but can't seem to track them down but I'm sure they're available.

Any guidance much appreciated

Ellis

There's a Van Heusen shop is CentralWorld if that's any help.

Many thanks!

G'day forum members.

Do any of you know where I can buy Van Heusen business shirts in Bangkok? Had a look in most of the major stores but can't seem to track them down but I'm sure they're available.

Any guidance much appreciated

Ellis

Thank you both for the info

I have just had a quote from a lawyer in Bangkok of 30,000 baht to draft and register a legal will. It sounds a bit (lot) over the top. Can anyone in the forum recommend another lawyer that may be more economical (I understand that you get what you pay for but it is pretty straight forward).

I'm in Australia so they would need to be able to correspond by email.

Thanks in advance guys

Good evening all

Would any of you involved in the real estate industry have an idea the value of 74 sq wah, located just off soi onuch 86, Prawet.

Currently has basic fibro house on it but guessing it's mainly land value.

Any info appreciated.

Ellisg

My wife and I attended the San Paulo Hospital on the main drag. She had a crown, a tooth removed and scale and clean. I had a scale and clean. Her account came to 8000bht. Mine was 800bht.

Dr Thewan Thipwataksorn is young but very professional. Doesn't try to create extra work and the facilities are pretty good - probably not quite as good as you are used to but not exactly a medieval torture chamber In fact we both agreed there was less pain than our local dentist - the mouth, but particularly the pocket!

Here's a list of his charges, current in Nov 06

For scaling and polishing 800 - 1000 baht

For x-rays 100 per film

For tooth-like color filling 500 per surface

For in office dental bleaching 6000 baht

His email address is [email protected], but you wont need to book. They're open 7 days and we just gave them a call when we arrived. Got an appointment within 2 days.

Cheers

Ellis

Anyone remotely interested in the effect of Christian missionaries on other cultures would be well advised to read a marvellous book by Sam Harris that has recently been published - http://www.amazon.com/Letter-Christian-Nat...s/dp/0307265773.

In it he points out the simple fact that while there is no doubt that Christian missionaries are moved by a desire to alleviate suffering, they come to the task encumbered by a dangerous and divisive mythology. They waste a lot of time and money proselytizing to the needy; spreading inaccurate information about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases, and they withhold accurate information. In contrast to secular organisations like Doctors without borders who do not waste time telling people about the virgin birth of Jesus or that condom use is sinful (when millions die from AIDS every year). This kind of piety from missionaries is genocidal. We might also wonder which is more moral: helping people purely out of concern for their suffering, or helping them because you think the creator of the universe will reward you for it?

Mother Theresa is a perfect example of the way in which a good person can have her moral intuitions deranged by religious faith, as Christopher Hitchens puts it:

Mother Theresa was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction.

Even in her Nobel Prize acceptance speach she said:

The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion...because if a mother can kill her own child - what is left for me to kill you and you kill me - there is nothing between.

As a diagosis of the world's problems, these remarks are astonishingly misguided. As a statement of morality they are no better. Mother Theresa's compassion was very badly calibrated if the killing of first-trimester fetuses disturbed her more than all the other suffering she witnessed on this earth. While abortion is an ugly reality one can reasonably wonder whether most fetuses suffer their distruction on any level. One cannot reasonably wonder this about the millions of men, women, and children who must endure the torments of war, famine, political torture, or mental illness. God is nowhere to be seen and the compassion of human beings is often hobbled by preposterous ideas about sin and salvation. If you are worried about human suffering, abortion should rank very low on your list of concerns.

Food for thought..and my apologies to the author for using portions of his book

Nothing special to add except an observation of how the longest posts on this thread without doubt are by Christians "spreading the word", so by my count it's still Christians 1, other's 0. You can't stop them guys, just wave bye bye when they come knocking. I certainly agree with one of the posters that if going to heaven means listening to celestial music and having to put up with all these holier than thou types then I prefer to spend an eternity in hel_l with my mates

Hi JB1

Not sure if this will be any help to you but my wife recently bought some land in HH. We were prepared to just go to the land office and do the transfer (well by herself actually...didn't want to complicate matters by getting involved) but it became apparent that the seller wasn't being totally honest. She contacted a local lawyer who for 4000B came out to the land office and made sure that everything was done by the book. My wife was very impressed with his professional manner. I don't know if he speaks English but his name is Parkhum Sabma. His address is 1807 Chomsinth Rd, HH and phone numbers 032 512282, 513146, 01-9425797.

If your wife is Thai it shouldn't be a problem. I know there are others in HH but when they charge like wounded bulls!

Regards

Ellis

Hi Folks.

Does anyone know of a good, Thai english speaking property lawyer in Hua Hin. I need name and Email address.

I would be happy for any help. Cheers jb1.

Good evening all

I have searched the forum for an answer to my questions before posting this. My apologies if they have been answered elsewhere.

My wife owns some land in Bangkok (she holds the title) on which she built a house for her mother and brother to stay in.

When registering the tabien she thought it prudent to put her brother's name at the top as we live overseas and something may arise where he needed to be in charge for convenience sake e.g. to get an id card. Her mother's name and then hers follow on the tabien.

I now understand that the person on the top of the document is not only "in-charge" of the household but also technically and legally "owns" the house even though she can prove it was built using her funds.

So my questions are:

1. Can her brother now legally borrow money against the tabien or in fact sell the house without my wife being informed or her permission obtained?

2. If this is true, is there anything she can do to prevent this occurring without actually being in Thailand to remove her brother's name from the tabien or "re-order" it so that she is "on top".

Many thanks for any info

Ellisg

Just a follow up to my previous post in case anyone is interested. We recently visited Hua Hin and were shown some very expensive property by local real estate agents. It appeared to confirm what I already suspected and that is that real estate agents in Thailand are the same as in Australia, i.e. they would like to "talk up" the market. Along with the difficulty in obtaining accurate valuations we were left to our own devices. My wife starting talking to locals (we should have started with this strategy) and were lucky to find 17 rai located between Wat Huay Mongkon and the golf resort. We secured this property (or rather my wife did) for Bht 1.6m. We were offered through an agent 6 rai, not more than 1km from this property for the same price.

The message is clear. A lot of land is way overpriced, so before signing anything have a chat to the locals. Everyone knows about some land for sale as they all want the 3% commission.

To those of you riding the property boom my apologies if I give the impression that I don't want property prices to rise. I have an interest in that also but I would rather see a gradual, realistic increase in values, not a 'boom and bust' cycle.

P.S. Hua Hin's great

many thnx for the info

regards

Ellis

G'day all

Does anyone happen to know if there are any reasonably priced hotels (smaller family type preferably) fairly close to the new airport?

Thanks for any info

Regards

Ellis

Hi all, hope someone living in HH can provide some info.

My wife and I are coming to HH in Nov to buy some land to build on in a couple of years.

I'm trying to get a feel for land values beforehand and was planning on using bank properties (say from kasikornbank) as a baseline before viewing other properties available from somewhere like huahin-property.

The only problem is that I have no idea where these properties are located or the lie of the land, and therefore it's difficult to compare values.

Personally, we would prefer to be slightly inland (say 1-10km) and high up (we love living in the hills), and around 1000 - 2000m2.

We’re not really interested in any sort of walled compound or golf course scenario as there are too many restrictions and I believe they are over-priced.

My questions then are:

1. Is there a great variance in land value from coast to hinterland and what is the range?

2. Where is the most desirable land (apart from directly back from the beach of course)

3. Are there any hilly areas close to Hua Hin or other coastal area around the Cha-am, Hua Hin, Pratchuap regions (preferably somewhere relatively quiet)

Any feedback much appreciated