BlackArtemis

http://seetefl.com/

I've met with John and his wife Ying when they brought their students to where I worked.

I can't stand the idea of people dumping rusty nails on another person's yard. So therefore I should shut up and accept this because it's not my place. When someone does something like this I have no trouble making an issue of it, because I know that if I did it there WOULD be a problem.

As I stated before, the tree branches are not the problem, but old nails and bits of glue ARE a problem. letting people dump crap on your lawn and not doing anything about it, and by anything I don't mean threaten with police etc etc, does not make you more Thai. It just lets them know that they can continue to do as they feel. I know for a fact Thai people have no problem addressing issues with their neighbors, in various ways and composure.

There was a mixology/bartending school in CM for a bit. It failed rather quickly.

Go head out to the bars, the Thai bars that actually make money in Chiang Mai.

Notice that hardly anyone ever orders a mixed drink or cocktail, there isn't a demand for them, which I would say means there is little demand for a bartending school.

Not trying to rain on your parade, just trying to help you save your investment capital.

The OP and his girlfriend seem to be hyper and the OP needs to lose his Western aggression.

There are many reasons why this could be happening; maybe the neighbours have some boisterous children and don`t realise the kids are annoying other people, sometimes objects can be blown elsewhere by high winds or they simply just don`t like the OP because he has attitude, that doesn`t go down well in the LOS.

Also it`s easy to become paranoid, every time debries turn up in the garden, the OP is going to blame his neighbours.

As for the lobbing off of tree branches that overhang other properties, I have often cut down some neighbour’s branches and vice versa, without causing damage to the main tree, no problem as I have always made the effort to have a mutual understanding with my neighbours. It`s a house holders duty to ensure that branches are trimmed before they begin over hanging the boundries.

I have dogs, they bark, my neighbours dogs bark but none around here is bothered and we enjoy our home without getting stressed.

We get invited to many weddings in the area, social events, I always make the effort to attend and well known and liked here.

Last year my neighbour began making charcoal only a few metres away from my house. We were breathing in toxic fumes for 3 days. I realised that it`s just ignorance on the part of my neighbour, but my family and I intend to stay here for the rest of our lives and have good relationships with the locals. So what’s the point of going in with all guns blazing?

So my wife and I went and discussed the situation with the neighbour, all very friendly with a few laughs over a couple of beers. Problem solved, my neighbour moved his burners to another piece of land he owns.

I am very glad and happy that I don`t have any Farang living near me, people that would complain about my dogs, complain that my rose bush is protruding 2 inches over their property and that my fence is the wrong colour.

The common sense way for the OP and his scared girlfriend to deal with this situation is to have a friendly chat with the neighbours, keep in with them, let them believe that you are nice people, remember that this is Thailand, not to be confused with the ways back home.

If this is not possible, than Thailand’s not for you.

I wonder if the hard nut avatar is his true charactor?

I have a big can of rusty nails to get rid of, mind if I dump them on your property? Just get tetanus shots for your family and pets. Mai pen rai! right?

The OP isn't just talking about branches and organic matter here. He did not reference dogs. He is complaining about people dumping things on his property, dumping would be considered a multi hundred dollar fine in my countries mind you. He has neighbors who don't respect him, his family, or his property and that is the problem.

To the OP: I would collect what comes over that wall in a box and bring it to them and say in a kindly manner "I think you lost these".

I had been invited by a few to ordain, but I never had the time. I thought quite a bit about it and I can't think of a reason not to. But I would prefer to go off to a small temple away from the crowds. I don't want to walk down a heavily tourist filled street etc.

If it's a temporary stay for a few years to have fun and make memories, sure. If the plan is to have a family, raise kids, and retire here. I would be wary. I won't say it can't be done.

Remember, everyone here has a different standard of living. 200k/month might be extravagant for some and barely making it for others. Location also comes into play, much cheaper in Chiang Mai than Bangkok.

The iPad is a media consumer, that's pretty much it.

Browse the internet, read a book etc etc.

I just think that it's overpriced and lacking, I'm sure Gen 2 or 3 will be much nicer.

But, no webcam, so no skype. No usb output, no memory card input, concave back so it twirls when placed on a flat surface, 4:3 ratio not 16:9 so no widescreen movies. The list goes on, and it's the same price as the lenovo 1.66ghz atom tablet, which is a REAL tablet.

I'm picking up a Tm2t for the wife, dam_n powerful for a 12" tablet.

I did, and there were no problems. It cost about 8-10K for all the translations and stamps to make it legal in Thailand. Have one in English and another in Thai.

That's what the trust of your life long partner is worth!! 8-10K!! Pathetic.

Boohoo-fuc_king-hoo

I have an agreement stating take what you brought split what you made. Something, if I am not mistaken, it written into the Thai marriage laws, but not US laws.

There are reasons why I chose to do this and it had nothing to do with what race my wife was. Furthermore my wife and I sat down and discussed it and there was no issue but some tool on an internet forum is pointing fingers because I have a piece of paper sitting at the bottom of a safety deposit box collecting dust.

A tefl course here in thailand is not about learning to teach it is for learning about the thai education system that will be a complete shock to your western way of thinking. The practice teaching lessons are invaluable and the most important part of your class. If you can afford the money and time I highly recommend you take one.

This post should be stickied and the forum banner.awesome

All these comments only prove one thing....total ignorance about snakes.

Thailand has dozens of species. And most people even in Bangkok and Pattaya do not realise their roof space will have at least one snake of some kind living in it eating birds, mice and rats. Leave them alone and they will stay well away from you.

A recent survey in the USA found that 90% of snake bites had resulted from people poking around or touching the animal and in over 50% of the cases alcohol had been a prime factor as well.

Snakes do not see humans as food and only bite them in self defense.

snakes are teritorrial. Kill one and another will move in and might be more dangerous.

Leave them alone and do as the woman did - get expert help.

Just like your posts proves you didn't read every reply.

I did, and there were no problems. It cost about 8-10K for all the translations and stamps to make it legal in Thailand. Have one in English and another in Thai.

I NEVER met any Thai woman making anything close to 50k bht per month. I've never had the opportunity to mix & mingle with the high-so crowd, as so many of you fortunate gents. Where I live, the locals I meet are lucky to make 5K, if they have a job at all. I only met one in 6 years, where I wasn't expected to pay (on a date). She was an anomaly. Her education and income was quite above the norm that I see.

the hi- so crowd are a joke, pathetic, zero class....zero real brain's

they have no idea how stupid they look

have you seen that hi-so mag- itz

they think a gucci makes them something they can never be

yuo cannot buy class, class is something you get by treating people well

most ladys here are poor, pay for them if you can

Some of them are silly and full of themselves as you say, but many are personable, intelligent, humble, witty, artistic and traveled and infinitely more interesting spending time with than "pay for them" ladies. A nice feeling it is to be with people on a level playing field that don't need your money, just enjoy your company.

Amazing! Are you trying to tell everyone that interesting, nice, stupid, greedy, and any other adjective type people can be found in all walks of life? I.. I don't think this forum is ready for such a leap of faith.

Up in Fang (above Chiang Mai) there is a temple that caters to Farang who want to be a monk. It IS a paid thing. But they have English translations of the chants and English speaking monks to help teach the doctrine etc etc.

If I had different circumstances I would look into it myself, even though I know "we donate a sizable potion to the Wat" could mean 10% of what you pay, the other 10% paying for robes and books, and the other 80% is profit. I think it's called monk for a month or something similar.

Ehhh the Rx-8 is so over priced here, and really where are you going to wind it up?

And don't get any ideas about having your Thai wife bring over your car. I have heard stories of "regular" people trying to do that and it not working. As much as I would love to bring my mustang back with me, I won't bother...

I always laughed at that. Non Americans call it American share, but Americans call it going Dutch.

I learned from my father to never rent out properties.

My parents used to have an apartment complex and rented out a room to two flight attendants, the rent was past due so he went to check and saw a bunch of drunk bikers with a bike half disassembled on a now ruined carpet. They threatened him and my dad went back to call the police when he passed a soft spoken tenant who asked my father what was the matter. My father told him and the tenet told my father not to worry. Within 3 days they were out and the entire apartment was spotless, fresh paint and new carpet.

That tenet was part of the then thrive Philadelphia Mafia...

My wife :shrug:

We alternate things all the time. Small things like dinners or groceries and bigger things too, I just paid for summer class and half of her new purse, but she has dropped $400-500 on books for me. As for our return trip to Thailand, we decided to both save up equal amounts to spend.

To add a twist to the story the only reason I saw the snake was because it was coiled up about 10cm away from my shoes(flip flops) I saw it move as I was putting them on. So Very close call I would say.

Not sure how much of a baby, it was about 40-50cm long for sure not a fully mature adult.

Once we had called the snake guy he told us to go inside and lock the doors and on no account should we approach it as they are very quick and aggressive.

This is the 3rd snake this year I believe one was a Banded Kriat but he scarpered as soon as he saw me and a very fast mover, literally

jumped over our wall which is about 4 foot high.

Good idea with the bucket may be an option next time attached to a very long stick though.

I don't want to kill em and certainly don't want to put my own life at risk by trying to.

Have read somewhere if they bite you should capture the snake and take it to the hospital for identification!

Does anyone know if they can bite 2 times or is all the venom used in the first bite?

Going to be very careful around the house in the evening now, it seems Pit Vipers are nocturnal snakes.

One other piece of advice I got from a Thai neighbor was watch the Geckos on your wall if they disappear you probably have a snake somewhere.

That was true we normally have about 10+ around the house but last night 0.

Edit: Just want to add I have heard most snakes will run which indeed made me feel safe around the house.

But this Pit Viper didn't want to run he wanted to fight so don't lull yourself into a false sense of security on that issue.

Snakes can bite multiple times and as mentioned before there is something called measured delivery,relatively new discover actually, where a snake can control the amount of venom injected. As someone mentioned above juveniles have yet to learn this method and often dump their full dose in their first bite and therefore are much more dangerous than their adult counterparts. Furthermore thanks to the nuclear arms race that is adaptation and evolution, snakes venom becomes more venomous over time (as a population) this is because their prey becomes more resistant over time (also as a population). So since we never interact with them like their prey species the dosage they use for a quick kill on say, a mongoose etc, is more than enough to kill us or something larger, like an elephant.

Now, there are plenty of other constrictors etc running around, they can bite you too. The danger with them is no venom, as they lack it, but bacterial infection. So you should really get checked out no matter what bites you, that pretty much goes for any animal.

My brother in law gave me a call about a snake in their house, once I saw it I realized it was a baby reticulated python and told em it didn't have venom, we grabbed it, but it still tried to bite us, we pissed it off since it was in a corner, not the snake's fault. They were cool with me releasing it alive about a kilometer away from their house, they didn't like it being too close since in a year or two it would be big enough to eat their chihuahua, something I always worried about when I let my poodle/bichon mix run around the yard. hel_l, my wife was walking him here in the US on a leash and a Hawk tried to get him

OK I guess this answered my worst fear!! snakes can bite twice

After a few snake encounters now I am kind of preparing myself for the worst eventuality of getting bitten.

Guess there is no real way of knowing what to do at the time but good to be prepared.

I think the best bet would be to try and grab it whilst the fangs are still sucking away at the flesh and bang it on something hard?

But not sure that would be possible, how quickly does the poison effect.

Also wondering how the hospital goes about treating if you don't know which snake was the culprit?

Is it a matter of trail and error with different antidotes?

I assume the first antidote they would try is for the Malayan Pit Viper? from I have read 50% of all snake bites in Thailand are from little bugger.

Or do different bites cause different symptoms enabling them to identify the snake involved.

I believe a Pit Viper bite causes extreme blistering around the wound due to the fact that the poison kills your blood cells.

A lot of questions but does anybody have the answers? can't seem to find them on the internet any how's.

Different venoms take different amounts of time (deals with the whole nuclear arms race I talked about) Plus, if you are allergic, you can be worse off much quicker.

I wouldn't make a move on a snake that just bit me. Grabbing it will only encourage it to dump more venom into you or bite more times. Many times the bite is the last "GET THE #$%^ AWAY FROM ME" and they will run off on their own. The best thing to do is simply get a good look at it, don't go chasing at it and get all worked up after being bit. Call for help and describe it as fast as you can so you don't forget what it looks like.

Many of us have smart phones now, you could simply download pictures of the snakes of Thailand in your phone.

Don't stress too much

I'd like to hear the OP's interpretation of his own culture, though sadly I expect it to be just as superficial as his understanding of the culture here in Thailand.

Here we inhale 1000cal triple cheeseburgers while downing it with 2 liters of soda all while driving while talking or texting on our cell phones on our way to wal-mart (Tesco) to pick up something usless made overseas because we would rather have to pay the least amount than pay more for quality. USA! USA! USA!

I was honestly expecting things like:

Dress politely at temples etc.

To add a twist to the story the only reason I saw the snake was because it was coiled up about 10cm away from my shoes(flip flops) I saw it move as I was putting them on. So Very close call I would say.

Not sure how much of a baby, it was about 40-50cm long for sure not a fully mature adult.

Once we had called the snake guy he told us to go inside and lock the doors and on no account should we approach it as they are very quick and aggressive.

This is the 3rd snake this year I believe one was a Banded Kriat but he scarpered as soon as he saw me and a very fast mover, literally

jumped over our wall which is about 4 foot high.

Good idea with the bucket may be an option next time attached to a very long stick though.

I don't want to kill em and certainly don't want to put my own life at risk by trying to.

Have read somewhere if they bite you should capture the snake and take it to the hospital for identification!

Does anyone know if they can bite 2 times or is all the venom used in the first bite?

Going to be very careful around the house in the evening now, it seems Pit Vipers are nocturnal snakes.

One other piece of advice I got from a Thai neighbor was watch the Geckos on your wall if they disappear you probably have a snake somewhere.

That was true we normally have about 10+ around the house but last night 0.

Edit: Just want to add I have heard most snakes will run which indeed made me feel safe around the house.

But this Pit Viper didn't want to run he wanted to fight so don't lull yourself into a false sense of security on that issue.

Snakes can bite multiple times and as mentioned before there is something called measured delivery,relatively new discover actually, where a snake can control the amount of venom injected. As someone mentioned above juveniles have yet to learn this method and often dump their full dose in their first bite and therefore are much more dangerous than their adult counterparts. Furthermore thanks to the nuclear arms race that is adaptation and evolution, snakes venom becomes more venomous over time (as a population) this is because their prey becomes more resistant over time (also as a population). So since we never interact with them like their prey species the dosage they use for a quick kill on say, a mongoose etc, is more than enough to kill us or something larger, like an elephant.

Now, there are plenty of other constrictors etc running around, they can bite you too. The danger with them is no venom, as they lack it, but bacterial infection. So you should really get checked out no matter what bites you, that pretty much goes for any animal.

My brother in law gave me a call about a snake in their house, once I saw it I realized it was a baby reticulated python and told em it didn't have venom, we grabbed it, but it still tried to bite us, we pissed it off since it was in a corner, not the snake's fault. They were cool with me releasing it alive about a kilometer away from their house, they didn't like it being too close since in a year or two it would be big enough to eat their chihuahua, something I always worried about when I let my poodle/bichon mix run around the yard. hel_l, my wife was walking him here in the US on a leash and a Hawk tried to get him

My friend has a contact in Buriram who says a friend of his makes about 4 million Baht a year running her after hours private tuition with 200 kids on her books.

I'm sorry but the going rate for a month of tutoring in a classroom environment in Buriram is 1000 a month.

Ifall students turned up every month and paid,which I can assure you they don't, it is still nowhere near 4mil.

I gave up private teaching as I was fed up with kids saying they would pay "next week" and didn't.

Looks like the friend of a friend of a friend has added a zero on the end of her sums.

We only tutored younger students. We tried university age and it sucked with them not showing up etc. But if the parent pays at the beginning of the month and has to drive the kid, they will be there.

And yeah, I agree 1k/month is the standard Farang small group session rate in smaller towns. That would mean she tutored 4,000 students per month.

I can see 40,000. Perhaps someone said "sii muun" and it was wrongly interpreted as "sii lan"

I also question the number of students.

With my wife and I BOTH tutoring with classes no larger than 10 students our schedule looked like this:

M-F

4:30-5:30 each of us had a class 1 grade 1 and 1 grade 2

5:30-6:30 my wife taught a class matayom 1-3 mixed

S

10-12 each of us had a class. Grade 5 and (I forget either k2-p2)

12-2 each of us had a class. Grade 4 and grade 3

Sunday

10-12 my wife taught a group of doctors.

That might not seem like a lot on paper, but when you finish your day at 7pm (once everyone is picked up) and you don't have fully free weekends it adds up. The extra money is wonderful, but you will burn out. That's about 50 students total in those classes, 1/4th of the 200 quoted.

Unless that woman is pulling the government after school tutoring BS where all students are highly suggested to stay and study (their grades mysteriously lower if they don't and magically raise if they do) then yeah perhaps, because 20-35kids after school in their classroom is an easy feat, plus weekends.

.... hi-5 is in English.. if anything it's checking your IP and seeing that you are in Thailand so it assumes you want it in Thai.

I set one up to keep in contact with some students, and it's in English, even my wife has her's setup in English.

Ian: What type of snake is that yellow and black one. I haven't seen a cobra like that before.

The yellow and black stripes are a common pattern in Thailand.

Batesian and Müllerian mimicry are rampant in a tropical setting, so cool too.

It's a mangrove snake (bogia)

Do not confuse with the banded krait.

Haha, thanks. And there we have an example of Müllerian mimicry, where two species look the same but unlike Batesian the Mimick is dangerous like the model.

Batesian = Wolf in sheep's clothing while Müllerian is like gang colors haha.

Sorry, I'll stop with the ecology lessons.

I learned to speak Thai since excluding my wife, only 3 of my friends can speak decent English. Being able to get cheaper prices because I speak Central and Northern is only a bonus!