BlackArtemis

America? Jesus... After college the vast majority of girls get fat and or ugly. It's like they hit htis magical wall around 27, then the next large group hits another wall around the mid 30's leaving very few to make it past their 40's skinny and beautiful.

And Hollywood, blargh.

Then again, I married a Thai/Chinese girl and don't find huge amounts of farang as sexy as I do Asians, so what do I know.

Some Thais think learning English will get them a better salary.....but i doubt that would fit into your whore infested conspiracy?

The other aspect you forgot was many girls can TYPE excellent English but struggle to speak it and therefore like the internet ,after I met a few it was quite apparent.

Dont suppose yuou noticed also they will tell you "how much" when paying at the tills in Tesco/Carrefour in ENGLISH?

Don't forget restaurants that see a lot of Farang customers, or American franchises like DQ, Pizza Hut, etc. So English majors even get jobs like that to better themselves.

My wife(Thai) has a dream of opening her own Kindergarten in Chiang Mai. First she will start her MS ED Early Childhood here in the US and then we can look at a PHD in Admin. Despite he being Thai we know the logistics of doing this is insane, but it gives a goal to work towards.

We had done the other idea. We found a 4 story town house with in walking distance of our work and started after school tutoring. 1st floor was a lobby/waiting room, 2 floors were classrooms and we lived on another. We had about 40+ students and 7 adults of various ages broken up by class. I believe we pulled in close to 45k/month average from this. But the kids would done at 7pm and 4-5 hrs on sat for the both of us led to a lot of work on top of the course load at home. It was worth the money for the time we did it, but I could not live knowing I would have to do that til I died to make decent money.

At a bar in Suhkumvit, left side of the yellow line

University students work freelancing,waitresses do the same,bank workers do the same,so this post is worthless

Nonsense.

Nonsense that Uni girls don't do freelance? Plenty of girls who d this when they need rent, or an iPhone, or braces, most of them just don't go with Farang.

My wife and I burned through 80k/month in Chiang Mai, but we also didn't attempt to save since we knew we would be in the US.

12k for rent

8k for car

5k for internet/cellphones

2-4k for misc bills (like when we bought aircons for our business)

But then I threw money into my awesome Honda Chaly, seen to the left.

I think we saw every movie that came out

Ate out 95% of the time cause after working who wants to cook for two. 90% of the time we ate Thai, but often more posh restaurants.

Clubs 2-3x a month

facials and massages for the wife

Honestly I would say in CM as a young coupple with plans on putting kids into an international school and funding their own retirement at least 200k/month is needed to live a life without sacrifices.

As a single guy in a studio apartment, 40K in CM would be more than enough.

How easy is it to get Eppi Pens in Thailand?

Used to have one as a pet. I would feed it pinky mice and I never found any bones!

Many Asian breeds are capable of killing animals up to 20kg, so pets and children beware. As for us being bigger, we only have to stuff a burning sensation that can last up to 20hrs, unless you are allergic to the venom.

They are also very aggressive and very quick/maneuverable. The last two legs are longer than the rest and they can quickly grasp onto things and whip around and get you. I know people who have tried to poke them with a stick to only have then get on the stick run up it and bite before the person even has the time to react and drop the stick.

As stated by mizzi, keep your drains plugged, they thrive in high humidity and are very capable swimmers.

I hope you have a swift recovery.

There is no overating Western Education. But you must realize the problem with American Education is the fact that is is very unequal. Most Thais end up in an urban setting, where the worst schools usually are. There are plenty of fantastic public schools in America, but they exist in the suburbs and affluent communities.

Expect a phone call shortly afterwards with a lower price...

Sorry for your trouble, I am sure this was not an easy decision.

My wife was the Kindergarten II English teacher at the school I worked at.

This site uses a lot of acronyms. EP-English Program. What is a NP?

National Program or Native program. I know Dara Academy just started this in Chiang Mai.

All classes in English except for Thai Language and culture class.

My niece begins next semester, I am interested to see what happens.

As for if I married a girl with a child already? It depends on quite a few factors.

The first is age, a very young kid would be easy to place into an international school and set them down a good path.

If they were older I would most likely put them in the best Thai program I could and do private tutoring in English and English camps.

If they were already struggling in Thai subjects, I would get them private tutoring in those subjects first. If they were able to catch up I would begin tutoring in English, if not continue tutoring in Thai.

No matter the circumstance I would try to provide the best route for their success.

If I were young and married in Thailand. which I am/was I would settle for nothing less than an international school.

I have returned to the US to obtain a BS ED so that I can return and make enough money (or teach at one of these schools and have a much lower tuition) so my future kids have the best chance they can have. I have begun looking at maters programs so I have even more options.

As for losing identity. Most cases the parents are to blame. I know of half kids and full blooded Thais who have gone to international programs and speak central and northern Thai perfectly. But I know of parents who purposly do not teach their kids Northern Dialect or don't put a strong emphasis on Thai because of stupid reasons like "it isn't hi-so".

over here in the US it's horrible, I have run into many Thai kids here who can barely speak Thai, because their parents were to lazy to put in the time.

This post is just a flow of ideas of things for them to find/take pics of.

I think doing it on a sunday would be great. The sunday market begins around 3pm but really picks up around 5pm.

Wat Pra-sing

Wat Chedi Luang

Wat Chiang Man

these temples are all within the old city.

When visiting temples modesty is important. It doesn't matter what others might be wearing, especially foreigners, there are some proper ways to dress. 99% of the time guys won't have trouble. But always wear a shirt while walking around. Shorts at the knees will be fine. For the girls they should cover their shoulders, no low cut shirts. A simple t-shirt is fine. Cover at least to the knees.

3 king Monument, there is also a decent museum there.

there is also a monument for Mengrai. It has some info about him. So you could ask why is he so important to the North, how he died etc.

I did a scavenger hunt and Q&A with my third grade students in the museum.

For walking street you can have them take a picture with the Ahka women and even have them buy a wooden frog from them.

Have them eat bugs and squid, with pictures.

Coke in a glass bottle

Golden statue in front of the police dept.

street dogs

fresh fruit / fruit shake

Kao lam - sticky rice in a piece of bamboo

A fresh coconut

a Thai "ice cream sandwich" which is coconut based icecream between slices of white bread, litterally and ice cream sandwich

a picture at each gate would be a big walk.

buy a pair of fisherman / elephant pants

Som-tam - spicy papaya salad

Thai Iced tea

Bubble tea - "Chai-muk"

http://thailandforvisitors.com/north/chian...al/oldcity.html gives you a map of some of the places I mentioned. do a search for Chiang Mai old city and you will see a lot more.

Other things to do:

Chiang Mai Zoo

Doi Suthep

Flight of the Gibbeon

rent a raft/house boat at Huay Tung Thao lake and float while eating lunch.

A Moo Gata, see the similarly named thread in the Chiang Mai forum. It's Thai BBQ

Elephant riding

there are tons of things I am leaving out, but I just can't think of them at the moment. I just highly suggest you explore a day before hand and think of pics and places. Obviously this can't be done for Sunday market.

It would also be helpful if you had people to help translate etc, but not 100% necessary.

Good luck and feel free to send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm state-side now so i might take a few hours to reply

I wouldn't worry too much. They have no interest in Farang and if you are going out by tuk tuk or seelaw I would expect them to know which roads to avoid.

What is a seelaw?

It means 4 wheels, but I was referring to the red trucks. Another word would be Roat Deng.

I wouldn't worry too much. They have no interest in Farang and if you are going out by tuk tuk or seelaw I would expect them to know which roads to avoid.

Choom Paa is the only one my wife and I go to (willingly) Now it's been a year, but they always had the best quality IMO. Their selection is not as nice as the one behind hillside, but the meat quality is a hel_l of a lot better.

On the corner of the moat b/t Chang Puak and Tapae

There are a few fairly good English programs out there. But they are few and far between, and they are managed by Thai's who don't know a hod carrier from a teacher.

It's a shame. PB, I know you have kids and know a lot about teaching in Thailand - if you had young kids here where would you put them?

I would only consider an international school. Or never bring them here or have kids here.

I agree with this. For Thai nationals there are plenty of decent EP, and now NP programs. However you are never going to meet western standards, you will have to sacrifice somewhere.

Good day everyone

Thanks again for all your input.

I have decided to try the scavenger hunt you have suggested. It sounds like a very good way to get to know the area in and around Chiang Mai and it should also be a lot of fun for the students. Which places should we definitely include into our schedule? Of course there should be some temples, but also markets, maybe a local food stall, but what else?

And what kind of challenges could we give the students? I really like the picture idea, taking pictures while eating a local specialty or a group photo in front of a temple.

Any other suggestions, maybe even some concrete examples you could think of?

Thank you very much

Lee

Are you ok with them using public transportation?

You really need to educate them about the laws of the roads in CM, first being that pedestrians don't have a right away, pedestrian crossings mean very little and sometimes red lights and stop signs don't either.

If you do the hunt at sunday market or in the night bazaar you rule out the need of driving around.

Also if you plan on temple shots, you should also mention that funny pics with Buddha images and showing a lot of skin (especially for girls) is a no no.

A time limit, a money limit, public transportation or no, and anything else anyone could come up with would really help us flesh something out.

Good luck, you really seem adamant about putting together something really enjoyable and memorable for these kids.

747's are pretty stout and can make due when one engine goes.

I clearly remember in 1987 I was 5 and heading to israel to my step sister's wedding. I was in a window seat on the wing and all of the sudden the engine furthest from the cabin erupted in flames. Fuel was cut and an emergency landing in Amsterdam became the game plan. I don't recall being scared or mass amounts of turbulence.

But stiil, I don't think anyone wants to be in these kind of situations, passengers or pilots. Kudos for them for doing a good job.

With the sin sod decisions I don't believe anyone has trouble here with agreements of Sin Sod for show, when the money is given back after the ceremony.

What many have an issue with is when parents of a girl ask for millions of Baht when their daughter has a high school or vocational school degree, has been previously married, has children, or is an ex bargirl.

When you plan marriage and you have 1 million baht ready to put down on a house and then the parents ask for that, yeah I see quite a few people getting upset about that.

Issues of money bring out new sides of people you thought you knew.

I like the Art cafe when I am craving a farang breakfast. The pancakes are great and the price is decent. I also like (I want to say John's place) on walking street, it used to be the library and a myriad of other stores prior. This was close to my house and work, but also a decent price.

Normally I would eat koaw Kai Jeow, eggs on rice. But I would say about once or twice a month I want a farang breakfast.

If she is interested in cooking, the Thai government has EXTREMELY cheap cooking schools for Thais. This might be worth a look.

On a side note, the books used to teach nursing are in English, but that doesn't always help.

Still sit by my "be intelligent" ideal.

Not only are they more likely to come from a family that doesn't think of you as a cash cow. But then having a decent conversation is possible. Further more a dumb girl in a sexy nurse's outfit is still dumb, and nothing prevents a smart girl from doing so (I mean wouldn't that just help the naughty teacher/librarian idea?!)

And last but not least, a positive correlation between intelligence and kinkiness exists

I got along with coworkers, but maybe would meet them outside of work once a month or two.

I am not against having expat friends, but I have often found that people in my own age group are only tourists or drunkards doing a piss poor job at teaching to fund their drinking.

So rather than getting down about not meeting farang friends I just stopped caring a long time ago and made friends with Thai's.

I am sure there are plenty of great expats etc, but the extent of my interaction will probably be this forum.

We went to a local wedding about 18 months ago. They were about 40. The story my wife told me was that the ladies parents wanted more than he could afford over 20 years ago. So they stopped them marrying, all other suitable matches her parents found were rejected by their daughter. Then about 3 years ago her dad died, she was still dating the original guy. He didn't want anyone else either. Eventually the mother relented, and just asked him to pay for the proceedings. I think she realised the daughter had waited all this time and was ready to wait her mother out too.

This stuff is the height of stupidity. Led around by the nose by her parents demands for 20 years. Unbelievable!!! I hope the couple did enjoy each others company during the long wait.

Yeah, from your perspective. Unfortunately we are in a country with completely different views. I think all of us experience situations on a weekly, if not daily, basis that makes just want to scream "Why don't you just do it this way?!". Oh well, it's their culture and their society and we are mostly onlookers, but sometimes it feels more like we are circus goers.