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CrunchWrapSupreme
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Posts posted by CrunchWrapSupreme
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13 hours ago, Kadilo said:
It seems the same wealthy family and friends of, are looking to buy a lot more in what they see as prime land and investment opportunities and obviously see a market in the future for people retreating to Isaan.
For what it's worth, wife I and wanted to pop into our Global House out here in Issan this weekend, just for a few things. Man, the parking lot was completely full. Cars double parked and out in the street. I've never seen it like that in years. Trucks laden with material. What's going on?
My thoughts immediately went to those with the cash cleaning up on land deals to be had, buying from desperate people, followed now by a fury of development on said land.
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1 hour ago, cyril sneer said:I doubt covid will have had much impact to government school learning
Indeed. If anything, I'd say the online learning helped the good 5 or so students I have per class study and learn better, without the distractions of the other 80% they normally have to endure in the classroom.
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19 hours ago, marcusb said:
They have cabinets full of documents and information on arrivals and tourists but no way to access or analyze it.
They love paperwork. Purely symbolic. Something is printed and on paper and that means something, regardless if it's true, actually being done, is something to be referenced later, or even read at all. At every school I've taught at, I've gone through the tedious process of printing up lesson plans, though they'll vaguely resemble what winds up happening in the classroom. At some point the impressive stacks will be presented to the director. He's not going to read them.
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Oh dear, now it took NINE posts in a thread in the Teaching in Thailand forum to get to the bickering? Come on guys, you're losing your touch! ????
My American grandparents said half past, quarter 'til, etc. They spent their lives with analog clocks and watches.
My mom spoke a combo of analog and digital. She wore an analog watch, but had digital clocks around the house. This was the 80's.
Then us 80's kids all spoke digital. I'm late for GI Joe, it's 3-oh-5 PM. Casio watches were all the rage.
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14 hours ago, CartagenaWarlock said:
However indirect jobs? Street vendors, motorcycle riders, etc.
Yeah, I seriously question that 3% figure. There's the tons of indirect jobs which the working girls support. Motosais, beauty salons, clothing and accessories, better food, drinks, entertainment they could afford for themselves when working. Then there's the family support, the money they send back upcountry, which their families then stimulate their local economies with. Then most of all, there's their ongoing, long term relationships. These may be good customers, or may be one of their many boyfriends, unaware of how many other punters they got going, heh. Or one might be that lucky guy they eventually settle down with. Just where does the 3% end? At the cash handed over per ST deed? Beyond that it goes much further, and is hardly limited to farangs. On the much larger Thai side you got the karaoke bars, soapy massages, and all the mia nois. Together it makes for an integral part of this culture.
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"POWER YOU UP, with your feeling to make your heartbeat get excited than ever with the NEW SUZUKI SWIFT’s unique design, DUALJET engine for the full-speed driving performance..."
Heh. Wife and I have had our Suzuki Swift for about a year now. Cash price was 560k baht. We did finance, total of all payments is 660k. Yes, it's all loaded in advance, so 18% interest. But I get a nice 7k monthly payment I like. This is a new car. I've heard of many farangs renting an old car, or financing second hand for 9-10k a month. Ridiculous. Might as well enjoy a new car.
As you know, business is down everywhere in general, so the dealers are willing to deal. But they didn't want to deal with financing the farang. They asked my wife to do it, despite having no official income other than a stall in the market. So they told her copy her dad's farm papers, put on farm clothes, and go have her picture taken by the farm. Her theoretical income was calculated as if working the rai of land. Heh. They just want to get cars out the door. You should see all the red plates around. Go for it.
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11 hours ago, ukrules said:
Video of someone being dragged away while trying to enter would be a bonus.
Oh yeah. Rolling out the red carpet for those QUALITY TOURISTS. ????
KSR's been busy since at least a week ago. Check out "Enddless Life" on YT. Cool Indian guy about BKK and Patts. He was out there with everyone somehow getting tipsy off some unknown substance in paper coffee cups. ???????? The cops were out there with megaphones barking warnings, but never bothered to check anyone.
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I've been in Thailand awhile. I won't say how long, lest the fine gentlemen around here whip out their measuring tapes. During this time I've had family and friends who were admins in schools and govt offices. Indeed, they confided in me that the figure mentioned is around that amount, perhaps a bit higher.
But it doesn't matter what the number is, nor the exact logistics behind it getting from the govt to the schools. What really matters is you can be sure that whatever each teacher is paid, began as a much higher number further up the line, after which many hands came out and took a cut.
Let's not kid ourselves. I know many of us teachers like to think we're on a noble mission. You know how schools get excited about hiring foreign teachers. They go out of their way to get them. They employ agencies. They're quite motivated in this endeavor. Though their motivation certainly isn't educating the kids, imparting upon them knowledge of the English language to broaden their horizons. Hardly.
If that were the case, Thailand wouldn't be ranked 100th+ again in the recent world English rankings. If that were the case, they wouldn't have teachers frequently sitting in their offices with classes canceled for activities, while the kids run amok. You'd think they'd care about the many teachers who just play Hangman every day, or pass out worksheets they printed off from Busy Teacher before class, or go to YouTube, type "English grammar" and hit play, then sit at the desk to play on their phones.
Indeed, the education is hardly a concern. The kids are all passed with at least minimum scores regardless. The farang in front of the classroom makes for good optics. He's the finishing touch in group photos. And then of course, there's the money. With each additional one that is hired there's another revenue stream, another salary from which to be siphoned. Same with everything else in the school. The school director is a businessman. He commissions projects, a new gym, activity room, "learning center" or whatever around the school. Each is another source of graft. In all the schools I've been at, abandoned structures sit scattered around the campus, having long since served their purpose. Rooms with piles of computers, TVs, lab equipment. No longer being used for whatever were the spoken reasons, but for the graft.
At one of my first jobs I was paid with paper checks. I was pleasantly surprised to see my first one was higher than the amount I thought we agreed to. Then I got the call, "Uhh, there's been an error. Your salary is incorrect, but it's too late to fix it now. Please return the overage each month to me." Heh. Such was my introduction to this lovely system. I then found such is not limited to the farangs, but Thais as well, with many having to kick back for the coveted govt jobs they had landed.
I've been to director's homes that were palaces, with walls surrounding large tracts of land, and driven there in agencies' multi-million baht European imports. Such certainly couldn't be afforded with whatever their official salaries are on paper. Like our dear friend in the RTP, Joe Ferrari, their alternative forms of income are vastly more lucrative. Shakedowns, graft, cuts, kickbacks. As such, their official duties are given less priority, be that policing, administrating, or teaching. Not to say there aren't some good examples of such people, who sincerely care about their jobs, though in my experience they've been rare.
Believe it or not. Just another farang, telling yet another story of the LOS.
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4 hours ago, puchooay said:
I can't see where he said after school.
This is a village school by the sound of it. Village kids will not have 200 baht a head to study English for an hour a week.
I didn't say he said after school. It was a question. See the question mark? I was asking him if it was after school.
Because believe it or not, it happened to me. I indeed saw the teacher who had asked me to teach collecting funds from the parents each week.
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Yup, wife says the pay out here was around 400 baht also. Doesn't take much when everyone's been hurting, and as been said, the foreign ATMs they were once used to haven't been around.
There were also plenty of bottles of lao khao being handed out, and packs of M-150 to aid with the remaining rice harvest. Plenty of tuned up, staggering Thai farmers after happily unloading those bales and casting their votes.
There's also the issue of getting everyone to return to their home provinces to vote. They likely wouldn't do it without some incentive. When we went into town on election day there was a lot more traffic, and a lot more good looking women in the market, who I imagine had since been lured away for the lucrative careers available to such women. Some professional, office types, other professionals tattooed in tight dresses.
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2 hours ago, johng said:We can look towards the takeover of Tesco'ssssssss for an insight.
Mr. CP's got the already large CP group and its food empire, then Makro, True (cell phones and TV), recently Lotus's's's's, and now he's grabbed Dtac.
The Lotus acquisition was investigated by the anti-monopoly office, if you could believe Thailand has such a thing, and then approved. ????
Well, maybe his next acquisition will be the Thai govt. He couldn't be any worse than Mr. P. ????????????
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Thursdays after school? Heh. She's gonna tell some parents she got a farang teacher for a special class, and collect a few hundred baht a head. This happened to me. ????
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Where to begin. The low wages for foreign teachers. The low requirements for foreign teachers. Better qualified teachers that wouldn't be attracted by the low wages anyway. The ridiculous visa and paperwork process in getting hired. Then the paperwork that comes in the schools themselves. Ridiculous lesson plans and reports which must be stacked into neat, fat binders, despite having little to do with the education itself. Oh, if only that effort in generating paperwork could actually be devoted to teaching.
While the papers may say this and that is being done, students are allowed run amok in the classrooms, taking selfies, playing games, quite often awhile the teachers are away at meetings or sitting in the office, or classes are canceled due to activities. No discipline, no accountability. Copying and cheating. Passing scores which must be given regardless if they do nothing.
So there are a few good, devoted teachers and their rare, motivated students, who usually make up less than 20% of a class. They're given the boot out of Thailand after a maximum of 6 years teaching, or less if they've switched schools more often, due to the flawed teaching license waiver system from the Teacher's Council. (Though I heard a new passport might get around this. ????)
Then as usual, they'll try sticking it on the farangs, ignoring how much their system's at fault, and that the majority of English teachers in Thailand happen to be Thai.
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This teetotaling, puritanical nonsense cannot continue indefinitely. Not if the families behind Singha and Chang have anything to say about it.
Those in govt might not like the bar owners and employees, but the top hi-so elite who actually make the booze have had their wallets lightened a bit much for too long, for which there will definitely be a reckoning. ????
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It's hardly a reopening. They're just not coming when there's: 1) Piles of paperwork, 2) Testing and possible quarantine, 3) Pricey insurance, 4) No nightlife.
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15 hours ago, Tom H said:
Dont pay more 20k Baht.
Nice places can be had for around 10k a bit further from the CBD in BKK. I was paying 8k for a decent place with all the amenities, security, parking, pool, fitness. Didn't have the prestige of a more expensive place, but you shouldn't be spending on that if playing the long game.
Indeed, rent. Absolutely don't invest in property. The ads are bursting with rentals with folks already in that boat, which they aren't getting out of any time soon.
Or hey, come out here to Issan, where your baht goes even further, and you can kick back and relax watching the sunset over the fields, with no traffic jams nor pollution.
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11 hours ago, pattayadude said:tg are back? now that's surprising!
There's one at my local market. First thing she said to me was "Welcome to Amazing Thailand!" Then I found her English was quite good. Doubt she got it from some intl school or uni. What she got from her trade was prob a lot better anyway. Real hands on experience.
But now she's up there in years, so it was time to retire to selling desserts in the market. Good timing given the recent events. Bet she's got some stories to tell about the good ol' days. Though I doubt my wife would be as interested.
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It's really a joke at this point. My entire school came to take their Covid test the other day as they'll be returning to school soon. Other than spreading each level out to come at different times of the day, few other protective measures were taken. Before and after the test kids were congregating, talking, playing as normal. Somehow everyone tested negative. Perhaps there were some positives no one's talking about as they want to open. Yet they seem to be accepting the risk.
Crowded shopping malls are open, the schools are opening, the BTS is packed everyday. This hanging onto the bars staying shut is just teetotaling, puritanical nonsense.
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18 hours ago, sniggie said:
the car on a long credit was actually a good benefit. Our main car is in my name, I made sure of that. I have heard stories of farangs having the 'Where's the car, darling' moments. With her car on credit no family members can plead for money
Hehe, my thoughts exactly. The long credit is pricey but nice security. Wife and I have had our new car a year now, also 7k baht a month. It's worth it to me as it's my commuter car, used daily, and necessary for getting around out here in the sticks.
Fam had a pickup awhile back which was repoed, and thus they have no other car. They need us for errands and picking up big or far away things, that their salengs can't do.
1) No "where's the car?" moments (sold/gifted), 2) No large money requests (See that car out there? Still making those payments.) ????
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1 hour ago, RafPinto said:many thai women are keen to get a farang.
Heh, can't tell you how many times I've heard "Do you have any single friends in America?"
I just wrote about this in another thread, grandparents having to bear the burden. In the case of my village it's not the escaped fathers, they're actually still around. Hard working, usually staying out on the farms. It's their bratty daughters who are out of their control.
They can't deal with them with their hands full farming. They've repeatedly told them to do this and that, get a decent job, do housework, help out the fam. But they ran off to be bar girls, and now back in the village are princesses who can't be bothered to do much. When scolded it's off to the sympathetic grandparents they go, then eventually to live with their boyfriends. Then when their lazy boyfriends also aren't doing much either, it's back to the grandparents they go with a hand out.
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I must tell this to the wife to relay to our returned bar girls in the village. Ah, who needs Channel 3, when after work I just sit in front of the house with a beer, watching the drama unfold in our soi.
Having lost their previous livelihoods, the young ladies are expected to at least lend a hand, having graciously been given a roof over their heads, and modest sustenance. Just wash the dishes, sweep the floors, do some laundry. As you know, such is getting difficult for their 70+ grandparents. Yet this has been met with a lot of scowling and complaining. They're just too good for such things.
The girls say, oh, but they are working, just couldn't sell any food by the road for a few hours in the morning. So grandpa digs in his pockets, and hands them a few baht. It's sad and pathetic. Spoiled brats. The result of years of thousands of baht tossed at them nightly.
So their parents and grandparents then stepped up their complaining, why can't you do a little housework? And the response is much like I saw of some teenagers back in the States, "Fine, I'm moving out". They're going to their Thai BFs in the neighboring villages, where I'm sure the same conflicts will eventually be repeated. Only this time, the BFs will be expecting something obvious in return, heh, and thus they'd better have those IUDs in place. They're barely feeding the mouths they've got already.
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They've been doing this for at least a year now. Last year I was in BKK, a fam member's work had ordered a bunch, and I got a box. Fancy looking like on a flight. Inside was a sandwich, pastry, fruit cup. Not bad. But a drop in the bucket of their woes.
As said, there's prob mad corruption. Rats on the sinking ship, running off with free supplies and fake orders.
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10 minutes ago, Will B Good said:Got away with that for 6 months until one night I bumped into her as I strolled along Sukhumvit (with a friend).
My mate did the same. He normally stays in an Issan province, was supposedly at an "English camp", but then went to BKK where he was noticed on Suk. Word got back to the missus as there's thousands of pairs of eyeballs about, most of whom have phones and are on social media, and some of whom are likely to know the wife.
My advice to him: 1) Don't go strolling down Suk, 2) Don't be big and African as you stick out like a sore thumb. ????
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1 hour ago, Mike KIWI said:Then they need to legalize prostitution, as it is a very large part of current Thai culture.
Whenever I'm eating or having a coffee out in the market, I overhear my wife with the ladies and the local gossip. In this there's often "mia noi, mia noi...", talk of someone's mistress. Everyone knows who the attractive ladies are in the area, how they don't need to work, and don't get married as the alternative is far more lucrative. Someone with the dosh is taking care of them, business owners, govt officials, police officers. It makes the bar scene everyone points at pale in comparison.
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Tesla Powerwall sold on Lazada ????
in Alternative/Renewable Energy Forum
Posted · Edited by CrunchWrapSupreme
Tesla in my Issan farmhouse - likely not
Teslas in the Emporium parking garage for which the hi-sos gladly pay 100% markups - yeah