grtaylor

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Not exactly "transit" - you have to check in to Malaysia, get passport stamped, and then check out again . . . . .

Malaysia don't stamp passport anymore :-)

Thats new then - I was there in April and got stamped in and out.

G

Provider's Name:

Service Plan (Postpay or Prepay):

Call Rate to Bangkok landline:

Billing increment:

With regard to Prepay/Postpay, you can only get a Postpay contract if you have a Work Permit in Thailand. Otherwise, you will need to get a Prepay card.

Not sure what you mean by "Billing increment".

Cheapest - Air Asia 12,577 baht round trip (leave late November - return early December - Bangkok-Kuala Lumpur-Bali) You can't beat that!!! Not the best airline, but if you get the Xpress boarding and play the rugby scrum and get the front row, it's not bad. Just line up at the gate really early.

Aloha

Totally agree with the above.

My way, done it twice, no probs.

Make sure you have a cupl of hours for transit at KL_LCC.

Good luck.

Not exactly "transit" - you have to check in to Malaysia, get passport stamped, and then check out again . . . . .

Thanks all for the responses, very interesting.

I suspect that a word like career or at least the meaning as i intepret it is relatively new in the english language. Unless you were a scholor or merchant etc people only had jobs/occupations until 100 or so years ago in the west.

From http://www.etymonline.com - seems you're right about it being a fairly recent addition:

career (n.)

c.1534, "a running course" (especially of the sun, etc., across the sky), from M.Fr. carriere "road, racecourse," from O.Prov. carriera, from V.L. *(via) cararia "carriage (road), track for wheeled vehicles," from L. carrus "chariot" (see car). Sense of "course of a working life" first attested 1803. The verb is first attested in 1594 from the notion of a horse "passing a career" on the jousting field, etc. Careerist is from 1917.

This surely is a feature of all languages, that its not a one-to-one situation in terms of translating vocabulary. How much easier life would be if it were the case, and how much more boring "language" would be.

We were actually discussing this very subject in a class at my school today: how concepts which are easy to express in one language are very difficult in another, and vice-versa. A Finnish boy in the class told us that there is no word for "please" in Finnish, and that you have to convey the concept in a completely different way.

So, to us "profession", "job", "occupation" and "career" are different, in Thai they're mainly the same.

On the other hand, we also looked at the number of words for "you" in Thai, and what this says about the language and the culture.

[For anyone who is interested, this was an International Baccalaureate TOK (Theory of Knowledge) class, in which we were discussing language as a "Way of Knowing".]

It does seem to be a requirement that you show a record of paying personal Income Tax,

not so much what company you work for.

Technically, I work for a non-profit organisation - an international school owned by a non-profit foundation. For my PR application I had to get evidence from the school of its non-profit status, as well as details of the school's licence-holder, and all the members of the foundation board.

I did, however, fulfil all the requirements for salary earned and tax paid.

Something I noticed:

"pai" also means : "to go" (same tone, this makes it confusing)

I cannot read Thai btw

As is the case with many things in Thai language, the context will make it totally obvious.

Edit: By the way - and it's been said many times before in this forum, but always worth repeating - if I had to give you one piece of advice about learning Thai, it would be to learn to read it as soon as you've mastered the very basics.

mk

I second that - it really makes much more sense when you can read it!

Its very difficult to put into words why I applied. Looking at it logically, there don't seem many benefits. I guess part of it is psychological, in a sense. I have passports with 18 years of stamps, saying "permitted to remain until . . . . . . ", and that isn't enough for me. I don't want to be just "permitted" to remain on what is always a temporary basis. I want it to be exactly what it says: "Permanent".

and what about "CHECK BIN" which seems to be a combination of the US word "check" and the British word "bill" both meaning the same thing....and by coincidence comes in a "bin".

Actually, "check" here means "inspect", as in the British English "check the bill".

Interesting, I had assumed it came from the GIs calling for the "check" as they do in the states.....where have you found this out?

Yes, I always assumed it was "check" from American English, and "bill" (which, of course, becomes "bin" in Thai) from British English. The actual Thai expression is either "gep tang" or "kit tang", I think.

Thanks guys. Found the appropriate button and have found the psuedo/split audio setup. Enjoying the Ryder Cup with it right now!

Cheers

That's too bad. Generally I like the Scots, but I do hate them for inventing a game that takes away so much good pastureland.

Have fun with it. Another thing that you may want to do is to root around in the UBC settings and see if there's an option to turn on Dolby {anything} which will improve the surround sound that your reciever has to generate and make it more 'natural'.

Don't quite get why golf sounds better in 5.1 stereo . . . . . . .

It would have improved the quality of the bread.

Don't know why, most certainly did not on Bali, or in India.

It did in Viet Nam, Cambodia, And Lao.

To the OP, sincerely sorry for your domestic misfortune....

Speaking personally, I certainly like my sports...but...it's a bit hard for me to understand....

You've just had a major dust-up with your SO and that's led to you being out of your home.... And the thing you're worrying about is where to watch sports on TV????

My thoughts exactly!

What's your experience in the hotel industry? With your experience it's not likely. Possible to get in banking selling financial services, but a lot of people on this board hate people like that. You could teach biology and science at an international school. Teaching is not restricted to just teaching English.

hmm..interesting

i worked in a hotel for a few months once a long time ago thats all.

teaching biology sounds like it could be a winner. ive never taught before though, dont you need teaching qualifications/experience to work in thailand?

To work at a reputable international school, you would need a degree in the subject (which you already have), teaching certification from your home country, and a couple of years experience of teaching in a school somewhere else.

Some schools might take you just with the degree.

Thailand has been colonized by Chinese immigrants who now completely run the country...

Oops, that is a hit!

Pardon for asking, but why is there left hand driving in Thailand?

Anybody can shed some light over that burning question for me?

Thank you

That's a very good question. Also, why do they drive on the left in Japan? or Macau? The answer is obvious for former British colonies, but none of these were.

There are so many!!

In front of me is a very beautifully and expensively produced catalogue for hotel uniforms. Great graphics and well presented. The first page has 28 mistakes from glaringly obvious to punctuation.

I was once at a print shop in MBK. Whilst my wife was chatting to the salesman I happened to glance over and saw a thai guy with his menu. The translation was appalling. I mentioned this quietly to my wife and suggested that I offer to proof it for him. She told me that it would be rude to offer as he would lose face. I suppose losing customers is not so important.

That said I look forward to my next visit to our favourite local (upmarket) eatery where I enjy the fragile pigs leg!!

Years ago, at Dunkin' Donuts, there used to be a sign which said "Please pay when serviced". . . . .

I am one of the December 06 applicants. I've worked here for quite a long time, ten years in my current job. I have a graduate degree from Assumption University (taught in English), which went down extremely well with the lady Police Sergeant in Room 301! As part of that course, I had done some volunteer work and provided documentation of that in the way of photos. I also got two supporting letters (along with photos) from Thai friends, one a professor at Chula University, and the other an eminent person in the Thai musical scene, with the very highest connections (if you follow my meaning). Everything of that nature helps, I think.

Whenever I visited immigration I dressed well, always wearing a tie, and tried hard to be as polite as possible, wai-ing where necessary, etc, etc. I really believe this all helped. However, once the immigration department has "signed off" on your papers, its all in the hands of a higher authority, and you then just have to play the waiting game.

I'm still waiting, as are the other people who applied at the same time . . . . .

By the way, I have heard the the Thai test has got rather more difficult this year. You might ask someone from the December 07 applicants.

Hope that helps.

I am very unfamiliar with Bangkok and was wondering if anyone knows of lower priced hotel or guest house near Times Square Building, which is on Sukhumvit Road.

• Sukhumvit Crowne Hotel, between Soi 6 and 8
  
• Honey Hotel, Soi 19
  

There are others, but those two spring to mind. Neither is more than about 5-10 minutes walk.

G

I've been following an English language thread on another website, concerning the confusion over the difference between teacher and professor in English, and who is entitled to call themselves "Doctor". It set me thinking about various aspects of Thai which I find confusing.

It seem quite clear that in Thai the transliterated "dokter" is used for someone with a "prinya aek" degree, whatever discipline.

However, I am unclear as to the distinction between "mor" and "paerd" for a medical doctor (although I know that "mor" can be used in a wider sense, as in "mor doo" - astrologer). So, why do the nursing staff at Bumrungrad refer to the doctors as "ajarn", and what is the origin of that word?

"Ajarn" means teacher, but so does "khru" (from the Sanskrit). I always understood that "khru" was used up to High School level, and "ajarn" at universities. So, I'm not sure how that fits with a medical doctor.

I've heard that in the Protestant Christian churches here "Ajarn" is used as the way of addressing the pastor.

What is the exact meaning of "satrajarn" - professor?

Anyone like to clarify?

Thanks

I thought I would dig this thread up again as I want to go somewhere nice to eat again tonight (my birthday ) , any new suggestions for a quiet, romantic restaurant, not too expensive (1500-2000 for 2, excluding drinks).

Cheers!

Does anyone know of a decent Tapas restaurant as well? I have heard of Rioja, but have never been. Any good?

Tapas Cafe in the back near cheap charlies on soi 11.

great sangria, great food, good ambiance inside or out. within your price range. sorry i missed you yesterday. happy birthday

edit: I see you found it. we eat there weekly.

They do a really good Paella too!

I've been very happy with Car World Club, who have helped me on a number of occasions. They do speak English on their emergency number.

Great - never heard of this group before (I have Googled for road side rescue before when I was looking for such a service) can you indicate rough costs.

Have you called them out when outside Bangkok ?

Do they fix road side or just tow away?

I think the annual cost is about 1,900 baht. For that, as a far as I remember, you get three free tows up to 40Km. I've been towed three times, once off the Bangkok-Chonburi motorway, and twice from Pattaya to Chonburi (before there was a GM dealer in Pattaya). On the third occasion, which was a Sunday, the motorbike rider said "If you had a Toyota I could have fixed it today". I sold my Opel soon after, and bought a Toyota. Since then I've never had to call them out!

They fix roadside when they can.

It was, like, totally awesome.

Basically, it was, like, up to you.

Some people can't utter a dozen words without one of these two.

I like, yeah, totally hate totally, like . . . . .

I've been very happy with Car World Club, who have helped me on a number of occasions. They do speak English on their emergency number.

where does the saying "will you take breakfast" come from?

I never take breakfast, sometimes I eat it though.

I have feeling that it is Scottish usage, perhaps more specifically Edinburgh.

I go back to see friends and relatives. I'd be a lot happier if they came here to see me

G

A few years ago the poms decided to change "make a decision" to "take a decision".

Really? Take it where? I can take a sack of groceries from the store to my home. I can take a girl out of a bar - where can I "take a decision"

The pot should stop calling the kettle black.

How about the overly trite "actually"? Believe this started in OZ & quickly moved to England where is caught fire. Now it's ok to use it 2 or 3 times per sentence.

Pom here - and I have NEVER heard anyone say "take a decision" . . . . .