Callmeishmael

Thrown out the of pickup.... This seems to happen amazingly often here in Thailand. I wonder if she was wearing a seat belt?

I have been doing 90 day reports for almost 20 years and have had a work permit for about the same time. I have never been asked for anything related to my job or may Work Permit when making the 90 day reports. I suspect that: 1. The official quoted in the BP was speaking without engaging his brain. OR: 2. A requirement that is on the books but unenforced for decades. OR: 3. A new rule that may or may not come into effect as a knee-jerk response to the Chinese gangster problems.

I noticed that in the last line of a BP article about Chinese setting up illegal businesses. My guess is that this requirement has been on the books for years but hasn't been enforced since the 1970s. It's not unusual for the high ranking officials to have no clue as to what the day to day procedures actually are. Either that or this is going to be a new requirement that will be imposed upon everyone because of shifty Chinese gangsters working in Thailand.

^^ I remember using VMS well. We called out inter-office emails 'VMs'. Back in the mid-'90s I moved from VMS to XTree!

^ Actually the article says 3600 every year, not 360. The UK and Thailand have about the same population, so people are 9 times more likely to drown in Thailand.

I strongly suspect that the reason she sank was that proper procedures were not followed. If I was investigating this sinking I would look at two things first: 1. How often were the fuel tanks cleaned? Diesel, particularly Bio-diesel is hydrophilic (will absorb water) and this provides a very good environment for micro-organisms. If the fuel tanks are not drained and cleaned every year or so, a slimy layer of dead micro-organisms will coat the sides and bottom of the tanks. In rough weather, this slime will break free and can clog the fuel filters, stopping the engine. Since one of the main engines and the generators all failed at about the same time, this lack of maintenance could have caused the sinking. 2. The topside doors are all water-tight and should be closed when the vessel is underway. However, Thailand is really hot I wouldn't be surprised if some of the doors were habitually propped open to get more fresh air down below. The seas were rough enough that large amounts of water could have unexpectedly come cascading down into the engine room and other critical areas.

I stopped teaching private lessons a few years ago. Back when I did teach, I would charge 500 baht/hour if I didn't have to travel far and 700 an hour if I had to drive to their place. I got some work from current or former students and other jobs from neighbors (like my dentist).

Just teaching K-12.

Wearing black helps you look slimmer. I do need to get a couple of new black shirts before the shopping frenzy begins though.

I bought a car (with a manual transmission) when I sold my bike. When possible I use the BTS/Subway though.

I sold my last (6 speed manual) bike several years ago because riding in Bangkok was just too crazy and dangerous. But if I ever ride again it will be a Legend 200 or something similar.

I suspect that many upcoming events will be canceled just in case an important announcement is made.

In about 20 years of teaching in Thailand I have seen or heard about 3 fights. 1. Two boys in M3 or M4 liked the same girl. One of the boys got 6 of his friends (not from the same school) and tried to ambush the other boy. The ambushed boy managed to run back to the school and the attackers didn't try to follow him in. The boy who arraigned the attack was expelled from the school immediately. His mother tried to get him back into the school a few months later, but was refused. 2. A tall, athletic boy bullied a fat bookish boy until the fat boy just exploded and tried to attack him in the school canteen. Admin talked and wrung their hands about this, but didn't have to do anything - the fat boy's parents immediately pulled him out of the school and found another one. There were zero consequences for the bully, but he decided that he preferred to hang out with his friends to going to school and dropped out after M5. His father bought him a degree from another high school and entrance to some university. 3. Two boys in M2 had a scuffle - one of them had been bullying the other. They were moved to different seats in the classroom and there have been no further incidents since then. I have noticed that when a bullying victim loses his temper and fights back, Thai teachers tend to be more sympathetic to the bully rather than to the victim!

"put to sleep"? I don't think so. Most veterinarians will not euthanize a dog or any other animal. I believe that there are government (Tessaban) workers who might catch a dangerous dog, but they won't kill them. So who is left? The police? Unless there is something in it for them, they will usually do nothing. Dogs are protected in Thailand by both law and custom. Killing a dog is a crime and the killer could face both fines and prison time. Perhaps someone with more knowledge can correct me, but I have never heard of a legal mechanism in Thailand to deal with a killer dog. Having said that, after the news has died down, the dogs will probably have some sort of 'accident' and quietly die.

In the not-too-distant past the Thai teacher would pick up a bamboo stick and let them both have it! Fortunately, that sort of discipline is largely a thing of the past. Unfortunately, most schools have not introduced an organized school-wide discipline policy to replace it. An American school principal visited my school a few years ago and when he asked about the normal discipline steps - warning - detention - suspension... the Thai admins just looked at him like a bunch of goldfish. Discipline begins and ends with the classroom teacher in most Thai schools.

The top Chinese gangster in Thailand "HuTao", is married to a police colonel, who is the daughter of a former deputy PM. Those are serious connections and I would be surprised if he actually spends a single night behind bars. Rumor has it that he was only arrested because of pressure from the Chinese government who would like the Thais to clean up some of this mess for them.

FB locked me out for a similar reason. They sent me a message that I would have to send them a picture id to get back into my account. I sent them a message back that basically said h**l no and just assumed that I would have to give up FB. The next day I was surprised to see that my account was unlocked again!

A lot of Thai people have the mindset that their kids will take care of them when they get old, so they want their kids to be happy and to love their parents. This concept may have worked fine in a agricultural village, but in a modern environment it can lead to the kids never becoming mature, productive adults. Your wife may have this attitude and is siding with your daughter from an unconscious desire that the daughter will not become estranged from her.

Depending on who you believe or how you count them, there are between 30 (reported by the Dept. of Rural Roads) and 60(Est. by WHO) traffic deaths in Thailand EVERY day. The ones you read about in the news just happened to be reported because of when, where or how they occurred. There are many more, every day that are not reported in the news, but the victims are just as dead.

I wonder how many of them were wearing seat belts and if that would have made a difference between living and dying?

As others have recommended, you should talk to the teacher before going to school administration. There is a good chance that the students did not understand what he or she was saying and that this is all a misunderstanding. Several years ago a friend asked his students to solve 'Einstein's puzzle' which talks about 5 neighbors of whom some smoke cigars, others drink whisky, etc.. The kids told their parents that their teacher was teaching them about smoking and drinking! If, of course, he is a flat Earther, he should be fired immediately. An idiot like that has no business teaching children.

It would be interesting to see an article detailing the activities and connections of 'Tuhao', the Chinese businessman/drugdealer/pub owner/etc. However, given his connections I think that most journalists are keeping a safe distance from this story and are only quoting police PR statements. According to Thai gossip that my wife heard and some publicly available info here is what I have heard: 1. The crackdown is happening because the Chinese government has been putting pressure on the Thai government to arrest him and shut down a Thailand to China drug smuggling ring. 2. He is married to a Thai police colonel whose father is (or was) a very high ranking policeman and whose grandfather was a deputy prime minister. 3. Because of his connections his Thai citizenship application was fast-tracked and took only 2 years to process. 4. Also because of his connections, the Thai police are being very reluctant to pursue the case, and it is going on only because the Chinese Embassy is pushing it. Like is said, much is this is gossip and I don't know how truthful it is. The only hard facts I know are his wife's police rank and her family connections. I'm mentioning this here, because 'Tony' is one of Tuhao's minions!

It's almost impossible to get a taxi on Sukhumvit. I always take the BTS or MRT instead, they may be crowded, but you can always get a ticket and get on. On the rare occasions that I find myself there late at night, I will literally just walk around a corner and up a block and wait for a taxi going the right direction. Taxis coming into the area are not members of the "Sukhumvit Mafia" and will turn on their meters without being asked to.

A co-worker got a waiver based on paying tuition there last year, but that was last year. Of course, neither the Dip in T. nor the PGECi will get you a teaching License, they just get you permission to take the TCT test.

You can usually get one more waiver by signing up for a PGCEi or a Diploma in Teaching (I believe that St. Roberts is still accepted). That waiver will give you 2 years to do the course AND take (and pass) a test at the TCT.