onebir

I'm planning to fly one-way London-Hongkong & the airline will only let me board if I have an onward ticket. But I don't need an onward ticket - I want to get a train once I reach China. And of course there's no way to get a Chinese train ticket to prove this...

Air Asia fly from Macau (which is near enough), so I'd like to get an AirAsia HTML e-ticket which I can edit appropriately...

Please PM me if you could send me one!

Thanks in advance!

(Mods - apologies for totally non-Thai content, but this is the liveliest forum I know of where lots of people are likely to have flown AirAsia recently)

I hope Tony Blair is not planning to phase out the Scottish pound...

Could be Gordon's first step towards phasing out the English pound ;-)

Not just a pretty face, Adam Smith is a big favorite of right wingers, incidentally.

oops

The book's here:

Lao basic course

But based on this thread (last post) there appears to be no audio.

So if any of you have Lao-speaking friends with time on their hands (& the transcription isn't too much of a hurdle), perhaps you ask if they could record chunks of it.

Recording the whole thing would be a lot of work, but the work could probably be distributed...

(moderators - apologies for off-topic post. Please feel free to move this post if there's a better place for it)

Are there anymore Basic or Intermediate Thai language recordings out there?

I think there are some at seasite, but you might have to assemble them sentence by sentence.

There are a few videos (some with transcripts) here:

http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/collecti...nd/thIndex.html

(You can rip the soundtracks out of the video - super by erightsoft is free & does the trick)

Thanks also for the link. I have downloaded all the lessons as .mp3 files and am now copying them to Audacity so that I can edit out all the excruciatingly long pauses for student responses. Then I will output as .wav files and convert to .wma using jetAudio . Finally I will download to my mp3 player.

I was able to view the student text a few days ago but did not save to disc. Today I cannot access it at all. Is there a problem downloading the text or is it due to my computer settings?

I don't know if you were planning to do the editing manually, but if so, you might be able to save a bit of time with the beta version of Audacity. See:

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum...;PN=1&TPN=1

If the problem downloading the text persists, you could try posting on the fsi-language-courses.com forum...

Text and audio: http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/Thai.aspx

Thanks for the information everybody. As you've guessed, I've done a couple of the Goenka style courses, but never managed to integrate that practice into my daily life - partly due to my own failings, but I think also partly due to the factors I identified in the OP. It seems like there are places in Thailand where I might have better luck!

There's quite a lot of info about intensive meditation courses, but I was wondering if there are places that have a slightly less restrictive schedule... I've done a couple of 10 day vipassana courses, but found them problematic in several ways:

a) sitting for 10 hours a day just gets painful - and where the rest periods are short, the pain sets in more quickly in second and subsequent sessions. This is distracting, and I think even acts as a form of aversion therapy to meditation.

b ) exercise, yoga etc are banned, and I start to miss this within a few days. For a short period, I agree that practicing non-attachment to this habit is useful. But for longer periods such a sedentary existence is just unheathy.

c) there's real transition between the intensiveness of the course and real life. The final day where you're allowed to talk is helpful in reducing the psychological shock of emerging into the real world, but does nothing to help you practice integrating meditation in some kind of routine approximating your normal life.

So I was wondering if there are centres (possibly non-residential) that allow a more relaxed approach - perhaps after an intensive period/ alternating with them.

I'd appreciate any suggestions you might have...

The fuel costs are MUCH higher to do it as a nonstop rather than a onestop.

Echoing Mahout Angrit's points, I thought it was the other way round too: with a stop the plane has to use extra fuel to take off & gain altitude twice - and may also have to fly a less direct route. Also there are doubled landing fees and turnaround time.

On the other hand, I can see that the average weight of the fuel the plane has to carry is a lot lower with a stopover - half for a stopover exactly halfway through the journey - which would improve fuel efficiency somewhat.

It'd be nice to see an explanation of how all these factors work out.

I've had a look at the Thai consulate pages and it suggests you can apply for a Non Imm 'O' with a self certification guarantee if you plan to volunteer, but do not have a letter from an organisation supporting this... is this right?

Are you talking about the Hull Consulate? The last time I looked it seemed that people can apply for Non Imm 'O' for any (reasonable sounding) purpose, with no documentation other than self certification. (I was quite surprised and checked carefully - as you may know, there been quite a panic over the last few months on this forum about changes in the rules for 30 day visa-free entry, so I read the consulate documentation very carefully.) Why don't you give them a call and explain your situation?

Re doing the TEFL/Thai course, I understand that the schools can usually get visas changed if need be - although I think people often do short courses on tourist visas with no problems. (But this is based on hazy recollections & impressions. A look at some of the TEFL school websites/Thai ESL forums might be confirm this. Or contact a school...)

Has anyone managed to download the two dictionaries for off-line viewing?:

http://www.sealang.net/archives/michell/djvu/index.djvu

http://www.sealang.net/archives/bradley/br...djvu/index.djvu

After installing the .djvu plugin, the downloads seems stuck on ~99% and don't complete.

don't know which you're using, but post 4 above mentions that plugin only worked in explorer (might be worth mentioning the problem to the developers...)

I hadn't noticed the dictionaries, so it's a good think you mentioned them!

Idle curiosity Why does the word with "he" then "ll" get reformatted is it really that offensive?

Perhaps the software was written with people subject to corporate internet sniffers programmed by christian fundamentalists in mind?

Seriously in some corporate environments swearwords do get picked up - a colleague of mine ran into trouble a few years back because a friend of his liked swearing in emails. I'd guess some software might block sites based on swearword quotients too, lots of h*lls etc would boost the averages.

thanks onebir.

You're welcome. Have you had a look at the Thai-English corpora?

It's probably more use to a general audience, but no-one seems to be interested I should have called it 'how to figure out which thai words you should be using when your dictionary doesn't give you enough examples'!

Ok - corpora sounds like boring linguist waffle. But it's actually pretty useful. See http://www.sealang.net/thai/bitext.htm

Type in 'bread' and you get the output below (formatted better). & of course you can type in thai words you're interested in too.

"ปู่ เอาหนมปังอีก "Grandpa, give us some bread! ข้าทำไร่ไถนาเป็นอาชีพได้ถึงสิบสี่ขวบปีเข้านี่แล้ว For fourteen years I battled with the earth for my daily bread. "ลองถ้าอย่างนี้ก็เป็นอันว่าเราจะอิ่มหมีพีมันกันอย่างแน่นอน "Well, father, we shall never want for bread or wine. เธอหยิบตะกร้าใบน้อยเอาขนมปังจากตู้ใส่เสียเต็มแล้วเอาผ้าขาวคลุมข้างบน She took a little basket and filled it with bread from the cupboard, laying a white cloth over the top. ดังนั้นเธอจึงไปที่ตู้กับข้าวแล้วตัดขนมปังให้ตนเอง เธอเอาเนยทาเสียทั่ว So she went to the cupboard and cut herself some bread, which she spread with butter. ตกกลางวันพวกเขาก็นั่งลงข้างถนนใกล้ลำธารน้อย โดโรธีเปิดตะกร้าเอาขนมปังออกมา At noon they sat down by the roadside, near a little brook, and Dorothy opened her basket and got out some bread. ``เพื่อล้างหน้าให้สะอาดจากฝุ่นถนนนะซิแล้วก็จะเอามาดื่ม ขนมปังแห้งจะได้ไม่ติดคอ'' "To wash my face clean after the dust of the road, and to drink, so the dry bread will not stick in my throat." เธอกับโตโต้กินขนมปังก้อนสุดท้ายและตอนนี้ยังไม่รู้ว่าจะทำอย่างไรเรื่องอาหารเช้า She and Toto ate the last of their bread, and now she did not know what they would do for breakfast. โดโรธีเห็นได้ทันทีว่ามันพูดจริง ดังนั้นเธอจึงเพียงแต่พยักหน้าแล้วกินขนมปังของเธอไป Dorothy saw at once that this was true, so she only nodded and went on eating her bread. สิ่งที่เธอกังวลที่สุดก็คือขนมปังเกือบจะหมดแล้วอาหารอีกมื้อเดียวสำหรับเธอกับโตโต้ตะกร้าก็จะเกลี้ยงเลย What worried her most was that the bread was nearly gone, and another meal for herself and Toto would empty the basket. เธอพบว่าไม่มีขนมปังเหลืออยู่มากเท่าไรในตะกร้าเด็กหญิงขอบใจนักที่หุ่นไล่กาไม่ต้องกินอะไรเลยเพราะขนมปังมีเกือบไม่พอสำหรับเธอกับโตโต้เองในวันนี้ She saw there was not much bread left in the basket, and the girl was thankful the Scarecrow did not have to eat anything, for there was scarcely enough for herself and Toto for the day. ตอนนั้นหญิงคนนั้นเรียกพวกเขา บอกว่าอาหารเย็นเสร็จแล้ว ดังนั้นพวกเขาจึงไปรวมกันที่โต๊ะ โดโรธีก็กินข้าวตุ๋นแสนอร่อยกับไข่เจียวหนึ่งจานแล้วก็ขนมปังขาวอย่างดี เธอชอบอาหารมื้อนั้น The woman now called to them that supper was ready, so they gathered around the table and Dorothy ate some delicious porridge and a dish of scrambled eggs and a plate of nice white bread, and enjoyed her meal. สาวน้อยยังมองเห็นด้วยว่า คงอีกนานกว่าเธอจะสามารถหาเลี้ยงชีพในฐานะนักเขียนได้ เธอจำเป็นต้องศึกษาวิชาความรู้ไว้สักแขนง หางานทำเลี้ยงตัวให้อิ่มท้องขณะรอคอยให้ตัวตนอีกด้านสำแดงออกมา And seeing that it would be a long time before she could earn her livelihood as an author, it was necessary for her to learn something -- find some work in life -- that she might have bread while she waited for herself.

This was originally published by the FSI, 1964, author Richard B. Noss

http://www.sealang.net/archives/noss/

There's a link on the site to a .djv (open source image format) plugin, at the bottom of this page: http://www.sealang.net/archives/

Indirectly good news for Thailand-visitors if they see that too many tourists flow to other countries...maybe they'll losen the visa rules as well.

That's a good point, but it could take a while. Indonesian tourism probably won't be affected much for 3-6 months (since people plan ahead a bit) and then the figures take a while to be published. And then the Thai government would have to notice...

During the 'visa rules panic' of late last year, people were talking about alternatives to LOS.

It seems like Indonesia's about to become a more viable alternative. Although maybe only for 6m a year - I seem to remember things get tricky after that on the tax front, & you become liable for taxes on your worldwide income & get charged a wad leaving the country.

http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=27544

Also no news of the fees. And of course they could change the rules - which I think were justified as an anti-terror measure - yet again if tourism picks up &/ there's more trouble...

To provide you with more choice of desirable destinations, we will be launching services to Oakland (San Francisco area) in 2007, followed by expansion of routes to additional North American and European cities.

The HK-Oakland route is set to operate from June, with HK-Vancouver starting 'end-2007'. See:

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/cont...9;s+top+stories

CNN's done a poll on the charge here:

http://www.cnn.com/POLLSERVER/results/30028.exclude.html

It's not good reading for them ;-)

Now where's the CNN poll on Thai visa policy?

If you're not in a huge hurry you could fly to Hanoi and then go overland. I think it's about 10 hours by bus, + there's a train (via Nanning)

Whichbudget.com isn't always up to date - it's also worth checking www.attitudetravel.com/lowcostairlines/asia/

Good report!

This is Thaivisa is about!

If we all gave regular reports about each Thai Consulate we had got our visas at it would make it easier for everyone to do their required visa.

Might be an idea to have a "visa-run report" sub-forum - that'd make it a lot easier to spot reports like this...

Hmm, that puts a new twist on things. Since the OP capitalized both words, I assumed a name and surname was needed, not an actual translation of a plant.

I googled the Latin name, Schisandra Chinensis, restricting the hits to only Thai webpages, and this is the result all the first 30 pages came up with (most of them online shops selling it as a health drug due to its antioxidant properties).

ผลชิซานดร้า (Schisandra Chinensis). [R]phon [H]chi [M]saan [F]draa

See for example:

http://www.forestmarvel.com/th/pr_herb.html

Schizandra Berry - Halle's new daughter ;-)

The transliteration looks it's a representation of 'schizandra' in Thai - is that right? I'm a bit surprised by this, because Schizandra is totally different to the Chinese name & because it's a major medicinal herb I'd have thought Thai-Chinese would have brought the Chinese word with them... (Having said that, maybe Schizandra is what wuweizi sounds like in a southern Chinese dialect. Is there a Cantonese/Hakka speaker in the house?)