phuketsub

Just wanted to note that I think this is a great idea; I couldn't begin to tell you how many hours I have spent trying to unravel and make sense of the headlines from the local Phuket newspaper Siang Tai. Only wish I had more time to join in the discussions...

Friday, November 9, 2007

The stall by the cocktail jugglers on the beach road has the best drink deals ever seen in Patong. Try a double Gin Sling for just 100 baht. Killer. Worth hanging about in the rain for...

I have 20 years of teaching experience in Thailand. I would say BIS (Dulwich) is way overpriced. Also, it is simply untrue that the kids there come our with the "Queen's English". I tutored two or their star pupils before they were sent off to prep schools in Massachusetts, and even though they were at Dulwich from age four until well into their teens they both spoke with accents that were unmistakably American. Both of their parent, by the way, were Thai.

I know a good deal about Kajonkiet and am quite impressed with the set-up there overall, though past comments about high turnover among the foreign staff and overwork/underpay for the locals are absolutely spot on. It is probably the best option currently for parents who want to give their kids a bilingual education. Darasamut is the other option, and most parents who sent their kids there are pleased with it.

By the way, Dulwich is hopeless at teaching the kids Thai. Although they are two of the brightest kids I ever taught, the two children I referred to earlier speak Thai not much better than some foreigners.

Looks like the Hotel isn't letting all this get them down. They have a band playing every night at the Phuket Carnival:

http://www.phuketgazette.net/bulletins/index.asp?Id=1187

Talk about paying the piper!

At the mini-stage in the F&B Hotels zone will be a concert by the Sea Sun Sand Band every night.

The following extract from a statement in the Phuket Gazette (online) today regarding the mudslide states:

"Aroon Kerdsom, who heads the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket) office, said workers had already cleared up debris from a landslide off Soi Veerakij (Nanai Rd, Soi 9)".

Maybe my memory is failing due to old age, let me go take a look - bear with me for a moment. Nope, still the same as it was several days before, I must have missed the subject debris. Goodness me, isn't aging a terrible thing.

It interesting to note that he was also on Ch 11 saying the failed tsunami drill earlier this year (in April, not the one in July) was a complete success in Phuket, when in fact only the tower at Rawai that was turned on manually actually sounded.

Has anyone been out to the landslide site yet? Has the villa fallen down the hill yet?

Why does anyone even think that The Phuket Gazette would post any tourist complaints in their paper?

This paper is one of the lamest and non investigating newspaper available in Thailand, they are to scared to step on any local toes in Phuket!

They just follow the main stream news and have no interest of making their own news, Oh I just forgot, their very smart garbage around the island reports.

What is really lame are people who hide behind the veil of internet anonymity to slag off hard-working, underpaid journalists who show more courage just by turning up for work in the morning than a cynic like "Master Chief" does in 100 blog posts.

I think you have all the info you need from these excellent replies. I would add, however, that you will want to use the "practice test" machines outside the testing room (they look like coin-operated video games) and make sure they give you the book to study from in advance.

The test is not that easy, especially given some weird English and the fuzzy displays on the monitor. But if you go through it beforehand on the practice machine that asks the exact same questions, you can simply memorize the correct answers. I didn't realize this going into it and was lucky to pass with the minimum score of 23/30.

In retrospect I was lucky I was in the last group called (so were all then other farangs if I remember correctly) so I ended up using the practice machine just to pass the time.

By the way, my Thai wife passed her driving test a few months back, even though she can't drive. however, she took lessons at a driving school that said they had "never had a single 'graduate' fail"...I don't know of any foreingers who have gone this route or if it is even an option to us...

Whateve the case, getting your licence is part of the experience of living here as an expat and one you will not soon forget

Can anyone confirm that there will actually be FREE BEER? It sounds to good to be true, like we are being lured into a trap!

Don't worry. It will never be enforced. Only the companies that play by the rules -- the big multinational retailers -- will comply. The result will be more business at mom and pop stores...I don't think will have any impact whatsoever on the young teens in my neighborhood who hang out in front of the Internet cafe, smoking cigarettes drinking beer and screaming until the sun comes up....

Well that's going to be a bundle of fun for the tourists in their late teens. Will it be enforced though??

Is the technology there yet to slip a purple note through teleconferencing camera?