Canada

Just a question......

Only speaking about Chiang Mai.....anybody have any idea of the value of the land holdings of the Church of Buddha just within the walls of the city? A person probably could make an estimate of land area and then multiply that by the approx price per dalang wah. Then you could look outside the walls. That's only in Chiang Mai.

For an emerging 3rd world country, this place has a lot of Churches....rich ones, especially if you consider the amount of people living well below what we call the poverty line. I just wonder why we would need so many churches (tiny tiny villages will have 2 or 3), and just what is the purpose of the Churches here in Thailand? Do they actually have a purpose? Just asking because I don't know.

I think that we would be naive to think that the Church of Buddha would be any less corrupt than the Church of Christ or the Church of God, Allah or Muhammed. A Church is a Church is a Church. Period. They get tax breaks, they wield power through fear(be good or go to hel_l, or worse yet, return to this planet), and they were (...some places still are) usually in cahoots with governing bodies. Is it any different here in Thailand than anywhere else on the planet?

I doubt it.

One of my brothers-in-law's son has just got a job as a teacher in a government school, so he's now entitled to a loan over a million baht as he's got nearly 40 years employment ahead of him.

So his dad has plans to buy a pick-up outright with the loan. I asked who would be responsible for the repayments to the bank and he said his son as gratitude for being brought up by his old man.

Start work and owe 600,000 baht immediately!

Yeah....then there's the family corruption/extortion. Not many freebies going around in this society are there?

As alluded to by other posters, I think you can be happy or content wherever you are. You just need to make the choice to be that. Last time I was home for a month, I missed my gal here, missed here, but had a great time with some of my friends who I rarely get to see now. Last time I was home for 6 months, the adjustment was difficult, I was depressed, sulky...until I made that choice. I get what you are saying, it is different here, thats why we like it. Home is boring...yup.

Hi there.

Can anyone tell me whether or not a ThaI drivers license is valid in Vietnam? With any certainty? It should be, but is it?

Thank you.

A bit late for this thread, but can anyone confirm validity of Thai 5 yr DL in Vietnam?

Thanks

He called the newspaper and they ran a interview. Why even acknowledge the bumpkin? He and his minions/pr people should be ignored and not given any press coverage.

Someone in the present government should be able to come up with a gag order or something similar, just to save newsprint, etc.

The Nation was way out of line in their handling of the unsolicited interview. They shouldn't be giving that criminal a public avenue to advertise his idiotic agenda and voice his idiotic lies. They give him a level of legitimacy he simply does not deserve.

The only thing that would give him even more undeserved legitimacy is censorship in response. Censorship is never the answer. It merely sends a message that you are afraid of what is being said. Thaksin should be ridiculed, not silenced. Leave censorship for governments like the illegitimate military junta of Myanmar, who are forced to resort to censorship to silence patriots like Aung San Suu Kyi.

You laugh at clowns. You do not gag them. It's The Nation who should be ashamed of their handling of the 'interview'; and they should be subjected to strong criticism. And only criticism.

Your first 2 statements contradict each other Mr. Scooterman....I agree with your first one. Aside from trying to sell a couple extra newspapers by publishing this lunatic's ramblings, you need to ask why??? Convincted, on the run, some might say... sociopath, hel_l bent on destroying his homeland. Why??? Why publish his ramblings. If you want it to go away, ignore it, it will go away.

this was a difficult article to read. if they don't like the conditions, they can stay in their own countries and work for a fifth of what they're making here and under worse conditions. same with the mexicans in america. people complaining about the high price of stuff in thailand and the rise in cost of living? how about we give all the migrant workers 500 baht a day and full medical benefits and then see how you like the cost of living here.

Did you read the article?

Did you read the part about what they thought they were signing up for?

Letter in the Nation about Burmese labour in Khon Kaen

Burmese workers' demands are basic and comply with Thai law

Published on September 12, 2010

The demands of the 1,000 striking workers at the Dechanpanich Fishing Net Factory in Khon Kaen continue to fall on deaf ears. The employer has made no moves to sit down and negotiate with the workers, despite their demands being very basic and in total compliance with Thai law.

Instead, the employer has increased the number of security personnel in the grounds. The employer of the fishing-net factory uses fellow factory workers to be security guards, entrusted to keep security among the thousands of workers in their crowded living and working conditions.

The striking workers report that these security guards have been given knives and guns. Pitting migrant against migrant, the striking migrants are afraid that pandemonium may break out if these untrained security guards let loose on them. Already reports are filtering out of the factory of beatings.

At 6pm last night, some officials visited the factory, the workers believe they were from the Department of Employment. The officials offered to correct the documents of five of the workers who had been sacked and whose documents had been cancelled or changed.

However, the migrants were fearful that these changes may not be authorised and any further deleting or writing in their passports may make them invalid in the eyes of the Burmese authorities. And the Burmese Overseas Workers ID was issued by the Ministry of Labour in Burma and therefore needed the Burmese authorities to replace them.

The workers therefore asked for the officials from the Burmese embassy to be present. It is uncertain if the Burmese embassy has been contacted or whether they intend to provide any assistance to their

citizens.

The employer has told the migrants that they may strike until Sunday (today), and they must return to work on Monday but they have not informed the workers of how they intend to meet the workers demands. Nor have they informed them of what will happen if the workers do not return to work.

According to a trading company website, Dechapanich Fishing Net Factory (DFN) boasts that it is one of the largest nylon fishing net factories in the world with more than 4,000 experienced employees and a production capacity of 250 tonnes per month. It exports to over 40 countries including USA, Finland, Denmark, Australia, Japan, Spain, Greece, Italy, Guatemala, Mexico, Canada, etc.

I wonder if they pay the Burmese workers minimum?

This is a great article form the Nation...makes a lot of sense, both morally and practically. I''m amazed at the stuff that;'s coming out of that paper these days.

The way migrant workers are treated here does nothing for the image of Thailand, and possibly it should be remembered that unskilled workers rarely leave their homes to work in another country unless there is a desperate financial need to do so.

The trafficking of any group, for any reason, is reprehensible, and ripping off the needy in this way is unforgivable. Wonder what nationality the rippers-off who organised the trips from here are?

And while we're on this subject, how about making it easier for farangs here to give of their time and experience to help the disdavantaged without having to fear for their legitimacy here?

As regards the workers at the fishing net factory , I wish them all success, but I'm not sitting on a hot stove waiting for good news about that either....

People who live in glass houses....etc.etc

Yeah, great article.....why is it written in English and why is it posted on this site? It's kind of....missing it's target....don't you think? It's written for us, in our language, but addresses them. Weird.

Having said that.....It is a good topic for discussion.

Now I know what number to buy on the 15th of the month.

What number do you get out of this???

Since people in this Country will consider money more important than other values, this and other misdeeds always happens more and more.

Throw all your money in the next dumpster you see and we'll see what value becomes most important in your life.....

some people in this country value money above all else, just like in any other country; usually it's the rich though, not the poor.

I am fascinated by how the various mechanisms of the neo-liberal regimes have provided you (all of you reading this topic) with a relentance fascination in these sorts of sexual crimes.

Although there was always a narrative within the working classes against such acts (and the middle classes condoning of the corrupt working class culture has gone on since Hogarth), among the middle classes, the literature until only the 1980s was essentially accepting of men with boys (but not girls).

Running through the genealogy of the criming of sex with children, we find the concern with it a very recent phenomenon. Indeed, having sex with a woman with her on top carried a 3 year sentence but a boy a mere 2 years in the post-Roman Empire Christian west europe in some jurisdictions (I read this last week but I cannot recall the exact dates or place, but you get the picture).

So I am left to wonder how the various institutions abnormalised this conduct and how it was demarcated out as the one taboo to give you all a jouissance feeling of disgust.

I came to this forum because I could not work out why there was no new posting in the ever-popular 'farang pub' forum for over an hour. Of course, you are all here. So this topic, that offers such a quick Lacanian moment of enjoyment by denial has give you all the appropriate wet dream for the moment.

it is as inevitable as the rising of the moon, that this taboo will at some point no longer be a taboo and something quite legtimiate now will take its place. I cannot imagine what or how.

But we can see the bizarre obsession with any sexual desire of violence that the Western world has in the last 2 years grabbed. The UK has just made it illegal to possess cartoons with depictions of violence that are disgusting (note the low level of obscenity) that could be reasonably be regarded as sexually gratifying. This is comedy. But it is tragic-comedy, and you are the panto dames playing along with it.

Rather than focusing in on this locus of the institutions of disgust of the neoliberal states you should be fighting for the state to leave you alone. Get off your backs and at least sign up to the CAAN fightback.

Please, you need to change your medication..

I'm familiar with the historical fact of the Roman practices you refer to. But the rest of your post, really

Ah, the irony. You now seek to kill off my criticism by abnormalising my position, with a familiar trope of claiming I need medicating. You need to ask: what are the juridico-medical practices in place that determine what is acceptable and what is not, and therefore what needs medical intervention.

Autism is only regarded as abnormal because it does not meet with the approval of the modern 'cubicle farm' office lifestyle.

I'm beginning to love this fellow and writing style. Bloody hel_l mate, you missed your calling. You should have been a screen writer for ABC or NBC doing sit coms for audiences that actually care about your mumble jumble. Bloody brilliant mate, brillaint.

No....less than brilliant..... If he could make it rhyme and put it to some head bobbin music like Eminem, it would be brilliant.

I see only condescending arrogance, with loosely (at best) linked ideas, no rhyme, no form, no beat, no rhythm and all put together with the sole intent of insulting some people "presumably" lower on the intelligence scale, who have done absolutely nothing to deserve this intellectual's (????) wrath. At least Eminem had a purpose,reason and clearly identified the recipients of his wrath....down to the person.

I really get annoyed with the constant berating of Thai society I see on this page. I understand the Thais have different values than we do. The legal system is corrupt, as were all of our legal systems at some point in history. Every EXPAT residing in Thailand is here VOLUNTARILY, and most of you because your MONEY is more valuable here than at home. Even the highest minded person on this page likely takes advantage of his privileged status within Thai culture, and yet you seem to be the first to berate the Thais for aspiring in their own way to attain a small piece of what you have. I am not one of those pie eyed tourists infatuated with Thailand, having never left Sukhumvit. I have been here for some time, and I have seen all the good and bad Thailand has to offer. The bottom line is, as distasteful as I find some aspects of the culture, and as baffling as I find some Thai behaviors I realize that this is THEIR country. I have to conform to their value system, they do not have to conform to mine. Please I ask all of you economic refugees to stop taking your bitterness out on the Thais. They are living their lives, their way, in their country. We are all guests, and alot of us seem to forget it.

You seem to have put a lot of people in a very small box. I haven't read anything on this thread derogatory to Thais in general.

But....this (or these) act(s) that this thread is based on are despicable. They defy explanation, and I don't care if a Thai is selling a Thai...it is wrong. Period. I don't care whose little piece of land we are on where it happens. You mention conforming to a Thai value system..... you think that this type of behavior is ok here??? to Thais???? to be honest with you, I think that if Thais got this guy, not the Thai police, it would be over already. That's some Thais values.

So......just who or what is it that you have come to defend in your post? We know who you are attacking.....the majority of foreigners here in Thailand.

BTW I am not an economic refugee. And you could be a little more polite.

OK....now this is getting to be too much. The story on this woman is .........there are no words. Not on this site anyways. Question....who is sicker? him or her?

well - I am not new to Thailand - but I am enraged - for one that sort of news is why many people across the world consider Thailand to be a cesspool of filthy perverted people living here

If the Thais would change that image by prosecuting the people and judges involved - it would be a good start to acceptance

for now - when I say where I live - everyone relates Thailand to sex industry and sex tourists

Stop beating about the bush. Why are YOU here?

This place isn't going to change anytime soon and certainly not because a small group of foreigners are offended that they have taken up residence next to a whorehouse. Maybe some more research would have prevented this assault on their high morals?

Corruption, lies, sex, ladyboys, comical politics, street vendors, the lazy police, two tier pricing, just to name a few........... this is what makes this place different from home. If you want it the same as home; go home. This is what makes it interesting.

Check the SEA Forum as there's some posts on there about the online visa services.

They seem reliable from what I've read.

THX

I'm sorry, but I'm serious when I ask:

Why is it so hard to catch the perps?

Because the police are worthless...either lazy (i.e. no money in it for them), cooperating with the perps, or just plain incompetent. Really sad...

All countries have difficullty catching terrorists. Not sure why so many of you are singling out Thai police as being incompetent. USA have spent the last decade trying to capture Bin Laden and he's still on the run. And how much do think has been spent on that. If the USA can't capture one man after spending tens of billions of $s, is it surprising that most terrorists are hard to catch?

You think they are trying to catch him??????? I do think that if they really wanted to catch or kill him, they would have done that already

Anyone have experience getting a Vietnam Visa though one of those online agents?

Best way to get a Vietnam Visa from Chiang Mai is ???? Use a travel agent to do the work, or is it easy to do yourself?

Travel agent wants 2200 baht for it. Haven't been able to find a definitive Visa fee yet as if I just walked in myself. 2 years ago I seem to recall it costing somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500 for the visa through the services of a travel agent for this.

Thank you

Ahhh, obviously I "mis-remembered" the meaning of the word 'hot' . Then again as I'm 51 y/o that could certainly be a possibility. I thought he meant in terms of LOOKS, versus in terms of a hot teaching ability, .

Especially so, as he mentioned it in this context

"if a hot (my emphasis not the O/P's) teacher from bkk wants to come teach me, I will pay accommodation, expenses and salary, and do full time study"

. Hmm, doesn't really seem to mean "teaching ability" in that context, does it ?

Like I said, I musta 'mis-remembered' the definition of the word 'hot'.

No harm, no foul, nothing disparaging meant or intended (other than my normal condescension, which I am taking medication for ). ..

When you read the post of the OP, that particular sentence does stand out as quite odd considering the rest of the post, regardless of how you define hot, that's why I gave him credit for meaning " a good teacher' rather than a sexy b@#ch. Would like to know what he meant.....???

Not to be pedantic, umm just a question?

Why would you care if the teacher is 'hot' or not? IF indeed your real objective is as your post is so clearly titled "I Want To Learn Thai And I Am Serious (I want a teacher who can get me there) who cares what she looks like?

What do you care if they're a dowdy 50+ y/o retired uni-professor or some other professional as long as you can, as you so succinctly put it; 'get there'?

I think you've got a few priorities mixed up there my posting pal . I've met more 'hot' female thai language teachers who suck at teaching thai to foreigners than I could shake a frickin' stick at (possibly hundreds!). That someone has a degree in engrish, or even thai for that matter does NOT in and of itself make them a good candidate to teach the thai language to foreigners.

I'd do a quick revision of your priorities, and save the 'hot' ones for some other endeavor .

Some of the best thai teachers I've met wouldn't hit your spec on their appearance but would certainly teach you to speak, read and write thai.

I'm guessing he was referring to their teaching ability, not their looks.

I have to agree with a couple of other posters here about using it outside of class. I have been here almost 4 years. I often have complete strangers commenting on the clarity or clearness of my Thai, I have a large vocabulary and can read and write some, though my spelling is atrocious. What I am getting at is that you need to put yourself in situations where you have no choice but to speak Thai. I have basically done an immersion program of my own design. Got a gal who doesn't speak english, moved into a Thai neighborhood, then to her village. Daily, I speak 95 % Thai. I don't have a lot of foreigner contact here. I carry notebooks for jotting notes, ask a lot of questions, and as a project of personal interest, took a text written in Thai on a subject that I am passionate about, and had a private teacher tutor me through reading and defining the entire text. My Thai is passible, better than 90% of people who have been here for decades, and still not good enough. It's a long term goal, just like going to the gym everyday. Good luck finding the right teacher but I think that you need to be the right student. Thai is very difficult, don't give up.

Funded education and family support may not seem like much today. However, once the formal educating is finished, it can be worth sooooo much, depending on the rest of your choices in life. I hate to say it but...."if I had it to do over again.....yes, I'd do it different...."....I think.

Choose wisely friend. Some of our choices affect the rest of our life.

No idea about your line of questioning, sorry.

I am curious about the VOIP part of this unit. I currently have VOIP hardware and an VOIP acct with a provider in my home community with a local area code. I pay them a monthly fee for this service. The hardware is mine, I bought it from them.

With this VOIP feature on this router/modem....how does the VOIP work? Don't you need a provider? How do you get a phone number? Any information would be appreciated.

This teacher needs to be caned, publicly.

You gotta be kidding. This flies in the face of the basis of Thai (class) society. Exploit the exploitable by whatever means available or preferred. The underlying, unifying fabric that holds this country together and helps it turn a profit is sexual exploitation. This is like saying " we are drafting a bill that will prohibit corruption".....in a society that relies on corruption.

Funny, some of the headlines that come out on Thai Visa

Drug prohibition is a huge waste of money and human life, as it doesn't solve the problem. It didn't work with alcohol and it isn't working with drugs. Global reform would be very welcome. You guys ever heard about LEAP? Law Enforcement Against Prohibition?

Yes, I've heard of LEAP. Some people may say "forward thinking", I say it's about time that someone with some credibility would stick their neck out a bit offering a real solution. It's not that complicated really..... prohibition is not working, something else might. It's not like there are a million choices available in terms of solving this problem, or minimizing the consequences of it. So, pick one of the few and solve the problem. It's like anything else in life, when you decide to solve the problem, a solution appears. A bit off topic of the girls on death row in China, or is it?