thaiorchidsource

I have a male friend who attended Chiang Mai University masters program, and he told me, and knowing him well, I can believe what he said that he did not need to attend his classes regularily, take exams or write papers because he was sleeping with his lecturer (female). When he finally got married, I attended his wedding and this person stormed out of the wedding, adding further proof to his claims. I would not give much for the paper used to write his diploma, but in a country where you probably can buy a degree if you have money, this is a minor consideration. Just hope the doctor that you go to see with a serious medical problem is not one of those that bought his or her degrees.

Spare me the hyperventilating ranting about how aghast people are that only Thais could do this. You can walk into any tshirt shop in London/New york, Sydney etc and buy t shirts with Stalin faces on them (he only killed 15 million people mind you), or che guava (sic) etc.etc

Good point!

My view of the holocost? You must know more about my view than I do. Its simple. Read history, and educate yourself. But don't disrespect the suffering the tens of millions of innocent people suffered out of lack of knowledge. Your a sad example of humanity if you can say so little about the murders that occured during WWII

The educational system is seriously lacking in history outside of Thailand to name one area of education. My kids study Thai history, but nothing more as far as I can see. Is it any wonder why Thailand is xenophobic. I am of Jewish ancestory, and if I ever see one of these mentioned things, I will have a hard time controlling myself. I have 3 children in a bilingual school in Chiang Mai, and the owner started giving Christian lessons to the children without parental consent, and I have issues with this. Is it so uncommon in Thailand that people do not show respect for other people's religions and cultures, after all this is a Buddahist country. I bet most Christians if asked what religion was Christ would say that Jesus was a Christian, but anyone who knows history would know he was a Jew. Where is the tolerence i keep hearing about?

Tell me why Thai's need to be force fed your view on the holocaust?

The educational system is seriously lacking in history outside of Thailand to name one area of education. My kids study Thai history, but nothing more as far as I can see. Is it any wonder why Thailand is xenophobic. I am of Jewish ancestory, and if I ever see one of these mentioned things, I will have a hard time controlling myself. I have 3 children in a bilingual school in Chiang Mai, and the owner started giving Christian lessons to the children without parental consent, and I have issues with this. Is it so uncommon in Thailand that people do not show respect for other people's religions and cultures, after all this is a Buddahist country. I bet most Christians if asked what religion was Christ would say that Jesus was a Christian, but anyone who knows history would know he was a Jew. Where is the tolerence i keep hearing about?

I think the lady MP is correct, and I would extend it to drugs. Lets see who is left standing who is alcohol free and can pass a urine test for drugs. It should give pause to those who are not sincere in serving Thailand and its people.

I hope the police/courts make an example of these poachers that might deter a future sensless killing of wild elephants.

Anything Nigerian, hit the spam button.

This happens every year just before the beginning of the rainy season because the people living in the mountains start burning the forrest because it stimulates wild mushrooms and other edibles It should be illegal, and may well be, but you cannot stop an old bad habbit. Its best to not exercise in such conditions and stay indoors where there is some filtration by air conditioning.

Our department has worked to try and restore the reefs back to their original condition,” said Mr Boonchob. Making a statement like this so embarassing to world scientists that Mr. Boonchob's department has been able to cool the Andaman enough to cause the corals to regrow. Where in God's world did he go to school to learn how to do this?!!! Mother nature wants to know too.

Could I be wrong, but I distinctly remember this politician had owned quite a few house of prostitution, and I saw him on TV complaining that he had to pay the police big bribes. Now he is a born again B since he got into politics?! This is a truly bad joke.

I wonder if the guns mentioned are legally registered. If not, the does two wrongs mean a right?! I do hope the gunnies have practiced their skills and the possibility of two jet skii operators ceasing to operate would be welcome to all of the tourists they would have made as victims. Just a thought.

I am familiar with this rate of interest per month, but to a Thai loan shark. There are two sets of standards obviously. Farang gets the book thrown at him, but Thai is unlikely to face any negatives.

.I have known a few cases that stirred red flags with me with regards to the Thai educational system. One Thai friend confided in me that he had not attended many of his lecturers in obtaining his masters degree. He had also not written his own tests and required papers. He said he slept with his professor, and I believe that he did. But how many with rich or influential parents are buying degrees? You can buy just about anything in Thailand if you have money. It is easy to see that people in Thailand are focused on uniform, not substance. If you drive around, and look at the signs that are written in English, you can see much of the time the person who made the sign misspells, and in several versions of misspelling the same information. I knew of a girl who passed her teachers qualification to teach English, but she could not compose correct sentences, or spell properly. This is the types of people teaching other Thai children English! One worker who I employed had graduated with a degree he claimed in the field of agriculture, but did not seem to know basic information and so I asked to see his diploma. As it turned out he had graduated, but the quality of his education was a serious problem leading to his dismissal from the job we hired him to do. Yet if you ask a question from any Thai person, they will always give you an answer. The problem is in the Thai culture is that loss of face by saying "I don't know" is not allowed, and so your neighbor who sells padthai is practicing medicine. One dental educator advised my wife that our infant son would need to receive emergency treatment for a common childhood disease that is never considered lethal. I sent printed information to this person, who is teaching dental medicine in our university to clear up this matter. What can you expect! A young friend died as the result of a misdiagnosis of a systemic bacteria blood infection, because he thought the disease was toxoplasmosis, which is not treated by antibiotics, and if he had cultured her blood, he would have know she was being overwhelmed by bacteria in her blood, and she died in a few days before I could do anything to help. This doctor is a government doctor, and I question if his parents bought his medical degree. What doctor cannot draw blood and have it cultured to determine the cause of this young woman's health problem, but he must have not done any testing or he would have administered massive IV antibiotics.

The only solution to this change in weather and resultant floodings for Thailand is to go foreward as quickly as possible with flood prevention structures, however that would take an enormously big effort and expense, which I doubt that any government yet to govern in Thailand has that ability or resolve. The most logical in my opinion is to move north onto higher grounds where floodings are not a likely to become such a big problem. Chiang Mai anyone?

Well maybe he had the hicups and wanted to stop it, or if you have ever been seasick, you want to die, and this was his answer to seasickness.

Freedom to tell the truth is nonexistent in reality in Thailand, and so I will ofcourse tell the truth here and now. This government has proven to be very competent to govern Thailand and done all that could be done an was expected by the Thai people in this terrible disaster. They have given freely to relief efforts, foods, water and medical help and not exploited this oportunity to promote their political agendas. They have gratiously accepted aid being offered by other governments, and allowed free distribution of aid where needed and required. Should this government be blamed, ofcourse NOT. Good job and good efforts to all of the redshirts now governing Thailand. NOT!

Amen!

These days it's not easy to detect who is joking, who is serious, who is real, who is fake, what is sarcasm.

It is an unfortunate fact that only a fraction (less than half) of donations to charities actually goes toward helping people.

Most goes toward salaries, even for volunteer organizations (only the lowest rung of members work for free).

It's not so easy for charity organizers to divert services.

But even goods can be skewed.

His Majesty the King is quietly donating millions in food aid.

But some of it is being repackaged to give recipients the impression it came from other sources.

That is really low.

From the news I hear, only white hats this time around (much to the dismay of the PM) is the Thai Army.

They are helping the people and also the big Japanese investors by using their big equipment and trucks to rescue not only people but large pieces of manufacturing equipment.

God bless the King and God bless the Thai Army.

They are DOING something and they are doing really HELPFUL things and doing SENSIBLE things.

I've heard nothing but good and positive things since the beginning regarding both those institutions.

And I didn't ask or prompt anyone.

People just GUSH their appreciation for the few people really doing things.

HRH the youngest princess was out telling people how to stay healthy and avoid disease LONG before this doc said anything.

And she was out there telling them personally, not writing stories in the English language Nation for people to buy -- if they can read English and if they have any money left.

The King even told the people who came to save the palaces that palaces come AFTER the people and they should go help the suffering HUMANS before property.

This debacle is clearly showing who are the WHITE HATS and who are the BLACK HATS and who have the black hearts.

The EM balls for cleaning up standing water was a brilliant idea. Who proposed that one?

There are plenty of smart Thais willing to help if the gangsters and their cronies would just get outta the way.

I dissagree to your comment about foreign aid. At the very least the extra help could have helped slow the flooding giving time for more to evacuate. I personally do not think that the water is stoppable. But foreign aid could have provided potable water, food relief and heavy lift capability to delivery with helicopters, hospital and medical supplies relief. The seriousness of this flooding has been grossely underestimated by those in charge, and I think the events will show this as they unfold. Im not going to blame politics or individuals here, because whomever would have been in charge would have likely made the same mistakes. It is one huge big problem that Thailand will suffer from for quite a long time I fear.

So we have the sea level rising to 2.6 metres or is that the level of the river? If it is the level of the river at the river mouth then how does that reduce the further north away from the river mouth you get? And we have the average embankment height at 2.5 metres from where to where - is it higher near the river mouth and lower inland or does it vary arbitrarily?

I cannot imagine the sea level will be 2.6 metres higher than normal - at that level practically all of Bangkok will be flooded - even the highest areas are only 2.5 to 3m or so above sea level. What does sea level mean? Average sea level? Maximum normal sea level or what? I mean does the average sea level go up and down by more than 6 metres? i.e. +2.5m to -2.5m around the average?

What effect does the wind have on the level of the sea and river? If the embankment in parts is averaging 2.5m then even if that were the level everywhere if the river rises to 2.6m then it will overflow by 100mm. Doesn't sound much but that will be just constant water overflow without abatement until the tide recedes and then replenished as the tide comes in and out.

I took a look at the river on the way through Nonthaburi two days ago - it looked to me to be about level with the embankment - well not much of an embankment there as the water is already in all the houses alongside the river and about waist high - let's call that 1 metre. So are we saying the level will rise another 1.5m?

Then in the second snippet we have the sea level going to be 2.45 metres and no problem.

I think the point is that nothing is actually clear and it is foolish to make sweeping statements that it will all be OK or that it will be a total washout. It has to depend where you are, what the real situation turns out to be and how well the flood walls stand up - the latter being the 640 million baht question because I have seen the water rushing out between the old wall and the new section that was built about 25 years ago I think. So water rushing through a concrete joint like that will seriously weaken the wall and I wonder how well the reinforcement inside the walls is standing up to corrosion since it must necessarily be exposed.

My biggest fear about this is that sections of the walls collapse under the added pressure of water - 1 metre of water is bloody heavy and exerts pressure at 1030 Kg per cubic metre at 1 metre depth - just over a tonne! That is a lot of pressure on an old leaking concrete wall extension!

Of course the other thing could be that this is all being whipped up to cause widespread panic so that the politicians can say how brilliant they have been when inner Bangkok doesn't flood and the flood of relief (excuse the pun) when that doesn't happen will pave the way for Thaksin's return amidst waves of glory for him supplying the Thai people with lots of pumps or something, paid for by him with money he has got from ....... (reader to complete) to ensure this never happens again.

Who really knows - for certain I don';t but then I trust no one except my Mum anymore!!

10 million sandbags? Don't need the US Army to help? Hmm who is going to put all these sandbags in place and where is all the sand and bags suddenly going to come from. One ten tonne lorry = about 200 sandbags and we need 10 million in two days - thats 50,000 lorry deliveries in two days - 25,000 a day - hmmm do they have that many lorries?

It's all conjecture on my part I freely admit - I don;t think I am alone in that! All I know is there is no food on the shelves, no drinking water in the shops, the tap water is already contaminated and full of chemicals to keep it potable (we hope) and this tragedy will last somewhere between a little tragedy in some areas to the whole of Bangkok for four to six weeks and we are going to open the schools in three weeks time.

Nothing adds up! Amazing Thailand - it will be a miracle if the masses don't get fooled into believing someone somewhere has graciously helped them. Jeez

good post......

as for the logistics - having seen hardcore delivered a few times - I don't see too big a problem - I also can't see how foreign aid would help that. Roads and access might prove a problem so some bridges and pontoons might help - I expect the Thai army has a few lying around though.

Grade 4 students be aware! -

There is also a common misconception that water is FLAT - it won't be - the tide, currents and winds can lead to big variations in how and where the water builds up - - so quibbling about a few mm here and there is quite pointless.

This offer of help is to a long time ally, and has nothing to do with regional presence during a war conflict. American donesn't need to ask for something from Thailand in return.

...today the US help you, tomorrow they'll be ready to reclaim the favor and put it in your a**...

and don't tell me it never happened before

Hmmm, could you possibly be referring to IRAQ

Its not just the Americans that do this. Look at the basic sex tourists, and the demographics of those types coming to Thailand. Americans always try to be charitable, and in this case Thailand saved us wackos some tax dollars. We Americans made the mistake at offering help, but I hope the mistake is not made twice.

There are many reasons to refuse - just as there are many reasons to accept.

Politics never seem fair when there are people suffering however it is a reality of the world.

Yes, as someone commented earlier, there is the fear that favors expect and sometimes even force to a degree payback, historically true. While that may not be the case here, it is a sad reality that such things probably should be considered. And the US while I am sure they meant well, it does not look good sending in the heavy military given past history for which they are officially classes as an agressor by many governments. They may have forgot but the rest of the world has not.

Yes, there is the "loss of face" issues too. And I feel these are probably most substantial. There are many people with a lot of pride and ego who think an uncomfortable situation is a small price to pay to keep that ego (and power) safe. Maybe there are even gains to the disaster for some! - such is any system of corruption.

The truth is we never know the whole story let alone the reasons behind them, all we can do is guess. No point being negative about it either, just have to get on and do our part, there are many of us already here with a lot of power to help - even if it's just to make those around us more comfortable and less stressed

So the Thais reject badly needed aid from the the "aggressive US military machine" but its OK for them to come on R&R, get drunk as monkeys and shag anything that will lie down and a few things that won't? Of course that's MONEY we're talking about, not just people's lives.

Probably next to none, because the present government is doing a good job showing Thailand cannot handle this crisis and there will be backlash you can bet on that.

What are the chances the yellow shirts are using the floods for political gains?

To the question about Apolets verses Plavix. I also have had the balloon angioplasty and stints. The hospital pharmacy substituted my Plavix for Apolets without asking me or my cardiologist, and I think this might have sent me back into the hospital the 2nd time. Stay with Plavix in my opinion for atleast one year after your proceedure, and take one baby aspirin with it daily. Sure the Plavix is expensive, but is it worth the risk to use Apolets with a know higher incidents of problems? I think it would not be sound judgement to risk your life for the lower costs unless your simply destitute and have no other choice.

Short answer is yes, but! For full Medicare coverage you need Part A and B. Part A is free. Part B has a premium and can be declined. To insure that you can return to the U.S. at any time to receive treatment you must keep the Part B and pay the premiums. If you don't then you can only sign up for Part B at certain times of the year and it will not take effect until months later. There is more to Medicare, drug coverage, etc.

If you have health coverage from your retirement you should check how it interacts with Medicare. You may even have coverage overseas from your employer's plan.

Go to http://www.medicare.gov/default.aspx which should answer your concerns.

This year I have been paying for Part B and also a Medicare Advantage HMO plan with Blue Care Network including prescription drugs. I first qualified for the Medicare Advantage on 1/1/11 and thank god I signed up for it. I had just come back from 3 years in LOS and was living in Michigan at the time. I wanted my BCN coverage so I could get a stress test done to see if my heart disease had increased since I had an angiogram in 2007. The first HMO primary care physician I chose, after my telling him I wanted the complete preventative exam offered new Plan B enrollees, gave me a quickie 15 minute superficial physical then even refused to order a stress test for me. He said it wouldn't be OKed by BCN. I had told him my complete history, plus mentioned my Dad had a triple bypass at 60 (I am 64) and the s.o.b. still wouldn't write one up for me. I couldn't get home quick enough to call BCN and change my HMO primary care physician. I selected an older polish female doctor from a list having a hunch she might be more understanding and committed. Sure enough, she immediately ordered a nuclear stress test. This proved to save my life.

Guess what? The test along with a followup angiogram revealed my 30% occlusion in '07 had progress to 99%! This was on the main LAD ("widow-maker") artery! I was sent in a lights-flashing, siren-blasting ambulance to the medical center for immediate treatment. I received a double (concatenated) DES stent. My cardiologist told my daughter a heart attack could have happened at any time and it would have been massive and fatal.

Now I am back in LOS and hope to stay here for the long term. I plan on keeping the Plan B (indefinitely) and my Medicare Advantage plan for 2012 even though I will be here. If my health becomes a problem and requires expensive treatment, I will return to the states for the treatment then hopefully come back here. I don't intend to keep the prescription coverage since I don't consider that important. I can get all my meds in Thailand, except Ranexa which I don't think I need anyway.

Now my question, apologies for the lengthy background info, is: I need to decide whether to continue on Plavix by name or switch to Apolets, it's generic equivalent (only 900 baht/month here). Several people have remarked they have shied away from the generic because it was "buffered differently", whatever that means. On the Apolets box reads: "Each tablet contains 98.0 mg of clopidogrel bisulfate equivalent to 75 mg of clopidogrel base". Equivalent? This means not the same I assume. Has this worried anybody or have you been assured Apolets are a true generic for prescription Plavix?

Until reading your post, I didn't realize Plan B could be started and stopped. That might have been worth considering if my anticipated health issues weren't so serious and could come without warning, but I don't dare go there or even consider not enrolling again for Medicare Advantage coverage. Obviously I am not in the financial condition to self-insure and get all future care done here, unfortunately.

Its everyday business as usual about the shakedowns, from motorcycles, passenger cars to big trucks. We x pats call it tea money, but to deny whats going on is quite funny.