akaika

Very few of the parachute looking badges actually signify parachute training. For the military uniforms they are very different and there are 4 versions. It is quite rare to see actual parachute badges on the civil service uniforms. One notable exception is the current King. He wears the metal badge above the fabric badge and this is for actual parachute training. It is also worth mentioning that this is not a recent photo because it shows two other medals over the other pocket which as far as I know were taken away from him by the King.

I am posting this reply to an already outdated thread because it is being quoted elsewhere. If anyone wishes to completely drill down they will find that the entire argument presented in most of this thread is incorrect and invalid. The for drawn conclusion is therefore erroneous. Suthivej Kayuraphan wrote a paper regarding this matter which should be easy to find on google scholar. The relevant facts are as follows: Teachers do not fall under the Thai labor protection act. Teaching is not considered "labor" and therefore it is directly covered under the Ministry of Education regulation for principals (headmasters) and teachers. This regulation originally did not provide clear wording but after a Thai Supreme Court case covering this matter of which I am personally familiar, the regulation explicitly stated that foreign teachers are not entitled to severance pay at the end of their contract. Thai teachers do receive a contract but it is not extended, i.e. there is no ending date. I have shared this information in several forums and there is considerable follow-up discussion (disagreement). This is not an 'unusual' situation as there are numerous other professions and even some non-professional situations that have similar specialty rules such as airline pilots, health care professionals and even mariners including fishermen. This is easily available online for anyone that really wants to find the answers...

budgets for consulates providing visas are not covered by the visa application fees. It isn't a money making operation. The visa rules are almost without exception reciprocal. An example of a non-reciprocal visa policy is the 30 day visa exemption for many countries. Thai citizens cannot go 30 days visa free to most of those countries. They only maintain this policy because a lot more money is spent in the 30 days visit than what the MOFA collects for a visa.

There is an hourly van for a little more than 100 baht run by Siracha Transport. The counter is ground floor near the magic food court, door 8. Nobody seems to be at the counter most times they are usually at the other counter at the transportation center. You can call the counter staff at zero-nine-zero one-nine-seven sixty-seven eighty-two. The van may or may not go to the terminal and they might tell you to take the free shuttle to the transport center. This van does not have the space in back for baggage so if it does not fit on your lap and the van gets full, you have to buy a seat for your bag. If it is nearly empty they generally don't care.

Ahh, wondered when the Koh Chang story would get mentioned in this thread. Probably a lot of differences. Read in-depth about the Koh Chang case and it just gets more and more interesting. In the end, TripAdvisor covered all of his legal costs (not saying I think they should have) but they were rather incensed about what transpired and said so publicly, Apparently they may also have felt they might be somehow responsible because while they didn't post Mr. Barnes' review, they did share it with the hotel. Maybe that explains it? And while I never met Mr. Barnes and a short time after this transpired on Koh Chang, I had not even seen or heard the story. Probably too busy with the early stages of the pandemic. But I received his resume and was a little 'shocked' when I did the obligatory internet search of the applicant. Almost more shocking than the Koh Chang event was that he had fired a gun inside a nightclub in America claiming to be a federal agent or something like that.