otherstuff1957

A typical village marriage will cost about 50,000 to 150,000. A typical city wedding will start at twice that & go up from there.

If your girlfriend is getting pushy about the sinsot & wedding, just put them off - indefinitely. After a few years & maybe a kid or two her family will get tired of negotiating & will be ready to let her go for a big discount. Remember, you may think that she is making the plans, but it's really her parents & grandparents who are running the show. When they say jump, she'll ask how high.

Not stupid at all... Thaksin hasn't been able to rouse the Redshirts into doing any PAD like activity. If the government banned the Puea Thai Party the Redshirts would be out in the streets in a flash, probably without having to be paid first! The more unstable Thailand is, the better Thaksin's chances of getting back into power are. Why do you think he chose an old Fascist dinosaur like Samak to be PM? Why did he pick Somchai to be PM? Why is a <snip> like Chalerm being pushed to be Party Leader and future PM? All of these men are controversial and their appointments serve to further destabilize and polarize Thailand.

If he can start a civil war, he will.

This will be a huge setback for teachers. All of these excess Admin types will try to justify their existence by spending their time creating yet more worthless paperwork and bureaucratic BS to waste teachers' time. Most schools in Thailand have enough Admin staff, they just don't have enough teachers, classrooms or resources.

Remember the CTX scandal and the Bangkok Movie Festival scandal? In both of those cases people were sent to jail overseas on corruption and bribery charges. In both of those cases, the Thai authorities couldn't find any evidence of corruption at their end.

The same thing will happen here.

If this article is correct, they have just announced the demise of the local movie industry! They really aren't going to screen any Thai movies?

I usually like to see Thai movies when I go to a Theater, because I can never find subtitled versions of those movies at any store or rental shop. I missed Naresuan at the Theaters and, while I have seen a gazillion DVD's of it for sale, none of them have English subtitles.

Regardless of what we, as Westerners, think, Thais place a lot of importance on certificates and degrees. I've been to a gazillion (and taught quite a few) seminars with Thai teachers and they always treasure the cheap Certificates that are printed up by the office girl half an hour before they are supposed to be presented .

A University Degree may just be a piece of paper that doesn't really say how qualified or unqualified you are, but they are far more important in Thailand than they are in the US/UK/Aussieland.

Did you know that you cannot get a job at a 7/11 in Thailand without a High School Diploma ?

If I were Thai, I would ruefully shake my head & vote for 'none of the above'.

On one hand you have elitists whose ultimate goal seems to be the establishment of a benevolent dictatorship. On the other hand you have an opposition whose leaders are corrupt, violent and dishonest, but who pay lip service to democratic ideals and social reform.

This guy has some nice designs:

http://www.storerboatplans.com/Boatplans.html

I'd be interested in putting together one of those Goat Island Skiffs next year or the year after.

TIT.

You can expect to be confused by the situation because the situation is confusing! You can find a degreeless teacher making 60K with a WP at one school and teachers with Masters Degrees being fired from their 25K/month jobs at another school because they don't have BEds. (Both of these examples are true BTW!)

If you are polite, well dressed, present yourself well and your employer has some clout at the local government offices, becoming legal will be a walk in the park. If you whine all the time, don't dress well, don't look 'professional' or your school has no influence or your school admin is lukewarm about teaching English anyway, you will probably find that your status will be in limbo for along time before you are either fired or encouraged to work indefinitely on a succession of Tourist Visas.

Good luck!

Is it possible to go to the police with this sort of thing? I know that the BIB are pretty useless, but having a record of reporting this theft/fraud might help with future court cases.

OK, with 63 votes we have 35 in the middle three choices - the unenthusiastic or moderate crowd - and 13 extremists.

Virtually every discussion on any subject on ThaiVisa ends up in a violent firefight. There's no middle ground, you're either with us or against us.

The reason I posted this poll was to see if we were all as divided about this issue as we seem to be or if it's a small but vocal minority doing most of the arguing.

In retrospect I should have made the choices simpler : 100% Pro red, 66% Pro red, etc....

It's a complex issue, so I was trying to get people's overall preferences - that is from 100% Pro-Red to 100% Pro-yellow and the various shades between - rather than getting too specific.

I used to work for a Yacht Brokerage in California that imported boats built in Thailand (Hans Christians). So, it was possible for a foreign company to build boats in Thailand 15 years ago!

I actually have a prediction as to what the poll results will be, but I'll wait for more responses to see if it's true.

Every thread about Thai politics seems to degenerate into pointless, endless arguments between our TV reds and yellows. Do we all feel that passionate about Thai politics? Or are there a handful of people making all the noise?

What is your political position?

^ I agree that that is the most likely result. However, people should still fight for justice and equality.

EP = English Program. I know that that makes EP program = English Program Program, but that's what everyone calls them!

At my last school there were about 3,500 students total with about 300 in the EP. The cost was about 35K per term and most of the teachers were pretty good. However, the school has a new Director this year who froze everyone's salaries, so most of the old EP teachers left and have been replaced by a mixed bag of cheaper Filipinos and less qualified Westerners. I ran into one of my old students last week and she said that the students felt that their education was suffering this year.

I teach at a Bilingual School. I'd say that the standards are higher than at a Thai Govt. School, but lower than at an International School. Class sizes vary from 15 to 25 students. Students here learn English, Science, Math, Geography, Health, IT and PE in English and Thai, History/Social Studies, Career/Guidance, Chinese and Scouting in Thai. The teachers all have BA/BSs and experience, but only one or two have western teaching credentials. The cost is 60K baht/term.

There are also EP programs at many Government Schools that are usually cheaper. Quite frankly, the schools and EP programs are rather hit or miss: I've never taught at a school in Thailand that had a real curriculum. Admins everywhere just tell the teachers to make it up as they go along! If a school happens to have good teachers and can hold on to them for a few years, the quality of education can be quite high. However, many schools fail to recognize the value of continuity and view their teachers as a disposable commodity.

If I were looking for a good school, I wouldn't use cost as a criteria. There are many very expensive private schools around where your child will have 3 different teachers every semester! If I were a parent looking for a good school, I would ask to see a printed curriculum and would ask how many of this years teachers were teaching there last year. If teacher turnover is much over 50%, it probably won't be a good school.

Tutsi, you also mentioned a niece who is older who never finished high school. There are adult education programs available in every, or almost every, province in Thailand. I know at least 3 people who completed their M6 degrees when they were in their 20's. Generally these programs involve weekend classes and lots of homework - they are set up for working adults who don't have time to go back to school full-time. I seem to recall that they had to study for 3 - 6 months for every year that they missed.

If you have your wife or niece check with your local Gov. Education Office (กระทรวงศึกษาธการ) they should be able to point her in the right direction.

Not really. Few schools require teachers to have a TEFL, and you would not get the benefit of evaluated teaching practice in an online course. If you have 3 years teaching experience in Korea, you certainly don't need a TEFL to get a teaching job in Thailand.

^Quite right! I might add that documented proof of your teaching experience would be far more useful than a TEFL Certificate. If there are any Korean documents that would show that you have some kind of official 'permission to teach' or have a Korean teaching license, I would recommend getting some sort of official English Translation and bringing that along.

Remember, nothing makes a bureaucrat happier than having a big stack of official looking documents plopped down in front of them.

If the Democrats will be in power and have de PM, for how long can this goverment rule?

When do they have to call the next general elections?

(if they can rule without getting in any sort of trouble)

My guess, if the Dems get their man in the power seat, is the red shirts will demonstrate big time. And it won't be the relatively civil type of demonstration with thousands of people of all ages camped out at the airports. It will be street fighting mayhem - hundreds of paid young men with serious firepower.

It's up to Thaksin. If he feels that blood in the streets will serve his and his family's interests, then the bag lady (Poji) will be funding the red shirts. If his ego lets him back off until after the next elections, there will be peace in Thailand.

The job market in Thailand is becoming increasingly competitive and education is a key factor. For instance, one of my wife's neices was working at a 7-11 a couple of years ago. She had to show them her M6 graduation diploma before she could start working.

Many jobs in Thailand that would go to a High School graduate in the States or in Europe, require a University degree here! As others have noted, education through M3 is now manditory, although that law probably isn't enforced very rigorously. After M3, students can either go on to finish M6 (which would probably be the best idea) or can go to a Polytechnic (trade) School for 3 years, or can just start working (with limited future options). After M6, students can either start working or go to a Wittyalai(sp?) or to a regular University.

A Wittyalai is a 2 year College that usually trains students to be accountants or secretaries or technicians of various sorts.

In terms of keeping her future options open, completing M6 is her best choice. I believe that there are entrance exams for M4 and maybe M1, but this is Thailand and no-one fails, so I wouldn't worry too much about them.*

* If she does fail, there's always the option of contributing to the School Director's "New Mercedes Fund", which will guarantee her a place in that school!

The Kawasaki Victor is a single cylinder 150cc sport bike made in Thailand. The engine is a liquid cooled two stroke and it has a 6 speed transmission, so it's very quick. This one has a sport fairing, new paint, a new seat and a good engine.

I have the Tabien Rot (green registration book) in my own name and can transfer title without any problems.

Asking 13,000 baht OBO.

Located near Ratchada, but can deliver anywhere in or near Bangkok.

Here are some more pictures:

She's obviously been given a 'get out of jail free' card.

I don't think it's too much to say that between PAD on one side and the Shinawats on the other, the rule of law has been completely abandoned in Thailand.

Bird Mucus. The expensive stuff is made from the mucus of starlings, the cheap stuff is made from chicken snot.

Bottoms up!