robenroute

Kiggs,

If possible, I'd certainly go for a CELTA certificate; it's well regarded here in Thailand. If the accent isn't too strong, I wouldn't worry about it too much. As SlyAnimal explained, attitude is most important. Wear a shirt and tie, proper trousers and polished shoes, and you should be okay (mind you, the Thais do appreciate a fresh and neat mop chop).

Salaries vary, as do the costs of living in the different neighbourhoods in Bangkok. If you're looking for a decent room in a reasonable area (e.g. Lad-Prao, Rama 9, Rama 4), depending on the room size and amenities, between 5,000 and 8,000 should get you a proper place to live. Anything more towards downtown (Sukhumwit area) will get more expensive; you should be prepared to fork out 10,000 and (much) more.

Under normal circumstances (yes, that includes the odd beer), 40k a month should keep you on the right side of things.

Good luck (and have fun!)

Lady Gaga is a very young person without any important background of studies at university. She does not know Thailand, she does not care, she did not intend to be offensive. She is an excellent professional making a poor joke, that's it. She just repeats what she heard. Within 3 days, she'll have forgotten all about Thailand.

I think you're insulting Ms Gaga's intelligence.

I do not think Thailand is ready for this, let them solve the flood problems first and learn Thai to drive. Such a railway is asking for many problems and a need of thousants of security personel.

Ah, you see, that's precisely the reason for extending the railway network: get more people off the roads... ;-)

Or, 'twas a genuine mistake ;-) Frustrating all the same.

Josef Mengele was terribly upset when his legitimate medical experiments were labelled as cruel and unnecessary sadism by crybabys.

Spot on, mate. Harsh, but nailed it. No human being would consider waterboarding not torture.

A bullet proof vest is totally useless against a Barrat .50 caliber Sniper rifle, taking "some one out" at a mile is baby,s work to some one who knows how to use one

FYI: it's a Barrett (named after Ronnie Barrett, its designer).

Read it again. PM Yingluck has instructed that the planting of trees be implemented within three months.

Christ I'm getting sick and tired of the knee jerk stupidity laden comments regarding whatever the Thais do. And no, I am not an 'apologist'.

Don't get your knickers twisted, Silsburyhill. I know what you mean; it's just that some people here have this burning urge to vent remarks that are meant funny.

OT: I think it's a wonderful move in the right direction. Time will tell how this will work out, as there are many hurdles to be taken before this is can be called a success.

Have a nice day, the lot of you.

Regards,

Robenroute

where art though?

Where art thou?

Thou is an archaic form of the second person singular pronoun (you) in English.

Not being pedantic, just offering a chance to enhance one's knowledge ;-)

http://f0nt.com/download/

click at the small box for seeing the example

(Th lang. site..you can PM me if you want me to tranlate if you have a prob)

d/l 'n then put it in control panel> folder font

this site seems to have vanished. Any other good sites around? Or could you possibly make the ones you have available?

Cheers

Same here, looking for Thai calligraphy fonts. Does anyone know a download site? Doesn't have to be a free download site, I'm willing to pay for decent fonts as well, no problem. Many thanks in advance.

Regards,

Robenroute

Thanks for all the feedback, you've been great help.

Regards,

Robenroute

Hi there everyone,

Wanting to buy our son (he lives in Thailand) a present, we stumbled upon the official Sony web site for Thailand and saw that the only model that seems available in Thailand is the model PSP 2006. Would it make sense to buy him a PSP from Europe (UK, Germany, Netherlands)? They seem cheaper here (8,500 vs. 6,500 Baht) and there's the fact that the model 2006 is rather old...

What about games? Would he be able to buy games in Thailand and play them on his EU-version of the PSP? Am I missing any other issues here?

Many thanks for all feedback!

Robenroute

You have more rights in Zimbabwe as a foreigner than in Thailand.

Thats strange. I spent two years in Hahare and didn't notice any rights there that were far greater than Thailand. Guess I must have missed all the nationalisations of foreign companies, land-grabs of farms etc.

I think he/she meant it in a sarcastic way... But yes, you're right, that wasn't mentioned explicitly.;-)

On my 50 km ride back from Mukdahan city to the village where I am living and working I saw 3 police checkpoints today. At the first one they stopped me to fine me for not wearing a helmet. When I opened the seat of my motorcycle the ploiceman saw my helmet under the the seat and asked me why I am not wearing it. I told him, that I had been wearing in the city area - but took it off later (that was true!). He checked my passport, my driving licenses (everything ok with it) and started to talk about New Year's Eve, many accidents and so on and on ....

I told him about my job as English teacher in my village about 30 km further on and about the sports day together with the provincial governour the day before - and it worked. He remided me to put on the helmet right now - and send me further on back home ... without any fine. Lucky me that day.

But - infront of the law all people should be treated in the same way! Good for me to be able to talk in Thai to him, to mention my job and the governour - but this is not the way it should be!

BTW - the next 2 checkpoints were abandoned ...

You are incredibly unfair. The police officer shows you some compassion and understanding and you consider him a fool for letting you off? Has it occurred to you that the police officer probably figured you were the typical teacher living a hand to mouth existence and took pity on you? I really don't think he was impressed by the fact that you were in attendance at a local sports day during a governor's visit. The whole intent behind the checkpoints is verify driver permits, to reduce speed and to encourage people to wear a helmet and use seatbelts. It's called education. By letting you go, the police officer did what police officers in the west do, they take into consideration the type of offense and whether or not your learnt your lesson. The cops in Thailand can't win can they? You didn't put too much value on your life when you took off the helmet did you?If you do not consider your life to be worth something, how then can you expect others to respect you. I am not surprised you are a foreign teacher in a rural area.

Well, one could argue you're being incredibly unfair as well. Wolfie never mentioned any policeman being foolish. But your lack of surprise regarding his professional whereabouts are somewhat puzzling, as he might have good reasons to teach in a rural area; I could think of a few myself...

Enjoy your NYE!

If it sounds too good to be true , then it is not.

Trying to throw us all a colourful herring?

Even more heroic would be if the media were to pursue the reasons why this flooding happens.

why is this flood happening?curious comment.

To name but a few (in no particular order):

- cutting trees

- building more infrastructure

- the Three Gorges Dam

Even more heroic would be if the media were to pursue the reasons why this flooding happens.

The nail on the proverbial head!

In Thailand, there are only 2 type of people.

Bankokian (Kon Khrung Thep) and Rural People (Kon Ban Nork).

So which are you; or let me re-phase, which one will be like to be?

This user Chantorn, I don't know whether it is a thai male, female, or ladyboy, but always posts on threads trying to show how much wit he / she has, only to prove they have none.

For your info, most people in ThaiVisa say I must be a Farang.

Have you done a count? If I were you, I wouldn't bet my sweet a#$3 on it... ;-)

and boreing?

hmmm, "ableguy"? ;-)

... Could somebody gimme a clue pls? No jokes, just please explain the point...

I know a Thai that lost 1 million Baht in one night. Basically, she played with money that wasn't her's and after loosing some she tried to win the lost money back because she didn't want to lose face.

The Thai mentality is a dangerous one when it comes to gambling, they just can't lose and walk away from it.

That is why you should never ever-ever-ever play for (serious) money against a Thai. I've seen Thai blokes play pool and lose against foreigners, for money. Situations like that end in tears (and graver things).

You didnt give much thought to us uneducated commoners

lecturing us about freedom of speech and then writing the moral of the story in french

Nice one. Point taken... (but how did you "uneducated commoner" know it was French? )

Well said! While many of us may have opinions, as guests we should keep them to ourselves. It is a situation only the Thai have the right to deal with.

Remarks like this one never seize to amaze me. The fact that you're a "guest" somewhere doesn't simply mean you have no right to deal with the issue (verbally). There are plenty of non-Thai in Thailand that have vested interests and, hence, have opinions and/or concerns they understandably and rightfully want to express. It certainly is good practice to take your host's feelings and sensitivities into consideration when venting your opinion, but it doesn't mean you have to permanently put a lid on it. It's also good to first think and then speak... And when you finally decide to speak, bear in mind "c'est le ton qui fait la musique". If I read through these forums, I'm somewhat puzzled by the amount of posts that seem to come from the gut, directly. Without having given it a thought.

(and yes, I have given this post a thought, or two, before posting )

Enjoy your day!

Robenroute

[edited for typos]

Wonder how long it will be before this story is shown to be just another sad PR stunt by the Foreign Ministry, as they know no Thai journalists will bother to fact check before printing it.

Seeing as the report mentions 'several African countries' having given him a new passport and then lists Nicaragua, Uganda and Montenegro as the countries in question, I have my doubts about it's accuracy.

Read, people. Read. Where does it say or even hint at Nicaragua, Uganda and Montenegro being African countries? Bats.

How much does a good rank cost?

Is that spelt with an R ?

Nice one!

wobenwoute

What utter crap!!! I agree London has now most certainly become better value. Things are much cheaper in comparison to Thailand. Thailand is fast becoming a major rip off! People are still living in the past and still believe the old crap. So what is better value in Thailand?

Don't forget that "we" see Thailand differently from the regular tourists. I can see why Tom, Dick and Henriette like Thailand: temples, oriental food, tropical beaches, bamboo bungalows, loads of sunshine and generally friendly people. To people who've been living in Thailand things might be slightly different. But your average tourist doesn't give a toss about being ripped-off. hel_l, they wouldn't be able to tell if they were. The Euro gives you around 50 Baht; to European tourists this simply means a cheap holiday (where a beer is about the same price as it is at home). Infrastructure/transportation is reasonably well organized, so what's there to complain about? Two weeks later they're back home with shiploads of photographs and good memories.

A Dutch guy I met a few years ago, working on an NGO infrastructure project in Laos, told me maintenance is not part of the equation in countries like Thailand, Loas and Cambodia (his personal experience). To Asian people, infrastructural projects, according to him, have this air of permanency or imperishability, and, hence, yearly maintenance just doesn't fit in.

It's not just railroads. Roads get repaired, not maintained. Buildings get repaired, not maintained. Cars get repaired, not maintained. I guess we'll just continue seizing our days... ;-)