Jussie

22 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

What nationalities are still stranded here?

As flights are taking off again anybody can, one way or the other, fly OUT of Thailand.

Well, technically yes, if you’re planning on moving back to your home country. Some of us are stuck here waiting to get back into the countries in which we work. Not all countries are allowing foreigners in.

8 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

Coming from where she does you think she would be a lot more streetwise; maybe lives in a white enclave and barely sees the light of day as servants do everything including the shopping !

I don’t know a single person in SA who have servants like that.  With labour laws such as SA has, you would pay very handsomely for a person like that in your employ, just as you would in Europe. Wow, you really should visit the place sometime and not just base your comments on..where did you say your source was again?

I saw a similar article online a few days ago and keep wondering why its not being taken into some consideration.
Then again, even if this was what happened, there would still be debris, not so?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/07/us-korea-north-china-idUSBREA260CV20140307

Hi all

I'm posting on behalf of a British friend. She entered Thailand on an Education visa when studying for her TEFL. She has since had an offer of employment but the wait for her work permit has been very long. She has subsequently had two tourist visas from Penang but we've been informed that they will not issue another and will make her leave after a very short period. Her paperwork for her non-B application will not be ready on time for her next visa run.

Does anyone know if Singapore is a viable option for her? Would she be able to get a 60 day tourist visa if she flew there?

What other points of exit/entry would be recommended? She lives in Phuket, so it needs to be relatively convenient too.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

that is so wrong, I hope Thailand have the death penalty for that.

hayden5650 - in what way is the above DISGUSTING article cause for a lol in your comment?

Laugh out loud??? Please try to imagine that poor little guy's last hours of life and then think again if its anything to laugh about.

Have you no heart?

There has been an outbreak, mostly amongst small children, but it must be noted that it is not of the variety Westerners think of when hearing the name...it is associated with high fever and what would commonly be thought of as 'rainy season' illness.

Though it is, of course, awful to see young children so sick, it is not life-threatening and also very difficult to control in young children. As with all childhood illnesses, it is difficult to prevent as the little ones are far more tactile with their possessions and each other.

Parents need to just be on the lookout AND PLEASE LISTEN TO TEACHERS AND NOT BRING CHILDREN WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES OR 'FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS TO SCHOOL. Unfortunately, this seldom happens as many parents see teachers as babysitters paid up in full.

As for preventing spread, leaving toys and any shared items out in sunlight as often as possible is a very good way of killing the virus.

Why did the girl wait till after multiple events before complaining? Why not the first time? Thai authorities always seem to have overwhelming evidence. We are either not getting all the facts or something just isn't right about this story.

Markaew, there are any number of reasons why a child of this age would not have spoken up, either the first or the fifth or the tenth time. Children in abuse situations are themselves very confused and uncertain of what to do, often not even understanding why they feel bad about what they're being subjected to, even blaming themselves. Comments like yours would help perpetuate the idea that children are able to or may be in a position to prevent this type of abuse if they're brave enough...remember, the adults involved are most likely also manipulating/threatening the child already. Whether you meant it or not, you have actually laid blame for a 10 year old child's sexual abuse on her family and herself... that is a worrying point of view.

farang doesn't mean "Caucasian." It actually comes from the word "foreigner." Other Asians are in fact technically farang

No, Farang is only used about westerners.

ฝรั่ง

[ ฝะ-หฺรั่ง ]

fà-ràng

Translation คำแปล

[ Adjective, Noun ]

Westerner ; Caucasian ; "farang"

Western

The origin of the use of the term ฝรั่ง to describe all white-skinned Westerners remains somewhat uncertain. Some speculate that it's a derivation of ฝรั่งเศส ("France/French"), from a time of early French links with the Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya, which caused Thais at the time to view "white man" and "Frenchman" as interchangeable. But given that the French were far from the first Europeans to Ayutthaya - arriving 150 years after the Portuguese, and at least 50 years after the Spanish, Dutch and British - this theory seems somewhat unlikely.

The alternative and most well supported theory seems to be that it's a word the Thais picked up from early dealings with Middle Eastern traders, and that it's a derivation of "farangi", a Persian word for foreigners or the similar "farenghi" (Hindi) or "faranji" (Arabic). All are ultimately thought to have come from the Franks, the ancient empire that ruled over substantial parts of Western Europe.

Source: thai2english

Thank you, an informed reply. Actually, having lived here for very many years, I still find the term 'farang' uncomfortable in some circumstances, particularly when I understand what is being said and when I also understand that I am being singled out as different. I totally understand the term and use it myself, where applicable. I do think that earlier posters were merely pointing out small facts that they didn't agree with and were not given the time to try to explain themselves.

Having said that, I also think that some of the previous posters also need to just relax and stop getting upset about things they feel/hear as inappropriate. hel_l, don't join the group if you don't want to be seen as going on a 'girls' night out'. If you don't want to be called that...don't. But let others speak freely.

Jaiyen sisters. Jaiyen...live and let live, why don't you?

I recall a news article some years ago when they first started talking about software raids and two types of organizations were exempt from the copyright law at that time, the government and schools/colleges, universities. Wonder if that still holds?

No, this is not true as they are hitting schools really hard, even fining teachers who have illegal downloads on their thumb drives. An interesting thing to come out of this (all via the grapevine, mind you), is that they are only targeting private schools.

We've been informed about some of the fines and they are hefty.

To comment on the situation at Kajonkiet. I am a teacher there and can tell you that there is no truth to the rumour of a death in our student body.

The school has tried to please all parties and that is why we closed the school for the day on Friday. Parents are fully entitled to feel afraid for their children; who wouldn't? You must remember that we also have several teachers with their own children in the school.

At present I have heard that there are cases within almost all schools on the island. The important point to remember is that this is still a 'flu virus and treated promptly poses as much threat as any other 'flu virus.

I personally would not be so calm if I was not armed with all the facts. As stated in the article in the Phuket Gazette, we have several doctors amongst our parents and have consulted with them at length. I feel calm and confident that if there was any immediate danger to either students, teachers or parents at our school, we would be notified immediately.

Rumours have a wonderful way of being far more exciting than fact. Let's stick to the facts everybody.