petedk

Invoke article 44. Build decent rail links spidering out from Bangkok.

No need for minivans.

I know it's not going to happen, but if Thailand had a decent rail system (no need for hi speed), the number of vans and therefore number of road deaths would decrease.

True have defo got rights. Spoke to them today, admin team putting together prices for footy packages.

"Prices" : Are we going to pay more for Premier League?

Pay per view?

I have Platinum package now. I certainly hope that covers all the matches.

By the way, FM99 have announced today that True will be showing all premier league matches

The wife says that FM99 have announced that True Visions will be showing the full premier league package.

I have tried searching the Internet but can't find anything.

Anyone else heard anything?

You always have to log in...and they keep an eye on your seeding/leeching , no thanks.

KAT is free , no log on , no-one keeps an eye on you. Easy , efficient.

I only give a donation. I don't have to pay. Only time i log in is when i clear cookie etc.

I could care less about seeding and leaching.

KAT was full of viruses

I have used it for years. Never had a virus.

You probably clicked on the ads.

Duang Dee Hill Tribe coffee (I prefer the brown box roast, not the orange-ish box variety). Available at TOPS in Chiang Mai so I presume elsewhere too. 109 THB for 250 grams.

Package looks like this:

bravo_koo-img582x600-14413055285bsuk013440.jpg

+ 1

been my favourite for years . A lot of friends take some back home with them.

105 baht in Foodland Bangkok

I will admit I don't approve of this behaviour but to be honest I think I have "stumbled upon" people having sex behind corners, trees, on the beach, in cars in practically every country I have visited. From Gibraltar, Malta, Hong Kong to Queenstown New Zealand. (It sounds like I am a voyeur)

It is wrong but all I am saying is that it happens all over the world.

Not long ago I saw 2 Thai girls groping each other in a coffee shop in Paragon. One had her hand right up the other's skirt. There were plenty of onlookers (including Thais), but NO ONE said anything.

We shall now see if the military are willing and brave enough to identify and control this out-of-control controller.

35 vans at B300,000 each plus a monthly fee of B5400 each and another B180 per day (B5400/month)

Someone's making a fine living out of these guys.

Just for this moment I have sympathy for the van drivers.

300,000 Baht each seems way too high. That is 10,000 baht a day.

No way do the vans make that much money. I often travel by van on a 160 Baht trip. This trip takes 3 to 4 hours. Lets say 14 passengers... that's 2240 baht. He would have to do 5 trips a day just to pay the 10,000 baht.

No way!

I am sure it must be 300,000 between them.

Standard international roaming rates will apply to you, for both in-coming and out-going calls, with the possible exception of you calling to Thailand (only). Those calls may be charged at your standard post-paid rate (included minutes or overage). People calling you from Thailand will also be charged as if they were calling within Thailand (standard domestic rates, or bundled minutes).

This is not a "free" service that many associate with VoIP services.

It is really meant to provide "roaming"-like coverage in those areas (remote/rural) where you may have WiFI service, but no local GSM/3G standard mobile telephony service. Places like tall buildings (even in Bangkok), where it can be challenging to get a signal based on height, or remote places where there is no mobile signal. This is a niche application, but popular in the U.S. for example, where in remote areas people might have home internet service but no mobile signal, unless they go to the big city.

How can they charge at standard domestic rates?

My friend puts his mobile into "airplane mode", logs on to my wifi (or any wifi) and makes free calls to any mobile or landline in Thailand.

It is free to call domestic. I don't know about international calls.

The most disturbing thing about that video was the aggressive behavior of the Thai guy.

He must have been a plain clothes police officer ... :"where you stay? ... where you stay? ..... where you stay? <deleted> you."

many country consulates ask to see a copy of the travel insurance policy before approving a visa. a 30 day waiver travel insurance policy can be bought and paid at the airport say 3,000 baht before being allowed entry. If you stay longer than the policy period you will be billed the extra period on the way out. Like overstaying your policy period

That would be the ideal solution.

Simple. You MUST get Thai insurance from Thai company. 2,000 baht per month, every tourist. then co-pays, etc...

If they think you came in with a pre-existing condition (like just to have surgery in Thailand, or something very serious);, fraud, prison, blacklisted, and you will PAY before you leave!!!!!!

But if you explain the condition, no worries......but now deposit and more baht per month........yes, you can pay yearly or quarterly!!!

If you wait and buy before immigration, 2500 baht!!!!

Think about the millions of baht Thailand makes on medical tourism.

People actually come here with serious illnesses to have medical treatment.

Yes, of course they have budgeted for the treatment, but maybe they have no insurance and will pay cash.

Damm. Hopefully she doesn't win a medal anyway.

Why?

steroid, substance user, playing in China, Chinese coach, dress it up as you like, stinks.

These people play all over the world. She happened to be tested in China where she played in a competition.

She has a Thai coach ... not Chinese.

Damm. Hopefully she doesn't win a medal anyway.

Why so negative?

I hope she gets gold.

Uhm

I just spoke to True. Sorry. but I am not so technical minded.

True asked me to change my settings to a manual proxy configuration and type in: proxy.trueinternet.co.th

It worked immediately!

Edit: A couple of minutes later I tried Thai Visa and that is much faster too

I am currently using an aircard from True and can access any website I want without problems (be it that there is room for improvement w.r.t. the speed of data transmission).

My girlfriend uses true 4G and no problems there.

I use AIS and no problems but when I swith to True Wifi (we use High Speed Cable) then I have the problems.

I'll try changing DNS Servers

It sounds strange but I cannot open Google using True Internet. Nothing happens!

I've tried on several computers and wifi on my phone. As soon as I turn wifi off and use AIS 4G I can open Google.

I have also noticed that Thai Visa is incredibly slow in opening and down in the bottom right hand corner of my monitor I get a "connecting to Google" or "connecting to Google syndicate ads" and it just hangs there.

A few weeks ago I had problems connecting to another website using True. I called True and they fixed it. I guess I will do the same agai.

The reason I am posting this is to ask if anyone knows why? Is anything going on? Here I mean monitoring, censoring, one gateway or whatever. Or is it just a technical issue?

I love the hawkers and small shops by the side of the road. It is part of the charm of Bangkok, but in some places the footpaths are completely blocked by them.

The idea of skywalks around Bangkok is great. I often walk from Siam Square to Central World using the skywalk. Now I can continue to Platinum without having to fight to get through.

Perhaps reading the article may help some. She had steroid injection to her knee which is a common treatment. The question is, why didn't the doctor (sports doctor?) not know that could be an issue?

There is no excuse. The doctor should know it contained a banned substance.

Just look at Marie Sharapova. She was banned for 2 years and she claimed she didn't know the drug she had been taking for 10 years was suddenly put on the banned substances list.

What amazes me is the fact that they have to publish the registration number of the van and truck.

With all the crazy defamation laws I would have thought that the van owner would sue the newspaper for ruining his reputation.

surely it is a consumer right to be given food

suitable for human consumption.

in many countries offences like this carry fines for

the offending establishments.

any decent and forward looking restaurants should not only

give refund but also a compensatory token.

unless of course you are dealing with heartless scam artists.

And there lays the problem., Amazing Thailand,

A Western run restaurant here, most likely that would happen to some extent.

or new order served to you, maybe not refund.

He should have not given in, so quick.

Indeed it would. I had some ribs at a British-run pub in Bangkok. They were tough and undercooked, I brought it to the attention of the owner who was on the premises and the item was taken off the bill. In London my food order was lost by the kitchen and because my friend and I had to wait over an hour both the entire meal and our drinks were free.

Can you ever imagine a Thai business doing that? The Thai way of doing things is to never give a refund, ever, for anything. Even says so on the credit card receipt - NO REFUND. Never seen that anywhere else, and anyway that isn't legal as you can just get the cc company to cancel the charge. I read of a man who bought a pair of shoes in a top department store and the next day one of the soles came loose. He took the shoes back, refused to back down when they refused to replace them and they called the police. Service, Thai-style. Money is king. always. Under any circumstances.

You are right. I have lived here for 20 years and eat out 2 or 3 times a week.

But to be fair, I have had free meals 3 times in Bangkok.

Once on Thong Lor , where I complained about waiting for 45 minutes.

Once at Terminal 21 where I pointed out that there was a little piece of a plastic bag in my spaghetti

Finally, at a Japanese restaurant chain where I mentioned that the vegetables were tough as if they were several days old.

Once I was violently sick minutes after eating at a restaurant. I complained but they just said that I couldn't prove it was their food. Needless to say I never went back and I tell all my friends to stay away.

But that would require proper english teachers...not the 35k backpacker type.

From my own experience, good teachers come in many different forms.

Some are, believe it or not, backpackers, some earn more or less than ฿ 35,000 per month, some are young or old, handsome or not so handsome, etc. But one thing all "good teachers" have in common is a "genuine desire to help their students to learn, practice and reproduce the language, to reach out to them [the students] and encourage them to try". To teach them something relevant to their lives.

I've met quite a few teachers here with impressive degrees from very reputable institutes in the UK and the USA who either 1) don't give a t*ss about their pupils or 2) don't know how to grade their English to the student's level).

Speaking of "proper English" - it's actually written with a capital "E". No need for you to apply for any of the teaching jobs then, eh? Just kidding!

But I've also seen many native speakers with absolutely atrocious spelling mistakes.

I sort of agree with you except I think to be a good teacher you need both attributes.

You need professional qualifications and a strong desire to succeed in teaching the students. There are a lot of people teaching here who have no teaching qualifications, they just happen to use English as their native language and I have also personally met a good few who have completed a 2 week TEFL course and now believe they are qualified teachers.

However, whilst the schools keep trying to save money employing unqualified people on low salaries nothing will really change here.

I have a BA in English and have been teaching English at a university for 20 years, so I consider myself qualified and experienced.

Yesterday, I was told that the university needs qualified teachers and now all teachers need to have a MA, so I won't be able to continue working there.

I wonder how many foreigners with MA will be willing to teach for 28K a month.

Sometimes I really don't understand Thais.

"In order for contracts to be officially legal they must be in both English and Thai."

Not really. If there is a contract in Thai, that's the one that is used. It is often not the same as the English version you might get.

There have been numerous times here where someone says they don't have a contract, or at least one was never given to them. If they have a WP, a contract in Thai was part of the paperwork.

The 'other duties' is normal.

'Other locations' would have to be in the work permit to be legal for you to work there.

Yes, my university has two locations and last time I went to renew my visa, the officer asked if I teach at the other campus. I was about to reply "sometimes" when the secretary, who came with me, blurted out "No No only in Bangkok."

Later I asked her why she said that and she told me that I would have to go to the Ministry of Labour in that province to add that campus to my work permit.

I have lived here for 10 years now and have never, even on one of the military bases, seen anyone stop when the Anthem was being presented. Pedestrians stopped but never a car or motorcycle!!

Well, I saw it ONE time at a university I was teaching at.

Normally the cars didn't stop, but one day they did. Maybe because the first one stopped thus "forcing" the ones behind to do so.

I have been teaching privately for a few years and charge at least 800 Baht per hour. A few years ago, I had several students a week, but at the moment I am down to 2 students per week. Yes, it seems that Thais are more careful with their money these days. I still say "No" to less then 800 per hour.

Having said that I heard of a Thai (!) undergraduate at Chula teaching for 1000 baht an hour. She has found the perfect location as she virtually only teaches in one condo block all day. She teaches from 08.00 to 21,00 or 22.00 every day at the moment as she has summer holidays. Go figure how much she earns! I won't say where this condo is, but it is located right next door to one of the international schools.

Someone posted on another thread somewhere (I can't find it right now) , that they were threatened with jail if they teach more private students at home.

They were told that they could teach a maximum of 7 students in one term .

I am not sure whether it was a troll or not as I can't find it now.