alex88

Each of his contracts have only lasted one semester. He has only been here 1.5 years but is already onto his fourth waiver.

Got our adviso, many thanks. One could think the TCT has it together enough to count the number of years total, despite changing schools, but one could also think all this stuff is linked in the Thai system. It was also mentioned some place that if you get a new passport, you may start the waiver restrictions/limits/requirements over again. So, just collecting information and experiences. Cheers.

If a new passport is all it takes that is a very interesting possibility to keep in mind for the future.

Pretty good price at 990 baht one way, and laung prabang is a lovely place to visit.

Agreed but AA is not the way to go, try BKK Air, far better service.

I have had great experiences flying on Bangkok Airways but I can't afford their prices so Air Asia is my only option. I am very happy that they fly to Luang Prabang as it hasn't been possible for me to go there in a long time. When there is that much difference in price the service is quite irrelevant considering it's a pretty short flight.

Up until last year you could go to a bar in Pattaya and ask for a sheesha/hookah, someone would make a phone call, and it would be delivered to be enjoyed in the bar.

Suddenly the Sheesha's were banned and I haven't seen them since, although I haven't been to Pattaya for a while. Is this a permanent situation? Are there any bars in Thailand that still allow Sheesha?

Thai men like to drink but the women (apart from Pattaya/Isan types and some of the younger generation of BKK girls) don't drink much and it's actually still considered socially less desirable for women to drink in some circles.

All of the things that you mentioned are about Manila/Clark area. Stay out of that area for starters. The rest of the Philippines is much nicer.

A friend of mine is onto his fourth contract now and hasn't had any issues regarding his waivers. It's never even mentioned unless he asks about it.

It is quite normal to get two, two year waivers. Our context is getting the third, fourth onward without enrolling in or graduating from, a real or Thai University(apx. 150,000.Baht) and showing progress towards a degree with a major in Education. Thanks for your contribution, please ask your friend about the fifth year.

Each of his contracts have only lasted one semester. He has only been here 1.5 years but is already onto his fourth waiver.

I have a friend from Ghana who lives in Thailand and has also lived in several other countries. His experience is that Thais are the most racist people he has met.

Here in the provinces he apparently has no problem but down in Bangkok he says people look horrified at his presence and even wipe themselves if he accidentally brushes past them.

Why is it always a white guy saying this? I've yet to meet a black person in Thailand who's had any bad experiences. Even the black members on TV who comment from time to time have not mentioned being the target of racism by Thais. It's as if some white folks in Thailand feel a desperate need to convince everyone that Thais are racist against blacks. But reality is nothing like that.

And plenty of my Thai friends agree that they also don't like Africans, and would react in much the same way.

Alex88:

God bless, but your posts just don't ring true to me.

First of all, you're white, right? How is that you have all these African friends who are crying on your shoulder about what a racially oppressive and discriminatory society Thailand is? I don't see too many Africans hanging out with white guys down in Bangkok. Seems especially odd when said white guy has a "get over it, already!" attitude about the transatlantic slave trade.

Then you tell us, hey, not only do I have lots of African friends, but I've got all these Thai friends too, who, coincidentally enough, don't really like Africans. Where are all your Thai friends meeting Africans to formulate their strong opinions? It just seems to me that the average Thai person would have fairly limited contact with Africans, mainly because there aren't that many of them here.

Am I the only one who finds it just a tad bit implausible that a white guy here in Thailand has not only befriended a whole bunch of black Africans, but also a whole bunch of Thai people who curiously enough just happen to not like Africans either. That's quite a coincidence, I think most would agree. Do your Thai friends know you are hanging out with Africans? Do your African friends know that you are hanging out with Thais who don't like Africans? Your social life must require quite a bit of juggling.

I'm also curious about how feelings about Africans comes up in conversation with your Thai friends. Do you bring the subject up? Are you saying stuff like "Somchai, I gotta tell you, I really, really don't like Africans," and your Thai friends are sympathetically agreeing with you? Or are you saying that somehow out of the clear blue sky your Thai friends suddenly announce, 'I don't like Africans." I mean, how does that subject even come up? It's just that I've been coming here for 30 years now, and the subject's never come up. What's your secret?

Another thing you posted that just didn't make sense to me was that, while your Ghanaian friend had "no problem out in the countryside," he found Bangkok to be a hotbed of racism. I found that to be very curious for the simple reason that a significant percentage of the people in Bangkok at any given time are there temporarily or semi-permanently from the countryside. They're there for employment, commerce, medical care, visiting relatives, etc. Because of this constant ebb and flow of people, it doesn't make sense that there would be such a stark contrast in racial attitudes between rural Thailand and cosmopolitan Bangkok.

And just one last question: since you're so in tight with the African community here in Thailand, have you ever introduced any of your African friends to your Thai friends, so that your African-hating Thai friends can discover what great people all of your African friends are?

Well firstly I never said I have a multitude of African friends. I simply repeated what my Ghanaian friend (Co-worker) told me. He has had no problem working at this particular school but he had problems at other schools in other parts of Thailand. When he goes to Bangkok on the weekends he has problems with people there. He speaks Thai quite well so he asks them in Thai "what is your problem?!" and they get embarrassed and apologise to him.

You are right when you say my Thai friends would likely have limited experience with African people. That is usually where racism comes from. You will find the most racist people are usually the ones who have the least experience with the people who they are discriminating against. The only reason it came up is because I have asked my Thai friends because of what my African friend said. They are not aggressive about it but simply say that they consider African people to be criminally inclined, dirty, and untrustworthy.

I also never trivialised the transatlantic slave trade I simply mentioned that the African slaves were sold to the Europeans by African people. How is that trivial?

The Thais are often non-confrontational so their racism is perhaps not as aggressive as the racism you see in the West but Thailand has a lot of underlying racism and is not as heavily controlled by political correctness as you find in Western countries.

As for introducing my Thai friends to my African friend that is a great idea. However most of my Thai friends are gay and my African friend is extremely homophobic.

I love Luang prabang and the only reason I haven't been back there is that it has been difficult and expensive to find transport to go there. I will go back there again in the near future if Air Asia is flying there.

A friend of mine is onto his fourth contract now and hasn't had any issues regarding his waivers. It's never even mentioned unless he asks about it.

Anyway, this is not a discussion about slavery, it's a discussion about racism against non-white foreigners in Thailand

I read this somewhere and it made sense:

Thais tend to hate you for WHO you are meaning that, in most instances, they'll assess you on your manners, your appearance and perceived status

Yanks, Brits, Frogs etc tend to hate you for WHAT you are meaning that, regardless of whether you're a good person, well-presented and polite, just being born a certain race or colour is enough to despise you

Who would've thought that an ostensibly backward, poorly-educated people could teach the oh-so educated and cultured first-world such wisdom

Wow, seriously.....

Yes, seriously

That is my perception after 8 years here.

But then again, I don't allow my perceptions to be clouded by the odd bit of dual pricing, the use of the word "farang" or the fact that the Thai beauty ideal favours fair skin.

None of that shit constitutes racism and only highly-strung, self-entitled, conceited people would believe that it does.

I also don't consider those things racism but as a white person I have it relatively easy here. Others have more concerns.

Wow it's about time!

Outside of Bangkok, tourist areas, and places in Isan where farang/Thai relationships are common, most Thais will never have a use for English. What would a Thai in an ordinary non-touristed province need to speak English for? Thais still speak better English than the Japanese though. I had a lot more difficulty communicating in Japan than I do in Thailand.

I love Thailand and wouldn't want to be anywhere else but some of the utopian views that some people have of Thai culture astound me.

Anyway, this is not a discussion about slavery, it's a discussion about racism against non-white foreigners in Thailand

I read this somewhere and it made sense:

Thais tend to hate you for WHO you are meaning that, in most instances, they'll assess you on your manners, your appearance and perceived status

Yanks, Brits, Frogs etc tend to hate you for WHAT you are meaning that, regardless of whether you're a good person, well-presented and polite, just being born a certain race or colour is enough to despise you

Who would've thought that an ostensibly backward, poorly-educated people could teach the oh-so educated and cultured first-world such wisdom

Wow, seriously.....

I have a friend from Ghana who lives in Thailand and has also lived in several other countries. His experience is that Thais are the most racist people he has met.

Here in the provinces he apparently has no problem but down in Bangkok he says people look horrified at his presence and even wipe themselves if he accidentally brushes past them.

Why is it always a white guy saying this? I've yet to meet a black person in Thailand who's had any bad experiences. Even the black members on TV who comment from time to time have not mentioned being the target of racism by Thais. It's as if some white folks in Thailand feel a desperate need to convince everyone that Thais are racist against blacks. But reality is nothing like that.

My wife rents rooms for a living, many owners say no Indians and no Blacks.....this is NOT 1 or 2 owners this is many, make of it what u will............many also say NO children.

The same goes for when schools are hiring. A lot of schools specify 'no black teachers'. At my school the black teacher is constantly giving up his own personal time to help with school after hours and on weekends. He makes an amazing contribution and still gets paid less than the white teachers (and some of the white teachers are not native English speakers).

Slavery is in the past.

No white person alive today was responsible for slavery. It's history.

So you might want to stop putting the blame on the white people that exist today for something they never did and something that most likely led to the descendants of Black slaves (certainly those in the US) having a better life than if their ancestors had remained in Africa.

Moronic post

Black people are still suffering the detrimental effects of slavery and white people are still eating out on the benefits.

Oh, for sure, a lot of blacks are their own worst enemy thanks to divisive, antisocial attitudes rooted in culture (certainly in the US) but there's no denying are obstacles placed in their way by those in power.

Britain, the US built their fortunes on the back of exploitation and slavery and to suggest otherwise suggests an attempt to rewrite history so that socially conscious white folks can let themselves off the hook for the shit their ancestors did and got away with

And black slavery didnt exist in Africa before did it?

Sorry, but I don't recall saying or even implying that

White supremacists werent the only ones building their empires and fortunes on the Black slave trade many African nations were involved before the mass enslavements of recentish years as well as Arabs and the Romans.

Exactly. The Europeans didn't just show up and kidnap Africans. Africans were the ones who sold them the slaves.

It's not a white guy saying this it's an African guy. And plenty of my Thai friends agree that they also don't like Africans, and would react in much the same way.

Alex, it seems the point Berkshire made has evaded you.

No it hasn't because 'why is it always a white guy saying it'? Obviously it wasn't a white guy saying it to me. Africans are treated with constant suspicion by Thais and know not to say anything to rock the boat. But if you have actual African friends you will find out how they really feel here and how they are really treated.

I have a friend from Ghana who lives in Thailand and has also lived in several other countries. His experience is that Thais are the most racist people he has met.

Here in the provinces he apparently has no problem but down in Bangkok he says people look horrified at his presence and even wipe themselves if he accidentally brushes past them.

Why is it always a white guy saying this? I've yet to meet a black person in Thailand who's had any bad experiences. Even the black members on TV who comment from time to time have not mentioned being the target of racism by Thais. It's as if some white folks in Thailand feel a desperate need to convince everyone that Thais are racist against blacks. But reality is nothing like that.

It's not a white guy saying this it's an African guy. And plenty of my Thai friends agree that they also don't like Africans, and would react in much the same way.

expats speaking shit haha.. what do you think thai people say when they see you walking down the street hahah.

they don't like black people in this country! adapt or move..

Adapt by changing colour?

I have a friend from Ghana who lives in Thailand and has also lived in several other countries. His experience is that Thais are the most racist people he has met.

Here in the provinces he apparently has no problem but down in Bangkok he says people look horrified at his presence and even wipe themselves if he accidentally brushes past them.

I have just heard another. A young woman is going to take a course here enabling her at the end to teach English to small Thai children. She's from the UK, BUT she has such thick local accent, that I can hardly understand her. Will all the little Thais have a Cardiff accent?

A Cardiff accent would be much more preferable to a whiny, drawly American accent - which is what many English speaking Asian girls seem to end up with....

Thais continually tell me that they prefer the American accent and that everybody wants to learn American English.

Yes in most schools that is typical. ...at some point you just say no. Or if you get lucky your schedule shows 22 hours a week, but you work it smart and teach for 10 or less.

Do not share a class with a Thai teacher one hour each......You do the first 9 or 10 weeks of the term and then let the Thai teacher do the last 9 or 10 weeks.

My last schedule showed 22 hours per week, midway thru the term I was teaching 3.5 hours a week, a wast of the schools money and my time educating the students. Up to them salary remained the same.

If they will not let you leave school for lunch or in free time between classes, or want you to meet and greet the students and parents on the street at 7:30 am find another school.

We used to go out for coffee between classes but the Director became angry about that and now the gates are locked between 7:30am and 4:30pm. The Director claims that parents complained when they saw us outside of school during school hours and consequently we are now forbidden from leaving the school between 7:30am and 4:30pm. On gate duty days I need to arrive at 7am and attend the gate for an hour. Most days I only have 2-3 hours of classes but I am still stuck at school for 9 hours.

I think that Thailand could learn a lot from India regarding charm. India has historical palaces, promotes its animals with integrity. It has a body set up to warn tourists of scams. The sages with their devotees bathe in the Ganges is a site to see.

India is a far more scammy country than Thailand. From the second you arrive in India people are aggressively scamming you. In Thailand it only happens in specific tourist spots. People mostly leave you alone here.

He was in Thailand as a New Zealander. And his record appears to have been clean in that country and Oz never put him on there list of offenders.

He was on the Australian sex offender register as a result of his crimes in Indonesia. This type of crime is borderless for citizens of most Western countries. Actually I see now the article says he was ordered to register but didn't.

Usually if you commit a crime like this overseas you get re-convicted and sentenced again in Australia. I'm surprised that didn't happen.

I tried several times to show my police clearance certificate to my school and they just brushed it off as irrelevant. I went to the trouble and expensive of getting a criminal record check done and they are simply not interested in it.