chrisinth

Meet Chompu, 22 yo coyote dancer, degree in English.......................

OK, it isn't really Chompu, but it could be.....................

These internet dating sites have always scared me, source of nightmares, eh?

I mean she's got a beard for goodness sake!

Just Sayin'

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QuoteJealous of what exactly?

Jealous of being among the number of incredibly skint and desperate losers on that site leaving comments to the women in dire pidgin bar girl Thai such as:

"Honey, why you no skype me long time? me can love you take care when I come to Bangkok in April for two weeks. me think you suay Mak mak"

"Tee Rak me want you take care me. Me good man, think you good lady too"

and other such pearls of romantic prose which would make Shelley and Keats blush......

Any Thai girl calling me 'suay mak mak' would definitely have the alarm bells ringing.

I would be asking for crutch shots on Skype.........................

It is a really good hint here in Thailand, once you find a good sparkie (yes, there are some), don't lose his business card, phone number, FB, LINE or email address....................

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Two years ago my wife was bitten by a unknown snake, her foot went black and swelled up. But she survived, that's life.

Where was this?

Just below the ankle.....................

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Wheres the photos of the guns?, just looks like photo of

bits scrap metal.

regards Worgeordie

Yep, you would think that an M-16, AK-47 and a grenade launcher, if combat ready, would make for a better photo instead of ordinance scrap. Nobody even bothered to show up to even point at it................

If the ammunition and grenades were left for a 15 year period without maintenance, yes, they could be used. By somebody else, but not by me. V dangerous................

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Now we will have even more of the world speaking 'American' English, when word constantly tells them they are making spelling errors when they are not.

Actually you just have to work out how to configure it.

To have it in English (Any) will be a wonder to see........................

OP, nice story.

But are you sure the title is correct?

I know many, many Thais that put in 12 hour minimum days and fail to see what they are getting out of it. Survival for sure month to month, but not much else.

Or perhaps the thread is only about the feel good factor that you received and I am reading too much into it?

Whereas your actions are to be commended (I mean that) they were primarily based on deceit (BF/GF in front of dying lady), I certainly have no problem with that but I would guess many others would disagree.

Just sayin'...................

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Problem is most of the good girls are fat, ugly, old or a Thai has married them already. 10K working in an office or 100K+ working in a bar? Including free sex and international travel plus free houses and cars. It's not a choice at all.

Sorry ATF, if you believe that the average BG makes anywhere near that amount a month and indulges in international travel you are very, very wrong.

Sure, some of them do, no doubt, and others can 'entrap' their 'future', but that is way against the odds.

This looks like leosuntime's low tech approach to what Mr. Snowden has recently been warning the world about, the NSA's high tech approach to intel gathering..................

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maxme, on 01 Jun 2014 - 11:00, said:

Transparency

If the glass is cleaned with a slightly dirty rag, I'm good with that..........................

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I know the workers are police. I have seen and know this. As I said all was normal Tuesday. The person that reported this to meis a long time resident (12 years)and knows the difference between police and military uniforms. Again, I did not see this myself. I was wondering if anyone else could confirm or if it was happening at other offices.

Certainly not saying it didn't happen, but thinking logically, while we at times think that extending a stay, even getting a re-entry visa or 90 day reporting can appear to be a comedy of errors, it is quite a complicated process.

For the army to take over the duties of the immigration department would call for intensive training to ensure it worked.

Still, that said, it could be a good time to ask for your 15 year extension to your tourist visa in Korat.........................

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I've lost count of how many Thai/English menus I have written and have an impressive collection.

Some visitors even "borrow" a menu from some of their favourite stops and include it in their scrapbooks that detail and display memories of their trip to exotic Thailand. That's great!

I've found that many bars/restaurants in touristy areas deliberately misspell menu items. They do this to get a chuckle from imbibers, have their venue talked about (word of mouth being the best advertising) etc. Some are funny, some are obvious. The authentic spelling errors (and there are a lot) generally are found off the beaten track in smaller towns or non-tourist areas. Flied lice always gets a chuckle.

You really believe these are deliberate mistakes?

Welcome to Thailand my friend.....................

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Where a lot of people starting out go wrong is by not correctly identifying their target customers. If the owner is say, German and the chef can do German food, great, go for it.

But you have to look further, how many Germans are in the area, how many people would like to try German food and how reliable is that base. You need alternate items on the menu, at least some Thai dishes.

And, as has been said, the biggest mistake of all is not having your menu proof read, with a translation in English (not German unless you are sure of your base) and Thai as a minimum.

(Only using German as an example, same applies for all countries)

G&M Sausages restaurant near BoSang is full of Thais.
They all seem to like his German food.

Sure, I agree, there are some restaurants that make it by word of mouth. The (main) point of my post was to potentially expand the customer base by allowing customers to understand what they are eating and spread the word.

If all the customers relied and trusted the restaurant's choice or recommendations, that's great also, then there would be no need for a menu..........

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I have a small cafe as a hobby because I am retired. My cafe is cleaned to a sparkle every day, several times during the day. I have not dirt on the ceiling, the fans are washed and clean, there are no rats or cockroaches on the floor. My prices are higher that the Thai street food vendors because my food is top quality and fresh.

I serve western food because everyone else is serving Thai food.

The margin of profit for the Thai street food is about 2 baht per plate, but the price is super cheap. The food may not be fresh and there may be garbage hanging from the ceiling and there may be rats and cockroaches on the floor.

My experience is that 99% of Thai customers do not want to even try western food; of any sort. 80% of the western customers only want Thai food, but they want to eat it in a clean environment.

My cafe is clean, but only serves western foods. When the western people come to my cafe and ask to Thai food, I point to the street vendors that are plentiful. Of course, you will have to stand up or squat to eat.

Take from this post what you need.

My friend, your post should be pinned as a prime example of recognizing your customer base (essentially your income). Your statement that you have found that 99% of Thai's don't want to try western food (?) and 80% of westerners want Thai food should be a good indicator, yet you turn away potential customers to the Thai stalls because you are stubborn about your business model for only western food and maintaining a clean, empty restaurant.

NB, Not sure where you are situated, but your experience of customer preference couldn't differ more than mine when in the business..................

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Chris from Belfast, Steve from Glasgow, Bill from Liverpool & Phil from Newcastle.

All native English speaking people, all with varying degrees and all eligible to take TEFL or whatever other foreign teaching courses there are.

Truth, they all find it difficult understanding each other let alone, on the basis of being a native speaker, teaching English to others.

Of course the above is hypothetical, but does demonstrate a side of native language speaking that shouldn't be ignored.

More nonsense - accent has little or nothing to do with it.........as anyone in a place like Pattaya will tell you they, they talk in English with native speakers from all over the world with no problem. I have many friends with strong regional British accents and only one do I find difficult to understand and that's not because of his accent; he just speaks indistinctly.

Any Scots person will tell you that when outside their home region they consciously or subconsciously tone down their dialect so as to communicate more easily with

Problems seldom come from accent, of you need to know what an accent is before thou make that assertion - the problems arrive from regional dialect or slang and even more often lack of CLARITY. You can watch TV anywhere in the world and 99% of the time as a native speaker you'll understand it fine.

with Thai speakers the problems come with rhythm and stress - but I doubt if anyone has paid much consideration to that even in their own speech.

The point of the post had nothing to do with adult people talking to each other in Pattaya. The point of the post was how a child could comprehend what was being taught to them. Your wisdom indicates that accents have nothing to do with it, I would beg to differ.

Oh, from your comments to another post, I do indeed realize that teaching doesn't only relate to children, but I believe to OP was referring to children at camp, hence the continued reference to children.

Well, the arguments are certainly on the go!

While the topic of unprofessional and unskilled teachers is still on the go, perhaps someone from the educational field in Thailand could answer these simple questions for me:

What educational advantage for the children would a person with a degree in geology (read any non-educational degree) and a TEFL certificate as an English teacher?

Is it because the applicant has shown the ability of commitment for 4 years achieving his/her degree and therefore would make a good teacher, or did the achievement in acquiring said degree improve his English teaching levels to a level where teaching children would be easier?

Like it or not kiddies, without an educational (language) degree that is all that is required for at least two years (until they acquire their teaching license) to employ anyone to teach English.

So outside of English language or grammar, how many teachers in Thailand, native speaking or otherwise, are truly qualified to teach the children?

At the end of the day, it is all about the children..................

As a disclaimer, I am not connected to the educational system and the points above are secondhand, but I believe them to be true. Until the educational system in Thailand is re-vamped, both on the financial (wages, both Thai and falang) and on the teacher employment requirements, IMHO, nothing will change soon.

BTW, this is not generalization as such, there are a lot of really good, dedicated teachers out there, qualified or not.

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How about relocating the funds into a decent teacher training scheme that actually produces proper teachers. Thailand may then at last be able to move forward in a meaningful way with properly educated children.

Well fine. Actually the new 5 year bachelor of education degree contains more modern teaching methodology but when new teachers go out to schools they very often run into roadblocks when they attempt to use these newer methods in the class room.

Most of the roadblocks are older teachers who totally refuse to change and push school directors / headmasters to have the newer activities stopped.

In many schools, especially big schools the older teachers en masse are quite powerful and in many schools headmasters / directors are frightened of their en masse power.

Change is sorely needed, change is possible, but it won't be easy. Perhaps it will need to force the intransient older teachers to retire.

More discussion needed.

Not sure about Bkk but for up-country the above post is spot on. That is exactly what happens.

One thing I would say is that you can't teach English in Thai or Thai in English........................

However, a little knowledge of the student's language is good for explanation only.

No, I'm not a teacher, it just makes a lot of sense.

Where a lot of people starting out go wrong is by not correctly identifying their target customers. If the owner is say, German and the chef can do German food, great, go for it.

But you have to look further, how many Germans are in the area, how many people would like to try German food and how reliable is that base. You need alternate items on the menu, at least some Thai dishes.

And, as has been said, the biggest mistake of all is not having your menu proof read, with a translation in English (not German unless you are sure of your base) and Thai as a minimum.

(Only using German as an example, same applies for all countries)

Chris from Belfast, Steve from Glasgow, Bill from Liverpool & Phil from Newcastle.

All native English speaking people, all with varying degrees and all eligible to take TEFL or whatever other foreign teaching courses there are.

Truth, they all find it difficult understanding each other let alone, on the basis of being a native speaker, teaching English to others.

Of course the above is hypothetical, but does demonstrate a side of native language speaking that shouldn't be ignored.

Surprised to see that his passport or mobile phone wasn't on the list. OK, perhaps he was one of the 4% of people who doesn't have a mobile, but he would have a passport. Even if he was carrying it (as he should) they obviously searched him (as they got his hotel room key (?) and even with the attention stolen passports have received recently, they are still a commodity on the market.

Which bus station are you arriving at, the new one at the Indo-China junction is now operating.

But to your question, the only bike rental that I know off, rather would recommend, is opposite Topland hotel. I can't remember seeing any bike rentals at the bus stations.

You could also be boring and take a bus to Pichit, it being rainy season and all.................

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Living the dream.

There was a similar place (open air bar) in Bangkok; all you can drink 600 baht or something like that. In addition to watching the ladies arrive for work they had wild cats. 10 or 20 wild cats that did funny stuff on the roof across from the bar. Both the cats and the ladies got funnier as the night progressed.

35 to 70 to 105 to 140 to hilarious...................

Understand fully, and am jealous.................

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While facebook is a major distraction in the workplace, it is also a necessary tool for my job. I use it to recruit workers, particularly expats here in Bangkok. So, as you are expressing your joy as to its unavailability, just remember that some expats and some thais are probably losing the opportunity to obtain beneficial employment due to the outage.

If your recruitment is based on a social media outlet, in a country going through what this one is, not sure if that is a good business plan.

If they want, LINE will be next, there are a lot of users here.

Suggest having a Plan B, C, D & E ready..................

OK, curfew has been shortened as from tonight from midnight until four, possible problem solved.

It shouldn't take me more than two hours to get home, directly..................