Anyse

I have not seen one REFERENCE yet! I am using its4thai.com to learn how to read Thai and it is a very good program and inexpensive. 2 courses and 60 lessons that make you work! Also, at http://howtolearnthai.com/thai-alphabet-flash-cards/, you can get cards for BOTH the vowels and consonants at, I think, $6US, each. I bought 2 sets of each as I am doing some wierd things with mine that require 2 sets. I take out the consonants and vowels that I am learning at its4thai.com and work with them. I do not want to have to rely on any transliteration system to learn to speak or read Thai as such a crutch only inhibits learning the language more directly and more quickly.

If anyone is interested in "teaming up" to learn Thai reading and writing, I would be happy to do so as it would give us practice and work in learning better. My name is Anyse and I live in Phuket.

I went, I got the simm and I got 200 BHT of credit put on and have a phone number. What a great day so far!

Karen

Thank you so much! IT was all too easy! Also, the people were really helpful.

Thank you very much. I will go to that site. One of my problems is how to get it! Do I go to a store and buy the sim and top-off card/data/voice plan and that is it? Where or which one as I am in Patong for the next 5 weeks . . . I am tired and have much to do before starting to work next week. I am trying to just get "settled" as quicly as possible. So, I will go there now, where you suggested and, if I have any questions that they can not answer, I will come back and punish you a bit more! LOL! Thank you so much for your help.

Karen

Thank you for your kind as well as quick and thoughtful response. I am seeking ultimate simplicity. I don't want to have to even think about using my cell phone during the month and whether or not these many hours or minutes have been exceeded. I don't know how much I will even use this phone. However, as I settle in more and more and am teaching, I am sure that this will rise accordingly. Therefore, the easier to use, the better!

Can you share any details re: your requirements/budget? - I am wanting to get the best for as little as possible. Even 1500BHT/mo is not overwhelming to me.

Do you call internationally? No, I have no plans to do so at all.

How many minutes/SMS/MMS per month? I have friends in the US who like to use this more than I do. I want unlimited, just in case.

Pre-paid or post-paid? I would pay monthly, via bank withdrawal to phone company . . .

Mobile data requirements? Unlimited!

If 3G is important , where do you spend most of your time in Thailand? Can I really get 3G with a GMS (or is it GSM) phone. Mine does not support 2100 but all others below that.

http://www.thaimobil...otion/index.asp

Stand-alone/layered data-only plans run 790 - 999 for unlimited plans. : I really do not even understand what this means! I am a total novice.

Your phone appears to support 900/1900/2100 so if you require 3G you'd have to go with AIS/One-2-Call. It would also work with TOT/MVNOs, but those come with many, many issues and limitations.

I have a Sony Ericsson Experia x10 mini with GPS, GSM (or is it GMS?), quad-band, wifi, blu-tooth, and all that. Now, I want to have an unlimited call/data plan for this phone. Where can I get it and what will it cost? I have seen estimates up to about 1000BHT/mo. I just am not sure . . . HELP!

Thank you,

Karen

Apple will be in business for a long time because they, like Microsoft and other HUGE companies protect their bread-and-butter products through law suits. This is the "new" business model! I do not like a lot of modern business practices; however, if one does not protect one's inventions then others are all to eager to rip them off. Maybe you should blame Samsung! Hating Apple and not Samsung for "teasing this person with a new product sounds like the vendors in Phuket protesting because they are not making money as they have been forced not to sell anymore counterfeit goods! Rather silly, really.

Huh? You think the people that did this AREN'T psychopaths?

It's hard to steer clear of commenting on Thais because it is the Thais that are involved. Hardly being racist.

Grahamm is correct: making overgeneralizations about Thais in the comments here is racist! Applying one's comments only to those Thais who are involved in this crime, it would be proper to make certain that this is ALL that you are referring to! Do you get it? I see this so often here.

I, too, wonder what happened in this case. It will be interesting to find out if it is one of the 3 mentioned earlier. However, it is not for us to speculate, really, as we really know no more than this report so far.

Remember, farang in Thailand are "guests" there, no matter how you slice it!

BTW, in regard to the Dutch pair, the film will show it all. Also, isn't restraining an officer illegal as well! Isn't this interference of the law? There were a number of crimes done here. I read the entire article and that they had to negotiate with the drivers was, to me, another part of Thai culture to "save face." I feel that they should have ticketed every tuk-tuk for obstructing traffic and commerce as well. These people are gangsters! What is a ride costing these days in the daytime during the off-season?

Yes, check for diabetes. It is a disease that you can have for a very long time before it raises its ugly head!

Here in the US, many years ago, they had a report on the news Magazine "60 Minutes" about this same issue. They investigated the tobacco industry's need to fill in for lost customers in the US as many were quitting or just not taking up the habit. So, the next horizon was the Far East and Southeast Asia! They were practically giving away cigarettes at the beginning! They showed many of the poor who were getting hooked on cigarettes and how disproportionate the costs became over time as the final payback was successful: poor people spending much of their income on the product, tobacco in the form of cigarettes! I am not at all surprised by this research or its findings: the tobacco industry has known this for years! So, whose fault is it? The poor who smoke or the industry. Knowing that tobacco is a drug as well as how addictive it is (it is actually harder to get off of nicotine that it is to get off of heroin!), knowing that the PR of the tobacco industry was looking for a market to fill in and to even raise their profits and knowing that the tobacco industry has been "improving" their product so that cigarettes can deliver greater and greater amounts of nicotine with each cigarette, I would blame the industry as well as the government. The industry for obvious reasons and the government, as they knew that they would profit in taxes and that cigarettes also cause cancer, raising the costs for health care for smokers in the last years of their lives with cancer and pulmonary treatments.

I do not know what they have done on the African continent; however, maybe this will be their NEXT target.

If they stop supporting all monks the few good ones cannot survive either and Buddhism will soon disappear from Thailand.

I was thinking the same thing. I believe it's a tradition that you don't select any individual monk to give alms to, and you give alms to the Sangha as a whole rather than a specific monk. I guess in some cases one can choose a particular temple to give to. When my company sponsored a kathin ceremony each year, they usually made sure it was a poor temple upcountry.

Couldn't one talk with the head monk of the Sangha and ask what is most needed and then give them that when almsgiving? I would not feel right to know that what I give them would go into the trash. This would be wasteful of my money, their work and their time. It would be bad all around. Has anyone ever done this? If so, did it work out for you? I know that being a woman makes it a bit tougher but getting this information would seem to be a good thing for everyone. Why not have a free ad in the local press that would state what is really needed at that time that they can change whenever the needs change? This is not begging to me; instead, it would give assurance to those who give that they are giving what will be useful and needed.

This may be a little off, but not enough to be bounced off of this topic, I hope.

How does a woman give to the monks? I know that I can't give them anything directly. If there is no one else around who is male to give it to them, what is the procedure then? Would it be to just put it on the ground (if it is money, this is against les majeste laws!) or wherever and then let the monk take it himself?

Thank you.

I was offered a position in June with the Royal Thai University in early June (full time, full benefits, good pay). I was not packed, else I would have gone. I have an MA in Humanities, three lasped teaching credentials, an English credential as well as full ESL training and experience plus 5.5 years teaching experience. I was so happy to get the offer, though. I wish that I could have. I will have my TEFL certification in the next few weeks now as I will train in Phuket in August/Sept for the final classroom work there. If you plan for a long-term stay, you need to learn a lot more about the system in Thailand. I know that, usually, one has to work the lower jobs (which I do not feel are "lower" at all) before you can teach or even think about teaching at a university in Thailand. I hope that I can matriculate in about 2 years to a Royal Thai University and am in no hurry. If it happens, it happens.

Have you looked at finances, costs to move here, living costs here, other expenses, health care, insurance if driving (getting a license there - a motorbike, automobile or both, or any special expenses that you may have pertaining to your needs? Have you read up on Thai culture? This is essential as you have to understand that teaching in Thailand requires more understanding of their cultural mores pertaining to how to teach so as to assure that you will not put a student in a situation in which he/she will "lose face." Also, are you ready to be an "outsider" or a guest in Thailand while you are there? I am going to be in the "guest" mode, myself. Do you know what les majeste laws are? Can you abide by their laws more strictly than Thais? You have a LOT to consider. You can't come to Thailand with the idea that things can be "better" if we do this or that. This is a culture that is entrenched and you will have to learn to work within it and there are few ways to work around it.

I hope that I have made a few points here for you. You are coming to a wonderful place and there is a price to pay for this (as it would be anywhere). Oh, you do not need to know Thai to teach English because you can not use Thai in the classroom! If they learn that you speak Thai, they will try at all points to get you to hear, listen to and to speak with them in Thai! This will undermine the immersion teaching method and will also give poor results in your teaching and, more importantly, in their learning. When you take a TEFL course, they may not even address cultural points in that course at all. I have learned mine through a LOT of reading as well as forums on TEFL language teaching and learning. If you write me here and want to know some of these resources, I would be happy to put some of them together for you to help you as much as possible.

I'm a Norwegian and this happens in the city I grew up in Oslo , I lived only 2 km from the place where the bomb exploded and killed 7.

I think its just unbelieveable, one of the most peaceful places on earth and then this tragedy happens. I feel for all the victims and their families and friends.

I guess Norway will never be the same after this. The only good thing about this is it looks like one crazy gunman work, not a terrorist organization behind it.

My dear, saddened, Norwegian friend. I hope that Norway will always be the "same" and that Norwegians will not fall into the same hateful pattern of reaction that the US did after 9/11. This would be a true testament to the spririt of the people of Norway. I hope that you can also tell them the same in Norwegian as well. Life must continue as before. All cannot and should not permit one bad apple to spoil such a wonderful and peaceful society that Norway is! My heart goes out to you in all ways. I have been crying as I get deeper into this story. So sad. However, it is just one lone person (as far as we know) and no country or person should cower because of one person. Hugs, as I am sure that you can use a few right now.

Perhaps we ought not rush to judgement what with so many neo-nazis and elusive 'spooks' running amuck.

Just watched a documentary: THE SHOCK DOCTRINE and earnestly suggest that others do the same.

Kind regards

Naomi Kline's "The Shock Doctrine" is an essential must-see and read in our times. She is intelligent, clear-thinking and extremely erudite. I love her work! She documents everything well as is not subborned to "opinion," which is hard to find these days.

ALSO, if anyone can tell me, the perpetrator was wearing a sort of a suit with silky blue along the coat closing as well as a square white and blue thing about his stomach or waist. What outfit is this? Mason's, gov, what? Thank you for passing on this information if you do so.

Wow! A cogent and well-organized bit of writing here that is not filled with just opinion. There are also such groups in Russia and Ukraine. The ones in Ukraine killed a low-level diplomat from the US a few years ago. He was Black. That is the only reason they could ponder that he was the ONLY one who was even targeted in this attack. There are even videos of a Moscow group and where they "train" for their "operations": in outlying abandoned office/apartment buildings/complexes. I went online once to investigate these groups, thinking that I may even join to find out more. However, I felt quite differently as my stomach retched and my heart sank so heavily from the rhetoric alone.

Again, thank you for this information. Are you originally from Germany or the Nordic counties?

None of this is any more strange than the pardon of Patricia Hearst, a number of those involved in Watergate, how about those involved in the Iran-Contra scandal, the pardon of vice president Spiro Agnew who used the phrase "pusillanimous pussyfooters" and such . . . and the list goes on and on. Or how about the non-pardon of the Rosenthals and others. There is a lot of political fodder out there and I have not even touched Great Britain or any other nation yet! To me, Thaksin was a political target that they wanted "put away" so that he could not challenge them again. He may be back after his sister finishes out her time! Look forward to it . . . The beat goes on . . . la de da da dee . . . la de da da dah! . . ..

I have been reading here a lot and, unfortunately, all too often, the worst is assumed by most people. It is worse than back-seat driving or divan refereeing during a game. First, the only things known are what the reporters report. Then, these reportes are described here as less than "informative" and so on. Then, criticism about whatever can be conjured up about Thailand, drivers, laws, social norms and so on. It seems that, here, people writing really do not like Thailand. There seems to be blinders on such that, if it is not like back home (which it really is, if thought about icarefully, as people from all over the world die in accidents in England, Austrailia and the US as well as other nations in the entire world, which are not mentioned here at all). Unfortunately, the bias is all to clear and comments such as "go anywhere else you can [but not to Thailand]" are more demeaning to Thailand that I am grieviously disturbed. I would like to read more thoughtful comments rather than visceral reactions. There is too little analysis. I am going to do a little research on a few things, if I can, and put this in real perspective for people here so that they will be able to "get a grip" on reality about home as well as about Thailand.

Hey, just offer the old lady some money! That may work rather well! (Your own suggestion, of course)

Wow, what a range of "attitudes" here! The first poster is absolutely correct. You are a guest, not <deleted>' royalty! So act like it. If you do, I am sure that your own attitude as well as theirs toward you will also be different.

In tourist areas the opinion of Thai's may range somewhere between welcome and respect and valuing our business to tolerating our presence to dislike, all likely to be based on their own individual experiences and that of their friends.

I'd like to imagine that each Thai evaluates me individually on merit and I'm sure that the majority of the time this is the case. There are obviously Thai's who for whatever reasons have a general dislike for foreigners, conversely there are obviously some Thai's who have a general like for foreigners.

When I was in Europe, I was fortunate to meet many people in Germany, Belgium, France, and The Netherlands. I was consistently told that I was not "like the others." When I asked what that meant, they meant that I was not like other Americans: I took time (hours, even) to talk with them about all sorts of subjects and even expressed a number of my own opinions as well. I feel that, when I am in Thailand, I will not have the rose-colored glasses that many people wear there. I expect differences. I expect various cultural differences. I am learning the language now for my next time there. I will also be real and not like the "Ugly American" at all. I have dealt with various cultures all of my life and have been honored to become an honorary Philipino and Indian! I was not even asked to pay dues to their organizations because of this "lack of expectation" as well as pre-conceived notions about any culture. I learn about each culture and try to do my best and they appreciate it a lot! So, the real answer is how people present themselves to others rather than just gaining some sort of treatment by the culture that they are now in that they simply do not understand and will not strive to learn from it as well. No fantasy here. Just honesty and sincerity and an open mind and heart.

You can't do this in Word! However, you need a good Unicode program. I have Mellel which works expertly with typing Thai. Apples word processor won't work either. Mellel is available by download for about $60, I think.

You are right, it is NOT an Android. So, I have moved on to a Sony Ericsson Experia 10i and it does have all that I want as well as need after all. It ia also a lot less expensive. I have decided to use my Nikon 12 mp dedicated camera for real pics and will use the Experia for others. It looks like I have found one that has every single requrement that I am after. I like the dtac - unlimited internet option for 699 BHT/mo. Thank you for driving me in this direction. I will have internet as well as WiFi in my home there as I do here, so using my phone to get what I need on it when I really need it will no be a probelm at all. I ordered the phone today! Hooray! I will be free from the $100 financial anchor that is the iPhone. Fortunately, I have a 32GB iTouch for all of the iPhone apps!

Thank you all.

Any more information as to how I can set it all up with the phone company on my first day there would be appreciated. It will be on Friday, Aug 13.

MissChris,

Your dad sounds like a great fellow with a dog with red stripes (dyed, I guess?) and red painted toenails. Who did this for the dog? A friend or what? Nice friend, so it seems.

I am not looking and recently found a nice set of goggles and riding cap for Dante for the motorcycle with sidecar that I will be getting after I am there for a couple of months for local transportation. I, of course, will not put the hat on his head on hot days as this would not be good for him, I am certain. I can't wait to get pics of him in his garb in the sidecare. I will be getting a Tiger 120 cc with side car in yellow. Looks great and I have vertigo, which will require a 3-wheeled most of transport at a minimum.

Thank you for following up with a nice story about your dad. These are the things that make us oh so human!

Hugs.

Anyse

On Monday my little "Buddy" will be imported to Phuket. German father and Serbian mother.

He is sooo cute! He will be a bigger dog, I suppose or is this his full size? What breed is he?