figo88

If you post, can you please distinguish between the type of experience that you had with a practicioner.

Heresay = second hand info

Witness = first hand info

There are situations where heresay in witness accounts blend, please see below for my account of a dental clinic in Chiang Mai

Background relating to the topic: I have been in the dentists chair for 1 root canal, 1 wisdom tooth extraction, routine work. I have reviewed the training procedures used by the University of British Columbia.

A friend of mine runs a clinic using state of the art (probably not found in Thailand?) techniques in implants (growth factors from bone marrow)...

Fortune Dental Clinic http://www.fortunede...c-thailand.com/

Heresay: I friend recommended this clinic, saying the work done was good, facilities and techniques used were modern.

Witness: I took my mother to the clinic for an initial consultation. Mother had a previous estimate from a dentist in Canada, a root canal and a crown. Estimated price was on the order of $7,000.

Mother and father were suitably impressed and signed on.

Findings = Positive

Facilities: met general western standards.

Staff: met or exceeded western standards

Techniques: met of exceeded western standards

Work done: Root canal and gold crown, 3 visits.

Results: Mother one year later is very satisfied with the results.

Cost: $1700

I am sourcing competent Doctors and Dentists in Chiang Mai for my people ( parents, friends, children).

Humanitarians, post your Testimonials here!

I will follow up with one of my own...

My advice to OP is to stay single in CM for at least 2 years and try to learn Thai .

When you know how to speak basic Thai you will gain more confidence and it will be much easier to communicate wth the locals , the good girls not working in bars.

Good advice. Otherwise a person is just floundering around in the dark. Not being able to communicate is a disaster waiting to happen for any newbie in Thailand.

Well in that case I have been floundering around in the dark for nigh on 5 years. When I first met my wife, in Bangkok, she spoke virtually no English but we both instinctively knew there was something "there" and neither of us were in "desperate" mode,far from it. For convemience lets call it chemistry. Courting was incomplete without our talking dictionary which created quite a few laughs as well as helping cement our growing relationship.

5 years later, and living, in CM her English has improved to the point that now she can converse very well .My Thai unfortuantly has not kept pace with her efforts.

The point I am making is put love and respect for each other ahead of language Because without the first 2 the last is somewhat irrelevent. There are also a large number of local Chiang Mai girls/ladies who speak English quite well, you may not realise it ,as they are shy to converse, but when encouraged blossom.

Learn Thai by all means, I wish I found it easier ,but the character and desire of your partner,if the feeling is mutual , will see you through the "darkness" believe me !

yes, good people don't wan't to spent too much time with crap people.

so the crap people tend to meet crap people.... and think the whole world is what?

CRAP.

I want to go to Phuket w my family for 1 year. I am really keen to learn Thai and I want to enroll on a Thai language course for a year. If I get a Ed Visa will my husband and my two children (they have left school) get a 1 year non immigrant visa to stay with me? We are trying to work out the best way for all of us to stay in Phuket for a year and as I would learn Thai anyway we thought this would be the easiest thing for us to do.

The answer is unfortunately not. If your kids are under 14 then they will not have a problem staying here and will be able to just make an overstay as children do not pay for overstay but if they are over 14 (but could be 16) I will check it, then they will need a different kind of visa, they can also get an ED visa. As regards your husband this is not possible at this time for him to stay based on your ED visa, he will need a different kind of visa or also an ED visa.

Hope this helps

Walen School - Learn Thai And Don't Worry About Your Visa.

www.thaiwalen.com

Hi, Walen School

As of January 1, 2010 - are there any fundamental changes in the ED Visa rules?

i.e. who can qualify?

length of stay?

renewals?

Blowleopard,

I'm afraid I've developed a spot of indigestion after savouring a piece of your latest offering for some of your Thai counterparts contain ingredients that really can't be included in the same dish, for example:

จองหอง doesn't mean sassy,it means arrogant, conceited, too much self confidence, a big ego, as certain so-called bannork possess.

หยาบคาย is more like crude, coarse or vulgar, ie ' as a country boy my humour was too coarse for the refined Bannork hi-so'.

ไร้มารยาท means lacking manners or illmannered, I've often heard it used when a customer or consumer is complaining about the poor quality service he or she has received and the official responsible has shown no sense of respect or decorum.

ทลึ่ง is definitely the best word for cheeky and can be applied to bannork.

Happy eating,

yours,

bannork.

Translate my thoughts on you two geniuses (above)

Nothing wrong with ช่งหวม้น Chang Hua Man - use it all the time w/educated Thais etc. It's accepted speech...

situation - context interpretation thing going then ....

I have no idea if man is changing the climate.

But would somebody please tell me who changed the climate before there were so many people living on earth?

There maybe are too many people on earth, I could easily believe so.

However, there are remedies for a raising sea and for loss of land.

It is called water management.

It means dykes, polders, and more of those nice things.

The Dutch know all about it.

The Thai Government might ask some advise from the Deltaworks commission.

Would be interesting.

However, that would probably seen as a massive loss of face, asking advise from a farang.

Before living in Thailand I lived in the Netherlands, near the town of Gouda.

The land around Gouda is somewhere between 4,5 and 6,5 meter BELOW sea level?

Actually, 40% of the Netherlands is below sea level.

So what is the problem with land above sea level?

Build some dykes, install a lot of pumps, problem solved.

hansl, the issue of rising ocenas is but one of many issues climate change is causing. Droughts, super hurricanes, mass extinctions, massive floods just to name a few. Sticking your finger is a dike, figuratively and literally, is not going to save us.

Guys, it is much more of a pleasure to discuss this topic now, as opposed to three or four years ago, when the global warming mania was at it's peak. People are catching on.

Due to the enormous amount of diatribe on the topic, this is what I suggest you do to find out, in your own mind if the sea level is rising or global warming is taking place.

Bangkok - 1 meter or so above sea level. notice any change in the sea level there? say in the last 40 years? How about any other shoreline in the world, say at your favorite resort?

Glaciers - Ever been to a galcier? Have someone take a photo now of a glacier you've been to. Collect some data.

Cooling or Warming - If you are setting a lot of record lows in your area, then you can say your area is getting cooler. If you are getting a lot of record highs, your are is probably getting hotter.

As for the causes of heating / cooling we have

Earths core - hot, vocanoes, lava.

Magnetoshpere earth vs Sun - relates to cloud formation

Gasses - N2, O2, H2O, Methane (absorption of various electromagnetic wavenlengths (sun))

Biosphere - Vegetation (absorption)

Solar output - sunspots - this relates to the magnetosphere

A basket of other variables - planetary tidal effect gravity, jupiter - sun interaction, galixy effects, earths axis vs ellipse orbit in summer/winter variation cycel,

The above stuff was known for a many years...

Then seemingly out of the blue comes this guy Al Gore trumpeting a CO2 greenhouse conspiracy theory.

<deleted>?

Hey, next time I won't say <deleted>. I leaned quite a while ago that most people don't like to think for themselves, maybe it's too hard a work? Scam artists recognize the opportunity, come in as experts, and have a field day.

CO2 increase can correspond to an increase in biomass.

Increase in temperature can result in a lower sea level due to evaporation and an increase in biomass = carbohydrates in the form of cellulose = CH2O.

The documented decrease in Indian Ocean sea levels might be due to the increase in temperature over the past 50 years, combined with a most recent increase 1990 to present, increase in overall icemass (Antarctica)

Consider that.

You can apply at any immigration office.

You will need copies of your passport photo page, visa, entry/permit to stay page and your TM6 departure card.

A completed TM7 form with one 4 X 6 cm photo attached and 1900 baht.

What amazes me is why anyone should overstay!!?

There are so many avenues available to avoid this.

The only valid excuse i can see is if you have an accident.

Hey Cyb

I'm thinking to head off to Thailand and went on this website only tonight.

I'm realizing that the rules have changed since 2001, the last time I was there.

My previous info, from a Canadian government "expert" was that I could stay 3 months without a visa.

Also that an overstay was not recommended but could deal with it.

Good thing you guys have posted numerable posts about what can and does happen.

If I somehow made it into Thailand without looking at my passport stamp, then I for one would have been an over stay...

A final note, it looks like the playing field is changing for immigration, so what happened last year might be different next year,

On the other hand I speak reasonable Cantonese, but more often than not HK people can't understand me at all.

Then your cantonese may in fact be rather poor. You can still recognize the words but totally butcher the tones. I find that most westerners who learn asian languages are oblivious when it comes to tones. There are some exceptions but this is typically true.

My long time lady companion speaks Cantonese and English, but was oblivious to the fact that to teach people about pronunciation in Cantonese, you have to let them know that tones EXIST in other languages, such as CANTONESE but not ENGLISH.

Now I think about it, she did mention that tones were important, but never spent any time on it, moved on to a few words.

Maybe its mutually blind tone deaf scenario?

Now I'm trying to remember who said what?

Once my daughter explained to me that Cantonese tones are a bit like singing, then I said why don't they start with that as the first thing to say to all English speakers looking to learn Cantonese?

Does your wife/gf think nothing of disappearing with a sister or girlfriend for a couple of hours while you just sit somewhere twiddling your thumbs? This has happened several times, once when I went to the U.S. Embassy in BKK for a quick document. The three ladies went off for lunch for 2 hours while I waited, trying to sit my plump fanny on the sidewalk outside, in the hot sun.

I was hot, mad (offended), and fit to be tied when they finally drove up, and as I was complaining (civilly) to my wife the other two ladies looked at me like I was the boogey man. I've read before on TV when Thai ladies meet up the poor farang ceases to exist. Unfortunately I have witnessed this time and time again in varying degrees. Many Thai ladies seem to so enjoy each other, as we (try to) bide our time patiently. Actually in the case of the BKK trip mentioned, I think the girlfriends suggested lunch but my wife didn't want to disappoint them and complied.

Maybe I know what you mean. Once I was invited to my dates house of residence for the first time, which is flattering? All was well, I was offered food, enjoyed the people about, then a poker game broke out. I wasn't invited, I suppose because the rules are different, whatever. Watching the game was entertaining, we had a Thai guy, 30's drinking whiskey, an old Thai lady 60's?, who was being hit upon by the former, a couple of young girls too, and of course my date. Well, it got interesting, my date went down, I forget but it was like 2 weeks pay in BahtLand, then she became dealer and rebounded big time up 2 weeks pay.... all the while I was camped on a bed overlooking the extravaganza drinking complimentary coke.

At a certain point the scene gets old, as, we arrived before noon and now it was 5 pm I was ignored, as all were totally into the game, "high" stakes, I kind of wondered off annoyed, a bit insulted . At about 6pm my date showed up looking for me, and all was well, ...kind of.

At the end of the day, I don't think I should have been offended at all. I could walk anytime when its not fun. Or stick and be bored if I choose.

And the date, they'll figure it out.

Just throwing the idea out there.

"quick, quick get up, mayday mayday, your bottom finger"

This is just brilliant ! Makes me chuckle everytime I think of it. I will begin to use "mayday, mayday"; sounds cool.

Reminds me of a post by another TV member. He had been to a restaurant with his girlfriend who ordered stake. When she got the stake it was quite bad. The girlfriend complains to the waitress "This is not stake. This is misstake!"

Back on topic; sub zero temperatures in cinemas.

HAHO

Watched but one movie in Thailand, = What Women Want, and can remember "freezing" temperatures.... my date caught the flu that very night..

Books belongs in a library or in a university not in a home.

S

Interestingly( to me atleast) my wife and her twin sister seemed to be obsessed with "owning" books ( wife reads one novel a day!!.. mostly double spaced though) ,she takes out 11 at a time from the local library!

Storage is becoming an issue...

How'd you find a wife like that?

Thai is great but... academic tenancy, wow.

Any advice?

Krung Thai seems to have improved in many ways, but it's like all Thai banks, suddenly something pops up which takes each bank backwards a few paces.

I have one branch of KT near my condo which has changed unbelievably and is now very customer focused and everything is 'can do'!

On the other hand I have another branch very close to my office which has been changed to the new modern appearance but the service is awful. The focus is totally on the importance and status of the branch manager.

I went there recently hoping to very quickly transfer a payment to a Thai contractor who had completed some minor work on my house in another province, just 4,500Baht. I had all the relevant details of the contractors KT account but before we got anywhere I had to have an interview with the arrogant lady bank manager who wanted to know every detail of my PR Residence book and my work permit and my family situation. Before I spoke to her I was asked if I had a necktie in my bag, which I didn't.

Suddenly i was informed that the transaction was complete. I quickly indicated that I wanted to send a brief note with the transaction indicating who had sent the payment. It was as if I'd asked for the moon. I was quickly and strongly told that no such service existed with any bank anywhere in the world, and that my transcation was in fact a nuisance to the bank.

Win some, lose some.

Rather pretentious, condescending, and even rude.

Even rude? The woman is psychotic.

These types of people are often employed is petty positions of authority, where their particular psychosis works productively with the assigned task. Such as bouncer, border guard, nurse Ratchet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_Ratched

In the case of a bank (manager position), there would seem to be little use for a person involved in customer relations to have the Nurse_Ratched persona.

But, in the Canadian banking scene we've got a bunch. Recently my branch manager who was most excellent was replaced with a new Ratshit one and a total nonsense scene appeared out of no-where. I recognized that future banking activity could easily be compromised & took immediate action in moving to another branch.

The McMurphy solution however impractical, is the one that got the Academy Award(s).