NearestTheTee

Ban Chang-

simple answer really

on the right side of maptaput /rayong to avoid most pollution

closer to motorways, airport and bangkok ( it is useful)

2hrs 15 mins from central bangkok

40 minutes from pattaya- loads of convenience to make life easier

2 international schools in the area- Garden in Ban Chang itself and St Andrews 20 minutes drive north

REPS ( very good bilingual school ) in Ban Chang too if that's what you prefer

tvaddict

Just out of interest, do you have kids studying at REPS? If yes, please PM me as i would like to meet other parents with kids there as mine started REPS recently.

Cheers.

NTT

Ban Chang is a good place for all the reasons pointed out by tvaddict and in addition there are also some very good golf courses nearby

When my missus is not sweeping she is mopping and vice versa. It drives me nuts

When i asked my wife, she told me it is traditional to put flowers on the car grille during Chinese New Year for good luck/fortune. We then had an interesting discussion about how many Thais are really Chinese Thai in the sense that many of them probably can't easily trace back their Chinese roots - anyway that's maybe for another post

I think you are referring to Plutaluang Navy Golf Course, which i played today. It has showers, pro shop, coffee shop and restaurant. You can either walk the course or take a buggy. There are 4 x 9 hole courses, North, South, East & West. The North course has the 'signature hole' green with the lighthouse. I might be interested to join you if you need an extra player

received in an e-mail. Over 60 or under 18 ?

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Fans can purchase tickets at Thai Ticket Major Outlets or www.thaiticketmajor.com. Admission fee for Wednesday and Thursday is available at BT200 per day, for Saturday at BT300 and BT400 for Sunday. A four-day admission package is available at BT600. Audiences below 18 or over 60 are exempted from the admission price.

Follow coverage and highlights on Channel 7 at 00.30 am – 1.30 am on February 18 while live coverage can be viewed between 2 pm – 5 pm on February 19 and between 3 pm – 5 pm on February 20-21. Or visit www.lpgathailand.com for more tournament information.

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I want to go but have other commitments so will have to watch on TV, so thanks for the info.

Secretly I hope that it goes very very wrong. Only when scores of foreigners get killed, the Thai army and the Thai elite will learn their lesson. IF not and only Thai demonstrators will killed nobody cares at all and the West keep on supporting Thailand simply because it needs it. A change in policy towards a sustained human rights improvement is long overdue.

Lead the way. We will spot you on the television as you will be wearing a t-shirt with the word <deleted> on the front!

irishpolyglot

Just interested to know roughly what % of your studying is reading/writing vs conversation. And, with regards to practising your conversation is it mostly with people who you have never met and are not familiar with your accent/pronounciation i.e. taxi drivers, waiters, hotel staff etc.

Following your progress with interest.

Good luck to you

Oh no, cost of 'insurance' just went up. You'll have to pay an extra 10baht a DVD now.

Yeah, and a Rolex has now gone up 50baht

A mate of mine has his two boys (half UK half Thai) there. The eldest has been going there for 5 years. Kids and parents are happy with the school.

Kola et al, out of interest, what kind of visa have you obtained for your 6 month "trial"?

I have bought into a place at Jomtien VT7 , and would like to utilise it six months of the year, but I see no useful visa on the Thai Embassy web site in Sydney. I guess a 60 day tourist visa and a 30 day extension in Jomtien, then a trip to Singapore for another 60 day visa and another 30 day extension in Jomtien before returning to Oz.

I have 2 UK passports so am planning on leaving once a month and then alternating them upon arrival. I was planning on spending a night or 2 in some of the regional capitals (with airports), particularly Indonesia. At present I'm torn between retirement in Thailand or Indonesia; hopefully after 6-8 months I will have firmed-up my opinion on Thailand.

Londo

Heres hoping you have good time.

Out of curiosity how did you manage to get 2 UK Passports.....??????????????

Majic,

I got a second UK passport because i travel a lot and sometimes whilst one passport is with a foreign embassy awaiting a visa i need the second passport to travel somewhere else. When i applied for my second passport i just needed a letter from my employer stating the above. Very easy

The title reminded me of the following incident: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9 I caught a lengthy radio interview with the captain of this flight many years ago, amazingly calm guy!!

Yep, you're right an amazinly calm guy.

Captain Eric Moody - the pilot of the above flight has his own website 'ericmoody.com' where you can also read about the Jakarta incident of flight BA9. In his words the Wikipedia version of initial events is not truly accurate (he was not in the toilet when the incident first occured).

Flying Thai down to Singapore next week and the schedule shows it will be a 777. I hope its in better condition than the 747 and gets there without any technical issues

Are your kids mixed Thai/Farang with some ability to speak Thai already?

If not a bilingual school would be no good as the majority of teaching (except English language) is in Thai.

Forget Aksorn Tech, it's Thai.

St. Andrew's teaches Farang kids Thai but it's not serious, they also teach Dutch if you're Belgian?

Nearer to your location would be Regent's School which is more expensive than St. Andrew's, did you not consider Regent's or did not hear about it?

My children are in REPS and the majority of their teaching is conducted in English

How are they doing with the maths lessons conducted in Thai?

They are getting on ok. The current topics they are covering are not new to them so that helps when the teacher is making diagrams and writing on the board. Most of the Thai teachers also speak some English and will use both Thai and English to explain something if the student is struggling to understand in Thai alone.

I think you will be liable to pay import duty and tax on the cash register. If you were moving here as a non-thai resident and had a work permit then you could qualify for importing your personal and/or household effects free of duty/tax but that unfortunately is not the case. I would buy the machine here and save myself the hassle.

I think you will be liable to pay import duty and tax on the cash register. If you were moving here as a non-thai resident and had a work permit then you could qualify for importing your personal and/or household effects free of duty/tax but that unfortunately is not the case. I would buy the machine here and save myself the hassle.

arsenal got what they deserved a quick exit and shows how much wenger wanted to win the FA cup.Its not like he has n't got the squad to compete for all three trophies.If they want the FAcup to be taken seriously it has to have instant qualification into europe.

on another note,i find the league championship more fun to watch than the premier league,reminds me of the old division 1.

Agree. And the Championship supporters seem more voiciferous and passionate throughout the whole match. Is it because they have more 'diehard supporters'? Seen their team through thick and thin, promotion, relegation etc.

I suggest Mr. NearestTheTee put his own words into action in the form of a personal unarmed crusade against drugs and gambling in his province, because as a parent he should be concerned.

Yes i am a concerned parent. I have also seen first hand the damage that drugs can do to young kids. If you had seen the same then maybe you would also be part of the 'crusade'

This is one of the problems with affluence in the Rayong province. The parents can really make things difficult at schools. I taught at a school which had an area behind the classrooms where drug dealing and gambling was prevalent. Admin knew about it and did nothing because they were scared of the parents.

And what did you do about it? Nothing - for fear of losing your job? If you chose to turn a blind eye then you are no better than the Admin people you readily criticise. As a parent i cannot understand any adult who can turn a blind eye to kids involved in drug dealing

And exactly how long have you been in Thailand. He would not just lose his job but possible his stay in Thailand or even his life. It's the school admins job to administrate the school NOT the foreign teachers. If they are to scared then there is a reason. possible connected with guns. Its the parents that are supplying the drugs. Its the Thais who should be sorting out their own affairs.

If the parents are affluent as suggested in the post and can therefore make things difficult why would they be supplying drugs to kids? Unless you are implying their affluence comes from the profits of said activity? Agree that its the admins job to administrate but that is not happening. Would you also turm a blind eye? What if one of the kids was your own? My point is that as adults we have a moral responsibility to do something in this type of situation. OK, maybe as a foreign teacher it would not be right and potentially dangerous, but another course of action such as bringing it to the attn of the school priniciple or one of the Thai teachers perhaps?

tigerfish

One of the biggest changes since you were watching the FA Cup as a kid is the number of foreign players. Take a look at the Arsenal squad of '84-'85. Foreign players in those days were Irish....Niall Quinn, David O'Leary etc. The majority, and i mean the MAJORITY were English!!!!!!!!!

IMHO, the more English players in the team = the more passion, pride and history about the oldest cup competition in the world

For 120baht i prefer to pay someone else. Let them get hot and sweaty

Are your kids mixed Thai/Farang with some ability to speak Thai already?

If not a bilingual school would be no good as the majority of teaching (except English language) is in Thai.

Forget Aksorn Tech, it's Thai.

St. Andrew's teaches Farang kids Thai but it's not serious, they also teach Dutch if you're Belgian?

Nearer to your location would be Regent's School which is more expensive than St. Andrew's, did you not consider Regent's or did not hear about it?

My children are in REPS and the majority of their teaching is conducted in English

Hello,

We are moving to Pattaya ( near Mapracham Lake ) in June and are looking for a International School for our children age 5 and 11. We would like them to study in English and learn to speak Thai. Currently both are in school in Belgium Europe.

I was considering four different school and would appreciate any info or experiences you guys could share with us good or bad.

International School of Pattaya

St Andrew's International School

International School Eastern Seaboard

Askorn tech School ( not sure this International )

Thank you for any advice you can give :-)

wvg,My three kids all attend REPS - Rayong English Programme School. It is a bi-lingual school located in Ban Chang. Some students come from Thai families, some are half Thai half western, some are Korean, some Dutch, Australian etc. The aim of the school is for all the kids to become fluent in English and Thai. School fees are very reasonable especially when compared to the International Schools. The principle is British and they have many teachers whose native language is English. I would recommend that you check their website and maybe send them an email. PM me if you want more personal feedback/details.

The Mercedes Mentality., They're a law unto themselves.

OP,

Agree. It's the Mercedes mentality. Asians who drive Mercedes seem to think they can drive however they want. It's if to say, 'i drive this car because i am wealthy, i have made it to the top and therefore i can drive how i like and dis-regard the rules of the road and other road users'. W*ankers

http://www.tuktotheroad.co.uk/

It has even been done by tuk tuk, but the other way around, Bangkok- Brighton.

Go for it !

The OP has a wife and 4 kids. Can you imagine so many people in a tuk-tuk

Easily....but they will have to bring a few friends too or it will be underladen.

Better install a DVD to keep the kids amused and a GPS to stop Dad getting lost when they are trundling thru Afghanistan