Job Discussion Forums

[ghost]

Poster left Vientiane (Laos) a few days ago, crossing the "Friendship Bridge" some 20 km from Vientiane, close to Nong Khai (Thailand).

Ghost decided to use local buses to get to Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand), and on the first day travelled about 8 hours going from Vientiane (Laos) through the "no hassle" Thai border (no visa required for stays of 30 days or less) and then on by small bus to Udon Thani. Then another bus all the way to Phitsanoluk (pop. 83000). In Phitsanoluk, poster treated himself to a luxury hotel, in this case the best hotel in town - U Thong Hotel - which resembled a multi star hotel from the outside. The sort of place where one would pay at least $100 for in the States, and 120 euros for in Europe, but this is South East Asia, so poster got the room for $9.75, which gave him a beautiful suite with air con, fridge, free drinks, cable t.v. and massage service (which was declined after a bitter-sweet experience in Saigon, Vietnam, a few weeks earlier). The full service meals only cost 35 baht (less than a dollar) so poster feasted on double portions of rice and shrimp, washed down with icy Tiger Beer.

The bus experience was an interesting one, as observing Thai behaviour was something of a revelation. In most countries people who embark on long journeys can be sure of some conversation and noise on the buses. Not so in Thailand. All the passengers were remarkably silent, just staring straight ahead, or sleeping. In Turkey, for example, foreigners will usually have a chat with their next seat neighbour and usually share tea at the obligatory rest stops (common in Turkey). Here, the Thais basically ignore one, and one wonders if it is from indifference or shyness, with one suspecting the former. They just do not seem to be interested in us "farangs." And yes - we probably do look funny and ridiculous to them - as foreigners - we trundle along with those huge backpacks filled with 20 kilos of junk, and wear bizarre knee length shorts.

Chiang Mai, was reached on the second day of travel, after a 6 hour bus trip from Phitsanoluk. The bus company sold more tickets than seats available, so poster initially had to stand for a couple of hours. This appears to be par for the course here and they will sell as many tickets irrespective of seats available. No use getting angry here. The Thais never seem to complain or raise their voices. We could learn a lot from their ice cool philosophy.

Initial impressions of Chiang Mai were not so good. The city has grown a lot and the traffic is pretty horrendous. Also, there are so many backpackers around that it pretty well duplicates the Khao San Rd. area of Bangkok. Overrated, in this poster's book.

Well as far as teaching goes, there are jobs available in Chiang Mai. Poster looked at two schools, and two schools were interested in ghost. Here are the details, if you wish to come to this Kingdom of Siam:

1. American University Alumni Language Center (A.U.A). 24 Rajadamnern Rd., Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand. Tel. & Fax. (66-53) 211-973
e-mail: [email protected]

This place is pretty conservative and the intro letter to teachers mentions (among other things) that teachers should be dressed very neatly and male teachers should have no facial hair. Also dating students etc...is strictly prohibited, as well as showing the soles of one's feet in class, etc...

If you are hired there you will receive a wage of $6.15 to $6.41 per hour depending on experience and quals.

If you complete the training successfully at A.U.A. you will get an increase in salary to between 280 - 300 baht per hour ($7.18 - $7.69).

2. The second school visited by ghost was the following:

Direct English (Chiang Mai). Unit D 112-113, 4th floor, 100/1 Chiang Inn Plaza, Chang Klan Rd., Chiang Mai 5011 Thailand.
Tel: 053-281-337-8
E-mail: [email protected]
www.directenglish.com

Teachers wishing to teach here take a computer test, which involves vocab., grammar and general English. The onus is on speed. It is a timed test and you have 15 mins. to select the correct answers on the computer (multiple choice). In 15 minutes ghost managed to answer 164 questions and answered 154 of those correctly. The final scores gave these ratings.
Vocab. - 92%, Grammar - 90%, General - 98% - ghost made the cut.

If hired to teach at Direct English, you will only teach conversation. The school is very luxurious, located in an upmarket plaza in Chiang Mai. All the classrooms have air con., and the teachers and students are offered refreshments (free) during class. The conversation classes are held around a round table in a congenial setting. Students and teachers are free to pick their topics. No books are used. You can use magazines and newspapers as supplementary.

The pay rates at Direct English are fixed at 300 baht per hour for foreign teachers, irrespective of whether you are a backpacker with a Joe Bloggs Cert. from "any school", or a real qualfied teacher, and that is the way it is here, and most of Thailand as well. 300 baht per hour is $7.69 per hour, at todays rate of exchange, i.e. $1 U.S. = 39 baht.

Teachers who work for about 20 hours a week in Thailand earn around $600 per month, enough to live on, but hard to save much.

If you stay long term here, you can stay in guest houses for about $3-$4 a day. You can eat pretty well for about $1-$2, or if you choose to eat like the Thais, in more grubby locales - for about 0.50 - $1 U.S.

Poster will not be staying in Thailand, or South East Asia for much longer. Fed up with being a "farang" here. Essentially we are of no interest to the local populace, beyond the dollars we provide them with. All those lovely smiles, are not really from the heart, but merely on the surface. They are not bad people, but we can never really get into their hearts, nor can we ever really expect to relate to them on a one to one basis or collectively.

Obviously this is poster's opinion, but it is also the opinion of many others who have been and worked in these parts. Few stay longer than one year.

[Yoda]

Hi Ghost . I've been reading your posts with interest, quite informative.

'Fed up with being a "farang" here. Essentially we are of no interest to the local populace, beyond the dollars we provide them with. All those lovely smiles, are not really from the heart, but merely on the surface. They are not bad people, but we can never really get into their hearts, nor can we ever really expect to relate to them on a one to one basis or collectively. '

I've spent quite a while in S.E. Asia. You seem to have felt what quite a lot of people feel in Thailand. I agree, Chiang Mai is turning in to a bit of a zoo like Th. Kao Sarn. And the strange one way loop around the city has got a lot busier than it was a few years ago. By percentage of population Chiang Mai has more 'farang' there than Bangkok.
Thai people take time to trust you. What most of the people see or hear about in foreigners in their country is sex tourism. Most of the teachers are single males and quite a few that I came across were there working all week and living for the weekends. It's hard to save unless you get in to a really good school and many places won't get you a work permit. Conditions won't improve until they start insisting on teachers have some qualifications.
I found people, especially school children, to be quite interested in foreigners. With older people it takes time and once you learn Thai things really are a lot easier.