Made in Thailand

Dusit Zoo – Bangkok

October 3, 2013 at 11:09 pm, by Ryan

I took my son, Tiger, to Dusit Zoo today. Yes, his name is Tiger and I took him to see the tigers. As it turns out, naming really does seem to affect the child, as Tiger has the energy and aggression of a full-grown tiger. God knows where he learned to be so aggressive cos me and his mum are usually as gentle as can be with him!

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Dusit Zoo is near to the Annata Sammakhom Throne Hall, in that general area of all the touristy stuff. It’s actually in a nice location, somewhat set apart from the usual mad-cap roads of Bangkok.

Entrance was, as expected, 100 baht for foreigners and 70 for Thais. Not sure how they really justify these higher-price systems, can you imagine that in England!? “Entrance for Brits is 5 Pounds while foreigners pay 10.” It’s not that it’s such a big deal, it just seems odd to me. Well, Thailand is a country where there are blatantly obvious class divisions, why end at foreigners?

The zoo was pretty much what you’d expect from a zoo: a bunch of animals sleeping or hiding in their cages. Still, it was fun for Tiger to see all those tigers. The highlight for me was the crocodiles. They seemed like some mythical dragon-like creatures and I tried to imagine myself coming face-to-face with one of these animals in the wild. Let’s face it, most of us would have a shock if we found a large frog in the house, let alone meeting a 6-foot-long croc.

I was also rather enchanted by the monkeys call “kang ha si,” in Thai; their Latin name was too long and complicated to remember. The name basically means something like “five-colored monkey” and they certainly were colorful. They had very beautiful faces, with asiatic eyes. I had a brief “David Attenborough moment” where I longed to trek off into the wild searching for these monkeys in their native habitat, then I had a great idea for a Twitter update and completely forgot about them.

I couldn’t get a good picture of these so I got this one from Google

There’s plenty to eat at the zoo: coffee shops, ice cream stands, KFC, and, no zoo would be complete without a 7-11; it was only missing the sleeping dogs that one finds outside most 7-11s in Thailand… perhaps the tigers had eaten them all.

All in all, it’s a nice little day out. Worth a visit it if you’re in the neighborhood.

Teaching

Thai Culture Course at Suan Dusit Rajabhat University

September 14, 2013 at 5:18 pm, by Ryan

So after four years of living in Thailand, I’ve been asked to do a Thai culture course to extend my workpermit and line the pockets of those in the government who reap benefits from charging us an extortionately high price to be told everything we already know, and lot’s of stuff you’ll never need to know – unless you’re ever in a general knowledge quiz about the intricacies of Thai culture.

According to some sources, the Thai culture course cost 1,500 baht in 2010. It’s now 6,000 baht as of 2013. What kind of inflation is that?! How did they calculate these increases? Or was it in fact a plain arbitrary decision based on what sounded like a nice round figure? Speaking of nice round figures…… (damn my brain!)

So, on my wonderful Saturday morning, that sleep-in island of the week, I was, in fact, ordered to be at Suan Dusit Rajabat University by 8:00 a.m. I pulled my sorry ass out of bed at 7:55, then threw on my “can’t-be-assed-to-comb-my-hair” cap, managed to put my underwear on (backwards), then threw yesterday’s clothes on in proper teacher style!

Suan Dusit Rajabhat University is not too far from Ananta Sammakhom Throne Hall, for those of you who know your Thai history. Arrived there at 8:45 to find that no one was ready, as expected, and I could have probably had an extra 15 minutes in bed, damn it!

Anyway, so they told us that the Thai culture course will be disbanded until further notice after these last courses in September. I think it’s basically so they can “improve” the standard of the course, and in doing so, perhaps inflate the price to 8,500 baht. So, if you’re a teacher in Thailand and need to do a Thai culture course next year, you’re basically screwed. You have to do it to work here more than 4 years, and yet they’re not running it anymore! Errrrr, that makes sense.

What did I learn from the Thai culture course so far?

1) That it’s okay for men in Bangkok to have multiple wives because there are more women in Bangkok than men.
2) The girls in Lampang are hot.
3) The girls in Chiang Mai are hot too, but not as hot as the girls in Lampang.
4) Rama V had 98 children.
5) There’s a restaurant owner in Bangkok who has 8 wives. Each one of his wives manages one of his 8 restaurants. He is a very happy man.

The course was informative, but I once read a fat-ass book entitled “Thailand’s Political History from 13th Century to Present Times” and everything they told us was already in there. I could have taught the lesson myself with a few prompts. The lecturer was at least mildly funny at times, if not a bit “ting tong.” Anyway, look on the bright side, only another 2 more days of Thai culture! And maybe this is the end of Thai culture courses as we know it….. could this be the end of an era? An era of painstakingly bad bureaucracy that leads to someone like me, doing a freaking Thai culture course twice, yes twice! I actually did it once in 2010, back in the good old days when it was only 1,500, but seems all records of me doing it have been lost! Oh well, the free instant coffee and cake make up for it all! Thanks Suan Dusit

Living

Alternative Income Streams for TEFL Teachers in Thailand

September 11, 2013 at 11:05 am, by Ryan

If you’re looking for a way to make some extra cash while living in Thailand, this article will point you to a few alternatives that I have tried. Most of them require little to no skill to get started but for that reason be sure these jobs aren’t exactly glamorous. Still, some of them are quite fun and a good alternative to teaching. If you’re looking for a career change, that’s something you need to work on in your spare time, study etc. But if you need a quick fix, a boost to your income, then read on.

Chess Instructor

I found this job on Ajarn.com at a time when was very keen about playing chess. It seemed like a perfect way to make more money and learn more about the game I love playing. I worked with IWICA Chess Academy, teaching chess in various international schools throughout the week. I met some good guys while working for them and had some fun.

On the down side, I had to travel to far-flung corners of Bangkok every day. Some days we were in Bangkok Pattana, another day we’d be at Shrewsbury International. Once, I spent 7 hours out of the house just to go to one school in Ramkhamhaeng and teach for 1 hour! To be fair I lived in Bang Yai at the time though. Opposite end of the world almost.

If you live near to central Bangkok, or any BTS or MRT station, this job would be fine for you. They pay 500 baht for an hour lesson and you may get a free chess board. You only need rudimentary chess skills, i.e. you know how to move the pieces. One of the guys had only being playing chess for two weeks and they still hired him.

Content Writer

I have worked for two content writing companies while living in Thailand. First, I worked for Virtual Travel Guides, and now I currently do the occasional writing job for vWriter. I say occasional because they only occasionally have work available. They are a new company and still have only a few clients. Still, I make the odd $50-100 every now and then which they pay directly into my PayPal account. It’s always good to have a bit of spare money online.

The downside to this is job is that some of the writing projects are mind-numbingly boring. You may be asked to write about something that has little to no information about it online, so you have to be pretty good at filling in the gaps with (plausible) fiction. The plus side with vWriter is you only take the jobs that interest you.

They pay you per word and a typical 500-word article will land you a whopping great $9.45ish. Still, if you can churn out 3-4 articles, you just made yourself an extra $37+. It’s fun to watch your balance increase, if not a bit tedious.

Football Commentator

While I have never done this job, I have known two people who have. But don’t get excited, you’re not going to be the next great football commentator, adding your insights to the Manchester United Vs Liverpool FC game. You’ll be relaying basic information back to a central office, where that data is then used for the online betting industry. From what I’ve been told, you will be at a football game, say Pattaya FC Vs Chonburi United (just made those up), and you will be on the phone to some guy in an office. You will then give them basic information such as, which side is in possession of the ball, who is taking a corner/free kick. Pretty robotic stuff.

You don’t need any background in football commentary, just two mobile phones and the time to go to the games. They pay 35 euros per game, which in Thai baht translates roughly into 1500 baht. I think you have to purchase your own tickets and travel though. If you want more info, check out this site.

These jobs aren’t going to afford you the life of a Fast and Furious movie star, but if you’re in need of some extra cash and don’t have time to learn new skills, they could help you out. If you have any other jobs that you’ve done while working in Thailand, please share them with me in the comments. Don’t forget to subscribe to Made in Thailand if you’d like to connect with me and join the conversation.

Thanks for reading!

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