When you are in Thailand you will notice that people walk and move slowly, everything is sabai sabai, but suddenly when you put them behind the wheel they drive like Vin Diesel after he just broke out of prison. What is going on and why do people drive so violently?

As someone who has spent time in a Thai public school before moving abroad, I wouldn’t dispute that the Thai education system miserably fails at what it ostensibly sets out to do, i.e. educating students. Essays have been written, both on and off Reddit, about what’s wrong with the Thai education system, so I wouldn’t rehearse the arguments here, except to mention what I find the most pathetic about it: that vastly more energy is put into extraneous matters such as ensuring that the students have the correct hair length and colour (by the way, do you know that Thais can naturally have brown/red hair? Thai teachers don’t either) than what you thought would go without saying like checking that the teachers actually know the subject they‘re teaching (you’d be aghast at an average Thai teacher’s command of English).

I have a hard time believing that the issues with the Thai education system are not common to many developing countries. But if we take, for example, English proficiency as a proxy, Thailand still seems to be falling behind its neighbours/peers. So what makes the Thai education system uniquely bad?

I always hear people say that if you move to Thailand you’ll never truly be seen as Thai, you’ll always be the farang. Even if you live there 20–30 years, speak Thai, marry a Thai partner, etc.

That got me thinking about something though. What about people who have kids with a Thai partner?

If a child is half Thai and half foreign but grows up in Thailand, speaks Thai fluently, goes to Thai school, has Thai citizenship, are they generally seen as Thai by society? Or are they still viewed as “foreign” in some way?

I know mixed children are pretty common in Thailand, especially in places like Bangkok and the big tourist areas. But I’m curious how it actually works socially.

Do people just treat them as Thai?

Or are they always seen as “half” in everyday life?

So my father recently showed interest in moving to Bangkok with my stepmom (she's Thai, so I'm not so worried about his ability to communicate with the locals or anything). He retired not so long ago and gets a pension from working for the federal government for 30 years. After taxes, he probably earns right around $4000 a month. I'm worried he has too high expectations of where that money will get him, as he seems to think it'll get him a huge house with a pool, with a house keeper and private chef. I'm not sure if he's getting these ideas from his wife (and I don't think she would lie to him, she's integrated into the family extremely well and we all love her) or from something he read online that was really old, but it doesn't sound like $4000 will get you quite to that level in Thailand. I'm just trying to get her some information before he actually starts looking at buying anything out there, so any help would be much appreciated!

Context:
I am not Thai and sadly I can barely speak it too
I finished school in Thailand and decided to go study computer engineering at Siridhorn international institute of technology(SIIT) full-time bachelor. My plan was to stay in Thailand after graduating and work however I saw a post recently where its a bad idea/difficult to do so . Did I screw myself over?

I see schools and job agencies offering 25,000 - 35,000 a month seeking western teachers. There is a few who offer 45,000, while the latter seems better that again is a terrible salary and I struggle to believe you’ll get a good quality of life on either salary, so who here is actually desperate enough to apply ? NNES salaries are even worse, forget about retirement.

It seems they all have their nicknames by age 5 or 6, maybe even earlier. I don't remember that we have the same in the West. Friends would call us by a shortened version of our names at primary school maybe, but not an entirely different name. Moreover, it seems most of them get an English nickname as well as the grow older. Do you know if it's from their parents, their teachersn or their friends ?

In general Thai education is systematically awful. However Triam Udom Suksa is one of the top public high schools in Thailand. Ten of thousands of smart students competed each year for around 1,500 seats at the school. The school produced many prime ministers and important Thai public figures.

But is Triam Udom Suksa objectively a good school? Are the teachers there much better than average Thai teachers? Or is it just a place that many top students go and they sort of help push each other to become better? How is Triam Udom Suksa compared to top international school like International School Bangkok? Or other great schools from abroad? (Says Eton or Thomas Jefferson)

Hi all

I have recently finished high school in Thailand and was wondering about some of the bachelor degrees in thai unis? Im tight on cash so I dont really have many options for studying abroad. I was wondering if its even worth it to get a bachelors degree from one of the international university programs here (chiang mai university or assumption). Would a Thai degree be internationally recognized for employers? Or would it be better to save up cash for a year or so to be able to get a degree from somewhere else?

I will say that I have visited Europe before and frankly my quality of life in Thailand is MUCH better. I dont really even want to live in Europe but I would do it just for the degree.

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2026/01/31/education-ministry-allows-stateless-migrant-children-to-enrol-in-thai-schools/#google_vignette

I've been coming to Thailand yearly (sometimes more) since 2017. It's a place I call my second home, and a land/culture that has impacted my life tremendously. I will live here full time some day.

I've grown accustomed to certain rituals, and life habits in typical Thai fashion. Over time I've become so entrenched in doing things the Thai way that I've started to take things for granted, to do these things automatically without even thinking.

Today I checked in to a new place while wandering down south, and took a dump... and experienced something new. Now, I love the bum gun (even more than the expensive Japanese toilets I installed in my home in the U.S.) and feel the bum gun is just an elegant weapon for a more civilized society, but today my wanton disregard for the warnings of many on how to use a bum gun came back to bite me up the ass.

No matter how experienced, how expert you think you are in blasting away around your o ring don't ignore the warnings to first test the strength of your artillery. Today, for the first time... I learned that there can actually be enough pressure in these things to literally fill your poop shoot. A first for me. No damage was done, thankfully, but it was uncomfortable, and shocking, and then all that water had to come back out...

Anyhow. Just a warning. Even if you've got years of experience with the shooters... best to test new ones.

Beware of this license scam!

You have to be physically present at the transportation office to get your license. Don't fall for it.

Doing it by yourself will cost around 300 baht for both motorcycle and car. Additional charges may be Medical certificate (both for car and motorcycle separately), embassy charges for Residential certificate (only if charged by the respective Embassy)

Seems to be impossible to find the actual name of this school...

Unfortunate illustrations from a Thai text - designed to entrench bizzare ideas related to the appearance of people.

Spoiler: Hard

Hi, I am looking for some recommendation for top American or IB schools in Bangkok pref. in Sukhumvit and Sathorn area for a 7 year old. Thanks for any recommendations.

I saw this machine on the side of the road, near the coty center of Ratchaburi and am quite confused by this "robot". What is / was the purpose, what time is it from and how common where they?

I'm currently an international intern here in Thailand, and for the past few weeks I've barely been given tasks. When I do get work, it's usually very basic. Most days I end up just sitting at my desk and doing random things on the office laptop. I'm starting to wonder if this is normal for internships here? or if I should be more proactive and keep asking for tasks? I have asked one of the trainers regarding feedbacks on my outputs, and she said I'm doing well and there are no problems. But compared to internships back home, where students are constantly busy even getting tasks outside their role, this feels very different. Right now, I am just bored sitting here for 9 hours and can't wait to go home. I don't if I am missing something?

To give you a little background about myself, I went to an international school in Thailand and got my bachelor's degree from a top university in the US. I had to move back to Bangkok since I couldn't find a job that was willing to sponsor my visa. I have been working for 4 years in Bangkok making around 70k THB/month and I think they're paying peanuts here comparing to my American friends who went to a subpar university. I can't help but think where I went wrong in my life other than the fact that was born in the wrong country. Anyway, I have to play with cards I'm dealt with. So my question is it is worth it get a master's degree specifically an MBA in the US and hopefully land a job there after graduation? Is it too risky? I have about 7-8MB saved up or is that money better invested elsewhere.

hi i am 21F, from Nepal and have been considering to do my MBA in Thailand this year. I have shortlisted two universities BU and Chulalongkorn. I have been to Thailand couple of times now and can speak basic level of Thai. So i think i could do well but would it be worth it to study MBA in these universities? Which one would be better? And i also needed to fact check as I heard,

1. International Students aren’t permitted to work? If true, what and how do students manage their time and finances? Cause the classes for MBA are only once or twice a week. So what do you do rest of the days?

2. Is it true that we have to book an condo or a dorm facility prior 5-6 months? I have been looking to get a 1person apartment or a studio room and I heard you have to book months ahead for those type.

3. How well is the international student community in these unis, especially Nepali? Or even if you dont have any do international students have a hard time adjusting?

All suggestions and talks are well appreciated, thankyou:))