Showing 91 - 100 of 158
The watered-down version of corruption in schools
B Magazine, Andrew Biggs, Published on 14/06/2015
» We begin our journey in a little village in the far northern province of Chiang Rai. We’re going to pop into a school called Bahn Daen Sala, a rural primary school run on a shoestring budget, where the education of its students rests more on the resourcefulness of its teachers than anything found in the curriculum.
The number’s up for lottery’s middlemen
B Magazine, Andrew Biggs, Published on 21/06/2015
» It’s been a long, hard slog, but the impossible was finally achieved this month when 80 baht lottery tickets went on sale for 80 baht. Is this the only country in the world where such a revelation would make the news?
Sometimes telling the truth can be painful
B Magazine, Andrew Biggs, Published on 24/05/2015
» One of the most vilified, hated journalists in Thailand today is a woman who works on the nightly news programme on Channel 3 called Sam Miti, or Three Dimensions.
A learning curve, from Nakhon Nayok to Finland
B Magazine, Andrew Biggs, Published on 17/05/2015
» Forty years ago Finland was languishing economically and educationally. Today it leads the world in many global surveys. What did the country do?
Small talk at the car wash, yeah
B Magazine, Andrew Biggs, Published on 12/04/2015
» I’ve just had my car cleaned at my local car wash. I am a man who believes in cleanliness, and that extends to my car. Getting a car wash is a task I perform at the beginning of every single month that begins with the letter A. This frequency brings me in contact with an ever-changing gaggle of Lao youth who spray, scrub, shine and sometimes even scratch my car before I steer it into the giant rollers and, ultimately, the middle-aged cashier with the weather-beaten face.
Bureaucracy: It’s not just black and white
B Magazine, Andrew Biggs, Published on 03/05/2015
» Our event is over. It has been a resounding success. Months of planning all came to a head recently when we staged a five-day English seminar and camp for high-ranking servants of a government ministry.
Le Tour de Death
B Magazine, Andrew Biggs, Published on 10/05/2015
» Bangkok is a great city for anybody with a death wish. If you want to overdose on heroin, come on over. Try crossing the street on a zebra crossing. Just choosing the wrong song in a karaoke bar can get you killed.
Tee-ing up for the draft
B Magazine, Andrew Biggs, Published on 19/04/2015
» I haven’t seen Tee and his mother for more than three years, ever since Tee came begging for a loan to help with a down payment on a pickup truck.
Keeping abreast of Thai culture
B Magazine, Andrew Biggs, Published on 22/03/2015
» In my next life I would like to come back as a high-ranking civil servant in the Culture Ministry’s Culture Watch. Is there a better job to be had in Thailand? You are not required to do anything; just “watch”.
Bordering on insanity
B Magazine, Andrew Biggs, Published on 01/03/2015
» On the road to Phnom Kulen I spot the sign; a turn-off to Preah Vihear. “Oh look,” I say out loud. “There’s the road to Khao Pra Viharn.” “That’s not the way you pronounce it,” says my guide. “It’s preah vi-here.”