beau58 commented : Voice No offence. But, you completely miss the point, and I suspect you know little about Thailand or Thai culture(s), judging from your remarks. It is a very well known fact that most people in this country, especially those upcountry have little interest in learning English. It is also a well known fact that upcountry people, especially in Isaan have little interest or belief in education, which as I stated in an earlier post is the reason why Isaan has the highest drop-out rate in the country. As for my girlfriend...I'm not sure how you gleaned from my remarks that she doesn't speak the language. Being well-brought-up and educated, she of course speaks her native Isaan-Lao and also speaks beautiful, melifluous Thai (quite opposite to the gutteral squawk of you average bargirl), and quite excellent English. Her comments about Thai culture not being her culture is an illustration of the fact that, customs vary widely throughout the country. Despite the best efforts of the Thai Establishment since 1932 to homogenize the country under one dominant culture and language, there are people outside the central "Thai" region who don't identify Thai culture and language, as their own. Comparing the the cultural diversity (the "Cultural Melting-Pot") of America to that of Thailand is quite inaccurate on so many levels, not least because the cultures in Thailand are still all regional from a comparatively small area.

Voice commented : [quote:3g5utco7]Beau58 wrote “Voice No offence. But, you completely miss the point, and I suspect you know little about Thailand or Thai culture(s), judging from your remarks. It is a very well known fact that most people in this country, especially those upcountry have little interest in learning English. It is also a well known fact that upcountry people, especially in Isaan have little interest or belief in education, which as I stated in an earlier post is the reason why Isaan has the highest drop-out rate in the country. As for my girlfriend...I'm not sure how you gleaned from my remarks that she doesn't speak the language. Being well-brought-up and educated, she of course speaks her native Isaan-Lao and also speaks beautiful, melifluous Thai (quite opposite to the gutteral squawk of you average bargirl), and quite excellent English. Her comments about Thai culture not being her culture is an illustration of the fact that, customs vary widely throughout the country. Despite the best efforts of the Thai Establishment since 1932 to homogenize the country under one dominant culture and language, there are people outside the central "Thai" region who don't identify Thai culture and language, as their own. Comparing the the cultural diversity (the "Cultural Melting-Pot") of America to that of Thailand is quite inaccurate on so many levels, not least because the cultures in Thailand are still all regional from a comparatively small area.[/quote:3g5utco7] Don’t worry you haven’t offence me in anyway in fact I am glad that you think I am foreigner because we cannot judge a book by it cover. Well I am Thai and always have been since fifty odd years ago. I think I have to disagree with you there about I ssan people have no interest in learning. When I was in Korat once they know I speak English they all love to learn more about the language and most of Issan girl that I met. If your girlfriend can speaks good Thai and English but if she want to be different then it her choice. If she talking about her culture not being the same I thinks she hasn’t been honest with you there.

beau58 commented : Voice My appologies for making an assumption about you. However, I stand by my conviction that people in Isaan are generally not interested in education. Parents their seldom support their children going much beyond Mor 3 and would rather they simply went out and worked. While universities and therefore university attendance has increased dramatically in Isaan, it still falls well short of the national average. I'm not some rooky either. If you have read my earlier posts you will know I was a professor in Thailand for 13 years (Chula, Thammasat, Bangkok U.) and one of my specialties is Thai culture and society, which I have researched in depth. My knowledge and therefore comments are not merely anecdotal, but based on solid research, information and experience. By the way, my GF's comments are not isolated. I have heard the attitude that "Thai culture is not my culture" many times from people outside the central region. Part of this has to do with the fact that large portions of the country (such as the north) were foreceably annexed by the central Thais. However, the people in the north still think of themselves first and foremost as "Lanna" rather than "Thai".

Voice commented : [quote:1e6g6wvj]Drake wrote “So, now that we don't have the US to come in and build up roadways to connect their airbases together where do you suppose we will get the funding to make it happen ? Assuming that we are capable of installing a decent transportation infrastructure, the next major hurdle is energy - electricity in particular. Where are we going to get that from ? That aside. It still amazes me that Thailand still does not have any sort of commercial semiconductor fab in operation in the country, not even the simple ones that crank out transistors/diodes and such that, technically, can be built from eBay scraps.[/quote:1e6g6wvj] It’s not just US nowadays they Italian Thai, Japanese Thai, French Thai, Swiss Thai, Canadian Thai etc you name it we have it. When you talk about electricity we have Egat don’t you know that they just sell their electricity to our neighbour countries. I think our railway system is very old I think that should come first.

drake commented : [quote="Voice":2w4b241j][quote:2w4b241j]Drake wrote “So, now that we don't have the US to come in and build up roadways to connect their airbases together where do you suppose we will get the funding to make it happen ? Assuming that we are capable of installing a decent transportation infrastructure, the next major hurdle is energy - electricity in particular. Where are we going to get that from ? That aside. It still amazes me that Thailand still does not have any sort of commercial semiconductor fab in operation in the country, not even the simple ones that crank out transistors/diodes and such that, technically, can be built from eBay scraps.[/quote:2w4b241j] It’s not just US nowadays they Italian Thai, Japanese Thai, French Thai, Swiss Thai, Canadian Thai etc you name it we have it. When you talk about electricity we have Egat don’t you know that they just sell their electricity to our neighbour countries. I think our railway system is very old I think that should come first.[/quote:2w4b241j] Sorry, I meant [i:2w4b241j]to come in and build FREE roadways[/i:2w4b241j] for Thailand and not 'partnership'.