and we have more excitement!
Things never seem to get dull around here.
Everyone who knows anything about Thailand knows that this country survives on one thing...Corruption. Generally viewed as a bad thing, as they seem to only want money which is easy to come by for them. The police in Thailand have a pretty easy plan on making money. Stop 'Mr.X' on his motorbike. Show him how tight your uniform is, leaving your attention to wander to his oversized gun in its holster pointing somewhere in your direction...Sure. When he asks for three hundred baht for no reason, 'Mr. X' gives it to him. A small fee to get away without having that gun stare at him for a long time. But when you get 300 baht from 300 people in a night, things start to add up.
Often police and other authorities can be paid off, which can be advantageous. If you need to get some paperwork done but you are missing a signature, or missing a certain form, these things can generally be looked over for a small fee of about a thousand baht (though sometimes upwards of 10,000 baht, depending on the situation.) These things go without saying.
I was applying for a work permit while I was working in the South, my degree hadn't arrived yet...No worries. They made one for me. No questions asked. Cost: one round of golf between my boss and a public prosecutor on the company's dollar. (Including whisky.)
My friend got married a few weeks ago and I was going to translate the documents city hall for them. Though when we got there the man said it had to be done by a Thai national. With a wink and a nod he let us go through with the proceedings, understanding he would get something out of it. Cost: one thousand baht and a free hour of staring at my boyfriend whom I think he was quite interested in.
An essential part of life in Thailand if you plan on staying here for a long time is to get to know one of these guys. Make a Thai policeman your friend.
Lucky for Rin and I, about the same time we moved to Bangkok, so did his uncle, who happens to be the highest ranking police man in the Sukhumvit area. (One of the busiest areas for police men in Bangkok.) His number in on speed-dial, and you can assume, when we go out, everything is free, and more than likely, illegal.
Example: About four months ago we went to see him at his apartment. He invited us to go out to dinner and then to walk around Suan Lum Night Bazaar to be followed by a night on the town. Dinner at the somtam restaurant: free. Cost to the police?: Look the other way if the restaurant stays open until three in the morning instead of closing at the legal time of one. Night on the town: well. This needs some explaining. Possibly my only real encounter with the sex industry in Thailand, he took us to his part of town where he works, and we went to the famous Nana Plaza, full of drunken tourists and beautiful Isarn girls putting it all out there for 40 bucks a night. We went into a 'fine establishment,' were given front row seating, a free bottle of Black Label, and were entertained by the girls in white bikinis taking showers an showering each other on stage. When it was time to go, I asked for the bill. Rin's uncle, slightly embarrassed. He leaned over to me and said 'I don't actually pay, for anything.' Cost to the bar: 'Please don't come and raid us, as prostitution is not exactly legal, but hey, we're giving these girls jobs, right?' And I went home that night with a full wallet and a cringing heart. Perhaps I had picked the wrong profession.
But this has all come back to haunt me this past weekend as the police came and raided our school on Friday. They checked visas, passports and workpermits. For those of us all in order, we were fine. But for the seven out of twenty teachers ho are waiting on documents or don't have degrees (three people...Not quite legal in Thailand...But they are very good teachers), well, they are out of a job in a month. This happens to include the one new teacher I have just hired who has a six month pregnant wife and is actually a pretty good teacher. And so, in a month, when I am planning on going home and taking time off work, and his wife is seven months pregnant, we will both be shit out of luck. The police won't take a bribe this time, for some reason. My teacher doesn't have a degree, which we knew when we hired him, but we never thought it would come to this. Without a degree you cannot apply for a work permit in Thailand. So, him losing his job could also cost me mine, as it is my responsibility to find a new teacher, at the same time that I am writing exams and planning my first trip home in two years, and if worse comes to worse and they say I need to fill in, then I guess I will be out of work too. (Though not pregnant.)
Oh the joys of Thailand.
Everyone who knows anything about Thailand knows that this country survives on one thing...Corruption. Generally viewed as a bad thing, as they seem to only want money which is easy to come by for them. The police in Thailand have a pretty easy plan on making money. Stop 'Mr.X' on his motorbike. Show him how tight your uniform is, leaving your attention to wander to his oversized gun in its holster pointing somewhere in your direction...Sure. When he asks for three hundred baht for no reason, 'Mr. X' gives it to him. A small fee to get away without having that gun stare at him for a long time. But when you get 300 baht from 300 people in a night, things start to add up.
Often police and other authorities can be paid off, which can be advantageous. If you need to get some paperwork done but you are missing a signature, or missing a certain form, these things can generally be looked over for a small fee of about a thousand baht (though sometimes upwards of 10,000 baht, depending on the situation.) These things go without saying.
I was applying for a work permit while I was working in the South, my degree hadn't arrived yet...No worries. They made one for me. No questions asked. Cost: one round of golf between my boss and a public prosecutor on the company's dollar. (Including whisky.)
My friend got married a few weeks ago and I was going to translate the documents city hall for them. Though when we got there the man said it had to be done by a Thai national. With a wink and a nod he let us go through with the proceedings, understanding he would get something out of it. Cost: one thousand baht and a free hour of staring at my boyfriend whom I think he was quite interested in.
An essential part of life in Thailand if you plan on staying here for a long time is to get to know one of these guys. Make a Thai policeman your friend.
Lucky for Rin and I, about the same time we moved to Bangkok, so did his uncle, who happens to be the highest ranking police man in the Sukhumvit area. (One of the busiest areas for police men in Bangkok.) His number in on speed-dial, and you can assume, when we go out, everything is free, and more than likely, illegal.
Example: About four months ago we went to see him at his apartment. He invited us to go out to dinner and then to walk around Suan Lum Night Bazaar to be followed by a night on the town. Dinner at the somtam restaurant: free. Cost to the police?: Look the other way if the restaurant stays open until three in the morning instead of closing at the legal time of one. Night on the town: well. This needs some explaining. Possibly my only real encounter with the sex industry in Thailand, he took us to his part of town where he works, and we went to the famous Nana Plaza, full of drunken tourists and beautiful Isarn girls putting it all out there for 40 bucks a night. We went into a 'fine establishment,' were given front row seating, a free bottle of Black Label, and were entertained by the girls in white bikinis taking showers an showering each other on stage. When it was time to go, I asked for the bill. Rin's uncle, slightly embarrassed. He leaned over to me and said 'I don't actually pay, for anything.' Cost to the bar: 'Please don't come and raid us, as prostitution is not exactly legal, but hey, we're giving these girls jobs, right?' And I went home that night with a full wallet and a cringing heart. Perhaps I had picked the wrong profession.
But this has all come back to haunt me this past weekend as the police came and raided our school on Friday. They checked visas, passports and workpermits. For those of us all in order, we were fine. But for the seven out of twenty teachers ho are waiting on documents or don't have degrees (three people...Not quite legal in Thailand...But they are very good teachers), well, they are out of a job in a month. This happens to include the one new teacher I have just hired who has a six month pregnant wife and is actually a pretty good teacher. And so, in a month, when I am planning on going home and taking time off work, and his wife is seven months pregnant, we will both be shit out of luck. The police won't take a bribe this time, for some reason. My teacher doesn't have a degree, which we knew when we hired him, but we never thought it would come to this. Without a degree you cannot apply for a work permit in Thailand. So, him losing his job could also cost me mine, as it is my responsibility to find a new teacher, at the same time that I am writing exams and planning my first trip home in two years, and if worse comes to worse and they say I need to fill in, then I guess I will be out of work too. (Though not pregnant.)
Oh the joys of Thailand.
posted by isobella at 8:21 AM
1 Comments:
I can't help but wonder... why are you still there and how much longer are you planning to stay? I love Thailand (I lived there for 2.5 years) but i wonder what kind of future you can really build there as a foreign woman. Just curious. By the way, congrats on finding a good Thai man.
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