@Ivan ***********

True enough plus teachers going the other way e.g. teachers who want to go home to their own country. I predict a shortage of teachers one way or another.

@John ******

re “There is no teachers in employment at the moment except admin.” Actually teachers at my wife’s posh school started teaching on campus again last week.

@John ******

sorry but I didn’t mention anything about reopening the Thai borders. I think you’re confusing me with someone who else.

@Alice ********

I was teaching in Saudi and Bahrain mostly. Of course I was lucky because the oil prices were still quite high then which was reflected in the salary.

@Alice ********

Are you saying $55K is good or bad? I think it’s a bit on the low end myself. I was getting on average $100K a year as teacher abroad before retiring in 2018.

@John ******

was it necessary to post all of that? Perhaps some discernment might be in order.

@Ivan ***********

Re, “Most foreign teachers aren't going to be able to afford that, so they are going to have to choose between having any English teachers outside international schools, or arranging something for them.” Yes, either that or actually upping the very low average salaries they pay for teachers. I doubt they’ve factored this into their thinking e.g. sucking what’s left of out the life of already struggling teachers working for peanuts in Thailand. I suspect they’ll have to re-evaluate their hope of milking rich tourists in their new “tourism reset”.

Tell me about it. I had problems with SCB bank as well. And by the way, I have been with my SCB bank in Thailand for 21 years. I tried to send money to my Barclays bank acc. in the UK, a bank acc. that is in my own name (not someone else’s name), but they said I was not allowed to do it. I also tried to use my SCB card to buy shares online in cryptocurrencies, but they said “that is gambling”, and they refused that as well. It’s just getting to the point now where Thai banks have decided the way you spend your money will be determined by them, not by you. For that reason I have loaded up with Bitcoin, and when this nonsense gets too much, I will just send it to my Barclays account as a lump sum through one of the third-party cryptocurrency brokers that supply that service. That will cut out Thai banks completely thereby losing them any possibility of commission. Serves them right.

Whichever statistics we are going by, it doesn’t really matter. It’s pretty obvious the Thais do not want to lose the hugely successful status it enjoys as a tourist Mecca and all the billions of THB that it brings in. That’s my main point. And you say that Thais don’t care? Ask the high street noodle seller? Ask the vendors on Khaosan Road? Ask the restaurant owners and bar owners in Pattaya or Chiang Mai? I can tell you that they do care, at least the ones who are wholly dependent on them for their livelihoods. And this country will soon fall apart if these worker bees are not kept in work.

@Ashton *******

no that’s because you’re too busy badmouthing fellow farangs who don‘t agree with you. The funniest part of this farang baiting - “another old bloke who lives in Thailand but fucking hates it“ - is that most if not all of them have lived in the country for decades and have lived through coups, economic downturns, constant changes to longterm visa requirements, droughts and a host of other problems, and so they’re talking from experience, whereas you think you‘re talking from some privileged vantage point which just comes across as hot air. I’ll just call you “kee daut“ cos that’s what you sound like to me. Most of these “old blokes who live in Thailand but fucking hate it,” have probably forgotten more than you'll ever know about Thailand which probably couldn’t cover a postage stamp. Yes you have a nice day now.