There has been much said about TEFL in Chiang Mai over the past six months, both good and bad, much of it misinformation resulting from the collapse of the TEFL and Thai language programmes at Chiang Mai University. It has affected many of the institutions offering TEFL courses in Chiang Mai, particularly Unitefl.

If you are thinking of taking a TEFL course in Thailand I suggest you read on, I’ve been at the centre of this whole episode, and I can accurately clear up the facts and false rumours that surround this. I’ve been particularly annoyed at the misinformation put out by certain parties involved, and those observing from a distance, since many seem to be ‘half the truth’ aimed at promoting themselves or covering up.

Firstly, Unitefl is a newly established institution offering a four-week TEFL course which is very similar to the one successfully offered by Chiang Mai University for three years. In September last year when the university president decided to terminate all language institute courses offered to foreigners, the staff left and re-established the course under the supervision of an independent educator in Chiang Mai.

I was enrolled to take the TEFL course at Chiang Mai University in October, having looked at the various options and decided that this one had a good track record of appraisal from ex-students, a competitive price and seemingly professional staff. Then came the news that the president of the university wanted ‘all foreigners off campus come end of September’, and that’s where the trouble started.

Eventually, the course director, Matthew Kay, was able to restart the course independently as Unitefl and offered me and several others a free place since the university flatly refused to give anyone a refund. As far as I could tell the instructors and curriculum were the same, and after four weeks we completed what I would describe as a professional course, we were awarded our certificates from TEFL International and have found jobs.

Due to the inconveniences Matthew Kay also agreed to fund a visa run so I could continue staying in Thailand which further gained my confidence. By my experiences I can say that Unitefl is a properly established organisation offering a professional TEFL, endorsed by TEFL international and recognised by Thailand’s ministry of education. When I was recently hired the head teacher said he was familiar with Unitefl (and its background) and had no problem accepting my certificate.

Now, what happened at the University was a mess, a disgrace to that respected tertiary institution and blot on the reliability of studying in Thailand. It’s really difficult to get to the bottom of why it happened except to say that the university has still not come up with a good reason for suddenly terminating the courses. After five months of considering the various rumours, forum bickering and accusations I’ve come to the conclusion that the president of the university was largely responsible for taking a poorly thought-out decision, based on prejudices and perhaps some fallout over ‘monies involved’ (I’m sure you can read between the lines on this one). Though it could have been handled better by all involved I find much of the negative perception surrounding unitefl to be quite unreasonable.

Unfortunately more than 300 students were involved and since studying was providing them with visa renewals it caused greater confusion with the University lying to us all in order to delay their liability. The staff, headed by Matthey Kay, tried hard to salvage the situation and help everyone out but it became obvious that they were at the mercy of some irrational direction from the university management. The university had taken our money and were obliged to give us a course (some had paid up front for a year of Thai language tuition).

Matthew Kay, presumably hoping to keep the courses going elsewhere, eventually stumped up his own money to refund some (apparently he had been on a profit share agreement), but most of the students came away empty handed. Forty of them sued the university in a class action lawsuit, and won an out-of-court settlement, and those who had paid by credit card were able to force a refund from the university’s bank. In December 2010, probably on advice of their lawyers, the University decided to restart the Thai courses and later announced plans to restart TEFL courses, although it’s unclear where they will get the staff from. So, this is a typical hazard of dealing with a Thai institution.

As you can imagine there was a lot of irate students, heated meetings with the university’s representative – a guy call Rein who sounded reasonable but turned out to be a big liar. The university put out the excuse that there was a case of fraud against the management but they provided no proof and certainly didn’t press charges. They put out a notice claiming that the TEFL Management had been using their name illegally, though this is flatly wrong since the university had been receiving the money, hosting the courses, signing visas, giving out the certificates and pocketing the profit for three years!

Due to the inconvenience and losses involved to so many, it’s quite understandable that many students should make negative and sceptical comments on forums. Some have advised that neither the University or TEFL, or the others in Chiang Mai should be trusted. What happened at CMU can best be described as ‘this is Thailand’ and I’d certainly avoid them, but from my own experiences the newly established courses offered by the old staff now at Unitefl seems professional, properly recognised and internationally endorsed. I compared notes with a friend who spend considerably more on the CELTA and there was little difference, other than the face that she paid quite a bit more an ended up being failed (apparently there’s usually a 30% failure rate).

If you asked me what were the problem aspects of Unitefl, I would say that they were unable to to handle the situation clearly when it all went wrong for them at CMU. They now no longer have a university endorsing them (no other TEFL seems to have this either), and some questions remain unclear about some of their endorsements. But if you’re looking for good TEFL training and an internationally recognised certificate I can’t find a fault in what they’re offering.

Pattaya is probably best known for its night life. For the curious, this is a good place to see a “Tiffany Show”, where stunningly attractive transsexuals dress in incredibly elaborate costumes and perform gracefully choreographed song and dance numbers on stage. There are also a wide range of go-go bars and discotheques to explore on Walking Street, which is the center of Pattaya’s nightlife.

By day, Pattaya offers a large number of intriguing diversions that are hard to find in most other parts of Thailand. A great entertainment option is the Million Years Stone Park and Pattaya Crocodile Farm, whilst visitors can ride the mighty beasts at the Elephant Village. The world class aquarium at Underwater World Pattaya has beautiful displays of local sea life and you can see scale replicas of Thailand’s key attractions in Mini Siam. Also popular with visitors to Pattaya is Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, and the sign for this can clearly be seen for the beach front.

Pattaya is a great place to let off some steam, and the go cart course and shooting range and good places to do just that, whilst the many spas and massage parlours offer a different way to unwind.

The festival, which will run from the 10th to the 17th of March, has been established in order to celebrate the ancient art of Muay Thai boxing. I’ve been to see a few Muay Thai fights during my time in Thailand, and although I was aware that it was a very popular sport here, I didn’t realised that it crossed borders to any larger extent than the odd western bloke giving it a go on his holidays. This, of course, was a very naive attitude and I have since learned that Muay Thai is now one of the world’s most popular martial arts.

So for anyone who really does know what they’re talking about when it comes to Muay Thai, the Ayutthaya Stadium will be the venue for the festival, where traditional ceremonies will be performed before a bout of matches and tournaments. There will even be training workshops on offer to the novices, so maybe I should give it a go and see what all the fuss is about.

The now annual event attracted petrol heads from all over Thailand and the world, and plenty of rubber has been burnt on the streets of Pattaya over the last few days.

Festivities started with the bikers’ parade around the city before a good, old-fashioned knees-up at the Hardrock Hotel.

The after-party was held at the stadium in Soi Chaiyapruek, and although many did, I’m not sure anyone was in a fit state to ride home afterwards.

Continuous shows and drinks flowed throughout the night and the festival atmosphere was helped along by the vast amounts of visitors choosing to camp out around the stadium for the night.

I’ve never ridden more than the most modest scooters myself, but I must admit that even I feel a surge of adrenaline when I hear those big motors roaring.

But while I will always be a little envious of the guys and gals who ride these monsters with such style, I just don’t think I could handle the leathers in this heat!

It happend in broad daylight at around 3pm. It is thought that the man’s head came into contact with high-voltage power lines while he was working high up installing a sign.

Officers attended the scene in Soi Mab Bon and found 33-year-old Nikom Unnamthieng unconscious and with blood coming out of his nose.

He was only wearing fragments of clothing and had suffered severe burns.

He is currently in the burns department at Chon Buri Hospital after being transferred from the local facility.

The incident is a shocking one, but surely one that could have been avoided if someone was supervising the project’s safety.

I can’t imagine how horrific it was for anyone unlucky enough to have witnessed the accident and, of course, for the injured man and his family.

After the success and the frivolity of this week’s annual Pattaya Bed Race, it comes as a bit of a shocking blow to hear about the body of an unknown man which was found floating just off the coast of Sattahip yesterday.

The body was found by a fisherman at around 5.30am while on his way back to Prateung fishing pier. The man had deep cuts in his neck and his leg and is believed to have been in dead for as long as four days.

The nationality of the man, who was wearing black shorts and a red T-shirt, is not yet known, but he is suspected to be Thai. He is thought to have been around 30-years-old and he has a tattoo on his left arm of the number 83.

A murder and attempted cover up has not been confirmed but is strongly suspected and an investigation is currently underway.

 What a horrible way to end the week.

 Hot off the press is news that on February 13^th(that’s the day before Valentine’s Day for all you useless men out there), Pattaya will play host to what is scheduled to be the world’s biggest speed dating event.

 The current record, which was set in 2008 by Germany’s Dating Cafe GMBH, stands at 252 participants, but I think we can beat it.

While there may be a lot of single people living it up in Pattaya, those who have been here for a while often feel the need for something a little more meaningful.

 If you want to register for the event, which is being organised by Sanook online dating service and Ripley’s World of Entertainment Pattaya, you can do so free of charge on the Sanook website.

And while everyone knows that you can’t hurry love, this could be your chance to speed it up just a little. If all else fails, it will at least give you the opportunity to catch up with all your exes!

A German tourist, believed to have been drunk, crashed into and killed an Italian tourist who was also riding a motorcycle in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The 29-year-old, Davide Tomast, died of head injuries in a soi off South Pattaya Road at around 5:30 in the morning. It is believed that Norbet ran into to side of Tomast’s motorcycle at high speed as the Italian was riding away from the soi.

The German, 38-year-old Raimund Norbet, was also severely injured and was sent to Pattaya Memorial Hospital. Police are preparing to arrest Norbet as soon as he is released.

Once you have lived in Thailand for a while, drunk driving and motorcycle crashes become part of the fabric of life and everyone knows someone who has experienced a loss due to a combination of these factors.

While the police might not be here to breathalyse you as soon as you step out of the bar, be assured that they will be there the moment you get out of hospital.

The man, who has been identified as 40-year-old Poliakov Oleg, was said to have been diving by the coral off the coast of Bang Lamung when the gruesome incident happened.

He is believed to have been about 300 metres from the shore, outside of the dive zone and towards Koh Larn, when he was caught in the boat’s propellers.

The boat driver, who has since been arrested for reckless driving, was transporting a group of Chinese tourists to the island of Koh Larn in his privately-owned boast when he ran into the Russian. He said he did not see the man swimming with his friends.

My sympathies go out to the friends and family of this man who ended his holiday in such tragic circumstances. I think this incident must be a lesson to us all, divers and boat drivers alike, that when it comes to the water around Pattaya, nobody rules the waves.

Perhaps the best option is to hire a car. There are plenty of rental companies at the airport and the highways are good – it’s about a 90 minute drive if the traffic is good. Having rental gives you the freedom to explore the area. Although you can rent a car on arrival we strongly advise you to book a hire car online beforehand.

Daily rail services operated by the State Railways of Thailand depart from Bangkoks’s Central Hua Lamphong Railway Station. The voyage will take around three hours, 30 minutes. Non- air conditioned trains depart at 06:55 and stop at South Pattaya as well as at North Pattaya. A one-way train ticket costs about 40 baht. Travellers can get detailed travel information by calling: 1690, 0 2223 7020 or 0 2223 7010.

From the two main bus terminals in Bangkok, frequent coaches leave to Pattaya throughout the day. The duration of the bus trip is about two hours, 30 minutes.
From Bangkok’s Morchit 2 Bus Terminal, located on Kamphaeng Phet 2 Rd, every 30 minutes between 04:30 and 20:00 a bus departs to Pattaya. The one-way bus fee will cost around 100 baht. Travellers may call Rung Ruang Tour for more information, Tel: 0 2936 3509.

In addition, between 05:00 and 23:00 buses to Pattaya depart every 30 minutes from the Ekkamai Terminal on Sukhumvit Rd. A one-way ticket buses leave for Pattaya every half an hour from 5 a.m.-11 p.m. The price for a one-way ticket is about 95 baht. Call Rung Ruang Tour at: 0 2712-3928 or 0 2391 9829 for information.

Bangkok Air operates daily flight services from Koh Samui as well as Phuket to Utapao Airport in Pattaya. Up-to-date flight information is available by contacting their Bangkok office, Tel: 0 2229 3456 or by visiting the airline’s official website