Last week, I went on a mission. That was to find out some concise details about schools in Hua Hin for friends. All they wanted was contact telephone numbers and addresses. If I could find out more about certain English language curricula, so much the better. So, off I went.
First stop was the Tessabahn Tourist Office. They were really helpful, but couldn’t answer my questions. So, I was pointed in the direction of Hua Hin’s Education Department just up the road. Now, I’ve lived here for some time with my Thai wife and I never even knew the office existed.
Went into there very politely and was met with a barrage of questions and suspicions. “How did you find out where we are?” “The Tessabahn told me”.
“What do you want?” – “Er, some information on schools”
“Sit down over there”. Telephone calls were made and I had to speak to someone “upstairs”. After that, I was told to sit down again and wait. By now, I’ve got a bad feeling coming on. After another 10 mins or so, it’s “Come here, you speak to the Tessabahn”. I’ve given up now and it was explained to me that it wasn’t policy for details of schools to be disclosed in this manner. I left the office after 30 mins without any information at all.
Now, if I’d thought about it before, I might have taken my Thai wife along with me. But it was an innocent enquiry. I can appreciate the reluctance of Education Departments to disclose information on schools when they don’t know me, but what I was asking for were commonly known details that I could have found out anyway. I was just looking for the quickest way to get them on a hot day – and through the Tessabahn!!!
So, good luck to the Education Department for “protecting” the integrity of the schools, but I assure you all, it’s a nightmare to get any information out of these people no matter how sincere you are. So, be aware – be prepared.
If I’d walked into Somtawin School on my own looking for the same information, I bet you I’d have been arrested. And probably quite rightly so. I’d thought about that and so decided on a different course of action that involved municipal authorities.
Rant over. The two of us don’t have kids and even if we do in the future, I’ll never set foot in that office again.
I usually find bureaucrats tend not to want to do a lot of work so deciphering what you wanted and then providing info for it seemed to be just too much for them.
Personally I find speaking Thai helps a lot and having a Thai person with you that isn’t afraid of uniformed types helps even more!