That's pretty much what I've seen while here in Thailand. Rheno, you're not alone: others bought airfare and/or tesol courses with their own money to teach in this god-forsaken excuse for a ##. Thailand has lots of potential, but we'll never see it realized in our lifetimes. For now, slackness rules. Not many people want to come here and teach because they know how it is here, which includes Hat Yai. Bombs go off in the south only about once a month, but you're right. It's not worth the risk to go down there and teach the type of student I've seen in Thailand for the miserable pay you'd get. I wouldn't fly here to teach, either, not if I had to pay for it myself. I was lucky: I used skymiles to get here. I wish I could have gotten the overpriced tesol course for free as well, now that I've taught here for a while.