jaapfries

Correct; I've been receiving many of these, and then I also received a genuine message from the Embassy:

Beste geregistreerde Nederlanders, er worden sinds vanochtend herhaalberichten vanuit onze dienstpostbus gestuurd die gekoppeld is aan het registratiestysteem dat door een externe provider wordt beheerd. Wij zijn op dit moment druk bezig om dit probleem op te lossen maar zijn afhankelijk van onze externe provider. Wij vragen u om begrip en bieden onze excuses aan voor het ongemak die dit met zich meebrengt. Ik verzoek u niet het noodnummer te bellen en geen antwoordmails te sturen aan de ban-ca postbus op de inkomende mailberichten. Alvast veel dank voor uw medewerking. Graag maak ik van deze gelegenheid gebruik u een gezond en gelukkig Nieuw Jaar toe te wensen. Met vriendelijke groeten, Jeannette Verkerk Plaatsvervangend Hoofd Algemene en Consulaire Zaken www.netherlandsembassy.in.th

Looks to me like a bit of a Prank, hey ?

Just goes to prove: All's not well at Dyke-hoppers Embasy

Having your son murdered by this moronic, sorry excuse of a Policeman is horrific enough - subsequently having your parental soul tortured by a corrupt & dysfunctional legal system, for years, is simply in-excusable ! !

I wish these Albertans much strength and courage.

We; here in Thailand, weep with you, make no mistake about that !

May your son rest in peace.

Cheers,

Jaap

(Ex-Canadian)

Do you already have a house plan?

I am working on a (weekend) house in the Roi-Et province and will have an architect and his building from Bangkok (will make a post when more details are available). Even other people in the village use Bangkok builders because no good one are available in the province.

It seems that some members here are building with local craftsmen. But I think that you should have some knowledge in house construction (which I don't have...).

I was thinking the same thing.

I rather spend some more money with a company, with a good reputation, instead of a local unknown company.

Have heard some horror stories from friends, just hiring the local carpentar.

You know any good companies from Bangkok, who will build for us in Chantaburi?

็Hi

Just "PM" me and I will point you in the right direction, okay ?

Cheers,

JaapFries

thanks steveromagnino for your interets and reply.

I was hoping for something like a flying junior something easy to sail I am 61 and have sailed only keelboats till now I saw a cal 20 forsale in thailand but couldnot figure out where to moor it so decided on dinghy instead.

Hobie cats donot interest me at the moment. I find they have a tendency to stall in tacks or maybe its me not understanding mullihull skippering.

420 and 49 is just to technical for me my sailing has been on cal20, thunderbirds,mini12s for racing one design and ranger26 and catalina 27 for cruising, .

The trailering classic 16 footer sounds interesting, just towing it in Thailand could be a chore not sure if I wish to attemt that at this moment.

What do you think of optis in my club we use them for junior training thats about all. But being 61 now maybe that is all I can handle ha ha ha.

All that said I am open to advice and help in any form so thank you again.

Dear Lovelomsak:

You wrote (some time ago) that you saw a CAL-20 for sale in Thailand, right ?

Could you PLEASE let me know where that was, because I am desperately looking for one of them; had 2 CAL-20's in Vancouver but now living in Hua-Hin.

You would do me a very great favor.

Thanks in advance for your time & trouble

Jaap Klasema

081 847 35 76

[email protected]

I agree there are few, however, I can and will, personally recommend a fantastic, honest, professional local builder to anyone who genuinely wants one. Please PM me and I will give you a name and pictures of his work.

Hi,

Yes; I would be very happy if you could send me that builder's information.

Cheers a lot,

J. Klasema

[email protected]

Yo can leave your car there in the parking-lot.

If you're lucky, you may find a place under the the Sun-Shade at the South-end of the lot.

The charge is Bt. 50.-/day and I've never had any security concerns: safe as houses!

Cheers,

JGK/ Frequent Flyer

Pattaya

Pattaya is good for 1 thing beach road 500baht,need I say more?

I have lived in Pattaya for 18 years - and I did not know that the 'going rate' on Beach Rd. was Bt. 500.-: makes me wonder; how come you, who's knocking Pattaya, do know this ? ? You just put your foot in your own mouth, hey ?!?!

In any event; like my brilliant Thai wife often reminds me; "every coin has 2 sides"; Pattaya, like many other cities in the world, has the seedy places and the seedy bars, but there's no law that yo have to go there, every night and frequent these. Like the remote-control on your TV; nobody forces you to watch the Porno-Channels; so why people complain about "porno-on-TV" is beyond me.

Pattaya has much more to offer than just places with Bar-Girls, my friends; there are many places where one can play tennis or badminton, on a regular basis; there are more Gyms here than you can shake a stick at - and then of course my favorite past-time: sailing. You could join the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, located on Cosy Beach (just down from the Royal Cliff) and when you get there, it is like having stepped into a different world; magnificent location and at the RVYC they make sailing very easy.

Then; like some poster already detailed; the shopping, resaurant & (decent) Barsin Pattaya are without equal and alsomuch less expensive than places like Phuket, Bangkok, CM etc.

Stop knocking Pattaya, because you're only knocking yourself !

Ergo:

Pattaya; where the living is easy ! ! !

Cheers,

JGK

Proud-Pattayan

I can see that most of the posters replying to your serious question, have been in La-La-Land too long. Obviously, the cheap booze in this country is beginning to affect their capacity to think.

Okay; you have 2.5 Rai of and are looking for serious suggestions as to what to put on it, whilst not wanting to spend a lot of money.

Here's m suggestion: Consider putting on "Ton-Son" - in other words, trees.

The Ton-Son is a tree which is easily recognizable, since it does not have "leaves", but rather "needles". It's almost like a Pine-Tree.

If/when planting these at the right "grid", you will literally see our investment grow,month-by-month and year-by-year.

After 6~7 years (from planting) you will be able to Net. something in the vicinity of Bt. 700,000.-to 850,000.- per Rai.

The lumber Co.will come (after agreement is made with you - and cut these (now mature) trees,about 2~3 Ft. off the ground - and haul the logs away to the Mill.

Meanwhile, these "stumps", will grow again and 6~7 years later, you get a yield from them again.

Then you have to re-plant seedlings,in a grid different from the original one, in order to give the "old roots" a change to dissolve in the ground.

The huge advantage of growing these trees is, that there's only very little maintenance involved. Their needles will (seasonally) drop to the ground, forming a "blanket", which prevents weeds from wishing to grow there.

I am sure that if you would look around your area, you will see plantations of these distinct trees.

We've got 30 Rai of Ton Son, maturing in another 4 years from now.

If you want to get really cool, consider planting Teak-trees (from seedlings,of course) around the outside of your future "forest" at 10 m. intervals. It has many advantages and it looks great.Also; you children may well reap the benefits of this Teak-Effort in teir life-time ! (Teak = a long-term investment)

If you want, PM me for more info.

Paper hats indeed... Well the Driver anyway.

Will the Yaris driver be charged with causing an accident ? i.e. were they parked legally - or does it not matter in this case ?

In a similar way to that of a Phuket resident facing difficulties after a girl killed herself driving into the back of his car at 3:30am (A recent topic here in TV).

Could you let us know where we can read about the Phuket incident, please ?

Cheers,

JGK/Pattaya

I would not be surprised if this "old dog" is up to his old (proven) tricks . . . . What do you guys think of the following scenario:

[take into account that IF he could somehow manage to get the current government thrown-out, and IF fresh elections were to be held - it is a "no-brainer" that Thaksin would easily be elected again]

1. All that money they have taken from him,would be handed back to him.

2. The criminal conviction would easily be overturned, rendering him "clean" again

3. With his vast wealth returned to him, he could then pay-off those Army & Police chaps who helped him (making them very rich indeed).

Ergo: Bob's your Uncle

Conclussion: Thaksin's in Cambodia, because the very moment this government falls, all he has to do is walk into Thailand, to a, no doubt, hero's welcome, especially in that part of Thailand . . .

I would not be surprised

JGK/Pattaya

The other one was the better of the two anyway.

Talk about being "callous" !

If you have nothing to say, why not shut up, hey ? ! !

Yes; they are very accommodating and helpful there; no problem.

They're located adjacent to the Hilton Hotel, just outside of the down-town madness, so that's pretty good also.

Cheers,

JGK/Pattaya

Don't ya'll find it funny that if you were to dig a hole,about 3.5~4.0 meters down and hang a thermometer in there, that the mean temperature down there is between 10~12 degrees-C LOWER than the outside ambient air . . . . and what do we DO with this information ? ? ?

Well; I am in the process of building some villas with this in mind. It's basically very simple; a 100mm tube dug-in at 4.o m. deep starts and ends-up in the dwelling. A simple (solar-powered) in-line ventilator pushes the air through the entire system at fairly low speed (giving the tube enough time to "exchange" the initially warm air to a much lower temperature) This much cooler air is then 'vented' into living-room and/or bedroom and, voila; a free air-cooling system is born.

But before you try this "at home", better PM me, because even though it all sounds pretty simple, there are a few do's and don'ts here also.

G.O.Thermal

Pattaya

You're not one of them there Red-Shirt Wally-Bangers, are ya' ? ? ? ?

L.O.L.

JGK

<deleted> ? ? ? Catwho: you've lost the plot ! !

If you mean Collingbourne Auctions, it is on Chaiyapruek 2, that is the road to the sports stadium from Sukhumvit, about 300m over the railway tracks you will see it on your left.

I also understand that caution is required with this outfit.

Be cautious !

JGK/Pattaya

Don't mistake my reply for being anti solar. I would love to see a financial analysis where it really made sense. But the fact is, at today's prices, it can not compete with grid power. The problem isn't the level of insolation in a given area. The problem is the EROEI of solar power in general. It is not possible for a diffuse energy source like solar to compete effectively with a highly concentrated energy source like fossil fuels. Don't expect a financial analysis to ever be beneficial vs just using grid power.

all said! anything else (at present times) is fiction or wishful thinking.

Conclusion: It is not economically viable (at the current power price levels in Thailand) to consider putting in a full PV-System to run a house; that much is obvious. However; there is a way to cut down substantially on an individual house's power consumption:

1. A simple and inexpensive PV-System to run some lights, fans & appliances etc. (buy Low Power Consumption Appliances!)

2. A simple, but very effective Geothermal Cooling System (so; no more expensive A/C unit)

3. A simple, yet effective Solar Hot Water system (so; no more expensive power used to heat up water)

By doing something like this, an average house would save the environment in excess of 4 Metric Tonnes of CO2 per year, whilst saving the ower dramatically on power-bills !

Overall ROI on a combination of these elements ? Approx. 4~5 years.

Cheers,

JGK/Pattaya

Try Dr park,Novo hotel,outside building,beach road and central.

Actually; that's David Pack, MD - and he's located at the small shops just in front of the Nova-Lodge Hotel, on the corner of Beach-Road <> Central Road.The hotel's entrance is off Central Road,just West (towards the beach) of Top's Supermarket parking lot.

David's mobile: 081-0039077

Office: 038 - 420 016 and 038 - 361 077

In my opinion: he' the best in the business.

Cheers,

JGK/Pattaya

Hi,

Yes; there is a Company in Thailand which manufactures a Quality Solar Hot Water system, which would seem to be able to satisfy your needs. German technology; various components imported from Germany, Switzerland etc., assembled in Thailand under very strict European management. They're currently also exporting to Europe & Australia.

If you PM me, I'll put you in touch with the correct person, okay ?

Cheers,

JGK/Pattaya

Just PM me nd I'll put you in the right direction,okay ?

Cheers

JGK

Just PM me and I'll put you in touch with a chap who can clearly explain the entire issue to you; been with him for 18 years and am extremely satisfied with the service, cost & coverage.

Cheers,

JGK/Pattaya

So; because these birds are of annoyance to you, you are seriously considering killing them ? ? ? ? ? ?

Hey; hallooooooo;this is a Buddhist country, you're living in (with the stress on "living") - who gave you the right to "kill" innocent birds ? ?

If that is the best solution you can come-up with, you are to be pitied ! !

How would YOU like it, if something BIGGER than you found YOU annoying and simply opted to put YOU down for it ? ? ?

There's got to be a better way, without resorting to ending lives . . . .

Geez,

JGK

Ornitologist

Be very careful about anyone claims to be contractors even in this form. I tried one and had nothing but trouble. Make sure you check their references, and never give them more than 20% ahead of work done. And make sure write down everything you need them to do very clearly and precisely

Just PM me and I'll send you the contact info. of a Thai chap who is very experienced, very professional and reasonable. His English is also very good. I can highly recommend this gentleman.

Cheers,

JGK

Hi; this sounds rather interesting; are there any properties on your list on the Eastern Seaboard ? (Patrtaya/Jomtien/Satahip/Rayong) ? I'ld be very interested to hear from you.Please do PM me, okay ?

Cheers,

JGK/Pattaya

Re:Garden-Shed; just PM me and I'll point you in the right direction, okay ?

Cheers,

JGK/Pattaya