Liquid Soul

Sadly that couple of young Thai's were 14 years old and both passed away!

The street lighting situation in Bangrak and Choeng Mon is a joke, the lights are there but not for what ever reason turned on.

So dangerous.

Three days, a couple of young Thais overtook me on the downhill from Makro to Bandon.

100 meters later, frontal collision with pickup, one car, two on the bike.....

High speed(100 +), no helmets= two brains on the the tarmac.

Here is a picture of him:

Good evening, please keep an eye out for our beloved one year old male jack Russell Bobby, who escaped from home near to big C today at around 4pm.

He is white all over with a brown patch on the centre of his back, a brown very short tail and two patches of brown around his eyes, he weighs around 7-8kg

Please PM me if anybody sees the little chap

Around.

Kind thanks in advance

The power has been out in Plai Leam since yesterday morning at 08:30 Today we received notification from EGAT that power would be rationed around the island and the time slots were listed. For Plai Leam it will be 2 hours from 18:00

They were waiting for a 'part' from Chiang Mai due to arrive on the island at 14:00 and that problem would be fixed by 23:00

This is all according to a letter received today from EGAT

Thanks

Gutted!!! but in the big picture we finished 3rd after being 19th last season.

If we can get a few new faces in the close season then hopefully we can challenge next season for honors.

Also if England gets the world cup (announced in December) we could get either a new ground or a new main stand to take us to over 40,000!

Couple that with a promotion season, things are looking bright for the mighty forest

Red all the way

Me'n'u will finish at it's current location in Hin Kong after the festive season on New Years Eve December 31st, and take over both the casual and fine dining restaurants at Rasananda with the fine dining opening its doors around early February.

The current site of Me'n'u remains for sale and lease as stated above.

Black 2005 Isuzu D-Max 3.0 LS Ddi I-TEQ Manual Transmission

60,000 KLM's, full service history, Taxed and Insured for one year (started June)

Fully fitted ABT alarm system & Turbo Timer, keyless entry.

Very good condition inside and out, no accidents.

500,000 Baht (or nearest offer)

The car is in Nakhorn Sri Thammerat and I will deliver as far as Bangkok!

Mobile - 087 897 0025

I have been thinking about property value with the estates. In 10 years time, will you be able to sell your house for more than it cost now?

With so many new developments and houses being built, buying second hand doesn't seem like an option. I have noticed in some moo baans, properties for sale that are 4 years old, asking the same price if not more, than brand new identical homes in the same estate. You would be mad to pay more for something the same, but already lived in.

When will the prices go up? When the building stops, but when will that be? If you live in a desirable moo baan that is already finished and full, then will the property prices rise?

Would buying a plot of land somewhere not inside a gated development and building a house, increase in value more?

I am not thinking to buy and sell quickly, I want to have a comfortable family home to live in for some time, but I would like to think that in 10 or 20 years that we would be able to sell the property for considerably more than we paid for it.

Any thoughts on this?

We have just finished a three day tour of Chiang Mai housing developments with a view to a move there with a lovely young Thai/Oz couple, and were very impressed with the Quality House development, although many of the houses did seem to be unlived in which gave the whole area an eary feel to it.

I would have to agree that Nuntawan in Land & House has a very special feel to it, and would certainly be near the top of our wish list!!

Back from immigration yesterday and it was a no go on a little extra time, just the standard 1 month under consideration stamp, and back on the 29th March for my full 11 months.

Work permit already on the way to update for this extra month.

Travel plans delayed until after my visa has been fully completed and then take a simple re-entry permit.

HOW MUCH do you normally pay for a one year extension non - o Thai wife visa, I read on the police website that it was 1900.00 Baht is that correct?

You should have done this earlier - applications are open 30 days prior and if you have travel planned can be even earlier.

A re-entry now would be until your normal 5 March date. A re-entry after application will be until that date (30 days). You may be able to request a longer extension (you do not say how long you need) but suspect you should plan to obtain a new visa during your visit and return with that and 60 days later do your extension of stay on that visa entry.

We plan to go for two and a half weeks after my wife has got her visa for the UK, which at the earliest will be 17th, then we would have to find available flights, I think if I could persuade the nice people at the immi office to let me have six weeks instead of four everything should be sweet!

By that do mean obtain a visa from say Hull for example, can that be done without messing up my work permit?

Good day to all.

To clarify first, I am from the UK and am 33 years old.

On the 5th of March my current one year non-Immi marriage visa expires, so sometime between now and then I will go to re-new my visa. Over the past few years upon application I have always been given one month first and then asked to come back to get my full one year stamp.

So here is the problem I have, I wish to go to the UK in the next month, but I cant travel until the middle of March due to waiting for my newly born daughters passports, so if I went in the middle of March I would not be back in time to report to Immi to get my full one year stamp and therefore I would lose my visa and also my adjoining work permit and end up coming back in on a 30 day tourist visa.

I believe that I can get a re-entry permit, but is that for in the normal period of the visa and not an application?

Is the best and only way to wait until my visa application is done and dusted then get a re-entry permit or is there a way round it so I can travel?

I thought that I would ask here first before asking my wife to call Immigration, who may well get confused!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Thanks In Advance

Your drainage field should be a minimum of 7 meters long 18" wide & a meter deep.We just put a 1&1/3 meter deep septic system with 100 cm. rings & I dug 5 meters of the 7 meters(won't do that again!) and we have zero problems- is your drainage field (soakaway)adequate? It is entirely possible your septic is to small for your needs. You should have many years before needing draining if you keep bleach out of your system. I was anal retentive when I laid in the septic & in hindsight I would have had a claw go down 2 meters(I had the crew dig the tank) & put in all the u-traps vent pipes & fittings & put them on the outside of the cement sidewalk for easy access along with a y trap for reaming out blockages. better to overbuild than underbuild by a longshot!

Hope you get it sorted out

Cheers

Edit

I am curious why your builder used a self contained dos unit & cement rings. Usually it is one or the other or is the cement rings the holding tank for the gray water , if so I hope he filled the surrounding area of the rings & not the inside of the cement rings.....nothing would surprise me in Thailand.

Logic isn't a taught skill here!

When the truck had arrived I checked the filler bars on the back and it was empty, not so when it left, and also I did stick my head in the tank (very suprised to find very little smells) and was definately empty, we stopped at the 2000 lt tank and didnt bother with the other two on the front of the house, the only way I felt scammed was my wife's cousin who said after we paid 5k plus, why didnt you use the goverment truck!! yeah thanks for that great insight.

It seems that the DOS tank receives all water from the main kitchen, two toilets and two sinks then has an outlet that drains into the concrete rings, 150cm wide and at least 4 metres deep, filled with earth, do I take it that this is very wrong?

Quote 'Possibly time to call in a contractor who knows what he's doing'

Um me thinks that these might not exsist here on Phangan, maybe its time to call a 'chang' of all trades!!

One double commercial wash sink

Has this got a grease trap? Greasy kitchen solids can cause issues with septics.

The fact that it's been ok although 14 months is a very short time for it to need emptying, suggests that something has gotten bunged up.

The drain-field usually consists of lots of perforated pipes laid under the ground as a soakaway although lots will depend upon how much space you have.

Useful stuff here http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A873876 and here http://www.oasisenviro.co.uk/Septic%20Tank...20Operation.htm or try a Google on "septic tank size" for more info.

Yes the sink does have a grease trap, which is emptied weekly.

The system consists of a grease trap, DOS 2000 lt poly tank, and behond that the builder dug a hole quite deep and filled it with concrete rings and then filled it with earth, Im not quite sure of the piping that runs to this though.

All water goes into the tanks from sinks, toilets, floor drains, we have storm guttering that sends the water into the garden quite a way from this.

Did they really empty it in the first place?

Has there been any change to the draining of the surounding area/your house? I wonder if run off rain water is now being directed into a feeder pipe to the tank?

For sure Cuban they definately emptied it, I saw it myself, and got whacked for the payment to!

I cant think of any changes recently in the surrounding area and rain has certainly been minimal?

How are you defining 'full'?

A septic will always be mainly full of water, the solids settle to the bottom and decompose leaving a sludge which needs removing occasionally, the liquids flow out into a drain-field or soakaway usually under your lawn (keeps it nice and green).

If you're getting overflowing then I suspect you've got a blocked drain-field (or no drain-field), time to get someone (not your builder) to have a look, could be a bad installation.

It's also possible your tank is too small, how many bathrooms / people is it serving?

Wow, thanks for your rapid response. Yes its full of water and backing up into the house. About 1 metre away from the tank there is I guess a drain field consisting of concrete rings I seem to remember.

And yes I believe that the tank is possibily too small, it serves the following

Two toilets

Two handsinks

One Urinal

Two floor drains

One double commercial wash sink

So yes I would say that it is too small, it just seems very strange that it lasted quite a while with no problems, then emptied of mainly solids now within three weeks we have a problem again?!

Recently we had our main septic tank emptied (2000 litres) for the first time after 14 months of use, now within three weeks it is full again?

Is this a common problem and has anyone experienced the same, if so what is the cause and what did you do?

Kind Regards

personally i can't wait til tesco lotus comes, and i don't think it will keep me from shopping in the regular markets occasionally too (as they have their charm)... it's just so convenient to have everything all in one place. any word on whether it will have a movie theater in it?

I was having that discussion just today with my wife, and we came to the conclusion that we probably would stop shopping everywhere else, like you say, a one stop shop all in one place, and generally speaking Tesco Lotus prices would be lower than most other shops on Phangan.

Many more people have been talking of the now near to vacant 5 rai plot of land opposite the Muay Thai stadium, the wood shop relocated, and now the car garage are clearing out, so it could well be.

With this being Phangan and if it were on a 5 rai plot, I would seriously doubt whether a cinema would be included, more likely to be a Nathon size "Express" but may well come with a mister donut, black canyon coffee house and a KFC.

The word from local shop owners is that Tesco is planing on building in the (now almost) vacant lot opposite Thongsala's Muay Thai fighting stadium, 100m on the right from Thongsala's main road T-intersection along the inland road to Haad Yao.

jose '-)

For sure that would be an ideal spot, someone had said to us that they would use the land next to the Songserm pier, behind the taxi "station", which surely would be a bad spot, rising seas and several hundred party goers daily waiting for the Songerm!!

This years November rains brought the worst floods since 2005, and whilst Samui was hit harder than Phangan I’m sure there are a lot of people that have been somewhat put out by our annual downfall, how did they affect you personally and your local community and what has been done about it?

Well I'll go first, I used to have a lovely rustic natural pine fence running the border of my land, until the normally small brook became a torrent of rapid water and ripped it out, there went 15,000 Baht but now we have some lovely live bamboo instead.

Most of our garden lighting went under and was therefore disconnected, now that the water has all gone it has revealed some lovely rusty up lighters, which still have to be replaced.

Our drive is still far to wet to even think about doing anything with it, compacted red sand and loose gravel churned nicely under heavy waters and 4x4's, so now it is more akin to a rally special stage than an entrance!! And at a 120m long it won’t be cheap to rectify!!

And maybe with a few more storms on the way the damage is not done yet for us anyway.

A few weeks back large signs were put up all around Koh Phangan, these large white signs with red Thai writing said "Phangan people against Tesco Lotus" or words to that effect.

One of my staff had been to the Amphur the following day and someone there had said that the local Phangan government had agreed in principle to allow Tesco Lotus to be built on Phangan island. a number of people have also told me that there is a questionnaire flying around resorts and the like asking what the local people want?

Does anyone know anymore?

Personally I think that it is great news for Phangan island and I for one will welcome it with open arms!!

What do you think?

On Monday of this week, I was over on Samui and my wife had bought one of the daily Thai newspapers. There was a small article in there about a western tourist that had been attacked by a yellow taxi driver concerning a fare.

As we were making our way to Maenam to catch the boat home our regular taxi driver told us the same story, he had said that the guy had been stabbed after a fight had broken out.

I have looked already on both the Nation and the Bangkok Post websites but no mention? Has it been kept quiet?

Has anyone heard about this already?

Maybe high time for a mass boycott of yellow cabs once and for all?

Regards.

Good morning, does anyone out there on TV no anything about registering trademarks in Thailand, it has been brought to my attention that someone else, somewhere else may be using my business name, and I wish to protect it, certainly within the Kingdom of Thailand at least, as where I live people can sometimes (read most of the time) copy ideas/concepts.

Much thanks in advance

Can't you get the old fashioned manual machine where you put the card and slip in which will record the data on the slip. You then need to telephone and get the approval code. But you can do that on a mobile phone. You could do that until you get a phone line for the terminal. Normally the banks provide both manual machine and terminal, you can get both. The manual is used a lot by businesses that go out to their customers rather than the customers coming into their office/shop.

Thats an excellent idea, Bangkok Bank in the morning then. I have managed to get hold of a TOT application form that will at least put us on a waiting list for a land line.

Many Thanks

I call them the "clunk clunk" credit card machine. When friends from abroad see them, they think I have fished it out of an antiques shop!

Bangkok Bank call them "Zip Zap" and they are about to discontinue them due to security fears!? But they have said we can apply 4-6 weeks for a decision whilst we wait for an electronic one.

So Siam City Bank, who have said two weeks for an electronic one that we can plug into the Catnet wireless phone, so will wait to see.

Bangkok Bank also said that they are replacing the "zip zap" "clunk clunk" with wireless machines!!

Can't you get the old fashioned manual machine where you put the card and slip in which will record the data on the slip. You then need to telephone and get the approval code. But you can do that on a mobile phone. You could do that until you get a phone line for the terminal. Normally the banks provide both manual machine and terminal, you can get both. The manual is used a lot by businesses that go out to their customers rather than the customers coming into their office/shop.

Thats an excellent idea, Bangkok Bank in the morning then. I have managed to get hold of a TOT application form that will at least put us on a waiting list for a land line.

Many Thanks