KVJ

OK. Just had another look and it turns out the jack for the RCD wasn't in quite right. So, now we're back to the hot water dropping in and out.

The unit has been checked over in the repair shop and it worked fine there. Seems to be the water pressure. I'll speak to the landlord about turning up the pressure. Failing that I guess I'm looking at a gravity fed tank or somthing? Don't really want to be spending much money on this. Personally, I love cold showers but the rest of the family don't unfortunately!

Thanks for the useful info guys.

It's definitely hooked up right and I've reset the RCD trip.

It's strange that before it would intermittedly work but now there's nothing which seems to indicate another problem has surfaced.

Time to take it back to the repair shop

Thanks for that.

We have a well and pump so if the power is off there's no water.

Don't have a multimeter I'm afraid.

Yes it does seem that something has tripped out seeing as there is no light at all now. The fuse box is fine. Have swtiched it on and off a few times.

Everything looks fine inside the unit too.

We moved to a new house and installed our basic Fujika hot water unit from our old house. It was working fine in the old place but had troubles with it from the get go in the new place. The hot water would work intermittedly and often it would cut out after a short period or if the knob got turned past a certain point. I took it to a repair shop and they said the switch was buggered and replaced it. Took it home, installed it again, and still not working. Took it back to the shop, they tested it in front of me and it was fine.

I'm guessing this is some kind of water pressure problem? Our old house was single story whereas we are on the second floor of the new place. The pressure doesn't seem that bad though - it wasn't great at the old place either but had no problems there. The other thing now is that it's just stopped working period now. No light comes on at all whereas before it would come on and off if it was reset. I don't even get the green test light come when I press the test button.

Any ideas before I try taking back to the store again?

Cheers for any advice.

I had the same problem. My normal weight is 70kgs plus. Got down to below 60kg at one point. Did a number of tests - nothing came up. Took worming tablets too. I felt fine though. My diet is pretty much Thai, I just stepped it up dramatically and ate more. Like you I get hungry every 3 hrs or so, so now I satisfy that urge and eat heaps. Now I'm up to 68kgs and that looks to be were its staying. Happy enough with that.

In the end, it could be just the way people like us are made. The Thai diet is less conducive to putting on weight than a Western one hence why the weight loss. Just have to make sure you're filling up on good food though - plenty of fruit and veg.

I bought a lego set for my son's birthday on Lazada. It never came, no explanation. Just as well I had bought something else in the meantime.

Invade IT, on the other hand, is excellent.

I get the impression that kids here in Thailand in the lower and possibly upper grades of primrary school are actually ahead of their peers in developed Western countires due to the old school emphasis on disicipline and rote learning. Somewhere along the way though this must become counterproductive as global school rankings bear out.

My guess is a dysfunctional secondary school system and a lack of mental stimulation in the home and society in general causes Thai kids to fall behind their peers in other countries.

Certainly not ahead in anything else but standing neatly in line singing the national anthem and kings song.

Schools in developed countries fritter their time away on a whole bunch of assorted fluff. Only difference is they don't seem to be spending the rest of the time on rote learning like Thai schools.

I get the impression that kids here in Thailand in the lower and possibly upper grades of primrary school are actually ahead of their peers in developed Western countires due to the old school emphasis on disicipline and rote learning. Somewhere along the way though this must become counterproductive as global school rankings bear out.

My guess is a dysfunctional secondary school system and a lack of mental stimulation in the home and society in general causes Thai kids to fall behind their peers in other countries.

Australian inventions? Just off the top of my head.

The drip-less tea-bag.

The cure for stomach ulcers.

The orbital engine.

The black-box flight recorder.

The heart pacemaker.

Plastic bank-notes.

The electric drill.

And there are many, many more.

The dual flush toilet!

I bought an Azgatec three years ago. During that time I've given it an absolute flogging on a large area with rough terrain. Bits and pieces have fallen off and has needed some modest welding work but throughout it all the engine has been fine. It's hard to imagine it could have had a tougher 3 years.

They cost around 9000baht.

I'll be buying another one when this one kicks the bucket.

Interesting stuff about absorption.

Maybe the easiest thing to do is get that Iron Fish and pop it in the soups. That, and possibly an iron wok should keep the whole family on track.

I know cereals are fortified these days but I have prefered to keep them away from cereals up till now.

Thanks for all the replies. Will book the kids in for a blood test before doing anything major.

From a thread in the Cambodia forum http://lucky-iron-fish.myshopify.com/products/lucky-iron-fish

Not quite what I was expecting!

I'm a bit concerned my kids are not getting enough iron in their diets. Thai kids have much lower iron levels than kids in developed countires and while I'm sure my kids are above average they are probably still below developed country levels.

Appreciate any suggestions people have for sources of iron that are widely available in Thailand. There doesn't seem to be a lot of opitons - the steak is poor quality and they don't like it. They eat a bit of liver occasionally, I suppose we could step that up. They eat leafy greens fairly regularly. Mince beef probably once a week. Apart from that am out of ideas. Would prefer not to have them take supplements if possible though.

Any ideas appreciated.

Apologies if this has been covered already.

For anyone with doubts or is curious about the e-visa I've just completed the process. Couldn't have been easier. I received the official visa in 4 days by email.

The system works! The system is sound!

Well done Myanmar.

Thanks SVB. Something tells me I'll have more luck getting an answer from the travel agency that the government office.

I'll post back if I come up with the goods.

I'm having a frustrating experience trying to pin down exact dates for this festival so I can book my trip. Basically we can either be at Inle Lake from either the 12-15th Oct or 10th to 22nd Oct. Obviously I want to chose the dates that will best fit in with this gig but I can't for the life of me get accurate dates.

If anyone can give any clarity on this will be extremely grateful.

The first thing I'd do is cut back on the oil use in general. The OP saying they use "tons of it" already has alarms going off.

I use the best olive oil I can afford for dressings and to cook Mediterranean food, the rest I like Rice bran oil.

We eat predominately Thai food so there's lots of stir frys hence the need for a decent cooking oil.

Read the articles about different oils and fats on http://www.marksdailyapple.com/.

That site is positive on Palim Oil which is unusual given the consenus.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/palm-oil-nutrition/#axzz3A3ILhOzc

Great chart. Thanks.

Thanks for the replies so far guys. There's a lot of conficting information out there so it's been hard to get a good fix on it.

Looking for advice on a reasonably healthy cooking oil for my family to use. We use a hell of a lot of it so price is also a factor - I think olive oil is probably out of reach unless somebody knows of a reasonably priced brand.

Is the regular Palm Oil sold in Thailand really as bad as is they say?

Any thoughts much appreciated.

My son is 6. He couldn't speak a word of Thai or English until after 3. He understands spoken English but can't speak it. His Thai is not too great either - his pronunciation is poor and he has trouble stringing sentences together. It's a hereditry problem on my father's side. It's not a massive problem but it's caused us a bit of worry. We just have to accept it for what it is and be grateful that he's doing fine in other areas.

Right thanks. But you need to use a fair bit of toilett paper to dry yourself off right?

OK serious request. Can someone give a step by step guide to using the bum gun on a western toilett. I've always avoided it because the whole procedure seemed too messy and complicated (water getting everywhere, mopping up operation etc).

A Dummie's Guide to the Bum Gun if you will. I'm sure it can be done without being too graphic!