jayenram

the only compatible plugs that I have found to date have been the big black rubber ugly things.

I shall update that comment. I found 'white' (almost) three pin plugs in Central on Sunday. Not up to much, though.

refuse to pay for rounds where friends want to drink Chang.

Well, I do agree with 95% of that sentence. Just remove the word "Chang".

I say BOYCOTT CHANG and refuse to pay for rounds where friends want to drink Chang.

Boycott Chang! That's cutting your nose off to spite your face in my opinion. Not only would my internal system suffer but so would my wallet!

A friend told me this and it appears to work to some extent.

Buy the whole fillet and refrigerate covered for at least 6 days marinating in it’s own blood. Cut it crosswise into 2” (or whatever) thick steaks and then freeze what you don’t need immediately. There is then no need to beat the sh1t out of it before frying/grilling. It’s not as good as you would get back home but it’s half decent.

Given the price of fillet here (when you can get it), I use it for all beef dishes whether it be chili con carne, beef stew (it’s cold here in winter) or just plain steaks.

The strife organised it.

The yeild from 12 rai (manually planted) is in the order of 80 paks of rice. She agreed to take 29 paks (why not 30, I don't know) for the yearly rent. I must give her more credit.

Mine was built for a total price of Bht 800,000.00 or thereabouts. It's single storey, three bedrooms/two shower rooms (110 sq m without car port). Large kitchen (by Thai standards) with European style units, hob, hood, etc. Concealed electric cables, earthed and 35/100 A supply. No A/C at the time but hot showers. Price also included floor to ceiling tiles in kitchen and shower rooms, approx 1.00 m wide tiled pathway around perimeter, a 20 x 5 metre concrete drive, about 80 metres of 1.50 metre high rendered breeze walling, 30 metres of steel fence/gate, and what was considered by the Khmers to be a garden (250 sq m of 'lawn'). All external and internal painting, wallpaper in the living room and curtains throughout (Bht 50,000 for wallpaper and curtains) included in the price.

It was completed around 4 years ago. I was told by a Thai/Chinese builder's merchant at the time that I should expect to pay around Bht 5,500.00/sq m for the house itself but that would have been to Thai standard so I always anticipated paying a bit more.

It looks like what you are looking at could now be built for, say, Bht 6,000/sq m but as soon as you go for Grade A1 materials, which I'm sure you will, this may increase somewhat.

Just one word of advice - watch them like a hawk and don't leave the site whilst they're building.

Cheers

Today Sunday at 4pm BKK time is the Admin chat live event. Tukyleith and ###### have PM'ed all moderators and admins with URL and password for this live event. If you didn't get the info, please PM me asap.

It may be interesting to some forum members to view what goes on at these meetings, although not as participants. Sort of like 'open door' philosophy.

Just a thought

Give Dad a Thai ATM card and he can withdraw the money each month from the hole in the wall

I wonder if my daughter would give me a UK ATM card so that I could draw money in Thailand from her account.

Or am I being stupid?

Can't see that it really matters. The pubs open and close at the same time.

Or do they?

Is there any farangs doing any farming in the N.E.?

Would be interested to hear of your experiences and corrospond to share information.

I tried it for 1 year (management, of course). 12 rai of paddy. At the end of the first year, I made around Bht 12,000 profit (from what I was told was a reasonable harvest). Thereafter I decided to rent out the farm and let someone else have the hassle. I rented it out for around Bht 14,000 a year, excluding hauling the payment to the rice mill.

All the socket outlets in my house are earthed, three pin. However, I find it exremely frustrating that the only compatible plugs that I have found to date have been the big black rubber ugly things.

Another thing, whenever you see a three pin socket multi-plug bar, the plug on the end is only 2 pin live and nuetral.

T.i.T

Some 5 to 6 years ago, the visa section of the British Embassy was displaying a notice that stated there could be a 12 week wait for anyone who required to be interviewed in connection with their visa application. In such a case, application not more than 3 months in advance of the date of travel could be considered untimely.

Also, why does the first question on the visa application form ask “If you are applying as a visitor, for how long do you want the visa to be valid?” and thereafter lists 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years or 10 years?

Anyway, I've emailed the UK address and asked them (politely) what we are do do next.

It was empty, Bronco.

I'd send them a nasty eMail but we'd never get the visa then!

while in thailand, eat as the thais eat..

And while in England, eat what the English eat!

Onion baji and chicken tikka masala.

I applied to the British Embassy initially by post (after being advised by them that it would be in order to do so). That was about a month ago so I emailed them to ask how the application was going. I received a reply yesterday stating that I had applied much too early for a September visit, even though I'd requested a visa valid for 1 year.

I wonder if they've cashed the postal order?

Local beer drinkers consumed 200 million litres in 1995, the year Chang appeared on the scene. Last year they downed more than 1.3 billion litres.

I wasn't here in 1995!

The landlady of my local contacted the police and asked if it would be ok to serve alcohol to farangs only on election day, as they were not eligible to vote anyway. They told her "no", they did not want drunken farangs driving around town knocking over Thais who were on their way to vote!

Try checking in the local banks. Most have land/property that has been repossessed and they have it up for sale. It will give you an idea of the land prices in your area.

Up here in Issarn, beer Chang is now Bht 370.00 for a case of 12 x 640 ml bottles. In a local bar you’d expect to pay between Bht 40.00 and Bht 50.00 for one bottle of the same size. In a hotel the price will be Bht 60.00. Carlesburg, Heineken etc. is around Bht 650.00 a case and will cost between Bht 75.00 and Bht 90.00 in the bars. Kareoke lounges charge substantially more.

That's Bht 800,000 per rai. Sounds a bit expensive. Is it inside the Amphur?

It was 01:00 and I was asleep in bed when the handphone rang. A voice with a very distinctive accent was heard to say "I can't darling, my wife is in the hotel". He's extremely lucky that I was the previous one he called rather than have to explain that one to his wife.

The Farang Connection in Surin. Whatever time the race is on (Thai time) it will be shown on the 'big' screen upstairs. I'll be there for qualifying in a couple of hours!

http://farangconnection.awebspace.com/

George,

There are two more relatively large hotels in Surin (in addition to the Thong Tarin)

These are:

The Petchkasem Hotel

http://www.kingdomthailand.com/isan/petchkasem.htm

and The Memorial Hotel on Thesaban 2 (who don't appear to have a website)

I can obtain details of the latter if you wish.

I used to be a quantity surveyor.

But I'm alright now

Seriously, as far as I'm aware, the Thai construction companies don't use quantity surveyors as such. Perhaps if you are specialised in one particular field, there may be opportunities, e.g. offshore construction.

I have forwarded your questions to a race fan friend in Kuala Lumpur. If/when I receive a response, I'll post it here.