sezzo

I know that I am probably clutching at straws but nothing ventured nothing gained.

I am living about 100ks north of Ubon, 70 ks east of Amnat Charoen and 80 ks south of Mukdahan. A couple of us farangs in town are interested in travelling to a public swimming pool withing the area above a couple of times per week to do a few laps and generally relax.

Anyone know if a pool exists or not. Even if we can use a hotel pool that would be great.

Thanks in advance

Thanks guys

I will probably look at the GPRS phone and monthly internet access with AIS as this works the best in my area. Going by some of the comments this system might work out better, faster and more reliable that what I have presently with TOTonline. My current connection rate is about 28 kbps.

Once again thanks for the advice and when I need some more I will ask you all again.

Hi Sezzo.............................pop into your favourite pub and I'll put you on the right track. If not do a search on GPRS ADAC......................cheers

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Thanks for that Martin.

I drove past the turn off to Surin on my way to Bangkok over the last couple of days and all I could think about was the beer in your establishment.

Gday all,

I have just built a house on the wifes farm. Being the only residence on the farm obviously there is no existing phone line and going by what I have heard and read there is a long wait to get one connected. I have therefore decided to investigate the connection to the internet via the mobile phone. I have read a few threads on TV about it but still not 100 percent sure on what I need.

Can anyone help me out here and explain what I need and how much it will cost. As I live about 100ks north of Ubon Ratchathani I doubt there would be any mobile phone shop with assistants competant enough in english to help me out. My thai is the very very basic few words and my wife knows nothing at all about the subject of mobile phones or internet.

Do I need to go to Bangkok to purchase this equipment, if so can someone point me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance.

Interesting comments

I have been looking at the kubotas for the last couple of months and was prepared to buy a 28 hp one but thinking that maybe one around the 40 hp mark would be more beneficial. We basically have about 80 rai of newly planted or soon to be planted rubber trees. We really want the tractor for small clean up jobs.

On the other hand I was also looking at the 6610 as well. Probaby second hand.

I would be interested in getting some more information about this one in particular. ie. fuel consumption, service requirements, etc

Thanks for that opinion. A four wheel drive makes even more sense without power steering. With a load in the bucket and the front wheels pulling they do steer much easier. I'll just forget the two wheel drive idea.

Did you see any rotary tiller attachments? I could get by with an offset disk but a rotary tiller would be great.

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I have just come back from a couple of days in Bangkok and saw quite a few secondhand mini tractor dealers on the north side of the city around Rangsit/Ayuthaya area. They are located on Highway 1 on the left as you are entering Bangkok. They have plenty to choose from. 20 hp to 40 hp, 2wd and 4wd. They also have plenty of accessories ie. ploughs, rotary tillers, slashing attachments etc.

Well worth a visit.

The UK embassy will provide me with a letter that certifies my income as I have the relevant documentation to prove this. 

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I am going through the same process as doctormann except that I am going through the Australian embassy. It is mentioned in the quote above about an income certification letter from the UK embassy. When I described my situation to the consular desk at the Aust embassy I was informed that all they could do was witness a statutary declaration declaring my pension/income.

Does anyone know if a letter as described above from the UK embassy is available from the Aust embassy or is the stat dec sufficient evidence for the immigration requirements for an extension.

I can understand the comment about unfriendly farangs, but the truth maybe that we all stand off waiting for the other to make conversation. I am living in London and only visit Ubon when we visit the wife's family in Pho Sai. It would be nice to know there is some kind of Ubon farang club, after a few days in the village I need contact with beer drinking english speakers.

Mark

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Mark,

Im only about 40 ks from Pho Sai so when next in the area drop me a line and the coldies will be awaiting.

Carl

I wonder how much the taxes and extra charges are!

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Just did a quick search on their website and the taxes and extras work out at around 230 sing dollars.

Still makes for a very attractive fare

Sorry that should read $AUD 350 return to Perth

Just surfing around and came across an advert for Valuair from Singapore. On delving deeper it seems that it is a new privately owned singaporean based carrier. They only service Bangkok, Jakarta, Hong Kong and Perth. On reading their specials/promotion page they have an airfare for aust expats to Perth return for 1000 baht. This applies for flights up to 31 May 05. This seems almost too good to be true. $500 return to Perth.

Has anybody used this airline or heard what their service/facilities/aircraft are like?

My wife and I have a newly planted rubber plantation in north Ubon

Friend Jerry in Ubon has 11 rai and only watered when it rains.What is your experience with watering and growth rates.

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Because our trees were planted as bare rootstock (as opposed to develeoped seedlings) and towards the end of the last rainy season they are only about 18 in to 2 ft tall but in healthy condition. We were hand watering fortnightly until the dam ran dry about 3 months ago, but despite that they are still looking good. The couple of days rain in the last month or so have certainly made them more healthier. I expect them to boom during and after the next wet season.

Thinking about growing rubber in Ubon Ratchathani,anyone out there doing so successfully?

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My wife and I have a newly planted rubber plantation in north Ubon so cannot tell you from personal experience if it is successful yet. However in my travels around Ubon I have seen quite a few mature plantation and all look healthy. A family from our village have a small rubber plantation about 100 ks from here and apparently it is producing well. I will be doing a visit out there in the near future and will be getting some information. Will post here the results.

Where abouts in Ubon are you thinking of growing.

Hi Ray

Been travelling around Isaan and only saw one rubber plantation and that was in Khon Kaen.Looked very healthy but was small.

See the new Agriculture Minister is big on oil palm,wants another three million rai of it to make bio diesel.Going to dig up 1.8 million rai of rubber.Government expert says it needs large quatities of water so will be mostly in the South.

Bought some land in Nong Khai myself as I am a big fan of rivers.

Have asked friend to give more details on labour on plantation.

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Aletta, I went for a drive on friday to the southern part of Ubon and Sisaket and there were many healthy rubber plantations down that way. I also was travelling between Khemmarat and Khong Chiam in Ubon near the Mekong about a week ago and the same thing. Quite a few very healthy rubber plantations. They really seem to be pushing the establishment of rubber trees going by the number of nurseries selling young rubber trees.

The problem with Thais and calculators is that they actually believe the total amout however crazy. An instance recently one of my staff calculated on the machine that 45 mins on the inter-net at ฿90 p/h came to ฿370. And the customer was asked for that amount. Yesterday my wife,who is quite intelligent added up three bills on the calculator each of around ฿3,000 and the answer came to ฿2,116. She just shrugged her shoulders and wrote that amount down. She knew it was wrong,but the calculator said it was right,so it must be right. This is in fact a main reason for overcharging ( and undercharging) here in Thailand.

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Thats probably why I paid bugger all for the million or so beers I had at your fine establishment last weekend.

Thanks Martin

Go on in during the week beginning 09 May ( 11 May is a holiday )

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Ok thanks very much for the quick reply. I very much appreciate the advice.

I presume that you are married to a Thai ?

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The one thing I forgot to add to the post and you picked it. Yes I am. I was being so careful as to what I put in the post, but you got me.

Interesting thread.

Sounds like you guys have been to a few tractor dealers.

Questions:

How much does a typical “low tak tak” (2 wheel rice tractor) cost?

Can you buy a new one in the range of 40,000 to 50,000 baht?

Just curious. Thanks

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When I was quoted the price for the 4wd 28 hp Kubota I also asked the price for the 2 wheel tractor as well. I was told in the mid 50s but dont know how many attachements come with that. Most small towns that I drive thru seem to have at least one tractor dealer. Just pop in and ask. The more dealers in the one place, the better chance of getting a good deal by shopping around.

This is my first Non-imm O visa after living here on a couple of back to back tourist visas with extensions. My current visa expires on 7 June 2005. I have all the supporting documentation as quoted on Ministry of Foreign Affairs website and on many posts on Thaivisa forum. My question is how long before the expiration of my current visa do I go to apply for an extension from the immigration office.

I have read on some of the posts that the time from application to approval may be in the order of weeks. I just want to make sure that my timing is right for the extension.

I am a 47 yr old Australian passport holder.

I barrack for the cats and hate every other team.

Was sent this story recently.

A family of Collingwood supporters from Broady head out one saturday morning to do their christmas shoplifting. While in Rebel sports,the son picks up an Essendon football jumper and says to his 20 year old sister

"I've decided to be a Bomber supporter i would like this for christmas".

His sister, outraged by this, promptly whacks him around the head with her carton of Winfield and says, "Go talk to mum". Off goes the little lad with Essendon jumper in hand to find his mum.

"Mum?"

"Yes son?"

"I've decided to be an Essendon supporter and would like this jumper for christmas".

The mother is outraged by this and throws her moccasins and full V.B. tinnie at him, promptly whacks him around the head and says,"Lets go talk to your father".

Off they go to Pentridge Prison during visiting hours and find Boofa, his dad. "Dad?"

"Yes son"?

"I've decided to be an Essendon supporter and i would like this jumper for Christmas". The father is outraged and promptly whacks his son around the head

with his fists and says, "No son of mine is ever going to be seen in that", and then kicks him from one end of the rec. room to the other for good measure.

About half an hour later they're all heading back to Broady in the E.K. Holden. The mother turns to her son and says. "Son i hope you have learned something today".

The son replies "Yes i have".

"Good son what is it".

The son replies "I've only been an Essendon supporter for 3 hours and i already Hate you Collingwood Mongrels"!!!!!!

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Good one "Sir Les"

Every town that has a dealer that sells the 2 wheel tractor now has kubota mini tractors on sale. I am in the market for one but will check out the second hand prices first. I checked the prices out a few weeks ago and a 28 hp 4wd kubota is 314,000 baht without the options/attachments

Bangkok General hospital has 2 very competent eye specialists. You would like to deal with the lady: she speaks excellent english,explains every little detail you ask for and more. She volunteers info, you don't have to drag it out. I felt very comfortable with her.

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Thanks very much for that. I will check it out and see how it goes

I had cataract corrective surgery on my right eye about 12 months ago in Australia. All went well for about 4 months. A couple of months after arriving in Thailand my eye became blurry once again and the vision is distorted. (Nothing to do with the consumption of Chang)

Does anyone know or recommend a good eye specialist or hospital where I could go and get it checked out. Bearing in mind that a good english speaking doctor would be preferable as I am one of those persons that like everything explained thoroughly. I realise that I will probably need to travel down to Bangkok. I want to weigh up the options of getting it seen to here or waiting until I travel back to Australia.

I barrack for 2 teams. Geelong and anyone playing Collingwood. (Collywobbles).

Where abouts is your friend with the rubber plantation in Ubon. I am also in ubon and would be interested in having a yarn with another farang who is in the same game. We are situated in the northern corner of Ubon on the Mekong River.

Hi,there.I sent him an e-mail today.He is currently in the UK selling his house before coming out here full time.At the moment all i know is that it's way out in the sticks.He plans to buy a house in Ubon and commute to the plantation.

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Ok. When he moves over here I would be very interested in getting together with him and seeing what he has got going on his land compared to ours. I am also out in the sticks so another farang to talk to would be great as well.

We didnt get any rain in the last couple of days. Last rain we had was 2 days of last week. Its been cloudy and windy but no rain. Although the 3 hours of rain from last week has certainly greened things up a bit. More would be welcome.