aletta

chownah,i believe it was a Bangkok Post article so maybe searching their archives will yield results.

As i remember the company contracted to produce the millions of saplings was short of branch buds and was facing penalties if trees delivered late.

Think i might make an offer to the next Mk III owner i see.What do you think would make him part with it?He is going to want to buy another car so what do old Japanese wrecks go for here?

Saw a couple of grotty backpackers heading out towards the 99 Baht hotel in Nong Khai yesterday.Apart from that just the usual ex pat crowd.Not many tourists even in the capital to make money from.

Read an interesting article that stated that many of the sapplings given to farmers in the Northeast will be very low yielding as the buds were taken from the trunk of the parent tree and not a branch.Not an expert but worth knowing for those taking the plunge into rubber.Maybe there is a test or a visible sign.

Either side of main roads in Nong Khai there is a strip of land that is government owned and is normally edged by electricity pylons.You can put an access road across the strip.

One of the things i love about Isaan is the lack of tourists.Those you do get tend to have a real interest in the place.

I would suggest tourists avoid anywhere along the Isaan Mekong at the moment as it is only three steps from the top in Nong Khai.Awesome sight but scary at the same time.Makes the Thames in London look like a small stream.

Hot and rainy seasons do see a fall in the level of travellers and this in combination with the other factors makes tourists a rare thing.

After rubbing my eyes i can confirm that there are,driving around Nong Khai province,a Mk III,a Mk IV and a Mk V Cortina.How these 70's classics got to be here i would love to know.The Mk III was my first car and so weird to see a Isaan farmer and family chugging along.

What would make my day would be to see a Capri whizz by.Any other English classics around driven by ordinary Thais?

I have a feeling we may see the Mekong flood parts of Nong Khai this year.What with the rain here and up North and in China.

You are so.so not wrong.

Some of the old timers here do not report every 90 days to Nong Khai,but i have always done.I believe you can send someone in to report for you if you are feeling a little lazy.

"The foreigner makes the notification in person, or

The foreigner authorises another person to make the notification"

From:90 day reporting

Nice looking palm.

There would appear to be quite a large plantation for sale in Nong Khai at approx 50,000 per rai:

Rubber plantation for sale

Paul in Udon seems to know a little about silk production:

Silk production

Here's a big old restaurant in Udon:

Restaurant in Udon

Spent many a year looking at plots in Nong Khai and ray23 has also done a good bit of searching.

Where you say is way,way from the capital and as it's not in a town or on the perimeter has no potential commercial value.Just land suitable for a home really and not on a paved road.Nong Khai is full of thousands of similar small plots for sale and if you start enquiring in an area you soon develop a huge queue of farmers wanting you to view the land they have for sale.

With no hard access and its location i would say a rai would go for 30,000 to 50,000 Baht.However should you wish to sell in the future you will not get your money back.Invest but don't invest what you cannot lose.

Ditto.The commute to the UK is fine until you meet someone here and then the time in Thailand gets progressively longer.

I am always amazed I have nothing to do and not enough time to do it

It takes a whole lot of practice and patience to be able to do nothing all day long.

Are there many farangs living in the deep South?Don't think i can recall a post from someone in the deep south.

Nice looking palms,how much do they charge per metre here in Thailand?

I have lots of the plain stemmed variety and they are tough as old boots.My father in law attacked one with a machete while i was in the UK and it regenerated from the base.He thought one stem was what i wanted,so he hacked off all the others.

They must like you.

I have come across chownah on many threads and quite often the comments made bear no relation to what has been posted previously.

Local farang seems to be making some dosh with a karioke bar but who wants to deal with drunk Thai males every night?Gonna be trouble.

PR or renewing the yearly visa boils down to a question of security,what makes you feel content and relaxed.If you worry a lot about the yearly extensions then the money for PR is not a barrier to peace of mind.