Surin steve

Lived in Thailand for years but these last few years especially I sometimes think I've somehow been transported to afganistan or Iran the amount of police check points and random crackdowns all over the Provence , is it only me but are others aware of this increase

O'smach ( Chong chom border ) was great when it first opened but now it's a shit hole full of overpriced ( if your farang) brothels and crap merchandise from china,not even worth an hour of your time

35 km from o'smach though is the delightful town of Samrong,there's supposed to be a bus there but everyone tells you there isn't but a motor bike taxi will take you for 250 baht , there's not much there after dark nightlife wise but it's a touch of real Cambodia, nothing like the crappy ripp off infestered border

Liveing on the bread line at £105 a week in uk or liveing on just 4500 + in Thailand

4500 bt is more than twice the weekly wage of the vast majority of Thais

I know it's not easy living on 600 + per day but I for one would choose here over the cold and greyness of uk anyway

Liveing on the bread line at £105 a week in uk or liveing on just 4500 + in Thailand

4500 bt is more than twice the weekly wage of the vast majority of Thais

I was sitting in a small cafe somewhere (forgot where) trying to impress the staff with my Thai reading skills,I had been learning to read and write Thai for a month or so,I recognised the Thai word for chicken on the menu and confidently told the waitress I will have that thinking to my self I know it's chicken it's could be fried curried or what ever I didn't mind

I could have died when the waitress brought my order amid a fit of giggles B B Q chicken feet

Yet another perfect day for the forest 6th striat win away to 2nd place hull

Middlesboro lost Watford lost Leeds lost and best of all derby did the forest a massive favour by beating leicster shity at the sheep dip I bet all derby fans are over the moon helping forest move into 5 th place

Stuff the play offs we want 2 nd place now

Perfect day forest 5th striat win other results all went our way sending us up to the play off place Leicester lost and even better the sheep lost a goal lead to loose 2 - 1 lovely jubbly

King Billy back at forest doing the buisness 4 striat wins 2 points off the play off spot , a win today will see us with a very good chance of prem football next season typical probably won't be watching the reds on the true ( UBC) still could be worse , could be a sheep with the team destined to be div one also rans for the rest of there existence

Son of god sacked before end of season ???

You forgot

She is sick = gone short time

Buy me drink = give me money

My brother = Thai boyfriend (pimp)

My grandma is sick = needs money for gambling

Stopped going to Bangkok (nana , cowboy est ) 4 years ago when the prices got silly now I go to pattaya

Never go to walking street total ripp off

Up to 2 years ago used to drink on drinking street ( 2nd road past big C) until prices went up and the 500 bt bar fine was introduced

Would not even dream about going Phuket any more

Now I stay around new plaza bowcow and sometimes soi 7 or 8 but I'm just waiting for the day these places go stupid and drive me out of pattaya altogether

I never drink farang brand spirits as I know they have probably been watered down

My point is after many years here I know all the pit falls and rip offs but the newbe striat off the plane is going to get a nasty shock. The bar owners and and other rip off joints just don't seem to realise they are shooting them selfs in the foot time and time again,how many first time tourists will be back

Not saying it's the same every where but the stats in my little world are out of 6 Thai girls I know liveing in Nottingham with there farang husbands only one marriage failed of the 50 or more farang I've got to know over the last 35 years liveing in surin only 3 have lasted more than 4 years

If the laws the same as it was 4 years ago

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Off you go to the amper with your wife

Try to explain to the nice people there why you need a gun

If you are successful the amper will issue you with a right to buy a fire arm paper

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Take said paper to the gun shop buy the gun

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Take said gun back to the amper where they will then decide if you will be given permission to use said gun

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Depending on what amper decides your wife now owns a gun which then needs to be taken to the police station for registration OR

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Take said gun back to gun shop and sell it back to them for half the price

OR FIND A FRIENDLY POLICEMAN WITH A OVER PRICED GUN FOR SALE

Best one I saw a waitress in my village cafe fell over a sleeping dog with a bowl of noodles the next half hour was taken up by all the staff and customers trying to decide which numbers had been formed by the spilt noodles ( could only happen in amazing Thailand )

Living here for decades I've seen lot and lots of nonsense some of it beneficial to me I bought my first bit of land really cheap 30 odd years ago because noone else dare buy it because a young girl committed suicide on it

Some of the nonsense down right dangerous a 13 year old girl was having a fit one day possibly epileptic the parents instead of getting proper help called in the witch doctor and we had a crazy hour of nonsense while he tried to drive out the evil spirits , all the neighbours came round with helpful comments like "ask her what the lottery numbers will be"

About 8 years ago a 10 year old boy got bitten by a rabid dog again no striat off the the hospital like a normal thing to do it was call the witch doctor , he spat some betel juice over her and said he would be fine the boy died in agony 10 days later

And finerly just this year the wife's mother was running for pu yai barn (village headman) they consulted the village quack about how best to succeed after paying a large sum of money plus the usual pigs head and bottle of grog he came up with the priceless advice of " bribe all the villages with more money than your rivals and you will win !!!!!" she did so by the way and lost 

You need to go with your wife and child to the amper they will issue a paper with all your photo's on it only takes an hour and is free this your wife must sign giving consent to take your child out of Thailand without her

If your child is on British passport don't forget his birth cert with out both these papers you will not be allowed to leave

If it's a problem with your wife try and make out she will be financially better off with said child in U.K you could say you can claim money for him and send it to her ( but don't)

Good luck

Hi Michael

Thanks for the advice I wish I could have known you 10 years ago you probably could have saved me money

Unfortunately I have had to sell off all my sheep (last feb) I got up to over 300 head at one time all bred from a original 33 bought it pak Chong district Korat,I used to sell a couple every month locally to expats but my main Market was a guy from Chaiapum who would come down on demand and buy live weight,he would take them down south Thailand way

I was doing really well but had to stop because of the change in behaviour in my village I used to range the sheep in the paddy fields during the dry season which was of benefit to all free fertiliser for the owners and free grazing for me unfortunately cassava became popular almost overnight so all the Thais started growing it as a catch crop after there rice harvest so nowhere to graze I was forced to sell which was a shame as it's the only thing I've really made money on in Thailand mainly I think because they average Thai dos'nt know the first thing about sheep so can't flood the Market

So anyway thanks again for your interest I am looking to start up again in the sheep buisness if I can find a new location a farm near a national park maybe if I can get permission to graze my stock in the dry season I was looking at a location in Loi Provence but nothing sorted as yet

Hello Michael

You sure know your stuff I agree with most of the things you posted exept the fact about the grass's being dead I've used it without problems for near on 12 years now

Up unlill this year I've grown grass on my 50 rai for my sheep farm I normally put in 5 rai of jumbo ( elephant) grass for my first crop at the start of the rains I get 3 cuts off this then usually let the sheep on it to graze put the remains

I then put in my main crops 20 rai each of Guinea and a Rosie hamat mix

The guinea I sow harvest and replant 50 cm apart this way I get a good evenly spaced crop that's easy to cut I can normally carry my Guinea crop through the dry season with monthly watering and get 3 years of use before replanting so my 20 rai plot is split into 3 on a rotation

My Rosie and Hamata plot 20 rai I sow every year even with watering I can't seem to get it growing back the following year with any where near the quality of the first year this grass I cut half and make silage out of the rest

I also have a 5 rai plot of low land where I've planted hamatam again I'm going on local names this grass likes the marshy type of conditions and has come back every year now for the last 6 years I use it as a stand by becouse I don't think it's as good as the rest the sheep will eat it in the pen but avoid it if I graze them on it

There was a missunderstanding ( my fault) about the "sack " the Guinea and Hamata seeds are sold in 5 kilo sealed bags and the jumbo in 2 kilo bags the bags where kept in a large sack

The Rosie seed though was loose

I hope this clears thing up

 too true mate you hit the nail on the head there

Guinea grass ordinary 120 bt per kilo

Guinea purple giant 130 bt per kilo

Jumbo 150 bt per kilo

Rosie and Hamata 100 bt per kilo

All on sale Lam Duan animal feed shop Surin yesterday sack fulls of the stuff

Should be really easy to find most of the animal feed & farm supply shops sell grass seed by the kilo depends what you want the grass for animal feed or a grass lawn the lawn turf kind is normally sold per sq mt

Why can't we have a league table for the most liked post

Very true above post the problem would be though if all bar girls where forced by law to carry there test papers surely it would put more demands on them to go without condom if the custermer was sure she was safe

Ok thanks for that info lovelaos thought I'd come across a loop hole in the system there Oh well !!!

There are mandatory tests for bar girls in alot of bars and go-go but I agree it should be all bars by law