jay-uk

I had a similar experience to Bergen but after flying to Ubon for a holiday leg pains increasingly getting worse after the flight casued me to visit the Rajavej hospital. They x-rayed my leg and said I had an infection as there was swelling behind the knee joint. I had my doubts but started taking the antibiotics and ani-infamatorys they prescribed and found after 3 days my leg was back to normal. They diagnosed this all with a very compentent doctor and x-ray within 30+ mins totalling 2,000 baht. I was very impressed and found the private hospital to be very well organsised. On our last trip my father-in-law was cleaning out our fish pool, slipped and cut his head. He blacked for a few seconds but we decided to take him again to the Rajavej and they cleaned his wound x-rayed him and gave a letter saying he had no head trauma or damage warranting a stay in the hospital. I had a feeling they would keep him in and the dollar signs were rolling like a slot machine in my mind. I would be lying if i said i was not panicking a little as I thought this is gonna' be expensive if he has seriously hurt himself. However, they charged 4,000 baht and he was out in an hour or so. Now this in itself is expensive but compared to what may have happened or if they had chose to keep him in for a few days there would have been little i could have done morrally to object. Thankfully they gave a clean bill of health and clean bill or invoice for the treatment. It was sobering though on the drive home about whether or not you should have health cover in a country like Thailand. Most take chances without cover but if I were living there full time I think i'd have to have it for piece of mind.

If someone is that old it is pointless trying to tell them in any case. In the UK there is a saying which is very relevant in this kind of situation:

"There ain't no fool like an old fool!"

The private hospital in Ubon next to BigC called Rajavej is very good:

Rajavej Ubonratchathani Hospital

Chayangkul Road

Amphur Muang

Ubon Ratchathani 34000

t: 6645 280040

f: 6645 283894

Sticky Rice!

The only thing bothering me now is how long I need to prepare the land for (i.e. filling/compacting etc.), I was hoping not to wait a couple of years before starting, surely there is a quicker way, anyone got any ideas?

there's no need to compact below the foundations of the skeleton pillars as you will be definitely below the fill (if not, fire your contractor). what has to be thoroughly compacted is the fill below the sections of the concrete slab. if your contractor doesn't own a compactor he has to rent one. compacting is done for every layer of fill after 20-25cm are brought in. any compacting (as it is often done) beyond this thickness is USELESS. best fill is a clayish fill but make sure it is not used outside the slab (drainage problems).

to sum it up: fill is brought in and compacted. no need to wait 2 years.

There is something to be said obviously for been around when the build commences to make sure all goes well. However I was in a similar position where work and my son's health would not allow us to spend enough time to oversee the building of our own house so we had to use contactors at arms length while we were in UK. It worked out ok for us as my father-in-law has building experience and watched the whole project from start to finish over 5-6 months. It was not a big project initailly and the bungalow we built was only 700,000 baht. So far we have had no major problems with the house and any minor issues were down to electrics only and a garden pond. The building standards are rarely as good as back in the western world especially up in Isaan but at the kind of price we paid we didn't expect too much and the build quality was fine for us using our property on a limited basis for holidays once a year. I trust my wife's mom and dad to look after things while we are away and all is well after 5 years now. If you have a trust worthy hard working family then they usually know about up keep on a property and maintain things well. There are stories of Thai families not looking after houses when your back's turned but I thankfully have not had those problems. In fact I much prefer having them stay there as the house would not last long if left empty for any great length of time. Since the original build went ahead we have added things over the years and did alterations, walls and a garage/sala etc..when on holidays. We spent more financially on land than we did on our bungalow as I personally think its risky having too much money tied up in property rather than land unless you are somewhere like a holiday resort or bangkok. Some people choose to spend more on a house when they are living there but for us land was more of a safe bet.

I never really like the Nevada that much but in fairness it has been some years now since staying there and maybe they have improved food and rooms. They have rcently gone through a name change also from Nevada to now called The Ubon International Hotel. Don't know if much has changed other than the name but they are situated close to most activities in the City. On my last couple of trips when family have stayed with us in Ubon they preferred Lai Thong or Tohsang hotels which offered better food.

Kojaks original post requesting information on hotels was from 5th March '08. Assuming he is still looking for a hotel after all this time then the following link has a list of hotels as follows:

http://www.weloveubon.com/ubon-accomodations.html

thanks FRM for the quick answer. she is with us currently in UK but I will contact the Spanish embassy here in London as you mentioned. Thank you for the help.

Hi To All

My wife's mother is staying with us in UK for 6 months on a family visitor visa. We were thinking of taking the family over to Spain or Portugal for a few weeks holiday including the Mother-In-Law and wanted to know if it is possible to get a shengen visa for her to come with us. If anyone has any info: it would be appreciated. Thanks.

Based on experience of having faced a similar situation or predicament with a friend in UK married to a thai lady. The guy may well not belive what he is told and stick his head in the sand like an ostrich and the lady in question will convince him that you lied and should not be spoken to again. Better to keep out of it and resist all urge to let him know. If he is gullible enough not to see the signs himself then let him loose the money.

We thought we were doing someone a good turn letting a nice guy know what his wife was upto no good and the whole thing was turned inside out, upside down until we were the guilty parties. In these instances better to be a spectator.

I heard news today that WW was broken into recently. Hope that all is well for Richard and Ting and not too distressful for them and hope not too much stolen.

if i added any to my computer my wife would probably be peering over my shoulder one night without me knowing and catch me out. i don't have any pictures at all of my ex-gf's.......they are all at my mother house! ha ha

"It can happen back home. Thats for sure.

My (Thai) wife found some old pictures of my x-gf, and wondered why in h... i still had them. She more or less forced me to destroy all evidence of any former gf's.

I scanned a few, and hid them in the computer, this because all people that have been a part of my life, is important to me. Then I destroyed all the (paper) pics, and she was happy again."

better hope she's not reading your posts then.....

My father-in-law makes his own sala's. Here's one he put together quickly for us when our house was been built. Quite useful at the time but bamboo does not stand up to weather too good and soon all the varnish comes off and the thing looks old in no time at all. That's why they are cheap at the road side to buy. Look ok new but soon darken in hot wet thai weather.

Here are a few of our cows in Ubon. We usually have 3 or 4 at any one time mostly to keep the grass down. I don't take much notice myself as the in-laws know more than I about the type of cow they are but great to hear the bells ringing around their necks as they wander around our garden...

just to join in on this topic. i belive we could be heading for slow down in los as many westerners looking to buy over recent years were doing so in part as they had spare availible equity to release and spend from their main homes. property values decreased 2% last month alone in uk at the fastest pace since records begun following sub-prime issues in the US. some months back the so called experts were stating we would buck the trend and not follow the united states. not the case at all. thailand should be more careful around this time to shield from economic collapse and stop arguing within government which could fuel the problem in the long run making the crunch hit harder.

I actually agree with Bergen in as much that a good Thai family would steer their daughter away from a life of vice. There is no losing face with famillies who want money from the daughters and her customers. There are girls who take guys back to meet mom and dad time and time again without any concern to what the rest of the village think. The village turn the other cheek and gossip about them behind close doors because the family with a daughter in pattaya is usually one of the famillies with more money than most who are just farmers alone.

So its isolated and in a village....The reason I ask is I'm unfamiliar with the area of Sangkha. Personally I don't know this gentleman's circumstances but to rent out a new house like that to the wrong person for too little money would likely turn it into a pig sty in no time at all, especially if rented out to Thais who seldom care about the up keep of their own home let alone someone elses. If it is as remote as you say then would it not be better to sell rather than rent it out. If the property was to be trashed for the sake of 3,000 baht/month (US$92/month) it would be a real shame. This looks like someone has spent a million plus baht to build. Maybe better to keep it or rent out to a farang only. Someone on here may have a spouse or GF from that area and need a place to live or stay so not entirely impossible I suppose.

at that price i'm sure you will have many offers as that sounds very little money really for renting a new house. most would pay that for a room or studio apartment. are you sure you have got the price right?

I saw three of these on our last trip to Ubon in Feb. They were all funerals....

I've hear about this bark removal thing also for lottery numbers. My wife told me its done in Sisaket quite often.

whether a bar girl, student or combination of both it reads now that you have answered you own questions about the relationship.

"One of my problems is our age difference. We are on total different wave links mentally"

If this is how you feel so early on then my advice would be to find another girl that ticks all your boxes. This one has obviously not got what it takes to pull your heart strings so little or no point wasting any more time on/with her. You know when a relationship is right for you and when you do meet the right girl you will not be taking any advice from anyone on here it will be to hel_l with any everyone......

BigC, Tesco -Lotus and Makro have book stores but from memory they don't have a great selection in English

don't take this all too seriously. like many posters have said the string is offerred for good luck more often than not and you are certainly under no obligation to follow through an engagement or worse case get married. take it with a pinch of salt and enjoy your time with your partner. let things happen naturally over a greater period of time and don't rush into anything. the best relationships come with time in any culture when both parties know each other well and then start to trust. however, if you strongly feel that you were misled in someway by your girl then let her know and move on. plenty more fish in the sea and plenty more string where that came from.......

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/31May2008_biz41.php

Robinson looking for 20 new sites

Fashionable image paying off upcountry

PITSINEE JITPLEECHEEP

Robinson Department Store Plc, the country's third-largest department store chain, is studying 20 potential locations for new stores over the next 10 years.

The plan is in line with the company's vision to be the preferred department store with the widest market coverage in Thailand, president Preecha Ekkunagul told an investor briefing yesterday.

''It is possible that Robinson will open at least one store in each province in the long term,'' he said. ''The potential to add new stores upcountry remains because consumers' lifestyles have changed. Access to new fashion trends is faster and huge demand is there as well.''

Preecha: Suburban sales still healthy

It also saw room to add new department stores in Bangkok following rapid urbanisation and transport changes.

Mr Preecha said the company would spend 1.3 billion baht to build three stores this year in Chon Buri, Khon Kaen and Ubon Ratchathani. Another 300 million baht would be used for a major facelift of three existing stores, in Udon Thani, Si Racha (Chon Buri) and Fashion Island in Bangkok.

About four potential locations will be chosen in 2011. The major source of funds will come from the company's cash flow.

Mr Preecha said that though domestic political conditions were uncertain, the company believed consumer spending would remain good. Robinson's key growth drivers are a recovery of domestic consumption after the government offered economic stimulus policies, the sustainable growth of disposable incomes, the increase in fashion awareness and modern lifestyles, more urbanisation, a continuing expansion and launching flagship stores in each region.

At its flagship store, customers can buy more premium brands of cosmetics and home-care products, just as at leading department stores in Bangkok. Turning its original stores into flagship outlets will help Robinson expand the customer base to include high-income earners.

Mr Preecha expects the company's sales this year to grow by 8% from 12.6 billion baht last year.

Sales of Robinson in the first quarter grew by 13.1% to 3.08 billion baht with same-store growth of 9.6% as domestic consumption had picked up since the fourth quarter of last year. The company earned a net profit of 245 million baht, up 37% from the same period last year.

Though the cost of living is increasing, the company expects it will have only a slight impact on the sales of Robinson.

''With our experience in the past few years, when oil prices increase, our sales from suburban locations are better as people shift to shop at stores near their homes. They also consider house brands being offered at Robinson,'' he said.

Shares of Robinson (ROBINS) closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 12.00 baht, up 40 satang.