kickstart

It can be done we have just a solar system installed, we are pumping water from a small river into our pond, and now we are irrigating a nursery bed of Nappier grass. Depending on what your system will be, we had some 600 wat panels at 3500 each, we have 6 but now are only using 4, our pump and inverter was 13000 baht, I converted an old trailer to mount the panels on, that was about 8000 baht.200 meters of 2-inch PE water pipe was 8000 baht. Your big X will be the bore hole, how far down will they have to go to find water? around here it is/was 500-baht meter to drill the bore hole, you want to ask around your area find what other farmers etc. have paid for a bore hole, and how far down they go before finding water. As for planting rice twice a year, I would say after the rice crop, or before, plant a crop of corn/maize, you will use a lot less water and it would do the land a bit of good from monoculture of rice.

You are wrong on the wind and water matter, every year on Thai TV you see a hole row of houses with no roofs on, a big gale come in and away the roof goes, it happened near us a few months ago.6-7 house lost they roofs during a storm, that never made Thai TV. I take it you live under a rock during the rainy season, a lot of provinces get flooded our province certainly does. again, turn on Thai tv during October you will see lots of flooding. My wife is always worried when a big wind comes afraid that house roof will go, or a tree will blow down nearby, so I found some house insurance, in fact I only paid the premium last month 3500 baht for 3 years cover, the wife is now happy again.

If you can get a system working, try an Eletric fence around you chicken area, 3 strands of wire a foot gap from the ground up, look at Lazada for fence units, you can use bamboo for posts works well. I do a few miles on my push bike. dogs are a problem, but the 3-foot length of thin bamboo I have with me keeps them at bay.

Last time I come back from the Uk I was with Qatar Air, got to Heathrow looked the departure board, found flight time, then destination, Doha, then had to wait while the board went round to my flight number, that flight must have been sheared with 4 other airlines, and the plane was well full. How many Thai flights are code sheard with other airlines, Thai being a member of Star Alliance, some passengers not knowing? that they fight is being code sheared with Thai, and flying Thai. Went with Thai once Bkk -LHR got to Swampy, due to fly with China Easten, it was Chines New Year flight over booked, long story short, I was transferred to a Thai flight, it was OK ,first time I have had proper milk in tea not powdered milk, some of the cabin staff English was not that good, had to resort to speaking Thai one time. Would fly again but they ticket prices are more than other airlines.

What about Immagration's slogan "Good guy's in, bad Gay's out".

A lot of the intern city buses were/are run by privet companies, you can tell privet buses from government ones by the badge on the side of the bus. The problem was Covid, no buses running then the privet buses just stopped, not enough government buses to fill the gap. The route I use, Bangkok -Lomsark ,they use to be one an hour, mainly Por 2, second class buses, they have now all gone, with just 3 double decker buses, government ones running a day. And now Minin buses have filled the gap cannot see a change back to the old system. I was at Morchit bus terminal last week in Bangkok, mid-morning, hardly any buses they, it seems a nationwide thing, still a good few running at nighttime still.

The first thing is that the Po-Yai-Bann, and Gum -Nang the two local village headmen should be helping out, at least they could put in a water main for them, not an expensive job, and they could also help out getting some electric to the property. But whatever the past actions of that family member, should be forgotten, but I have my doubts, some Thai's do not forget.

Trying to grow things like beans in Thailand is almost imposable just too hot, like trying to grow a lot of western crops, baked beans are made from Navy bean or Haricot bean, in the UK, they originated from North America, a few hundred years ago, a bit cooler than LOS. Last year a farm in the UK successfully grew some, for about the first time.

That is correct, Pangola is only available as root stock, at least here in Thailand, and knowing where to find it, not easy, not seen any for a long time, for sone reason most hay found in Thailand is from Pangola grass, and not very good quality. Ask around to see if anyone has any horses in your area, they could well have some hay, ask them where they got it from.

I come back here last Sunday, got to Heathrow and the self-check in, put my passport etc. in the machine, then a flag appeared "seek assistances" I did, first thing the woman said where are going, I said Thailand, she said let me look at your passport, then the penny dropped. If you are going to some countries you are supposed to have a ticket out of that country, she was only interested in my visa, she looked at my visa stamp, Thai, Non-O, and cleared me to go through. Now, if I went through that E-gate with no stamp in my passport, I would have said I could not come back to Thailand they had no way of checking if I had a Thai visa, I would have to go and buy an air ticket to say, Lao's or Cambodia as an onward journey. This is the second time I have had this problem at Heathrow check-in, I will use the guy and his stamp, and just hope all immigration office's do not go on to E- visa's.

In our pond we have Bla Dok, Walking Catfish, and Bla Nin, Nile Tilapia as well as Bla Maw, Jungle Perch, and Bla Chon, Snake head fish they all live together without any problems. The Snake head will eat the young of other fish, but again never a problem for us ,always more young fish, fry, than thay can eat, and yes, your giant catfish Bla Chor-door, will eat other bigger fish, might not be a good idea to include them in your pond. The walking cat fish will get out if the water level is high, we lose a few each year, the wife has put up some shad cloth in places just to deter them.

You should not have any problems with cats or dogs ,I would use glyphosate, available on Lazada.

Had to look up tarping ,covering the land in plastic sheets ,which prevents light getting though and kills off weeds etc . It works in the UK ,it was done by putting old carpets down ,works well, but it takes a long time . Here in Thailand first off finding a large plastic sheet ,a job for Lazada etc,it would have to be laid flat on the land ,probable with weights on ,keep snakes rats etc out, like carpets it would have to be down for some time ,some Thai weeds have very long tap roots and will take some getting rid of . I would say it would be easier to get a small pump up sprayer and some weed killer ,again Lazada for weed killer, cut the weeds as they grow back spray the young shoots more of a chance of dying than spraying more mature plants.

How would that work, companies /factories would not like paying more ,as has been said when the minimum wages increase is announced, and how would the government pay the increase ,factory workers on the books ,can be paid ,open to corruption, but a high percentage of the workers that need the money work in agriculture /building trade ect.no paper work, here today gone tomorrow, no records. Just would not work. the only way would be, as has been said, use the registered welfare card, that has been going for a few years now and it works

The problem I find with Bere Lao Dar ,is that you can taste the molasses ,that makes the beer dark, the other Beer Lao I find too sweet ,and I thought Lao beer was made by Calisburg, under licence But ,now I do like Carabao Dunkel,the IPA you can get is not bad.

Do what a Thai cow will eat about 7-8 kg of rice straw a day no hay here in Thailand ,about 1-2kg of DM, dry matter ,the main diet is made up of low energy concentrate, that is expensive ,plus cassava waste ,waste from soya milk production .and in my area brewers grains. The flavoured milk you buy is made up from imported milk powered ,mainly from Australia and NZ. The cattle you see next the roadside are beef cattle not dairy cattle most Thai dairy cows are kept like the American system cattle in sheds and food is brought to them ,very little grass is feed ,as said it is mainly rice straw ,which gives a low quality milk ,that is why ,they is very little cream on top of the milk. Breeds now come from imported semen ,mainly from the USA .and has done for some years now ,no Zebu cattle or any crosses . Cows are not on strike just a lot less of them, high feed costs ,high bank borrowing ,a lot of dairy farms have given up about 2 years ago they were 30 000 dairy farms in Thailand .now they are 16 000 ,and some are still giving up . So, milk may become white gold less fames more demand, price will only go up . As from 1st January next year Thailand under WTO World Trade Organization ,have to drop all tariffs on imported milk products ,mainly milk powder,a knife in the back for inefficient Thai dairy farmers ,but good for Thai milk companies the can produce milk products at a low price than Thai dairy farmers can produce ,will milk prices drop ,no ,just more money for Thai and their foreign milk companies partners.

Like where, move down south, especially Ranong, they nearly always has more rain than anywhere north of Bangkok.

SCB has an internet account, I have one ,as well as a Kesikorn account,the Kasikorn internet account is a lot better . How things have changed, I opened my SCB account a lot of years ago with a photo copy of my passport and 200 baht, job done. As has been said, different banks have different rules, why not go round all the banks and see what they say. What I can not understand if an agent can open a bank account in a farangs name why can't a farang open an account himself, or, do banks take brown envelops?

Say what you like, it is better than a taxi, as I said I am coming own from lop Buri get off the Minibus at Mawchit, hail a taxi, taxi driver sees it is a Farang says 500 baht to the airport I say, in Thai, use the meter, he drives away. I do not need the hassle, the BTS train Mawchit to Parathai ,then the link, always have a seat, one time of day it was very quiet now with the other colored lines having links to it, it is now a major commuter link. You want a comparison to try the London underground, Piccadilly line to LHR from the city.......

I am going to the airport on Monday, coming down from Lopburi ,is the Airport Link open yet. Thanks.

I used to buy stuff from those shops under the Sapan Kwie BTS station, for my Kawa GTO, but alas last time I looked most have gone, they were one left, is that still they?

I could be wrong, but I know that government departments they tax year ends, end of September, it was announced as the op said, last October, start of the new financial year.

Looking at the photos, I would say the surrounding shade is the problem, like that big tree, it is short on space it is getting leggy as it is trying to get more light by growing up, and not putting out any new shoots.

I have just read that article, it is what has been known for the past 15 years, as a farang if I know it, so does everyone else. They also say it was them at the then top of then ladder that engineered the coup that ousted him.

I like the cover photo of China town in Bangkok, why China town? , is that a hint as to where our government will be going for a few subs, not the underwater type.