Hunter s somtam

 

Sorry Andy ,I should have mentioned I flew out of hat yai ,and am now in very dry ,cool Isaan .

have a friend driving north ,maybe today,from Samui.

will keep you posted .

Sorry Andy ,I should have mentioned I flew out of hat yai ,and am now in very dry ,cool Isaan .

have a friend driving north ,maybe today,from Samui.

will keep you posted .

18 hours ago, Bartshack said:

Did you go down the 44 then the 41 or down the 403?

 

The 44 ,and 41 Bart

7 hours ago, Stocky said:

It's OK down in Hat Yai, problem areas on the road are around Thung Song and Phatthalung. You could go the long way round via Krabi, Trang and Satun - no flooding on the west coast.

Thanks stocky, good advice,was on the road before I saw your post but I do agree mate.

There was a bit of boat traffic 

Hi all ,we made it .

just got here from Don Sak,to Hat Yai ,left at around 11am ,the road between don sak and Surat is bad but passable.

from there about half way down around Tung Song was bad ,had to use the other side of the road ,bridge is out but have made a temp one and will ready soon .

next bad spot is one hundred kilometres north of Hat Yai ,drive through water for a few ks ,army is there directing traffic ,other side of the road is a river .

but u can make it ,we did it in a sedan .water does get deep in spots but good if u can drive right up a busses arse .

stay safe ,if you think it looks to deep or fast flowing DONT risk it.

rain again here all night,not as heavy as yesterday but constant  ,don't know wether to try and drive or stay ,no one has reported on road closures and hard to find information,news just shows pics of floods ,no info on roads closed etc.

This is the 4010 2pm 

Hi all ,

we are trying to get from Samui to hat yai ,so far roads in Samui were ok this morning 8am .

now we are stuck not far from don sak ,roads out the 41 is cased in both directions as of 2pm today .

now 3.15 pm rain has stopped,

anyone driving on these or other southern roads please let us and anyone else that needs this info know ,as it's hard to find out .

thanks and stay safe.

15 hours ago, JAS21 said:

I wish that they would fine everybody who drives in the easy pass lanes and then cuts out to the booths because they don't have an easy pass.

 

There is plenty of warming as to which are the easy pass lanes ...yet drivers want to avoid the queues by driving down until the last minute and then cutting in ... resulting in those having easy passes having to queue and wait for the lane access to clear. rant over...

yer was right at the start where the right lane splits to the four or so easy pass lanes ,

hold up anyone and did not stop just changed lanes ,the four ezypass lanes where also empty at this time ,it was really quiet all round really ,guess thats why they got me .

rant also over 

19 hours ago, innocenthai said:

Thank you for the report but other people said that the road is ok, so can you detail more what you have seen ?

 

Anyway i think that driving from 4am to 8am is always better than day time (if you are not sleepy at night).

 

And if you pay cash without receipt why having to go back to bkk after 7 days ?

yer well ,I did drive the way down around 4am through bkk, but like i said ,from south of Hua Hin,for sure around  chumpon to Surat,the road is blocked and being re surfaced every few ks in each direction.

So if u are driving south ,sometimes diverted to the north bound lanes and that becomes one lane in either direction ,and sometimes the south bound lanes become a single lane and u share with north bound traffic .

from the gps time estimates it added at least 2 hrs ,north bound in the mid day

and to the" Simply not true" dude,try telling that to cop ,i said, send me the fine and will pay at Khon Kaen he said could  only pay there,sat there and argued for five minutes.It was either pay on the spot ,or come back to bangkok,or wait two hours + while he went and paid it .I know it was all bullshit ,i told him many times.but <deleted> it pay and go ,have not been bribed/fined in last few years,so no real skin.

17 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

You forgot to mention that Khon Kaen to Bangkok was easy (I assume)

yer was fairly easy from Khon Kaen to bangkok,

Yer I cut one in half and it had a bit of juice in there still ,but the top was bone dry ,so I have just chopped em all at ground level and using the now sunny area to grow fruit trees etc.

i also lost a few last year to a sugar cane fire on the fence line ,they sure don't like fire any where near them.

cheers.

These looked dead ,but now with all the rain they are growing out down low like this ,what do u think ,keep em ?,chop the top off? Cut em down altogether?

will add some more shots of across the road ,they have cut all there's down,and they looked like the ones in my shots a few years back.

Hi ,just thought i would post about the road trip we just returned from 2 days ago.Road conditions south of Bangkok to Surat in either direction are horrible.

There is loads of road work all the way south of hua hin,road splits from one side so you share with the other two lanes on the opposite side ,so it becomes one 

lane either way .

this makes the drive so slow and therefore more dangerous as car keep undertaking on the breakdown lane and of course no policing of this or any other rules .

saw lots of accidents ,cars and trunks ,one guy in front of me fell asleep and drove off the road and hit a few trees.

As always have never seen a cop driving on roads and pull cars over for illegal stuff.

Only time had cops was road blocks a few times and i dont know if this a new thing or what but first time for me ,

Cops at the toll booths on Bangkok toll road ,got me many more for slight rule violations ,mine was i changed lanes as i was heading into the ezypay lane and needed the cash lane ,did so with indicator on and safely .

They take your licence and demand 1000bt or you have to come back to bangkok in 7 days and pay fine .no receipt .i guess it goes straight to the Mia Noi fund.

take care out there ,its deadly.

Hi all, anyone know where to buy decent form ply in the khon kaen area ,by decent i mean water proof and 20mm.

thanks 

Hi all 

haven't been on for a while but thought I would just say that where I am ,Isaan ,it's been so dry last season that at least half of the big trees around here have died.

i lost a few ,maybe 30 or so myself,bewteen 6and 4 year olds.

just road my bike through to the village and many have cut there trees down,weird to ride through the light now.also across the road from us they have cut down all there trees.

So all this just gets me thinking when the price does hopefully return,there will be a lot less trees ,and less product means higher prices,lets hope.

i gotta hang in there ,I haven't even tapped a tree yet.

good luck to all .

I was a bit worried the conections would not fit after reading other posts from people that bought them over from the US ,I just bought a baby Q over from OZ 2 days ago ,it says on the box for sale in Oz and NZ only and it fits onto the thai gas bottle no probs at all .I have already cooked ribs on it and it way better than the ol coal jobs ,next for a pizza.

Bangkok post today

Rubber producers eye own tyre factory B3bn proposal to be floated to growers Published: 18 Aug 2014 at 15.12 | Viewed: 1,463 | Comments: 0Online news: Writer: Online Reporters The Rubber Growers Cooperative...

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://www.bangkokpost.com/most-recent/427402/b3bn-proposal-to-be-floated-to-growers. View our policies at http://goo.gl/9HgTd and http://goo.gl/ou6Ip. © Post Publishing PCL. All rights reserved.

I did the mission to Savannakhet on Thursday 7th August to get the Non Immigrant O visa (marriage).

I arrived the next morning (Friday 8th) at 830am and the gates opened at 9am.

There were around 40 people, mostly from Laos.

We all lined up outside of box number 1 - and I was number 34 in line.

After around five minutes I handed in my documents to the Thai consulate officer. The documents were as follows:

1. Application form with two passport photos attached with paper clip. I ticked non immigrant visa and put down the number of entries as "5".

2. A signed and dated (myself and wife signed) copy of my marriage certificate. Front and back of cert on one piece of paper.

3. A signed (wife and I signed) and dated copy of the Kor Tor 2 form. Front and back on one piece of paper.

4. A signed and dated copy of my passport front page.

5. A copy of my wife's national ID card (front and back) signed and dated.

6. A copy of my wife's Tibian baan book signed and dated by my wife.

7. 5000 baht cash inside my passport.

The officer looked over my paperwork and gave me my ticket and said come back at 330pm.

I arrived back at the consulate at 215pm and the doors opened at 220pm. I walked in with around 20 others and lined back up at the number 2 window. I was around number 15 in line.

I gave them my ticket and I got my passport back with a one year non immigrant o visa.

I did not need proof of funds. I hope this helps everyone. Cheers

Hi Bro

Was your marriage cert in Thai or English ? I did mine a few days before you and the bloke said I was lucky because mine was only in English ,he said sometimes they make you get it translated ,wich you can do not far from the consulate he said .lucky for me ,as I wouldn't have had the time .

Anyone else had a problem with just the English only cert ?

Yer there gone then .

Only got it for oz network and cartoon channels for the kids and there all gone .what a bunch of dicks.

Just a quick report;

I drove up to Mukdahan on Sunday afternoon, stayed in the River Front hotel on Sunday night, and then after breakfast yesterday at 8am I took a tuk tuk to the bridge. I passed through immigration and in to Loas fairly quickly. I was at the Thai consulate for about 9.45am, filled out my forms and waited in line to pay my B5,000 and hand in my documents, this only took around 30 - 40 mins and I was on my way for something to eat. I collected the visa (Non Imm 'O' Multiple Entry) 5 hours later at 3.30pm and I was back home in Ubon at 8pm last night.

Documents submited were;

Copy of wifes house book (signed and dated by wife)

Copy of wifes ID card front and back (signed and dated by wife)

Copy of mariage certificate front and back (signed and dated by wife)

Original marriage certificate

Copy of my passport front page (signed and dated by myself)

B5,000 fee

Hope this helps.

I had to stay in Laos overnight. Is there some cutoff time where you get it in before you can pick it up same day? If so, what is that time?

I was there and got the non O based on marriage yesterday ,I got there at ten to 11am ,just in time got the forms put em in and got out as they were closing the gates .they give you a number to hand back in when u return to pick up the passport ,mine was 200.

Came back and waited at the closed gate at ten to 3 ,heaps of Lao people waiting there .

Be carefull when the gates open it was like a stampede ,one guy lost a thong and few fell over.

I was fairly close to the front and got mine and was out in ten minutes ,the line stretched way out the gate as I was leaving ,but was moving fairly fast .

I was back at the undercover car park ,thai side before 4pm .

Undercover car park costs 250bt for one night ,was planing to stay in Lao one night but my kids passport only had five months and they wouldn't let him in , and running out of time I went alone with a really nice thai bloke that shoved me in his car helped fill out all the border stuff each side and got me there as I said just in time .

He waited all day for me and got me back ,cost me 2000bt but would not have done it without him and my family would have had to get a hotel thai side and be stuck there till late the next day.

Thanks all for the advice:-)

With prices so low and lots of talk about chopping down trees ,hope this stops the over supply and prices rise a bit .

My biggest trees a five years old and have put to much money into them .

But bugger it ,like I always said I don't care if I never make much from them ,i really like to live in the middle of lots of big trees,gots lots of shade now and much better than living in an open field stinking hot.

Anyway we have had only about 3 nights solid rain here and not much in the day,just right .

On the farms next to me there cutting trees that are only as big as my five yr olds ,across the road they have died and a lot snapped last year .they cut them off just where the branches start to shoot out from the trunk and now there tapping them again this year ,don't think there gonna last much longer .

These dudes also only put about 2 bags of fertiliser on 10rai per year and with low prices now they probably won't put any next year.hope things pick up for everyone .

Thanks Snake

How did I miss that ,great info and gps coordinates and all ,legend.

Thank you sir .