Hunter s somtam

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 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 .

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

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?

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 .

So if I do this run, To make a marriage visa I DO NOT need 400k savings or 40k a month of income proof?

There is no marriage visa done anywhere.

You can get a multiple entry non-o visa based upon marriage with no financial proof at the consulate in Savannakhet that will require border runs every 90 days.

You can get a one year extension of stay at immigration based upon marriage by showing financial proof. Then just make 90 reports to them with no need to leave the country.

I'm going SVK next week and will post what happens ,I've had 2 one yr non O visas based on marriage before ,one from Sydney ,one from Brisbane .both given with no financials .

Ps thanks for all the parking advice.Also anyone know if there's a place to change money there ?,need US dollars much cheaper than baht for Laos visa.

I want to go next week ,the wife is worried about leaving the car at the border,is the car park there ok ? Or has anyone got any better advice for parking ,don't mind paying .Ok probably asked a lot but what's the best hotel not far from consulate?a pool would good have the kids .Is Savan Vegas Ok?to stay I mean .

Thanks all.

I had a report earlier in the thread, I am sure it is hard to find.

The car park is safe from the looks of it. I stayed at the hotel just adjacent to the parking lot (I arrived late at night), and the owner let me park there at the hotel for 50 or 100 baht (memory problems, ha), and he drove me right up to the border too. Cool guy. But, either way your car will be safe..... the border area parking is safe because of the layout and the businesses that are right there and stuff. I think there is a security guy too and the parking lot is pretty small. In short, it is safe, lol.

There is a cheap hostel a block or two from the embassy, it is pretty low class though. I would not recommend it. Good luck with that.

From the checking I've done I think the basic hotel close is the savanbanhao ,the reviews aren't great but location looks good and it's cheap.i can handle anything for a night .

Thanks again :-)

Ok just read through every post here again and understand there is parking at the bridge but still want to no how safe it is and do you pay for some one to keep an eye on it ,spouse like nong khai.

I see the Lena GH is the go but it's booked and the only hotel now with a pool is the http://www.agoda.com/en-au/daosavanh-resort-spa-hotel, at just over 2000bt .

Also read on page 4 somewhere a guy got the non O in one day ,is that still possible ?

Cheers.

I want to go next week ,the wife is worried about leaving the car at the border,is the car park there ok ? Or has anyone got any better advice for parking ,don't mind paying .Ok probably asked a lot but what's the best hotel not far from consulate?a pool would good have the kids .Is Savan Vegas Ok?to stay I mean .

Thanks all.

We are near khon Kean ,well an hour away and only get satellite ,still no oz network and half the cartoon channels we had when we got it .the only reason I got it was for oz net and kids channels .i don't watch any of the ,seems like 20 soccer channels.think I'll just get rid of it,maybe back to true vision.

We have had no aus network for ages and that's the only reason we got it and the kids cartoons in English and three of those channels have <deleted> off too.any one else have aus network still working on cth satellite ?

Hi uncle Mike

Took your advice and got the grass cutter ,got it from kubota and the cost is 28 k now ,will attach a photo .im out of the country at the moment and back in a few weeks ,but the wife's cuz is driving it in the photo and she says he was driving up the long runs as the photo shows but then drove it across between the trees ,and I remember you saying not to do that and cut in between by hand .

I will do this my self when I get back if it hasn't rained to much and won't bog the tractor.

Hope your all getting some rain and making some money. :-)

Just saw this more bad news for prices

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/727848-thai-govt-to-brace-for-79-billion-baht-loss-in-stockpiled-rubber-sales/

Don't recommend any spraying of any weeds, anywhere. Quicker, cheaper - yes. Better - no. Grass cutting, either manually (petrol strimmers) or with machinery (tractors) is always ;

a) more expensive

more time consuming

c) far better for the health of the land and whatever is on it.

Call me an old hippy but...

Hst.

Hi all

What kind of fertiliser are u guys putting on ,this is the time before the rain starts proper ,I'm told , especially u guys up in the north east .last year we made a mix of two different kinds ,can't remember what they were.And I spouse there's different ferts for different age trees and areas.hope you get some rain .we need some more .

Hi all

Been searching here and can't find the info I want .

If pruning the branches off trees between 3 and four years old is it best to cut em off ,saw them or snap em off ? Well any size tree really as always planting replacement trees.

Most peeps around here snap them off .

Also what's the best time to stop disc plowing between trees ? The long rows I mean ,this will damage the roots I reckon after the trees are a few years old .

I have only been rotating the soil and clearing the grass ,so I think I can get rid of my tractor soon .

It's a two year old kubota L4708 if any ones interested ,I don't use it enough to keep it .

Cheers

hi we also had one of these kubotas, on the monthly thingie, very expensive really if you are not making it work for you ie getting cash for outside work ect.. we bought it for cutting the grass in the plantation, after ayear or so I had lost the buzz for it. lucky managed to "sell" it onto a friend (thai) he is now flat out with it most of the time, we kept the grass sledge box and now he does the grass cutting for us. (and does a better job!) 200 baht a ria. most other people with same sized tractor want 300 - 350 a rai using our cutter.

those kubotas eat the spare parts when they are work just alittle to hard, put them on heavy work and they just fall apart, much better with a ford.

hi Thoong

So u have a grass cutter did u buy it at the local parts shop ,as I was saying I've never seen one used here.

As for my tractor it's a few years old now and lucky had no probs or spares needed,touch wood .

I drive it a lot and like I said the cousin was good on it and took good care of it.

The ground here is really hard and can bust the shit out of your equipment that's for sure,another guy bought same one as me ,same time .he has had many repairs ,but he really busts it's balls ,and often pissed on the Lao kow ,<deleted> knocked down his own front block wall .

Thanks .

yeah the sledge box cutter we have is the 120cm twin blade. its sort of for sale, ie make me a sensible offer and it goes. its worked no more than 75 hours. think it was around the 25k mark from kubota udon thani.

bought our tractor on a wim really, got quoted a crazy price for some land clearing (rice fields) so the next day got the tractor. ok on light work, but we did have a lot go wrong in the one and half year we had it. very happy to see the back of it, did not really like those large repayment lumps every six month or so. good tractors if driven and maintained well.

But going from wanting to get rid of the tractor to spending another 27k on it ,I'm not mad on.

Yer I have had the six month payments and they are a pain but the worst is over and as Mick says I can make some money renting it out and lucky so far had no major probs with it,touch wood.

Pm me with a price if u want to sell the box and we can have talk,would it fit in the back of a dual cab isuzu pick up ?,I think not.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Hi all

Been searching here and can't find the info I want .

If pruning the branches off trees between 3 and four years old is it best to cut em off ,saw them or snap em off ? Well any size tree really as always planting replacement trees.

Most peeps around here snap them off .

Also what's the best time to stop disc plowing between trees ? The long rows I mean ,this will damage the roots I reckon after the trees are a few years old .

I have only been rotating the soil and clearing the grass ,so I think I can get rid of my tractor soon .

It's a two year old kubota L4708 if any ones interested ,I don't use it enough to keep it .

Cheers

hi we also had one of these kubotas, on the monthly thingie, very expensive really if you are not making it work for you ie getting cash for outside work ect.. we bought it for cutting the grass in the plantation, after ayear or so I had lost the buzz for it. lucky managed to "sell" it onto a friend (thai) he is now flat out with it most of the time, we kept the grass sledge box and now he does the grass cutting for us. (and does a better job!) 200 baht a ria. most other people with same sized tractor want 300 - 350 a rai using our cutter.

those kubotas eat the spare parts when they are work just alittle to hard, put them on heavy work and they just fall apart, much better with a ford.

So u have a grass cutter did u buy it at the local parts shop ,as I was saying I've never seen one used here.

As for my tractor it's a few years old now and lucky had no probs or spares needed,touch wood .

I drive it a lot and like I said the cousin was good on it and took good care of it.

The ground here is really hard and can bust the shit out of your equipment that's for sure,another guy bought same one as me ,same time .he has had many repairs ,but he really busts it's balls ,and often pissed on the Lao kow ,&lt;deleted&gt; knocked down his own front block wall .

Thanks .

# Not too shabby for 4 year old trees. Nice big canopy, which is important. Land is nice 'n flat too, no ridges. Only thing is, stop rotorvatin', let the grass grow back, then keep on top of it with a grass cutter between the 7m rows, and a petrol strimmer between the 3m gaps.

# Felangs can go to school, i did'nt, in hindsight i wish i did.

# You'll be surprised how much dosh is forked out over a year paying for other people's tractor usage.

# Maybe it's time for the family to pay you a percentage for the use of YOUR tractor. Back when i had my big old Ford, and it was used on paying jobs NOT on our land or our family's land, i paid the diesel, and driver (BIL) and owner (me) split monies in 80/20 in my favour, apparently the norm up here in Isaan. But 2k earned in a day, 400 baht from that is still a decent wedge for a days work for the driver, who is NOT the owner/operator. 600 baht for diesel left me with 1k in my pocket. Not great, but better than a kick in the teeth.

# 95% of rubber farmers outside of the deep South are 1st generation owners. Hence, a lot of them have not got a clue.

Keep up the good work.

Uncle Mikey.

So don't keep rotavating ,what ever again ? Just cut the grass ?

Everyone around here does that but like u said ,there first Gen and just following everyone else ,same as me.

So you must be able to buy a grass cutting attachment ,I've never seen em here ,like the ones in Oz the council use to cut large paddocks and parks .here it's just 10 blokes with trimmers and steel blades shooting rocks everywhere .

As for the tractor ,yer u are right ,I should keep it for a while longer ,I do get a bit of cash out of it,but not like before when I had a similar deal with the wife's cousin ,he was a great operator and really took care of the tractor .but he had to go back to Bkk and now I only have piss heads that will likely roll the bastard.

I always have people ask me to drive it and have to say no it's illegal and I cant .there's no one around to see me ,but just takes one pissed off local losing work to me .

Well thanks again for the advice and hope u had a great songkran ,stay safe out there everyone this time of year .

Can't hear any bass pumping out of the village ,it's over or there still asleep and getting ready for another round of pissheads Olympics .

Shaneo

Try this

Bout four year ,sorry for double post before .