Farma

Good to see there are still some generous people willing to feed the poor, the beer barons and take good care of the soi dogs.

A billion would be nice to start with, but this challenge starts with a measly 20 Million. That equals US$500,000 for the Americans readers.

Let’s see, they could start a real estate office for way less than 1 Mil and earn more than 10% on the investment. Maybe a franchise would make money? What about the returns from fattening cattle? Oops, farming, that would need the wife looking after them.

Come on, there must be some good ideas out there.

This challenge has to be possible.

Don't spend the 20 mil. Give the money to a professional to invest that charges 1% or less. On an average annual return of 10-11% allocate 5% for your annual allowance leaving the rest to battle inflation and down years. Now go spend the 5% anyway you please from now on.

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Sounds good.

Would it be enough to live on? Would businesses provide better returns? We don't want all our eggs in the one basket do we?

What would you do if you won 20 million Baht?

If you were too young to retire, had a nice wife and small children, wanted to spend your life in Thailand.

Let’s see, 1 Mil for a nice car, a few mil for a nice house, maybe a mil or so for the sick buffalo.

What would you do with the rest? How would you invest it to provide a nice steady income?

The ultimate goal is an income good enough to put your kids through private school, for you and family to live on, and provide for your eventual retirement.

What would you do?

Farma, you are mis-informed.

Water injection does not work.

Ethanol and methylated spirit are not the same thing

A 707?  Does it have a piston engine ?

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Thetyim, I’m not trying turn this into a detailed technical discussion or disprove your ideas on the subject.

Unfortunately, it appears Gasohol will be the only option for us needing 95 octane fuel in our cars. As stated in my earlier posts, I’ve had no alternative but use Gasohol in my car and can only speak from my experience using it. Apart from Crossy, I seem to be the only person using Gasohol. Are we the only people not driving diesel vehicles?

There’s an interesting article titled “Water Injection, It lets you safely develop more power with nearly no running costs” on this link. http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/article.html?&A=0115&P=1

True, 707 engines are turbines and not piston engines. The theory behind water injection applies to both piston and turbine engines.

Water injection was used to increase thrust on takeoff. Modern more efficient jet engine designs have taken away the need for water injection. Afterburners aka Reheat, provides that extra thrust requirement on military jets. The 707 was primarily a civilian airliner that needed extra thrust while adhering to noise level restrictions.

True Ethanol and Metho are not the same. Both are alcohols and react in similar ways with water. In the past I’ve used a variety of alcohols, isopropyl, Metho etc as additives in my cars fuel tank, with success, to clear the water contamination.

Ethanol is an alcohol, most commonly made using a process similar to brewing beer where starch crops are converted into sugars, the sugars are fermented into ethanol, and then the ethanol is distilled into its final form.

Methylated spirits ("metho") is a mixture of ethyl alcohol (95%) and methyl alcohol (%5). The methyl alcohol is poisonous and is added to prevent the methylated spirits being used as cheap drinking alcohol.

Maybe others can share their experience with Gasohol.

While water in the fuel is a distinct possibility, I haven’t had any problems with Gasohol since I had to use it. Its rainy reason and I would have expected any problems with water in the fuel to occur if it was going to happen.

I think the low percentage of ethanol shouldn’t cause a major problem. Contamination could occur in the fuel stations storage tanks, but that would happen in smaller station prior to Gasohol being introdued as well.

Cars can run nicely with small amounts of water in the fuel. Look at how nice your car runs when it’s raining.

Back in the 70’s during the fuel crisis there were various aftermarket water injection kits available for cars to increase power. They consisted of a small water tank with a hose leading to a small needle valve inserted into the carburetor.

An old trick to fix the problem with water in fuel on farm vehicles was to add a cup of methylated spirits into the fuel tank to break down the water and allow it to mix into the fuel.

Some of the 707 aircraft engines used water injection to provide additional power on takeoff.

The corrosion problem does seem to be mentioned a lot in articles discussing Methanol fuels and could cause problems, but would they be any worse than the corrosion a car in a tropical climate suffers.

I’ve seen an add running on Thai TV channels that I’ve been told is the manager of Volvo or Mercedes Thailand stating Gasohol is safe to use in their engines. I can’t remember which car manufacturer it was.

Checking with the engine manufacturer is definately a good idea. I recall there were plenty of engine seal problems a few years ago in Australia when naptha had been added to fuel and the public had not been informed.

Another point raised in the Newsweek articles’ regarding the environmental benefit of methanol fuel is the carbon is renewable. In effect, the carbon was recycled, plant – air – plant, rather than extra fossil petroleum based carbon being introduced into the atmosphere and adding to polution.

I had the same reaction when I first saw Gasohol in the fuel stations and continued on to another fuel stop.

The old 95 doesn't seem to be available in the areas I’ve been traveling. I’ve now used gasohol for the past month or so in our Toyota with no adverse effects. I personally think the car runs better.

The august 6? issue of Newsweek ran an issue devoted mainly to Gasohol. It appears to be the new fuel with most countries looking at increasing the use of it. Brazil and China are 2 of the major users/produces of this fuel.

I recall the article mentioned current car engines run safely on Gasohol as long as the Alcohol blend stays around 10% or less. It mentioned slightly less fuel efficiency from Gasohol but I haven’t noticed any changes. The car manufacturers are now producing engines that will safely run on pure Alcohol.

Most of the Thai fuel stations hand out booklets with FAQs on Gasohol. Unfortunately the only ones I've seen have been in Thai.

I've found this site to be very helpful. It also lists the local names if you know them.

http://www.toxinology.com/fusebox.cfm?fuse...region_terms=13

Click on the name of the snake and it opens a page with plenty of detail and photos if available.

Hope it helps

The following is an extract from the web site listed.

http://w3.whosea.org/EN/Section1243/Sectio...on1357_5350.htm

…..Traditionally, some 5% of the national budget is allocated to water supply and sanitation. This has resulted in sufficient quantities of water being available, although not always of a satisfactory quality. Many agencies are responsible for water supply and sanitation, but they often have overlapping responsibilities, resulting in a duplication of effort and a lack of collaboration. Over time, while the quality of urban water supplies have developed rapidly, those in rural areas have lagged behind.

Nationally, access to an improved water supply rose from a low 10% in 1973 to the current level of 98%. Surveys5 show that access has reached 98% of households in urban areas and 98.5% in rural areas.

Despite these levels of access, many water quality problems remain, particularly microbiological, and increasingly due to chemical contamination, affecting both ground and surface water sources.

Samples of drinking water taken by the Department of Health between 1991-2000 from shallow wells, rainwater, and artesian wells showed that most samples were contaminated with bacteria.6

I haven’t used Western Union or Moneygram. This option may be easier.

Ask if the person you are transferring to has a bank account. It may be more convenient to deposit the money into their account at a branch of their bank near you.

I recall Krungthai charge 70B for deposits to accounts held at other branches.

I can't assist with your Chiangmai purchase but this may assist you deciding what router to purchase.

I was looking at ADSL wireless routers in Puntip Plaza in BKK a few days ago. A general price for a ADSL wireless router with 4 telephone ports (seems to be the standard) is around 4,000 Baht. I've seen D-Link ADSL wireless routers in Ubon for a similar price.

If you don't need the wireless function and just need the phone ports to connect up computers around your home, I recommend you look at non-wireless ADSL routers. They are cheaper and work just as well via adsl cables in the house. They are priced around 2,000 B - 2,600 B. Your local computer shop can make the cables to the lenght you need.

DON'T BUY a SURECOM router. I bought 2 at the same time. Both of them were very unreliable and needed resetting almost daily. The first one lasted less than 2 weeks before it died. The second died after 11 weeks use.

Farma

I think the university graduates are collecting their diplomas from the main university. It seems to be happening around the country. I was told each town has a set day to collect their diplomas.

I think this is the thread with the link you wanted.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=30766&hl=

Cheers

Farma

I guess all the Ubon Farangs were too busy shopping in Lotus to offer recommendations . I ended up buying a printer from Buy Comp on the main street.

Farmer.

Hi,

I was going to post in the computer forum but thought i would go straight for local knowledge.

I'm looking to buy a general purpose printer in Ubon tomorrow. Can anyone recommend a computer shop in Ubon with a range of printers and good prices?

Thanks in advance

Farma

Recommendations from a couple of head master friends. They suggest you try.

(Excuse the spelling)

1. Sisaket Vitayalai

or

2. Satree Siriket.

Vitayalai appeared to be their recommended favourite. The daughter of one of the people recommending Vitayalai achieved a grade point average of 3.9 out of 4 at that school last year.

Farma

Pudgimelon, I don't think it's an urban legend. These trucks have been collecting mangy dogs for decades. All the locals I have spoken with tell me they are destined for the laos food market.

Now, which dog is worth the most and the best tasting? Black or white?

Farma

Walking on Koh Chang the other day, I spotted what looked like some nice mushrooms. My wife proceeded to scratch the underneath to check if they were safe to eat. A milky substance emerged and she proudly informed me I would have been very sick if I ate them. She said as a general rule, any mushroom that emits a sap is poisonous.

Farma

TP, maybe your situation is different, but anything is worth a try.

Ajarn’s experience is very similar to a work colleague’s experience. He suffered for years until a visit to a Thai Masseuse trained at Wat Po fixed his problem. That was 9 years ago and has not suffered since. He still thanks me for suggesting he visit that masseuse.

Farma

Hi everyone, my first post here.

I made a trip through Srisaket recently and it had most items needed to survive.

There were 2 nightclubs Eagles and All Sis. The shopping centre Suan Heng had a KFC, Dunkin Donuts and a little bakery that made some nice French bread. There were a number of fast internet café’s on the street between Suan Heng and the bus station. The computer shops had a good range of hardware.

A nice find was a steak restaurant on the Ubon side of town next to the Mercedes dealer. The name was in Thai, “Pee Tong Ka” or something like that. The menu was in Thai and they appeared to specialize in western food. I thoroughly recommend the pork chop. If you are feeling extra hungry, try the German pork. Be prepared to share or take a doggy bag home if you order it. It is massive. The meal was one of best western meals I’ve had in Thailand.

There appeared to be a large farang population for an out of the way place. I saw maybe 8 or 9 farangs per day in the 2 days I visited. I noticed farang high school kids too.

Nongfrank, where’s your place? I was told it is near the police station but I couldn’t track it down. I would like to drop in on my next visit. I hear you make good sausages.

Farma.