seeker108

Oh, and thanks for the kind invite U.G. Maybe next time.

Well, I kept mainly to Nimmanhaemin and Suthep Rd and airport plaza where things are more sane and was unmolested. But enjoyed watching others having a blast by driving around a little, safely inside the car.

Pardon my ignorance, but what or who are the "Hang girls"?

Thanks. I'll dress accordingly and bring some spares in a plastic bag.

Does the mayhem continue today or can I expect to stay dry if going in to town for lunch?

Found this with a quick google search:

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/housing/356-481/356-481.html

Iron Removal Equipment

Iron filters remove iron and manganese that can cause staining of clothes and plumbing fixtures. Ferric iron usually appears as rust colored particles floating or settling in the water. Ferrous iron is in the dissolved form and cannot be seen in water. When water containing ferrous iron is exposed to air, the iron oxidizes and ferric iron is formed.

Water with a high iron or manganese content is not considered a health problem, but can be very objectionable in taste, odor, or appearance if iron is present in amounts greater than 0.3 milligrams per liter or manganese is present in amounts greater than 0.05 milligrams per liter.

Iron bacteria are nuisance organisms often associated with soluble iron in water. Because they cause a slime buildup, they can be quite objectionable with iron concentrations as low as 0.1 milligrams per liter ferrous (soluble) iron.

The presence of iron bacteria is indicated by a gelatinous slime on the inside wall of the toilet flush tank and gelatinous "rusty slugs" being discharged at the tap. High dosages (200 to 500 milligrams per liter) of chlorine (known as shock chlorination or disinfection) may be required periodically to control iron bacteria. Shock chlorination must include the well and pumping system.

General Description and Maintenance

Five types of iron-removal equipment are available:

Iron Filter. Iron filters are only useful for removal of ferrous (soluble) iron and manganese; ferric iron will plug them. They look like water softeners but contain a bed of natural or synthetic manganese green sand. Manganese dioxide oxidizes iron and manganese and the oxidized particles are then filtered out in the lower part of the bed. Most such filters can remove 75 Ç 90% of ion in concentrations as high as 10 Ç 15 milligrams per liter.

The filter bed must be backwashed frequently to remove the accumulation of iron particles. For backwashing, a flow rate more than double the normal service flow rate is usually required. The exhausted manganese greensand must be recharged by adding potassium permanganate.

Acid water below a pH of 6.8 will pick up manganese from the green sand and cause loss of oxygen-exchange capacity. Therefore, neutralization treatment (at right) may be necessary. Also, the slime produced by iron bacteria will clog the filter.

Water softener. Water softeners contain a zeolite mineral in the resin that will remove soluble iron on an ion-exchange basis (the same way calcium and magnesium are removed in water softening). Depending on the kind of zeolite used and the regeneration process, up to 5 milligrams per liter of soluble iron can be removed. The slime produced by iron bacteria will clog the zeolite and reduce its effectiveness.

Polyphosphate feeder. These units can handle up to 3 milligrams per liter of iron in solution. They contain a phosphate compound which coats the soluble iron and prevents its oxidation when the water is exposed to air. The compound is not effective against ferric iron that has already oxidized. Polyphosphate is only effective in treating cold water. Heating the water will release the iron so that oxidized iron accumulates in the water heater. The heated water will be rusty and unsatisfactory for home use.

Chlorinator and filter. Chlorination followed by filtration through a sand filter can remove any quantity of iron in any form. The chlorine oxidizes and precipitates the iron and the filter strains out the particles. Carbon filtration may be required to remove excess chlorine residue. This method also destroys iron bacteria. When the bacteria cannot be permanently eliminated by shock chlorination, continuous chlorination is required.

Aerator and filter. An alternative to chlorination for iron removal is that of aeration followed by filtration. An aerator introduces oxygen into the water, thereby causing ferrous iron to precipitate through oxidation. Aeration equipment for household use has become more available in recent years.

Limitations

Iron removal from your water supply can involve complex choices. Careful planning is needed when iron removal equipment is used in conjunction with other water treatment equipment. The type of iron removal equipment chosen depends on the type and quantity of iron in the water, the characteristics of the water supply, other water treatment equipment in use, and the user's requirements for cost, ease of use, and maintenance.

Real confusing for me anyway. Can someone clarify? Are we talking entry stamp or visa here? I think it is the entry stamp that says "admitted until". And what kind of visa do you have KhunMarco? And why could you extend here rather than have to go to Mae Sai? Actually I think maybe I understand this as this may be just some short term extension ( 1 week or 30 days or some such thing) of your current entry stamp and not a new entry stamp. And that this costs about 1900 baht vs nothing for the new stamp at the border. Am I correct in this?

Re the overstay, here is what I understand and what I was just told by a very helpful immigration officer at Mae Sai. "Admitted until" means you are legal until that date. If you are going for a border run they will fine you 500 baht per day after that even 500 baht for 1 day late. He said that the 1 day grace only applies in the case of someone leaving the country from an international airport. And as pointed out if you are 2 days late they will charge you the fee for both days and not just 1. I showed up at Mae Sai for the 1 minute border crossing on 31 March and my stamp said "admitted until 31 March" and no problem. For doing things with immigration here in CNX the Sunday/holiday exemption makes sense. But at the border I am fairly sure this will not apply as they are open every day.

Most of you probably know this already, but if you come in on a 1-year multiple entry visa, then you do not need to go to immigration to fill out a tm.8 reentry form before crossing the border.

A final note, if you want to save 60 baht, is to bring $5 US with you when crossing into Myanmar as they will accept either $5 US or 250 THB and these days $5 is only worth about 190 THB. :-)

Well, Ajarn's little joke actually comes true.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=65161&st=0

and

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060404/ap_on_...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

What forum are you referring to Groo?

With Skype (like many other services) the best deal is the comp to comp free calling. Not only free, but much more clear than tel to tel or comp to tel.

I have the 790+ baht plan from TT&T (256 I believe) and though it can be a bit slow during peak usuage times, I usually have good clear calling most of the time.

Can't say for sure due to the distance I was from the fire, but my thought at the time was that the ring of fire was so intensely strong and high that even the big trees were being consumed wholesale. My first thought was that hopefully just the ground cover was burning, but it just seemd far too intense for that hope. I am afraid in this case the lack of intensity was only in my description, not in the fire itself. It was a very intense forest fire, I am sorry to say. I am glad to hear that it did not reach the temple. It may be that the fire was north of the temple area.

I hope there was less damage to the ecosystem that what it seemed like to me last night.

It is on Suthep Rd. near the road that is on the western side of the moat around the old city (Bunruang Rit Rd., which further south is Mahidol Rd.). You should probably start by registering at the Family Medical Center as a patient. FMC is right on Bunruang Rit Rd about 70 meters north of Suthep Rd.

I don't know about getting your prescription filled there if you are not registered as a patient with Maharaj or FMC. Maybe you can, but may as well register as it is free to register and doctors visits there are no more than 30 baht and often free from what I can tell.

I guess you should bring a Thai speaker with you if your Thai is not real good, if you have any complicated questions, though I have usually done fine there with my minimal Thai. Real nice folks there at FMC and Maharaj in general. There is even a nice American doctor there usually on Wed, Th and/or Fri.

I usually park there in front or on the side of FMC and then walk in to the hospital complex from there for whatever I need in the hospital itself. Good luck.

I think things may have improved there Ajarn, as the 3 times I've gotten something I did not wait at all. They had the prescription waiting for me by the time I walked the 2 minutes from the payment counter all 3 times. Or maybe I was just lucky.

Though you are right that it is not so convenient in that you need to pay in one area then walk a couple of minutes to the pharmacy and where you park is probably a couple of minutes walk from either place. Though, as I need the exercise, I always look at that as a bonus treatment.

Driving home last night at around 8 PM toward Mae Rim on canal road I could not help but notice a huge circle of flame encompassing about 1/3 of the eastern slope of Doi Suthep. I had just been talking with my assistant about the negative affects of all of the burning when I suddenly saw this. It had obviously started at some point in the center of the dark circle and was spreading in all directions as there was not much wind.

The already burned and dark area encompassed thousands of acres and just the outer rim of this huge circle was burning brightly. it gave a strange glow to the twilight. My assistant said she had never seen or heard of a fire that big in this area. Did anyone see it or see anything on the news about it? A real shame as obviously much of the forest on that side of the mountain has been destroyed.

I do not use Vonage but do use Skype all of the time and it is usually a clear connection. Do a search for Vonage using the search button above and you will probably find many posts about it.

From my experience, the pharmacy in Maharaj (formerly Suandok) hospital is at least 25% cheaper than commercial pharmacies. Not sure if you need a prescription from a doctor there or can just walk in with a prescription from elsewhere. But since it costs almost nothing for the services there it may be worth it to sign up as a patient there as well.

I guess we're assuming that you realize that we all will come.

Anyway let me be the first to confirm in this thread that I will be there.

Seeker

Hi TP,

What is the phone # for your restaurant?

I put in my vote for Maharaj because I continue to have good experiences there. And as a Thai friend said, most good doctors are there at least one day a week and many are based there and often other hospitals may need to bring in a doctor from there.

As an example the opthamologist recommended in another thread (Ajarn Nimitr Ittipunkul) sees outpatients every Wednesday at Maharaj as well as operating and working with inpatients there other days. Additionally he sees outpatients at Ram and his own private clinic. Where you see him depends on what ambience you want and how much you want to pay. I saw him at the 7th floor eye clinic of Maharaj as a registered patient of the Family Medical Clinic of Maharaj.

I again experienced no significant waiting time. I was quickly taken through two preliminary eye exams and patiently waited for about 17 minutes to see Doc Nimitr himself to get a special retinal exam. There were hundreds of "salt of the earth" Thais as well as other more affluent Thais present in this clinic to see various doctors, I guess. When I saw the number of people, I thought sure I would be in for a long wait, but not so. Some may not enjoy the throng of people and basic surroundings, but for me it was pure pleasure and I enjoyed some simple exchanges with some very sweet people. I do not recall seeing another farang there at that time.

The total cost for the exams and visit was 180 baht. Not sure what the cost would be in his private clinic or at Ram but in my home area in the States it costs over 5,000 baht just for the retinal exam.

On a side note I discovered that Doc Nimitr has a great sense of humor. When I got in to see him I thought perhaps I had been shuttled to an alternate doctor as this doctor seemed not to speak any English and on the phone the day before Doc Nimitr had clearly spoken English when suggesting I might prefer to see him in Ram or his private clinic. This doc only spoke Thai with me and was very patient and clear in his speech to help me to understand. After about 10 minutes of wringing every ounce of Thai out of me and pushing my understanding of Thai beyond former limits, he suddenly switched to perfect English.

We both got a good laugh out of the encounter and went on to have a nice conversation in English. I think he did this to get back at me for coming to the govt. hospital and to see how "Thai" I was and see how I would react. All good fun and he is a great guy as well as a good doc.

As another side note he seemed surprised that I had no damage to my eyes and had near perfect vision in every way despite having had extremely high blood sugar levels for a long time. I told him I had been taking ayur vedic herbs to couteract the diabetic complications and was now embarking on a complete elimination of the diabetes with its high sugar level as well and hoped to have good results within a few months. When I first discovered the diabetes 5 years ago my vision was already quickly going to pieces, especially reading. Now, no problem.

I must agree with Dustoff that one should be very proactive with ones health and research as much as possible whatever ails you as best you can. I also agree about being very careful regarding using western medical treatment. Last I heard, western medical treatment was itself the 3rd leading cause of death in the west. That is a very scary statistic, especially when many of those deaths ocurred in cases involving minor issues to start with.

I personally tend to enjoy the diagnostic aspects of western medical science while seeking out proven "alternative" natural systems of healthcare for treatment (particularly Ayur Veda). And always seek a second or even third opinion if I have any doubt about an original opinion. I have on more than one occasion experienced doctors expressing their diagnostic opinion as if it were an absolute, indisputable fact while I knew they were not understanding the issue properly and later confirming that they were way off base. And they would insist that I immediately take some drug or do some procedure that would have, as it turned out, done harm, not good and in 1 case could have been fatal.

I know many of you don't feel comfortable enough with your own medical understanding to be as proactive as some others, so it is even more important for you to seek additional opinions before undergoing any serious procedure or taking any western medicine. The consequences of side effects and misdiagnosis are just too serious (including death, if you consider this a problem) to be jumping in blindly. And you really should try to do at least some research. The internet has a wealth of information these days.

Having said all of this, I should also say that I have met many wonderful doctors all over the world who are warm and caring and do have an open mind and are careful in their statements. Hopefully you will always find such doctors.

A couple of hours after posting this I found out that DTAC has a similar, but better promotion now as well. It only costs 299 baht per month and it runs from 5 AM to 5 PM for the unlimited calls.

And finally Orange has a different promotion where I believe all calls are 25 satang for the first minute and 1.50 each additional 24 hours a day, with no extra monthly fee. But you better check on the details yourself before you get this as it seems to me that it should be that the first minute is more expensive and the additional only 25 satang.

Take your pick. AIS still does seem to have the best coverage and signal strength however, with Orange being the worst. Though I hear from friends using this that it is improving.

It seems that the prepay plans are better these days than the monthly billing plans, for most kinds of usage anyway, from what I can see.

I am not sure how long this has been going on, but I have been using this for the past few weeks and have found it very useful.

AIS has a promotion (on a prepay plan) where you pay 399 baht and then for 1 month you get unlimited free calling from 6 AM to 4 PM to any phone numbers within Thailand, mobile or land. Great for those like me who need to do a lot of daytime calling. They also offer 10 PM to 8 AM instead, if you prefer these hours.

Outside of your plan hours you pay 5 baht for the 1st minute and 2 baht for each additional minute. The plan is called Kui Mai Aun.

Enjoy

Or try http://www.jobchiangmai.com/ You can post in English there but will need someone who can read Thai to navigate the site for you.

It was about Vat required to get a work permit but that advantage has changed. IN CM they require the company to be in the VAT system now so now no advantage except in CM the work permit takes a month to obtain and in Bangkok, its 10 days unless your company qualifies for the 1 stop center, then its 1 day.

Interesting. How does a company qualify for the 1 stop center?

Both, sort of correct. The Thai notaries seem to be licensed through an international notarial body rather than a Thai govt. body.

When I told the consulate that I needed this today and could not wait till Tuesday they finally told me that certain lincesed Thai lawyers could do it and they sent me a list of approved attorneys. I was able to reach 3 of these attorneys and 2 of them came in under 1,000 baht (one only after making it clear that his asking price was riduculous and I could get it done cheaper elsewhere).

I had called some other firms earlier and some of these smooth gents wanted as much as 5,000 baht for a 30 second job of looking at my passport and signing their name and putting their stamp. I had almost considered one of these firms for other business. Not a chance now.

seeker

Up here in Chiang Mai your office says that immigration is not yet accepting this. And I had already heard the same thing from a friend working with another firm up here as well.

After pointing out this law, Chiang Mai is still not accepting this update. This is Chiang Mai’s discretion. The only solution is to apply for the extension of stay based on business in Bangkok. This extension of stay permit once approved is of course valid everywhere in Thailand.

www.lawyer.th.com

so, for this do I need to register the business down there, with a Bangkok address? And what about the work permit? Does that need to be done down there as well? I do have a BKK address that I can use, but I am wondering if doing in BKK involves any other short or long term complications or expenses? I seem to recall from something you said earlier that there was at least one advantage that CM had over BKK, but can not recall just now what that was. Can you refresh my memory on that point.

Or maybe you are saying that I can do everything up here, but just fly down and go to the immigration office there when it is time to do the extension?

Thanks

seeker

I seem to recall a small bridge both north and south of Nawarat bridge, but maybe the south one is no longer there? Anyway, to be clear, which way and about how far from Nawarat bridge and which side of road when coming from Nawarat?

Hopefully they have some vegetarian selections?