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Looking for good general potting soil brand that drains well as a lot of ones I have tried are very heavy with mostly hard lumps of clay. OR it is chunks of coconut husks off various sizes that water runs right through. I tried adding a lot of peat moss to the heavy clayish stuff I already have, but it is still nasty. And how come potting soil here is sold by weight instead of by volume? easy profit by having it wet? I have 6 30 x 30 x 26 pots so need many liters. Thanks - sidenote has anyone had luck growing jalapenos with real heat. The local ones have none - suspect they are way over watered as chilis need some dry stress to build heat.

I have an older non-Thai national that owns a condo in BKK and wants to transfer it into her daughter’s name. Has someone done this before and what is the process, documentation and costs associated with a transfer of this nature? Secondly, what would be the process and pro/cons of the condo being in a will - to be inherited by the daughter upon her passing? Is inheritance recognized in the case of foreign ownership? Any major issues-worries with a non-Thai’s will being honored by Thai gov? The condo owner is not a US citizen as some rules are different for US nationals at least in the business realm. Thanks

Thanks Mokwit!

I am looking for advice on a re-shipping company to forward packages from USA to Thailand. In the distant past I had used Shipito and had a good experience over many packages and cheap rates. Then they seemed to have gone sideways. ie rounding up to the next pound instead of by the ounce etc. I am looking for recommendations of who is good and why and those to avoid. I used to buy things off of ebay and at that time fees were only about 10$/lb. I expect they have more than doubled. I don't need consolidation as I buy infrequently and don't need a year contract, but if cheap enough I might consider it. I also do not care about speed - ie fedex, dhl - a month+ or so is no big deal. Tax free states like Oregon would be a plus. Shipito was great as you could word the customs form accurately, but vague enough to avoid theft potential as I usually I didn't care if it got lost. Then as the items were used, I could put low valuations to avoid import fees and opt out of insurance. That being said, I did send a couple of ebay laptops and cameras without issues. Has anybody used MyUS.com? With many items containing lithium batteries do re-shippers charge more for those items or do they just need to be declared while the shipping fees remain the same? Thanks *To moderator, I wanted to post this to general Thailand forum, but it did not seems possible.*

I am looking for a supplier of high quality outdoor gear making fabric & materials in BKK. I am not talking about the stuff they use for the fake Lowe Pro bags etc. Cordura, pack cloth, ripstop, YKK zippers by the meter in various sizes, Gore-tex, Dermizax, Malden Mills pile fabrics. Webbing, trim tapes, V69 poly thread, Quality flat and cord elastic, cord locks, ITW Fastex nylon buckles/sliders/ladders etc. Thanks

Thanks Sheryl, you are the best.

Hi, I am looking for a recommended foot surgeon to perform the minimal invasive cheilectomy procedure in Bangkok. Cheilectomy is where excess bone on top of the big toe joint (MTP) is removed as it causes a limited range of motion (Hallux Limitus) & gait changes. The traditional cheilectomy opens most of the top of the toe joint whereas the minimal one has 2 small incisions (single stitch each) on either side of the toe with a much shorter recovery time. My situation was caused by overuse and a toe compromised by prior toe breaks. I was doing about 2000 vertical feet in an hour on a pretty steep treadmill most mornings. I think I caught it early enough as I have no pain just an odd tightness that never goes away...then I realized too late that excess bone was being laid down in my bodies self protective attempts. Thanks

I would like to understand better some details on how the high rise water systems work in Bangkok and have a few other related questions as well. Most buildings have a ground level system that pumps water to a huge tank on the roof and then there is a rotation of user-side pumps with a pressurized cylinder/bladder to even out the flow between pump spin ups. Our building has about 5 metered lines from the street that goes I assume, to a pump housed somewhere with riser pipes to the roof tank. With a 50 story building, are there one way valves located in the riser pipes every floor or so to keep water from going down again? (would a failure is one or more of these valves tend to cause a deep rumbling at times transmitted through the concrete?) Also this building had its 8-10 inch "filler" galvanized pipes submerged in the roof tank water that were severely rusted away after only 5 years (knife edge thin) - is this normal or defective pipes? (these pipes are at the top of the tank pointed vertically down and were extended into the water most of the time). Should they have been shorter to begin with or was water level too high or defective pipes? The managers whom I don't trust at all, just chopped about 30 inches of the ends and fitted pvc pipe as the solution, but I am worried about the rest of entire building and its riser pipes... never saw such rusting away in just 4-5 years. They chopped off similar ends in the fire sprinkler tanks etc that also rusted away. I also notice that there is no sacrificial anode installed in these tanks. why not? (in the west there is a zinc rod in hot water tanks) Is this a violation of Thai construction code? I fear this whole building's pipes are being eaten away. Also in the roof tanks (which ran dry twice) How does the water level controller work? (it does not seem to be a float type mechanism (one sees in a toilet), but rather there is a vertical 2-3 inch pvc pipe with some vertical slots cut into it. Also shouldn't there be an alarm that goes off in the tech office when the water level drops below a certain point? All they said was that a relay had failed (seems like a single point of failure) - we can't have this tank that serves 1600 units run dry with no warning... Also is it standard to have 5 small meters/lines coming into a large building? seems pretty half ass. If anyone has some details and/or diagram showing from the street supply line to a pump, riser system to roof tank and controllers etc for how it is done in BKK I would appreciate it. I also could use some explanation on the high riser sewer tank system too... it seems they have multiple tanks (why) and some high pressure equipment running (why) and in general why even have a holding tank at all? as it is connected to the sewer system. Do high rises in the USA - West have holding tanks? Again thanks in advance for the answers.

I went to college with a gentleman named <removed> in the mid 1980s (Product Design - University of Washington, Seattle USA). He was living and working in Bangkok for an US furniture company both as a designer and local worker liaison as he was fluent in Thai having spent time in Thailand during the Vietnam war before going back to college in the USA. I visited him in Thailand in 1990 and later we both moved as did his parents who were my primary contact to reach him. So today even though it has been decades, I thought I would put a post out and see if anyone knows his whereabouts or ever ran into him. Thanks

Hi I have a few pages of legal documents that need to be sent from the US to Bangkok. Speed is not that important, but what I need is a signature at the receiving end and about 300$ insurance. I have received Fedex items ok in the past, but they seem like double-triple the cost of UPS Worldwide Saver. Has people had good luck with UPS? ie last mile and signature - phone alert contact in BKK? Usually tracking issues come down to last mile concerns which I am not sure USPS offers it once it leaves the US mainland. (ie you get notice it left the US and then arrived at BKK airport - ... then nothing else) Also I am not sure about the local delivery agent "fees" (charging a service fee aka bribe etc - basically holding your package hostage). I think DHL and others were notorious for this in the past. That being said, USPS has never lost anything over the years. But I never needed a signature upon delivery. Have others had any experience with USPS delivery signatures? Suggestions & advice appreciated

Is the antiviral Paxlovid available in Bangkok? Where and how much? Medisafe said they don't have it. This is a plan B response to learning that secondary vaccines to counter omicron and other recent variants are not available in Thailand. Thanks

Are there any of the new Omicron variant specific vaccines available in Bangkok? If not, any time table for availability? I checked with MedPark and BNH they said they had no info. Thanks

My Thai partner and I were married in the US. I have a certified copy of the marriage license (embossed and stamped on the back per US law). What is precisely needed (steps & documents) to have this marriage recognized officially by the Thai government? She did some initial calls and some are saying she needs to travel back to the US and get some other stamp etc which sounds like a bunch of BS. I need some first hand information rather than armchair projections. Thanks.

Does anyone know where one can still buy the Häco brand replacement power cord plugs? They used to be stocked at HomePro for several years. Now they have disappeared from the stores in Bangkok and I did not see them at Boonthavorn in Hua Hin during a recent visit. They had both a 2 prong and 3 prong versions (see images). Great for keeping cords close to the walls with the side cord style and were of great quality. They had a small neon light inside, but it was easy to cut out if you didn't want it. My email to Häco Thailand was never answered.