turnpike

Many times I have seen irrate pasengers getting their expensive perfumes and after shaves confiscated at the departure gate bag checks.

I hear many times passengers pleading with customs that the bottles are half full and the contents meet the allotted amount.

Allways to no avail, they allways point blank refuse to listen to any reason. I often wondered why they were so tough. Even when the bottle is clearly half empty!

Today I found out why. My Thai wife told me that on sanuk.com there are many "used" expensive perfumes for sale, all the expensive brands...EVERY DAY.

She also told me it is common knowledge amongst the Thai's that this is where they come from. No wonder customs are so forcefull, they are making a fortune out of it!

I was a bit shocked you think you've seen it all in Thailand but there is allways one more :rolleyes

okay...here's the good side of all of this, you've found yet another reason to slag thailand. (like there wasn't enough already)

about people complaining that their bottles are half full.....do you think security people have the time to weigh each bottle? these rules have been in place for a long time now....there is no excuse for intelligent people to complain, whether it be over half a tube of crest toothpaste, or half a bottle of chanel number whatever. refuse to listen to reason?? "reason" doesn't have anything to do with it. rules are rules! these people are in a hurry to process a lot of people efficiently in a short time.

do you think only thailand might be the only country to do something "unscrupulous" to these confiscated items?

your wife could be 100% correct, but don't isolate thailand as the only country doing this. i'm sure my crown royal whiskey in calgary wasn't poured down the sink when i got nabbed a few years back.

unfortunately, there's still too many dumb people travelling that causes other people valuable time.

so if you don't like it, blame the shoe bomber....don't blame thailand...

A tip for when you are cutting your sets is to dab the cut faces in cement dust,it seals the cut and helps prevent dehydration.

ozzy,

bringing up and older topic here but...

never heard of this before but it makes sense. do you dab it and let it harden just before planting? or do you let it continue to sit and sprout after dabbing.

i've planted some, well, 2, potatoes from india. they look just like normal spuds, but they are the best i've ever eaten, soft texture, even large ones have that "baby potato" taste.. i've taken another 4 from the galley at work and will plant them this time home.

thanks in advance for your help.

Thanks for those links, didn't know you could do that with tomato plants. I'm going to have a go at that, it looks uncomplicated enough even for me to take on.

I'll start with some seeds from the local toms and see how I get on with those before looking for some juicy toms at the supermarket on our next trip into town.

Cheers.

daffy,

just so's you know, those juicy tomatoes from the supermarket are more than likely hybrids.

if so, the plants that grow from them "may not" be like the original.

not sure why, but it's a fact.

just so's you know....

tp

i posted this in the pets forum a couple of hours ago, but perhaps it's better posted here as one of my questions was how is this stuff made?

i know the base is pigs blood, i bought some tonight and the missus uses it in soup,

i've ate it before, it's got no taste, just big chunks of floating brown "gel", similar (to me) as tofu, just a different colour.

just wondering how it is made? is it just pure pigs blood? it is bought in the market as floating "cakes", best way i can describe it.

thanks in advance for any help.

this morning, the wife sent me to the market to buy 20 baht worth of pig's blood, the floating "cakes" that they chop up and add to soups.

i was very surprised on how much i got for 20 baht.

i've eaten it plenty times, to me it's like tofu, just a filler with no taste.

i was wondering, first....how they make this stuff and second...would it be a good additive to dog food?

to any who reply, thanks a lot.

tp

quote

"Also could I simply have these vaccinations in Pattaya or Surin at a more affordable cost. I will also start a course of Malaria tablets 2 days before leaving on doctore advice."

unquote

Ask your Dr if he has ever lived in Thailand.

Jeeeezus, what a croc of <deleted> has been posted on this topic.

it's pretty obvious you've got a hate on for either doctors, doctor's advice or vaccinations, but you've never stated why.

are you scared of needles or something?

please enlighten the clueless masses....

I have asked Sheryl before to sticky a vaccination recommendation thread to avoid the nonsense here. I do wish she would do it.

The vaccinations you need in Thailand depend on where you will be going and what you will be doing. Before I arrived I made sure all my usual boosters were up to date: diptheria/tetanus, and polio. I also got Typhoid and Hep A shots, due to the high odds of eating vegetables/salads washed in unclean water. Don't say it isn't possible, I recently was infected with Giardia from a salad at a very popular hotel. Typhoid and Hep A aren't out of the question.

I also recommend Hep B for everybody. It's not that I expect everybody to get drunk and forget the condom, although I have heard that happens. I advise it for protection in case medical care is needed, such as injections or drawing blood. I do not trust the more rural government hospitals to do a perfect job of sterilizing the needles, and they don't have the single-use disposable needles here like they do in the US and probably Europe. In a bus wreck, you'd be taken to the closest hospital for care, and be glad of it. No need to risk hepatitis, and it would be a risk as a large percentage of Thais are infected with Hep B.

good points made in this post.

even dr. "lube and a condom" should see the sense in this.

when i think of words i hate, 2 come to mind.

1) pus

2) evildoer

Hi guys/girls,

I have been living in Nong Khai for the last 4 years. I have been to many rural villages and love it and know i would like to live in a village. now my question is what are you guys experiences living in a rural village alone as a farang? I know most people live together with their thai gf/wifes/boyfriends but is it ok to live there as a farang alone? The language is no problem and the land owning thing also not just very curious on how the everyday experiences are if you are there without a partner. I hope that i will settle somewhere in a village soon as I think it is a life style suited for me.

Please let me know what you think about this subject.Also if you obvious dont have a thai partner how would you determin where in isaan you would want to live as there are so many places with different things to offer!!

By the way I just joined thai visa and I find it an amazing source of information and a great way of finding out things.

thanks everyone

rick

hey rick,

i'm no expert on this subject, but i have a feeling that 99.9% of us living in rural isaan have a partner of some sort, so i don't expect you'll get a whole pile of responses from people who live here on their own.

not saying it can't be done, and the fact you say language is no problem likely means you are somewhat fluent in thai, so that would make things easier.

seeing as i have a wife here, i don't feel qualified to answer your question. but if you lived in nong khai for 4 years on your own, i don't imagine the transition to a small village would be a big one. might be a bit of an adventure, actually. (you sound like you may be a writer planning to write a book...if you aren't, maybe you should consider it. )

anyhoo, best of luck. let us know how it turns out.

rgds,

tp

DESPERATE British tourists were still trying to get out of Thailand last night as violence flared in the strife-torn country.

boy, that's stretching it a bit, isn't it? i mean, it's not like thailand is nigeria or somalia or the like...

i never knew frogs had whiskers..

that is a beautiful shot and a beautiful creature by the way...

I have been a landscape archiect for over 20 years, before that I was a purchasing agent for the largest landscape company in the United States. We own our own nursery, where we design and install landscaping all over the world. I have personally purchased and planted tens of thousands of these trees. They look just like the pics you posted.

I have seen these trees for sale in different nurseries around thailand. The owners call them Bucida buceras.

Here is a link to a Bucida buceras tree grown in Florida http://www.plantcare.ca/plants/59.html it looks alot like the one you have.

Does any of your trees have thorns?

meandwi

It won't be the first time that I'm wrong. But I feel 99% sure in my identification.

meandwi,

i've no doubt as to your credentials and i do appreciate your reply, don't get me wrong on these points, but as soon as i found the picture of the ivory coast almond, i knew instantly that was the one i was searching for.

my tree has no thorns. although the leaf shape of the bucida tree is similar (tear drop), the leaf size of the bucida is up to 4". the leaves on my trees are maybe 1 1/4" max.

cheers, and thanks again,

tp

TBWG, just wondering if yours have flowered yet, and if so at what age?

thnx,

tp

meandwi, i think i agree with TBWG, but thanks anyway.

i got my wife to google it (in thai).i guess i should have done that first. known by the name Ivory Coast almond, the scientific name is Terminalia ivorensis Chev.

here are 2 links pertaining to the pictures in my opening post. one site is in thai and has a picture, the other is in english and describes the tree.

http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sea/produ...?SpID=1621#Uses

http://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%AB%E0%...%B8%88%E0%B8%87

TBWG, is that your tree also?

thanks for that, meandwi.

i'm off to google land now...

just curious.....how did you know that?

i'd like to know the name of this tree so's i can find out how big it gets, how long it lives and whether i've planted it too close to my wall.

we put it in about 2 years ago, it's likely 6m high now, and a very nice looking tree.

thanks in advance for any help/replies. i've also added a picture of the same type of tree, but much younger.

tp

I'm curious which seeds from home will grow in Thailand? I am a beginner horticulturalist and am interested in growing some of my fav. flowers from home in Thailand. Is this an exercise in futility?

i can tell you for a fact that sunflowers grow very well here. i brought seeds from Canada and they all grew very well. i never knew it, but there are dozens of varieties of sunflowers, all different sizes and colours. so next time you're home, load up on sunflowers. once you plant them, you're guaranteed seeds for life unless a cow eats them or something.

Roger,

You can buy the Peacock Bass fingerlings at the weekend market in Bangkok, they run from 100 to 150 baht each. Some aquarium shops have them from time to time, but expect to pay dearly for any PB of size, I have seen them in some shops at prices in excess of 4,000 bht each (15-25cm length). PB will readily spawn in a pond.

Another 'foreign' fish that I have in the pond are Pacu, caught one last weekend that weighed 9.5 kilo., Pacu have not spawned in the pond.

The land that the pond was built on had a pre-existing small pond that had flooded with the local creek several times. Originally I had a lot of the native Mekong flood plain fishes, however their numbers have dwindled as the pond no longer floods and most of the species need flowing water and distance to successfully spawn. I do catch some of the sheath fishes (pla thong) that were native from time to time and a few catfishes and pla chong still.

For forage fish to feed the predator, talapia are the main source. No other fish seems to be capable of keeping pace. I do restock about 8-10,000 talapia a year in 7-12cm range. I catch a lot of talapia on hook and line in the pond, mostly in the one kilo range, they are a blast on light tackle and make a delicious meal fresh. I have a second pond that is app. 20m X 20m that I specifically grow talapia in for consumption, I use a few peacock bass in this pond to keep the talipia from multiplying by adding the PB 2-3 months after stocking the talapia.

Hope this helps you, if you need any more specific info feel free to email me at [email protected]

Cheers,

Don

bassman,

i've never caught a peacock bass before but a guy i used to work with has a fishing lodge in has a fishing lodge in venezuela and he's told me all about them.

how big do your peacocks get?

i've got pacu as well but the biggest i've caught is maybe a kilo and a half. visions of a nine point fiver gets my palms sweating.

i'm up here in isaan between khon kaen and udon thani, does anyone know if peacock bass fingerlings are available up this way? and does anyone know the thai work for peacock bass?

all this talk about fishing makes me want to buy some more land and dig another pond......swore i was done...

thanks to all who've replied so far, keep them coming.

tp

Took a pla chon out of a neighbours pond last year on a rod . They,re a predatory fish that sit amongst snags or in holes waiting to ambush their prey so I used a lure rod with a small spinner . It only weighed just under a kilo but made for good eating . (English name : striped snakehead)

jandtaa,

thanks for the reply. i've got a few lures at home, but never thought of using them, but thinking about it now it makes perfect sense. i'll give it a try when i get back there.

we just put in 3000 fry, mostly pladuk, and there's a large population of very small fish (not sure what kind) which must have been bred from previous stock, of which there is still plenty.

anyways, i'll give it a go when i get home.

thanks again for the reply.

tp

anyone ever catch plachon on a rod and reel? i'm usually at work the few times a net has been thrown in our pond, but the wife said they almost had 2 huge plachon's that ended up falling thru the net. a fish that size is crying out to be caught on a rod and reel. any ideas? i would think a big chunk of meat on a big hook either sitting on bottom or close to the edge. the pond is about 4-5 meters deep, 20mX20m.

one more question. anyone ever put "sawai" in their ponds. i may have butchered the spelling, they're real big catfish. we put a couple hundred in and was wondering if anyone has any experience with these fish.

any good fishing stories from your (or any) pond?

thanks all,

tp

Of the top 79 countries there's not one I'd rather be living in than Thailand.

(slapping hand loudly on tabletop)

HERE,HERE!

woops,

that should've been "HEAR,HEAR"

Of the top 79 countries there's not one I'd rather be living in than Thailand.

(slapping hand loudly on tabletop)

HERE,HERE!

what's the difference between mick jagger and a scottish farmer?

mick jagger says "hey you, get offa' my cloud"

a scottish farmer says "hey, mcleod, get offa' my ewe"

HI

With 8 dogs to cope with I take my hat off to you, I keep 3 Gsds and thats a full time job!LOL

I keep mine in the house and the noise they make would awaken amyone.

Its an obvious solution but why not keep a few of the dogs that you already have in the house at night?

All dogs are usually territorial and one will start the others barking for sure.

I know closing the door after the horse has bolted isnt much good but bringing some of the dogs inside at night might give you peace of mind and a good nights sleep.

If you are serious about another dog oyu need to consider how it will respond to the other dogs, a Malinois is a great defensive dog but it needs a great deal of training and control is vital.

Roy Gsd

Roy,

i'm fortunate enough to live on 6 rai which is totally walled in (at least when people decide to close the gate behind them. ) so the dogs have room to run. we've got a line on fila brasileiro breeder in Phrae, about a 6 hour drive from where i live. me and the missus will take a drive up there when i'm home next time and take a look at the breed. the pups aren't due 'til the end of the year but i'm curious to see the parents and speak to the owner.

does anyone have experience with this breed? i've learned an awful lot from google but first hand knowledge is always the best.

thanks to all who've replied.

tp

Haven't heard of any boerboel in Thailand.

Although not impossible, strange that all your 8 dogs slept through the event. Can it be they knew the intruder and therefore didn't bark?

Other guard dog breeds that are bred in Thailand are the Rottweiler, Fila Brasiliero, German Shepherd, Malinois. Just to name a few. Oh, the Thai breed, Ban Kaew, also can be a pretty good guard dog.

Nienke

Nienke,

i don't think it was someone i knew. a german guy and a business in the market also got hit that night in our village.

funny you should mention Ban Kaew, i've got 2 of them actually but all dogs were sleeping at the front of the house and the intruder jumped my fence and broke into a kitchen window at the opposite side. stole all the wife's gold, wedding ring, jewellry, watches and pinched my wallet from our bedroom, all while we were "blissfully" sleeping as well.

the rest of my security consists of a pug, shitzhu,french bulldog, labrador, a lab/? cross pup and a toy poodle, the latter being the most vigilant one of the bunch.

help is on the way, tho. my wife says she's got a line on a free rottweiler so we'll see if that improves. with that and the 2500$ alarm system we should be okay.

thanks for the reply, and thanks for the list of dogs. i was going to post a question about other watchdog breeds bred in thailand, you've saved me some work.

all the best,

tp