rickudon

Passport - Marks sending machine was in gear, got passport on Tuesday. So another option for you Owl. Wife's visa is apparently back in Bangkok - should arrive any day. I booked the tickets to UK - that hurt a lot! 2,800 GBP for the 3 of us. A once in a lifetime thing for the wife i think. Daughter will have options when she grows up. Mangoes - have 5 trees with fruit, but not a lot. Planted one new Mango (grown from seed), No transplanting shock. Meanwhile, M-in-L continues her scorched earth policy in the garden - has weeded my pots, including a Pomelo seedling and many tomato plants. Seems to have developed a pathological hatred of anything green, unless she planted it..... I fear on my return from the UK in May it will be a moonscape!

Did my 4th burn today. Brother-in-law 100 metres away had a smouldering pile, which stank of plastic, so i said to self, why wait? My fires are small, very dry (not much smoke) and only last about 15 minutes. As for how practical a ban is, consider this. 1. Farm very small, just over one rai not counting the pond. Not practical to buy a tractor. 2. Wife did hire a man and tractor to plough the farm, but he did an awful job ( i wasn't there to stop him). He just left a pile of soil and grass on one side of the field, also obliterating most of the path on one side of the pond - which also included 2 small coconut palms, 2 small bananas and 3 other small fruit trees he couldn't be arsed to avoid. Clearing up that mess by hand has taken 3 months. 3. One days rain just turned the soil back to concrete - a hoe just bounces off. As for the stubble rotting down - no, most of it is still there unless buried over 15 cms down. Had to dig out a lot of the grass out of the 'pile' and burn it as it wasn't fit to plant anything in. 4. Last 2 fires were mainly Eucalyptus leaves which i had raked up - they were up to 10 cms deep and do not rot down easily (have seen some which have survived at least 3 years!). Could have left them on the path next to the road, but one cigarette....... could have burnt the trees, fence etc. 5. Composting - I do compost a lot, but some stuff is too stubborn. 3 years ago i made a 5 metre long pile of coarse grass dragged out of the pond, took over 2 years to rot down. I have spent 2 hours a day, 5-6 days a week for the past 4 months just doing maintenance on the farm - 10 seconds with a lighter saves a lot of time. Fortunately, our area doesn't have any large scale burning, and air quality is rarely bad in the village - visibility is good and air 'tastes' ok. Only used our air purifier about 3 days in last 3 years. Just the local maintenance fires. Probably better as so many rice fields are now derelict, so not burnt (I reckon about 75% of paddies around our village not growing rice any more).

A laughable sum. The 600 baht a month Thai state pension represents just 2.5% of the UK 4 weekly pension. Yes, 2.5%. Thai pensions have a long way to go to catch up. 6000 baht a month would be reasonable.

Mangoes. Here in Nong Nalam been a problem. Many trees had loads of flowers, but now ZERO fruit. We have one big tree like that. Sister-in-law has at least 4 trees the same. A few others in the village visible from the road the same. Was it the week of cold weather about 2 weeks ago? It seems to be the Mangoes which start off green more affected. Passport - 'Mark' has recieved my pickup authorisation, says next week.

Actually, in Udon currently traffic lights are the new 'must have' road improvement. If you know Udon, the Muang thong fruit and vegetable market had an incredibly dangerous U-turn from one direction - now has working traffic lights since last week. Also seen a couple of other U-turns get traffic lights, but surprise surprise, on these lesser U-turns have already experienced red light runners.

I just did my daughters first passport last month. Because it was first passport a LOT of extra documents needed, quite a hassle. But better to do now than her trying to do it after i have gone. Was going to use Keyvisa to do it but owner died, didn't like the idea of all my documents sitting in an office in Pattaya maybe forever. Did find another agent, "Marks sending Machine" which was recommended to me by a Udonmap member who charges 4,000 baht (you still have to pay the passport fee, you need a credit card to do that). Had a hiccup as he was going on holiday so i took to Bangkok myself - glad i took lots of extra evidence as asked for more but yes, the VFS staff member was helpful allowing me to rewrite a couple of pages of the app. form and do photocopying, and waited while i did so. Marks sending machine is in the process of picking up - will report back if i get the passport! Currently 3 weeks turnaround but it is a quiet time of year, was 11 weeks in late summer. Passport fees went up 1st February. Round trip to Bangkok cost me about 3500 baht - to do it in one day you will probably need an afternoon appointment (booking system). How things grow - getting daughters passport evolved into us all having to go to UK AND sister-in-law getting married there at the same time. Savings are evaporating like an Isaan puddle in the sun!

Would seem to be more sensible to put the train on a bridge, no need for extra land, or to reroute the roads, and helps prevent animals and humans getting on the tracks. Worked for 150 years in the UK!

Dr Jong just used to regurgitate the opinions expressed by other international virologists/disease experts. I never saw anything he said that i hadn't seen already somewhere in international news or science journals. All i know was that i was already convinced we were in a Pandemic by end of January 2020 from the information i had seen, and cancelled my 2020 travel plans by Early February. Also advised relatives who were coming on holiday to Thailand that the country would lock down by the end of March. One chose to ignore this and had her holiday extended by 6 months..... Also second guessed most other developments. Covid is not going away, just another respiratory infection in the common cold group of viruses. One type of Coronavirus that can cause colds has recently been linked as a possible culprit to a 19th Century pandemic, Russian flu. Governments themselves are unreliable sources as what they say is distorted by 'economic' considerations - like in UK with BSE. When Selwyn Gummer was feeding his daughter a Hamburger for the press to see, I had already banned beef in my household, as i knew about Kuru (a somewhat similar disease in new Guinea) and didn't eat it for 15 years.

Vetifer grass, yes used to stop soil erosion in Thailand. Also need to think about maintenance - some plants grow like crazy and will need cutting every 2 weeks in wet season. Initially, first year, need anything which will rapidly provide ground cover to stop erosion in the wet season. Once the soil consolidates a bit, can think of planting more permanent plants like trees. Expect to loose about 10 cms of the lower bank in the first year while plants establish and soil compacts. I wouldn't plant any trees on the lower bank as you could end up with a tree waiting to collapse into the pond in a few years. Mango trees around our pond were the only ones to survive flooding which was bad the first 2 years. Aquatic plants - depends on if the pond is for fishing or beauty, Some nice colourful water lilies here in Thailand - but may spread rapidly or die off - usually one or the other! Do not put water hyacinth, water lettuce or Hornwort in the pond - can spread rapidly and choke pond.

Owl, If your passport expires in December, remember that your next extension of stay from immigration will only last until December. So best to replace your passport 3 months before your extension expires.

Disagree with both Connda and Finnsk. First, safety. Coal, oil and gas can all catch fire as well. When it comes to ICE vehicles, fires are not uncommon. Ex-wife lost a car to an engine fire and a Thai in-law died in a coach fire. Sure accidents to batteries can happen, early days for stats, but i expect lithium batteries (with the possible exception of cheap ones in mobile devices) will be safer than fossil fuelled powered engines. Sustainability? Metals can be recycled, just needs the economic will to drive it. You cannot recycle coal, oil and gas back into their original forms easily if at all. Hydrogen? so overhyped. Generating hydrogen from electrolysis is very energy inefficient, and then burning it again to get electricity, you loose about 80% of the energy. It would have some niche uses, but economically doesn't make sense. To put in context, if that renewable electricity was worth 5 baht per KWH, the electricity from green hydrogen would cost 25 baht a KWH or more. There are also issues over large scale hydrogen storage and transport; hydrogen can leak through most containers due to it's small atomic size, causing a safety issue. Fusion energy - money has been poured into this for 60 years, and so far more energy is produced than what was put in only a couple of times, and this for one time reactions lasting micro seconds. An actual power station, running continuous fusion reactions, is still a dream. Probably will take another 60 years, if ever. Renewable energy, whether from wind solar, tides, hydro or other, are technologies that have been around for some time, just they were uneconomic while fossil fuels were cheap and the main drawback was inconsistent rates of generation; battery power can resolve this. For the next 20 years, renewable power and nuclear fission are the only alternatives to fossil fuels.

Or the USA. Has Rishi still got his green card?

Interesting graph, although some countries not on it. What is appalling is that most of the countries with the higher homicide rates are in central America and the Caribbean. What is the common factor? I am sure supply of illegal drugs to the USA is a major factor. And where do the guns come from? Drugs, guns, USA. A toxic combination.

First, where to fish. Unless you have a running river near you, bear in mind that most smaller ponds (some very small) have an owner. It may look neglected, but usually they will be netted/pumped dry once or twice a year. Owners may not take kindly to you fishing there without permission. Also the banks are often steep and slippery clay, so safety is an issue (particularly with kids). Khlongs may be free, but often polluted. So yes, best bet is probably a fishing park or private pond. Three or four of us used to fish the parks, but some were an absolute ripoff - One was 200 baht a day but in 8 man days fishing we only caught one fish. Now i just fish my own ponds - much more likely to catch something, and more variety of species. As most Thais fish to eat, a pond can be cleared out pretty quick - a large pond very close to us is free currently but many thai anglers use 3 or more rods at a time there. You will need to do a fair bit of research to find the best places; there are some upmarket lakes stocked with large fish but also expensive and not really suitable for kids. Try speaking to other local expats, if you find a few anglers they can give good local advice - or maybe they have a farm pond you can wet a line in. In the parks, mainly striped catfish, because they are tough and can survive a lot of fishing pressure. Other fish are mainly Java barb or Tilapia and assorted types of carp. For the catfish you will need fairly heavy gear - 10 lb line, ledger tackle. If Tilapia and barbs, can go lighter - 6lb line (possibly with a lighter trace) and float tackle. My personal ponds have mekong and striped catfish, java barb, Tilapia, a few carp, Climbing perch, snakeskin Gourami and snakeheads. Also a few giant gourami and Pacu. Baits - most fish here are mainly vegetarians, so bread (or cake!), sticky rice will work; worms as well but hard to get in dry season. Also fruit, prawns, small bits of chicken, liver, even a bit of cabbage can work. Snakeheads are predatory but hard to catch - have good eyesight and will ignore a lure if they know you are there. ground baiting will pull more fish to your swim, particularly the herbivores. Time of day? before noon or after 4 p.m. Amazing how bites slow down at midday! Tackle - hard to get very light lines or very small hooks here - I buy those in the UK.

I compost, but though it turns out good, when you use it on the soil it disappears quickly. When i have enough, i dig in a 2-3 inch layer at the start of the cold season, but gone completely by the wet season. Rots away or termites eat it. I just cannot make enough especially as my M-in-L destroys all grass and weeds in the garden, and bins it along with all the leaves unless i get there first. Training her is working, but it has taken 10 years!

I think the record is about 40 kg. but yes, unlikely to see one over 20 kg. I do have at least one in my main private pond which is around 2-3 kg. Should also be some smaller ones, but not seen them for 6 months. I feed the pond every day with the previous days food waste (family creates a lot, cannot understand why they are not more careful). but mainly see plaa sawai which particularly like star fruit. The Jeramid only comes sometimes, and a Giant Gourami rarely. Haven't fished for 2 months as too much repair work around the banks. Also nightmare doing daughters passport and wife's visa for hopefully trip to UK in April. Talk about stress!

Mango wine ....... Had a friend made some a few years ago. He just fermented it then bottled it up into the 1.25 litre coke bottles. Was OK (certainly strong) but wine stayed cloudy and did have a slight bitter taste. Could have maybe done with a while maturing, but didn't last long enough! Other things .. Plaa jeramid (Pacu) caught from one of our fishing ponds by a customer - 16 kg ! .

Never had an account with a bank in Thailand that didn't pay interest. Maybe the staff are stealing the interest payments?????

Not just sex criminals in the Met police in London. My brother worked in Customs doing drug busts and they had to always take police with them on any bust. But they found out if they informed the Met. about where the raid was going to be, suspects and evidence all missing at the bust location. They had to specify a place to meet, then tell the Met officers 'follow me' until they got to the address, THEN tell them..... draw your own conclusions. Same world over - the bigger the town or city, the more corruption you will find.

At the grandparents... visiting was an experience ...... outside toilet, no light (remember to take the torch), Izal if you were lucky, newspaper if not. Yes, tin bath and a clothes horse for modesty. some lights were gas..... but modernity had arrived, there was a black and white TV, but only one channel (BBC). Food. The dreaded mince beef, boiled potatoes and cabbage once a week. Cold fatty lamb from Sunday lunch on a Monday. And sugar sandwiches (needed butter, margarine just wouldn't cut it). And Polo mints.

Being born in the UK in the fifties, wasting food was a no-no. 2 world wars and food rationing meant that you tried to use everything. I know now that in the UK under the age of 60 are less conscious of this, but still rare for most typical families to throw away more than about a lire of waste a day (i am sticking with volumes). In my family situations i had, it would be rare to throw away more than 2 litres a week. In Thailand, with most on lower incomes, you would expect that Thai families would also be careful about waste....... NO! My family here produce about 5 litres a day. that is from about 4-5 for Breakfast and Lunch, and 5-8 in the evening, normally. Yes, a lot of it is down to Thai soups, sauces etc., a lot more liquid. And of course the climate means spoilage happens faster. But i reckon what gets binned (allowing for what isn't fit to eat) would still feed another 2 people, I put it down to preparing multiple dishes at nearly every meal, and always having something for people who drop in at meal time. No portion control. What is your experience? And what do you do to change habits? We have a slops bucket which goes to the fish every day (has to be every day, hard to carry after 2 days!), so not totally wasted. But still find them throwing peelings and left overs into the rubbish bin because too lazy to walk 3 metres. Also have a compost heap (which if not for me, would be empty!). I moan, but changing habits is hard.

Hmm.... Maybe we can sell all that <deleted> land the family owns but Thais will not buy.....

My son was lucky. He just wanted to drive my wife's scooter around the village - i wasn't happy, but he is an adult. 5 days later he had an accident. He wore a crash helmet, but was just wearing flip-flops and his foot was sliced open. He had travel insurance, but i doubt if it covered riding a motorbike and no licence. Took him to Bangkok hospital, with my wife in tow - they accepted her motorbike insurance! Bill was about 27,000 baht including redressing wound every few days. Wrecked his holiday. But now he has a wicked looking 8 inch scar as a memento.... he no longer wants a motorbike. All of the families nieces and nephews have had motorbike accidents - fortunately nothing worse than broken arms and legs. I will no longer even go on the wife's bike as a passenger - last time was 5 years ago. With the state of Thai driving skills, and some substandard roads/safety issues, it is almost certain that you WILL have an accident eventually. If inexperienced, almost certainly sooner. In a car, may still have accidents - but 90% of the time only the car gets hurt.

so the population has fallen by about 80,000.

Happy New year! Always an interesting thread. Saw that Owl posted about Bookhouse, Nong Sim. That closed about 7 years ago. Wife kicked out husband who then returned to UK with his young son. She ran the place for a year or so then site owners kicked her out so they could redevelop it. Tenure in Udon is always a risky thing. Spend loads doing up your rental, and next year lease not renewed. Other places to go in Udon. Upmarket, try the Gallery, near the Honda Big Wing showroom at the Kutchap turn on the ringroad . Nice restaurant although a little bit expensive, can get directions on internet easy enough. Or Papa Farangs. the pie man, up the Kutchap road at Baan Hansa; however opening limited as Dean who runs it has some health problems. Do not know about any chess players, haven't played for 10 years. You are welcome to drop in if coming to Udon - I live in Nong Na Lam near Bobae and global house. Next door to Wat Burapa Wanaram.