Stevemercer

I started riding electric assist bicycles some 20 years ago, using lithium batteries. Lead-acid would be far too heavy for anything you might have to pedal yourself. I bought a KingSong (Chinese) electric wheel 6 or 7 years ago, powered by lithium batteries. When I first got it, it would go up to 50 km/hr with a range of about 75 km. Now, it'll still top out at about 50 km/hr, but the range is probably about 50 km. It cost about 25,000 Baht and most of that was for the quality lithium battery pack. Spend the money for good quality batteries, and look after them with a proper balancing charger, and you might get close to 10 years. You can NEVER allow lithium batteries to run empty (most machines will have automatic cut-offs) and it is best to keep them fully charged when not in use (they will last much longer). Most lithium batteries die because of a cheap charger that overcharges them, doesn't balance the cells or is prone to overheating and irregular charge cycles. The second cause is people running them down below 25% and neglecting to recharge them for a week or so. In my view a 40,000 - 60,000 Baht petrol scooter will outperform and outlast an equivalent priced electric scooter. It will also be street legal. In my opinion, electric scooters are not quite there yet in terms of price, performance and life. While manufacturers try to make things simple, you cannot expect a battery to last long without attention to charging (e.g you can't just hop on it and forget about it - expecting someone else to charge it). Leave it lying around (without topping it up) for two or three weeks and you've permanently lost 5% of your battery capacity. Any electric vehicle <10,000 Baht will last less than a year. Up to 20,000 Baht and you might get a year or two out of it before the battery needs replacing. A decent lipo battery is going to start at 20,000 Baht (just for the battery).

Yes, Joe will be sadly missed. There are a few others who have been pretty quiet recently, including Colin (who was in a wheelchair and a lively contributer) and even Rooster seems to come and go a bit.

I'm with the SCB which has some sort of 'compulsory' accident insurance, but it only costs 600 Baht per annum. Last year, I fell through the roof and my wife took me to the Bangkok Hospital in Khon Kaen. They asked for my SCB ATM card which paid for 18,000 Baht of the overall 28,000 Bahtt bill. At the time, I wasn't aware of the insurance so it was a nice surprise.

Of course Thailand needs submarines, the same as any maritime nation dependent upon the ocean for its oil/gas and trade. Not so much as an offensive/defensive weapon, but to train officers and crew and allow rapid force expansion if the worst should ever happen. The most important strategic reason is to allow Thailand to develop a credible anti-submarine deterrent force. To do this, it needs real subs to practice on (and to fight back).

It is the same system in Australia. If the government files show you are married to a non-citizen, you will get the married pension divided by half. The government makes the assumptiom that your wife has no entitlement to any Dutch benefits, but that she will contribute her own Thai salary/benefits/assets/pensions to the marriage. If you subsequently separate (and/or divorce) you will revert to the single pension.

I think it is a little tricky. You never registered your marriage in Thailand so you are not recognised under Thai law as being married. However, you successfully applied for a marriage extension, and renewed this many times, based on your overseas marriage. Usually your marriage has to be registered in Thailand before Immigration will do this. I guess many of us responding to your OP are a bit confused by this and wonder if you or your wife registered the marriage many years ago and simply forgot about the paper work. Probably not, because it is a somewhat complicated process organising transalations, consulate certifications, notarisations etc. etc. The bottom line is you are not registered as married in Thailand and the divorce will be uncontested. A other posters have stated, you will have to get the divorce in the relevant American jurisdiction. If you are living with another Thai lady then you can tell her and sundry that you are separated from your wife and will be getting a divorce soon. If she is worried about gossip, and you are sure she is the one, just go through the Buddhist ceremony to satisfy her friends and family that you are not 'living in sin'.

If it is not a large area, you can lay down some chilli/pepper powder (or other irritant) to move the dogs along. Similarly you can get various dog repellant sprays from larger stores that might work. The sonic alarms are not permantly on, but they usually seem to work (e.g. point and click at the dog within about 10 meters). If you do this often enough the dogs will move on. The above will not work if somebody is feeding or watering the dogs at that location. But if there is no rubbish and waste food scraps lying around that would seem unlikely.

I reckon an average 60,000 Baht a month (excluding rent and any capital costs) would allow you to live at a decent standard and to entertain yourself. If you are not married/no girlfriend, you could find and marry an ex-government retiree and benefit from her free medical coverage (which extends to her husband). But you would need an extra 20,000 Baht a month (e.g. 80,000 per month) to support a wife or live-in girlfriend.

When I first came to Thailand I did all the social things: weddings; funerals; birthdays; karaoke bars; holiday trips etc. etc. Now I don't so much unless it's someone I know. Everyone is always excited to meet 'the farang' and take photos, but then it's all about the drinking and eating. Not so much for me these days. I still enjoy dancing and that has been, and remains, a good way to get to know Thai people. The blokes want to buy you a drink and the ladies all want to dance with you. But I am happy enough with my own company for the most part. Loud music, heavy drinking not so much these days. But I think it would be the same whatever country I lived in.

It's odd how many farang won't acknowledge a friendy hello. But their Thai wives/girlfriends will always respond with a smile and often stop for a chat. Sometimes it seems like they are apologising, or over-compensating, for their husband's/boyfriend's indifferent manners. Thai people will always respond positively to a smile and friendly hello.

I've had one or two friends over, but try and avoid it. You have to set them up with a girlfriend, show them the sites, explain all over again the do's and don'ts. It always costs you money and time traveling around. I generally try and palm them off on my wife, if I can, particularly if she has set them up with a cousin or friend, but it usually ends in tears.

We had to wait about 6 weeks for the survey.

I have considered this route for tax reasons under the Thai-Australia Tax Agreement. However, when I looked at it a year or two ago the Agreement states I must be a 'citizen' of Thailand to pay taxes under Thai law, rather than Australian law. It seemed a bit too difficult for me at the time.

I did it 2 years ago (withdrew 100,000 a few days after my application was accepted). It was an emergency and I would have preferred to leave the money until I got the final stamp. At my immigration office (Mahasarakham) they have never checked the balance (or anything else) for the final stamp. Having said that, my recommendation would be to leave the money unless you have a genuine emergency (eg. the wife needs a gold necklace or something like that).

I sometimes go for a massage at jails. There is normally a massage place attached to a woman's jail as a sort of 'return to work' scheme. The massages are normally good and very cheap.

Hmm....I don't want to be the one to spoil the fun.

It would help if more people complained when exhorted by the police, but of course there is no protection for whistle blowers in Thailand. It is ony safe to complain if you are a citizen of another country and only when you are safely home (and never intend to visit Thailad again).

Yes, it would be better to get the construction meter installed closer to the time of the house build (within several weeks). If you have a builder they will organise all this. The main cost is the upfront 4,800 Baht deposit (or whatever the cost is now). Monthly bills will be minimal. If there is no activity, the bill will be close to zero. You should proceed to get the water line/meter installed to the edge of your property. Do not pay PWEA to install water piping within your property as the price for this will be exhorbitant. The builders will need to run a temporary line/hose for use during construction. They can do this if it is no more than 50 metres to the site. If the distance is further the builders will want to put in a 'permanent' line to a tap where they will mix the concrete etc. You can always block this off if it ends up being in an inconvienient location. It is best to put in the permanent piping once the concrete wall (that it will run along) is completed alongside the house. Normally the 'in' line will be buried underground about 6 inches running along your side of the fence to your tank/pump set up. The 'out' line (from the tank/pump set up) to connection points in your house and outside taps will normally run along the concrete wall. Normally the builder will do the concrete wall, at least near the house. It is best to lock it into the contract (length, height and location of the fence). Once the fence starts going up, any neighbours with concerns about the property boundary will stick their noses in. It is probably good practice to get the local Lands Department in to verify/confirm the property boundaries to avoid future disputes. You normally have to book them 3 or 4 weeks in advance. It is worth treating them to lunch and tea money because they may favour you in any disputes. At one point (not too far from the tank and close to the main bedroom showers etc (or anticipated heaviest water use) a line will run to the house. This will then run buried along the length of the house to all the connection points. When we built our house, we had the builder leave a 1 meter space between the house wall and the perimeter concrete pathway (which is usually built right against the house. This means we can plant bushes and gardens right against the house and the water pipeline/house connections are not buried under concrete and are easy to access. At the end of the day, because Thailand runs such a low pressure system, and the pipes are PVC, everything is easy to fix, reroute or bypass as necessary. You will be able to do most of this work yourself with basic tools.

We had to pay to get a line in from the closest PEA pole to our construction site and then pay PEA for a temporary connection/meter. I think the connection/meter cost 4,800 Baht. The builders organised the line in and, during the house construction, put in a permanent 3 phase line to our house (about 250 m from the closest PEA pole). The cost will mainly depend upon the number of poles needed to get to your house from the PEA pole and may be 30,000 - 50,000 Baht per 100 metres (assuming 3 small concrete poles per 100 m). When the house is completed, don't forget to get PEA to change the meter/tariff to domestic. The contruction tariff is twice the domestic tariff and, apparently, we 'forgot' to change the tariff. We paid the construction tariff while living in the house for over 7 years. I recommend getting town water put on. Normally PEA will put the line and meter to the edge of your property. I forget the cost. They will give you a quote to run the line across your property to a specified end point, but the cost will be outrageous. It is much cheaper to get a private contractor/local to build that line or, alternatively, do it your self.

Yes, I often get into arguments and fights with monkeys too.

Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks like a rat snake skin to me, maximum width of the snake maybe 2 - 3 inches if flattened. That would equate to a rat snake 1.5 m long. If you look at the larger python skins, the scales are small in relation to the width. I've never heard of a rat snake big enough to attempt a cat, but one could cope with an unprotected kitten. If there were pythons around, I'm sure you would have seen them around before. They tend to hand around if there is food about, and have regular patterns of movement. Rat snakes are very quick and come and go.

Yes, looks like a typical Isan build, at the lower cost end. Everyone has been through the same communication problems and frustrations. You are probaby taking a good approach to see how it goes before deciding whether to go ahead with your 'dream home' in the future. You will have plenty of time to contemplate life and your relationships, in general, and whether you want to stay and Yasothon. Plus, if you end up moving on, you will leave your girlfriend and her family with a house. The big downside is that few of us want to go through the frustrations of building a house twice in Thailand. Once is enough! But maybe you are young enough to do it all again.

I wonder how much the former Police Chief is worth? He got 'Big Joke' removed from his post when 'Bik Joke' first raised allegations about iregularities in the Smart Car project. The project was pushed through by the ex-Police Chief.

Old woman often don't wear bras especially when pottering around the house or garden. In the non-tourist areas (and outside trendy Bangkok) women tend to dress conservatively, but there are always exceptions of course. What I find a bit disconcerting is that Thai women (including teenagers) will often parade around the house in just a towel, or loose night-dress, even when a male non-relative (such as myself) is present. They don't do it to be provocative, they are just acting normally and would be horrified if you took it as a 'come on'.

I agree with the above posts. You can buy the bike advertised as a way of dipping your toe in the market. The cheap battery will only be good for 5 - 10 km range and will die within 6 months. After that, you can decide if you want to spend the money to get a decent scooter of that style that will last. A decent battery powered bike of that type will start at 20,000 Baht, but a good one will be 30,000 Baht. This will have a range of 40 - 50 km and the battery should last for years. The battery will weigh up to 10 kg and be removable. The supplied charger and electronics will have cut-offs etc. to avid overcharging. The risk of fire is minimal. I have had a King Song electric wheel for 8 years and the battery is still going strong (range of 75 km and speed up to 40 km/hr) after some 8000 km.