lannarebirth

Hello,

Does anybody know if there is Architecture for Humanity Group in Thailand? I am trying to see if I can work with them on community development project.

U.S. Web site

http://architectureforhumanity.org/

Regards,

Peteintown

Bangkokwalk.com - Community Development Resources for Thai Community

You may wish to contact Mr Jon Jandai at Pun Pun. He is involved in similar activities and might be able to offer you a lead:

http://www.punpunthailand.org/

All very interesting and a good idea a rice growing section:

Well my wife and I have 13 Rai and mama has 25 Rai, one side of the village is more or less Family one way or another, so we are probably looking at 250 Rai thats a guess could be more:

Well here in the Burriram area we get one crop per year, the figures for my crop this year are shown in the rice harvest topic.

We started about April with the ploughing this year I got Brother-in-law to plough ours and mama's and put money in his pocket I did this because I bought him the Tractor/Cultivator last year and wanted the family make use of it.

Normally one plough then a till the charges in our area were 250 bht per Rai this year.

Mama sowed the rice this year, we the help of another member of family he was paid 200 bht

Fertilizer we administered twice throught the growing season good quality Fertilizer costing about 560 bht per bag.

The harvester was charging 500 bht per Rai this year, I think next year it will go up in price.

Growing the rice costs on our 13 Rai this year was about 20000 bht (We harvested 58 sacks)

Now if I sell at 600 bht per sack that equates to 34800 bht minus outlay leaves profit of 14800 bht, but it was hard work enjoyable but hard work. My sister in law has lost her land she used this year and in the past bacl to the governement and she is a good lass so I amy let her grow it next year and take a percentage of the growth, it would be less than years profit but her needs are greater than mine

WEll yesterday we finished the other 3 Rai this was brown rice 15 half sacks:

So in all this year 43 Jasmin and 15 say Brown rice, so off of 13 Rai total 58 sacks, then there is rice to come in from from other sources

Hi macb,

I love brown rice, for it's taste and for the additional nutritional value. It was my understanding that brown rice was simply a milling process (it is for me anyway). Is there another distinct rice seed you're growing for it? If so I may look into it amd plant some.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=f...ce&dbid=128

If your critics come on to say thay didn't find that funny, then you'll just have to accept that nothing will please them. Very funny IMO.

What was the difference between the DoiTung maccadamias and the Oz ones ?

I bought the DoiTung roasted maccadamias in flavoured versions, not plain or raw, both were very tasty, but the nuts were smaller and generally not whole. So perhaps this is a secondary industry and the whole best nuts are used for something else.

They were expensive also.

The Doi Tung wasabi macadamianuts are delicious. I wouldn't have thought of that in a million years.

Hi again, My family is visiting in a few weeks and have expressed interest in elephant riding. Anyone have any idea of a good place to do this, preferabbly somewhere with a good reputation for being humane. Tour companies only seem to offer trips to elephant farms plus orchirds, which we are not that interested in, since we wil be going to the flower show. Let me know

Any other ideas for a family (who are not the most adventerous travellers) would be appreciated.

I recommend you visit the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang. It is not for profit and in addition to having a ride on an elephant you'll learn an awful lot about them too. Here's some information and reviews:

http://www.tatnews.org/others/1785.asp

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Revi...er-Lampang.html

http://www.changthai.com/

Sharp Customs agent. Saw the Chinese guy, saw the bulge, and said to himself, "something ain't right here".

My house has Thai standard ALuminum, left/right sliding windows. Would like to replace them all with standard double hung windows, including mosquito screens,prefable wood/vinyl clad to reduce maint.

Have looked all over CM and found nothing. perhaps in BKK? Google search specific to Thailand, yield no useful results other than large window mfg. in the west( ie Pella) which do do have any offices in Thailand. Any leads other than importing?? Tks

Another member shared this company with me. They may have what you're looking for:

http://www.duro-products.com/

I've mentioned this book here before.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0375500545...723#reader-link

Like most exercises designed to heal rifts. It searches for what is shared in common by different idealogies, rather than dwelling on the differences.

WEll yesterday we finished the other 3 Rai this was brown rice 15 half sacks:

So in all this year 43 Jasmin and 15 say Brown rice, so off of 13 Rai total 58 sacks, then there is rice to come in from from other sources

Hi macb,

I love brown rice, for it's taste and for the additional nutritional value. It was my understanding that brown rice was simply a milling process (it is for me anyway). Is there another distinct rice seed you're growing for it? If so I may look into it amd plant some.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=f...ce&dbid=128

maple,

slated is christian,and he is like many i met in america in the past that he is strict christian and they really do not have 'relations' before marriage; the same as most orthodox jews i know here in israel... they really do wait until marriage.... i just remembered as he had asked about christian associations in thailand a long group of posts ago...

and btw, my 19 yr old daughter has been dating an ethiopian traditional jewish guy for a year and they are both, yes, virgins.... as he is and she is still 'waiting for the right one' ... it does happen u know.

bina and anon

It's not about not having sex that I found suspect, it's taking up time on the ladies forum about it. I see that pumpuiman and fruitbatt alluded to this before. Reading between the lines for me sounds like this:

"Mom, I am such a good little boy! Look what a good little boy I am! So handsome and decent and pure! Do you see? Do you see what a good little boy I am?

"Oh, mother dear, protect me from those brutish, rude men for I am not like them! I am a delicate sensitive flower that must not be plucked before it's time.

"Oh, what a good little boy I am!"

I am not being entirely kind in making my point, but this is what I hear. This forum is supposed to be for women supporting women, right? Or stuff that comes up for women that they want other ladies' support or thoughts about.

This thread strikes me as a guy taking up women's attention and indirectly seeking approval. It reminds me of a dynamic in the US where people of color often say that they'd rather deal with the overt racism of the South than the smile-in-your-face-but-stab-you-in-the-back, hidden and sometimes subtle racism of the North. Maybe I'd rather have the blatant sexism with no pretense than the guy who thinks he's being good but sucking up just as much of women's energy. Go start a forum for sensitive guys supporting sensitive guys (or whatever you want to call it) instead.

I think a lawyer would call that "assuming facts not in evidence". Women's Studies major?

geez, never knew this existed or how to find a site like that, but, cant find it in thai, and to convince anon about a project like this i need it in thai... so am writing to them to see if the program still is in existance also...

he, needless to say, was skeptical as to 'programs' that involve village thai and anything involving 'learning'...

but thank you very much, any other ideas/etc forthcoming, we are willing to listen and try....how on earth did u find that site ...

bina

bina,

Maybe something here:

http://www.enaca.org/modules/smartpartner/partner.php?id=11

Link is in Thai and maybe Anon could write for information:

http://www.fisheries.go.th/freshwater/index1.asp

Ken

Was she a peasant?

Some Brits like to refer to females as 'birds', is it possible he actualy called her a 'pheasant'?

Apoligies for my misspellings. I meant peasant, and no she was not.

I know a Bit who I heard call his girlfriend a "fukcing peaseant" and who he said the same about a Thai man to my girlfriend. I told him I thought that was a harsh way to describe his girlfriend, and he commented "it's just an expression". So, since we have all the Brits attention here, is it just a British expression that is commonplace and acceptable, or is that untoward behaviour by one of your own?

Americans aren't really affected much by what folks from less productive countries think of us. We're usually too busy doing stuff like going to the moon, pioneering new musical genres, inventing personal computers and the internet, removing evil dictators from power and such to give a flying fork.

We understand that when other folks feel the need to bash us it generally stems from ignorance, jealousy, bitterness, or a combination of all the above.

From the AA (Americans Anonymous) website.

"Hello, my name is Eric, and I'm an American."

"I used to be embarrassed to admit I carried a U.S. passport, and ashamed in turn to be embarrassed about that. These dark secrets led to feelings of guilt and to a vicious cycle from which I couldn 't escape. That's when I discovered AA (Americans Anonymous)…

"Thanks to this 12-step group, and to the fellowship of like-minded people, I have learned true humility. I have had to face up to the truth. The sad and uncomfortable truth. I now realize that as Americans, we cannot, and never will, measure up to Europeans (among others) in the areas of honesty, generosity, tolerance, solidarité (en français dans le texte), clear-mindedness, humanitarianism, infinite wisdom, true democracy, world peace, and the love of one's fellow man.

Spit that hook out of your mouth.

thanx ramdom,

we have opened and printed about one a day recently; it gives him something to read when he's not working and in his hole in the wall basement room on the moshav, instead of going to sleep at 17 00 every day...

but we noticed nothing on fish farming so still perusing the net for that one....

the links are good; i think many of us need thai language info for our partners and i personally cannot search for the sites and anon is still not skilled enough to find the right combo of search words so all help is need.

bina and anon

Bina,

Check out the activities at the villages 1-8 on this page:

http://www.cri.or.th/cri/activities/act_sp3.htm

It looks like they may be learning the things you and Anon wish to know, in community environment which may feel familiar to you. I see they have a program to send Thai kids to Israeli kibuttz. Maybe you could get the Israeli govt to fund a trip for you two here, to teach locals what you know?

Ken

Does Whitman's do an insect sampler?

no, when someone is immediate and clear physical danger then the only acceptable option is to make an intervention there and then.

who knows, he may have told the kids to leave her alone and they might have.

With this attitude you will not find a job in any rescue service ever. As another poster has already stated here - there are clear regulations and directives in most western countries concerning those sort of actions, and here in Thailand there may be no such directives, but i have never heard any group leader advising anything else.

What you propose is the job of the police, who has the authority and the training for these situations. Not you.

I'm with left cross on this one. If all we did was stand by and let bullies and scummy little gangs hurt people then the world would be a very dark and nasty place with cowardly people scurrying about.

Jumping in the sea to save someone is a brave and noble thing to do especially where all others had doubted him to this point. Forget professional mariners / rescuers etc. What needs doing in the flash of an eye needs to be done, the opportunity of rescueship fell on Gyro and Gyro alone and he took up the mantle. It gives hope and courage to others who hear of the tale too. Its certainly better to say of someone dying trying to save anothers life than dying at the end of a boring life, in their bed!

However I don't think you can broadside Ulysees for not inteventing, his age and health alone spares him of that. Although, yeah ok maybe shouting may of had an impact on those little twts attacking the girl, but we'll never know that now will we.

I always shake my head when people talk of getting the police in or leaving it to the 'experts'. There isn't time in 90% of cases to do that! By the time those guys (or gals) get on the scene its too late! The damage is done and often the bad guys have gotten away. Even if the're caught later on they it still won't change what they've done will it!

You seemed to have missed the point. Whatever opportunity there was to rescue the poor fellow that went over the side was lost when the Darwin Award nominee "gyro" shirked his duty and decided to commit suicide by jumping off a ship steaming 20 knots away from him, in high seas, at night, in the North Atlantic. If gyro ever found the guy, he likely pulled him down to his watery grave.

One interesting thing happened this year. Last year I left a big pile of rice straw in the corner of one field and just left it there. It rotted down and I plowed it into the soil...please note that this pile was way way thicker than you could ever get on an entire rice field. Now we have a rice crop planted in the field again. She (wife) fertilized the field with the recommended amount of fertilizer and stuff is growing ok...but...where the rice straw was plowed in the plants are about 40% taller...it is really really noticeable....there is this big hump of plants in that corner of the field..its impressive. Now, I'm an organic grower and would like to just say that naturally this is what you would expect...but quite frankly since she used a good balanced fertilizer everywhere I really didn't think that the difference would be so great. Also, I need to wait for harvest time to see if this is truly a benefit after all you don't eat the plant...you eat the seed...and there is no guarantee that a bigger plant will produce more seed.....we'll see. Another interesting thing is that these super sized plants are the same color of green as the rest of the plants...this means that it is not because of extra nitrogen that they grew so big...this surprises me but I think it is a good sign because it means (I think) that the growth is balanced and not just driven by some imbalance in the nutrients...but maybe I'm wrong...I'm anxiously awaiting the emergence of the flowers to see how its going.

Chownah

Harvest is finished and I did some work with this extra tall section of the rice field. I marked off the corner of the field (an area of 10 square metres) and inside this area I picked what seemed to be the best square that was one metre on a side and I harvested the one square metre and kept it seperate and then I harvested the rest of the 10 square metres and tabulated the results.

The "best" one square metre yielded 0.6 kg of rice which, if realized on one rai (this is not likely but of theoretic interest) the yield would be 960 kg per rai.....a yield which is unheard of around here and is a very good yield even by world standards. The 10 square metre area yielded 5 kg of rice (including the rice from the "best" one square metre which was contained within it) which would be equivalent to 800 kg per rai....again an unheard of yield around here. The variety of rice was Gaw Khaw 6 which is khow gniew.

The rice in this area and in this general area lodged. "Lodged" means that when the grain grew it got so heavy that the plant fell down. This doesn't cause a problem for the grain maturing but it means that it must be manually harvested and harvesting lodged rice by hand is more difficult than harvesting rice plants that are standing up by hand. The plants in the 10 sq. meter area were taller than the typical rice in our fields but the stalks were also definitely thicker....but not enough thicker to support the weight of the grain it seems. The fact that the rice lodged could be simply a matter of chance caused by a gust of wind but I'm going to assume it was the weight of the grains.

In developing high yield varieties of wheat, breeding a shorter plant was a crucial issue because wheat can lodge when heavy with a full harvest too and a shorter stem is stronger and can support more weight all else being equal. The highest yields in wheat are always on short stemmed varieties (I think) at least for American farmers who, of course, use machinery to harvest all of the wheat so lodging is not an option. While lodging in rice is not so prohibitive for small farmers in Thailand as it is for wheat farmers in the US, it is still not desireable because of the extra labor required to harvest it. Perhaps there are shorter stemmed varieties of rice available.....which reminds me of Maizefarmers mentioning of hybrid varieties of rice developed outside Thailand.....I'd like to find out about this lodging issue in Thai rice and if I get the time to speak with a rice researcher or if I get lucky on the internet I'll let you know.....if anyone else finds out or knows something about this issue I'd appreciate hearing about it.

Chownah

There's some things on the net concerning hybrids chownah. I found this old article, but don't know what progress, if any has been made:

The Nation

High-yielding rice coming

Published on Dec 26, 2003

A hybrid rice breed with record yields of 1,800 tonnes per rai will be

introduced in 2005, allowing Thai farmers to cut production costs by 30 per

cent, says the company that is developing the breed.

The hybrid white rice would allow Thailand to maintain its position as the

world's largest rice exporter, said Montri Congtrakultien, president and CEO

of Charoen Pokphand Trading Group Co Ltd's crop integration business.

The rice breed, which CP has been developing since 2001, is now being grown

in a demonstration plot.

Montri said the hybrid would boost efforts to develop new rice products and

was also in line with the government's effort to improve the quality of Thai

rice.

Experiments at the demonstration plot have shown that the hybrid yields

three times the number of seeds as breeds currently grown in Thailand, he

said.

The new rice, which has not yet been named, has been developed for irrigated

farms and the next stage would be to develop it for other plantations,

Montri said.

Higher production of farm goods will facilitate the government's plan to

make Thailand the "kitchen of the world" and would help efforts to get the

maximum benefit out of every square metre of farm area in the country,

Montri said.

He said the high-yield rice would reduce required plantation areas from 60

million rai to 40 million. The extra 20 million rai could then be used as

orchards or to grow other crops such as fruit or vegetables, he said.

Dr Milagros T Lopez, head of the hybrid breeding team, said the rice yielded

1,500-1,800 kilograms per rai, compared with the current production of

1,000kg. The hybrid rice is a cross between Thai rice and imported rice

breeds.

"I agreed to do the research for hybrid rice because nobody has yet

succeeded in breeding hybrid rice in Thailand," she said.

Lopez worked for 10 years as a researcher at the International Rice Research

Institute in the Philippines. She came to Thailand six years ago and

completed her doctorate degree at Kasetsart University.

Dr Anek Silapapun, senior vice-president of the group, said farmers would

make more money from farming hybrid rice despite a small increase in farm

costs. The production cost of white rice is Bt2,100 per rai, while the cost

of high-yield rice is Bt2,400. But the higher yield will compensate the

cost, he said.

Rice exporting countries such as Vietnam, Burma, India, Indonesia, the

Philippines and China were also developing hybrid rice to strengthen export

competitiveness.

The company is also doing research for hybrid jasmine rice and expects to

introduce it in 2008, Anek said.

Achara Pongvutitham

This organization promotes and tracks hybrid rice production:

http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/AGPC/doc/field/c...vprogramme.html

GRAIN :

http://www.grain.org/research/hybridrice.cfm

http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=136

Hybrid Rice Blog:

http://www.grain.org/research/hybridrice.cfm?blog

ulysees' actions were complete and utter skin saving cowardice. to see a young girl being beaten by a gang and then not intervening is low, very very low.

you use your age as an excuse but perhaps your age would have been a help. thais respect their elders and seniority and the teenagers may have backed off.

it's not clever to use violence in the street, but you had the immediate chance to save someone from potential death and you skulked away 'to be a coward another day'

if it was a gang of men fighting then perhaps you would be justified, but a young girl????

when i was at sea i knew a lad, gyro, who was seven stone wet through. every time we went out drinking and fighting this lad used to duck out of the way because he hated it. we all used to say he had no bottle.

one night we were in high seas near iceland and someone was washed over the side. without a thought for himself, gyro jumped into the seas to try and save him. it was suicide, but it was the bravest thing everyone who saw it said they had ever seen. that lad gave his life to try and help someone else. that is true bravery.

i'm sure the cowards among you will say 'live to be a coward another day' but the world has been shaped by people like gyro, who selflessly give their lives for another cause.

As someone who spent an entire career at sea, I'd say "gyro" was not very bright and very poorly trained. You should have thrown a life ring with emergency light attached instead, whilst calling the bridge to execute a Williamson Turn. In those waters the life would likely still be lost, but certainly not two.

as someone else said on this thread - people often act with selfless bravery as a reflex action, it is not something they think about.

for example, if you were walking down the street and you saw a kid playing and a truck hurtling down the hill towards it you could A) dive into the road and throw the child to safety while getting yourself killed

do the Ulysses thing, say to yourself 'i don't know the kid, someone will die and i dont want it to be me. i will live tomorrow'

my point about gyro is that you may be seen as a coward, you may be scared of violence, of trouble or of getting hurt. but when something happens in front of you that requires an act of selfless bravery you may act in that manner by reflex, even if it means you sacrificing your own life.

others do nothing and think of their own skins.

I simply can't agree. Your example did not call for the action of one who is selflessly brave. It called for the action of one who is well drilled in what action to take when a man is swept overboard. All real professional mariners are well drilled in what action to take. Your friend discarded that taining and committed suicide instead. Ulysses did the right thing IMO.

ulysees' actions were complete and utter skin saving cowardice. to see a young girl being beaten by a gang and then not intervening is low, very very low.

you use your age as an excuse but perhaps your age would have been a help. thais respect their elders and seniority and the teenagers may have backed off.

it's not clever to use violence in the street, but you had the immediate chance to save someone from potential death and you skulked away 'to be a coward another day'

if it was a gang of men fighting then perhaps you would be justified, but a young girl????

when i was at sea i knew a lad, gyro, who was seven stone wet through. every time we went out drinking and fighting this lad used to duck out of the way because he hated it. we all used to say he had no bottle.

one night we were in high seas near iceland and someone was washed over the side. without a thought for himself, gyro jumped into the seas to try and save him. it was suicide, but it was the bravest thing everyone who saw it said they had ever seen. that lad gave his life to try and help someone else. that is true bravery.

i'm sure the cowards among you will say 'live to be a coward another day' but the world has been shaped by people like gyro, who selflessly give their lives for another cause.

As someone who spent an entire career at sea, I'd say "gyro" was not very bright and very poorly trained. You should have thrown a life ring with emergency light attached instead, whilst calling the bridge to execute a Williamson Turn. In those waters the life would likely still be lost, but certainly not two.

perhaps unrelated....but a while ago there was some talk about pressure that oil should not be traded in US currency anymore (with the arab world and russia pushing toward that move)

IF that really did happen..then the US could be in trouble

at the moment since oil is to be traded in US$ this allows the US to print more of their currency without having enough reserves (I understand each country needs to have certain amount of reserves in order to bring more currency into circulation in the economy) exception being the US due to aforesaid oil currency...

my comment on China is another story

This argument is fallacious. It doesn't matter what currency oil is traded in, as any currency can be traded for another instantly and at a miniscule fraction of 1%(like 1/100th of 1%) of transaction value.

When I was with a lady friend , she took me to her main Temple and gave the Monk a 10 Baht? note, got coins and held my hand while putting 2 coins in each of 5 receptacles (I think that amount is correct) and I think she prayed also.

What was happening? Can someone explain it to me please?

Possibly, she was praying to "spirits" to transfer any merit attached to her donation to loved ones, alive or dead. More likely, from my observations, she was praying to said "spirits" for good fortune.

Anyway we're still the best in the world for music and style and that's still the reason other countries want to put us down, 'cos we lead where others follow. No reply to that from the Brit bashers would confirm the fact that it's true.

Peace.

Not to mention your fabulous cuisine.

Here is a link to a farang, who with his Thai wife operates a goat dairy farm:

http://www.asiagoat.com/

Just finished sacking today. Only 4 rai this year, but we'll increase next year(may even do a second season). Got 42 bags (45kg) sticky rice, and 56 bags of jasmine rice.

That's 1,100 kg per rai if the bags actually weighed 45 kg and you actually only grew 4 rai.....that's pretty impressive.....especially considering that it seems that over half of your land was in jasmine rice. Around here you would be a star for getting such good results. Around here 600 kg per rai is considered par for kou gniew and kou chow yields less. 1,100 kg per rai would be considered phenomenal.

What varieties did you grow and how much of what kind of fertilizers did you use per rai? Did you transplant once or twice? How old were the seedilngs when you transplanted. Are you sure that the area planted is correct and the weight of the harvest?

Good work lannarebirth!!!!

Chownah

Well. ity's a 17 rai piece and I'm kind of eyeballing the paddy size. It might be 4 1/2 -5 1/2 rai. I weighed a couple of the 45kg (going from what my worker told me) sacks today. They averaged about 36kg apiece. Still it's a good bit more than we got from the adjacent paddies last year and our experiment of hill farming rice. We used no fertilizer save for the cow manure that had been accumulating in the fields for the 2 prior years these paddies lay fallow and about 1 1/2 meters of grass we cut and plowed under.

Anyway, the results were good enough that we've decided to cultivate the adjacent paddies as well and do a second season. Anecdotally, my workers tell me we got a little more yield than the adajacent Thai farmers and they couldn't be happier. My workers are Tai Yai and they take a lot of crap off the Thais, so this was nice for them.