notrub

8 hours ago, jonclark said:

Wait for a

Wait ten minutes and the normal government stooges will be along to tell you, it's the law, it's easy, stop whining and if you do not like it leave. 

This is current policy in the UK these days.  Except in the UK deportation is the result of non compliance, not a few thousand baht fine.

Thanks a lot for the comments.  Good place to start and will get on to the house inspection part right away.  They live in an OK house but definitely in the poverty category.   I can do 100k a year but only just.  I just had 4M euros stolen from me and that sort of cleaned me out.  

Anybody know the 'taken to the cleaners' joke?  I can almost remember it and I think it was told in a Russian accent but could be wrong.  Might be an old Python sketch....  Driving me crazy trying to remember it.

Thanks again, keep those ideas rolling.

Came across this on a FB site called 'Rural life Thailand' 

 https://www.thethailandlife.com/truth-about-pesticides-thailand?fbclid=IwAR107-6PANb7JroAXnmW57W8cbB1J96_ecCIKHAPdqGiBNYT4DLnBTgkZ2c

Another FB site 'Expats In Isaan / Northeast Thailand' is pretty interesting too.  If it is that you live in Isaan, I suppose.  i like it although I am not a big FB user.

Good luck Thailand taking on giants like Monsanto.  They are the NRA of chemicals and GM crops.  Or the Pall Mall outfit working to develop tobacco use in every country where it is not banned.  Or how about whoever is behind use of coal?  Moving right along to the arms industry that has been banned from making cluster bombs that look like toys.  Imagine, they had to be forced to do this.

Heaven help us. 

13 08 2019

How does a young Thai person obtain sufficient funds to attend university?  Are there government grants or loans available?  The young woman is 18 and her parents are poor rice farmers who are able to provide for the family and participate in the annual plant rice and pray for rain cycle (they have 25 rai of land outside the village here in Isaan).    

This young lady is the niece of my GF and I would be willing to supplement her costs to a certain extent.   She appears to be serious about her education now and is a person of good character.

I hope this question will start a thread on this subject.  Ultimately providing some answers to the funding issue which would enable her to attend university.

Thanks in advance for any response and/or ideas.

what is the price of this car please?

OK, so what is the process, web site or whatever that will enable me to obtain a TM30 with a receipt if it is done on line?  Can I now go to immigration, 2 months b4 my 90 day, and report at get this TM30 registered and will I have to pay something?

I would like to replace my GF's old (old) Toyota which runs ok and is paid for (whew!) but could use a new paint job and other bits and pieces.  I just bought a Toyota CR-H Hybird and paid cash (well over 1M baht) and didn't get any enormous discount at all.  In fact they seemed a bit disappointed that I didn't want a loan. 

Here is my question.  Can I buy a new car with a very low down payment and about 0% interest repayments?  Does the make make a difference?  A friend was turned down when wanting to buy a Mitsubishi on credit (after 3 home visits and in depth offensive nosing into their affairs by the sales team).  They walked down the street to the MG dealer and got a good reception and a new car was delivered the next day (100 km away) having signed 1 form.   

I see that there are plenty of new small cars for sale at around 50K and they all seem ok to me.  I would prefer Toyota or Honda but don't really care.  The car will be used as a local run around only so long term trouble free use is the main issue, along with all the normal attractions (ABS, safe etc...)

Also, we don't work although we/she owns the 3 rai of land my 2M baht house is built on.  We have no debt.  

So, can you help with advice about buying a car on credit, what car makes and credit companies to avoid and how do we qualify for a loan with no income?  Please.

Otherwise I could buy a nearly new used car for cash.  Where could I find one of those, please?

Thank in advance for any comments.

So, how much for this car?  Is it for sale at full price or low interest loan payments please?

I have a good quality pump, 3 solar panels and control box that are all working great at 6M3/hr.  It has dry run burnout protection and will switch itself off if the well runs dry.  Then switch on again after 30 minutes.  I suppose it repeats this cycle forever(?).

Pump name HANDURO solar pump, Type: HD-4SC6-56-72-750,  50 to 150V (DC i suppose) 750W  Made in China as are the panels.

What happens if there is water in the well but the pipe becomes blocked?  I have hard PVC pipe but also flat discharge pipe that can become kinked and limits or stops the discharge.  The joints are good and the pipes are good quality so they will not burst.  Will the pump just sit there spinning in the water and not come to any harm?  It will switch itself off if overheating.  The water goes directly to the fields without a holding tank and don't plan on putting one in as we have a big pond to fill up, so an electric water level switch connected to the panel is not an option just now.  Should I consider a pressure switch to turn off the pump if there is a blockage in the discharge pipe?  Prefer not to do this if poss. The person I bought it from said it wouldn't be a good idea to let it run with a blocked pipe but no one has had a pump fail (so far) due to this problem.

Thanks for your thoughts...

We have been exchanging ideas about AVR units.  Rather, some of you have been helping me to understand that they exist and what they do.  Thank you.  We have getting between 145 and, this AM 175, volts arriving at our house.  There are a number of households along this same wire (that runs along our lane) who are having the same problem.  Uncle, who works at the PEA is writing a letter stating this fact to his boss and listing 6 households suffering from low voltage.  They might install a transformer or other device or do something to raise the volts supplied.  What, I don't know.

One fellow, up the road from us (closer to the main power lines) uses a lot of electricity with 6 or more AC units running all day and more other devices too.  Can his high use of electricity cause our voltage to drop at our home further down the line?  He is considering putting in 3 phase and Uncle is now saying that once he does (and stops drawing off the line in the lane) our voltage will go back up to 220.  Is this true?

The PEA has extended the line beside our house several KM to provide service for farmers a bit out of town.  They have not installed any transformers or other equipment as part of this line extension.  These farmers at the end have low voltage too and cannot use their well pumps.

I don't really believe the story about one household using all the volts, like water in a pipe, and so we don't get the full 220 as a consequence.

As usual, thank you for any comments you may have.

Further to earlier questions about farming and seeding etc. we are having a rethink in our family.  We would like to grow a crop that will not require so much water and not much fertiliser either.  There seems to be an abundance of dry chicken poop around here (sold by the bag) and wonder if this would work OK.

Our plan is to concentrate our efforts on a few rai for rice and figure out some other kind of crop for the rest.  Any ideas?  Would eucalyptus be feasible?  Ma will have a veg garden and a hosepipe to provide all the water she will need to provide for family use size crop.

Well cooked, I do know what persons use knob for as a derogatory comment but I wouldn't have thought knobend  is sufficiently antisocial to get monitored out.  Let's see.  Why do you now say it is misspelled?  Except the various sites show it as 2 words.  Some with a hyphen and some without.  You could also choose to insult me by calling me a doorknob and even I would get the idea that you don't care for my comments about Roundup.    

One person, Orton Rd, wrote 'I bought it off lazada, kills everything!' and that is exactly my point.

Thanks Isaan Aussie.  That is an interesting post and I did know a little (very little) about fertiliser as I buy it and take it home in my truck.  I try not to think about it too much, however.  Also, prefer a bit of oily fog to dying from dengue fever.

But you didn't answer the really important question.  What is a k**bend?  

Happy farming from your pal, burton

I see many CBC AVR units listed on Lazada.  from about 2,000 to 15,000 (Uninterruptible Power Supplies 3 Kva - 2400W Brand CBC Model EA-630 EA 600 Pure Series Sine Wave UPS -is 15K).  I can think of how to reroute the feed for the fridge, microwave and pool pump to one location.  How do I calculate what I need as an output to feed these devices?  Please.  Is it that my pool pump will function on low voltage (it does) but is it that 160 volts will shorted its lifespan?  Will my refrigerator be damaged by having only a 160 volt supply?

Also, will low voltage cause my RCBO unit to not function properly?

Thanks very much in advance for any help and also thanks for posting about AVR in the first place.  I knew that voltage could be lowered but was not aware that it could be raised.   

Well cooked, I don't know what a k**bend is but I assume it is derogatory.  I thought describing myself as an ex hippy was all the qualifications needed.  That and being able to read, of course.

Yes, we are tied to fossil fuels and chemicals and capitalism but accepting that as reality does not make it right.  You may recall that slavery was, at one time, considered an essential ingredient for farming and life in general.  That changed and although we are not called slaves any more, we are still slaves to the system.  Those who prepare mail orders for delivery have their toilet breaks limited and timed and they all work under the eye of cctv, for example.

I was not criticising you personally for using Roundup, simply pointing out that the manufacturers are not an honourable company.  Monsanto likes to dress itself up as a saviour to many of the world's ills and we should cut them some slack because of that.

I don't know what they put on the rice fields here for fertiliser or what they put in those fogging machines they use to kill bugs but I am sure it is not nice stuff.  I am sure that the farmers are not too concerned about how much they use as long as it works.  Then it goes into the water table.

Monsanto can produce seeds that can be identified genetically as well as being bug resistant.

What will stop them from producing seeds that grow into plants that can only be protected by one of their products? 

Monsanto...Think of the Marlborough Man and how his image glorified a cancer causing product. 

GM crops are banned from the EU.  Why is that?  

Hello Crossy,  I am a victim of the low volts provided scenario and I was very happy to find your post on this forum.  I did not realise that the PEA would simply supply 155 volts without even a how do you do.  (We are is Isaan, north of Buriram in a small rural community.)  Consequently I spent many hours on the road taking my new Samsung microwave to the repair shop and insisting that they do something (!) as it was new.  Now I know it does not work properly because of the low voltage provided.

I am writing this post to ask if there is any update on the information already provided by you, please.  I see on your photos that you have a V.E.G. device.  Is this the brand you recommend?

We have few big electric devices in our house.  Fridge, microwave, clothes washer and one AC unit.  Our computers are laptops so they are plugged into a charger unit.  Is it that our new UHD TVs are at risk from voltage fluctuations?  We also have a 1 1/2 HP pool pump.  We have a separate consumer unit in our guest house and aside from a shower and TV there is only a refrigerator there (no AC, only fans).  Is this fridge in danger of damage through low voltage?  Should I put a small AVR in there just for that?

I will start re reading your 2017 post.  Thanks very much for your original post and any updates or comments you may have. 

Yes cooked, roundup does work killing weeds.  Unfortunately it kills everything else too, most notably people.  Weed killers also kill bees very effectively and so there will come a time soon when pollination does not take place in a way that it should do.

There are other ways to control pests and weeds and if as much energy was spent on research as is spent defending poisons then we would be moving ahead in a more positive way towards safer solutions.

There are legal cases where compensation is paid but the sums are often drastically reduced on appeal.  Also, consider the seriously ill person having to take on a chemical giant and their well paid legal teams.  Spending your last years on earth in court fighting for justice is not my idea of fun.

Also, the problem with chemical products is that their targets build up a resistance to them.  So a stronger version needs to be used and the war on weeds etc. escalates out of control.

It has been recently announced that cockroaches will soon be immune to any kind of known chemical agent.

We believed to tobacco companies for many years and look where it got us to. 

As you are an ex hippy (I am one too) I am surprised that you are not more suspicious of the honesty and motives of the big chemical and pharma industries. 

Happy spraying and all that.

You jest. 

I am not, but my sister is hypersensitive to chemicals and she gets dizzy and ill when walking past somebody's lawn that has had a roundup spray, in Canada.

Bayer aka Monsanto are big players in the field of GM seeds and crops.  Yes, they do produce seeds that are resistant to mould and bugs but each seed has a copyright and is for sale on a one time use basis.  That means no putting aside some of your harvest for planting the following year.

Using their seeds without paying is against the law and in Canada farmers have be successfully sued even when airborne or bird poop born seeds are found by the Monsanto police who are out there checking.

It does not take much imagination to see where the seed copyright process is going.  Soon farmers will be tied to Monsanto and they will have to pay whatever the price is set.  Just like Bayer and their life saving drugs that only the well insured and/or wealthy can afford.

Roundup is a very nasty bit of kit and their legal team are of the same ilk as those who defend the tobacco industry and fossil fuel groups.  How long did it take to make changes in the laws relating to tobacco?

So I followed threads and got to a reference to the KIDD seed drill manufacturing, saw the pictures and cannot find the reference again.  Please help with that as I cannot find them listed on google.

Using a seed drill would it be that we just flatten out the fields then plant with a seed drill implement?   Following field preparation would the planting be 3 or 4 days with a smaller machine?  We have about 25 rai in total.

Will we have to drip feed irrigate?  Any thoughts on cost per rai for the pipe?  We have a couple of ponds and suppose that we could hook up a solar 12V pump to feed the irrigation setup.

We don't have a tractor but there are plenty around here.  Year two, following a successful effort with a seed drill we might be able to rent it out, who knows?

In our family there is no debt so a year without a rice crop just means less to eat that is homegrown.  There is lots of rice to buy in Isaan without going to Lotus Tesco.

The family have been going through this cycle for over 50 years so changing things will be a challenge.  Is it worth it?  We don't depend on the harvest to live but it would be nice to get it all working a little bit better and a bit more predictable too. 

Thanks in advance for any comments

OK, I'll bite.  Where can I find seed drilling equipment here in Thailand?  I found some hand held devices on Alibaba including one offer that has a film clip.  https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/super-no-till-hand-direct-drill_60839351895.html?spm=a2700.7724857.normalList.32.2403472eIMTpy1

Pretty funny but I don't know how that would work out by the 1,000 M2.  

Converting the 5HA to some other farming method would be a gargantuan task but possibly dwarfed by the effort needed to convince the family to change their ways.

I think we will do a trial patch next year if i can find a seed drilling device and go from there.

What about the post from Jimmyyy regarding boreholes and solar panels to be provided by the government?

Thanks

OK, I'll bite.  Where can I find seed drilling equipment here in Thailand?  I found some hand held devices on Alibaba including one offer that has a film clip.  https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/super-no-till-hand-direct-drill_60839351895.html?spm=a2700.7724857.normalList.32.2403472eIMTpy1

Pretty funny but I don't know how that would work out by the 1,000 M2.  

Converting the 5HA to some other farming method would be a gargantuan task but possibly dwarfed by the effort needed to convince the family to change their ways.

I think we will do a trial patch next year if i can find a seed drilling device and go from there.

What about the post from Jimmyyy regarding boreholes and solar panels to be provided by the government?

Thanks

2 replies.  First to Jimmyyyy:  Does this mean we can apply for and get a free borehole and solar panels and pump from the government?  We have one just completed in the last few weeks but could use a second if we could get one for free or almost free.  How about more information on the Tumeric crop please?

Second:     I A, yes our outflow from the well is 1 1/4 '' and the flat discharge hose is 1 1/2'' and I will make the manifold this sort of size.  I will be putting in various connections to select and feed the pond, hose pipe and initially one field, one or split at a time.  If we keep pumping all year it seems to me that in will help to provide at least a damp base for the fields.  Providing, of course, it doesn't interfere with the ploughing phase.   

Information posted about irrigation and general comments about rice have been helpful and interesting, thank you.  IA has written that he gets 15 baht/KG but around here in Ban Mai Chaiyapot we get 9 or 10 or, last year, 11 baht /KG.

They plant 105 and 16 type rice (16 is sticky rice).  We be buying new seed for the next go around due to poor expected harvest.  We are in some kind of a rain shadow and get less rain here than even a few KM down the road.

I don't have a tractor and we cannot really justify getting one.  Looking in Baht and Sold I saw this one under farm machinery FYI:   4wd Kubota 2420 with Blade, Rotary, set of Discs and power steering.  It has a backhoe shown in the picture and suppose it is part of the deal.  175,000 THB.  Wish I needed one, looks like new.

Although I consult b4 doing something I mostly meet with resistance as the 'If god wanted us to have water it would rain' kind of approach.  Hard working folk but a bit stubborn.  So I just went ahead and got the well drilled and after a false start with a generator etc. we now have a solar powered pump producing 6 M3 / hr from dawn to dusk.   The fields are well out of the village and there is an ok road but no electrics.

The flat outflow pipe is just placed in the field(s) and there is no interest in my PVC pipe with holes in it idea.  The water will spread itself naturally they say, and trying to explain that pumping that amount of water into one spot will see most of it soak away, not migrate to the whole of the field.  It does migrate a bit, to be fair, but I would like to try to get a bit more bang for the buck if I can.

Just building up to making the effort to get the pipe, drill it and put it in and see how it goes.  I think if I make a single 1 1/2'' manifold with 5 or so 20mm T connections I can run the small pipes 30 or 40 meters into the field.  Not gluing the joints will mean it can be taken up and put aside during the different operations such as ploughing.  If it works I will put on screw connectors.

Being the only member of the PVC pipe fan club team it is hard to want to do it.

Ma and Pa grow veg and melon on the banks so I will be putting in a hosepipe to save them watering by the bucket.  Nearly 80 so I think they will be happy about that.  They never ask for anything so it takes a bit of imagination to do something that will actually benefit them.

Thanks again for all the info.  Really interesting to hear about what others are doing in rural areas.

Thank you very much.  Food for the belly comment is one that I have heard and thanks for confirming this.  We, the family and I pay about 12,000 baht total to plough the fields (2x) and 7,000 baht for fertiliser and another 18,000 for the harvest machine.  In a good year I pay nothing, in a bad year I help out with one or another of the operations.  My family is a good one and are never hounding me for money.  I could be very wrong about the sums as it is money that I offer and am never told that it is not enough, I have to guess and give a bit more if I think they are short.

I am not rich but have enough to help out with these rice issues.  Better than regular visits to the gold shops.

What about the idea of pvc pipes to more effectively distribute the water to the fields?  Ma and Pa grow things on the banks mostly near the ponds and they water it by buckets.  Nearly 80 so it is a bit of a struggle.  The solar pump works great and I could run a hose pipe connection off of a T for the veggie growing as that seems a worthwhile effort by them.

About pipe.  The flat blue pipe at 1 1/2 '' cost 17 baht per meter in 100m rolls.  It is prone to kinking and does not adapt well to going up and over the banks because of this (can do but must be careful).  Is it best to run blue PVC pipe on the raised banks to distribution points and go from there?  Are there any alternatives?  And for the small 1/2 or 5/8 hose pipe what do you suggest please?  The really cheap ones fall apart and kink a lot and the expensive ones that work cost a lot.  Is there a happy medium and what brand and where to source please?

A friend said just let them get on with it and don't bother trying to think about how to make improvements.  Is this what I should do do you think?  My wife tells me that over 50 years ago they used to start at 4 am to go to work on foot with their buff so they have been at it for a while.

Lots of ? and thank you for any comments you may have.