notrub

Sorry for the fatality but it is impossible not to know that it is harvest time in Isaan when in Isaan. The practice of drying rice on paved roads may not be centuries old (60 years ago the track to the family fields was a dirt footpath) but road drying is a valuable asset. More warning than a branch in front of the pile would improve safety and many would welcome a traffic cone or some other bright object used there.🙏🏼💛💙

Don't be silly. I will be mr dementia if i stay. Any ideas about moving and storage please?🙏

My pre-nup is good but my wife will not go. (Notrub here) She will get the land, houses, pool and all that but I want to take the contents and store them for use later. Do moving & storage companies exist here in Thailand? I thought about just burning the place down but cannot get into that level of destruction however satisfying it might be to imagine. Thanks for any comments🙏💛💙

Dear CFCol, do you se the mirror link that is provided by toyota please? Thanks. B

I have tried that with my samsung phone(s) but get an error message. Thank you. My google account was created before I came to Thailand and so may be incompatible. I do not know how to update with Thai location w/o closing account and starting fresh. Do you know if the gps in the car has its own wifi or does it depend on the phone wifi connection? Thanks for your comment, I'll try some more with different cables and phones.🙏🏼

Thanks🙏🏼

Good morning poppysdad, Yes, there was a similar event when they tried to connect my phone to the car. Some part of my basic phone app (or apps) is/are not registered in Thailand and that caused a problem. It was/is difficult to unregister w/o deleting lots of essential information. My GPS comes onto the screen and I can track my route but it will not accept new address to search for. Do you pay an annual subscription? Thanks.

Hello poppysdad, thanks for your comment. I have an android phone and when I bought the car it took a team from the workshop to connect my phone by bluetooth etc. to the car display. It was when the CH-R model was first introduced and there were mutterings about Apple being more compatible than Android. The BT music player works. There is a service where you can phone Toyota through the car display and they do the searching for an address and send it on to the car. I tried to use it after a year or so and was told my subscription had expired (it worked fine b4). A friend told me that some car companies install the optional extras (heated seats etc.) during manufacturing and simply turn them on, or not, depending on what you paid for when you bought it. They can even turn off your car remotely. I found out my subscription had lapsed when I tried to use the call in service and they wanted me to also pay for the years that I had missed. The GPS system will not accept new addresses although the old ones are still displayed. I don't use the car that much and don't travel very much either. It makes me crazy to think that this little 1.1M+ THB Hybrid car with all the latest stuff on the pretty dashboard display will not guide me to a new location unless I pay. I have spent many hours trying to connect my phone to the car display using various apps in the past without success. When I have to go someplace difficult to find I wind up juggling my phone with G Maps displayed whilst avoiding the giant pickups who want to occupy the space I am in. Dangerous stuff. So, it would be very nice to be able to use google maps (or another similar) on my car display. Thanks for any comments.🙏🏼 PS I have an old apple phone and could try to connect with that. Does your GPS function in your car (pooppysdad) without you phone present? Is it that the annual fee can be for a dedicated internet connection for the display? Do you pay an annual fee? PPS I am a 'Toyota Guy' and have owned more cars and vans and trucks (personal use and business)of this make than I can remember. Why would Toyota want to alienate me with this confusing GPS system?

I would like to use the GPS etc. that came with my car when I bought it. I did not keep up the annual fee so the GPS etc. no longer functions. I do not need this service very often so object to paying the annual fee to use 2 or 3 times a year. In the beginning the Toyota system was more adapted to Apple than Android so it never really worked to sync my phone to the car. The BT connection works, however. The display functions, it is the search for new addresses that does not. Old locations in the memory still work. The display shows the map and all the colourful icons (leading to nowhere). I see now that there are multiple YT posts on how to connect Toyota to Android OS; some with software and some have a magic box that must be installed behind the display. I have tried multiple times to connect my samsung phone in the past with no success (mirror, cable). I am writing now to see if any of these new 'new ideas' on how to connect my phone (Google Maps) to my Toyota car display. I have not tried the updated Android Auto app which (I think ) must be connected by wire to the display in the car to work. I have spent many frustrating hours trying to accomplish this task without success in the past. It may be that Toyota is intentionally blocking my efforts as a policy to benefit their T-Connect software annual renewal renewal sales(?). Before I waste another afternoon trying to accomplish the impossible I am consulting wiser heads (you) than me for comments please. Thank you. 🙏🏼

05 09 2023 My 34 yr old daughter is coming to visit me here in Thailand. I live in Isaan and have suggested we have a holiday in Krabi; it being more of a tourist area than up here in the rice fields. Is there a particularly good site providing information about what to do in Krabi please? My daughter is a professional diver (scuba) so we will be doing some of that but what about sites about what to see on land? Any suggestions about what to do will be gratefully received. Thank you.

I forgot to renew my car insurance last year and now the new quote for this year is 3,000 baht more (18,000) for 15,000 less cover (600,000). I have no claims. My car is a CH-R Toyota 3 or 4 years old low km. Any other reputable insurance companies that I could try please? Thank you.????

Kab Khun Mac krap. will give those a try and maybe find a charity local to us, preferred, or can pack up the stuff to send. Thank you very very much.????

The daughter of a friend has graduated with a diploma to teach English. She is currently looking for any work but focusing on hotels now. Are there any fairly short hotel management type of courses available that she could take to be able to have a bit more to offer than all the other applicants who can also speak Thai and English? Thanks for any comments????

Thanks for comments. I have written to Tim at Helpthai and will see where that goes. There are plenty of small schools around here, including one in our village too. I am looking to do something other than just dumping a bunch of stuff in the schoolyard or at the wat as a 'free for all' to whoever spots it first. Also, I am not too keen to have everybody in the village knowing that it is my stuff that they are inspecting and commenting on. We have our share of nosey busybodies and drawing attention to myself in any way is something I would like to avoid. Thanks for your ideas. More please????

We have accumulated too much 'stuff'. Cloths, building supplies and misc. 'things' that we don't want or need that I would like to give away. We are in a small rural village 90 km north of Buriram city. I do not want to just dump all these things at the local wat for people to rummage through in 'lucky dip' way. Both for personal and practical reasons. I would like to find an oxfam or goodwill Thai equivalent, hopefully local to this area. Any ideas? I have been told (by my 'absence of empathy' wife that charities do not exist in Thailand. I find this hard to believe. Any ideas will be gratefully received. ????

John Spooner at Isaan Lawyers. https://isaanlawyers.com/ He is English lawyer (owner) with a team of Thai lawyers/staff. Reasonable price and good service. Based in Nakhon Ratchasima but well worth the effort to go outside Krung Tep for legal help.

30 06 2023 Crystal ball question coming up... Is the current valuation of the THB only due to recent political problems or is there deeper problem with the Thai economy? Exchange to the Euro is as high as it has been for well over5 years. Given the war in Europe and uncertainty there it is surprising that the Euro is strengthening. Is the current trend too good to last? Should I change more than just a couple of thousand now? Yes, I know, 'nobody knows' but it would be interesting to learn your thoughts. Thank you????

Beginning of the end (of weed freedom)? Legalizing weed without forethought has brought some problems. Children smoking in a doorway on a busy street, for example. Fast forward or backwards (suit yerself) same kids with a plastic bag full of glue. Focusing on weed and not the social circumstances suffered by street waifs is typical of those with a hidden agenda that requires manipulation of public opinion to be acceptable. Let's hope the war on drugs is focused on meth, not weed.????

Thanks for comments. The best solution is, of course, to just slow down a bit.????

Up here in rice land the authorities are installing these overhead cameras and speed detectors. I know that the speed gun, or whatever, cannot be detected due to its on/off again operation. But do the big overhead installations run full time? Also, how far away do they start detecting? I am just driving on the open highway, not in heavy traffic areas, btw. Thanks for any comments????

No OMF, I wrote that 'she will own it'. And if she respects the conditions of the prenup it will all be in tip top shape when I am dead. (nobody would buy a house that did not come with the land it sits on) And I will have paid for her car, given her some reasonable allowance, arranged for her to get my pensions, and paid for 2 nieces to be nurses and build more stuff on family land and pay for the plough and fertilizer every year before I am gone for good. An Usufruct is registered at the land office and is attached to the deeds. The usufruct is transferred with the sale of the land to a third party if it were sold. I paid cash for the land. I paid for all the building materials on an account using bank transfers. Sister has said many time that she knows that this is my home and I trust her. The village likes me and all the family likes me. It is only my wife who is a sick <deleted>*k and makes my life miserable. Screaming one day and asking sweetly the next if I would like mango and sticky rice now, or a bit later? She already does not sleep in my bed as I also built a guest house and she is comfortably installed there (where my separate little gym/tv room is .) Also, there is a new outdoor kitchen that she uses. My car, bike and other things are in my name and/or paid for by bank transfer. No debt except her new black Toyota in her name. Unless some guy appears out of the woodwork and whisks her away I don't see how she can leave. There is an abundance of younger, better looking women with less baggage looking for a man that I think it unlikely she will succeed. Calm now, looking for a solution. She gave back my cards, keys and other things she lifted during the past week btw. Very great news is that my children have invited me to go for a visit to Western Canada and to Martinique where they live (one in each location). I have asked my wife if she would rather have fun on holiday or fight. Take care and thanks for your interest.????

02 05 2023 Update on 'Should I stay or should I go now?' A new day dawns and she is as sweet as can be. No reference to earlier screaming and shouting etc. etc.. One thing she threw at me is that I must be bi polar as one minute I can be OK and the next be angry. For me, it could be because I was called a stupid idiot who can never get things right, or something. Looking at her cycle of triggers I wonder if she has narcisissistic personality disorders or if indeed she could be bi polar? In this village of a thousand(?)+ people I am a familiar sight and most people are friendly to me and my smiling face. There are dozens of relatives of my wife's family here and they are all friendly towards me. Immediately there is a mum, dad, sister and 2 nieces (plus a disgusting parasite nephew still at home). They like me too. Sister is a bit younger and is the worker in the family home, at the na and both volunteer and paid work in the village.. Good woman and we get along very well. Her husband likes me too. All this means is that finding a solution and staying here is very attractive to me. I built this house and it is comfortable for me. Relocating to a condo in Pattaya does not appeal to this Canadian carpenter who still likes to build. How to strike a deal? What I want is an apology for some of the attacks and an outline of acceptable behaviour. As in, no screaming and shouting, no telling others that I am an angry old man, Stop accusing me of having affaires etc. etc.. What is very stupid is that this house will be hers. All my stuff will be hers. In the prenup it is mentioned that I will maintain the house, grounds and contents in good condition provided we have a reasonable relationship including if we separate. I pay for one niece to be a nurse. I will pay for the younger second in a few year's time. I have already paid to dig 2 new nong at the na and have constructed one cabin there with plans for a second. She wails about money but there is already a joint account with some thousands in it (not millions) untouched. She erupts over imaginary GFs and is obsessed about one in particular. Lack of 'respect' for her is another. This is all nutty stuff. Also I have no will. Also she will get my pensions from Canada, France and the UK when I die if I register our marriage with the authorities there. Also I would like to go on holidays here in Thailand and to see my children in Canada and Martinique. WTF is she thinking if she would rather have a non stop open warfare instead of having fun? I know how to have fun; I spent my life traveling and working in many different countries. I spent 30 years in France where I created a business and adjusted my work to enable being with my children to both ski all winter and to be able to explore mountains and beaches during the summer. So, I want to negotiate something without going to court. I think I have some carrot options and some stick options too. I do know Isaan Lawyers, btw; Sebastian helped me b4 and John is helping me now. (very good service at a reasonable price.) Every day is a new day now from a finding a solution point of view. Violence to me is a consideration but feel it is very unlikely. A German fellow in the village was committed to an old folks home some many years ago but that is a bit exceptional around here. There are other stories but my wife was an office worker who dabbled online looking for someone like me. There doesn't seem to be any 'shady' contacts who would stuff me in a sack. That is an update and sorry for ill-disciplined emptying of my rambling thoughts onto this page. Thanks again for your interest

Sadly yes, too true. Good idea about the safe, thanks

Thank you for your comments. Everything was built and purchased before marriage. The land was bought by me for about 600,000 and is in her name. I have the usufruct as I had not planned to move b4 death. She will get every thing when I die anyway so now is just a matter of getting rid of her for now. It may be that she can make my life miserable without taking any legal action. She took the keys for my motorbike (returned), truck keys and now i think she has my credit card wallet. One lesson may be to never let them think you have more than 2 pennies and be clear that every payment brings pain. How sad it would be to live like that... I am 75 today. Great birthday gift from her. Thanks again for comments.