altman

thanks for the help.

i am interested in the article mentioned but have a very slow gprs inet connection so downloading a (at least) 96 page pdf is just not going to happen.

can anyone pull out the relevant pages (start at page 75?) and make them separately available?

Butch rivets?

Tell me more, or better still, a link?

i am guessing these are what i call blind rivets or pop rivets. they come in several sizes and lengths. requires a drill and a special purpose (cheap) tool.

an interesting idea though.

In Udon well made bamboo ladders are 100 baht per meter. But that's from a shop that sort of specializes in bamboo with ladders, baskets, lattice work, etc. Haven't priced them from the roadside places.

By the way, thanks for the link to the bamboo place. Some nice ideas.

around here, lampang/phrae area, we had our local builder make us two ladders. one was 6 meters and the other 3 meters. he used our bamboo, but the cost was just 300 baht and at that he felt we paid him too much!

and, a bamboo ladder bends! if you are afraid of heights, as i am, a bendy ladder does not promote a sense of security. but, truth be told, they both work just fine.

Great stuff fellas

Altman your an inspiration to us all !!

Know what you mean about the bamboo ties, taken me 5 rice harvests to get the knack and bizzarely enough it only works if I don't look at what I'm doing, if I concentrate it just wont twist properly !!

From experience I find that the ties only last one wet season and when I recently built an arbour in the garden to grow a trumpet vine over I used wire for strength but over-wrapped with bamboo for cosmetics.

Any one interested in building an ark using bamboo should check out this thread bamboo

here's a direct link to a PDF on bamboo construction/connection techniques Bamboo connections

cheers for now J

good to know i am not the only one unable to twist the bamboo wraps. i just don't get it! once in 10 or so efforts i will be able to make one hold together but generally i just end up with frayed bamboo strips. and sore fingers.

for those who don't know what the bamboo tie wraps are.

a strip of bamboo, maybe 1/4 inch wide, 10 inches long, and thin, is moistened and then hand twisted by those who can. it is very cheap, easy, and self locking. around here they are used mostly on bags of seed, fertilizer, etc. but they are good for temporary/long term joining of light weight structures as well. see the above quote for the one year and cosmetic qualities.

you may be able to see some pitiful examples in my photos of the chicken ark.

Altman, Im impressed.

Im building an Arc/Tractor myself but its going to come in way over 400 B.

Great use of local material.

I would recommend adding some bamboo right around the bottom.

It looks like a dog could push its way under the wire quite easy.

Here's a photo of my unfinished project.

Made out of 3 second hand security screens (250 B each).

Just need to make a little hen house to cover one end.

i thought of the pushing underneath thing, but the chickens around here run free, generally, and i have not heard of any problems with the dogs eating them, so i am assuming they won't bother pushing under. maybe something else will try but i think the wire provides a strong enough resistance to most things. as this is an experimental prototype, time will tell.

i am intensely jealous of your project. you can weld, yes?

i will send city chicken an image. they deserve it! a great site for those who haven't been there.

as i was building this many of the locals came over to look. i still am not sure what they think. today we will get another mother and chicks and we'll use this coop for them. we'll see how it goes from there.

what kind of chicken? it squacks, cackles, and clucks.

seriously, i don't know. we had 2, but one ate the eggs so she became new years dinner. the other is brown and tan. the new one i haven't seen yet. papa has some all black birds.

following on the mung bean thing...

yes. i know. hi jack. sorry. but this is good info, right? otherwise i'd just send him a pm.

last year after the corn was harvested by hand, the stalks were left in the ground for me (who me?!) to till under or burn.

if 'mung bean are planted just before corn harvest' then,

1) wouldn't people walking on the new plants be harmful?

and

2) burning and immediate tillage would be out of the question. do they just leave the stalks to stand until after the mung bean harvest?

and as a further bit of knowledge. last year, those leaves and stalks which every year prior had been burned, were collected and built into rudimentary composting piles. virtually nothing else was done with them. no turn-over-every-thirty-days or anything else. they just lay there.

it took all year but we now have a beautiful pile of fresh rich earth.

got the idea from this ThaiVisa thread

from there i followed this link and decided to build a chicken ark.

i had never heard of these things before, but we have a couple of brooders and this seemed like a good thing to do.

basically it is a chicken coop on wheels. move it from place to place in the garden allowing the chickens to roost, rest, poop, play, and eat underneath, and then move it on to another spot.

while i have no experience with it yet, it seems like a good idea for adding fertilizer to the garden and clearing bugs from it as well.

i had a couple of very old and decrepit wheels from a country moto bike trailer. i took off the tires leaving just the rims. i figured i am not talking about revolutions per minute, but revolutions per week so these should be ok.

these were used, with bamboo spacers and copper wire 'nuts', on a piece of rebar we had laying around. the rebar was nylon 'tie wrapped' to the frame. so, as long as we use it sparingly and slowly, the wheels should last as long as the frame. i figure 1 - 2 years and then replace it, or forget it.

we live in a small rural village. dimensioned lumber is not available here. any kind of squared wood is generally difficult to find locally. for small projects such as this, bamboo is king. all other materials, except the wire, was stuff just laying around the place not being used. so my total cost was about 400 Baht. ($12 US) for the wire.

the frame is made from fresh cut bamboo. i chose smaller diameter pieces of bamboo since this is meant to remain light enough to wheel about the yard. i was able to use almost all of it's length by using even the smaller portions for struts and braces. we have a couple of bunches of bamboo growing on our property so i was able to cut my own and strip it for use.

the joints are made with bamboo 'tie wraps', nylon 'tie wraps', nails, wire, or a combination of the above.

in thailand there is a technique for twisting bamboo strips in such a way that they form a nailess join. i am unable to twist the bamboo strips this way. maybe it's a cultural thing. they do to make a secure and near instantaneous bamboo 'tie wrap', but i can't do it, so i make do with a combination of methods.

and i am not very skilled at building things so i am often happy enough if it just holds together regardless of how it was done. this project reflects those attributes. if i thought 'crazy glue' would have worked, i'd have used that.

the blue cover was available for use, but i had wanted to use the thai palm frond roofing. there wasn't any available when i started the project, and aside from being a poor builder i am an impatient builder, so blue plastic roofing it is.

this required 10 meters of small space wire. the wire goes right down to the ground to prevent birds from escaping. whether it lasts long remains to be seen, but it makes for a good prototype.

time will tell if it is worth doing, but i think so.

this is a bit off topic, but maybe useful anyway...

this is now late june. we planted feed/seed corn in early may. doing nicely i think.

as we have several small plots instead of a single large area, all the work is done by hand. many villagers get together to help each other out. this is good as it is 'free', but it also means that planting is done over a fairly long period of time.

we were the first this year since i had roto tilled several times and the ground was ready. other plots we have were planted later and did not have much cultivation done. next year we will do more cultivating before planting.

i did manage to get the locals to plant in actual rows on the cultivated field this year and i think everyone agrees the crop looks better than last year. generally they stagger around a field with 'hoes' to pluck a hole in the ground and someone follows behind throwing seed into it. they use 2- 3 seeds per hole.

this is my first question: is it necessary to use 2 - 3 seeds per hole? now we will frequently have several plants growing right up next to each other. seems a waste, but i don't know.

we rely entirely on rainfall for water. last year the rain stopped a bit early so some of our neighbors who had planted a second crop suffered with very poor yields. we can get water from a stream, but it is a long pump uphill so i don't consider it a viable option.

land depletes it's natural nutrients over time as crops are grown. fertilizer is used to offset this. it is also known that certain crops can help to replenish the soil. i think that 'beans' are one of those crops which, when planted in rotation with corn, will cause a slower depletion of the soil.

we grow 'long beans' in the garden. in another thread a reference was made to 'mung beans', but don't know anything about them. in america i had a friend who grew dry 'kidney beans'.

this is my second question: do beans help with the soil when planted in rotation? which kind of beans? how water dependent are they? well maybe more than one question there. add in peanuts as i think i heard they were good also.

i did not participate in the sale of last years crop so don't know how much they got or what the moisture content was. i hope to have some input this year though so may be able to report back on the results then.

i was going to post a question but then read the links to the city chicken. that site is amazing! thanks. i'm off to build a chicken ark now.

while i would like to participate in a movie exchange the problem i see with it is one of location. for all of you in bkk or chiang mai, etc it might work, but i am out in the villages so very little inter action with townies.

but, if someone is interested, i do have about 400 or so movies. about 1/2 are 50's film noir and 30's 'golden age'. i am near lampang and phrae. pm me if this might work for you

just back today, may 29. i got double entry, free, tourist visa no problem. here are some points i think might be of interest.

1) the number system.

applying for the visa seems to work ok, with minor line jumping by those whose culture already permits that kind of behavior. numbers are called in batches of 5 - 10 or so and even if your number is lower than someone else's and you are standing in front of them at the window they may try to crowd in front of you. try to stay calm.

picking up the visa the next day was a nightmare though. there are several buttons to push on the number machine and no one was quite sure which one to use, so finally everyone just got into a long line inside the building. each holding a number which appeared to be meaningless. and the crush, rush, crowd to get a number is obscene.

2) time

applications seemed to be accepted at a rate of about 1 per minute, so not too bad.

pickup, on the thursday i was doing it, was a mess. based on prior experience i had pre-purchased a 2 o'clock VTE to Udon Thani bus ticket expecting it to take about 30 minutes to pickup the visa and another 30 to get back to the bus station. but the gates did not open until after 1:15 and then the number mess made it impossible to make that bus connection. as it was i did just manage to get back to the bus station and get one of the last tickets for the 4 o'clock bus.

(a side note: the VTE - Udon bus drops you at the main bus terminal in Udon. you will need to go to the #2 bus terminal to get a bus to chiang mai.)

the late opening was caused by the backlog of visa applications that were still being processed at 1:30. so the inside of the building was jammed with people waiting in line to pickup their visas applied for the day before as well as those still being processed from that morning. they wouldn't issue the visas until all the applications had been processed.

lesson: mondays and thursdays should be avoided. fridays also, unless you want to spend a weekend in VTE. so, go on tuesday to apply and pick up on wednesday for best results.

3) touts, agents, etc.

i've never used one, but i ran across a guy who ended up helping me for free. he did an excellent job and i would strongly recommend him to all. if you want further assurances pm me. (what he did for me was above the call of duty and saved me much time. and he did not charge for it. i had hired him to transport me to and fro. he is not a tuk-tuk driver. he just does it on his own with his moto-bike. he is very, very knowledgeable about the visa process and speaks excellent english. i will call him next time i go and hire him by the day. a great find!)

Mr. Thai 020 791 9777. he works at the Tawee GH (which i have never used and really don't even know where it is, but i will look for it next time)

that's about it. for me it is a long long bus journey and i am tired now.

one final note: it appears that the tobacco sellers have been removed from the market behind the talat sao. not sure where they have gone. looks like VTE is trying to clean up their markets as the talat sao itself is under going major renovation.

you guys are thinking too hard. i have given this some thought, but not a lot, and have decided these are the 'real' reasons thai women love us so much

1) it is easier to ask your farang bf/husband to hold up the bamboo curtain rod than go get a ladder (we are taller)

2) since it obvious that many farnag have some sort of inate preference for brown skinned young women, isn't it reasonable to suggest that there might be some sort of inherent/genetic trait in thai women that causes them to actually prefer older white guys? (there is often more to the complexity of life than we care to acknowledge)

3) money, honey. (and why not? western women love men for money and power, why not thais?)

need a notarized document from american consul.

discovered that they are now starting to use, and will go completely over to, a new appointment system instead of just a walk in system.

the change over will be complete starting march 31, 09.

here's a link to it

http://chiangmai.usconsulate.gov/service.html

as i live a few hundred km from CM it was fortunate i found this out before making the trip

interesting subject and one i have have also been thinking about.

i do not know if evil exists, (i think that it does), but i do know that until we can define what is right and wrong we will have a difficult time recognizing it.

many people use phrases such as 'do the right thing', 'the difference between right and wrong', but how many people can actually sit down now at their computer and write out their own personal definition of what is right and what is wrong? without an agreed on definition everything else is subjective and meaningless to a universal discussion.

my definition, which may not be correct but is one that comforts me when i have to make difficult choices, is:

a thing is right which does the greatest good to the largest number while doing the least harm to the fewest.

having formed a definition we can then make choices about our own particular behavior based on that definition. and after a consensus of behavior has been formed it may be possible to look back on evil as a thing of the past.

but first we need to be able to actually agree on a definition of 'right' and 'wrong' so that we can all agree that this thing is good and that thing is bad. until then we will continue to repeat the mistakes of the past and perpetuate evil.

and as a note on the yin yan of it all. i think every decision or choice can ultimately be broken down to a choice of one thing or another. when we start to compromise our basic belief in right and wrong then we enter into a grey area where morals, values, judgments, and ethics soon become mired in new definitions of what is fundamentally right and fundamentally wrong.

so, once we have our definition and reduce our choices to those which are either right or wrong, we can start to make a new world based on reason, compassion, and humanity. leaving the world of fear, greed, and aggression behind.

ok this reply is a bit off-topic but deals with my death and my thai wife, (or gf), life after that.

after i saw this thread i started to think again about what would happen to her. i have a will, of sorts. this thread gave me the idea to register it with the local tambon. i talked to her about that and i guess we will do that. in thai time ...

meanwhile i had an idea and want to run it past some 'old hands'.

i have maybe a year or so to live. i know this. it may extend a bit, or shorten a bit, but it is definitely finite. i am not rich so have it set up so she will have enough to live on for 6 months to 2 years depending on how she spends it.

since her highest priority, at some point after my death, will be to find a new husband. and since a farang husband will 'probably' be better than a thai husband ...

what if i start now, using the internet, to find her a new husband?

it sounds like pandering but it is really meant simply as an introduction service.

is it too strange?

(i haven't yet talked to her about this)

i used to live in chiang mai so i came to know exactly how to make my border runs as cheaply and/or as comfortably as possible.

now i live between lampang and phrae.

what i used to know and take for granted is just not valid anymore. i have had to develop an entirely new routine for my border runs. and meanwhile the thai gov't has moved the goalposts!

so this may be of some use to those of us who are out in the sticks but still want to remain compliant.

first. a side note. there is a vip bus from lampang at 10:30 am to mae sai. it has taken me 3 months to find it, but it does exist. i did not, however, get the name of the company.

next, and given the new rules limiting the practicality of the mae sai border run, there are vip buses going to udon thani. but this is where it gets interesting...

from den chai, a common point for all travel to isaan from our area, there are no vip buses. nakon chai ar and nakon chai tour are your options there. you can try calling: 054-613-3239 for more information.

from phrae: if you heard about a piss off between a tiny little thai girl and an enormous farang bully, that would be me and nid. getting information is not necessarily the easiest thing to do in thailand. especially if you don't speak thai...

there are 2 companies that service udon from phrae. Chakaporn Tour and Sombat Tour. we had taken a Sombat tour bus once and it was the single best bus ride i have ever taken anywhere. period. bar none.

so my hopes were up that they would do udon.

they do, but only every third day. for my time frame that meant xmas day, dec 25. nid was not pleased.

the alternative bus company had received a less than favorable review from another runner, so, given my past experiences with really abysmal buses, i wanted desperately to run away. but, here is what they have:

Chakaporn Tour, #1 bus, 616B, leaving at about 2045. their phone number is, i think: 053-248-815 (i know. only 9 digits)

the Sombat tours info: #2 daily, but i did not get their prices for that or for the #1. their phone number is: 080-445-5404

from lampang: someone else who lives there may have better knowledge.

the information desk people here are perhaps the best information desk people in the entire world. and they speak english. believe what they say.

sombat has a presence there, but not for udon.

chakaporn is there and has a #1 and a vip to udon.

the #1 is daily

i am not sure of the frequency of the vip. it comes down from chiang mai so maybe easier to check from there. the cost is 657 B. it leaves lampang about 2130 and arrives in udon at about 0700. free meal at about 0300, yawn. 44 seater.

when we booked they were full for a bus leaving 2 weeks in advance! but they have added a second vip bus from lampang.

that is essentially what i found out from my travels to the various bus stations around here.

i hope others can fill in more details.

thank you very much.

i had missed the link on the web page. i now have it bookmarked.

edit: this refers to the thai consular office in laos.

any information or web link to open/closed days during the xmas and new years holiday season for the laos consulate? looked at web site didn't see anything.

can juggle schedule but need to know what days to juggle around. will they take a long weekend at new years? close on xmas? close new years eve?

thanks.

edit: also interested in knowing if they still issue double entry tourist visa

i built a very nice and comfortable house in rural thailand on land on which we grow much of our own healthy and wholesome food.

the cost of the house, about $25,000.

my current cost of day to day living? negligible.

could i have done anything like this in the states? no.

for the story of my life in a thai village see this site, EuthanasiacClinic.org/Thai Life or just click the thailand button at EuthanasiaClinic.org

thailand really is cheaper. but if you want to live like you did in 'where-ever' then maybe you should have stayed in 'where-ever'.

in a small village between lampang and phrae it cost me 60 B per sq mtr (labor only) to lay tile.

to rip it out, prepare surface, and relay would be more, i think.

here is a link to the My Life in a Thai Village web page which shows my house construction

Life in a Thai Village

several people have made reference to making sure the embassy knows of who to notify, etc.

how do i do that? walk in and hand them a slip of paper? fill out a form? pin a note on my chest?

i had considered writing out my will/testament, having it translated, going to the embassy to have it (english/thai) notarized, and then leaving it in a place where it can be easily found. is that the way to do that?

we are about to move out into the country so this is a subject on my mind.

from the impetus provided by this thread i browsed around the net a bit and found this to be true ... i think. if you know differently please add your reply.

dish, lnb, receiver. these are the basic components to receive free tv stations off satellite, in several languages. generally not the stations i was looking for, but enough to keep one entertained for awhile.

packages are offered by various providers in many countries. many/most of which can be subscribed to from within thailand. so you are not compelled, as near as i know, to select only a thai premium package, you may choose one from, say the philippines, if you want. they will all cost extra for both specially designed hardware and software. Free to Air satellite tv is free. it captures the signals from satellite content providers that are broadcasting to their audience and require no payment to receive their signal.

dish size. for thailand, i generally found that the 1.5 - 2.0 meter diameter dish was recommended, although from web sites i felt that a .85 to 1 meter dish would be fine. there may be parameters assumed in one and discarded in the other which may account for the difference. given the cost of a few hundred baht it is probably worth going for the larger size if you have the space for it. a bigger dish will capture more signal.

the dish should be set up in a south facing direction and have an unobstructed view of the sky. no trees or buildings in the way. the position of the dish will determine which satellite it captures a signal from. there are many satellites whose signals can be captured by a dish in thailand. find the location of the satellite you are interested in (inet search) and point your dish at it.

The lnb is the part i know the least about. it converts the satellite signals into signals usable by the receiver. get one designed for use with the size and shape of disk you will be getting. the vendor will have this information.

the receiver, also known as a set top box, sits on top of your set and makes the signal from the lnb usable by your tv. this means it will convert that signal from whatever it is to whatever it needs to be. there are many kinds. some are specific to a particular package. the receiver is designed for the package. others are intended for use by the hobbiest and serious tv viewer and allow access to the FTA satellite tv stations which are not tied to a particular package.

as near as i can tell the boxes actually provide access to all the channels on a particular satellite but the channels associated with a 'package' will have special encryption which will disable clear reception. this is circumvented with the purchase of a 'smart' card and perhaps special receiver from the package vendor. it is this for which you are paying the vendor each month.

FTA receivers, those not associated with a package, will either be for 'fixed' in position and point to just a single satellite dish, (although the choice of which satellite this is can be made and then changed easily), or allow automatic searches of many satellites by motorized control of the dish position. the receiver will either be 'c' band or 'Ku' band. these are frequency ranges and are also called low and high bands respectively. the low band may be more immune to rain caused blackouts, but i have no verification of this.

each satellite will have many 'channels'. the 'content' of a channel is what you see on your tv. so a single satellite may have 100 or more 'channels' each of which is offering it's own 'content'. there will be many choices on each satellite.

a satellite occupies a geo-stationary orbit above the earth and can broadcast a signal to a small area on earth called a 'footprint'. if your dish is located within this footprint you will be able to receive a signal that can be captured by your dish, converted by the lnb, converted, decoded and decrypted by the set top box, and viewed by you on your tv. unless it is raining, or there are sunspots, or the content provider decides to send a signal down which causes your decoder/set top box to stop working, etc.

there are risks but there are very many retailers and users who appear to think this is a good thing.

prices, for a system which includes the hardware components above, start at about 10,000 baht, installed. the upper end i saw was about 40,000 baht, but it might well be much higher. for the FTA systems there are no monthly charges. packages incur package costs but that is a matter to be discussed with the package provider. for most of what is available on satellite tv in thailand, there will be no additional charges, and no monthly charges. you buy the system and you do what you want with it.

there is ample information on the internet. google satellite tv thailand, jsat tv thailand, dream satellite tv, lyngsat.com

so there you have it. the layman's guide as developed in 24 hours or so by a complete dummy with much yet to learn.

old age.

sh*tting in bags and counting your pills.

why?

btw, i'm 60. give me the beach, the babes, the booze and then the barbiturates.

euthanasiaclinic.org has a realistic/rational approach to end of life experiences for those still able/willing to explore their options.