jubby

I think one of those Sand Filters should be enough, just to take the sediment out. you know the steel tanks that resemble a Boiler or Rocket depending on how you look at things

Finally the truth. So lets have the Book. Cabin Crew Girls, Expats Wives and managing to invest in the stock market and survive the financial crisis unlike a lot of us. Could make you a nice little nest Egg seeing as you have no pension

Many here will know that you have spent nearly half your lifetime here in the Kingdom ... and seem relatively happy.

I wonder how your expectations have mitigated over the intervening years since first arriving at the shores?

Directly to your question ... most times it's relatively easy to physically move here ... then the realities that you allude to above kick in and then I wonder if you are ‘happy and here’ as opposed to just 'here'?

I wonder how necronx99's big adventure will play out over the years?

Having been here for roughly 35 of my 58 year of existence puts me a little over half I think, and yes quite happy. You are spot on with your wondering about how things change over time. I often refer to it as aiming at a moving target. Each step you take moves the target and each day that passes changes aspects of the target.

Isn’t that the way life is supposed to be? You can’t book a move to Thailand the way you book a holiday package. It is a big adventure, as you say, and at some point you just have to make the first step. Everything changes with that first step as you are suddenly in a whole new scene or a whole new play.

There is no way of knowing how things will turn out in advance. As young as I was, I’m not sure what expectations I had other than to follow that piece of wood I used as my divining rod. The thing is you can’t know until you try and even then things change at every fork in the road.

So you admit to following your penis rather than your head or am I reading this wrong !?

I understand completely and you've put it in words quite beautifully. Its nice to see the two of you working together towards the same Goal.

I guess I'm just pointing out how important it is to have the same dreams

My Dream would be to have a Wife who had even the slightest interest in farming her 40 Rai .

I guess i was suggesting the Red Weaver ants may help the ops problems with his mangoes. The Black Ants, especially the smaller ones will be a bigger problem than the one he's trying to solve. I've tried to introduce the much larger Red ants to the land around our house in an effort to get rid of the black ones. The red ants fought but couldn't cope with the sheer numbers and were wiped out within hours.

I've never had problems with my mangoes , got about 30 trees. must be 7 or 8 years old now. never used Chemicals either. Always told that I need to spray if I want to sell them, but I suspect thats to do with them looking perfect more than anything.

they are infested with red Ants. but the Ants don't seem to bother them , although they certainly bother me when I'm picking them. I just wonder if the ants are keeping the other insects at bay.

Not that it matters, we were offered 4.5 baht a Kilo this year , Sold a few but fed most of them to the Pigs and of course I pigged myself too.

must be down to my last 30 Kilo's of the things. I guess I'll be pigging myself out on Lamyai next

Well its a relief that the poor Old Guy didn't do the actual shooting. Could have created quite a bit of xenophobia in Phayao.

I'm sure he's not the first Farang to try to burn down his house over here for whatever reasons .

I suspect your barking up the wrong path VF

you noticed my one-pack as well as all the ladies Scorp or are we talking about the Super-Model ?

Well scorp, I guess I had my head up my Ass or in the Sky looking at the beautiful Sunsets, whilst the rest of you lower forms of life concentrated on your Dhukka or should I say her Dhukka

of course if I had noticed her , I would have engaged in an intellectual stimulating conversation with her about myself of course and she would no doubt have urged me to change my dose of self medication.

then suitably self medicated I would have floated across the fields in my enlightened state of semi-consciousness

Well thats a shame. I tend to spend most of my time outdoors or at least in the porch. I'd get rid of the citronella plants and any other plants that are close to your verandah. I'm sure mossie coils tend to attract them too.

You know you can find very light clothing these days that's impregnated with mosquito repellant. I have a shirt and some trousers made of this material but I'm generally happy in any type of long Pants, socks and maybe a pair of desert boots or something. I think you really have to keep the vegetation at least a few meters away. I've sat in gardens advertised for there beauty while you eat, and while you eat the mossies eat you.

A large industrial fan, say 200W plus should be quite effective too.

What would you do in the middle of a rain forest or in some swamp somewhere. its a no brainer. you'd cover up, head to toe.

We were spared the Speedo's luckily. although I did display a one-pack abdominal muscle which is quite a Hit with the Thai ladies. They always say I'm a handsome man anyway . We just are for some reason. its a given

I think you may have enjoyed it, we were lucky with the weather it turned overcast and made the walk/run a bit more bearable this time of year. nice bunch of people, the youngest were I think about 5 months old, a couple of twins with such a mix of nationality that they had 4 passports. Age group ranged from as I say, 5 months to perhaps 65 + , Thai's, Japanese, and an Hungarian Super-Model or so my children told me this morning too. ofcourse, I never noticed the superModel

Like Sceadugenda says, probably no more dangerous than swimming in Thai Beer. I've swam in the mekhong myself and God knows what's in there.

Its no secret pesticides are used on just about anything here. Its just one of my pet hates, the Planet Seems to cope ,its just a little bit scary is all ;-)

Last week a young Guy came round to a neighbours place where I was sitting with a Chemical spray thing on his back. he was probably just trying to use the last remnants and proudly sprayed around the hedge of the garden , expecting praise from what I suspect was his grandmother. he could have cleared it with a knife just as quick but thats by the by. 5 mins later he was gone ,probably straight back to the Internet cafe from whence he came. The grandmother tried desperately to revive what was left of her herb garden with copious amounts of water. its like, hey this sh*t is good it turns everything brown quickly and you can burn it.

http://youtu.be/YQ7SzvUu_9o

without filters they are indeed beautiful photo's . apologies for doubting your Camera skills but I did spot what I thought was the 'aurora borealis' in one of the photo's which led me in that direction. Muck and carnage ; I think most humans call it Life, I seem to have created quite a lot of it. I think even Klingons procreate , although maybe not, maybe they just get a Dog or something. it must be wonderful in your world with your head in the skies , completely devoid of Dhukka

So you'll be taking the Mekong from CS to CK. !? ....... Should be a relatively easy trip for an experienced Kayaker, certainly won't need to paddle hard. I think the Mekong is all Laos Territorial water due to some treaty with the french years ago. but don't think anyone would be greatly concerned as long as you had the relevant safety gear and could be clearly seen. probably need to speak to Thai Marine Police in CK or CS.

There may be issues with the Kok river though, legalities sort of thing. sure I read somewhere that a Guy wanted to do charter trips a while back and it was scuppered for want of a better word

They are using it for the edges of the rice fields so they can burn off the grass quickly and prepare the rice fields. and also to clear the mountains quickly for rubber production. to clear grass in orchards too, The rice fields get some nasty stuff to kill snails anyway . Just about every conceivable place. never seen it used like this before. I guess its cheap and easy , but its effectively a blanket operation in our Valley

I've never seen Skies like that around these parts, but I've usually got my eyes down watching out for dogs. must have got himself a new Filter or something !?

your probably right about the beer Scea. just noticed a vast increase in its use. cheaper than benzine for the brushcutter and I just doubted they would be using the best available environmentally friendly stuff, because like they don't give two hoots to put it politely.

People are by far the greatest threat to dogs. Reckless and inconsiderate driving or malice motivated by fear. Weed killer is used excessively part of the year so it is best to keep an eye out for signs of spraying. On our walks we are charged and barked at as we walk past the sois that belong to other dogs. That is just dogs doing their job and we try to stop and make friends. Some are just too fearful, while others will get close enough for a sniff and tail wag.

Got to agree with VF. Chemicals must be a real threat, nobody seems to cut the grass around our way anymore, they just spray and then burn it off.

I've been guilty of reckless and inconsiderate driving too, ran straight over two dogs in one week in the early years in the pickup. then another that I startled with one blow of the Horn.

I give multiple blows of the Horn these days which seems to do the trick.

I couldn't help the Dog that I witnessed ran over while sleeping in the road by a Bus at dawn last year and did have to dispatch one of my own Dogs a couple of years back with a matok after he had ran under the wheels of the inconsiderate Schoolbus driver who was travelling with an excessive speed of over 10kph.

Must not forget I ran straight over a dog last year on the motorbike that rushed across the road in a flash and straight under my wheels. So I guess we need to be more considerate to Dogs or maybe keep the F****** things off the Roads

I also have been barked at many times by the local Soi Dogs who just want to sniff my balls or something, mostly its harmess fun, I did beat one over the head with a stick that I found at the side of the road which had a beautiful balance and reminded me of a 3 wood. but only because it was showing its teeth and wasn't going to let me pass , I guess that was malice motivated by my undue fear and was an Isolated incident. Although there is a local dog who wants to make friends with me at the moment by showing its teeth and running towards the motorbike, I'm in two minds wether to show it my balls directly or beat it around the head with a stick with a nice balance.

So I guess if you keep your Dog on a leash or in your own walled garden away from Chemicals and inconsiderate drivers they will be fine

Its probably just as well that you can't make it. A Thai Boyfriend with a bronzed six pack is OK, but you can't beat the real thing .

Think, Red Speedo's; Off-Grey Coloured; bulging ; Beer Swilling; hairy; One-packs !

I rest my case

Are the Trees not producing or something ?. Seems a shame to cut down those huge trees.

Wow, Well thanks for explaining that.

Only really bother my feet these days . I wear a pair of knee length Gortex socks at dusk or dawn which are the only things I could find apart from neoprene socks that are of a sufficiently tight weave. I suspect Thai's get bitten just as much but the Immune system doesn't react quite so much.

I suspect they could face exactly the same dangers here that they face in the south although I'm not exactly sure what dangers they face from Muslims , but we do have quite a few Muslims too. Is it some sort of Allergy ?

Northern Dogs do tend to sleep on the Highway and I would urge you not to allow your dogs to do so