NoDisplayName

Don't have the answer to that question. But if it's exercise in the outdoors you're looking for, why not rent a paddle-boat and ride around the lake for a couple hours. Celebrate Chinese New Year - year of the dragon - amongst the 2-meter long monitor lizards.

Dammit, Jim! I'm an aerospace engineer, not a paleontologist!

They left 3 KG of sushi on the table.

How about driver education, compulsory seatbelts and helmets, cops on the streets enforcing laws? That would cut about 100K needless deaths. Add their potential offspring and you're halfway there already.

The Chinese are capable of manufacturing quality products, but that's not what WE want. Not that many Chinese are here or in western countries flogging cheap junk. It's western buyers that travel to China, or shop on Alibaba, and demand the cheapest products with little attention to quality. Factory manager can offer higher quality at a higher pricepoint, but the buyer will just mosey on over to the next factory to find something cheaper to fill the dollar store shelves.

Maybe Thais see it differently? A group of us drove over to Tijuana for a weekend, one of the guys bought a cheap sombrero and serape from a tourist stand to wear around town. He was incredibly popular with the locals..........folks all over were pointing and yelling "Aye, Pancho! Pancho Villa! You come back to us!"

In the meantime, we did install the water hammer arrester v1.0 using the pressure tank from the water pump. While doing so we found that the pump was NOT bolted down as we thought. There were bolts, but only to the metal base plate. New bolts added. I also cut and capped a PVC line allowing the pump to pull directly from the mains. This appears to reduce the water hammer by half. There is still some hammer noise, but it can't be heard from inside the house. I don't know if this is normal for el cheapo pumps. Since we're now not using the pump, I won't bother trying to adjust air pressure or experimenting with the arrester v1.2

The problem has unexpectedly resolved itself. Previously, the village water had a higher flow/pressure than the city water. Assumed that was because we were at the end of the city line. That is not the case. When digging up the lines outside the wall, we found a metal shut-off valve on the city line, just before it spliced into the village water. That valve was heavily corroded and stuck at about 3/4 closed. Now with a direct line from the city, bypassing the pump, we have enough pressure to operate the on-demand water heaters. I was about to switch over to village water to see if we're getting higher pressure/flow from that system now, but both the city and village have just shut off water for this area, unannounced. We still have the water pump connected, so can pull water from the storage tank when needed. We'll probably re-plumb so the pump can be set to send water out to the garden faucets. We can use that for tree-watering and keep the water in the tank fresh.

Consider Cambodia. On the border to Laos, the immigration officials demand a $5 stamp fee for each tourist, in addition to the official visa fee. Multiply that by thousands of tourists daily, and you understand how so many low-ranking officers are cruising around in Lexus SUV's. This is standard practice, and I'm Shirley the higher-ups know about it and are getting their cut. There will be resistance.

Relax! Don't get your elephant pants in a wad. What will you do when the Chinese reclaim THEIR cultural heritage? Dated to at least 3,200 years old, the Turfan Man’s trousers are believed to be the oldest pair of trousers yet discovered https://www.sciencenews.org/article/pants-oldest-ancient-horseman-asia-culture-origin

Try another bank, or a different branch of the same bank. It could be the manager or the clerks at that particular location aren't aware of the procedures for opening accounts for foreigners. It could be (if you're a US citizen) they don't want to deal with IRS requirements.

Tanks are dirty? Sure, if you leave them uncovered or never clean them. All water systems leak. Mains pressure keeps the yucky stuff out. If you pull the pressure down, the yucky stuff will get sucked in through the cracks. Pesticides, sewage, motor oil..... I've got an automatic model with an attached 2-liter pressure tank, which has a schraeder valve to adjust pressure. This may be of use, has some comments about other pump types.

Sure, it's possible. But only if Thailand is willing to share those juicy visa fees with the associatede countries. That would include fees collected from embassies, as well as for extensions and fines. Hub of that's not gonna happen.

Wait, what? You don't have a water tank, and are pumping from the mains? I think it's possible to cause negative pressure in the community system, then pull contaminants in, you know, raw sewage or pesticides. Can you check the air pressure in the reservoir tank on the bottom of your pump?

Maybe have your wife call the local land office and inquire. Perhaps it would be possible to have her name added to the chanote as co-owner?

I've cycled the friendship bridge from Laos to NongKai. It's permitted but not exactly cycle-friendly. The lanes are narrow, with little room for large coaches to pass by. There is (or was then) a walkway on the edge, separated from the road by meter-high concrete barriers, but you can't ride the entire length due to large signs bolted down blocking the way. Much better crossing for bicycles is Kennetau (Laos Hwy 4) near Loei if that's convenient for you.

Good luck! Seems few qualify to donate. https://tastythailand.com/who-cannot-donate-blood-in-thailand-you-may-be-on-the-list-of-people-who-cannot/

The point of the fixed account is that it offers you protection from silly mistakes. There are no fees that could lower your balance. Tax is deducted, but only after interest is deposited. There is no way to inadvertently take money from the wrong account. There is no way to use the wrong ATM card or to do an online balance transfer to another account. Your wife can't take out a thousand baht to buy shoes intending to replace it the next day. You have to physically go into a branch and present the passbook to withdraw funds.

Not really tedious, is it? Starting from scratch with a new conversion from visa waiver is about the same amount of paperwork as your regular extension. You've got a bank account. You've got 800K. You have a rental contract or equivalent. Why not spend a weekend in Luang Prabang? But before you do, move the 800K into a fixed account.

Doctor never saw me. I stayed well out of sight. This was all between honey-bunny and Dr. Incompetent.

Well, I can definitely positively proclaim that in future I shall not fly with an airline that may take legal action if I criticize their performance. Good job! **deleted. self-censored. comment might be regarded as criticism. sorry. forgive me. I am but a worm.**

We'll be doing some more reading on this. According to both reports, LDL was calculated. Located in a small town outside Korat. Will have to see what sort of specialists are available in the big city.

Howdy, y'all! I ordered a replacement air pressure tank for the water pump on Lazada. Set to correct pressure at the factory, with fresh diaphram, seems to help quite a bit. Pump is running better with fewer start/stops, and the water hammer effect is much lighter. Pump is directly beneath a window, can barely hear the water hammer thud. Have to concentrate to hear it. With AC on, don't hear it at all. That's surprising, as I thought the problem was at the pump intake side. But I have no experience with water pumps, and this amount of water hammer might be normal with a 2000-baht pump. In the meantime, I collected the necessaries to build a water hammer arrester if needed. 1" feed pipe, with 2" air chamber above. Screws off at the base, so could simply put the old air pressure tank there, as well.

First test at end of October: Chol 256 LDL 172 HDL 71 Tri 67 3 mos 20mg Sim daily, test end January: Chol 168 LDL 80 HDL 70 Tri 89

Golden week starts Feb 09, runs to Feb 17 for the entire country. There are also tens of millions of teachers and university students that will have 5 weeks of vacation for spring break.