bubbaba

I would like to have installed on my home near Korat a TV satellite Dish. I have heard that once installed you may pick up as many as 200 plus stations from surrounding countries including Japan and China. Does anyone have a recommendation as to type of dish or a company they could recommend? I have not had any luck trying to goggle up a company. Thank you.

I quit a year and a half now. I still crave them. Yes due to additives in cigs they are harder to give up then most hard drugs. I used the Gum you buy over the counter at 7-11's and drug stores in Bangkok. It helps reduce your desire for nicotine while you get use to not having a cig in your hand. Determination is a must. I smoked 2 to 4 packs a day. I smoked for over 50 years. It is important to remember - don't even take one drag of a cig, ever. The moment you do you are almost 100 percent sure to continue smoking. I think giving up the smokes was the smartest thing I ever did in my life.

Coffee in a.m. At least three cups. Sometimes many more during the day.

Pepsi Max or Diet Coke

All fruit juices.

Lassie

Callamonsi/Lime juice and water. No sugar. Sometimes I use equal.

Water.

I like all of the above about equally.

Beer and hard drinks - never.

I like a very wide selection of music. I like Piano or Guitar solos the most. I listen daily to Richard Clayderman on Piano and at least weekly to a mix of guitar music. Spanish/Mexican sounds best on guitar.

I have been reading this forum for a year or two and will retire to Thailand in about 3 years. It amazes me the negative comments that have relatively no basis. Why do people live here if they hate it so much? Some of you need to get a life, the U.S. and several other sountries have much worse crime and in my opinion if you mind your own business and do what is right then you won't have a problem...anywhere!

I do appreciate the good info that is posted but all the negativity is ridiculous, as stated above get a life, turn your computer off and enjoy Thailand.....or go somewhere else.

My first post and I expect a rash of ignorance to follow.

ACMIKE

Hello ACMIKE. Welcome to the forum. I have lived in Thailand for three years now and I am married to a Thai. I agree with your comments 100%. Thailand is a great place to live.

If you are planning to have fish in the pond, then you shoul use some of the soil to build a dam around the pond, around 0.5-1m high, specially if you want cat-fish.

Tilapia.

Why do you put a dam around the pond?

I recently had a large hold dug on our property so that we could use the dirt to back fill our yard where we are building a new home. Due to some heavy run off because of the recent heavy downpours I have many washed out areas around my pond/hole.

We want to turn it into a fish pond. For sure stocked with some cats. I know that I will need to use cement. Not sure of the process. I have been reading lately about ferro-cement. Is that worth considering. At best I can tell I am about 30 feet above the water table in this area. I have some water in the pond now because it storms a lot lately. Drought time comes I am sure it will be very dry with out cement or something.

What suggestions, instructions, advice can you offer. I welcome all. I live 13 kilometers south of Khorat.

I'm also just growing for home, I like pasta and it's difficult to get ripe tomatoes over here, the Roma ones are great.

I am planting my first garden ever in Thailand now so I don't know how the old tricks that I know work. Anyway, back home in Florida I would pick my tomatoes when they first started turning red. Then I put them upside down on a sunny window ledge until fully ripe. You get an added benefit--you get the tomato before the bugs do.

Yes we have one, two in fact, on the pole on the corner about 40 meters from our bedroom. Very loud with no volume switch, but the music is nice. Saves money - you don't need to buy an alarm clock or a morning newspaper. You can also practice your Thai listening skills. Love it he he he he he he he

TNT anyone?

I noticed in some other place on this forum that there was instructions for making a concret pool/pond that would be adquate for keeping koi and the like. The construction of a pond such as this is much more, I think, then what would be needed for a simple fish pond, lagoon type thing.

Is there anywhere on this forum, instructions for making a simple fish pond with cement, plastic, etc? A simple step by step procedure.

I live in an area where almost everyone has mushroom houses including my MIL. To control humity here and/or to raise the humity level, and to sterilize things in mushroom houses my MIL and all of my neighbors burn used truck tires to fire up there steaming producing machine - a large brown, rusty, piece of junk with wheels that can send a cloud of black smoke high in the sky. Approximately everyother day for about 6 hours this black cloud is going up.

Since I know nothing about the subject of mushroom houses I thought I would seek assistance here.

I want to know all other methods of producing steam for mushroom houses. Information on companies that sell equipment, etc. Goggle has nothing that I could find. What ever you can provide will be fine.

Thank you

I forgot. Someone mentioned peppers, chillies.

In Florida I grew the plants in the soil in a bright area of the garden, but, in in-direct sun. Never in direct sun. I grew very large green bell peppers. Red and yellow one too. For my chillies I planted them in direct sun. I plan to try them in in-direct sun here in Thailand. I will plant my first garden in Thailand this year, so, please give me all the advise you want - I need it. Thanks guys.

I'm from Florida. I had a large garden there before moving to LOS. All organic. When I left, 13 years ago, I had the blackest sand in Florida and little if any problems with bugs, worms, etc in my garden. Skiters-plenty.

I grew my tomatoes in Florida by planting where the plants would get morning sun and evening sun. No mid-day sun. I think that works out to planting on the north side of the tree. I learned this trick when my cherry tomatos, growing in pots, grew like they were related to superman. I water morning and evening. When I only water once a day, I do it in the evening just before dark. I later tried this method, directly in the soil, in my main garden area on the north side of a large oak tree. Bingo! I grew St. Louis Blues, Burpee's Big Boy and Big Girl. Super harvest. All three types grew better than ever before. I gardened there for 12 years and about 8 years near St. Louis, Mo. St. Louis Blues are not good for shipping or keeping, however, great for fresh eating. Best taste ever.

This will be my first year to garden in Thailand so I am searching this forum for info.

Are you located in Thailand? Have you ever been to Thailand? I ask, because most, if not all foods cooked in Thailand contains sugar. Maybe Thai's are the sugar industries best customer.

Thank you RC for the information. I really appreciate it. I want to do many things, but, lack of information really makes life tuff sometimes.

I notice on this or another forum that you are out of the farming business and going back home for awhile. I am sorry to hear about your problems. I wish you the best of luck.

If I don't get down to the water table and my lagoon-pond would dry up during the hot weather, how many times a year do you think it would dry. Would I have to refill it once a year, two or more times a year?

What do you think about using cement?

We are building/living on my mother-in-law's farm. About 30 plus rai here and maybe another 30 or so rai scattered around the local area here. They have a hand dug well with cement rings like you use for septic tanks. She say's it is 37 meters deep. I uncovered the well and looked in. It's about 30 to 40 feet to water. The well has not been used for a few years since the pump died. Is it correct to assume that that is the water table for this area?

I plan to fill the pond, if necessary, from the well. I could also keep it topped up from the well. My mother in law and I both have a small garden area. If I wind the small lagoon from the pond area to near to my garden and then on to hers and then back to the pond area we could get water for the gardens from lagoon and maybe some free fertilizer too. I also plan to build some type of water falls for beauty, sound, and looks and possibly a way to add air to the water. Along this lagoon I also plan to plant in pots, underwater, some of the plants (don't know the names) along the way for beauty with maybe some type of walking path near the lagoon. (I would love to do this plan on mother in laws 30 plus rai, but I don't want to start a family war - but it is a nice thought for a large lagoon.) Does this plan sound workable? Any info?

Don't worry about telling me words in Thai. My wife speaks english well and when she is away on business I live in a moo baan where I think I am the only english speaking person. My mother in law speaks only a lao-thai whatever. My dictionary and sign language works best. I am learning Thai fast. Just give me info in Thai or English and my wife can sort if out.

Thank you again.

I would like to develope, as part of my landscaping, a small lagoon-pond that would be stocked with editable fish.

I live near Khorat. The soil looks like clay, however, I don't think it would hold water. I would like the lagoon-pond to wander over approximately 25% of a Rai of land. I think the lagoon-pond should be about 1.5 meter deep in the middle with slooping sides. Something like Lumpini Park Lagoon only much, much smaller.

We have many fruit trees and a few other types of trees plus an area for garden, about 30' by 30'. The location of the trees would dictate the direction of, wandering of, the lagoon.

How would I build something like this? Any ideas? Cement sides, plastic, clay, what? What about depth? How do you control plant growth?

What ever and all information would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

I am an American who retired in Thailand a few years ago. It is more expensive here then some places, but, it is also a great place to retire. The coup, problems in the south, etc have not yet bothered me. I love it here.

I'm from the west but I love Thailand. It is a great place to live. I have been here around three years now. Just keep an open mind and a smile. All will work out fine.

Everybody wais in Thailand,whether you are muslim ,cristian or buddhist.It is the Thai way to say hello,it is the thai culture to do and very normal to everybody.That bloke that did not wai,maybe was an elderly guy,sometimes they do not wai back cause of the situation,also normal,or he was very impolite and that can happen to a buddhist as well so just something like that.

An older person is not required to wai in return according to Thai culture. Some do and some do not. Both are poliet and correct.

Amyway - forget it - stay away from it -far away from it. I read all of the post on this thread and I am experienced with Amyway. I can only say to you again - forget it - stay away from it - far away from it...

I just received my retirement visa approval in December without 800K. The requirement to have the money was done away with. Has that changed?

This is the name of the plant/tree in Thai

ฮก เกียน

I think I got it right. The vowel is suppose to be ii and a falling sound super-imposed. The print is so small that I cant see if I got it right or not.

I saw a living hedge today. Nice and green and looked good. However, I could get no information except from my Thai friend who gave me the name in Thai. He knows nothing else about the plant.

The name is Hog Kiean Tree? What can you tell me about this tree/plant. The latin name would be good. Maybe I could google it. I would apprepricate any and all information.

Thank you

Thank you. I put "areas and volumes 0.1.xls" on my desktop.

I need to ask a question. I have forgotten how to do algebra, geometry, etc. Been over 50 years since I went to school and never used math in my work. So, I lost it long time ago.

If you have cement circles, like they use to make septic tanks here in Thailand. But these are two meters dia. by .5 meter height. What is the cubic volume of water that this cement piece would hold providing it had a bottom?

Please provide me with an answer and if you are willing, please explain how to figure volume for circles, cylinders, what ever you call them. I can only figure volume on squares and rectangles.

Thank you,

I built a concrete tank the length of my house, forming my tiled patio. The patio is 15m x 5m. The tank (under the patio) is 15m x 4.5m (0.5m away from the house to prevent rising damp). The tank is 1.47m deep (internal measurement). The tank holds approx. 93,000 litres. It collects rainwater from my roof (approx usable 250sq.m).

I pump water from this tank to my water-tower concrete-tank (4m x 4m x 2m external holding approx. 27,000 litres; this external tank stands at a level equivalent to some 5m above my attic floor). I use a 3-inch Honda petrol water pump, which takes around 35 minutes to fill this tank every 8 weeks (approx). This then gravity-feeds my house for all our domestic needs (the house has no other water source). The household comprises two adults and two children. This total 120,000 litres has to do us for up to 7, or even 8, months. It exactly matches our needs.

Is it possible for you to post photos of construction of the in-ground tank and the tank as it looks now? Also, are you willing to share specifications?

The contractor who is now building my house suggested the (sorry I don't know the proper name for these things)

round cement rings that are used for septic tanks or the larger ones which are about 2 meters dia. He suggested going 3 to 4 meters deep, cementing joints and the floor. Above ground the tanks would look like a covered well. The water could be removed with a small pump as needed. I plan to use this water mostly for landscaping and garden. I did also plan in the future to add a raised tank for household use as you have.

Simply put, I like your plan. It sound like it would fit the bill for most people and conserve yard space too.