Iolare

I have to be careful how I say this because I really like it here, but why is it that where I come from. they manage to continuously upgrade service without ever shutting off a neighborhood's power for the entire day? Frankly, I don't think it's a huge technical achievement to manage to do that. Among the benefits of course, are that businesses are not disrupted, and refrigerators of food are not ruined. I guess the inescapable conclusion is that there is not much respect for consumers here, but at least since they are now starting to warn customers in advance, that shows some progress.

I phoned Howard at the Green Man and 10 people have sent him a SMS message about attending.

There are probably more than that going to attend.

Just by reading the posts i have an idea of which members of this forum will attend.

It does not really matter as long as its good company.

From a acorn a large tree grows.

The ones i believe are going to attend i look forward to meeting

So how was the meeting on Sunday?

I'm curious how many people showed up and regret that my wife and I had a prior commitment and couldn't make it. I tried to send you a message on the weekend Peter, but couldn't get it done. Why don't you send me a PM and let's talk.

Thank you all for the information. I was told the tree was native and called a peacock tree, so now I'm learning much more. Special thanks to mahjengguy for the e-mail referral. I just sent a note to Ben and we'll see what response I get from him. I inquired at a few nurseries in Phuket and one over the Sarasin Bridge near my area and they all said that they could probably source them in Bangkok. I decided to try this site to see if I could buy them locally.

My plan is to plant two of the trees next to a pond I had dug at the bottom of the hill my house sits on, so dropping leaves and flowers shouldn't be too much of a problem down there, although I am having the lawn extended down to the pond. Two would be up hear the entry gate, so none of them would be close to the house. Here's a picture of the pond location for the trees.

These are the native trees that have the flaming red-orange flowers this time of year. I think they're beutiful any time of year with their deep green leaves and lighter green new growth. but when they blossom they're spectacular. I'd like to plant four or five of them on my property, but haven't found any available for sale. Does anyone know where to purchase a few for transplant? Here's a poto of the tree. Any help in locating a few would be much appreciated.

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An ad for Happy Air continues to play on the local FM radio station. I heard it again today.

I built a place in Phang Nga across from the Yacht Haven Marina on the Phang Nga side of the channel. I put in a True Visions dish supplied by a dealer in Khok Kloi. They were efficient and did a nice installation. Contact me if you need more information.

There are brand new courts (3 of them) next to the TOT Office in Chalong opposite Chaofa Thanee

I believe the guy said its 240baht an hour. It is about 50meters down the road that connects the two chaofa roads (the one that Tiger Muaythai is on)

Thanks for that information. By coincidence, I have a house in the estate you referred to, so those court are walking distance from it, but I'm spending most of my time up in Phang Nga now and was hoping that someone knew of a resort that had courts that might be open to the general public. I figured it was a long shot, but thought it would be worth posting.

I'd like to take up tennis and play once a week or so. Does anyone know of tennis courts located north of the Heroine's Monument? I live north of the Sarasin Bridge, so I'd like to find some place up this way. I'm aware of the Tennis club down in the Rawai area, but that would be quite a drive.

My wife would certainly enjoy it if you used our place. She was a background actress in LA until we moved here, and she enjoys the process of making films. Our place has large front and rear yards and is on the bay, so the view is nice. We're across from the Yacht Haven Marina in Phang Nga about 14 Kilometers from the bridge, so maybe it's too far for your purposes, but if not, feel free to PM me if you think it could work out for you.

Hello,

Thanks for the reply. Would you be able to estimate how long of a drive it would be from Kathu, Phuket? I think that if it's over a 40 minute drive by motorcycle, I should probably consider another option, for my actor's sake.

Thanks again

We have a home in Chalong too, and the drive from there takes about one hour by car, so I suppose from Kathu it would be pretty close to your 40 minute drive time limit by motorcycle.

My wife would certainly enjoy it if you used our place. She was a background actress in LA until we moved here, and she enjoys the process of making films. Our place has large front and rear yards and is on the bay, so the view is nice. We're across from the Yacht Haven Marina in Phang Nga about 14 Kilometers from the bridge, so maybe it's too far for your purposes, but if not, feel free to PM me if you think it could work out for you.

We have had three antique clocks repaired since we came to Phuket

Try Jamroon Khoesermsri,

24/1 Bangkok Road,Muang Phuket; tel; 076-321-148.

But you will find several clock shops in the centre of Phuket Town

I was happy to see this subject because I also brought three antique clocks with me when I came. The two Black Forest wall clocks started working just fine when i hung them on the wall, but a nice Vienna Regulator just won't keep the pendulum swinging, so it needs a clock man to look it over.

When i read that Wellington found someone who successfully worked on his clocks, I immediately decided to take mine in, as I was running some errands in town this afternoon anyway. So I packed up the clock and called on the way downtown. Unfortunately, it seems that the phone number is incorrect. Also, I drove on Bangkok Road but couldn't find the address or the clock shop.

Wellington, could you please take another look at the phone number and address? Also, in the event this this guy is out of business, and if you know, could you head me in the proper direction to find the other shops down there? I think this would be helpful to the original poster and perhaps others as well.

Thanks

Thanks for the responses. Fiddlehead is right. There is a place about midway between the Phuket checkpoint and the Yacht Haven turnoff when you're gong south on the highway. I just went past it, but didn't have time to stop and check it out. It's a whole lot closer for me than Laguna. I still hope to find one on the north side of the bridge, though.

I have a new place north of the Sarasin Bridge without a land line. Also, CAT wireless doesn't work there due to a weak signal. My way of getting online is a Sierra wireless aircard, but it isn't fast enough to be able to use Skype. Since I occasionally need to make international calls, I have to go to a hot spot to use Skype from my laptop. The closest place I've found so far is the bakery at Laguna. Does anyone know of a place north of the Yacht Haven up to the Klok Kloi area where I can get online with a fast enough signal to make a call?

I noticed that this Aviation thread slipped off the first page of the Sports, Hobbies & Activities forum so I decided to bump it up. I'm in Phuket and wondering if anyone is using the new private air field in Ap Po? Is it only for pilots who buy a lot in the development, or can one rent a plane there or base one there?

A big thumbs up to you Don. This time the BBQ was great and your staff really came through with flying colors. Good food all night, good music and a very nice time. Our table really enjoyed the party.

1) Yes, me and wife

2) Chalong and S. Phang Nga Province

3) Anyplace scenic and suitable, including the Sports Club

4) Any date is OK

My wife and I attended the last two Thai Visa parties and enjoyed ourselves meeting some fellow posters, and enjoying the late/great Buckwheat’s ribs and of course, the free drinks. Our thanks to TV for hosting those events, and we’d sure like to see the tradition continue. I think Buckwheat had a lot do do with setting those up, so hopefully someone else can take over to keep it going.

I agree that it would be nice if some way of making it easier to meet fellow attendees could be arranged. Last year at the Friendship beach BBQ, Huggy Bear went up to the microphone and introduced himself to the group, but no one followed up to do the same. I guess I should have kept that ball rolling, and this year if there’s a party, I would follow him up to the mic for sure.

I noted Sportsman 69’s offer of help in organizing the next party. I’ve been to his tennis club in Rawai and it might be a nice place for the next one.

I built a house in Phang Nga Province in an area without land line telephone or cable TV service. I had the CAT technician out to the house to try their wireless service, but the signal was very weak and he couldn’t recommend using it.

A friend recommended using a Solomon Edge modem since I have a very strong AIS cell phone signal in my area, so I just bought one. When I opened the box I read that my Mac OS X operating system wasn’t listed among those suitable for the Edge modem.

I have an Apple MacBook which I use and really prefer to a PC laptop, and I’d like to be able to continue to use it at the new house. My wife has an Acer laptop, so we could probably install the software in her computer and use the USB Edge modem in that computer, but I’d really like to use mine too.

Is it possible to hook the edge modem some way to a wireless router like the Airport Extreme that we are using at our old house with our TOT ADSL service? That would be the ideal situation for my wife and I if it’s possible; we've grown very used to being able to use either laptop anywhere on our property, and would like to have that capability at the new place.

Also, we’d like to avoid getting another Truevisions satellite and instead get a Dreambox satellite TV setup, and we need a reliable internet connection to make it work. I’m hoping the edge modem will do the trick. Has anyone had experience with this combination?

On the scale between internet technician and total rookie, I'm on the latter end, so any help with these problems would be much appreciated.

I see people fishing at the Sarasin Bridge and in long tail boats in the area. What kind of fish are they fishing for? I'm a fresh water fisherman from the lakes area of Minnesota, USA, but don't have a clue about Thai salt water fishing. I'm moving to that area and plan to fish from a boat, as my place is across from the Yacht Haven Marina. I'd be fishing for fun, and also to put food on the table. At my lake in MN I was certain enough about catching dinner that I'd start the charcoal BBQ before launching the boat, and I'd like to do that here too. Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions, guys. I’m learning the hard way about the differences in the electrical systems in the two countries. Shortly after I first arrived here in LOS I plugged in my battery charger for my Milwaukee 18V cordless tool set with a “radio shack” type transformer and immediately ruined the charger unit. I had to get another unit from the US because I couldn’t get one for the Thai market anywhere in Asia. The new one works fine with a large transformer.

I bought a fancy stainless steel double door refrigerator from GE in the US which was 240V 50 Hz, so I thought I’d have no problem, but after being put into use for an hour, it stopped working. After some difficulty in locating a repairman who could work on a GE refrig with LED control panels, it turned out that probably a voltage spike blew the main circuit board. It took awhile, but finally the new board arrived, was installed, and the refrig works. I spent 1400 bt. for a special appliance surge protector, so hopefully it’ll be OK now.

As for my Fisher stereo system, I think I’ve had it for 15 years or so, and it’s operated faultlessly ‘til now. It was state of the art when I bought it, and it’s still plenty good enough for me if I can get it working again without spending too much. I like the sound quality from the speakers better than than the home theater system I bought here, so it’s worth restoring it to service if possible. When I first assembled the components and speakers here in Thailand, I used a cheap transformer and It played a few minutes then stopped. The transformer had a little fuse which had blown out, so I tried the large transformer I bought for the American tools and it worked fine until it died. I’m thinking the stereo may have suffered the same fate as the refrig.

Before the stereo system died, I thought it had passed the test and was OK, so I had a cabinet made for the master bedroom to house the components along with a TV. The plan was to play music from the computer using iTunes via Airport Express through the home theater system in the LV, and through the Fisher system in the MBR. So much for the best laid plans of mice and man.

Here are my options as I see it now:

1) Buy a used replacement amp in the US. There’s the exact one on eBay now for a “buy it now” price of $125. But I worry about the shipping cost because the unit probably weighs about 15 to 20 lbs., and I’m also concerned about the import duties. I was really stung with the costs associated with getting a kitchen sink faucet into Thailand from the US--that more than doubled the cost.

2) Take Mrjlh’s advice and check out the repair shop in Phuket Town and hope that isn’t money down the drain. I recently paid 1500 bt. for diagnostic work on a laptop here in Phuket town to be told that it wasn’t worth fixing, and that the charge would not be credited toward the purchase of a new one.

3) Buy a new system here, but use the big Fisher speakers. I’d hate to take this choice since I’m fond of my old system and the matched components look nice in the new cabinet, but I may have to if choices one and two don’t seem reasonable. No matter what I do, I’ll invest in a surge protector. Anybody have a surge protector for the whole house?

I brought a multi component Fisher stereo system with me from the US. I used 220V to 110V transformer and plugged it in. It worked for awhile (maybe about 8 hours or so of use), but now it doesn’t. The amplifier unit doesn’t turn on or off, but the red indicator light for power and the surround sound indicator light are lit, so it’s getting power. It doesn’t appear that power is getting from the amp unit to the other components, but the three fuses in the amp seem OK.

Could the 60 Hz - 50 Hz difference have caused the problem? I have a friend from Germany who has been running his German Bose stereo with a transformer without a problem for a long time, so I thought mine would work too.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also, if the problem is not caused by the phase of the electricity, can anyone recommend a repair place for this Fisher integrated stereo amplifier in the Phuket area?

Is the area underneath usable? I see that it slopes.

Ski-slope??

Agreed, beautiful home

Thanks Crossy. It's a downslope site, but it's not all as steep as the picture makes it look. The front yard is very usable, and the land levels out at the bottom providing a nice area at the shoreline. I put in a road from the upper level to the lower level to allow easy access. Here are three photos: a shot of the front yard from the entry porch, a shot down to the temp. workers housing at the shore, and a shot up from the workers camp to the house site.

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lolare.

Beautiful & practical.

Is the area underneath (the house) usable? I see that it slopes.

edited for the benefit of the New swimming pool mod.

Yes, the lower level is mostly open, like a lot of Thai houses, and is usable. The enclosed areas are a mechanical room, a bathroom, and a caretakers quarters. The main open area is going to be a recreation/exercise space. We plan to add a swimming pool outside of that space (maybe I should talk to the New Swimming Pool Mod about that). There is also a large double carport on that level. Here's a carport picture.

Our almost finished house in Phang Nga Province:

Can anyone help with a manufacturer / supplier of double hung sash windows in Thailand, preferable aluminium construction.

Thanks

I had my local window installer make some for a breakfast room in the house I just built. He hadn't made them before, but I showed him a few photos and a drawing, and he did a nice job. I'm in Phuket and can give you his contact information if you like, but he doesn't speak English. Here's a picture of the windows.

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