billd766

At most hospitals or there are usually medical suppliers nearby them for a walking frame.

Adult disposable diapers can be found in most big shopping malls at places like Big C, LotusTesco or Makro.

though I am 66 fortunately I have no need for them

YET

But when comes the time for diaper changes I will remind my son now 6 what Daddy did for him when he was a baby.

At most hospitals or there are usually medical suppliers nearby them for a walking frame.

Adult disposable diapers can be found in most big shopping malls at places like Big C, LotusTesco or Makro.

though I am 66 fortunately I have no need for them

YET

I have just done a Google translate and velcro does not seem to be recognised in Thai.

CAn anyone help me with this please?

With respect to the people concerned there is NO WAY that CAT taking over Hutch will give them a "nationwide" service coverage.

Even AIS with over 15,000 cell sites has a problem in a very few localities and DTAC are similar with 12,000 odd sites.

A combination of CAT/Hutch will give them only 3,000 sites using their figures which is nowhere near enough.

Granted it will give them sites in all 72 provinces and the joint infrastructure is very valuable but the service coverage area is great if you live in a city or a big town or on a main road trunk route but there are large pyhsical areas with no coverage at all.

I live 65 km south west of Khampaeng Phet near the Mae Wong national park and I have been waiting more than 7 years for a simple phone line.

I wet to the CAT office in KP and asked to see a coverage map and thy didn't have one so I explained where I live and it seems my closest site is about 40 km away with no plans to build anything nearer.

I retired last year after 20 years of building mobile phone networks across the world so I do have some idea of what I am talking about and probably a lot more than the CEO of CAT.

You can see exactly where you compare this year,

against the 30 year average

at the Thailand Meterological Department site

http://www.tmd.go.th/en/climate.php

http://www.tmd.go.th/en/province_stat.php?StationNumber=48375

We aren't going to make the average of 1450 mm for the year in Mae Sot,

Presently 1048.7 on 4 October

In the Mae Sot valley,

the past two years have been perfect examples

of why the initial expense of sprinkler irrigation

should not be delayed.

Both years had terrible combinations for getting the Corn crop established.

A little bit of irrigation would have enabled both years

to proceed at full yield and ahead of the surrounding harvest schedule

The capacity to plant and fertilize for a heavier expected yield than for rainfall only,

water to start it early, and to thrive through dry spells

harvesting when farm labor is still readily available

and before the harvest glut drives down the granary price.

Now consider the potential to grow two back to back crops on one rainy season,

starting early finishing late

I actually prefer the dry season,

and certainly have enjoyed this relatively low rain season.

I have been logging both those sites since early last month and for Khampaeng Phet it is above the 30 year average.

However I live about 65 km away from the weather station and there has not been so much rain this year as a lot of other years especially in 2006 when the klong across the road flooded almost up to the road which made it a couple of metres higher and a lot wider at the end of it.

This year seems to be about 200 mm higher than the 30 year average.

I was seriously thinking about buying one last year but without a green book the prices are around 70k baht and then IF you are lucky and it passes all the checks for about another 50k it could become legal.

However you are looking at 120k or so for a fully legal one and it will be 10 to 20 years old.

I live about half way between BKK and Chiang Mai and I would have to go 125 km or more to find anyone with the knowledge to fix any problems and if I needed parts I would have the bike off the road for a while so I would then need a second bike plus I would also have to transport the bike somewhere which will need a long bed pick up and several strong men.

Now I ride around on a 5 year old Phantom which is serviced by my village Honda dealer and is never off the road for more than a couple of hours and I use it all the time. If the dealer doesn't have that parts they are delivered in 3 days or less.

Hopefully next year IF Honda build it in Thailand I will seriously look for a Honda VTR 250 at about 145,000 baht brand new with a green book and a 30k 3 year warranty that can be serviced and fixed locally.

However when my 3 legged dog dies I will probably have to go through this all over again with the next lot of dogs.

Speaking about the "phenomenal" societal impact of the emergence of social networks, Castells said the number of users – 500m on Facebook alone – is only at "the tip of the iceberg". "The deepest social transformation of the internet came in the last decade with social networks," he said,

Is it just good old Luddite me or is there anybody else out there the same who has no interest in Facebook/Tweeting/Etc whatsoever?

Well there is me but I must confess I do have a Facebook account that I look at every 2 or 3 weeks to keep in touch with a couple of old friends in the UK.

My wife has 081 which is DTAC and mine is 089 which is AIS.

We have had them for around 10 years and never bothered to change them.

He has stopped it now and we still have chickens left.

I think he was just a puppy and went for anything that moved.

We had a cat up at the shop who would catch mice and rats and play with them until the cat got bored and then it would kill it.

Edited for bad spelling before the spelling gestapo see it.

play is not spelt paly

Personally I couldn't live in upcountry Thailand.

I go to Phayao once a year for a few days and I am bored very very quickly.

I need the western amenities, restaurants, bars, gyms etc

Heck all the Thais that i know up country are busting to get out.

Many play cards and drink all day out of sheer and utter boredom.

You have to have a special type of character to live in rural Thailand for any length of time.

Personally you would have to pay me a LOT of money to live in BKK or any big city.

I lived and worked in and out of BKK for 5 years and for me you can keep it.

I live outside of a small village 65 km southwest of Khampaeng Phet and I don't need the western amenities, restaurants, bars, gyms etc

as I have lived with that for quite a few years and after living up here for 7 years very little of the western style attracts me.

I am retired and live with my wife and son on 10 rai of land with my nearest neighbour 100 metres away. I can relax and do what I want, watch and listen to birds and buitterflies.

Gyms well I have a semi redundant exercise machine and I get most of my exercise cutting down the scrub and grass around the place.

Restaurants, my wife had one but shut it down as a lot of her customers mistook her for a bank that did not need repaying.

Bars, been there and done that and now I don't drink that much.

I have a motorcycle so I can wander off and see friends more or less when I want to.

I only have a mobile phone and a DTAC EDGE connection but it works OK for me.

When I see my son off to school or wander around on my motorbike I wave and say hallo to kids and adults and most of the time I get a wave and smile back and the smiles are genuine.

There is plenty of good Thai food around and the people out in the country are nice too.

Very little crime at least around here.

What is not to like in Thailand.

Life is really what you make of it.

I usually get bored quickly in BKK unless my wife and son come as well otherwise when I have bought my books and meds and done my shopping what else is there to do?

I have been to bars and massage parlours etc and I no longer feel the need to go there any more.

Locally I get the same treatment and pay the same prices as the locals.

A lot may want to go to the city and earn more but many of those who have been don't like it but they do it for the money and there is not always a lot more of that either.

To build 4,772 cell sites in any country in 12 months is virtually impossible unless you go out to contract.

You need to find the sites,survey them, acquire them, build and equip them and all the attendant bit and pieces like towers, electricity, equipment needs to be ordered, delivered, installed and integrated and probably a whole new fibre optic backbone running all over the country not to mention extra internet bandwidth.

They will also have to join the queue to obtain the equipment as well which will also cause delays.

And they can do all this in 12 months?

I forgot to mention all of the millions of nuts, bolts washers, cable ties, cable, 1,000s of km of fibre optic cable and the many other parts needed, let alone all the sub contractors, vehicles, fuel, security guards etc.

Yeah, right

I retired last year after 20 years in the mobile phone network after building systems in quite a few countries and to be honest it IS possible, given unlimited funds and manpower.

But reality strikes.

AIS have around 15,000 cell sites and that took over 20 years to build

DTAC has built around 12,000 in the same period.

I would be happy to get back into it but there will be a lot of blame going around when it gets screwed up and the contractors will get it all.

4,772 in 12 months.

I was on a project in Bangladesh a few years ago and Nokia infrastructure couldn't complete 350 in 9 months.

:cheesy: :cheesy:

AIS, DTAC and True should take out an injunction against TOT for using frequencies that cannot yet be allocated.

Brewstards

I never thought joint bank accounts were a good idea in any country.

My money is in an account with only my name on it.

Sadly I think this money is gone for good, the temptation was too great for the lady in question.

Legal means of recovery will take a lot of time and money, and generate bitterness on your part over a long period of time.

I wouldn't chase her, I would learn from my mistake and move on, but then that's me, forgive and forget (if you can).

Strangely enough I am just the opposite.

I always had a joint account with my first wife from the UK and saw no reason to be different with my (2nd) Thai wife.

She was on most of my credit cards when I had them and up here in the village she has her own account, we have a joint account and I have my own account mainly for visa extension purposes.

I figured that if I can't trust my wife then who can I trust?

Me?

Not really, got it, spend it was my way for years but she slowly re-educated me.

we manufacture faggots in gravy at sausage king company www.sausageking1.com

we are in chiang mai. think this picture is what you want ? Rob.

It depends if the peas are marrowfat peas or those horrible tasteless garden peas.

Next stop Paris.... I'm envious. Have a good time - A change is always refreshing.

I am not.

I lived and worked just below the ring road of Paris for 7 months and I thoroughly disliked the place.

The RTR and the Metro were good but the rental I paid was high, the food I bought at the supermarket and cooked at home was good and the bread and butter fantastic but outside in the evenings I had to go a long way to the centre of Paris if I wanted to drink as the bars locally closed around 8 pm though in most of the cafe/bars you could start drinking around 4 am.

Outside of Paris France is a real country and it is like saying Bangkok is Thailand.

It isn't and never will be.

Outside of Paris France is a real country??? So what is Paris some sort of illusion.

By the way Bangkok is the capital of Thailand so definately is Thailand.

Yes outside of Paris which as many posters have pointed out is a dirty overcrowded expensive city is the better part of France where not everyone looks down their nose at you and if you speak no French at all they will do their best to help you unlike Paris.

I actually did know that Bangkok is the capital of Thailand so I must assume that you believe all of Thailand is the same as Bangkok.

Where I live out in the countryside not so Many Thais that I talk to in my mangled Thai actually like Bangkok.

They may go there to work but they certainly wouldn't want to live there.

Neither would I having lived in Bangkok for 6 of my 17 years coming to Thailand.

If it's just for off road use and doesn't need to be registered for road use then no worries.

At least until it gets to Customs and somebody takes a fancy to.

Have you also thought about spares and servicing for the bike in Thailand?

onnut started me thinking and I found that my profile has had over 3,300 views, 5 greens (thank you 5 people) and I am neutral.

Also I usually end up on somebodies profile by the same way that BKKcitylimits and 473geo did, by accident.

Next stop Paris.... I'm envious. Have a good time - A change is always refreshing.

I am not.

I lived and worked just below the ring road of Paris for 7 months and I thoroughly disliked the place.

The RTR and the Metro were good but the rental I paid was high, the food I bought at the supermarket and cooked at home was good and the bread and butter fantastic but outside in the evenings I had to go a long way to the centre of Paris if I wanted to drink as the bars locally closed around 8 pm though in most of the cafe/bars you could start drinking around 4 am.

Outside of Paris France is a real country and it is like saying Bangkok is Thailand.

It isn't and never will be.

At 200,000 baht that is 1,000 days or about 3 years at 7 days a week labour for one man to cut the grass.

I use a kruang tatya and do it my self for an hour or so a day 4 days a week unless I take a day off and that is for more that 2 rai.

Not to mention that I get some exercise in as well.

I have known my wife for 17 years and we have been married for the last 10 of them.

Our son is now 6 and the apple of my eye.

We have our ups and downs but mostly life goes on much as it does in other marriages in other countries.

I never tried to hide much and we had to wait until I got divorced before we could marry.

We have joint bank accounts and back in the days when I had them she had credit cards on my accounts as well.

Will the marriage last until one of us dies?

I don't know but I hope so as I want to see my son graduate from college or university.

I am 66 and she is 45 which oddly enough is only 6 years less difference than my Mum and Dad while they were married and they married in 1924.

DMAX,

I take your request for ideas very seriously as I have walked down this road for several years and as others suggest it is not easy.

Firstly understand yourself and your needs. How much money do you need to enjoy a meaningful lifestyle each month? Whats important to you, the person you have always been and the person you may wish to become? What are you looking for in your future life? Can you find that in rural Isaan?

That may well seem pretty airey-fairy but I have met people such as us who are attracted to Isaan but dont understand themselves or the environment they have placed themselves in. There is a huge gulf between the consumer based societies we come from and the basic need to have rice to eat which is all many locals here strive for.

I suggest that your question should be, How much money can I make in Isaan? Or indeed, Can I make enough money here in Isaan? The important word is "I", you will have to make it happen.

Those that surround me, have always been content to work very hard at planting and harvesting times, or about two months, but do little else throughout the year to improve their circumstances. With a tame farang around their lives become easier, fertiliser can be paid for with someone elses cash, friends can be employed to help do their work and they can relax with a monthly income for doing little and enjoy enormous face. Why wouldn't they smile at you? Beware of the crocodiles.

Whatever you decide to do, understand the nature of incomes here. They are small, nothing here makes a fortune easily or quickly. People here are risk takers and will jump into anything new, yet those same people resist change and will walk away from the smallest of obstacles. What may have the enthusiastic support of everyone to start with may well just simply run out of steam when the hard work starts. Stay clear of anything that relies on others that cannot be replaced easily. You do not want any uneducated "keymen" becoming critical to your business.

Equipment and improvements should be considered balanced against doing things the traditional manual way. Yes good tools make life easier and improve results, but reality is that many of those using them don't own them so will not treat your things with any care.

So base your decision on where to look to generate an income solely on what level of effort you are personally prepared to put in. Treat any assistance you get, for as long as it lasts, as a plus and be prepared to have an alternative to fill the gaps as they occur.

For those that read this and think I'm a hard nosed SOB, your not thinking Thai style. I have been personally disappointed many times by others and have learnt that if I fail, its my own fault, not the fault of people I try to impose my standards and work ethic onto. Nothing is for nothing here, why should we think differently.

DMAX, I hope you can find the answer to you next question, "What can I do ..... For me the answer is to earn as much as possible from as many things as possible. I grow rice and raise pigs, and I work hard producing compost from their manure and the rice straw both for sale and to reduce fertiliser costs. There are fish in our pond and a worm farm in the pig sty. We eat our own mushrooms and vegetables. We have made bacon and sausages. I am attempting to establish a fully integrated farm with a minimum external expenditure and sufficient income to enjoy a happy and contented lifestyle.

Whatever your choice is, be sure of one thing, to be successful you will have to work hard.

Isaan Aussie

Issan Aussie

This is the best advice I have yet seen on farming in Thailand.

Sure you can make money IF you have enough land, IF you know what you are doing, IF you have good reliable people working for you.

On the other hand IF it all goes wrong what of you and your families future?

You could also win the lottery or not.

We have 20 rai of land over in central Thailand near Khampaeng Phet and we used to grow cassava and sometimes corn.

About 3 years ago I was seriously looking at another 80 rai and I could then become a "gentleman farmer".

Before we bought it my wife finally admitted that she was not and never could be a farmer so we didn't buy the land.

It seems as though that was the best decision we made.

I have looked into pig farming, tree farming etc and with the limited amount of land we have the only difference would be the time it took to lose money.

Now we rent the land out and are guaranteed a small but safe return, we have leased a small part to AIS for a cell site and we are not working from dawn to dusk 7 days a week wondering what lies around the corner waiting to bite us.

English breakfast

Guinness book of records via BBC news website

And the record for the Largest Commercially Available English Breakfast went to Mario's Cafe Bar in Bolton, Greater Manchester, UK.

For £10.95 customers can tuck into six rashers of bacon, six sausages, four eggs, six slices of bread, five black puddings, mushrooms, a can of beans and tomatoes.

But if they manage the meal in under 20 minutes - it is free.

About 520 baht or so

I have already discussed this with my wife and a couple of friends.

I told my wife that I do not want to stay alive plugged into machines and spending her and our sons inheritance.

She has said that she will look after me but my thoughts are when I feel it is time to go I will say goodbye to them, take some pills to help me sleep for ever and wash them down with some good rum and coke then go to sleep.

I am building a folder on my computer of who to cantact and what to do when I am gone.

A couple of farang friends will help her out and I will never be that far away from my wife and son.

I went down to the village this morning on my motorbike about 6.30 to see my son off to school and though the sun was up it was cool and a super 6 km drive.

I stopped in the village and got 10 mini doughnuts for 10 baht and 4 Thais spoke to me to say hallo and I knew them all.

Sat at my Thai friends place drinking coffee and eating the doughnuts I could save from the kids. My son went off to school and I went back home for breakfast waving at the school kids and the policeman on the way

Ate that, washed up then cut up some pork to make a Panang curry, went upstairs to do a couple of small jobs and found I needed some bits from the village.

Sliced up 2kg of pork that I hopefully have turned into bacon and froze that then went to the village to get my bits and picked some stuff that was out of stock yesterday and was promised for this morning. It was there.

Came home and had lunch and now on Thai Visa.

Most days are like this in the village.

I have a good wife and a lovely son, good friends both Thai and farang, a nice house and land in my wife's name, pick up truck, motorbike and scooter.

Food in my belly, drink in the house and I am retired.

What is not to like in Thailand.

That blasted scrub that I have to keep cutting down every week on 2 rai.