billd766

I am 65 and been married for 9 years but my wife has always refused to teach me Thai so I plod on with the books and CD and after working offshore for the last year I am trying to get back into it again.

Not speaking or understanding Thai makes life a bit difficult and very frustrating at times such as this week when I went to my local hardware shop I couldn't remember the names of some of the things I want and I have been going there for years on and off.

On the family social side you will find that the family will talk all around you and you will always be asking your girlfriend "what did he/she/they say just then.

My wife speaks fair English but her family speak none at all I I quite often sit there reading a book and if a response is needed or I ask a question My wife will talk to me.

We are used to it now but I do so wish I could speak/read and write as life in Thailand is soooo much easier.

Just keep trying as I do. :D

I spoke to K Orathai at Gadgetrend on Thong Lor but she had sold out of the parts I wanted so I ordered them.

It took about 3 weeks and cost me 2,065 baht including postage by EMS

Dear Sir

Ram-mount for your GPS

1. Ram-Hol-GA25U 390 baht

2. Ram-B-238U 300 baht

3. Ram-B-201U 650 baht

4. Ram-B-231Z 675 baht

5. Transportation expenses (EMS) 50 baht

Total 2,065 baht

They were delivered on Sunday evening around 6pm. :D

I fitted it this morning and went for a test run and the only 2 problems I have are

1) I cannot hear the directions at 100 kph wearing my helmet

2) I now need to find a way of charging the GPS on the move.

Bentonite, Gary - excellent stuff, but on the scale the Op is wanting to do it on, me thinks the cost would be prohibitive. Now that billd766 has laid out the detail a bit more, I am even more inclide to think that a plastic lining is his only viable option.

Billd766 - nice to see someone who has got to grips with the cost of moving water - its what I'm afraid a lot of folk don't do in Thailand, and moving water, wheather its through a sprinkler (always the most expensive), through a long pipe, up a hill ... or whatever, is always least expensive at low flow & pressure rates - and using ac electricity - think you could get that down to around Baht 10 p/cube (meter) - but as I said, it will be a low flow rate (meaning: what you are now moving over say a couple hours will take maybe 6 -7hrs. Still, if collectively, that is sufficient on a daily, or whatever basis, it would be worth doing, wouldn't it?

I have been trying to work out the evaporation rate and after guesswork and a few american websites the best I can guess is around 5 cu/m per 24 hours.

Assuming that the neighbours are agreeable to me running the pipes I went to my local hardware shop this morning and got some prices of 2 inch blue pvc stuff and a guesstimate for a biggish water pump. She had a 2 hp motor that takes 8 amps at a steady rate which is about 2 kw or 2 units of electricity and will pump 500 litres per hour at the pump head.

1 unit of electricity will cost me about 4 baht so to run that pump will cost about 8 baht an hour or 16 baht per cu/mt.

A bigger pump will be more efficient but cost more to run.

I have also tried to work out the volume of water and its weight in a 2 inch pipe 350 metres long which is pi Rsquared times the height or distance but the figures look wrong as I end up with 55 somethings using 50mm as the r2 and 350m as the height.

The original outlay for the pipes etc I have done a small spreadsheet and over a long term it seems feasable but it will be a bugger of a job top do.

I will have to glue the pipes and trench them in on my land and possibly in front of next doors property and through the drainpipe under the road and the power cable 2.5 sq/mm will be in the same trench.

On the far side of the road as that person will not allow me to bury the pipe I will put a male and female connector on each 4 metre length of pipe and screww them together for easy removal when required.

The power cable will be broken on the far side of the drainpipe and set as high as possible for safety during the wet season in a waterproof box. The next run of cable will be done in yellow 1/2 inch pipe with a male/female connection for easy dismantling.

The pump will need to be put in some sort of ventilated and drainable container with a circuit breaker at each end for the power.

The water pipe will have a one way valve close to the pump to stop the water flowing back into the klong.

water_pipe_prices.xls

From Boksida

Drilling grade bentonite is 8 baht/kilo from Thai Nippon Chemical. They have a website. There have also been several previous threads on bentonite which may have further information.

I did try them but I didn't get much sense from them probably due to my bad Thai and nobody I spoke to could speak English.

As they are based close to Bankok the transport costs will be quite high and nobody around here seems to have worked with clay.

There was a guy on TV called Somtham who rarely posts now. I went to see him several years ago and he was saying that he used clay but tamped it down by tractor which is OK if you have a flat bottomed pond. Unfortunately mine isn't.

No, they do not have any financial help from the UK government.

On the contrary, the current Labour government believe that they should run at a profit; hence the massive increases in charges since Labour came to power.

Only slightly off the topic.

Perhaps the Labour government (as they have been in power for many years) should also run at a profit, work regular hours and not have 4 months paid holiday a year.

Ponds side by side tend to establish equlibrium - of course the distance between them is a factor and you don't say how far apart they are spread (?)

R U sure it ain't leaking through the floor of the pond - in either case its a fair amount of clay that will be needed unless you can of course id exactly where the leak is.

Any dense clay should do the job, but plastic lining may well be an easier applied alternative (?).

Sadly I have only the one pond as we live on the side of a hill and the depth of soil is not so much before I run into rock.

We have asked around the village but unfortunately on our side of the road nobody has managed to successfully did a borehole.

There is a klong opposite that I used to get water from sometimes but that involved laying a pipe down the side of our land, under the neighbours drive, across the front of his land though on the government land outside of the power poles, through the drainpipe under the road, across somebody elses land.

A total of about 350 metres of piping and I only used 1 1/4 flexi pipe for most of it. Also it had to raise the water about 10 metres vertically as well.

I used a Chinese made "Honda" water pump and whilst I got the water up to the tanks and fish pond the was not a lot of pressure at the far end.

Last year I bought a 1300 litre water tank that fitted on my pick up and shuttled water from 3km farther back along the klong but I could only manage a maximun of 7 runs a day.

I was 63 then (65 now) and it knackered me plus the cost of diesel for the truck and gasoline for the pump cost a fiar bit.

As a comparison the rough costs per cubic metre were as follows

village water = 3 baht

pumped from the klong = 20 baht

shuttled from the klong = 24 baht

bought from the water tanker (from a different klong) = 50 baht

I the rainy season I can use the village water but not really in the dry season as it has to do all the village and not just my fish pond.

If it has as many murders as Ban Prang 4 where I live you should be OK because as far as I know there haven't been any in years.

Granted the village is a bit smaller than LA, Bangkok or Paris.

I have 2 barclays accounts and my posting address for both accounts has been in Thailand for over 6 years. Never been a problem until I tried to register with Western Union online. Apparently for them they need the posting address to be UK based.

My point is you can have a UK bank account and have all your cards, statments etc sent to thailand.

I still have 10 years or so before I get my pension

Once I get that I can let my weight increase and blend in with the other farang.

Did I mention I am hansome man already

That's news to me! I understand a British bank will only send cards to a UK address.

I have been with LloydsTSB in Jersey for about 9 years and they sort of have a policy of not sending cards to Thailand.

Saying that however they have always sent them to me here (including a couple that came with a letter that said they don't send cards to Thailand)

Last month I losy my debit card and reported to the lost and stolen depaertment and 9 days later at 6.30pm on a Sunday night I met the local postman in the village and he gave me my new card. Eat your heart out UK GPO.

It was sent TNT to Khampaeng Phet and EMS for the last 65 km.

I have a fishpond about 45 x 15 metres in area ranging from about 1 metre at the shallow part and nearly 3 metres at the deepest.

My problem has been that over a 3 to 6 month period it seems to have less water than my neighbours on either side so I suspect that I have a leak somewhere.

I have read somewhere that a pond can be sealed by clay so that it doesn't leak.

However I have no idea what kind of clay I would need, how much in quantity, how much in price or even where to find any.

I did look on Google but the couple of Thai companies I found didn't respond to emails and when I called them nobody could speak English and had no idea what I was talking about.

Can anybody help me please?

Sorry to sound blunt, but why on earth would you not want 'physical custody'

Sounds to me a selfish and self centred way of looking at it.

You need to be nurturing your son with love , not being a part time father. Its called having your cake and eating it. Take the responsibility. You have a far greater chance of getting sole legal custody if your son is living with you.

I dont care how well your son is being taken care of, you as the father can give him far more emotionally than an uncle or aunty.

Face upto your responsibilities and stop being so selfish Simon.

I can see where Simon is and I have also read most of his earlier posts about his wife and their problems.

To support his son at present Simon is working hard and it is probably the only way he can do it.

If he brought his son to live with him in Jomtien who would lioke after the child during Simon's working hours?

A nanny, maid, friend, friend of a friend?

At present the child is living a stable loving and caring family whos is actually part of his own family and his father visits as often as possible and provides the means to support his son to the best of his ability.

The alternative is of course for Simon to stop working and spend all his time with his son.

This will probably work for a period of time until Simons next visa or before when Simon has no money to pay the bills.

Where does that leave his son?

As far as I can see in a much worse position than he is now.

Many Thai families live apart from their children and most do so to improve their childrens future at the expense of their own.

I spent the last year away from my son except for a 3 week break at the end of the year and I sure as hel_l didn't do it for me. I used to work offshore but fortunately for me my wife was at home looking after our son so it was not so hard for me though I missed my son very much.

Trying to bring up a 3 year old child is hard enough for 2 parents, harder still for 1 parent and harder again if you are the 1 parent and have to earn enough money to look after you and your child.

I am very impressed by Simon and what he has done so far as he has the interests of his son as his first priority whilst not blocking his wife from access.

It seems from his post that his ex-wife and her family want to spend the most moneywithout actually providing it themselves.

My advice to Simon would be to get a good Thai (or farang) lawyer specialising in child and family law to make a good case and then go back to the courts asking for Simon to be made the legal guardian of his son working if necessary with the family courts to secure his son's future.

Good for you Simon.

You have my wholehearted support.

Another very good reason for posting and asking questions on TV is that other people like me will pick on the post and learn from it. Also some posters would add variations and more useful information than is available on Google.

As a previous poster said it is easier to read through 20 posts than 36,700,000 most of which are not what you need anyway.

We are all going to die one day

Really?

All of us including (gulp) me?

Why would you want an American twist on a German Classic?

Because the American style taste better, especially when grilled!

Yeah, right.

I am English but have spent quite a few years in Germany both as a serviceman and a civilian and IMHO a German bratwurst with mayonnaise and pomme frits cannot be beaten unless you chuck some currygewurtz on it as extra flavouring.

dam_n, now I am going crazy for one and I have no chance to get one for years on its home turf. :D

In reading the OP, I am a bit confused. Why would the BMA being paying Australia for firetrucks from Austria?

That's what I thought, unless they were routed through Australia for some reason, or perhaps an Australian office of the Austrian company? A bit more explanation on this would be good.

it is common mistake in Asia:Austria/Australia;very often they do not know the difference!

Slightly off topic.

In the West they often get confused between Thailand and Taiwan.

Shouldn't this be posted in the jokes section.

I have been waiting since 2003 for just a normal telephone line and believe it not the line from the main village stops only 4km from our house on a built up road with power poles just waiting for the TOT, TT&T, True, Fred Karnoes Army or anybody to go just that little extra.

:D

I have about the same situation. It's about five kilometers to my place and they gave me a quote of 130,000 baht. I passed.

That much.

Wow

I could do it myself for less than that (and perhaps a better job too).

I think the main problem is that it would affect the local exchange, not enough lines so that would need and expansion, then back 60km to Khampaeng Phet and a possible exchange upgrade there.

Hopefully the main trunks to Bangkok should be enough.

Also up here now we have had 2 "new" AIS sites and 1 "new" DTAC site and most people have mobile phones anyway.

"new" really means a new site but probably recycled 2 or 2 1/2 equipment.

When 3G finally gets here there will be a lot of "surplus" equipment for recycling so perhaps even more cell sites will spring up.

Shouldn't this be posted in the jokes section.

I have been waiting since 2003 for just a normal telephone line and believe it not the line from the main village stops only 4km from our house on a built up road with power poles just waiting for the TOT, TT&T, True, Fred Karnoes Army or anybody to go just that little extra.

:D

Extension Section

Tak Immigration Office

390/15-16 Asia Road

Mae Sot

Tak 63110

Looking for a Beetle in CM and would appreciate any leads. POS condition preferred but will consider anything given the right price.

Why do you want a beetle, they are total junk.. unreliable, heavy steering, overheat and no air con! And if you drive one you run the risk of looking like a hippie or a surfer!

My 31 year old son in the UK has what started out in 1964 as a 1200cc.

Last I heard he had lowered it, it has a Porsche engine and transmission, upgraded suspension, beautiful paintwork and interior.

He won first in class at several VW shows and has also used it for racing. With nitrous oxide it flies and will take most so-called sports cars and leave them standing. :D

His biggest problem to date was stripping first gear as he was pulling over 7,000 rpm at a standing 1/4 mile track for the third time.

If I can find a photo I will post it.

Thanks for all the advise on what to find on my trip to Nakhon Sawan, I spent 2 weeks there and enjoyed it very much, although never found the bus station! I also found it impossible to find a map of the city which I found surprising.

I was helping out on a fruit stall in sawanvitee 9, which off Kosi road. I will be back at the end of October till mid November so if anyone wants to come and have chat, please do. I think we will be selling oranges at the time.

I have been to look at some properties and hope, if all goes well, to move out for most of the year from mid 2010.

I did not find the EEC building until the last few days and no one was aware of any english bookshop in the area, so will have to try and again next time to find it.

Dave has moved his bookshop to just off Matuli soi 19 and when you come back I can email you a GPS map of how to find him. Oddly enough I was in Big C yesterday and met a guy who lives in Uthai Thani and was also looking for the shop. I called Dave and his wife answered so I put the two together and as far as I know it worked.

Cheers

Thursday night my wife said she wanted a later start, up at 7 and on the road by 8am. We were but in Thai time or 8.20 farang time.

There were a couple of rolled trucks on the way between Tak and Mae Sot but we made fair time and were at the 7/11 by 11 am. My son said he felt sick so I took him to the toilet and he was promptly sick. Better there than in the car I suppose.

Immigration had only 1 farang in front of me and no other customers so we got dealt with fairly quickly.

I took original and photocopies of just about everything and what a surprise they wanted of my TM6 card which I HAD forgotten. My wife went to a furniture shop opposite Immigration on the other side of the bridge to get 2 copies of that and everything was pretty much OK except that the officer dealing with me got a bit confused between $NZD, $USD and GBP which caused a small problem with the exchange rates.

It was settled at 55baht = £1 GBP so I was OK on the exchange rates.

I took copies of MY passbook and also OUR passbook and they took our passbook as the record even though I did tell them. They only took 1 or the 5 pages for the map and didn't mention or look at the translation of the marriage certificate.

Just before we left the senior officer signed off my 90 day report at 60 days.

I asked if there was a new immigration office opening in Nakhon Sawan and he said yes, probably next month and I should be going to that one next. He did not know exactly when it would be opened nor the address but I expect that will come out soon and be posted on Thai Visa.

All in all it was a much nicer experience than the madhouse at Suan Phlu.

We called in at the Muser market on the way home and my wife stocked up on pork things and bought 7kg of melons for me for 100 baht.

I you have to go to Tak / Mae Sot it is a nice place however the road from the route 1 near Tak is not the best at any time and when it rains it can be dangerous as the buffalo drivers as my wife politely calls them rarely slow down. At 1 point we were in the overtaking lane ( legally) behind a couple of pickups and a veery slooow truck when some numbnut in a pickup went past us all on the wrong side of the road on a blind corner and almost got wiped out by someone coming the other way.

I started my marriage extension in Mae Sot today (I go back in 4 weeks) and I asked the major there if there was going to be one in Nakhon Sawan and he told me probably next month but certainly b y the time I make my nextr renewal.

I live in Khampaeng Phet province 200 km from Mae Sot but only 125km from Nakhon Sawan.

Up in the village where I live I see the same 2 disabled people at the markets and I always give 10 or 20 baht to each one. They are local people and I give because there is always someone worse off than me or you and there is little help for disabled people in Thailand anyway.

I have also taught my 5 year old son to do the same.

I bought a second hand 2005 Phantom through TV sales and wanted from a farang in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

It supposedly had 5,500 km on the clock and may well have but it also had 3 farang owners before me.

I live in Khampaeng Phet and took an aircon bus to Rangsit bin Bangkok and flew down to NST by Nok Air.

The bike seemed OK but I took the air conditioned train to Bangkok from Thong Sala junction as I couldn't get the bike on at NST station rather than ride 800 km on unfamiliar roads.

My bike went on the train before mine and was waiting when I got to Hua Lampong station.

I road it to my friends place on Sukhumvit 101 and got cleaned up then rode 380 km home on familiar roads.

Since then I use it as a daily runner instead of the pickup truck and I am getting around 30km/ltr which I am impressed with.

I took it in for a 4,000 km service and I only paid 140 baht.

The bike seems to vibrate a bit and the cool cowboy style seat needs extra padding for my fat a@@ but it seems to be OK apart from that.

So far I am :D

You left the Uk to build a better life , 20 years ago , good luck to you , why do you now want to claim money that you paid very little into,,You got your protection while you lived in the Uk ,free Schools . police , street lighting and all the usual utilitys , its like an insurance policy ,You have not paid into or contibuited any tax ,For the last 20 years. Also there is a new thing coming out that says if you leave the Uk and live abrord for a number of years you are not entitled to NHS care any more,I am not a racist but this is exactly the thing that is making the working class in Britain pisst off.The same thing has happend in Spain ,People that left Britain for a so called better life, now they are begging to come back to the Uk, because they have no money , Sorry to say but what happened to the better life, I bet they called Britain all the names under the sun when they left , but it looks a better propositon when you have no money ,health care ,or pension.Good luck to you . This is only my oppinion and i am sorry if i offend you,

I left the UK 10 years ago and worked offshore as self employed.

I get a retirement pension after working for 25 years working in the military, a retirement pension from my company after 12 years and I am soon to be in receipt of a state pension.

It may seem a little strange to you but I have been paying income tax on BOTH of my pensions since I got them and I will also be paying tax on my state pension when I get it.

I have also paid National Insurance for 44 years and not the 30 required now but I still get the same amount of state pension which will be frozen at this years level from when I get it until the day I die.

I am saving the state a pitiful amount on my pension plus all the allowances that I would be entitled to if I remained in the UK and also the amount that I would cost the government in NHS costs if I lived there, not to mention the family allowance I am not allowed to claim.

I LIVE the better life in Thailand and have no intention of returning even when I die.

There is nothing of the UK that is recognisable to me from the many years that I lived and worked there and certainly nothing which would entice me to ever want to live there any more.

This is my personal opinion and I am not sorry if you are offended by it.

Thanks for that information.

PM works fine for me.

This is our son Tiw at Cha-Am beach last month.

He will be 5 on 1st August.