Mobaan

I want to buy a TB LTZ -color RED- I pay in cash and I want it delivered 2nd week of December.

That's my line when walking into the Chev showrooms in Udon Thani , Nong Bua Lampoo and Sawan Din Daeng.

One should imagine a salesperson working on commission would jump right thru the ceiling to get my business !!!

No so .

I get all kind of flack " Thais don't like RED " " You will not be able to sell a red car " etc etc . Who cares -I want REd - end of story .

Now I hear that RED is only manufactured if there are 50 orders -countrywide -for that color. Could be , but still a bunch of Bull .

Can anyone lead me to a more responsive dealer , please.

Am looking for a dealer that can supply Briggs and Straton ENGINE parts -in Thailand .(Walk behind lawnmower)

Is there such a thing ?

Expanding the question a bit :

She will get a letter of invitation from family in Norway.

Go to Norway embassy to apply for Schengen visa-don't expect any problem here ,have done it before with Sweden.

However the idea is to fly to Germany, rent a car for a month or so ,travel around (Schengen countries only) and eventually end up in Norway .

I realize the general rule is to apply in the country of first entry, but in Germany we do not have any family to write letters of invitations etc ,!

Last time we went to Sweden ,we did stop in Germany as well ,went thru immigration(and could have gone anywhere as a matter of fact ) ,but then immediately caught a connecting flight to Sweden.

Is there any reasonable risk involved to go ahead like this -and not risk being refused entry.?

Schengen Visa is Schengen Visa -once it is issued and stamped in the passport -who cares ?

This being Germany immigration ,which I believe to be a bit different to Thai immigration(e.g the officers might not apply the rules depending on the day of the week or a bad hair day,),what could we expect ?

Any personal experiences ?

Of course , we could plan the entire trip the other way around and fly straight to Norway ,then backtrack from there into other European countries ,but it would be a bit of a pain and additional travel and expense involved .

Thanks guys ,

it looks like a trip to town is coming up .

Here is my situation :

It looks like we are in the dry spot of the already dry Issan.

I have one 7 meter deep hand dug well ,which after a days rest will have 2 meter of water at the bottom . The deep well was drilled to 25 meters ,pipe is in to about 18 meters .

With good planning we can make it last for the house and the flowers ,but it is stretching it .

So I have a combination of the old type rain collection tanks ,some concrete rings ,even my hot tub -all plumbed together (a total of aprrox 15 cubic meters) with a 1.5 inch pipe at the end .

Here I want to install a Booster pump and plumb that into the house supply system ( fed by the 2 pumps -as mentioned earlier) I got the broshures for the Mitzubishi and Hitachi brands ,but it is all in Thai . Some things I can of course figure out . I do not want to oversize this ,since I am afraid to blow the PVC pipes in the house . An adjustable pressure pump would be nice . Then they are talking about an inverter ????pump -at almost double the price . Was is the difference ?

All I want is to pump water from the ground level tanks to aid /supplement the house water system . There needs to be a pressure shut off switch which will maintain the line pressure ,same as with the regular pumps .

Please you plumbing experts help me out.

The "Check Engine " came on a few days ago .

Water, air filter , oil -all checks out ok .

What else could it be that I can check w/o special tools .

Its not so much a question of saving a Baht here and there , but if I can avoid the hazzle to drive to town for an inspection -and waste an entire day -I am all for it

The P/U id 5 years old only 60 K on it ,otherwise in perfect shape .

Weak trees

Our trees are 21 month old .

Originally we started with 251 , but most replantings ( about 40 % ) were done with 600 variety ( could not find tall 251 's.)

Had to stake all tree with bamboo poles . Now some are quiet tall (6 plus meters ) and strong to stand up by themselves . Howevere there are perhaps 25-30 which would fall over and kiss the ground , would I take the stakes off .

Nobody else in the entire area staked trees and those are all standing up alone . What went wrong ?

To much fertilizer and compost at planting ?

Puzzled in Udon

Late ,but still I want to thank everybody involved in the organization of that meeting .

I was nice to meet you guys (and gals ) who are not afraid to tackle a few bottles and wage ther war against the wine box .A nice crowd . Hope I have time to come to the next meeting .

If anybody has 5-10 rubbertrees ,still in plASTIC BAGS ,BUT WITH AT LEAST 3 SETS OF LEAVES -AND CAN BRING THEM TO THE MEETING , i WOULD LIKE TO BUY THEM FROM YOU .

Due to change of plans I have 5x10 kg of the much searched for and not easy to get green manure seed of SESBANIA left . I will bring that with me . I paid 35 Baht per KG .and will sell for the same amount.

If anybody wants it , you are welcome .

How does the Trailblazer compare to the other available SUV's in its class ?

Over the next 2 weeks I will do a little RR up North . On the way back to Udon I would like to find a dealer in /around Chiang Mai -or anywhere along the way - to buy a shredder to prepare organic materials for composting.

Any idea where to turn to ?

Thanks Ray.

So it looks like we'll have enough members to make it worthwhile, therefore I confirm that the date will be FRIDAY 25 January 2013 (Robert Burns's birthday so any Scot can wear the kilt - for those that don't know he was Scotland's most famous poet, who amoung other works wrote Auld Lang Syne which we all know). I'll post any more relevant details nearer the date, but for now assume you need to be there ready for a 1pm start.

We hope that a few more will sign up, we can keep it open until mid January, and yes Fatfather, I agree that January has 31 days but I am sorry you won't be able to make it on 25th, we'll look forward to seeing you again at meeting no. 8 wherever that may be.

Count us in as well -me and the mia -one more room.

My current Non O expired Dec 13 , I arrived a Dec 3rd ,so I am enjoying my "bonus" 3 month . However after March 3rd I still need 2 weeks until my flight back to falang land .

Would like to do a land crossing to Laos . On return ,will I get a 30 day (EU Passport ) stay or only 2 weeks ?

Since we are branching out the topic a bit -

does anyone have experience with Muscadine vines in Thailand ?

I planted 6 last year -3 are still alive . In the first year they had small tiny leaves -if any at all- now in the 2 nd year they6 seem to do better and are actually growing .

This last Summer I planted another variety which is growing vigerously now . But will they produce any fruit -heaven knows .

Since Muscadines can be a pest in the Southern US -with similar climate to Issan- I still have hopes .

This seems all a bit hush -hush , but something is going on .

There appearently are 2 farms -independent from each other -on the Northern and Southern end of the Phu Foilom mountain range that have planted coffee (Arabica) at low altitudes -new varieties seem to make this possible .

Now the word is out ,that there is a company who will pay for plants , fertilizer etc ( no cost to the growers) in return for a commitment by the farmer to sell all his coffee to them .(Poor farmer -you will be screwed again )

They supposedly are pushing "Robusta" to be planted between the rubber trees -to provide shade-.

What is the deal ? Does anybody know anything about this ? Has anybody heard similar reports ?

Done that -bought that T shirt.

Brough 3 different Raspberriy and Blackberry varieties last June . Some root cuttings had new shoots coming out already .

The entire bunch died a quiet death within 2 weeks -and not because we do know how to takle care of plants .

We have light sandy soil , no waterlooging ,plants were set on a 30 cm high rige -together with Muscadines (!) -which are not dead ,but seem to need 2 years adjustment to really start growing .

This is in Issan -Udon Thani area

Something a bit different:

Is there anything like TOO TALL rubber trees .?

Last Junw our trees were exactly 1 year old -time for some statistics. The average hight came to just over 3 meters ,with some trees pushing to near 4 meters and a bunch of stragglers who did not yet reach the 2 meter mark.

We added compost in the planting holes ,watered during the Dry , and I liked to wlk the trees with a bucket of fertilizer in hand , giving some encouragement to the ones who seem to need it.

We planted 251 and replaced what needed with 600 ( could not get any 251 any more ). We had to put 2.5 meter bamboo stakes with the trees to keep them up . Some , even thou about 4-5 cm thick stems , were so week they lay flat on the ground (and some broke slap off ) without the supports.

I have held back on the N fertilizer ,but still add P andK .

Any comments ?

Ford is selling the "NEW" Everest now .

Is that the long awaited follow uo of the (old-regular) Everest? There was talk late last year and early this year about potential great expectations and changes -and perhaps a completely new name .

Is that the best Ford could come up with -the "New Ford Everest.

Has there been a review posted of the new SUV here on this forum or elsewhere ?

Do the insurance companies talk to each other-or is there some sort of central information bank in Thailand ?

This gets to the question of pre existing conditions. If a person (Thai) had medical care and/or a hospital stay in one part of the country and now , many years later lives in another part of Thailand and now wants to apply for healthinsurance coverage. The potential insurer will want to have a health report dine by a doctor or hospital , which is fine .

The question is : does the insurance company have any way and means to find out about previous hospital stays (if any ) ,just in case those visits were not mentioned on the insurance application?

If you want a new vehicle what someone else suggests might not be to your liking, me thinks IMO, trudging around dealers, having close look and test driving the ones you like is the best way to go, saves any disappointment.

your right but having feedback from someone who owned and driven a car for some time is better than a quick test drive, also if i have short list will help

I spent a few weeks with the new facelifted Fortuner a short time back and whilst it was generally OK I found the interior very dated.

Also spent a reasonable amount of time in the Mistu PJS 4WD GT and generally liked it, found that it drove OK, but was a bit annoyed by the vibration from the shifter for the transfer case which basically drives into your leg. Then tried the Mistu PJS 2WD GT and found that it drove significantly better than the 4WD, and given that I had just spent 9 years with a 4WD SUV and probably used 4WD only 3 or 4 times I went for the 2WD GT which I have been very happy with. Also very good value when you look at functionality for the price.

If you are waiting for the next gen Fortuner then the Ford Everest replacement should also be available in that timeframe and could be promising.

What can tyhe car experts among us tell us about the timefarme for the new Everset release in Thailand and the features we might expect.?

I have a bug that is eating and killing my cocnut trees and the ornamental bamboo plants .

Supposedly something like that caused several thousand Rai of trees to be cut down in the South .

Looks like a leaf / stem borer that is attacing the leaves , which turn brown and die off.. Is there anything I can do to kill that pest ?

SMALL gifts - TBH 1000 for the headmonk and 500 each for the luang pi's(for 2 minutes of chanting- --something is definately out of wack here in this village.It is definately a paycheck .

So who is the man in white -the Pram ?

I attended a wedding ceremony in Issan . There were no monks present , but a man called a "Pram ?"who conducted the ceremony . I was told , if I understood that correctly ,that a Pram is something like a Hindu priest ? He was wearing a with suit .

How does all this work together ? I am aware of Buddhisms roots in Hinduism , but how does this mix in these days and age ?

A few days later I attended a ceremony where the ashes and bones of a dearly departed where moved to a new housing ( something like a stupa). Here again one man had to officiate , althou 3 monks were present as well , did some chanting , collected their paycheck and left in a hurry. This man supposedly was a lower ranking "Pram" , since he wore regular street cloth and not a white suit .

Any help understanding these rituals will be greatly appreciated .

I aquired a few pickup loads of cassava stems ( I guess harvested around Nov/Dec last year ) They were just laying flat on the ground . I properly set them upright in loose soil ,water them regular and now they are taking off like crazy . Is it adviseable to go easy on the watering and what about the leaf shoots -should I break them off , some up to a foot long already ??