Mobaan

I am in your corner . Have been trying to buy this stuff for the past years -so far ,nothing .

Will be watching this post,perhaps something will show up .

Oh yes ,I almost forgot .

They tried that Baht 1000 fine for delayed reporting on me too when I tried to get proof of residence for a drivers licence . When I told them That I will continue to use my international DL instead ,that was fine with them(so who serious was this offence ??) ,so I did not pay and walked out.

A friend paid for the breast enhancement of his wife -and the outcome is truely stunning - and called it the best investment he ever made in his life.

Well I am ready to make a good investment like that myself --however I am a bit insecure . First ,my wife is no young chick anymore (47), which does not bother me ,but is there not the possibility of a different body reaction as compared to 20 year olds .

Also ,and more importantly ,want is the longterm (5-10-15 year) outlook in procedures like this .??Are they safe in the long run? Do they have to be redone every now and so often ?

Our nice had it done 2 days ago ,and sure it looks good for now -she is 21 -but waht about later?

We would really- earnestly- like to hear from people with personal experience in these matters.

AMAZING THAILAND

Immiration officials seem to be paid a strarvation salary,so they must have supplemental income .

Her aer some of the latest observatin at the NongKai Immigratin office.

The occasional 100-200 Baht for expedited services are almost the norm and not even noticed anymore . But the now twist is :they are selling creams .lotions ,powders and assorted cosmetics out of their office desks.It is done in such a intimidating way that impressionable people surely come to the conclusion "I do not but the cream ,I no get visa -or wait 3 hours ".

During my about 2 hour wait ,I noticed that everyone who was called to the desk was approached in that way , even for me old geezer they had some cream to make me young man again.

How low can it get ??? TIT to the max.

Yes the reporting w/i 24 hours is the law -just that hardly anybody knows about it . The Nong Khai Immigration lately is hot on seeing the stamped and signed reporting papers even if you only want a paper to renew your drivers licence etc.

So we did it , --in Udon at the main police station they have an officer for foreigners -2 minutes ,stamp -done . No, no good you have to go to the police in your Amphur. Ok -Nong Wua So has an abundance of falangs,should be no problem,but.... the police at Amphur had never seen a form like this ,did not know what to do with it . They eventually copied in long hand ,the entire form ,signed and stamped it - which of course was rejected as " the work of the stupid buffaloes at the police office "(end quote.)

I guess each amphur does want they want ,just go with the flow ,but yes-do not let them ride roughshot over you.

You have to be a bit more specific about the receipiants of your gifts .

Working with kindergarten aged kids -1-5 years I have found that lego blocks (bring the big ones ,not the tiny little ones ) are always the runner . You can buy them in the complex in Udon ,but they are outrageously expensive there . Go to some garage sales or church rummage sales at your home town and get a big garbage bag full for 50 cent -they do not have to match much .

Crayons ,colorbooks etc are heavy in your bag and easily available locally.

If you really want to hit it big ,have some of your friends at home help you to amass a bunch of those small cosmetic samples they give away for free in the stores . More often than not ,they even come in little bags with assorted items . There is not a female in Issan starting at the age of 10 till 100 that will not love you to death for something like that.

What is the latest situation with this border point .?

Can one get stamped in and out for 3 month visa renewal on a Non Immigrant O Visa ?

I have been desparately searching (I am in Udon Thani) for a decent imported table saw.

I realize we are a bit at the edge of modernity here once in a while . They do actually have very good tools here ,but at prices 8- 10 times of what they shopuld be . That is not what I am looking for .

Recently I heard that there is a shopping complex(?) north of Don Muang airport on the main road ,that sells all kind of imported tools .Could not get any more details .

Does anyone know what this is all about ,where this is and what they may have to offer.

Today I priced a 6 foot fibre glass step ladder here . It is a Us brand ,for sale at about 10 times waht I would have to pay stateside -something has to give . Import taxes may take a toll ,but I can not believe this 10 times markup . Same with the table saw . A good one that would cost no more than $200 in the States costs a paltry Baht 72500.

And yes the first ring lawn mower arrived in town not too long ago . A rattly old mashine that used to be sold 10 years ago and now ,if at all still available may cost $ 600 in the States is for sale for $ 3600. -yes it is priced in US $

I know we are not in the States ,and might not want to be ,but these tremendous differences make me wonder .

So ,please , any info on this place with imported tools will be greatly appreciated.

PS : If anyone knows of a used table saw for sale -here is your interested buyer.

Are you THE proverbial pessimist or do you have first hand experience justifying such a gloomy opinon?

All joking apart ,theres got to be a sensible way to accomplish this .

Anybody with input--- please do not hold back.

Who In Thailand could be trusted to oversee some transaction like that-banks ,lawyers ???The charitable organization itselfwill need an overseer to make sue they stay on a straight path.

I just came across this :

Looking at the Aberdeen Funds prospectus -I am shocked to see the kind of fees they are charging-all told 3 % plus.

That will seriously erode the principal . Also comparing the funds performance to the respective benchmarks ( as displayed in the prospectus) the all are lagging seriously behind . What is so great about these funds ?Is it because nobody cares when they make 20 % plus if the fund skims off 3-4 % -it is still good enough ???

There are true Index Funds -I am in SCB SET - that do not charge fees except o.1 % backend fee when sold. I know that is a bit of a different animal (they say 60 % of the Set Index owners are local daytraders) ,but still ,paying 3-4 % would hurt my feelings .

Thanks for all the good answers here .

Let us perhaps expand the topic a bit.:

A Thai lawyer confirmed to us that there is no trust law in Thailand ,as we know it from the West .

Everybody so far spoke about cash contributions to some sort of savings account .

What about this :

We have a nice piece of land (several actually) ,and no children. There seems to be no one in my wifes family, whom we would consider to be able and worthy (golddiggers) to inherit this estate outright . As long as I am the first one to go, of course my wife for the rest of her life will enjoy what we have . At her death -or at a simutaneous death eg. car accident- I want to avoid that the family gets hold of everything for which we have worked very hard and then blows it all in a heartbeat .

We do not intent to skirt our responsibilities to needy family members ( small children ,old folks , school education,mentally disturbed persons) but nobody would be able to handle a windfall of x-millions . We need to find a way to sell the property ,maybe buy something smaller ,more appropriate for needy family members and have a structured payout plan ,that will ensure fairness to all be reasonably priced and is secure .

Has anybody ever checked into this kind of scenario?

What are we supposed to do ?

Does Sunbelt have anything to offer ?

Hello All;

I have several 110v shop tools (drill press, table saw, compressor) all easily switchable to 220VAC. Question is....they're all powered by single phase, capacitor start & run, electric motors. What about the capacitors?? I recall the various capacitors being rated at 125VAC, etc. Do these need to be changed, and if so to 1/2 the capacitance since the volts have doubled?

Regards,

Bob P.

Hi Bob,

Just found this old thread.

What do you mean by "all easily switchable to 22o VAC"??

How would you go about that ? are you talking about using transformers?

I am planning to bring a table saw next month (13 Amps) and have been advised against using transformers ,because of the different # cyles.

Did you find a good solution to the problem ?

Please let me know ,I am really interested to find a good way out .

Jay

I will arrive at SVB on Dec.2 at 21.20 PM and want to continue to Udon Thani .

One option would be for two to share a minibus (approx Baht 6500 ) ride stright from the airport w/o all the other stops any other traveloption will involve .

Anybody interested ?

So far the info was that bus # 825 leaves SVB at 6.00 AM and at 22.30 PM towards Udon.

Now I hear rumors that there is only one bus per day in the morning (what time ? )

Does anybody know specifics ?

Alternatively :what time do busses for Udon leave from Morchit (will arrive at 21.20 PM)

It seems that puts the last nail in this coffin.

But along the same line .

I got a recommendation from a fellow Thaivisa user (was not approached by anyone ,only got this after I aked for it by PM) :

Guild Edge in BKK (www.guildedge.com),supposedly is a asset management outfit linked to banks in the Channel islands (offshore /taxfree etc.)

They supposedly deal with high networth expats and claim on their website a average current MONTHLY return of about 4.9%. Acc. to the info provided ,they only deal with word of mouth contacts and all associates are thouroughly trained as British financial advisors ?!

My inital contact got me some very general info ,but after trying to dig for more meaningful info -nothing anymore ????

Has anybody ever heard about them /dealt with them?

For the past month or so I am riding comfortably on the upswing of the SET with money in Siam Commercial Asset Management SET Mutual Fund .

I got into this twith the help of the branch office in the provinces. The people there can not supply me with prospectus of the fund ,at the website the prospectus is not openeing up etc etc . I took my risk -so far so good .

What I am intersted to learn is :

The bank people tell me ,since this is a mutual fund ,I would not have to pay taxes on profits if and when I sell . Is that indeed the case .? I was burned by the same people earlier this year after I had money in fixed deposit account -and they sure deducted taxes every time interest was paid.

Lite Beer your Bore hole sounds a right bargain

You could have phrased that a bit better.

Yes loads of supplies in KK.

Re. internet . I am using a GPRS modem with a One 2 Call package of 100 hours a month at 350 baht a month. It it is bit hit and miss but better than nothing. Some people use the Ipster sat. internet at about 2,000 Baht plus a month. You may be lucky and get a phone line.

Good luck.

If you ever want to travel in a different direction( North in your case ) come to the Udon Thani area . Lots of falangs here ,some ( me ) with ideas similar to yours .PM if you want to come .

Thanks ,everybody . I will make it to Udon ,that is a promise ,and with all this input ,I will make it just fine .

I will report on the outcome .

Elsewhere on this forum valuable info is available as to taxi-bus -airline connections to Udon Thani.

Thai Airways now charges 3140 THB one way( and that is not counting overweight charges) out of Don Mueang,so add another 500 to that for taxi ( or 37 for the bus ),BUT the flight no longer departs at 6.30 AM ,no ,now one has to wait til 9.30AM !!! That sucks big time .

Therefore the 8-9 hour bustravel -leaving at 6 AM gets more feasable .

I was quoted 6400 for a limo to run from the new airport straight to Udon -still about 8 hours drive ,but one could leave at about 1 AM ,assuming arrival at midnight from the USA and get to Udon by 9AM. (and one would not have to lugg all the bags to the busterminal first )

Now if I could find a fellow falang arriving on June 30 at midnight on a NWA flight from the USA , we could share a taxi and have the best of both worlds . I would assume ,one could find a cheaper taxi /van at arrival .

Ok guys check your schedule and get back to me ,so we can save some money and buy more som -tam

Update from Udon:

Last week Tesco Lotus SOLD Makua for 2.5 Baht , admitted they were they old and wilted ,but sill 2.5 Baht is not much ,hardly worth the effort.

Regardless of that our first planting ,now about 3 month old is getting into full production -about 20 kg every 2 days from 100 meters of row . This was planted the Thai way -rows 1meter apart ,plants in the row perhps 60 cm apart. Under village conditions plantings like that never reach hight more than 60-70 cm and do not close rows . Our planting ,with all the help of cow manure ,compost and chem fertilizer , is growing vigerously . Plants in the rows are touching and intertwining already now . Now everybody agrees that 1,5 meter spacing as suggested by Maize Farmer may be indeed better . But that was my main reason to let them do it the old way , now they realize by themselves and do not have to believe what the falang says.

The next set of the planting is coming up the recommended way incl. drip irrigation ( but not in buckets) . We have this friendly little competion to see who can grow the most Makua -my prospects look good so far.

However with these selling prices one has to be very much aware of the input cost .

I want to set a min price I will accept , under that I will not sell and rather give every thing to the kitchen of the school and kindergarten in the village.

Even if they 15- 20 Baht/Kg mention earlier do not materialize , there is a lot of weight produced and even at lower selling prices the net result per Rai will by far outrank rice ,sugarcane and other "conventional " crops.

Its anice toy to play with ,with the possibilty to learn something and maybe make enough to pay for ongoing household expenses.

Here is an update from the Udon Thani area ;

We have various test plots ( 100 plants) each going -1 vs 1.5 meter spacing . drip irrig vs furrow or sprinkler irrigation etc .

Harvested our first 12 kg and got Bath 40 for it . We sell to a lady in the village who collects all the veggies available for sale and goes to the market to sell . She got 1 Baht /kg for her troules -thats ok with me .

So 40 baht per 12 kg of good fresh fruit thats 3.33 Baht per kg .

Will be interesting to see this developing . All plants are growing vigerously with plenty new flowers . So far we had one attac of small ants right after the first rainshower we had here for the past 4 month . Presently a few aphids ,not worth spraying

Thanks for that info .

I did print out some lables ,but it seems to me rthat this stuff is for leaf feeding insects not for soil born citters ,did I miss something ??

What can I use for the insects that dwell in the soil ,come out at night and chomp down every thing above ground. How can I feed that at the correct rate into the drip irrigation system ? Same question for the supply of fertlizer to be fed into the watering system

It became a bit quiet on this topic lately .

I will be back to Udon Next month and will bring the "snakeoil" ,some filters etc as indicated earlier. At this time I do not own a diesel vehicle -however will buy a new Toyota P/U as soon as I get back . To be honest I a a bit reluctant to try the product I can get from superfiltering used veg.oil (with the addition of the "snakeoil" ) in a new vehicle .

Is anybody out there willing to try the resulting Biodiesel in an old truck or farm machinery .(HOW ABOUT YOU MAIZEFARMER) I am willing to travel around -would welcome the chance to meet some you folks in person-or you are certainly welcome to come and visit with us near Udon-just bring your old klonker with you.

Now we know just about every thing we ever wanted about Makua-or do we ?

Earlier in this thread the issue of insect control was adressed . Ok -that is to be expected . How do I react to it-exactly?

I kind of despise the idea to go to the local seed/chemical/farm equipment etc store and rely on what some young kit or some old grandma tells me . What would be the correct chemicals /rates etc to use to introduce into the drip system ?

I will be back to Udon next month and will put all this knowledge into practice -on a small scal -maybe 100 buckets to start.

Also we do have an ongoing problem of soilborn insects which destroy our crops with regular forage feasts as soon as the seedlings are up. So far I countered by simply planting more ,so even if only a small percentage of plants produced it was enough for us . But I believe over time we have raised a healthy population of these critters who take us ti the cleaners with regularity.

Any suggestions-help-please.?