strawberry

Hi Stu,

life in pichit is pretty dull. Looks like I might just have to wait until the phone line gets connected. I'm not together yet (financially) to go big on installing GPRS.But, in 10 monts I'll be better situated. The guy next door has the phone on and I can't understand why its taking so long. I have a suspicion that they might be for me to offer payment.

I also think that the line will accept slow speed but not hi speed and I'm happy to accept that.

Thanks all for the feed back

Regards Joe

Hi All,

for about 6 months now I been without a telephone line and I'm a fair way from the internet cafe' I t seems that when I do get a line connected I won't be able to use it to go online. This is according to the telephone folks.

Someone mentioned to me couple of years back that it can be done by sattelite, they also mentioned that it was pretty expensive can anyone give me some info.

just in case you don't know I'm pretty much of a green horn so please simple language.

Regards Joe

Hi all

noticed a post some time ago telling of people members not posting in. Thats me at least one of us. So I have been buildind and moving into our new house. As yet no telephone line and I'm here in a very noisy internet cafe'making contact with old friends. The old telephone line was run by TT&T and the new line is TOT. The Tot folks came few weeks back and I'd hoped they were going to connect up pretty fast but no luck as yet. While they were checking things out they told me I wouldn't be able to use the internet as the wiring system was not up to it and was likely to catch fire. I'm not sure if they mean I won't be able to use broadband or if I can continue to use the system that I used beforein my old house which is only couple of klicks up the road but on the other side of the khlong, which I suspect must be boundary line. In the old system I kept getting cut of.

I sure do miss the internet as UBC seems to be getting worse and I now find myself getting back into reading books.

Since having spent over a million baht on this house I'm not into moving to another district.

I've had a lot of pleasure out of thaivisa and it will be a pity if all I'm going to get is a once a week visit when I come to the internet cafe'

How about a homing pidgeon service.

Regards Joe

I got this out of the back page of the Nation a couple of weeks back

FOR THOSE WHO LOVE NATURE AND ARE LOOKING FOR

TREES TO DECORATE THE GARDEN , THIS SITE IS RECCOMMENDED. IT PROVIDES A WIDE RANGE OF TREES ,ESPECIALLY LOCAL TREES, AT AFFORDABLE PRICES.

www.papad-garden.com

The wednesday market at Chatuchat is great lots of plants.

Take a taxi around that area and see all the garden statues and fountains.

I have almost finished building my house and I'll be taking a pocket full of money hiring a pickup truck and going down.

Joe

Its a bit difficult to go to the school and front the teacher as my Thai is not good. My wife is still claiming my daughter is in the wrong and the teacher was just trying to help her. We have had a series of rows over the past 5 days over this and quite frankly I'm coming to the conclusion that she isn't a wife she is a flaming night mare and I'm hoping I'll wake up and she will be gone.

I understand the Thai education system is one of the worst in the east and I can readily see why. In one of the posts someone mentioned the PTA I haven't seen anything about PTA here in Thailand in fact I don't think parents are encouraged to have much to do with the teachers.

I'd be happy to take her away from here and enter into an international school but I work it out it would be cheaoer for me to take her back to Australia to life and enter her in there than to try and pay for an international school. There are problems in me trying to do that.

joe

Hi All,

I've read all your replies and appreciated them all.

although I'm not a teacher I've been offer many jobs but I consider teaching to be an art and I'm certainly no artist. I did spend some time last year at my daughters school helping pronunciation. Then for some reason they stopped asking me, possibly because I told the kids I thought farmers were the most important people in Thailand.

I've thought of asking Thai Boxer to come and punch the lady teachers face in, At 70 yo I'm a bit beyond punching people.

Here is what I have done and am doing.

The school bus driver lives near me and over the years we have become fairly friendly, I showed him the bruising and asked him to mention to the teacher that if it happened again I would go to the government in Pichit town and make a complaint and I'm hoping this will make a difference. The bus drivers wife was or at least seemed to be appalled and I'm sure the word will get around and she will be shamed. My wifes family seem to think that it was my daughters fault because they say she does not pay attention, and that we will go to the school to talk with them there.

The other thing I'm doing is studying with my daughter and helping with some of the home work. I can read Thai although not necessarily understand it but know enough to know when she says a word wrong.

Today we did the Jack in the beanstock story you know the one with the chook who laid the golden eggs. (the Thai Version). We got to page 8 turned to page 9 and all of a sudden she almost can't read, I forget and what is that. I started to think that what is happening is Attention Deficency Syndrome.

The other option, suggested by my family is that we send her to another school possibly in Pitsunolok where she will live in and come home at weekends which I'm opposed to but if that is what she needs I will have to do it.

I'm now off to check the internet for Attention Deficiency Syndrome.

many thanks for all the feed back you have all been very helpful.

Joe

Hi All,

this afternoon my 8 yo daughter comes home from school with an ugly bruise on her stomach. How says I, teacher done that she says. Why ? because I'm slow and can't learn. I want to go and ring the teacher bitches neck.

I ask if the other kids get this treatment and she says no, how come I ask and she tells me the other kids do better than her.

I believe that teachers who use corporal punishment are bad teachers and ought to find another line of work.

My wifes attitude is that the teacher is only trying to help her learn and its my daughters fault if the teacher is loosing her cool and nothing I say can change her mind on that. It happens all over Thailand she tells me.

The bruise is caused by her being pinched by the teacher.

I'm usually in bed asleep by this time but I'm pretty upset and I'm not sure how to handle this particularly as my Thai is atrociuos and my wife won't be a part of it.

Been thinking and I remember reading a report done in Australia and also the USA

how children of parents who speak different languages tend to be backward in school but pick up later on and in fact end up doing better than kids with only one language in the family.

My daughter is the only kid around here who is in this situation.

Does anyone know of this problem and does anyone know where I can get information to present to the school in the hope that I won't find it necessary to do damage to the teacher.

I've heard the stories over the years about Thai teachers and their seeming need to use corporal punishment and I've also been able to observe them fairly close up and quite frankly I reacon they are way above themselves.

I watch the kids in my family over the past 12 years and when they start school they seem to be fairly intellegent little kids but that changes over the next 11 or 12 years and it seems that they get some of there spirit broken.

I usually keep this to myself but since I'm in the mood for it, I don't think Thai's are born stupid they get made that way by their education system. One of my things as a father is to try and make sure that my daughters will is not broken by the education system here.

Regards Joe

Hi All

I'm looking for a hot water heater that will give me a hot shower or, as well a hot bath.

I have only seen hot water systems that have one outlet and that is to have a shower. As I recall hot water systems back home they had a tap that gave the option of of either one or the other. I just want a system that will be easy to screw onto the wall above the bath.

Anyone have experience with this.

If anyone is in the Nakhon Sawan area and has info it would be appreciated but also its no problem for me to go to Bangkok to buy one and carry it back here.

REgards Joe

Many thanks People

My problem in getting money from the bank is that the land has no papers. OK I've been here in Thailand to know that that is risky building a house on this land. We have been using this land for a number of years and my wifes family have been using it for a couple of generations. So Thaksin promised to give papers to farmers for land, and last year the west side of the village was issued with papers and this year our side of the village is to be issued with papers. So I decided to give it a go and take what I think is a slight risk. I havent approached the bank because I'm under the impression you need to have the papers to get a loan.

I'll take the missus to the bank on Monday and see if I can talk them into lending me on the strength of my pension after all they have been receiving money directly from my pension fund for 10 years now.

Regards Joe

Hi All,

I'm in the process of building a house. ran out of money some time back and have kept going by booking up at the local building supplier. At this stage I'm up for 100K We got approached by friends (?) of my wife saying they could lend money at the rate of 2 baht per 100 per month. No big deal for me, but today they offerred to mortgage their property to the bank at the bank rate of 3 baht per 100 per month. In my mind that comes to 30% per year, I'm finding this hard to believe they also want to claim the house if my wife doesn't make the payments.

My pension allows me to spend 45K per month on materials and I have almost bought all I need.

Basically what I'm looking at here is what is the bank interest as I find it difficult to believe that this is 30% per year. I suspect these Friends are looking to scam us.i already have 100K from them on the assurance that we don't need to repay them until the house is finished.

Regards Joe

you are the one with the problem right now suggest you get yourself to Al a non

Hi All,

WOW great advice. Its been about 40 years since I did any floor work but some stuff is coming back. Seem to remember using a lambs wool roller to apply the estapol/polyeurathane. I will deffinately use teak oil on my doors and windows.

Think it might be difficult to find some one here in the village to do the floors that will give me the effect that I want. all the floors I have seen here seem to have been done by hand on knees, whereas when I was doing it we had a machine looked a bit like a lawn mower and you adjusted the height of the roller by hand on the handle.

I find Home Pro to be more expensive than other places that I go to that is pretty important for me as I'm now almost down to paying for stuff with my monthly super pension.

Many thanks for the great advice.

Joe

Hi chownah,

thanks foryour reply.

I've used estapol back home on a couple of occasions and liked the results although I only used it on floors.

i've had a look at a couple of houses here in the village and am not impressed. The idea I have is to stain the wood with a colour called red cedar and then to cover with estapol ,2 coats. The floors I have done in the past have not been stained before applying the estapol. I'm very impressed by the hi sheen given off by a 2 coat job.

The work I'm looking at doing are floors, the staircase, doors and the railings on the verandahs. I seem to recall a guy painting his house ,outside walls, with it and ended up with a multitude of cracks all over the walls. I think it dries too hard for walls so I'm not considering doing that, besides I'm using cement boards for the outside walls upstairs.

Any advice you can give me would be appreciated.

Regards Joe

Hi All,

not been around much the past couple of months. I'm in the process of building a house and its taking up all my time and brain space. very frustating thing to do here in Thailand.

does anyone know the Thai equivalent to estapol

Regards Joe

Hi All,

can anyone help with advice.

Poor folks here in the the village go to the local hospital diagnosed with Hiv/aids

local hospital tells ''go home and die or stay here and die''.

I get this from my brother in law who has Aids gets free medication from the Christian Missionary Hosp at Manorom. I pay for his tests and any addition meds.

When he first went to the local he was told the same and I took him to Manorom where he was looked after and more than 18 months later is doing well.

Unfortunately I can't afford to pay for these others. We are in the Pichit Provence

does anyone know where there is a hospital in this provence or the closest one to here that is a government hospital specialising in this desease.

By the way Manorom is in the Chai Naat Provence south of Nakon Sawan.

Regards Joe

This is my first time on this page, always don't want to look. abit like the ostrich head in sand trick.

I have been getting a 12 month visa for the past 10 years,always with no trouble.

I'm 70 yo maried to Thai for 13 years. Have family that I support and I'm bringing in 800k+ per year.

Up until now I've always kept at least 400k in the bank as well as receiving my monthly pension.

Things have changed now as I'm building a house and am now having to use up my bank account. We have been offerred a loan at the rate of 2 baht in every 100, per month. The reason I'm considering this is that I have been under the impression that to continue to get a 12 month visa I need to receive 800k per year plus have 400k in the bank as well. can anyone verify this for me.

My visa is stamped retirement and last year when I suggested that I change this to married the immigration folks said that it was better to leave it as it was.

Regards Joe

Hi Scamp and All

when Igo home to Aussie I find myself explaining how I live in in a small village well away from the tourist areas and spend my time with my children and spending time tending my orchard.

I know many people think of the things talked about on this post. My friends I do care about what they think, others screw them.

Billy Connolly, from my point of view, billy is right, i don't have people of my culture to talk with and at times thaivisa is a real God send for me and I sure as ###### apreciate it being here.

with all the problems of living in a strange culture I'm probably happier living here that living back in Aussie as much as I love that country. I see some of my older friends back home living in caravan prks and run down lodgings and I know they would like to be doing what I'm doing.

Regards Joe

Got a german shepherd bitch she is just 15 months old. Recently she started to loose hair and I mean heaps of hair, grooming her didn't make any difference. I'm not sure if the dogs go through this in the heat. Knew a dog once that was a long haired afghan, it moved from Melbourne to northern NSW and in a short period of time became a short haired afghan. Never knew if it was the heat or the fact that it went from the city to country.

The dog I have now is a problem as far as diet goes as has most of the dogs I've had anything to do with here in Thailand. can't get them to eat dog food I buy in the dog food shop. Anyone got any ideas on feeding here in LOS and I'm not interested feeding them bar girls.

Regards Joe

Hi Ajarn,

the kasikorn bank don't have a card to use on the internet, its a bit confusing what they have is an on line banking service and it appears to be very complicated. It seems to be for transfering large amounts of money fro9m one account to another.

I can't get a credit card cause I have not got a work permit. I'm trying to do a deal with my sister in Australia to use her card.

by the way mate glucophage is metformin hydrochloride I just checked the box.

Whats got me into wanting splenda is that makro have frozen peach halves but they need a bit of sweetening. I got this thing for peaches and custard.

Take care Joe

hey there Ajarn,

nice to hear from you. yes mate I think I agree with youjust though I'd check with the experts.

do you know if splenda is available here in Thailand. my B1st card wont let me do business on the internet so I can't buy it.

I'm thinking that when I finish building my house I'll see about putting in a swimming pool. At the moment I'm getting my exercise with my bike doing at least an hour a day with a minimum 40 minutes non stop, warm Regards Joe

Hi All,

I'm continuing to have problems with my printer.

Been on to HP website trying to find an answer to the problem but no deal.

I can't get it to print. Its got one document in the queue box with won't delete and it was trying to print this document then stopping and I'd get the flashing light.

couple of days back a friend brought a thai guy here to check it out for me and he tells me that one of these but after 12 months he had to get rid of it and bought a canon. He says the HP breaks down in its second year and its cheaper to by a new one than get it fixed. Claims his experience with the canon has been that it is better technically.

can anyone tell me about this.

My HP is now out of warranty. I've had problems with this printer ever since I've had it,first of all it was always difficult to download. I've tried deleting it and then downloading it again but no can do.

Regards Joe

Haven't been around much the past month as we are building a house and thats pretty much taken up all space in my mind.

Anyhow a few weeks back I get a mail from someone on TF called Matthews. Before I go on let me stress that I am no way suggesting Matthews is some kind of conman or is dishonest in any way. In fact I'm sure he has my best interests at heart.

Matthews tells me that his father had problems with diabetes and was on metformin which eventually affected his liver. On his doctors advice he changed over to something called Transfer Factor and gave me a web site to check it out. I can't really work out what it is and perhaps thats because my mind is very much into building the house and wondering how I'm going to do that plus send my daughter to uni in Bangkok starting in the new year (thai).

My pharmacist has also mentioned that metformin can effect the liver. I'm particularly concerned about this as I spent 36 years as a drunk and a few years after I stop drinking I tested positive for scerosis. Over the past 10 years I've tested negative, but, I'm still concerned.

So my question is does anyone have any experience with Transfer Factor.

Regards Joe

My delicate fair skin gets heaps from the sun and wind. At 70 yo perhaps the word delicate might be a bit extreme.

anyhow over the years I've paid heaps for a variety of sunblocks, which don't work so well and in fact most cause a negative reaction.

I drive a motor bike and my nose also gets affected and none of the sunblocks seem to work.

Was in a shop a few weeks ago and saw some coconut oil remember some Fijian friends telling me about its miraculas powers so I bought a bottle for 20 baht. At that price didn't think it would work but what the ell I'll give it a try.

It works and for the first time in years my nose is not complaining and the sores on my hands have cleared up.

Thought I'd share that with you.

I tested the oil by puting it in the frig and if it solidifies its probably coconut oil.

Regards Joe

I have friends back in Australia who used saw dust as insulation and swear by it. Besides it was free. I've wondered if rice husks would work, perhaps packed into plastic bags. I've seen my family store ice in rice husks and its lasted a couple of days. Seems to me that if the roof space is well protected against wee beasts it work. How about some feed back on this.

Regards Joe

Hi All,

we are about ready to start building a house. couple of weeks ago the builder took us to see a house to give him an idea what we wanted. Had a look downstairs and on going up I was most unimpressed by the heat. As I intend to live upstairs making it into a farang only land. I'm interested in knowing ways to make it cool (er). This particular house had a hi roof but was black and no vents so I figure thats why it was so hot, I remember years ago reading about insolation in the roof and I seem to remember that the insolation was called fiberglass batts. Has anyone any info on these and are they available in Thailand. Has anyone any info on any other ways to keep the heat out. This house I'm living in has hi reflected heat from the ceiling in fact one can't keep your hand on it on a sunny day. A house like this makes Air con very expensive.

Regards Joe