canopy

1 hour ago, Harveyboy said:

looked there mate to small don't think fir that price waterproof

You should have mentioned that requirement to start with. Lazada has waterproof tents that sleep 4 people with 5-star ratings from >100 happy buyers for 325 baht that ship from locally. Whatever size and quality you want, you'd be hard pressed to beat lazada on price and convenience. But it's your money.

8 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

What is the difference between unsafe and unhealthy?

There is no healthy amount, it's just a matter of how likely and how severe health impacts will be. When you get down to PM2.5 and smaller the particles are so tiny they can go right into your blood stream when you breathe. There are just too many health complications to list, but people can expect premature death and increased hospital admissions. Most severely impacted are people with pre-existing conditions, the elderly, and children.

16 hours ago, mr mr said:

how do you get a poor uneducated farmer to stop making money to eat ? 

Laughable. Burning is bad for farming, you need to learn this. Smoking is bad for health, you probably already know this. Thai farmers do a lot of both because why then? They enjoy it, that's it. If you were to approach them to gently educate them that these things are bad for their finances, bad for their health, and bad for the health of their family and others they will just blow smoke in your face and explain to you the facts that it's their land and they do as they damn well please. There is simply no justification for their stupid behavior, so stop making up stories to pretend they are some kind of innocent victims when nothing could be further from the truth.

39 minutes ago, Oldie said:

I have aluminium. The frames get very hot in the sun. Not good for my aircons.

Those are the cheap type. Good aluminum frames have thermal breaks. But since most people prefer cheap including the original poster, it's a very valid comment.

22 hours ago, webfact said:

Phetchabun in Thailand's north east

Gotta love it. Everyone wants to claim Phetchabun as their own. Some claim it's northern thailand, some claim it's central, and others like this article claim it is in isaan.

Lazada has new tents for 200 baht.

48 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

It is why my cam is covered up even though it is off as malware can get into your system and activate the camera as well.  

Using an online notary does not expose you to malware. If you already have malware on your system EVERYTHING you do on it is a security breach--every login, every bit of data on the hard drive, everything you type. The objections you note are like listening to someone say don't do notary services in person at the embassy because you could get in a car accident and die. It's singling out one of the thousand of things with superfluous advice that applies equally to all the others.

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

could be obtained and misused by unscrupulous individuals.  Many Cams on computers are very hackable.

Of course. So I guess you would never use banking apps or web sites to access any of your finances. These can all get hacked you know. Notarycam has sensible, end to end encryption on everything including the web cam just like other sensitive services we trust to protect our information every day.

Interesting, that's pretty in depth and shows there are situations and times you can't use an e-notary. It also shows the situation is in flux meaning whatever the state is today may be different tomorrow. Currently the notarycam home page shows it is accepted in all 50 states, 145 countries, and has a 99.8% customer satisfaction rate. As a satisfied customer from California that has used them on multiple occasions (not necessarily the things you need them for), I would for sure go to them first and see if they can do the job. They have a 60 day money back guarantee so there is nothing to lose. Only if they couldn't do it as a last resort would I go for the legacy method getting robbed by the high prices at the embassy and dealing with that whole trip and time sink.

15 hours ago, robblok said:

But the main thing is to ask for references or to find someone who has it done and was pleased. It always a problem finding good tradesmen. Just paying the square meter fee is not a guarantee. 

This is the best advice of all. If it's a bad job it doesn't matter how much or little you paid, it's not worth it. Ask to see an example of their work. If it's bad, move on. If it's good say you expect that level quality as a minimum requirement and identify any iffy areas and say you wouldn't accept that.

14 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

not accepted for anything in California

In 2019 e-notarys became legal in California. So remind me why are we going to all the trouble and hassle of a trip to the US embassy during covid instead of getting it done for cheap from the convenience of your own chair?

Welcome to the 21st century, you can do this online now like notarycam, others.

7 hours ago, Elkski said:

Very sad the learn villages wont even  pay 20 baht for trash removal.  

The important thing to note is this is not a cost issue. Many villagers wouldn't use dumpsters even if they were free. There have even been threads here about expats who pleaded with their neighbors to stop burning plastic because it was damaging their health, even paid them to stop, but they still refuse.

20 hours ago, Aspaltso said:

Does anyone have any clarity on this topic?

You have to look at the units. AQI is an index and PM2.5 is often a raw measurement in micrograms per cubic meter. There are online converters to convert PM2.5 to AQI if desired. Note also there are different AQI's for example from the US EPA. In the past AQI was commonly followed, but as people realized PM2.5 is the dangerous one it is the one closely watched.

Update. Now exactly one month later in January the air quality has plummeted to unhealthy levels where it can be expected to stay for months to come, barring any out of season rains. Phetchabun is circled in pink in the below air quality map for today.

Khao Kho also has unusually good air as of now. And if one has an inkling to go to Phu Thap Buek, the highest point in Phetchabun, now would be the time.

One thing you learn living in Phetchabun is how isolated rainfall can be. There can be a major storm with lightning, thunder, and driving rain that goes long and hard and a few kilometers away not a drop, even sunshine all day. There is so much variance as different places in Phetchabun also have very different microclimates. I have a rain gauge and an air quality monitor.

According to international standards the air quality of Phetchabun is unhealthy for a large portion of the year to the detriment of ALL people living there. This is a fact, far from being "very rarely a problem". This includes the lowlands, the mountains, the whole province. Note aqicn has added a new Phetchabun air quality monitoring station this year which is nice. And Phetchabun people absolutely do burn all sorts of things including but not limited to fields and forests all over the province so don't blame outside air so easily as the scape goat. In fact I have to wonder if it may be  unusual winds allowing for the unusually good air we are seeing at this time. Normally in December views are severely limited by smog, but it must be over 100km visibility right now. Absolutely stunning for December. 

Like elsewhere in the north, the air quality all across Phetchabun normally gets progressively worse starting in October as the rains end and air quality sinks for the next 6 months. By December the worsening air quality is usually quite noticeable with greyish brown horizons, limited views, and unhealthy PM2.5 levels. I've been in Phetchabun quite a number of years and follow the air quality closely and something is different this year. The air quality is excellent confirmed by both public monitors and my own, visibility is almost unlimited, and all of this without a drop of rain in over a month. It's dry, conditions are ideal for burning, but it isn't smoggy with limited visibility as usual. In my area there are 500 baht fines for lighting fires and it is being enforced strictly. This is new. Not sure about other areas or if this is part of why this year is different. Very surprised to see what is happening with the good air and hope for more of it to come, puzzling as it is for now.

It's not a good idea to flush paper towels down the toilet.

17 hours ago, Brer said:

I will give that a try

I hope you do. Most people ignore this video preferring to come up with a more difficult and expensive solution without ever trying it. The bleach remedy is nothing short of a miracle. You go to bed, wake up, and it's like Santa arrived overnight as the mold is all gone, completely disappeared without a trace leaving beautiful, shiny silicone that looks like it is brand new. It's one of the most extraordinary DIY tricks I have ever seen.

Building with straw bales isn't suitable for today's building culture of Thailand. In rural Thailand typically building is not done by experts or to any sort of building codes or inspections and that's the target market. The big problem with straw is that it is not forgiving like concrete. Concrete can get wet, be poured improperly, or made by someone who doesn't know what they are doing and it will still amazingly probably be able to do its job. Straw isn't like this. You can't just flop bales on the ground, stack them like bricks, and call it a day. For starters straw walls need a good hat and boots--that means a long overhanging roof and be high up off the ground. It's too much to ask for that to happen on its own and that's just one small part of the recipe for success. Besides the design, you MUST have rock solid execution for it to be successful and that isn't compatible with Thai building mindset. A poorly mortared masonry wall will probably work. A poorly mortared earthen plaster wall probably won't. Consider  today Thai's would never dream of building with even wood because they don't know enough on how to keep termites away and can't be bothered with learning how. Also consider how quick bamboo builds go downhill and are seen as extremely temporary because they don't know how to use bamboo right and can't be bothered to. Let's face it, concrete is easier and better to them. There is no demand for straw nor will there be in today's paradigm.

I have built with straw and one local problem is if a tokay finds a slight chink in the plaster they may burrow a hole right into the structure. Before advocating building with straw a plan needs to be made to allow it to be successful considering the climate, the building culture, pests, just everything otherwise it will fail badly. It isn't enough for someone to do a demo and hail it as a great approach. Each and every aspect of the unique, local issues of Thailand must be carefully considered and resolved with many years of testing before rolling it out to even the first person.

This is something that still has me puzzled. Thai's just love selling their pile of recyclable bottles, cans and things to the trucks that drive around for a few baht. Then consider farmers have this vast quantity of metric tons of waste (straw) sitting on their field every year and instead of selling this valuable commodity they torch it. For the life of me I don't know why a straw baling industry hasn't happened on its own--someone just needs to buy a baler and go around to the fields buying straw just like people who buy a kubota tractor go off plowing for the farmers. There is huge money in straw bales, they fetch high prices in Thailand.

So now enter this government program for a few select farmers. Hopefully whatever has prevented baling from becoming a vibrant industry by itself can now be identified and solved. While SCG ultimately burning the straw is not a perfect solution, it is probably done at higher, cleaner temperatures and will result in a noticeable improvement to the air if done on a wide enough scale. The issue expanding this program may be proximity. It might not make sense for a farmer in the far north to try to truck bales to a SCG factory 500km away.