canopy

Note these so-called "tourists" are mostly local Thai teens.

I get these swarms as well on occasion like this photo. A wonder to see. Just respect them and leave them be. They don't stay long.

A free government service with English speakers is waiting to assist with such issues. Why haven't you taken the advice in the very first response to your post and contacted them?

I need to do a whole house, but cannot find a store that sells double pane windows at all. So I must have read every thread in the archives here mentioning double pane windows. And I've reached out to some of the companies listed without success. Can anyone recommend a current source for double pane windows? I am in Phetchabun province but can travel to Bangkok or Phitsanulok if needed.

Why is gypsum board being used more and more in conjunction with block walls? What are the benefits people are looking for versus just rendering over block?

the Northern mountain climates are obviously not like the coastal Tropics

I am in the north. I can't imagine wanting any thermal mass that shifts heat to a later part of the day. It's a bad attribute of poorly thought out houses here. The biggest thing one can do to get a comfortable house is to start by choosing to live in an area with a cooler climate. They exist in Thailand at high altitudes for instance. Then build on that using the many techniques you describe.

Good luck running various, alternative soil samples to a lab in Thailand, and cost of soil import to your site if the stuff onsite isn't suitable, will be prohibitive

Earthen building, particularly adobe block, is widely done in Thailand by green builders. I have yet to hear any issues with on-site soil anywhere in Thailand. The key factor is to assure the silt level is not too high which can be tested by anyone with some soap water. Digging past the black/grey dirt to the orange dirt is enough to eliminate organic material. Sand is added to stabilize the mix and the correct proportion can be determined heuristically.

Let's see the air has been horrible since October. Even if the air quality today happened to dip just a teeny bit below the edge of unhealthy air on the scale, I don't get why anyone would be happy about that. Shouldn't the air in the countryside be cleaner than Bangkok, not dirtier? Other countries have very good air quality in the countryside, apparently Thailand doesn't think this is necessary. And of course we'll be back to unhealthy air in short order, and again each year forward. It's always the same cycle of do nothing but some useless hand waving until the rains come, then repeat again the next year.

This is the first time they seem to have put the blame in the right place. I remember the year they blamed the Korean bbq restaurants in Chiang Mai and made them shut down. Or the year they blamed the Burmese for the smoke coming across the border. But they say "...asking farmers to perform field-clearing burns in rotation" and handing out 200000 face masks are extremely disappointing as these do not tackle the problem. Just means hundreds of thousands will be heading to hospitals as usual.

Where is that picture from?

That was my reaction too. The visibility is so constrained this time of year you couldn't see the smoke of that fire at that distance. Guess that's why they had to get a random photo from the net somewhere.

Contacted them and they have phone ordering and/or can direct you to sellers in your area. They carry paper made bags and sizes for all purposes. Thanks for this wonderful information.

My take is that the relatively stress free life in Thailand of those in this category adds to longevity.

I am curious what ways you find the stress level lower. There are huge stresses in Thailand that are difficult to avoid. Noise and burning come to mind. I would imagine not being able to read or communicate in a second language as proficiently as your first language can also increase stress.

Does anyone know where they sell the bags designed to cover mango fruit on the tree for protection from pests? I've looked everywhere in Phetchabun and Phitsanulok I can think of without success so any pointers in these provinces or online ordering would be great. Don't need many--just one tree for now as a pilot project. For sure want the paper type, not plastic for organic compliance purposes.

A few things to consider.

I know someone who recently wanted to do an earthship build. He found the availability of used tires to be good, but the cost to be prohibitive and ended up doing something else because of that.

One should be cautious with any high thermal mass type of building in Thailand. The nights are warm here and the stored daytime heat can make the evenings unpleasant inside. It's surprising you found some positives about the performance of earthship in the tropics. I would look for unbiased sources on this to get some second opinions. Many claim countless advantages of their alternative builds when in reality they are just thinking with their heart. Selecting the most appropriate alternative building in Thailand can be tricky. When you use straw considerations for mold and bugs need to be made. When you use lots of earthen material, thermal mass comes into play.

Exterior walls take a beating in the rainy season coupled with high winds so "a wide hat and boots" meaning a building with a long roof overhang and high stem wall won't keep the rain off. Thus, many earthen plaster formulas do not last well. Finding suitable building lime in Thailand is difficult, but possible to add durability.

claiming you are poor so you need to kill people to make a living is simply wrong

Well said. There's only one air supply we are all sharing. A lot of people don't seem to realize is this is a modern problem developed in our generation rather than an ancient one. One reason is the population has swelled and deforestation has advanced rapidly so the amount of land being burned today is enormous in relation to what's not being burned tilting the balance way over and we can predict the future will become progressively worse. And think before the chemical age when every single farm was organic--last seasons stalks were valued for the soil rather than being a waste product like today that is a nuisance to be burned. I can only imagine how nice Thailand would have been before entering the burning and loud speaker age.

Dear Singapore, your support is welcome. But unfortunately dropping water will not be an effective solution in either the short or long term. Think chain gun and door gunner.

Thank you for this information. It's the best post I've seen here in years. How might one find how to contact City Hall out in the provinces?

T_Dog, I see that rat poisoning practice along fields as well and it is very disturbing. Environmentally (which Thai's don't care about) it's dumb but it also inadvertently kills people's prized pets yet they don't seem to care about that either. And of course they all go out of their way to kill every single snake which would be excellent at controlling pests. When I was in California we enjoyed having a few gopher snakes around to prevent gophers from making dirt piles in lawns. That would never fly in Thailand. They would much rather kill all the snakes and use poisons. It's a different culture here.

As kannot so eloquently said "the Thai answer to everything is throw a chemical on it". You learn that being out in the countryside. Farming in Thailand is a cycle of burning everything up, poisoning everything, and using chemicals to make things grow. I don't think people elsewhere know how bad it is here.

I buy organic soymilk, but a lot of chemical laden crops are difficult to avoid. The Thai government recently recommended washing produce for 10 minutes. I can't imagine spending that much of my day, devoted to that. And even so, wonder about the chemicals and poisons on the inside.

This raises important questions:

1. Has any country done a comprehensive environmental impact study on this? There are serious concerns that have been touched on here. People need to be educated about the harmful side, especially the people in the project and the people on the receiving end. And finally the people should be able to decide if the harm and costs warrants the gains, comparing this method to other alternatives of increasing water to their farms.

2. Who is making the decision on who gets rain and who doesn't? For instance, are the poorest and most underpopulated areas left to suffer while wealthier areas are the focus?

3. How much is this "rain making" and how much is "rain shifting"? I mean is it making some areas dryer by taking away rain that would normally fall there and diverting it to other areas (see #1, #2).

Without answers to these questions I really hate to see these planes doing anything.

I am doing this mainly to have a good source of low choesteral meat

The ills of cholesterol have been debunked to the point the US FDA is revising its guidelines to say cholesterol is of not of any dietary concern.

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-dietary-guidelines-cholesterol-20150219-story.html

It seems almost all roof types in Thailand are designed to go on battens. You can find some shingle types where you would be better off with plywood rather than battens like Ayara tiles, but Thai's will still use battens for them. If you do use plywood for anything, first think long and hard how you will deal with termites.

I fear headlines like this. Other provinces with sickening air are neglected for not being in the top 9 despite having air that is often less healthy than Bangkok itself. I mean this is the wide open countryside so why shouldn't people be able to enjoy great air quality? I am in Phetchabun province. Air has been hazy with limited visibility since October when the rains stopped. The atmosphere progressively worsens until a rain comes. Trouble is the last couple years it has hardly rained at all in the dry season. Thai's just really enjoy burning everything they can get their hands on and as far as I have seen it is all unnecessary. I never burn anything.

I too live in an area with no garbage collection. I asked what to do and was told by an official to dump in the national forests or burn it. Not liking that answer I asked another official and received a similar response. I have come to understand there is no garbage collection because the people rally against it! So I do exactly like another here--bring my garbage to big roadside dumpsters in cities. I recycle what I can, compost what I can, but it's sickening the wasteful excess plastic packaging I am forced to buy with everything. The locals don't care, they just happily burn all that into the smoggy atmosphere. For them problem solved. Air quality is not something they care about at all.

I find ktw's prices to be lower than some places, but not necesarily the lowest overall. For instance I was shopping for a Makita belt sander and it was 21000 baht at homepro, 11000 at ktw, and 10000 at a local hardware store. Also while the ktw selection may seem huge, you will find most are listed as "out of stock" where they will remain indefinitely. They do at times slip nice calendars in your order though.

I sent a parcel to the US by sea mail near the end of last year. It took just about 3 months to be delivered.

I've seen them at big hardware outlets. Might have to ask if none are on display. And ktw.co.th has online ordering like this one:

https://www.ktw.co.th/product/_marathon_-electrical-tile-cutter-110mm/49098