canopy

Shipment contains 2 replacement Makita batteries of a type not available in Thailand. I responded to the email requesting my passport being sent out which was unclearly written and it bounced. I called the phone number listed on the email every day (+ 662 131 9054) and waited as long as 10 minutes--it rings and rings but no one answers. Despite these red flags (and poor service by the way) I found a customer service number for fedex Thailand on their web site and they verbally confirmed this sort of requirement exists, but it is still hard to believe someone would make a law like this which forces one to do something illegal and dangerous to comply with it.

I have read the archives but it is still unclear if this is legit or not, can anyone help? I have a package incoming to Phetchabun province from the US. Usually I prefer shipping via the postal service but in this case shipment contains li-ion batteries and USPS won't allow them anymore so reluctantly I used FedEx. FedEx says in order to clear customs I must send them my original passport (not photo copies) to the below address. They say it is to be compliant with a new policy. They will then return the passport by to me in northern Thailand. Can this be true?

แผนกลงทะเบียนระบบไร้เอกสาร (Paperless)

Actually a quick search last night and I came across different plans for different climates. Tropical was one of them.

It sounds like your mind is made up already but consider this. Someone could add a paragraph of how to make an igloo work in the tropics if they tried hard enough. The key point is to start by selecting the most appropriate material for your environment. Many modern builders have already wisened up to this and are shifting from heavy blocks and bricks to featherweight AAC which can perform even better than a cavity wall. Green builders need to catch up and also start selecting more appropriate materials for the tropics of which there are many options, but let there be no mistake lots of dirt is probably not going to be one of them. I am not saying you can't make it work as people have done it, just saying to work with the climate instead of against it. Then let things like ventilation and shading enhance the good qualities of your material instead of just making it more bearable.

You know you have air quality problems when you are comparing rural Thailand to Guangzhou.

Don't understand how Thailand is flooded half the year and in drought the other half. You would have thought they would have figured out a way to manage and save those flood waters for the dry months.

One contributing factor is the amount of water being used year over year is rising quickly because the population is increasing and so is farming. Economic downturns exacerbate the problem because when jobs disappear in the big cities the people go back to the provinces using more water for themselves and farm more. Reservoirs that used to be big enough don't go far enough anymore. They are constantly building and expanding them, but never enough.

Another contributing factor is the flood year is still fresh in peoples minds. Dam operators are scared to let their capacities get too high otherwise great rains could overflow and contribute to flooding downstream. So what happens is they bleed off too much water based on rain forecasts that never come and end up with little water at the end of the rainy season because their recent focus is avoiding floods rather than handling droughts.

Right, earthen walls are poorly suited to tropical climates because their great thermal mass absorbs heat by day and reflects this stored heat into the house by night. That doesn't stop people from making them and such people will play down the climate disadvantage and say to plant trees around them to keep these ovens from heating up too much. Earthen walls such as earthship, adobe, rammed earth, and cob are well suited for climates with hot days and cold nights like the SW United States. They are not the best choice for the tropics where you want to minimize the thermal mass / flywheel effect. Modern builds typically use AAC blocks to this end.

I have always been thinking that Benz and BMW are priced reasonably

Is it just thinking on your part or is based on anything factual? What is pricing of Benz/BMW with V8 engines (a must) like the Lexus?

I understand community forests. However, in my observation they will exploit anywhere they can get to where there is something of value including clearly marked national forests. One of the hill tribes on my mountain did slash, burn and farm in a very visible area in a national forest and astonishingly to me no one complained. They kept expanding it, clearing more forest and dousing the whole area with poisons for their crop and one year their fires got out of control and caused a massive forest fire as they stood and watched it dumb faced. Years went by and only then were they eventually told to stop (hurray). But the damage was done. The trees and everything are gone. Where there was forest is now just rolling hills of grass and weeds. Hill tribes still go through the national forests hunting and gathering everything they want. I ask them what they do if the forestry tries to stop them and they said just run away and go back again. National forests are not respected by these people. If there are exceptions or even those practicing sustainability I sure would like to learn about them.

I'll give you that they have their share of pressure put on them, but I would like to understand what they mean by forest conservation. Hilltribes in my area just take everything of value from forests more than anyone else. And this is inside national forest borders mind you, not their land which was ruined by them long ago. There is no conservation. To a hilltribe a forest is to be exploited, endangered species hunted, areas burned, and when there is nothing left they just encroach deeper. So what are the po karen in particular doing for conservation as the article alludes? It looks like they have 2 sacred trees. Maybe that's it.

caretoexplaintomewhydoestheenglishlanaguagealongwithmostotherlanguagesstillputspacesinbetweentheirwords

Scroll up 2 posts. I answered that.

I am surprised anyone who gets that far would find the no spaces between words an issue at all. Recall when you speak you don't put pauses between words do you? And yet it's perfectly comprehensible. In Thai syllables are constructed in a logical, consistent way and are easy to pick up without spaces. English has a higher need for spaces in writing due to the ambiguities in spelling.

Excellent post Beardog. He doesn't have a septic system at all and seems content to make things up as he goes with a broken system that will work poorly. It will cost more money and headaches in the end but that's just the normal way people do things here. Maybe someone else in the future will heed the excellent advice you provided.

Yeah the buses can almost top 10 KM/hour going up those hills . Traffic on highway 12 drives at great differences in speeds is why there is so much passing. Sometimes you get 30 cars stacked behind a dog slow truck and they all try for kilometers to squeeze past it and themselves. Passing is often playing chicken with head on collisions in extremely tight spaces. And some drivers just take a gamble no one will pop out in the curve ahead of them and go for it. I've heard it is one of the most dangerous roads in Thailand and ambulances are dispatched very frequently. Having 4 lanes will increase the safety dramatically. The thing is after they make it 4 lanes is more people will use it so it could get quite congested and not at all be like today. Just look what happens when you get to 4 lane towards p-lok--it's solid traffic from then on.

Absolutely--Thai's just shorten everything so your nick name is Calo. Spell it แคโล่. It's catchy and Thai's will remember it easy especially with that falling 'o' on the last syllable.

(see below)

I would guess reading your response you have not been here as long or are as deeply embedded as I am. Here is some perspective straight from the trenches.

I would suggest that you are very fortunate to be able to afford an extra blanket and jacket. There are many Thais who live from day to day and cannot afford those luxuries.

Umm it sounds a lot like mom saying to the kids to eat what's left on your plate because there are children starving in china...and it turned out to be an old wives tale and they weren't starving there after all. I live among the poorest ethnic laotions and hill tribe people in Thailand. People have ample clothes and blankets from the kids on up. I was in one elderly woman's home and she has collected so many free blankets she stores stacks of them in a giant sort of show case.

But I have seen the poor buggers and handed out unwanted clothes to them

I live in in the mountains in some of the very coldest weather in all of Thailand. Richer countries like Korea occasionally donate used winter clothes specifically to our frigid area. I was astonished no one would touch them as they surmise they must be from dead people and are afraid of ghosts! It is so sad to see such beautiful, high quality coats in mint condition go to waste. I will take a picture next time--just the most beautiful jackets you have ever seen and would be so snug and warm. I have never seen an elderly person wrapped in an aleutian parka. I can only surmise they prefer stooping and shivering over a stinky fire.

I certainly would not condemn them for burning anything to keep their families warm.

And please, I am not criticizing.

Me either, just passing on observations of the situation around me.

Im very curious why thai people keep making fire

Simple answer: because they enjoy it. Why do people smoke cigarettes? Because they enjoy it. No need to search for a deeper explanation.

I have lived near Thai's for years. I watch them make their daily fires. No leaf, twig, plastic bag, or even blade of grass escapes being swept into smoke and ash. They enjoy burning things, especially their land, and take great pride in building the heap of the day. I've never made a fire even once. I recycle and compost what I can and haul what's left to the nearest dumpster. And I am the only one i know of in the whole area who does 2 of those 3 things. They enjoy burning.

Post #32, bingo! The law was made in the 1970's. It is also true that strict enforcement started during the Thaksin era.

For those that weren't here at the time, you better hope a guy named Purachai never, ever rises to power. This guy is the moral crusader from hell. He completely destroyed the fun from Thailand. Enforcing this law was just the tip of the iceberg. When he was done you couldn't have a new years eve beer garden or put a waitress in a beer uniform, have a karaoke booth in a shopping mall, or have anything open late night. Police forced urine testing raids were common at night establishments. I won't even talk about what was enforced inside the bars. And remember his law that massage parlors couldn't open till 5pm to keep people from slipping out of work to go to them? His final solution he wants to implement is a belief that since other western countries often have just one night district that Thailand should be the same and that probably means RCA will survive and everywhere else will vanish. You should fear what Purachai was able to accomplish and I have met Thai people who think he and his moral crusade is needed to shape up the people. He is a political figure lurking out there. And so before we all go back to bashing Thaksin note the military junta, the Abhisit government, and the Yingluck government have all more or less kept the status quo established by that man.

Thanks. Might aim for the end of the rainy season in October/November then.

The advice you read was written in a confusing way. Clearest air is during the rainy season. October and November this year were dry and bad. But beware even in the rainy season all it takes is a couple consecutive days of sunshine and the fire bugs will be lighting everything they can ablaze and the air quality and views start to suffer and deteriorate every day until it rains again.

I am in Phetchabun. Views are limited in the day. You can only see blue sky if you look somewhat upward. Out along the horizon it is constantly hazy and you cannot even see the sun set--it just fades away into pollution above the horizon. It's been this way since October when the rains stopped. The general population is busy burning everything they can as usual. Bicycling often get the sickening smell of smoke from freshly burned areas by roadsides or driving by putrid smoke from someone burning their plastic bags. Have to keep the doors and windows of the house closed to keep the smoke out as all the villagers are burning wood day and night to stay warm even in 80 degree weather. I have been here long enough to know the air quality deteriorates until the rains come which means there are much more miserable weather months to come. So the article stating "This situation will likely drag into the middle of January" must be a joke I don't get.

Theft of the fence is no worry to me. I get the feeling I am the only one in Thailand using surveillance cameras. Anytime someone goes in my land I get a picture of them on my phone instantly from hidden cameras. If someone were to try to haul off an entire fence they will be greeted by the police within minutes anytime day or night. To my surprise trespassers are neighbors I know and seem nice enough. I find them, ideally in a place that others are around to watch the spectacle unfold. I ask simple questions did you take such and such from my land? Answer is always no. So yesterday at 8am were you ever on my land? Answer is always no because I have no trespassing signs specifically so they can't weasel out with a "i didn't know". Then I pull out an 8x10 photo I developed of them on my land carrying the contraband and ask them to identify who that might be and ask the other people to have a look to get their opinion. Priceless moment. Every time I bust someone they don't come back but it makes an enemy. With a fence I think I can put an end to petty theft from these "nice" neighbors and deal with ardent trespassers severely.

I do like the hedge approach but don't know what it would take in my cool mountain climate conditions to get such a beauty of a barrier like teletiger's photo on such a long area. So I will probably end up doing both. A good physical fence first and let a hedge develop second. I like making fences 2 meters inside the property lines so I can access it from both sides.

I really wish there was a big fence outlet somewhere with goat fences, steel posts, and fittings. Another option I guess is that sort of thing is cheap to import in bulk from China but I would have a lot left over.

A little more price perspective. Earlier this year in my area of Phetchabun a team cut down teak trees from a small plantation. They cut them 6M long and laid the logs by the roadside and sold them for 3000 baht for the smallest ones of 70cm circumference up to 7000 baht for biggest of 120cm. Including papers. They sold out quickly, I think mainly to local mills.

I tried bougainvillea at 1.5M spacing on one such border. Below are pictures after planting and how it progressed two years later. Clearly it is yet to be an effective screen. I just planted it early in the rainy season with minimal care. Maybe with more care it would have performed better.

I like the goat fence approach. I think that would keep people going through it more than barb wire strands. And with an arm at the top outward with a barbed wire strand would keep most from climbing over. But I haven't found these sorts of things sold in stores nor steel posts that can be driven.

Well I hope there are some folks here with suggestions. I would like to make a border fence to keep dogs and people out of a forested type area comprised mainly of various fruit trees and bamboo.

As far as fence material, barbed wire does not seem good enough to keep people from bending opening a segment so I would like other alternatives.

As far as posts, the fence will be very close to mature teak trees so I think that rules out concrete posts because of the impracticality of digging holes where there are big roots. I was wondering if something simple like this pic could work, though 2M tall. And are there by chance any way to use trees as the posts in a way that doesn't harm the tree or leave embedded steel in them? Looking for any ideas at all.