Dean1953

I'd like to believe that the responses will be better than the last 2 but doubt it. To clarify, the trees are 30 feet tall and, after 10 feet up, they lean over the wall on my property. I will take down the wall but not at a 3 inch leaning. I didn't post this on Thai360 or <URL Automatically Removed> because I expected that kind of response there. Please close the thread.

Almost as exciting as replying to a question about leaf droppings. The trees in question are 25-30 feet tall and, at around 10 feet up, are leaning on my property. I suppose that I would be within my rights to cut down the part on my property but am not looking for that drastic a solution. I appreciate answers to my question. The rest of the comments I can do without but feel free to make them if you are that bored. As for exciting, I'm in living in the Kansas City area, about 25 miles from Lawrence Kansas (the University of Kansas), where I'll be tonight to celebrate our 4th national championship.

At some point, the wall will be down and I'm not taking it down now because its leaning 3 inches. The trees in question are very tall and, from 10 feet up to their top off of around 30 feet, they lean over on my property considerably. I have an orchard property near Saraphi that I grow various trees, including teak trees. An adjacent owner asked me to move 3 of the trees because they were right on the property line, so I did. I guess I would be within my rights to cut off the part of the tree that is on my property but am not looking for that drastic solution. So, you think its alright for my having to remove leaves (or have them removed ) every 3-4 days and spend several hours doing this? I guess I could buy a leaf blower and have them blown to the front gate and out on the street. I don't imagine that the motorcycle riders would like that in rainy weather. I thought I would try to get someone that knows Thai culture explain what their reaction would be. If the last 2 comments are going to be representative of the comments that I can expect, save them and I'll be over in 10 months and I'll solve the leaf problem then.

I (or more accurately, my wife) has a house near Bosang, that we decided to keep while her 3 children are finishing up High school in the U.S. (for another 4 years). It has a concrete wall on four sides. On the side with the neighbour in question, the footing for the wall wasn't dug deep enough and now, after 7 years , the wall leans out about 3 inches. From what I understand, the neighbour does not want braces on his property to hold the wall up, so I am waiting for it to collapse and will have it rebuilt then. The neighbour also has many trees near his property line with me. Some are banana trees and if the leaves grow other the wall far enough, I cut them off. My question is; there are many trees near the front of the property line that drop those leaves that look like propellers. I have a garden on my side of the property and every 3 days or so, my housekeeper has to rake these leaves up. I am considering putting a net up that will catch his debris and, by pulling a rope and straightening the net, will deposit the debris on his side of the property. Am I just asking for retribution from him, in some way? If not, are there any recommendations for someone that could build the net?

I have a teak house that I had built 7 years ago. Not counting what I have put into landscaping and sprinkler system, I spent 4.2 million baht on it. About 1.8 million of that is what I paid to have one teak house and one teak warehouse taken apart and moved to Chiang Mai, along with 14 used teak logs that support the house. The land is in my wife's name (with a 30 year lease back to me) and in 11 years, we will put the house in my son's name. I don't ever intend to sell it, but, for whatever reason (political instability, divorce) a situation develops where I need to do something with the house, but can't sell it, I could always have it dismantled and either sell the teak (hopefully for a decent profit) to ship it to the U.S. and either sell it or use it.

I drove my family from C.M. to Bangkok in a pick up truck, with the golden retriever in the back inside the shipping container that the dog would be using to go from Bangkok to Narita (6 hours) to Minneapolis (11 hours) to Kansas City (1.5 hours). The dog had food and water in the container while in the pick up and we stopped every 2 hours so the dog could stretch his legs. The only problem we had was around the Bangkok free ways, where we were stopped by a policeman at a toll booth that wanted to give me a ticket for carrying the dog in a container in the back of the pick up. I should have just sped off when he waved me over. After negotiations, we settled on 500 baht on the spot payment. The actual flight for the dog was uneventful, expect while in Minneapolis, after an 11 hour flight, I had to take the dog out of the container so a "doctor" could look at him. My dog had to take a dump, so he went on the carpet just outside of customs, where you return your bags for a connecting flight.

Poor dog. What would anyone expect after being in a crate for 11 hours? Makes you wonder if the "doctor" was really a vet and had done animal inspections before. You would think they'd inspect the animals in a area that could be easily cleaned and more private, so the animal wouldn't be further stressed by the swirl of activity around him.

Actually, for such a long trip, the dog came through well. He was very glad to see me in Kansas City but no other repercussions from the ordeal. Originally, the dog and I had 2 hours in Minneapolis but through a schedule change (and needing to fly in an aircraft with a heated cargo area), we had an 8 hour layover there. From what I understand, there is an area at Minneapolis airport where pets are taken where they can get out of their cages and exercise occasionally. I know I'll never do it again. To make it easy for my wife and 4 kids, I had them fly out of CNX on China Air three days after I left, going to LAX, where I flew to from KC to meet them and we stayed at a nephew's house for 2 days before flying to KC. I had left our dog in Bangkok at a kennel after having his required exam for flying to the U.S. I drove the pick up back to Chiang Mai, stayed for a day, and then flew back to BKK around 5 in the afternoon for the flight to the U.S. I had dinner at the airport and then called the kennel at 7:30 PM to bring the dog to the airport. I kept the dog at the airport until Northwest Airline's gate opened at 3 in the morning. I think that, as bad as the dog was kept in the container for such long periods at a time, he probably did get some sleep. I didn't.

I drove my family from C.M. to Bangkok in a pick up truck, with the golden retriever in the back inside the shipping container that the dog would be using to go from Bangkok to Narita (6 hours) to Minneapolis (11 hours) to Kansas City (1.5 hours). The dog had food and water in the container while in the pick up and we stopped every 2 hours so the dog could stretch his legs. The only problem we had was around the Bangkok free ways, where we were stopped by a policeman at a toll booth that wanted to give me a ticket for carrying the dog in a container in the back of the pick up. I should have just sped off when he waved me over. After negotiations, we settled on 500 baht on the spot payment. The actual flight for the dog was uneventful, expect while in Minneapolis, after an 11 hour flight, I had to take the dog out of the container so a "doctor" could look at him. My dog had to take a dump, so he went on the carpet just outside of customs, where you return your bags for a connecting flight.

I forgot to mention that I spent 80,000 baht last year to have a well dug and a pump and water tank added, so I don't have to rely on the water bill being paid to water the outside vegetation. I figure it will take 8 years to recover that investment.

I own a large house on one rai just outside of Chiang Mai and have had it listed with several rental sites, including Thai Visa, since my family moved to the U.S. over three years ago. I've had probably 20 inquires in that time, including from someone moving from the U.S. and would take care of house (was a carpenter) in exchange for free rent, but no firm long term rentals. I advertise it for 20,000 baht and can (but would prefer not to) let it sit, paying my wife's friend 6,000 baht per month to clean the inside, when needed, and take care of the grass and water the plants/trees (I did put in an underground sprinkler that covers 80% of the land). I don't consider a rent in the mid $600 as being excessive for a teak house in a quiet area with a large, walled in area. Obviously, since it is outside of the city, I get no walk by people that would like to rent it. I could put in a more western style kitchen (oven, dishwasher and hot water) and probably will before we move back, as my wife now likes a western kitchen (it took her almost three years to use the dishwasher here). I did have a German that wanted a long term rental but wanted me to knock a hole in the concrete wall between one of the bedrooms and one of the bathrooms, for his elderly father. That request was the deal breaker. I'll continue to list it but I'm not sure that I would want the type of person that wants it for a steal and then worrying about the condition of the house (it is mainly teak and cost 4.2 million baht to build when the dollar was 40-1) or the yard (which I personally have put a lot of time and effort into ).

This is a great example of the foolishness of some (potential) landlords.

Landlord wants 20k, renter will only pay 10k, landlord holds out for 3 years while paying 6k extra to maintain the house.

Dean, rent it for 10k, renter maintains, saving you 6k ....... effectively you would be getting 16k which is better than nothing.

Plenty of house rentals right in CM for 6k.

It depends on whether I could trust the renter to maintain the property. I am concerned about the interior, as it is teak and I don't want to come to LOS sometime and see the inside painted white (or a lot of hole in the walls). But my main concern is the outside. I had around 10 trees die the hot season before last because the previous lady/friend that I had taking care of the house refused to use the automatic sprinkler system because of the water costs (as I was paying it, it shouldn't have made any difference). As she had to leave town for several weeks then, noting was watered. She also didn't inform me that one of my cinder block walls on the land's perimeter was leaning out 3 inches. The owner of the adjoining property does not want anything on his property that would prop up the wall, so I will have it re-built when it collapses. I've had several people mentioning to me that 120,000 baht a year is better than nothing a year, which is what I'm making now. Fortunately, my wife pays the 6,000 baht a month to her friend (she can't stand my thai lady friend and looked for any excuse to get her out of out property), so that isn't money out of my pocket. Concerning cutting a mew passageway to one of the bedrooms to the bathroom, I was told that it would possibly cause major damage to the surrounding concrete. In any event, before I could come to some sort of negotiations with the German, his father took a turn for the worse and he ended up staying in Germany.

I own a large house on one rai just outside of Chiang Mai and have had it listed with several rental sites, including Thai Visa, since my family moved to the U.S. over three years ago. I've had probably 20 inquires in that time, including from someone moving from the U.S. and would take care of house (was a carpenter) in exchange for free rent, but no firm long term rentals. I advertise it for 20,000 baht and can (but would prefer not to) let it sit, paying my wife's friend 6,000 baht per month to clean the inside, when needed, and take care of the grass and water the plants/trees (I did put in an underground sprinkler that covers 80% of the land). I don't consider a rent in the mid $600 as being excessive for a teak house in a quiet area with a large, walled in area. Obviously, since it is outside of the city, I get no walk by people that would like to rent it. I could put in a more western style kitchen (oven, dishwasher and hot water) and probably will before we move back, as my wife now likes a western kitchen (it took her almost three years to use the dishwasher here). I did have a German that wanted a long term rental but wanted me to knock a hole in the concrete wall between one of the bedrooms and one of the bathrooms, for his elderly father. That request was the deal breaker. I'll continue to list it but I'm not sure that I would want the type of person that wants it for a steal and then worrying about the condition of the house (it is mainly teak and cost 4.2 million baht to build when the dollar was 40-1) or the yard (which I personally have put a lot of time and effort into ).

Is this near where the old bus park was? I have a house nearby but haven't been back to LOS for 2 years, and Bosang has changed a lot in that time. Thanks!

Six years ago, I bought 1 rai and built a house on it, near Bosang (about 14 kilos east of C.M.). I paid 1,000,000 baht for the land and spent 4.2 on the house (4 bedrooms, 2 stories and constructed out of teak). The area has developed in the last 2-3 years and, hopefully, the land prices have gone up ( I did buy/built on it when the exchange rate was 40-1 to the dollar, so it should be worth 25% more just on that). I don't think that I could live in an average thai house/lot, particularly in the city, with the constant noise).

Its too bad that I can't count the 5.8 million baht that I spent, buying the land and building the house that I have in Chiang Mai. I forgot, they are assets of my thai wife, not mine. Since I live in the U.S. for at least another 7-8 years before returning to Thailand, I'm not going to worry about the present immigration laws, as they will probably change substantially before I move back. At least, since I'm married to a thai, I have to only substantiate 400,000 baht a year for a marriage visa. Didn't Taksin double the amounts required for both a retirement and a marriage visa in the early 2000's, after the baht went from 30-1 to 45-1and upwards. Now that the exchange rate is back to 30-1, any chance that the 400,000 and 800,000 amounts will be lowered?

If you haven't found anything by the time you arrive in C.M., you could stay at my place for a month, while looking. Its up for rent again since my wife and son came back to the U.S. last month.

Air Asia is a very good airline for what they do. They are a "point to point" airline, so allow more than enough time (at least 3 hours;preferably overnight) on connections, even connections on 2 Air Asia flights. I find the cheapest flight from the U.S. into Bangkok and take the train to C.M. the next day, since I usually have 2 suitcases that weight 20 kilos and a carry on that weighs almost as much (the last time I carried a grundfos water pump in my carry on;it amused both the TSA agents in Kansas City and Narita). Since flights on Air Asia have been really cheap for the last couple of years (880 to take the train in 2nd class air conditioning versus 1,200 for Air Asia), I fly into BKK, stay near the train station, drop off the bags there the next morning to freight them to C.M. by the following day, do some errands and take an afternoon flight to C.M. with no luggage. Of course, if the difference in flying into C.M. versus BKK was less than the $300 plus that it is now, I'd fly MCI to CMX.

Not all americans hate pain at the dentist's office.

I've had watercolors done in the past, near my house in Bosang (I live in the U.S. for a couple of years). The name of the lady that arranged the paintings is Ketsunee, and her phone number is 0899516013. Tell her Dean gave you her phone number. She does speak english.

I find the Sunday market unbearable, too many people, too much tourist tat.

I guess you haven't been here long.

I guess that I have been going to the Sunday Market for 12 years now, obviously not every week. I also go to the Saturday Market at Sankamphaene and the Sunday Market at Bosang/Tonpao, although they both cater to Thais and I see very few farangs at them.(I live in Bosang, so its easier for me to go to those markets now). I would agree that, if one has a fear of crowds in general, the Sunday Market isn't very appealing.

The Sunday market has always had a soft spot for me, as I met my future wife there at one of the massage area set ups, just across from Siam Commercial Bank. I also met a lady there that sold typical trinkets but was willing to show me around to various thais that build teak furniture and doors, among other things. Previous to meeting her, I had asked taxi drivers on two separate occasions to take me to places where teak handicrafts are made by locals. They took me to the gem place, the silverware place, etc., and got their commissions and no tip from me. The lady from the sunday market's family is from Bosang and eventually, I bought a parcel of land from her and built a house out there. I don't buy a great deal at the Sunday market but have bought teak carvings, including the intricate one that wrapped around one of my teak logs/posts in my house and is now a conversation piece. Since someone brought up the subject of blogs about Chiang Mai, can anyone list any blogs in english that deal with life in C.M.?

I do have a house listed on Thaivisa for rent. Its a 4 bedroom/4 bath lana style teak house near Bosang, on 1 rai of lawn/gardens. It does come furnished, however. I can supply more pictures of it, if yo are interested.

I hadn't given a thought to having a colonoscopy until 2 days ago. I'm 57 and never had one (the last physical exam I had was in 1971 and only because the college I was admitted to required it) but my older sister, who had one 4 years ago at age 63, was diagonsed with colon cancer and had the tumor removed 3 weeks ago and is now undergoing chemo treatment.. My younger sister, aged 54, had polups removed last week. The other 3 brothers and sisters are fine. I'll be in C.M. from February 24 through March 9 and don't kow if that is enough time to have it done. My thai wife will be with me to translate, so the cheapest quality proceedure would be my preference. If I saw a doctor on February 25 and had the proceedure done early the following week, that would fit my schedule but I don't know for sure if it can be done that quickly.

I do have one thought for you, actually. I live where there are some annoying pigeons. Some find them cute, I find them to be pooping balcony sitters. And their cooing always wakes me up. If I knew a place to buy a decoy owl like they use in The States, I'd buy one. I suggest bringing a couple over with the hope that they'd scare away your unwelcomed nesters. I have seen plenty of night owls out here, and do know there are a few other day-predator birds that the owl decoys might mimic closely enough to strike fear in their tiny hearts.

Thanks for the advise. There are a couple on Ebay (one that makes movements and is solar powered) that I might buy on Monday, if they can confirm delivery by the end of the week. If not, I'll check some landscaping businesses in Kansas City for advise on where to buy them. My wife will be at the thai house until April 25, so if the birds get used to the owl, I'll have her go to plan "B," which involves the bird spikes and bird stops where the birds are nesting.

I have a house just outside of Chiang Mai that has sat empty for the last 2 years, while my family has been in the U.S. for the kids education. In the meantime, birds have planted themselves in the gutters, under the tile roof and in the garage. Besides leaving their droppings all over, I'm assuming that they are doing damage to the house. My wife has been in the house for 3 months, cleaning bird crap where she can. I am going over for 2 weeks, starting February 22. My time will be limited, as I also intend to work on the underground sprinkler system and possibly adding another water tank just for it. I've read about bird spikes, that can be used on gutters to keep birds, and can use wire mesh to keep them out of the garage and possibly out of the roof area. Are there any stores in C.M. that would carry these kind of products, or should I bring as much as I can over with me (I doubt if a TSA agent would appreciate it if he stuck his hand inside my luggage and encountered a bird spike)? Can anyone recommend anyone to do the job of making it as hard as possible for the birds to nest? I would like to eventually rent out the place, so having no chirping birds around the clock would be a plus in that regard.

I need a gardener in the Bosang area to take care of the lawn and grounds, around 1 rai. My family moved to the U.S. 2 years ago, so her 4 children could go to decent schools. We did keep the house and plan on trying to rent it out, with a gardener (1 day a week). My wife is staying at the house until the end of April. I did buy a new husqvarna lawn mower and string trimmer in the last month, so they will be provided to the gardener. I would like to find someone by April 1, so my wife can make sure that she and the gardener are on the same page as to how to take care of property. Thanks in advance.