Dean1953

I called AT&T yesterday and, as I have a payoff amount of $488 on the IPhone, they won’t unlock it.  I’m not sure if I’ll have time to go to MBK.   I’ll try to find someplace in Chiangmai to get it unlocked. Failing that, I’ll bring my Samsung Galaxy S7 that is unlocked and use it.  I just need someone to replace the broken screen first. 

I’ve got 5 hours between flights from Singapore to BKK and BKK to CNX on a Saturday morning, early afternoon.   I might go to MBK. If not, I’ll use my Samsung Galaxy S7 phone that is unlocked.  

I have an IPhone 11 with AT&T that I want to use while in Chiangmai in September and October.  In order to get a local SIM card to work in it, does the IPhone have to be unlocked?  If it does, how hard is it to find someone in Chiangmai to unlock it?  In case I can’t get it unlocked, I’ll bring my older Samsung Galaxy S7 which is definitely unlocked to use.  

Thanks Dr tree love.  I have no problem buying smaller trees. I won’t be moving back permanently to my house until the summer or fall of 2026, after my son graduates from high school.  I’d prefer to have mature trees by then in my yard.  Hopefully, I’ve got planting coconut trees out of my system.  I have a 50% rate of failure on them.  I’ll post pictures of my yard when I get there on 3 September.  I have no set plan for type of trees, so any suggestions would be helpful.  I do have a sprinkler system for the yard to take care of trees during the dry periods. My neighbor will check on it and knows how to set it.  I’ll be there for 2 months and will do what I can to help the trees along.  Thanks!

I have Plan A and B. I arrive at BKK at 8:30 AM Saturday, September 3rd.  All flights from BKK to CNX are the same economy class, except Thai and Bangkok Air offer 20 kilos baggage allowance.  I purchased Thai Airways.  I assume that I can get through immigration/customs in 45 minutes and be at checkin for my flight at 9:30-9:45 AM. If they charge me 1,560 baht for my 26 kilo excess baggage, I’ll pay it.  If it is considerably more than that, I’ll take 3 kilos out of 1 bag and check it.  The bag with 26 kilos will go to the train station to be shipped.  I should get back to BKK with 90 minutes to clear security and get to my gate. 

The amount of luggage that I usually take to my house to leave used to have me take the train, even though I can’t get any sleep.  Then, I usually spend a day or two in Bangkok at a hotel hear the train station.  I’d drop my bags off at the train station the day before I flew to Chiangmai. Then, on arrival, I’d stop by the train station (on the way to my house in Bo sang) and get the bags. It’s not that expensive, maybe 300 to 400 baht for 1-2 bags. I’ve never gone from the airport on the air link and get off to get on the MRT to the train station. It looks like it would take an hour each way, hauling at least 1 suitcase that way, which would be a hassle. 
I’ll check in as soon as possible on September 3rd, maybe 4.5 hours in advance. If the cost turns out to be 1,000 to 1,200 baht, I’ll pay it and avoid the hassles.   If it’s closer to 3,000 baht, I’ll do Plan B. 

4 hours ago, FriendlyFarang said:

There is a post office at BKK, you could ship your bags with them, cheaper than on the plane and you don't have to carry them around.

Are they open on Saturday?

Thanks. I’ll have my Thai neighbor call them to see what they have and prices

I’m flying from the U.S. with 2 checked and 1 carryon suitcase and a backpack, at full, allowed weight limits. I needed to buy a ticket from Bkk to CNX that wouldn’t charge me an arm and a leg for the 2 checked bags at 23 kilos apiece. I wouldn’t touch Thai air Asia or Viet jet.  I went with Thai smiles because they give you 20 kilos free   The 26 kilos that I’ll have to pay for is 50 baht per kilo, coming to 1,300 baht, which is reasonable.  Otherwise, I’d be taking the train, or at least having the bags shipped by train while I fly. 

I’ve been to the market near Tesco many times and have bought trees, usually small, from them. I’ve also been to a location near the San Kamphaine hot springs, that sells mature trees for a lot less.   Since I don’t live at my house and rely on renters to make sure that my lawn sprinkler system is working, several trees died when my last renter wouldn’t let anyone on my property to do repairs to anything.  I’m spending 2 months (September 3-October 31) at my house to do repairs and get landscape ready for my permanent move back in 4 years.  This includes buying 5=7 trees and some plants.  I don’t know if that place near Hot Springs is still open, but if anyone can tell me if it is not not, I’d appreciate it.  Or, if anyone knows of another place in a 60 mile radius of the city that sells trees (and delivers and plants them), I’d appreciate that. 

I’ve got from September 5 to October 31 to get my dental work done.  It’s probably my second priority, behind seeing if a house that my wife inherited in Hong Dong is worth fixing.  From what I understand, it doesn’t have much of a roof.  I’ll have to find someone to work on it or a recommendation here because two of my wife’s friends won’t go near the house because they think that it’s haunted by her ex husband, who died in the house.  I get into Chiangmai on September 3, a Saturday. Monday morning, I’ll work first on getting a Dental appointment, then go by the house, preferably with a builder, to see if it’s worthwhile fixing 

I’m curious about CMU dental hospital, as I’ll be in Chiangmai Mai for 2 months, starting 3 September.  I’ve had bad experiences at the University of Missouri-KC dental school.  On a construction site, I had a lower tooth knocked out and the upper one chipped.  The dental school wanted to fix everything, which took over 2 years.  They got rid of the dental enlays (3) that I had done in Bangkok 20 years ago.  They then drilled the three teeth for cavities and refilled what was left of the tooth in preparation for crowns.  They also pulled 2 wisdom teeth, breaking the root on one of them, which necessitated a senior dentist to drill out the remaining parts of the root.

The problem I had was the process took so long that the original student dentist graduated, meaning I was assigned a new student dentist and new senior dentists as advisers.  The senior dentists wanted to tear out the new fillings and do 3 root canals.  I told them that was not necessary and ultimately refused.  A couple of months later, Covid kept the dental school closed for a year and a half.  I’m looking for someone else to finish the job in the two months that I have 

Thanks for the suggestions. I don’t plan on leaving Chiangmai for 2 months, so that should be plenty of time to have the dental work done.  The inlays that I had done in Bangkok at age 50 lasted until age 66, when x rays showed some decay in all 3 teeth covered by inlays.  I’m assuming that they will now be crowned. I kept telling the student dentists that worked on me that I was 69 and not looking past something that will last 10-15 years tops. They only do procedures one way because their grade depends on how it’s done.    They take an extremely long view in how they do things. I’ll check out the last two suggestions made. 

I’ll be over for two months, primarily working on my house and a house that my wife recently inherited.  I’ve had a lot of work done at a local University Dental clinic in the Kansas City area over a 3 year period.   I thought that I was going there to have a tooth replaced that was knocked out by a kick back from a board on a table saw.  They ended up eventually replacing the tooth with an implant, but not before pulling 2 wisdom teeth, removing 3 inlays that I had done in Bangkok 15 years ago.  They all had cavities, so they wanted to crown them, after drilling out the cavity and filling the tooth.  After 3 years, I had had 2 students work on my mouth and lots of retired Dentists.  The problem is the new retired Dentists wanted to do root canals on all 3 teeth and I didn’t because I didn’t think that the roots had died.  Last summer, while flossing, I managed to pop out the largest filling and after one visit last fall, the Dental school wanted to do an implant, which I had I also refused.

I just need a recommendation for a competent Dentist that can do inlays and crowns.  If they can’t replace the filling that popped out, I’ll have the Dentist clean the area towards the back of my mouth (there is a rod sticking out of the hole now that was put there to stabilize the filling) and leave the space vacant, as long as it doesn’t get infected. I have a Thai friend that can translate for me, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be a clinic that caters to foreigners. Thanks!

I’m in the same situation.  I’ll be arriving from the U.S. via Singapore at 8:35 on September 3rd.   I’ll have 2 pieces of checked luggage at close to 23 kilos apiece, and a carryon around 7 kilos, and a small pack pack.   I can take Thai Airways or Bangkok Airways mid day and take a carryon and I checked luggage     The second checked luggage, I can check and pay the overweight fees.  Or, I can take the cheap route to the train station and ship the one piece of luggage and pick it up the next day after going back to the airport flyin flying to CNX later in the day.  My 3rd option is to take all my luggage to the train station and take the 1:45 train, get in around 4 and take a taxi to my house. 
all this depends on whether the one day quarantine is scraped at least by August. I’ve got time to wait, at least until July. 

I just had a renter move out in May, and have had several things worked on including trimming trees around the house.  My neighbor has a large tree whose branches overhang the garage which has gutters.  When I’m there every 1-2 yraers for a month, I stand on the cider block wall between his property and my garage with a cordless saws all and cut any limbs at the point that they overhang the wall.  Several years ago, one of the heavy tree limbs broke off in a storm and caused some damage to the roof of the garage.  He didn’t offer to fix it.  After that, I saw it as free reign on any of his trees that went over the wall.

The lady that takes care of my house while I’m in the U.S. sent me a picture of a tree growing inside my gutters.  On inspection, the gutters, after 18 years, were clogged.  She hired two men to clean out gutters with a high pressured water hose.  I suppose that I could do this every 5-10 years but I am interested in seeing if there are any companies that install clog free covers over gutters in Chiangmai?  Or, at least the product and I’ll hire someone to install it.  Thanks!

Living in the U.S. but having a house on a large lot in Bo Sang, my Thai neighbor Cuts the grass.  Usually, he waits until it’s too long to easily cut with my push mower and cuts it with a weed wacker.  Because of COVID, I can’t come over until next year but would like to find a good quality riding lawn mower in the $3,000 range.  It could be from anywhere in Thailand but Chiangmai would be preferable.  The other option is to ship our riding lawn mower from the U.S. when we move back to Thailand and use my Thai wife’s personal exemption from duty, but doubt if a lawn mower would qualify.

At Chiang Mai, behind the first entrance to the train station, take the next turn left.  There is a small building where they shipp packages by train.    I didn’t insure my luggage

I sent my two large suitcases and carryon by train from Chiangmai to Bangkok last week for 350 baht.  

It’s definitely not in a cramped moo ban.  A Thai lady that I met over 20 years ago family had land just south of Bo sang.  I bought one rai from her in 2003.  It’s on a private road (the government just upgraded it from gravel to concrete) and the only people living there are relatives.  That, more than any other reason, is why the house has never been burglarized in the 11 years that I haven’t lived there.  It’s on 1 rai of land with the house in the middle.  As I’ve been told many times, you really have to like wooden houses to like it.  

4 hours ago, Dante99 said:

We pay gardeners 300-350 baht per day.  Since you have a 5 hour job, why are you willing to pay 1500-2000 Baht for it?

 

Did you get your sprinkler sorted?  Interested in that one since I may need a guy to work on a Hunter system.  Thanks.

Mr. Suthep’s Thai assistant came by and reset the Hunter sprinkler system, checked the filter and went around readjusting the direction of the sprinklers and took one apart to manually clean it and drastically increase water flow.  After he left, the sprinkler worked great but quit working after a few days (the pump came on but no water made it to the sprinklers).  I had two large trees planted and those, and a couple of existing trees that had not fared very well during hot season, had to be watered twice a day by hand.  In using the hose that is connected to the well water, I diverted water to the hose and away from the sprinklers.  Mr. Suthep this time came out and quickly figured out what had happened.  He gave a crash course about the sprinkler system to my Thai neighbor.  So, at least if something basic goes wrong, the neighbor can reset the Hunter controller and make sure that the water flows to the sprinklers, instead of the hose.  

     A year ago, I drove around the nearest moo ban to see if any gardeners were around.  I didn’t see any.  I may be forced to pay the neighbor for another year.  I’ll be spending the summer of 2020 at my Thai house.  That should give me plenty of time to find someone in a decent price range.

I got a few projects done this trip (I got home last night), the main one being a concrete block patio that was overrun with weeds taken out, concrete poured, and the concrete blocks put on top.  I had looked for a gardener while there.  My tenant from last year had the yard cut for 1,200-1,500 baht per cut. For the last month, I emailed him to let him know that I would be back in Thailand in March and would like to meet and, if they are available, use his gardeners for the foreseeable future.  The prick, who left on a year’s lease after 6 months (and who I let stay for two additional months to cover his two month deposit because he had bought an air conditioner for one of the bedrooms), would not answer my emails.   My next door Thai neighbor, who is also an electrician, cuts the lawn at 3,000 baht a cut.  It took me 5 hours to cut and use a trimmer on it while I was there.  If the going rate in Thailand is $20 an hour to cut grass, I guess I have the right person.  If anyone knows of any gardeners that can cut grass and periodically trim trees for between 1,500 to 2,000 baht, in the Bo sang area, let me know.  If not, I’ll continue the search on my next trip to Chiangmai in about a year.

Wall is still vertical.  The new wall has concrete pads in front of it, tied to the wall underground with steel rebar.  I’ll be long gone before that wall gives my wife or son any problems.  I’m going to have to have Mr. Suthep back one more time before I leave.  I had problems with both my city water tank and my well tank overflowing.  For the well tank, it turns out that there are 2 electrical switches to control the filling of the tank; one automatic and one manual.  The manual had been switched on by accident by a worker that was replacing a water faucet in the bathroom.  The float ball on my well tank had broken and was replaced.  But now, at 6 AM and 6 PM (when the Hunter sprinkler control system is st up to activate sprinklers), I can hear the pump come on but no water.  The problem is, when I leave, my caretaker come by several times a week to look around but she won’t notice if the sprinklers are working.  I’m planting 4 new trees today and would be really pissed off of I came back in 12-14 months and find them dead. 

It’s not the Hunter controller.  It comes on when I set it to come on, or manually turn it on, but no water comes out.  I’ve got another week here, so I’ll call Mr. Suthep to have him fix it (maybe put on filters).  Thanks