jaideeguy

Yea, i like the optra estate also. Yesterday i saw an ad in a thai newspaper that they are offering it with a factory installed natural gas conversion. would like to find out more and how much?? anyone out there know the price?// google doesn't reveal much info in english.

After driving a Chev colorado for almost 3 yrs and loving the ride on hiways, but hating town driving and parking this big monster.....I'm thinking of downsizing to a stationwagon. Chev offers the Optra Wagon and toyota offers several stationwagons. Honda offers some as well.

Would like to hear from owners about various prices [off the show room floor] and pros and cons.

Thanks in advance.....

I am armchair shopping for the various available locally manufactured vehicles and have been having a hard time finding any english info, prices, specs, etc. Toyota site only has thai info and other sites [like chev] don't post prices. To my knowledge, the prices all over the country are the same....true??

Does anyone out there know of any falang friendly websites with info and or comparisons of locally made vehicles??

Yes, i made one years ago and it was really quite simple.....with copper pipe soldered to T's making up a ladder configuration with the 'legs' being larger diameter than the 'steps', done so to get the 'header effect' [most efficient way to move water by theron syphon. then laid copper pipe assembly onto a 4'x8' piece of plywood with sheet metel and clamped tight and everything painted flat black and a 4'x8' sheet of glass over it. then it has to be placed at due south at an angle the same as our lattitude [18 degrees here] for maximum efficiency. like a ladder on it's side.

plumbing the out [of the header] to the top of the storage tank and the in [of the header] to the bottom of the storage tank, which was a hot tub and kept the water so hot at the end of the day that i had to cool it.

would have been easier to draw the design and will do if anyone is in question of the design.

i have thought about doing it here using the blue pvc pipe [painted black], but have doubts wether it could withstand the heat. copper is quite expensive and hard to obtain here.

sorrry, i assumed you were in chiang mai, but i'm sure desjoyaux has a presence elsewhere in LOS.

There is Desjulox [sp?], located across from the toyota dealer near airport plaza....a french company that sells and installs pools, rather high priced, but looks lile good quality and concept....the pump, filter, steps, inlet and outlet are in a unit that hangs inside the pool sort of like an outboard motor on the inside of a boat. they are an international company and have a website....

just found their american website and correct spelling www.desjoyauxusa.com/residential_pools.htm

they have a display swimming pool at airport plaza.

Yes, as long as the puppies are still in the same place and can be retreived from mom, i'll make them available because the owners obviously don't take care of them.

and yes, i would opt for euthanization over drowning, but impossible to find that here from previous experience....unless you know of any vets that will do it.

we tried all the vets in CM a couple of years ago with no luck.

Emergency over!!!! Late yesterday, the mother returned to the site where the pups were found and we rushed them back to a milk filled mom that redily took them, so thanks to all concerned.

and in reply to neinke

QUOTE(jaideeguy @ 2007-10-08 11:08:07)

One suggestion was to drown them, rather than let them suffer. don't like that idea and my buddhist wife don't either, but what else can we do??

Although I can understand very much your distress about being put up so suddenly with that many pups I have some trouble with following this. First you decide to safe these pups from a horrible death through starvation and dehydration, but then you may decide to kill them by drowning, and thus providing them enormous agony in the last part of their lives.

If you had read my post correctly, i stated that it 'was suggested'.............and would have been a VERY LAST resort as the neighbor suggested that a quick painless death was preferable to a long life of suffering the life of an insect ridden starving soi dog. and that thought does has some merit. what would you prefer if you were the animal??

anyway it all worked out....as most things do.

Since thaivisa has been so slow lately [why?] and i am not on the internet all day....maybe it would be easiest to contact me directly at 089-855-9213.

We tried all the local animal shelters and they were [as expected] over booked, so it looks like we're on our own for 'disposing' of them. One suggestion was to drown them, rather than let them suffer. don't like that idea and my buddhist wife don't either, but what else can we do??

they are a mixed lot...looking about 5 weeks, maybe medium sized ranging from fluffy black to mixed brown and black. they will be wormed, de-flead and maybe given basic shots if anyone is interested.

i figgure that we can keep them for a week or so, then make that terrible decision......so get in touch [by PM] if anyone knows of good homes.

I think that some of the big stores are getting around the law by post-timing the receipts to read sales at the legal times.

Yes, it is probably one of the stupidist laws that they have dreamed up, when the real dangerous drinkers can get their booze 7/24 at any corner shop on the road [out in the boonies]. You can stop for a shot at about 20 shops within a kilometer of our house any time of the day and they don't check for age.

Some idiot dumped 10 puppies in an abandoned house near by and we are desparately trying to find them good homes. While trying the already overloaded agencies, we are offering them on Thaivisa.

They appear to be 5 weeks old [weaned] and in good health, but need de-worming, de-bugging and we'll try to take care of this ourselves today.

PM or post your phone number and we will return call.

Thanks in advance....

I was just going to post the same opinion as the last. Mainly it will open more doors for them......that's the way i see it as i'm in a similar situation and want to adopt my wife's 2 kids, but have been advised [by a lawyer] that the procedure should be innitiated in BKK and have been procrastinating for 5+ yrs now.

In my own personal experience, I was conceived in post war Italy and my parents decided to return to the states to give birth to me and depriving me of a dual citizenship.

maybe someone could post the exact procedure for adoption here in CM as it will be much easier, cheaper and less painful than going to BKK.

Keep us advised please.

Have been comming here fora couple of decades and have lived here for almost the last decade and i still can't figure it out.......

all the infrastructure projects going on, all over the country....bridges, hiways, power, water projects, airports and others and see that there is little [visable] taxation. most money is blackmarket cash [and please don't tell me that the 7% vat pays for it] .

In the west, we get taxed left and right, up to 40% of your dollar earned goes to uncle sam and in some respect the Thais have more and better public works.

So, could someone explain 'how they do it' in simple terms.

Been married to thai woman for 6 yrs and have adopted her two children and from day one, it has been a problem [issue] getting the kids to eat vegetables. she will spoil them with junk food every time she goes to the store. i can see the reason.....she comes from a poor family and was never able to afford these luxuries and she is from the last generation that didn't have all the plastic wrapped crispy, sweet tempting poisons that fill up the 7-11 shelves now a days.

so, i'm 'the bad guy' for just trying to get them to eat a balanced meal and i'm almost ready to give up. i'm sure there are others in the same position as me and maybe someone can advise me if they have been successful in balancing their diet. i know that the more something [junk food] is forbidden, the more they will crave it and she 'buys' their love with candy.

help!!!

I would say on average that most falangs here are not 'unfriendly', but 'private' [to put it politely]. Most come over here and get locked into their own world with their families or drinking buddies and don't want to expand their circle of friends.

Myself.....i don't seek out others and probably have more thai friends than falangs and can honestly say that most of the problems that i've had here were with the falangs that i know or have known and that tempers my desire to meet new people.

Seems that LOS attracts lots of falangs that can't make it in their home countries and live under an illusion that they are accepted here. and there are the ones that brag about how long they have been here and look down on 'newbies'.

my2bhatt....

Still dry in Chiang Mai this morning....come on Lekima, WE NEED YOUR SWEET WETNESS, but not your winds. Must have stalled in Isan????

There is a large pump shop near the ping river on the opposide side of the american consul and they sell large domestic units and almost every superstore has a shop that sells small drinking water units. depends on the volume of water you want to filter/treat........the more you need, the more you pay and it's always better to oversize.

I'm in the process of searching for a large unit to soften my incomming [from well] pool water and and will check out other sources in CM. will report what i find.

I'm new to resin filters as well and am only going with what the vendor told me about his fabricated unit. he said to add salt and backwash when needed [?] and that some people do remove the resin and wash it carefully [in brine] then replace it for longer life of resin.

and i discovered that the 5% vinegar removes most of the white spots on glass, cars, and stainless steel. occasionally, i'll have to soak my faucet screens and shower heads [in vinegar]that get clogged with calcium build-up.

would really love to get that calcium out of my water system!! have to chamois my truck immediately after rinsing or those ugly white stains are left.

lets keep in touch on this problem and maybe some others will put in their 2 bhatt worth of info as well.

Dr Naam,

do a google on water softners and you should find info on backwashing resin filters....it seems that the resin is a sacrificial media that collects the calcium and brine solution is the solvent to remove it. surprised that your pool company didn't mention that as it is supposed to extend the life [and efficiency] of the resin.

cdnvic,

yea, it looks like i should get a resin filter for the whole house and pool, as the calcium deposits [on car, glasses and plumbing] are quite a nusience and in the end costly. do you know of any sources other than the big pump shop near the ping river?? would like to compare prices and service [and english].

Big thanks to both of you for your input.....

Nice and tidy pump house you have Dr, but i don't quite understand it. do you have a sand filter [not in the foto]? and i see what looks like two household pumps, where i have one big sand filter and 2 hp motor/pump.

different [looking] resin filter too...as the one that i looked at here in CM is a [single] fabricated free standing 40cm dia model that looks like a space ship. stands about 5 ft high and the vendor tells me [and i googled] that the resin had to be backwashed regularly with a brine solution to wash the calcium deposits off the media.

with your 6.2 ph and my 8.5, we should trade off some h20 and may come out about neutral.......i'll send you 40,000 ltrs.

thanks for your reply and please explain your system works if you have the time,

aloha,

jdg

After fighting the scale and calcium build-up for 3 yrs in my pool, as well as the spots on car, glasses, windows etc, I finally got a professional water test of my well water and it revealed that my ground water ph measured 8.5 and was recomended to get a resin water softner.

Last week, i checked prices at the biggest pump shop in CM and they quoted me 12,500 bhatt for a small unit and 18,000 for a larger unit [+ instalation]. stainless steel construction for non corrosion with salt backwashes.

My question is....does anyone else out there have the same problem and can offer any alternative cures or should i just bite the bullet and sink another 20kbhatt into my 'hole in the ground' that some people call a swimming pool??

That dynasat f1 receiver is outdated, old tech, and it's best use is just to move [tune] your movable dish. I would advise to keep the f1 for moving and get the newer improved 'newshine' box that holds the programming much longer. I'm sure it's available in CR at a local dynasat dealer, or you can get them at a super discount in mae sai.

I've had the f1, newshine and even newer [and more expensive and complicated] dream box and the 'newshine' has provided the best service for the last year.

It seems that this topic has drifted away from the original post and my reply to that is the only time that i have gotten sick from food here in 10 yrs has been in the old airport KFC and i have eaten from street vendors plenty and had no problem. like a woman...if it don't smell good....don't eat it!!!

Love them, but hard to go along with their closed minds when it comes to doing new things [or tasting new foods]. I can honestly say that I'll try anything once, just for the experience.....bugs, snakes, spicy food etc, but i can't get her to try certain things like cheese, pasta, wine etc.