nokia

Do you need to pay tax for the machine at CM/BKK customs ?

Folks,

Is it possible to get visa extension from CM Immigration by studying in these places for only 6 weeks?

Cheers!

Thanks to all for the helpful information posted here.

My original post was prompted by the fact that we are in the middle of a full renovation of our apartment, now at the point of deciding on the kitchen.

I am leaning towards setting things up initially so that we can keep in the storeroom immediately behind the kitchen one of those large plastic containers for water (20 liters, I think, based on some of the posts here), connected by a hose and pipe through the wall to a tap in the kitchen. The container would be kept at a raised level, so that gravity alone would bring the water to the tap. (I will keep open the option to switch to an RO filter system later.)

One problem, though, remains unsolved: how to connect the water container to the water pipe that leads to the kitchen? Does anyone know if water-tight caps or lids of some kind are available for these containers, to which one can connect an ordinary hose with a threaded connector? Any other ideas would be welcome too.

Sounds interesting & little complicated. Why not get a 18L water dispensing machine with hot & cold water found in most offices? I think the supplier will also supply the refills. Just an idea.

Drink & enjoy!

Folks,

i made a mistake. It's 26-35 baht for the 5/6L bottled water, while the price has gone up to @45-50 baht for the more convenient 6 pack of 1.5L. I have noticed recently that less & less Thai people are buying the 6 pack of 1.5L from Tesco.I guessed Crude oil is driving up the price of PET bottles.

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET, PETE or polyester) is commonly used for carbonated beverage and water bottles. PET provides very good alcohol and essential oil barrier properties, generally good chemical resistance (although acetones and ketones will attack PET) and a high degree of impact resistance and tensile strength. The orienting process serves to improve gas and moisture barrier properties and impact strength. This material does not provide resistance to high temperature applications -- max. temp. 160°F/71'C.

I was buying Nam Petch (6L with a returned empty trade-in bottle) for 15 B for the last year or so from my local mom n' pop store.

Recently, a neighbor in my apt bldg hipped me to the water dispensing machine in front of the Tesco Lotus Express on the same soi.

I started using it recently. It is filtered and UV treated (but no RO).

You can bring your 1L, 5L, 6L, 19L whatever. Put your coins in the machine, push a button.....

Costs a whopping 2 baht for 4 liters, and I trust it over the water delivery services. I have no idea where THEY get the water they're filling their bottles with. My machine obviously gets it from the city water supply, filters it and treats it with UV to kill bacteria. Tastes good, makes great ice cubes....and doesn't have any off duty policemen driving a diesel-belching pickup truck despoiling the planet. Nothing against policemen, or diesel pickups....I just hate the idea of all that wasted energy to bring me water. And I reuse the same Tesco Lotus 5L bottle, personally wash it after every use, and make sure it is a clean receptacle.

My 200 satang's worth

mcgriffith, I also bring my dozen empty Tesco 5L bottle to the water dispensing machine in front of Tesco Hang Dong. I think the machine gets it from the city water supply, i'm not sure, but i have seen a handful of locals using it. Costs 1baht for 1 litre. It's a bit troublesome, as i have to balance the dozen filled bottles on the back of my truck. That's why i havent thrown away the bottles yet.

Anyone else using the ubiquitious water dispensing machines?

Folks, do you know that an estimated 1.1 billion people in the world don't have access to clean drinking water???

Drink & enjoy!

Sewage tanks and wells on the same plot would have me wondering, too........... Leaks maybe not probable, but I'd have thought possible.

Water jerry can - probably camping equipment store e.g. Sports World at the rear of Centra Kad Suan Kaew. Otherwise various hardware stores around town - but I'd wonder if they're water-safe. BTW, it wasn't the garbage collector truck taking my empties before - more the freelance collectors who also collect drinks cans etc.

As mentioned, I pay 10 baht per 20 litre bottle and I believe it's 12 baht if they deliver i.e. + 2 baht. Maybe the 27 baht you're hearing is a farang "special" that has to do with the type/population of moobaan you're in? It's over a year since I started using this supplier, so I can't remember if the deposit was 50 baht per bottle or for the two I requested. Which supplier to choose? Compare prices and size up the the tidy-looking houses for who's using which. The address will be on the bottle so, if you've a mind to, go and take a look at the bottling place. I'm no expert on filtration/sterilising systems, but I feel pretty confident when I see that all the workers wear clean overalls, rubber aprons/boots and the place itself is kept spotlessly clean. Frankly, I doubt that any of the water suppliers is pumping just any old water out of the ground to fill the bottles - word would get round. Come to that, wasn't it Perrier that had to recall gazillions of bottles a few years back when the supply got contaminated? You can get too paranoid about these things.......... Drink and enjoy - a bad shrimp is likely to get you before the bottled water does.

Sewage tanks, i think, are designed to retain the solids & to expel the liquids, otherwise it will be full in no time.

Yup, it's probably the gardener or some freelance workers who collect the cupboard papers/bottles.

I guess i will do some detective work and see which brand is more popular & the pricing. And check out the delivery pickups when it comes the next time. I think Glacier is one of the brand that comes to my mooban. Most of the farang neighbours purchase the 5/6 litre bottles from Lotus while the Thai neighbours generally order from the delivery pickups.

An enterprising Thai neighbour tried selling me a "Diamond water filter", but it's too expensive at 20K baht.

Cheers for good drinking water, drink & enjoy!

Use a filter mounted under the sink. Little tap on the sink for drinking water is convenient. No worries about whether or not someone else is filtering it properly. You control it. No plastic bottles to transport and/or recycle. Filter is moveable or can be sold if you move.

Note: Repeated refilling of clear water bottles you buy water in is not recommended as stated on many of the labels.

I have a simple 3 stage filter mounted above the sink and the water is used for washing. My concern about using the water for drinking is that our moo baan's water source is from a well in the moo baan, and all the houses have our little sewage tanks under the garden. Is it probable that the sewage water might seep into the water source?

I heard that repeated refilling of clear water bottles is not safe only if you leave it in the heat/hot sun which will change the chemical composition of the plastic. I know the garbage collector will be happy to take away all the clear bottles, but i thought i might as keep them until i find a gd replacement for them. Where can i buy a water jerry can?

Steve2UK, most of my Thai neighbours order the 1litre/20 litre white opaque bottles, and i think there are at least 3 different brands delivering to my moo baan weekly. Which one to choose? Can i say let me follow you back to your factory/shack/well for a look first to see if they use RO or are they using a simple filters with water source & sewage tank nearby?

I guess if i order the 20litre, a metal stand & a funnel will be necessary. btw, what's the deposit for the bottle, and the water price? I heard that it was 27 baht for 20 litre and maybe 50 baht for the container?

CHeers for good drinking water! Drink more folks!

Folks,

i normally buy 5/6-litre bottles from, say, Lotus but the price has gone up to @45-50 instead of@ 28-30 baht.

HIgher cost of making plastic bottles from cruide oil? Now i have so many plastic bottles, and dont know whether to throw them or to keep them?

An alternative is to fill them at the ubiquitious 1 litre 1 baht water machines. There's one at Lotus, but again, i dont think they use reverse osmosis and it's troublesome too.

And then, every week, there are quite a few water vendors, on pickups, motor bike(three wheeler) that comes to my moo baan near Hang Dong. They use the screw cap with a plastic wrap on top. So many different brands, no Polestar, how to choose? How do i know where they use RO or not? Or they just filter in their own backyard? SHould i try everyone of them, and if their quality is not good, 1) by telling them, OR 2)avoiding them by switching to another??

Any advice is appreciated as we all need to drink quality water daily.

CHeers to good drinking water!

Although there is a provision for matching stay using section 7.10 for those allowed extensions under 7.8 (education) it would require extension of stay rather than visa entry and may not be available for language study (they do not extend for one year currently). For arrival they will likely need tourist visas and after checking with school and if you can extend your visa there may be a possibility under section 7.10.

THanks Lopburi. Will check with the school & the Thai immigration dept. Hopefully my wife & baby dont have to leave LOS after 90 days for a new visa at the consulate.

Hi folks,

I will be applying for a Non Imm Ed Visa this August to study Thai. How about my wife(non Thai) and my new-born baby?

Can we apply together as a family, although they are not studying, or do they apply for a Tourist Visa instead?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers!

I noticed that TigerAir has stopped flying to Chiang Mai. Wonder why?

Not only cruise missles....

but according to globalfirepower.com in head to head competition, the USA has huge advantages in the area of

Military Aircraft

U.S.A. = 18,169

China: = 2,700

Armored Vehicles

U.S.A. = 29,920

China = 13,200

Missle Defense Weapons

U.S.A. = 35,324

China = 2,162

Navy Ships

USA = 1,866

China = 232

Most of China's military statistics are unknown. I wont be surprised if the actual numbers are about the same.

If America's discount stores like Wal-mart are full of cheap CHina-made toys & products,

then it wont difficult for the Factory of the World to mass produce huge number of unknown military hardware,

albeit slightly inferior quality but at far lower costs.

It seems there are two major problems that are causing the SMOG. The annual slash & burn, and the burning of rubbish.

For the first problem, non-permanent residents can avoid CM during the months Feb-March or even January & April.

But for the second problem, it is unavoidable, as the burning of rubbish occurs every month/day, even during the rainy season.

If we cant change the environment, can we change ourselves/schedules/etc since we still want to stay in CM?

Do share your thoughts/solutions.

------------

However, the complexity of the air pollution issue is as integral to its proposed solutions as to its causes. 'Placing a sudden national or trans-country ban on burning is a tricky issue, considering the number of ethnic minorities that depend on slash and burn agriculture for their livelihood', says Po Garden. 'It would really impact most harshly on the poorest of the poor.'

http://www.chiangmainews.com/ecmn/viewfa.php?id=1796

7Kris:I have been complaining everyday in Chiang Mai for 14 years since my move from Chiang Rai.

I live in a residential project near the ariport. Neighbors burn refuse EVERYDAY. I try to exercise but when I get a whiff of burnt plastic and organic waste, my head aches.

Even my mother is burning rubbish. And I agree is that it is the tradition of folks around here to burn.

Now the weather is catastrophically health threatening. I cough on and off and my skin iches whereas my brother has throat infection.

http://www.chiangmainews.com/ecmn/viewfa.php?id=1796

Smog in northern air is Thai problem alone

"An additional problem is that national borders get in the way, with man-made burn-offs also occurring in Burma's Shan State and in Laos," says your editorial, "Burning issue plagues North" on March 29.

Having recently returned from a 1,500km motorcycle trip in northern Laos, half of it off road on dirt tracks in the mountains, I can assure you the toxic soup that passes for air in Chiang Mai is an entirely Thai-made problem.

I did not see so much as a wisp of smoke in northern Laos or along the Burmese border. The air is clear and there is no haze until one is south of Chiang Rai.

As someone who lived and worked in Chiang Mai for six years before moving to Bangkok for the vastly improved air quality (oh yes), I assure you there is nothing even remotely encouraging in the health and forestry authorities' promised campaign to urge villagers not to burn off forests, rubbish or grass. We hear the same hot air from them every year.

Villagers continue their nightly burning of leaves and plastic, as local government officials and racketeers continue to pocket the cash from refuse contracts, ensuring that the rubbish is dumped in fields and burnt instead of going into landfill sites.

Meanwhile, thousands of heavily polluting empty songtaews continue to drive around all day, and the dust from the current frenzy of construction fills the air.

The result is that Chiang Mai has the highest rates of lung disease in the country. No amount of spineless local councillors commissioning yet another report into the cause of air pollution, analysing another air sample, waffling on about traditional lifestyles, handing out masks or pointing a barely visible finger through the smog toward Laos or Burma is going to solve the problem.

The solutions are clear, easily identified and easily solved. Start by getting rid of the incompetent buffoons who have mismanaged Chiang Mai for the past decade.

I do not know how anyone can reside in Chiang Mai today. The putrid air makes it one of the most unliveable cities in Thailand. I hung on until bronchitis brought on by nightly burning of waste in our village forced my reluctant retreat.

With its rich culture, beautiful scenery and easy-going people, Chiang Mai had so much going for it.

Unfortunately, self-interest, apathy and ignorance have taken a heavy toll on the city. That's a shame, because I miss it desperately and would love to move back, but not until I can do so without wheezing.

MICK SHIPPEN

Bangkok

http://www.bangkokpost.com/310308_News/31Mar2008_news22.php

I think although initial reaction might be a bit scary, on the whole, i believe most of CM regular residents have learnt to live with the annual smog/pollution issue. During this period, avoid outdoor activities, and stay indoor, inside your vehicles or air-conditioned malls. This is a feasible solution for most healthy persons. For those who lung problems, then maybe a permanent move to the south would be more viable.

With deepest apologies to UG and other naysayers, the facts speak for themselves. To suggest you should wait to join the statistic of one of the highest lung cancer rates on the planet before you move is, to my mind, missing the point and symptomatic of gross idiocy. Most normal people use a condom to STOP themselves from contracting HIV or some other STD. They don't put it on once they are already suffering! Furthermore, they rely on statistics to warn them if they are likely to contract something interesting from that pretty partner from the bar/behind the glass wall. Saying "I've never caught anything in my XX years of nightly partners" has no bearing on the situation or the likelihood that you either a. have it already and don't know it or b. your next partner may be your last.

The Thai government is just doing their normal ostrich impression. Just like the run up to the tsunami, "Don't raise the alarm, you'll scare the tourists." - (Better to kill them.) It was telling to note that the man who raised the alarm for a previous, non event of a wave lost his job. The man who kept quiet and allowed the tsunami to wash out the lives and livelihood of so many ended up being moved sideways to a more senior position. This truly is Thailand.

Yes you certainly have a valid point but the fact we're still coming to/staying in CM. For every foreigner wanting to sell their condo in Hillside & move to the south, but there's probably five or more replacement foreigners wanting to come here & stay. Europeans, Americans, Koreans, Japanese, Chinese etc ....

Of course, the Thai government will say that there's no problem. If the new legislation doesnt work, nothing ever will. If your neighbours dont complain, or if everyone in the moobaan burns their rubbish, then nobody will bother, including the police. Truly, this is Thailand.

Scary read that BKK Post article. If politicians are scared of making a bigger fuss about the problem as it may scare off tourists in the process then surely if a publication like the Lonely Planet mentioned the severity of the problem in the 'Dangers and Annoyances' section of the book (maybe they now do but I haven't checked a recent edition) then they possibly would be spurned to make more of an effort to address the problem. Just a thought.

I think although initial reaction might be a bit scary, on the whole, i believe most of CM regular residents have learnt to live with the annual smog/pollution issue. During this period, avoid outdoor activities, and stay indoor, inside your vehicles or air-conditioned malls. This is a feasible solution for most healthy persons. For those who lung problems, then maybe a permanent move to the south would be more viable.

Tourists who come for a short stay(days or weeks) dont even notice the smog as they are usually busy hiking, cooking, clubbing, looking or just walking around the moat, unlike the more observant long term CM residents.

"I was in a songthaew this morning going past some moobaans in Hang Dong and i noticed quite a number of burnt patches of grass. The songthaew driver remarked "jootL faiM".... Have they started the annual burning despite the warnings/fines? "

You have answered your own rhetorical question. Well done. On another note, the sky is falling.

Two weeks ago when the weather was cooler after the sporadic rainfall, there was a nice mist/fog around chiang mai & fresh air. Now two weeks later, all has changed, it has become a haze & stale air all around!

Hmm, will it get worst like Mar 2007 or will some blessed rain come to clear the air ? Come, air your views & lay your bets...

Read Bkk Post "Is Chiang Mai habitable by humans"

http://www.aseanenvironment.info/News/44001908.htm

DavidOxon, try ChiangMai Ram, Lanna or Mccormick hospital. Got English-speaking specialists over there...

I was in a songthaew this morning going past some moobaans in Hang Dong and i noticed quite a number of burnt patches of grass. The songthaew driver remarked "jootL faiM".... Have they started the annual burning despite the warnings/fines?

If there is one thing that is still really cheap around here and so easy to get replaced quickly when it tanks out, it is cooking gas. Don't stint!

As a safety factor, if your kitchen (with a western style stove) allows, punch through the exterior wall behind the stove, thread through a reinforced (easy to get and safe ) flexible feeder line and store the container outside. Tanks really should never be placed inside, and you do have to be cautious about flameouts from low pressure. Again, don't stint!

Then , there are the handy portable tanks with single-burner units that are suited to more traditional Thai ( or "wok") cooking in a Thai-style kitchen, basically outside. They work great, too.

Then, you should get a Weber grill! If you can afford one at Rimping.

Then, you can always go out to eat.

Thks, sound advice indeed. Yes i did put the tank outside after punching thru the exterior wall, as advised by thai friends.

I tot flameout only occurs in a jet engine, how does it happen with a 15kg tank & a western stove/kitchen?

I was thinking of getting a spare smaller tank, but the shop was quoting a 1k baht for the 8kg(inc tank), while the smaller 2.5kg has a different hose fitting.

Maybe will get a Weber grill if BBQ often.

Yes there is some liquid sloshing around when i gave the bottle a hard rocking. Although the orange indicator is showing low, maybe there's a teeny weeny bit left.

If your bottle went empty, how did u almost passed out from the gas?

My bottle was nigh on empty so the flame in the oven was low. A draught through the kitchen door must have blown it out, and I was unaware. The next thing I knew was that I was clutching onto the sink feeling nauseous and extremely dizzy. Althought there wasn't a strong smell of gas, I twigged what it was and stumbled outside. Ten minutes later I was fine. Held my breath and walked back inside and turned the gas off.

Cooking on a gas ring, it's obvious if it's on or off, but an oven.............I change mine now even though there migh tbe a little left. Once bitten and all that stuff:ermm:

Thank God that u stumbled outside. Anyway, it's better to be on the safe side. Thanks for sharing.

Hey CM folks,

Gas is running low. How much is it for a 15kg tank of cooking gas LPG? with & without tank?

Thanks.

A change over bottle will cost you 395 baht. At least that's what I paid a couple of days ago. My last new bottle from memory was about a thousand baht......

Thanks Maejo Man for the quick reply.

There's still a teeny weeny bit of gas left, so i'm not sure should i order a change over bottle or order a new bottle (15kg or 8 kg).

In the meantime,just hoping that it doesnt run out when my missus is cooking half-way... haha

If you give the bottle a rocking, and can't hear any liquid splashing around....It's time for a change up! I had my oven go out on me once when I was running the bottle on near empty, and nearly passed out in the kitchen from the gas. Not worth being mean for a few baht, believe me.

Yes there is some liquid sloshing around when i gave the bottle a hard rocking. Although the orange indicator is showing low, maybe there's a teeny weeny bit left.

If your bottle went empty, how did u almost passed out from the gas?

Hey CM folks,

Gas is running low. How much is it for a 15kg tank of cooking gas LPG? with & without tank?

Thanks.

A change over bottle will cost you 395 baht. At least that's what I paid a couple of days ago. My last new bottle from memory was about a thousand baht......

Thanks Maejo Man for the quick reply.

There's still a teeny weeny bit of gas left, so i'm not sure should i order a change over bottle or order a new bottle (15kg or 8 kg).

In the meantime,just hoping that it doesnt run out when my missus is cooking half-way... haha

Hey CM folks,

Gas is running low. How much is it for a 15kg tank of cooking gas LPG? with & without tank?

Thanks.

I had to stop too.

I was spending all my life in there.

I think it is time for someone else to take the lead.

Hey #1man, nice to see you back.

I'm taking a break from the games.

I think it is time for you to take back the lead.

Cheers!

45000 sofar this year, just work. No trips

Can i assume that you spend about 100K baht on petrol/diesel so far?