reallyok

This topic has been brilliant and very informative,but I think that what it all boils down too is !!which muppet you talk to in Centrelink on the day, and what type of mood they are in!! as far as the staff in hobart are concerned, they are quite capable of cocking things up too just imagine being legally entitled to 3 aged pensions or parts thereof, plus an army pension, you can imagine the mountains of paper work and interviews required by centrelink, we have persevered and got used to the fact that as soon as we step on a plane isaanbound , we will be invited down to centrelink for a chat, just persevere folks, failing that, telling them to go forth and multiply or words to that effect helps too Nignoy

Spot on Nignoy !

I made 4 visits to Caboolture CL, saw 2 different persons and got different answers from a couple of 'dropkicks'.

Eventually one of them, after a lot of arguing, told me to ring a certain person at the 'Overseas Pensions' department.

He was a pleasant and informative person who told me not to take any notice of what i had been told and to call him back the next day.

The result being i have my full pension paid into my bank fortnightly less the medical and phone benifit.............simple !

I advise anybody living here in LOS to go direct to 'Overseas pensions' for satisfaction. The other lot are so busy scrapping with 'dole bludgers' that they lump us all together.

You dont need to buy gold in Thailand. There are many places you can buy ONLINE !.............For example, The Perth mint in West Australia, they will just store it for you and sell when you want at current prices. My mate digs quite a lot up in the goldfields of WA stores it in the mint and sells when price is up.

By the way he tells me that he has quite a bit put aside till it reaches $2000 oz. Not sure if he is correct, but he says it will eventually reach that mark. So sounds like a good investment.

As a matter of interest, gold found in Australia is "Tax free"

In a country where I have to report my status every 90 days, beside the fact of holding a valid 1 year visa and paying a nice amount of taxes each year, I dont even want to be bothered to go to those Mass Rallies and protest against whatever they, the Red Shirts, protest against (Surpreme Court etc etc.) In a country where "protesters" throw feces in to the PM's House / Residence pretty much sums up most people opinion about these protesters.

The severe drought around the corner is nothing compared to what is planed, allowed and not allowed for the upcoming days. It is time to concentrate on more important issues than migrants showing up to the rallies. Not sure if the American Engineer, Burmese Contruction worker, Philippino Nanny, German Manager, Scottish Teacher or Australian Pub Owner had any strong interest in going there.

This Topic actually deserves a poll on whether some one even had an interest to participate, attend, watch or "show up" at these rallies.

I think the point of the report in the OP isn't to stop the odd farang (no pun intended) from wandering along to join the protest, but to stop any red sympathising employer of a large group of migrant workers from "volunteering" them to go along to the protest. How easy would it be for a factory owner employing, say, 1000 Burmese to tell them they're going to Bangkok to join the demonstration, and if they don't like it they can go home? It also doesn't require a huge leap in thinking to see that such a group could possibly be seen as expendable by the red shirt leadership, opening the way for violence enacted upon them or by them.

Oh C'mon.................Dont really think this will happen as the rich factory owners taking advantage of the poor workers are the very ones who support and finance Abishit and his 'cronies'...........the ruling elite !

Looks to me as though the government are just praying that there will be trouble and violence and are deliberately 'talking it up' BIG TIME.

They can then punish the Redshirts, pity they did'nt do the same with the Yellow shirts regarding the acts of terrorism at the Swamp

My GF tells me every day "Don't have other Lady"

Mine is just the opposite! She is a business woman and sometimes works long hours, which when i complain about being alone.

She just says .............OK ! have 'lady bar short time, no problems'............strange ?

What a terrible situation to be in lolololol

Out of all the countries in the world he's decided its going to be Thailand ...... and he's decided he's going to sell his house in the process ??

Very honourable and after 57 years of been married, no question about this guys ability to follow through with a decision and/or committment, but honestly, I think you need to get him to sit back and broaden his options and alternatives before selling up lock stock and barrel to come to a country which he may not like after 6 months or so - then what?

Well he can just "move on" birdbrain.

He now wants to do something with the years he has left, not just vegitate in front of the telly. So why not Thailand, i am happy here, how about you ?

And what does "in the process??" mean, or is that sarcasm? He has already decided to sell up wherever he goes.

Nope - no sarcasm at all was mean't - and to answer your question: yes - I am 100% happy here, and have been happy in Thailand since my childhood - and that really is part of the point I was trying to make: every one's circumstances are different. You see, you have added something in your reply above that was not evident in the thread opener - "where ever he goes.....". Thats not the issue is it (?), the point as you conveyed was that he has decided to come to and settle in Thailand, and what I was trying to say was that it was my opinion (only my opinion - take it for what you think it worth) that he should perhaps come out here, spend some time, see if he likes what he finds etc etc ...... then make the decision/committment. After all, he could undertake work for the Redemptorist order in parts of Africa, or other parts of Asia, or parts of Latin America ........

Nothing more than that - makes sense doesn't it?

Over the years I have come to meet loads of ex-pats who have come out to Thailand with intentions of staying. Some with the intention of starting a business, quite a few in retirement, many who have lost a partner or been through a messy seperation/divorce, some with limited means and some with considerable means. Whatever the reason was that motivated them to come out originally, and however long they stayed, the original intention of many of them was to stay - but at the end of the day, most of them left for one or other reason. Their health declined and they discovered the security that was avalible back home in old age outweighed what they got out of staying in Thailand, for some the business venture didn't work out how they had hoped, for many it was the relationship they got involved in with a local that ultimately failed, or their financial circumstances changed ... but whatever it was it was not what they thought would happen or what they planned for - and one other thing was for certain: those that had a home to back home to move back to found it a lot easier.

I am not making any judgements here - just saying that to sell up up lock stock and barrel to go and stay in any country, let alone one with the contrasts and cultural differences to Western lifestyles that Thailand has, with little to no previous experience of Thailand, is probably not how I would go about things, and is not how most of the ex-pats I have seen come and go over the last 20 odd years would have gone about it - with the benefit of hindsight.

You asked, so here is my advise: by all means come out to Thailand with the intention of staying, but stay open minded for a year or so before making a committment and final decision.

OK fair enough, but you need to realise that this man is a well balanced, intelligent. much travelled person and does not really need to be told how he should live his life. He is not the type (which i think you suspect) who comes here for a good time till the money runs out.

Having been to many countries including East Africa and Sth America he has made his decision by probably comparing cultures. So lets just let it rest at that.

And once again thank you to all those constructive replies. I think he is in contact with something called "Dragonfly"

Tell your friend to "google" Redemptorist, Thailand. The (Catholic) Redemptorist order has many projects in Thailand. I dont know how he would fit in but google lists many of their projects so he should be able to at least make contact with them and present what he has to offer.

Thank you for a decent reply, much appreciated.

Out of all the countries in the world he's decided its going to be Thailand ...... and he's decided he's going to sell his house in the process ??

Very honourable and after 57 years of been married, no question about this guys ability to follow through with a decision and/or committment, but honestly, I think you need to get him to sit back and broaden his options and alternatives before selling up lock stock and barrel to come to a country which he may not like after 6 months or so - then what?

Well he can just "move on" birdbrain.

He now wants to do something with the years he has left, not just vegitate in front of the telly. So why not Thailand, i am happy here, how about you ?

And what does "in the process??" mean, or is that sarcasm? He has already decided to sell up wherever he goes.

Out of all the countries in the world he's decided its going to be Thailand ...... and he's decided he's going to sell his house in the process ??

Very honourable and after 57 years of been married, no question about this guys ability to follow through with a decision and/or committment, but honestly, I think you need to get him to sit back and broaden his options and alternatives before selling up lock stock and barrel to come to a country which he may not like after 6 months or so - then what?

Well he can just "move on" birdbrain.

He now wants to do something with the years he has left, not just vegitate in front of the telly. So why not Thailand, i am happy here, how about you ?

Just had my mate join me for a holiday together in Thailand. He is a doctor with a practise in Australia. He does locum work in hospitals in London regularly. He had a look around a couple of hospitals in Thailand and his comment was that if you are in need of medical then Australia and Thailand are a far better bet than UK. He seems to think the NHS is a disaster. He was very doubtful about Thai medical standards at first but now seems to have completely changed his mind - guess he checked out the expensive places. From what I understand UK has huge waiting lists for everything and the staff are worked off their feet. He seemed quite impressed by the medical standards of Thai hospitals and blown away by the charges being very low in comparison.

The UK is the largest employee in the UK with staff in excess of 1,000,000 employees,although some expats and others would disagree it is still considered by many to be the best health service in the world.

Those that dont agree should try the USA, Australia,and Thailand and dont forget to have lots of money/medical insurance available.

For very urgent cases in the UK there are no waiting lists.

I cannot speak for USA, but have no problems whatsoever with medical and hospital treatment in Queensland where we have first class modern hospitals as compared to those 'crappy' old dingie places that they call hospitals in the UK which i visited last year with their overcrowded wards etc.

I had a lung cancer removed in Brisbane, was in a 4 bed ward, comparatively new bright clean and 'roomy' this cost me nothing ..zilch !

My ex wife had surgery to remove clot from her Carotid artery, once again a beautiful bright 2 bed ward with excellent aftercare facilities.

And once again it cost nothing. My mother in UK found herself in what seemed to me like a grubby busy part passage with about 'two thousand others' and was shunted back home ASAP, in my opinion about 7 days too soon.

You cannot convince me that UK is amongst the worlds best hospital system..............just look at the age of some of them

I've had very limited success with seeds brought from canada, but sunflowers do quite well. if you find a good garden center, you will likely find at least a dozen or maybe a lot more sunflower varieties. they come in all sizes, shapes and colors. although he likely wouldn't be able to sell the flowers, he would have seeds forever to replant.

eggplants seem to do well here, many varieties to choose from. I've had luck with tomatoes but took me 3 years to get it right.

just my $ .02

Can you give any tips for growing Tomatoes ? I grew them every year back in Ireland but have problems getting them past the seedling stage here .

Have just recently moved up to Chiang Mai and i am hoping with the cooler climate up here to have more luck .

I come from SE Queensland where i have had success growing tomatoes. Having brought a couple of pkts of seeds (Grosse Lisse) with me, i am having problems finding a seedling raising mixture. Can anybody recommend something to me and suggest where i can get it on Samui.

Incidentially, the "When to sow" chart on the pkt suggest that i can grow them all the year round in this climate which is similiar to my part of Queensland.

I would like to try the method of growing toms in a hanging bucket, but have to consider that Grosse Lisse when grown in the ground reach quite a height, does anyone think this would work ?

Can anybody please help me with this.

I have a friend in Canada who is now retired and wishes to do volunteer work here in Thailand. He is a practising catholic however not interested in missionary type of work.

He is a very versatile engineering and construction type of person, can build wells, buildings,carpentry, weld , mechanics, in fact just about anything with his hands.

He would dearly love to help here anywhere in Thailand but i cannot find any contacts for him.

Please, if there is anybody out there who can steer me in the right direction, let me know.

He is a very fit and able bodied man, recently widowed after 57 years who will be selling his property in Ontario to come to Thailand.

I would like to know what the UK is going to do about the company (Global Technical) that is marketing these devices as actually being worth something. So far all I have seen is a ban on export and a warning from the FO.

TH

well it does not look good for British overseas trade does it !

This has to be about as accurate as tossing a coin. The great tragedy is that soldiers lives are involved in this SCAM.

How about some accountability here? To much to ask for SURE! TIT!

Tossing a coin would come up right ~10 times (statistically speaking), not 4 times...

How can a box without battery power work? Black magic???

Bloody easy..............just fix one of those military issue amulets to it dummy !

Who has an opinion regarding the hundreds of British made bomb detectors which just do not work !

1) Who bought them in the first place

2) Will this person , if revealed, be held responsible.

3) Will the authorities investigate just how much "backhander money" was involved (I doubt it seeing that it was'nt a redshirt)

4) Did the person who approved the purchase, have anything to do with the purchase of those APC's without engines. The ones which are sitting in an army junkyard because there are NO engines suitable to power them !

5) Will the Thai government persue the purchase of these useless items and demand the money back from the manufacturer, surely they are still under warranty. Or are the guilty persons protected by the government,police and army. (This i strongly suspect)

6) Will any persons found to have been finantially involved be put on trial for corruption ( Unless they are redshirts, i seriously doubt it)

7) Why are the Thai people getting the old "Mai pen lai" from their corruption riddled government

8) Finally, lets see the Redshirt organisation persue this in the same way they did with the National Parks land theft.

Many thanks for that. I will star to build up the compost heap and let it just sit for a few months.

glad to help.

currently in harvard university just finishing up my term paper on the advantages of elephant manure, taken me 3 years of hard research and i.....

who am i kidding, i just googled it.

Anyhow ! thanks mate , have another beer .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2339624

there's a small snippet in this article that says it's "highly prized by garderners".

no other info, but hope it helps.

http://mailman.cloudnet.com/pipermail/comp...rch/011897.html

this ones got quite a bit more info, actually.

Many thanks for that. I will star to build up the compost heap and let it just sit for a few months.

As a retired prison guard, I am defitinitely in favor of death penalty. I never met one who wasn't. I wonder how people who oppose it would feel about death penalty if it was their family who was murdered. Actually, if someone killed or raped someone in my family, they would receive death penalty anyway if I found them first, and I would deal with the consequences. One thing is certain, whether or not death penalty is a deterrent is debatable, but one thing is certain. The killer who gets executed will definitely be deterred. As far as life in prison, I worked with female prison guard who was killed by this animal in prison who was doing life for killing several people before.

Also, for the person who say to compare crime rate in US with other countries and this will prove capital punishment doesn't work. Apparently he hasn't really done this himself. Just spouting the usual propaganda, as there are many countries with higher crime rate than the US.

However, even though I support death penalty, even I do not think it should be doen for ecology to save animals and trees.

Yes Tomahawk, and how would feel if your son was executed for a crime and later proved innocent !

I expect everyone has their own personal thoughts, myself included.

It has always concerned me that they might not have the right person, consequently putting someone to death who is innocent, there is no going back when you are dead.

I feel the same, there have been many executions of the wrong person who seemed to be guilty at the time, and were later proven innocent ........................too late then !

Can anybody tell me if Elephant manure is any good for the garden as i know where they are burning it just to clean up ?

I used to keep several pointers (females) and used a 5 1/2 foot woven wire with a hot wire (electric ) about 4 inches up from ground and another hot wire on top about 6 inch above woven wire. Used Steel posts on a 15 foot spacing with corner braces. Total area was about 100 foot by 30 foot, with dog shelters etc. Only time they were out was training and hunting. This combo kept them in when in season and kept potential fathers out. Dog will climb a chain link or woven wire fence, jump over and dig under if possible, mine did all of this prior to electric wire being installed.. good luck

Hot wire ( electric fence).............way to go !

I met some HYDROPONIC growers in Florida, USA, that were using a mix of raw sea salt and potassium nitrate in their beds. The results were very good. It seems sea salt has lots of micro-nutrients that plants can use. They called it Seaponics. Maybe it's a question of quantity and availability. In regular soil farming even fertilizer salts in Muriate of Potash and Triple super Phosphate can cause a drought effect in plants when used in excess.

A shortage of water is a major problem when farming. If salt were good for the ground and crops, then land near the sea would be very productive. Why isn't sea water used for irrigation?

Yes Garry, putting salt onto good soil sounds absolutely crazy to me !

^

I'm a big proponent of CRH (carbonised rice hull) but to use it effectively I believe it must be tilled into the sub-soil . There is no need to charge it with urea etc... if it is simply going to be used as a mulch (the nutrients will simply leach out with rain and run off the soil in the usual manner, by incorporating it there will be no problems with it absorbing nutrients from the soil below and making them inaccessable to the plants) and plain rice hull or rice straw may well be a better choice. If you're going to incorporate it into the soil a better option for charging it would be EM. CRH has many benefits but one of the major ones as you point out is the large surface area of its micropores, which make it an ideal substrate for the growth of soil micro-organisms, which will break down nutrients in the soil and make them available to the plants . I would recommend creating a soil conditioner from it such as ; 4 parts CRH charged with EM : 4 parts cattle manure : 1 part rice bran : 1 part compost. I'll post a more complete recipe and method later if anyone is interested.

cheers for now J

Thanks to you all for the info. Guess i will just have to think a little.

It's good to know I can grow something besides weeds

I think what really did it was the food I was giving them. I don't know what it's called (all in Thai) but it comes in tiny little balls blue/grey color.

Got to be careful not to give too much just a half teaspoon per pot was enough given every couple of weeks. I could always see the plants grow a few days after given the stuff, they sure seemed to love it

Hi Daffy,

Had a look at your 'toms'. You need to nip out the lateral shoots for a better crop. The laterals are the shoots which grow between the main stem and the leaf stalk. Just break it off.

Does that make sense ?

Farm raised wild boar. Seems like an oxymoron but live and learn.

Yes mate. I am confused, how can it be a wild boar if its bred on a farm.

In Australia we have thousands of the bloody things running wild and there is a big industry for both hobby and professional hunters. I believe that a large part of the catch goes to Germany.