bifftastic

Several things need to happen before unrest can be described a s civil war. Military units declaring themselves on one side or the other. Parts of the country being under the control of those military units, then those units moving towards contact and then engaging each other.

At the moment you have unrest, possibly an uprising, a popular movement, (in the literal sense of the word) maybe even an insurgency or an attempted revolution. You also have, so far, the forces of the state staying on the side of the state, which, by definition, means it's not a civil war.

What will happen? I don't know, but if it all carries on deteriorating as it is at the moment, more poor people (on both sides) will die, I'm sure they're not interested in my definitions, dead is dead.

Long live the King

I think we'll be ok, but only because there will be 3 teams more sh!t than we've been this season! That needs to be addressed properly in the summer.

Upson and Green have been average at best for large parts of the season which has, I think, given some of the younger players the jitters, especially Tomkins who was doing well when Collins was still here.

Mido was sh1t for spurs and sh1t wherever else he went and, surprise surprise, he's sh1t at West Ham too! Now that Nani has gone and the new owners won't spend money they don't have I hope they can, with Zola, construct a hard-working, hard to beat unit that can hold it's own and then build attractive football on the back of that.

I've seen championship football at Upton Park, it's not pretty!

Come on you Irons!

Awful awful photos of some of the dead on UDD website, tragic when an army fires on it's own citizens. Really sad.

Our own democracies in the West have a particularly bloody history, many people are probably unaware of just how much blood has been spilled to get us to the point where no-one even bothers to vote and no-one trusts any politicians. So when anyone says how Thais don't understand democracy and their politicians are corrupt, I think the phrase 'people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones' comes to mind.

Understand the history of the European and American democracies, they may not be violent now, but not so long ago people took to the streets to demand rights that we now take for granted. All over Europe people from all over the world, fought and died for democracy and freedom of speech.

The leaders of any political movement want power and only power, what matters to most people is what they are prepared to give you in exchange for that power.

As usual, it's the poor people at the front line who take the bullets, one minute you're a soldier for your country, next minute one of your countrymen is shooting at you.

One minute you're a protester, next minute one of the soldiers of your own country, could be your own family, is shooting at you.

Awful, truly awful.

Next the roof needs to be extended a long way beyond the outer walls to give sufficient shade to the concrete slab.

not only to the slab but to prevent (as much as possible) direct sun on the walls. but there are limits when you build (like me) a rather big single story home. in order that you don't hit your head at a long roof overhang the roof gradient has to be lowered and that might cause leakages between the roof tiles when heavy rain is combined with high winds.

Maybe if the roof had two pitch angles, one higher, above the house itself, then a lower pitch for the overhang? Kinda like a sun-hat with a brim

I agree with the 'fairy tale' g/f's sisters house is wooden on stilts and is hotter then a really hot thing when it's hot and colder than a really cold thing when it ain't! IF the air is cooler it must be by about a tenth of a degree at most, as it's just been heated by the sun before it blows under the house, and then, of course, it doesn't exactly blow, it kinda passes by at best.

I suppose if you were near the shore and lucky enough to have a constant breeze then it might have some effect but I don't think it's enough to have any real effect, more useful in those houses is the fact that everyone can hide underneath the house out of the sun, cos it's like a wooden oven upstairs!

Even though the house is right on the northern most border with Laos and she's from Korat, she's complaining it's too hot. Mum's visiting from Korat and she's too hot, kids are too hot, everyone's too hot.

Electric bill has gone up from 500 baht when I was there in January, to over 1,000 due to multiple fans, which only blow the hot air around anyway!

I think the trick is to (try) and keep direct exposure to sunlight at a minimum and insulate well any areas that protect you from it (mainly the roof) and, if possible, take advantage of any naturally occurring ventilation, like the idea of the 30m roof vent from your African house Naam.

As I said right at the beginning of this thread, this is all a very long way off at the moment, but I've learned a lot already from everyone who's posted here, so, thanks keep it coming, hopefully others can learn something useful too.

Here's what I've come up with so far, it's just a first draught so please, pick holes as much as you like

The terrace or patio is facing East in this illustration, and the perimeter wall is designed to protect 3 sides from some sunlight, the roof overhang will create shade as far out as that wall too. It's a basic drawing and doesn't have many of the details I know it will need but I wanted to get some ideas down.

Cheers

Biff

So, you're happy with the insulation (both heat and sound) that they provide in your house?

Xerostar has given excellent advice mate! there's nothing better than gas concrete blocks. but make sure the builder, respectively his masons know how to handle them. the (special) mortar is NOT used "thai style", i.e. 2-2.5cm thick but only a thin layer of 2-3mm. the picture below shows how it should NOT be done (two much mortar, blocks soak up too much water!). for my house i haved used exclusively super block (outside and inside walls). if you want a near perfect insulation then built double outside walls (closed on top). if the latter is not done properly the air cushion between the two walls renders only a fraction of the insulation.

Thanks Naam, I checked out the superblock and q-bloq websites and they have guide pages showing how to use their blocks, first course on a thick layer of mortar (some other posts recommend a concrete 'curb') and adhesive applied in thin layers for the rest. If they're laid with as much mortar as in the picture it would mean you have walls with the properties of the mortar rather than the blocks! Weakest link in the chain syndrome.

The double outside walls sound like the business, I can understand the importance of closing the top of the walls properly.

It sounds like what is required is separation of the interior (as far as possible) from any outside radiation of either heat or noise. Am I right in thinking that even if the floor slab doesn't spread outside the area of the walls, if it is poured directly onto the ground the heat will radiate into the house directly from contact with the earth? Hence your question regarding stilts and a crawl space, minimising the contact with the ground and thereby the heat transfer?

Cheers,

Biff

Thanks for the reply, very informative.

So your concrete slab floor extends outside the house thereby transferring the heat inside, which is then trapped by the insulating properties of the blocks?

I am mindful of some recording studio construction techniques where adjoining rooms have distinctly separate floors, ie. although they are next to each other, in order for vibrations, and therefore sound, not to be transferred, they are in fact 'islands' structurally. I know the physics of heat transfer are different but similar principles can be applied. If the slab floor of the interior is separate from any concrete or paving that is in direct sunlight that should help to prevent the outside heat from radiating through my house via the floor. I'm also leaning towards the overhanging roof concept to shade an area around the whole house.

Are your outside walls superblock too? Or just the internal bedroom walls?

With regard to roofing, I would imagine the clay tiles would be almost constantly warm if not very hot. What do you reckon this roof has, similar to yours?

Yes they are readily available.

Now you get to use Thaivisa forum's search function! woohoo lucky me!

Just type in "super block" and you will find many previous threads discussing what you need to know.

Here is a link to the Superblock company that will give you all the technical/engineering info on their products:

http://www.superblockthailand.com/service.html yep, thanks, I found that after reading your earlier post

Additional to this you can do a similar search on Google and come up with even more information!

That should keep you busy for a few weeks! indeed it will

Cheers

I saw an episode of one of my favourite TV programmes 'Grand Designs' where they follow people through their house builds, and they used these blocks, the walls shot up so fast and the builders loved them, they could saw them off to the length they wanted and just chucked the walls up in a few days! They also talked about their insulating properties and I remember being impressed, now I'm double impressed that they can be bought in Thailand! Just got to find them in Chiang Rai somewhere....

So, you're happy with the insulation (both heat and sound) that they provide in your house?

Some other terms related to having sex;

ล้างหน้าไก่ to have sex in the early morning.

กินข้าวต้มรอบดึก to have sex late at night

ไปส่งส่วย to visit your lover so you can have sex.

I put these into the dictionary at thai2english (I can't read Thai script yet) and whilst I kinda get กินข้าวต้มรอบดึก gin khao tom rop duek or 'have what you would have for breakfast late' and ไปส่งส่วย bpai song suay or 'go make a (regular?) payment or tribute' <deleted> has ล้างหน้าไก่ laang naa gai or 'wash the face of a chicken' got to do with sex early in the morning? I know Thai people like a vague or poetic way of saying things but washing a chickens face? Maybe, just maybe, I could understand the chicken reference.... nope... try as I may I cannot make the analogy! Anyway, how does it mean early in the morning? Or is Thai2English just rubbish?

Bifftastic, having read your replies it seems to me that you may not be aware of the best alternative to concrete blocks.

Concrete blocks are cheap, but they absorb and hold a lot of heat.

Why not use Superblocks or Q-con blocks?

They are light, easy to lay and they have great insulating properties both against heat and sound.

They come in large sizes so you can build a wall to full height in a 1/4 of the time it takes to build a concrete block wall.

The method does not require mortar between the blcks, just a thin layer of adhesive, making them easy to lay even for an amateur.

Because of their excellent insulating properties, it's not neccessary to build a double wall.

We used them for our house and shed as well as the main perimeter wall.

I can say it was one of my better decisions, despite the other bad choices I made in designing our home.

yes you're right. I wasn't aware of them. I'd heard them referred to but didn't realise they were that different. I just thought they were slightly better than your bog standard block. They sound great. Can they be sourced readily in thailand?

Double block walls too, not just for the heat but the noise of the <deleted> dogs and chickens!

because it's the walls and not the windows which let the noise of the <deleted> dogs and chicken through

well, yes, noise will come in through the windows but if I have single block walls with no cavity they'll get hot, as the rooms under her sisters house do currently, also they have those vented blocks at the top, presumably to let some air in, they also let the mosquitos and the noise in! Double glazed windows will, I know, still let some noise in but given that the area is a lot less than the walls, <deleted> chicken/dog noise will, hopefully, be reduced. And the bedrooms will be in the middle of the house and only have small windows.

I am not hopeful for a total <deleted> chicken/dog noise-free environment, only for the feeling that the <deleted> chickens/dogs are not actually in the room with us!

gender different permissiveness??? boys are allowed to be rough and tough and boys will be boys, but maybe a girl is expected to be more docile?? just sort of wondering out loud, since in several ethnic groups here, that is the attitude. boys at any age can do anything and get 'bravo' reactions and girls are punished, and kept in line. thinking that maybe same for some thai? just guessing out loud

bina

israel

my g/f's eldest daughter (9 years old) is told (by her mum) that if she gets in a fight with a boy and loses she shouldn't come crying to her mum, if she wins (which she's more than capable of doing) mum will patch her up and put the plasters on. Mum says she wants her strong 'don't want she scare' she says.

I'm not 100% in agreement with her methods but I do support the idea that she shouldn't let boys (and perhaps later in life, men) assume they can push her around.

I don't know if this concept is common in Thailand or not, just thought I'd add this to the debate.

Wat Rong Khun get's my vote too, next time I want to see it in the moonlight as lots of the surfaces have mirror glass in them and it's supposed to glow in the moonlight

I think you should check out the UK car market a bit before you make comments like that. Toop-selling pickup in UK is the Nissan Navara 4 door - fully loaded.

THe "Hurricane" - is that the right name - Strada to you - is also sold in a fully loaded spec as are the Vigo and Triton.

Now that's quite enough for one day!

Try not to be so judgmental my dear. Your not trolling are you? Nissan has less than 3% of the UK sales and Mitzubishi less than that, so pick ups are far more common in countries with large families and poorer traffic law enforcement, as shown in last posters photo. You weren't the driver by any chance?

No, I was

hi i dont know for cambodia but for lao thai people no need visa and passport just ID CARD CAN STAY ONLY 2 DAys just called at the Embassy gl

518/4 Pracha Uthit Rd.(Soi Ramkamhaeng 39) Wangtonglang

Bangkok

Thailand

Phone:

02-253-6630

02-253-9851

when I went to Laos, ok it was just a boat trip (free from a Chinese company as long as you went to their new casino) g/f only needed ID card and I showed them my Oyster card (used for travel on London transport system!) told them it was UK ID card!

her passport is full of Cambodia entry stamps from visits to casinos, no visa required, I guess it depends on what border crossing and the purpose of the visit, if you're on a bus going to the casino from Bangkok then probably not, but if you're entering at an airport or going over as a 'proper' visitor then stated rules will probably apply.

Capel Road was on the Google Earth Picture someone posted & is where i used to play, could even possibly see the Changing Rooms on that picture too i thought..

I too can;t recall anywhere close to a possible place for having 12,000 sqf of Warehousing Space..

I live on Capel Road people still play on 'the flats' every Saturday and Sunday, my road is very busy on those days, all the cars parked up and all the teams, not sure where they get changed, the small building near Capel Road is, I think, something to do with the water company? There was some major construction there a year or so ago, they dug up a big part of it and laid some large pipes under the bit nearest the road, The Golden Fleece pub does a lot of trade on the back of the football quite a tradition that, football on Wanstead Flats

The only businesses are small garages under the railway arches further south towards the Romford Road, I think they either picked the post code at random or found the pub (The Forest Gate Hotel) on the internet and nicked it from there

There used to be Changing Rooms there for sure, i remember them & the smell of Deep Heat..

Don;t know if the Water Company Building is what used to be the Changing Rooms though..

I remeber the Gaffs under the Arches, that;s on the way back to Forest Gate Station yeah ??

Oh to reminisce about my beloved East London..

Changing rooms are long gone I reckon, yeah walk down past the hotel, keep going straight and over the railway bridge, then turn right down Sebert Road to Forest Gate station, it's all still there, apart from the deep heat! Much has changed here in the last few years with all the building work for the olympics, but this part of Forest Gate, being mailny residential housing, has pretty much stayed the same, you wouldn't recognise Stratford now! (We've hijacked the thread a bit, reminiscing! sorry OP!)

Capel Road was on the Google Earth Picture someone posted & is where i used to play, could even possibly see the Changing Rooms on that picture too i thought..

I too can;t recall anywhere close to a possible place for having 12,000 sqf of Warehousing Space..

I live on Capel Road people still play on 'the flats' every Saturday and Sunday, my road is very busy on those days, all the cars parked up and all the teams, not sure where they get changed, the small building near Capel Road is, I think, something to do with the water company? There was some major construction there a year or so ago, they dug up a big part of it and laid some large pipes under the bit nearest the road, The Golden Fleece pub does a lot of trade on the back of the football quite a tradition that, football on Wanstead Flats

The only businesses are small garages under the railway arches further south towards the Romford Road, I think they either picked the post code at random or found the pub (The Forest Gate Hotel) on the internet and nicked it from there

Sounds like a great trip you're planning, I haven't done a whole lot of driving in Thailand but I've done a bit in the north up around Chiang Rai, the roads are fine, there's some beautiful scenery. What i would say is that it takes a bit longer than you would imagine to get anywhere. You look on the map, it's around 65km, you think ok that will take 'x' amount of time, it takes longer, there's 'tractors', roadworks, something to stop and look at, the odd police checkpoint, someone who only takes their pick-up out for 10 minutes every day and goes 3km in it and it takes them an hour! etc.

I'd make your estimates a little longer than you first think. It'll save you feeling rushed or pressured into missing something if you need to get somewhere to drop your car off or make a hotel booking time/day.

Have fun, I reckon the kids will love it, especially if they can hook up with some Thai kids, who will also love it

As for which vehicle you should go for, unless you want to do this I'd go for a car.

She hasn't got a thermometer but the mrs just told me 'wery hot honey'

You married Elmer Fudd?

shhhh be weeally weealy kwiyet...we're hunting fawang!

The OP appears to have been kidnapped by aliens.

or he's in the bat cave or my local pub!

1 From where to where?

2 What are the items?

3 What exactly are they asking for & why?

Got zero from G-maps for their address, very strange!

A Malaysian company?

The UK post code should take you to their front door!

Contact the British police.

E7 0LW London UK

Right on Wanstead Flats then, where i used to play Football for the School...

just a bit further down from the flats, on godwin road. The bat cave reference was trying to point out that if they had 12,000 square feet in godwin road it would need to be underground!

We'd better not use slang words, as the OP is not Caucasian.

Ah ok... sorry, I'll re-phrase.

Please try not to send the police to the bar I go to, the owner will shoot me

wow! sounds like it's up near the golden triangle (three countries view?) there's hotels up there and further east along the Mae Nam Kong for about 1 or 2,000 baht a night and I paid about 1,600 baht for an Air Asia flight from BKK 200 baht cab ride into Chiang Rai city, 500 baht for a hotel there, took the bus up to Chiang Saen but I have been quoted around 1,200 a day for a pick up rental from one of the companies at the airport, bit less for a small car. If you fancy a trip up north you can definitely do it for a lot less than those folks are charging!

Just done a quick search on agoda, the anantara comes back at over 8,000 baht a night! all the others like the Serene and the Imperial Golden Triangle all come in around the 1,200 1,500 mark, there's cheaper ones but it sounds like you wanted a bit of luxury so I've left them out...check it out for yourself, no need to pay big bucks I think it's a great little spot for a trip out of the city

She hasn't got a thermometer but the mrs just told me 'wery hot honey' and she shivers if it gets under 25C so it must be right up there in Chiang Saen.

I reckon I'll be down the aircon shop on the next visit!

Biff, aren't UK postcodes supposed to have 6 alpha numericals, It appears that the 1st part of the postcode is missing a letter or number?

That's a bit of luck, you living in the same area.

The local post office may have a re-direction order for that address.....

Not necessarily. Inner London ones often have 5. I used to live in W2 so that was 5 with the rest of it.

My user id is a previous postcode from where I lived as a kid.

yeah that's right, London postcodes start with a letter denoting East, West, North, South etc. some have two letters like SE (South East) but they can have 1 or 2 numbers following that.

I was shocked to see the postcode! It's definitely for the local pub so I reckon they must know the area.

Get in touch with the police but, as someone else has said, don't expect them to jump through hoops, not necessarily because they have to respect the rights of those who have ripped you off but because they are fairly busy stopping people from killing each other and robbing everything that isn't nailed down (the latter is a tradition in these parts!)

Having said that, it sounds like these people have gone to some considerable effort to run this scam so if you get in touch with the right people you may hook a detective who's interested, then you're in with a shout.

Don't let the sub-contracted civilian who picks the phone up put you off, you want to talk to someone in CID. Have the whole story written down, with dates, contact you've had with this 'company' any names they've given you, details of any money transfers or cheques. Get the persons name and rank then give them a few days then call them back for an update.

Oh, and try not to send the old bill round my local boozer? Landlord won't be happy with me!

Considering the temps I just noticed in the North, I would make sure whatever you do, have lots of shade. Either trees or large overhangs. Keep the sun out of the inside of your house!

Our house is just South of Pattaya. It faces pretty much south and west. Horrible. There were two small patios when we purchased the house. The sun beat into the house terribly...both in the AM and in the PM. We have added a very large patio to help keep the sun off the house...and are planting trees now to also help.

If I had it to do over, I would definitely not have my house face that direction. Before the extended patio, the sun came in through the large bedroom patio doors and hit the back wall! In the AM, it came in about 2 meters into the dinning room (only a small overhang there initially).

I would also do double block insulation...but a large veranda is perfect if you really want to face south or west....

yep, definitely going for the overhanging roof, it may be cooler up north but only in the mornings and evenings, still gets plenty hot during the daytime, I'm not there now but the mrs reckons I'll be 'farang suk' if i stay outside too long in the afternoon!

Double block walls too, not just for the heat but the noise of the <deleted> dogs and chickens!

I reckon the outside patio type area will still have an overhang protecting it and will probably face east and the bathrooms will be at the west end and have no windows, west north and south sides will have a perimeter wall to shade them so the blocks don't soak up the heat like a storage heater. If I want to go out in the sun I can go out somewhere, need the house to be as cool as possible, having said all that i'm sure she'll still complain about being cold! At the moment, when she's using the washing machine (outside) and waiting for it to finish she stands in a little triangle of sunshine cos she gets too cold in the shade!