kandahar

I'm resting and she decides to trim my eyebrows a bit. As she is trimming, she stops and looks into my left eye.

She: What is that in your eye?

Me: I dunno. I don't feel anything.

She: I know what it is. In Thailand, if you have that in your eye, it means you have been looking at someone naked.

Me: Cmon, hon!

She: No, really, it means that.

I still have no idea what she saw in my eye but now I'm working hard to avert my eyes when naked people walk past.

I see that Sven added the new CR Sausage King location to the pinned Google map. Thank you for that, good man.

Maybe not the correct place to make the announcement but here it is anyway:

COMING SOON TO CHIANG RAI!!!

Trolley passenger recovery service and pier plank sales! We will recover people who have fallen from trolleys in any location within the CR province and place them back on their trolleys. In addition to this service, we will do a quick assessment of each person to make certain that they have enough planks to make a pier. If anyone is found to be short a plank or two, replacement planks will be offered FREE!! to those individuals.

Other customers requiring or desiring more planks need only stop by for a quick survey of our products. We are sure you'll find our inventory of planks to be satisfactory and priced reasonably. We will stock new planks and used planks.

(Note: Some of these second-hand planks have been graded with the condition noted as "questionable". You will have ample time to sample them before submitting payment. The reason we also have this lower grade of planks available is that they are taken from other people who have WAY too many planks. Their excess quantity of planks, many damaged, rotted by time, lack of use and/or substances, or made from questionable material, have been removed from them in order to try to bring their social skills and manners into line with the norms. In fact, it has been proven that an excess on-hand quantity of bad planks in disarray or saturated in liquids is NOT necessarily an advantage over having too few quality planks nicely placed and arranged orderly throughout.)

Also on offer will be a free service that includes the removal of damaged planks from one's inventory. While we don't expect many clients for this service, we do have many other clients that have professed the desire to "help" us with this aspect of our business. The "help" offered thus far includes nominating candidates for the removal service, cleaning the cages of the individuals nominated and selected, flipping the switch on the electric plank remover after the candidate has been wired and lastly, several have offered to help with water-boarding. Oddly enough, most of these "helpers" have insisted they won't need any water for this process, but instead, just a good stout board. I have no idea what that means but we will see how it goes as the business progresses.

If anyone falls from their trolley, please contact us immediately via e-mail here: [email protected]

If anyone wishes to purchase a new plank, please contact us immediately via e-mail here: 1plank1swing@thiswon'thurta.bit

If anyone wants to nominate an individual for excess or rotten plank removal, please contact us immediately via e-mail here: [email protected]

Sounds wonderful Brian.

My neighbour also Danish has invited me to Christmas Dinner Several times in the past. I know he's a good Cook but we always ended up with Pork Sandwiches as he always had a few drinks preparing the food . It either never got cooked or he burn't the pans, and the Kitchen.

I'm sure your meals are far more successful

He doesn't invite me anymore, He can't remember my name .

Who are you?

Imagedude has arrived. My wife and I had a most pleasant and surprising visit with he and his wife today. I was very impressed with how well he has come along. I think many of you will be surprised as well, when you see him.

If ever I go through something like what he has gone through, I hope I come out the other side doing as well as he is. And, he is getting better every week.

For those of you who don't know him well, don't bother with trying to be helpful. He has got it together better than most of us that are younger and haven't had such a battle. For those of you who do know him well............. Well, you know him. He's no different a man than he was a year ago. He may make some adjustments in his hobbies but they will be minor adjustments.

Keep on keepin' on, my friend. And welcome back.

kandahar

We are certainly looking forward to your return. I hope it is a smooth trip.

Since you are a photography buff, I'll include some pics here of a place I would love to visit. Doubt I'll ever be able to afford the trip but if I could, I would go. Huffington Post seems to always come up with some good pics of some cool stuff. That is where these come from. 15 beautiful shots.

http://www.huffingto...652.html#198680

I'll come with you what kind of visa do we need? I've looked on Agoda for a hotel but they're kinda expensive even in low season!

I think we should drive there, will your jeep make it there and back?

I know you speak the language already so we'll be all set when we meet the locals!

Yes, I am most familiar with the language. All will be well. And I am not averse to making the drive. It will be the trip of a life. Or two, if you go.

Sex education.

And to keep everyone fully informed, I just ran across a photo of Scea's new houseboat.  All of that houseboat talk in another thread got him fired up and now he has a nice weekend place to spend his time.<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>

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Scea is just being modest. After a few recent upgrades his place now looks more like this.

nice!!!!

Another line of thought here.

I build a lot of stuff. I never use wood. There are just too many items on the place that have become housing and cafeterias for the bugs. I build everything out of steel and Smartwood. With the proper initial coat of paint, the Smartwood will last until I am gone. The steel will occasionally need to be repainted but it will outlast me as well.

There are lots of sizes, colors and styles of Smartwood available. The rougher wood-grain style adds a nice touch to any projects that need that "woodsy" look.

Smartwood is easy to work with and is easily attached to the steel frames and uprights, which can also be covered with the narrower Smartwood boards, completely hiding the steel.

If you need to see an example of how it looks when put together and painted properly, stop by my house or visit the new displays that Home-Mart is currently finishing in the CR showroom. I think you will find the finished price quite a bit below that of a wooden structure of the same style and you won't be tearing it down and burning it a few years later.

You can, of course, buy the liquid wood treatment (Chaindrite) to keep the bugs away, but from my experience, the wood needs to be treated often. The product seems to evaporate fairly quickly and new evidence of the bug population begins to appear. The treatments and the battle are too much labor for my liking.

The wife recently bought, against my advice, two of the huge, rough-cut wood tables that are popular here. The products were finished very nicely and were supposedly treated for pests. HA! We are now the proud owners of two thriving bug metropolises and I can't get even the spray Chaindrite far enough into the things to slow the population.

Probably add 20% for labour and materials.

Five or six years ago I built a smallish, fairly basic two story house, 144m2 down stairs, the same up with half of it open balcony for about 800,000B to move in.

The entire job was sub-contracted using local labour.

What!?!?!? Are you going to make me post the pic again of what your place looks like five years on?

OP, stop and think about the varied materials and style used to build houses. Do you want Smartwood coverings or accents? Is it to be just concrete walls, finished with a coat of paint? Is the entire house to be tiled floors or some or all of it finished in colored concrete floors? If it is tiled, are the tiles small and intricate, medium sized or huge? What kind of roof and what materials? Labor per meter cannot be calculated or even estimated, without all of the materials and plans being set out specifically. Are you building a shack or a mansion or something in between? Are you using lots of recycled teak that has to be reworked and refinished?

Labor costs- 200 baht per day is the norm in my area. For a skilled laborer in a certain trade, the cost may be higher, depending on how hard you bargain.

When you bring in a man or woman who will provide all the laborers and tradesmen you need and will supervise them, the cost goes up dramatically. He/she will raise the price enough that he can pay the proper wage and still put a nice sum in his pocket for each person on the crew. So, up to you how you want to approach the project. If you and your wife have the patience, the skills and knowledge to seek out, employ and supervise a crew, then you can pretty much build a house of a certain style and material list a lot cheaper than others do. If, on the other hand, you expect an unknown individual to run the project for you, then the costs will be quite a bit higher for the same project. If that unknown is a good guy, you may come out at about what you expect. If he isn't, costs will continually go up, based on how much he thinks he can get away with ( workers that don't show up but he "pays" them anyway {no production}, workers that work all day for a bottle of whiskey {almost no production or things botched so bad that they have to be redone}, etc.).

There isn't an honest, intelligent answer to your question, as you have posed it.

There is however, an honest, intelligent way of going about acquiring a new, or almost new, house. I have noticed that almost everyone wants to build a new house, instead of buying what is already on the market. If you look at the housing market on the outskirts of CR and in the nearby townships, you will discover many of the dream homes that people have built recently and you find that they have been on the market long enough that the purchase price is well below what was actually spent to build the place. There are bargains galore. There are four million baht homes for half price. There are lots of broken dreams and broken relationships out there, many of them on offer at a price low enough to just close the deal and be done with it.

Now, in the city proper of CR, prices are higher. Things are not selling, for the most part, but the prices remain high anyway. The sellers are dreamers. If you're determined to stay within the city, there are bargains but they aren't as prolific as they are in the surrounding countryside. And if you're determined to build a new house, be prepared to accept the fact that when you are ready to part with it, most likely you will end up letting it go for a song, just to be rid of it.

We attended a party in Chiang Khong last weekend. It was held in the same resort and restaurant that most of woralak's river pictures are taken from. Great view of the river from the balcony coffee shop and great personnel on hand to take care of customers.

The afternoon party was great as well, with good food provided by the resort and every want or desire quickly addressed by the staff. I didn't know the CK crowd had such good parties but now I do and will not have trepidations about attending future ones there. We spent one night in a nice room at different resort, 600 baht a night. Beautiful place.

CK is a small town and they roll up the sidewalks when the sun settles down for the night. Too small and quiet for me to live there but a nice place to visit. Even the drive there and back was pleasant.

Stopped in at the Sausage King place in CM last week and bought a kilo of the restaurant-style hamburger patties. Just cooked some on the charcoal and they are great. Will be buying more. They are one of the few I have found that don't have that "sour" Thailand beef taste.

This same meet was listed last year as well and to the best of my knowledge, nothing came of it. I know several who were interested then but no confirmation info was available. Maybe it will really happen this time??????

I keep seeing them coming into town from out Sven's way. Someone out there is building them, but not sure who. Maybe he does.

We are certainly looking forward to your return. I hope it is a smooth trip.

Since you are a photography buff, I'll include some pics here of a place I would love to visit. Doubt I'll ever be able to afford the trip but if I could, I would go. Huffington Post seems to always come up with some good pics of some cool stuff. That is where these come from. 15 beautiful shots.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-bell/pictures-of-mars_b_791652.html#198680

Quote: "What ever you're on, can I have some "

Hi Will. I would guess it is the same thing SD is on and you probably don't want to go down that road. I know I don't. I prefer reality.

It isn't an issue in most places, if they are Thai run. Maybe a few of the western folks would get irritated by it.

The times I have gone with Thais to enjoy dinner and a drink, they bring their own bottle of whatever and the staff provide glasses and ice without being asked. Very common here. Maybe a few of the upscale hotels would find a problem with it also. Never hurts to ask. In my dealings, I would just assume it is okay based on past experience.

There isn't a true story behind it but I can make up a doozie of one for you.

Oops! In the doghouse again. Apparently she said it was okay for me to watch other women, not wash other women.

Everything I typed on the cheese thread was done with a smile. I dunno about the others.

Oops. Looks like I have to get going. Wife isn't too happy with me right now. Apparently, she asked me to wash the dishes while she was at the market, not watch the dishes. We sure have our share of communication troubles.

Stout stick eh Marty.

Its perfectly natural when Aroused by a Handsome Man. Ask Jingthing on one of the other forums

Speaking of stout sticks, did your implant surgery go okay? I meant to visit you in hospital to buoy your spirits but I was too busy at home to get away.

Edit: I meant to say also, I hope the implant surgery wasn't a flop. Let us know.

Stout stick eh Marty.

Its perfectly natural when Aroused by a Handsome Man. Ask Jingthing on one of the other forums

Speaking of stout sticks, did your implant surgery go okay? I meant to visit you in hospital to buoy your spirits but I was too busy at home to get away.