kandahar

Cost of living here should be equal to, or less than, CM.

No idea which village you are referring to. Kindly ask your wife for the name. We have lots of dragons around here and people popping up out of the ground at every turn, according to the locals. I think I may have stepped on one just last night.

Decent Internet available here, but depends on your location. Clarify.

Local sports league- Only Farang sport league I know of here is the TV forum league where we pick on each other. After you have posted some more, we can decide which team you will be on and we will assign you a position on that team. Which are you: a coffee drinker or a beer drinker? Are you reformed?

Which language? I don't speak Thai but I get plenty tickled at the locals who cannot talk with each other without lots of confusion because he/ she isn't speaking the "right" Thai language. But yes, there are language classes and tutors available.

You can rent a decent place for 7000 to 10,000 a month. I have no idea if you can BUY a house in that village for 7,000 to 10,000. Please clarify your question.

Lee, do you get a good cell phone signal at your place? Let me know. If so, I can bring my laptop out and you can try the CAT CDMA device. The service is typically good enough to watch movies online. I'm in CR.

As for power, you can buy a charger for a laptop that will plug into the cigarette lighter on a car.

You can go with solar.

You can buy a small generator and charge batts that are connected to an inverter or run 220 from the gen.

Lots of power options out there.

If you don't have a good cell phone signal, you are looking at a satellite system. The last one of those that I used, in another country, was $1,140.00 every three months and you need decent electric for it. A decent generator will do. Big cost, overall.

Hi Kandahar,

That is a very nice offer, I will be happy to give you a tour of the farm.

I am not sure of the cell signal there as I have not used cell phones much since I rarely call anybody. I was thinking of a satellite system but $3-400 a month would not be worth it.

I am looking into solar and a generator as I like the idea of having our own system and it may be about the same cost as having poles and wire run just for my house that long of a distance, about a mile.

Not sure how to contact you, is there a private message system on here? I could post my phone number or my email but am thinking there was a forum rule against that, not sure but don't want to get deleted. Best regards, Lee

I'll send you a PM (Personal Message). You have a notifier at the top of the page that you can click on and it will take you to your messages. If there is anyone on here that you wish to PM, simply click on the little envelope icon underneath their name and it will open a message box where you can send the messages to them.

Lee, do you get a good cell phone signal at your place? Let me know. If so, I can bring my laptop out and you can try the CAT CDMA device. The service is typically good enough to watch movies online. I'm in CR.

As for power, you can buy a charger for a laptop that will plug into the cigarette lighter on a car.

You can go with solar.

You can buy a small generator and charge batts that are connected to an inverter or run 220 from the gen.

Lots of power options out there.

If you don't have a good cell phone signal, you are looking at a satellite system. The last one of those that I used, in another country, was $1,140.00 every three months and you need decent electric for it. A decent generator will do. Big cost, overall.

A lot of basic first aid stuff is available on the internet. Stabilising people with serious injuries and treating minor ones can be learned like this. Even if you go to classes, like I did on a couple of occasions, they don't let you near any real victims anyway.

CPR is probably the most difficult part but is usually covered in a couple of lessons and ten minutes with large doll. (Boy that will get a few people interested).

True. Lots of good vids out there if a guy does a search.

But maybe he is looking for classes in Thai for family or employees. I dunno if there are good vids on the net in Thai for this stuff.

Halfhead, do you seek a course in English or Thai? Do you have a group that needs the class or only one person? Do you seek general first aid or primarily the CPR course?

Let me know. The BIL says he can probably help if he knows exactly what it is you are looking for. If you need a course for you only, in English, then is might be difficult.

Hey Biff.

I know lawyers but have not used them for my personal business. The family here has used one of them quite a bit for small items.

I suggest that you do use one, as the language thing will be beyond you and you need to know exactly what it says.

Also keep in mind that you can inherit one rai in the case of the loss of your spouse if she is listed as the owner and the one rai should be the location of your house. The chanote for that one rai should be separate from any connecting rai. So, make sure that the will is drawn up as well, so that if something happens to her, you don't have to worry about someone fighting the usufruct. Better to be guaranteed ownership instead of only use of the house in the case of such a loss. At least your investment in the house is protected if you should lose her. The usufruct is more to protect you if the partnership should fail. Sorry to be morbid but life is life and death is too.

Check this website and hit the "contact us" button and submit your question about the lawyer. http://retiringinthailand.net/ This guy has apparently already been down that road and maybe he can recommend someone for you. It appears to me that a lawyer from anywhere can write the thing up but you have to register it yourself at the land office for your area. It also appears that anyone can write it up but again, a lawyer on your side is a good idea.

If you don't get any answers, let me know. I'll hook you up with two different lawyers that I know. The wife trusts one of them very much as they are old school mates but she is expensive for Farangs.

I think he has already met the man in "the middle path". It is time for the contractor to uphold his end. There are way too many stories with bad endings when you give more than your gut feeling tells you.

If the dude bails, let him. You yourself can find the laborers and a foreman to finish the job and pay them each at the end of the day, every day. There are lots of day laborers out there. I use them here often.

Stick to your guns, man. He can borrow money to pay his help and repay the loan when the job is finished and you have paid him in full. You are not his only option. Remind him of that. No completed job, no more money.

Which hot springs are they?

The ones out past Doi Hang have a good road all the way and have swimming and bathing facilities.

That's the ones.

The quality of the road surface is fine but the switchbacks and blind curves offer plenty of room for trouble. Drunk drivers excluded, lots of people tend to come through the curves in a lane other than their own. We were almost run over by a school bus at one switchback and the guy made no attempt to slow down or avoid us. He just left it to us to get the hel_l out of his way and I nearly wrecked the car doing just that and all of that with me going into the thing slow and expecting the unexpected.

Anyway, the springs area is a nice place spend an afternoon.

Lanky, are you going to have transportation while you are here or will you depend on hired transport? How far out are you willing to go?

There are lots of websites about the tourist places offered in and around CR and of course, lots of reviews on some of those sites.

Lots of brochures are available in the hotels once you hit town.

Plenty of guides available if you need one.

I'm not really sure what a tourist site is around here. Most of the stuff that I find interesting is just everyday life stuff that I run across. Some of the recommended tourist things seem more about exploiting people so I don't pay attention to those.

If you are here on Saturday night, there is the walking street festival. It will, of course, rain on that parade but some stalls will open up between cloud-bursts anyway. Lots of food stands there as well.

Some nice parks are here. Some decent river walks.

The old CR jail is worth the tour.

The hot springs outside of town is worth an afternoon but it is a dangerous mountain drive to get there.

Check out the restaurant thread for good eating places.

Across the street from the Night Bazaar, same side as Swenson's but going towards the Wiang Inn, there is an electronics shop that sells transformers, different sizes. I thought the prices were high but if you need it, you need it. Actually, several other shops in town sell them as well.

That is probably because of an existing virus that won't let it fully load.

For real, Scea, uninstall the previous malware thing. Don't just delete it. Then download the correct one. Run it. It will clean the machine and then you can download Avira. And make sure you uninstall the older virus programs.

If you need help, let me know. I'll come visit you.

It is also a good idea to uninstall any previous anti-virus programs that are outdated.

Paranoia struck so checked antivirus, AVG. It expired 2 months ago. Currently downloading Avira.

Decided to download Malwarebytes, it found 600 "errors".

Removed 15 and demanded money.

Threw it straight into recycle bin.

Currently looking for a really free anti malware.

You have to be careful which Malwarebytes you download. There are several versions offered and only one is free. You downloaded the one wrong one. Uninstall it and download the free one. I recommend that you download from this site: Malwarebytes Anti-Malware - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

Use the Download Now (5.87MB) button at the top of the page, left side. The price listed below that ($22.45) is a separate link that will get you the CDs and all of the other crap.

Hi Joe.

I just sent Gonzo a pm letting him know. Maybe he will get back to you shortly.

It is a centipede, a house centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata). They prey on other small invertebrates.

I use the Microsoft Windows operating system. That is the one that most viruses are written for. I quit using Internet Explorer and switched to Google Chrome for my browser. That switch in itself helped reduce the number of problems I was getting.

For virus / trojan / malware / spyware / adware I previously used McAfee and before that, Norton. Both cost money and have to be renewed every year. I later found out that you don't have to spend money for decent protection.

I use Avira Anti-Virus now. Have used it for the last year. It is a free download and updates itself constantly. I have had much better luck with Avira than any of the paid subscription services. In fact, since I installed Avira, I have not had one virus. I used to get viruses regularly with the other services and some of them are a real bear to get rid of. Avira does offer a paid service with more bells and whistles but it isn't needed. The free version works fine.

I also downloaded Malwarebytes Anti-Malware at the same time. It is free as well but I can't get it to update automatically with the free version so I have to tell it to update once a week. I scanned both of our computers with it and it found around 100 viruses, mal-ware programs and back-door programs on my computer and several hundred on the wife's computer. It deleted them all and left me with clean machines. I still scan with Malwarebytes regularly but it never finds anything. Avira is doing a perfect job so far.

In my opinion, the most important part of Paul888's message is making sure the virus programs check any new device that you plug into your machine before it lets the machine do anything else with the files on that device. If your program isn't set to scan new devices automatically, then it isn't stopping the crap before it enters your machine.

There are other good free anti-virus, anti-malware programs out there. A quick review of the techie websites will find recommendations and reviews for what is available for free and how well it works.

I asked jubby why he hasn't voted yet. He told me that he hasn't had time, as he is diligently following the "Slime on The Inside Wall Of Fish Tanks" thread in the Farming Forum. As soon as I learned of this interesting development in the Farming Forum, I too pretty much abandoned the CR forum. So far, the slime is white but we are expecting an update soon that will confirm that the color has changed to green. There is just no way of telling where this thing will go next.

Anyway, I suspect that the slime thing will eventually die down a bit and jubby and the rest of us will return to the quieter landscape of the CR forum. He will probably cast his vote at that time.

For Sale:

Old tractor.

Missing the seat.

Missing the steering wheel.

Perfect for the farmer that has lost his ass and doesn't know which way to turn.

Wish I could help. My guy actually practices during the week in CM but comes to CR once a week (Saturday) and has office hours here that evening only. If you need extensive work, once a week access probably won't be the answer for you. If I hear of a local that has a good reputation, I'll post it.

Home Mart in Mae Sai? I dont think I saw one so far..It will be appreciated if you can send me the ph # of Mae Sai branch

The numbers the wife has are 05 733 098 and 05 733 099. Go towards the new bridge on the way to Chiang San. The store is 100 meters past the Bird Hotel, which is apparently at a big intersection. The name of the store is Weang Phan. They are the HomeMart dealer for your area. They currently stock some air conditioning units but she said they custom order more units than they sell from the store. They can offer better prices if they don't keep so much stock on hand, Delivery is pretty quick.

Just so you know, we often check the prices here in CR and then call that store to check the prices, That store almost always beats the CR store by quite a bit.

Good luck.

That's ok, you pair will be old and blind one day.

Sorry. Had to have a little fun.

Missed you at the Hash yesterday. Nice flat walk and your little dog would have had ample opportunity to enjoy the water along the way. But is was a hot, humid walk. I will spend this day trying to recover.

OP, have you tried the Home Mart in Mae Sai? I live in CR but have found the Mae Sai Home Mart to be cheaper than the CR Home Mart. We often buy from Mae Sai and the Home Mart there sends our order to CR with one of the various crews that come this way to install other products for customers, Some times, we have to wait a day or two for delivery but the stuff always arrives and we save some good money.

I have not been to the new location since the Home Mart moved from main street in Mae Sai. We do all of our business with them by telephone. Even then, the wife is often able to haggle a better price over the phone.

One other thing to consider. In Thailand, there are "groups' or "clubs" that have better buying power than the ordinary individuals. These are usually made of of the influential members of the community. I always hear them referred to as "members". When we are purchasing anything substantial, the wife always calls on a "member" to buy the item for us. Saves us a lot over what I would have to pay by myself. Check with your family members and acquaintances and see if any of them are familiar or friendly with the "members" in your area. I'm not certain of how the member thing works but I gather it has something to do with people who pool their money to finance some of these shops. In effect, the member is a "silent partner" in the many shops, even if only a few baht is invested with that shop particular shop. We have bought several items "at cost" here in CR through this member thing.

From the clock tower, head towards the super highway. At the first light, make a right. There are several optical shops on either side of the street in the next few blocks. Many styles of glasses frames to choose from. Or, from the clock tower, head in the opposite direction of the super highway. There are numerous optical shops on either side of the street in the next few blocks. Some of these shops are offering two pairs of glasses for the price of one.

Brian, I hope you have a nice turnout for your party. I won't be able to make it. I have a previous engagement. The Chiang Rai Hash House Harriers meet at 16:00 on Saturday at CR Beach and I have a role in this one that I cannot avoid. If not for that, I would attend.

Good luck.

kandahar