TravelerEastWest

14 hours ago, vandeventer said:

I do to as there are many viruses of all kinds out there, take your pick of which one you want.

Agreed

38 minutes ago, wwest5829 said:

Having been retired here over a decade, observations that Thai immigration Visas could be easier, I encourage you not to throw in the towel, especially with a Thai family. That said, I have used an agency from my retirement here. Nothing underhanded or skirting Thai law. It is just that the agency deals with immigration daily … they know if any regulation changes, they know the more friendly immigration officers and who to avoid, they know if there is a new boss wanting to make changes and the particular “interpretations” of different immigration offices. For me, worth there assistance fee. I need only show up for 10 minutes to retrieve my passport once a year. I would add that I too have a Thai wife but find the retirement visa easier than the marriage visa requirements.

Exactly as above.

The visa is not difficult but if confused just get help - simple. I work so use teh marriage visa if you don't work whichever you prefer.

Also the 400,000 baht can be used for living expenses just top it up 2 or 3 months before your annual visa extension.

A good idea might be:

Own the house directly.

Next set up a company for the land with shareholders you know and then lend money to the company  with the land as collateral.

12 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Untrue.

Yes, I thought Americans can often own 100% of a Thai company using the Amity rules.

Is that no longer the case?

4 hours ago, Hummin said:

Did you aver have goats before? We have sheep (had goats on the farm where I was born), and far more easy to keep, but still animals that need care and protection as well decent set up for house and fences as well grass they can feed from. At least sheep keeps the gras down, but alot more picky on what they like to  eat than goats. 
 

Our neighbours use roundup, we use no chems at all. 
 

 

"Our neighbours use roundup, we use no chems at all."

Yes strong chemicals work well - but like you we don't use any.

I can't easily mulch 20 rai but I do mulch in a circle around most of my trees - step by step I will increase mulching...

3 hours ago, farmerjo said:

I have been pondering the same question for many years.

Weeds set seeds all year round here so hard to stay on top of.

Without good fencing and animals it is a losing battle.

Cutting the weeds with a weed wacker(or tractor/slasher) every six weeks is about the only alternative.

If you have any sort of vine weeds on the land they will choke out a cover crop.

 

I am not certain how many vine weeds we have - we have some that grow on fences.

I am not hopeful at the moment but I am not going to give up...

3 hours ago, kickstart said:

Ok ,clover and clover type cover crops will not grow in Thailand ,too hot ,they are some tropical legume grasses  ,but they will grow tall,and you will be back to squee one, and it will need still need cutting  ,and the seed will need planting/sowing, somehow,and the weeds will still probaly out grow your planted grass.

Doesn't sound good - but you are probably correct...

2 hours ago, xylophone said:

Actually goats don't need a lot of looking after, and the meat when slow cooked can be good......and of course there's goats milk! Many farmers and "smallholders" in NZ use goats to keep the grass and weeds down. Good luck with whatever you settle on.

I appreciate your ideas but I am a vegan so eating goats is not an option... and my large dogs would not play well with goats

11 minutes ago, kickstart said:

How step is the "Hill",can you safly get a tractor up it ,if so, ask around to locale farmers who have a tractor and grass toper ,get them in .

They might charge for the job, or per rie .

Or ,are they any cattle farms near by ,offer them the grazing ,say you have to use an eltric fence,get them to fence off say 2-3 rie at a time ,cattle will not eat it all ,and you wi;l probaly still have to top the rough bits , they do not eat ,still better than you cutting it all. 

Thank you but no cattle we have large dogs and it would not work well...

 A tractor would not be possible as we have hills and I need the weeds cut between trees,

I am thinking some sort of cover crop that would be stronger than weeds?

4 hours ago, xylophone said:

Goats or sheep??

Probably a good idea but too much maintenance....!

I have about 20 rai in Mae Rim on a hill and lots of weeds - how to naturally control them?

I have about one rai with vegetables and the rest are fruit trees.

For now I use a weed cutter with takes about four days to clear the farm.

Is there a better way to do keep the land between trees and walk ways free of weeds?

2 hours ago, steveharrisisthelegend said:

I agree 100%. I have seen her as well and she is fine and kind and whatever yep, but she is also a normal Thai doctor who can do tests and describe medicines when values seem off. But there is barely anything useful about diet or exercise like you mentioned which is like 80%+ of managing diabetes. I need someone more specialized and knowleagble than this, I will keep looking, perhaps try contacting Dr Hawkins at CM Mediclinic - any western trained doctor at this point will make me excited to try. I will let you know if I find someone good in Chiang Mai and please do the same for me, perhaps we can help each other.

Steve Harris is the Legend,

Standing by to hear what you find!

Even in America Doctors who talk extensively about nutrition and exercise are in the minority. So Dr Joy is a normal Thai/Western/modern doctor.

But slowly this is changing...

Have you read the Mastering Diabetes book? The best one that I have read so far...

I looked at Dr Hawkins website and she seems very nice but a normal doctor.

From her website:

Fasting blood sugar testing, Glycated hemoglobin (A1C) testing, physical examination. Concise consultations with precise medication and medical supplies for complete diabetes management

Another option is finding a good doctor in America who offers telemedicine and combine that with a  local doctor who can run tests etc.

1 hour ago, alien365 said:

It would be nice if the government would actually pay teachers a decent wage in the first place. I'm not saying it would solve everything, but it would be a start. It's all good and well saying to live within your means, but there needs to be  some quality of life still. They do a lot of work, especially paperwork, for often very little reward.

Agree 100%

6 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

Sorry TEW, I try not to spend too much time on the forum.  I don't really want to debate the merits or criticisms of Goldhammer.  I admit, it is just my personal opinion I am expressing about him. 

 

You can call me prejudiced if you wish, but there is a big difference between an osteopath and a licensed MD.  Legitimate MD's who promote the concept of water fasting are coming at it from an in-depth and credentialed understanding of human physiology and metabolic biochemistry.  Osteopath are not.  Fung is a nephrologist with a clinical history of treating metabolic syndromes and diseases such as Diabetes type 2.  Osteopaths do not have such a clinical history AT ALL.

 

I'm not saying that advice from people like Goldhammer and Berg are not informative or helpful, but they are not scientific authorities on such subjects anymore than you or I, or any well read individual.

I see you very much enjoy putting forth your thoughts (evidenced by many posts...), but when presented with evidence to the contrary you lose interest - fair enough and you are honest - I respect that.

The facts under the law of all 50 US states (not sure about other countries...) are that they are equal and they have similar medical training. MDs and Osteopaths are very similar:

"DOs have all the same responsibilities and rights as MDs, including the abilities to perform surgery with proper training and prescribe medicine.

How Are MDs and DOs Similar?

MDs and DOs follow similar educational routes. They must first earn a four-year undergraduate degree, and most will take pre-medicine courses during this time. After getting an undergraduate degree, they will attend either medical school or a college of osteopathic medicine.

After finishing four years of medical education, MDs and DOs must complete an internship and a residency. A residency is on-the-job training under the supervision of more experienced doctors. Some MDs and DOs will also go on to do fellowships to learn more about a specialty."

So the very clear facts again under the law and by training is that Dr Goldhammer is nothing like Berg. Actually Dr Goldhammer is a serious professional with training and lots of experience Dr Berg is not currently practicing and has been in trouble with the law:

https://quackwatch.org/cases/board/chiro/berg/ 

So it is clear they are not similar at all.

I don't know your background you could be a MD or have a Phd in science; but I can tell you that I have no where near the training that Dr Goldhammer has and certainly not the clinical experience. So my opinons are not as good as his...

"Osteopaths do not have such a clinical history AT ALL."

You are clearly mistaken - Dr Goldhammer has more than 20,000 patients that he and his team (which includes MDs) has treated at his clinic much more than Dr Fung. and more long term fasting experience and I am not sure that Dr Fung does any actual extended water fasts at all - I think he advises taking supplements and the option of coffee etc.

So in summary there is no science that I have found (or you have cited) after a long time searching that says we should exercise while doing an extended water fast (more than 7 days and no supplements only water) and the many patients seen at True North by Dr Goldhammer and MDs have clearly shown that it is safe and advisable to not exercise while on an extended (true) water fast.

They have shown safety by never having a problem with more than 20,000 patients. They have shown low loss of lean tissue using Dexa scans.

I am planning to start an extended water fast soon and I was hoping that you could come up with some clear proof that exercising during an extended fast is a good idea. Or evidence that resting is harmful.

2 hours ago, zzaa09 said:

As it should be at this stage....

I am curious are you saying everyone should ignore it?

Or just young and healthy people?

5 hours ago, farmerjo said:

What method of cutting the trees did you end up using?

When you say firewood do you mean fresh or making charcoal.

The pile my FILcut this year he is using fresh to boil bamboo for sale.

 

 

We bought a 12 inch chainsaw and spent a week or so cutting many trees. Worked well. New sprouts are already growing. We kept a couple of smaller trees so we can have fruit for next year. I have given up selling longan as the prices are so low it is not worth it. Note my trees are about 45 years old and so big very few people wanted to climb up them to get the longan.

Interestingly we have younger rambutan that are smaller trees which are very easy to harvest.

Dried wood but not charcoal.

However, my in-laws use regular wood to cook and end up with charcoal which they then use to grill.

I have decided to keep the wood as it looks good...

The money I would get is so small taht it was a better idea to keep the wood and maybe use it for cooking...

Many thanks for the answers - although it was not good news!

Maybe I will just sell the wood...

I do have teak logs here and there on the farm and they are fine.

Stacked Longon wood will it get eaten by termites?

I have about ten stacks of cut Longon wood on my farm in Chiang mai.

I may use them for fire wood for cooking - meanwhile I like the look of them - sort of rustic...

My wife told me there are lots of termites on our farm and they may eat all the wood!

Does dry wood survive termites better?

Great Post thank you

On 8/29/2022 at 5:56 PM, TravelerEastWest said:

"Chiropractic “science” is a form of alternative medicine with no firm scientific basis to it.  It is a pseudo discipline, and perhaps I'm biased but I have a distaste for most of the chiropractic practiciners I've personally encountered."

 

I agree that many Chiropractors are shall we politely say questionable. But I don't understand why you keep going back to this as  Dr Goldhammer is a credentialled doctor an Osteopathic doctor which is a level of skill and training basically equal to an MD. Or do you think they are not real licensed doctors in all 50 states?

 

I doubt he he has been doing anything Chiropratic related for many years. Also I dont see any proof of his unusual profit motive (beyond taking care of his family) as he has a non profit foundation and is putting money into research I somehow doubt Berg is doing the same - is he?

 

Dr Fung is an MD which is at the same level as an osteopathic doctor yes he has a kidney specialty and Goldhammer has an extended water fast specialty.

 

I also don't understand why you value lab research at a higher level for the sake of this discussion of is it safe to exercise and go on a long fast? I am not sure what value experiments on yeast and rats etc would have compared to real world experience with thousands of patients if you can explain your point I will be happy to listen.

Wave Hunter, I hope that you are OK. Normally you answer quickly...

You seem to be missing key points so I just want to know if you read my comments showing that Dr Goldhammer is nothing like Dr Berg?

Or do you not agree that Osteopathic doctors are real doctors just like MDs?

4 hours ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

Yep it is on a national data base so I believe.

Good to know - thank you.

Ours was done by hand more than 20 years ago and entered into a very large ledger like in the old days in hotels before computers...

I wonder how they updated the old information to a national data base? It must have been a very big project...

If you were married in Bangkok before they started using computers can you still get an update anywhere?