Diary of a farang in Isaan

[owl sees all]

2 minutes ago, roo860 said:

Dogs looking good!!!!!

Thanks Roo.

 

They are certainly a handful at times.

[bannork]

A horse and trap trotted through our village last week. Never seen that in Issan before. Perhaps it came from that farm you visited Owl.

[owl sees all]

3 hours ago, bannork said:

A horse and trap trotted through our village last week. Never seen that in Issan before. Perhaps it came from that farm you visited Owl.

Possible!

There are so many hidden jems in Isaan. I take the back-roads whenever I can. Never know what you might find!

Sad to see the koi-carp farm closed.

 

[owl sees all]

 

Owl Log - 19-02-2023 - Sunday afternoon

 

Big problem with a loan company in the week. a couple of years ago the Mrs borrowed some dosh for her daughter to set up a business. The venture fell through, but, I continued to pay the monthlies until last month, when it was all finished. Or so I thought. Went to their Ban Dung office on Friday to be told there was still another 2,800 baht to pay. Not a happy Owl, I can report. "You pay late each month." Can't argue with that; without checking. I did check. On finding out that the shut off point each month was the 22nd.  I indeed was late. First payment was two days late. Second; the same. Then OK for the next 20 months. One day late on month 23 and three days late for the final payment; month 24. I couldn't make it out. They were so sure of themselves, and of course Mrs Owl 'appeared' to be on their side and was urging me to pay up.

 

They did me a printed sheet of the payments. And what did I find?! Even when I paid well before the 22nd, it was marked down as up to two months late. And this is where the financial penalties came in.

 

So, I refused to pay them anything, and walked out. It led to me and the Mrs having an almighty row. What I'm gonna do on Monday is go to our bank and get a record of all the payments printed out. Only one problem with that line of thought. It's the Mrs account. Can see some problems ahead.

 

The US arms have arrived. Getting ready to fight the Ruskies, or Chinese, or Iranians probably. Or might be just parked up.

 

 

The white printing looks original. Wonder how old? I'll keep my eye on it.

 

All of a sudden there is an explosion of dogs in the soi. We have two. Bella opposite has two. Two doors along has two. And the monks bring a pack of 6 with them on their rounds.

 

 

One of my favourite village ladies tried to sell me some treats in the week.

 

 

"Only 20 baht a bag Farang Owl. Would be very nice with your cup of rosy each morning."

 

 

Couple of pics from past years.

 

Fun at the pool.

 

 

Making sure the carp don't go hungry at the Udon's Chinese Quarter.

 

 

Found an unusual structure on me travels.

 

 

Every time I go to Ban Dung and I have a bit of time on hand, I go have a look at the koi-carp in 7/11. They moved them from the bottom pond to the upper.

 

 

Spotted a couple of fish. Next time - if I remember - I'll take a bit of fish-pellet, and get them to the surface. Get some nice pics.

 

 

Went to this very special place in the week.

 

 

On first look, I thought it was a Buddha place I wasn't aware of. But no! I was wrong on that. Paying to go in was optional. I put some dosh in the basket on the table; and gave more on the way out. Well worth a walk round.

 

 

I was told farang rent out the houses long term. Saw a couple in the restaurant as I looked round.

A lot of things made of wood. But air-con sort of spoiled it for me. And the dish.

 

 

Nice owl carving.

 

 

Maybe not an owl on second look. More like a falcon.

 

 

Can actually climb to the top of the tower. Might do next time.

 

 

And go under the waterfall.

 

Have buffaloes and horses, which can be ridden around the park.

 

 

 

 

Quite a few horses. Always an nice attraction for youngsters.

 

 

 

100 baht for a horse-ride. Or perhaps a horse-walk.

 

 

 

I think this was a past entrance.

 

 

Lots of places to go and relax.

 

 

 

Still not finished.

 

 

Ban Dung saw a procession last week.

 

 

Don't know what happened to the sound there.

 

Sun-up in the village.

 

 

Robert and Oscar have two doggie friends. The 'big dog' often comes round to play. And eat any food left over.

 

 

Coffee lives opposite. He is a lovely dog too. Never quiet when the three of them get together.

 

 

World news.

Sad to hear that one of the 'Wild Boars', rescued from the cave, has died.

'Russia must be defeated but not crushed,' says the French President. 

North Korea sends warning to US and South Korea, with a missile or two, as a protest against their 'war games'..

More news about the 'weather balloons'. They are everywhere. Search for the one shot down over the great lakes 'continues'; a spokesman said. But next day the search was called off. Just too mach water for one rowing boat to cover. Another balloon crashed near Taiwan. Weather monitoring equipment rumoured to be found close by. No need to "jump to conclusions", an official reported.

Banksy at it again:

 

 

Dolphins found dead off the coast of west Oz. A big oil slick is thought to be - if not responsible - then a suspect.

 

Footy round-up

Some strange results in the EPL. Chelsea got turned over at home by bottom club Saints. High flying Brighton also beaten at home; same score 0-1. Big club pretenders Toon were put in their place by Liverpool. Man City couldn't win at Forest. The Gunners jump back top.

Leeds had better watch out; there's relegation about.

Orient increase their lead to eleven points.

Burnley look invincible, and cert's to get back to the EPL first time of asking. In the third, top club Plymouth, draw at home, letting the Owls go top.

Banks O'Dee lose at home.

Never heard of the 'Pinatar Cup' before yesterday. But anyway; Scotland march on with a 2-1 win.

The BBC are certainly promoting Women's footy.

 

Thailand musings.

Government Lottery Office  - The Finance Ministry - has approved a plan for a new Thai Lottery. Big celebrations in Isaan villages. Mrs Owl says "Exciting!!"

Thailand’s University lecturers are labelled 'lazy', by the secretary of the Department of Higher Education. How can the youth of Thailand get to the very top, if their lecturers only care about food and sleep?

Police raid Pattaya go-go bar.

Farang seen with bar-girl in sugar field.

State Railway of Thailand (SRT) spend 96.3 million baht on robots. Nong Khai to BKK in just two hours is racing ahead.

A German farang is behind a monk making sex-vids; allegedly. Thai airways decide to cancel flights to Germany. It is not thought that the monk's sex-vids are responsible.

 

Dropped Mildred off in Ban Dung yesterday. School project?! Anyway. I got change out of the 200 baht for spending Didn't go back home as the wife had threatened to do me in. So went on a spiritual journey until four.

 

Leccy bill still on the high side. Just under 2k. MinL's not too bad at 350 baht.

 

Some of the strangest rain in the week. On Tuesday morning I walked daughter to the big road to catch the school bus, and it started. Within two minutes had stopped. Happened a few times just like that. Again yesterday.

 

Our resident 'gecko' did 18 'eh-ohes'. Lottery number nest time around.

 

Dogs doing OK. Oscar is a greedy pig. He gobbles down the morning offerings and then tries to muscle in in Robert's grub. A bit of growling then occurs. Mrs Owl says it's worms. Can't argue with that. Where's that Ivermectin?

 

Have to start thinking about getting a new passport. Expires in December this year.

 

Only one thing left to say; bye y'all and thanks for tuning in.

 

------

 

Who's that well-dressed farang enjoying the music?

 

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

1 hour ago, owl sees all said:

Big problem with a loan company in the week. a couple of years ago the Mrs borrowed some dosh for her daughter to set up a business. The venture fell through, but, I continued to pay the monthlies until last month, when it was all finished. Or so I thought. Went to their Ban Dung office on Friday to be told there was still another 2,800 baht to pay. Not a happy Owl, I can report. "You pay late each month." Can't argue with that; without checking. I did check. On finding out that the shut off point each month was the 22nd.  I indeed was late. First payment was two days late. Second; the same. Then OK for the next 20 months. One day late on month 23 and three days late for the final payment; month 24. I couldn't make it out. They were so sure of themselves, and of course Mrs Owl 'appeared' to be on their side and was urging me to pay up.

Luckily you are adept at building dog houses Owl, I should be preparing a 3rd “ extra large “ if I were you !!

[owl sees all]

15 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Luckily you are adept at building dog houses Owl, I should be preparing a 3rd “ extra large “ if I were you !!

You are not wrong there Andy.

However the house next door is not occupied and it is perfectly livable. And I know the lady that owns it.

What a terrible loss of face it would be if the farang went to live on his own - next door - and didn't want for anything!

Got to prepare for all eventualities.

Close to Mildred too.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Just now, owl sees all said:

You are not wrong there Andy.

However the house next door is not occupied and it is perfectly livable. And I know the lady that owns it.

What a terrible loss of face it would be if the farang went o live on his own - next door - and didn't want for anything!

Got to prepare for all eventualities.

Well hopefully it doesn’t come to that Owl, but i can foresee you paying an extra couple of payments to avoid the salty cuppa !!

[owl sees all]

1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Well hopefully it doesn’t come to that Owl, but i can foresee you paying an extra couple of payments to avoid the salty cuppa !!

The 'salty cuppa'. This is the ultimate 'accidentally-on-purpose' ruse.

 

We will see. If I can persuade her to go to the bank tomorrow, and we get the necessary. I can't see how the finance crowd can argue. It will be interesting on a couple of levels.

 

The thing is; I am right. But that doesn't mean I win.

[GarryP]

Finally done it. Moved out of Bangkok and now located in the northern region of Kalasin so not too far away from Owl and many of the other posters on this thread. Won't be going the farming route though.  Once I'm settled, I'll get a dog too but probably not a ridgeback. More likely to be a Kalasin mongrel. 

 

Looking forward to exploring the area in the next few months. If only the lovely cool weather could hold, but that is never going to happen.  

[owl sees all]

28 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Finally done it. Moved out of Bangkok and now located in the northern region of Kalasin so not too far away from Owl and many of the other posters on this thread. Won't be going the farming route though.  Once I'm settled, I'll get a dog too but probably not a ridgeback. More likely to be a Kalasin mongrel. 

 

Looking forward to exploring the area in the next few months. If only the lovely cool weather could hold, but that is never going to happen.  

Congrats are in order Garry.

 

And what a lovey area too. Lots of beautiful mango orchards in your area.

Could have a big military base close to you also. Hope it doesn't stop your restful sleep at night.

 

In a couple of weeks time we will be cursing the roasting hot days, and the humid nights.

[owl sees all]

Off to the bank this afternoon; hopefully,

 

Will report back on events. If I'm still up and running!!!

[GarryP]

5 hours ago, owl sees all said:

Congrats are in order Garry.

 

And what a lovey area too. Lots of beautiful mango orchards in your area.

Could have a big military base close to you also. Hope it doesn't stop your restful sleep at night.

 

In a couple of weeks time we will be cursing the roasting hot days, and the humid nights.

Not noticed any mango orchards. It all seems to be jujube orchards, rubber tree plantations, sugarcane and cassava, with the normal rice fields thrown in for good measure.  Weather has been very welcoming though, if only the PM2.5 was under control. 

[owl sees all]

On 2/13/2023 at 3:11 AM, bannork said:

A horse and trap trotted through our village last week. Never seen that in Issan before. Perhaps it came from that farm you visited Owl.

Could have been from the place I visited last week.

 

A bit closer than the last horse place I found.

[sotonowl]

12 hours ago, owl sees all said:

Off to the bank this afternoon; hopefully,

 

Will report back on events. If I'm still up and running!!!

Good luck Owl, i've a feeling you're going to be needing it, but remember, when all else fails, you can always get away with paying.

[owl sees all]

6 hours ago, sotonowl said:

Good luck Owl, i've a feeling you're going to be needing it, but remember, when all else fails, you can always get away with paying.

Got to the bank OK. Spelt it out to the Mrs what was wanted. Made sure she understood. Get to see the bank man. He nodded in acknowledgement, and done the biz.

 

Finished up with 25 pages of gobble-gook. Who got it wrong? My money is on the wife. Anyway checked through all the paperwork - that turned out to be every transaction on that account of over two years - and it certainly supported my own data. Happy about that.

 

So it's back to the bank next time we go to Ban Dung for another go.

 

What I wanted was all transactions of only/precisely/exactly 4,500 baht for the previous two years. Did get a print-out bill of 200 baht though. Paper don't come cheap! Got a receipt for the printing bill. Gonna pass that on to the finance company next time we visit them.

 

 

[GarryP]

It's official. My home is now known by all and sundry as "Bahn Falang". That didn't take long as I only moved in four days ago. Would seem that there aren't that many of us in town, but makes it much easier to give directions to delivery services - Bahn falang just past the school worked fine ????. 

[rickudon]

Owl, If your passport expires in December, remember that your next extension of stay from immigration will only last until December. So best to replace your passport 3 months before your extension expires.

[MAF666]

3 hours ago, GarryP said:

It's official. My home is now known by all and sundry as "Bahn Falang". That didn't take long as I only moved in four days ago. Would seem that there aren't that many of us in town, but makes it much easier to give directions to delivery services - Bahn falang just past the school worked fine ????. 

Our farm became known as “Baan nawk farang” when we moved in.

Helps with Laz deliveries too.

[HighPriority]

12 minutes ago, MAF666 said:

Our farm became known as “Baan nawk farang” when we moved in.

Helps with Laz deliveries too.

"Birdhouse" ?

[bannork]

6 minutes ago, HighPriority said:

"Birdhouse" ?

Upcountry Westerner

[owl sees all]

1 hour ago, rickudon said:

Owl, If your passport expires in December, remember that your next extension of stay from immigration will only last until December. So best to replace your passport 3 months before your extension expires.

You are right there Rick.

 

Last time it was IPS - out of Hong Kong (I think) - now some other agency has taken over. Trips to BKK, and the like. I've read up on member's passport renewal experiences on AN. Not made up my mind what to do yet.

 

Someone suggested sending it to a daughter or brother (etc) in England, and doing it on the internet. Bit risky that; I'm thinking. But cold it be done with a VPN?

[MAF666]

1 hour ago, HighPriority said:

"Birdhouse" ?

In Chanthaburi they mean it as a house in the sticks, other side of the Black stump, in the jungle…

[HighPriority]

On 2/21/2023 at 7:16 PM, MAF666 said:

In Chanthaburi they mean it as a house in the sticks, other side of the Black stump, in the jungle…

Yeah, my Mrs wasn’t home and I pumped it into translate… ????????‍♂️

[bannork]

On 2/21/2023 at 4:30 PM, owl sees all said:

You are right there Rick.

 

Last time it was IPS - out of Hong Kong (I think) - now some other agency has taken over. Trips to BKK, and the like. I've read up on member's passport renewal experiences on AN. Not made up my mind what to do yet.

 

Someone suggested sending it to a daughter or brother (etc) in England, and doing it on the internet. Bit risky that; I'm thinking. But cold it be done with a VPN?

It's a piece of cake in Bangkok, Owl. A month or two before you want to renew it, contact the Passport Renewal Office online. They're at the ' Trendy ' building, Sukhumvit 12 or so.

They'll give you a date to take your passport in, usually a couple of weeks later.

Take it in, friendly, helpful staff, and ( in my experience last year), 2 weeks later I got  an email telling me to pick it up 

[owl sees all]

1 hour ago, bannork said:

It's a piece of cake in Bangkok, Owl. A month or two before you want to renew it, contact the Passport Renewal Office online. They're at the ' Trendy ' building, Sukhumvit 12 or so.

They'll give you a date to take your passport in, usually a couple of weeks later.

Take it in, friendly, helpful staff, and ( in my experience last year), 2 weeks later I got  an email telling me to pick it up 

Really encouraging to hear Bannork.

I'll leave it until the end of October, now you have given me the heads up.

[farmerjo]

23 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Really encouraging to hear Bannork.

I'll leave it until the end of October, now you have given me the heads up.

If you could do it online here it would work out much cheaper.

For my Aussie passport,pay for passport,4 flights(mrs,me)4 taxi's,2 meals,fuel and parking in Khon Kaen = 27,000 baht. 

 

[Will27]

16 hours ago, farmerjo said:

If you could do it online here it would work out much cheaper.

For my Aussie passport,pay for passport,4 flights(mrs,me)4 taxi's,2 meals,fuel and parking in Khon Kaen = 27,000 baht. 

 

Why didn't you do yours online FJ?

[farmerjo]

11 hours ago, Will27 said:

Why didn't you do yours online FJ?

Don't have a credit card mate and needed to keep old passport running in case i had to go overseas.

Done now as just back from Bangkok.

I bit my tongue about them forgetting to email me to pick it up but had a laugh with the lady how tight they are to not even supply a cover to keep passport in.

Sorry Owl but goes to show not everybody lives around the corner in Bangkok as governments think we do.

[owl sees all]

13 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Don't have a credit card mate and needed to keep old passport running in case i had to go overseas.

Done now as just back from Bangkok.

I bit my tongue about them forgetting to email me to pick it up but had a laugh with the lady how tight they are to not even supply a cover to keep passport in.

Sorry Owl but goes to show not everybody lives around the corner in Bangkok as governments think we do.

It has been suggested, on another AN thread, that for those of us who do live a long way from BKK - or just want an easy life perhaps - using an agent could be the way to go. My local one in Udon wants 12k; seems a bit pricey that.

[Mutt Daeng]

51 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

It has been suggested, on another AN thread, that for those of us who do live a long way from BKK - or just want an easy life perhaps - using an agent could be the way to go. My local one in Udon wants 12k; seems a bit pricey that.

I live in Buriram and last time I renewed my PP (2017), I used an agent. Around 11K baht (Cost of "Jumbo" UK PP included in that). IMHO, much better/cheaper than 2 x trips to BKK with she-who-must-be-obeyed, plus overnight stay, food, drink etc. Well worth it.