Diary of a farang in Isaan

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, faraday said:

Temperature has fallen, & it was 19°C this morning!

 

Bought a hoodie recently, & wore it for the first time this morning when I took the dog out. Lovely & warm.

 

Don't need the a/c on now, so next couple of months the leccy bill will be reduced considerably. Bet it's freezing cold in blighty..555! That & Covid - or whatever it is, it must be blooming depressing. Still, decent vino is way cheaper there.

 

In spite of all the Isaan foibles, life here is great!

 

What are wine prices like in 'orstraylia?

 

 

 

You can get a decent red for about 200 baht. Jacob's Creek here for 600 baht is ridiculous.

Thai wine desperately needs some good winemakers to set them on the right path, it's probably the lack of technology and knowledge that makes the stuff here so terrible. Except they probably could not get work permits.

Smoke taint from the annual burn probably doesn't help either.

[Leaver]

48 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

You can get a decent red for about 200 baht.

Name?

[Odysseus123]

8 hours ago, HighPriority said:

That’s the one set in Darwin isn’t it ?

...”Whaddya want, Green <deleted>, red <deleted> or white <deleted> ? ????
 

<deleted> = colloquialism for beer... ????

Ha..ha,,ha..Wolf Creek meets the Revenant!

 

The last two novels that I have read are,

 

William T.Vollmann,, "Europe Central"

Harry Thompson;'This Thing of Darkness'-which is a splendid first novel about the troubled relationship between Captain Robert Fitzroy and Charles Darwin during the voyage of the HMS Beagle and Fitzroy's career afterwards.

 

This is my local 2nd hand bookstore..good old Oz-always does things in her own style.

 

 

[Lacessit]

6 hours ago, Leaver said:

Name?

Chateau Les Maurins Bordeaux 2019, $10

It's actually a French import. Others come from the Griffith area, such as DeBortoli, Yarran and Casella.

Barossa, Rutherglen,Heathcote and Hunter valley are more expensive, $20 - $40.

[faraday]

7 hours ago, Lacessit said:

You can get a decent red for about 200 baht. Jacob's Creek here for 600 baht is ridiculous.

Thai wine desperately needs some good winemakers to set them on the right path, it's probably the lack of technology and knowledge that makes the stuff here so terrible. Except they probably could not get work permits.

Smoke taint from the annual burn probably doesn't help either.

Only recently, I found out that there are vineyards here.

 

http://www.granmonte.com/our-wines.html

 

A bottle of Chenin Blanc costs 890 bt. Until I saw the price, I was tempted to buy a bottle, but it's way too expensive for domestic & relatively unknown wine.

 

 

[Lacessit]

3 minutes ago, faraday said:

Only recently, I found out that there are vineyards here.

 

http://www.granmonte.com/our-wines.html

 

A bottle of Chenin Blanc costs 890 bt. Until I saw the price, I was tempted to buy a bottle, but it's way too expensive for domestic & relatively unknown wine.

 

 

Wine prices here are due to the taxes, Thai logic at work. A very ordinary Australian red at 15% alcohol costs more than a bottle of Sangsom at 40% alcohol, go figure.

[Odysseus123]

53 minutes ago, faraday said:

Only recently, I found out that there are vineyards here.

 

http://www.granmonte.com/our-wines.html

 

A bottle of Chenin Blanc costs 890 bt. Until I saw the price, I was tempted to buy a bottle, but it's way too expensive for domestic & relatively unknown wine.

 

 

Ah..Aussie wines...

 

"lacessit" is covering the field well; anything from about $8 to the very expensive stuff but,in the main,they are far superior to the Thai wine which is still in its immature wine development phase.I had a great Charnwood Estate 2018 Merlot for $18 dollars (medium price) the other day.

 

Storm over Pokolbin..

 

[Fat is a type of crazy]

It is  a good time to buy in Australia. With a bad economy, and with China playing games with iron, cotton, and now wine imports, you can get a half decent wine in Australia, as Odysseus said,  for around $10 and a really decent wine from $20 up. Some nice wineries around here. 

China are saying that Australia is dumping wine or getting subsidies and sending general bad messages to the Chinese public about Australia.

I haven't eaten reptiles but when I was in Komodo I saw a big reptile eat a goat. 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2020 by Fat is a type of crazy

[HighPriority]

12 minutes ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

.  

I haven't eaten reptiles but when I was in Komodo I saw a big reptile eat a goat. 

That would be amazing !

Scary, but amazing. 

12 minutes ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

 

 

 

[Odysseus123]

30 minutes ago, HighPriority said:

That would be amazing !

Scary, but amazing. 

 

I thought that traditional Japanese women wore komodos..you learn something new everyday..????

[EVENKEEL]

Silver Lake Vineyards is just outside of Pattaya, Merlot is 790 bht. 

[owl sees all]

Owl Log - 25-10-2020 - Sunday morning

 

A busy week just gone.

 

Mildred was off school on Friday. Seem to have these days off a lot. Not complaining. I love being home with her; or at the farm. And talking of farm! On Thursday, there was a large group of guys from Ban Chai in the area. Our number three farm is next to the wood. The team were surveying the perimeter of the wood. Rumour has it that they are gonna sell it. Would that be with the trees or without? Anyway they needed a Chanot, hence the activity.

 

Mrs Owl bought the team a M150 drink each. I had to act quick if I was gonna collect the empties before they were launched in among the trees.

 

 

 

They dig a hole and plant a concrete post at each corner.

 

 

When the perimeter is finished, equipment is brought in to pinpoint the posts. Unfortunately I missed the positioning due to a mishap.

 

 

The arrow marks the spot of the unfortunate deed.

 

 

Someone was driving our pick-up and misjudged the speed going up the hill in the farm. This wouldn't normally have been a problem, but a farmer had let the water out of his paddy and soaked out dirt road.

 

 

No sweat! Just scoop out the mud, and drive away.

 

 

 

In the end, Guy turned up with his tractor and it was pulled out in the dark.

 

We were not the only ones to have a pick-up problem.

 

 

Dear me! That's more serious than getting stuck in the mud. I wanted to help. But they said family was coming.

 

Outside the main government office on the main road, they are doing nice work with the plants.

 

 

Someone there has been to Si Chang Mai. Tree monsters are everywhere along the roads there.

 

 

There is a piece of construction that has everyone baffled; well me for one. There is parking in the school. I think they are gonna stop pick-ups driving into the school eventually. Planning ahead! Like it.

 

 

And of course when the pick-up finally get free it has to be cleaned.

 

 

Missed a bit this side teerak.

 

 

My ears are still hurting from the stuck pick-up  episode. Will I ever recover?

 

***************************************************************************************

 

Meanwhile, life at the village continues as normal.

 

The village twins are doing so well. Grandfather Took is so proud of them.

 

 

The first fly catching equipment of the year.

 

There is a light directly above the plastic sheet. In the night, the flies are attracted to the light, fly into the plastic sheet and stupefy themselves. They then fall into the bowl of water underneath the sheet. Fried insects. A clove or two of garlic and a slice of onion. Yum yum.

 

 

 

Let sleeping dogs lie. No go for cats; or kids.

 

I'm fond of duck eggs. I'll tell the Mrs to put in a regular order.

 

 

Bye y'all.

Edited October 25, 2020 by owl sees all

[Lacessit]

The smile on Mrs. Owl's face reminds me of the young lady from Riga.

[owl sees all]

12 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

The smile on Mrs. Owl's face reminds me of the young lady from Riga.

Was that the smile going there or on the way back?

[Lacessit]

1 minute ago, owl sees all said:

Was that the smile going there or on the way back?

On the way back.

[faraday]

Talking of young ladies from other countries...

 

"There was a young lady from Spain,

 Who was violently sick on a train,

 Not now & again, but again & again & again"

 

I won't however, mention the lady from Ealing...

 

????

[Lacessit]

10 minutes ago, faraday said:

Talking of young ladies from other countries...

 

"There was a young lady from Spain,

 Who was violently sick on a train,

 Not now & again, but again & again & again"

 

I won't however, mention the lady from Ealing...

 

????

There was a young lady from Scone,

Who went to the dentist alone,

In a fit of depravity,

He filled the wrong cavity,

Now she's nursing the filling at home.

[Leaver]

10 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Chateau Les Maurins Bordeaux 2019, $10

It's actually a French import. Others come from the Griffith area, such as DeBortoli, Yarran and Casella.

Barossa, Rutherglen,Heathcote and Hunter valley are more expensive, $20 - $40.

Who is selling it here in Thailand?  

[Odysseus123]

4 hours ago, faraday said:

Talking of young ladies from other countries...

 

"There was a young lady from Spain,

 Who was violently sick on a train,

 Not now & again, but again & again & again"

 

I won't however, mention the lady from Ealing...

 

????

How about something from the Renaissance-which only really occurred in my rural Aussie town (and Darwin) sometime early last year..

 

Whist Titian was mixing rosemadder

His model posed nude on a ladder..

Her position to Titian suggested coition

So he ran up the ladder and had her.

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, Leaver said:

Who is selling it here in Thailand?  

Don't know, I was quoting an Australian wine page. Wouldn't get it for $10 here, more like $30-$40 with the taxes and middlemen.

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, Odysseus123 said:

How about something from the Renaissance-which only really occurred in my rural Aussie town (and Darwin) sometime early last year..

 

Whist Titian was mixing rosemadder

His model posed nude on a ladder..

Her position to Titian suggested coition

So he ran up the ladder and had her.

Remember that film with a young Helen Mirren and James Mason, "Age of Consent"? Quite shocking in its day, very tame now.

[Leaver]

10 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Don't know, I was quoting an Australian wine page. Wouldn't get it for $10 here, more like $30-$40 with the taxes and middlemen.

So, you are saying you can get a decent red in Australia for 200 baht.  I thought you meant in Thailand, and was interested to know the name of the wine.  Apologies.  

[Lacessit]

4 minutes ago, Leaver said:

So, you are saying you can get a decent red in Australia for 200 baht.  I thought you meant in Thailand, and was interested to know the name of the wine.  Apologies.  

No need to apologize, maybe my post was not clear.

If you want a decent red here, look for a Heathcote, Barossa or Rutherglen label, 1000 baht and up.

Jacob's Creek is a passable red, but even that is 700 baht the last time I looked.

[owl sees all]

Owl Log - 29-10-2020 - Thursday morning

 

Spotted a lot of different vehicles on my travels this week. First was the return of the Mercedes saloon. Looked the same as when it left, except for a new grill.

 

 

Looks like a new windscreen; could be. Bodywork next!? What colour? I think dark grey.

 

Then there was the buggy. And behind the buggy, hiding on the other side of the road was a strange looking thing.

 

 

 

 

Spotted it again in the Big C car park. Belongs to a disabled gent or gal.

 

 

Good to see Mr Skull is taking COVID seriously.

 

Then I found a real beast.

 

 

 

But it seems that the future is all electric. Another shop opens in Ban Dung. That's three now, but this one is by far the biggest. Scooters, bikes, buggies and carts.

 

 

Mrs Owl looking interested. 

 

 

Only 27,000 baht for this one. "Lady says today buy, 25,000 lower." "I think you mean a 2,000 discount teerak. Ask her what driving licence you would need." None evidently. Just cruise about knowing plod can't nab you.

 

 

Motor cycles start at 10k baht. Can't be bad. 99km range evidently. Must get a couple or three; impress the village neighbors.

 

Big effort to clear the streets of cables in Ban Dung. Good job. I'm Impressed.

 

 

No as impressed with this section. But! Early days yet.

 

 

One thing's for sure. If the wire was worth anything, it would be long gone.

 

 

Mrs owl really likes these new style houses.

 

 

This one looks the biz.

 

There seems to be a drive to enforce the 'law' on trees growing under pylons. Seen a couple of cut downs recently.

 

 

 

Cannot build anything or grow trees under pylons. Rice is OK, but not sugar. I think access and fire risk. Luckanna fishery in Udon has a pylon going across their lake, and they have been 'asked' to fill that bit in. Although the lake was there long before the pylon arrived.

 

Had a walk around the farm yesterday. Some of the grass is best part of three metres tall, and as fat as a finger. Fortunately we have cutters constantly working.

 

 

Found a very spiky tree.

 

 

The villagers are preparing for the cold. Som chopping some wood while 'big mango' wife does the washing.

 

 

The union between fourteen year old May* and her 15 year old hubby is no more. He has gone back to his mum and May has a new feller. I asked Mrs Owl what would become of the money and gold. "All gone." Young love! So fickle.

 

Went fishing at number five pond yesterday. Inadvertently hooked another grass carp. This one bigger than the last; about 6 kg. Only one very small nin.

 

A wedding at the village in the week. Mrs Owl, or Mr Owl, didn't go. But gave a 200 baht 'good luck' gift in an envelope.

 

Big storm in Viet Nam yesterday. Was due to hit Udon early morning. A bit of drizzle at the mo'. Don't expect much more. The farmers, who are due to cut their rice any day now, don't want rain. Big rain flattens the rice and slows the cutters down, as well as soaking everything. Little rain just makes it all wet, and the rice has to be put out in the sun to dry before it can be sacked up.

 

I think we will be harvesting in about three weeks time.

 

Mildred not at school today. Didn't feel too good when she awoke. Went back to bed; still sleeping.

 

Mrs Owl has just informed me that there is heavy rain in Ubon. Here, it's raining a little harder at 9-45.

 

Take care out there.

Bye ya'll. 

 

* Mrs Owl's niece.

Edited October 29, 2020 by owl sees all

[Odysseus123]

Brilliant Owl,brilliant.

 

You will just have to keep this up..or I will send the local village mafia after you..

 

[bannork]

It's weird still raining in Ban Dung at the end of October. Usually it ceases at the beginning of the month, regular as clockwork. But then it hardly rained at all in July. 

And the rain itself has been weird, not the usual heavy  monsoon stuff, more like drizzle, light drizzle at that mainly. Good for plant growth, nothing washed away or overwhelmed.

We seem to be catching the peripheries of these storms, though today the rain was persistent and hard at times.

This has to be the end of the rainy season. I 've got loads of cow dung that needs drying, plus it's time for the firewood to dry out as the brother- in- law and self move to sleep on the farm to guard the cows which are moving there too post rainy season.

I don't share your love of eucalyptus trees Owl but dried eucalyptus branches make excelkent firewood. All gentle flame, red glow and no smoke. Cows love to fall asleep next to one.

Brother-in law set up 2 nets over 2 of our ponds to catch birds 'liberating' our fish.

Caught Three culprits already, they made an excellent larp.

Last night the net caught an owl, an innocent victim perhaps, heading over the pond and got caught up. The  brother-in . law released it later..

 

 

 

[owl sees all]

15 minutes ago, bannork said:

It's weird still raining in Ban Dung at the end of October. Usually it ceases at the beginning of the month, regular as clockwork. But then it hardly rained at all in July. 

And the rain itself has been weird, not the usual heavy  monsoon stuff, more like drizzle, light drizzle at that mainly. Good for plant growth, nothing washed away or overwhelmed.

We seem to be catching the peripheries of these storms, though today the rain was persistent and hard at times.

This has to be the end of the rainy season. I 've got loads of cow dung that needs drying, plus it's time for the firewood to dry out as the brother- in- law and self move to sleep on the farm to guard the cows which are moving there too post rainy season.

I don't share your love of eucalyptus trees Owl but dried eucalyptus branches make excelkent firewood. All gentle flame, red glow and no smoke. Cows love to fall asleep next to one.

Brother-in law set up 2 nets over 2 of our ponds to catch birds 'liberating' our fish.

Caught Three culprits already, they made an excellent larp.

Last night the net caught an owl, an innocent victim perhaps, heading over the pond and got caught up. The  brother-in . law released it later..

 

 

 

 

We have had some rain today. Nothing much, especially compared to other areas.

 

Those storms that hit the Viet Nam coast and move west, look good on paper, but they seem to move south west before they hit Isaan. Ubon and Khorat seem to get our rain. Even Khon Kaen and the Surin and Burriram areas do OK. I also think the end of the rainy season is here. I'll be surprised if we get anything, other than a short sharp insignificant shower, from here on in.

 

I put a lot of effort into diverting excess water into our ponds when there was rain, so they are as full as they have been for some years.

 

Growing euca trees is a new thing for me. I had done a lot of research into them. I'll have to see how it goes.

 

They are generally doing OK. Planted in the first week in June. The top 100 or so are all at least two metres. And the bulk (90%) are over one metre.We have replanted about 100 to date. Some are poor, and I'll keep an eye on them. I think most of the immature ones. are due to the root ball breaking at planting time. They will be fine, but probably six months behind. The ones along the main road are also a bit of a disappointment. They were planted a month earlier, in May, and although growing, are not breaking any records.

 

I think the scent of eucas is very soothing; especially to cows. Pleased the owl was released.

 

 

[bannork]

I remember reading an article back in the day in one of the BP's supplements about the ravenous nature of the eucalyptus tree; its deep roots draining all the moisture and nutrients from the soil.

Indeed, I've never seen anything significant growing in a eucalyptus plantation. 

As with many small farms the missus had planted some trees around the pond .Unfortunately the leaves are poisonous to most animals, not good if you have fish in the pond so I cut them down, my, those roots took some time to die. Had to use some powerful herbicide on the base of the trunks.

The final row of our rubber trees had a section about 8 yards from our neighbour's eucalyptus trees. All our trees there died, repeatedly! I blame the eucalyptus.

My brother-in- law has a 6 wheel truck and used to get contracts demolishing 20 or 30 rai plantations. He'd sometimes give us trees, the difference in weight between a freshly cut tree and the same one a couple of months later is astounding.

Owl, have you ever seen eucalyptus trees go up in a forest fire? I remember some ancient bamboo trees near us cracking and exploding like firecrackers in one April fire. The eucalyptus near them were more like one of those  enormous Roman Candle fireworks- whoooosh! 

Scary.

 

 

[owl sees all]

1 hour ago, bannork said:

I remember reading an article back in the day in one of the BP's supplements about the ravenous nature of the eucalyptus tree; its deep roots draining all the moisture and nutrients from the soil.

Indeed, I've never seen anything significant growing in a eucalyptus plantation. 

As with many small farms the missus had planted some trees around the pond .Unfortunately the leaves are poisonous to most animals, not good if you have fish in the pond so I cut them down, my, those roots took some time to die. Had to use some powerful herbicide on the base of the trunks.

The final row of our rubber trees had a section about 8 yards from our neighbour's eucalyptus trees. All our trees there died, repeatedly! I blame the eucalyptus.

My brother-in- law has a 6 wheel truck and used to get contracts demolishing 20 or 30 rai plantations. He'd sometimes give us trees, the difference in weight between a freshly cut tree and the same one a couple of months later is astounding.

Owl, have you ever seen eucalyptus trees go up in a forest fire? I remember some ancient bamboo trees near us cracking and exploding like firecrackers in one April fire. The eucalyptus near them were more like one of those  enormous Roman Candle fireworks- whoooosh! 

Scary.

 

 

A friend of mine from Perth (Oz) told me how terrible eucalyptus trees were about 10 years ago. 

 

When I first came to Isaan, euca trees were everywhere. They were gradually replaced by rubber trees. They in turn were ripped out and sugar was the daddy. But poor yields due to lack of rain ended that foray. Looks like it's returning to eucas. We have had sugar, cassava, rice and rubber trees. As I get a little older, the work involved in some ventures, is just too much for me. I hope that the eucalyptus plantation will be my last change. At just under 11k trees, I'm more content to just watch them grow.

 

You are right about the fires, and I think it's important to clear out the rubbish between the trees very occasionally.

 

Indeed, eucalyptus trees, in recent years (and not so recent), have had a bad press, but I don't feel as negatively towards them as some. I see other farmers locally have planted eucas. Probably out of desperation to find a consistent earner. The four poor wet seasons running; probably the deciding factor.

 

 

[bluesofa]

10 hours ago, owl sees all said:

A friend of mine from Perth (Oz) told me how terrible eucalyptus trees were about 10 years ago. 

 

When I first came to Isaan, euca trees were everywhere. They were gradually replaced by rubber trees. They in turn were ripped out and sugar was the daddy. But poor yields due to lack of rain ended that foray. Looks like it's returning to eucas. We have had sugar, cassava, rice and rubber trees. As I get a little older, the work involved in some ventures, is just too much for me. I hope that the eucalyptus plantation will be my last change. At just under 11k trees, I'm more content to just watch them grow.

 

You are right about the fires, and I think it's important to clear out the rubbish between the trees very occasionally.

 

Indeed, eucalyptus trees, in recent years (and not so recent), have had a bad press, but I don't feel as negatively towards them as some. I see other farmers locally have planted eucas. Probably out of desperation to find a consistent earner. The four poor wet seasons running; probably the deciding factor.

During Thaksin's time, eucalyptus was being pushed as the best thing since sliced bread.

Lots of farmers planted them as due to the lack of rain at that time, the ground was very dry.

Eucalyptus trees put their roots deeper and suck up the water from deeper in the ground.

 

It sounded great and initially it was. The downside was because the eucalyptus drew up water from deeper down, then there was just about no water left at all.

That meant that no other crops could be planted afterwards. I seem to remember that a figure of seven years was quoted as the time needed for the ground to recover after growing eucalyptus.

 

Disclaimer: Apart from quoting the above from memory, plus I know nothing (Mr Fawlty) about farming. So fire away if I'm wrong.