Issan (burriram)

[bangkok1234]

hi just came back from Buriram 2 days ago .nice to see have "buriram forum" .. hehe

its my first time in Buriram and I really didnt knew what to expect from a small city in Isaan, anyway I think the city is very nice (little bit small) me and the wife went to this disco I dont remember his name but we had really good time there and have dancers really nothing like bangkok or pattaya (similiar to "Xcite" disco), we stayed 4 days in Buriram in Vong Tong hotel nice hotel ,I really cant stay in the villege thats for sure..sorry..

so we rented a car in the same street from a nice farang internet shop (less then a 1000 baht a day for pick up..)so thats made our life much more easier we went to her villege on day time and came back to Buriram on night time for some fun and to the hotel.

by the way I really enjoyed to eat at the restaurant in soi Vong-Tong hotel, really great food and cheap as well.. thumbs up Buriram .

next time will be in about 4 months , see you guys..

[macb]

hi just came back from Buriram 2 days ago .nice to see have "buriram forum" .. hehe

its my first time in Buriram and I really didnt knew what to expect from a small city in Isaan, anyway I think the city is very nice (little bit small) me and the wife went to this disco I dont remember his name but we had really good time there and have dancers really nothing like bangkok or pattaya (similiar to "Xcite" disco), we stayed 4 days in Buriram in Vong Tong hotel nice hotel ,I really cant stay in the villege thats for sure..sorry..

so we rented a car in the same street from a nice farang internet shop (less then a 1000 baht a day for pick up..)so thats made our life much more easier we went to her villege on day time and came back to Buriram on night time for some fun and to the hotel.

by the way I really enjoyed to eat at the restaurant in soi Vong-Tong hotel, really great food and cheap as well.. thumbs up Buriram .

next time will be in about 4 months , see you guys..

Welcome to the Buriram bit on here :

The Disco you went to was Speed , there are other nice restaurants to eat at as well, Buriram is definitely on the map now but then it is one of the larger Cities now in Thailand and of course as you may have read already we now have Makro and Big 'C'. God luck next visit

[macb]

WEATHER REPORT 08/11/07 1337 HRS :

This morning started out with the Thermometer reading 13c at 0600 hrs : Now the sun is up with no cloud and NNE easterly wind

EXCHANGE RATES :

GPB-THB =71.3

USD-THB = 33.972

On the farming front the rice harvest is well under way :

Heres a link if you are interested in the rice mkt

http://www.riceonline.com/home.shtml

[ClaytonSeymour]

Last time I was in Buriram, I wanted to get the girlfriend and family to start taking care of the yard a little better.

I looked around a bit for some garden tools, but wasn't able to locate some western type garden weapons, like a full bladed shovel (they only have the sliver kind), big rakes, garden hoe and few other items. Anyone know what stores sell these items?

Getting the tools is the easy part. Getting the family to use them & take care of the yard is another matter; especially if you're not going to be around to keep them on their toes.

[macb]

First I agree with the last poster re getting them to look after them !!

Try Home mart : Any hardware store has rakes or mkts even most of them have the tool heads and you buy the wooden shaft separate, be prepared to change your thinking slightly about the type of tool you used in your home Country and a similar Thai tool that will do the same job .

But rakes Thai dutch Hoes Shovels Wellies barrows mowers Strimmers are all available to name but a few even garden hand tools

[macb]

Off to Bkk Sunday back Tuesday:

Registering the Daughter for Dual Nationality (Then she can have a split personality like her dad lol )

See you all next week so to speak

[mailman]

First I agree with the last poster re getting them to look after them !!

Try Home mart : Any hardware store has rakes or mkts even most of them have the tool heads and you buy the wooden shaft separate, be prepared to change your thinking slightly about the type of tool you used in your home Country and a similar Thai tool that will do the same job .

But rakes Thai dutch Hoes Shovels Wellies barrows mowers Strimmers are all available to name but a few even garden hand tools

Thanks for all the replies. I did try HomeMart, but did not see western rakes, shovels and hoes (not looking for small garden hand tools). They had real small rakes, the sliver (thin) shovels, and wooden handles, not what I was looking for. They did have other garden hand tools though.

I find it funny to see mama outside with a sliver shovel trying to gather up loose dirt after a rain storm. It takes 5 times as long to do this. A bigger western shovel might work better, you think? It's also funny to see her bending over and squating with a little hand weed wacker (probably what the use for harvesting rice) to trim the grass (actually weeds) in the yard. This takes just a little long to do, clearly there are better tools then what she is using. Oh well, the rainy season has largely passed, so things aren't going to grow as fast soon. It's rice harvesting time now, so the family is getting ready for the harvesting (start on Monday, if it doesn't rain).

Last time I was in Buriram, I wanted to get the girlfriend and family to start taking care of the yard a little better.

I looked around a bit for some garden tools, but wasn't able to locate some western type garden weapons, like a full bladed shovel (they only have the sliver kind), big rakes, garden hoe, pitchfork and few other items. Anyone know what stores sell these items?

Getting the tools is the easy part. Getting the family to use them & take care of the yard is another matter; especially if you're not going to be around to keep them on their toes.

I kind of got the same impression about the family wanting to use any new tool that they got and they sure don't take care of the tools and not just tools.

Putting oil on a metal blade of a tool to keep it from rusting seems like a foreign concept (I think that is an accurate description). They seem to leave tools outside to rust or they just disappear, never to be found. I will be back next month, so will keep searching and maybe visit that store a few mentioned. You think Big C has any or I'll try searching in town?

[Bicko]

Off to Bkk Sunday back Tuesday:

Registering the Daughter for Dual Nationality (Then she can have a split personality like her dad lol )

See you all next week so to speak

Cheers Mac. Have a good trip to Bangkok and hope all goes well for the rego. I guess you do that at the British embassy.

Sawai heading home in 2 weeks to supervise the rice harvest and make sure it all goes into our baan khao and not somebody else's.

I arrive home on 18th December and my 22 year old grandson Nathan from Oz will visit with us for a month. looking forward to showing him around our little patch. he is very interested to see the temples at Phimai and Phanom Rung and Muang tam and go over to the Mekong. We have booked in for Christmas lunch at Martins and will stay at one of the hotels Xmas eve and Xmas night. Look forward to catching up when we get home. Say Hi to Bea and cousin Ron.

Non stop rain bucketing down in Sumatra for the past week. Have had to stand the construction teams down.

[Disting]

Registered my daughter not so long ago. is no hassle at all. Just expensive if you are going to get the first passport also. Then again, anything to do with the British embassy is expensive. Need a letter confirming my income this trip for a visa extension. 1950 baht. For a letter. Rip off b!"£$%^&s

[Bicko]

Hey Ron i see you are on line. How are you mate?

How is the water project going?

Cheers

[ronthompson]

Hey Ron i see you are on line. How are you mate?

How is the water project going?

Cheers

You were right about the pump, I ended up buying a new larger pump and it works great. The soft water feels good.

Was a very good project but should have spoken with u or Ting at the hardware store first. Stop in when u are back home. Our rice will not be great this year, hope your is better.

[macb]

Registered my daughter not so long ago. is no hassle at all. Just expensive if you are going to get the first passport also. Then again, anything to do with the British embassy is expensive. Need a letter confirming my income this trip for a visa extension. 1950 baht. For a letter. Rip off b!"£$%^&s

WEll the embassy bit went easy left the wife and daughter at the Nana Hotel and walked to translation office very helpful passed onto me by Andy Lee (So anyone one wants translation office details Pm me they will be moving office I got new details as well:

Birth Cert translation from

THai to English 300 bht

Embassy Fee for Registering and 1 copy birth Cert also EMS postage to Buriram 10900 bht

Was only in Embassy 30 mins easy

Stopped at Pak Chong Monday night (I don't recommend this place to any one either) nothing to do or see really

Stopped at the Wat that is being built just before Korat now that is worth a visit

Re the Nana Hotel can recommend this very handy to pop out for a stroll and a drink which I did and met a bus Driver from the UK but cant remember his name must have been the Barcardi

The food at Nana Hotel is excellent and so is the breakfast, I paid 1400 bht for a room that was me the wife daughter and 14 yr old niece, including breakfast and 3 free cocktails thanks I enjoyed them all

[macb]

NEWS WEATHER INTEREST RATES AND ANYTHING ELSE THAT COMES TO MIND 17/11/07 09260HRS

Well we had a few cool mornings and a few nights where the air-con was not needed, but we are into hot again already it is very warm/hot outside the temp reading in the shade at the moment 24c, yesterday we went up to 36 c in the sun

http://www.tmd.go.th/en/province.php?id=33

Interest rates

GBP_THB = 69.573

USD_THB = 33.88

http://www.moneycorp.com/

Harvest is well under way the wife is just sending 5 sacks thats 20 tang or 400 kilo as a rough estimate lets see what they fetch : Still have about 30 Rai to cut as yet

[Bicko]

NEWS WEATHER INTEREST RATES AND ANYTHING ELSE THAT COMES TO MIND 17/11/07 09260HRS

Well we had a few cool mornings and a few nights where the air-con was not needed, but we are into hot again already it is very warm/hot outside the temp reading in the shade at the moment 24c, yesterday we went up to 36 c in the sun

http://www.tmd.go.th/en/province.php?id=33

Interest rates

GBP_THB = 69.573

USD_THB = 33.88

http://www.moneycorp.com/

Harvest is well under way the wife is just sending 5 sacks thats 20 tang or 400 kilo as a rough estimate lets see what they fetch : Still have about 30 Rai to cut as yet

Good day Mac. Hope all is well. I will be interested to see how much you get per kilo. They say prices will be up a bit this year. We still have about 10 bags (800kg) from last harvest to sell and will do that as soon as Sawai gets home in two weeks. She got 9 baht per kilo the week we saw you. Found out something interesting about that - boy you learn something everyday. You must never empty the baan khao out completely but leave a bag or two and make sure the floor is completely covered. Very bad luck/kharma to empty it completely.

Cheers mate.

[prakhonchai nick]

They say prices will be up a bit this year. We still have about 10 bags (800kg) from last harvest to sell and will do that as soon as Sawai gets home in two weeks. She got 9 baht per kilo the week we saw you.

It seems the going rate here in Prakhonchai this week is around 7.6bt/kg

[ronthompson]

They say prices will be up a bit this year. We still have about 10 bags (kg) from last harvest to sell and will do that as soon as Seaway gets home in two weeks. She got 9 baht per kilo the week we saw you.

It seems the going rate here in Paragons this week is around 7.BTU/kg

Huairat paid 7.5 this AM none of mine is ready harvest, was told it should be ready next week. Still debating to sell now or wait?

[RayBan]

There is an interesting article in today's Business section of the Bangkok Post for all you rice producers out there:-

AGRICULTURE COMMODITIES

Indian rice ban good for Thai exporters BP article

India's rice export ban is likely to benefit Thai rice exporters, especially of parboiled rice, with volumes expected to rise to more than 2.5 million tonnes this year.

Thailand is the main rival of India in the parboiled rice market and when Delhi suspended shipments to prevent a supply shortfall, buyers shifted to importing from Thai traders, said Chookiat Ophaswongse, President of the Rice Exporters Association.

............I hope the better prices filter down to you guys............

[ronthompson]

I really don't think that will filter down to the average farmer, Some one in the food chain will make a lot of money. I have noticed that ever so often some one in the area will start paying a very high price for rice and the farmer will rush to the location and a few will get a very good price.

I also read an article not so long ago where exporters were mixing our good Jasmine rice with cheaper northern rice??

I do hope the price goes up we start our harvest this weekend.

[ronthompson]

I really don't think that will filter down to the average farmer, Some one in the food chain will make a lot of money. I have noticed that ever so often some one in the area will start paying a very high price for rice and the farmer will rush to the location and a few will get a very good price.

I also read an article not so long ago where exporters were mixing our good Jasmine rice with cheaper northern rice??

I do hope the price goes up we start our harvest this weekend.

[Bicko]

I really don't think that will filter down to the average farmer, Some one in the food chain will make a lot of money. I have noticed that ever so often some one in the area will start paying a very high price for rice and the farmer will rush to the location and a few will get a very good price.

I also read an article not so long ago where exporters were mixing our good Jasmine rice with cheaper northern rice??

I do hope the price goes up we start our harvest this weekend.

Yes unfortunately you are right Ron. The poor old Thai farmer is the one who does the hard work, takes all the risk, lives in poverty and benefits the least. In many cases the merchants take advantage of them unmercifully.

This is the reason that we built our baan khao. At harvest we buy all the rice from the family and store it. We pay them the going rate at harvest which is obviously the lowest basic price. We wait until the price comes up as we did recently and then sell it and pay a dividend to the farmers in the family - a luxury that they could not afford previously as the merchants wanted their cut at harvest for repayment of fertiliser and other debts. This gives the family a second cash payment later in the year for which they are most grateful.

I plan to take this a step futher next year and build a decent storage shed and buy the fertiliser bulk at a substantial discount so they can get their fertiliser cheaper from us. Not much, if anything in it for us but it is a small sacrifice that my wife and i are prepared to make just to give our family and their kids a little bit more in life. As my wife often says "My brothers and sisters are little bit idiot with money because they have no education and everyone takes advantage of them"

[AYJAYDEE]

I really don't think that will filter down to the average farmer, Some one in the food chain will make a lot of money. I have noticed that ever so often some one in the area will start paying a very high price for rice and the farmer will rush to the location and a few will get a very good price.

I also read an article not so long ago where exporters were mixing our good Jasmine rice with cheaper northern rice??

I do hope the price goes up we start our harvest this weekend.

Yes unfortunately you are right Ron. The poor old Thai farmer is the one who does the hard work, takes all the risk, lives in poverty and benefits the least. In many cases the merchants take advantage of them unmercifully.

This is the reason that we built our baan khao. At harvest we buy all the rice from the family and store it. We pay them the going rate at harvest which is obviously the lowest basic price. We wait until the price comes up as we did recently and then sell it and pay a dividend to the farmers in the family - a luxury that they could not afford previously as the merchants wanted their cut at harvest for repayment of fertiliser and other debts. This gives the family a second cash payment later in the year for which they are most grateful.

I plan to take this a step futher next year and build a decent storage shed and buy the fertiliser bulk at a substantial discount so they can get their fertiliser cheaper from us. Not much, if anything in it for us but it is a small sacrifice that my wife and i are prepared to make just to give our family and their kids a little bit more in life. As my wife often says "My brothers and sisters are little bit idiot with money because they have no education and everyone takes advantage of them"

a brilliant plan! i commend you

[ronthompson]

I really don't think that will filter down to the average farmer, Some one in the food chain will make a lot of money. I have noticed that ever so often some one in the area will start paying a very high price for rice and the farmer will rush to the location and a few will get a very good price.

I also read an article not so long ago where exporters were mixing our good Jasmine rice with cheaper northern rice??

I do hope the price goes up we start our harvest this weekend.

Yes unfortunately you are right Ron. The poor old Thai farmer is the one who does the hard work, takes all the risk, lives in poverty and benefits the least. In many cases the merchants take advantage of them unmercifully.

This is the reason that we built our baan khao. At harvest we buy all the rice from the family and store it. We pay them the going rate at harvest which is obviously the lowest basic price. We wait until the price comes up as we did recently and then sell it and pay a dividend to the farmers in the family - a luxury that they could not afford previously as the merchants wanted their cut at harvest for repayment of fertiliser and other debts. This gives the family a second cash payment later in the year for which they are most grateful.

I plan to take this a step futher next year and build a decent storage shed and buy the fertiliser bulk at a substantial discount so they can get their fertiliser cheaper from us. Not much, if anything in it for us but it is a small sacrifice that my wife and i are prepared to make just to give our family and their kids a little bit more in life. As my wife often says "My brothers and sisters are little bit idiot with money because they have no education and everyone takes advantage of them"

Next time we are together I would like to talk more about your plans. I think you have the right idea,Do believe your wife is right as well, our family is the sane and they don't know it. How did u get such a smart wife?? must be your looks

[Bicko]

I really don't think that will filter down to the average farmer, Some one in the food chain will make a lot of money. I have noticed that ever so often some one in the area will start paying a very high price for rice and the farmer will rush to the location and a few will get a very good price.

I also read an article not so long ago where exporters were mixing our good Jasmine rice with cheaper northern rice??

I do hope the price goes up we start our harvest this weekend.

Yes unfortunately you are right Ron. The poor old Thai farmer is the one who does the hard work, takes all the risk, lives in poverty and benefits the least. In many cases the merchants take advantage of them unmercifully.

This is the reason that we built our baan khao. At harvest we buy all the rice from the family and store it. We pay them the going rate at harvest which is obviously the lowest basic price. We wait until the price comes up as we did recently and then sell it and pay a dividend to the farmers in the family - a luxury that they could not afford previously as the merchants wanted their cut at harvest for repayment of fertiliser and other debts. This gives the family a second cash payment later in the year for which they are most grateful.

I plan to take this a step futher next year and build a decent storage shed and buy the fertiliser bulk at a substantial discount so they can get their fertiliser cheaper from us. Not much, if anything in it for us but it is a small sacrifice that my wife and i are prepared to make just to give our family and their kids a little bit more in life. As my wife often says "My brothers and sisters are little bit idiot with money because they have no education and everyone takes advantage of them"

Next time we are together I would like to talk more about your plans. I think you have the right idea,Do believe your wife is right as well, our family is the sane and they don't know it. How did u get such a smart wife?? must be your looks

I just read your email to Sawai Ron and she laughed - I don't think it is the looks mate!!! Yes she is a smart lady but then most Thai women are from what i have seen. They just need to be encouraged and assisted to use their smart.

As an example not far from my place there is a farang who drinks himself stupid every day of his life. He opens his first bottle around 7 every morning and then sits on the sidewalk under the verandah of his wifes shop and gets drunk all day every day. Any way the point is his wife got enough money out of him to start her small business and she takes payment in rice. 6 weeks ago she sold 800 bags of rice for a little over 9 baht a kilo. She is a simple upcountry girl but she's got the smarts also. All she needed was a small capital to get started and she is now making good money. This is the sort of thing i am encouraging my family to do. The women really want to succeed but many of the blokes just want to sit under a tree and drink white whisky.

As you know Ron I have been in the Humanitarian aid business for many years and have been involved in a lot of micro finance projects in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Timor and so on and this is always the case - give the women a chance and they will succeed. i have documented many many instances of this.

[macb]

WEATHER EXCHANGE RATES FARMING NEWS 25/11/07 0833 HRS

Well this morning at 0600 hrs I recorded 13 c brrrrrrrrrrrr

The sun is up not a cloud in the sky

http://www.tmd.go.th/en/province.php?id=33

GBP-THB = 69.826

USD-THB = 33.85

http://www.moneycorp.com/

Harvest is well under weigh still a lot to be cut prices are not to bad for rice straight from the field Krasang paying 7.5 per kilo

[Disting]

Trouble and strife tells me that Satuk is paying 9.6 baht a kilo. 2 days ago a relative sold 35bags for 27000. I'm averaging 80 kilos a bag to get 9.64 a kilo. She also tells me there is a constant stream of full trucks heading up there so I hope the price stays high.

[ronthompson]

Sold our rice for 8.8 in Krasang this evening, straight from the field with nodrying.

on monday the price was 7.5 and it went up a little on each delivvery. All of our rice is in, I am told it was not a good crop this year, I had removed all the trees on one farm and was expecting a poor crop.

Always next year.

[terrortartan]

Sold our rice for 8.8 in Krasang this evening, straight from the field with nodrying.

on monday the price was 7.5 and it went up a little on each delivvery. All of our rice is in, I am told it was not a good crop this year, I had removed all the trees on one farm and was expecting a poor crop.

Always next year.

why no thai lady not want burilam forum here. If burilam lady say she not alo how people no she from lao if she speak like lao lady from burilam. it confuse the people who think burilam lady not thai lady she from alo if she speak lao not isaan ladt who know thai but speak lao at home with mother and father. I think id thai lady not want burilam forum then they should speak it in lao then we no if they from lao or burilam or maybe thai lady who work bangkok know lao maybe because she work lao before bangkok or hotel habe many lao customer. if thet true then thai lady say is true fr burilam lady or there mother she say if she from lao not close isaan beuase many epople say i no like lady burilam though some people say the pretty even if there buy umbrella because my mtoher say is minu 12 bruilam people no many die. i think is good.

[Disting]

<deleted>????

[Disting]

After a long battle with TOT which was resolved by going to the engineering office by the railway station instead of the unhelpful lot out on the old ring road, I have had IPstar fitted. Its a big dish, at least 2 times bigger than the UBC one. That leads in to a reciever box in the house and either plug the Lan cable straight in or as of tomorrow, I am going to make the house wireless. I went for the middle package at 512mbs download speed and 256 upload. They told me not to get the slower one and were pushing hard on the faster one (1048 down, 512 up). Cost were 2400 installation fee and a monthly fee of 2200. The next one up is 2600 and the lower one i think was 1700. Now for the really strange part, IT WORKS and its fast. I have been told by a guy who uses the places in town that its quicker than theirs. I can download music, play poker online, use a webcam, skype etc. I am 25 kms out of town and have been using a TOT dial up for 3 years, thats why the excitement. A big recommend to anyone in the same situation. Well worth the money.

[Iambabababor]

After a long battle with TOT which was resolved by going to the engineering office by the railway station instead of the unhelpful lot out on the old ring road, I have had IPstar fitted. Its a big dish, at least 2 times bigger than the UBC one. That leads in to a reciever box in the house and either plug the Lan cable straight in or as of tomorrow, I am going to make the house wireless. I went for the middle package at 512mbs download speed and 256 upload. They told me not to get the slower one and were pushing hard on the faster one (1048 down, 512 up). Cost were 2400 installation fee and a monthly fee of 2200. The next one up is 2600 and the lower one i think was 1700. Now for the really strange part, IT WORKS and its fast. I have been told by a guy who uses the places in town that its quicker than theirs. I can download music, play poker online, use a webcam, skype etc. I am 25 kms out of town and have been using a TOT dial up for 3 years, thats why the excitement. A big recommend to anyone in the same situation. Well worth the money.

I have the lower IPSTAR package - 256 download. It is fine most of the time. However most days it is erratic early afternoon, and is on and off several times. I;m sure this will affect every package.

Please tell us how you are going to make it "wireless"