"keep Busy" Projects

[Lourens]

I'll be retiring to Buriram agian later this month as I have done in the past. I hate sitting around doing nothing and did small projects just to keep myself busy with. Some have been succesful while others were a miserable failure to worthless or embarrasing to mention here.

One thing that I did very succesfully was a build a meat smoker (full details HERE) that worked really well until the garbage truck backed-up over it.

I got a Dremel rotary tool as a gift and was wondering if the attachments are available in Buriram or anywhere in Thailand?

Then my dream is to one day own and maybe even opperate my own JCB. I believe the more popular model in Thailand is the Kuboto. Does anyone have any experience with these?

What are your hobbies?

[macb]

Have a look in the Farming Section on TV there is a guy there who is a sales rep I believe for tractors.

Also read my topic on do you live in a Thai village.

My house stands in 1 Rai with about 50 different types of trees planted, the in laws have thefarm about 100m away.

I have a 4 stroke petrol strimmer and I do my own strimming I also strim on the farm to rid the grass that cows do not like cos of the spikey ends, it depends how fit you are, I personally want to do things myself.

THen I have my computer and Thai visa I also play online chess www.gameknot.com and a quest game I am playing www.battleon.com

Any D i y that needs doing I do myself.

Well thats a start

[Tony Clifton]

I' m preparing for fishing trips soon, boat on top the truck, camping and all. After seeing the price of fishing lures here, a rip off, I've decided to make my own.

[chownah]

With a dremel tool couldn't you open a dental clinic?....start a dental school thread and I'm sure that taxexile will be glad to give some pointers.

Chownah

[chownah]

Have a look in the Farming Section on TV there is a guy there who is a sales rep I believe for tractors.

Also read my topic on do you live in a Thai village.

My house stands in 1 Rai with about 50 different types of trees planted, the in laws have thefarm about 100m away.

I have a 4 stroke petrol strimmer and I do my own strimming I also strim on the farm to rid the grass that cows do not like cos of the spikey ends, it depends how fit you are, I personally want to do things myself.

THen I have my computer and Thai visa I also play online chess www.gameknot.com and a quest game I am playing www.battleon.com

Any D i y that needs doing I do myself.

Well thats a start

I'm glad to hear that you do 4 stroke strimming. Too many strimmers figure that they get good exercise when they always strim the same stroke back and forth for an hour but I think you get a much better workout if vary your strokes every few laps and I think strimming is more fun as well as being better all around conditioner if you use different strokes.

Chownah

[emwobberlydee]

Cycling around my home town and over to the surrounding amphur towns by the back routes / tracks with GPS. I also like to go kayaking on the Mun River. On a rainy day, there is always the stamp collection to work on...

[Lourens]

With a dremel tool couldn't you open a dental clinic?....start a dental school thread and I'm sure that taxexile will be glad to give some pointers.

Chownah

Now there's a thought . . .

When I said JCB, I meant one of these babies:

[Thaicoon]

With a dremel tool couldn't you open a dental clinic?....start a dental school thread and I'm sure that taxexile will be glad to give some pointers.

Chownah

Now there's a thought . . .

When I said JCB, I meant one of these babies:

HI LOURENS,

Not seen you for a while, i will also be back soon, hey, i could use that JCB, got a few things to do, as you know, when i return got enough to do to keep me busy, with the house and garden, also got umpteen projects ahead of me, got that 6 rai to turn into a resort, ( The Embassy ), and also that fishing park i want to open, so when i actually come there full time, i am going to be busy, i will get geoff to give me a hand, i do not want to end up on the beer every day, i have seen one guy return to the uk with nothing, due to drinking, and he had a good little business in Buriram, i will not mention names, but it grows in thailand, and he opened it.

If you see Geoff give him my best

[macb]

With a dremel tool couldn't you open a dental clinic?....start a dental school thread and I'm sure that taxexile will be glad to give some pointers.

Chownah

Now there's a thought . . .

When I said JCB, I meant one of these babies:

HI LOURENS,

Not seen you for a while, i will also be back soon, hey, i could use that JCB, got a few things to do, as you know, when i return got enough to do to keep me busy, with the house and garden, also got umpteen projects ahead of me, got that 6 rai to turn into a resort, ( The Embassy ), and also that fishing park i want to open, so when i actually come there full time, i am going to be busy, i will get geoff to give me a hand, i do not want to end up on the beer every day, i have seen one guy return to the uk with nothing, due to drinking, and he had a good little business in Buriram, i will not mention names, but it grows in thailand, and he opened it.

If you see Geoff give him my best

Someone is opening a fishing lake and restaurant halfway between Huairat and Burriram??

[macb]

Have a look in the Farming Section on TV there is a guy there who is a sales rep I believe for tractors.

Also read my topic on do you live in a Thai village.

My house stands in 1 Rai with about 50 different types of trees planted, the in laws have thefarm about 100m away.

I have a 4 stroke petrol strimmer and I do my own strimming I also strim on the farm to rid the grass that cows do not like cos of the spikey ends, it depends how fit you are, I personally want to do things myself.

THen I have my computer and Thai visa I also play online chess www.gameknot.com and a quest game I am playing www.battleon.com

Any D i y that needs doing I do myself.

Well thats a start

I'm glad to hear that you do 4 stroke strimming. Too many strimmers figure that they get good exercise when they always strim the same stroke back and forth for an hour but I think you get a much better workout if vary your strokes every few laps and I think strimming is more fun as well as being better all around conditioner if you use different strokes.

Chownah

mmmmmmmmm its to early for me to think of a suitable answer......which might contain some wit now let me think with a Stroke of luck I might think of something

[billd766]

With a dremel tool couldn't you open a dental clinic?....start a dental school thread and I'm sure that taxexile will be glad to give some pointers.

Chownah

Now there's a thought . . .

When I said JCB, I meant one of these babies:

Then my dream is to one day own and maybe even opperate my own JCB. I believe the more popular model in Thailand is the Kuboto. Does anyone have any experience with these?

Hi Lourens

Unfortunately I think that while owning a JCB is legal operating it yourself will probably come under the proscribed jobs that farangs are not permitted to do.

I have seen a couple up here in the Central region but driven by Thais.

You would really need an experienced fulltime driver who is also careful and trustworthy (4 oxymorons in 9 words) and you could hire it out. The problem over a period of time is service and maintenance (2 more) will be expensive unless you live close to the supplier as a JCB is not something that you could take to the local fixit shop and get done cheaply.

Twice now I have tried to edit this post and it ha srun away from me. D*** thing.

[Lourens]

HI LOURENS,

Not seen you for a while, i will also be back soon, hey, i could use that JCB, got a few things to do, as you know, when i return got enough to do to keep me busy, with the house and garden, also got umpteen projects ahead of me, got that 6 rai to turn into a resort, ( The Embassy ), and also that fishing park i want to open, so when i actually come there full time, i am going to be busy, i will get geoff to give me a hand, i do not want to end up on the beer every day, i have seen one guy return to the uk with nothing, due to drinking, and he had a good little business in Buriram, i will not mention names, but it grows in thailand, and he opened it.

If you see Geoff give him my best

Get Geoff to give you a hand at work??? and then not end up on the beer???

Only kidding. Geoff is a great guy and I will most certainly see him and give him your best. The Embassy is a great idea and that would give us a new place to visit appart from just the usual and sometimes boring location in town right now.

Billd766 - I know about the problems a machine like that will bring. But right now it is still just a dream. I'm thinking "no limit" money here and there's a fat chance of that happening soon. Unless, off course, I win the lottery

What about hobbies? No train sets, model building, kite flying etc. ? emwobberlydee said "On a rainy day, there is always the stamp collection to work on..." But don't you gave to go out to to collect these stamps? In the rain?

[Issangeorge]

Cycling around my home town and over to the surrounding amphur towns by the back routes / tracks with GPS. I also like to go kayaking on the Mun River. On a rainy day, there is always the stamp collection to work on...

Where did you get your GPS unit and does it have good mapping for the Issan area? Thanks Issangeorge.

[Thaicoon]

With a dremel tool couldn't you open a dental clinic?....start a dental school thread and I'm sure that taxexile will be glad to give some pointers.

Chownah

Now there's a thought . . .

When I said JCB, I meant one of these babies:

HI LOURENS,

Not seen you for a while, i will also be back soon, hey, i could use that JCB, got a few things to do, as you know, when i return got enough to do to keep me busy, with the house and garden, also got umpteen projects ahead of me, got that 6 rai to turn into a resort, ( The Embassy ), and also that fishing park i want to open, so when i actually come there full time, i am going to be busy, i will get geoff to give me a hand, i do not want to end up on the beer every day, i have seen one guy return to the uk with nothing, due to drinking, and he had a good little business in Buriram, i will not mention names, but it grows in thailand, and he opened it.

If you see Geoff give him my best

Someone is opening a fishing lake and restaurant halfway between Huairat and Burriram??

Macb

Its been on he cards since i bought the place 8 years ago, i have 2 ideal spots, just off the buriram-surin highway, Lourens knows the place well and a lot of guys from buriram, know the embassy, i called it this as it has a front entrance like the dreaded place in Bangers, and has the sign on the gate (british Embassy visa section) had no que's there yet, you may see my father in law there wearing his welsh dragon shorts and his national lottery rollover baseball cap. better uniform as well

Go check it out, village is Ban Kok Yai, ask for Ians place.

[emwobberlydee]

Cycling around my home town and over to the surrounding amphur towns by the back routes / tracks with GPS. I also like to go kayaking on the Mun River. On a rainy day, there is always the stamp collection to work on...

Where did you get your GPS unit and does it have good mapping for the Issan area? Thanks Issangeorge.

I bought it in the Phantip Plaza last year, I only found one shop, I can't recall the name of the shop but it is on the left as you enter the Plaza from the footbridge and 2nd from the end before you overlook the ground floor, confused? There were plenty available in Fortune Towers on Ratchadaphisek Road but all the shops had the same prices. I bought a Garmin CS60, none of the shops have a real one on display, only presentation models (no guts). When you buy one you can ask for the city map option which gives you an extremely detailed map of Thailand including about 95% of all the dirt roads (my estimate.) The map is extremely accurate although it set me back a further Baht 4000, well worth it in my opinion. When you order the model you want it will be delivered to the shop in 24 hours.

Warning, there is only one distributor in Thailand and they are happily charging more than double what I have seen on Ebay. I have no idea how to get the local map without buying the GPS from this company (any prices I quote now will be 18 months out of date.) The map is so detailed on the 50m scale that hotels / bars / restaraunts / petrol stations / schools etc all show up - very useful. I have no regrets paying the full price as it has really opened up Issan for me, there's nothing worse than cycling along a track that ends up as a dead end in the rice paddy! i have been unable to download the map from the GPS to my computer either, the computer software that comes with it is fairly hopeless except for the download and upload features and map woefully inaccurate.

Hope this helps - Emwobberlydee

[Lourens]

Some while back, I was thinking of producing silk products and then selling it to make lots of money. But there were so many complications that I decided not to persue it any further. Besides, it is one of the verboten occupations for Farang. Read all about it HERE.

Now, I was thinking: What about Bee Keeping? That could be fun and profit right there. The way I figured it, I could be producing high quality honey, and then selling it at the local markets or even get OTOP involved. And I can do all of this for a fraction of the cost of other producers. Taking my effort, labour and overheads into consideration, I would be able to sell honey at around 25 Baht per gallon. I'm taking orders now. There may be a bit of a waiting list though. I only have one bee so far and I have a flower on order from my neigbour.

Might work?

[phibunmike]

Cycling around my home town and over to the surrounding amphur towns by the back routes / tracks with GPS. I also like to go kayaking on the Mun River. On a rainy day, there is always the stamp collection to work on...

I live near the Mun and was thinking of buying a couple of kayaks, for use on the Mun and at Sirindhorn - where did you buy yours ?

You can buy GPS in BKK here: http://www.gadgetrend.com/gps_nav.php

Cheers,

Mike

[Gary A]

Can you do a little test for me? I live near a village in Loei named Nong Hin. We have some friends that live in Si Chompu. The Garmin unit I looked at routed me south on 201 to Chumpae then east on highway 12 then back north on 2153 to Si Chompu. We did take a shortcut once but without my wife with me and her asking directions we would have never made it. My road atlas shows no roads between highway 201 and highway 2153 but there are some. Without that kind of detailed information I don't need to spend the money for a GPS and can continue to use the road atlas.

Cycling around my home town and over to the surrounding amphur towns by the back routes / tracks with GPS. I also like to go kayaking on the Mun River. On a rainy day, there is always the stamp collection to work on...

Where did you get your GPS unit and does it have good mapping for the Issan area? Thanks Issangeorge.

I bought it in the Phantip Plaza last year, I only found one shop, I can't recall the name of the shop but it is on the left as you enter the Plaza from the footbridge and 2nd from the end before you overlook the ground floor, confused? There were plenty available in Fortune Towers on Ratchadaphisek Road but all the shops had the same prices. I bought a Garmin CS60, none of the shops have a real one on display, only presentation models (no guts). When you buy one you can ask for the city map option which gives you an extremely detailed map of Thailand including about 95% of all the dirt roads (my estimate.) The map is extremely accurate although it set me back a further Baht 4000, well worth it in my opinion. When you order the model you want it will be delivered to the shop in 24 hours.

Warning, there is only one distributor in Thailand and they are happily charging more than double what I have seen on Ebay. I have no idea how to get the local map without buying the GPS from this company (any prices I quote now will be 18 months out of date.) The map is so detailed on the 50m scale that hotels / bars / restaraunts / petrol stations / schools etc all show up - very useful. I have no regrets paying the full price as it has really opened up Issan for me, there's nothing worse than cycling along a track that ends up as a dead end in the rice paddy! i have been unable to download the map from the GPS to my computer either, the computer software that comes with it is fairly hopeless except for the download and upload features and map woefully inaccurate.

Hope this helps - Emwobberlydee

[emwobberlydee]

Cycling around my home town and over to the surrounding amphur towns by the back routes / tracks with GPS. I also like to go kayaking on the Mun River. On a rainy day, there is always the stamp collection to work on...

I live near the Mun and was thinking of buying a couple of kayaks, for use on the Mun and at Sirindhorn - where did you buy yours ?

You can buy GPS in BKK here: http://www.gadgetrend.com/gps_nav.php

Cheers,

Mike

I bought mine from Joy Sports in Bangkok, their address is 332/32, 4th floor, Chinchana Building, Asoke-Dindang Road. I ordered everything on the internet and it was transported to my house in Surin province for Baht 800. The Kayak brand name is Feel Free and you can see what is available at:-

www.feelfreekayak.com - the Thai link doesn't seem to be working at the moment (1 month already!) Their product range can still be seen on the international part of the website.

I'm going to try and find their shop in a couple of days time while I'm passing through Bangkok.

[emwobberlydee]

Can you do a little test for me? I live near a village in Loei named Nong Hin. We have some friends that live in Si Chompu. The Garmin unit I looked at routed me south on 201 to Chumpae then east on highway 12 then back north on 2153 to Si Chompu. We did take a shortcut once but without my wife with me and her asking directions we would have never made it. My road atlas shows no roads between highway 201 and highway 2153 but there are some. Without that kind of detailed information I don't need to spend the money for a GPS and can continue to use the road atlas.

I'll take a look once I get home later at the end of the week...

Cycling around my home town and over to the surrounding amphur towns by the back routes / tracks with GPS. I also like to go kayaking on the Mun River. On a rainy day, there is always the stamp collection to work on...

Where did you get your GPS unit and does it have good mapping for the Issan area? Thanks Issangeorge.

I bought it in the Phantip Plaza last year, I only found one shop, I can't recall the name of the shop but it is on the left as you enter the Plaza from the footbridge and 2nd from the end before you overlook the ground floor, confused? There were plenty available in Fortune Towers on Ratchadaphisek Road but all the shops had the same prices. I bought a Garmin CS60, none of the shops have a real one on display, only presentation models (no guts). When you buy one you can ask for the city map option which gives you an extremely detailed map of Thailand including about 95% of all the dirt roads (my estimate.) The map is extremely accurate although it set me back a further Baht 4000, well worth it in my opinion. When you order the model you want it will be delivered to the shop in 24 hours.

Warning, there is only one distributor in Thailand and they are happily charging more than double what I have seen on Ebay. I have no idea how to get the local map without buying the GPS from this company (any prices I quote now will be 18 months out of date.) The map is so detailed on the 50m scale that hotels / bars / restaraunts / petrol stations / schools etc all show up - very useful. I have no regrets paying the full price as it has really opened up Issan for me, there's nothing worse than cycling along a track that ends up as a dead end in the rice paddy! i have been unable to download the map from the GPS to my computer either, the computer software that comes with it is fairly hopeless except for the download and upload features and map woefully inaccurate.

Hope this helps - Emwobberlydee

[phibunmike]

www.feelfreekayak.com - the Thai link doesn't seem to be working at the moment (1 month already!) Their product range can still be seen on the international part of the website.

I'm going to try and find their shop in a couple of days time while I'm passing through Bangkok.

Thanks, I looked at their website and found the same problem. If I can buy a kayak somewhere in Thailand I will, I don't mind driving down to BKK and putting one on the roof-rack...

[emwobberlydee]

www.feelfreekayak.com - the Thai link doesn't seem to be working at the moment (1 month already!) Their product range can still be seen on the international part of the website.

I'm going to try and find their shop in a couple of days time while I'm passing through Bangkok.

Thanks, I looked at their website and found the same problem. If I can buy a kayak somewhere in Thailand I will, I don't mind driving down to BKK and putting one on the roof-rack...

Just paid for another kayak from Central World (4th floor) Central Chidlom. I bought an Express Tourer Deluxe (new model) for Baht 24000 plus Baht 500 for delivery to Surin Province. Interesting to see that the prices are up a good 30% compared to last year! They only have a limited selection to view in the shop. The address I gave earlier is only their office but at least they had a brochure and told me where to go (politely) to buy a kayak. It should be delivered about five days after the order.

[emwobberlydee]

Can you do a little test for me? I live near a village in Loei named Nong Hin. We have some friends that live in Si Chompu. The Garmin unit I looked at routed me south on 201 to Chumpae then east on highway 12 then back north on 2153 to Si Chompu. We did take a shortcut once but without my wife with me and her asking directions we would have never made it. My road atlas shows no roads between highway 201 and highway 2153 but there are some. Without that kind of detailed information I don't need to spend the money for a GPS and can continue to use the road atlas.

Gary, There are many un-named roads between Route 201 and route 228 - where I found Si Chompu. As to how good these roads are.....? I have never used a GPS to suggest a route but I guess they recommend the major routes. The minor roads only show up on the GPS on the 1.2km scale or better when the unit is set to "detailed" so it can be a little tricky to plan a route in advance.

Hope this helps - emwobberlydee

Cycling around my home town and over to the surrounding amphur towns by the back routes / tracks with GPS. I also like to go kayaking on the Mun River. On a rainy day, there is always the stamp collection to work on...

Where did you get your GPS unit and does it have good mapping for the Issan area? Thanks Issangeorge.

I bought it in the Phantip Plaza last year, I only found one shop, I can't recall the name of the shop but it is on the left as you enter the Plaza from the footbridge and 2nd from the end before you overlook the ground floor, confused? There were plenty available in Fortune Towers on Ratchadaphisek Road but all the shops had the same prices. I bought a Garmin CS60, none of the shops have a real one on display, only presentation models (no guts). When you buy one you can ask for the city map option which gives you an extremely detailed map of Thailand including about 95% of all the dirt roads (my estimate.) The map is extremely accurate although it set me back a further Baht 4000, well worth it in my opinion. When you order the model you want it will be delivered to the shop in 24 hours.

Warning, there is only one distributor in Thailand and they are happily charging more than double what I have seen on Ebay. I have no idea how to get the local map without buying the GPS from this company (any prices I quote now will be 18 months out of date.) The map is so detailed on the 50m scale that hotels / bars / restaraunts / petrol stations / schools etc all show up - very useful. I have no regrets paying the full price as it has really opened up Issan for me, there's nothing worse than cycling along a track that ends up as a dead end in the rice paddy! i have been unable to download the map from the GPS to my computer either, the computer software that comes with it is fairly hopeless except for the download and upload features and map woefully inaccurate.

Hope this helps - Emwobberlydee

[phibunmike]

www.feelfreekayak.com - the Thai link doesn't seem to be working at the moment (1 month already!) Their product range can still be seen on the international part of the website.

I'm going to try and find their shop in a couple of days time while I'm passing through Bangkok.

Thanks, I looked at their website and found the same problem. If I can buy a kayak somewhere in Thailand I will, I don't mind driving down to BKK and putting one on the roof-rack...

Just paid for another kayak from Central World (4th floor) Central Chidlom. I bought an Express Tourer Deluxe (new model) for Baht 24000 plus Baht 500 for delivery to Surin Province. Interesting to see that the prices are up a good 30% compared to last year! They only have a limited selection to view in the shop. The address I gave earlier is only their office but at least they had a brochure and told me where to go (politely) to buy a kayak. It should be delivered about five days after the order.

Thanks for the info. Where can I go to look at the kayaks available ?

[Thaicoon]

www.feelfreekayak.com - the Thai link doesn't seem to be working at the moment (1 month already!) Their product range can still be seen on the international part of the website.

I'm going to try and find their shop in a couple of days time while I'm passing through Bangkok.

Thanks, I looked at their website and found the same problem. If I can buy a kayak somewhere in Thailand I will, I don't mind driving down to BKK and putting one on the roof-rack...

Phibunmike.....

Look in the classifieds on thai visa, wiggler has a two seater kyak for sale 18,000 baht. nice one he has a pic of it.