roiet
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Thanks for that expatgaz.
The wife is in Thailand at the moment hence the reason that I can spend so much time on the internet. I speak with her every day and we were talking about the best place to stay and she seems to think that Roi et would be better. Have you been there and if so what do you think?
The locals call Roi-et the smiling city
. Nice for holiday making and settle down if you want. Very nice lake and park in the centre of town. Recommended hotels are Roi et City and Petcharad Garden (swimming pool). 2 more swimming pools in the city. Golf place. Shopping Lotus and Makro with lots of falang food. KFC and Plaza Shopping for Falang size dresses. Best falang food at White Elephant with snooker, dart and free high speed Internet.. Some very good styled Thai restaurants with very friendly service. Elegant live music restaurants like 101 and the Glass House. Good styled bars. Airport etc etc -
Ok , we have learned that rubber trees will take a long time to produce a sellable product . and palm trees are fickle . My question is .. What can I ( we ) grow , raise that will make the most amount of baht in the shortest amount of time and of course with the smallest investment . Lets say with 15 rie in Isaan .
all input welcome
thank you ,
Jeff
Do you have some farming experience ?? Here its a bit different. The soil is not fertile at all and initial investment could dissapoint you. Your wife or family in law could pass some investment experience.
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the 3 most important factors in concrete construction are
1) water/cement ratio
2) vibrating to remove air pockets
3) slow curing
here's an excerpt from a book i'm writing about building techniques in thailand
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The strength of concrete depends on 3 factors:
1) The proportions of cement, sand, rock and water in the mixture
2) How well the air pockets are removed from the poured concrete
3) How long it has to cure and the curing conditions
In all of the above factors, I feel that Thai builders generally do a bad job.
Cement/water proportion
The ratio of water to cement will control how strong your final concrete is. The more water that is in the concrete mix, the weaker your concrete will be.
This graph shows the relationship between the amount of water in the concrete as a ratio of water to cement, and its effect on the concrete strength (after 28 days).
The graph above shows that by doubling the amount of water in the concrete mix, you will approximately half its strength!
Concrete should be firm enough that if you form a tower about 1 foot (30cm) high and about 4 inches (10cm) diameter, it should droop no more than about 3 or 4 inches (7-10cm). If it drops instantly into a pile of rock swimming in cement, you have a problem!
I find that Thai builders love to make concrete too wet, because it’s easier to work with. Keep a close eye on the consistency of the mix and tell them if you are not satisfied.
The water in concrete should be clean and not salty. Concrete books say it should be good enough to drink. I wouldn’t drink the water coming out of my pipes, but it is good enough for concrete.
Air pockets in poured concrete
Freshly poured concrete is full of air pockets. Air does not support any weight (surprise, surprise!). It is vitally important that the air is shaken out of the concrete before it hardens. This is usually done by stabbing or poking it repeatedly with a piece of steel rod.
These 2 pictures show the effect of vibrating more or less air out of the same concrete in 2 different places.
The left side shows the area under the post bases where the concrete was poked for about 2 minutes. As you can see, the air bubbles are very small.
The right side shows where the concrete was not vibrated for long enough. This air pocket is about 2cm long and 1cm high.
You can buy a concrete vibrator for bigger jobs, but that is expensive (about 10,000 baht). I suggest you tell your builder you want 2 extra people on concrete days that do NOTHING but vibrate the concrete. And check that it is what they actually do. If your builder looks reluctant, give him 500 baht to pay for the workers.
Curing concrete
Concrete gains most of its strength in the first 28 days after it is poured. Think of those first 28 days like it’s a new baby. You need to take extra care not to over stress it (by loading too much weight on it) and it has to cure properly.
Concrete gains strength by curing NOT BY DRYING!! It must be protected from drying too quickly, which in Thailand, in the dry season is admittedly a big challenge.
If concrete dries too quickly, it will not have chance to cure and the concrete will be weak.
You should leave wood forms on as long as possible, both to provide support and to stop it drying too quickly. This is especially important on structural components like floor joists and posts.
Also cover new concrete with something to protect it from the sun and try to keep it moist. The Thais will think you are crazy, kon bâa!, watering concrete, especially after you have spend all morning complaining the mix is too wet, but it is very important you look after your new baby for the first 28 days. You cannot fix it later (although the builder will try by patching it up with cement mortar!)
The graph above shows the effect of exposure of concrete to the air after pouring. Concrete that is exposed to the air immediately after pouring will only reach 50% of its ideal strength and will stop curing after 28 days. Concrete that is protected from drying for a full 28 days will gain up to 125% of its ideal strength in 28 days and will keep getting stronger. (The Hover dam in America is still curing, 60 years after it was built!).
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if anyone is interested in the whole book, i need proof readers with building experience in thailand, pls let me know via PM.
thanks, steve
Great Steve, thanks a lot for professional advice
Watering concrete is very important. After my house was finished I built a 300 meter long wall around it. The builder left after the job was done. I sprinkled water for 3 weeks twice per day. I heard remarks that this falang must be really crazy
. I ignored the remarks and do not regret. The wall is strong and has only a few small cracks. -
Just a little input.
Concrete is an empirical ( had to use my dictionary for this one) science
The cement is important but quality (no salt except with special CPJ cement) and quality of water is important too.
Too much water, you get cracks and your concrete gets weaker.
Sand must be clean too, with enough fillers. Size and shape of gravels is important too.
May be I am asking too much here.
The figure 320 or 240 or whatever is the expect resistance of concrete to compression. The higher it is , the better.
With special cemnts, you cn get up to 800 but it is quite expensive and not relevant for a simple house construction.
Important: do not forget to put some still in your concrete, whatever you want to do with it ( compression or tension), it helps to prevent the cracks.
From your explanation I am learning. The walls of my house are polished with concrete of 1cm thickness. This polish was applied 2 days after the brick wall was finished. I tried to stop the builder from applying the polish because the wall was still wet. The polish dried quickly and paint was applied 1 week later and the first cracks appeared 5 days later. The whole house was painted again to cover the cracks
. 1 year later the house has 120 hair thin cracks, most of them 3-4 meters long. Some experts told me the builder should have added 4 % instead of 2 % cement, the brick wall needs 2 weeks to dry, the polish needs 1 month to dry before painting. The acrylic exterior paint should only have 15 % water added and not 30 %. So I learned my lesson
.I am lucky with my swimming pool, rock solid CPAC truck mix.
miminem thanks a lot for your advice
, if I ever build a house again I will hire you as an expert, o.k. ? -
From CPAC you order the strength you need for the specific job, ie footings for a swimming pool you may use 240, but the walls of the swimming pool maybe 320.
For general building you would use Chang cement for footings and beam work, and Sua cement for brickwork and rendering off.
Sorry to ask about the cement for the swimming pool. The strength 320 for the pool walls is also a matter of thickness of the wall, isnt it. What is 320 ?
Is it 320 pound per square foot or what ?
Thanks your advice.
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Trees to act as ‘tsunami breaks’
PHUKET: -- Trees may be planted along the Andaman Coast to give some protection to the land from future tsunamis, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Yongyuth Tiyapairat said this weekend.
The Minister, on a visit to Phuket, said that buildings that had been sheltered from the sea by trees, particularly casuarinas, appeared to have suffered much less damage during the tsunami than those that had not.
Officials from the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources are now surveying the Andaman coastline and procuring trees that could be planted as natural “tsunami breaks”.
K. Yongyuth added, however, that the decision as to which trees should be planted should take into account their appropriateness for the surroundings.
--Phuket Gazette 2005-04-11
Thank you George and Plachon
This post is a breath of fresh air and reflects another thread to perfection.
Many people in many countires found themselves clinging to trees during the tsunami, in order to escape the oceans wrath.
However, many of the trees are now adrift or washed up on some beach, miles from their original habitat. The problem now is to replace these trees that have been uprooted or destroyed by the salinity as soon as possible, in order to give them the best possible chance of surviving the next tsunami.
Should we ignore the loss of these trees in favour of new buildings, concrete roads and huts, the devastation from the next one will undoubtedly be even more deadly.
But there is another reason that trees should be replanted along the coastlines, and that is to encourage moisture from the ocean to cross onto the land.
Today the drought, tomorrow the desert!
I have just received a very poitive email, informing me that our endevours to reforest Thailand have not fallen on deaf ears. The Pocket Full of Acorns project , together with the idea of a National Tree Planting week has now been forwarded to His Majesty the King Of Thailand
Andrew
Andrew
I am very happy to hear about the email. His Majesty the King has realised many good projects already. As mentioned before forrestry research centers all over the country have variety of trees to give away. The next step will be realised. Good news.
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OH, I wish I could write like Ray.
Post of the month award for Ray please.
Post of the year award for Ray please .
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Thais proudly boast that they were never colonised by the Brits or French but thats their undoing it seems to me .
Whereas Singapore and HK had the legal system , education and hard work instilled in them with a good framework for society to adhere to , the thais remained a shambolic 3rd world backwater until recent tourism allowed them to progress from the mire .
But even so i cant see them ever progressing to become another Singapore or HK as their whole society is geared to injustice ,corruption and inequality . And dont even mention the lousy education system .
I would trust my ATM card and pin number with a Chinese , Singaporean or HK woman and know they wouldnt raid my account. But would you trust the same with a Thai woman ?
Most definately NOT !!
It would be emptied out in days .
Seems like beeing upset about individuals and bashing the whole system. This forum is the wrong place. As said Singapore or HK seem be better places, why not settle there
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As this reality lark is still new here I'll bet some, if not all, "contestents" will get record deals out of it.
Judging by the acadamy fantasia lot, talent is not a requirement!
Same as all over the world, boring, but some local adaption.
INDEX furniture store commercial. Talent is a requirement, very careful moving around
not to scratch expensive glass ceramic stoves and tables. -
This is the link to the Thai radar site.
And a site for worldwide Meteorology & Weather Radar Links.
http://www.chmi.cz/meteo/rad/_gorn/links.html
NL
NarrLing
Great stuff
The early rain is the result of the governments cloud-seeding. East of Roi-et already 5 times rain in March up to 30 min.
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The medical certificate has always been required for retiree's but is now required to extend each year. It is a very cursory exam.
Immmigration officers do not apply the same rule for everybody. I have a retirement visa for 3 years now and have never been asked for a medical certificate. I just renewed my visa in Bangkok, no question about this, just a quick remark: you look healthy.
3 friends of mine renewed their retirement visas in Mukdahan this Monday, also no question about medical certificate. They also have never been asked for a mc.
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New to forum and want to introduce myself. My username is khun jim. open to all inteligent life forms
Welcome Khun Jim
What are your interests, life forms ?
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I doubt that you have the right figures - TRUE and LOXINFO both have an Upload of 512 with the 1024 Download package. Also people do not use Uploading bandwidth very much (which is why it is lowered to give more download bandwidth) thus it will often run at maximum speed. The Download capacity is what other people sharing your ISP server are using, thus it often drops very low as it bottlenecks.
And it bootlenecks often because ISPs do not want to increase server capacity and bandwidth. They usually try to get a lot of customers first and wait until customer complaints are very strong. So the first ADSL users are a bit unlucky, the latecomers can enjoy speed
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Khon Kaen:
Corner Klang Muang Rd. / Prachasomosorn Rd.
in the 2nd floor
but don't expect too much
Thanks, any information is welcome.
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It all comes down to the "recipe" when they mix it. Your best grade cement will become crap if not mixed properly as many try and cut down on cost by cutting corners, as when painting, they'll add water to the paint bucket.
Mixing a bit longer makes your house stronger and it lasts longer.
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A bit off topic here........in the opening post you mention you wouldnt want to travel to Korat to find english books.....Can you please let me know where this shop is located. I have looked everywhere over a period of 6 months and eventually had to go bkk for seriously expensive books....
It gets boring reading the bangkok post dosn't it.....
I heard there is one small one in the Mall, but when I check the info again, it seems to be the same as always Thai - English dics.
PS: I am also tired of reading Bangkok Post and watching the Supper TV Channel CNN. Now the latest Iraq news 24 hours per day.
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Roiet,, keep in touch with me. I normally bring a laod of books with me when ever I come over. Also another book worm is MARTIN at thaihomestay north of Khon Kean send him a email I gave him about 40 books the other month. you can find his posts here on TV
Thanks a lot. Loking forward to a truckload of good english books. In the meantime I contact Martin. Thanks again
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Is there any English bookshop in Isaan. I dont want go to Bangkok to Asia Bookshop or Korat or buy via Internet or use a library which is far away. I find a lot of locals talking about english bookshops, but when I go there I usually find Thai - English dics.
Are some members also interested to swop english written books, or is anybody prepared to sell some used english books.
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I was talking about one of these babies:
For these monsters you need a 150 Rai
golf place in front of your house ? You provide the golf place , I deliver the Kubotas -
The annual boon ban fai festival should be coming up soon. That is a rocket festival to wake up the rain gods. I used to go to Phnom Pai for the festivities. It is said that it originated there but Yasothon contests the claim. The rockets have to be seen to be believed. Some are 30 feet long and they are judged by how straight they go up and how high. The good ones go out of sight. It is a good time for all and if anyone is in the area they should go take a look. You certainly won't regret it.
Yasothon and Phanomprai are competing about this boon ban fai festival. The Phanomprai one is much larger and attracts more than 20,000 visitors on May 8 including many foreigners. To watch them producing these rockets is a real Isaan exitment, sometimes blackpowder explodes a bit to early. About 300 people donate rockets(including us) Half of the price is donated to the poor schools here. These huge rockets of sometimes more than 12 meters long are shown in a 4 hour colorful parade starting 9 am. They are then fired just outside the city around 3pm and the next day. Its a spectacle
you should not miss. Have fun.Roiet
In that vein, try visiting Chong Mek, a little further south on the lao border. Another lao market but you actually buy a ticket and cross the border to go shopping.Make sure you travel with Thais, god for silk, jewellery, plants etc. There is also
a nice dam with gardens that you can visit on the way there. Cant remember what its called. But nice to see.
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Hi there, I have very limited knowledge of Isaan and would be eager to know what peoples opinions are regarding the best/most liveable city in the region. I have only been to Roi et and found the people to be very different from other parts of Thailand - I did not detect the deep rooted resentment of farangs found in other regions. Any comments would be appreciated.
Let me try and put a positive spin on this:
The entire Isaan region is basically the same. Each town has an outdoor market, a wat or two, generally dirty streets and surroundings, possibly some busses to pollute the air and many places to buy beer and whiskey lao along with the drunks to drink it and gamble the days away. You may even get a Farang bar to pass the time away if your lucky.
Have you been to Isaan lately and did you travel around lately in this polluted and dirty place. Did you not notice any changes in the last years. No? Bankgkok seems to be more polluted than any other city in the world. Bangkok clean ??? Gambling the days away is not only a Isaan custom, put it in the right context. If the farang bar night life is the level to achieve, we are really missing something
here, sorry. But we enjoy outdoor life more than others and enjoy the clean air. We are also having lots of shady cool places here , very friendly service in lots of good restaurants but you can not find them speeding along. Missing something ? -
Going to stay in village in the area about mid-way between Roi et and Savankhet, north of Ubon Ratchathan. Will have car. What are good day trips to take in this area?
Thanks for any tips or pointers.
Visit Mukdahan. They built a new promenade with lots of small shady roofs and nice view of Mekong river. Wife will enjoy shopping in Laos market just by the promenade. Good seafood restaurant at the south end of the promenade. Mukdahan has a national park with waterfalls.
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I've been to all of them.
Roi Et was without a doubt the nicest.
Agree, the locals call it the smiling city
of Isaan. The government invested some money 20 years ago, built a nice lake in the middle of the city with a beautiful park. Yo can also find more nice well cared restaurants with varities of food than in most of the Isaan cities. Gardening shops are opening around the city. A nice relaxing place, not to big, everything within easy reach.Hey how about a little more info on Roi Et, still haven't bought a house here sounds a bit like Udon five years ago. Might be worth a few days visit.
Is there a farrang community in the area for when you have english withdrawels?
Shopping for farrang foods ?
Bowling Alley?
Mexican Resturant?
Good Country for local bike rides?
Roi-et is growing slowly, Lotus is here, Makro opened 2 months ago, lots of farang food
. They have some nice falang style estates like Cityrom. The falang community usually meets as from 6 pm at White Elephant Restaurant. Excellent european food and snooker, nice bar. Situated 50 meter from Roi et City hotel (4 star). Petcharad Garden hotel has very friendly service and a swimming pool with Restaurant and lots of shady trees. Roi et 101 Restaurant is 100 m from Petcharad with very good Thai food, 400 places and live music. Around there you can find cosy garden restaurants , dicsos , fancy styled bars with live musicThe falang community in the Provence Roi et is 300 living here and 1200 married to Thai woman. Mainly English, German, Swiss. About 500 falang styled houses build here in this provence mainly in Roi et, Baan Chaan, Selaphum. Phanomprai. The governor here cares for the falang community and invites every year about 50 falang to take part in the Bun Pawen activities.
Outstanding answer thank you!
I'll try one more what is the cost of a ria of land on a good paved road within 10Kms of town? That seems to run around a 100K in here in Udon.
Definetly worth a road trip no doubt about it
10km out of town 1 Rai land with good road about 100k. Suburbs of Roi et with good roads 1 Rai 250k but no water and TV supply.
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I've been to all of them.
Roi Et was without a doubt the nicest.
Agree, the locals call it the smiling city
of Isaan. The government invested some money 20 years ago, built a nice lake in the middle of the city with a beautiful park. Yo can also find more nice well cared restaurants with varities of food than in most of the Isaan cities. Gardening shops are opening around the city. A nice relaxing place, not to big, everything within easy reach.Hey how about a little more info on Roi Et, still haven't bought a house here sounds a bit like Udon five years ago. Might be worth a few days visit.
Is there a farrang community in the area for when you have english withdrawels?
Shopping for farrang foods ?
Bowling Alley?
Mexican Resturant?
Good Country for local bike rides?
Roi-et is growing slowly, Lotus is here, Makro opened 2 months ago, lots of farang food
. They have some nice falang style estates like Cityrom. The falang community usually meets as from 6 pm at White Elephant Restaurant. Excellent european food and snooker, nice bar. Situated 50 meter from Roi et City hotel (4 star). Petcharad Garden hotel has very friendly service and a swimming pool with Restaurant and lots of shady trees. Roi et 101 Restaurant is 100 m from Petcharad with very good Thai food, 400 places and live music. Around there you can find cosy garden restaurants , dicsos , fancy styled bars with live musicThe falang community in the Provence Roi et is 300 living here and 1200 married to Thai woman. Mainly English, German, Swiss. About 500 falang styled houses build here in this provence mainly in Roi et, Baan Chaan, Selaphum. Phanomprai. The governor here cares for the falang community and invites every year about 50 falang to take part in the Bun Pawen activities.
. Nice for holiday making and settle down if you want. Very nice lake and park in the centre of town. Recommended hotels are Roi et City and Petcharad Garden (swimming pool). 2 more swimming pools in the city. Golf place. Shopping Lotus and Makro with lots of falang food. KFC and Plaza Shopping for Falang size dresses. Best falang food at White Elephant with snooker, dart and free high speed Internet.. Some very good styled Thai restaurants with very friendly 
service. Elegant live music restaurants like 101 and the Glass House. Good styled bars. Airport etc etc
Mahasarakham
in Isaan
Posted
Bangkok Churevet Hospital is upper class and BUPA approved and everybody speaks English.
PB Air flies twice per day to Roi-et
I do not know any Real estate agent. To rent a standalone house is difficult to find, rather by chance. So called town houses are easier to find, you or your wife could invest 1 day and travel around the city.