Moving to the Moo Ban - Permanently????

[buad hai]

EG - I guess now you gotta figure out why it filled up; especially if it's only 8 months old. Bad design? Bad implementation? Water table too high where you are?

Thanks for keeping up with this thread. Most interesting.

[El Gibbon]

^ BH the toilet itself is only 8 months old, the septice system was installed when the house was built, by my reckoning at least 12 years ago.

The water table is very high here this time of year, probably no more than 1.5 meters below the surface if the the pond twenty feet away is any measure. in the photo above the pond is just ouside the property line.

As for keeping up, I thought everyone would be right bored by now... lol

Am off for the states in a couple of months and then there may be some interesting developments here.

E. G.

[stroller]

As for keeping up, I thought everyone would be right bored by now... lol

More pics please.

[sabang]

[quote=El Gibbon;331130

As for keeping up, I thought everyone would be right bored by now... lol

E. G.[/quote]

Not bored mate, fascinated. My rather nice house in a walled moo ban intrigued me because we had to empty the septic tank twice in less than a year.
After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and several arguments with the wife, some answers were arrived at-
1- Our four bedroom house has only one, two ring septic tank. The other houses have two.
2- It was a closed system- no overflow except for perforations in the second tank! No project management either, because the developer apparently thought my tank(s) were plugged in to a secondary filter system like the other houses on the estate.

We now have drainage from our single septic tank, but it does not feed into the secondary filter, but into the stormwater drainage syatem. I an sure this is totally illegal, but TIT.

[buad hai]

Not bored at all EG. The whole thread has been fascinating and gives us all a fine look at life in your moo baan. Keep it up.

Our new house has one of those two-chamber plastic septic tanks. The second chamber has an overflow which goes right into the moo baan storm drain system....

[El Gibbon]

Today is kind of a sad day here, for me at least. I lost one of my best friends in the village last night. UUan, or Fat Dog, as I called her, went to the big kennel in the sky.

She was constantly around the house except when she returned home in the evenings. A really intelligent animal and as mild mannered and smart as any animal I've known. Ever meet a bi-lingual dog?...

Being the only farang within 3 miles I'm sure she never heard English before we arrived. Yet, she would act on command to English. Not just sit or go away either but rather complicated stuff like "are you hungry?" or "your water is over there" etc.

She spent many an hour laying under the orchid shelter where the ground is almost always damp and cool.


Anyway she was a good companion and I'll miss her.

[Marmite the Dog]

the flocker was full, within 3 inches of the top cover

More pics please.

Whatever makes you happy.

[navynine]

Nick A.. Yes will upload a couple later today hopefully, now that I've got the system sussed.

DD .. I haven't seen dragon fruit in the local village, although there is a lot along the highway going into C- buri. Most here is either rubber, mangosteen, durian, banana, Chinese apple (the bell shaped fruit) and jack fruit. I will spend the next year or so checking things out. I do want to eventually establish some type of cash crop that requires little maintenance on my part.

stroller .. We didn't find out about the relationship until after we moved in. In the interest of not wanting anyone to lose face and keeping everyone happy I am inclined to let it pass. I definitely don't want the "cheap charlie" moniker since everyone in this village is either related to the Ms. or the land lord...

Will post more on the move from Bangers and hopefully a photo or two later today.

E G

Welcome to Chanthaburi:

[El Gibbon]

^ Thanks, as you can see from the date on the first posts its been a few months and still doing OK.
*****

Well, back from Bangers today. Came back to lots and LOTS of water everywhere. None in our house thouigh. We did note quite a few broken limbs and downed trees on the trip down, especially from Kleang on in. Must have missed a real bad blow, or it was the remnants of the one we had prior to leaving on Wed night.

As usual Bangers was a pleasant change, short skirts/shorts and high heels vs. the normal here of rubber boots and black pajama bottoms. We did our business, saw some friends and headed back. We did find a place in Samut Prakan that was quite pleasant if we were looking. Visiting some friends and enjoyed the surroundings and close enough to Bangers to do what you wanted on occasion.

A couple of things stood out on this trip.

I've been walking in front of the UBC tower for over 10 years and there has always always been a ficked up sidewalk there. Pipes laying half in the ground, broken tiles and drain covers, just a total mess. I almost fell down yesterday when walking from Villa I noticed there is an actual cement SMOOTH, EVEN sidewalk in place. Hell its only been 10 years in the making!

Is everyone in town going nuts with these good luck charms Juta whatever the fuck they are?.... Christ everyone on the street has got these great chuncks of plastic (looks like gold or siver but if it was they would be walking stooped over for sure) encased do-dads hanging around their necks with the garish flocking chains... looks like a BLING convention in LA.

What is with the stuffed animals hanging under the taxis???? I've heard it gives the 'bad' road spirits a place to attack that is closer than the passengers in the taxi.... where does this shit come from???? Almost pissed myself when I saw a Roadrunner doll hanging below the tail pipe on a taxi.

Prices for pool, beer and 'companionshipt' sure haven't declined.... but yet everyone complains " oh, so slow, no customers"... ever hear of price points?....

And finally a classic; When I picked up my mail at the JUSMAG there was a notice from the embassy mail room. It stated that unless I signed this form (attached) with my details by July 4th (a US holiday for the embassy and JUSMAG) I would lose my mail priviledges. Hmmmmm. Date on the memo was 16 June. Since, according to the old rules I only have to check the mail once a month, I got lucky and checked it at the 3 week mark... Duh... beauracrats... don't understand their own systems.

[Marmite the Dog]

I've been walking in front of the UBC tower for over 10 years and there has always always been a ficked up sidewalk there. Pipes laying half in the ground, broken tiles and drain covers, just a total mess. I almost fell down yesterday when walking from Villa I noticed there is an actual cement SMOOTH, EVEN sidewalk in place. Hell its only been 10 years in the making!

The bad footpath has only been there for a year or so, since they decided to upgrade the water main.

[El Gibbon]

^ NOT!

Yeah, the pipe in the middle of the walkway was only a year old, but prior to that you took your life in your hands walking over broken drain lids, uneven tiles etc. I saw one tourist with a baby carriage years ago.... had to pick up the whole thing to traverse that spot.

E. G.

[Marmite the Dog]

^ I never really had a problem with it, but I guess I was used to it.

[sakaew]

Good luck with the boo baan life.
It certainly has things to recommend it....but proximity to The Family cruelled it for me

[El Gibbon]

^ I never really had a problem with it, but I guess I was used to it.

Come to think of it, the ONLY time it didn't bother me was when I came upstairs after two-for-one on Wednesdays. lolol

E. G.

[jizzybloke]

Thanks E.G. i have just read this fron p1 to date and i have been in awe from the start!
This is a real eye opener and an education for me and probably many more that are reading or have read it.


Every day i come home take a peek on TD and seem to get stuck here for a couple of hours, i'm like a sponge soaking up as much information as possible on all aspects of life in LOS!


JB

[mickjn]

The Common Kingfisher, a very common winter visitor. Beautiful.

We have them here in Australia,metallic blue very beautiful but very quick hard to get a good photo

[mickjn]

Great post thank you

[ILoveDogs]

Sounds like you got a very good deal for rent and even for buying, although if you are a farang and are given a price, you can usually assume it is at least double what it should be, usually triple, but maybe not always for large items like houses and land.

Maybe your MIL wants to make the downpayment because her commission for you buying the house, will be more than her downpayment, and the house and land will be in her daughter's name. Even if she pays some part of it just for the heck of it, paying 10%-20% of the value, so your daughter can own a home and land seems like a good deal to me.

And maybe the MIL expects to live there later so has a double reason for making this investment?

Isn't it nice in western countries, when people do you favors, and cannot be suspected of earning money off of it? Especially family. Isn't it nice that there are records that you can easily see to find out how much your land/house is worth? As well as we have inspectors and regulations that are enforced about how to build something, what quality, what electric, what type of glass, etc. so that is it easier to spot the real value, and the min value it could have, since we have min. specs?

Since you don't have these protections here in Thailand, I think it is wiser to spend the min on your house/land when you are buying at least, and to expect the worst. I think this is one of the only ways, as a farang, to get SOME value for your money, based on standards here. Better to make whatever improvements or additions you need, from your own money, hopefully you don't pay way to much for those things too.

[stroller]

Sounds like you got a very good deal for rent and even for buying, although if you are a farang and are given a price, you can usually assume it is at least double what it should be, usually triple, but maybe not always for large items like houses and land.

Yes, of course, El Gibbon and the other board-members here are complete idiots, and we are very grateful for your wise words and valuable advice.

[ILoveDogs]

OMG, sorry, I reread the topic and see that the poster has lived here a lont time. Usually people who have lived here that long are not asking how much a house should cost on a Thai expat forum, usually they haven't even moved here yet.

So sorry for insulting you stroller!! I think before you attack me you could take into account if my info is bullshit or correct? Are you saying my advise is not wise and informed?

Or are you just getting your self worked up for nothing?

[ILoveDogs]

Maybe I can get my posts screened by you from now on so you can get rid of the stupid comments that are worthless?

[dirtydog]

At a quick rough guess I would say 80 percent of the main posters on TeakDoor have lived in Thailand for several years, ie not tourists or holiday makers.

[ILoveDogs]

Okay, thanks Dirtydog for that advise, I will try to keep it in mind when I post in the future.

I think the poster who attacked me is rather being an ass though, as I gave valid information and was trying to help. No reason to be insulted about that is there?

[dirtydog]

Yeah I agree to a certain extent, but I think you were giving advice on a thread you hadn't read, got to admit I don't think I would read a 300 post thread from the beginning though if I hadn't been following it from when it started.

[navynine]

^ Thanks, as you can see from the date on the first posts its been a few months and still doing OK.
*****

Well, back from Bangers today. Came back to lots and LOTS of water everywhere. None in our house thouigh. We did note quite a few broken limbs and downed trees on the trip down, especially from Kleang on in. Must have missed a real bad blow, or it was the remnants of the one we had prior to leaving on Wed night.

As usual Bangers was a pleasant change, short skirts/shorts and high heels vs. the normal here of rubber boots and black pajama bottoms. We did our business, saw some friends and headed back. We did find a place in Samut Prakan that was quite pleasant if we were looking. Visiting some friends and enjoyed the surroundings and close enough to Bangers to do what you wanted on occasion.

A couple of things stood out on this trip.

I've been walking in front of the UBC tower for over 10 years and there has always always been a ficked up sidewalk there. Pipes laying half in the ground, broken tiles and drain covers, just a total mess. I almost fell down yesterday when walking from Villa I noticed there is an actual cement SMOOTH, EVEN sidewalk in place. Hell its only been 10 years in the making!

Is everyone in town going nuts with these good luck charms Juta whatever the fuck they are?.... Christ everyone on the street has got these great chuncks of plastic (looks like gold or siver but if it was they would be walking stooped over for sure) encased do-dads hanging around their necks with the garish flocking chains... looks like a BLING convention in LA.

What is with the stuffed animals hanging under the taxis???? I've heard it gives the 'bad' road spirits a place to attack that is closer than the passengers in the taxi.... where does this shit come from???? Almost pissed myself when I saw a Roadrunner doll hanging below the tail pipe on a taxi.

Prices for pool, beer and 'companionshipt' sure haven't declined.... but yet everyone complains " oh, so slow, no customers"... ever hear of price points?....

And finally a classic; When I picked up my mail at the JUSMAG there was a notice from the embassy mail room. It stated that unless I signed this form (attached) with my details by July 4th (a US holiday for the embassy and JUSMAG) I would lose my mail priviledges. Hmmmmm. Date on the memo was 16 June. Since, according to the old rules I only have to check the mail once a month, I got lucky and checked it at the 3 week mark... Duh... beauracrats... don't understand their own systems.

Stop in for a cold one, Just down the road from Makro. Pm me for directions