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  1. #1
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    Treasure hunting in Isaan and other places

    Not that kind of hunting.... I found my Isaan treasure long ago...

    A few weeks ago my daughter expressed an interest in treasure hunting, so in my never ending quest to get her off her bladdy tablet I went on Lazada to get a metal detector. The irony that this interest was sparked by some crap she watched on youtube about treasure hunting on her tablet was not lost on me.

    On Lazada the metal detectors ranged from around 2000 Baht to 10,000 Baht, so I went with my usual tactic when buying something i know absolutely nothing about... mid range with good reviews. Well, it had 4 stars but the reviews were in Thai. It cost 3900 Baht, so I guess it was either mid-range or a piece of crap that was overpriced. We shall see. I bought it while at work and it was waiting form me when I arrived home yesterday.

    First I had to make it...



    The Thai instructions were supplemented with some English from Chinese gibberish which didn't help a lot. But once it was all connected up I stuck it on charge overnight while we went out to buy some treasure hunting tools.



    Next morning we decided to test it out in the garden before going out treasure hunting in earnest. The controls are a bit confusing and the instructions next to useless. I was relieved to find that the big red knob that dominates the control panel is in fact a 'button'. I was starting to think this wasn't the high-end piece of equipment I'd hoped for.



    Before going out I wanted to test the metal detector in real conditions, so i sent my daughter inside while I hid five of my airline spoons and four and a half Baht under the front lawn.



    Then the treasure hunting began...



    And carried on... and on...



    The good news is that the metal detector works. Before getting bored after about half an hour, my young helper found four airline spoons and eleven and a half Baht! She actually found a 10 Baht coin that I hadn't planted, so I guess it was our first genuine piece of treasure.



    On the negative side, after another hour searching, I'm still down 3 Baht coins and a Singapore Airlines teaspoon. Should have made a note of where I hid them.

    Tomorrow we're off to Rayong for a week on the coast. I hope my daughter doesn't want too many goes on the metal detector as I'm quite excited about what I might find on the beach!

  2. #2
    R.I.P. Luigi's Avatar
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    Very cool.


    Judging on what we found on the beach in Rayong, donning a radioactive hazard suit might be advisable.


    Played Dino Hunt with the kid a few years ago.






    Hide 6 dinosaurs around the garden.
    Say you hid 7.
    Then sit and drink beer in the peace and quiet.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    as I'm quite excited about what I might find on the beach!
    nice thread but i fear you'll be picking up chang tops all week. Can you dial it to discriminate metals?

  4. #4
    . Neverna's Avatar
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    Nice one, Mendip. That should keep her interest for a few months, and maybe yours for a few years. All good stuff. It's good to feed their curiosity and let them 'explore' and discover what really interests them in their life and the world. Well done, Dad.

  5. #5
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    True but if by chance you stumbled on your neighgors....fortune. I guess you aint gonna find that in youre back yard but head to a beach, check the sand.

  6. #6
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    Life is a beach. People loose stuff there...



    Just sayen




    fish

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by fishlocker View Post
    Life is a beach. People loose stuff there...
    Treasure hunting in Isaan and other places-i-cant-find-echos-jpg
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Treasure hunting in Isaan and other places-i-cant-find-echos-jpg  

  8. #8
    I'm in Jail

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    Quote Originally Posted by NamPikToot View Post
    Treasure hunting in Isaan and other places-i-cant-find-echos-jpg
    DDid't loose her virginity i'd bet.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by NamPikToot View Post
    nice thread but i fear you'll be picking up chang tops all week. Can you dial it to discriminate metals?
    Apparently the GR / DIS switch allows you to tune out ferrous metals - what are bottle tops made out of? If aluminium they could still be a problem.

    My main interest is gold or silver.

  10. #10
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Rings with diamonds attached wouldn’t be unwelcome either.

  11. #11
    Thailand Expat
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    Quote Originally Posted by Luigi View Post
    Very cool.


    Played Dino Hunt with the kid a few years ago.

    Hide 6 dinosaurs around the garden.
    Say you hid 7.
    Then sit and drink beer in the peace and quiet.
    That's a good idea - I see yours likes pink shoes as well!

    On a similar theme I do an Easter egg hunt every year for my little one. Hide about 20 eggs with clues around the garden, the harder the clues, the longer I get.

    This year included an underwater clue...





    But my personal favourite was the clue nailed to a tree just out of reach, right on top of a big red ants nest! Even the dogs avoid that bit of ground.



    I'm trying to teach my little girl that you get nothing for nothing in this life. The wife thinks I go a bit far at times!

  12. #12
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    Day 1 - Rayong.

    A nice 'beep' almost straight away!



    But nothing found. Apparently the shallow geology can cause false signals, so we moved away from the rocks.



    I thought that most valuables will be dropped at the back of the beach, where there's most foot traffic. Easier to dig in the soft sand as well.

    A few minutes later another nice 'beep'...

    And a possible antique bottle top. Looks like a Tiger bottle top. Unusual in these parts.



    And the total haul for the morning...



    To be honest I'm starting to think this thread won't be as exciting as I'd hoped.

    On the positive side the metal detector seems able to detect even small pieces of buried metal crap so I'm confident that we will find any treasure if it's there. On the negative side this beach seems to be full of bottle tops and I find it hard to believe that no-one seems to have dropped even a single Baht coin. It was interesting though to find out that tomato ketchup sachets give a good beep - just as good as a bottle top!

  13. #13
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    Good luck ! Hope you find a sixteenth century Portuguese bronze cannon or two.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    But my personal favourite was the clue nailed to a tree just out of reach, right on top of a big red ants nest! Even the dogs avoid that bit of ground.
    I'm trying to teach my little girl that you get nothing for nothing in this life. The wife thinks I go a bit far at times!
    I have been putting off setting the chain saw to our three large mango trees. I plan to reduce them over 3 years, 1/3 each year so as to still get fruit and not send the trees into terminal shock - the problem is Red ants, there's about 3-4 nests in each one i need to get in the trees - its going to be emotional.

    I think Mini Mendip does pretty well off Dad - sounds like you have a great time when you back on shore.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    To be honest I'm starting to think this thread won't be as exciting as I'd hoped.
    You are performing a civic duty.

  16. #16
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    To be honest I'm starting to think this thread won't be as exciting as I'd hoped.
    Hang in there. Ya never know.

    Treasure hunting in Isaan and other places-largest-u00252bgold-u00252b-u002525281-u00252529-jpg
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Treasure hunting in Isaan and other places-largest-u00252bgold-u00252b-u002525281-u00252529-jpg  

  17. #17
    Thailand Expat
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    Quote Originally Posted by NamPikToot View Post
    You are performing a civic duty.
    Yes. There's at least 15 fewer items of litter on Rayong's beaches now!

  18. #18
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    Go for it Mendip - good fun - the real treasure is going to be spending time with your daughter.....

  19. #19
    Thailand Expat
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    Quote Originally Posted by NamPikToot View Post
    I have been putting off setting the chain saw to our three large mango trees. I plan to reduce them over 3 years, 1/3 each year so as to still get fruit and not send the trees into terminal shock - the problem is Red ants, there's about 3-4 nests in each one i need to get in the trees - its going to be emotional.
    Yes, I know exactly what you mean. Our mango trees are full of those big red weaver ants nests. My wife wants to leave them alone to harvest the eggs to stick in some baked egg concoction she makes. I'm the one who's always out in the garden getting bitten.

    So, in the spirit of compromise that all successful marriages are based on, I wait until she goes out and then send the gardener up into the trees to cut down the nests!

    One of the funniest things I've ever seen was one time our gardener was perched on the top of step ladders, cutting out a nest, when he misjudged it and the nest fell and exploded on his head. Never seen somone jump from the top of 3m step ladders before and dive straight into a pond.

    Sometime though you just have to make sure there's no serious injuries before losing it!

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by docmartin View Post
    Good luck ! Hope you find a sixteenth century Portuguese bronze cannon or two.
    Its a strange coincidence you mention that... But as it was a long time ago and this is anonymous...

    Many years ago I was involved in a pipeline inspection job in the southern North Sea, and when reviewing some data there was a very obvious old cannon offset a couple of metres from the pipeline half buried in the sandy seabed (later research showed this area to be the probable site of a maritime battle between the English and Dutch in the 1700s). I responsibly reported this item as 'elongated metallic debris' (which to a pipeline engineer it is) but unprofessionally neglected to mention it was an old cannon.

    I had also been doing some work with a salvage company based in Singapore. I (even more unprofessionally) shared this information with the salvage company and we decided to try and recover the cannon. This company had a small salvage vessel in Dunkirk at the time, not too far away, and a plan was made to go out with a couple of divers, recover the cannon and do a quick magnetometer survey to see if there was any other buried metal in the area. All sounded so easy...

    When the salvage vessel was finally available to do the job, I was offshore on another vessel and couldn't get back. The salvage vessel went out to the location but after two days the divers couldn't locate the cannon. It later turned out that they were using the wrong geodetics. I had exact coordinates, but they are only any use if you know which transformation has been used (don't want to get too technical - but the method to transfer a curved surface onto a flat map). Anyway, later calculations showed the divers were about 90m from the true location. To make things more confusing, there was another large gas pipeline 90m from the one with the cannon, so the divers thought all was good and kept searching along the wrong pipeline The vessel also got its anchor snagged on the pipeline at one point, which could have made being unprofessional into something possibly criminal.

    It was a very expensive wake up call to me - stick to what you know. These salvage guys occasionally make a small fortune, but for every success story there are a myriad of expensive disasters.

  21. #21
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    Great story

    I find the history of European exploration in SE Asia fascinating and particularly the possibility of contact with Australia before 1606.

    Years ago I did some gold hunting but stupidly used rechargeable batteries in the detector. (1.2 volts instead of 1.5 volts)
    Found a lot of bullet cases and sardine tins but would love to have another go.
    Last edited by docmartin; 19-08-2019 at 05:52 PM.

  22. #22
    Thailand Expat David48atTD's Avatar
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    You can buy these in TESCO for a few Baht.

    Go bury one on the sand with a few 10Baht in the bottom of the chest so that the metal content is strong.

    What a find it would be!

    ---

    We have a 'Pirate Park' kids playground a bit of a drive away.

    When the kids were distracted elsewhere I buried one and the expressions on the Boys faces were priceless when the 'dug up the treasure'.
    Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago ...


  23. #23
    Thailand Expat klong toey's Avatar
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    Good fun but be careful might find ammunition ,or something bigger when we were young did not need a detector to find bombs,hand grenades, bullets as well as other items.
    The police called the bomb disposal squad out once because we wheeled a unexploded mortar up the road to the playing field,we were only 10 at the time.
    Still easy to find things now if you know where to look.
    I listened to an interesting programme last night about Mudlarking.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007r46
    Fascists dress in black and go around telling people what to do, whereas priests... more drink!

  24. #24
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    Medip
    I grew up in Key West....watch the story of Mel Fisher and the Atocha with your lass. It might be inspirational

    Work together on a youtube channel and turn it into a Science/Technology/English/Math sort of thing with her......

    You work together on what you've found, where you've found it and in the area covered. Help her with the background and over time teach her how to do it herself.
    "I was a good student. I comprehend very well, OK, better than I think almost anybody," - President Trump comparing his legal knowledge to a Federal judge.

  25. #25
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    Was in Koh Chang a few months ago staying up the road from White Sands beach in the Centara.

    In the evening, when the tide was out, I sat at the beach bar a few times and saw a guy with 2 metal detecters (one in each hand, sweeping 180 degrees).

    Was wondering why he waited until dark with the tide out and am guessing that swimmers go in the sea with bits and bobs in their pockets and lose them in the water, and he goes back later for rich pickings.

    Unless anyone has another theory?
    Black diamonds? I shit 'em.

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