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Hi Mike, short video coming, honestly no big profit financially. Rice is obviously important in a subsistence economy and for the poorer folk. Thailand's Jasmine rice is world renowned and sought after. Our rice production is more a cultural, almost religious undertaking. Thalinee does sell and make money from it while also keeping some for our needs. Let you know how we faired this year shortly.

@@downunderthailand It just seems to look like a lot of effort and expense for little return in a westerners eyes, but i can see the thai logic in it,.I guess if you didn't grow it all you would have is a field of grass, near our place near kamphaengpet they grow rice 2 crops p/year and alot of sugar cane as the factory is nearby, nightmare for a few months with all the burning and lots of old smoky trucks running day and night, the roads get dirty and dusty and dangerous, we drive past the mill and there's hundreds of trucks waiting to unload, it must take ages to unload,. Rice on the other hand is far quicker to harvest, but you still have the stubble burning to contend with, we have some massive rice mills around the area to,. Another product is turmeric they grow and harvest,. Potatoes must be out there along with loads of other crops,. Have you considered other commodities ?,. cheers ,.

Will let you know how it came out shortly. Video coming Keith.

Don't worry, she thinks the thinking is her job. Just do the dishes and feed the dog when she tells you and all will be well...lol.

@downunderthailand brilliant 😆😆😆

Got to admit my hearing misses soft consonants which means I have trouble replicating the Thai words often. The other struggle can be attempting to learn from material often written in Bangkok Thai. Regional Issan varies so much with mixtures of Lao words.

You were spoilt, best I had at 12 was a cobbled together "Mustang" bike. Large frame, small back wheel, with solid tyres. Got sick of mending puncturesfrom "double-G" weeds. Replaced the tube's with discarded rubber pressure hose wrapped in wrecked inner tube's...lol.

As in, when you hit the sack at night, on the not so good days, you ask "Y did I bother?"...lol

@keithhowell4138 Yeah, exciting haha. Some of it does end up in my Whiskey and soda in the evenings...lol. 45 baht per sack. So about AUD$2. I can't get an icy pole for that in Australia.

@brunowinter931 The way Thais used to protect from those covered trail ants was to draw across the path with a chalk stick. Later you find out the chalk stick is arsenic based. The way to deal with most Ant/Termite mound, hills, nests is to kill the queen. No Queen or infertile queen the nest dies within a matter of weeks. In Australia there are products called nest kill. Thalinee says the same products exist here.

@@downunderthailand Thank you. I know the chalk sticks used to draw lines they would not cross, and I knew it must contain some poison. Did not know it was arsenic.

@@johnhowarth256 Thanks John

@brunowinter931 s.lazada.co.th/s.IacE4 Just be careful selecting the correct tank. There are a number of different ones. You need to make sure you get the correct mounting pattern for the motor/ pump unit. I got the wrong ones first time till I realized that. I messaged the seller and he happily swapped for the correct units. Very helpful.

@@HePeNaTip Thanks for the comment. I hope all goes well when you do yours. Cheers

That's the surface pump. It's far enough away from the house that it's not a nuisance, but close enough to know when it kicks in. The up side of that is if it's cutting in and out to much, indicating a leak. We get an audible warning.

@glennpassmore8441 It can be hard to describe so it makes sense. That is why I thought posting the video from the retrieved SD card might help. I think most people start with a basic mudmap planning the plumbing but they usually end up a work in progress as new elements or unexpected additions become necessary. It's not unusual to get to a point in time when superfluous plumbing gets re thought and cleaned up. Cheers Glenn.

@cabovermike Our house in town is on mains supply. During the hot season water pressure regularly drops to a trickle in the afternoons. The solution was to put a storage tank with a small automatic pump inline. A little bit of plumbing n check valve involved but worked fine. Thank for your continued following Mike. Hope all is good with you.

Bruno, Thalinee actually did that while I was in Australia. She did it on the new building first, liked it so much, the n did it on the small house kitchen also. It appears to be White shade cloth. It's quite tight weave so I'm guessing it's 80 or 90%.

The furrows we do with a Mametora Cultivator we bought from second hand dealer. Great investment and time and labour saver. Yes they are responding already. Cheers Mike..

You back a couple of weeks now, looks like you made it for Harvest as you hoped.

Great and practical way of thinking, a pressure tank is not needed, only an in-line pressure switch with a by-pass with its valves, these guys are out to sell you everything that is not needed to make money and you fall for it. The correct way is what you suggest, a borehole submersible pump with a float switch which you can set the levels within a tank, from there another pump supplies the house with an in-line pressure switch that controls it, as suggested, and the problem is solved forever.

@glennpassmore8441 cheers Glenn Yes very true, but when I was hunting for replacement tanks as a spare part I initially came up blank.. I didn't want to buy a complete pump every time when the motor/pump seem to last forever with the occasional pressure switch replacement. 1845bht for a 304 stainless was a much cheaper option than 7000-9000bht for a complete unit. Will see how it lasts.

Thanks, thats an interesting vlog. Any preference between Mitsubishi and Hitachi WP pumps?

@MarkDaviesThailand I don't personally have a preference. Some people say Mitsubishi some say hitachi. I went hitachi xx model. I have a submersible pump to a tank then an instant pump to the house.

@@glennpassmore8441 Thanks Glen. I have a similar set up including a ( tired ) Mitsubushi pump from tanks to the house. I may try a Hitachi for a change this time!

Hi Mark, I have always had reasonable results with anything Hitachi so maybe biased that direction. Also when i first met Thalinee the existing pump was a Hitachi she had fo 5 years, only the tank had failed thru corrosion. A local had already made a patch up by rendering the tank in cwement to seal it lol. Pump was working fine, just had to pour a bucket of water in the header tank to prime it each time....haha. Mitsubish I have had no first hand experience with so I refrain from assuming either way. They do seem to be a strong market competitor as they seem to occupy as much shelf space as Hitachi in all the major supply shops. Thanks for the question.

@brunowinter931 Hi Bruno, yes still work today with the details. I'm afraid you never keep the Geckos out, try asyoumay. But the birds can be blocked. Mesh or something like the plastic gutter guard might be my solution. While the high ceiling helps keep it cooler we may look at 50mm thick expanded foam panels under the roof. Works well on refrigerated containers or trailers.. Still deciding if I will add a suspended ceiling. Also undecided as to whether I will enclose the eaves ith slotted, vented board. May also add a couple of whirly bird roof vents. Plenty to do still. The open kitchen seems easy to clean as all the surfaces are ceramic tiles. But as you mentioned, it still has to experience a dry season as yet. Most of our dust issues used to stem from traffic on the dirt road, but now that is sealed bitumen and makes an enormous difference. Work in progress as funds become available. Thanks Bruno, stay tuned.

@@downunderthailand Yes, the expanded foam panels are a good choice to reduce heat build up and they can be fitted in at a later stage. I do see the whirly bird roof vents a lot in Thailand, but never had a chance to evaluate their extraction power. In my mind, I'm playing with the setup used by arabs to build red stone chimneys which are heated by the sun and this way create upwind inside which will extract the heat from a room. Using this, one would also have to add a way cooler air can come in. I did read articles in which they did burry tubes about 2 to 3 m underground through which inlet air runs to cool down and they did cool down this way rooms several degrees below outside ambient temperature.

@@brunowinter931 I have experience with the whirly birds in Australia. They are extremely effective

Sounds interesting. Will do. Thanks for the tip David.

Yes the tradesmen were three mature gentlemen led by a family relative. Technically far superior to the small house build. Was a pleasure to work with them. They grasped concepts very quickly when i suggested something i wanted then chatted amongst themselves to come up with an agreed course of action. All on the same page they put it into place. Yes the addition of a room or rooms would be very easy the way the central columns divide the space into squares. Lots of options. That was the basic theme all thru the build. End up with something flexible to accommodate changing visions. Thanks for your input David, Are you in Thailand?

@@downunderthailand Wonthaggi Victoria Australia. Mother in-law is in Det Udon, son in-law in Nakonsi

Thanks Mark, Im glad I went for the higher walls. Makes a big difference in the feel of the building. Spacious is definitely a good word for it.

Thanks for the input Mike. All of what you say is vwery true. Time will tell. We did notice during Covid a lot of people working in Bangkok moved back to town . Alot of farmers took the opportunity to subdivide ans sell of farmlets or bocks of land as there was a lot of people in the buyers market. Strange but true. Many people bought up these blocks as future proofing against another Covid scenario. Some have built most are just sitting on the investment. So growth is possible. Dont know my friend. I got to work out where to go from here. Thanks mate.

Thanks Guy, thats the million dollar question at the moment. Thanks for the input.

Have a safe flight mate. Yes harvest time is closing in quickly. Been back barely a month and loving it.We do get down to Ubon time to time. Maybe our paths will cross some time. You are right when you say nothing happens quickly, but funny enough there is little time to get lazy or bored. Have a good trip.

Thanks Trent, we are both doing fine. I hope thats the same for you.

@@downunderthailand we are good thanks mate , just work work lol and missing Thailand

@@Ozinretirement I used to both jog and ride early morning and after work, but found as I got older it started to aggravate some old knee injuries. So started walking instead of jogging. Not long that started the same problem. Riding took the weight off my knees and allowed me to get the exercise without the damage. It becomes addictive. If you miss a day you feel you started or finished your day on the wrong foot.

@@downunderthailand I have exactly the same knee issues & cycle for the same reasons lol, if I’m not on my road bike I’m on the exercise bike and up here in Canada the exercise bike gets a lot of use during the winter months!!

Yes, all good, Glenn. Lots of small tasks need my attention which all helps to re-establish my place in my partnership with Thalinee, the family and community. Seems strange to describe it that way but when you are absent you leave a "you shaped hole" to come back to fill. I was certainly made feel welcome by all.

@MarkDaviesThailand Thanks Mark. Definitely glad to be back. Missed it tremendously.

@trentpatton2616 Hang in there Trent, you'll get there.

@cabovermike Yep the strimmer is an industrial strength Honda 4 stroke. Fair bit of cutting to do. Already started clearing basic waking pathways to everywhere. The house in town has shared ownership between Thalinee and family. Two homes on the one block. Thalinee has one, other occupied by nephews and thier families. Will see what I can share on that subject. Thanks for the comment Mike

Thanks Mark. I'll be arriving back with rain still to come. Hope to get some more of the Mystery build into a video so people can see how that worked out. Thanks for the comment about being interested in peoples stories as much as the location. I'm thinking that may be an area I could do more. Always a bit scary as to how much of yourself you show to the world. But maybe thats what makes it interesting for people. All the best.

Thanks Mark sorry for the late reply, I thought I had but it is not showing here. The Vietnam war period was a black spot in history for all involved. But it could be said Thailand came of age as an international player as a result. Lots of infrastructure, international relationships and awareness from that time onwards.

@@jmoney4330 all the best with your course. Enjoy, it should be a lot of fun

Sorry for the late reply Bruno, for some reason i did not get a notification. Yes the cheap thing to try is certainly the the pressure swith. Only a few hundred baht at most hardware suppliers. The check valve is the pain point but still not hard if you contact the guys who do the drilling locally. Most are happy to replace it for you. We had a faulty on on a relatively new bore thet installed. They cut the pipe, then pulled the twin pipes up intact, needed three of them to walk the pipes up in the air then out onto the paddock. Took about an hours labour to replace and the mandatory chat time either side ....lol

First few trips around Bangkok I was totally lost, but my Thai cmpanions and local cabs made it easy. I certainly didnt anticipate driving in the city myself, there are so many tricks to understand with one-ways, divided roads etc. U need a good level of understanding of U-Turns in Thailand. Gradually got used to it with a navigator ...lol. During Covid I flew into BKK, had to stay one night, do the Required Civid test then head east the next morning. The step-son works in BKK and he dropped his car at the hotel for me to use to drive east. That morning it took me 2-1/2hr just to get to the outskirts of Bangkok. I used Google maps, set my destination and off I went. At one point it suggested an impossible turn could only continue straight. I ended up back where i started 3 times b4 i took a gamble on the street signs and found my way forward. This is not the first time. I think there are a number of places in BKK GPS either drops or gets confused. All part of the experience and learning curve. I did get home. 10hr drive.

Yes they do. But if you cross the freindship Bridge 2 into Laos there is a crossover left to right....lol

DVLA UK just said soon there must be a Video camera watching from DVLA and recorded everything the MOT guy checks ? then you can check your MOT online and press on the video and watch it done last year ??? OMG Now nanny state watching everything you do on camera and everywhere you go tracked and on camera recorded .....1984 rings a bell , old George Orwell said this would happen 40 years ago ....

I think the main focus in Thailand is keeping the particulate level of the exhaust down. Specifically the diesel vehicles. Also the brake check using the rolling road. The technician did do a short drive maybe to pick up any obvious faults at road speed. Cheers, thanks for the comment.

Hi Glenn,What was the difference you noticed

Hi Mate. Yes, I thought the same when we started the the flower business. We have 3 Ice boxes on the farm, 3 at home in town where she keeps the bulk of them on ice. When she sells in the market we take the Suzuki Carry with two large ice boxes and many large tubs of water. She keeps the flowers on ice in the little truck till she's ready to use them.

Hi Mike, thanks for the comments as always. My mindset for Thailand has always been that im not there to change it. I like it the way it is. That's the Attraction. Some Farangs want to build big western world mansions. That's not me. Then they complain about all the differences from their home country. Why? We certainly are looking to reduce our manual labor load as we progress in years. That said, the farm environment is still our little haven and happy place. Cheers

@@downunderthailand I'm curios about the rice fields, my thai partner wants to rent a few rai of rice fields, plant,grow, harvest,sell the product, all the work would be contracted out like you see it done regularly in TH, do you think there's any money to be made ?,. All i see is rent for the fields, costs of buying and planting the rice, cost of irrigation and ploughing , then the harvester costs, trucks to transport the rice to the merchants, burning the stubble etc, after all that 2 x times a year how much is left profit wise ? Her old friend does it so she's the influencer, i see a money pit if its a poor harvest, our area is pretty good crop wise, sugar cane rice both do well,.

@@cabovermike Gday Mike, speaking from experience, you will be lucky if you come out square ! not a money making exercise. you forgot fertiliser LOL

@@cabovermike Sorry Mike i missed this comment before. I'm curious also. I feel its very marginal on the return from Rice crops to be honest. If you are paying outside labour at every step it is certainly very iffy. Leasing it out, there are no costs as such to yourself but how they come up with a mutually acceptable deal is the main thing. Whether it is a percentage of the crop before or after expenses. If its after expenses you might be getting three eighths of two fifths of F...A...😁

Hi Mike, still a lot to do with fit out for the restaurant. Amazing all the details you forget about till the main building is complete. Opening is still fluid. We did think by the end of the year. Things are being added as budget allows. Moneys a bit tight. Thanks for following man.

@@downunderthailand Add the wall accident expense to that, or did the offender pay up ?,. also nice to see the good lady in her global opening get up, very smart, especially the hat,.cheers,.(hopefully back in TH when and if the new 60 day visa exempt kicks in)

Yes their is a coffee shop in this Store also. With their own brand Coffee beans you can purchase to take home. Some places are great with returns, others suck. Luck of the draw.

@@trentpatton2616 thanks for the comment Trent. Was a great day. In Thailand it felt more like a community welcome and acceptance as part of thier tribe.