Progress Continues

The resort roof frames are nearly complete...

 and the walls are going up rapidly.

Meanwhile back at the ranch

It was decided yesterday that the two bamboo thickets in the back should be removed, which called for a posse of mates to turn up.  They started yesterday and are still hard at it.

Doors

Work has started on walls for the house, which proved our daily checks are necessary.  Despite the plans they were merrily building walls without thinking we might want a door to get in.  Oh well.  We'll order the door and window frames tomorrow.

Hot

And that's not just the political temperature.  The next couple of weeks are forecast to be 'unseasonably' hot here with the 'real feel' level exceeding 45C.  I only hope it does not stop the workers!!!

Had a busy day doing nothing yesterday.

Went to Honda with the additional papers they said they needed for the car registration ready for a battle but they promised we'd have plated by Friday.

Went to Carrefour and bought a couple of TV's for the house.  It took them an hour to find the boxes.

Ordered doors and windows for the resort.  Politely told them I'd pay when they were delivered.

Slow

The land office was woefully slowe today.  Even teh boss came out and started berating his staff in poublic.

Still by Lunchtime we have another title.

Then we managed to erect two more signs before the sledgehammer gave out!!!!

An Early Start

As you are reading this I am hopefully at the land office buying a further 400Sqm of land.  Whilst we wait Nit will be chasing Honda for number plates and his Brother will be cutting wood for the other signs for the 20th.  Once land is bought, we are off to erect 4 more signs for the 20th.

It sure is fun being retired!

Visible Progress

A Month Today

We are hosting major 'festivities'  See the attached picture of a 4m x 2m sign of which 4 will be located around Nong Han

The all important posts

We now have the all important posts following the Survey by the Land Office.  The define the land boundaries and the numbers will appear on the Chanote.

Plots and Posts

The surveyor turned up about 10 and started to plot the site.  After about 30 minutes it became apparent we were slightly out, but not so as to affect building.  This upset the 'neighbour' who was hoping for a high price as we have encroached.  Sadly for him over the course of an hour an a half whilst the surveyor from the land office measured and checked and implanted the concrete markers his superprofit disappeared.  And once he changed from needing 10 days to decide if he wanted to sell, to naming prices, we hung out.

I'd set a price for the plot based on what I knew to be values, taking into account it would be useful to own as we may not need but we can control what goes there and add the 'it's a farang factor'.

It became more and more obvious that they wanted the money.

I made a final offer, provided that they came to the Land Office and we did the sale on Monday at 9am.

He wanted 5,000 more but would pay the taxes and transfer fees.

Let's see if he turns up.... I've got the impression he will.....

And a bonus, I thought that they were only upgrading 4 plots to Chanote.  As they were there they did the separate plot which is not connected at the same time.....

Arrived back in Isaan

to find it was the first of two free listing days on Ebay UK, so immediately had to set about posting the remaining items from Dad's house.  The agreement is I do the loading and Bro does the packing and posting in the UK.  Got up to teh 400 item mark before giving in for the night.  More to go later today.

Had a quick look at the resort on the way home.  The metal has been bought for the roof structures for the resort... Ouch, will have to go to teh bank later to get some cash.

More later

Away

Out of town for a few days so may not be posting until Thursday or Friday

It's good to see construction above ground level

It could be worse?

Fromm Yesterdays Nation Opinion

1. Vietnam has just devalued the dong for the second time since November. Effectively, the Vietnamese currency has been officially marked down by 3.3 per cent. The new midpoint for the US dollar and Vietnamese dong was quoted at 18,544, whereas the ceiling rate of 19,100 compared with Wednesday's market rate at around 18,550. Yesterday the Vietnamese currency fluctuated over a wide range of 18,700-19,100 to the US dollar. Many believe that the Vietnamese dong will still have ample room to go down further.2. The growing possibility of Greece's default has prompted Germany to devise a bail-out plan. But other European Union members such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and the UK are also in trouble. Sovereign debt is the key theme this year. The euro is under the threat of a breakup.
3. Japan's public debt has surpassed 200 per cent of the gross domestic product. It is borrowing money at around 1.68 per cent. If the interest rate were to rise by one full percentage point, Japan would be plunged into a black hole.
4. More than 30 states in the US have already gone bankrupt. They are waiting for bail-outs from Washington DC. But the US federal government is also in dire straits, with public debt rising to beyond 80 per cent of GDP - not to mention more than US$100 trillion in contingent liabilities in healthcare and social security.
5. Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia is piling up his army near the Thai border. What is he up to? Is he getting ready for war? It appears that the US is now more enamoured of Cambodia than it is of Thailand. Hun Sen has also lambasted Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, invoking curses upon him and using foul language.
6. The Thai Army is now in firm control of the if the political situation gets out of hand. It will roll out the tanks if the red shirts strike first. The potential flashpoint could happen a week before the Supreme Court's reading of its verdict on the assets seizure case against fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on November 26. Or trouble might happen afterward. The St Gabriel's alumni are secretly forming their shadow Cabinet.
7. The situation has become particular tense, with fund flows from abroad into the accounts of key members of the red-shirt leadership. The final battle is shaping up.
8. The coalition partners are playing the constitution amendment card, to add fuel to the fire. Abhisit is challenging them to walk away from the government. But the coalition partners do not want Thaksin to come back either.
9. The Supreme Court is most likely to hand down a verdict to seize the entire Bt76 billion of Thaksin's frozen assets. After which the National Counter Corruption Commission might follow suit with further criminal charges against Thaksin.
10. Thaksin will fight his last battle, the outcome of which will spill over into March.
That's my reading of what's going on around us in the immediate and near term. It will be a horrible year.

PC Woes

Well not the PC.  Yesterday morning went to turn PC on, everything worked except the new monitor.  Checked everything.. The old monitor worked fine on new PC, the new monitor would not power up.  It's only 3 days old.  Packed it up and set off for Powerbuy.

The guy tested it.  No work.  So he tried another wall socket.  Still no work.  He murmured something that sounded like repair.  I told him it's only 3 days old, the company policy is replace or refund in first 7 days.  I also noticed that they had a 22 inch Samsung in stock which I'd have bought had they had it there at the time so I suggested that I paid the difference and took that one.

No can do.


Ok I said, refund me the money for the faulty monitor and I'll go and buy a new one elsewhere.  I walked back to the cash desk and waited.  A couple of minutes later he walked over with the Samsung and processed the change and I duly paid the extra 1,000 Baht as I had offered.

with any luck the Thai decision on the Ubon route...

 will mean at least some Thai flights from Udon to Bkk will remain....  possibly with Nok handling the flights at Udon.

FROM THE NATION


As for domestic flights, THAI will transfer its flights to Phitsanulok, Ubon Ratchathani, and Mae Hong Son to Nok Air, its low-fare budget carrier, effective March 1.
While maintaining the same flight frequencies, Nok Air will operate two roundtrip flights per day routed Don Mueang Airport-Phitsanulok and two roundtrip flights per day routed Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son.  
THAI will continue to operate one roundtrip flight per day on the route Bangkok-Ubon Ratchathani from Suvarnabhumi Airport, while Nok Air will operate two roundtrip flights per day on the route Don Mueang Airport-Ubon Ratchathani.   Furthermore, frequencies were reduced on flights to Chiang Mai and Phuket during the low season period from 16 May-30 October 2010.

The resort and house progress

Another load of C-Pac yesterday, this time for the house.  Had a visit from the main supplier today.  He offered us a credit account.  I'd rather have a discount for cash, but at least it means we don't have to rush the 10km to town everyday..... as long as Uncle gives us the bins everyday.

Yesterday started early

Yesterday started early as we needed some photos, three of teh Karaoke to be precise for the licenses.  I was expecting an expensive day.  Anyway we went at 8 and took some pics before returning home to print them.  Copies of house book and ID (we need so many they are scanned into the computer now and printed on demand).  Then off to teh local photoshop in town for pictures of Nit.  He walked upstairs in t-shirt and 20 minutes later had photoshop'd pictures of him in suit and his hair tidied!.  We'd picked the forms up from Nong Han the previous day so it was now off to Udon.

First stop was the Provincial Office where in about 20 minutes we obtained papers for the business.  Then it was off to the Office for Culrtural Affairs for the permission to sell Alcohol.  This took a slightly longer 30 minutes.

Picked up two new UPS supplies for the computers and relegated the existing one to take care of the TV and Stereo at the Karaoke and provide emergency landing.

Then off to Nong Han Police Station so that Nit could be fingerprinted.  Of course we arrived at 12:32.  Lunchtime ... so we ended up waiting until 14:00.  This was the most expensive part of the trip at 50 baht.

Back home we checked on the resort progress.  They were preparing the shuttering for the house base.  Uncle, who is managing the team, asked us to go and select roof tiles as he wanted to start prefabricating the roof trusses.  he hats to have men with nothing to do.  So it was back to Nong Han.

Land Office Again

Well it was a busy day yesterdsay with lots of waiting.  We got a call at 11:30 to go to the land office as they needed us to sign the papers by 12 yesterday to upgrade to Chanote.  Of course we got there, completed the forms, handed over the cash and went to get the boss to sign the papers.  Oops, it was 12:31, lunch time.  Come back at 13:00.  We grabbed something to eat.  At 13:01 we went back and the boss gave us a queue ticket.  He also decided he needed the title document for the plot we weren't changing as they were bought together.  We called home and Bodyguard brought it.  We handed it over and he gave us a second queue number for this.

The survey guy was not getting frustrated.  he went and got the forms which would be needed.  Filled them out, got Nit to sign them and told us to go home, he'd get the bosses signature when the numbers were called.

Still we were assured that the single Chanote would be prepared and that he would come and survey the land and give us the document on the 19th of this month.

Opening Night - Plaipha Karaoke