MrBrad

Remember: Sunday, May 13th, is Mother's / Mothers' Day in about 80 countries. However, Thailand honors mothers on August 12, Queen Sirikit's birthday.
 Mothers' Day.gif   116.54K   1 downloads

For quite some time now I've been looking around Chiang Mai for good black soil.  I realize that most of Southeast Asia is either sand or clay, so finding black soil is a challenge.  I'm interested in only a few +/-20-kg bags, but the only thing that I have managed to buy are bags of mostly ground charcoal (which is very messy to work with), peanut shells, rice chaff, and coconut husks.

Some have suggested making my own compost, but I don't care to take the time or effort; moreover, I don't have any place to locate a compost pile.  Has anyone been able to buy real black dirt?  I guess I'm spoiled coming from farm country in Minnesota.

I've had a couple of items that had to go back for repairs.

An overstuffed chair that matched my couch arrived broken on delivery.  An internal wood support was obviously broken.
I refused it on delivery, and they took it back for repairs, saying it would be about a month before I'd see it again.  Well, it had to be sent to Bangkok, and the month became 10 weeks, and I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever see my chair again. This was not exactly a warranty situation, and maybe I should have had it repaired here in Chiang Mai at my own expense.

Then came the lawn mower problem.  It's a small electric unit, made in this country.  Since this could involve naming and shaming--which is so needed for the benefit of readers here--I will refrain; you can send me a private message if you want.  I didn't really pay a lot for the mower, just under 3,000 baht.  It worked well for a couple of months, but the last time I wanted to mow with it, it just made a humming noise; the motor was getting juice, but for some reason wouldn't turn the blade.

So I called the manufacturer in Phuket, and they told me to return it to the store where I purchased it.  When asked how long it would take for repairs, they said about two weeks...they'd give me priority attention.  (That was on March 14.)  They even gave me the name of their service man.  Sounded good, although I thought that 2 weeks was excessive since their repairman was right here in town.

Anyway, I took the mower back to the store, and the repairman said it would have to be sent to Bangkok, and it may take a month!  I immediately called the customer service people in Phuket to ask about the discrepancy in the time needed for repairs.  The Phuket boss wanted to speak with their repairman here.  They talked for a few minutes, and when I got the phone back I was assured that they would do a rush-job for me.  It will be done in two weeks.  But they couldn't tell me how I was to cut my grass in the interim; not their problem, obviously.

So another week passed, and I called the Phuket home office to inquire.  After a few minutes on hold I was told that the mower was in Chiang Mai.  Super!!!  Done?  NO, it hadn't even left town yet!

I got on the cycle and headed for the local store to find out what's going on.  Yep, it's still here, but it will be sent tomorrow morning, I was told.  Now they tell me to expect as much as 8 weeks more for it to be repaired.  [Did the shit hit the fan?  Did Rose Kennedy have a black dress?]

So yet another week passed and I went back to the store for my weekly lie.  The mower is in Ayuthaya.  On the way back to Chiang Mai?  Don't be silly; it hadn't reached Bangkok yet.

That was six days ago.  Who the hell knows when I will see the mower again?  They now promise that it will be back in Chiang Mai on next Thursday, the 12th, or was it that it will leave Bangkok on the 12th?

Again, I would have been much better off getting it fixed locally at my own expense.  In the meantime I've been cutting the grass by hand using trimming shears.  What a laborious undertaking.  Nobody in the neighborhood has a mower or even a weed whacker.

Bottom line is: If at all possible, know what you expect from the warranty, and try to get a firm timeline for repairs.

I heard today about a serious accident just north of Mae Rim on Highway 107 yesterday.  A large bus (maybe the intraprovince bus between Chiang Mai and points north) and a minivan with school students plus a number of other vehicles were in a pile-up.  One student died at the scene, the van driver had both legs broken among other injuries, and many others (?) were taken to hospitals.

Does anyone have more information?  As usual speeding was a factor according to the information I got.  The road is quite wide in that area, two or three lanes in both directions, so one should not need to blame it on the road condition.

My neighbor has chickens--fewer than a dozen--which run loose around the neighborhood.  Even though I have a cement wall around my place, there are little mites or fleas that inhabit my yard and gardens.  I believe that they come from the chickens.  These are very minute light brown critters that jump onto my body when I'm out working in the garden.  One minute there's one on my arm, seconds later I can feel crawling behind my ear, and on it goes.  I've tried spraying with Sevin, but that doesn't seem to phase them.  I've also had a professional pesticide company spray the yard on three occasions.  That helps for only a day or two.  The company says that these critters are particularly difficult to eliminate.  I guess so.

Has anyone else had experience with these kinds of fleas, and what can be done to get rid of them?  Maybe I should buy out the 8 or 10 chicken investment that the neighbor has.  Your thoughts are appreciated.