Hay fever as possible buzzkill and feathers as a possible spiritual sign?

Since the age of 16 I am suffering of hay fever. I think I am one of the persons in the world that really checked out everything to diminish the effects. And yes, the best way is not to get in touch with, for me, dust and pollen.

In Thailand, so far, the effects are less bad than in The Netherlands. And although, because rice harvest time is coming, I am always a little bit prepared this time I forgot.

Without giving it attention in shorts I walked through the fields, a bit sweating because of the temperatures. Wind blowing…

Back in the car I got a sneeze attack and on my unprotected arms and legs itching red spots arrived. Not a good sign and immediately, but too late, I had to take my medicines.

On the way back to Chiang Mai I still had to sneeze because of hay fever because all the rice fields around were flourishing. Harvest time in Chiang Mai starts a bit later.

Last year’s December visit at the same place did not cause any problems. But… a warning. We have to find out more about this.

Walking on the lands tree times I found a feather.

It remembered me on a book, written by Jacky Newcomb, I got from my former secretary after I stopped my former job. Good spiritual signs?

Frans Captijn

e-mail: pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Water and electricity

The nearest connection to the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) is about 310 meters. To connect in this way with the network we need to cross the land of our neighbor and to have an official signed paper to cross his land. 

The other way is to follow the so far 'dirt-road' what takes a much longer way. 
Happy the neighbor already agreed to cross his land. 


So we visited the PEA to get information and advise. The PEA allows us to install that connection by our selves or to hire an external company to install it for us. After that they check and will connect to their network with the electric meter.

Also water is not available. At the residences where I live now it is the same. We get our water by a well. Several homeowners use a filter to also use it as drinking water. I am used only to use this water (as most parts in Thailand) for washing, flush the toilets, taking a shower, watering the garden or wash my car. Drinking water we use from bottles. 

So if we start to build at the place we found we also need to have a well, drilling the way showed on this picture. We got already contact with a company and discovered we are allowed to drill at the land and use water for free. We got an offer from them including a pump to complete our calculation already.

Frans Captijn

e-mail: 
pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

   

Local authorities visit

Next step in the process is to investigate in advance about the building proces and regulations.

As an former architect and constructional engineer I want to develop the design myself but regulations in Thailand are at some points different as in The Netherlands. 

So we went to the so-called 'Obotor'. A kind of department of the City Hall for the area we possibly want to build. 
First of all to learn more about the specific building regulations and also how to 'translate' the drawings I want to make myself into Thai.

We discovered we can get permission to build on the land. We got the basic regulations and the Obotor (Building regulation department) offered us the opportunity to 'translate' the drawings. We got all the paperwork in Thai, so happy my girlfriend is a native citizen and can speak, write and read Thai fluently ;)

Frans Captijn

e-mail: pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

More land pictures Pyramid house Thailand Villa-Asia

As promised: 

Frans Captijn

e-mail: pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Land visit and checks in Surin province

Monday October 14^th together with dog Kadhow my girlfriend and I went to visit her mom in Muang Surin (Surin city) in Surin province. Just to help a bit with redecorating her house and to have the chance to visit and feel some land again as written in my blog of September 2.

Surin is a province of a part of Thailand called ‘Isaan’. It is in the North-East part of the country close to the border of Cambodia. It is not a real touristic area. It is mostly flat country side and well known as the rice shed of Thailand, wonderful Thai Silk, and the Thai elephants (with its yearly so-called Elephant Roundup).

We visited some land plots and both discovered one of the plots feels very good. So we want to go on exploring more about possibly starting to build and live there in the future.

It is a plot of 9.372 m2 rice field land (about 52 x 180 m). My girlfriend’s dad, over ten years ago, heightened about 2.250 m2 of that plot for more than 1.5 meters with good soil. No rice production on that piece of the land. So to say after this long period it is ‘untouched soil’. Maybe it will give us the opportunity to build with concrete strip foundation.

This heightened land looks and feels as a kind of terrace above the lower rice field. A pond of about 400 m2 is part of this raised area.

About 100 meters away is a rubber tree plantation and a small forest. There are 5 cows as neighbors who have shade of a shed. The next neighbor is about 250 meters from the land and it is about 350 meters away from a provincial road.

Also Kadhow, the times we visited to check the measurements from the land paper, felt enthusiastic running around in the huge field.

Soon some (more) pictures.

Frans Captijn

e-mail: pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Visit to a concrete factory

This afternoon, together with another Dutch man who is living nearby and is also in a ‘building mood’, we visited a concrete firm. We had a nice chat and got some good ideas to work with concrete solid plank slabs for the floors. It worked out this will be a little bit more expensive (calculating only the material costs) but safes work and also weight.

An engineer and a staff member of public relations accompanied us during a guided walking tour to the production areas and stock storage.  

All together good ideas to bring into our project plans.

Frans Captijn

e-mail: pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com