Nong Khai Blog

Mekong River Trash Campaign by Isara

Alec — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:46:07 +0000

I have blogged before about Isara and the excellent work they do, but their latest project is truly inspirational – a plan to clean up the Mekong River. They plan to travel down the Mekong River from its highest point upstream in Thailand all the way down to where it leaves Thailand in the south, and maybe even through Cambodia and on to where it meets the sea. Along the way, they will stop at the many towns and villages on either side of the river and educate people about the benefits of keeping the river clean and free from trash.

An amazing project in itself, I’m sure you would agree, but more than this, they also plan to design and build an eco friendly boat in which to make the journey !

Check out the following thread on the Isara forum for full details of this fantastic project: http://www.isara.org/forum/environment/mekong-river-trash-campaign

It is rare to find individuals who devote themselves to such causes with dedication as the people at Isara do. I think that Nong Khai is very lucky to have them in our community.

British passport renewals – don’t get caught out!

Alec — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:31:26 +0000

YOU CAN NO LONGER RENEW YOUR BRITISH PASSPORT AT THE BRITISH EMBASSY IN BANGKOK.

If your British passport is full or is about to expire, you need to be aware of the change of procedure for applying for a new passport whilst in Thailand.

PROCESS FOR BRITISH PASSPORTS IS CHANGING
What has changed?

Passports for British Nationals are no longer processed in Bangkok. They are processed and printed centrally in our Regional Passport Processing Centre in Hong Kong.

Why is this happening?

These changes are part of a global initiative to streamline the overseas passport operation; to reduce administration costs while improving security and maintaining a high quality of customer service.

How long will it take?

The Passport Processing Centre aims to issue all new passports within 10 working days after receiving the correct documentation and fee. You should however ensure that you allow time for delivery at both ends of the process as defined above.

Should you need to travel urgently the British Embassy will still be able to issue a travel document for emergency purposes.

Does it work?

From a recent customer surveys in the Nordic network we have received the following feedback:

Very user friendly, No problems very smooth, Quicker than anticipated.

In parts of the world where this service has been introduced, it has been a great success. Washington is producing passports for the whole of the Americas and Wellington covers all of Australasia with excellent results. Over 6000 passports produced per month with 90% of them in a 10 day period.

Overall Cost

If you apply for a British passport overseas you can expect to pay:

• for your passport (the fee is the same worldwide).
• The cost of sending your application to us (as you would in the UK)
• For the secure return of your passport and documents.

You can find complete details on the website of the British Embassy in Thailand: http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/passports/

The price of volunteering

Alec — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:28:40 +0000

The are many who come to Thailand and Nong Khai for more than just a holiday, wanting the satisfaction of spending their time helping others in some way. Invariably, people turn to one of the many well known organisations that offer volunteering opportunities around the world. Usually, they will pay what seems like a reasonable amount of money for their ‘working vacation’ and return home content that they have ‘made a difference’. But what of the money that they have spent on their volunteering? Where does that money go? Many would assume that this would all go back into helping people and supporting other volunteer programs. Unfortunately though, all too often this is not the case. Many do not realise that these organisations, rather than being run for charitable reasons are run as businesses, with profit as their main concern. Now, if this is all clear from the start, I do not think that there is a problem with it. Then, when people are deciding where there money is going, they can make an informed judgement taking everything into account. It is when the line between charity and business is not made clear that I think it is unethical.

There are volunteer “businesses” operating programs in Nong Khai, but I am not going to name them. I would, however, like to highlight one organisation that does NOT run as a business, but as an entirely NOT FOR PROFIT, REGISTERED CHARITY and that is ISARA FOUNDATION.

Isara Foundation is a registered charity based in Nong Khai, determined to make it easy AND FREE for everyone to help others. Simply use their website (www.isara.org) as your browser homepage or for your Google searches and you will help to fund Isara charity projects… FOR FREE!

Isara started in 2005 with a campaign to provide free motorcycle helmets to school children, but since then they have expanded by opening a FREE LEARNING CENTRE, providing scholarships and educating students about environmental concerns. Isara creates its own projects together with volunteers, sponsors and clicks to its website (www.isara.org). 100% OF ISARA’S REVENUE GOES DIRECTLY TO CREATING AND MAINTAINING ISARA PROJECTS.

Isara Foundation believes that volunteering should be free and that nobody should profit from charity. That is why they created one of the only FREE VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS in the world. If you are interested in volunteering in Thailand, India or Nepal, I would personally urge you to take a look at Isara first. You can apply online and before you know it you could be making a difference as an Isara volunteer.

Isara also has an active online forum where visitors, supporters and volunteers post about everything from Isara’s charity projects to the latest movies, books and music. So don’t just take my word for it, go in to the forum and see what past and present volunteers at Isara have to say.

Do you currently have Nong Khai Information as your homepage? Why not just bookmark it and make www.isara.org your home page instead, as I have done. Just by this one simple action, you will be helping them to fund their charitable projects.

It is a pity that there are not more organisations like Isara, but hopefully, in time this will change. This whole topic is something that I have been aware of for some time, but it took the following post in Isara’s forum to prompt me to finally blog about it. I think that it is certainly worth while to read the following discussion thread, and follow the links contained within it:
http://www.isara.org/forum/the-good-news-is/investigating-high-paid-charity-ceos/msg41992/?topicseen#new

Rental properties built to order

Alec — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:33:14 +0000

I know that many visitors to our site are either residents or future residents of Nong Khai and are interested in either buying or renting a home here.

As you may be aware from my last blog post, we are now embarking on a property development business through our company Nong Khai Design (http://www.nongkhaidesign.com). We are well on the way with construction of our first property which you can follow at http://blog.nongkhaidesign.com and are now planning our next properties.

It is not uncommon for developers to design homes to order for future buyers, but it is almost unheard of for developers to build to order for prospective tenants. However that is, in essence, what we are planning to do. We want your feedback on the type of property you would like to rent. How many bedrooms & bathrooms? How much garden area? Furnished or unfurnished? Do you prefer a one or two storey house? What type of kitchen do you prefer? Do you prefer wood floors or tiled floors? Is there anything that you consider a necessity that has been missing in other rental properties in Nong Khai?

Please contact us to let us know your requirements.

We would greatly appreciate any feedback you could give and who knows, maybe we could be building your perfect rental property next!

Building a house in Nong Khai

Alec — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 04:35:01 +0000

The Nong Khai Information Website and Map are produced by our company Nong Khai Design. Nong Khai Design also offers a range of design services including website design, interior design, furniture design, architectural design and also construction. We have received a number of commissions for design and construction projects, however we are now branching out into the property development business, and have just begun construction of our first property which will be available for sale or rent in around three months time. I shall be blogging about the daily progress of the project on our Nong Khai Design Website: http://blog.nongkhaidesign.com.

I hope that this will prove to be a useful source of information for any one wishing to build their own home, not just on Nong Khai, but anywhere in Thailand. I shall be documenting the process from start to finish including any difficulties that we should encounter, and also tips on how to avoid them. Whilst Nong Khai Design, as a company, is relatively young we as individuals have a broad range of experience in related fields to draw upon. I also hope that through this blog you will gain an appreciation for the attention to detail and high quality standards that we value so highly at Nong Khai Design.

If you are interested in this property, or in building your own dream home in Thailand, please feel free to contact us to discus how we may be able to make your dream a reality.

7th Monthly Nong Khai Guide Map out now

Alec — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:30:24 +0000

The 7th edition of our free printed map of Nong Khai is available now throughout Nong Khai. As well as further improvements to the mapping, we have also updated the new property section on the map, adding more homes and businesses for sale and rent.

If you have a property that you wish to advertise you can do so with us for a small, one time fee. We take no commission following the sale of a property. If advertising property with us, not only would you be featured on our websites (www.nongkhaiinformation.com and www.nongkhaiproperty.com), but also on 2,500 copies of our free map, every month until your property is sold. If you want further details on how we can help you, please contact us.

Haiti Disaster Fund Raising Event

Alec — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 01:40:04 +0000

The Isara Foundation is having a Haiti fund raising event on Thursday 21st January at the Gaia Bar at the Mut Mee Garden Guesthouse starting at 7:00pm. All donations received will go directly to help the aid effort in Haiti. Come along and enjoy some great live music on the Mekong River.

Bar Restaurant Business For Sale in Nong Khai

Alec — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:39:27 +0000

A unique opportunity to acquire one of Nong Khai’s newest and nicest bars. For more information visit: http://property.nongkhaiinformation.com/Businesses_For_Sale/Restaurant_and_Bar/

Updated and improved Interactive Nong Khai Map

Alec — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 05:10:18 +0000

We have had an interactive map on our website for many months, but it had not been updated in a long time. We have now transferred all of the data we collected for our printed map of Nong Khai to our Interactive Nong Khai Town Map.

To make it more easy for users to find the information they are looking for, as there is such a large amount of data to be included, we have created four separate interactive maps as follows:

1.) General Nong Khai Map showing the location of Temples, Shops, Gas Stations, Hospitals, Pharmacies, Attractions, Markets etc…

2.) Nong Khai Accommodation Map showing Nong Khai Hotels, Nong Khai Guesthouses, Nong Khai Resorts and Nong Khai Apartments.

3.) Map of Nong Khai Bars, Nong Khai Restaurants and Nong Khai Coffee Shops

4.) Map of Nong Khai Banks and ATMs

We have tried to include as much information as possible and will be constantly review the data. If, however, there is something additional that you think should be included, please contact us.

Improvements to the Free Nong Khai Map

Alec — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:23:32 +0000

The first two editions of our free, printed Nong Khai Map have been very well received by visitors and residents of Nong Khai and have also bee a success for those who have advertised on them. Thank you to every one who took the time to give us encouraging feedback about our maps.

However, there is always room for improvement and so I have been very busy over the last month redesigning the map ready for the third edition which will be distributed throughout Nong Khai Over the next couple of days.

If you have already picked up a copy of the July or August edition of our free map, look out for this new and much improved version.

As well as adding in a lot more useful information to the map, the redesign has addressed minor readability issues and I am sure it will prove as popular as ever.