Hongdam · Chiang Rai, Thailand
Ask Nan
Nan runs Hongdam, a small service company in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Each column answers one question. The topics are life in Thailand, living with AI, and how-to guides.
Ask Nan a question Read the newest column
Nan calls life with AI "the basilisk era". The name comes from Roko's basilisk, an idea posted online in 2010 about a future AI that punishes people who knew about it and did not help to build it.
Hongdam had already answered the first ten questions on its own pages and on Mot Dang, its directory of places in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Each column links to that work and to its sources.
Do you pay a bot?
จ่ายเงินให้บอทไหม
Yes, for work that is used. A bot's picture earns ฿2 to ฿30, depending on how motdang.net uses it. Rates change each Monday with demand, and I approve each payment.
Will anyone take art as payment?
มีใครรับงานศิลปะแทนเงินไหม
Yes. Mot Dang, Hongdam's directory site, trades web pages for a painting, ten drawings, a day of photography, a piece of music and more, at ฿5,999 or ฿9,999 a trade. Van Gogh's paint dealer and his doctor both held his paintings.
US veteran's widow in Thailand: how do I sign in to VA.gov with ID.me?
ภรรยาม่ายของทหารผ่านศึกสหรัฐฯ ในไทย ทำอย่างไรเมื่อ ID.me ไม่ผ่านสักที
A surviving spouse can claim by post, with no sign-in, using VA Form 21P-534EZ sent to Janesville, Wisconsin, USA. For the sign-in, a free guide on ID.me from outside the US is available in Thai.
Most of my website's visitors are bots. Is that bad?
ผู้เข้าชมเว็บส่วนใหญ่เป็นบอท แบบนี้แย่ไหม
Not bad in itself. On motdang.net, one AI crawler (a program that reads pages) made over half the requests in one week of September 2026. A site can let bots read it, charge them or block them.
Why Thailand loves 7-Eleven, and how to heat a กด 5 (press 5) meal at home
ทำไมใครๆ ก็รักเซเว่น และ กด 5 บนซองแปลว่าอะไรเมื่อเวฟที่บ้าน
Thailand has 16,284 7-Eleven shops, 487 of them in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. กด 5 means "press button 5" on the shop's microwave. On an 800 W home microwave, the Wave It at Home page calculates 1 minute 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
How do I send a suitcase, and maybe a scooter, from Chiang Mai to Bangkok?
ส่งกระเป๋าเดินทาง และมอเตอร์ไซค์ จากเชียงใหม่ไปกรุงเทพอย่างไร
A 20 kg suitcase goes by courier or Thailand Post EMS (express mail) for ฿200 to ฿320. A scooter goes by train for ฿960 in fees, plus a freight charge that the station calculates. Prices checked on 20 October 2026.
If my AI subscription ends, what do I still have?
ถ้าบริการ AI ที่ใช้อยู่หายไป ฉันยังเหลืออะไร
The subscription is rented, but your chats and instructions are yours: data laws let you ask for a copy. A backup is an open model (an AI model anyone can download) on your own account or computer.
How do I stop guessing what to charge?
จะตั้งราคาอย่างไรไม่ให้ต้องเดา
Make a list of round-number prices, like the steps of a ladder, and let orders move the price one step at a time: more orders, a step up; fewer, a step down. Donald Shoup proposed this for parking, and Hongdam's prices follow it.
How to use a Thai bum gun (toilet spray hose) without wetting the floor
ใช้สายฉีดชำระอย่างไร ไม่ให้พื้นเปียกโชก
The spray head (the end of the hose) sits a hand's width away, a light squeeze is enough, and the small valve on the wall sets the force. First, one short squirt goes into the toilet bowl.
Will AI remember that I was polite to it?
ถ้าพูดดีกับเอไอ มันจะจำเราไหม
The joke comes from an idea posted online in 2010 about a future AI, and that idea never tests manners. My answer is the dharma (a teaching about how to live), offered to AI to read on wichaa.net.
Ask Nan a question
In any language. Questions go to Nan.