The Last Dozen Days in Thailand - Spring 2016

Please forgive my spelling and punctuation; I'm a plumber and not a English major. Just read and have fun.

You can click on any of the pictures and they become larger.  

June 1st - Busy day, this morning we finished moving Daeng's Mother.

Than a shower and BoonMa and I visited the Black House. 

There website has lots of pictures and information. Just click on BLACK HOUSE.

That is always fun.

There must have been a thousand Chinese folks visiting there, also.

The Black House is very interesting to walk though. 

Beside the Chinese tourists there were two gals from England.

We joked and posed for pictures.

I think the horse liked the Chinese girl.  

Seeing a horse here is like seeing and elephant in the USA.

You just don’t see that many horses in Thailand.

Then it was back to the brown house to see how the canopy cover guys were doing.

They should finish that and the railing tomorrow.

It’s time for another shower, some dinner and bed. 

June 2nd - We bought the airplane tickets, on Bangkok Airways, for the trip to Bangkok on Monday. Daeng is going to stay in Bangkok overnight and visit her brother in the Bangkok Hilton on Tuesday.

You can read about his stay in the middle of this story: CLICK HERE. 

I am taking the bags and going on to Pattaya to stay at the Dobler House. Daeng will then come there on Tuesday or Wednesday.

We like this small, centrally located guest house as the sweet lady, that owns it, turned her house into a guest house when her husband died.  It is old but clean and the downstairs rooms are very large with the price of $17.00 USD a night. 

We fly to the USA the following Monday, June 13th.

This is a picture from last year.

I am so happy the awning and the railing for the steps to the roof are finished.

I would show and tell the workman how I wanted it and they would do it a different way.

Then we would tear it out, I would show them again how I wanted it done and they would do it a different way.

Then we would tear it out, I would show them again and they would do it another way.

Then I would do it myself or just give up and except it. TIT (TIT = This Is Thailand)

We parted friends, I hope. The picture was taken after I paid them the 3,500 THB, about $99 USD.

June 3^rd - Moving right along, BoonMa just called me. He left at dawn, on his motorbike, and made it to the hot springs without getting wet. He only has about 80 km to go to Chiang Mai.

At 6:00 AM, Thai time, called AT&T and got the bill for seven of the numbers for www.DIALONEtoday.com straightened out.

I have been on the Internet, trying to work things out with them for a month.

Then I got a haircut and am waiting for a pedicure and manicure.

Can you see me in this picture?

After that it's change the oil in Daeng's motorbike.

I put synthetic oil in mine and pickup last trip so we don't need to change the oil in pickup or my motorbike, this trip.

I got the oil changed in Daeng's motorbike. They told me we can't use synthetic oil as it is automatic and the engine oil is also used for the transmission.

The oil was pretty dark.

I fixed a few things and hung the framed "House Rules" in both houses.

Daeng and I argued about giving her son a motorbike if he lives with her mother. I said he didn't even help move her or help get the place ready and you want to reward him?

The brown house is closer to the market than the house we live in now. Why do I feel we are being manipulated?

I think I need to post this sign by the new toilet, too.

Tomorrow, Saturday, will be a busy day.

June 4^th - I went to the Ban Pa Mueat morning market.

The kids now have a motorbike clean up.

I told them I would pay with Pa Thong Ko (Thai Donuts).

The little boy was okay with that but the girl wanted Baht (Thai Money).

Thai girls learn young.

The fried chicken lady was not there so I had fish, sticky rice, Pa Thong Ko, coffee and tea to wash it all down.

Came back home and had to replace a section of drain pipe for the kitchen sink as it looks like mice have been chewing on it.

No droppings in the house but we know they are in the sewer.

Men came and took out the walk-in freezer from the unit next to us.

It was kind of like watching monkeys.

They did break the canopy cover.

I asked them who was going to fix it and they just smiled.

I did call the owner but don't speak enough Thai to make him understand what happened.

I will have Daeng call him later.

The water company put in the meter today.

Daeng made me promise not to say anything. It is Thai way.

Then tonight some lady told her mother we had to pay them because they had to pay to put the pipe up this far.

Daeng talked with her on the phone and told her she needed to talk with the water company.

For some reason the name Rube Goldberg comes to mind.

Anyway, it's done, water is on, neighbor's sharing connection is cut/capped and all my tools are back home.

By the way, he installed the new meter without turning off the water main. Yes, he got wet and the stream of water went all the way down the hill to Main Street. It cooled him down on a hot day.

I was not there for that part. I'm sure it would have made for some great pictures.

June 5th - I have a lot of stuff to do to get ready to travel on Monday.

First, motorbike gets its bath before we store it.

Now it's the pickup truck's turn.

Here, they even do the undercarriage.

They spray it down with high pressure, then soap it up, hand wash it and rinse with high pressure.

They blow the water off and wipe it down, cleaning the windows and mats.

It looks like new.

I tried to get them to smile, without success.

I tried a lot of words like cheese, ice cream, smile and nothing worked until I said "girls". (Code word used here.)

They even have pretty girls going the blow off job. (Did I just say that?)

We have to be sure everything is dry before storing it or it will get moldy.

How do you like the seat covers?

It got overcast and windy so I took in the wash.

Daeng says she gets moist when I do laundry!

We have an interesting growth on our clothes poles, any ideas?

If we eat it will we get high?

I'm not talking about going to heaven.

Pickup truck and both motorbikes are covered.

The tool storage room is locked up, refrigerator is defrosted, cleaned/covered and almost all the kitchen stuff is put away.

A good night's sleep with a 4:00 AM wake up so we can close everything up and cover it before our driver, Guy, picks us up at 7:45 AM for the 60 km drive south to the airport.

Tomorrow is a fun travel day. 

The total trip is about 656 miles, the mountain of Mae Sai to the beach at Pattaya.

June 6th - We got up at 4:30 AM.

We packed and covered everything.

Guy, our driver, picked us up at 7:45 AM for an uneventful trip to the Chiang Rai Airport.

We were just waived through the two open check points.

We checked in with 3.5 kg over in baggage.

Bangkok Air said: "No problem."

We had a snack that Bangkok Airways provided before getting on the plane.

Jon picked us up at curb in Suvarnabhumi Airport.

We dropped Daeng off at bus terminal.

By the way, Thai’s don’t kiss in public but Daeng thinks of herself as a California girl now.

She is going to Bangkok to visit her brother at the Bangkok Hilton. 

If you would like to read about our last visit just click on BANGKOK HILTON HERE. 

She will catch up with me in Pattaya a couple of days from now.

Jon and I got on the road to Pattaya.

I checked into The Dobler House, rented a motorbike for $4.00 USD a day, got a massage, went to a meeting with 11 English speaking friends and BoonMa.

Daeng was in hotel okay in Bangkok so I called it a night.

I was beat.

June 7^th - Good morning! 

The sun is shining in Pattaya.

Today started out with a 99 THB, about $2.75 USD, American Style Breakfast.

Oh, the girl in the background of the first picture would not smile regardless of the words I used until I said "Baht", the Thai word for money.

This is the Holy City of Pattaya.

After the Noon meeting, I visited BoonMa at his place in Jomtien Beach.

We had lunch, a walk on the beach and then drove about 30 km where I spoke at another meeting at 6:00 PM.

This is Chris Hatcher who has 100 days clean.  

Chris, thank you for the “Before” picture.

You are a miracle!

BoonMa likes to buy ladies clothes, on sale.

I think it has something to do with his inter-self but I'm just guessing.....

When I got back to the room around 9:00 PM, Daeng was safe and in bed.

I was glad to see her and she made her Bangkok trip okay.

June 8th - It was a quiet day in the Holy City of Pattaya. I hung out with Daeng and went to two meetings.

So you will know why we call this sleepy fishing village the Holy City of Pattaya, here is our favorite Pattaya song: CLICK HERE. 

June 9^th – After a noon meeting, Daeng, BoonMa, Charlie Dewalt and I went to the Hippopotamus Restaurant in the Central Festival Plaza, Pattaya.

We had Birthday Cake for Charlie and sang to him out of key.

We had a great time.

The Central Festival Plaza is the largest beach front mall in Asia. 

June 10^th - Great morning meeting!

Vegetables delivered to your door.

Pattaya has comfort food, too.

We love Thailand!

At noon we had a great time, with wonderful food, to celebrate Dr. Bob's clean date 81 years ago, June 10, 1935.

They say sobriety but alcohol is a drug.

June 11^th – No visit to Pattaya is complete without a walk down “Walking Street”. 

There is everything you can think of to see. 

Like I said: “There are some great looking boys here."

Then we have the really big boy. 

I was saying: “When your toes to toes your nose is in it.”

And then there is ice cream!

We had fun on Walking Street with all the magical things.

Monday is the long trip back to the USA.

Did I mention Thai Kick Boxing? 

June 12th - BoonMa and I went to the Pattaya Expat Club Meeting.

BoonMa has sticky blood.

This is what it looks like on a computer.

We both laughed.

June 13th - Up at 5:00 AM and starting the trip back to our California home. 

Our heads will be on our pillows, in the USA, around 30 hours from now.

We made it to the airport and checked in.

China Airlines did charge us 1,145 THB, about $33 USD for being over 3.9 kilograms on one bag.

Oh well, it's only money.

We landed in LA and are waiting for a shuttle van home.

It is a little busier (understatement) coming in during the day.

Trip went okay except for the full search of me and carry-on bags in Taipei.

When I say "full search" they did not do a cavity search so I am a little disappointed.

It will be nice see our bed as it is around 28 hours when we took our heads off the pillows.

Thank you everyone for being so nice to us on this Thailand trip.

Love and HUGS from the Plumber and Little Thai Girl.