Terry's Stories

Winter in California

2012-01-26T05:57:00.000+07:00

It was great to get back to California and spend time with friends and family.

It took us a few days to get over jet lag. The trip from Thailand to the USA always messes with our head. We stayed in Bangkok for a few days resting and having fun shopping. Then we get on a plane at 5:15 PM, fly 3 1/2 hours to Taipei, change planes, fly another 11+ hours and arrive in Los Angeles at 7:15 PM. Yep, two hours after we left Bangkok.

That makes us both a little crazy, as we have spent 30 hours pillow to pillow.

We laughed at this picture of Daeng with the bear and snow in Costa Mesa, California as she is wearing "flip-flops. Don't worry, it was only about 60 degrees that night and the snow is being made by a fake snow machine. Hey, this is California.

The holiday season is always fun for Daeng as she gets to decorate for the holidays.

We also went back to work fixing heating systems although it has been a very warm winter, so far.

New Years Eve we watched the ball drop in Times Square with Mom and managed to get in bed by 10:00 PM. Now, that makes me fell older than the 70 years that I am.

I have been trying to find interesting thing to do with Daeng. She does not care about Knott's Berry Farm or Disney Land. I have taken her to Disney Land twice and she says she does not want to go again. I think the reason is she sees Disney Land on television and it's the "happiest place on earth" and when you get there it is stand in long lines and wait.

Last Sunday we adventured to Hollywood to see Cirque Du Soleil's IRIS. This show is definitely "a love letter to the art and science of cinema", to quote LA Times Blog.

Hanging out on Hollywood Blvd. on a Sunday is always fun, too.

You meet all kinds of folks and the street entertainers are a truly unique experience.

I might also add, Thai Town is right next to Hollywood and has the largest population of Thais outside of Thailand. Thai Town has about 80,000 This folks. The food is great, as well.

Out next outing is to the Colorado River and the Riverside Casino and Hotel for Super Bowl.

Wish us luck!

Then on March 3rd we plan on returning to the "Land of Smiles".

Bye for now!

Hello Bangkok

2011-11-29T19:42:00.002+07:00

We dropped off the rental car at the airport in Chiang Rai and took the one hour and ten minute Air Asia flight to Bangkok. I know I have said this in the past but flying into Bangkok reminds me of flying into the Bronx in New York.

The Christmas decorations were up in the tourist areas. That is pretty cool considering 95 percent of the people in Thailand are Buddhist.

I am sure you have heard of the alligators in the New York sewers. Well, New York does not have anything on Bangkok. The lizard in this picture is about six to eight foot long.

Daeng says they are good to eat and TASTE LIKE CHICKEN!

Daeng has never had a typical American Thanksgiving Dinner so Dana at the Road House BBQ invited us for Thanksgiving Dinner.

It was a great meal but it was not the same as sitting around the table with family.

A few days of shopping for Daeng and resting for me and we're back on the plane for the Looonnnngggggg trip back to the USA.

Myself, I enjoy the Kebab that can be found on Soi 7 on Sukhamvit.

We are both feeling pretty good and looking forward to being with my side of the family for a few months.

We will say good-bye to Bangkok tomorrow. We leave here at 5:15 Pm and arrive in Los Angeles at 7:15 PM, yes two hours later.

We are in the air 17 hours, no wonder our brains get jet-lag.

Death of a Sister

2011-11-28T15:15:00.010+07:00

Daeng's sister died on November 18th but I have not written about this tragity as I don't really have the words. I feel I should write about it so I am just going to try and tell the greaving process of the family here, through picture.

Mon, Daeng's sister was 42 years old. She had gotten quite sich about a year ago but recovered well and went back to her old way of life and stopped taking the medication the doctors had prescribed for her. You can read about that story by clicking on this link: CLICK HERE

Daeng had visited Mon and spent the night with her, November 17th. The next day as Daeng was driving to home in Mae Sai, about 40 kilometer north, Mon stopped breathing. Tun, Daeng's brother told her when she arrived home. She showered, changed clothes and returned to her brother's home in Chiang Rai to help start the furnial arrangements.

For the next three days, friends, neighbors and family would pray and greave for Mon.

To feed the 200-300 friends, neighbors and family for three days takes a lot of food. Daeng bought one days food for everyone, chickens, pork and vegetables, at a cost of around 4,500 THB ($150 USD). Her brother, Jai, bought and buchered a 105 kilogram pig to help feed everyont the other two days.

I drove to Jai's home and visited with the family the next day, November 20th. The family was in pretty good spirits and everyone had arrived except one sister from Bangkok who would arrive by bus that evening. One of Mon's brothers was in Myanmar (Burma) and could not be contacted.

Daeng went shopping to buy a new outfit and shoes for Mon to be buried in. I kidded with Daeng that she could cremate me naked, just like I came into the world. I found it very hard to joke with everyone being so sad.

The christian service was to be the next day at 11:00 AM, then a big meal for everyone. After that Mon would be loaded on a small truck and transported to her resting place in a crypt that was built yesterday.

I did not count the people but we guess there were over 200 people at the service and eat. Our friends, Peter and Nok came to support Daeng and the family.

Folks eat under the tents and at the two homes across the road from Jai's home. All that was left of the pig was the head and ears which would be cooked in soup for the three days of praying following the burial.

After we all eat, I took pictures of the immediate family. From left to right standing: Brother Jai, Brother Poopie, Jai's wife Sang, Mon's Mother Meechu, Daeng, Nephue Kit, Tun's wife Hlong. Below left to right: Brother Tun, Sister La, Neice Nay, Nephue Jok, Sister Sa.

I spelled all the above names the way they sound in English, as best I could. Please remember, I'm a plumber and not very good with English skills.

After I took pictures of the family, Mon was loaded on a small truck and moved to the crypt that was built for her in a christian burial plot at the top of the hill.

There was anyother ceremony.

Then Mon was placed in the crypt and everyone placed flowers on top of her casket.

The casket was then opened and Daeng and Pooie placed the blanket over Mon's head.

The top of the casket was closed. Corrogated metal was placed on top of banboo supports and the crypt was sealed with cement. Daeng and Pooie helped to move the cement from the mixing area to the crypt.

The top was trowel smooth and Pooie wrote Mon's name, dates and a message of love in the cement.

Most of the folks had already walked back. Daeng, Pooie, Sang and Meechu were the last to walk back down the hill.

By the time they arrived back to the house, the tents, tables, chairs and all the cooking equipment had been loaded and were gone.

I helped load a few things and then took four of the visitors from Mae Sai back with me in the car.

I know that I will always remember Mon as will her family. Death is always a tragity!

Trip to Prison - Lampang, Thailand

2011-11-15T22:00:00.005+07:00

It was a nice, sunny day here on the Myanmar (Burma) border as we packed the car to make the trip to the Central Prison in Lampang, Thailand.

We wanted to visit Chom-nom to find out if he was alright, find out his release date, see what his plan was upon release and to let him know we would try to help him if he was ready to stay clean (drug free).

When we visited his mother a few days ago, she told us he was in the prison in Lampang which is about 300 Km (186 miles) away. I did a little research on the internet and learned a few thing about the Thailand prison system.

According to http://www.foreignprisoners.com/ this small country has the 25th largest prison system in the world and the second largest number of inmates in South-East Asia, second only to Singapore. The Thailand prison system holds approximately 200,000 people and it is estimated that over 70 percent are drug related crimes.

The trip to Lampang was uneventful, which was good. We stopped once for lunch in a large open market area just south of Chiang Rai. The price of gasoline is a little lower than it was in the spring at 36.11 THB a liter ($4.56 USD a gallon) for 91 octane. 95 octane gasohol is a little cheaper, by a few cents.

We arrived around 4:00 PM and checked into the Kim Hotel not far from the prison. It is an old hotel with free WiFi and coffee for around $11.50 USD a night. After we checked in we went for a little ride in a horse drawn carriage so we could see this town.

The driver stopped at the train station and we had something to eat. It was dark by then so we rode in the carriage back to the hotel and turned in for the night.

Up early, coffee, shower and dress in long pants for the trip to prison. We drove the kilometer to the prison, parked close and enter the prison gate.

There were about fifty people or so in the waiting area already. Daeng filled out a form showing who we were asking to see and all our information. She turned it in and was given small cards with the number 4. That means we were in the forth group to visit.

We sat down and waited as each group can visit for 15 minutes with about 5 minutes between each group. Number 1 was now in process so that means we would have to wait about 40 to 60 minutes.

In about 10 minutes Daeng’s name was called on a loud speaker system. She went up to the window and was told that Chom-nom was not at this prison. We went over the the administration office and were given a phone number to call so we could find out where he was.

We went out to the car were we left our phones and cameras as they were not allowed into the prison. Daeng called and was told he was in the Lampang prison but a different area about 15 Km away. We went back in and asked for directions. Now we know we are in trouble as directions are usually: “Go up this road about 15 Km and ask someone.”

We went back to the hotel, packed up, checked out and ask the lady at the desk for directions, also. We got about the same directions: “Go up the Chiang Mai – Lampang road about 12-15 KM. If you don’t see the sign stop and ask where it is.

As we were packing up the car we saw a "cute" motorbike that looked like a horse carriage but with the motorbike on the front. I asked the man: "How many horses this had?" He laughed.

Well, we want you to know that the directions worked. When we didn’t see the prison sign at about 15 Km we stopped three times and asked for directions. After we turned around we found the sign. It was hidden with the plant growth. We drove up the road about a kilometer and stopped at one of the gates with a guard and he told us we were at the right place.

We parked and went inside. It was 11:00 PM and the man at the visitor’s area said we could see him now but only for maybe 5-8 minutes or we could come back after 1:00 PM and see him for 20 minutes. We told him we had come a long way and would like to see him now, if possible.

Another guard filled out some paperwork using Daeng’s identification card and he sent another follow, maybe an inmate to find Chom-nom. We sat and waited.

About eight minutes later, Chom-nom showed up behind an area with wire and screening to separate us. He was in good spirits and looked healthy although a little skinny.

We asked him the usual questions and he told us he was okay, helping with the system. He said he was being a good boy there and would be released in 4-5 months. He wanted to go back and finish the children’s shelter in Ban AYO.

We explained to him that his mother was doing okay, we saw her last week. Daeng told him that she had no way to contact his wife regarding her or his two children as she had changed her telephone number. Chom-nom said he did not have her new number and phone calls were not allowed from prison here.

The guard said it was time to end the visit. We told Chom-nom we would help him and the shelter for the kids. We said good-bye and told him we would see him again in March of 2012.

I am glad we make the trip.

Daeng and I decided to spend the night in Lampang and drive back to our home in Mae Sai tomorrow. We stayed at the Asia Hotel for the night.

We did visit one of the largest light shops in the area but did not find any table lamps that we liked for our bedroom.

We also saw a young man carving "flip-flops". That is correct, he was carving pictures and saying into the rubber flip-flops. Daeng wanted a pair but he did not have her size, right now.

Oh well, TiT. TiT stands for This is Thailand.

Just another day? Church, Chiang Mai, Pooie's House, Ban AYO, Furniture & Loi Kratong

2011-11-11T16:14:00.041+07:00

We say: "Just another day?" Everyday is just a little different here in Northern Thailand.

On Saturday, October 29th we went to the opening celebration of Rev. Sunit's new church. He has been working on this church for the past two years and it is now complete. Here is a story from last year: http://terrysstories.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-fall-in-church.html. Here is another story from the year before and in the old building that was used for a church: http://terrysstories.blogspot.com/2009/11/church-food-childlife-kids-flowers.html.

There were over two hundred folks attending the celebration and a good time was had by all. That is "Bang" serving food after the church ceremony.

Bang's baby is a happy little boy that is about six months old now. The baby, Bang and her husband are all doing well. Bang is in several of the past stories.

After church, Daeng and I started to paint the TV room. The reason is we had bought new drapes and rods for that room last week but did not want to put them up unless we painted first.

It was a lot of work as this room had not been painted in over 16 years, the first paint job was not very good and there was a lot of staining on the walls, maybe from smokers.

It took three coats of paint, a sealer, a coat of white primer and a heavy coat of finish paint. We used a silk pearl finish to hide some of the blemishes on the walls.

After the three day paint job, Daeng and I put up new rods and drapes. Then Daeng did a special clean up of the tile floor. The room looked very nice after we finished.

By the way, here is a picture of some fellows riding in a truck along the main highway. They are in hammocks; what a great way to travel.

The day after finishing the TV room, Daeng and I packed up for a little road trip to the City of Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand and is in the northern part of this county. To read more about this relaxed area just click on this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Mai.

The drive is about four hours from our home in Mae Sai. It rained very hard as we came over the mountains. We spent the next three days shopping for lamps and looking at furniture during the day. Then we spent the evenings with our friends, Brian and Noochy.

Brian is in the jewelry business. His website is: http://www.aajewel.com/. His specialty is Burma Rubies but deals in many types of gems and pieces of art.

We did find some furniture that we would love to have in our guest room. It is inexpensive but the problem is getting it to our home four hours, by car, away. Maybe we can arrange for the purchase and shipping during our next trip in the spring.

After three days of resting and shopping we left this lovely city and headed to visit Daeng's brother, Pooie. We were told to drive to the big temple in the village of Doi Saket, turn right and drive about 5 Km and just ask where is Pooie's house.

We followed the directions and the first person we stopped to ask told us to go to the next street and turn left and then right. I ask if they know Pooie and was told "No". I laughed because this is the Thai way. Thais want to make you happy so they will tell you what ever they think you want to hear even if it is wrong.

We drove a short ways and asked another person where was Pooie's house. Again, they gave us directions but when ask if they know Pooie, they said "NO". Daeng said she wanted to scrap the trip and head on home. I said let's stop at the local market and ask.

At the local market, they knew Pooie and gave us the correct directions. We know the directions were correct because the kids were playing in the front yard when we arrived. I nicknamed Pooie's son "Ling" (Thai for monkey) as he was climbing all over everything.

After talking for a while we decided to all hop into the car and head to the hot spring a few kilometers away and see Pooie's wife and the hot springs.

Seven of us got into the Toyota Vios that we had rented and headed to the hot spring.

We visited two hot springs, one that was mostly for the high class wealthy folks and the other one for the common folks.

We liked the one for the common folks as you could do fun things like cook eggs and hang out in the hot spring water.

We also got to meet Pooie's wife but she could not spend any time with us as she was working, cooking.

It was getting late in the day, about 4:00 PM so we jumped back in the car and made the trip back to Pooie's house. We said good-bye and started the trip back home. We thought we would go to the City of Chiang Rai, about three hours away, and spend the night.

Well, it gets dark about 6:30 PM here. I was starting to get tired and don't like to drive after dark because there are so many people drinking and driving. We stopped at a couple of hotels on the way but there were all very run down and dirty.

We saw a sign, Daeng said to stop. We drove up the driveway, I rolled down Daeng's window and she ask the man standing beside the driveway if they had rooms for the night. He laughed and told Daeng this was a "short-time" hotel and usually rented rooms for an hour or two. He ask if we would like to see a room. We were there so why not?

The place was immaculate, everything was very clean and crispy, hot water, western style toilet, air conditioning and mirrors on the walls. He said he would rent us a room for the complete night for 400 THB (about $13.00 USD).

The bed was a little hard but we were glad we stayed as we got a good nights sleep. Daeng and I both laughed as there was a place to park the car next to our room and then pull a curtain so no one could see our car.

It sorta made us feel like we were getting away with something.

Oh well, what happens in Thailand stays in Thailand. Eat your heart out Las Vegas.

We talked about heading back to Ban AYO to see if we could find Chom-nom's Mother and find out what the real story was. We decided to do that and to come in the back way or what I would call the high road into this village.

It was a easy trip as we were rested. I am so glad Daeng said stop at the hotel we stayed in last night.

The road, even though it is less than two years old, has been kind of taken over by the jungle. It was a little scary coming in from the high side.

When we pulled up in front of the house in Ban AYO, Chom-nom's Mother was on the porch. She was very happy to see us.
We spent a few hours with her and her friends, talking, eating cookies we had brought and ice cream. The same ice cream man showed up from the last trip. Click on this link for that story: http://terrysstories.blogspot.com/2011/10/ban-ayo-trip-tears-anger.html

From what we could tell here is the real story. Chom-nom was arrested with maybe a hundred "Yaba" pills. The reason he did not get a life sentence is he was not convicted for dealing, just possession. He had been arrested in the past for drug related crimes and had spent thirteen years in prison.

The good news, the water tanks are still in place at the children's shelter. We just could not see them because the jungle had taken over.

The other folks that were helping to build the shelter will help him complete the shelter when he get out of prison within the next year. But, this will be his late chance with them.

He is in prison about 150 Km south of Chiang Mai and his mother let us take a picture of her house book that shows his exact name so we can find him and visit him.

We wished each other the best and told her we would keep in touch.

We headed home to Mae Sai to sleep in our own bed. Well, we don't really have a bed, it is a mattress on the floor but tomorrow the new furniture and bed will be delivered.

Another day, we had coffee, sticky rice, fried chicken and Pa Tong Ko in the Ban Pa Mueat market by our home. On the way home we stopped to work out on the exercise equipment.

We then went home and moved all the stuff for the furnture men to install the new bedroom furniture.

The men with the furniture showed up around 11:00 AM as their truck broke down a few kilometers south of us.

They did get busy putting everything together. I watched them do the first cabinet and could tell they had done man of these before. I am sorry now that I did not continure to watch as after they left, later in the day, I realized they had reversed one of the back panels on the second wardrobe cabinet and because it was reversed, no screws were in it.

The cabinet looks okay but the stability of the cabinet is compromised. I took pictures and will stop at the furniture store in Chiang Rai when we are there next week. I don't have a lot of hope that they will send someone to correct it as we have already paid.

The other side is the people have never seen real "A" grade quality so they don't know what that is. They accept "C" grade for good quality and "D" grade as acceptable.

That part makes me crazy!

The new furniture did change that side of our master bedroom. Now we need to work on the other half of the room.

Well, enough about just another day, we are now into the Full Moon and the Celebration of the Lights called Loi Kratong, sometimes spelled Loy Kratong. To read about that holiday and see a beautiful slide show just click on this link: http://www.tatnews.org/events/events/2011/nov/5229.asp

As the full moon of the twelfth lunar month (usually in mid-November and the 10th this year) lights up the night sky, throughout the Thai kingdom, hundreds of thousands of ornately-decorated krathong or traditional banana leaf floats are set adrift in rivers and waterways in a spell-binding ritual called "Loy Krathong" - the 'festival of lights". This is one of the Kingdom's oldest and best-preserved traditions.

Daeng and all the girls made kratongs to set afloat. This year they did them the old fashion way with just banana leaves and flowers, no styrofoam. They all were beautiful.

Daeng even made one for me, how romantic.

Then after dark, they set them afloat in the near-by river or waterways. They are really a beautiful site to see.

You can read a story of this holiday time in 2009 and hear the holiday song by clinking on this link: http://terrysstories.blogspot.com/2009/11/loy-krathong.html.

We will keep everyone informed regarding our visit to Chom-nom.

Mae Salong - Oolong Tea & Fun

2011-10-26T23:46:00.040+07:00

We feel better today after spending the night here in Mae Salong at the Shinsane Guesthouse and Bungalows. We are at the highest elevation that you can get to by paved road, here in Thailand.

This guesthouse has rooms starting at 50 THB ($1.65 US) and bunglows for 200-300 THB. We stayed in a bungalow with our own bathroom and hot water shower.

There is no need for air conditioning as it is cool here in the mountains. Matter of fact, we were cold last night and I put on a jacket to go to the morning market.

We got up at daylight. I would say sun rise but it is very cloudy/foggy this morning. You could not see the sun.

We walked to the morning market, had coffee and bought a few beaded braclets from the local hill tribe folks (Akha). Daeng also bought a half a kilogram of medium grade tea for the lady at the Ban Pa Meat Pa Thong Ko &Coffee Shop where we usually have morning coffee.

We also bought some braclets from the local girls as we walked back to our room.

After a little breakfast we checked out and traveled to one of the local tea factories. This area is now famous for their "Oolong tea".

We stopped on the south side of town at the Choke Chamroen Tea Co. LTD. As we got out of the car a lady, in the doorway under the sign, motioned for us to come this way. She led us into a little room and gave us clean flip-flops to put on our feet.

After changing our shoes we followed her into a hugh room with lots of workers and machines. She began explaining, in Thai, the sixteen (16) steps to making quality, premium tea. If you leave out any of the steps the tea becomes less of a quality tea.

It all starts with quality tea plants on the hill side. Every morning the tea pickers pick the tender leafs from the tea plants. They are then brought and layed out to dry for a day.

After the first day of drying, they are moved inside twice in a drying process. Then the tender tea leafs are put in a round machine that turns and heats the tea leafs.

After that process, the leafs are bundled and massaged in machines, removed, put back in round machine that act as sauns, rebundled, massages more until the tea leaves are ready for hand sorting and seperating from the stems.

Remember, this is Thailand and everything gets massaged, even the tea!

I don't think I have ever seen premium tea like this. The tea leaves are all bunched up and look like rasins. I learned later, in a tea brewing demonstration, when brewed correctly the tea leaves open up to their full size, just like when they were picked.

By the way, the ladies in the sorting picture are paid 130 THB a day (around $4.00 USD). Sorting the tea leaves is a very time consuming process, too.

After the hand sorting and stem removal, the tea is again warmed, then bagged, vacuum sealed and boxed for shipment.

I never knew the cost of tea could be so high. It was explained to me that this kind of premium tea will bring as much as 2000 THB ($66.00 USD) a kilogram on the wholesale market. Sometimes even more than a hundred US Dollars ($100.00) a kilogram. The package in Daeng's hand is 1/5 of a kilogram (200 grams).

And I thought coffee was high priced!

After our little tour of the tea factory we went to the tea tasting area. We were tought how to brew this kind of tea correctly. I had never seen it done this way:

1. Put tea in small tea pot, filling about 1/4 full with loose tea. Put almost boiling water into pot and let set for less than a minute. Pour water back out. This washes the tea leaves. You can throw that water away.
2. Put almost boiling water back into pot and wait about three to five (3-5) minutes, then pour brewed tea into cups.

This can be done with the same leaves for at least five times or until the taste of the tea is no longer strong enough for your taste.

We were told the rebrewed tea tastes better than the first brewed tea. It has something to do with the soaking of the tea leaves.

We drank two small cups of tea, one - Green Oolong Tea and one - Ginseng Oolong Tea. I was wired for over three hours from the caffeine (I think it was the caffeine.) in the tea.

We did buy 200 grams of both the Green Oolang Tea and the Ginseng Oolong Tea. The Ginseng Tea had a sweet taste to it.

We also bought a beaded braclet from a little boy outside the tea tasting area. He was a real cutie.

After we left the tea factory we took a little ride onto some of the less traveled roads. One of them dead ended into the Mae Salong Church Drug Rehabilition Center. Go figure since this area was, at one time, a high producing Opium area. This is part of the "Golden Triange" area.

Another road stopped at a Buddhists Temple. My GPS showed the road continuing on but we could not find a way around the temple. TIT! (This is Thailand!)

It is a beautiful little temple.

We desided we had done enough for the day and it would be nice to spend the night in our own bed. We were only about 50 kilometers from our home so we headed in that direction.

It was a fun trip.

Ban AYO Trip - Tears & Anger

2011-10-25T23:08:00.030+07:00

With water in my eyes, I am starting to write this story of our trip to Ban AYO. We have been there many times over the last few years and had gotten heavily involved in helping to get water to this area for a children's shelter.

If you would like to read those past stories you can click on each one of them here:
October 21, 2007 Trip into Jungle Note: If you have trouble opening this story it is also at http://www.funnyplumber.com/ in "stories" page.
June 8, 2008 Water for Kids in Ban AYO
November 5, 2008 Water for Children Ban AYO
March 27, 2009 Shelter for the Children Ban AYO
November 10, 2009 Trip to see New Children's Shelter Ban AYO

A while after November 10th we received a telephone call from Chom-nom's wife saying he was arrested for possession of drugs, "Yaba". Here is a simple explanation of "Yaba".

I wanted to know more. Daeng and I talked about going back to Ban AYO to find out more and what the real story was. Everyone thaty we mentioned going back to find out what happened told us: "NO, don't go!"
The basic reason was if he was arrested for drugs the area would be watched. Then a farang, non-Thai, comes into the area asking questions. That was not a good idea.

That was two years ago so a couple of days ago we rented a car, Toyota Vios, for the month. On top of the "To Do" trip list was make the trip to Ban AYO and find out what we could.

We left Mae Sai after a breakfast of fried chicken, sticky rice, Pa Tong Ko, fruit and coffee and headed straight to Ban AYO. When we got onto the Ban AYO road, that was dirt two years ago, we found it had been paved. Everything else looked the same.

We drove by the children's shelter driveway as it was all grown up with vegetation. We turned around and walked down the hill to find the jungle had enveloped it.

Nothing could be seen from the road.

The water tanks were missing, also.

I walked in as far as I could but the vegetation had sharp edges and we were only wearing t-shirts and short pants. I went in as far as I could go to get some pictures.
You can see by the pictures the jungle had taken the place over. In many parts you could only see the roof line.

What a shame. The disease of addiction wins, again. This disease abscesses the mind, compulses the body and destroys the human spirit. Everyone around the disease losses. Chom-nom lost, his mother, his children, his wife, the kids the shelter was for and the community. I got tears in my eyes standing beside one of the building in this now jungle.

We still don't know what the real story is. Did Chom-nom just piss off the wrong person so he was set up and arrested? Was he really dealing? The John Delorean case comes to mind.

We hiked back up the hill, got into the car and dove to Chom-nom's Mother's house. It was empty and no one around knew where she was.

We got back in the car and drove up the rod a short ways and Daeng said to stop by some "Akha" ladies so she could ask them.

Daeng got out of the car and talked for a few minutes. Once they realized she was a friend and also "Akha", one of the ladies started telling her that Chom-nom's Mother was living in the jungle as she could find food there.

She said that if Daeng went down the road behind her, crossed the field and over the water into the jungle on the other side she could find her.

Daeng set out to find her while I stayed with the car. After about an hour, I called Daeng using our cellular phones. They worked here now, also. Paved road and telephone service, I think they came together.

Daeng told me she could not find her and was coming back. It took about an hour for her to return, tired but back.

We figured that ice cream would be good at this point as a man selling home made ice cream showed up on his motorbike. Everyone loves ice cream.

We still don't know the real story but we were told that he went to jail for a lot longer than two years.

From the positive side, there is now water! The kids are all being taken care of at another place at the bottom of the hill. Most of all, I have learned a lot about the business of children's shelters.

I think I should continue with the book I want to write with a title of "Broken Cross".

I am still angry toward the disease of addiction!

We said thank you and traveled to Mae Salong to spend the night.

Golden Triangle

2011-10-18T13:27:00.015+07:00

Daeng's friend Peg, that now lives in Japan, was home for a little holiday and to visit family. She was staying at her Mother's home about 20 Km from Mae Sai. Daeng wanted to visit her and I said I would ride along.

After coffee, we jumped on Daeng's motorbike and rode east from where she was staying. When we arrived, Peg was having a morning meal of pork, sticky rice, fish, bamboo and vegetables. We joined in and talked with her family.

After about two hours, I told Daeng I would take the motorbike for a little ride and let them talk more. I marked my GPS so I could find my way back and headed out. The center of the "Golden Triangle" is only about 20 Km away so I put the motorbike on the road in that direction.

The road was being repaired so it was a little dusty but made it to the Mekong River without any problems and very little traffic. By the way, some folks here spell this river as Mae Kong River as "Mae" means "Mother" in Thai.

As I came down the hill I could see this mighty river was very high but not overflowing the banks. I could see from the water marks is had gone down at least three meters (about 10 feet) from the height a week ago.

This area is named, as our President "Tricky Dickie" said, the "Golden Triangle" because Thailand, Myanmar (Burma) and Laos meet at this spot. Most folks think of this area as a larger area projecting 300 Km in all directions as it had the largest production of Opium in the world, at one time.

It is also marked on the river with a huge golden Buddha. If you click on the picture you can see how little the people look compared to Buddha.

I stopped by the "Hall of Opium" sign with a big smile as you can see in the picture.

Daeng called me to be sure I was okay. It's nice to be loved!

I headed back and met her. We hung out some more, then said "good-bye" and headed back together. We went back on a different road so there was not as much dust.

Home and a hot shower!

Shopping for bedroom furniture

2011-10-16T11:24:00.005+07:00

We had visited every furniture shop in our small town of Mae Sai without finding bedroom furniture that we liked. Daeng and I decided we would go south about 60 Km to Chiang Rai and see what we could find there.

Due to my knee surgery, about six weeks ago, we decided that Daeng would take her sister-in-law, Hlong, to Chiang Rai on her motorbike and I would take the bus. Hlong wanted to visit family there.

They left bout 7:00 AM and I had Kit, Daeng's nephew, dropped me off at the bus station around 11:00 AM. After we got gas in the bus, the 60 Km trip took about an hour and a half with stops. When I arrived I walked over to the Jansom Hotel and rented a room for us.

I called Daeng and she met me. We had a little lunch at the vegetarian place we like and started visiting furniture shops.

We visited about seven furniture stores. We saw some things we liked but nothing we were really crazy about. By six o'clock we were pretty tired so we called it quites, returned to hotel, showered and went to bed after a little food at the corner restaurant.

We got up around 7:00 AM and took the motorbike to Jan's Coffee shop by the bus station. We were happy to see her busy and in good spirits. We talked for a while and then went over to a huge furniture and electronics store that she recommended.

It was a big place and after spending several hours we found some bedroom furniture that we really liked. The only problem was there was one piece, a two door wardrobe, they had to order. We told them we would look at some more stores and come back if we wanted them to order it.

We went to three more shops and then came back to the big store. We gave them a deposit so they could order and deliver to Mae Sai in 18 days. We also bought a microwave oven which they delivered the next day.

We were beat after all the shopping so we called it a day and early to bed for the night.

The next morning we got up early and had toast and coffee at the hotel. Daeng put me on the bus and she headed home to Mae Sai on her motorbike.

I sat in the back of the bus with a little Thai boy and his Mother. At first, he was afraid of me as a farang (non-Thai) but after a while he started laughing at me and warmed up to me.

It started raining hard about half-way. Daeng called my on mobile phone to tell me she was going to hang out in a little town about half-way to Mae Sai.

When I got to Mae Sai bus station, Daeng's brother, Tun, picked me up with his motorbike in the poring rain. Yep, you guessed it, we both got soaked but it was a good trip.

THIS IS THAILAND!

Back to normal at home in Mae Sai

2011-10-14T10:07:00.005+07:00

Well, we have been ,here in Mae Sai, for a few days and we're back to normal. Normal to us is the morning visit to the market for coffee and Pa Thong Ko (pronounced "Baht-to-go").

Something that is not normal is to see monks on horseback. We see them on the bus, in tuk-tuks, taxis, bicycles and on elephants but this is the first time I have seen a monk on a horse.

After coffee, in the Ban Pa Meat morning market, we have been doing a little exercise on the equipment beside the road one street over. Ban Pa Meat is the section of Mae Sai that we live in.

Just to show the percentage of Buddhists in this area, here is a picture of the morning market on October 12th which was a Buddhist holiday.

The morning market usually is full of folks shopping for produce and food for the home, but not that morning.

Trip to Home on the Myanmar (Burma) border

2011-10-10T16:57:00.003+07:00

This trip was longer than most of our trips from California. We were a half hour longer in the air from Los Angeles to Taiwan, 14 1/2 hours for that leg, then 3 1/2 hours from Taipei to Bangkok. When we arrived in Bangkok, at almost 2:00 AM, we took a taxi for two more hours to Pattaya, on the coast.

We we got to the Sunshine Hotel on Soi 8 off Beach Road, we were told that they did not have a reservation for a double room with a terrace on the back of the new section. They did put us up in a stinky room in the old sections for the same price. Remember, it had now been 39 hours since we had been in a bed.

We showers, had something to eat and rested a couple of hours. We got up and took a baht bus (pickup truck with a rig on the back to carry people) down Beach Road and arranged for a room in Henry Apartment. We came back to the Sunshine hotel and checked out.

I did talk to the managed that we had made the reservation with from California. He told me it was our fault in making the reservation even thought Daeng and I both talked to him, me in English and Daeng in Thai. Thai's always have to save face.

I explained that, if I was the manager, I would have offered us the room free that night to make up for the mistake and got us to stay the other eight nights.

For us a nice room at Henry Apartments was exactly half the cost ($19.50 USD) of the Sunshine Hotel ($39.00 USD) so it worked out well. Our new room was right off Walking Street and just far enough away to be quiet.

We rested, eat and slept, for the next nine days. We did do a little walking to try and get some exercise. There is a lot to see in Pattaya as more than four million tourists a year visit this little fishing village. Well, a fishing village is what it used to be.

Here is a picture of folks from the tour buses taking boats to the near-by island.

We love the diversity in Pattaya. Here is a dog riding on a motorbike.

On October 6th we packed our bags took Air Asia for the hour and twenty minute flight to Chiang Rai. Daeng had arranged for a car to pick us up at the airport and take us the forty minute drive to our home in Mae Sai.

Everything was exactly as we left it. Daeng's sister-in-law, Hlong, had cleaned our master bedroom for us, as well. It was wonderful to be back in Mae Sai. We showered, unpacked and got a great nights sleep.

In the morning we were up early for coffee in the morning market. That is always fun!

Then a ride to see the little lady that camps out by the 7-11 store by the border. She always laughs at me although I know she can't understand a word I say.

The Mae Sai River was still pretty high. We're told the river was all the way to the bottom of the bridge last week. It has gone down at least 10 feet.

It's nice to be back!

Summer 2011

2011-09-11T08:51:00.009+07:00

We had a nice summer even though I hurt by back needing MRIs and treatment. That along with a knee operation kept me from doing much walking or a lot of physical things.

On Father's Day we had lunch with my youngest and oldest daughters, along with sister Diane , Mom and Grand-daughter Crystal, at Peacemakers in Costa Mesa. It was a nice relaxed lunch and we had a chance to catch up with family gossip.

Even though the summer was a pretty cool one for the west coast there was enough work repairing units that had not been maintained and were very dirty.

Keeping your heating - cooling equipment and filters clean is the most important thing you can do to keep costs of operation low and the results of the equipment high.

Daeng and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary with a little trip to Laughlin, Nevada. Daeng is not a big gambler, except to marry me, but does like the video penny machines.

We met our friends, Michael and Charlotte in Laughlin and spent the weekend together at a convention.

My Mother celebrated her 90th Birthday in July, also. Although her health is diminishing she was in good spirits as my sister Silvana and husband Rick came from New York to surprise her.

We had a little party at Flagship Health Care Center were Mom now has 24 hour nursing care. About twenty-five of her friend and family came to share cake and give pleasant birthday wishes.

We also made a little trip to the big city of Bakersfield to celebrate my fifteen years of being drug free. We meet with some other friends to share cake and stories of how our lives have changed.

Today my life is beyond my wildest dreams!

Daeng and I will make the looooong trip back to our Thailand home, on the Myanmar (Burma) border, the end of September.

Daeng and I want to send our love to everyone!

Beginning of Summer!

2011-05-30T08:58:00.006+07:00

Memorial Day is usually considered the beginning of the summer season. Here are a few tips to help your central air conditioning system keep you cool and run efficiently.

My first recommendation is to have a qualified technician come to your home to service and test your central air conditioning system before it gets hot. If the level of refrigerant, commonly called FREON, is off 10% it may cost you 20% or more to operate. An air conditioning tune-up could save you more than the cost of the tune-up and your system will cool much better with less energy.

Now, here are things that you can do yourself:

Air flow is very important to your air conditioning system.

*Clean, wash or replace the air filter in your system., The air filter will usually be in your furnace or a return air filter register grill. EVERY system has a filter to keep the dirt from building up in the inside coil of your system. If that coil gets dirty it is very hard to clean as it is inside the system and not easy to get to.

If the filter is in your furnace, make sure the blower door is back in place after you service or change the air filter.

You should clean or replace your air filters at lease twice a year and many manufactures recommend monthly! I include our filter washing when we change the clocks each year. Three items: change time - spring ahead and fall back, check smoke alarms and smoke alarm batteries, wash or change air filters in heating & AC system.

*Make sure nothing is on top of your outside unit or within 12” of the sides of the unit. Trim back any vegetation to 12-18 inches from the unit; 18” is best as it will grow back.

By the way, your outside unit does not need to be covered when not in use. It was made different than people, it was built to be naked all year round.

*With the system turned off, hose off outside coils. Do not use a strong spray of water as a strong jet of water may bend aluminum fins.

*With the temperature being over 75 degrees F, that’s 24 degrees C, turn the system on for a few hours to make sure it will cool correctly before it gets really hot.

*After the system has run for an hour or so be sure to check the condensate drain to be sure the water is going to the place it is suppose to go and not running or leaking into the furnace area or other parts of your building.

Your air conditioning system will produce as much as five (5) gallons or more of water an hour. If it leaks to the wrong place it could cause a lot of damage.

If you suspect any trouble with your system call or email us and we’ll try to help you. Our website is www.DialOneToday.com. Our email address is DialOneToday@hotmail.com and telephone number is 714-DIAL ONE (342-5663).

Best wishes for a wonderful summer.

Church at Childlife

2011-05-29T19:28:00.009+07:00

We got up early, about 6:00 AM, had coffee and Pa Thong Ko at the Bann Pa Meat morning market. It was a little overcast but you could see the mountains from our bedroom window.

By the time we got to Childlife the sun was starting to come through the clouds. When we arrived we could hear someone

playing the drums in the worship area. Yep, it was Pastor Lota.

We talked to some of the kids as we sat around the table outside the building that we would meet in. They are a great bunch of kids. It is always wonderful to spend time with them. They are also growing up very fast.

The church service was a happy, fun service as Pastor Lota has lots of energy and the kids just get into singing and

having fun. He believes as we do: "If you don't have fun in what you are doing you probably won't stay around very long."

Here is a little one that looks like her sister that we

featured in another story. To read that story just CLICK HERE.

We said goodbye to everyone as we are leaving for Bangkok on Tuesday morning and then America the following week. We will miss them all.

On the way home from Childlife we stopped along the dirt road to watch the farmers trash the rice the old way. Most of the rice in Thailand is harvested by machines except in the

smaller rice patties that the machines can't get into.

This little country of Thailand is the largest exporter of rice in the world. Jasmine rice is from Thailand.

It was a wonderful morning.

New Doorway!

2011-05-12T17:53:00.007+07:00

Back in March, before the earthquake here, I started cutting in a doorway between the two shop houses we have. That way we can walk from one into the other without going outside and entering through the front door.

These shop houses are three story concrete buildings with the first floor built to have a retail shop or restaurant. The second floor could be used for the shop or as living area. The third floor is to live in.

We originally bought the double shop house on the East side of the complete building. Then Daeng talked with the

owner of the center single unit and bought it. We then re-piped the drain lines of both units as they had a water problem and that is why we could buy them at such a good price.

You can read about those stories by CLICKING HERE and CLICKING HERE.

Daeng's nephue started to help me at the beginning but like most young folks he got bored and drifted off to

doing something more fun.

At the start we talked about how dirty this project would be as we where going to use a rotor-hammer to drill many holes in the masonry wall. then we would use a 4" hand grinder with a diamond blade and cut both side of the wall. After that we would break out the the wall that was made with small red bricks laid in mortar.

We marked the wall and put up a plastic sheeting tenting around the area we were

going to cut out. It was very dusty and I could only work for about five minutes at a time when I was doing the cutting. It was during this period of time that Kit, Daeng's nephue, got bored and wondered off to do other things. I did all the cutting as I felt it was too dangerous for him.

After that Daeng helped me break out the wall and put all the brick and cement in bags to haul away. It did look good and made a great walk though. It was a bigger job than I originally figured but that is usually the case.

We spend a few days talking about putting in a set

of wooden door jams or just rendering the opening with plaster and painting it. When we talked with Mi he said he could render it with cement and if we were not happy with that we could put in the door jams.

Well, he did a great job with the opening and we are very happy with the way it looks.

You can now go anyplace in this building with 7 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 2 kitchens with outside cooking area, TV room, storage room, eating area and both shop areas without going outside.

We think we will use the smaller shop area as our garage.

We will use the area in

the picture behind Mi as a little eating area as it is off the 2nd floor kitchen area and our master bedroom suite.

I also made a wood threshold, put three coats of marine varnish on it and set it motor.

It looks pretty good for a plumber. LOL

Making Pa Thong Ko - Thai Donuts

2011-05-11T16:32:00.001+07:00

I took my try at making Pa Thong Ko, the Thai Donut. I had written stories in the past spelling the name of the donut as "Baht-to-go" as that is how most Thais say it. The spelling is either "Pa Tong Ko" or "Pa Thong Ko". To read those stories just click on these titles- Mae Sai 05/01/2010 Happy Labor Day or Trip to Chiang Rai and Water Fall.

Ntoo, the Pa Thing Ko maker, had taken the day of and his lovely wife was running

things at their coffee shop in the center of the Mae Sai Morning Market. Over a hundred times I have watched Ntoo and others make this Thai style donut so I said let me make some. Everyone laughted but it always looked so easy.

I washed my hands and started to take some Pa Thong Ko doe that had been made last night but had trouble right away as it kept sticking to the table. I had to be helped, right off the bat, as I had not used enough flower on the table to keep the doe from sticking to it.

After that I did pretty good getting the doe rolled out, cut, two

pieces put together with a touch of oil between the two pieces. Time to put the doe in the hot oil. Everything was good so far.

The next thing I did not know was there is only a small window

for the Pa Thong Ko to be cooked correctly. If you don't take them back out of the hot oil in a few seconds of them being done they over cook and become crispy rocks.

I got about half of them out of the kettle of oil okay but the other half went from being very crispy to break your teeth rocks.

It was not a big deal; we only had to throw away about ten. That was about sixty cents worth in US money.

Everyone laughed at me!

All Work and No Play...... Great Wedding

2011-05-07T22:49:00.011+07:00

All work and no play makes a dull life. We have also been having a little fun. A few days ago, our neighbor came by and gave us an invitation to his Daughter's Wedding. This is the same neighbor who's Mother passed away in the Fall. To read that story titled "BIG BARBECUE" just CLICK HERE. It just reminds me that when one thing stops something else starts.

Well, about dawn this morning we

heard a lot of noise. We looked out the window and they were setting up shade canopies beside our home. Our neighbor had ask us if it was okay to set up part of the 80 tables in front of part of our home. We just did not realize the size of 80 tables with shape tents over them. They closed down the whole street for the party.

By 9:00 AM the party was underway with music and lots of folks. I worked with Mi painting the back room, under the second floor cooking area until about 11:00 AM. I showered, dressed and met Daeng as she was already partying with some of her Bingo buddies. She loves to play Bingo.

Her Bingo buddies are a happy

group of ladies that live in the neighborhood and most days meet up the street at the noodle soup shop. That is a little restaurant where you can get a bowl of rice noodle, vegetable soup for 15 Thai Baht, about 45 cents in US Dollars.

I sat and eat with Daeng and her buddies and I'm glad I did.

They were a fun Bunch. The food started out was some spicy fried peanuts and a a large plate of fruit. One of the family members came around and put a bottle of whiskey and a couple of liters of LEO beer on the table.

The next course was an appetizer plate with won tons, pickled eggs, small sausages and nuts. After that a large plate of this crispy fish dish was put on the table. It was very light but you could tell it was deep fried. I have no idea how it was made.

Then a huge, steamed fish and spicy vegetables was put on the table. This fish was the easiest fish I have eaten. The meat just came

off the bone in large pieces and all the bone stayed on the plate. It was a pleasure to eat.

All during the meal folks that Daeng knew would come over and talk with her and give her big hugs. Daeng know a lot of folks here as she has lived in Mae Sai for over thirty years.

The only negative of this party was they served a bottled water with the brand name of "Yellow Surprise". Now, I don't know about you

but in my mind "Yellow Surprise" is not a good name for drinking water. Maybe a name like "Yellow Snow" drinking water would have been better.

Moving right along, the lady sitting right across

from me at the table thought I was funny and laughed at me most of the time. I thought the meal was over with the fish but then a huge plate with a pork leg was placed on the table with another plate of noodles and ham. I made this expression of "I can't eat anymore" and she just cracked up.

We had been eating for almost two hours. Everyone was talking about how we all eat too much and we would not have to eat again for a week.

Mode and Nan, the Groom and Bride, came by our table to thank us for coming and celebrating their union together. We thanked them for sharing with us and wished them a wonderful life together.

The party lasted, with singing and dancing, until almost dark, about 7:00 PM. The music stopped, most of the folks left, they moved the tables and took down the canopies and reopened the street.

A good time was had by over 800 people at this wedding day!

Over a Month since the Big Earthquake

2011-05-06T20:46:00.003+07:00

We'll it's been over a month, almost six weeks, since the big earthquake here on the Myanmar (Burma) border in Thailand. We were really bummed out at the damage it did to our three story shop house.

We sucked it up, an expression we used when my daughters were young when things did not go well, and started working to make the repairs to the place.

Once we got started we just didn't stop.

We were lucky to get "Mi", the fellow that had done a lot of the work on the place last year. He did all the tile work and repaired the cracks in the concrete walls.

We had talked about putting a new roof on the outside back cooking area and putting in a concrete eves drain along the back wall. He said he had done that before and they turned out well. We agreed that Daeng, he and I would do it.

We started by taking off the old roof and

metal eve trough. After we got the old roof off we decided it would be a good idea to change the drain pipe from the eves for the inside cooking area and paint the three walls of that part of the building.

Then we figured we had better seal everything up while we had the roof off. One thing Leeds to another and we

figured we should paint everything

before we put the new roof panels on as they were blue and the paint of the building was a light green with a red walnut color for the wood.

We borrowed a long bamboo ladder from our friends at the cable company and got busy.

What we figured would be a couple of days turned out to be over two weeks work. I will admit that it really worked well as we had a very hard rain yesterday right after we finished everything.

It looks great, too!

Songkran - The Big Party

2011-04-20T11:50:00.002+07:00

Songkron, the big Thai party is over and I'm happy about that. Songkran is usually thought of as the "Water Holiday" as water is thrown on you and every one around you.

I want to be loving and it's nice to have

someone sprinkle a little water on you as a blessing but throwing a five gallon pail of water at you when you are going 40 miles an hour on a motorbike is terrorism.

To read stories written before about Songkran just clink on these links: SONGKRAN DAY ONE - SONGKRAN DAY TWO - SONGKRAN DAY THREE

About the only part of the holiday I did take part in was the whole family went

to Bang's house a few blocks away and had a Songkran dinner together. Bang is the young girl that got married last year and is expectant on May 7th. (Expectant was a term used in "I Love Lucy" many years ago.) You can read about Bang's wedding in the last half of a story written last

year by CLICKING HERE.

It was a nice time with Daeng's Mother blessing everyone

as the oldest in the family. (I think I'm older but that is another story.)

I did not take part in the ceremony as Daeng's Mother does not wash her

hands after using the toilet. I won't eat anything she has cooked or touched. As a matter of fact, I have never seen her wash her hands.

The young kids all played in the fish pond that was cleaned out. They used it as a kids pool and had a lot of fun together. I did eat some Akha food that Daeng's Sister-in-law cooked and it was very spicy.

It was a fun time but I'm very happy Songkran is over.

Tax Day in USA - Wash Day in Thailand

2011-04-15T22:55:00.002+07:00

It may be tax day in the United States of America but it is wash day in the Kingdom of Thailand.

One of the things that Daeng likes about the USA is agitator washing machines because they beat the clothes clean. For some reason, maybe because they use so much water, agitator washing machines can not be found in Thailand.

Because of that, Daeng does the wash the way she usually does it here. She puts the clothes in tubs with soap and does the wash dance. Kind of like the old days doing the grape dance to get the juice out of the grapes.

Then she puts the clothes in other tubs for the rinse and does the dance on them again, twice. After that she puts the cloths in a water extractor. That is a machine that spins the clothes very fast to remove most of the water.

The nice part is she then hangs them in the sun to dry. Yea, clean and nice smelling clothes to wear.

The Big Shaker!

2011-03-30T10:52:00.018+07:00

It has been six days since the big earthquake here on the Myanmar (Burma) border. We experienced the strongest earthquake I have felt, including the Northridge quake in California. Everyone in the family is okay, our three story building is standing but tile has come off the walls and lots of big cracks in the concrete. Everyone around us here in Mae Sai, Thailand was okay although scared as Daeng told me northern Thailand doesn't get earthquakes. I am told there were two, one was 7.0 and we are in the epic center. Here is a link of the first news coverage. CLICK HERE We are told that it was actually 6.8 but because it was so close to the surface it was originally thought to be bigger. It was still scary! With all the aftershocks this is an 'E" ticket ride. If you don't know what an "E" ticket ride is just ask an old person that has been to Disneyland. After we were sure everyone in the immediate area was okay we hopped on our motorbike and drove to the city part of our 25,000 population town to see if we could help. We were surprised that there was very little damage and no one seemed to be hurt. We had the poo-poo scared out of us when we stopped in an area by the border bridge were the buildings are made with corrugated metal, shanty stile. All of a sudden, an aftershock came through and these tin buildings all started shacking, making this terrible noise. It lasted about six or seven seconds and then stopped. We had to change our underwear. (I'm kidding because I don't use underwear.) All through the town, people were camped out in front or back of their buildings as they were afraid of another quake. Some have even pitched tents as they were all afraid to go back in to their homes. The only damage we saw was a lot of cracks in the concrete buildings and a statue had fallen from one of the building. We decided to go home and do some of the clean up. I ate some comfort food, ice cream from the 7-11 and went home to take a shower, then go to bed in my own bed. I had to talk Daeng into that as she was still scared. The rest of the family slept outside for the night. The next day Daeng cleaned up all the concrete and tile that had fallen off the wall. I slept most of the day as I was emotionally drained as we had just finished the new master bathroom and master bedroom. Now we need it repair it. The government in Myanmar (Burma) seems to be keeping the news coverage of damage done by this earthquake to a minimum. Here is a YouTube video taken by our friends at 891NanaStation (Childlife) of some of the damage on the other side of the border. For the 10 minute video: CLICK HERE. We are keeping busy repairing the cracks in the walls so we can repaint. We are looking to find a good tile setter but if we can't find one we'll try to do some of the tile repairs ourselves. Everyday we are still getting small aftershocks which keeps everyone afraid of another big one. Although we are writing this with a light heart many people in Myanmar (Burma) were killed, their homes lost and families separated. May God bless them all!

The Thai Way

2011-03-18T20:06:00.005+07:00

Daeng and Boonreang went to the Police Station in Mae Chan today and met with the family of the lady that died in the accident along with the Mother and Father of the boy who's motorbike Boonreang was driving.

It turned out that the Mother and Father would not help out with anything and were complete ass holes about the whole accident. They would have let Boonreang go to jail rather than help even though his son let Boonreang drive his motorbike.

One thing I have learned in the last 69 years is: "Never fight with pigs. You just get muddy and the pigs love it!"

Daeng called me and told me she had made arrangements with the family of the lady that was killed and ask me to transfer money into an account so they could be paid 200,000 Thai Baht today. If we did that Boonreang would not have to go to jail and would be put on a kind of probation for the next two years.

I transferred the money she needed and said a little prayer thanking God that the rest of us were safe and that the other family was so kind.

We made it to our Thailand Home Safe

2011-03-16T22:04:00.006+07:00

We made it safe to our home in Mae Sai, Thailand.

I am writing this post with a heavy heart.

We are also very sad to read and see the news of the earthquake that has caused so much suffering in the area of Japan.

On a lighter side, before we left California we had a little get together with some of the family members. We all did a little crackin at Joe's Crab Shack in Newport Beach. It was nice to see most of the family before our three month trip.

We arrived in Bangkok a week ago and spent the night at a new guest house on Soi 4 in the Sumhamvit area. I stayed up for the eighteen hours flying time and watched movies. Of the six I watched, I was impressed with "The King's Speech". I understand why it won so many awards.

Daeng slept most of the afternoon the day we arrived and then in the middle of the night she went shopping. She went to the wholesale market in Bangkok that opens at midnight and sells to most of the store and shop owners. She bought shirts and jeans for the family members in Mai Sai.

It is also wonderful to have fresh fruit for about 60 cents a serving.

When she came back about 8:00 AM on Thursday morning we got into a taxi and went to renew her Thai Passport. When we arrived at the government office she was told that it would take until Monday. She explained we were leaving for northern Thailand on Sunday. They told her she could renew it in Chiang Rai which is about a four hour bus ride from us in Mae Sai.

Now for the really sad part, on the way back to our room Daeng's son called to tell her he had been in a motorbike accident last night and the lady that was driving the other motorbike died. He was okay, just a little skinned up as he had a helmet on. His friend, who's motorbike Boonreang was driving, was a passenger and had broken his arm but was okay. The young passenger on the other motorbike had slight injuries but was going to be okay.

The taxi driver also played a little game with us as the meter stopped working along the way and we had to bicker about a fee for the trip. We did pay more that we should have but we just wanted to move along, under the circumstances. The difference was only about 90 Thai Baht ($3.00 USD).

When we got back to our room, I got onto the Internet using WiFi and my netbook and changed our reservations from Sunday to that night. I don't like to travel at night but we don't have much choice. We had called Pastor Lota and ask if he could pick us up at the Chiang Rai Airport at about 9:30 PM.

We arrived, got our bags and he along with Nuy, Daeng's niece and Hlong, Daeng's sister-in-law, were waiting for us. On the way north, Pastor Lota dropped them off at the ladies home to pay their respects and start the process of settlement. I could tell that things were done differently here then the way we would do them in America. I went on to our home, unpacked and waited for Daeng who returned around 1:00 AM.

It seems that the lady who was 73 years old turned right in front of Boonreang. His motorbike hit her and knocked her to the pavement. She was not wearing a helmet so she died of head injuries. Boonreang was driving without a drivers license. According to the police, everyone was at fault. The lady driving the other motorbike was not wearing a helmet. She, according to witnesses, turned right in front of Daeng's son without signaling and was driving a uninsured, unregistered motorbike. In turn, Boonreang was driving without a motorbike driver's license.

I am told that under the circumstances everyone would have just taken care of their own expenses and that would have been that. But, because the lady died the other driver, Daeng's son, is responsible. For the last few days, Daeng and Boonreang have been visiting the family and trying to help the deceased family members.

The cremation was Monday and now Daeng and Boonreang must meet Friday with the Police and Judge to see how this accident will progress. The range of events could be anything from Boonreang going to jail to Daeng paying money to the family and any charges being dismissed.

More will be revealed!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-01-03T23:10:00.000+07:00

We had a happy and very busy holiday season this year. It has been a little chilly here in Southern California.

Most of the heating repair calls have had very dirty air filters. The most important thing that you can do as a home owner is keep your air filters clean. Your system will work better and more economically, also.

Christmas Eve we picked up Mom at Flagship Health Care Center in Newport Beach and had her driven by a special taxi service to our sister Diane's home.

Most of the family that is in California was there and we ate and a festive time was had by all. My Uncle Jimmy, Diane and Mom cracked everyone up. Mom is still very funny sometimes.

On Christmas Day we visited daughter Amy at her home with Peacemakers. They always have wonderful food as well as friendly stories.

I am sure I talked too much about our travels but they always seem interested.

Some of the carolers from another Peacemaker home came by and sang Christmas Carols as we were getting ready to leave.

Over the last few weeks, the Law Firm of Allan S. Lolly & Associates has been getting Daeng's I-751 ready to file with immigrations. When approved that will give Daeng permanent residence status. Then, after three years, she can apply of U. S. Citizenship.

For New Year's Eve we visited Mom at Flagship and watched the ball drop in New York; then home and to bed. Now that's a safe New Years Eve, especially for an old guy like me.

On New Year's Day we picked up Mom again and had a little get together to celebrate the New Year and my daughter Tina's 50th birthday. Yes, I felt a little old having a daughter that is fifty years old. We always have fun with the family.

On the picture to the right is Daeng, Mom, Diane and daughter Tina. On the reflection in the glass over Daeng's head is Chanda, Uncle Jimmy and Jay.

We want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

Nice to be Home for the Holidays

2010-12-20T23:11:00.012+07:00

Although we love to travel and visit friends and family it's nice to be home for the holidays.

We left the Myanmar (Burma) border and spent three days in Bangkok visiting Daeng's sister. She is a sweet lady that works in a restaurant that caters to shoppers at a large shopping mall in the center of Bangkok.

Although only about 1-2% of the people that live in Thailand are Christians the main areas have lots of Christmas decorations.

We spent one evening site seeing the Christmas decorations at the big shopping centers.

Then onward to California. It was very good to get back into our own bed. We had a lot of fun during our trip and it was nice to work on our vacation home in Northern Thailand but I think we, both Daeng and I, like our home here in California the best.

We think the decorations here in Southern California are the best.

On Saturday we went to Amy's Christmas Party. Amy is my youngest daughter. She and Daeng get along great as they are about the same age. Okay, lighten up folks!

That is my Grand-daughter, Crystal, across from me. She is the one with the big, bright smile.

Not to bore you but I also had a Happy Birthday celebration with most of the family, yesterday. Sister Diane, put together a lunch with a cruise around Newport Beach harbor.

It was raining but was wonderful being with friends and family. Daeng, who gets motion sickness, even had a great lunch and some fun on the boat.

We could not bring Mom due to the rain and the problems of loading her in her wheel chair but we did stop at her care center for some cake and birthday wishes in the afternoon.

Daeng and I want to wish everyone a Happy & Safe Holiday Season!

Love to ALL!

Terry & Daeng

Kids at Childlife and "AKHA" Thanksgiving

2010-11-21T06:20:00.015+07:00

We have have been spending so much time working on our home that I haven't written about much else. Two weeks ago we got up early on Sunday morning and traveled on our motorbike to Childlife which is just outside of this small border town of Mae Sai.

We had to take it pretty slow on the dirt road as with all the rain the road was in poor shape. Daeng was driving and managed to miss most of the big mud puddles and pot holes.

We arrived about 8:00 AM, the Church service starts at 8:30 AM. That was nice as we got to talk with some of the kids we know. School was out for mid-semester break so many of the kids were visiting friends and relatives. About a hundred and fifty kids live there when school is in session.

Childlife is a special place started about 11 years ago by Guljohn Jeamrum to help "Street Kids". We were lucky because he was also at Pastor Lota's service and we got to say "Hello" and give him a big hug. If you would like to read more about Childlife just CLICK HERE. Our friend, Pastor Lota, teaches the spiritual meaning of life at Childlife, as well as many other places in Thailand and Myanmar (Burma). He is really great with the kids and they love him.

Because Childlife is out in the rural area they have to make their own electricity. Here is their present power plant.

The church service is always great as Pastor Lota completely involves the kids so they have fun. We believe, and so does he, that if the kids don't have fun they won't stick around very long.

One of the little girls is seven years old. Here is a picture of her standing by the water treating system. We are amazed that she is so in touch with her situating at 7 years old. She is one of five girls who's Father died. Two of the girls are over 15 and moved to the big city of Bangkok to earn a living.

She and two sister live at Childlife most of the time.

She does see her mother on a regular basis. She plans on living at Childlife until she is 15, finishing public school and then move to Bangkok to work, also.

She says she has fun at home with her Mother but living at Childlife is even more fun and she has lots of friends. This seven year old girl talked like an adult, completely in touch with the reality of her situation. It was refreshing.

One of her friends was missing her two front teeth. We tried and tried to get a picture of her smiling but we weren't quick enough with the camera.

After the service, Pastor Lota, invited us to a Thanksgiving celebration at his "Akha" village about 20 Km away. We told him we would love to go with him.

He had a short bible study class while we walked around Childlife. Then we hopped on motorbikes with us followed him. Most of the trip was on paved roads.

There is no set Thanksgiving Day here in Thailand but most village celebrate the rice harvest in the fall with a Thanksgiving Celebration of some kind involving eating. About 60 percent of the population are farmers and this small country is the largest exporter of rice in the world. Jasmin rice is Thai rice.

The "Akha" ladies had on their full celebration outfits.

We did eat to much chicken and pork but it was fun being involve in this celebration.

Big Barbecue

2010-11-13T18:13:00.001+07:00

Our master suite on the second floor is doing well. The painter is moving right along with quality work. One of the really nice parts of his work is he works clean, picking up after himself. That is something we don't see with most Thai tradesman.

I used the title "Big Barbecue" in a kidding manor. The reason I said that is Daeng and I have an expression: "If you see smoke, let's stop and eat." The reason for that is we both like barbecued chicken and usually when you see smoke it is because someone is barbecuing.

We have laughed on a few occasions as we have seen smoke, stopped and found it was someone burning brush or trash. Most of the farmers use the cut and burn method of cleaning fields. What that means is after the rice has been removed in the harvest the rest is burned. I'm told that the ash is good for the soil, too.

For the last three days, Monks have been chanting next door as the Mother, age 83, died. Hundreds of people have been coming to her home, visiting with family members, eating and paying their respects.

That is a lot of dishes to wash from the hundreds of folks that come to pay their last respects.

Daeng has been helping out with the food and the feeding of these hundreds of folks. That is a pretty big core in itself. I don't quite understand but I'm told that how big a party you throw and how much you give to the temple makes a difference of were you will go in the next life.

We'll today was the last day of this ceremony. They closed off the street completely around 10:00 AM. We had just got back from buying more paint.

By the way, good paint is about the same price here as it is California. Maybe that's why they don't paint a lot here.

People started to arrive dressed in black, orange or white depending if they were Monks, close family or just mourners.

The only black shirt I have in my wardrobe has NA on it so I ask Daeng if that would be okay with black shoes, black socks and blue denim pants. She told me that would be fine as many other men would be waring bluejeans and black t-shirts.

I would guess that at least three hundred people, maybe more, showed up for the noon meal and service. Everyone eat and then the close family and the Monks went in two lines holding onto a ropes hooked to the truck that was loaded with the coffin and flowers. Kind of like they were pulling it. I think that was the way they did it in the old days.

They did this for about a fifty meters and then they jumped onto pick-ups, motorbikes or cars and drive to the cremation site. I had never visited one but had seen many along the roads. They look like little houses with big smoke stacks.

They are usually all by themselves with shaded sitting areas around this house and nothing else, no houses, etc., around them. I'm told that people don't want to live or be around these crematoriums as they feel ghosts are there.

We followed the sound truck, the pick-up with the speakers and sound system, to the barbecue site. It was out in the country on the west side of this little border town. Sure enough, a little house with a big chimney and hundreds of places to sit.

The truck with the flowers and casket pulled up and parked by the front stairs and set up for some sort of service. I wish I could understand more Thai. I think they were praying and different people from different parts of the village giving envelopes with money as offerings.

One Monk threw these things that looked like Hersey Candy Kisses. They were coins wrapped in gold covered paper. I'm told that some of the papers had a number written on it and if you got one you won that amount of money.

After many pictures of family and friends a large group of people, I guess anyone that wanted to, picked up the casket and flowers and carried them up into the crematorium.

Then everyone filed up the front stairs to pay their last respects to this lady, who I'm told, that had lived here all her life. Each person placed a kind of paper and bamboo, hand made flower by the casket in the crematorium. Then the men came down the steps on the right and the ladies used the steps on the left.

A lot of people left at that time but a few members stayed to watch the fire being lite. Charcoal was being used.

When the smoke started coming out of the chimney we all started to leave.

Daeng got upset at me as I started to pick up a cigarette that a young Monk had thrown on the ground and give it back to him. She said I should not do that as I wasn't the "Don't trash Thailand Police!"

It definitely was a Big Barbecue.

The Great Wall

2010-11-08T20:39:00.018+07:00

This all started back when we bought this double shop house this spring. There was nothing on the second floor of this concrete, three story building. We thought is would make a great master bedroom and master bath.

We had almost everything done before we left Thailand, for the summer, except one wall. The reason we did not do that wall is we wanted the wall about three feet from the support beam. Everyone here kept telling us not to build the wall out of masonry as the concrete floor was not strong enough.

I said lets build it out of metal studs and dry wall just like we do it in America. I said metal because the bugs here eat up wood is a short time and wood is very expensive in Thailand as all the trees have been cut down.

Well, no one here had ever seen what I'm talking about and the metal track and studs were not available.

When we came back to Thailand this fall we spent a few days in Pattaya were a high number of Expats live. We visited a HOME MART and they had the metal and the wall board called "Smartboard". They also told us that the HOME MART in Chiang Rai carried everything. That is only about 50 kilometer south of us.

When we took Daeng's sister, "Mon", to stay with her brother last month we stopped at HOME MART in Chiang Rai to buy the 5 lengths of metal track, 21 studs, 26 cross members, 11 sheets of Smartboard, 500 screws for the metal fabrication, 600 screws to install the wall board, 25 kilograms of plaster, four rolls of joint tape and a few tools to make it happen.

They had everything except the screws to put the metal together with. The man keep trying to sell me regular sheet rock screws. If we used those the head stick out and the Smartboard will not fit correctly. Any way we did not buy the other materials as we were afraid we would be stuck without the correct screws.

I spent at least 10 visits to hardware stores and everyone tried to sell me the sheet rock screws and they are about 1/5th the cost of the correct screws so no one here uses the correct ones.

We are talking about $9.00 USD more for five hundred screws. 3/4" dry wall screws are 75 Thai Baht for 500 and the 3/8" pan head zip screws are 375 Thai Baht per 500. When a skilled tradesman works for 350 TB a day it's a lot of money.

Even our friends in Chiang Mai, Brian & Noochy, tried to locate the screws without success. Chiang Mai is the second biggest city in Thailand. They got the same story about using sheet rock screws over and over every hardware store they visited or telephoned.

I talked to the lady at the HOME MART that I usually do business with here in Mae Sai. She told me that they now carry the metal studs and the Smartboard but gave me the same story about the screws. I sat with her and explained why the sheet rock screws don't work well.

She said she would get the correct screws and would have them in three days. I have had her order things before, like the 8" pipe we installed, and she has always been right on with things.

We gave her an order for the metal studs, track, cross members & screws. She said she could delivered everything that day except the screws.

I watched to be sure they loaded the correct stuff for delivery as my order was the first order out of their warehouse. I got laughing as the metal stud come two together which makes it easy for storage. That means they had to separate one set as I ordered 21 studs.

After watching seven men try to take apart the two studs for about 10 minutes I showed then the trick of leather gloves and a screwdriver to start the separation at one end.

It was like the question: "How many Thai men does it take to take apart two metal studs?" The answer: "One Farang!" Farang is the term for a non-Thai.

I'm only kidding as now that they know how to do the separation it will be easy for them to do the next order.

We started installing the track with special concrete screws that we brought from the USA.

The special screws have a coating on them so that all you have to do is drill the exact size hole in the concrete and they run in the screws. No anchors have to be installed. These special screws worked great.

I'm old and work slow so it took me the three days to put in the track on the ceiling and floor myself. I knew the screws would take the full three days so I didn't push very hard,

The screws came in on time and we started putting the studs up and installing the redwood door jams. They use really heavy duty door jams here as they usually are installed in block and concrete walls. The jams have to hold up the masonry over them.

Also the wall we're putting up is thinner than a block wall that has been rendered so I had to have the door company cut the jams down to the correct size.

Things went well. I had never put up a metal stud wall but I had framed in wood walls before. I framed it the same way as a wood wall and doubled the fire stops, the cross pieces, to make the wall stronger as a heavy Teak & Redwood door was going to be in the middle of the wall.

Daeng helped me do most of the studs. I also learned a few tricks like using a set of locking pliers, like the Vice-Grip brand, to hold the metal together while running the screws. They work like a third hand.

After running almost 700 screws to put the metal together we rested for two days as my hands were sore.

We also had some fun. On Sunday, after church at Childlife with the kids, we went with our friend, Pastor Lota, to his "Akha" home village to a Thanksgiving celebration. We eat too much but had a great time.

Daeng and I then put up the inside of the wall using this Smartboard. It is a concrete/fiber board that looks like Asbestos Cement but does not contain Asbestos. It is .8 cm, about 1/4 inch, thick and a 120 cm x 280 cm (4' x 9') piece weighs about 88 pounds. We cut it with a 4" grinder using a diamond saw blade. That worked great but very dusty.

I used tricks that I had learn from working with Merle Cage, a builder in Vestal, New York, when I was a youngster of 17. We put 510 screws in the Smartboard. Now my hands are really sore.

I installed the electrical wires, boxes and everything needed for the switches for the two lights in our master suite and plugs on both sides of the door.

After the electricial was installed Daeng, her nephew Kit and I installed the insulation. We installed the insulation for two reasons. First, to cut the cost of cooling and second to help make it quieter.

We had been talking with a furniture maker about making built in furniture for our master bedroom. We called him to see if he could help with the other side of the Smartboard wall and hang the door. He came the next day and hung the door just like a professional. He also helped cut and put up the other five sheets of wall board. He returned the next day and finished putting in the 557 screws.

Yep, 1067 screws for the Smartboard and almost 700 screws for the metal fabrication. That is a lot of screwing!

Now, the Smartboard needs to be taped and plastered just like dry wall. Gypsum is a name also use to describe dry wall as it is a brand name of the company that makes it. Thbis is like "Scotch" brand tape. The reason it is not used much here in Thailand is Thailand is a very wet climate most of the year. Dry wall does not hold up to water very well, Smartboard does.

Daeng talked to a friend that told Daeng her husband is a plaster/painter. He came and looked at our project and we talked him into taking a little vacation from his present job and doing our work. He did not want to contract the job so we agreed to pay him and his Burmese helper a thousand Thai Baht a day, about $33.00 USD. He was happy with that as that doubles his pay working for us.

I'm glad with hired him as he works very clean and put plastic curtain to keep the dust down in the rest of the house.

We will post pictures of the completed Master Suite when it's completed.

Trip to the Dentist

2010-11-02T10:30:00.009+07:00

As we live and write about our adventures we must remember that blogging is not really connecting with you. It is more like narcissism masquerading as connection. But what the hell, it is all about us!

We do hope you enjoy sharing our adventures with us.

It was time to visit the dentist, again. Daeng called and the dentist said she was not busy so if we came right now she could see both of us. We just hopped on the old motorbike and popped into the dentist's office.

Let me talk about dental treatment in this little border town of about 22,000 people on the Myanmar (Burma) border in Thailand. This dental office is a husband and wife operation where the husband runs the office, answers the telephone and helps out. His wife, the dentist, speaks understandable English and uses all the western methods of doing dental work.

Daeng got into the chair first and had one very large cavity filled and one small, surface cavity filled along with her teeth cleaned and polished up.

We talked about the bridge work color on the bridge she had done last year. She said she would redo the bridge if we wanted. Daeng said it was okay as it was in the very back on the lower left side and it was close enough to the color of her other teeth.

I got into the chair and had my teeth checked and had two teeth smoothed out and polished.

We thanked her and promised to return in six months. Our total bill, for both of us, was 1000 Thai Baht, around $33.00 US dollars. Yes, that was for both of us.

Life is good.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2010-10-31T22:09:00.004+07:00

Although Halloween also known as All Saints Day is not celebrated in Thailand, except in the tourist areas, we wanted to wish everyone a Happy and Fun Halloween.

My Fall in Church

2010-10-18T16:18:00.014+07:00

Now with the title of "My Fall in Church" you would think of something spiritual.

Nope, I fell down the flight of stairs while leaving the Church after Sunday Service, yesterday.

I was wearing black, smooth, dress up socks and as I came down the stairs, after a little picture taking, I slipped and fell.

Remember, in Thailand you take your shoes off before you enter a building.

I didn't think I was hurt after I walked a little.

One sore butt cheek and my two toes on my right foot were a little sore.

This morning I noticed two of my toes were black and blue. Daeng insisted I go to the KASEMRAD Hospital Clinic.

We hopped on the motorbike and arrived around 9:05 AM. We signed in. I had been there before so it was easy. All I had to do was give them my name as they have everything on computer.

They told us the Doctor would be in about 10:00 AM so we walked across the street and ate.

I had a Chinese, yellow noodle, fish soup. They laughed at me as Thais eat noodles with chop-sticks. I ate them with a fork and spoon, Italian style, rolling the noodles up on the fork.

Back to the hospital clinic at 10:00 and waited only about five minutes before we saw the Doctor. He spoke English and told me he didn't think it was broken but if I could afford it he would like to take x-rays.

I said: "Yes, Good!" We went to the X-ray Department in the next office, took the two X-rays, waited about five minutes, went back into the office the Doctor was in and looked at the X-rays together.

There were no breaks of fractures. He prescribed some Nimesulide and Danzen for pain and swelling that we picked up at the front desk.

It was 10:37 AM as we paid the total bill for the drugs, Doctor, X-rays and hospital clinic. The total was 630 Thai Baht ($21,00 USD).

All done in one hour and thirty-two minutes, including breakfast.

Hell, that is a lot better than Obama Care! Wake up America!

Two weeks at Home in Mae Sai, Thailand

2010-10-17T21:31:00.009+07:00

It's 5:30 AM on Sunday morning. Our friends Chuck and Ray called us from California to say "Hello".

They also wanted to let us know they were thinking about returning to Thailand with us when we return in the Spring of 2011.

It's been two weeks that we have been back to this little town, Mae Sai, on the Myanmar (Burma) border. One of the great parts of being back is we can buy a whole, cut up pineapple for about 6 Thai Baht; that's US 18 cents.

Our home is on the south side of town so we are about four (4) kilometers from the actual border bridge into Myanmar.

The shop house is on "Official Thai Land". Before we lived on disputed land; kind of like the West Bank but no rockets or bombs in about ten (10) years. At that time, Mae S ai was evacuated because the Burmese Army was supposedly fighting the Shan Rebel Army.

Please remember that we are not judging, we are just saying!

Being on "Official Land" means we have a deed to the land and the building.

Mae Sai has 14 villages with approximately 22,000 people. Yep, BIG city life.

Our rest stop in Pattaya was very relaxing. We both gained about three kilo's (6.6 pounds) during our short stay at the beach. We love that area and all the diversification.

When we say diversity we are talking about the food, the people and the entertainment.

Most Thai folks are happy to have you take picturs and smile when you are taking their pictures. In this bakery I was asked not to take any pictures. Maybe they thought I would steal their recipes. I was told: "No Pictures!" after I took this one.

We did find the chicken soup lady. She sold her shop on Soi 13/2 and bought a special Tuk-Tuk made into a soap wagon. It is pretty neat. She has great chicken soup, also. To read more about Tuk-Tuk's just CLICK HERE.

We have done a few things during the last two weeks. We finished up the roof drains that were still not hooked up.

We had two birthdays and a little Birthday Cake to go with the Happy Birthday Singing.

We went to a "New House" party. That is a party to celebrate the completion of your new home. Food, a little service to bless the house and everyone, then more food and beverages, then more food and more food. I had trouble getting onto the motorbike due to eating so much.

"Bang", one of Hlong's adopted kids. Hlong is Daeng's sister-in-law. I know, you need a score card to keep up with the names.

Anyway, Bang was married in May of this year and moved with her husband to Bangkok to work and put away a nest egg. You can read about her wedding by CLICKING HERE and going to the bottom of the story.

Bang is now expectant. "Expectant" is what they coined pregnancy on "I Love Lucy" show about fifty years ago. I guess I just dated myself.

Bang has morning sickness ALL DAY so she can't work at her restaurant job in Bangkok. She came back to Northern Thailand for a little while to hope she will get over that part of having a baby. She'll then return to Bangkok and work for a few more months.

She gets up early in the morning, cleans some and starts ironing in the laundry. It's nice to see a house guest pitch in and help.

One of Daeng's sisters, her name is "Mon", came down with tuberculosis and had to move back to where her house of record is in Chiang Rai. That is about 50 kilometers south. I don't fully understand the system but here in Thailand everyone has a home of record. That is like a permanent residence. They call it a "House book" record.

Her "House Book" record is at her brother's home in Chiang Rai. She does not have a "National ID Card" so she is not qualified for the national medical. What that means is in order to get health care she has to be visited by a nurse once a week at that address to get her treatment for free.

Daeng's Mother also went with her and will stay for a month or two until Mon can take care of herself, again.

We tried to do it with a little laughter, funny face masks and all.

One of the nice things that happened with Mon getting sick is Daeng's brother, "Pooie", drove his motorbike from Chiang Mai, with two kids on it. They came to see Mon but stayed a few days visiting other family members.

On the left of the picture is Daeng's Brother, "Tun". On the right is "Pooie".

That is correct, 300 miles on a 100 cc motorbike with two kids.

I had met Pooie and his family before on a trip to Chiang Mai. While he was here he also fixed a leak on our roof. It was a crack in a grout line between a row of roof tile.

Life goes on with fresh bananas, pineapple, coconuts and warm, moist weather here on the Myanmar (Burma) border.

And don't forget the happy kids.

Home at Myanmar (Burma) Border & Shopping!

2010-10-05T08:19:00.001+07:00

Sunday we made the trip from Pattaya to our home in Mae Sai, Thailand on the Myanmar (Burma) border.

It was a good trip starting with a ride by hired car from our hotel to the Bangkok airport. It was Sunday morning at 8:30 so very little traffic. The trip took about and hour and thirty minutes.

We checked in with Air Asia and our bags were right on the weight of 20 Kg each bag that we had paid for in advance. We had repacked in Pattaya. By the time we made it through security, walked to the gate and had a little something to eat we only had time to use the rest room before boarding the plane.

Short flight of one hour and twenty minutes and we landed in Chaing Rai. We got our bags and "Sai" met us at the front of the airport. Daeng had made arrangement for "Sai" to pick us up and then to pick you "Boonreang", her son.

"Boonreang" is going to school in Chiang Rai and boards with his teacher. He is in High School and will be 15 years old later this month.

The trip from Chiang Rai was uneventful but everything was nice and green as it has been raining almost everyday for the last three months. The rice fields were looking good, too. Thailand is the largest exported of rice in the world. Jasmin rice comes from Thailand. We really like it because it has a nut like favor.

We were waved right through the three check point as "Sai" is somehow connected with the army or police.

Everything was about the same as when we left and Tun's, Daeng's brother, laundry was set up and running full steam ahead. With all the rain, his business had been very good for the last few months. It was a good time to relocate the business.

We slept good Sunday night and rested on Monday.

Tuesday we went shopping, will kind of shopping. We actually went for a nice long walk and ran into a casket maker's shop.

Now, I never thought to much about shopping for a casket although I had bought a used one and spent an hour in one with the lids closed when I worked for Prudential Insurance Company. That was a long time ago in a land far, far away.

To make that story short, it was in a sales meeting and I came out of the casket as a sales manager saying: "We'll bury every other sales team in the contest!"

It was a nice metal, split top casket, with silver handles and hinges and only slightly used. It was a metallic gray finish and had only a few rock marks on the top. It was only in the ground for a couple of days and belonged to a nice Jewish Grandmother from the Bronx.

My kids used it for a toy box for a few years before we went on the road as performers in 1973. Maybe that explains part of my kids personalities.

Back to today, most Thais are small in body size so none of the caskets would fit me. The man told us that was not a problem as he could cut down about seven big trees to make one for me. Then he laughed out loud. Yep, everyone thinks they are comedians.

They did have one that would fit me. It was an air conditioned box sent in from, you guessed it, China.

Since they don't do much embalming here, it is a refrigerated unit that you can put folks into if they can't cremate them right away.

It was big enough to fit me.

Daeng liked the white one with natural wood sides for her.

He told us he had a "lay away plan" and then laughed again.

So much for shopping.

It's nice to be home!

We made it to the "Land of Smiles"

2010-09-29T08:12:00.000+07:00

Well, it was a little hectic leaving the USA this trip. After putting truck in storage and setting up everything to be gone for ten (10) weeks, saying: "Bye for now." to our Mother, the staff at Flagship Health Care, my Daughter, Tina and our Sister Diane we were tired before the trip.

Our friend, Terry Hamilton, took us to LAX airport at 10:30 at night. Usually we fly out in the afternoon and arrive in Bangkok at one o'clock in the morning. Flying into Bangkok is like flying into the Bronx so at 1:00 AM it was a little scary, at least the first time.

This trip we thought we would change up the plan and arrive in the middle of the afternoon and take a car to the beach holiday town of Pattaya, Thailand. That way we avoid Bangkok completely.

Well, fourteen hours and five minutes to Taipei, Taiwan then three hours to change planes and one hour and twenty minutes to Hong Kong. Now, for a little surprise, we had to get off the plane in Hong Kong, go through security with our carry on bags and get back onto the same plane.

Two hours and twenty minutes later we were in Bangkok airport. We went through immigrations, got our bags and headed to meet our driver in the waiting area.

Here is were I think I screwed up as I got confused with the International Date Line and made arrangements for our pick up on Friday. The trouble was it was Thursday and our driver was not waiting for us.

Daeng made a phone call and thirty minutes later he was at the airport picking us up.

It was an uneventful trip to the Honey Lodge Hotel in Pattaya. Honey Lodge is an old hotel, right in the middle of the adult fun zone, next to the beach and the area know as "Walking Street". Although it is old and a little beat up it has nice folks running the place, fresh water swimming pool, hot water showers in our private bath, clean linen everyday and is really cheap at about $18 USD a night.

We'll after the looonnnnnngggggggg trip and the getting ready for the trip we were beat. We showered and went to sleep.

The next six days are kind of a blur, eat, sleep, eat, sleep, walk, eat, sleep, walk, eat, sleep more and now, at 8:00 AM, maybe we are over jet-lag. We are both up and talking about going to have breakfast at the morning market.

It is great to get my favorite fruit, pineapple, all cut up for only 10 TB a pineapple. That is about thirty-three cents each.

Pattaya is, I think, the second most visited area in Thailand. Everything a person could want can be had here. The beach is nice, although sometimes a little dirty. You can walk out into the warm ocean for hundreds of meters and still be only waist deep in water.

Every kind of food is available here due to the millions of tourists every year. This is the low season so it is not very crowded.

One of the foods I love is the kabob that our friend, "Mr. Kabab" has around the corner from our hotel. He really gets into cutting the meat making his kabobs.

If you would like more information about Pattaya go to Google.com and type "Pattaya".

We are going to spend the next four days here and then are going to fly to Chiang Rai on Sunday. Chiang Rai is the farthest north we can go by plane.

We will have to repack or Asia Airlines will charge us more for our two bags. We are about three kilograms (6.6 pounds) a bag to heavy.

Daeng will arrange for a car to take us the rest of the way to our home in Mae Sai on the Myanmar (Burma) Border.

We plan on spending the next two months working on our new home. We have a few repairs to do as well as get the master bedroom suite done along with a guest room or two.

That way we can have visitors during our spring trip.

For the master bedroom we need to put up one wall with door, have the closet cabinets built and put in the air conditioning system. I'm sure we will want to put in some new light fixtures, bed, furniture and television.

We also have some loose ends with Baan AYO Children's Shelter to work through. We know things will work out okay in the end.

We will write more soon. Until then we'll just let down our hair and have fun!

Thank You to Ron Brower's Office!

2010-09-23T20:34:00.002+07:00

Without getting into to much detail I want to thank everyone at Ron Brower's Law Office for their help with a pressing problem as we were getting ready to leave for Thailand.

One of my Grand-Daughters was arrested in Los Angeles County and put in jail. I called Ron's office and his office not only helped to get her out of jail but talked to the District Attorney's Office and all charges were dis-missed.

If you ever have a legal problem it is our recommendation you call Ronald G. Brower, Esquire or Ellie Pullian at Brower & Associates, 1043 Civic Center Drive West, Santa Ana, California 92803. The Office telephone is 714-997-4400.

Because Ron Brower is a criminal attorney the telephone is answered 24/7.

A simpler way to say it is: "If you get in trouble call Ron Brower!"

We want to thank them again as everything was handled in a rapid manor so we did not have to worry about this family member as we left the United States of America for Thailand.

I would also like to add that although I don't agree with our legal system all the time it is the best system in the world.

Heart of a fifty year old.......

2010-09-21T16:30:00.000+07:00

We are packing for the plane to Thailand tonight.

I thought I would let you know of the chemical stress test results from last Thursday.

I called the Doctor yesterday as he instructed me to after the test. He told me to have fun in Thailand as my heart looked really good for a fifty year old male. He also told me to stay off the treadmill. LOL

As I am age 68, I thanked him.

He said he was traveling to India next week. He also said he was thinking about a little trip to Thailand, too. He stated he would call us there if he makes it.

Yes, it is a small World.

Life Goes On!

2010-09-02T23:46:00.004+07:00

Well, I went back to the Doctor's office at 5:00 PM. The waiting room was full and everyone was bitching about the Doctor not being there. I found myself telling everyone about him spending almost four hours with me the night before as he was worried about me.

Another patient started telling a similar story about the doctor helping him. I was kind of like a twelve step meeting as folks would talk starting with: "Hi, I'm so-in-so and I had a heart attack and here is what happened to me. I used to eat Mexican food at the local restaurant twice a day and after six years.........".

When he arrived things moved right along. The Doctor did another EKG, gave me some pills and told me to come back in two weeks and do another stress test with chemicals.

He told me to go on with my life and not to worry. I ask him if I should do my work crawling into 130 degree attics, etc.? He said to go ahead and do what I always do.

Live is good! It did scare me!

Stay away from doctors as they will make you sick! 09-01-2010

2010-09-02T11:36:00.004+07:00

I feel great but about six weeks ago, one afternoon, I felt a little light headed. As I was brushing my teeth before taking a little nap, I put my hands on the bathroom sink and my head on my hands.

The next thing I knew I was sitting on the floor.

That scared me a little so a few days later I went to see Doctor James Sharkoff.

Before I go on with my story, let me say that I have been very impressed with the “Pueblo Medical Center” that Doctor James and his Dad have been running for many years.

What impresses me is they treat the patient first and then ask if they have any insurance or if they can pay. Most doctors want to know how you are going to pay before they treat you.

They are located at 8045 Cerritos Avenue, Stanton, California 90680. Their telephone number is 714-828-2444. If you need anything to do with medical care go see him. His office is open for “Walk-in” Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM until 6:00 PM and Saturday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

Well, during that visit Doctor James told me the EKG he did at that time looked okay he referred me to a Cardiologist, Doctor Devaraj. I called his office and made the first appointment I could for about a month later.

Last week I went to see Doctor Devaraj and we made an appointment for September 1st to do a “Treadmill Stress Test” where they hook you all up with wires and put you on the treadmill.

We arrived about 4:00 PM and did an Echo Cardiogram. Then they hooked me up to the machine and put me on the treadmill. I walked faster and faster until my heart rate came up over 140 beats for minute and then we stopped.

I could tell something was not right as the lady that was with the doctor got very anxious. After a few minutes of checking my heart rate and watching the monitor the Doctor told me that part of my heart was still going very fast. He used the words “Irregular Heart Rhythm”.

He then explained that part of my heart was slowing down but the other part was still going very fast. He also said that unless my heart leveled off he would have to take me next door to the “Emergency Room” at the hospital and treat me with intervenes drugs.

I told him I felt fine, just the way I always feel and he said that was his worry. This may be the reason for my “Passing Out” a few weeks ago.

I sat in the chair and we did all kinds of things like coughing hard and taking a deep breath then pushing like I was trying to go to the toilet. Nothing changed the rapid heart rate of the lower part of my heart.

I felt okay but after sitting in the chair for over an hour and trying the many things as described above I was put into a wheel chair and wheeled down in the elevator and next door to Anaheim General Hospital Emergency Room.

What made me realize that something was really wrong was Doctor Devaraj stayed with me ALL THE TIME including the walk; well I rode, to the hospital.

They hooked me up to a heart monitor again and watched. My blood pressure was very good but part of my heart was still going very fast.

They took a lot of blood samples. Then they started giving me drugs through a needle stuck in my arm as well as orally and a shot in my side.

To cut this story short, after about two hours my heart rate leveled out and the doctor told me he would allow me to go home if I promised to come back and see him at 5:00 PM tomorrow.

They monitored me for over an hour more and then unhooked me and let me go home. It really scarred me and I’ll be very interested in what the Doctor tells me when I return to see him today at 5:00 PM.

I am going to take it a little easier today without climbing into attics, etc.!

Stay away from Doctors as they will make you sick

will they save your life.

More will be revealed!

Happy Independence Day

2010-07-03T18:03:00.005+07:00

The Plumber & Little Thai Girl would like to wish you all a very Happy Independence Day!

Our most loved story about July 4th is by Barry Farber (Radio Talk Show Host):

The Presbyterian minister took a walk down the block on Christmas morning to visit his young granddaughter.

The five-year-old was joyously playing with her generous tower of toys."Did your friend next door, Rachel, get Christmas gifts as nice as yours?" the grandfather asked the little girl.

"Oh, no, Grandpa," she said. "Rachel's not Christmas. Rachel's Chanukah. And Rachel's not Easter. Rachel's Passover.

"Then her little face lit up as she added, "But we're both Fourth of July!"

Love always!
Plumber & Little Thai Girl

Jury Duty

2010-06-24T19:10:00.000+07:00

Jury duty was fun but after two days of jury selection they dismissed me.

At first, I did not want to be a juror but after I settled into the number one seat in the juror's box I started to get into the case.

I guess the prosecutor did not like the fact that in non-violent crimes I believe, like my Step-Dad. The belief is: “It is better to let 10 guilty people go free then convict one innocent person.”

He was a wonderful man and an excellent attorney!

Here is a 2006 reprint of a story about my Step-Father, Joel A. Scelsi, Esquire, from the Press & Sun Bulletin in Binghamton, NY:

Saturday March 25, 2006
NEWS
Lawyer remembered for helping others, Joel A. Scelsi, Esquire

By William Moyer Press & Sun-Bulletin
At one time, Joel A. Scelsi would have been affectionately called a small-town lawyer, his family remembered Friday.

From an office on Main Street in Endwell, Mr. Scelsi handled all things legal - from family court matters to real estate transactions and criminal defense at court trials.

Mr. Scelsi, 82, died Thursday at his Endwell home after a battle with Parkinson's disease. He had been married for 39 years to his wife, Stella.

"He did a lot of pro-bono work; he just helped a lot of people," said his daughter, Sylvana Dodd of Endwell. "Growing up, people would tell me if you ever got in trouble, go to Joel Scelsi and he'll help you. That was a wonderful part of his life."

One of his highest-profile cases involved the defense of an amateur boxer who was tried in Tioga County Court on a second-degree manslaughter charge.

In the early 1990s, Mr. Scelsi was a defense attorney for William L. Sosenko, then 22 of Little Meadows, Pa., who was tried in connection with the death of Keith A. Baron, then 30 of Apalachin. Baron was punched outside an Apalachin tavern on March 7, 1992, fell to the pavement, hit his head and died four days later, leaving a pregnant wife who gave birth to a son 22 days after the father's death.

Sosenko's trial in November 1992 ended in a mistrial after a juror got sick. A second trial in January 1993 ended with a deadlocked jury. A state appeals court upheld a decision to dismiss the felony charge against Sosenko.

In March 1975, Mr. Scelsi represented a promoter who wanted Helen Reddy, who recorded the song I Am Woman, to come to Broome County for a pretrial examination after the pop singer was accused of skipping out on a concert at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton. The matter was eventually settled out of court, according to a newspaper report.

John E. Cheevers, former Town of Union supervisor and chief executive of Cheevers, Hand and Angeline investments in Endicott, knew Mr. Scelsi for many years from the lawyer's interest in community affairs.

"He was always interested in what was going on in the town; he always wanted what was good for the town," Cheevers said. "He was a classy guy. He did a lot of things for a lot of people, but didn't stand up and take credit for it."

Mr. Scelsi was a graduate of Union-Endicott High School, Colgate University and Cornell University law school. Among his community activities was a long tenure on the Vestal school board, winning a two-year term in May 1959 as a write-in candidate.

"His family came first and then his law practice, which was like an extended family," Dodd said. "He loved gardening. He loved cars. He had a Maserati, a Jaguar, a vintage Corvette and an old Cadillac that we called the pickle, because it was green."

Back to Work & Jury duty

2010-06-21T14:35:00.000+07:00

We got back to the USA and went right to work fixing air conditioning systems. I love to work as it gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Daeng had trouble with jet-lag for over a week but after three weeks she is back in the swing of things.

Today I'm sitting in the Jury Room as a juror. I have been sitting in the same seat for seven hours except for restroom breaks. Another hour or two and we should be dismissed.

Although I am not real crazy about being a juror if makes me real happy to be an American.

A trial with a jury of our piers is not something that is available in most countries.

Although we have things like the "Well from Hell" in the Gulf of Mexico and a recession causing trouble with all our livelihoods, life is still pretty good here in the old USA.

We Made it to California 05/31/2010

2010-05-31T23:49:00.001+07:00

We made it to our home in California. It was a good trip without any unusual events. We do have a bad case of jet-lag but other than that we are in good shape.

My sister, Diane, had cleaned our house and put some food in the refrigerator so all we have to do is turn on the water heater, take showers, have a little to eat and head for bed.

Love to all!

Bangkok 05/30/2010 Looks like the Bronx on Sunday Morning

2010-05-30T12:03:00.006+07:00

We made it from the Myanmar (Burma) Border to Bangkok yesterday.

Bangkok looks like the Bronx on a Sunday morning. There are very few tourists and the shops and store have everything on sale with big discounts so they can pay the rent.

We flew in, had something to eat, showered and I slept for almost 16 hours. Daeng slept for about 14 hours, too. We were beat from finishing all the work on the new place in Mae Sai.

Daeng is now out shopping and taking some pictures of what the "Red Shirts" did to this area. They sure did help out with the economy. I'm not judging, I'm just saying.

Our plan is to rest as we make the long trip to California tomorrow. It is supposed to be over 100 degrees in LA this coming week.

Love to all, may your toilets never run over and stay cool.

Mae Sai 05/29/2010 We're done for this trip

2010-05-29T06:20:00.000+07:00

We have been busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest. Kick, fall down, get up, kick, fall down, get up, kick, fall down, get up, kick, fall down, get up, kick......................

We told the guys if they didn't finish the work yesterday they would not be paid until we return in September. You guess correctly, they finished all the work except for the dead bolt on the metal roof door. They said they would return at 8:00 this morning to put it in.

All the major work is complete and everything works good. We had a couple of hours of hard rain yesterday afternoon so we got to test the new piping system. Everything drains correctly.

I was a little worried as I watched them pour the concrete but it turned out very nice. I also had some concern about the way they hung the Teak door in the downstairs room off the kitchen. They deep mortised the four door hinges in the door but surface mounted them in the Teak door jams.

They explained that because the jams are sent in concrete they can not be replaced but the door can and the only thing that would show, if you removed the hinges, would be the screw holes. They can be filled. The door looks good.

The only thing that was wrong is I set the eight (8") clean out up to grade beside the building. I did not glue it in so if a car or truck ran over the top it would just push down and not break the pipe. Well, I stepped on it before the concrete was completely dry and it went down a few inches.

I removed the cap and raised it up again. This time we put a big planter over the top so no one will drive or walk on it.

We are going to give Daeng's brother, Tun a set of keys to the place this morning and walk him through everything that we feel he should know.

We have a car picking us up at 11:30 AM, talking us to the Chiang Rai airport about 50 Km south. Our Air Asia plane leaves for Bangkok at 1:35 PM. It is about an hour and ten minute flight.

We'll hop in a taxi and stay in a nice little guest house in downtown Bangkok. We'll rest up for two nights, do a little shopping and head to California on Monday night. We leave Bangkok at about 5:00 PM and arrive in LA two hours later. That always blows my mind.

According to the weather reports on the Internet if will be 100 degrees in LA this coming week. I'm sure our telephones will be ringing with people saying: "Please help us, it's hot."

Mae Sai 05/23-2010 8" Pipe

2010-05-23T16:59:00.006+07:00

We are beat but relieved that the 8" drain line to the street drain is in the ground, tested and back filled with sand.

Everything went pretty good with the new crew except one of the workers was hurt badly yesterday. What happened is he was cutting some rebar with a 4" grinder using a thin cut off blade but no guard on the grinder. You guessed it, the blade broke and a piece went into his eye.

The part that pissed me off is everyone just kind of hung around not taking any action to get him to a hospital. I called Daeng, who was at the afternoon market. She rushed home and demanded that they take him to the hospital, right now!

The good news is we were told today that his eye will be okay. We were relieved to hear that as when I looked it was cut pretty deep into the eye lid.

We both are happy that this 8" pipe project in done. All we have to do is some concrete work and a few odds and ends and we can leave Mae Sai for three months.

I'm going to turn in early tonight as this 68 year old body is tired from working with the big pipe.

Tomorrow, it's electrical, finish kitchen and replace one broken tile in bathroom. Then back roof repair, eves trough replacement and repair roof drain pipe.

Mae Sai 05/20/2010 Moving right along...

2010-05-20T23:17:00.004+07:00

Things are moving right along.

The Thailand Army went into the UDD, Red Shirts, barricaded area and the demonstration is over. I don't what to get political as I'm an invited guest in this country but................ Call me at 1-714-586-9569, leave me a message and I'll call you back with my feelings on the subject.

The new re-modeling guys finished the bathroom this afternoon. YEA! We have already tested the fixtures but will wait until tomorrow to run the shower to be sure the grout is set.

For the 8" drain piping, we arranged to have the concrete broken, hauled away, the ditch dug and back filled after we install the pipe. The cost was a little high at 13,500 THB ($422 USD) but we needed to do it fast. They have worked two days and already had to replace the armature in the small jack hammer they are using. They are about half way.

We priced the impact hammer they are using and it cost 22,000 THB new. That means we are getting the breaking, digging, hauling and back filling of ditch for half the price of the jack hammer.

Tomorrow, the electrician will wire up the lights and switches for the bathroom and put a couple of plugs in for refrigerator and upstairs hallway.

The tile guy will start finishing the kitchen by setting the sink and plastering the inside of the tile cabinets. They are also going to change a couple of tile that the other tile guy put in upside down.

We think everything will work out alright so we can return to the USA in 11 days.

Remodeling is almost as fun as camping.

Mae Sai 05/19/2010 Life is Good

2010-05-19T05:21:00.009+07:00

We are moving right along with our projects. A lady at church referred us to a young tile man that is going to finish the bathroom for labor of 3500 THB ($110 USD). We already bought all the materials.

He also said not to pay him until the work was complete.

Yesterday, they removed the other tiles that was not bonded well and have the doors hung and locked. They work much cleaner than the Burmese tile guys and the work looks good.

Daeng and I have done all the drain piping inside both of the shop houses we bought. It looks good and works well.

Our only problem is braking the concrete outside the building to run the 8" piping to the street. The concrete is like granite. Yesterday, we had two laborers and our friend, Pastor Lota, use 10 pound hammers for half a day and only broke about 2 square feet of concrete. We have about 90 square feet to remove.

Pastor Lota came by to see if he could help us so we put a 10 pound sledge hammer in his hands.

There are no concrete cutting and breaking companies here like in California. We need to find a crew that does street work as that is how the concrete has been done, re-bar and everything.

Taun, our Thai friend that lives in Japan, is home for a holiday. She came by to say "Hello" while she was here. She is funny as she does not want her skin to be dark so she is bundled up like she is going out in sub-zero weather. Here is a picture of her as she was getting ready to go out into the sun. Remember, it is over 100 degrees here.

As far as the concrete work, move will be reviled.

Mae Sai 05-17 Falling Tile & Chicken Heads

2010-05-17T05:40:00.018+07:00

I slept great last night, the best in a month, and let me tell you why. The night before we woke up with this large crashing noise. We thought it was just a loud lighting strike as it was raining. We went back to sleep.

In the morning, when the tile men came, they ask us if we had pulled the top row of wall tile off the walls as it had fallen off. We told them no but we did hear the loud noise in the night.

We'll they thought it was us that did it so they said they did not want to work here any more. I said great, good-bye and have a nice life. I was even happy about it as they have done such poor work along the

way.

Salad, the head man, called and said he was coming to pick up everything. We said we would pile his concrete forms and tools outside so he needed to come do it right now as we were leaving for church. Hlong, Daeng's sister-in-law stayed behind as she speaks Burmese. Also, she is very strong willed and won't let him get away with anything, else.

We can hire someone to correct their work or I'll just do it myself. We can put up with most of their mistakes. We can live with tile upside down in the pattern of the back splash of kitchen, the small puddle area on the counter and the random groat lines.

As I was working along,I even fou nd myself singing. I feel better about this re-model project now than I have from the start.

We bought almost all the pipe and fittings to do the gray water drainage system to the outside of both shop houses. It is all PVC as ABS is not available in Thailand. The size ranges from 1 1/2" to 6" pipe inside, at the rear and then will be 8" outside the building, running to the street drain.

There are a few fitting that I would like to make the job easier, 1/8 bend hub-spicket (street) ells and flush reducing bushings but "This is Thailand".

By the way, the cost of all the fittings in the picture is about 2700 THB (less than $85 USD)

I laugh at all the folks that look at our project as they are used to doing open trench draining. Then they wonder why they have bad odors and mesquites. It is bad enough they don't vent the plumbing drains but open trenching gets really nasty.

Kit, Daeng nephew, helped me get all the pipe installed in back of the center shop house and into our corner shop house. I am real pleased with it so far.

I also eat something else I never thought about eating, chicken head. Yes, the girls were all sitting around eating chicken feet and chicken heads so I thought I would belly up to the table and eat one.

They are very easy to eat as you just chew it all up, brains, eyes, red part, everything. Guess what, it "tastes just like chicken".

Our plan is to just work along and do what is needed to correct the Burma tile men's work and get the storm/gray water drains hooked up. If we have to stay an extra week or two more in Thailand, that's okay, too.

This in one case that I am happy to say if it could not be my way it was the highway.

Mae Sai 05/10 to 05/13 Lots has Happened

2010-05-13T06:06:00.014+07:00

A lot has happened in the last three days. Besides the constant battle to get the Burmese tile setters to keep putting the tile with the shiny side up we, Daeng and I, did all the plumbing piping.

Patience and tolerance, patience and tolerance, patience and tolerance.........

That's correct, this old, fat, plumber, at the age of 68 broke out the concrete floor in the cooking/garage area, punched holes through the concert walls and installed all the piping, with Daeng's help. The plumbing for the kitchen sink, shower, toilet and bathroom sink is in and the water back on and tested.

It also gets me in shape to return to California and fix air conditioning system this summer. We will be back in California by June 1st.

Since the whole family wanted a squat toilet, we had the tile men install a squat toilet in the third floor rest room. They did it as a side job and we paid them 500 THB to do it. that is about $16 US dollars.

Now, besides the purchase of the place next door and the recording of the Land Lease, while doing the other work we learned that the 8" drain line that should go to the street drain has been blocked off. This was done when concrete posts were installed for a second story addition in the shop house next door.

Now, we knew there was a problem with the gray water drain when we bought the shop house but we did not know the magnitude.

What this means to us is we need to put in eight (8") drain piping to the street drain for sinks, shower and rain water. The system is what is called "Gray Water Drain". It is a job but we can do it with lots of labor to dig the trench. We think we will do it in PVC or cement pipe. We need to break out more concrete and dig down to investigate more to make that decision.

As far as fun, we are going to a wedding today. Bang, a girl that Tun, Daeng's brother, and Hlong raised, is getting married at 6:00 PM. It will be a small Christian wedding with a little reception after the wedding. She, at about age 22, is marrying a nice "Akha" man, of about the same age from Myanmar (Burma).

As for me, I'm going to continue working on the place and will add pictures and write more later.

Well, the main tile setter didn't show up today. We were worried about that when we gave them the 500 THB last night for putting in the squat toilet. Sure enough, got drunk last night and no show for work today. TIT w/BT (This is Thailand with a Burma Twist). The other tile man started grouting the walls.

I went next door and used an impact hammer to break up part of the floor. I don't think the drain line can be saved. We have one more neighbor's drain to look at and we'll know for sure if we have to install a new drain system.

We also see some water on the floor so we need to be sure and install a floor drain, just in case.

Daeng and her nephew, Kit, worked all day cleaning the 3rd floor. It is my understanding that the tile cutting is finished so no more tile dust. YEA!

We are going to shower and have some fun at Bang's wedding. She stopped my today and she does look "hot" for a 22 year old Thai girl! Although she is to old for me! (Come on, it's a joke!)

The wedding was nice. It was a simple wedding ceremony, although the only part I got is "as husband and wife live happily together...". I still, after four years, don't understand Thai.

There was a lot of girls, too. We think the girl to boy mix was about 10 girls to one boy.

We also want to show you the typical Thai kiss. It is a long kiss on the cheek with a kind of inhaling noise. It is very seldom done in public. This is an exception.

I came home around 9:00 PM but Daeng stayed and helped with the party.

The food was all cooked by Hlong and it was delicious, fried rice with chicken, soap and a kind of Thai cold slaw.

A fun time was had by all.

Mae Sai 05/09/2010 Didn't sleep good!

2010-05-09T19:17:00.006+07:00

First, let us say Mother's Day is a United States of America holiday but we want to say to all the Mothers of the world: "Happy Mother's Day."

I did not sleep well last night as I kept thinking about the mistakes the tile men were making putting on the tile. Every time I walk by the kitchen or the new bathroom I get pissed. So, to solve that, we are going to have them change the tile that are wrong.

That is the sun shining through our new bedroom windows.

When Salad arrived, with four men this morning, we confronted him and told him what we wanted. We could tell he was not real happy about it but to bad. It should be correct.

We talked with the regular men and we think they now understand about the pattern on the tile. The other two men are putting in the door jams for the door we bought yesterday. When that is done they will be finishing the block wall. That way the wall can be plastered tomorrow.

After the wall is rendered the door can be hung and we can stain it. That way Daeng can have her Mother move in a few days.

I went out and bought the few things we need to do the plumbing in the next day or two. Daeng went and bought some more tile grout, cement and tile edge. It looks like we will need two more boxes of wall tile, also.

After lunch, we came back to find the older tile man had started a new row of tile with the tile upside down. I kept thinking to myself: "Green side up, Green Side UP!" That's a Polish Landscaper joke.

I'm not feeling well today, maybe due to lack of sleep, so I'm going to rest the rest of the day.

I did get up, after a few hours, and helped get almost all the wall tile on the bathroom walls. It is looking pretty good, if we do say so, ourselves.

Mae Sai 05/08/2010 Bathroom Tile

2010-05-08T15:56:00.008+07:00

The day started out pretty good. Salad came with two men and they laid out the tile for the upstairs bathroom. I questioned why they were doing the tile before the plumbing but they just said that's the way they do it in Thailand.

They laid out the level line for the tile with a water level, a piece of plastic tubing with water in it. One person holds the tubing with the water line on a mark and the other person marks the other side of the wall were the water line is. We used to set closet flanges for toilets that way when I was young except we used a garden hose.

I did talk with Salad after they laid out the tile and we will buy the new wooden door and door jams today so they can finish the wall on the downstairs room. We also agreed to go buy the plumbing fittings and pipe so we can get that part done, too. After the plumbing is tested they can finish the floor and hook up the kitchen sink.

We had to go to two places to buy the plumbing parts because the first place did not have the the type fitting that I wanted. I wanted female adapter elbows with a metal insert in the fitting. That way the plastic fitting does not stretch out when you screw in the shut off valves.

We did buy a very nice Teak, panel door to match the existing window shutters. That, with the door jams was 2180 THB ($68 USD). The stain, locking door set and brass hinges cost an additional 830 THB ($26 USD).

When we returned Daeng took one of the men from Burma to get another worker. He is doing the grouting of the kitchen tile. They did turn a few of the tiles upside down when they installed them but I'm probably the only one that will notice.

By the way, I must have looked cute with a length of 3" sewer pipe on the motorbike.

I will be very happy when this re-model is over. The dust never stops!

Mae Sai 05/07/2010 Ate a BUG

2010-05-07T21:22:00.005+07:00

What's New? What's Different, What's Typical? Let me answer those questions in reverse order.

Typical stuff was got up to a sun shiny day. We'll, I got up in the dark, about 5:00 AM and watched the sun come up with my morning coffee. Daeng got up about 7:00 AM and me had coffee and fruit together.

New and different, I did something I thought I could not do. I ate one of those big bugs I said I could never eat. Daeng brought home a small plastic bag of a Cockroach-June Bug looking bugs that her brother, Tun, had fried up last night.

We kidded around and I finally said: "If you eat one, I'll eat one." So there you go. She just popped one in her mouth and crewed it with a little crackling noise. "Okay, smart ass!" I said to myself. I picked one up and eat it. I was very surprised as it tasted just like chicken.

I'm kidding, as it was crunchy but tasted very spicy. I think that was from the spices that were used to cook it. I know think I have eaten just about everything here in the "Land of Smiles".

What was typical today was the men doing the remodeling showed up very late, about 9:30. They said they were going to finish the kitchen tile today. We told them we were leaving for Chiang Rai in about a half hour but would be back later today.

We changed clothes, took copies of everything we needed to see the attorney that Jeff from Lanna Realtors had suggested to us. The reason for our visit to an attorney is foreigners can not own property in Thailand. When we bought and recorded the shop house at the District Land Office, I had to sign a statement that even though it was my money and Daeng and I were married (Thailand is 50-50 community property.) the property belonged to her, alone.

I'm sure you have heard of stories about the Asian girl and the old, stupid foreigner. We all say: "That's not like me or us."

I talked to a man at the bus station in Chaing Mai a few years ago, myself. He said he was from Denmark. He was sitting on a bench in the bus stations looking depressed. I ask him if he was okay. He stated he had bought a house in his girlfriend's name and when he returned from a trip to Denmark, the house was sold and she was no where to be found.

One of the ways to avoid this is through a "land lease". The lease says that I am leasing it from Daeng for 30 years and, for tax reasons, a set amount, paid in advance.

If she dies the lease is still in affect and I can still live there, sell the lease or just rent the property to someone else. We wrote the lease if I died first the lease is canceled with no strings attached. She is my wife, and an excellent wife, at that.

The only negative part is we will have to pay about 7,500 THB ($235 USD) tax on the lease on top of the 8,000 THB ($250 USD) for the attorney.

We drove the 70 Km on Daeng's motorbike to the office of Tanai Jack, Esq. We were early but the office staff called him and he arrived a few minutes later. He seemed very familiar doing this and with the help of the office staff we think everything will go correctly.

We will meet him at the District Land Office in Mae Sai to sign and record the lease at 9:00 AM on Wednesday, May 12th. They said there will be a English translated copy with the lease to be sure everything is correct.

We paid him half of his fee and went to see the huge HOME MART at Chiang Rai. It is a very big with two bridge cranes to handle materials. They also stock 1/2" 45 degree PVC elbows. Daeng wanted me to buy two, just in case, but explained we don't need them now.

We did decide to put a squat toilet in the third floor bathroom for two reasons. First, all the family wants that type and they use a very small amount of water. The reason for low water use is you have a tub or container of water next to the toilet and you you use a plastic, 2 quart, pan to dip water into the toilet when you are finished. Usually one pan for just urine and two pans for solids. That means you are using only 30% to 60% of the water that is used in the new, low water usage - 1.6 gallon, western toilets.

HOME MART also had the metal studs and sheet rock that no one knew anything about in Mae Sai. If we do much more construction we will need a pick-up truck to haul materials to Mae Sai.

While we were in Chaing Rai the tile man called, needing another box of red wall tile. Daeng had Hlong, her sister-in-law go get another box of tile. A little later, his tile cutter broke, again, so Hlong had to go get it fixed for him. Things are different with construction work here in northern Thailand.

The trip back on the motorbike was uneventful, thank goodness. We did stop at the Toyota dealer and looked at small pick-up trucks. We can buy a four wheel drive, deluxe, small pick-up with AC, etc. for around 700,000 THB ($22,000 USD). Maybe we do that next spring.

When we arrived back home we found out the second man working at our home when to lunch and never came back. We hope he's okay.

We worked around the house for a while, showered, had some dinner and I called it a night. Daeng was wide a wake so she went and spent some time playing BINGO with the family.

Mae Sai 05/06/2010 Two quiet days

2010-05-06T12:08:00.006+07:00

Yesterday was a holiday in Thailand. Daeng told me it was to celebrate the King being married 60 years. I did a little investigating to find the King was married 60 years on April 28th but the real holiday was he became King in 1950. To read more about the holiday CLICK HERE.

Daeng and I cleaned all day and I painted the florescent light fixtures on the third floor. There are nine inside and three outside on the third floor. I only did the inside ones.

We took the 4" grinder back to Tesco/Lotus and they refunded our money. I'll buy a better one at the tool repair place as that way we know we can get it fixed.

Today, no one showed up to work except the gate man that we talked with yesterday. He came and put two new wheels, two upper rollers, new track and attached the end piece so it will not move. I did not check the latch before he left and he missed welding the guide to the latch. He is just across the street so I don't think we will have any trouble getting him to come back.

You can now open and close the gate with one finger. I need to paint it so it doesn't rust. The gate is a machine gray so I don't think I will have to paint the whole thing.

His charge was 700 THB ($22.00 USD). He probably charged me more than he should have but that's the way it is in Thailand. Farangs (non-Thai's) pay more because most folks think we're rich.

Daeng spent most of the day at the District Land Office as she sold the lot she owns a few miles out of town. She bought it about six years ago and will net about 35 % gain. Nice news is there is no capital gains tax in Thailand.

I think we're going to take it easy the rest of the day.

Mae Sai 05/4/2010 Surprises!

2010-05-04T23:52:00.001+07:00

Yesterday was a pretty typical day in the re-model world of the Plumber & Little Thai Girl. The men laid tile in the kitchen and we spent most of the day shopping for a better kitchen sink and a 1/2" 45 degree PVC elbow.

We could not find either. The sinks here are all very thin stainless steel and the bowls are not deep. Also, most of them come with an overflow built into the sink that I'm sure will leak at some point as it is just plastic with a screw to hold it in place.

My problem is I laid out the bathroom piping against the advice of the man doing the work. I have one 45 degree fitting that is needed. Everyone tells me that you can't buy that fitting in Thailand.

Now, what I did was warm up a piece of PVC pipe and made the bend in the pipe. It worked very nicely, maybe better than a fitting as no glued joints.

Today had a pretty mellow start. The three men that are going to put in the additional cesspool came and we moved everything out of the way. They marked off the location and started breaking out concrete.

Daeng and I decided to get some exercise and carried the 28 boxes of ceramic tile up to the second floor bathroom. We both broke a sweat or as girls say: "Got a glow."

Surprise, the men putting in the cesspool got down about two feet and found they were on top of one that is already installed. That is good and bad. The good part is we know where the present one is and can bring the clean out up to the finished grade. The clean out opening is so a pumper truck can come and pump out the solids when needed.

The bad part is they have to move over and put another one in a few feet away. Installing the cesspool is only 2500 THB ($78.00 USD) so even if we had to pay the whole thing twice it would not be a big deal.

By the way, If you want 6-pack abs, this would be a good job your you. Check out this picture. Check out the bare feet, too. There is no workman's compensation here. The only injury today was one blister on his left hand.

The tile man also informed us he needs another bag of cement, 2 red tile edges, 5 cream tile edges, a box of red tile, 1 Kg red groat and 2 Kg of cream groat. We will also have one full box of cream tile left over so we can return that box.

We'll go get those after lunch time is over as I fell better about the men that are here working everyday than I do about the new workers. Like Mom always says: "Better to be save than sorry." I feel okay with the worker but don't feel good about the boss. He reminds me of "Gold Tooth Louie" in Santa Ana, California.

After a little talking, the cesspool men are going to bring the clean out top up to grade on the old one and put in the new cesspool with a clean out up to grade for a total of 3000 THB ($94.00 USD). We gave them half or 1500 THB to buy the materials.

Everything else went good today except the tile man's 4" grinder, that he cuts tile with, broke. That held things up for an hour or so while Daeng took the grinder to the tool repair shop down the street. In the mean time we tried to use the cheap one I bought last week but it did not work correctly.

We'll need to return it tomorrow to Tesco/Lotus. The grinder I bought is a POS (Piece of Sh*t) grinder. The teachings of when I was young come back. I remember my Uncle Lloyd saying: "Buy good tools and they will last you the rest of your life." My question is: "How long is that?"

Daeng came back in about an 45 minutes with the grinder repaired at a cost of 90 THB ($2.82 USD) and life proceeded for the tile men. It looks like the tile will be finished and ready to groat tomorrow.

The cesspool men finished installing the cesspool and the clean out covers and wanted to be paid the balance of the 1500 THB. They had not hauled away the huge pile of dirt that they dug out to install the cesspool. I told Daeng we should not pay them until the dirt was hauled away as they said in the beginning of the job.

We'll for the next hour or so Daeng and the head man argued over this. They called Salad who was in charge of the whole job and he said he would haul away the dirt at the end of the job. I told Daeng that when it rained we would have 2-3 inches of mud in our drive way.

Daeng stayed firm as the deal was they would remove the dirt. I had even asked that question, again, when they started today. Daeng made a few phone calls and took a ride up the street to talk to the lady that owns the big empty lot in back of us. She said they could put the dirt on her lot. The men agreed and took the dirt, bucket by bucket, and spreed it on her lot.

We paid the men the balance of the money and they all thanked us. Daeng gave two of the men a ride to the Myanmar (Burma) border. It was after 6:00 PM so I think they were going to wade across the river.

When Daeng came back she said it reminded her of men at home in front of HOME DEPOT in California. When she uses the word "HOME" referring to California it makes me think she may want to continue living in the USA.

We spent the next few hours cleaning up this red earth that had been tracked everywhere. We will be cleaning up this dirt for days, I'm sure.

We were both tired when we crawled in bed but glad this part is over.

Help out your local Plumber!

2010-05-04T11:40:00.000+07:00

Just a note to let you all know that the plumbing business is slow this time of year.

Accourding to the April 28th LBN-INVESTIGATES: 5 million Americans have one bowel movement per week.

Help out your local plumber by eating more fiber!

Mae Sai 05/03/2010 Charcoal Gang

2010-05-03T08:38:00.015+07:00

Daeng went to meet a man that wants to buy her land that is a few miles out of town. I am hanging out and I thought I would tell you about the story of the "Charcoal Gang".

Thailand has logged out all the trees. That means a couple of things; the thousands of elephants used to haul trees have lost their jobs and there is no more lumber, mostly teak, to build homes, furniture or to make charcoal.

There are two main types of fuel used to cook with in Thailand: bottled gas and charcoal. With no lumber, where does the charcoal come from? One of the places it comes from in Myanmar (Burma).

To read about how charcoal is made CLICK HERE!

Now for the story of "Charcoal Gang" that brings it across the river here in the Mae Sai area. I should say "Black Charcoal Gang" as when you handle charcoal you get BLACK.

The "Charcoal Gang" puts the big bags of charcoal on rafts made of bamboo and rubber inter-tubes and float it across the river from the Burma side. Then they carry it up the steep bank of the river to a flat area. This all happens before dawn.

Not only do they bring the charcoal but they bring their own two wheel carts to haul it in. I tried and I can not lift one of these cards, let alone carry it up the steep river bank.

They assemble everything in this area under the watchful eyes of the armed Thai military.

The morning we took these pictures someone was trying to smuggle Burmese rice across the river.

Charcoal is okay but no rice! Check out the "NYPD" T-shirt on the Thai soldier.

The head military man had a little meeting of the "Charcoal Gang" to tell them "Charcoal is okay but no Burma Rice!"

They then paid the "duty" for bringing the charcoal onto Thailand.

At dawn they pushed the carts with the charcoal over the little hill into this little town of Mae Sai.

Once it is over the hill the carts spread out to different areas of the town and they divide up the big bags of charcoal into small bags and sell it for 5 THB (15 cents USD) a bag.

At the end of the day or after all the charcoal is sold they cross back over the bridge into Burma to repeat the cycle again, tomorrow.

All that so we can have a HOT cup of tea as my Aussie friend, Peter, says.