Wow, Busy Day and I'm Tired March 30, 2014

I didn't sleep well last night and then woke up at 3:10 AM.  The reason I didn't sleep well is I'm now the bad guy in the family because I told a family member that they need to help out.  She is about six months pregnant, not getting along with her boyfriend, so she has been staying here with us.  All she does is eat and sleep.  She does nothing to help around the house. She just hangs out and eats, that's all. She is also getting very fat.  

Anyway, after asking her to get two cardboard boxes from her Dad and she saying: "I don't want to."  I told her how I feel.  We care about her but we did not make her pregnant.  This should be a happy time for her Dad and Mom but instead she is a burden as she does almost nothing to help out.  Asking her to get two cardboard boxes from her Dad to help us was not asking a lot.  "I don't want to." was not a good response.

Most Thais don't tell you how there really feel, they just stuff it and go on.  Sooo, I'm the bad guy for telling the truth.  

I got dressed at about 4:00 AM and went to the big Mae Sai morning market.  I bought a kilograms of old newspapers for 20 THB (60 US cents) to use while painting and had coffee and Pa Thong Ko at our favorite spot.  They are great folks. We kid them because he is Muslim and she is Buddhist. They have two great kids, also. 

You can see her making coffee in a video on the last half of a story I wrote last year on April 13th, just CLICK HERE.  She always says: "Thank you, thank you very much."

I might also add, he made me what I call a Muslim Taco. It is like a tortilla with a bean paste and a little olive oil on top.  I think they taste very good.   I know, I'm not PC.

I also took a picture of the chicken lady cleaning the heads of the chickens with a tooth brush. She and I both laughed. 

I left the morning market about 6:30 AM but on the way home there was a road block to allow this huge Buddha to be moved on the road.

To show you how large this Buddha is I took a telephoto of the man that is sitting on the shoulder of Buddha.   I think he is lookout for electrical and telephone wires. 

It did not take long for them to clear the intersection and I continued home.  

My goal today is to add some laundry shut off valves for the two washing machines on that side of the laundry area so we can install a free standing sink on the right hand side of the washers.  I unhooked everything and moved them away from the wall.  

I got busy marking and cutting the existing pipes.  I must be back in good graces as I was told to come have breakfast with the family before they went to church.  It was an interesting breakfast with fried chicken and

onions, boiled and then fried eggs, rice, vegetables and ant egg soup.

I wrote a little bit about ant eggs in some other stories. CLICK HERE to read those stories.

In any case, this is what the soup with the ant eggs looks like.  The white part is the ant eggs.  No, I'm not going to say: "Tastes like chicken."

Daeng got up and went to vote. That's correct, vote on a Sunday.  It is a local election and Daeng wanted to vote for the local representative that she knows.  She says she thinks he will help the people of the area, named Moo 8, better than anyone else.

When she got back she made me a cup of coffee and helped me finish the plumbing work.

She also

cleaned out an area in the floor that was broken so we can patch the concrete today, also. 

We work good together.  

I caulked the top of the piping on the wall so it would not collect dirt.  After the caulking cures I will put a coat of paint on the piping.

Daeng and I mixed some concrete up and patched the hole.  I think it looks pretty good for a plumber. 

The caulking needed more time to cure before painting so I put a coat of red oxide primer on the rolling door for this area of the house.  We are going to paint all the metal gates and security doors a red walnut color.  It need two coats of primer before we pain the enamel. 

I then painted the piping the same color it was before and we moved and hooked up the washing machines and tested.  Everything worked correctly with no leaks.  

We still have to buy and install the sink but that's another day.

Tomorrow we are headed to the City of Chiang Mai for some fun and shopping.  

Day III Medical Research March 22, 2014

It is really smoky this morning.    We decided to stay home and just have some eggs and toast for breakfast.  It is difficult to get eggs "over easy" here because, most Thais cook with an extremely hot frying pan. That means the eggs usually come out "over hard". 

Daeng is an excellent cook and can make eggs "over easy" in a perfect manor, soft yolks with no runny albumin.   

After breakfast we are going to go to the hospital clinic for my appointment with the dermatologist.  I have been taking the antibiotics four times a day and washing the skin area with the special soap they gave me.  

It was very smoky and there was a Buddhist function happening so the street was very crowded.

It is my understanding there were suppose to be 10,000 monks in this event. 

We arrived at the clinic about 9:15 AM.  It was fairly quiet with only a hundred or so people already there. 

My blood pressure was a little high this morning , as well.  

At 9:30 AM I met with the the dermatologist, a very nice lady who spoke understandable English.   She looked at the four bumps on my head and said they were small cysts that had grown in the hair follicles.  

She said they were nothing to worry about but if I wanted she could remove them today.  I also told her I had a tag on the inside of my upper leg.  She said she could remove that, also.  I agreed and she told me to go upstairs to the operating rooms and she would join us in a few minutes.

I got undressed and put the old hospital blue outfit on.  I hopped onto the table and the doctor along with three nurses removed the four cysts on my head and the tag on my upper leg.  She showed me one of the cysts from my head.  It was the size of a green pea. 

She said she had to put a stitch in the area of the large one and to come back in a week and she would remove the stitch. She said that other incisions she was able ot just cauterized.  She gave me some cream to put on the incisions and told me she would see me next Saturday.

I got dressed and we went down to the cashier.  We waited a few minutes for the surprise.  I was hoping maybe the charges would be around 3000 to 4000 THB, a hundred to a hundred and fifty US dollars. 

The charges were: anesthesia 336 THB, medical supplies 465 THB, medical equipment 1550 THB, medical services for 100 THB, service charge 90 THB and physician services 5000 THB making the total 7,541 THB.  At 32 Thai Baht to the US Dollar that comes to around $236 USD.  I forgot about the medical equipment.  That consists of the operating table, lights, cauterization machine, etc. 

Daeng thought that was very high but for what was done, I think it is still a good deal and probably lower than my co-pay on my Medicare Advantage Plan through Anthem Blue Cross.  In the USA, the hospital alone would have been at least a few hundred dollars, plus doctor, plus, plus, plus. 

On the other hand, maybe my insurance would not have paid anything. They probably would have said that the remove of these small cysts were not medically needed. 

I'm going home and take a nap. Daeng is going to a neighborhood funeral.  Here when someone dies the whole neighborhood shows up to eat and pay their respects. 

More research next Friday.  That will be the first injection into my knees.  

Winter 2013-2014 USA

On December 1st we arrived back in California safely.  The trip back always messes with our minds as we leave Bangkok around 5:30 PM and arrive two hours later in Los Angeles.  Yep, two hours later after being in the air for over 15 hours.

The next day, after uncovering the rest of the furniture and our car, I had to go to Garden Grove to pick up some parts for the winter heating season.  

I was hungry so I stopped at Tommy's Restaurant on Chapman Avenue across from See's Candy and had a wonderful breakfast for $3.23, tax included.  

Folks, this was one of the best breakfasts I have had in the USA at any price.  Try it, you might like it. 

Daeng and I will be fixing heating systems here in Southern California until the end of February and then back to "The Land of Smiles" until the summer. 

Please do yourself a favor and check your furnace air filter.  Dirty air filters cause the most problems with furnaces so change or wash your air filter.  It is usually in the bottom of your furnace or in a filter grill where the air returns to your system to he heated. 

We do our filter when we change the clocks; the spring ahead and fall back time change.  Also, check the batteries in your smoke alarms.  

It is also better for your health to have a clean air filter.  Please remember you breath that air, also.

We also celebrated life with a lot of folks this winter. That means we ate lots of cake!  Congratulations to everyone. 

Daeng likes Christmas and all the decorating and package wrapping.  She does a beautiful job wrapping gifts, also.  

Here is a picture of my daughter Tina, Uncle Jimmy, our friend Bill and Daeng decorating my sister Diane's tree.  

Here is a gift that Daeng brought back from Thailand to give me for a Christmas gift.  

It is a paper clip holder for my desk.  

She said it looks like me sitting on the toilet.  We both laughed. 

The New Year celebrations were fun as well.

On New Years Eve, Daeng, sister Diane and I spent time with my Mother.  She is still hanging on at age 92 and is pretty sharp most of the time.

On television we watched the ball drop in New York City with Mom, had some sparkling apple and pomegranate juice.  We were in bed by 10:00 PM.  

Give us a break, we're old!

On Sunday, the family and a few friend got together to celebrate the New Year with Daeng's and my birthday.  

Daeng was born on Christmas Day in a pig barn in Thailand on the Myanmar (Burma) border.  There is no written record of her birth so all her identification shows here birthday as January 1st.  

I always kid here as she has two birthdays in a week. 

Last year, when she turned 40, I told her I was going to trade her in for two 20 year old girls.  She just put her hands on her hips, looked me straight in the eyes and said: "You're not wired for 220!"  I love her!


It is great to see friends that we miss when we are in Thailand.  Here is a picture of our friends Devin and Peg.

We also love visiting Michael and Charlotte in Wasco, California.  Wasco is a little above Bakersfield.  


You can read a few more stories regarding Bakersfield by clicking HERE.

Daeng handmade an apron for Charlotte.  I love this picture of her modeling it. 

Michael's son, Vincent, made the trip with us.  He was is a great traveler and was fun to be with. 

We also had dinner at a fund raiser put on by the "Friends of Jimmy K".  We had a great time.


I love the expression on Charlotte's face in this picture.  I was wondering where Michael's other hand is. 

I might also add we always have fun with our extended family.  

I had to laugh at Daeng as to soften her hair she puts on this mud like stuff that she brought from Thailand.  She mixed it up and put it into her hair.  Than she wraps it in a towel like rag and leaves it for at least 8 hours.  

I must admit, it does make her hair very soft. 

We worked a lot in December fixing heating systems but January and February were very warm months.  I think that Los Angeles broke their record for having the warmest January in written history.


It was okay for me as I'm getting to old to work very hard.  

We did get to go to a few conventions and hook up with some old friends. 

We had dinner at Todai's with our old friends, Paul and Cheryl Scaglione.  Cheryl gave me a DVD of the "Legend of Masty Huba".  If you you like to read more about him just click HERE.

Around 1980 a California artist, Andrew Taylor, painted a picture of me and titled it "Masti F. Huba".  

I don't know were the "F" comes from but you can guess.  

We also had some time to visit with my daughter, Amy, who lives and works with the Peacemaker group. To read more about their store just click HERE. 

The store is wonderful, the people are great and the food is always delicious.  

If you get to Costa Mesa, California just stop in and see them. 

It was a wonderful winter but it is time to return to our home in Thailand on the Myanmar (Burma) border.

I hope to get some of the medical work done done in Thailand, like joint lubricant injected into my knees, that was denied by my Medicare Advantage Plan through Anthem Blue Cross. 

Although the injections have been helping me for years, the insurance company says that they don't feel the health benefit is enough to justify the cost.  

The positive side is I can probably have the injection done cheaper cheaper in Thailand than my co-pay in the USA. 

We'll write more from Thailand.  

Bored in Mae Sai so Chiang Mai Trip

Well, we're a little bored here in Mae Sai.  It's the old get up at five or six o'clock, shower, dress, answer emails and go to the morning market for breakfast.  The Ban Pa Mueat Morning Market usually is in full swing by 5:00 AM.

After breakfast it is stop at the exercise equipment beside the road by our house and work out a little.





We then watched the monks do their morning walk collecting food.  Many folks come out of their homes and businesses and give food to the monks.

Home and work on quilt or if it's raining, clean the third floor tile roof. Our third floor roof is ceramic tile but does need to be cleaned every once in a while, especially after the jungle being on fire.  There was a lot of ash on our roof.

Daeng's quilt is looking good.  She put it on the bed today, as well.  She starting making it almost a year ago.  It is a patchwork quilt, double sided with a soft filling inside.

Because we are bored, we decided we would make a little trip to Chiang Mai for a little holiday.  Chiang Mai is about 250 kilometers, by road, from us.  It is up through the mountains so it takes about three and a half hours without stops. 

We started off pretty early, about 6:15 AM.  We stopped at our local market and had a little breakfast.  We drove to Jan's coffee shop in 60 km south in Chiang Rai.  We talked a little with Jan to be sure she was doing okay.  Our friend Charlie is her boyfriend.  He is in Canada for a few months.

Then we drove a little more down route number one and made the Chiang Mai turn off onto route 118.  About 19 km after the turn off, we stopped for sweets at the Charin Gardens.  They have great cheese cake and pies.  They are so good you want to lick the plate.

We also watch a man net fishing in the river by the restaurant.  We hope he got some fish as he laid out a lot of net.

We drove to the hot springs and stopped to use the rest room.  Here they charge five Thai Baht to use the facilities.  Many public places in Thailand charge three Baht so it is not that much more. 

Onward to Pooie's home.  Pooie is one of Daeng's four older brothers. It was easy to find him again as I marked our GPS locator.  When we got to the house, Kat, Pooie's daughter said her Dad was coming home for lunch in about a half hour, around noon.  We hung out.  Daeng took a little bicycle ride with Gla, Pooie's son.

As for me, I just hung around hugging trees.  These teak trees grow right in the middle of the road.

Pooie and his wife, "Ley", came home around noon and we spent some time together.  They both had to go back to work.  We said: "Good-bye" and headed down the road ourselves.

Then onward to the Royal Lanna Hotel in the Night Bazaar section of Chiang Mai.  We have a friend, Jay, that lives in the hotel on a monthly basis.  It is a big hotel, 22 stories tall in a great location. 

We booked the room from their old website for a nice discount.  The discounted rate was 1050 THB, about $35.00 USD, a night including a buffet breakfast for two.  This picture is a view of part of the night bazaar from the hotel window.  The hotel sits in the middle of this Night Bazaar.

Eat, sleep, eat, sleep and a few meetings with friends for the next few days.  I took Daeng to stay a few nights with her brother Pooie.  I hung out with my friends Brian & Jay.  It was pretty relaxing. 

While driving across a single lane bridge that crosses the river we saw a small, new hotel with a sign "650 THB" on it.  Daeng said lets stop to see it.  We liked it and made the decision to change hotels.  It was only two blocks from the Royal Lanna Hotel. 

The name of the hotel is Mawin Hotel. You can see the Royal Lanna Hotel across the bridge and down the street.  It is the large building on the left of the picture.

After seven nights in Chiang Mai we made the trip back to Mae Sai.  It was May Day, May 1st and a holiday in Thailand.  It is like Labor Day in America.  The nice part is almost everything was closed, banks, schools and businesses so the traffic was very light.  That was a nice change. 

Yep, Another Day in Mae Sai

Another day in Mae Sai; up at 6:00 AM and breakfast in the Ban Pa Meat morning market.

The fellow on the left, with his head down working, is "Me's" husband.  He is the Pa Thong Ko maker.

Same stuff for breakfast, I love it.  I had Soy Milk, Pa Thong Ko, Coffee, Tea, Fried Chicken and Sticky Rice.

Daeng talked with "Me" and I made a deal with the market beggar, "SuLa".  The deal is if he takes a shower, cleans his finger nails and puts on clean clothes I'll give him 100 Thai Baht.

Now, that may not help him, as a beggar, because if he cleans up folks will think he is doing okay, they won't fell sorry for him or give him any money.

More will be revealed.

I wanted to tell that the Thais have gotten around my saying: "Life is like a roll of toilet tissue as the closer you get to the end the faster it goes!"

How they got around that saying is they take the center of the roll out and use it from the inside.  You have got to give them credit.

When we got back home, Daeng let "Bang's" little boy play with the Dancing Santa that our friends, Micheal and Charlotte, gave her.  He and Santa did a little dance.

Life is good.