Busy Having Fun - Another Road Trip March 27, 2014

We have been very busy having fun.

On Sunday night it rained very hard for a couple of hours.  Daeng went onto the roof and started cleaning the ceramic tile.  She got about a third more of it cleaned.  I'm sorry I could not get a picture of her in her rain suit and shower cap. 

Monday morning the sky was very clear as the rain had cleaned most of the smoke from the jungle fires.  Daeng and her niece, Nuy, went to buy food at the morning market.  I'm told some of the family is coming into town for a day or so. 


When they got back from the market, Daeng and Hlong, our sister-in-law did some cooking.  Daeng also does some fun things with food.

One of the things she does is make hats.

Which one looks better in the Thai grapefruit hat, Daeng or Bum.

That is Bum's Mother, Bang, in the picture with Daeng and Bum.  

Bum, his real nickname is Bom, is a real cutie but spoiled rotten. If he does not get his own way he cries and gets his way to shut him up.  I have tried to explain what is happening with his but I'm not Thai and it is different here. 

It has been very busy at the border crossing with lots of stuff moving back and forth into and out of Myanmar (Burma). 

I have been getting the metal doors and gates ready to paint.  I used a 4" grinder with a wire cup and cleaned off most of the rust.  I will use a good primer on the rested areas.  

We are going to change the color from gray to a red walnut color.  I had bought a large can of oil based enamel of the color and kind of paint  we liked about three years ago.  

I went to Home Mart Paint Center and they don't carry it any more as folks here don't like the oil base as it is harder to work with than water based enamels.  Also, the folks don't like it as it takes longer to dry. 

We had to drive about 30 kilometers south to another large paint shop to get the same paint and color. The price had gone up some and it is now about $29.00 USD a gallon.

Today we took a little road trip to Chiang Rai, about 60 km south of us.  Tun, Daeng's brother, had to go to the government hospital there to see the doctor and make sure his home Peritoneal Dialysis is working okay.

We drove over to our friend Jan's Coffee Shop. She was finished selling for the day as she starts out at around 3:00 AM.  It is almost 11:00 AM now and she was getting ready to close.

She has a very neat coffee shop with a tree growing right in the center.  The tree keeps it nice and cool, also.

We talked with Jan until a little after 1:00 PM when Hlong called and said they were finished.  We picked them up and Tun said everything was good and there was No Charge today.

We headed back with a little side trip to Tun and Daeng's brother in his Akha village just north of the Mae Fah University.  


Usually he is taking care of his cows but today he was home.  We talked and he gave Tun some dried leaves that he could make tea and will give him energy and keep him awake.  That got my attention, of course.   Akha Meth Tea, I'm sure there is a market.  I think I need to do some research. 

He wanted to give us some dried frogs but we were able to decline the gift in a manor that he could save face.  I think Daeng told him to keep them and we would come down and eat with the family someday.

He did give me something really cool.  It is an clothing iron that you put charcoal in it to make it hot.   

It is in beautiful shape.  I am going to clean it up and put it on my desk.  
 


We took a family picture and headed home.  

It was a great road trip.

Tomorrow is my first shot into my knees of Sodium Hyaluronate.

Car, Pick-up, Car, Truck, Car????

A few years ago we started talking about buying a car or pick-up truck here in Thailand.  

It started out in 2009 with us renting a Honda Jazz and traveling through out northern Thailand in a counter-clockwise trip.  You can read of the start by CLICKING HERE. 

You can also read of the many road trips we have done by CLICKING HERE.  They are written in reverse order with the newest on top. There are many pages so when you get to the bottom just click on "Next Posts".

Of the rental cars, we have driven the Honda Jazz, Toyota Vios and the Nissan March.  We liked the Honda Jazz as an all around vehicle.  

Due to the price of gasoline is very high here, presently about $6.00 USD a US gallon, with gasohol a little cheaper and diesel being a little over $3.60 USD a US gallon we started thinking diesel.   Also because diesel vehicles get higher mileage we started thinking about a diesel pick-up truck instead of a car. 

We have also test driven the Toyota Varis, the Chevrolet Colorado 2.5L Diesel 2 WD X-Cab LT Z71 and the Toyota Hilux Vigo Smart Cab 2.5L Diesel model G.  I thought I would like the Chevy Colorado but after driving the Toyota Smart Cab and the Chevy Colorado back to back, we like the Toyota far above the Chevy Colorado.

The Colorado just seemed to be a lot looser, sloppier to drive, than the Toyota.  The Toyota does have a little stiffer ride but is very quiet and comfortable in the cab. Both are pick-up trucks so empty they do have a little bounce when you hit a small bump in the road.

Here is a video review of the Toyota: CLICK HERE.  That video is of the "E" model.  We like the "G" model as it has some extras like back up camera and DVD player.  

It is also comparative to the Toyota Tacoma in the USA except the diesel is not available in the USA yet. 

After doing all the talking, we can buy it here with all the goodies for 777,000 THB or around $24,280 USD, out the door, including all taxes, the first year registration along with first class insurance for a year. 

I laughed at the cost as the first new car I bought was a Volkswagen for $1,400.00.  That was before Lincoln was shot. 

We also see the price of used pick-up trucks stays pretty high.  Here is a 4+ year old Toyota Hilux pick-up for 498,000 THB. 

Yesterday, we test drove the Toyota Hilux Smart Cab 2.5L diesel above again and made the discussion to buy it if we could get it out of dealer stock. We did not want to order one from the factory as that takes about three (3) months to come in. 

We wanted it in white with cream interior, front and rear bumpers, roll bar, Toyota brand bed liner, dark tinted side and rear windows, floor mats, side door window rain covers, automatic transmission with first class insurance included. 

As you can see in the picture of Daeng above, due to the way these vehicles are built with no center post between the side doors, we will feel safer with a roll bar installed. 

Ta, the lady we were working with said she would call us Monday morning early and let us know.

She called us early and said it was in stock with everything we wanted at their main dealership in Chiang Rai, about 60 km south of the Mae Sai branch here. 

She suggested we come in right away and give her a small deposit before someone else bought it.  It was the "bus is leaving" close!  She did a good job. 

We hopped onto a motorbike and met her, giving her a 5000 THB deposit. That is about $156 USD.  She said she would try to have it here in two days but for sure by Thursday.  

We might also add that "Ta", the sale lady that helped us, was the nicest of all the sales people in any of the dealerships. 

In one dealership a man told us we could not park our motorbike in the shade and had to park it in a spot in the sun.  We did not stay because we did not want to get back on a vehicle that was in the sun at 90 degrees F. 

Another sales person at the Chevy dealer in Bangkok told us they had two other vehicles that we wanted to see but because it was Sunday, that area was closed. 

We came back on Monday morning and were told they only had the one on the showroom floor.  I told them: "You have a good location for a Chevrolet Dealership." Of course, they had no idea of what I was saying but I felt better. 

The sales lady in the Chevrolet Dealership in Chiang Rai would not stop talking.  I, at one point, walked away and told Daeng to let me know when she was finished talking so I could ask some questions.  She never did stop and I had to ask another person my questions.  

By the way, I finally got to the sales manager and he answered my question about getting the Chevy pick-up in Orange. The answer was: "Yes, that is the new color and they have some on order."  It is to bad I did not like the way it felt driving as the 2 WD Chevy X-Cab was cheaper than the Toyota, about $2,500 cheaper.  Maybe it is a "get what you pay for thing". 

I think the sale lady is still talking, but to herself. 

Again, thank you Ta, Ann and Jib-jib for all your help. You reassured us that "buying local is always the best". 

Buying a car is fun, fun, fun with lots of laughs. 

Daeng says she wants to learn to drive a car.  I think that would be good for her, also. 

We will post some pictures and maybe a video of our new vehicle. 

04-23-09 Songkran Accident Report

Daeng and I are getting ready to start our month long road trip through out the northern half of Thailand. We will be driving a Honda Jazz into some areas of Thailand that we are interested in.

Before we go, we though we would bring you up to date on the accident count for the Songkran 2009 holiday.

Songkran's "seven dangerous days" ended with 373 deaths and 4,332 injuries in 3,977 road accidents nationwide.

If you would like more information click on this link: Deaths are up but accidents were down....

In the report that we linked it also talks about the "No sale of alcohol" law and how it did stop much of the sales.

We will keep you up to date during our travels.