Our 21 day trip back to Pattaya and California

It was a great spring but we are on our way back to California for the summer.  To get ready, Daeng bought stuff, like spices, she says she can not buy in California. 

We said bye-bye to our friends and family, packed everything up to travel and covered the bed and furniture in our master bedroom with sheets.  We will be back in about ten weeks.

The only thing I forgot was my eye drops in the refrigerator.  Daeng's niece, Nue, mailed them to us at our hotel in Pattaya.  Thanks Nue!

Car rental return was normal except Thai Rental Car charged me 351 THB (about $11.70  USD) more than we agreed as they told us that two of the extra days were weekend days. 

I kidded with Daeng that this "Sterile Area", at the airport, was for me because I'm old and sterile. Daeng said, with a smile on her face: "That's good!"

Jon, our pre-arranged driver, picked us up at the old Bangkok airport and we made the two and a half hour drive to the Honey Lodge Hotel.  We have been using Jon for car service to and from the airport for a few years.  He is a nice guy and always is on time. 

We had to laugh as I told the folks at the Honey Lodge that I was going to jump into the swimming pool like the man in this video: CLICK HERE.  The lady at the desk told me to do it the day we were checking out.  The Honey Lodge Hotel is an old hotel about a minute walk from "Walking Street" here in the "Fun Zone".  They remodeled it two years ago and it is now a very nice boutique hotel. Rates when  up from about $18 USD to a little over $30 USD a night.  Here are some pictures of the place: CLICK HERE.

We like Pattaya for the diversity.  You can find just about anything you want here.  You can read more of our stories of Pattaya by CLICKING HERE. 

Daeng likes the shopping, as well.  The largest beach front shopping center mall in Asia is here.

CentralFestival Pattaya Beach : Asia's Largest Beachfront Shopping

It is also nice to meet other folks from all over the world at meetings here in Pattaya City and Jomtien Beach.  We also get to spend some time with our friend Boonma.  He is from New York City but lives here most of the time.

There was a festival at Jomtien Beach last weekend.  They had all kinds of displays of art works and things.  Here is one of decorations made with soda and water bottles.

There was even the monster truck on display, including monster sound system with huge speakers so you can get lots of "Boom-Boom". 

One of the many things that amazes me here in Pattaya is the ocean tides.  Here is a picture of the tide out. If you click on the picture you can see the boats sitting on the sandy bottom.
  Then here is a picture of the tide coming up about half way.  The boats are now floating.

Normal tide is from about six feet to ten feet high.  Here is a picture at high tide.

This morning Jomtien Beach was nice except a little windy. 

We went shopping for some "Singing Bowls". These bowls are used in the Buddhist Faith.  You run a little wooded paddle around the outside of the bowl and the bowls resonates, sings.

You would think in a county that is over 98% Buddhists they would be easy to find.  We could only find one shop in Pattaya that carries them.  It is a shop that specializes in gifts from India.  It does take a little practice to make them work.
 
We are just about ready to return to California tomorrow.  The 14 1/2 hours plane rides really messes with our minds on this return.  We leave Bangkok at 5:05 PM and arrive in Los Angles at 8:35 PM. That's 3 1/2 hours after take off and the total trip is about 30 hours from pillow here
to pillow in the USA.

It was a nice spring in Thailand but we look forward to getting back to California and fixing air conditioning system.

If you need your air conditioning or anything else in your home fixed just visit our website www.DIALONEtoday.com and give us a call.

Folks on the Top of our Hero List - DEPDC/GMS

We moved some folks to the top of our Hero List.  They are Sompop Jantraka, the founder of DEPDC/GMS (Development Education Program for Daughters and Communities/ Greater Mekong Sub-Region) and Patricia Oliver Martinez, International Volunteer. 

Sompop Jantraka has been nominated for the 2013 World’s Children’s Prize for his almost 25 year struggle against trafficking and exploitation of children in the sex industry and other harmful forced labor.

 

His organization, DEPDC/GMS, has given thousands of poor children from throughout the Mekong Region in Thailand, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam and China - protection and education. 

 

Daeng was one of the thousand that he has helped. When she was a young lady, trying to support herself and her Mother, she went through a program at DEPDC and learned how to sew.  She got up very early in the morning and worked putting fried pig skin into small bags.  She was paid  four (4) Thai Baht (about 12 cents US) for every one hundred (100) bags.

 

When she finished that work she went to DEPDC sewing class so she could learn to sew.  As she remembers, Sompop Jantraka even gave her money to help her buy gasoline for her motorbike so she could get to the sewing school.  To read about Daeng going to sewing school at the DEPDC/GMS blog CLICK HERE.

 

A few months ago, we saw that Patricia Oliver Martinez, an International Volunteer at DEPDC/GMS, had a fund raiser to help remodel the restroom area at DEPDC/GMS in Chiang Khong.  As a plumber, I'm always interested in projects like this.  We contacted Pat and last week we visited the Chiang Khong facility along with the 22 young ladies that live there.

 

Wow, what a wonderful experience!  We met all the ladies and each one told us their names, ages and school grade level.  Each one told us they liked school, which I was glad to hear as what folks like to do they usually do well.

 

We also met "Fanta" who will be traveling to Sweden with Sompop Jantraka.  He will be accepting the CHILD RIGHTS HERO Award.  You can read all about Sompop and Fanta, along with other folks involved in the program, on pages 70 through 89 in the PDF copy of THE GLOBE. Just CLICK HERE.  The file takes a little while to load but it is well worth it.

I also want to say: "Pat, I have been a plumber for over 46 years and you did a wonderful job putting together this restroom project!  Thank you for having us visit you and the young ladies at Chiang Khong."
 

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. 

Songkran Party is still Going On - Golden Triangle

Even though Songkran is officially over in Mae Sai, the party still goes on through today or longer.

Daeng, Peter, Nok and I drove over to the center of the Golden Triangle.  I think President Nixon nicknamed this area "The Golden Triangle" because it is were Myanmar (Burma), Laos and Thailand come together on the Mekong River. 

The Mekong River is the world's 12th longest river and the 7th longest in Asia. Its estimated length is 4,350 km (2,703 mi). It runs to the ocean from China through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

We have been on this river a few times in the past.  To read two of those stories just CLICK HERE for our first trips on the river.  That story also talks about "cookies are better than guns".  To read the story of the completed school on the Mekong and see pictures of this old, white, fat boy dancing just CLICK HERE.

This area was, at one time, the largest opium growing area of the world.  Today, it still ranks as number two, losing out only to Afghanistan.

The whole area for hundreds of square miles around is know as "The Golden Triangle" but this is the center.

We had a nice lunch looking over the river.  The day was fairly cool, about 90 degrees Fahrenheit or 32 degrees Celsius. 

We ate salt fish, som-tom papaya salad, bar-be-qued chicken, spicy seafood soup, sticky rice, orange soda and "dancing scrimp". 

Here is a video of the "Dancing Scrimp".

After you watch the video you will know why they call this dish "Dancing Scrimp".

Peter and Nok would not eat the dancing scrimp but I tried it.  The taste was very strong from the spices that were used with the scrimp and mango. 

After we ate we walked up to the "Big Buddha" on the edge of the mighty Mekong River.  There were lots of folks visiting this well know Buddha.

We started to drive down the road to Chiang Saen, about 10-15 km to see if the dragon boat races were still going.

We got to the edge of this little town and the traffic was stopped and everyone throwing water around.  Together we made the decision turn around and go home.  After all it was three o'clock and full stomachs.  A nap sounded real good.

We did have a fun day with Peter and Nok.

Songkran 2013 - Five Days of Fun

Songkran in 2013 (2556) falls on a weekend so it is extended to included Monday and Tuesday, April 15th and 16th.  That makes this years Thai New Year Holiday last for five days.

One of the best descriptions and explanations of Songkran here in Thailand is at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  CLICK HERE!

Basically the whole country shuts down and parties, except for the folks that make money supplying the party, the police and medical folks.  In the five days, over 400 people are expected to die during this big party, mostly alcohol related. 

Pictures like this may Songkran a wonderful time.

If you would like to read our past stories about Songkran just CLICK HERE!

On Friday, the first official day of Songkran, Daeng and I took things pretty easy.  We had coffee and Pa Thong Ko in the Ban Pa Mueat morning market, bought some cut up pineapple and hung out around the house the rest of the day.  One of the things we did hanging out was just that, we hung out the wash.

Some of the things that everyone usually does during Songkran are wash clothes, clean the house, throw the old, unused things away getting ready for a new start in the next year.

Here is a picture of Daeng on TAX day.   You can also read about that story by CLICKING HERE.

Day two, Saturday Daeng went out and became part of the water fun.  She got a little sun burn but had fun.  As for me, I took a long nap.

Being really bored Sunday, the third day, seven of us hopped, maybe a better word is squeezed into the Nissan March and went on a little road trip.  The seven were Daeng, brother Tun, sister-in-law Hlong, Hlong's sister and son, Bum, that's Bang's son and me. 

One part of Songkran is to visit older family members thanking them and giving your best wishes and blessings to them.  Our first stop was up the hill from the southern police check point.  The stop was to visit Hlong,s sister's son's grandmother on his father's side.  Wow, a score card is needed on this trip.

Next stop, after the check point, we made a few turns and went up the hill on the east side of route #1 onward to Hlong's cousin's house.  We had been there once before to celebrate the building of there house.  It is right in the middle of rice fields.

What's done to build a house in a rice field is to dig a big hole in the ground which becomes a pond.  The dirt from the pond makes the land the house will be build on.  Win-win, pond for fish and high ground to build the house on.

There are all kinds of things to eat besides the fish in the pond. 

Daeng found some crab next to the house and rice paddy.

I took a little walk around the pond and found some bananas.

After a little rest, we all got back in the car and headed to Hlong's sister's house in Mae Chan.  It was only a few more minutes south.

When we reached "La's" home we hung out eating pork, sticky rice, fried squid, water melon, papaya and mango. 

To cool down a little, Daeng also went into the river beside her house.  The temperature was nice today, around 95 degree Fahrenheit or 35 degree Celsius.

Around five o'clock, Daeng said maybe it was time to go home.  The rest of the gang was staying there for the night.  We said good-bye to the new hatched baby birds.  I know their mother was glad to get us out of there.

I set the GPS to "Home" and off we went.  For dinner we stopped along the road and had some bar-be-qued squid, chicken livers and fried onions, along with some sticky rice.

Day four, Monday morning we got up and took the motorbike over to the Ban Pa Mueat morning market but NO ONE, except the beggar Su-la, was there.  We didn't even stop and Su-la just nodded his head and smiled at us.  We headed to the Mae Sai morning market about 4 km up the road. 

The Mae Sai morning market was really quiet but the Coffee and Pa Thong Ko shop was open.  We also picked up some fried chicken at the bottom of the hill.  The rain and thunderstorms from last night had cleaned the smoky air and it was nice to see the sun shine through.

This is a picture taken from our bedroom window.

Here is a video of the coffee lady making coffee with a smile and a "Thank you very much." 

We always Laugh at the way she says: "Thank you, thank you very much."

Someone wanted to buy some noodles but the noodle lady was not around so Daeng stepped in and handled the noodle sale.  Yep, she used her noodle to sell noodles.  Is that to many noodle references?

Now Monday is Temple Day.  It is a day that almost everyone in Thailand goes to the Temple.  There are thousands and thousands of Temples in Thailand, as well.  They are all nice but some are really beautiful.

Of all the Temples in Thailand, we like the "White Temple" the best.

On Tuesday, we decided we were "funned" out.  I don't think "funned" is a real word but we have just had tooooo much fun.

This morning we stopped at the temple by our home and worked out a little on the new exercise equipment.  Although the equipment is extremely nice we like the old equipment on the Soi by our home.   

We also looked at a wood table and four stools that the maker said he would accept 3200 THB ($110 USD) for the five pieces.  Daeng and I said we would think about buying them for the area on the second floor by the Thai kitchen.

Daeng also spent a lot of the last few days working on her patchwork quilt.  She started it in America about a year ago.  It is almost finished and sewn all by hand. It looks really nice.

We will be extremely happy when the day is over and we can go back to our regular, boring life. 

In our opinion, three days of Songkran is good but five days is way to much.

Happy Songkran (Thai New Year) to ALL!