Holy City of Pattaya - Fall 2016

Please forgive my spelling and punctuation; I'm a plumber and not a English major. Just read and have fun.
You can click on any of the pictures and they become larger.
September 27th - We made it. First plane leg was way tooooo long, 12 hours and 59 minutes. We slept a little and watched a bunch of movies like X-Men: Apocalypse, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Money Monster, Tarzan and Demolition.

We just made the connection for the plane from Taipei to Bangkok as we only had about 50 minutes to do it.

That leg was only 3 hours and 5 minutes. We had a meal, China Airlines has okay food. We also watched the movie Angry Birds. It was a cool animated movie.

We breezed through Immigrations, picked up our bags and walked through the " Nothing to Declare" line at customs.

Daeng and I kissed, said: "See you tomorrow." She took a taxi to see her brother in the Bangkok Hilton.

Jon, our trusted driver, took me and all the bags to Pattaya, 2 hours south of Bangkok.

It's going to be a shower and bed for me. It was a good trip.

September 28^th - I slept from 2 PM yesterday until 8 AM this morning. 

I shower, rented a motorbike for the week, had a massage with Thai (That is her name, Thai, so it's a real Thai massage.), had breakfast and went shopping for distilled water for my CPAP machine and cookies.

Daeng called from Bangkok and said she saw her brother and may come to Pattaya later today.

I think I'm doing to take a nap and maybe visit some friends later today.

September 29^th - Daeng made it from Bangkok last night.

We got up this morning at 6:00 and had breakfast at our favorite neighborhood eating spot.

Maybe we can say goodbye to jet-lag.

After breakfast I went to a meeting with some English friends in Pattaya.

Then I drove over the hill to Jomtien Beach, meet with some more friends, checked out the beach and a hotel that Jon, our driver told us about.

It is nice for 900 THB (about $26 USD) a night.

On the way back to the room I had some comfort food at McDonald's.

It's time for a nap.

September 30^th - At 8:00 AM, I'm starting my day with a western breakfast.

I am going to meet with friends in 3 meetings today. With a massage and a nap, it will be a full day.

It's Friday, with big sales, so Daeng is going shopping. 

October 1st - Revelation, I forgot my phone in the charger at our room last night when I went to a meeting in Jomtien Beach and DID NOT MISS IT!

We bought the plane tickets home on Bangkok Airways this morning. 

We travel north on October 6th at 7:35 AM.

We land south of our home at 8:55 AM, so with the ride 60 km north, we should be home by 11:00 AM on Thursday. 

For lunch, we walked across the street into the largest, oceanfront shopping center in Asia, Central Festival.

I had chicken noodle soup and Daeng had Papaya salad. 

October 2^nd - Great Sunday morning, massage and met our friend BoonMa for an Expat Club Meeting.

We are just going to hang out, get some sun and have some fun. 

October 3rd - Not much happening today but tonight we are going to go to 'Walking Street".

They close down the end of Beach Road around 6:00 PM and reopen it to vehicles around 2:00 AM. 

It is what a lot of folks call the "Fun zone" but I feel all of Pattaya City is a fun zone. 

October 4th - We did have fun on Walking Street.  

Daeng told me: "No more pictures!" I love her. 

October 5th - Today we visited the Sanctuary of Truth.  

It is an amazing place and all carved out of wood.

It is a work in progress and Daeng even helped a little. 

That is why we had to wear hardhats. 

I was proud of myself, walked down the 67 steps, around the complete grounds and back up again.

We spent a good part of the day there. 

If you get to Pattaya, do yourself a favor and go see it. 

Also, it's nice to be treated like the King. 

You can see more pictures on our Facebook page by CLICKING HERE. 

October 6th -  We returned motorbike, packed and checked out of Dobler House at 4:30 AM.

We just stopped to fill up with propane for the 125 km to airport in Bangkok.

It is raining!

It was a smooth trip to the Bangkok Airport, an easy check in at Bangkok Airways.

Besides being 800 THB (about $24.00 USD) lower in plane fare and not charging extra for the 8 km over in luggage weight, they feed us, also

They have a wonderful passenger lounge with great food and coffee.

Plane took off on time.

When we arrived in Chiang Rai, they even had some music to welcome us.

Our driver, guy, picked us up and took us to Mae Sai.

We are unpacked, luggage is put away, pickup truck and both motorbikes started, tire pressures checked on motorbikes and bicycles.

Our bed is calling: "Nap time, nap time." 

It was a good trip with our stay in Pattaya but it is nice to be home in Mae Sai. 

Summer in USA 2016

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

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

We love Thailand but it is always nice to be in the USA. 

We had a great summer with the most important thing being my right hip replacement.  

We are back in Thailand but here is our journey for the Summer in the good old USA. 

June 14th - We landed in LA and are waiting for a shuttle van home.

It is a little busier 

(understatement) coming in during the day.

Trip went okay except had to pay $33 to China Airlines for 3.9 kilograms of baggage and the full search of myself and carry-on bags in Taipei.

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

It's only 7:00 PM but we are beat as we got out of bed in Thailand 28 hours ago.  

Daeng is already sleeping and after a shower, I am joining her.

Everything is okay and car started right up after being parked for 90 days. 

Life is good! 

June 15th - We have uncovered most of the furniture, got our 3 months’ worth of mail and visited Costco for things like milk, eggs and bread.

We slept most of the night so we are making a good try at defeating jetlag. 

At the doctor's office to see if we can stop some of the back pain with an epidural.

Hip replacement then on July 5th. 

June 17th - Today it is a trip to see one of the nicest doctors in the whole world. It is Dr. Sharkoff at Pueblo Family Medical Center.

Besides being a great doctor he treats you first and then they ask if you can pay any money.

I am here for a release for hip surgery. 

For Daeng we are still trying to figure out why her face hurts sometimes. 

June 18th - Blood tests, lab work and EKG are complete for July 5th hip replacement.

The staff at Hoag Hospital in Irvine were wonderful. 

June 19th - I had a wonderful lunch with daughter Amy.

Amy is the one with glasses, smiling. 

Here is the Father's Day card my sister gave me.

I thought it was right on.

Happy Father's Day to everyone. 

June 21th - With this hot weather, the best thing to help your air conditioning is keep your air filters clean.

CLICK HERE for more information. 

June 23rd - Daeng is happy, Thai rice and cooking steamed noodles.

I think she beat jet-lag. 

June 26th - Breakfast with some old friends. To my right is Vincent Rodriguez, to my left is Michael Rodriquez, Jean McGrath and Christine Rodriquez.  

We have know each other for a very long time, except Vincent as he's not that old. 

June 30th - Daeng is feeling great  and has been very busy making things out of paper. 

July 1st - We are extremely happy. 

After about 2 1/2 years, 3 dentists, 3 regular doctors, 2 neurologists, including a MRI of Daeng's head, with no one finding what was causing the pain in Daeng's face; Dr. James A. Sharkoff, MD with Pueblo Family Medical Center in Stanton, California found the cause.

Two weeks ago, he started treating her for sinus problems. 

She is feeling much better.

To Dr. Sharkoff, Angela and Staff, You are our heroes!  

July 3rd - We had a wonderful time at Bruce and Gina Sangermano Lineberger Pool and Poker party.

It was great to see and hang out with friends and rock stars. 

July 4th - It is a great day, picked up my granddaughter, Jasmin, in Bell, California, got Yum-Yum donuts, went to a great meeting.

We then had breakfast with a friend and visited Jasmin's Mother and Great-grandmother at Peacemaker’s for  4th of July Sale.

It is also Diane's, Jasmin's Grandmother's, birthday.

Happy Birthday Diane!

Also, thanks Dee!  We had a great time at our sister, Diane Dwyer's home, as well.

The food was delicious and it was great to see the West Coast side of the family.

We love you all.

Have a safe and happy 4th.

in the picture, that is (left to right) Bill, Daeng, Uncle Jimmy and Jay. 

July 5th - It's really early, about 5:45 AM, I am in my hospital outfit and ready for hip replacement.

Here I am, really ready.

Operation a success, about 60% less pain.

Up an walking is less than 24 hours.

I am impressed and amazed!

Other folks, that had had total hip replacement, told me I would be mad at myself for waiting so long.   They were correct. 

It's funny, I asked Dr. Gibson: "How long before I can have sex?:

He smiled and replied: "That's why we booked you into Hoag Orthopedic Center. They have all private rooms." 

They fed me as soon as I woke up. 

July 6th - Ate three nice meals and got up and walked twice..  Even tried walking with just a cane. Did pretty well.

July 7th - Doing well this morning, Intravenous disconnected, big breakfast and walked 200+ feet.

Had a very good breakfast and on my way to gaining 7 kilograms during the next 2 months of my recovery. No, I did not want to gain. 

When this nurse came in my pulse rate went from 44 BPM to 55 BPM.

Pain level did go up to maybe a 4, while walking. That is using the 1 to 10 scale with childbirth being a 10.

I have never birthed a child myself but have been in the room while that is happening and it looks like a number 10.

There is an old saying: "If the husband and wife shared having childbirth having children, with the wife having the first, there would never be more than three children." 

I am doing well, just walked around the block, the complete hallway at Hoag Hospital, up and down some stairs and in and out of a simulated car but feel really sad that two friends passed away in the last couple of days.

Ray Augulo and Jay Slater Sr. were wonderful friends. I will miss them.

I don't want to gross anyone out but we changed the dressing and are thinking about a cover up tattoo.

We maybe could use the "Kiss my lips" tattoos for eyes and add a mouth.

Anyone have any ideas?

They got me up walking with a cane.  

How do you like my “Senior Ninja Outfit”?

Robert, our friend, picked me up and drove me home.

It’s great to be home with Daeng. 

July 9th - Four days after my hip replacement, I could not drive to Laguna Niguel so we missed the 37th Mooning of the Amtrak..

Daeng had fun last year, after an older lady talked her into it. Then we had to wait for 2 or 3 more trains.

I did put it on my calendar for 2017.

July 17th - I have been trying to do my recovery physical therapy for my hip replacement and just hanging out at home.

After a trip to Costco, here is something I need to say: “Dear Parents, I need to get this off my chest and mind. If I see your child acting up and throwing stuff off the shelfs in the store, like Costco, I am going to speak up to your child and to you.”

And like my friend, Hank Gray says: "If it is happening around me, it is my business!"

Please remember, the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference.

Enough said!

The political patrol is out this morning in Huntington Beach, at Beach and Ellis. 

Just saying! 

By the way, I lost a few of my Facebook friends with the posting about this picture on July 17th. To read those just go to my Facebook page and find July 17, 2016.   HERE IS THE LINK!

July 18th - Staples are out and hip looks great.

Lots of walking needed for exercise and weight loss.

We will start planning on replacing right knee in January.

July 19th - We are at Dr. Manzi's Office.  

We are doing follow up on why she has face pain sometimes. Dr. Sharkoff wants her eyes checked; just to be sure he does not miss anything.

Dr. Manzi says Daeng's eyes are great and not causing any problems.

Her vision is 20/25 with ocular pressure of 15 in each eye.

July 21^st - Hurting this morning as did way too much yesterday.

It is going to be a nice Thai breakfast and back to bed for a while.

Daeng, Thanks for taking care of me. OxO!

July 23^rd - I'm hurting but happy as Amy, my physical therapist, just left from checking over my hip and leg.

It really, really hurt (maybe should say extremely hurt) after visiting some guys in jail Tuesday night. 

I underestimated the walk in and out, it's almost a mile.

I was worried I had pulled the new metal cup out of my hip bone. I could hardly walk into our home when I got back.

Amy checked me and said I just did too much; too soon as hip was replaced 2 weeks ago.

Amy says some mild exercises, massage and lots of ice and I'll be okay. She also showed Daeng the areas to massage. (Yea, Thai massage!)

Amy will come back and check me again Saturday morning.

So it's massage, Happy Ending, ice, massage, Happy Ending, ice and repeat.

July 24th - I hadn't been out of the house for 5 days as I pulled an adductor (groin) muscle Tuesday night.

Daeng and I took a walk to Ralph's today. Well, she walked and I rode in Mom's chair.

It works great and is for sale for $500, including the portable metal curb ramp. 

July 27^th - I’m on the table at Core Physical Therapy working on my adductor muscles.

I hope we can get me walking right, again.

I would have done great expect for overdoing it, two weeks after the operation. 

August 6^th – Over the last 10 days I have not done anything except trying to get back on both feet.

Today, at CORE, we did well. 

Mike and Amy make me work pretty hard stretching and getting me to walk correctly. 

My goal is to walk through the Taipei Airport.

August 9^th – I’m still working on my right leg. Hip is doing great but adductor muscles still need lots of work.

Yesterday, we bought the airline tickets to Thailand for September 26th.  

Here is a Headline; "Thailand ‘least miserable’ place in the world", according to Bloomberg. 

CLICK HERE to read about it. 

We are at MRD getting a CT Scan of Daeng's sinuses. We hope this is the last leg of treating Daeng's pain in her face.

I know I repeat myself but this is important. 

We laugh as after 3 dentists, 4 doctors, 2 neurologists and a MRI of Daeng's head with everyone saying "nothing wrong", our friend, Dr. James Sharkoff, MD said let's treat her for a sinus infection. Two weeks later she was feeling better.

Thank you, again, Dr. Sharkoff! 

August 12th - I went to see Dr. Gibson for follow on my hip replacement.

My blood pressure was wonderful for a guy 87 years old. The problem is I'm only 74. 

He checked me over real well and yes, I did too much too soon but am doing okay; just pulled the adductor muscles.

We arranged for some joint lubricant to be shot into knee on Monday.

August 17th - I got tears in my eyes when I read this posting by Julie Kidd: "Cindy Burns passed peacefully in the arms of her loving husband this morning at 5:11. Rest in peace."

August 22nd - My new hip is doing great and my adductor muscles are good enough to try the 1/2 mile walk into jail to talk with some guys’ tomorrow night.

Now that I am doing exercises my knees are starting to act up with pain. 

In the x-ray, my left knee looks the worst but right knee is the one that hurts the most. 

Had some joint lubrication shot into right knee this morning and will have that knee replaced in January, after we return from Thailand.

Daeng has been busy making things with paper.

She is amazing! 

August 25th - Up early for 7:00 AM for appointment to have Costco rebalance and rotate tires.

While they were doing that I had my 400 calorie breakfast at McDonald's.

It looks like more than 400 calories. 

Since my new hip was replaced, I gained 5 kg, about 11 pounds, so I am on a diet, again.

August 28th - Daeng has been really busy making more things with paper.  

I am impressed with what she does. 

August 29th - With tears in my eyes and a sad heart, I want to say it was wonderful seeing so many friends at Cindy's Celebration of Life.

She was a very funny and wonderful lady. 

We will miss you!

August 31^st - Had our tires rotated and balanced at Costco last Thursday but front end had a shimmy afterwards.

Went back at 7:00 AM this morning and they rebalanced them. We now have a smooth ride.

Thank you Costco.  

September 2^nd - This time, she made a BIG paper basket.

Yes, it is all made out of paper.  

September 5th - We are getting ready for garage sale on Saturday.

20 days and we’re on the plane to Thailand. 

While we were getting ready for the garage sale we found this from a newspaper, when I was skinny and cute, 65 years ago.

September 10th - The garage sale is on. 

We sold almost all the big items and made lots of room in our garage. 

We can now walk all the way around the car, when it's part. 

September 13^th - I had lunch with daughter Amy at Piecemakers.

It was great to talk with her and have lunch.

Stop by as they have lots of fun stuff and the food is wonderful.

September 15th - I keep working doing physical therapy to help me walk better after my hip replacement. 

10 more days and we're on the plane!

If you would like to read one of our stories and see more pictures with the elephants just CLICK HERE. 

This morning I bought the travel insurance to cover emergency medical treatment and luggage loss. 

Medicare will not pay anything outside the USA. After working to 65 I have no medical coverage outside the USA unless I buy it.

Somehow, that doesn't seem right.

September 16th - 9 more days and we're on the plane!

September 19^th - We are starting to get things ready to go as six more days and we're on the plane!

The picture of Daeng was taken from this story: CLICK HERE. 

If you click on the pictures they get bigger. 

September 20^th - We love birthday parties, but they would not let me in the bounce house. 

We love April and August May and always enjoy their birthday parties. 

Lahna Turner is looking younger, everyday. 

We hope they can come visit us in Thailand, someday. 

September 21^th - We will be here in the Holy City of Pattaya, Thailand next Tuesday.

Well, I will as Daeng is going to visit her brother in the Bangkok Hilton.

Yes, the disease is alive and well all over our world. 

She will join me on Wednesday or Thursday. 

Here is a map that shows the relationship of our home to Pattaya.

I am not going to spend much time here talking about Pattaya, Thailand. You can just Google it. 

We like to spend a week or so to acclimate ourselves between California and our home in Mae Sai. 

September 22nd - Three more days and we're on the Plane. 

September 23rd - I'm going to do some AB workouts today.

2 hour workout and already can feel a difference.

I have ABS under the fat.

2 more days and we're on the plane.

We are going to make a little 9 day side trip to the Holy City of Pattaya, to rest and relax.

Then it's north to our home on the Myanmar (Burma) border.

September 24th - One more day!

September 25^th - Our office is all closed up. 

Now we move to close up the garage and house.

September 26^th - Car is washed, waxed and covered in garage.

Now, we’re onto finish packing and closing up house.

Maybe even get a little nap.

Our two main bags are packed and most of the furniture is covered.

It's time to turn off our household WiFi. 

I hope we won't go into Internet withdrawals. We still have our phones.

We're packed, showered, everything covered, house is all closed up and we are waiting for our ride to the airport.

It's set the alarm system and we're on our way.

17 hours and we'll be in Taipei, then 4 more hours to Bangkok!

After some delays we're on the plane. 14 hours and we'll be in Taipei.

We had a nice stay in California. I had my hip replaced, no pain and I can walk fairly well.

Bye for now. See you in Pattaya, Thailand.