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!

Home in Mae Sai - September 2015

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 22nd, Today is a travel day. We had fun here in Pattaya, Thailand but are looking forward to making the trip north today.

Jon is picking us up at noon, 1 1/2 hour car ride to new Bangkok airport, check our 3 bags, pay the extra fee of 70 THB a kilogram over 40 kilograms and an hour and 20 minutes plane ride to Chiang Rai.Then another 50 kilometers to our home in Mae Sai.

We should be home by 6:00 PM today.

By the way, with the new Milwaukee saw, hammer drill, saw blades, battery packs and grinder, we are about 20 kilograms over in baggage, At 70 THB a kilogram, about $1.00 a pound, we will have to pay around 1,400 THB extra. That is around $46.00 USD.

If we shipped them ground Thai Postal Service, 3 day delivery, the postage would be 1,000 THB. We felt paying the difference was worth having them with us.

Here is a map to show you where we live in Mae Sai. 

By the way, Thai Airlines only charges us 980 Thai Baht for the extra baggage wait. They gave us six (6) kilograms and rounded down on the three bags. 

We made it to our home in Mae Sai to find that Daeng's brother and sister-in-law had moved their laundry business across the street.

They still live in our house but moved the daughter, "Nuy" and the laundry business. They also added coin washing machines. We'll speak more about that later.

 

I was a little hurt as the reason we bought this big place was so they could have their laundry business here.

Everything else was okay except the flowers we planted are not doing well.

September 24th, I was very unhappy and I slept all day yesterday but I think I can cope today.

Today, when I went to Thai Immigration Office, to have my passport updated, I was told they could not do it like they said. 

When I renewed my visa in March, the officer would only renew to Jan 18, 2016 as that was the expiration date on my passport. She told me when I got my new passport to come back and they would update it to March 13th, again. 

When I came back to do it today, they told me I must have misunderstood them and they could not do that. 

I can renew it December 8th so we will change a few travel plans around and be okay. TIT (This is Thailand.)

September 25th, I needed a little fun pick me up as of yesterday Immigrations problem. 

Check out the photo bomb in this picture, top left corner. 

We had fun at the Mae Sai Morning Market. We told the girls I was looking for a 2nd wife and had 2 applications already.

By the way, the price of gasoline and diesel about the same as when we left in June. 

The banana lady did not want anything to do with me, she just wanted to sell bananas. 

When we got home we work on our potted palms and flowers. They, with a little TLC, will be okay.

I also noticed our washerwoman whirligig is broken. That is okay as we don't have a laundry here anymore.

I am sorry to say, I am now getting a different story of why they moved the laundry. They first said they moved because Nuy is so dirty, they knew I would be unhappy. 

I am now getting the story that they could not put up with Daeng's and their Mother. 

I also think Hlong's brother gave them a story about how he will put in the coin laundry machines for free and give them 50 % which will pay for everything. 

A few years ago, I did a performa on the coin laundry business and with the expense of 2,500 THB for rent, 1,500 THB for water and electric they would have to have 400 loads of wash a month to break even.  

With all the coin laundries in the area, that was not realistic. Of course they won't listen to me because I'm not Thai. 

They are now losing about 2,500 THB a month.  Enough on the subject. 

September 26th, I feel pretty good today, for a guy that is almost 74 years old and everything we did.  We did a lot!

We started out by going to the morning market for some fun.

Then came home and worked on the potted palms and moved two to different spots so they would not look asymmetrical.

We then did all the wash including all the clothes that we covered the furniture, pickup truck and motorbikes. That required about six trips up and down the three flights of stairs to hang everything to dry on the roof.

I then opened the 4 boxes of Milwaukee tools that we brought with us, 7 1/4" 18 volt saw, 5" 18 volts grinder. 1/2' 18 volt hammer drill, 12 volt handheld vacuum along with 3 battery packs.

They did open our bags both in Los Angeles and Bangkok but nothing was missing. I am guessing that because the batteries were in the unopened plastic containers they let them pass through. I'm glad at that as each battery pack was over a hundred dollars each.

I charged the batteries and everything works great. Milwaukee makes great tools. I love the 7 1/4" saw.

I also figured the cost per gallon of diesel fuel. Here are the numbers: 24.23 THB a liter x 3.79 = 92.06 THB a US Gallon divide by 35 THB per USD = $2.63 USD per gallon of diesel fuel.

It’s time for a shower as I am completely soaked. Temperature was 91 degrees today with 59% humidity and no wind. That makes the "feels like temperature" 104 degrees.

I am happy and sad. I'm happy because we have everything lined up for our appointment for a Yellow Book at the government office on Tuesday. All paperwork is ready, a neighbor and the Moo 8 Magistrate will be coming to the government office at 9:00 AM to vouch that I live here in Mae Sai.

I'm sad because I was informed that "Su-la", the Ban Pa Mueat Morning Market Beggar, passed away while we were gone. 

It does not matter what your station in life was, death is still a sad thing.

He is mentioned in a few of our stories: CLICK HERE

Su-la, please Rest in Peace! You will be remembered.  

Daeng needed to iron some things but because the laundry moved we don't have an iron to borrow so we went to Tesco/Lotus to buy one.

The one Daeng liked the best was very light and Teflon coated for 179 THB (about $5.11 USD). The only one that was left was the display model. The clerk said we could buy it but because it was not in a box there would be no warranty.

We told her we would buy it.

Most folks don't know this, including the clerk that helped us, but Tesco/Lotus has a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee that is very similar to Costco's in the USA. It is framed, on the wall in English, as you come into the store. It is a British Company.

I have, in the last six years, returned three items and was cheerfully refunded at the service desk.

By the way, the iron works great!

Foey said goodnight to us. 

September 27th, From our home in Mae Sai we set out about 8:55 AM this morning and figured we could make the 10:00 AM church service in Ban AYO.

We stopped for a very quick breakfast at the South Mae Salong market.

We arrived a few minutes after 10:00 service started and could hear kids singing inside the church when we arrived. 

There were no adults but the kids were singing the song on the whiteboard in two languages, Thai and English.

That made us smile so we stayed until after they finished the song. We then left to go to Meechu's home to see what was going on.

We dove up the road to Meechu's home. She was not at home but her sister told us she was visiting down the road. Daeng went to get her.

We were happy to see her and she always makes us smile. We sat and talked as we ate some fruit that Daeng had brought with us. I don't know the name of the fruit. It is sweet and everyone likes it.

The unhappy part of her talking with us is she told us that she had sold some of her land and bought Chom-nom a new motorbike. Not long after that he went into Burma after a girl.

In the translation I think it came out like this: "He was not thinking with the brain in his head, he was thinking with the brain in his pants."

That means the kids shelter is about the same as when we left.

While we were talking, something else happened at the neighbors but I don't have the words yet to tell you. I have not had those feeling since a man was shot next to me in Korea. I am sorry to leave out what happened to make me throw up but I just don't have the words yet. When I get the words together I will share.

When I recovered a little, we gave Meechu and her sisters a couple of "Love Bears" for the kids that Ingrid Allen had donated. 

We told her to have Chom-nom call us when and if he comes back from Burma.

We drove the two kilometers to the children's shelter that we have been trying to get up and going for the last 8 years.

I got tears in my eyes as not much had been done since we left it in May. The wiring and water piping were still there but turned off as Meechu told us. 

The electric and water was turned off because people were coming there to party and sleep without doing anything else.

I was emotionally drained from the inhuman slaughtering that had happened at Meechu's neighbors so Daeng said we should go home.

We hiked back up the hill and drove to our Australian friend, Peter's home. I wasn't real hungry but we had lunch together and he allowed me to share with him why I was so upset.

We made it home, I showered and called San-la. She came over and gave me a very good massage but I still did not sleep much.

It is another couple of chapters in my book "The Broken Cross".

September 29th, We are 15 minutes early to meet with Attorney Jack, a neighbor and the Moo 8 Magistrate to get my home registration book aka: "Yellow Book".

It is difficult to get a Yellow Book here on the Myanmar (Burma) border as many people want them. It gives the same benefits as being Thai. 

For the ongoing story of getting a Yellow Book, we laughed as when we went to the government office this morning, the clerk told the attorney to just sit down as she and Daeng would handle this.

I don't think attorneys are liked here.

Anyway, I had to run home to get a copy of our marriage license and when I got back was told she did find it in the paperwork the clerk already had.

We were then told they were too busy and the witnesses, the head of the area we live in and the neighbor would have to come back this afternoon, when she called us.

We all left. We stopped to get a certificate from Immigrations that was also requested. 

Then we stopped for some chicken feet soup.

This morning, when we went to go for a bike ride to the morning market, my front tire was flat.

After we returned from the government offices I walked it down to the bike shop for repair. 

A tube patch for 90 cents US and I was back on the road. The 90 cents is for everything; patch, cleaning solvent, labor, tax, etc.

I'm coming back to stage 3 pretty fast even with the runaround this morning.

September 30^th, We have two goals today: get a haircut and wait to go sign the final papers for my residence book, aka Yellow Book.

I think he gives the best haircut as he cuts every hair on my head for 60 THB, about $1.80 US. I give him a 60 THB tip as with my beard it is like getting 2 haircuts.

The only problem with getting a haircut is Daeng does not want to kiss me for a few days as she says I am itchy.

Yesterday afternoon Daeng met with the Magistrate of Moo 8, area we live in and a neighbor which swore I live here.

When they were done the clerk told Daeng she would call us when things were finished so I could come back to the government office and sign everything.

Haircut and beard trim are done. If we don't hear from her by 3:00 PM,  We will go and see what's happen.

Squeaky wheel gets the oil.

About 2:15 PM, the lady called from the government office to tell us to come on over.

The saga of the "Yellow Book" comes to an end with my yellow book in hand.

I think this qualifying process in Mae Sai is one of the disadvantages of living in a border town.

Also, after the government office realized we were not giving up on getting it, things went smooth. They gave us back about half of the paperwork they originally told us we needed.

I am now a house book carrying resident of Thailand.