Shopping for bedroom furniture

We had visited every furniture shop in our small town of Mae Sai without finding bedroom furniture that we liked. Daeng and I decided we would go south about 60 Km to Chiang Rai and see what we could find there.

Due to my knee surgery, about six weeks ago, we decided that Daeng would take her sister-in-law, Hlong, to Chiang Rai on her motorbike and I would take the bus. Hlong wanted to visit family there.

They left bout 7:00 AM and I had Kit, Daeng's nephew, dropped me off at the bus station around 11:00 AM. After we got gas in the bus, the 60 Km trip took about an hour and a half with stops. When I arrived I walked over to the Jansom Hotel and rented a room for us.

I called Daeng and she met me. We had a little lunch at the vegetarian place we like and started visiting furniture shops.

We visited about seven furniture stores. We saw some things we liked but nothing we were really crazy about. By six o'clock we were pretty tired so we called it quites, returned to hotel, showered and went to bed after a little food at the corner restaurant.

We got up around 7:00 AM and took the motorbike to Jan's Coffee shop by the bus station. We were happy to see her busy and in good spirits. We talked for a while and then went over to a huge furniture and electronics store that she recommended.

It was a big place and after spending several hours we found some bedroom furniture that we really liked. The only problem was there was one piece, a two door wardrobe, they had to order. We told them we would look at some more stores and come back if we wanted them to order it.

We went to three more shops and then came back to the big store. We gave them a deposit so they could order and deliver to Mae Sai in 18 days. We also bought a microwave oven which they delivered the next day.

We were beat after all the shopping so we called it a day and early to bed for the night.

The next morning we got up early and had toast and coffee at the hotel. Daeng put me on the bus and she headed home to Mae Sai on her motorbike.

I sat in the back of the bus with a little Thai boy and his Mother. At first, he was afraid of me as a farang (non-Thai) but after a while he started laughing at me and warmed up to me.

It started raining hard about half-way. Daeng called my on mobile phone to tell me she was going to hang out in a little town about half-way to Mae Sai.

When I got to Mae Sai bus station, Daeng's brother, Tun, picked me up with his motorbike in the poring rain. Yep, you guessed it, we both got soaked but it was a good trip.

THIS IS THAILAND!

Just another day? Church, Chiang Mai, Pooie's House, Ban AYO, Furniture & Loi Kratong

We say: "Just another day?" Everyday is just a little different here in Northern Thailand.

On Saturday, October 29th we went to the opening celebration of Rev. Sunit's new church. He has been working on this church for the past two years and it is now complete. Here is a story from last year: http://terrysstories.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-fall-in-church.html. Here is another story from the year before and in the old building that was used for a church: http://terrysstories.blogspot.com/2009/11/church-food-childlife-kids-flowers.html.

There were over two hundred folks attending the celebration and a good time was had by all. That is "Bang" serving food after the church ceremony.

Bang's baby is a happy little boy that is about six months old now. The baby, Bang and her husband are all doing well. Bang is in several of the past stories.

After church, Daeng and I started to paint the TV room. The reason is we had bought new drapes and rods for that room last week but did not want to put them up unless we painted first.

It was a lot of work as this room had not been painted in over 16 years, the first paint job was not very good and there was a lot of staining on the walls, maybe from smokers.

It took three coats of paint, a sealer, a coat of white primer and a heavy coat of finish paint. We used a silk pearl finish to hide some of the blemishes on the walls.

After the three day paint job, Daeng and I put up new rods and drapes. Then Daeng did a special clean up of the tile floor. The room looked very nice after we finished.

By the way, here is a picture of some fellows riding in a truck along the main highway. They are in hammocks; what a great way to travel.

The day after finishing the TV room, Daeng and I packed up for a little road trip to the City of Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand and is in the northern part of this county. To read more about this relaxed area just click on this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Mai.

The drive is about four hours from our home in Mae Sai. It rained very hard as we came over the mountains. We spent the next three days shopping for lamps and looking at furniture during the day. Then we spent the evenings with our friends, Brian and Noochy.

Brian is in the jewelry business. His website is: http://www.aajewel.com/. His specialty is Burma Rubies but deals in many types of gems and pieces of art.

We did find some furniture that we would love to have in our guest room. It is inexpensive but the problem is getting it to our home four hours, by car, away. Maybe we can arrange for the purchase and shipping during our next trip in the spring.

After three days of resting and shopping we left this lovely city and headed to visit Daeng's brother, Pooie. We were told to drive to the big temple in the village of Doi Saket, turn right and drive about 5 Km and just ask where is Pooie's house.

We followed the directions and the first person we stopped to ask told us to go to the next street and turn left and then right. I ask if they know Pooie and was told "No". I laughed because this is the Thai way. Thais want to make you happy so they will tell you what ever they think you want to hear even if it is wrong.

We drove a short ways and asked another person where was Pooie's house. Again, they gave us directions but when ask if they know Pooie, they said "NO". Daeng said she wanted to scrap the trip and head on home. I said let's stop at the local market and ask.

At the local market, they knew Pooie and gave us the correct directions. We know the directions were correct because the kids were playing in the front yard when we arrived. I nicknamed Pooie's son "Ling" (Thai for monkey) as he was climbing all over everything.

After talking for a while we decided to all hop into the car and head to the hot spring a few kilometers away and see Pooie's wife and the hot springs.

Seven of us got into the Toyota Vios that we had rented and headed to the hot spring.

We visited two hot springs, one that was mostly for the high class wealthy folks and the other one for the common folks.

We liked the one for the common folks as you could do fun things like cook eggs and hang out in the hot spring water.

We also got to meet Pooie's wife but she could not spend any time with us as she was working, cooking.

It was getting late in the day, about 4:00 PM so we jumped back in the car and made the trip back to Pooie's house. We said good-bye and started the trip back home. We thought we would go to the City of Chiang Rai, about three hours away, and spend the night.

Well, it gets dark about 6:30 PM here. I was starting to get tired and don't like to drive after dark because there are so many people drinking and driving. We stopped at a couple of hotels on the way but there were all very run down and dirty.

We saw a sign, Daeng said to stop. We drove up the driveway, I rolled down Daeng's window and she ask the man standing beside the driveway if they had rooms for the night. He laughed and told Daeng this was a "short-time" hotel and usually rented rooms for an hour or two. He ask if we would like to see a room. We were there so why not?

The place was immaculate, everything was very clean and crispy, hot water, western style toilet, air conditioning and mirrors on the walls. He said he would rent us a room for the complete night for 400 THB (about $13.00 USD).

The bed was a little hard but we were glad we stayed as we got a good nights sleep. Daeng and I both laughed as there was a place to park the car next to our room and then pull a curtain so no one could see our car.

It sorta made us feel like we were getting away with something.

Oh well, what happens in Thailand stays in Thailand. Eat your heart out Las Vegas.

We talked about heading back to Ban AYO to see if we could find Chom-nom's Mother and find out what the real story was. We decided to do that and to come in the back way or what I would call the high road into this village.

It was a easy trip as we were rested. I am so glad Daeng said stop at the hotel we stayed in last night.

The road, even though it is less than two years old, has been kind of taken over by the jungle. It was a little scary coming in from the high side.

When we pulled up in front of the house in Ban AYO, Chom-nom's Mother was on the porch. She was very happy to see us.
We spent a few hours with her and her friends, talking, eating cookies we had brought and ice cream. The same ice cream man showed up from the last trip. Click on this link for that story: http://terrysstories.blogspot.com/2011/10/ban-ayo-trip-tears-anger.html

From what we could tell here is the real story. Chom-nom was arrested with maybe a hundred "Yaba" pills. The reason he did not get a life sentence is he was not convicted for dealing, just possession. He had been arrested in the past for drug related crimes and had spent thirteen years in prison.

The good news, the water tanks are still in place at the children's shelter. We just could not see them because the jungle had taken over.

The other folks that were helping to build the shelter will help him complete the shelter when he get out of prison within the next year. But, this will be his late chance with them.

He is in prison about 150 Km south of Chiang Mai and his mother let us take a picture of her house book that shows his exact name so we can find him and visit him.

We wished each other the best and told her we would keep in touch.

We headed home to Mae Sai to sleep in our own bed. Well, we don't really have a bed, it is a mattress on the floor but tomorrow the new furniture and bed will be delivered.

Another day, we had coffee, sticky rice, fried chicken and Pa Tong Ko in the Ban Pa Mueat market by our home. On the way home we stopped to work out on the exercise equipment.

We then went home and moved all the stuff for the furnture men to install the new bedroom furniture.

The men with the furniture showed up around 11:00 AM as their truck broke down a few kilometers south of us.

They did get busy putting everything together. I watched them do the first cabinet and could tell they had done man of these before. I am sorry now that I did not continure to watch as after they left, later in the day, I realized they had reversed one of the back panels on the second wardrobe cabinet and because it was reversed, no screws were in it.

The cabinet looks okay but the stability of the cabinet is compromised. I took pictures and will stop at the furniture store in Chiang Rai when we are there next week. I don't have a lot of hope that they will send someone to correct it as we have already paid.

The other side is the people have never seen real "A" grade quality so they don't know what that is. They accept "C" grade for good quality and "D" grade as acceptable.

That part makes me crazy!

The new furniture did change that side of our master bedroom. Now we need to work on the other half of the room.

Well, enough about just another day, we are now into the Full Moon and the Celebration of the Lights called Loi Kratong, sometimes spelled Loy Kratong. To read about that holiday and see a beautiful slide show just click on this link: http://www.tatnews.org/events/events/2011/nov/5229.asp

As the full moon of the twelfth lunar month (usually in mid-November and the 10th this year) lights up the night sky, throughout the Thai kingdom, hundreds of thousands of ornately-decorated krathong or traditional banana leaf floats are set adrift in rivers and waterways in a spell-binding ritual called "Loy Krathong" - the 'festival of lights". This is one of the Kingdom's oldest and best-preserved traditions.

Daeng and all the girls made kratongs to set afloat. This year they did them the old fashion way with just banana leaves and flowers, no styrofoam. They all were beautiful.

Daeng even made one for me, how romantic.

Then after dark, they set them afloat in the near-by river or waterways. They are really a beautiful site to see.

You can read a story of this holiday time in 2009 and hear the holiday song by clinking on this link: http://terrysstories.blogspot.com/2009/11/loy-krathong.html.

We will keep everyone informed regarding our visit to Chom-nom.

Shopping and Trip Home to Mae Sai

After we had breakfast and coffee at the hotel we packed up the car and headed toward home in Mae Sai.

We did stop at a little furniture shop just off the inter-city loop to look at the furniture we wanted for the guest room. One of these days we'll arrange for transportation and buy the wardrobe, dresser, table, chair and night stand. They will look great in our third floor guest room. With nine bedrooms we have a few guest rooms but this one is air conditioned and has it's own bathroom with hot water shower.

We also looked a wicker set for the sitting area of our master bedroom.

The drive northeast to Chiang Rai took about three hours. We stopped in Chiang Rai at "Lucky's" bedding store and purchased a new, soft, independent pocket spring, king size mattress for our master bedroom. By the way, what Thai's consider soft is what we in California would consider medium firm.

The mattress shop does take credit cards but they charge 3% to do so. We just went up the road to an ATM machine and withdrew the 17,000 Thai Baht for the bedding that we bought. I saw a ride and being the kid I am wanted to ride it.

The shop told us they had another delivery in Chiang San, about 40 Km east of us, so they would deliver today. I went into the storage area and picked out the one we wanted delivered and made the deal.

We headed north, stopping for barbecued chicken and som-tom salad at a road side place we liked.

The delivery folks made it before us. They put our present 5" foam mattress in one of the other bedrooms and installed the new mattress on our bed.

We made it up and slept like babies. We made a good choice.

We bought some furniture for New Home

Just a quick note to tell everyone we had a productive day. Dish for English TV is installed. We bought a heavy duty step ladder and all the front windows are washed.

The big thing is we bought the first furniture today, a small table and two wooden stools for 900 THB ($27.00 USD).

We move from the guest house in the morning.

Good night.

Road Trip March 20, 2014

We got up early for our morning visit to the Ban Pa Mueat market. The jungle is on fire again so the rising sun looks like the moon. 

That is the sun to the left of Daeng's head.

Don't worry, this happens every year.  It's kind of funny as the first time I saw this was in 2006.  We were flying on Air Asia and I smelt smoke.  I call the flight attendant and told her:  "I smell smoke!"  She just laughed it off and said: "Don't worry, it's just the jungle on fire."

To read more about the jungle burning on fire CLICK HERE. 

I had my usually breakfast of coffee, sticky rice, fried chicken, Pa Thong Ko and tea.   
I laughed at the little guy between the motorbikes as he was very skeptical
of me.  He would come close but not close enough to reach out for the piece of Pa thong Ko that I was offering him.


He is a cute little guy.  A lot of kids are afraid of Farangs the first time they see us.  I think it is because we are sooo big compared to Thai folks.  

As we were having coffee I watched the brightly clothed Buddhist Monks pray and chant for folks that gave them food or money. 

After breakfast we when home, I clean off the front concrete area and showered.  
Daeng kept telling me that we had to go to the Toyota Car Dealership in Chiang Rai to do something more for the car.  it is about 60 kilometer south of us.  

I keep asking what it was that we need to do. She again would say: "Don't worry, let's just go and do it."

I said okay, I'll take a shower and we'll go.  I dressed and took the pick-up truck out of the inside parking area. Daeng then told me it's going to also be a family outing because her sister-in-law Hlong, niece Nuy, Bang and Bum were going also.

That's correct, four in the bench seat of our Smart Cab.  We got stopped at the first and second check points as you can not see into our new vehicle because of the very dark tinting. Also, I can not roll down the windows for a week according to the window tinting company. As soon as I open the drivers door and they can see it's us they waved us through. 

First stop was Makro.  We bought some chairs for Daeng's brother Tun and son Boonreang, a mattress cover, lots of sweet bakery food as Nuy is about six months pregnant and is always eating, I mean ALWAYS!.  She will be larger than me before she has the baby.  By the way, many things are very cheap here at Makro.  

I bought some "Jif" extra crunchy peanut butter for about $4.28 USD where in Mae Sai the cheapest I can buy it for is $5.25 USD a jar. The fish was also very cheap with Catfish being about 95 US cents a pound.  

I was a little puzzled as chicken legs were $.97 USD a pound and chicken feet were $1.16 USD a pound.  Oh well, this is Thailand.

The next stop was the big furniture store in Chiang Rai as Daeng and I agreed to move my desk and put two wardrobes in it's place. As long as we were going to Chiang Rai we thought we would order them. 


We already have a 120 cm wide and a 90 cm wide unit, side by side and just wanted to buy two more 90 cm wide units to fit in the space my desk is in now.  When we got to the store the fellow that came to help us told us the did not have that model any more.  


We walked all over the store and finally found the 120 cm wide unit like the one we have now.  The young fellow said, "That's the only one we have."

We sat down and an older man was sitting by the desk and he showed me a picture in the catalog that was exactly what we wanted but in black.  He said he could have it in white in about two weeks and deliver it to our home in Mae Sai.  He knew were we lived as he is one of the men that delivered the original set.  

You can read of this and other furniture shopping by CLICKING HERE. 

We gave him a deposit on a credit card and made the order.  By the way, we use our Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card when ever we can as there is no foreign transfer fee and the exchange rate to Thai Baht is better than I can get for cash here in Thailand.

Daeng said it was time to go to the Toyota Dealer which was by "Big C", another very large shopping place.  

When we got to the main Toyota Dealership, Daeng said to just wait and she would run in and handle everything. 

Although it was over 34 degrees Centigrade (93 degrees Fahrenheit) the air conditioning worked great and we're glad we had the window tinted so dark.  We would not be legal in the USA with the dark window tinting we had done but TIT (This is Thailand.). 

A few minutes later, Daeng came out with a big smile on her face.   I asked her why she was so happen and she handed me a box that said TOYOTA Galaxy Note 3 on it.

She said it was a surprise and a promotion for buying our vehicle.  All she had to do was pay the tax on it, about $42.00 USD.  

She also said there was an interface that would allow the phone to talk with the vehicle.  I'm sure that will take a few more weeks to learn about. 

It was a nice surprise and I was impressed she kept it a secret.  That was good also as it had no part of the decisions making process of buying this vehicle. 

Time to head back home.  We stopped at a barbecue chicken place on the way home.  We ate sticky rice, BBQ chicken and Som-tom papaya salad.  

Oh, we also stopped at a pineapple wholesaler and bought 8 kilograms, almost 18 pounds, of pineapple for about $3.00 USD.  It was ripe and really sweet, also.  

The pick-up got 10.7 km per liter on this trip, according to the electronics in the vehicle.   That is a little over 25 miles per gallon.  I also learned where the fifth gear is on this automatic transmission so if I drive correctly I can get the mileage even higher. 

It was a nice trip and we will sleep well during the night.  

Another Day - Mae Sai - Visit to Chom-nom

We have been working on the house with Mi everyday for the last twenty some days except for a little trip to see Chom-nom, a few days ago.

The old place is looking nice as the third floor of the small section of the house is now completed, everything painted and new drapes. 

When we say: "small section" or "little house" we are talking about the single shop house that we bought next to our double shop house and did a cut through joining the two together.  That is what gives us 8 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 2 inside kitchens, 1 outside cooking area, a laundry area, inside motorbike parking, an office or TV room, a huge front room of big house and small front room for little house.  We use the front room of the little house as an inside garage.

The front room of the "big house" is the sales area and ironing area of Tun's (Daeng's Brother) laundry.  He is open 7 days a week from 7:00 AM until 7:00 PM, seven days a week.  He does close for Songkran (Thai New Year) and Christmas.

Hopefully we will remove the fencing and red & white overhang from the front of the small house this coming week.  We think that will make it look much better from the front.

We also ordered new drapes for Boonrean's (Daeng's son) bedroom and the hall windows of the big section of the house.  They should be ready to be picked up Friday.

Our daily routine is up around 6:00 AM, trip to morning market for fried chicken, sticky rice, Pa Thong Ko (Thai Donut) and coffee.  Daeng buys fruit then and we eat It all day.  Pineapple is about 12 US cents a pound,  a bunch of 19-20 bananas are around forty-five cents and small watermelon are around 10 US cents. 

Here is a picture of a banana flower that is good to eat, also.  Daeng cuts it up and uses it in soup.  It tastes like chicken. Just kidding, Daeng says it tastes like a banana flower.

We then stop and workout for a half hour on the exercise equipment along the road, a block away from our home.  That brings us back to the house around 8:00 AM to meet Mi and get busy working. 

I have lost seventeen pounds since Mi started working with us last month.  We are working on the third floor and the temperature is above 105 degrees Fahrenheit.  We drink lots of water and just stay wet as the humidly is high, as well.

Sunday we did take a little trip to visit Chom-nom as he is being released from his incarceration on May 10th.  He says he wants to go back to try and finish the children's shelter in Ban AYO.  We are going to help him as long as he helps himself by staying clean. 

Staying clean in Thailand takes a little work as there are drugs every place and someone selling them.  We live in the "Golden Tranigle". You can buy a shot of rice whisky or a beer in almost every shop or 7-11.  Besides Opium, Yaba is a drug that is used widely here, also.

Most folks work to make money for their families.  If they take this pill called Yaba they can work longer, faster and are not hungry.  If they stop taking this methamphetamine drug all they do is go to sleep, called crashing.  They don't get sick like they do when they stop talking Opium type drugs and they haven't slept in a while, anyway. 

The person's mind says: "What wrong with this drug?  I can work harder, have more energy, I'm not hungry, can help my family more and I don't get sick when I stop using it.  The government must just be telling me it's bad to make money." 

What's not thought about is after using Yaba it abscesses the mind, takes over the body and kills the human spirit.  Unless you do the drug you do not what to do anything! 

There are other side effects involved also are episodes of violent behavior, paranoia, anxiety, confusion, and insomnia.  That is why they call it "Yaba" or "Crazy Medicine" in Thai.

Because huge quantities of this drug come across the border from Myanmar (Burma) we did get stopped at the check-point just south of town.  They did have us open the trunk and looked in one bag.  I told the officer in charge they should be using rubber gloves before touching other folks stuff.  He said they were just looking a little, what ever that meant, and told us to have a good day.

We stayed in Lampang at the Asia Lampang Hotel and had a good nights sleep.  There is a nice picture of the hotel sign in this story.  CLICK HERE  I was pretty tired from climbing the stairs working on the third floor.  I also must admit that my body is wearing out and my hips, knees and back get really sore and have some pain.

We had a nice Thai breakfast at the hotel, I added toast, and headed to the prison as visiting hours in the morning are from 9:00 to 11:30.  Chom-nom was looking well and said he will call us the day before his release so we can be sure of his date.

I did take a picture, on the prison grounds, as I don't see a camel and goats together very often.

To try and rehabilitate the inmates at this prison for drug addicts they teach the inmates how to grow plants and raise animals. 
The 80 Km drive from Lampang only took about an hour.  We had a little trouble finding the furniture store that we wanted to buy five pieces for the guest room.  I had been to this store many times but my mind is going.  I was only one street off but being close only counts in horse shoes, hand grenades and slow dancing. 

We had made arrangements with our friend, Brian, who lives in Chiang Mai, to deliver the things to us.  He has a pick-up truck and was making the 300 Km trip to Mae Sai immigrations on Tuesday. 

Well, after looking at the furniture we wanted for the last two year, when we arrived the one large piece (a wardrobe) had been sold last week.

It reminded me of a saying that goes something like: "The best laid plans of mice and men......."  We just looked at it as maybe it was a message that we really didn't need it.  We did buy the desk, mirror and one bed stand.  They all fit in the car we were renting. 

It was nice to spend the evening with Brian and his wife Noochy.  We left early in the morning, stopped at the hot springs on the way home and soaked our feet in the hot water. 

Back to work!  I like to work as doing things that look good and are useful make me feel I have accomplished something.

Onward through the fog into another day in paradise. 


Life is good!