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.