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.
November 1st, I got my lazy butt up early and went to the Mae Sai Morning
Market to had coffee and a few smiles. Daeng slept in.
On the way back I stopped and said "Hello" to
"Ioe".
Many years ago, before Terry and while Daeng was away
visiting friends, Daeng's Mother sold Daeng's food cart to "Ioe" for
about 1,500 THB ($45 USD). She has been supporting her family with it ever
since.
She told me to say "Hello" to Daeng.
I am having trouble forgiving my mother-in-law for doing
some of the things she did to Daeng, like selling her into slavery when she was
10 years old, etc.
Today Daeng is the only one, of the six children left, that
takes care of her. She finally told me why, she promised her Dad, on his deathbed, she would take care of her Mother.
I'm working on being forgiving.
Did I mention that while I was writing stories yesterday on
our blog, Daeng cleaned the tile floor on the part of the third floor roof, that
is covered?
Anyway, it looks clean and shiny.
November 2nd, Daeng is sleeping so I went to the morning market, alone. The
fried chicken lady asked me how I was feeling now. When I replied:
"Good!" she put some fried oysters in with the chicken.
It started to rain hard so everyone came inside. The was
good for "Me" and her husband as a lot of folks bought warm soy milk,
coffee and Pa Thong Ko. 
When I got home Daeng had some small pineapples ready to eat.
We love them and they have a very delicate, sweet taste.
I haven't been wearing my gold chains for the last few years
as I have found in Thailand I can barter better without them.
In any case, I have not been keeping my NA pendent up to
date.
A friend, Matt in California, suggested I put the year I got clean instead of the
years I have been clean. That way, I don't have to change it every year. (He
knows I'm a member of the "No Matter What Club.")
So, I'm on the way to a friend we trust to have the year
"96" put on it.
By the way, Richard S. at www.designsoffreedom.com made this
for me about 17 years ago and I have just changed the number every year.
Thanks
Rick!
Here is what the new one will look like.
We got really busy after I came back from taking care of the
gold pendant. Our friend, "Mi" who helped us recover from the 6.8
earthquake in 2011, came by.
About two weeks ago, Daeng talked with him about some tile
work at our place after he recovered from his ulcer operation. He said he was
ready to go back to work.
We showed him four projects, tiling the stairs to the roof,
tiling the 3rd floor balcony, doing some tile to removing the squat toilet in
3rd floor bath then installing a western style toilet, again. The biggest job is
tiling the back, outside cooking and laundry area. 
He said let's start with the tile floor in the cooking area,
about 29 sq. meters. He said he and another man would do all the labor for
6,000 THB. That is a little high but we know his work, it's very good, so we
said let's start Wednesday. (6,000 THB = $171 USD)
Daeng and I went and bought the tile, to be delivered around
1:00 PM tomorrow.
Then to Home Mart for 15 bags of Tiger cement and some brass
clean-out covers. Tile and grout 4,106 THB, Cement and clean out covers 2,045
THB. Sand will be around 400 THB tomorrow so it looks like we will have this
job done for 12,551 THB (about $359 USD).
Tomorrow we need to strip the area so they can start on
Wednesday morning. It should be fun.
You can read about some of his past work and the earthquake here: CLICK HERE.
Did I mention the tobacco is growing well, also?
For my dear friend Michael, it is November 3rd now in Thailand, we are 14 hours ahead of California time, so we what to say: "Congratulation!".
Thank you for your help over
the years. You are a wonderful friend. We will celebrate more when we return to
California next month. We love you always.
They just delivered the tile and grout. Mi had dropped off a wood pallet, plastic tarp and mixing tub tp cover the cement. 
Now all we need is the 15 bags of cement and truck load of
sand.
We have to move everything out of the area and we'll be
ready for workers in the morning.
"Foey", Daeng's niece, is kind of interested in what is going on.
We removed the steel door and everything else in this back
cooking area.
Home Mart delivered the 15 bags of Tiger Cement.
It's time for a shower. Not to hot, only 87 degrees.
Than maybe
a nap before leaving for dentist at 4:30.
The area is ready for "Mi" to start work in morning.
Sand will probably be delivered in morning.
At 4:30 PM I went to the dentist here and had the impressions done for a three tooth bridge. No pain, she is a Pro. Cost for bridge will be 15,000 THB, about $429.00 USD.
November 4th: We got busy this morning. "Mi" and his worker,
"Si", came at the same time as the sand.
Oh, the load of washed sand was 350 THB (about $10 USD).
While we put a piece of cardboard in the doorway, they used
the Thai level to layout the pitch of the new tile floor.
Daeng says the sand looks like a turtle.
Mi and Si used what I call the "Thai Level", a plastic hose filled with water, and marked level marks on the wall so they could set the pitch. 
Then they got busy setting tile.
It’s time for the second batch of mortar.
I took so many pictures; I think I hurt my back.
The work is going so well, it's time for a little lunch and
a nap.
Not bad for 1st day.
It's time to call it a day.
November 5th, Went to the Mae Sai Morning Market
at dawn. Daeng and I have a saying: "You can tell how happy the Pa Thong
Ko (Thai donut) maker is by the size of them." My "XXX" rated mind said: "Is Pa Thong Ko a code word?"
From the size of these, he must have got lucky last night.
The ride on the motorbike was cold, 64°F this morning. I
wished I had worn long pants. When I went by the border crossing, after sunrise,
it was already up to 72° F (22.3° C).
It has been a busy morning. We renewed my motor bike
registration and insurance, went to Bangkok Bank and picked up my Foreign
Currency Deposit Book. Then we drove by the tobacco fields and picked out a
tile for the 3rd floor balcony. 
On the way back we stopped for lunch and picked up some hand
soap and apples from the USA.
Now, a little bad news, when we got back home we brought out
the big level and found the last dozen tile set were sloped toward the alley
entrance and not the 4" floor drain.
I knew I should not have taken a nap yesterday.
Unfortunately,
and I want to be loving but the old saying holds true here: “You get what you
inspect and not what you expect.”
We had a long discussion about it and Mi pulled the tile and
reset sloped toward the drain.
I think he was a little upset about it but is okay now.
We always have to be careful in the translation from English
to Thai and Thai to English. We also have to remember that folks want to make
us happy so they will say they understand what is being said even though they
don't.
November 6th, The floor is looking good and should finish laying tile
today and then grout tomorrow.
Then they can move upstairs to 3rd floor "L"
shaped balcony. That is 16 m2.
The boys are almost finished laying the floor tile in the
outside cooking area.
They still have to match up the doorway today so they can
grout tomorrow.
Because I am going to be in the Holy City of Pattaya for a
week starting Sunday, Daeng and I bought the tile for the 3rd floor balcony and
steps to roof.
The balcony floor and stair riser will be the dark brown that
Daeng is pointing too.
The stair treads will be the light gold color by Daeng's
cheek.
We have not decided on a light brown or dark brown stair
edge.
We will make that discussion when we go to Home Mart and Home Show
tomorrow.
This is probably the toilet we will install after removing
the squat toilet in the 3rd floor bath.
Our friend sent me a message that my NA pennant was finished
and ready to pick up.
Here is a picture of it. I think the little ball is the gold
that was left over from the old numbers and the gold crown that the dentist
removed.
I wonder if there is any DNA in it.
I'll pick it up tomorrow.
November 7th, We started off at 7:00 AM fixing the outside door to Aomsin,
Daeng's son, room. It saged so we removed, cut the top off straight, moved up
the hinges on the jam and that corrected it.
I did not put my phone in my
pocket for pictures as I knew it would get wet from sweating.
We finished around 10:30 AM and I took a shower because I
was soaked. Temperature was already 90° F.
I got my hair cut, pedicure and manicure and picked up my
pennant with the "96" on it to represent the year I got clean.
They gave me back
the extra gold from the old numbers and the gold tooth the dentist removed. It
looks great and only charged me 500 THB, that is about $14.20 USD.
We love Thailand.
The tile company delivered the tile. Daeng and I went
shopping for the 18 stair edges. We found them on sale at Home Show.
We decided the lighter brown would be good with the light color stair tread and the dark brown riser.
When we got home "Noi", Mi's wife, joined in the
grouting. It looks great and they will be finished with this part today.
I am leaving for Pattaya in the morning.
November 8th, Guy, our neighbor, was right on time and we cruised through
both checkpoints to airport.
The plane was 45 minutes late but that was okay as
I would have had to wait 2 hours and 10 minutes for bus in Bangkok.
That also gave me time for a shake at Dairy Queen, it's a
holiday.
Plane ride was uneventful except it did not arrive at a
airport gate, we had to walk down steps and be bused from to airport.
There was no problem finding were the bus leaves from in
airport. When the clerk for bus company found out I had booked and paid in
advance he had a chair for me to sit and wait.
It was good I booked the bus on line because it was sold
out. Thanks Jay Slater.
I did get a little food in the airport's Asian food court. I
said I was not going to eat pork but the BBQ pork and noodle just looked to
good. 
Bus ride was good, 1:30 minutes. Changed to mini-van at
Pattaya bus station and dropped me off at Honey Lodge Hotel.
Across the street, I bought a few staples like cookies and
milk, ate a chicken kabob, showered and went to bed. I was tired.
I was congested from a cold so I did have problems with my
ears on plane descent but should feel better in the morning.
November 9th, It's going to be a great day. I am going to start it out
with an OFF meeting, breakfast and a two hour massage with the massage girl "Thai". In my book, she is in the top five for best massages.
It was a great meeting with 21 English speaking friends. I
think that is a lucky number. I could understand most of them. You know what I
mean you bloody Australians.
Daeng does not like me driving a motorbike in this crazy
city of Pattaya but I need to go to a few places that are hard to get too.
I'll
be super careful, honey!
Then on to a nice American breakfast and a great massage.
It was noon so I went to another meeting but this time, with
me, it was 22 folks.
I got gasoline and did a little shopping. Daeng, I found the
distilled water for my CPAP machine. You gave great directions.
I have never found distilled water here in Thailand so I buy battery water which is supposed to be distilled. Sometimes it is good and leaves no residue; other times I have to clean the reservoir of my machine. Just saying.
I am going to relax a little, maybe go for a swim and take a
nap.
My room is poolside.
November 10th, Our friend, Cheryl, sent us this
article about the area we live in.
We see a lot of folks touring our area on
bicycles. This article was written for the area about 25 to 37 miles south of us.
We live in a mountainous
area so it is a little work to ride.
The article is fairly correct and to read the article just CLICK HERE.
Our last round trip plane tickets from LAX to Chiang Rai
(CEI) were about $940 USD.
The reason for this trip to Pattaya was to have the crown put on the implant that Dr. Ken did two months ago.
We did the impressions and I am to return on Friday evening to have the new crown installed.
November 11th, I wanted to watch the Republican debates which started at
7:00 this morning here BUT I slept until 10:30 AM. The debates started 7:00 AM
Thai time.
I had fun last night as I spoke for 15 minutes in a meeting
at Father Ray's. It is a huge compound here in Pattaya, Thailand.
I am told it all started when Father Ray was a young priest
and someone gave him a baby to take care of. He had no idea what to do but he
just followed God's way and went on to helping many, many children and disabled
people.
I'm told that as many as 850 folks live in this compound now
and they are building more buildings every day.
There is a quote at the bottom of Father Ray's Statue. I
think it says: "Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a
day in your life"
November 12th, Because the entrance to my hotel is less than 50 meters from
the entrance, last night I went for a walk down “Walking Street”. I remember
more neon lights but it was early in the evening, 7:30 PM.
I did include a picture of “Walking Street”, from about a
year ago, to show the lights. 
There were lots of folks on tours from China but not many
customers in the shops or bars. 
Like I said, it was early.
I laughed as in front of the New York Bar was a police car,
how fitting.
They were handcuffing a motorbike.
There are no vehicles allowed
on “Walking Street” from around 6:00 PM to 2:00 AM so the used regular
handcuffs and locked the motorbike down. That will cost the owner a few Thai
Baht.
My shoe came apart on the walk. There is a shoe repair guy
around the corner, maybe he can fix tomorrow while I wait. On this trip I
traveled with carry-on bags only so I have just the shoes I wore.
I was correct, got up and went to the shoe repair guy around the corner.
He
said he could glue this one and sew both in about 20 minutes for 250 THB ($7.00
US).
He did a great job and his repair worked great.
I went on to a 9:00 AM OFF meeting.
At noon, had a little lunch at the Bay Watch Restaurant on Beach Road.
Then a walk down the road with a little fun in front of McDonald's. 
November 13rd, I had a good American breakfast and watched
Fox News before the meeting.
Breakfast was good, Fox News not so good.
I am happy to say the crown on the implant is finished and
it feels great to have all my teeth again.
I highly recommend Dr. Ken and his staff.
For his website, CLICK HERE.
The implant and crown was 45,000 THB, about $1,270 USD.
The savings on this one tooth and the three tooth bridge, I had done in Mae Sai, paid for the whole three month trip.
We love Thailand!
Hey, I even stayed out of trouble on this Friday, the 13th.
November 14th, Good morning! A little motorbike
ride to breakfast and a meeting.
This meeting is a little hard to find as it has a very small
sign.
Maybe anonymity has something to do with it.
I must confess, I miss Daeng and our home in Mae Sai;
looking forward to my trip home tomorrow.
November 15th, I made it to the new Bangkok airport, checked in with Thai
Airlines and passed through security without anything unusual.
When I say "without anything unusual" I am getting used to my Copper Wear knee sleeve setting off the scanner. 
They keep asking me if I have a pin or screw in my knee. It is hard for me to believe there is enough metal in the cloth to set off the scanner.
I was hungry so stopped at the food court for a little
comfort food. It was good.
By the way, the cost of that Burger King Whopper Jr. meal was $7.18 USD.
Now at the gate, about an hour early, and looks like a bus
ride to the plane.
Plane boarding went great but they just reopened the cabin
door and two repair guys come aboard. That usually is not a good thing.
They just announced the technical problem may take another
10 minutes. I hope that is not Thai time or PST. PST is Princess Standard Time
aka whatever time she wants it to be.
Right now we are at 36, 000 feet in the air. I just joined
the Six Mile High Club. The crew said it didn't count because I was alone. They
gave me the pin anyway.
We are landing in Chiang Rai about 25 minutes late. Daeng
arranged for our neighbor, Guy, to pick me up at airport.
We even had a Thai band to welcome us to Chiang Rai.
If you ever need a ride from the Chiang Rai Airport just call "Guy".
It will be nice to be home.
November 16th, It's great to be home. I had an all nighter last night; I
slept so good I didn't have to get up to pee.
This morning Daeng is cutting up pineapple from her
brother's pineapple farm.
I want to start off with positive things this morning.
The tile laid on the balcony, while I was gone, looks great.
Here are before and after pictures.
Daeng said: "Before you start talking about things that
are wrong let's go to the bank to find out why you can't get the new FCD (Foreign Currency Deposit) account
to work online and eat lunch."
Bank needed another form signed and lunch was great.
We ate the whole thing.
Keeping in mind that you get what you inspect and if you
have never seen “A” grade work you think “C” grade is good and “D” grade is
acceptable; the steps look good.
Only two big mistakes on the stairs: First, the light gold
tile was for the tread and the dark tile was for the risers; they are reversed.
Secondly, the plastic edge was to come over the edge of the
riser and not be flush.
On Wednesday we will try to show Mi how to do a better job
in future.
Let me talk about a real stupid act. After laying the tile,
Mi's helper cut the top of the door off instead of the bottom. He did not even
cut it straight. Then they had to move up the hinges. 
These are the doors that Daeng and I spent almost two days cutting and rehanging them to they would look beautiful.
How they look like
someone with a axe worked on them.
We will have to take it back down and see if we can correct
it.
We will do it with Mi so he learns. We will make the doors
work well, again.
November 17th, Here in Thailand we call this "Working Mother Child
Care".
We took it easy the easy of today, just did wash and hung out together.
Also, did some cleaning around the house and made sure I had all the tools, wood filler and screws I would need for working on the doors tomorrow.
November 18th, For me, it was a hard day. Daeng, Mi and I took both the
doors down, recut them straight and did all the work to install them again, correctly.
MI said he learned a lot regarding better ways to do wood
work and he will differently be careful of what he has his helpers do. 
Next project is to remove the squat toilet and the platform
and install a western toilet again. 
Mi said he can not do the demolition so the plan is for Daeng and I are going to do
the demolition and Mi will do the tile setting.
It was pretty cool today, only 92° F but I'm beat so it's
shower time, supper and bed.
Daeng says she thinks he thought we wanted the floor made flat.
That would be
nice but not possible with the present piping layout.
We think this picture will help him understand the change
over from squat toilet to western style toilet.
He did came by the house around 6:00 PM to talk about
it.
When he came and saw the picture of
what we wanted he agreed to do the work with a friend.
Other things happened today, Daeng went to a funeral; I went to Tesco/Lotus to buy bread,
peanut butter and Blueberry jam.
I also stopped for a little lunch. I kidded the server by
saying in Thai: "I haven't eaten in 3 days."
I don't think he knew I
was making a joke as he gave me this huge plate of rice.
I spent the afternoon doing some painting in the outside
cooking area where the tile was installed.
Tomorrow we can start putting the
cooking stove and stainless steel work tables back.
Daeng just got back from a double cremation. I guess two
folks had funerals today so they cremated them at the same time to save
charcoal.
Foey needed some love so Daeng hung out with her a little.
Here is great picture of the bridge between Thailand and
Myanmar (Burma) from the Mae Sai side.
November 20th, Daeng says: "Good morning!"
She told me that today was going to be another great day!
We started the day with putting the outside cooking area
back together.
We cut off the bottom legs of the steel security door and painted
the bottom.
Then Daeng and I bought a box of 25 tiles and a bag of good
cement at the tile place for the 3rd floor removal of the squat toilet. 
Then it was a trip to Home Show to buy the new western
toilet, red grout and a shut off valve for the wall. 
We bought a white
elongated toilet with the brand name of "Karat" which is made by
Kohler.
When we got home we unloaded everything and even though it
is only 2:00 PM, I'm beat.
Tomorrow is another day.
November 21st, From Daeng's food language, it's going to be a great day.
Missing a few letters but I know what she is saying. Yes, I
feel loved.
The fellows showed up with all their tools and went to work
breaking out the old tile.
It’s 11:00 AM and time to go to a house warming party. Here
when you build a home you have a big party when you're finished with food,
booze, singing and dancing. 
For presents you just put money in an envelope and
give to the new homeowners. 
The food was great and for the quality we should have given
more. I even eat some things I had no idea of what they were.
We also spent some time wondering if the server in the tight
pants had tight enough pants on. Did someone say cameltoe?
We loved the window security in the eating area. I even sang
the Mickey Mouse Club Song. Everyone laughed at me.
As the party went along, the singing got a little snappier.
We had to leave before it was over as we wanted to check on the guys and see if
they got the tile off the base without breaking any floor of wall time.
The tile guys did great and the base is almost ready for
tile.
The fellows set the first three rows of tile and I checked it with a level. They had the pitch of the platform about 4%. That is a half inch for foot.
I told them I was sorry but with that angle the toilet would not set well. Mi argued with me about how he always does it that way but I told him I want #1 "A" quality work here.
He took out the tile and re-set it. He also could not understand why I wanted the pipe at an angle to get an exact 12" center from the wall.
November 22nd, They finished re-installing the top tile last night about
6:00 PM.
This morning I got up early, shut the water off to the
building and installed a shut off valve at the wall and cut the sewer pipe straight with the floor.
I set the toilet on pipe, just to be sure everything fits.
MI is now installing the tile on the riser.
Daeng thought
the brown would look good there.
In this part of the world they don't use closet flanges to
bolt toilet to, they just set in grout or cement. Because it's all masonry construction,
that seems to work well.
Well, it's a finished product with no water leaks and it
flushes great using just .9 gallons of water.
It can't be used until tomorrow to allow the cement and
grout to dry well.
The nice part is all this for less than 7,000 THB ($197
USD). Yes, that is toilet, tile, cement, adhesive, grout, toilet seat, valve at
wall, water connector and labor.
I did give Mi an extra 1,000 THB for doing it my way.
We love Thailand.
Now, Mi will probably never work for us again as he says I
am too fussy but I just did not want sloppy work.
It's almost time for a nap.
Oops, I did have one leak, I tightened a tank to bowl bolt too tight and split one of the rubber washers. In America I have them on the truck but here I had to go to the hardware store and get another one.
You know how it works with those homeowners doing stuff.
November 23rd, Daeng is up early watering the potted palms.
We have a few small errands to do this morning but it should
be a pretty relaxed day.
We went to Bangkok Bank to find out why I could not access
my FCD Account online even though I got an SMS message it was implemented.
To find out "implemented" doesn't mean finished.
We than stopped at electric company to pay bill and the line
was out the door. I will see if we can pay online or give to Daeng's brother to
pay, like in past.
Time for an early lunch and finish the things we need to do
on the 3rd floor restroom, to make it beautiful.
On the way home we paid our electric bill at the 7-11. They
charged 10 THB (about 30 cents USD) extra but it was well worth not standing in
line for an hour or more.
Pretty relaxed afternoon, Daeng and I removed some old
piping that was here when we bought the place.
We filled the holes and grouted.
I would show you the
finished picture but I'm not walking up the stair to the 3rd floor again,
today.
I think Daeng is happy all the major projects are done as
she just brought me a great looking dinner and set in on my desk. 
November 24th, Daeng is getting some pants and
shorts tailored so I went down the street for a seafood lunch.
The cook works in Seattle, Washington about half the year and has a little restaurant at his house here in Mae Sai, when he's home.
I had octopus cooked in fresh basil and rice with two soft
fried eggs on top. The egg yolk is great with the rice.
I had a little soup, also; all this for 50 THB ($1.40 USD).
It was a great lunch and I rode my bicycle here so I got
some exercise, as well.
This afternoon, Daeng went to the sauna at the temple. She
brought home a nice diner of salad, chicken and cheese cake with large fresh
strawberries from New Zealand.
She also brought some special mouthwash to try.
November 25th, Today is Loy Krathong.
Here are two pictures from the past that we like of this
holiday.
I went to the Mae Sai Morning Market and on the way home I
ran into my Burma friend.
She always laughs when she sees me.
She is all knurled up
with arthritis but she keeps smiling.
I filled the motorbike up with real gasoline on the way
back, also.
When I got home Daeng had already started making Krathongs.
I find it best to leave her alone while she is being
creative. She makes some interesting things.
I am going to put a coat of enamel on the doors we worked on
last week. That should keep me out of the bars, opium dens and brothels, at
least for a while.
Daeng is doing great with Krathong making and I'm okay with
the paint. 
I like to paint if I don't have to do it but I dislike
painting when I have to do it. Did that last sentence make any sense?
Daeng says she is finished with the bases of the Krathongs
and is going to go get flowers for them.
She is doing them organic, eco-friendly with no plastic,
Styrofoam or metal except for a few paper staples.
She must be happy as she came to give me a kiss. Thai folks
don't kiss except in private.
Oh no, she is becoming westernized.
I took a nap and Daeng made a couple Krathongs for us to
float.
We are going to go float them together and be romantic.
By the way, that is the full moon to the right of the street
light.
Wow, what a crowd. It was hard to even walk around the
waterways but Daeng and I managed to float our Krathongs together.
We love to watch the kids float their Krathongs.
Their eyes
get so big and they get these great smiles and sparkling eyes.
We even played a game of Bingo.
We had fun!
November 26th, Daeng is feeling her Wheaties this morning. She carried all
the left over sand to the neighbor, four houses down, swept and washed the
area.
Yes, we have lots of water here in northern Thailand. You
just can't drink it
We are now, except for one more coat of paint on the staircase, cleaned up from our tile projects.
I guess I better do that paint job today.
I found something better than potato chips, deep fried
chicken skin!
Daeng said: "I told you, last picture for today!"
We know there is a of controversy over eating chicken skin.
Here is a link that says it's good for you, after all. CHICK HERE
And surprise, the calorie count is not that bad. CLICK HERE
I told Daeng that I had finished all the painting that
needed to be done. 
She smiled and took me by the hand and pointed to the very
bottom of the staircase.
Anyway, I got busy and finished it.
Girls always like playing with vibrating toothbrushes, even
at early ages.
We hope all our friends and family in the USA have a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving.
November 27th, One of our neighbors passed away so Daeng and I are going to
his funeral today.
I dislike funerals but because I knew him we need to go
together to show respect to the family and help in any way we can.
There are maybe 500-600 folks here for the funeral. I only knew him as he lives across the road
from the workout equipment. We would speak together in the morning as I was
working out.
From what is being said, he was a very caring man and helped a lot
of people.
When we arrived at the crematorium there were a few hundred
people there already.
There were more ceremonies and after placement in the
crematorium everyone walked up the stair to say "Goodbye". 
Everyone then left. We are going to stay until we see smoke.
Because this crematorium is fired with charcoal, it takes a
while to get smoke out the chimney.
We hung out with the guys and had a few laughs. They really
had great senses of humor.
We also had ice cream while we were waiting. One of the fellows’
apologized, they were out of marshmallows. We all laughed.
So we didn't have to wait longer, one of the guys stoked up
the fire.
When the smoke came we said: "Thanks and Goodbye."
It is unusual that the smoke makes a cross in the sky, even at a Buddhist funeral.
He was a good man.
November 28th, Yesterday was a very unique day. Of everything we heard and
saw, the Monks chanting "....Try to do good while we are here and
everything will be okay...." keeps replaying in my mind.
As we hung out with them, I was also impressed with the
humor of the fellows that run the crematorium.
I keep thinking that we all need to have fun and have a
sense of humor regardless of what we do in life. Thanks Guys, I needed to be
reminded of that.
From 2010, CLICK HERE for a story with the same guys that run the
crematorium along with a better picture of them; in jest, we titled it
"Big Barbeque”.
We went to the Ban Pa Mueat Morning Market for chicken, coffee and 1 Pa
Thong Ko. 
This girl smiled and laughed at me but would not smile on camera.
I did a little shopping, too.
We stopped at "Tah's" on the way home.
Everything
is almost cleaned up and she invited us to go to pick out "Tip's"
bones at the crematorium.
Usually only family does that so we're honored
that she would ask.
I told Tah that her husband would want her to be happy so
she smiled for the picture with Daeng.
On the way home, we also stopped at the stone cutters that
are around the corner from our home.
The owner was there and gave us a little tour of the whole
place.
I never knew how big it was and that there do all kind of carving of all sizes.
We went with the family to pick up "Tip's" bones. 
It was like laying out a jigsaw puzzle.
"Tah" told the men not to use much water to wash
the bones as " Tip" never learned to swim.
We don't know is she was joking or that was really her belief.
The Monks blessed the bones, wrapped and marked them for the
trip to the temple.
Now this is a little strange, after the bone ceremony the
family left, we stayed and kidded with the guys showing them a picture of
themselves five years ago.
We told them they looked much younger. You can see them in the link from 2010, above.
As we were getting ready to leave on our motorbike, what
looked like a little cloud came through the area very fast.
When we said
something, the guys told us it might be one of the ghosts checking on us.
They had these little smiles on their faces so we don't know
it they were kidding.
November 29th. We decided to go to the Baptist Church on Soi 4, three Soi's (side streets) over from our home.
Me, the Ba Thong Ko lady, and her husband, Aiweng, usually go to this church.
Today they weren't there.
We will check on them, later.
We have been talking about finding a place for Daeng's Mother to live.
She would like to live up on the hill overlooking Mae Sai as a lot of her friends live there.
Last night we went to look at the little house on the hill.
It has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, cooking area and living area.
It needs a lot, a very lot of work. We would completely
remodel it for Daeng's Mother but we don't think she could walk up the hill to
it.
That is too bad as it is on book land and for sale for
300,000 THB (about $8,450 USD).
Book land means it has been surveyed and has a clean Chanote (Nor 4) Deed. You can go to the bank and borrow money on it.
After talking about it more, Daeng and I went back to see
the house on the hill again, today.
We hiked through the overgrowth to the top of the lot. It does have a nice view of Mae Sai.
We got stickers all over us but the view is great.
It is a big lot but on the side of the hill. 
Daeng talked with lots of folks to find all the “in and outs”
of the property.
Daeng knows a lot of the folks here as she lived on the side of this hill for many years.
I feel it is more work than we want to get involved with.
There are a few pictures, above.
We are going to keep looking as everything would have to be
carried in.
Yes, sand, rock, cement, tile, pipe, everything would have to be
packed in as it is a very narrow walkway.
You can get there my motorbike. We think the best plan is to just keep looking.
November 30th, We make the trip back to the USA in 10 days. This morning we
started doing the things on our list. We had already done #1 - Buy airline
tickets, so we did #2 - Turn mattress on bed.
We are going to make this trip back to California from
northern Thailand, all at one time. Let's hope the only hard part will be the 5
hour layover in Bangkok.
We are used to the long hours on the plane as we can watch
movies and sleep.
We'll make it fun!
After stripping the bed and turning the mattress, we had coffee and put the new laundry
basket together without breaking it and no parts left over.
It's going to be a good day.
I started out to paint just the balcony door of Aomsin room but
got some momentum and painted the windows and trim next to the door.
I was in the sun all day so I think I got a little burn; nothing
Daeng can't treat.
She can make me feel better just by being around me.
Daeng must have been happy with my painting as when I got out
of the shower she had a T-bone steak with salad, fresh corn cut off the cob,
toast with real butter and watermelon for dessert.
Yes, I feel loved.
This is the first steak I've eaten since the implant tooth
was finished. I want you all to know, it worked great. The steak dinner was
wonderful.
It has been an interesting and fun month.
No comments:
Post a Comment