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.  

Mae Sai -The Last Ten Days

We have been pretty busy having fun, fun, fun the last ten days.  We are going to take a little week long rode trip tomorrow so we thought we should bring our blog up to date.

About a week ago, Daeng went with her friends, Tan and Peg, to see the White Temple in Chiang Rai and meet the artist Chaloemchai Khositphiphat.

I personally think it is the most beautiful and interesting temple in Thailand.

They had a great time together.  Peg, Daeng's friend from Japan was thrilled to get his autograph and have her picture taken with him.

For a video of the White Temple just CLICK HERE.

Just a note, you can see in the picture above the girls are dressed up like it is freezing out; all but Daeng.  They don't want their skin to darken so they dress up so no sun can get to their skin.  They think men like "white" skin.  I guess that is true of Japaneses men.  Both Peg and Tan live in Japan now.  Daeng says she doesn't have to worry as she already has a husband. 

I stayed home that day and figured out how we could, Daeng and I, take down the metal canopy that was in front of part of our home.

We wanted to take it down as it just did not make the place look good and really had no purpose to us.  The last owner, an older single lady, was very concerned about security.  That section of our home is built like a bank vault.

You can see the red and white canopy with the gray metal fencing in the left of the picture.

Well, the next day we got up early, about 5:00 AM, had breakfast at the morning market.  It is always nice to see the young Monks pray for people.

Well, we did it all in one day without getting hurt.  We saved the bottom fencing and gates for her brother Tun's home. 

Daeng sold the metal frame work and red and white coated aluminium at the scrap dealer down the street for 360 Thai Baht (about $11.77 USD). 

She was not happy with that amount.  I explained that it was about the same amount she would have gotten in America for the 34 kilograms of steel and the 6 kilograms of painted aluminum.

The next part is to paint the walls and fix the rain gutter, the blue pipe, coming off the forth floor roof.

The next day we hopped on the new motorbike and rode the 50 kilometer to the Chiang Rai Airport and rented a Nisson March for a month.  Daeng always gives me a hard time about renting a car as she feels it is money down the drain.

I try to explain that for the 16,050 Thai Baht (about $524.00 USD) a month it would take us about 30 months to make up for the cost of a new one.  We only use it about 5 months a year so that would be six years without any registration, insurance or repair costs. 

And, the big thing, we don't have to worry about it while we are in California during the summer and winter.

We'll, the car they gave us was due for service so I told the rental manage that I would take it to the garage the next time in town.  That was day before yesterday.  I dropped it off and went for a coffee in the "Big C" Shopping Plaza next door to the "ACT" garage.

It only took and hour and I was back on the road to Ban AYO.  I have been putting off visiting the children's shelter as I felt I would get depressed when I saw it.

To read more about this children's shelter project just CLICK HERE. 

By the way, I was correct as not much has been done and Chom-nom has been working at Doi Chaang Coffee up in the mountains. 

It was funny because Chom-nom called me on the the phone while I was in route to Ban AYO.  I told him I would come see him next Sunday, November 11th.

Well, yesterday I started sanding the wall and fixing the wires to get the outside ready to paint.  I want to be loving here but things like ladders as not made very well in Thailand. 

Even though I bought the most expensive step ladder, two years ago, while I was working up in the air about five feet it broke.  The aluminum just gave way and down I came.  The lucky part is I just bruised my left elbow a little when I hit the concrete.

When I spoke to the place I bought it the owner just smiled and said I was to big for the ladder.  I think he used the Thai word for "Fat Boy".  I am a little sore today but that is about all.

Road trip for about a week to Chiang Mai tomorrow!