Road Trip to Chiang Mai March 31, 2014

We had a fun and exciting road trip to Chiang Mai.  We do not get up very early but we had coffee and packed for the 3-4 day road trip. 

When we went downstair, Daeng said: "Look, you were wrong, Nuy is doing something for the family."  Sure enough, she was cooking breakfast for the whole gang.  

We kidded around about eating all the time and her weight.  She told me: "In three months I won't have a big belly and you'll still be fat!"  It was good to see her happy. 


We put everything in our new pick-up and headed south. When we went through the first check point it was about 11:00 AM so we decided to stop and have an early lunch of barbecued chicken, som-tom papaya salad and sticky rice. 

They now also have fresh frog.  No, I'm not going to say: "Tastes Like Chicken". 

After lunch we drove down route number 1, through Chiang Rai and made the turn off onto route 118 to Chiang Mai.  About 19 kilometers more we stopped at Charin Gardens for some sweets.  They have great cheese cake and pies.  We met the owner who lived for many years in San Diego, California.  Yes, it is a small world. 


I think of Charin Gardens as the halfway point between our home in Mae Sai and Chiang Mai. 

By the way, Chiang Rai is a City and a Province, very similar to New York, New York.   We live in the City (District) of Mae Sai in the Province of Chiang Rai.

I might add our new Toyota pick-up with the 2.5L diesel engine ran great on the mountain roads. We were able to pass trucks and buses on the hills without any need for more power.  

About 50 kilometers up the road through the mountains we came across a big jungle fire. We don't know if it was a controlled burn off but it was big and scary.  

We made it safely to the Mawin Hotel.  It is a nice little hotel on the river about 100 meters from the Duke's Steakhouse and about 300 meters from the meeting I like to attend. 

After we checked in I went over to the Raintree Center to a meeting of English speaking friends.  After the meeting I was very tired so I came back to the hotel, took a shower and went to bed without dinner.

When I miss dinner, you know I'm tired.  It was a good trip. 

Chiang Rai - Dentist, Ice Plant & FUN

We had a fun trip to the dentist in Chiang Rai, about 60 Km south of our home here in Mae Sai.  Why does "Fun" and "Dentist" not seem to go together correctly?

We left around 11:30 AM and stopped at the chicken place by our friend Peter's house.  Peter is from Australia and has retired here in Northern Thailand.  It is good for both of us to talk in English as there are only a few folks around this part of Thailand that can understand us.

We picked up the bar-be-cued chicken along with some stick rice and vegetables and eat together in Peter's patio.  Peter mentioned the new ice factory just a little ways from him.  It was a coincidental as Daeng's son, Boonreang, has stopped going to school about three weeks ago and is working part time at an ice factory.

After we said our goodbyes to Peter we drove around the corner and stopped at the new ice factory.  They are still building it but the lady knew of Daeng and showed us around a little.  From what I'm told Boonreang works on a team that provides ice for large events like marriages and funerals. 

They come in the late afternoon, get everything ready for the next day, sleep in a little house in front and then leave very early in the morning and set up the coolers and ice for the event.   The coolers are huge.  You can see the blue one behind Daeng in the picture above. After the event is over they clear everything, load it on the truck and bring it back.  It makes for a long, hard day but with a fun crew.

I'm happy that he is doing something constructive as I was very worried about him dropping out of school.  I explained to him that I did not like school when I was his age so I stopped going after High School and did okay working for a living.  We hope he can find a career that he likes.  I have found that if people like what they are doing they do well.

We also stopped at the little house in the front which Daeng kept calling the "Gift Shop".  I thought it was a shop you could buy gifts but what it really is a "Gift Shop"; that is a shop that makes gifts.  They make them here but don't sell anything retail.

The big project that was going on was the "bottle girls" were recycling small, glass bottles to be reused.  What they do is for several days they soak the bottles in big concrete tubs and then they, in an assemble line style, remove the labels and clean the bottles sparkly clean. 

I don't know what was going back into the bottles but they were all laughing and having fun.

After we said: "Good-Bye" we drove the rest of the way to Chiang Rai and checked into the Diamond Park Inn Hotel, right in town.  It is a nice hotel with plenty of safe, well lite parking and is close to the Night Bazaar and the dentist's office.

We took a little nap, showered and drove over to the dentist's office for Daeng's 6:00 PM appointment; yep, 6:00 PM on a Friday night.  For the last month or two, Daeng some times has been having a little pain from her back tooth.  She had some periodontal work done in this area a few years ago by this same dentist.

When the dentist came out to get her we all laughed because on Tuesday she sat next to Daeng on the plane from Bangkok but we did not recogniser her.  She said she laughed, inside, at us as Daeng and I were kidding about things in English and she speaks and understands English.  It is a small world!

After an x-ray and exam she stated that Daeng needs "Root Planning" on her back tooth.   We said okay and she gave Daeng a shot so she would not have any pain and proceeded to treat her.  I watched and it was a lot of work.  She also showed me part of what she removed. Daeng was in the chair for over 45 minutes to do the root planning.

When she was finished she showed us a book with some pictures to let us know exactly what she had done.  The pictures made everything understandable.

By the way, the total charge was 1,700 Thai Baht (about $56.00 US Dollars).  I'm very happy that Daeng could wait until we got here as I am sure it would have been hundreds of dollars in California.

Daeng felt pretty good so we went to the "Night Bazaar", eat some Thai food and split a home made ice cream, banana split.  By the way, here they just call "Thai Food" by the name of "food".

After a good nights sleep we met our Canadian friend, Charlie, at Jan's Coffee Shop. We had coffee and brought each other up to current speed with all our lives.  Jan is Charlie's girlfriend, as well.

We had a good drive back to Mae Sai and Daeng is playing Bingo with the neighborhood ladies while I'm writing this blog.

Life is Good!

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!

Mae Sai 05/07/2010 Ate a BUG

What's New? What's Different, What's Typical? Let me answer those questions in reverse order.

Typical stuff was got up to a sun shiny day. We'll, I got up in the dark, about 5:00 AM and watched the sun come up with my morning coffee. Daeng got up about 7:00 AM and me had coffee and fruit together.

New and different, I did something I thought I could not do. I ate one of those big bugs I said I could never eat. Daeng brought home a small plastic bag of a Cockroach-June Bug looking bugs that her brother, Tun, had fried up last night.

We kidded around and I finally said: "If you eat one, I'll eat one." So there you go. She just popped one in her mouth and crewed it with a little crackling noise. "Okay, smart ass!" I said to myself. I picked one up and eat it. I was very surprised as it tasted just like chicken.

I'm kidding, as it was crunchy but tasted very spicy. I think that was from the spices that were used to cook it. I know think I have eaten just about everything here in the "Land of Smiles".

What was typical today was the men doing the remodeling showed up very late, about 9:30. They said they were going to finish the kitchen tile today. We told them we were leaving for Chiang Rai in about a half hour but would be back later today.

We changed clothes, took copies of everything we needed to see the attorney that Jeff from Lanna Realtors had suggested to us. The reason for our visit to an attorney is foreigners can not own property in Thailand. When we bought and recorded the shop house at the District Land Office, I had to sign a statement that even though it was my money and Daeng and I were married (Thailand is 50-50 community property.) the property belonged to her, alone.

I'm sure you have heard of stories about the Asian girl and the old, stupid foreigner. We all say: "That's not like me or us."

I talked to a man at the bus station in Chaing Mai a few years ago, myself. He said he was from Denmark. He was sitting on a bench in the bus stations looking depressed. I ask him if he was okay. He stated he had bought a house in his girlfriend's name and when he returned from a trip to Denmark, the house was sold and she was no where to be found.

One of the ways to avoid this is through a "land lease". The lease says that I am leasing it from Daeng for 30 years and, for tax reasons, a set amount, paid in advance.

If she dies the lease is still in affect and I can still live there, sell the lease or just rent the property to someone else. We wrote the lease if I died first the lease is canceled with no strings attached. She is my wife, and an excellent wife, at that.

The only negative part is we will have to pay about 7,500 THB ($235 USD) tax on the lease on top of the 8,000 THB ($250 USD) for the attorney.

We drove the 70 Km on Daeng's motorbike to the office of Tanai Jack, Esq. We were early but the office staff called him and he arrived a few minutes later. He seemed very familiar doing this and with the help of the office staff we think everything will go correctly.

We will meet him at the District Land Office in Mae Sai to sign and record the lease at 9:00 AM on Wednesday, May 12th. They said there will be a English translated copy with the lease to be sure everything is correct.

We paid him half of his fee and went to see the huge HOME MART at Chiang Rai. It is a very big with two bridge cranes to handle materials. They also stock 1/2" 45 degree PVC elbows. Daeng wanted me to buy two, just in case, but explained we don't need them now.

We did decide to put a squat toilet in the third floor bathroom for two reasons. First, all the family wants that type and they use a very small amount of water. The reason for low water use is you have a tub or container of water next to the toilet and you you use a plastic, 2 quart, pan to dip water into the toilet when you are finished. Usually one pan for just urine and two pans for solids. That means you are using only 30% to 60% of the water that is used in the new, low water usage - 1.6 gallon, western toilets.

HOME MART also had the metal studs and sheet rock that no one knew anything about in Mae Sai. If we do much more construction we will need a pick-up truck to haul materials to Mae Sai.

While we were in Chaing Rai the tile man called, needing another box of red wall tile. Daeng had Hlong, her sister-in-law go get another box of tile. A little later, his tile cutter broke, again, so Hlong had to go get it fixed for him. Things are different with construction work here in northern Thailand.

The trip back on the motorbike was uneventful, thank goodness. We did stop at the Toyota dealer and looked at small pick-up trucks. We can buy a four wheel drive, deluxe, small pick-up with AC, etc. for around 700,000 THB ($22,000 USD). Maybe we do that next spring.

When we arrived back home we found out the second man working at our home when to lunch and never came back. We hope he's okay.

We worked around the house for a while, showered, had some dinner and I called it a night. Daeng was wide a wake so she went and spent some time playing BINGO with the family.

Mae Sai - Typical Day? 03-31-2010

I woke up late, around 7:15 AM. Today started off pretty typical except we had no Internet connection through the wireless system. I dressed and walked downstairs to make sure everything was plugged in as sometimes the night person unplugs the router. Everything was plugged in so I guess the storm must have knocked something out.

I fixed a cup of coffee. Daeng woke up about 8:00 AM and we talked about going shopping at Lotus/Tesco to buy milk, sliced wholegrain bread, instant coffee, crunchy peanut butter, jelly, sliced ham and French’s mustard. All items that were hard to find in the local market.
We can get small bottles of milk and bread at the 7-11. Yes, there are four 7-11 in town and a couple of Food Marts. I don’t think Mae Sai has a Circle K but there are around Thailand.

About 10:00 AM Daeng’s sister-in-law, Hlong, called to say that everyone was going to Daeng’s sister’s place in Chiang Rai today as her son, Jack, was going to the Temple to be cleansed.

I had seen this process a few times here in Thailand but still don’t understand it completely. Basically, when a boy becomes of a certain age, somewhere around 10-14, he goes to the Buddhist Temple to be cleansed both inside and out; physically and spiritually.

He is shaved of all hair, washed all over and blessed. He will also spend three to thirty days with the monks. It is a big deal, not only for the boy, but for the parents as well. I’m told that what the boy does will help the parents go upstairs when they died.

It is also a BIG Buddhist Party. To read more about these celebrations and more pictures CLICK HERE!

Daeng said she wanted me to go with her so we packed a bag and hopped on her 100 CC Honda Wave motorbike and headed the 60 kilometer south. Everything went well to the halfway point. We didn’t ever get stopped at the checkpoints. Then, it started to rain hard.

Daeng pulled over under the roof of a bus waiting area and we hung out about 45 minutes until the rain stopped.

As fast as it started it stopped, even the sun came out. We hopped back on the motorbike and headed to Chiang Rai again. We stopped once to check the air in the tires but continued to the Orchid Guest House by the old bus station. We like it there as it is right in the center of the Night Bazaar.

Unfortunately, they only had rooms with twin beds so we drove down the street a little to an old hotel next to the gold clock circle. We all sleep alone before we die but I'm not ready, to sleep alone!

While we are on the subject of the gold clock tower it is beautiful. At night they play music and the clock tower changes colors to the music.

We checked into the hotel, took a shower and headed over to Daeng’s sister’s place to meet all the family and arrange to meet up with them at 7:00 AM tomorrow morning so we can get some pictures of her son having his hair cut off, etc.

We had some supper with the family and Daeng brought me back to the hotel as I’m beat. She was going back to party with the family as this is a big deal in the Buddhist religion.

She was also going to take her Mother to see Boonreang, her son, who is at school here in Chiang Rai. He goes to a boarding type school here. What “boarding type school” means is that he goes to a school and lives with his teacher. Since Daeng enrolled him in this school his grades have gone from failing last year to a 2.8 average this year.

Was this a Typical day in Mae Sai? I think not as we were only there for a few hours in the morning.

Good-night!

Trip to Chiang Rai and Water Fall

It's time to travel, again. We got up, walked down the road for coffee/breakfast and stopped to talk with the cock raisers and parking lot fellows. They have a big empty lot that they change folks 40 TB a day to park. People drive here to cross the Myanmar (Burma) Border to shop.

They also raise fighting cocks. They were cleaning them and rubbing their black feathers with the black from the bottom of the frying pan to "make them look beautiful", as they say.

It was a sunny mid-day as we checked out of the Yeesun Hotel and loaded our bags in the tuk-tuk we took to the bus station. Tuk-tuk's are small three wheeled vehicles that are make by many companies. For Thailand CLICK HERE.

The air conditioned bus was comfortable but about half way to Chiang Rai we were told that this bus goes to the new bus station about 7 Km south of town. Daeng told the lady we wanted to go to the old bus station as we were staying at a little guest house by the bus station in town.

Well, when we got to the turn off to town the bus stopped and left us out with our bags. We flagged down another tuk-tuk that took us into the old bus station for 60 TB. We did not know there were two bus stations as the new one only opened last month. Oh, the life of a traveler.

The Orchid Guest House is small but clean and cheap, 350 TB ($10.50 USD) a night. It is also in the middle of the Night Bazaar. What that means is fun for shopping but noisy until after 11:00PM.

When we went for our evening meal we ran across our friends, Jan, Charlie and Charlie's son, Arron, who had just arrived from Canada a few hours ago. We ate with them and enjoyed their company. We made an agreement to meet at Jan's coffee shop in the morning around 9:00 AM.

On Saturday, we met Charlie and Arron at Jan's Coffee Shop. We had Joke, a rice breakfast dish similar to oatmeal but made with rice, baht-a-go which is a Thai donut. We talked for some time and then said good-bye until next year when we return.

We took it easy for the day and went shopping at the Night Bazaar. I took three pictures of the Night Bazaar area; one in the daytime when it is just a street like any other street in town, one during the set up of the bazaar in the late afternoon and one at night when it was all set up and operational.

It is pretty impressive to watch the people do this every day and every night. They have everything including a purple dog.

On Saturday we had coffee at Jan's and walked over to rent a motorbike for the next 24 hours.

The first stop was to see Daeng's son, Boonreang at his school room. We also wanted to see his grades for the fall semester. He was in pretty good spirits and had a grade average for the first half of the year of 2.8.

We congratulated him and told him we are raising his allowance due to him raising his grades from the year before. Here is his school picture.

We they drove over to Daeng's nephew, Kit. We decided a little trip to the Huai Mae Zayi Waterfall would be fun. Five of us jumped on two motorbikes and made the 18 Km trip. We did stop to buy some food to go on the way.

We arrived at the parking area and no one was around. We parked and walked up the path to the water fall through the jungle area.

The walk was not to bad for an old guy. The area was very clean but you could tell from the path that a lot of folks come here.

As we got closer to the water fall you could hear the noise of the water. We walked along more to reach this beautiful water fall.

The kids swam and then we ate. There were a few snakes and everyone was afraid of them. I did not realize but most Thai folks are afraid of snakes.

It started to get cold as the sun moved to the west so we called it an afternoon.

Daeng and I headed to the dentist for our appointment at 5:00 PM. Yes, 5:00 PM on a Saturday.

The dentist had good news and bad news. The good news was that the work of tooth "planing", that she did last month, was of some help. If I do what she shows me to do I can keep infection away.

The bad news is I need to spend more time each day cleaning two of my teeth with some special brushes to keep the area under the teeth clean. If I don't I'll have more trouble.

The other good news was no charge except for the special brushes and tips, 330 TB ($9.90 USD).

Dinner and a good nights sleep as it is onward to the City of Chiang Mai tomorrow.