Another Medical Research Day and Shopping!

We woke up together this morning.  We had coffee and fruit together and talked about things.  Daeng told me the gas burner was not working in the outside kitchen.  I went down and looked at it.  It needed replacing.  I had to laugh as Daeng's Mother already had a pot of hot water going the old fashion way. 

We also talked about the double shop house next door as the owner put up a big sign yesterday saying: "For Sale or Rent".  It is in Thai, of course.  We're told they want 6.5 million Thai Baht for it.  The problem with it is it is bombed out inside.  The last person there took everything with them when they moved out.  Yes, everything including the light fixtures, the sinks, the toilets, everything.

I went to answer some emails and found we did not have any internet.  I tried all the trouble shooting stuff and my laptop told me it was the provider.  In any case, we got on my motorbike and went to CAT, the provide, on the way to the medical clinic.  The guard on duty at the gate said they were closed on Saturday.  I took a picture of the front door with my telephoto setting to see if there was a telephone number on the door.  I am about 40 meters away, at the fence, and you can see my reflection in the glass door.

We hopped back on the motorbike and headed to the medical clinic to have the stitch removed from my head where the doctor removed one of the four bumps on my head.  We got there about 40 minutes early so we just kind of wondered around the place.  We did stuff like weighed ourselves and found out how tall we were.  


Daeng weighs 54.7 kilograms and I was 116. 2 kilograms. She is 155 cm tall and they ran us out of the area before I could see how tall I am today.  We felt like kids doing things that we should not be doing. 

The nurse took my blood pressure and it was high, 155/85.  I told her it was because of her beauty so she took it again and it was 138/78.  We both laughed. 

We had to wait about 40 minutes more and the doctor came in.  

We went into a little treatment area and she looked at all the areas that she removed the cysts. She said they all looked good.

She removed the one stitch that she had put in where she removed the largest cyst.  

We laughed about the surgical lighting.  

The charge today was 150 THB, about $4.67 USD. That was 60 THB for the doctor and 90 THB for the hospital clinic. That's correct, they had to split the $4.67 in a 40/60 percent split.  It makes my heart go pitter-patter.  We love Thailand. 


Well, onward to shopping for a new gas double burner for the outdoor cooking area.  We stopped at a place right by the hospital clinic and looked as some.  

We then went home and picked up Hlong for a little trip to the house they have a few miles out of town.  We picked up a metal table there.


We stopped at this big, new home center named HOME SHOW.  They have a lot of nice things but I thought the pricing was higher then the older places in town, like HOME MART. 

We stopped at another place that sold gas appliances but they did not really have what we wanted.  We went back to the place by the clinic and bought a new cabinet, double burner cook top with a chrome finished cabinet.  We also bought a new LPG regulator and two meter of gashose. Total cost was 4,250 THB, about $133 USD. 

Then home and installed it so it is ridged and level. Making it level in this outside cooking area is a little tricky as the floor slops to the gate.  Anyway, we did it and it looks good and works great.  

Those are cement boards under the legs.  They will last almost forever. 

As I was getting ready to take a shower, the son of the owner of the double shop house next door called.  He told me his name was "Mack", who he was and asked if we wanted to buy the place.  I explained that I would but could only offer him 3.5 million Thai Baht (about $109,000 USD) as there is nothing on the inside, not even a toilet and the drain piping needed to be re-piped just like ours needed.  

You can read about us replacing the drain system by CLICKING HERE. 

We talked for a while and I again told him I would be willing to give his Mother 3.5 MTB.  He said he would tell his mother.

I told Daeng of our conversation and she said he had called her also.  We said about the same thing so our stories were together.  We will see what happens but 6.5 MTB is way to much for that property.  

By the way, you can see our home listing by CLICKING HERE. 

Tomorrow we plan on doing little plumbing while the laundry area is closed on Sunday. 

On Monday it's a little road trip to Chiang Mai for a couple of days. 

Mae Sai - Life is Good

On out trip back from Doi Chang, Elephant Mountain, we spent the night in Chiang Rai.  We had a nice dinner at the Night Bazaar and Daeng's favorite desert.  She likes this jelly textured sweets with ice cream in a coconut shell.  The picture is of the soup we ate.  Daeng made the soup right at the table.

In the morning, we also had a chance to have coffee at Jan's Coffee, Joke and Pa Thong Ko Shop.  Joke is like an oatmeal made rice. They add stuff like egg and pork to it, also.  We really like Jan as she is a sincere, earthy person that works hard and is a real sweetheart. 

I did talk on the telephone with Charlie, her boyfriend from Canada.  I told him we just stopped to see Jan and have coffee and would see him in the spring.

After coffee, we check out of the hotel and made the hour trip back home to Mae Sai.  Our new mattress is still the best sleep for me.  It is an independent pocket spring mattress.  The Thais say it is soft but by US standards I think it would be classified as medium firm.

Mae Sai is doing very well.  This area has two rice crops a year and lots of folks coming through to visit Tachileik, Myanmar (Burma).  Everyday, buses make the eleven hour trip from Bangkok with hundreds of folks crossing the border to shop.  They also shop on the Thai side.  I think prices are better on the Thai side except you can not buy the fake stuff, like purses, on this side of the border.  You can read more about shopping in Tachileik by clicking on  Tachileik, Myanmar (Burma) Yea, Shopping!

Speaking of crossing bridges, how do you like this bamboo bridge?  I walked across it but it was scary for this old fat boy.

We went back to work making our cave a better nest (worked more on home).

We had removed the canopy in front of the part in the middle shop house, straighted the down spot piping from the roof and now were painting the front and pipe. You can read about Daeng and I removing the canopy by CLICKING HERE.

Yep, that is be four stories in the air painting. 

Daeng helped as she did not want me to go up the bamboo ladder without her help.  She also did some of the work on the overhang.

We think the place looks pretty good but will have the outside painted with one more coat of paint and the trim highlighted. 

For now, it is put everything away, pack and close up our master suite as we are going to return car and fly south tomorrow.

Here is a picture of the front of our home.  Daeng's brother has his laundry there and will take care of things while we are gone.

It is for sale for 7,800,000 THB.  If you would like to see the complete listing with lots of pictures just CLICK HERE.  When the link comes up just scroll down to see the pictures.