Songkran - FUN, FUN, FUN

The last two days have been fun for us and the nice part is I was just sprinkled with water once as we got out of the car at Chan San this morning. Being sprinkled with some water to bless you is a wonderful idea but having a pail of water thrown on you while you are going 30 miles an hour on a motorbike is terrorism.

Yesterday, we got up early and drove to the Mae Sai morning market. At 7:30 AM there were police directing traffic and we had to park about a kilometer from the main entrance to the market. It was crazy!

We did stop and have coffee and Pa Thong Ko by the south entrance to the market, by the pork sellers. That was a pretty busy place and I bought the last two Pa Thong Ko's. Our friends did look happy and they are closing the shop for two days to enjoy the holiday.

We took it pretty easy during the day, worked out a little on the way home and bought some food at the super market for the next two or three days.

Daeng did throw a little water during the afternoon and played ice cream girl. She bought us all ice cream. We even got a nap.

We went out at night at watched the kids on the rides across from the Chinese Temple. It is always great to see the kids having fun in a safe way.

This morning we decided to take Daeng's brother, Tun, and sister-in-law, "Hlong", and nephew, Fook" to Chan San on the Mekong River. It is all part of the "Golden Triangle" area that we live in. One of Tun's friends is working there and invited us.

Around 10:30 AM we hopped into the car and made the half hour drive. When we got there Tun made a call to see where we should turn off the road down to the river area where thousands of small tents and concession stands had been set up.

We made the third dirt turn off and parked close to the line of food concessions, walking to an area right on the bank of the ninth largest river in the world.

Tun's friend met us and escorted us to the #1 table right on the river's edge. The folks take bamboo and build these eating areas right on the river's edge so people can come and eat and watch the kids, older folks as well, swim in the mighty Mekong.

By the way, we are setting on the Thailand side, across the river is Laos and the mountain, way in the distance, is Myanmar (Burma).

We had a great lunch of barbecued chicken, large fish, som-tom salad, boiled egg salad, pork and shrimp fried rice, mango, pineapple and iced coffee. We ate to much as we watched the kids play in the river.

Fook, Hlong, Daeng and I went over to watch the snake charmer for a little while and then Daeng and Fook decided they wanted to go swimming. They just did in the clothes they were wearing. It was over a hundred degrees today so I know why.

Tun and I laughed as we watched them.

Around three o'clock we all decided it was time to go home. It was a fun day with the family.

Death at Thirteen

I do not handle the death of others well so I try to stay away. Maybe that is why I have not written about this funeral. My ScanDisk SDHC Card for my camera is also corrupted so I can not get any of the almost 100 pictures out of it. Daeng had spent two days at the funeral of our friend's thirteen year old daughter. I worked with Mi painting the ceilings of all the rooms on our third floor of the "little house", as we call it.

I am told that she and some other kids went into a pond swimming but there was more water in the pond from the recent rain so she got over her head and was not a good swimmer.

I have know her Dad since 2007 when he advised us not to go up the Mekong River to help build the school. You can read of those stories by clicking on these links: 5-31-07 Addition to the story “Trip up the River- Spring 2007 and 10-27-07 Our trip to Burma(Myanmar) . After you read the stories you will understand why he said:"Don't go!"

Daeng has known the Father for over eighteen years as his situations is a little unusual. He is Akha, a ladyboy and married with a wife and two additional children. He came to Thailand, worked very hard in and around the restaurant/club business, saved his money and took care of his family.

On Sunday we dressed, had coffee and headed to the funeral in an Akha village just southwest of Mae Sai. The trip only took us about 20 minutes and the check point was not stopping anyone.

The service was already in process so we sat in the back. Daeng translated most of what was being said. The Pastors that spoke tried to get the message to the 150-200 people that she was now with the Lord, not to be angry at anyone or anything for this tragedy and to go on with their lives praising God for all our blessings.

After the service, tables and chairs were moved around and we all eat together. It was an Akha meal with rice, fried beef, raw pork sauce, chicken soup and a spicy tomato salad. I had never that the spicy tomato salad and ask about it but no one seemed to know how to make it or how to ask.

I was able to send a few minutes with "Ataa", her Father and told him we were there to support him and to call upon us if we could help him. As we hugged and our eyes touched another tear rolled from his eyes. He had been crying for three days.

After we ate, the tables from the entrance of the house and the road were taken away. I ask what was happening and was told they were going to carry the casket on two pieces of bamboo up the hill about four (4) kilometer to be placed in a crypt in the jungle.

That is exactly what happened. Six men carried the casket to the final resting place. It was an uphill walk, I even had to stop twice on the way up the hill to catch my breath. Then another short, 15 minute service and she was placed into the crypt.

The jungle around the crypt area had all been cleared and it did look very peaceful. As soon as the casket was placed in the crypt, some men that were standing by started to lay the blocks that would seal the crypt.

We slowly walked down the mountain path. When we arrived at the home where the funeral was held we said our good-byes and made the trip back to Mae Sai.

I do not handle death well and there seems to be a lot of death around me lately.

Songkran - Two weeks without Posting

As I start to type at 3:30 in the afternoon, I can hear the dogs barking at the firecrackers, kids and young folks screaming and laughing, pails of water hitting the sides and windshields of cars and the sounds of ambulances. Hey, it's the first official day of Songkran.

You can read about the holiday and the real reason for the water by CLICKING HERE.

Now, here is a video that pretty much tells what is the true story of water on the street during Songkran. CLICK HERE

The video was shot in Chiang Mai which is a much larger town then ours but the same thing happens all over Thailand and countries in Southeast Asia. I ask you: "Doesn't this look like fun for three to seven days?"

Many of us just hide out until next week. By the way, a good thing is the temperature is about 95 degrees today.

We haven't posted for the last two weeks as things have been pretty normal around here in Mae Sai and I have been a little discouraged. A ScanDisk card for my camera somehow got corrupted so I can not load some of the recent pictures.

When we visited Mechu and Si two weeks ago we made arrangements to pick them up on Tuesday, April 3rd. We're sorry to say that Mechu got sick so that did not happen. We have to wait until next week, after Songkran, to see if we can do the trip to visit Chom-nom then.

In the mean time, on April 2nd CATtelecom.com installed fiber optics into our home so we now have far, reliable Internet running around 20/2 Mbps. We can now stream video. The installation was a little sloppy but it works. Remember "TiT", that stands for "This is Thailand".

We also looked at a small piece of land with a little house that is for sale on the hill over looking Mae Sai. You can not drive to it by car but you can by motorbike and the price is only 450,000 Thai Baht (around $14,750 USD). It will not be surveyed until sometime in the next five years so there is a little risk on the lot lines but that is about the only risk.

The view is breath taking but we don't think we want to get involved in building a place that you can't park a car and we are not speculators.

We also stopped at one of Daeng's deceased friend's Mother's home and Daeng spent some time with her. Daeng later returned to visit her and take her some things that she needed and could not buy herself.

Also, on Monday our neighbor had the steel and the materials delivered to put a raised roof over her third floor open roof. I might add that the price of the crane is just about the same as it is in California. It was a nice crane, too.

On Tuesday morning, while having coffee we saw "Mi", the workman that helped us do all the repairs after the earthquake last year. We yelled at him and he came over and had coffee with us. We talked and Mi said he would work for us for the next month or so if we wanted him. We said that was great and he agreed to start on Friday.

Wednesday we drove to Chiang Rai and did some shopping. We did get stopped at the check point. We talked to the officer and explained what was in the nice carrying case, my CPAP machine and he said to go on.

We bought drapes for the guest room and third floor front room along with all the hardware except the rod itself. We will buy that in Mae Sai as it comes in 6 meter lengths. We also bought two more night stands for our master bedroom. Why, you ask, as we already have two? Well, we are going to stack them. We know that sounds funny but they look great.

We stayed the night in Chiang Rai and drove back to Mae Sai the next day to get ready for Mi the next day. Now that we have new drapes for those two rooms we should paint before we put them up. I bought primer, crack repair stuff, caulking, paint and brushes. We are going to keep the colors the same but just a little lighter shade, cream color ceilings and light blue walls.

On Friday, Mi showed up early and we got right to work talking down the the old curtains. Daeng got a call, a friend that had advised us when we helped with building the school in Myanmar (Burma) had a death in his family. His thirteen year old daughter had drowned while swimming.

We talked it over and Daeng was going to go later today and tomorrow and I would go with her on Sunday for the funeral. Mi and I worked for the next two days getting the ceiling of the whole third floor ready to paint.

The project started as just paint two walls and put up some drapes and looks like it will end up paint at least two floors of this building. More will be revealed.

Ban AYO Visit 03-30-12

We made the 40 Km trip to Ban AYO as we wanted to hike down from the road and see what was left as nothing has been done since Chom-nom was incarcerated over two years ago.

It is an easy trip by car as the road through the village is now paved and the driving time is only about 40 minutes from our home in Mae Sai. We arrived about 10:00 AM, parked just off the road and hiked down the hill.

A lot of the over growth had been cut but there is still a lot of vegetation left to be cleared. We were glad to see the roofs of the two buildings and the rest room building were still intact. The dis-hearting part is all the glass had been broken out of the windows.

All in all, everything was in fare shape considering this project has been abandoned for over two years.

The plastic piping from the road to the water tanks and to the first building had been taken but the concrete tanks were still there. If you look real hard you can see them covered by the vegetation. We will try and find out how and why the piping was taken from the site.

In Thailand, if something is not being used the Thais feel it is okay to take it and use it. I'm not judging, I'm just saying.

We hiked back up the hill and drove another kilometer to Mechu's home. Mechu is Chom-nom's Mother. It was nice to see the flowers in bloom as this is a very dry time here in northern Thailand.

Mechu, Chom-nom's sister and some of the other folks were glad to see us. We had cookies and coffee and talked for a while. Si, Chom-nom's sister, said the water piping was taken by a man that was still owed some money when the project stopped. More will be reviled. That is Si on the far left in the picture of Mechu's front porch.

After talking for a while we agreed to pick up Mechu and Si at 5:30 AM and take them to visit Chom-nom on Tuesday, April 2nd. Mechu gets motion sickness but Daeng said she would buy her some pills to help her.

Si also told us she had to go at 12:00 Noon as she was cooking for a celebration with 28 farangs that built a classroom building for the local school. Farang is a Thai word for non-Thai, usually a westerner. We told her we would give her a ride. She said that would be great and we could eat, as well.

The trip was just over the mountain about four or five kilometers. We talked, had coffee and mango while she cooked. I loved the sink area as it was outside. To get to it from inside the cooking area you just opened the window.

It was a nice celebration. These are a group of folks that volunteer all over the world, not only giving of their time but also their money to do projects like this. You can read more on their website http://www.bethechangevolunteers.org/

We had a nice lunch after the ceremony for the Doi Sean Jai School. The Akha folks also did some dancing while lunch was served. I took a few pictures of them all dressed up. Si also dressed and danced on stage.

A good time was had by all! Well, almost all as some of us were pretty tired by this time. We told Si we would call her on Monday and see her at 5:30 AM on Tuesday.

Our Days in Mae Sai

We slept well on our new mattress. At first, it seemed too soft after sleeping on a five inch foam mattress but did not take long to get to like it.

Up early, coffee and Pa Thong Ko at the Ban Pa Meat morning market. It is nice to see "Mee" and her husband again. Daeng always likes to help her serve customers.

We they stopped at the exercise equipment to work out a little. I like the machine that rolls up my spine. My back feels lots better after I use it.

Daeng and I have both been working on our upper body, too.

Yes, that is the sun shining through the palm leaf over Daeng's head. It is only about 6:30.

When we got back to the house I did some calculations and found we got 13.62 kilometers a liter of gas or 32 miles per US gallon for our trip to Lampang and Chiang Mai. That was using 95 octane gasohol. I guess the variable valve engine works.

We are going to rest for a few days and then visit Ban AYO again on Friday. We'll walk down from the road and take a look at the building and see what is left after the two years the project has been abandoned.

Shopping and Trip Home to Mae Sai

After we had breakfast and coffee at the hotel we packed up the car and headed toward home in Mae Sai.

We did stop at a little furniture shop just off the inter-city loop to look at the furniture we wanted for the guest room. One of these days we'll arrange for transportation and buy the wardrobe, dresser, table, chair and night stand. They will look great in our third floor guest room. With nine bedrooms we have a few guest rooms but this one is air conditioned and has it's own bathroom with hot water shower.

We also looked a wicker set for the sitting area of our master bedroom.

The drive northeast to Chiang Rai took about three hours. We stopped in Chiang Rai at "Lucky's" bedding store and purchased a new, soft, independent pocket spring, king size mattress for our master bedroom. By the way, what Thai's consider soft is what we in California would consider medium firm.

The mattress shop does take credit cards but they charge 3% to do so. We just went up the road to an ATM machine and withdrew the 17,000 Thai Baht for the bedding that we bought. I saw a ride and being the kid I am wanted to ride it.

The shop told us they had another delivery in Chiang San, about 40 Km east of us, so they would deliver today. I went into the storage area and picked out the one we wanted delivered and made the deal.

We headed north, stopping for barbecued chicken and som-tom salad at a road side place we liked.

The delivery folks made it before us. They put our present 5" foam mattress in one of the other bedrooms and installed the new mattress on our bed.

We made it up and slept like babies. We made a good choice.

Lampang Prison for Drug Addicts

It was a bright sunny day in Mae Sai. See, right off the bat, I'm lying. The sky had so much smoke, from the jungle burning, that we could hardly see the sun.

We had coffee, fried chicken , sticky rice and Pa Thong Ko (Thai donut) in the Ban Pa Meat morning market. We stopped at the exercise equipment on the road by our home and worked out for about a half hour. I found a machine there that helps my back. It has rollers that run up and down my spine as I push back. It's kind of like doing AB crunches in reverse.

We than showered, packed and headed down route number one to Lampang. The trip took about four hours. We decided to stay the night at the Asia Lampang Hotel and travel the other 20 Km to see Chom-nom in the morning.

Lampang is one of the areas in Thailand that has some unusual things about it. One thing is you can still get a horse drawn taxi. They blend in quite well with the cars.

We had breakfast in the hotel and made our way to the Lampang Correctional Institution for Drug Addicts. We did stop at the railroad tracks that link Bangkok and Chiang Mai together. Some men were working to fix the tracks. Where the spikes had come out they were putting a wooded wedge into the hole and then putting in a new rail spike. This is a very tedious job when done the old way, like it was done a hundred years ago.

Then we arrived at the prison, Daeng gave the chief guard our identification and told him who we were there to see. She also gave him a small Narcotic's Anonymous book that had been translated from English to Thai and asked he it could be given to Chom-nom. He looked at us, said no for the book and told us that we needed to wear long pants. He would allow us to see him now but next time wear long pants. We both had on short pants as it was about 95 degrees and only 9:15 AM.

After all the paperwork was done, he sat and talked with us for a few minutes. He looked over the paper bound book and said he felt it was a very good book for addicts but he could not allow any books to be brought into the prison, not even bibles of any kind.

We spent about 20 minutes with Chom-nom talking about what he wanted to do when he gets out, considering his wife is now remarried and has the kids. Chom-nom said he wanted to come back to Ban AYO and continue building the children's shelter that he had started.

We talked about what most men want to do when they get released from prison and how that starts the whole problem of addiction all over again. We also talked about how old friends, that are using, are not good to hang out with as it is way to easy to start using drugs, again.

We told him we would be willing to pick him up upon his release, get him in a new change of clothes and go from there. He is to be released on May 10th. He got Daeng's telephone number and said he will call us a few days before his release to let us know that date is still good and the approximate time. With just that short amount of communications, we were out of time on nour visit.

Daeng and I drove the 70 Km north to Chiang Mai and checked into a very nice hotel in the inter-city of Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand. For more information about the town: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Mai

The Wangburapa Grand Hotel has car parking, swimming pool and American breakfast. We were in a cut-up kind of mood so we did the lampshade pictures and laughed at each other. Yes, our hats in this picture are lampshades.

For the night, we stayed pretty close to the hotel, just going out for a little supper and to pick up some milk and cookies at the 7-11, near by.

In the morning, I took Daeng over to see a friend that she has not seen in almost 20 years. We visited a little and I went to see my Canadian friend, Brian. He is very knowledgeable about Thai ways as he has lived and worked here for many years. His website is www.aajewel.com. I wanted his advice on how I could help Chom-nom with his life and the children's shelter at Ban AYO.

One of the kids at Daeng's friends liked my shoes. They were almost bigger than he was.

It was nice to see and talk with Brian but it was almost 3:00 PM and time to pick up Daeng at her friend's home. I did take a picture of Daeng, her friend and Friend's Mother. They seemed happy but busy as she has eleven shoe stores in Chiang Mai.

Daeng and I spent the night as honeymooners. We did get up for breakfast and headed to Chiang Rai to buy a new mattress for our master bedroom and to pick up Boonrean's, Daeng's son, grade book from school. Chiang Rai is a very small town about 60 Km south of our home.

It was a good trip, now shopping for a new mattress in Chiang Rai.