Made it to Bangkok - Our Winter in California

Well, after 18 1/2 hours in the air we made it to Bangkok.  Everything is okay but with the usual hassles with getting to our room for a little nap.

First thing that happens is the taxi driver, who was supposed to take us to see a few hotels we had not stayed in before, decided he had another fare that was more important then us so he just told us: "This is as far as I'm taking you."  He took our bags out of the taxi and demanded we pay him.  Daeng paid him the meter fare with no tip, of course.  Oh, shit, here we are "at the curb, again".

From along side the road, I called the "Di" Guest House on Soi 4, in the Sukhamvit Road area.  I told the lady that answered the telephone we had stayed with them before and did she have room for us for the next five (5) nights?  She ask me how much we usually paid for the room.  I told her 900 Thai Baht a night.  She said: "Okay, I'll book the room for you at 900 THB."

We walked down the street from where the taxi driver had dropped us off.  When we got to Sukhamvit Road we got a taxi that took us to the "Di" Guest House.

When we checked in at the desk, the same lady I talked to on the telephone told us the room was 990 THB.  I should be used to folks in tourist areas doing this kind of thing but I still told her that was not right as she told us 900 Thai Baht was the rate on the telephone.  By the way, it's not the money, I just hate being blatantly lied to as 90 THB is only about $3.00 US Dollars a night.

I walked next door to the "White Orchid II" Guest House and the lady at the desk knew us.  She said she would put us in the front room on the second floor for 800 THB a night.  It is a very nice clean room with a window that looks out the front, Free WiFi, Air Conditioning, Refrigerator, HD English TV, hot water, safe,etc.  The Guest House is staffed by nice folks, as well.

We did have a problem, a year or so ago, with the owner of the "White Orchid II" booking us for a room and then when we got there at 4:00 in the morning they had no room for us.  I had to remember not to cut off my nose to spite my face.  That's is what my Grand-Mother taught me, anyway.

We walked back to the "Di" Guest House, thanked the lady and told her we were going to stay next door.  She shook her head in a manor that said she understood.

We had a nice winter in California.  The weather was mild and no major events.  We like it when it's peaceful and calm. 

Daeng and I celebrated our birthdays, together.  Now that she is 40 years old, I told her I was going to trade her in for 2 twenty year old girls.

She put her hands on her hips, looked me right in the eyes and said: "You're not wired for 220!"

Christmas time with the family is always a good time.  My Mother is still holding up okay but can't stand or walk.  She also requires 24 hour nursing care. 

Daeng loves to wrap and fix packages and she is extremity talented, also.

It was also nice to give the gifts we had shopped for and brought back from Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand.  You can read of that story by CLICKING HERE.

The chess set was a big hit!

We enjoyed being with friends and celebrating the lives we live today. 

Birthday cake is also great, even at 7:00 AM!

We did some work over the last three months and made enough money to spend the spring in Thailand. 

We also scrapped the two Ford trucks that we built new in 1988.  They lasted 25 years.  I found myself having some emotional feeling over them.  Bye, bye trucks!  You did lots of work over the 400,000 miles. 

I will miss the roominess of having my office in the cab and the space in the cargo area for over 1,100 plumbing, heating and air conditioning parts plus tools. 

I won't miss the buying gasoline as they averaged 6-7 miles per gallon.

The Chevrolet HHR we bought gets 22-30 MPG.

In February, we started the process of selling our business, DIAL ONE Cooling, Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc. to our friend MOUNIR FRANCOIS NOUJAIM aka: "Moonie".

I have known and worked with Moonie for over 25 years and know he will do a great job of carrying the company forward.

Ron Brown, our accountant and friend, will continue to work on the agreement so we can complete everything at the end of this summer.  Daeng and I plan on working the summer when we return in early June.

I'll write more when we get settled at our home in Mae Sai.  We leave Bangkok on Tuesday and fly the 600 miles north to Chiang Rai.  We will then rent a car for the next two months and drive the 40 Km to our home. ‏

Made it to Pattaya.....

We made it to Pattaya.  The first part of the trip from our home on the Myanmar (Burma) border went well.  We packed up the few things we were taking back to America and closed up our master suite with second floor kitchen. 

We said our good-byes to the family and drove the 50 kilometer to the airport in Chiang Rai.  The check point just waved us through.  I think they are starting to recognise us.  Daeng says that is one of the reasons we always need to be nice.

We dropped off our luggage, which Daeng stayed with while I parked the rental car close to the rental car office.  We checked into Air Asia ticket counter and our bags were exactly what we had paid for, 30 kilograms.  My suitcase weighed 17.9 kg and Daeng's bag weighted 13.1 kg.  They were nice enough to round down on weight.  We had put all the heavy stuff, like the jade and bronze chess sets in our carry on bags. They probably weighed over 15 kg each.

After we checked in we went over to Thai Car Rental and turned in the Nissan March.  The nice lady went out and checked the car, coming back in and said everything was okay.  I had hit a metal post when I over compensated for driving on the left side of the road.  It was very minor and in the same place that the car had already been struck before we rented it.  That was a good thing for us.

A short wait for our plane and 1 hour and 10 minute plane ride later we landed at the old airport in Bangkok.  Our bags come out in the first few and we headed out the exit to meet our driver.  He was waiting for us and took us to the underground parking.  Although this is the old airport it is still huge and when it closed was about the 18th largest airport in the world.

When we left the underground parking it was poring rain.  Our driver said it had been raining here in Bangkok for over two weeks.  The water on some of the roads was half way up on the car tires.  Well, it took us three hours to make the trip from the Don Mueang International Airport to the Honey Lodge Hotel in Pattaya. 

Daeng rubbed it in by saying: "Why are we coming to the beach when it is raining?"  I, in turn, told her that we brought the sunshine with us from the Burma border so it would stop raining tomorrow.  By the way, the next day the rain stopped and the sun came out.  I told Daeng: "See, our positive attitude brought out the sun."  She, in her usual stance, said: "I don't think so!"

We like Pattaya for the diversity.  Pattaya is the second most visited city in Thailand by tourists, Bangkok being first.  You can read more about Pattaya by just going to google.com and type in Pattaya.  Over 50,400,000 results will come up about this interesting city.  You can read about things like the scuba diving, parks, entertainment center, temples, shopping, restaurants, huge crocodile farm, zip line entertainment center, night life with 10,000+ bars, 50,000+ sex workers along with the beautiful beaches of Pattaya and Jomtien Beach.

The bar and sex worker number is my estimate and may be a low estimate.

We slept well in the room we normally stay in at this hotel.  They put us, at our request, in room 113.  It is at the back corner of the hotel on the ground floor so it is very quite even though this hotel in right in the middle of the "Fun Zone".  Walking Street is less than 100 meters from our hotel.

The day we arrived was Loi Krathong.  Loi Krathong, a light festival held during the full moon of the twelfth month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar and which usually falls in November, is celebrated in Pattaya, as in the rest of the country, that evening with people floating krathongs (small, candle-lit floats made from elaborately folded banana leaves) on the waters, as well as releasing khom loi (candle-fired hot air balloons) in to the night sky.

It is always fun to watch folks putting the lighted floats into the water as well as trying to get the hot air balloon to fly.

November 30th and December 1st is the International Fireworks Festival here in Pattaya.  I'm told it is the largest display of fireworks in Southeast Asia and maybe the world.

During the day, Daeng pre-booked some chairs at the ocean edge. 

Then we arrived about 8:00 PM as the fireworks were starting.  I got tired about midnight and we left.  To leave a fireworks show before it is over must mean I'm old.

There is a lot to do here or a lot not to do, which ever way you want to think about it.  One of the great things is the $5.00 USD massage. 

That is correct.  You can get an hour long Thai massage at the temple massage for 150 THB  is a little less than $5.00 USD.  That does not have a happy ending as it is at the temple.

Interested in having a little hair removed from the lower area.  You can have some artistic waxing done of just take it all off for 800 THB, around $26.00 USD.

Would you like a heart, landing strip, Mohawk or martini, just to name a few.  Or, just take it all off.

Now, about 2km south of Pattaya Beach lies Jomtien Beach, a long, straight 6 km stretch of sandy coastline that is a lot less chaotic and crowded than Pattaya. New hotels, resorts, condominiums, shops and restaurants are rising fast, but they are more spread out and, for now at least, haven't plundered Jomtiens quiet down-to-earth charm. It's much more peaceful and laid-back than Pattaya Beach too.

That's partly why you find more Thais here. Native holidaymakers from Bangkok and beyond come to enjoy cool sea breezes and cheap seafood under the shade of large parasols and the pine trees which fringe the sand.

I also like this part of Thailand as most people speak English.  The folks that live here are very friendly but the tourist, especially the Russians, are very dis-courteous.  It was the French that were always talked about but now it is the Russians.  Americans are consider very nice compared to the Russians.  It is to bad because they pay a lot extra in the end.  

We are staying here until Wednesday and then we take the long flight back to America.  We take off at 5:05 PM and land in Los Angeles, California at 7:15 PM.  Yes, that is 2 hours and 10 minutes later.  That always messes me up, mentally.

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.

Coffee - Doi Chang Mountain

Yesterday, it was a nice sunny day as we got in the car and headed to Boonreang's, Daeng's son, school in Chiang Rai to talk with him and his teacher. 

It was an easy trip, about 60 Km, from our home in Mae Sai.  Daeng talked with his teacher at school for a few minutes without her son as he was sick.  He does have some allergy problems and was all stuffed up so he did not come to school.

After Daeng talked with his teacher, we drove over to when he lives, took him some bar-be-qued chicken for lunch and talked.  The concern is for his well being and his grades.  It was kind of a "What do you want to be when you grow up?" talk. 

I explained that we just wanted him to be safe, happy and have a good life.  We also talked about how I did not like school, when I was young, and decided not to go past high school.  I went into the Army and then worked in gas stations and construction becoming a plumber/HVAC technician.  What ever he wanted to do was okay by us.

He stated he wanted to go to school and would do the work to make sure he passed this semester with no zeros and a minimum of 2.0 total grade average.  He seemed to be happy with our talk ever thought I felt 2.0 grade average was a very low grade.

We said "Good-bye" for now and headed to Doi Chang Mountain.  This area is now a huge coffee area as the opium fields have been turned into coffee fields.

I learned a lot about coffee this trip.  To read about another trip we made  to Elephant Mountain in 2008 just CLICK HERE.  You can also see Daeng in Full Akha Dress at the end of that story.

When we drove the 100 Km up through the mountains we came to an area where the road was all torn up.  I walked down the road and felt the care we were drive, a Nissan March, was to low to make it through the bumps and mud.

We found our cellular phones did not work on the mountain so we drove up the high side of the road and asked folks if they knew were we were suppose to go.  Finally a sweet lady said we could use here cellular phone that worked in this area.  She was from Mae Sai and was very helpful.

We found out later that she knew Chom-nom and he would invite her to dinner sometimes when he killed a chicken.  It is a very small world up in the mountains.

It was almost dark but was only a few minutes after Daeng call him he jumped off a pickup truck and jumped in our car to give us directions to get to the coffee company that he worked at. 

It was a dirt road but the little car made it okay.  Chom-nom went right back to work. 

At this time of day the coffee bean picker bring the fresh, bagged beans to him.  He weighs them and gets agreement with the pickers and either pays them 18 Thai Baht a kilogram then or gives them a receipt to pay them 20 Thai Baht a kilogram when processed and sold. (1 Thai Baht = 03.28 Cents US)

The beans, after weighing, are pored into a pit with water in it.  They soak for a little while and then are pumped into the bean huskers.  Bean husker is what I call it as no one can translate it for me, just show me what happens.

The outside of the bean is mostly removed when the bean go through this machine and the inter part of the bean goes into another vat full of water. 

It is time to quit.  Chom-nom took us to a little house where we are going to spend the night.  We are going to sleep on the floor with mosquito net over us. 

It is a cool little house with modern, duel flush, western toilet, sink carved out of wood and shower with hot water.

Chom-nom cooked us an Akha dinner of jungle food and rice while Daeng made up the bed. 

We ate with Chom-nom and another man that lives at the coffee company, also.  The meal was very tasty and included vegetables that no one had an English name for them.  The only thing I could recognise was the rice. 

After dinner, Daeng and I said "Thank you for cooking for us and good-night."  We told Chom-nom we would see him at sunrise for breakfast.

In the morning before I woke up, Daeng picked some vegetables out of the jungle and helped make breakfast.  When breakfast was ready she came and woke me up telling me to hurry as food was ready to eat.

I crawled out of the mosquito net, threw on some clothes, brushed my teeth and headed to the cook house.

For breakfast I recognised three thing: rice, bean cracker and egg.  The bowl in the picture directly in front of Daeng is a vine she picked out of the jungle.  It was fried and I really liked it.  To the left of that is a gourd looking thing that grows on a tree.  Chom-nom picked some more and gave them to us to take home. Everything was great and it was wonderful to have breakfast together and talk about what was the normal day.

After we ate, we walked across the bean drying field to the office and had coffee.  We talked about how the process of getting the coffee from the bush to the cup.   We also talked about the company set up of this company and Doi Chaang Coffee Company.

It was my understanding that all the coffee from Doi Chang Mountain went through the co-op of Doi Chaang Coffee.  Chom-nom explained that there we 500 coffee companies in the area and Doi Chaang was just one.

This company is the BECHEGE Coffee Company.  This company specializes in Arabian un-roasted coffee although they do have one coffee rooster and will roost a limited amount and package under their own name.

I might add that this coffee has a real kick.  Daeng and I drank only a small cup of this coffee and got really hyper.  I'm sure the caffeine contain is very high.

After coffee, Chom-nom had a little work to do before he could give us the grand guided tour of the place.  He told us to look around and he would see us in about 45 minutes.

The place is really beautiful, up in the mountain. There is a large pond along with a gazebo and everything is very clean.  It makes you feel good about drinking the coffee.

We started the tour with the scale area and water pools that the coffee is poured into after it is weighed along with the husking machinery. 

I had to laugh as the "Thai Way" showed through on the husking machine.  Instead of loosing the bolts on the motor brackets and moving the motor back to tighten the pulley belts they just tied a piece of bamboo to take up the belt tension.   

Now, after the coffee bean is picked and brought to this company, it's weighed, pored into the water vat, pumped into the coffee husker and dumps into another concrete vat.  There is sits for about 8-12 hours, pumped into another vat where it is stirred.  Then the husked bean is placed on a big cart and wheeled into the drying area.

The beans are then placed in the sun and turned everyday for at least nine (9) days until they are dry.

You can see coffee beans drying every place you look.

After they are dried they are run through another machine and then hand sorted for size and quality.  Yes, We said by hand. 

There were no sorters working today as they had all gone for a holiday in Chiang Rai.  To see a picture of folks sorting coffee beans just go toward the end of the story of our last trip.  CLICK HERE

The beans are then put in large bags for sale to packagers or rooster.  At this stage the price of the coffee is around 180 THB a kilogram (about $2.68 USD a pound).  Each bag weighs over 40 kilograms (about 90 lbs.)

While I was walking around the warehouse, all of a sudden Chom-nom and Daeng started yelling: "Bean, Bean!".  There were coffee beans all over the floor so I did not know if I wasn't suppose to walk on them. 

Finally Daeng said: "Stop, Stop!"  I stopped and she came over and pointed to this huge bee's nest with these giant bees flying around it.  Now I understood.

On the other side of the warehouse was the storage of "aged" coffee beans.  I never know that "age" coffee was more valuable than "new" coffee but Chom-nom said it was like having a savings account.  He also said they take very good care of it to be sure the beans don't get wet and spoil.

After the tour Chom-nom had to get back to work so we packed up everything.  As we were putting the bedding up Daeng started to scream and pointed to the corner of the room.  It was a big lizard. 

Chom-nom came; he and I chased it out of the house.  He said it was a lot scarier looking but could give you a rash if it jumped on you. 

We finished packing up and loading the car.  Chom-nom climbed the bushes and gave us some jungle food to take home.  It is a nice clear day and you can see forever.

We let our friend, Chom-nom, get back to work. going to head back down the mountain and spend the night in Chiang Rai.

Fat Boy - 20 feet in the Air

Well, it's been pretty quiet around home, here in Mae Sai.  We, well I should say "I", wanted to straighten the down spout from the rain gutters on the four floor roof.  Daeng said it was okay but as a professional plumber, I wanted it straight.

As I wrote in the stories last week, my aluminium ladder broke while I was working about half way up the ladder.  I did bruise my left elbow in the fall.  That is feeling a lot better.

Working on the new, 6 meter (about 20 foot) bamboo ladder took some getting used to.  First, the rungs are round as compared to flat on a ladder made in America.  Next, the rungs are not spaced exactly the same distance apart so I had to learn to be very careful in climbing and coming back down.

I think the biggest part I had to get used to was the ladder really bends when you get close to the top.  Once I got some confidence it was okay.

Daeng and I did get the piping rehung straight with the correct size pipe clamps.  I think it looks pretty good.  We only had to move the three clamps over about 2-3 inches.  That sounds easy but 20-40 foot in the air, supporting the pipe while we used a rotor hammer to drill holes in concrete walls, inserting anchors, pipe clamps and screws was a challenge for this 70 year old, fat boy.

While we were working we also had to watch our for the little kid that I call "Bum".  His real name is "Bun".  He is a cute little kid and I tought him to say: "Oh-Oh".  His first English word.

We also took a little side trip to say "Good-Bye" to Daeng's friend, Peg, who is returning to Japan.  She and her husband own a chain of massage parlor in Tokyo.  She says Japanese folks love massages.  Her husband stayed in Japan while she visited her family here.

Nay, Daeng's neice, has been making neck scarfs and hanging out a little with us, as well.  We have been getting the front ready to put the final color of paint to match the other two parts of the shop houses.  We have patched, primed with contact primer, primed with white primer and tomorrow we will put on the first coat of color.

I took this picture at the Ban Pa Mueat morning market while we were having our usual breakfast.  What came to mind was: "Kids praying for kids."

A day or two more of painting and we are going to take an over night trip to see Chom-nom at Doi Chaang Coffee Company, way up in the mountains.