At Home on the Myanmar (Burma) Border - November 2014

Please forgive my spelling and punctuation, I'm a plumber and not an English major. Just read and have fun

It has been almost a month since we have adding anything to our blog.  We post almost daily at www.facebook.com/funnyplumber but wanted to keep our blog up to date for our firends that don't use FaceBook. 

I am going to try and post the same way I would in my journal, a day or two at a time. 

After plastering and painting the wall in the kitchen we settled into our normal routine of sleeping, breakfast at morning market, fixing stuff around the house and just taking it easy, so to speak. 

Sometimes we even stop and smell the flowers. 

For those of you that missed the lunar eclipse here is a link that condenses it into one minute.  CLICK HERE

We watched it here and it was amazing to see the "blood moon".

Another cool thing to see here tonight, is the release of hundreds of hot air balloons into the sky. 

The full moon, the stars and the hot air balloons makes the night sky beautiful!



I like to do the laundry as Daeng tells me it makes me look sexy.  If I fold them and put them away I may get lucky. 

We usually go to the Ban Pa Mueat morning market each morning. More than the coffee and Pa Thong Ko, we love the kids. They are usually smiley and happy. We love happy kids!

Time to do a little exercise. Daeng gave me a little incentive to lose weight. She told me if I lose 20 more pounds I can be on top. 

Also, after eating the fat food, Pa Thong Ko, we need to stop and do some exercise. 

After breakfast it's a haircut at the Soi 3 Ban Pa Mueat Barber. His rate is still 50 THB, about $1.56 USD.

Tipping is not usually done in this area but he cuts every hair on my head so I tip him 50 THB, also. Total, a little over $3 USD. 

I laughed at Daeng as she carried on a conversation with a neighbor, roof to roof. It reminded me of my younger days in New York. 

Some bad news, on October 11th, Daeng's sister-in-law fell while she was cooking for a real estate showing of some new shophouses. 

She went to a local cash clinic and they did x-rays and bandaged it up. They told her to go the hospital on Monday and have it operated on.  

We will take her to the government hospital in Chiang Rai, about 60 kilometers south of us, on Monday. 

Well, we are going big town with a Swenson’s Ice Cream Parlor.

Okay, we had to try it. It was a two scoop strawberry sundae for us. By the way, the price was about the same as in the USA, we think. Our sundae was 89 THB, about $2.78 US.

October 13th, it's 5:30 AM and coffee is brewing. Daeng, Kit and I are going to take Hlong to the government hospital in Chiang Rai for treatment on her leg and knee. I don't know much more than that. 

Hlong is not a Thai National so I don't know how things will turn out at the government hospital. It will definitely be a learning and adventure day for me. We are leaving at 7:00 AM for the 60 km trip south.


We heard a noise and looked up, these are power parachutists. (I think that is the correct name.) They have small motors with propellers that keep them aloft. 

We made the trip without any complications, check points just waived us through as soon as they saw it was me. I guess, I'm unforgettable.  I don't know it that is good or bad. That is one of the reasons Daeng tells me I need to be nice ALL THE TIME!

We dropped Hlong and Kit off at the hospital and told them to call us as soon as they knew anything more. 

First stop for us was the Toyota body shop. I had backed into a pole at the last Songkran.  That is when I learned there is a very small blind spot on my backup camera and right side view mirror. It put a ding in the bumper and the bumper moved forward and put a dent in the fender.  
We have the best insurance money can buy in Thailand and we're told to have it fixed.  When we got there, a nice young man took our pictures, along with pictures of the damage. He told me that if my vehicle was hit in a parking lot I would have to pay 1,000 THB (about $31 USD) but if I did the accident it would be no charge.  

I told him I was impressed as this was like a reward for being honest. I asked him if the insurance would go up due to the accident. He said: "No, you are just a driver, not the owner. You're wife owns the car." We agreed and he said to bring it in for 4 days on Wednesday.


We left there and picked up 22 pounds of pineapple for $5.00 USD at the wholesale market next door to Toyota.  

We than stopped and had some vegetarian lunch.  

About the time we finished lunch, Hlong called us and she is ready to be picked up. They did not do anything except take another xray, remove some of the fluid on the knee, wrapped it tightly, gave her crutches and some Tylenol.  


We drove back to Mae Sai.  She is in pretty good spirits and was laughing while she tried to change her pants. 

Next day, October 14th, without getting too
complicated, we went to the Mae Sai Records Office for me to apply for a residence book, usually called a house book. Thais get a blue book but non-Thais can get a yellow book. 

They both do the same thing, they say you are a
resident. Anyway, we were told we needed to jump through hoops on fire, backwards to get one. An expat friend, Peter, had gotten his a year or so ago without much trouble.

We called an attorney
that we have used in the past and he said since the military had taken over the procedure had changed. We made an appointment to see him in Chiang Rai at 10:00 AM. More will be revealed on this, our next adventure. Although things have changed there is more information here: https://xpat.life/thailand/tabien-baan 

October 15th, Well, today we ran around in circles for a while. Yesterday, Daeng had called one of the two numbers we had for attorneys. One of the attorneys had done property leases for us about 4 years ago and we liked him. When she called the first number she ask if this was the lawyer that did the leases for us and he replied: "Yes." She told him we wanted his help in gaining a yellow residence book for me. He said come to his office with all our papers.

We asked for his address and he texted us his email
address. I email him back asking for his physical address so we could meet with him at 10:00 AM as Daeng scheduled on the telephone. This morning when we got ready to leave the house for the 60 km drive to his office, I realized he had not responded with an address.

We called him at his office and ask if it was the same as
 4 years ago. He said it was. We told him is we got lost we would call.

We made the trip to the area we remembered but could
not find his office. We called and asked for directions. He gave us some directions that were on the other side of town. We tried to get him to give us an address so I could put it it our car's GPS. He just kept giving us directions like come by the school and I'm on the right. Anyway, after about 10 more phone calls we found his office.

When we arrive he was not the same
attorney that we had done business with in the past. I ask him if he knew "Jack", the other lawyers English nickname, and he said yes. We explained what had happened and he gave us Jack's cellular number. We called and made an appointment with him at 1:00 PM and he gave us an exact address. We went and had lunch. 

When we met with Jack he told us
everything has changed with the military take over but he could get me a "Yellow Book" within a month. We agreed on 8000 THB, about $250 USD with half now and the other half when I have the book.

We did all the copies of every record he needed. that was every page of my passport showing retirement visas and entry stamps, my 30 year lease to the property, the deed to the property showing the lease was recorded, 3 pictures of me, Daeng's house book, Daeng's Thai ID, our marriage license from our marriage in California and a signed sheet stating we wanted him to represent us.

He said he would do everything with the records office
and then call me to sign for the "Yellow Book".

I feel good about doing business with him and the folks
in his office. Daeng asked me if I will sleep okay now and I stated I would. 

October 19th, It is raining very hard this morning. That is
a good thing as it hasn't rained here in about a week.

It seems like we just got here but we have been in 
Thailand for a month.

Daeng reminded me to have fun as we go back to California in 49 days. I wonder why she is counting the days to return to California? More will be revealed.

Although Daeng looks 19, 

her son, Boonreang, will be 19 tomorrow. Yea, more cake.


October 20th, We did a dy trip to see our Akha friend, Meechu, up in the mountains. 


It was wonderful to see her.  


I rode the bicycle with no tires, you never get a flat that way. 

Everyone laughed at me. 

She also has bananas growing right in her yard.

Now, we need the ice cream to make banana splits. 

October 21st, to help keep me off the streets and out of the bars, opium dens and brothels we keep working on our home.  

It gives us a feeling of accomplishment, also. One of the things we wanted to do was seal the concrete roof over the staircase to the 3rd floor roof.  

Over about two weeks, we put three coats of green roof sealer on this roof.  It looks good and will probably seal it well. Next trip we'll repaint the ceiling inside as the paint is peeling from the moisture. 

By the way, other than not taking off my shoes before standing on the stools, this is the Thai way of reaching stuff.  I kind of like it as I stood on one while Daeng moved the other one. I painted the whole trim with only having to go up and down one time. 

One of the other projects was repairing the wooden door jambs for the small restroom in the part of our home where we park our motorbikes and pick-up.



That was a lot of work with some emotional strife with bad varnish and other problems with doing it. 

I would say we probably will have 40 hours of time involved over a four week period. First we had to cut out the old, bug eating wood.  

Then we had to match the new pieces to the old area, fasten and sand down to match. 


The nice part was we had lot's of help! These kids just wanted to be part of it.  The boy on the right is Daeng's nephew, Gala. Even at age 8, he is a great worker. 


He lives in Chiang Mai but was spending some of his school break with us.  He also has a birthday here so we had cake. 

And ice cream, of course. 

It's birthday soup. It has everything you can think of, pork, chicken, crab, fish, noodles, mushrooms, all kinds of vegetables, secret spicy sause and chili peppers, of course. 

On a spice level of 1 to 10 with 10 being burn your face off, this is an 8. The birthday boy, Gala age 8, wants it hotter.

For me, I'll be happy when the ice cream cake gets here at 6:30. Come on ice cream!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Gala!

One more thing before I put on clothes to go our into the world, (Did that give you a visual of me sitting naked at the keyboard?) the party last night feeding over 40 people, candles and ice cream cake was about 2000 THB, about $62 USD. It is cheap to party here. Yea, let's have more parties. 


By the way, Thailand rates in the top 5 countries in the world for work day holidays a year. CLICK HERE for more information.

October 22nd, on our way to the Toyota body shop in Chiang Rai we stopped for a rest stop. We love the ventilation of the restrooms.

We dropped off the car at the Toyota Dealer's Body Shop.  


The lady marked off the spots to be repaired and told us she would call us on Monday morning to let us know if we could pick it up Monday. 

They gave us a ride to the bus station.  

We did stop to see our friend Jan at her coffee shop. 

We didn't stay long as she was finished for the day and tired.  She starts out at about 2:00 AM each morning. 

We are going to take the short bus to Mae Sai. That is an air conditioned 17 passenger van for 42 THB ($1.31 US) each.

It is a much better ride than the regular bus. 


A good friend, that does a lot of things to help the Burmese people, had a nice birthday party.  He asked, for the safety of himself and his family, that I not post any pictures of him. 

We had a great time, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, again.

Yes, those are rabbits in the background.  As the party went on some of the girls got pretty rowdy. I do have video to watch, in private. 


I have to make amends here as I am always talking about Daeng's Mother never washing her hands. And that, in eight years,  I have never seen her wash her hands. 


Well, I caught her washing her hands so I can never say that again. 

I almost got her to smile, too. 

October 27th, Since this is where we park our pick-up, I got up at 4:00 AM, had coffee and finished sanding the door jambs so we could clean the place up before picking up our vehicle at the Toyota body shop 

It was a big job cleaning up all the dust on two floors of this side of our home. We also washed the glass. 

We got everything cleaned up by noon and the body shop called to tell us it would be ready in about two hours. 

Now it's motorbike to bus station, short bus to Chiang Rai 60 km south and Tuk-Tuk to Toyota dealer. We always think of it as an adventure. 


Oh, I almost forget, yesterday we bought Sage Red Delicious apples from the USA for $1.35 USD a pound.  I think they cost more than that in the USA. 

October 28th, Our pick-up is back in its home. It slept well last night.

Yesterday, we rode to the Mae Sai bus station on Daeng's motorbike and parked it in a private parking spot for 10 THB (30 cents US). 

We got on the short bus and had an uneventful trip to Chiang Rai. Tuk-Tuk to the Toyota Dealer and looked at truck. 

The bumper had to be readjusted twice so it was straight. I know, farangs (westerners) are so picky.

We stopped and bought 10 kg of pineapple and drove home, stopping on the way to pick up Daeng's motorbike.

I'm going to eat, take another shower and call it a day.

When I said an "uneventful trip", we were stopped at the first checkpoint and the officer that entered the mini-van asked three people to get off. 

Because where Daeng was sitting she got off to allow the three other folks ease of getting out. I could see a lady officer starting to ask Daeng questions so I got off and ask what was going on. 

As soon as she realized I was Daeng's husband she just said: "Okay, get back in the minivan." Things like that seem to happen a lot, maybe because Daeng is Akha. 

The Akha are not always treated or addressed as equals by the people whose countries they now inhabit. 

To read more about the Akha people just click on this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akha_people

Last year, Daeng was stopped at the Mae Chan check point and cavity searched because see was wearing a down jacket.  I was not with her, which may have been a good thing as I would have brought up "Resonable Cause" and "Rule of Law". 

This morning I see a very small mark on the truck bed that I did not think was there before.  It is very small and probably I'm the only one that would notice. Oh well, we all need one little mark so we will have personalities. 

Moving right along with the door jambs repair, I set the door hinges deeper and got the door ready to varnish. 


In this part of the world the jambs are set in concrete so they do not recess the hinges in the door jambs. They flush mount the door hinges to the jambs and deep set the hinges in the door. That way you can replace the door without replacing the jambs.

After that I put a coat of marine varnish on one side of the door. This is a wet room so we use marine varnish.

October 29th, of all things, our toaster broke. Me: "Poor me. My life is so bad. What will I do with no toast."

Daeng: "Get your lazy ass dressed and we'll go to Makro as new toasters are on sale for 199 THB" 

Did you get a visual of me naked at the keyboard? 

I love it when she talks to me like that. 199 Thai Baht is about $6.20 US. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makro

I also bought a pair of shoes for $1.75 US. They didn't feel good when I put them on at home. Daeng told me to cross my legs. They did feel better. 

October 30th, for a leak in the piping, Daeng and I removed the leaking tee and installed a shut off valve in the piping to help with future problems. 


It was a little tricky to do because to the angle of the existing piping in the concrete. 

This small leak may have been caused my the 6.8 earthquake we had a while back. TiT (This is Thailand)

I guess we have to add painting all the piping to our "To Do" list, also.

Next is the leak in the bathroom flooring. We have it down to the corner by the cement support post.

A plumber's work is never done; the leak is coming down into the outside kitchen when the boys take long showers in the third floor bathroom.

Daeng and I dried the area with a large fan, used bleach to kill any mold and re-grouted the area we think is leaking water. 

With guests, there are 5 people sleeping in the three bedrooms on that floor so I'm going to eat and go to bed.
I'll get up early, clean it up and install a new butt sprayer before they get up. 

October 31st, Hey, I had an all nighter, I slept 11 hours without getting up to pee. 

It's 5 AM. I'm up and had a half a cup of high octane coffee. I need to get dressed and go to work finishing the 3rd floor wet room. 


It is funny because I love doing things around our home when I don't have to do things. Now that I have to do this I just can't get behind doing it. (Sounds like to may "do's.) 

In any case, we have this restroom on the remodel list. When we remodel it we'll put back in a western toilet. 

As we get older it becomes a little harder to use this style toilet. 

Here is direction for use of this style toilet: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_toilet 


I find the elbows on the knees works best.

Myanmar (Burma) has a lot of history.  \Here is an interesting story about the "Flying Tigers in Burma".
http://cbi-theater-1.home.comcast.net/…/…/flying_tigers.html

I was three months old when this story was in LIFE magazine. 

On the door jambs we put the first coat of enamel. It looks great. 

 A little coffee break and back to painting.


I also, while I had brush in hand put another coat of paint on the small outside fence. 



Happy Halloween! 

Please, don't text and fly!

And always remember: "Say NO to Crack!"

Back to the Land of Smiles - Fall 2014

Please forgive my spelling and punctuation, I'm a plumber and not an English major.  Just read and have fun!

I'm not sure if it's me or Daeng that is the most excited to be returning to Thailand.  

I still get a little teary eyed concerning Mom's death but I know Mom would want us to go have a good time.  It was always her belief that if you didn't have fun you probably wouldn't stay around very long. 

Here is a picture of Dad and Mom the day I was conceived, March 24th, 1941.  I remember the day, it was an overcast, wet day.  My Mother said the sun was shining but it was pretty dark and moist where I was.  
It's okay to laugh, that's an inside joke.

The plane trip was long, 18 hours and 10 minutes, but I was able to sleep about 7 hours on the Los Angeles to Taipei flight.  Daeng slept a lot, also.

Even though we were traveling economy at less than $1,000 USD round trip, we had lots of room as we were sitting on the 747-400 in the back of the plane in seats 60 B & C. They are were the seat go from 3-4-3 to 2-4-2.  To see the seating chart CLICK HERE.

The trip back to California in December is on the Boeing 777.  It's a new plane and suppose to be more comfortable.  

Everything was normal on landing.  Immigrations was friendly and our bags came off the carousel quickly. Usually the airport here in Bangkok is very busy this time of the night but this time the airport was very quiet at 2:00 AM.   

When we got to the White Orchid II Guest House they had the room we like, #108.  We were happy as I had called last week and they said the room was booked but would put us in 109.  Room 108 is the largest room in this small, boutique guest house and is on the second floor, only one set of stars, so not much stair climbing. 

We got settled, put valuables in safe deposit box, showered and went for breakfast at FoodLand, a few blocks walk away.  

Here is a picture, on the way to FoodLand, at three in the morning of Sukhamvit Road . That's correct, 3:00 AM!

The folks there smiled and ask us how we had been.  I had an American Breakfast, go figure.    

Later in the day, our friend Wayne Fontaine called us and said he and his girlfriend, Ning, would like to come stay with us and travel to Pattaya in a few days. We said: "Great" and arranged for the room next to us.  

They were staying next to the airport and came over from their hotel the next day. We all had coffee at Starbucks, Wayne's favorite place. 

We suggested a few spots for them to see in Bangkok and arranged a car for the four of us and luggage to go to Pattaya on Sunday. 

One of the things we suggested was visiting the biggest open shopping area (over 37 acres) in the world.  We told them they should go early in the morning, like 7:00 AM as it gets very hot under the metal roofs.  

Wayne said he wasn't stupid going shopping at 7:00 AM. We'll, at 11:00 AM, when they went, the complaint was: "It's too hot!" I didn't go with them but laughed to myself as now who's stupid? 

On Sunday we made the trip to the "Holy City" of Pattaya.  To read more about Pattaya just CLICK HERE.

If you would like to hear and see the "Pattaya, Pattaya" song just CLICK ON THIS.   

After you watch the video "Pattaya, Pattaya" above you will know why I always have to remember not to hurt myself in Pattaya.  

Wayne had stayed in the Apex Hotel and wanted to stay there instead of the HONEY LODGE where we usually stay so we checked into the Apex Hotel, also.  What we noticed was the staff was not very friendly and just wanted money, mini-bar money and safe deposit box key money.  

The room was okay but the next morning Daeng and I took a little walk and talked to a very nice lady that owns a little guest house right next to the Apex Hotel. 

She showed us a big room that was nicer then the Apex Hotel and a little cheaper.  We said we would love to stay there for the next week.  I ask her is she wanted a deposit and she said: "Move over first and make sure you like it."  

We really liked the room and felt very safe and comfortable. She had bought the place about 20 years ago, after her husband died.  She made the place into a little guest house with seven rooms to rent, all air conditioned, hot water, refrigerators, 200 cable TV and private baths. 


We hung out and rested for the next two days. Wayne and Ning did the beach thing after having coffee at Starbucks every morning. 

As for me, 7-11 coffee is just great for 14 THB (45 cents USD) a cup.  I can't taste the difference so spending 149 THB ($4.65 USD) for a cup of coffee just doesn't make sense to us. Daeng says: "We can feed 10 kids a meal for the cost of one cup of coffee."  I agree with Daeng and it makes us feel warm and fuzzy helping and feeding kids. 


We did enjoy having our early morning breakfast at the little spot in the market just above Walking Street. It is a family run place and the Mother always cooks something special for us.  It is usually so spicy that it burns our faces off but we love it. 

I did go to a few meeting with some English speaking friends.  In Pattaya, there is an NA meeting everyday. 


We also like to hang out along Beach Road and eat beach food for lunch.  Here is some fresh squid cooked right in front of us.

It is yummy. 



I always kid about a 7-11 or a Family Mart being on every corner in Thailand.  Well, sometimes they are both on the same corner. 

On Thursday, we rented motorbikes and took a little ride through Jomtien Beach to a little fishing village. We wanted to visit a nice lady that we had met many years ago.  

Wayne is used to driving a big Harley- Davidson motorcycle so he had a little trouble getting used to the small 110 CC motorbike.  He did let Ning drive their motorbike but he was worried about an accident. 


I just let Daeng drive and watch the scenery. Beside that, Daeng says I'm a poor driver.  I kind of laugh because when a female Asian driver says you're a bad driver, what can I say? 

The trip was nice, we did find her even though her house had been completely redone. She was well and happy to see us. 

Daeng picked up some large seashells and we had a BIG fish lunch.  Everyone was amazed at how much Daeng eat.  I was stuffed, also.

On the way back we stopped in Jomtien Beach and went swimming.  After we were in the water for a few minutes, I realized we were in a school of jelly fish.  We made our way out of the water and went to take showers but I'm still itching. 

We also decided we would make the trip north to Mae Sai on Sunday.  We are going to use Bangkok Airlines.  They had canceled their midday flights so we decided we would go early in the morning.  We will have to leave Pattaya at 4:00 AM for the 7:35 AM flight to Chiang Rai. 

That night, when I went to pay for our room until Sunday, Daegn told me the lady talked with her as she had made a mistake and double booked our room.  

I figured we needed a few karma points so we said we would change rooms tomorrow, Friday, so she could have our room for an old, repeat customer. 

I woke up hungry at 2:00 AM so I decided to go to Walking Street. This is Walking Street at the south end of Beach Road.  

Even at 3:00 AM, the place is still going strong.  

Later in the morning we changed rooms.  The funny thing, our new room was bigger and nicer than our old room.  I guess the other customer just liked the same room each trip. We were both happy campers.  I thought to myself how funny things work out. 

On Sunday, I took Wayne to a Pattaya Expat meeting.  I think he was a little bored and wanted to be with his girlfriend so he left just before the main speaker.  

I'm glad I stayed because it was very interesting and about using stem cells for ankle, hip and knee repair. 

Pattaya was fun but I think both Daeng and I will be glad to get north.  Wayne and Ning are kind of honeymooning it. They met on the internet and have been communication on facebook for the last six months.  She met him in Bangkok when he arrived last week.  

I tried to stay open minded but Daeng has been telling me some things about Ning.................  I keep telling Daeng that as long as she makes Wayne happy, everything else will workout. 

Sunday morning came, car we arranged with Jon was on time, trip to Bangkok airport was uneventful except Wayne couldn't get his Starbucks as the Starbucks at the half-way rest stop was closed at 5:00 AM.

We made it to the airport, checked our bags and went for Starbucks.  One of our bags, mine, was 5 kilograms overweight but the lady said it was okay as we were from California. I didn't know what that meant other than we were international travelers. 

We got coffee and only had to hang out about 20 minutes for the plane. 

Here is a picture of Wayne and Ning taking a selfie of themselves.  Daeng says we will have to get some glue solvent to get them unstuck. 

The plane trip was normal, that's a good thing.

Our bags all arrived in good shape and we got a car and driver to take us the rest of the way to our home in Mae Sai.  

The family meet us with smiles and open arms.  We showed Wayne and Ning their guest room on the 3rd floor and we put our bags in our room.  Hlong, Daeng's sister-in-law had done a nice job cleaning everything before we arrived.  There was even bread and milk in the refrigerator of our second floor kitchen. 


We also got to meet the new baby, Nuy's daughter.  Nuy is Daeng's niece, that's Daeng's brother's daughter.  

Daeng had called ahead and told Hlong that Wayne likes watermelon. There was a big plate of watermelon for Wayne. 

I started our pick-up truck and the two motorbikes that were covered for our absence. They all started right up.  

Hlong made a nice lunch for us all and we all decided to take a nap.  

When we woke up Daeng took Ning to the evening market to buy vegetables for dinner.  I stayed in bed.  

When they got back they cooked for Wayne and Daeng brought me a plate for dinner.  I could tell something was going on but Daeng would not tell me. 

About midnight, Daeng woke me up, very upset, and we talked about Wayne's girlfriend for about two hours. I told her to sleep on it and we'll talk more in the morning. 

Daeng and I got up early and went to the Ban Pa Mueat morning market. Everyone was glad to see us.

Even Su-la, the market beggar smiled at us. 


We told "Me" and her husband we missed them. They are really nice folks and he makes great Pa Thong Ko. 

At the market, Daeng and I had another long talk as Ning, Wayne's girlfriend, had insulted all the women in the family, including Daeng.  

For this story, at the present time, I am going to leave out what happened, the class climbing and the reasons. When we got back to the house, Wayne and I talked and he decided to go separate ways on his vacation. 

Anyway, I got the pick-up truck out and we went looking for a hotel he liked.  They liked the first one, Navy Home Hotel, which in Mae Sai is a medium priced hotel for 600 THB a night.  He did not want to see the Piyaporn Place Hotel at 800 a night and was not interested in the Yeesun Guest House that he had stayed in the past because last week it was flooded. 

I took them back to our house, picked up their bags and took them back to the hotel they had picked.   I wished them good and told them to call me if they needed anything.   I felt really bad for Wayne. 

I'm afraid this will be another story of the male foreigner and the Asian girl. 

Oh well, we can't do any more and yea, we're home.  

We rested for the next two days doing a little cleaning and settling back into this home. 

Of all the things we brought from America, the monkey that Michael and Charlotte gave us is the biggest hit.  It is a interaction mechanical monkey that talks to you and hugs you at different times. 

We also took a look around town.  The river between us and Myanmar (Burma) is still very high. 

The Mae Sai morning market is even bigger it seems.  There is just about anything you want. 

Great coffee and Pa Thong Ko there, also. 




There are lots of fruits. 




Lots of spices.





There is fresh fish!


You can get anything you want to cook at the morning market.  

Daeng got lots of stuff and had friends over for lunch. It was very nice to talk with Peter who is retired here along with his wife Nok. 

By the way single guys, Nok's sister, the lady in red, is looking for a Farang (Westerner) for a husband.  You know, buy me house, buy me motorbike and I'll love you long time.  She is a happy person and skinny. I think you can see light between her thighs.   

Our Toyota pick-up truck is six months old. The dealership called and we took it in for service even though it has only 2600 kilometers on it. 

I talked with the service man and he explained that a semi-synthetic oil is used in the motor so it does not need to be changed until 10,000 km. 

He serviced everything else and the nice part is was free. I watched him and this man did a great job of checking everything.  Thank you!


After that it was time for some barbecued chicken in Huai Khrai.  I think this is the best chicken in Thailand. 

The large cabinet we had made for the side of the 1st floor kitchen area is getting marks on it.  We think there are from carrying clothes baskets and things from the laundry and the outside cooking area. 

We talked and decided to move the cabinet into the hall area closer to the front of the building.  Kit, our nephew, Hlong, Daeng and I moved this huge cabinet. 

I had forgotten the wall behind the cabinet had never been finished. It was just the concrete rendering of the cement blocks the wall was made of. 

What it needs is to be sanded down with a concrete sanding block, plastered, painted with at least one coat of primer and a coat of finish paint. After that is all done the base then needs to be painted. 


I needed plaster and a new trowel so we visited Home Mart to pick that up.  

We came back and I did the part I don't like, sanding.

Then with Daeng's help, I plastered the wall with smooth plaster.  It turned out great even considering a plumber did it. 

We let it dry an extra day as my arm was sore from plastering.  I don't do that kind of work very often.  

The next day, we sanded off a few of the rough spots and put a good coat of primer on the wall.  

Then, the next day we put a finish coat of Matt White paint and it looks great. 

We let that dry and painted the base.  We are very pleased with the finished product. 

Because I had not heard from him, I called Wayne on two different days to make sure he was okay.  He had made the bus ride to Chiang Mai and was doing okay.  


We also want everyone to know there are female plumbers in Thailand.  They are good looking and smell good, too.

Today we had a nice lunch of barbecued
pork and fried bamboo worms.  I love Thai food. Now, here in Thailand, they just call it "food". 

It is nice to be back home on the Myanmar (Burma) border.  For the next day or two, we are going to do a little cleaning, laundry and straightening up around here. 

Then it's "Off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of.........."

Stay tuned as we're sure there is more fun to be had along the yellow brick road. 

HUGS (Help Us Grow Spiritually)