Our friend from Canada, Brian, was having a birthday so we though we would make a little trip to Chiang Mai and surprise him.
Daeng had set up a little used clothing sales booth in front of her brother's laundry operation. She turned that over to her niece, Nay pronounced "Newie", while we were gone. Check out the helper in the bottom right of the picture. His name is Bun but I call him Bum.
Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand with a city population of around 160,000. The greater Chiang Mai area is around a million folks. It is about 250 kilometers from us and takes about three and a half hours to drive over the mountains.
In the posting below, I mentioned my aluminium ladder broke. We stopped at a bamboo ladder maker south of the check point about 20 kilometer from our home. The ladder maker said he would build a 6 meter (19+ feet) ladder that would hold this fat boy for 300 Thai Baht and deliver it to our home in Mae Sai for 200 Thai Baht. That makes to total price of around $16.00 US dollars. We gave him a 200 TB deposit and told him we would stop on the way back from Chiang Mai.
The trip to Chiang Mai we uneventful, which is good. Road crews were working on part of the road so tar that they had sprayed the road with ended up splashed all over the bottom part of our car. I am sure that will be tough to get off when we wash the car.
We check into the Top North Hotel because Daeng likes to swim and the Top North has a big swimming pool. After we check in I noticed that the swimming pool was very green in color. I was taught not to swim in a green pool so I explained to Daeng that the green water was not good for her. She understood that it could make her sick and said: "Okay, I won't go swimming."
The orchids in Thailand are always beautiful!
Chiang Mai is the only tourist destination in Thailand to have made it in to the 2012 list of "25 Best Destinations in the World" of the popular travel website TripAdvisor, standing in place 24.
Chiang Mai has a very large moat and a huge wall at the openings around the inter city that was used to protect the city hundreds of years ago.
There were four openings in this wall, called gates. Each gate was in the center of each side of the moats.
The Top North Hotel is close to the eastern gate named "The Phae Gate".
Here is more information on the Historic Monuments from Chiang Mai City Sites.
We were happy to say we think Brian was very surprised to see us. We did have cake to celebrate at Duke's, a great place for steaks and sea food that really has the American taste!
I did meet Dave, the owner, who talked to me about being the plumbing advisor for his new water park in Chiang Mai. I told him I was having to much fun retired but would think about it.
Well, it's Friday and time to go back home to Mae Sai. I do miss our own bed with independent pocket spring mattress.
Our only stop on the way home is for bar-be-que chicken lunch and to tell the ladder maker we will be home later today. It was a good trip.
P. S. The ladder was delivered around 5:00 PM and it looks and feels like it will hold me. We will try it out in the next few days. That will be scary, the old fat boy 20 feet in the air.
We have been pretty busy having fun, fun, fun the last ten days. We are going to take a little week long rode trip tomorrow so we thought we should bring our blog up to date.
About a week ago, Daeng went with her friends, Tan and Peg, to see the White Temple in Chiang Rai and meet the artist Chaloemchai Khositphiphat.
I personally think it is the most beautiful and interesting temple in Thailand.
They had a great time together. Peg, Daeng's friend from Japan was thrilled to get his autograph and have her picture taken with him.
For a video of the White Temple just CLICK HERE.
Just a note, you can see in the picture above the girls are dressed up like it is freezing out; all but Daeng. They don't want their skin to darken so they dress up so no sun can get to their skin. They think men like "white" skin. I guess that is true of Japaneses men. Both Peg and Tan live in Japan now. Daeng says she doesn't have to worry as she already has a husband.
I stayed home that day and figured out how we could, Daeng and I, take down the metal canopy that was in front of part of our home.
We wanted to take it down as it just did not make the place look good and really had no purpose to us. The last owner, an older single lady, was very concerned about security. That section of our home is built like a bank vault.
You can see the red and white canopy with the gray metal fencing in the left of the picture.
Well, the next day we got up early, about 5:00 AM, had breakfast at the morning market. It is always nice to see the young Monks pray for people.
Well, we did it all in one day without getting hurt. We saved the bottom fencing and gates for her brother Tun's home.
Daeng sold the metal frame work and red and white coated aluminium at the scrap dealer down the street for 360 Thai Baht (about $11.77 USD).
She was not happy with that amount. I explained that it was about the same amount she would have gotten in America for the 34 kilograms of steel and the 6 kilograms of painted aluminum.
The next part is to paint the walls and fix the rain gutter, the blue pipe, coming off the forth floor roof.
The next day we hopped on the new motorbike and rode the 50 kilometer to the Chiang Rai Airport and rented a Nisson March for a month. Daeng always gives me a hard time about renting a car as she feels it is money down the drain.
I try to explain that for the 16,050 Thai Baht (about $524.00 USD) a month it would take us about 30 months to make up for the cost of a new one. We only use it about 5 months a year so that would be six years without any registration, insurance or repair costs.
And, the big thing, we don't have to worry about it while we are in California during the summer and winter.
We'll, the car they gave us was due for service so I told the rental manage that I would take it to the garage the next time in town. That was day before yesterday. I dropped it off and went for a coffee in the "Big C" Shopping Plaza next door to the "ACT" garage.
It only took and hour and I was back on the road to Ban AYO. I have been putting off visiting the children's shelter as I felt I would get depressed when I saw it.
To read more about this children's shelter project just CLICK HERE.
By the way, I was correct as not much has been done and Chom-nom has been working at Doi Chaang Coffee up in the mountains.
It was funny because Chom-nom called me on the the phone while I was in route to Ban AYO. I told him I would come see him next Sunday, November 11th.
Well, yesterday I started sanding the wall and fixing the wires to get the outside ready to paint. I want to be loving here but things like ladders as not made very well in Thailand.
Even though I bought the most expensive step ladder, two years ago, while I was working up in the air about five feet it broke. The aluminum just gave way and down I came. The lucky part is I just bruised my left elbow a little when I hit the concrete.
When I spoke to the place I bought it the owner just smiled and said I was to big for the ladder. I think he used the Thai word for "Fat Boy". I am a little sore today but that is about all.
Road trip for about a week to Chiang Mai tomorrow!
We have been hanging out here in Mae Sai. We have been a little bored but have been doing some shopping. Daeng likes to shop. I'm not real crazy about shopping. I think it has something to do with working hard all my life and don't want to give the money away.
Daeng buys fresh fruit everyday. Here are small watermelons for 5 Thai Baht each. That is about 16 cents US money. The watermelon are very sweet, as well.
We have been looking for a table and four chairs for our dining area next to the 2nd floor kitchen. Here is one that we are considering. We think we will end up with a table made out of a slab from a large tree. We just need to find one the right size that we like.
We had been talking about buying another motorbike. Daeng's present motorbike is seven years old and has 46,000 Km on it. We plan on keeping the old one for around town but using the new, larger bike for trips to Chiang Rai and other areas within 60 to 100 Km.
We have looked at a lot of motorbikes.
I wanted to buy a Honda Phantom but Daeng says it is to large for her to ride. I had to agree with her.
We settled on a new, red, Honda Wave 125i. I told Daeng that I wanted red as her name means "Red" in English. It is also about the biggest motorbike that she felt comfortable driving.
After the dealer serviced it and got it ready for the road, I took it our for a spin. It had a rattle someplace in the front, around the headlight. I tool it back and they took the headlight area panels all off and found a loose screw. We kidded about it being the loose nut riding the motorbike.
I took it out again and brought the speed up to about 85 kilometer per hour, that is a little over 50 MPH. It handled very nice. I did not want to bring it up much higher until we put a few break-in miles on it. I think it will handle nicely at 100 km, as well. I don't think I want to go much faster then 80 km per hour on a motorbike, anyway.
We have been stopping for a little exercise after coffee at the morning market. We need to take some plastic with us, in the morning, as the seats on the equipment are pretty wet in the mornings. That way we won't look like we wet our pants after using the equipment.
Today, we went to Bangkok Bank and did a little certificate of deposit shopping, called fixed rate accounts here. We found a 3.3 percent, 11 month account that they were offering. That is a lot better than the .04 percent stuff in the USA.
No wonder folks with money are investing it someplace else beside the USA.
I have to have 800,000 Thai Baht (about $26,000 USD) in the bank to renew my retirement visa each year. For a Thai Retirement Visa a person can also proof 65,000 THB (about $2,200 USD) a month.
With 3.3% interest rate, why not put some money in the bank here. It is also guaranteed safe by the Thai Government.
Life is good!
I had broken some of the porcelain off one of my back crowns on Saturday. No pain but it had a rough edge so we called the dentist that we like here in Mae Sai.
You can read of other trips to this dentist (3 trips) by CLICKING HERE and CLICKING HERE and CLICKING HERE.
We were told that she was pretty busy but set up an appointment for today, Sunday, at 1:00 PM. That is correct, she works seven (7) days a week. She is a sweetheart, too.
Daeng and I talked about her bridge work, on the left upper side of her mouth. I have been trying to talk her into replacing it as it is off color with the rest of her teeth and there is a very wide margin in the front, as well.
She also has some sensitivity for cold and sweet on one of her teeth, in that area.
We went to the appointment to be greeted by the dentist. She checked all my teeth and said they were looking good but the porcelain enamel on the side one of my caps in the rear of my mouth had broken off.
She suggested just smoothing it out as that tooth can not be seen when I smile. She spent a little time making it smooth.
Daeng got into the chair and we talked about the problem of the sensitive tooth. It had not caused Daeng any dis-comfort in a while so Daeng said she did not want to do anything right now. She really doesn't like dental work.
We thanked everyone for their help and paid the lady at the front desk 100 Thai Baht for both of our visits. (100 Thai Baht = $3.27 US Dollars)
Another Fun Day in Mae Sai.
Woke up early this morning, around 4:00 AM, and did some telephone calls to the USA. We are 14 hours ahead of California time so it was 2:00 PM in Los Angeles.
Daeng got up about an hour later and we went to the Ban Pa Meat market for the usual coffee, fried chicken, sticky rice, Pa Thong Ko, tea and soy milk.
There were a lot of motorbikes in the market this morning.
We talked about being bored and decided to go for a little ride along the border. We rode to the border bridge, turned left and rode along the river as far as we could on the road, about 4 Km.
We got off the motorbike and told the solder that was standing there that we were going to walk up the path and take a few pictures.
I had been this far before as this is were the "Charcoal Gang" brings the charcoal across the river. To read that story just CLICK HERE.
Now, I'm not sure if were are still in Thailand or Myanmar (Burma) as this path is well traveled by mountain folks.
There is even a spring where nice clean water comes out of the side of the mountain.
We took a few pictures and were starting to walk back when a man and two solders started yelling at us. Daeng said we had to go back right away.
The man was saying that I, a farang (westerner), could not go here as the Burmese Army did not like farangs and maybe would shoot me.
I thought that was very nice of him until he twice added: "If I got shot that would cause me to lose my job." I realized that he did not care about me but did not want to lose his job.
He told us not to come back there again. I smiled at him and in Thai I said: "See you tomorrow!" He said: "No, don't come back again!" With a big smile I told him again I would see him tomorrow. He laughed and told us to get out of here.
We laughed about it as we stopped and had Thai coffee along the road.
On the way back home we stopped at a stone cutters and watch the cutter working on a big carving. Daeng talked with the man a little. He said they were very busy with lots of orders.
We got back home and Daeng took out the Hula Hoop and did a little exercise before lunch.
It was a fun morning.
We got up about 5:00 AM. We dressed and I filled out my departure card for leaving Thailand as well as a new entry card for our return later today. They are a lot easier to do sitting at a table then when standing in line at the immigrations window.
We have two goals today. The first is to see Pastor Lota's Church in Burma. The second is to find a jade chess set for a special friend in California.
We left our place around 6:30 AM and had our usual breakfast at the morning market. We then headed to the Thai Immigrations office so Daeng could get her paper to visit the border city of Tachileik. It took only a few minutes as we were the only ones there at 7:40 AM. The cost to her was 30 Thai Baht (about 90 cents US)
We met Saimoon at the border bridge. Saimoon is a Burmese guide that we have know for many years. He speaks English and several other languages very well.
The border crossing was very easy and the Burma side did not even give us a hard time about using a ten US dollar bill instead of 500 Thai Baht. The difference is about 200 Thai Baht. I think the reason is when they asked for the 500 Thai Baht, Daeng gave them the 10 US dollar bill and said she would use the 200 Thai Baht that was saved to buy a new purse. Daeng had also ironed the bill with a little spray starch so it was a pretty good looking bill.
We got our Burma permits and left my passport at the border office for pick up when we return later in the day. I did mention that the passort did not belong to me but belonged to the United States.
We called Pastor Lota on his cellular telephone. He said to wait for him, he would pick the three of us up and take us to his church. We waited in the Valentine Tea Shop. We had Burmese Milk Tea.
Pastor Lota arrived about 15 minutes later in a pickup truck with about four door jams for his new church school. There was four other fellows with him. He said hop in as the trip was only about 20 minutes long.
I must say, it was the bumpiest ride I have every been on and I have traveled a lot of dirt roads. I was worried about the six folks in the back, sitting on the wooden door frames. If I had know it was this bad a ride we would not have gone.
When we arrived at the Akha Christian Settlement we were greeted by everyone. Almost everyone spoke English, to some degree, also. There was a kid's bible class going on. It was wonderful to hear the kids singing bible songs.
We sat and had tea and talked about all kinds of things. Saimoon was a big hit with everyone as he explained how God had saved his life.
We talked with Pastor Lota and the other church Pastor's wife. We donated a little money, 3,000 Thai Baht, to help buy cement for the new church school building. We took one more picture and hopped back in the pickup truck for the bumpy ride back.
The nice part is Daeng and Saimoon would not have to sit on the wood door frames on the way back, they can just sit on the pickup bed. I sat in the cab with the driver; give me a break, I'm old. (Yep, I used the old card on this ride.)
Now for shopping, we visited hundreds of purse shops. Daeng said no more pictures after about the fortieth purse shop.
You can buy a knock-off of just about any purse made in the world.
The folks in every shop will tell you it is real. Then they wonder why we don't trust them.
Purses, purses and more purses.
Then, clothes, clothes, clothes and more clothes.
Saimoon had gone on ahead of us to visit some jade shops to see if he could find a chess set. He called on the phone and met us.
He took us up around the corner to visit a shop that had lots of jade. We did see a nice set but it did not have any feeling, as I say. The pieces were just normal and had no special look.
There was a beautiful wall picture done of the Dead Sea. It was all done in polished jade stones.
We visited several other shops but with no luck for something that was really special. It was now about 2:00 PM, after the pick-up truck ride and walking several miles through out the Tachileik Market we decided to call it a day.
Saimoon said he had some other things to do and would go on ahead of us and would see us again in the next day or two.
Daeng wanted to look for a friend that she had not seen in over twenty-five years so we said: "good-bye" to Saimoon and we went looking for Daeng's friend.
On the way through the many side-walk shops Daeng saw a bronze shop and told me to take a look.
In the back of this shop was a chess set, made of bronze, that looked very old and had a wooden case that was also the chess board.
It was not jade but differently had a classy look to it.
The more I looked at it and touched the figures, the more I liked it. It was a special set for that special person.
We made the deal for the set and the shop owner put it all in the wooden case and wrapped it in paper to go.
We know felt it was a worth whiled day. It is a special chess set for that special person.
We picked up my passport and made the walk over the Mae Sai River bridge to Mae Sai. Immigrations stamped my passport and we were back in Thailand, again.
We hopped on our motorbike that we had left in front of the bank and made it home for hot showers and dinner. It was another great day in the "Land of Smiles" and "Burma".
In the posting below, I mentioned my aluminium ladder broke. We stopped at a bamboo ladder maker south of the check point about 20 kilometer from our home. The ladder maker said he would build a 6 meter (19+ feet) ladder that would hold this fat boy for 300 Thai Baht and deliver it to our home in Mae Sai for 200 Thai Baht. That makes to total price of around $16.00 US dollars. We gave him a 200 TB deposit and told him we would stop on the way back from Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai has a very large moat and a huge wall at the openings around the inter city that was used to protect the city hundreds of years ago.
The Top North Hotel is close to the eastern gate named "The Phae Gate".
We were happy to say we think Brian was very surprised to see us. We did have cake to celebrate at Duke's, a great place for steaks and sea food that really has the American taste!
