A DAY AT THE BEACH, BADMINTON, ...AND NADIA!

Today was to have been Nadia's first day off since she returned from Kalasin over two weeks ago so Tim picked her up from work last night and she stayed here to get a jump on her holiday.  She's been working a brutal schedule usually on the clock up to 13 hours per day at no extra pay (her salary is a paultry 5000 baht — USD $139 — per month) and was looking forward to the break.  The three of us really miss spending time together and we had a lot planned for tonight (including a special trip to the new Jungceylon shopping center).  It wasn't meant to be as her boss called her early this morning asking her to come in at seven tonight.

We did make the most of the day, however, with a trip to the beach.  We chose Kata for a change; we used to come here late at night for picnics but never swam here.  It was nice but there were a fair number of people — mostly teenaged Scandinavians (a fair amount of the women were topless to the great amusement of Gaow).  Despite it being the middle of the day, it was rather cool and the water was downright cold once you swam beyond a certain point.  We left around three once the waves began getting too big.

Back home, Gaow and I played badminton in front of our home for an hour or so.  I'd bought the rackets and shuttle-cocks for Tim and myself back in May or June but we never ended up using them.  Gaow had a lot of fun seeing how far he could make me chase the birdy as he delighted in trying to hit it outside of our gate.




A package arrived today from my favorite return address in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, addressed to "Mrs. Saengwan Jochim".  My friends in Marillion had sent a Christmas present to Tim of two (very nice) shirts promoting their next album, Somewhere Else, due to be released on April 9th.  Thank you h, Steve, Mark, Pete, and Ian!  Here, Tim models one of the shirts on our side patio:



About the only way we can get Gaow to sit still is to put on a VCD or DVD.  His favorite is Ultraman — a really cheesy Japanese superhero program.  These VCD's run between 79 and 119 baht (USD $2.19-3.30) and each contain two 30-minute episodes.  They're worth their weight in gold for the quiet time they buy Tim and myself.  He's also been quiet during such movies as Toy Story (an excellent dubbing job with even the Randy Newman songs translated into Thai), Madagascar, and the excellent Thai animated film, Khan Kluay.



Gaow has completely fallen head over heels for his new "big sister", Nadia (as do virtually everyone who meet her truth be told).  It's hard to get him to actually pose for a photo, but he oblidged here since Nadia was involved:

ONE SOLITARY WEEK

I've had a fairly solitary week with Tim up in Lamphun Province (south of Chiang Mai).  Aside from brief visits from Nadia (picking up something for work), Doug (dropping off some spaghetti Bolognaise purchased at the Mediterranean restaurant near Chalong pier), and Jum (checking to see if I wanted to go shopping with her) I've been on my own.  It's been rather nice but I miss my wife dearly and I'm going a bit stir crazy.

Tim has been calling me at least twice a day all week (except today — she said she would be turning off her phone once she boarded a bus back south so I assume she's on her way).  She had quite the runaround at the local amphoe (a two-hour drive each way from her parents' home):  Monday, she arrived after 9:00 in the morning and was told to return at seven the following day; on Tuesday, it took most of the morning going from one office to another to get the surname changed on her ID card.  She wasn't able to change the name on the land deed as they want to check out the land first; this was after they requested the presence of both her parents, brothers, and sisters (yes, they all got up in the wee hours of the morning in order to get to the amphoe by seven).  But I've found this is typical of any Thai bureaucracy — they make you jump through all sorts of hoops and in the end you only get half of what you wanted in the first place...

When she called this morning, Tim said she'd paid a visit to her ex-husband and was bringing me a "special gift".  Don't know what this could be (not their divorce papers as they'd had a common-law marriage; perhaps a refund of her original dowery?).

I've spent most of the week getting caught up on my reading (finishing one book and starting several others as I couldn't decide on just one) and doing a bit of work on the computer.  I also did a bit of house cleaning on Tuesday — more of a tidying-up, really, as the electricity was out most of the day (not to mention the water).  I need to walk over to 7-Eleven tomorrow as my food supplies are depleted (and the water bill is due — how ironic).

I did finally meet my next door neighbor's wife a couple of days ago.  They're from Bangalore, India.  He's head of IT for one of the local resorts and she just stays at home watching television.  Mostly, our conversation consisted of her asking me what to do when there's no water for days on end (fill buckets full when it works and obtain the jugs of drinking water from the guys on the trucks; I end up dumping some in the toilet bowl so I can flush).  She also asked me why Christians decorated trees to celebrate Christmas.  I had no idea but promised to find out (which reminds me — I need to do a Google search in a minute...).  She seems very nice but I think she's bored as she has no friends; I'll have to send my wife over there when she gets back.

At least it seems like Tim is on her way home.  She last called me around 6:30 yesterday morning complaining how cold it was in Lamphun and that she would probably be leaving there sometime that day.  There's no electricity at her parents' home and she hadn't been able to recharge her cellphone battery so she told me she'd turn it off as soon as she boarded the bus.  If she left Chiang Mai yesterday afternoon, she should be home sometime tonight if the arrival and departure in Bangkok are fairly close together.  I miss her and I can't wait until she gets back to Chalong.

(SEMI-)LONELY DAYS (AND NIGHTS)

With the New Year rapidly approaching and the time limit coming close to expiring on certain administrative duties, we decided that there was no time like the present for my wife to journey up north to Lamphun.  The two main reasons are that Tim needs to change the name on her ID card to reflect her marital status (why this has to be done in the province of a Thai woman's birth is just one more frustrating thing about bureaucracy in this country) and that she needs to change the name on the deed for 2 rai (approx. 3200 square meters) of land her father gave us.  These tasks need to be done at the provincial amphoe office.  She also misses her family a great deal and wanted to stay with them during her visit; this explains — in part — why I didn't go along as she knew I wouldn't be comfortable there (no electricity or running water) and the closest thing resembling a hotel is almost two hours away.  I also had an easy-to-cancel meeting this week that she didn't want me to miss.

Anyway, Tim left Friday evening journeying with her cousin — Ahn — to Bangkok on the overnight bus (for free, arranged by our friend "who-knows-what-he-really-is-in-the-military?", Opat) and almost immediately leaving for Chiang Mai on another bus (a very tight connection).  The timing and packing for this trip had been accomplished in less than two days (including a whirlwind trip to the supermarket Friday morning to buy groceries so I wouldn't starve while she's away).  We'd talked about her trip a few times but suddenly we realized that her ID and deed changes needed to be done before December 31st; she would need to leave almost immediately if there was any hope of her getting back before Christmas (and I have something very special planned for the anniversary of our introduction on New Year's Eve!).

Although I knew I'd miss my wife immensely (the first time we've been apart for any length of time since late June when our granddaughter was born), I began to look forward to having some time in the house by myself.  I thought I'd have time to get caught up on lesson/course plans, some "fun" reading, listening to music on the living room stereo, and watching VCD's of downloaded American t.v. programs.

Alas, tonight is the first time I've truly had the house to myself since Tim left.  First of all, Thursday night Nadia returned from her trip to visit family in the Isaan region.  It had been planned that she would find an apartment in Patong upon returning — closer to her job and Tim wouldn't have to drive her out and pick her up every evening.  However, we couldn't find anything suitable Friday (it is high season and everything is either full or too expensive) so it was decided she'd continue to stay here until she did.  She returned to work that evening so I was alone for a little bit; Ben and Nid were in town for the evening (they moved to Chumphon a little over a week ago) and invited me out for Mexican food at Los Amigos.

I then suffered from a case of Montezuma's revenge (which I'm going to rename "Thaksin's revenge" here, in "honor" of our recently overthrown prime minister) all day yesterday.  This was made even more "enjoyable" due to the fact that our water wasn't working (it finally came back on late this evening after being off since sometime Friday).  Although Nadia spent a few hours out looking for a new room, she kept checking on me to see if I was doing okay.  When Tim called me tonight, she told me Nadia was worried that I wouldn't eat right if nobody was around to take care of me.  That's just how Thai women are — they really take care of the men in their lives no matter if they are their husbands, fathers, brothers, sons, uncles, or just friends.

Anyway, Nadia did find a room for rent yesterday — in Phuket Town which is even farther away from her job than Chalong is.  But she is renting it with a girlfriend from her job so she'll have transportation to and from work each night.  The rent is 1,700 baht (approx. USD $48) but I don't know if this is the total or just Nadia's share; it does have a bathroom with shower in the room but no air-conditioning.  I can only imagine what it looks like!  She delayed moving last night because she said she would be too tired after work but finally left around 3:30 this afternoon (only after making me lunch, having me conduct an English lesson, and generally fretting over me for much of the day).  She didn't take all of her stuff (she must have more shoes than Imelda Marcos) and said she'd call later in the week to check if I want her to bring me any food.  She also warned/told me that she'd come over when she had any holidays from work (few-and-far between with the current high season and given the fact she just returned from ten days off).

Needless to say, I'm enjoying my newfound "freedom" tonight by getting caught up on computer work without the constant interruptions ("how do you spell 'restaurant', Khun Mark ka?", "do you want some drink, Khun Mark ka?", etc.).  But truth be known, it certainly is nice to always have someone looking after you be it your wife or daugther-in-name (if not in-blood).

I'm sure that Tim's best friends, Lek and Jum, will be dropping by tomorrow to check in on me.  Their idea of making sure that I'm okay is to bring me (very greasy and boney) fried chicken — why is it that Thai people think that farangs love chicken and only chicken?  (I'm personally sick of chicken and cringe whenever I'm given any; at least Nadia and Tim realize this so their unsolicited offereings have lately been beef or pork satay).

Well, as I've said, it's really nice to have people look after you but at the same time I'm just not used to it because of the years I spent as a loner.  Hell, I'd like to be able to lay on my sofa in my underwear without worrying about Tim's girlfriends dropping by unannounced...

I miss my wife and look forward to her quick return (then, she can entertain her friends and I can retreat to my room/office once again...).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOUR MAJESTY

Today is the 79th birthday of His Royal Highness Bhumibol Aduyladej (Rama IX).  The nationwide celebrations include plenty of fireworks and yellow shirts (for the 60th anniversary of his reign as King of Thailand).  All bars and nightclubs are closed and liquor sales prohibited.  Here in Phuket, we're in the midst of the week-long King's Cup Regatta.

December 5th is also regarded as Father's Day in Thailand (the King being the "father" of the nation).  This morning, Nadia gave me first ever Father's Day card; I was very touched (already I was a bit sad as she left this afternoon for a month or so stay with family up in Kalasin — near the Lao border— but the card cheered me right up!).

MY BIRTHDAY PARTY

My first birthday celebration in Thailand was quite the affair, particularly since I'd emphasized that I didn't want a party and that a low-key dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant would be perfect.  But Tim and Nadia secretly planned to give me what turned out to be my most memorable birthday ever!

In typical Thai fashion, the birthday celebrant buys all the food and beverages for their own party (one of the reasons I didn't really want a party) but Tim has become very budget-conscious and didn't end up spending a fortune.  (It helps that we can buy alcohol at a discount right now...).  I caught wind that she and Nadia were plotting something so I discreetly gave my wife some extra cash in the weekly food allowance.  Since we'd already put up our Christmas tree (I told her it was my tradition to trim the tree just before my birthday), they didn't have to do a whole lot of extra decorating — some balloons were inflated, furniture slightly rearranged, and our small dining table before a platform for gifts.

I spent some time Saturday afternoon making four mix CD's; I told Tim that I wanted to listen to some of my favorite songs on my birthday as I knew if I didn't have "control" of the stereo system it wouldn't be long before the Thai guests hijacked it with those really awful karaoke VCD's.  Most times when those are played, I'll quickly escape into my "office" as they all have begun to sound essentially alike to me.  I couldn't exactly hide on my birthday, however.  Most of the guests were fairly late arriving so I ended up playing two full discs before anyone even showed up (Doug was the first to get here).  When our various Thai friends began arriving they all congregated on our back stoop where the cooking had commenced so Doug and I were left alone in the living room.  For quite some time, it didn't feel like most of the partygoers even noticed the birthday boy but at least Doug and I got caught up on our various recent activities and trips.

Doug and I ate our dinner on the side patio — ably served by Nadia, Tim, and Jum.  Tim had found some decent beef somewhere and grilled steaks.  After we ate, I insisted that our Thai friends eat on the patio as well (they wanted the farangs to eat first), rather than sitting on the mat on our back stoop.  Opat had to leave early but soon others began arriving.  I kept asking Tim when could I begin opening gifts and it was always, "Wait another five minutes."  Ben and Nid finally arrived after nine and Tim insisted on feeding them before presents could be opened.  Just when I thought we were ready again, Franz and Pen got there so then they had to be fed.

By this time, the stereo had been infiltrated with the Thai karaoke and my farang friends were getting restless.  Our Thai friends had once again scattered to the rear of the house so I finally gathered everyone up and told Tim it was time for the presents.  It all sounds like I was way too over-anxious about the gifts but I felt that I was getting lost in the shuffle and I knew that the farangs at least didn't want to stick around until midnight just to watch someone open a bunch of boxes.  I was in a jovial mood throughout but some of the Thais, in particular, were getting a bit worse for the wear from the drink (not being known for moderation).

Anyway, a cake was brought out decorated with candles (which surprised me immensely as birthday cakes are not exactly a tradition in Thailand and very difficult to find) as a precursor to the gift opening.  The lights were off, the candles were lit, and just as I was about to blow out the candles my cell phone rang.  I answered it to discover my nephew, Spencer, singing "Happy Birthday" which was the definite highlight of the evening for me.  Unfortunately, I couldn't hear him very well at all and an attempt at conversation went nowhere.  Brief greetings with my sister and brother-in-law weren't much better and my guests were becoming restless again so I had to make the call shorter than I wanted.  Lek relit the candles so I could have a "take two" at blowing them out and then odd-shaped slices were passed around.  It was a very strange-tasting cake; Doug joked that it was probably "spicy prawn" as we've seen both potato chips and ice cream in this flavor.

Finally, the gifts...  What can I say?  I received some very nice and thoughtful things.  I knew my guests would be bored watching me open presents from friends/relatives in America that they didn't know so I glossed over those and concentrated on the ones given my attendees.  It was nice to see the thought they all put into getting me something I might enjoy when none of them have known me for very long.  And in most cases, they really "hit the nail on the head."  For example, Ben brought me a pizza (we'd been talking about how difficult it is to get a good pizza here on Phuket).  Jum gave me a tin of butter cookies (she'd gone shopping with Tim and I months ago when I'd mentioned how much I liked those type of cookies).  My neighbor Franz bought me a Morris Mini shirt (it's well known among my friends that these are my favorite cars — I'm always pointing them out when I spot them here).  Other gifts included various teacher resource books (which will come in very handy!) and a few novels, even some Western music DVD's (including some Eric Clapton to help me "educate" Tim before his Bangkok concert next month).

After the gifts were opened, I pretty much turned over the floor to my wife and the ladies happily spent the next couple of hours singing karaoke while the men retired to the side patio so we could continue talking (with the glass doors closed, of course!).

All in all, it was very nice party.  I don't recall the last time I actually had a "real" birthday party (probably back when I was ten or something) and it was a nice chance of pace from my usual "tradition" of lounging on a sofa watching television and having a pizza delivered.  It was a bit strange at times (I felt it was more a party for Tim rather than for myself — but I'm definitely okay with that) but "this is Thailand" as everyone says when something doesn't seem quite "right."  Next up:  Nadia's birthday and we'll probably host something for Christmas as well (New Year's will be on a beach somewhere, I hope)...

The Photos:

Lek lurks behind me as I pose next to the gift table.

The birthday boy and his lovely wife.

(L to R:) Tim, Nadia, Jum, and Opat enjoy their dinner on our side patio.

Enjoying a calm moment on my birthday.

My first Thai birthday cake.  Spicy prawn flavor...Yum!

My nephew back in Kansas is singing me "Happy Birthday" via my cell phone as my guests wait for me to blow the candles out on the cake (for the second time!).

A second try and blowing out candles.  Good thing I'm full of hot air!

(L to R:) Pen, Franz, Ben, and Doug enjoying the very interesting taste of the cake.

Tim did a great job of passing me each gift in turn.

Tim and I trying to figure out what the heck it was that Nadia gave me.  (Still can't figure it out, nor describe it — it is unusual, however...)

Morris Mini shirt from my Dutch neighbor.

The highlight of the party for Nid, Pen, and Tim was being able to sing Thai karaoke without any grumbling from your's truly.

BACK FROM BANGKOK

We returned from our whirlwind trip up north early Tuesday morning.  Tim and I have both been suffering from colds since so I haven't felt much like writing.  I'll see how this entry goes...

Thanks to a connection of Opat's, we managed a significant discount on the bus tickets from Phuket to Bangkok.  The four of us (my wife and myself, Nadia, and Opat) took up the rear third of the bus and actually managed to get some sleep on the overnight journey (we left Thursday evening and arrived in the capital at six Friday morning).  Upon arrival at the Southern Bus Terminal (which is actually on Bangkok's west side), we took a taxi to Opat's wife's home in Minburi (way on the eastern edges of the city) where we were able to get cleaned up a bit and slept some more until it was time for Nadia, Tim and I to check into our hotel.

We actually stayed at a very nice youth hostel right at the entrance to Sukhumvit Soi 25, a short walk from the Asoke BTS (Sky Train) station.  It was brand-spanking new, having only opened this past June — our room was spotless — and featured a large enclosed courtyard with seating for an excellent Italian restaurant (Pizza Aroy) and a number of Thai food vendors.  Due to our last-minute booking, we ended up with a (very large) room containing three single beds but at least had an en suite bathroom with hot shower plus cable television, huge refrigerator, and ice-cold air conditioning.  I was very impressed and the 960-baht-per-night rate can't be beat for the location and facilities.  Ironically, the same company owns the Phuket Youth Hostel located about 1km from our home in Chalong.

Tim and I outside of the Bangkok Centre Sukhumvit 25 Hostel.

After a much-needed shower, we headed out again and met Opat for the first of our planned car-shopping excursions.  Friday afternoon saw us visiting several Thai (no English spoken here) used-car dealerships.  It was very frustrating for me as I couldn't understand any of the negotiations but Tim seemed very adept at talking to the salesmen.  By this time, she knew what I was looking for as well as my budgets for down and monthly payments.  We found several likely candidates including several Hondas (three-doors) and Toyotas (four-doors).  All of the dealers assured my wife that financing wouldn't be a problem even though we were looking in Bangkok while living in Phuket.  I wasn't so sure...

Tim wheeling-and-dealing at yet another Bangkok used car dealership.

We put in several rather exhausting hours checking out used cars (mostly in the Minburi and Bang Ka-Pi districts on Bangkok's east side) before retiring back to our hostel.  I managed to get (English) Mark (from the TEFL course) on the phone and he agreed to meet us on Sukhumvit.  The plan was to check out Soi Cowboy for a few drinks and see how it compares to Bangla Road.  Once Mark arrived however, somehow he talked everyone else into going to Khao San Road as his favorite watering holes are over there.  So, we took our fifth taxi of the day to my displeasure (one of the reasons I picked Sukhumvit was for the easy access to both the Sky Train and the subway lines as I wanted to save on transportation costs).  Anyway, we did have a good time on Khao San checking out the backpacker crowd and street performers.  Nadia did a bit of shopping and we all danced up a storm at a really nice Irish bar.  Mark disappeared after a while (one of his bad habits — he'll take us out somewhere and then meet a girl, forgetting all about the rest of us...).  We took a tuk tuk back to the hotel, Opat continued back to his home, and we turned in around one a.m.

Nadia and Opat enjoying a laugh on Khao San Road.

Tim had a good time trying on hats.

Some of Khao San's more colorful street performers.


Enjoying ourselves at the Irish bar.

A rather late start on Saturday decreased our car-shopping time as we planned to visit Adrian, Chris, and Michael in Sri Racha — a two-hour journey from Bangkok — that afternoon.  I had found a company on the Internet, Expatriate Motors, which specializes in selling cars to expats and are experts in helping them properly register and insure the cars.  We took a taxi (by this time, we had a regular driver who gave us honest rates for chauffeuring us around) over there (it's on Sukhumvit Soi 101).  I finally got some actual (based on fact rather than heresay) answers to my questions.  The bottom line is that although sellers will try to convince you otherwise, no bank will finance the purchase of a car to a foreigner who doesn't have a work permit and at least six months of proof-of-employment in Thailand.  In order to register the car in my wife's name, she would need six months of pay stubs (and most Thai employers, unless they are a large firm, simply don't put employees on the books at all).  So that brought our plans of financing a car to a screeching hault.  The only way I'll be able to purchase a car here will be to pay cash in full which will take a little longer to move money from my American accounts (I can only withdraw 10,000 baht per day from the ATM and can't do a SWIFT transfer without actually visiting a branch of my home bank).

Back to the hostel for lunch (we became big fans of the attached Italian restaurant — Nadia and I shared a HUGE pepperoni pizza one night) and showers before piling into our regular taxi for the long drive out to Sri Racha (located in Chonburi).  Michael met us at the Robinson's in the center of town and then took us on a walking tour of the very large Assumption College campus.  Chris and Adrian met up with us there and then showed us their apartments (provided by the school).  They really put on the hard sell trying to get me to come up and join them there; Assumption will be hiring more English teachers at the beginning of the next term (March) and my friends promise to put in recommendations for me.  Now would be the time to start the process with the Ministry of Education's current emphasis on background checks, etc.

The guys decided to take us to a late dinner in Pattaya so we piled into our taxi, plus a tuk-tuk, for the hour trip to that city.  We managed to get lost before we located the favored restaurant, an English pub called The Pig & Whistle on Soi 9.  I had an excellent ham sandwich on homemade bread with Bradford pickles (the first time I'd ever tried this wonderful English treat).  We then walked to The Pick Up Bar for a couple of hours of drinks and conversation (and a bit of dancing by Tim, Nadia, and Michael's girlfriend Oh).

Good friends Michael, Chris, and Adrian.

Opat and Nadia, and a Jenga game, at Pick Up Bar in Pattaya.

Leaving our friends in Pattaya around 12:30, we took the long drive back to Bangkok.  By now, our driver seemed like an old friend and the Thais in the car (everyone but myself) had a great time chatting up a storm while I was left out of the loop.  Sometimes I can feel really lonely despite being surround by people so it seemed like an even longer ride than usual.

Anyway, arriving back to our hotel in the wee hours of the morning my wife suddenly got her second wind.  First we ate at a street-side stall (including some very nice soy sauce-marinated beef strips for me — bringing back a flood of memories of the birthday dinners Mom used to prepare) before taking a tuk-tuk to Bobae, an all-night clothing market.  It was pretty amazing wandering among shirt and jeans stalls amidst huge crowds of Thais (I seemed to be the only farang around) at 4:30 in the morning.

Nadia and Tim at Bobae Night Market

Finally back to the hostel around six on Sunday morning, we spent much of the day in our beds.  We thought about taking the bus back to Phuket that afternoon but Tim decided she wanted to visit our granddaughter up in Bang Pa-In.  That area, along with Ayutthaya and many other places in Thailand have been hard hit by the floods this year.  In fact, the lower level of Miao and Ant's home has been under water until very recently.  We managed to get lost a few times on the drive up and didn't arrive until almost 10 in the evening.  We did spent a couple of nice hours with Ant's side of the family and I played with Noo-Dang most of that time.  Our departure was delayed a bit as the State Police and Royal Guard blocked off the road for the imminent arrival of one of the princesses to the nearby Bang Pa-In Palace.  When they finally drove by (one of the cars was a Mercedes SLK Kompressor just like my Dad used to own) they did so at very high speed and I was warned not to take photos.  Our taxi driver treated us to a late meal at a roadside stand somewhere in the middle of nowhere; he seemed genuinely sorry that he wouldn't see us again on this trip...

My wife, our taxi driver, granddaughter Noo-Dang, and your's truly.

Noo-Dang really seems to love her grandpapa.

Outside of Miao's home the water level is still very high.  Note the high-water mark towards the top of the fence.

Since we couldn't get on a bus back to Phuket until Monday afternoon, we spent much of the day just hanging out near the hostel.  We checked out and then had a nice lunch at Pizza Aroy before taking the Sky Train (finally!) over to Central World, a megamall in the heart of Bangkok's shopping district.  Our main goal there was to find an outlet of Thai Ticketmaster so I could pick up our Eric Clapton concert tickets (these are pretty cool — like plastic debit cards — and came with free EC greatest hits CD's and drink coupons) but we also did a bit of browsing in a few high-end stores.  Tim wanted some new shoes but was shocked at the prices; we had fun looking, however.  We did come across "Asia's Biggest Christmas Tree" and I was pleased to see plenty of holiday decorations.  We decided to venture over to the huge Big C across the street; in trying to get back to street level from the walkway beneath the Sky Train tracks we ducked inside of Grayson Department Store where we found yet another Christmas tree.

Nadia standing in front of the Central World Christmas tree (the photo of Tim didn't come out that great...).

Another try at photographing Tim in front of a Christmas tree, this time at Grayson's.

A few doors down from Big C, we explored a large marketplace full of Thai handicrafts (more of an OTOP style of shopping area) but didn't buy anything.  We then encountered a large grouping of streetside vendor stalls and Tim happily went around buying good things to eat.  We spent a while inside Big C; Tim purchased two pairs of walking shoes and we got a few munchies for the long bus ride home.  Finally, we took a tuk-tuk back to the hostel where we retrieved our bags (stored for free in their left luggage office) and got a taxi to take us to the Southern Bus Terminal (after some difficulty; no less than four drivers turned us down because they didn't "have time" to drive us that far!).  We arrived at the chaotic bus terminal (I truly hate it — there are no sidewalks and you have to squeeze between the numerous busses while trying to get to the ticket office and waiting area).  The earliest bus leaving was at 6:30 (just a two-hour wait from the time we arrived) but it was the most uncomfortable one I've yet ridden on in this country (we were packed in like sardines and the chairs definitely weren't made for Western-sized people!).


Tim at the street food market across from Central World mall.

Tim and Nadia waiting for our bus back to Phuket.

We got back home early Tuesday morning after a sleepless night.  My knee was badly bruised from being jammed under the seat in front of mine for 10 hours as the Thai man sitting in it refused to adjust it for the farang.  All I could think about for the last several hours on the bus was getting home and being able to take a shower before sleeping in my air-conditioned room all day.  However, upon arriving home we found that one of Tim's friends who had checked our mail had locked the master bedroom door.  There's no key (and I still haven't been given a reason why they should have opened that door in the first place) but luckily we managed to get our landlord on the phone at the early hour and he sent someone over to replace the door knob!  My "wonderful luck" continued when we discovered that there was little to no water pressure due to some work on the main pipes so I couldn't even take a shower.  Add insult to injury, I sat down at my desk chair to check email and the chair promptly broke sending me to the floor (the second one to do that in as many months, due more because of bad welding than because of my weight...).

Anyway, it is nice to be back home although we have had sore throats and the sniffles the past few days.  It's either from the pollution in Bangkok or the arctic temperatures of the taxis and busses compared with the roasting temperatures outside.  Although we didn't accomplish our goal of buying a car (nor was I able to get to the U.S. Embassy — it was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday) I'm still happy we made the trip.

For now, the focus seems to have shifted to plans for my birthday, coming up on Sunday.  I'd told Tim and Nadia I didn't want a big deal made of it, that we should have a combination party when Nadia's birthday comes up on the 19th, but the girls seem to be plotting some sort of shindig (with plenty of giggling going on lately!).  Stay tuned...

PHOTOS: PATONG CARNIVAL & LOY KRATONG

The night after we returned from Singapore, we drove into Patong to check out the last night of the High Season Carnival.  Highlights included plenty of great music, food vendors, and a bikini fashion show.  Here are a few photos from the night:


My lovely wife, Sangwan (Tim).

Nadia and Tim.

Tim with Thai dancers.


I always enjoy the traditional Thai dancing at the various carnivals.

Lighting a Lanna-style paper balloon on Patong Beach.

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The next two nights, we attended Loy Kratong carnivals in Karon and on Bangla Road in Patong where I took the following pictures:

A rare photo of my wife wearing makeup...

Children's talent show at Karon.

Kratongs floating on the lake at Karon Park.

Nadia, Opat, and I danced until the wee hours on the stage at Karon.

Too much happy in the middle of the night.


Tim and Opat sold beer and softdrinks on Patong Beach for Loy Kratong.

Stage set up on the eastern end of Bangla Road for Loy Kratong.  Sunday night saw traditional beauty and Kratong-making competitions; Monday night this was the scene of the Miss Beer Bar contest making for quite a contrast!



Loy Kratong features beauty contests for women of all ages in traditional Thai garb.


The night before, Nadia and I had sent a balloon aloft just the two of us as Tim was busy with her beer stall.  I decided we should have her participate on the actual Loy Kratong night (Sunday) as it's better luck.  Jum, who had returned after a lengthy stay in Udon, also joined in.


After Nadia got off of work, we (including Jum and Lek) all met up at Deng's Bar in Bangla.