TOQ’S LIFE IN THAILAND

I just got back to the house after going to the post office in Khlong Lan. When I unlock the door and go inside I notice that the room seems a little larger than it did before I left. The couch is gone ! Nothing else has been touched, just the couch.

I called Choa to see what was going on but can’t reach him because he has left his phone at the house on the charger.

I can’t wait to hear this story. You know it really has to be good.

john

UPDATE

Seems there was a funeral up the road a bit and they had so many people there that there were not enough seats for the monks.  Choa loaned the couch to them so they would have a comfortable place to sit.

I knew it would be good  

I don’t really know what it is with Papa that keeps him going. He is 87 years old and never seems to stop. He and his girlfriend who is in her middle 70s never seem to stop. They spend most of their time in the gardens at his house or Choa’s. If I only had that much energy.

Not once has he or anyone in the family asked me for anything. They are proud, hard working and wonderful people.  Papa is really a very happy person and a joy to be around.  He comes by almost daily to work in the veggie garden he has started beside the house.  After he works a bit a little nap is in order either on the patio or on the sofa.  One great Father-in Law so to speak.

john

I’m not sure what is going on here but Choa arranged to have some dirt delivered to the house. When we got 2 loads by the house and then another 5 loads by the shop delivered I asked him what he was going to do with all the dirt. I was told it was to help level out the grounds. Of course my first thought was “How much is this going to cost?”. Free it seems. The owner of the truck wanted some dirt from Papa’s land across the road and Choa said OK as long as he got 7 loads for free and they had to spread it out. Done deal it seems.

Khun Mr. I’m So Vain had some new photos made and when he saw me working on the blog he wanted to post some. So, here they are so I can keep harmony in the family.  Now maybe he will leave me alone for awhile .

It looks like the drought is starting to play a small toll up here. I was taking a shower yesterday morning and ran out of water. This has happened before but it was because Choa didn’t turn on the pump to keep the water tank filled. That was not the case this time. There was just no more water. With the lack of rain and the shallow water tables we have here it seems the water was “finished”. We had to wait till for night to come so he could move the pump and the line to another location which is across the road. Since there is less traffic at night to run over the pipe he decided to wait. Not a bad idea since the road gets a fair amount of tractors and Tuk Tuks . It took about 3 hours to fill the tank so I got another shower around 10PM.

For those that don’t know, this is a Tuk Tuk

AHHHHH, The country life

john

Choa and I finally made it back home from Pattaya on Saturday 6th.  He wanted to stay a bit longer since he says he doesn’t  have anything to do up here to keep him from getting bored.  I gave him a couple of suggestions but I got a very nasty look.  Seems cleaning up the surrounding area next to the house and bungalows wasn’t what he had on mind to do.

Pattaya would have been a lot more fun if I hadn’t been so sick for about 2 weeks of it.  Got a cold up here before we left and I just could not shake it.  I was miserable for most of the trip.  As things got better I started to get back into the swing of things of a couple bars and having nice dinners with friends.  All of this works for  Choa because he spends his time with his friends which he likes and doesn’t have to hang around me all the time..  Of course , that is a 2 way street 

Now that we have made it back home he decided to take a look at the crop he has planted.  He planted some corn and peanuts a little bit before he left.  While he was gone he asked his brother to watch over it and water when needed.  It seemed to of worked because here is Choa now out watering.

He believes that in about 2 months the crop will be ready to harvest and he will make about 30,000B.  That remains to be seen.  Let’s say I am a bit skeptical to say the least.

Right before the New Year the commode in the 2^nd bathroom starting acting up. It just would not flush properly. I told Choa about it so he could get someone to look at it. Instead he went to the shop and bought some crystal substance to try and clean out the lines. That didn’t work so I asked him again to get someone out to look at it. Next he got a large hose and proceeded to slide the hose in and out of the pipe at the bottom of the tank. No luck. Once again I ask him to get someone out here. This is when he tells me “No one can do” “BULL SHIT”

Now it is NY eve and everyone up here is about to become so drunk you don’t really want them to be working on anything so it will have to wait. I’m not a Happy Camper about this.

We are into the NY now and once again I tell Choa to get someone out here or I am going into town and find someone myself. Ok, he says, Brother will look at it. Guess who never shows up. Now I am really starting to get upset and tell Choa we are headed to town first thing in the morning. “ I speak to man yesterday, he come today at 9” Hummm, what man. Sure enough someone showed up and took a look. Seems when the tank was installed it wasn’t done properly and it needed to be reset. Seems strange that it worked for over a year. So he began. He removed the entire commode and took it out on the patio to start chipping off the cement that was used when it was installed.. Guess what !!

While chipping away the commode broke into pieces at the base.

UGHHHHHHHHHHHH

Off we go to Khlong Lan we go to buy a new one. 2500B later and we are on the way back. About two hours after that all is well.

What an ordeal