Back in our little Thai home

Nov 12

James left for home in the wee hours of Nov 9^th.  Ron and I left Bangkok on Nov 9 by renting a car with driver to take us to Hua Hin to pick up a rental car. Our last two days with James we went to Wat Pho to have his horoscope/fortune read and to see the incredible reclining Buddha. The statue is 150 feet long and is gilded brick and plaster. It really is quite spectacular. The following day we went to the National Museum and got caught in the pouring monsoon rain. The museum occupied several buildings and while in the last building we waited for 45 minutes for the torrential rains to slacken up in order to leave. We looked like the ‘three drown rats’. The museum itself was a disappointment. It was not well maintained and had a limited collection.

We are thrilled to be in our little Thai house. Phetchaburi is a small town and is so much calmer than Bangkok with its 14 million residents. There is little to do here. We decided to rent a car to give us more freedom and to impose less on our Thai “family” here. Our house is part of a family compound. Pa Cha An is the lovely 89 year old matriarch of a large family. She is now blind but still gets around her house. Lin, her daughter in law lives with her to help out. Our house is at the other end of the property, a quick walk down the driveway. Noi, one of Pa Cha An’s sons lives next to us. Noi takes care of the property in our absence.  Ron has busied himself with home maintenance: he bleached the stucco foundation of the house that gets lots of black mold, he is currently carving out a wedge in the foundation where there is a large crack. The crack isn’t structural, merely surface. He started by using a power tool and now is using a hammer and chisel to get a bigger wedge that he will later fill with concrete. Next will come repainting the surface. It is hotter than hell here so he works in the early morning before the heat becomes unbearable.

Today we woke up to a terrific tropical monsoon rain storm, complete with thunder and lightening. We were able for the first time to turn off the AC in the bedroom, the only room that is air conditioned. It rained most of the morning so we ran errands after breakfast then came back to the house. Since it is still cool due to the weather Ron is now carving away outside making a great racket. It is also quite humid here so even with the cooler temps it is still easy to work up a sweat.

Our second day here we drove to Hua Hin  about an hour south of here to have lunch with our friend Bill, a retired builder from Bend OR. He now lives about five hours south of here but was in Hua Hin for some appointments. We enjoyed some fabulous duck soup with egg noodles and got in a good visit.

I have spent my time organizing our closet which was a jumble. I did some ironing and rested from the heat when possible. I am such a light weight when it comes to the heat. We now have a TV and DVD player so in the evenings we usually play Scrabble which we bought for this trip or do a crossword puzzle together and then watch an episode of Mad Men, season 5. We are limiting ourselves to one a night so we won’t run out before we leave. The TV only gets Thai stations and since we know about six words in Thai, we don’t watch the programs. We are happy to have Scrabble and the DVD player. In the past we played rummy until we got rummy!