Well, our little experiment is over. What did Thavorn and I learn? Thavorn learned that she can't live in her Moma's house in the village. First, her Moma is too loud and secondly, she seldom cleans up the messes she creates and relies on Thavorn's 2 children, Thai and Dun to clean and fetch for her. Thavorn has had quite a few conversations with her Moma and there has been some change but not much. I myself, spent only 2 months in the village and I can safely say, a couple of nights is more than enough for me.
It was not a complete waste as I accomplished my goal of getting back in shape and losing 20 pounds in the process. I feel great.
The second accomplishment is Thavorn and I added one air-conditioned room, a drop ceiling in 2/3rd's of the house and added on an outdoor kitchen. At the same time we replaced the hazardous electrical wiring and updated the plumbing somewhat. Thavorn feels good that her moma's house is much more presentable and livable. Tai has her own sleeping area which is good as she is maturing.
If Thavorn and I were to buy some land and build a house in the village I would need some transportation to get into Bangkok at least once a month for some entertainment. The village is sleepy, the women are chubby, dress down, and do not bother with their appearance at all. There is no one to speak English to other than Thavorn and Jaidan.
I think a better solution would be to purchase something in Bangkok. My friend Arthur bought the equivalent of a townhouse for 1.5 million baht and renovated it for about another 100,000 baht and is quite happy with the place. I am going to visit it in the near future and take a look at it.
Apparently, we have a pickup truck coming in the morning. I asked what time and the closest Thavorn could pin it down was the 'morning'. In true Thai fashion, it is some relation who does not know Bangkok very well. I downloaded TomTom from the Android Play Store and I will be able to give him directions into the core of Bangkok where we live. Getting back out will be his problem.
I had Thavorn call our apartment building and confirm that our unit is empty, clean, and ready for us to move in. I hope Jaidan remembers and adjusts to his new surroundings quickly. When he left, he was propping and high fiving all the staff and the surrounding motorcycle taxi drivers.
We are leaving behind much of our stuff as it has been badly used over the last 4 months. Our dishes are toast and most of our glasses have been broken. Chairs are just dirty and worn out. The pillows are soaked through with sweat stains so I insisted to Thavorn that we buy new. Ditto for towels. Our spin mop units are toast as they are all filthy. So, it is off to Big C when we get back to Bangkok.
We are signing a 12 month lease this time around and I really have to do something with our internet so that I can watch some English content on the television. What we get on the existing feed is 95% Thai and useless to me. Fibre is being installed in Bangkok but has not made it onto my street yet. My phone's data connection is fast but I am limited to 20 gigs of download. I may have to dedicate a cheap phone and new sim card for internet access for my entertainment.
That's it for now, hopefully my next post will originate from Bangkok.
TTYL
Gwar had an interesting cover of the song by Kansas - I am into it - maybe not to everyone's taste https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baExq6xNhQ8
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, not to my taste :-)
ReplyDelete