Sometimes Good Things happen

Today's song is: Happy  .. by Williams

I bought an expensive 34 inch Samsung Curved monitor in December of 2015 for my programming needs. I am much more productive when I don't have to move Windows around the screen and can see 3 or 4 windows at the same time plus 2 virtual machines plus my laptop screen.  That monitor died about 1 month ago and I replaced it with a smaller much cheaper monitor.

I had some time and finally found a copy of the sales receipt plus the invoice as well as the warrantee card and lo and behold, the monitor was warranted for 3 years and I had 2 months remaining on the warranty.

The only problem is the monitor is large and heavy and I do not have a car and the service depot is in the city center and I have been leery of dealing with Samsung Service centers in the past. I also remember when I tried to register the warranty when I bought the monitor I was not successful on their website. I envisioned carting the monitor downtown and back to no avail plus  800 baht charges for taxis.

So I tried calling the service center but was not able to trigger the English response buy saying English, so I enlisted Thavorn who understood the Tinglish instructions to press nine for English as well.

So I got someone who spoke Tinglish but soon got frustrated and told the rep that my Thai wife would explain my problem and back and forth we went until we convince him the monitor was very large and they should treat it like one of their large TV screens and come fix it onsite.  They finally agreed and arrived today after calling me twice on my phone despite my giving them Thavorn's phone number to call. I ended up texting them Thavorn's number and they called her for directions of how to find our apartment.  You would think service techs would know how to use Google maps.

I was coaching bball when they took my monitor apart and decided they could not fix it and gave me a brand new replacement monitor. They accepted my photocopy of the receipt and invoice and did not demand the original which probably would have faded into nothing readable by now.

So, I am the proud owner of 2 good monitors, one of which is too large to take to Canada and the other being able to fit in my suitcase so I will take it for my 6 months in Canada and store the larger monitor in Thailand until I return in 6 months.

Good things can happen even in Tinglish and Thailand to a farang abroad if he is married to a good Thai woman  :-)

TTYL

Extended Family Arrives

Today's song is: Clean Bandit  .. Tears

Last night (Thursday) Thavorn's 3rd child and the grand mother arrived with Thavorn's older sister and her husband. Thavorn now has all 4 of her children with her for the next 2 days which usually never happens.  Thavorn is happy.

The grandmother and her older sister are busy cooking up a big meal. Her older sister is 3 months pregnant and she and her husband are hoping this one sticks as they want to have a child together.

All 6 of them slept in the second bedroom, with the two older children sleeping on the floor as they were afraid of ghosts out in the living room if they slept on the pull out couch.  Thais see a lot of ghosts.  Go figure  :-), part of their culture.

Shaun has left for Patong and a walk on the wild side.  We are hoping he takes care of himself and stays out of trouble.

I. myself, just plan to chill out and let the Thais have a good time.  Maybe I will learn something new in terms of programming. However, sometimes I feel the need to distance myself from the hundreds of thousands lines of code I maintain  ..

Pic of the 4 children:

Can you spot the princess?

TTYL

Chillin in Turtle Beach

Today's song is: Kinky Friedman in Ireland  .. Doesn't get much worse  .. not for the PC

Well we polished off our  2 lites of red wine and Shaun came up with 750 ml of Vodka and a brace of red bull bottles.  We are awaiting the arrival of 4 more Thai people which will bring the grand total of humanity in our 2 bedroom resort to 10.  Can you say cosy?

When they arrive Thavorn and her sister plus Pom (sister's partner) will head off to Tesco to buy some pork, veggies, and rice to feed the hordes over the next couple of days!  I dare say we will need some more vodka and Red Bull to get us through to the weekend. Thavorn's sister can not drink because she is 3 months pregnant and her partner is an abstainer which is highly unusual for a Thai male. Thavorn's sister's name is Rodchana.  I probably misspelled her name.

We are listening to Thai song's and dancing about the room  ..  hard to imagine but true.  Vodka and Red Bull tends to make you a little crazy  :-)  crazy but good  :-)

The other two arrivals is Thavorn's third child Bie Derry who is a bit of a princess and her grandmother Jit who facilitates the princess.

What are holidays for?  To cut lose and do stupid things  :-)

This begs the question  .. What will I do for entertainment in Canada. There is always my older sister Ann's cabin in the woods which always brings out the child in me  .. Then again, it may be the red wine that is always in copious supply there  .. or it may be her husband Bill, who is the perfect foil for my unorthodox view points  .. or perhaps the presence of my two older children  who I feel the need to make laugh at my antics  .. but more likely, it is the Peter Pan in me  .. whatever, I always have fun  .. maybe it is the Strub pickles  .. this time around weed will be legal so I will leave it up to Jordan to come up with some wacky brownies or chocolate (weed) cookies to liven up the party.

Thavorn has disappeared to the shower to freshen up for the new arrivals.. I myself, am always happy with who (whom) I am   :-)  I never could figure out who versus whom.

It is amazing how alcohol  facilitates my discourse  ..  or so it seems  :-)

I am happy that we are booked for Canada but at the same time I am a bit apprehensive that Thavorn and Jaidan will not like Canada  .. Time to think about that when it happens   .. time to be more Thai like and live in the present.

My buddy Ashley is set to leave around December 1st to travel around the southern USA in a camper van  .. no doubt he will check in with my buddy Michael to vacations in Florida with  his new gf during the winter.  I suggested to Ashley he take up my challenge to visit as many Div 1 bball games as possible before he arrives back in Canada, hopefully after march madness is over.

Shaun is ahead of me by one vrb (vodka red bull) so I have to say  ..

Tacky and Thavorn  ..

TTYL

Getting Old and Returning Home

Today's song is: Funny How Time Slips Away  .. Willie  ..  old but still good  :-)

It is no fun getting old. Your metabolism slows down, you put on weight, and you don't need much sleep, but your old interests are fading or simply do not fit with the new you. basically the new you sucks. You lose hair on top and it gets replaced with nose and ear hair that grows rapidly before falling to the pain of the tweezers.

I find the biggest thing about growing old is the lack of energy, compounded by not being able to eat that chocolate bar for a quick energy fix.  That and the aches and pains that seem more problematic as the years roll by.

So make hey when you can and are able to appreciate it  .. you only go around once  :-)

We are vacationing in Phuket and today we booked some bicycles and Thavorn and her two kids rode while Jaidan and I walked as he is not biking as of today.

I booked our 3 air tickets back home to Canada today. We will be arriving Sunday Feb 17th in Vancouver. We will spend about 4 days getting over jet lag and buy some warm clothes.  Looking forward to be in Ottawa by the 24th or so  :-)  This time we are there for 6 months  ..

 Some pics ...

13 year old urchin

Thavorn and the 12 year old urchin

beautiful secluded beach in both directions for kilometers

Jaidan hunting for crabs

Thavorn embracing life as she tends to do  :-)

 TTYL

Post 550

Today's song is: Photograph .. Nickleback

Tomorrow, Sunday, we fly off to Phuket, Thavorn, Jaidan, and I, plus the 2 urchins from the village, Tai and Dun.  It should be a fun time as the 2 urchins have never flown, seen the ocean, or stayed in a 5+ star resort.  Our unit has a washer and drier so all I want to take is one carry on per person. No problem for me  :-)

I am starting to look at flights back to Canada and it looks like we will take a one way to Vancouver, stay for a week (buy some winter clothes) and then take 3 return Aeroplan flights to Ottawa, returning to Vancouver about September 1 and flying one way from Vancouver to Bangkok.

Usually I stay away from one way flights but the cost of a one way from Bangkok to Vancouver is less than one half of a return trip. I think this is due to the proliferation of flights by Chinese airlines.

I am happy with the above as Vancouver airport is more worldly than the rinky dink Ottawa airport and I don't want Thavorn to think that Canada is backward country.  If you have ever flown into KL or Suvarnhibumi Airport you will understand.  It also gives Thavorn and Jaidan a bit of time to get used to 2 or 3 degrees before subjecting them to -20 in Ottawa.

I will use resort points and stay at the Sheraton in downtown Vancouver.

and, of course Vancouver is always listed as one of the top 3 cities to live in the world.

I also lived in Vancouver for 2 years and know it quite well. Perhaps we will rent a car and head off to Whistler for a weekend before heading off to Ottawa.  Lots to think about!

TTYL

Two Countries

Today's song is: Hurt  .. Christina

If this does not make you smile  .. there is something wrong with you

I just finished the 3 day odyssey to get my 90 day reporting done and the renewal of my retirement visa in Thailand.  The next time should go more smoothly now that I am familiar with Samut Prakan Immigration Center, especially knowing I live in Samut Prakan Province, not Bangkok Province.  My residence now knows how to properly register aliens staying in their building.

Canada makes it very difficult for most countries to visit Canada. However, if you are granted a TRV (visitor's visa), it is very easy to overstay and if you are caught, Canada will even give you free legal representation to fight your deportment. Canada does not track where you stay and even does not track when you leave.

Thailand makes it very easy to visit with its visa on arrival system. However, once you are in, they try to track when you leave and where you stay. However, when you let in over 30 million people a year, that is a lot of people to track! Hotels, guest houses, apartments and condos must inform the government when a non Thai person checks in.  Anyone with a OA visa or work permit must report in to the government every 90 days or they will be fined 2,000 baht, if even a day late.

The government is cracking down when institutions or people fail to report.

However, once you are in, if you stay at friends then you can overstay a long time if you avoid getting into trouble or get caught by a random search. However, once caught, you are barred from entering Thailand again from 1 to 10 years dependent on how long you over stayed.

I keep telling Thavorn that she will like Canada's system  of trusting you once you are in. No 90 day reporting, or showing your passport to hotels.  All she has to do is spend 2 years of the next 5 years in Canada to maintain her Permanent Residence. After 3 years she can apply to become a Canadian citizen.

You can never become a Thai citizen. Once a farang, always a farang. My translation for farang is 'non Thai', not foreigner!

TTYL

Visa Renewal and 90 Day Reporting

Today's song is: Alice's Restaurant  .. Arlo Guthrie  .. sums up my feelings today

Duh, you think I would put 2 and 2 together?  I mentioned in a previous post that I no longer live in the province of Bangkok. I now live in the province of Samut Prakan, although for all purposes if it smells like a duck and walks like a duck  .. it looks like Bangkok and the BTS spans both.

So on Tuesday I traveled to the Immigration Government Complex to try to do my 90 day reporting and my Retirement Visa renewal at the same time. Despite killing about 6 hours I accomplished neither. I was told that I lived in Samut Prakat now and needed to go to the Samut Prakan Immigration office to do all my immigration stuff from here on in.  So back home I went and considered it a wasted day.

The Bangkok Immigration office lineup at lunch hour

My coffee #1 while waiting

My coffee #2 while waiting

Where I now go for my immigration needs  .. no lattes here  ..

This morning I headed off with Thavorn and Jaidan in tow for the 45 minute taxi ride to the SamutPrakan Immigration office in, you got it, the City of Samut Prakan. The good news is that it beats the 90 minute commute to the Bangkok office.  The bad news is that I was still registered in my Bangkok apartment because the administration of my new building did not file a form 30 stating I now lived in Samut Prakan. Good thing I took Thavorn along with me because the officials working at Samut Prakan did not have a good grasp of the English language.

Another wasted trip and $400 baht in taxis fees. At least it was better than the 600 baht in taxi fees yesterday. I arrived back at our apartment building and immediately inquired if they had submitted a form 30 for me and lo and behold they had not but could do so online now and present me with a copy to take to the Samut Prakan office the next morning at 8:30 am.  No so sorries  .. you can't expect them to admit neglecting to do something as they lose face. The law required them to submit the form 30 within 24 hours of accepting a tenant.

I am hoping to get my immigration needs fulfilled tomorrow as I am now running into the time limits of my 90 day and 365 day visa and will get blacklisted if I go over the 365 days.

I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

TTYL

Back

Today's song is: Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie  .. You Gotta Walk that Lonesome Valley

It has been a very long time time between posts. I will chalk it up to being busy coaching basketball. We have outscored the opposition 275 to 145 and are 5 wins and 1 loss and are in second place.  We played a stinker to the number 1 team and lost by 7 although we were up by 2 halfway through the 4th.  That might have something to do with the fact I have only 7 players and they had 14.

We are off now until about October 30th when we resume playing because the school has a 10 day October holiday.

Thavorn and Jaidan return from the village today accompanied by her two oldest children, Tai and Dun.  They will be staying with us for about 4 weeks, including flying to Phuket on the 14th and returning on the 21st. That will be exciting for them as they have never flown or seen the ocean.

I am quite looking forward to some company other than the 4 walls in my apartment.  However, I do enjoy staying at Big Tree and living in a smaller community. Bangkok is just a taxi ride away.

Our new apartment is a studio so it will be tight accommodating everyone but the Marriott resort is a 2 bedroom with lots of room.

My boy Mowgli is gone replaced by some new kid.

Two of my favorite friends: Mimmo from Italy and Jimmy from Singapore. Jimmy speaks 7 languages. Mimmo claims to be a CFO but I suspect he launders money for the mafia  :-)

I managed to find a 4 liter pack of Peter Vella red wine. My plan is to get Thavorn drunk when she arrives this afternoon and take advantage of her  :-)

The lovely Thavorn ...

TTYL