I am still looking for a truck. I have been checking Craigslist and the Thai Visa website daily. I have gone to a number of “tent lots” the Thai version of a used car lot looking for a used truck but after seeing what is available I think I am better off trying to find an ex-pat who is leaving the country or upgrading to a newer model year. The tent lots are abundant and Sim and I spent one whole day visiting at least 10 lots. They buy wholesale and do a refurbishment clean up on everything they take in. They pull all the seats and clean the cars and trucks inside and out. All well and good but I can still spot the ones that have been used hard and put away wet. First thing I check is the wheels. If there are any scrapes or nicks on the wheels I pass. Everything we looked at at every lot had wheels full of scrapes and nicks.

Thursday
Truck shopping is looking up. I think I found a suitable truck. There is one on Thai Visa.com for sale. An Expat is leaving the country. It is a 2008 Toyota and priced very reasonable. I called the owner, Rob, and arranged to meet him tomorrow.

Friday
Tew arranged for a car and driver for us today. We are meeting Rob to see his truck at 11:00. We found Rob and his truck. I looked it over, checked the wheels (not a scratch) took it for a short test drive and negotiated the asking price. Rob and I shook hands and we had a deal. Since we were going up to Chiang Mai for Songkran and Rob and his girlfriend were going off to Trad (a province in the south of Thailand) for Songkran, we agreed to finalize the deal after we both got back from the Songkran holiday, about two weeks from now. We were going to meet up next Tuesday however and sign a purchase contract and leave a deposit to hold the truck.

Saturday
Went to Jatuchat Market today with Tew and David. Jatuchat was just an open air market and the last time I was there 12 years ago. Now it has doubled in size and they have a two or three (not sure) story air-conditioned building in addition to the huge outdoor a 2 acre covered marketplace. Jatuchat is HUGE. Everything you can think of is available for sale here. Clothes, plants, appliances, monkeys, yes I said monkeys. They have all sorts of wild animals, all of them illegal to sell of course but it is done anyway. Jatuchat is a bizarre place, but quite interesting to walk around for a few hours because you never know what you are going to see. We walked around for a few hours but it was really hot and I was beat after a while. We had lunch there and that was a nice break. Tew bought a few things and Sim managed to find something she liked. I resisted all temptation and bought nothing.

April 5 – 11 (Bangkok, Thailand)
Sunday
We are off to Pattaya for the day. Pattaya is a beach town about an hour or so southeast of Bangkok. Pattaya has a wild side, with lots of bars on the beachfront and a pretty rowdy nightlife. We are going to do some walking on the beach, drive by the new hotel that David's company is building, do some window shopping at the Central shopping mall and have dinner at a newly opened Brazilian restaurant that David's company just opened. This is a semi-business trip of sorts for David.

It is Sunday so the beach was full of tourists and locals. But Sim and I found a couple of empty beach chairs and hung out on the beach for an hour with Matthew while the rest of the Goods went to visit Ripley's Believe Or Not. It was unusually hot. Although we were sitting at the beach, it didn't help with the heat a bit as there were so little sea breeze blowing. An Ice cream vendor walked by us and asked if we wanted to buy his ice cream. Are you kidding me! who in the world going to say 'no.' We learned that we had to pay triple price for ice cream when buying it from a beach vendor in Pattaya. Later in the evening we found the new restaurant and enjoyed some Brazilian food. They have a salad bar where you help yourself, then the meat is brought to the table on a big skewer and they cut off portions right at the table. You can have as much as you want and they have a fairly large variety of meats including chicken, pork, beef and shrimp. The large BBQued prawns were outstanding.

Monday
Today my friend Choong and I are playing golf at the old home course of Muang Ake. This is the course that was right next to the house I lived in while I was working here in Thailand 12 years ago. Choong and I and another friend David, used to play here on a regular basis. We got in our 18 holes just as the sky opened up and a torrential downpour started. Perfect timing. Choong had an outstanding 2 over par round and I did okay.

Tuesday
We met with Rob and his girlfriend Lee today. We had talked on the phone a couple of times before today and I had the option of leaving him a deposit while he kept the truck or paying off what he owed on the truck and taking possession today. I opted to take possession. So we met at Siam Commercial bank Tuesday morning and paid off the loan on the truck and gave Rob the difference and drove the truck home.

We really don't officially own the truck yet, but Rob and I agreed to go to the transport office after the Songkran holiday and do the paperwork then. He was still waiting some documents that Toyota owed him anyway.

Wednesday
Sim is freaking out over the truck deal. Sim and Rob's girlfriend spend hours on the phone talking about the transfer of ownership. Everyone Sim has talked to is very dismayed and told us we should never have paid Rob all the money without having ownership transferred. I just said that Rob gave me his word and we shook hands on it and that was good enough for me. Not good enough for Sim or her friends.

Thursday
Sim and Rob's girlfriend arrange for all of us to meet at Siam Commercial leasing to get the paperwork for the truck, then go to the Transport Office to change ownership today instead of waiting until after the holiday.

We rode into Bangkok with David this morning. He dropped us off at the Siam Commercial Bank headquarters where the leasing office is located. We met Rob and Lee there. We were all there about an hour before it opened so we found a cafeteria that was in the same building and had some drinks while we waited for the office to open.

Rob's parents had come to Bangkok for a visit and his Dad came along with Rob and Lee. We had a nice chat in the cafeteria and got to know each other better.

It is 8:30 and the leasing office is open. Now bear in mind that Sim and Lee have made a dozen or so phone calls to this office trying to grease the skids. It still takes 1.5 hours for us to get the documents we need for our next stop; the DLT or Transport office.

We all jump in a cab and head for the Transport Office. Now, Sim and Lee have also made a dozen calls to the Transport Office and to Toyota. A representative from Toyota is supposed to be waiting for us at the Transport Office to help facilitate the transfer of ownership. He had to be there because Toyota did not have all the documents from Rob and they had not released the Blue Book (pink slip). Rob said he submitted what they wanted on two occasions and both times Toyota “lost” or miss-placed the documents and he was not submitting them again because it cost him $110.00 each time. So that is why Toyota was supposed to be there. Well he had left, but he was supposed to have smoothed the way with some clerk. More phone calls. All of us marched right into the back office to the clerks desk. It was funny. No one stopped us. Can you imagine strolling right into the back office area right up to one of the clerks at your local DMV?

We spent about 2 hours at the Transport Office and now it looks like all is well. Just one more thing. They need to inspect the vehicle. What? The truck is back at Tew's house. Sim gets on the phone and fortunately Tew is home. She has a driver drive the truck to the Transport Office. While we wait for the truck to arrive, we go have lunch since everyone is starving.

We just finish lunch when the truck arrives. OK, it looks like we are getting close to the finish line. What? We have to take the truck to a different location to get it looked at.

OK. We all jump in the truck and head across town to another Transport Office. We find it and pull into the inspection lane. In short order the truck is looked at: Frame number, engine serial number all match the paperwork. Good. Take everything inside for final stamp and we are on our way. Not. It seems the other Transport office did not sent over a complete set of documents. It took an hour just to decide that the other office could fax the required documents and we could continue processing while the originals were sent over. Well we waited and waited. Almost everyone was gone and we were the last people in the waiting room, the office was about to close when finally we were handed a completed, properly stamped Blue Book with the truck in Sim's name. Whew. What an experience. And we thought DMVs in the US were a pain. I can't wait to go get my Thai drivers license.

While we were at the DMV, the staff from Toyota called Sim and asked her to send a fax of the vehicle registration book to them. Why did they call Sim instead of Rob or Lee? I think they felt uneasy about calling Lee or Rob because of how they treated them. As always, with her warm heart, Sim agreed to fax the document to Toyota although she was dismayed at the irresponsible conduct of this particular Toyota dealer. She said we should just end the thing peacefully and we could report on how bad their service was on Thai Visa.com Expat forum.

Friday
Doing nothing today. Still recovering from our adventure with the Thai bureaucracy yesterday. Sim was however busy with receiving apologetic phone calls from Toyota all day. In the morning Sim flied a compliant to Toyota HR and Public Relations departments about the incident yesterday afternoon between one of Toyota's staff and Tew. The staff called Sim again in the afternoon and Tew answered the phone. Tew was not happy seeing her Aunt (Sim) having to do all the owner transferring process without any help from Toyota. When hearing the staff asking in a way of pushing Sim to send her a fax copy of the vehicle registration book, it irritated Tew even more. Their conversation heat up quickly and the Toyota staff was very rude to Tew. Sim demanded Toyota have the GM come to Tew's house to personally apologize to Tew and to pick up the document in person. Although Sim received numerous apologizing phone calls from Toyota, the GM didn't come to Tew's house for an apology, so Sim didn't fax them the document in return.

Saturday
Tew, David and the kids left this morning for 4 nights in China. We have their house to ourselves.

April 12 - 13 (Bangkok, Thailand)
Sunday
Easter Sunday in the US. and the first day of the 3 day Songkran celebration in Thailand. We are going into Bangkok and meet up with Sim's friend, Yui, to spend the day with her and go to a few “tourist” things. No car and driver today so we are taking public transportation. First we took a cab to the Metro Station. It is about 20 km from Tew's house. 100 baht ($2.83) for the cab. Then we took the Sky train (like a subway train only in the air rather than underground) into downtown Bangkok. 60 baht ($1.70 each) for the Sky-train. We met Yui at the boat dock on the Chao Phraya River and jumped into a commuter boat and headed up river. The boat costs about 13 baht ($.37) per person. We got off the boat at the Grand Palace. The Grand Palace is really grand and beautiful. It is the official place of the King, although he is not here much anymore. He spend most of their time at their palace/compound down south in Hua Hin. It was really crowded at the palace with a lot of tourists and lots of charter buses. I had to rent some long pants and Sim had to rent a sarong as we were both in shorts. Proper attire is required at the Grand Palace and at most Temples. We spent an hour or so walking around the Palace grounds, but it was crowded and not much fun because of the crowds and the heat. Recommend going early morning or late afternoon on a weekday about 2 hours before they close to avoid the crowds and the heat of the day.

Next we took a boat over to the Temple of Dawn on the other side of the river. The Temple of Dawn is an old Bangkok Temple sitting right next to the river. Best seen at sunset or sunrise from the river. It is quite spectacular with it beautiful spire glittering in the morning light. The main purpose we went there was to have lunch at a famous restaurant called Loong means Uncle. We ordered satay for an appetite, noodle for the main course, and kanom touy for dessert. Worth to go there. After walking around the Temple for a while we jumped back in another boat and headed to Wat Pho. They were having a Songkran celebration, and lots of food vendors, craft vendors and assorted entertainment was available for all to enjoy. We sampled the Som Tum (spicy papaya salad), the Pad Thai (stir fried noodles) green mangoes, coconut ice cream in coconut shell, and lots of unique desserts in the several hours that we were there.

Many of our friends and family wrote us in emails asking about the political unrest they were hearing about in the US media. There were reports of rioting in the streets, gunfire and general disruption of life here. We were unaffected by any of the above. We did see one road blocked off by the military on our way home from our day in Bangkok. So I think the reported incidents were very isolated and confined to small areas. The Prime Minister's car was attacked by some hooligans and the driver was injured but the PM was not hurt. It was reported that the police and military did nothing to stop the incident. That is the part that is confusing. The military and the police do not want to get involved as they may have to use some force, which would bring shouts of police/military brutality. That of course would be totally unacceptable in Thai culture, so the cops and the armed forces are caught between a rock and a hard place. As to today (May 3), the situation has quieted down and everything is back to normal. Well, as normal as the Thai political system can be; always in some form of turmoil.

Monday
I took Freedom, the Good's dog out for her daily walk tonight and had an incident with a pit bull that lives down the street. The dog was out and not on a lease and after sniffing Freedom for a minute decided to attack and latched onto the skin on Freedoms neck. Fortunately, the pit bulls owner was home and came running over and managed to get the dog off of Freedom, who ran home yelping. It really shook me up, and Freedom was not too happy either. I checked her when I got back to the house and found a small amount of blood on her cheek, but it did not look very serious. I think she will be OK. We were not worry about her too much as the maid was coming back tonight and the Goods were coming home tomorrow. Sim called Tew to let her know about the incident

April 14 – 15 (Chiang Mai, Thailand)
Tuesday
We are heading up north for a week or so with Som and Mee, friends of Sim. Mee is from northern Thailand and it is the custom during the Songkran holiday to go back to your hometown. Mee is driving and we are going along with them. We planned to leave Bangkok at 5:30 a.m. to begin the 10 hours drive north. We got up at 5:00 and got ready to drive to Chiang Mai. We got the car loaded up with 5 people and a weeks worth of luggage and got on the road to Chiang Mai about 6:00 a.m. It was a half hour later than we planned, but it was o.k. and we should make up the time easily as the road in Bangkok was pretty empty.

Mee finally got us heading north after a U-turn or two. It seems he does not know this area very well. I agreed to spend 10 hours in a car on a couple of conditions. First I needed to be in the drivers seat for part of the trip and I needed to stop and stretch every 2 hours. About 2 hours is all I can take sitting in a car these days. I had no trouble driving our motorhome for hours and hours, but I was sitting more upright like driving a bus. In a car, my legs start hurting after a couple of hours and I need to walk around and do some stretching for 10 minutes or so, then I am good for another couple of hours. All went well on the drive. I got a turn behind the wheel for a couple of hours and we stopped on a regular basis for restroom breaks and stretching. Around noon we stopped for lunch and spent a whole $5.00 for lunch for 4. Another must stop was at Kahmpangpech for bananas. They grow a certain type banana here. It is small and slender. About 2 bites is all you get so you eat about 6 to get the same amount as in 1 big Chichita banana in the US.

We got to Chiang Mai in the late afternoon. Now we had to find the hotel where we would spend two nights. We stopped and asked directions 4 times, we made 6 phone calls and we still cannot find this place. We also got stuck in a Songkran traffic jam on a busy downtown street where the Songkran water throwing celebrating was happening in full force. We inched along for an hour trying to get 3 blocks. Finally we found the hotel and got settled in.

We met up with Sim's cousin Mia and her husband Tee and their 2 daughters and went out for some authentic Northern Thai cuisine. Sim liked most of the dishes, and I liked one or two. The spicy paste made from green chilies was pretty good. The dish is called Namprig Noom meaning Young adult chilli paste. The heat is pretty profound.

Wednesday
Today is the last official day of the Songkran celebration. Sim and I are meeting up with her cousin's family and we are going into town to celebrate Songkran. That means throwing lots of water. Som and Mee decided not to come with us and opted to go do their own thing today. They dropped us off at the Big C where we met Tee, Sim's cousins husband Tee took us over to his house. He had a pickup truck ready to go with a 55 gal barrel filled with water in the back. Sim and I along with the kid and two friends got in the back of the pickup and Tee took us into town. Along the way there were several groups of kids along the side of the road and Tee slowed way down so everyone had a chance to throw water at close range. We were soaking wet within 10 minutes. We drove up and down one of the main downtown roads where there were groups of kids and adults every 50 yards. We stopped to refill our barrel at least 6 or 7 times. We stopped to get 2 blocks of ice to put in our barrel. Throwing ice water is way fun. Getting hit with a cup or bowl of ice water is shocking, I guess is the best way to put it. Most of the water being tossed is warm. But once in a while when you get hit with cold water, you can't help but cry out. It was fun hearing a truck load of people yell in shock when they got hit with a pan full of our ice water.

I got hit with a bucket of water and it knocked my glasses right off my face. I thought they had fallen in the bed of the truck. I searched the bed, but it was 4 inches deep in water and I could not find them. I told Sim that they probably got run over and smashed by the cars already and it would be a waste to go back and look for them. Sim however, insisted we should try to find them first before giving up. We stopped the truck and Sim walked back up the road to see if she could find them. And find them she did. The group that knocked them off my face saw them go into the street and retrieved them for me. They were all bent up but not broken. I did break off one side later trying to get them straight, but Sim was able to get them fixed, for free by the way, at the Big C later on that day.

We spent about 3 hours in the back of that pickup and had way too much fun.

April 16 – 17 (Doi Chaang, Thailand)
We found out the two hotel rooms were complimentary and arranged by Tee when we checked out this morning. Thanks to Tee and Mia for their warm hospitality. Sim had not seen her cousin, Mia, since she left for the U.S. Sim was pretty happy to see her again and I had a lot of fun experiencing my first Songkran. We headed towards Chiang Rai today. After a couple of U-turns and map checking we were heading north towards our destination. The countryside looks pretty much the same as most of Thailand. Flat farmlands dotted with houses and an occasional village is the typical scenery. As we approached Chiang Rai small hills started to appear and the scenery became a little more interesting.

We are not actually going to Chiang Rai but to a small village up in the mountains called Doi Chaang. Doi Chang is Mee's hometown. We are going to stay a couple of nights there. This part of Thailand is known for its coffee. So along the way we stopped at the Doi Chang Coffee House to take a break. Mee and Som enjoyed some coffee, Sim had cold green tea, and I had a banana chocolate smoothie. I would have had coffee, but once again, decaf was not available. The road to Mee's village was long and steep. Sometimes the road is only 1 lane wide. It was paved all the way but a lot of spots needed repair. Mee was constantly honking the horn at blind corners in the road to alert any oncoming drivers of our presence.

Arrived at the village and found the place we are going to stay for 2 nights. Kind of like a dormitory. Upstairs is one big open room with a TV and 50 mattress lying on the floor. Downstairs are 6 individual rooms with queen beds and the communal bathrooms. The bathrooms were typical Thai style with a 55 gallon barrel for taking a bath, Thai style toilet and a hand wand for taking a shower. They did have a propane fired instant hot water heater so the showers were warm and I was grateful for that.

Went up to the local meeting/gathering/partying place of the village. There was a party going on so we joined. They were celebrating 3 events. The annual respect the elders day, a new house that just got finished, and Doi Chang Coffee.

Friday
Today we are going up to visit Mee Mountain. It is not really named Mee Mountain but that is what I call it. Mee owns most of the mountain, which is eventually going to be a coffee plantation or a resort, perhaps. He has started planting coffee bean plants but it will be about 5 years before he starts getting good crop of beans. We drove up Mee Mountain in Mee's BIL's truck. It was a 4 wheel drive in 4 Low adventure. The “road”, if you can call it that went almost straight up the mountain. Exciting to say the least. We spent about an hour up on Mee Mountain and then jumped back in the truck and BIL took us over to his plantation. BIL's plantation has been growing about 5 years and he has a good crop. I asked him how many rai he has planted but he could not answer. He just kept saying “all of that, and all of that, and all of that” while pointing at the surrounding hills and valleys. I guess that it is hundreds of rai ( a rai is about 1/3 acre). After another hour looking about BIL's plantation we headed back to Mee's Mom's house. When we arrived they were packing up Chayote greens for the trip to Bangkok to be sold. In the midst of the coffee plants, a lot of people grow Chayote which is a green vegetable. The young runners of the plant are edible as well, and used in a stir fry that is very good. Mee's family ships 4 to 5 dozen 16 kilo baskets of the greens to Bangkok weekly.

All this work was making us hungary so we walked down to the local noodle shop for lunch. 7 of us had lunch for $3.00.

April 18 -19 (Chiang Mai, Thailand)
Saturday
We are heading back to Chiang Mai today. Since Chiang Mai is not really on the way home for Mee and Som, they are going to drop us off at the bottom of the mountain and we are going to take a bus back to Chiang Mai. We got to the bus terminal in town but all the seats were sold on the air conditioned express bus to Chiang Mai. No problem, we will take the local bus. It will be a little longer ride, the bus is not air conditioned and it is going to stop a couple of hundred times on the way. I hope it is full, I hope it is full, I hope it is full. It was. Not a seat to be had. It was a good thing that Mee and Som did not just drop us off and say goodbye. They stuck around to see us off, but when the bus situation did not happen for us, we got back in Mee's truck and they went out of their way to take us back to Chiang Mai. Actually, Mee got in inside one bus to check if the seat was comfortable for me, but he didn't think I would fit in.

We got to Chiang Mai and said our thank you and goodbye to Mee, Som and Nun. Sim's cousin Mia had arranged for a car and driver to pick us up where Mee dropped us off. He took us to the condo that Mia and Tee own in town. We are staying here for the next couple of days. Mee and Som dropped us off at about 2 p.m. so they will probably be home very late tonight. Sim was on the phone with Som numerous times to check where they were. They did not make it home that night but arrived home the next day at 3 a.m.

Sunday
It is our last day in Chiang Mai so Sim and I are going out to see the sights nearby. Mia has arranged a car and driver for us. We went up to Doi Suthep where a very large temple is and further up the mountain is a residence of the King of Thailand. The temple was pretty cool. There are 316 steps you have to climb to get to the top. They also have a cable car you can ride if you cannot walk up the steps. After visiting the temple we stopped at the bottom of the steps to buy some fried bananas. Naturally they were delicious. I could be a wealthy man if I could set up a fried banana stand in the US like this woman had at the temple. She goes through 5 or 6 bunches of bananas daily. That is probably 500 bananas. The problem is that you cannot get the Thai bananas she uses in the US. Oh well.

The Kings residence was a pretty cool place too. I had to rent some long pants to go on the grounds. I also had to pay 3 times the admission price that Sim paid, because I am a farang (foreigner).We walked around the grounds for a couple of hours. I guess the King has not been here in a few years. This was the winter residence for the royal family. There is a house for the king and another for his mom. The temperature up here on the mountain top is quite pleasant even when it is really hot down in the town.

After the mountain sightseeing we drove to a Heritage Village to see some hill-tribe people that have been relocated to Chiang Mai. Included in the village are some of the Padong tribe. These are the long neck women. We were a little short on cash so I went in while Sim waited with the driver. I walked around for about an hour and took some pictures. I was most interested in the Padong women and the reason for the rings on their necks. Originally, and village chief had a dream that a tiger attacked his daughter and the next morning ordered metal rings placed around his daughters neck to protect her neck from a tiger bite. Soon all the women started wearing the rings. The rings don't actually stretch their necks, but push the shoulders down. They wear the rings all the time, even while sleeping. They look really uncomfortable and the women I saw in the village looked like they had trouble turning their heads from side to side. I saw a young girl who was about 10 with rings, so they start the girls fairly young.

After we finished up with our tourist activities, we went back to the condo to shower and get ready to go out to dinner with Sim's cousins family. We went to a local restaurant that had some entertainment. The restaurant is located right on the river that runs through downtown Chiang Mai. The food was OK, but what really struck me was the poor service. Now in Thailand, if you go to a hotel the service is beyond your expectations, but for some reason, the restaurants have not trained or just don't bother the instruct their staff on the finer points of service. It is not that they ignore you or are rude or anything like that. You just have to ask for everything. They just don't anticipate your needs. Like clearing the plates when you have finished dinner, or coming over to ask if you want dessert or coffee. Strange.

April 20 – 23 ( Bangkok, Thailand)
Monday
Today we are flying back to Bangkok. Last night I tried to book a flight with Thai Airways and got all the way to the end of the process only to find out you cannot book a flight online within 24 hours of the scheduled departure. Nice of them to tell me that at the end of the process. Tried to call them to book over the phone, but the office was apparently closed. No wonder the airline is in trouble. They make it hard to book a flight. Never mind, I got online with 1-2-Go Airline and got a couple of tickets for less money. We do have to fly into the old Bangkok airport, but that is just a minor inconvenience. Tew has booked us a car to bring us back to her house, so transportation is not a problem.

Mia picked us up a couple of hours before our flight and we went out for breakfast and did some shopping before she dropped us off at the airport.

Tuesday
Rest and recuperate from the trip north. Wednesday
Nothing for me, but Sim went out to downtown Bangkok to meet with Som today. They were going to pick up a few bags of coffee beans from one of Som and Mee vendors. They also wanted to spend time alone so they could talk about the possibility of a business opportunity they may want to invest in together.

Thursday
Nothing much today. Relaxing and spending time on the computer. I think I spent 4 or 5 hours on Facebook. I am playing a game called Mafia Wars. It is totally addicting.

April 24 -25 (Korat, Khao Yai, Thailand)
Friday
We are going away for the weekend with our friend Choong and his wife Nok. They own a condo up near the Khao Yai National Park and we are going to spend the weekend there and play some golf and tour the area. Choong came over and picked us up Friday evening around 5:00. We drove into Bangkok to pick up his wife, who had a meeting that was over at 6:00. It is only a couple of hours to Khao Yai so we will not get there too late. Nok got out of her IBM meeting at 6:00 and we were on our way. We stopped at a noodle cart for dinner and I had one of the the best bowls of noodles yet. It turns out that this noodle cart is franchise and that they are all over, so I can have these noodles again almost anytime I want.

We got to Bonanza Ranch where their condo is located and got settled in. I could not help but hum the theme to Bonanza when I saw the sign. Choong and I are getting up at 5:00 to play golf, so I hit the sack early that night.

Saturday
We were at the first tee at 5:30 and it was barely light, but we were the only ones on the course. We had a great time playing the course practically by ourselves. After golf we got the in the car and went out for lunch. Then we drove around the area and finally ended up at Toscana Valley. Choong and Nok have a house under construction there and they needed to check on the progress. They are paying by the month and payment is based on progress. No payment this month. There was an accident with a big digger and the house was damaged in the process. Several rooms had to be torn down and need to be rebuilt. The house is going to be gorgeous when it gets finished and the complex is very upscale with houses going for 20 million baht and up. We got a couple golf carts and rode around the complex and looked at the houses under construction before it started to rain pretty hard and we had to head back to the car.

The Bonanza provided us with a golf cart so we jumped in and took a ride out on the golf course in the afternoon. We got out in the middle of the course when our cart died and we had to call and get a fresh one delivered before we could continue our tour. Later in the evening we took the cart to a local restaurant where we had dinner. Choong told us the story about the last time they had dinner there and came out to find that someone had driven off in their cart and they had to walk back to the condo. Dinner was good and cheap and no one swiped our cart. Life is good.

April 26 – 27 ( Bangkok, Thailand)
Sunday
We were going to play golf today as well, but the heavy rain last night flooded the course, so Choong woke me up at 5:00 to say we were not playing and I could sleep in. Sim had other ideas however. She got me up and we jumped in the golf cart and took an early morning drive through Bonanza Ranch. The morning air was cool and there was a nice breeze blowing. The air was fresh and there was no one about that early in the morning.

We got back to the condo and Choong and Nok were still sleeping. We had the living room to ourselves for a cup of coffee, then we decided to go back to bed for a couple more hours.

When Choong and Nok got up, they decided to head back to Bangkok. Sim and I would have liked to go visit the National Park, and resolved to make it on another trip. On the way home we stopped for more fruit shopping and got some fresh picked corn and some various other fruit.

We got back to Bangkok in the early afternoon. Our plan is to leave for Phuket on Monday or Tuesday and we want to take the Goods out to dinner before we leave. They had talked about the Chinese restaurant over at the nearby Novatel Hotel, so we decided to go there tonight for dinner.

In the evening David drove us all over to the Novatel for dinner. We ended up at the Japanese restaurant instead of the Chinese restaurant. Dinner was very very good. I had Plank combo. It was Chicken, Beef and Pork tenderloin served uncooked on a plank of very hot granite. The dish cooked as it sat in front of you. You could have part of it rare, medium rare, medium, medium well or well done if you really wanted it that way. Mine did not last past medium rare. As I said it was very very good.

Monday
We have decided to leave for Phuket on Tuesday, so today we are organizing and packing. That process really only took a few hours so I worked on the travelogue too.

April 28 (Hua Hin, Thailand)
Tuesday
We are finally on our way to Phuket. Our original plan of spending a few weeks in Bangkok turned into 8 weeks, but we are finally on our way. The plan is to take 3 days to drive to Phuket. It can be done in 12 hours but we are in no real hurry.

We stopped a bunch of times after we got on the road about 10:00 a.m. Sim loves to stop at the fruit vendors along the road. It seems every 100 km or so we enter a new fruit region. There are 100s of varieties of Mango in Thailand and I am determined to taste every variety.

The first destination before Hua Hin was Petchaburi. Sim wanted to stop there for lunch. She said Petchaburi is famous for a dish called Khao Chae that is served only in the summer. She wanted me to try but she didn't guarantee it was going to be delicious because she had never tried it either. Before lunch we stopped at Khao Wang Khiriwong which used to be the guest house of King Rama IV. The palace was used for hosting European diplomats. The uniqueness of this palace is that it is built up on a high big hill where you can see the whole town. The hill is in the middle of town. So, I think the town was built after the palace. We opted out of the option of taking a tram to the palace and decided to walk up instead. It was like we walked into a Plumeria garden and there were monkeys every where. We were warned not carry any food otherwise we would have a fight with the monkeys. It was fun watching the monkeys. Sim had a water bottle with her on the way back. One monkey tried to stop Sim and go after her water bottle. Sim and the monkey had a stand off for 2 minutes before the monkey gave in and walked away.

We are stopping for the night in Hua Hin. It is a popular beachfront town on the Bay of Thailand side of the lower Thailand peninsula. This is where the King of Thailand and his family spend most of their time these days. David, Tew's husband works for the Centara Group. They own hundreds of hotels throughout Thailand and of course they have a couple in Hua Hin. David arranged a complimentary room for us at the beachfront Centara in Hua Hin. We got checked in and found we had a beautiful ocean view room.

After getting settled, unpacked and showered, we headed out to see the town and get a bite to eat. We walked the downtown street and found a pleasant looking shop to have dinner. Sim liked being in the South again as the food in the South is more to her liking. Me, I am happy with just about anything.

April 29 (Champhon, Thailand)
Wednesday
We got up in the morning and I called the front desk to find out if Breakfast was included in our complimentary room. It was not. Hmmmm. I have to talk to David about that. We opted to go out for something rather than spend 640 baht per person ($18.00) for the buffet breakfast at the hotel. As we were walking out of the hotel, Sim stuck up a conversation with a foreigner walking in the same directions as us. You know how easy it is for Sim to make new friends. Anyway, Alan was going out for breakfast too and happened to have a favorite place that he recommended. We ended up going with Alan and buying him breakfast; about $4.00 for the 3 of us. Alan and his partner are in Thailand for a few months on vacation from Australia.

After breakfast Sim and I walked the beach again. We walked it yesterday afternoon as well and at that time we met a guy who was making sand sculptures at the high tide mark. We wanted to see if the ocean had claimed them last night. Nope, they were still there and he was touching them up and making minor fixes and improvements. They were quite good actually.

It was time to hit the road, so we checked out and loaded up the truck and took off for Champhon. We are only driving about 4 hours today. We got to Champhon and found a couple of hotels that looked like they might be acceptable. Unfortunately the Centara Group does not have a hotel in Champhon. That is understandable as we found out there is not much to Champhon. It was just a convenient stopping point on our way to Phuket. Sim checked out the first place and found it not up to our standard so we drove one block to the next place and Sim said it would do. We got to our room and found the air conditioner did not work so we had to move to a new room. After checking 3 rooms we finally found one that worked. The price was right for this hotel. It was only 500 baht ($14.00) per night. We walked most of the downtown after getting unpacked. We found the indoor shopping mall and had some dinner at the MK restaurant. MK is a franchise chain in Thailand with restaurants in most larger cities. MK is a hot pot place. They have a big pot filled with a broth in the center of the table and you order what you want to throw in the pot to cook. We were just having some noodles tonight however. Our wait person took our order, and we waited and waited and waited. Finally I asked Sim to call over the Manager as our wait person seemed to have disappeared. It turned out our order went to the wrong kitchen. I knew something was up as 2 groups that came in after us were already eating.

We finally got our food, but I asked Sim to fill out a Customer feedback form and give them some feedback. Unlike the US, our meal was not on the house because of the screw up. Sim said that never happens in Thailand.

Sim says we have to stop at this farm today. They have very unique restrooms she says. We found the place and pulled in for a pit stop. They do indeed have an interesting place. It is a farm. They grow fruit and some vegetables. The have a small gift shop and a restaurant too, but the uniqueness of the restrooms is really worth the stop. They are without a doubt the cleanest, most well maintained and most unusual restrooms we have come across in our 3 years of traveling. One set of restrooms is built up in a tree. You have to climb a rope ladder to get to them. Another set is in a cave that has a ladder up through the roof where you come out of a giant toilet. Another Men's room has the urinals outside in a tropical garden setting complete with a waterfall.

April 30 (Phuket, Thailand)
Thursday
We are driving to Phuket today. We are about 4 or 5 hours away. This far south the terrain is starting to get hilly and more jungle like. The limestone hill are in stark contrast to the rice paddies that dot the roadside.

We arrived on the island of Phuket via the Sarasin bridge in the early afternoon. First stop of course was to see family. Sim has 2 brothers and lots and lots of cousins and in-laws here.

Late in the afternoon we drove over to Kamala to see Sim's cousin. She has some rooms for rent and her sister has a house that may be suitable for a short term. Well the rooms turned out to be way too small but the house will work short term. We agreed to rent the 1br/1ba house for a week for 5000 baht ($141.00). We will spend the next week looking at different areas and houses that will work for us for a year or so.

So we finally are here in Phuket after deciding to come here 4 years ago. This will be our home base while we travel to different places here in Southeast Asia. Sim is already talking about Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and of course Australia and New Zealand. I just want to get settled in and stay put for a few months first before heading out on the next adventure. Time will tell who prevails. Stay tuned.