Coming on Apace!

Not the best photos: lots of concrete mouldings being made so will have to wait to reveal them!

Anyway, roof frame almost finished, more  walls being built. Plumbing pipes now being lined up!

DW

Temple Outside Surin: photos

Some nice photos from our trip to a Temple outside Surin yesterday. Two photos are excellent and i didn't take them, Namwan did 😁 they are photos one and two.

DW

The House 25 June 2013

Good progress overall even though one section of wall had to be torn down and rebuilt and one unfinished, small, section was blown down by a gust of wind last night.

Take a look.

Note the health and safety issues!

DW

A Rural Scene

Picture the scene: a small country road, a few houses and the village shop. Rice, casava and rubber plantations in the background.

It's home time for the cattle and four Buffalo are being walked home. The usual: one herdsman, every animal with its own rope threaded through its nose and down onto the ground where it trails for another four metres or so.

One Buffalo breaks free and starts running, then another. The other two become  nervous but the herdsman catches hold of their ropes and they are controlled.

The friskier of the two free animals is running here and there and he is a big animal. If anyone gets in his way they will have a big problem. He doubles back and snatches at some grass as his eyes stare wildly. He snatches again but then sees the herdsman and runs off again.

I think, this could be a problem: the towny thinking about health and safety! No one else is alarmed. Other bystanders simply stand by. The herdsman seems content as he had already seen what I never thought of: the two free animals have turned into the lane that takes them home.

I saw a problem. Everyone else saw an animal or two that just wanted to let off a bit of steam.

That was my rural scene. Done!

DW

Roof Coming on

The roof is well under way now.

DW

House Update!

I am back at the building site again and it's turning into a house, day by day!

DW

New Car

For the first time since 1988 I have bought a brand new car. I bought a Toyota Vios E that runs on E20 petrol.

And here we are this morning just before I drove her away with just 6 kilometres on the clock!

DW

Recliner? Why not sit in front of me?

This is true. I have mentioned before that on an average flight there is an 80% chance that if there is anyone sitting in front of me they will recline their seat as far as possible.

I have also studied the chances of the above happening elsewhere on the flight and I find there is a 10% chance that this happens to any other passenger.

Now, i am on a coach going from Bangkok to Isaan Province and I kid you not, the ONLY two seats in the fully reclined position are in front of us!

Ten percent of all seats on this coach are reclined to some extent.

How about that?

DW

Incredible * 2

I found the address of the Royal Cambodian  Embassy in Bangkok. I got Nigel on the iPhone to show me where it it. I could see it was very straightforward to get there:

Bus 71

BTS from Phra Khanong to Siam

Walk down Henri Dunant Road

Ta daa!

Ta D'Oh! More like.

I was near a university so i decided to find a young person, student type, likely to speak English. I was right first time. She didn't know where the Embassy was but she took me to a nearby security guard: i will ask him and interpret for you, she said.

She did! The guard said he knew where i should go: far away, get a taxi. He wrote the name for me in Thai: show this to the   driver.

I did that. After 10 kilometres i was thinking: how could that security guard know so much about that Embassy? Am i being taken for a ride? What does the taxi driver know that Nigel doesn't?

Well, after another few kms we arrived. Way out of town. Nowhere near Siam BTS.

So, I went inside, completed their form, handed it over and paid. Within five minutes i had my Cambodia visa in my passport and now i am on my way back to Siam Paragon.

Praise that student and that security guard!

DW

I've Been Framed!

In an average year I can take up to 7,000 or so photographs: I know, my iPhoto list tells me that.

How many photos do I print out? How many do I ever put in frames? Very few and very few.

Over the weekend, I decided to print out some of my recent favourite photos: the winking calf included. A sunset from North East Thailand was another. As for the rest, me, me, me and she, she, she!

Most of them are in frames now too: three of the larger photos still waiting for theirs.

There's a lot of walls to fill in the new house!

DW

Fascinating Retail

I went for a walk along Sukhumvit 71 yesterday and found a couple of fascinating shops.

Among the kind of shops that one finds all over Bangkok that look more like someone randomly dumped a load of produce in their front room, I found a DIY engineer's delight. Tools and equipment in a well lit shop that, even from the roadside, no one would ever suspect was there.

Even walking past, it would not be difficult to walk past this shop without really appreciating it.

There is an order and a system to the shop. It is set out just like a good engineer's workshop should be. I wanted to go in and buy an entire tool kit of things but common sense prevailed!

When I need a drill or hacksawor  pneumatic nail gun, i know where to go now!

DW

Hairy Thai Fruit: the Rambutan

This is one of those very exotic looking tropical fruits that is easy to eat by the bucketful: the Rambutan.

The Rambutan is in season in Thailand now at about 25 Baht per Kg in Bangkok.

DW

Y'Orchiding!!

We stumbled in Siam Paragon last night after having dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. 81,000 flowers later, here's some of what we saw: Orchids.

I watched a programme on plant life recently that said there were 25,000 species of Orchid. Here's some of them but I'm afraid the iPhone camera wasn't up to the job this time.

DW

What is gugulululu?

Answers on a postcard after you have watched this slideshow! DW

Latest from the House

I took these photos as we left for Bangkok but forgot to share them ...

DW

Infill soil needed now then the floors go in.

Eye Level? Need a Spirit Level!

So we went to the bank to transfer some money. Namwan doing the business I was there because i was there.

We sit down and the business starts. I take it easy and lean back in my chair. Feels like a 20 degree lean.

Then 45 degrees ...

Then 90 degrees ...

Then 135 degrees ...

Then it stops. My head is on the floor and my legs are pointing at the ceiling.

That was fun! Luckily, the ride was slow otherwise i would have cracked my head. As it was, it was nice and gentle and noone  got hurt!!!

Sorry but no photo!!

DW

Weather Watch

If ever it's about to lash it down, it would be foolish to decide to go for a walk wearing just a short sleeved shirt, shorts and sandals wouldn't it!

Top tip for you!

DW

The House

We're up to the ground floor now ... The concrete  pouring going on here was finished today.

DW

Insect Close Ups!

I came across these while bird watching.

Note, no bird photos!!

DW

KLM Come on Down ... and OUT!

Saudi Arabia two months ago. Flight delayed from Manchester. Bumped from the onward connection so rerouted. Suitcase delayed four days.

I spent £120 on taxis getting me and luggage after the KLM botch up.

I claimed from KLM for actual costs incurred. 

They said all will be sorted in 10 days ... it wasn't.

Then they said two weeks ... it wasn't.

Then 6 - 10 weeks ... it was!!

After many exchanges on twitter and filling in their awful forms online, i got my "settlement" today: for my taxi fare in Cairo, we award you £40. It will take up to 21 days to get to you.

I laughed! Then wrote on twitter to KLM: Cairo? I never went to Cairo. This is a Saydi Arabia problem. They replied, "Strange!". Our Customer Team is normally so thorough at researching such claims.

I laughed again!

They're looking into it for me.

Breath being held, not 😁😁😁

DW

High Drama ... FIRE!

5 pm this afternoon and the shout went up: FIRE!

We all dashed across the road tothe  neighbour's house where their porch thatch was ablaze.

Pans, bowls and a hosepipe had the blaze under control and out fairly quickly and the amount of straw to be replaced is not that much.

This evening i asked what started the fire and was told that the boy of the house was trying to kill insects in the thatch ... using lighted matches!!! 😱😱😱. He's seven years okd!

Bless!

DW

Mini Frog

This frog is about an inch long. I used the flash so it looks much darker skinned than it is.

DW

Building Site Update ... we are here!

We came to see the house for a specific reason ... but we left some vital papers in Bangkok so that kind of fell apart! Still, all is not lost and we will do what we need to do!

So, here are some photos, beginning with a bucket for pouring concrete ... can you see any concrete???

Then other updating snaps!

DW

That's the view from the dining room to the master bedroom.

Excel Training in Bangkok

I will be leading a two day seminar on Spreadsheet and Financial Modelling on 4th and 5th July 2013.

Short, intensive and very interactive ... if you use Excel and you need help, come along.

Read up snd sign on here :

http://www.vmacgroup.com/Spreadsheet%20and%20Financial%20modelling/index.php

DW

Rooms are Showing!

They have got to the stage where the layout of the rooms is showing now.

Take a look ...

DW

Waffling on ...

Because of the very high costs of shipping i was able to bring just a few of my  possessions with he to Thailand. One thing that did survive was my waffle iron.

Today was waffle day: the first waffles to be made in Thailand using Mickey Mouse waffle iron. Take a look.

By the way, the recipe book that came with this iron disappeared in my last days in England. I had it in my hand and put it aside to bring it with me. It went somewhere i am sorry to say. As i researched recipes last night i came across some dreadful looking ideas too.

DW

Top Man!

One of my delegates said this week's course was the best course he had ever been on.

How about that?

DW

Lost Luggage? I'm an expert

Whoops they did it again! Lost my luggage, I mean.

I travelled with Etihad from Abu Dhabi to Riyadh but my suitcase did not! This follows having initially being bumped from the flight because they had overbooked it.

They eventually found me a seat after initially offering to fly me in the evening via Kuwait ... as if i wanted to do that!

Now it's the usual mess: which is typically when supposedly five star airlines reveal their true colours. We see how valuable passengers really are as they are ignored or are given assurances that are worthless and are even told lies. 

If ever they misplace your luggage, you are often on your own. I am still waiting for anything sensible from KLM following their mishandling of me and my luggage early in April. They really do not care. A promise of action within days becomes a standard response to look into your case that leads to a letter that says everything was beyond their control. Then someone responds to say USE MY NAME otherwise you will get lost in the system. Oh and by the way, it can take up to TEN WEEKS to sort out your problem which is funny when you realise that it took them just minutes to cause you stress, to cause you to have to walk around in the same clothes for days on end and to spend lots of money on taxis to cover for missed connections and collecting the luggage which they then refuse to deliver.

At the time of writing, my named contact at KLM has disappeared without a trace. They hope i will go away so that they can   save the GBP150 they owe me.

DW

House Update

Here is the house as at earlier today!

A lot more steel and concrete going into the foundations. A platform has arrived too!!

Not the best photos but better than nothing!!!

DW

Unique Toast

Just to show that one can make toast with a waffle iron!!

Mickey Mouse face to boot!!

Note the Marmite :)

DW