Lottie goes to School

Even though she is only 2 and 1 month, Lottie has started school. It is a private school in Buriram, which teaches Thai and English. £30 per month including lunch. It also has its own indoor swimming pool. It looks very nice, cartoon characters all over the walls, and English and Thai wall charts in every room.

Owl

I arrived home from golf to find we had an young owl, Paa's dad and others had found it up a tree, and because Lottie loves pictures of owls, he thought he would bring it back for her. I obviously made him take it back immediately, which he did. When we got back to the village I found out that there were 3 young owls, the other 2 were still in the village, taken by people who thought they looked nice! Unfortunately they are probably now dead, but the locals dont seem to think there is anything wrong in what they did.

Lottie's 2nd Birthday

For Lottie's 2nd Birthday we had a buffet party at the house, most of the village came. Lottie was asleep for a lot of the party. Everyone had a good time except my wallet.

Chalermkarnchana University

Outside Surin on the road to Prasat there is a new university being built. It looks like a French building from a few centuries ago. I suppose they wanted people to notice it, and I certainly did, which is why I have posted a picture of it.

Phanom Sawai Forest Park

On the way back from a trip to the Cambodian border, we went to see Phanom Sawai Forest Park. An out-of-city attraction 14km south of Surin. It is signposted but there is no information for the visitor to read, however, we rang the bells, and Paa prayed at "Buddha's Footprint". There wereancient lava flows in the woods as well.

Honey

Paa's dad is a great tree climber, fisherman, and food finder. Occasionally we will see him collecting ants, fruit or salad from nearby trees. This day he came back with honey. The bees were very small, but the honey was lovely. The first time I have had honey from a honey-comb.

Drying the Rice

This year we had a new helper to dry the rice, and drive the little tractor. It was a reasonable harvest in our area theis year, unfortunately many other areas had flooding this year.

Grapes and Lemons

I have bought a couple of grape vines, they are not available round here as far as I know, but this area, Buriram, does grow grapes according to my research on the net. I believe they are red grapes. I made a raised box for them and they are doing very well. I am hoping that they will grow over the shelter round the back of the house.

The lemon tree is 5 ft high now and is the best one of 6 I have grown from seeds from a lemon that I bought in the supermarket. They prefer a cold season, which is prbably why no one grows them here. We will see what happens.

The Pond

The pond has been doing well, we have been catching catfish for people in the village, the Nin fish are just about big enough to eat, but I want them to get bigger. I put another 200 small nin and 100 small catfish in 2 days ago. Round the edge are a couple of banana plants, 4 bamboo, eucalyptus trees, coconuts, and some other fruiting trees.However the soil is horrible at present, much of it from 2 or 3 metres down when they dug out the pond. So the trees are struggling at present.

Golf

Surprisingly I had started playing golf twice a week. I was absolutely loving playing, even though I was usually 40 over par for 18 holes. My best 9 holes was my last 9 holes, 53 only 3 off my present target. Unfortunately during my next round my back went, so golf is on hold at the moment I am hoping to try playing Friday or next week.

Lottie

An update to the blog is never finished until I have put new photos of Lottie on. She is great, just getting over a bad cold, she had a high fever, but is just left with a cough now. Even so she was hardly a problem, no crying and even took the medicine without the usual spitting it out.

Drying Fish

Something I haven't seen around our village before. Someone brought a load of fish to a neighbour. They went round in a truck selling them off the back. They sold a lot, but still had some left, the women gutted the fish in the village hall and then they attempted to dry them, however, it rained soon after this photo.

Snooker Room

The extension to house the pool/snooker room, store room and outdoor kitchen is finished. It looks great, though the roof leaks in one area of the pool room. But Uncle E-at who made it is away working in Bangkok at the moment so I am waiting for his return to mend it. Here are some pics from when it was being made.

Planting Rice

Most of the rice directly around us is just thrown into the fields from a bucket. However if there is enough water in a field it can be hand planted. The seedlings are replanted about 10cm apart. This increases the yield and obviously cuts down on seed costs. But it is back braking work. Here are some locals getting bundles ready to go and replant.

Patanar

Cleaning the village. This year as well as tidying up the village, all the houses made name/number plates (except us, we still have to make ours) The village looks a lot better now. Lottie and I went to watch, and I bought the people some whiskey and pop.

Fishing

I have been learning how to throw a Thai fishing net. I am not very good yet. Five men from my village and I went fishing in a large lake about 15km from the house. I caught about 15 fish, however, everyone else caught over 200.

Elephant in the garden

As usual when I see an elephant in the village a picture or two appear on here. Lottie loves elephants on the TV or on her cartoon DVDs. Elephant is chang in Thai and Lottie must say chang at least 50 times a day. However she was very scared when she saw a real chang.

Seaside

We popped to the seaside for a short holiday. Lottie loves the sea, well she loves water full stop. There are swimming pools in Buriram so will have to start swimming lessons soon. A girl from our village works on the beach doing manicures and massage, so Paa got a manicure.

Bangkok

We went for a short holiday in Bangkok, we have been before but not taken many pictures. So here are a few, the Grand Palace, the river etc.

Little Scarecrows

Throughout the villages around here, little scarecrows have been appearing on peoples gateposts. They are to ward away a female ghost, who is after men who were born on Tuesday or Wednesday (some say Thursday). Unfortunately I dont know which day I was born on. The girl in the picture is making one for her brother.

Lottie

She is now walking and nearly always smiling, but she has just realised if she screams/cries if she doesnt get her way, it may make a difference. She loves going out around the village, in the morning she plays on our bed until Paa says "by dtea-o" (go visiting), then she gets very excited. Comes back for a sleep at about 11am, a bath which she loves and eating rice congee (thick rice soup with finely minced pork). All the other children make a fuss of her, as do all the women in the village, and many of the men. She is a very happy child.

Pattaya to see Craig and Terry

Unfortunately Craig and Terry didnt have too much time so werent coming to visit me, so I had to visit them while they were in Thailand. We did the usual, went to the island, went to the big Buddha on the hill, we went down the coast to a beach at Sattahip, eating seafood at Bang Seray, and also drinking excessive amounts interspersed with breakfast and dinner, and playing a lot of pool. It was really nice to see them again, I hadnt seen terry for 5 months and craig for a year and a half. Aussie Paul hooked up with us as well. And a couple of other friends Jamie and Roger were around so we had a great time.

My Fishing Pond

I have been wanting a fishing pond behind the house for two years. However my mother in law said that it is unlucky to have one behind the house, even though many people have them behind the house. She finally relented however. After some negotiation and Paa showing a lack of bartering skills, I managed to get a digger organised.

Lottie's First Birthday

From a small party, suddenly we had a sound system, marquee, monks coming round to eat and bless Lottie and us. In Thailand any excuse is good enough for a party. I felt that we should just have a small party for Lottie with children and cake. Paa wanted to feed everybody and have a lot of drink as well.

Childrens' Day

Thailand has a Childrens' Day, the local school, put on a show. Various people sponsored various things, my friend Ron from the next village did the ice cream, I paid for a few hudred packets of crisps and various other people sponsored other things.

Paa's Brother becomes a Monk

To bring good luck to the family, boys around 20 years old sometimes become a monk for a week, weeks or month/s. Paa's brother did so this year. So after a party, he went to the temple.

Huai Rat Kite Festival

Other than me living here, Huai Rat is famous for its annual kite festival. How they get the wind to blow i don't know its not been windy for months, then we went to the festival and the wind starts. Anyway, some of the kites are seriously massive, the pink one in the photo is bigger than the blue one next to the truck. Each school in the "ampur" (county sub-division) sends a dance troupe, people fly kites, eat etc. Notice the power lines very close by!?

Lottie (obviously)

Here she is in her paddling pool. In the house, and helping Paa's mum and aunty to make rice, peanut and banana cooked inside coconut fronds. She is still no walking unaided, but can stand on her own for a short while. She is now 11 months and 4 days.

The Patter of Tiny Hooves Again

One of our buffalo had a baby, taking the number of buffalo to 7. This one was very small, but has survived with no problems. Here it is with Paa's dad.

School Sportsday(s)

Ban Ket School, our local school took part in the 3-day School Sportsday. There was football for the very young girls, hilarious because they all attampt to get the ball at the same time. So its like a swarm following the ball around the pitch. The parents are shouting, screaming, cheering, clapping and laughing.

Our school did very well (second) at "dat-grow", I don't know how to spell it. It is like keepy-uppy in England with a medium height net. The ball is made of plastic and is very light, it looks like it was probably made of bamboo historically. Two teams of three a side.

But the girls volleyball was the highlight, Ban Ket school came first. Our village (Ban Lum Puk)and Ban Ket took loads of people to support, more I think than any other village.

Bananas

The two large bunches of bananas started to turn yellow I cut them and strung them up in a three or four days they had all gone yellow. Lovely, slightly more custardy than the ones that one can buy in the UK. I think there are about 9 species or something grown in Thailand, we grow probably 5 different sorts but I am not sure about that, not being an expert banana spotter or taster.

Loy Kratong

This year we went to (the Buddhist festival) Loy Kratong, at the local school, this involves floating candles and josh sticks on banana leaf boats. There was dancing from some of the students and Thai boxing (which started very young). There was a "May Queen" or Loy Kratong Queen chosen from 4 hopefuls, Puy, Paa's cousin from our village, one from Ban Prow Wing, and two from Ban Ket. Ban Prow Wing won, although I think Puy came second, even though she should have won.

My Village

I realised that most of my pictures were of us doing x or y. So this morning I went out and took pictures of the children playing shop.

The village shop (with Lottie out front with her grandmother, Puk), which sells a few packets of crisps, pop, beer and vegetables in the early morning. Not much really.

The road almost opposite, Charlie's (after Charles Bronson) house, Boon's house and Lord's house can be seen.

And the local cafe, which is opposite our house. A bowl of noodle soup is 10bht (15p).

Rice

The rice harvest is in full swing, we had help drying the rice from some off the village kids. Almost everyone dries the rice on half the road (some dry it on the blue mesh in their gardens), the road is hotter, you may have to leave the rice for a couple of days to get it to the correct moisture content. When I took the rice to the place where they buy it, it all had the correct moisture content.

The interesting thing around here is that rice can be left (even in sacks) over night, no one will steal it even though it would be very easy. Which is great because it means that no one needs to stay with the rice overnight.

Holiday in Pattaya

These pictures were lost for almost a year, I had had them put on CD so that i could take more pictures. Last year around Loy Kratong (annual festival, reoccured last week) we went to meet Mike and Tariq in Pattaya, we visited the Big Buddha on the Hill.

We took a speed boat to an island called Ko Lan.

Went to Nong Nooch, a botanical gardens type place, Paa was obviously pregnant at the time.

Elephant again

Another elephant passed the house the other day. This one is looked after by Paa's cousins' grandfather. The elephant is decorated, I dont know if there is some significance in this. A few weeks later it passed through the rice fields past the back garden.

Lottie as usual

A movie of Lottie when excited.

Lottie with her great grandfather.

Lottie showing her six new teeth.

House and garden

The house and garden are great, the bananas and pappaya are doing especially well. Couple of pics and I am going to try a film.

Birdwatching

Birdwatching or in my case bird-spotting and moving on, is good fun here as many of the birds are not seen in the UK. We dont get that many birds unfortunately, and mostly one sees the same birds as most of the scenery around here is the same. The flambouyant birds are generally in the forested areas. However, here are a few pictures of some of the following black kite, brahminy kite, black shouldered kite, green bee-eater, white-throated kingfisher (i saw my first one today), lesser coucal, little, great and cattle egret, various herons, cinnamon bittern, painted stork (4 yesterday, and 5 flying day before), oriental magpie robin, pied bushchat, black-collared starling, common and crested myna, baya weaver.

Prasat Muang Tam

Another Khmer Temple from the C11th. It is close to Phanom Rung which I showed earlier in my blog. This temple has less tourists, is beautiful, quiet and is very photogenic. Well worth a visit. I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Rice Field Terrapin

On the same day as I found another cobra in the garden, I found a Terrapin outside the back door. Thats obviously lucky, so we put talc on it to see if it had a number hidden on its shell (there was maybe a 9) and then released it into the village pond.

Lottie

Charlotte is doing very well, eating well, sleeping well and nearly always smiling. Here are some pics ...

Independence Day - 4th July

An American friend, Ron, who lives some of the time in the next village to me, had a party for American Independence Day. Fireworks and beer. It was a good night, i was the only one to go home before 12 as I was getting over flu and a bad back.

Phanom Rung

Phanom Rung was built in the C12th AD, by the Khmer Empire. It is in Buriram Province, 60ish miles south of my house. It was on a trail from Angkor Wat in Cambodia, to Phanom Rung and on the Primai in Khorat province. It was built on the rim of an extinct volcano (this whole area is volcanic, the rice fields are littered with boulders shot out of volcanoes). It was built as a religious temple, Hindu/Buddhist, a pathway leads to a Naga Bridge, the 5 headed Naga (snake) is said to have shielded the Buddha, and I believe also brings rain. 52 steps lead up to the main temple building, a pool at either side of the entrance. The building has been restored, rebuilt, one can easily see the stones that were original, the new stones are from a similar rock. It has been restored well. It lets one realise the splendour of the building as it would have been a century ago. A few of the beautiful reliefs above the doors are missing but most are there. As is a lot of the carved rock especially at the front of the building. Temples, smaller buildings and corridors, it is well worth the money 10bht (15p) for a Thai and 40bht (60p) for non-Thai, this is my gripe, farangs as we are called have to pay 4 times the price that Thais pay, usual for all state parks etc. Imagine charging Thai's 4 times the Brit price to go to Alton Towers.

Diving

Terry and I went diving, the sea on the journey over to the island was a bit choppy, i was close to being sick but lucky was not. The diving was great, a bit murky. We saw many sea urchins, fish, coral, sea slugs and the best a large conch shell which was occupied and moving across the sand. Unfortunately I did not have an underwater camera.

Snakes

Yikes!!!!! Snakes in the garden is not a good thing. A few days ago I had a 4ft Comman Rat Snake on the satellite dish, literally 10ft away from where I am typing. Then tonight Paa's dad killed a cobra next to the porch only 2 and a half (maybe 3) foot long, but it reared up at him, as he beat it to death.

Lottie again

Wall

My wall, devised by me, but I did very little except oversee the job. I am very pleased with the results. It also makes the garden look a lot bigger.

Spirit House

Almost every house in Thailand has a "spirit house", I dont know the officail name. I forgot to put a picture on of ours when it was installed a few months ago.

Gates

I made these gates ages ago to be honest, it was created out of the wood that was used for concreting the walls, it was planed down and varished and looks great, however not one piece of wood was actually what you would call straight. Tariq and I then put pulleys and weights on to make them close automatically when you release them.