Living in a house now

Well a lot has happened since I last wrote. Last time I was in Pattaya. I stayed a little while longer in Pattaya. Some friends from England were on holiday here (Colin, Leanne, Janet and John) so we spent some time with them. Some of the pictures that I am trying to upload are of that time. Paa and I took Colin and Leanne to Koh Lan island, 20 Baht for a boat trip from Pattaya, the boat takes a half hour. Then we took a little motorbike taxi to a beach (busy) and then on to a more secluded one. A great day, I got slightly sunburnt, we played in rubber rings, drank the odd beer, and I went snorkelling, with coral, fish, sea slugs and sea urchins - and the journey cost less than £1. There are photos of us hopefully.
Another night we went to Ruan Tai (spelling?) restaurant, to eat well and see the Thai dancing. After that it was the Malibu show, which is hilarious, and their are pics of that as well.
The day we left Pattaya for Buriram was mad. We booked tickets on the bus (7 Hours on the VIP bus - £5) then we went off to The Million Years Stone Park and Pattaya Crocodile Farm.. The Park was very beautiful, there were various large pieces of fossilised tree, but nothing to tell the visitor where they came from, what tree it was, or how old they were. I can however guarantee that it was older than 1 million years and most likely (Jurassic or) Cretaceous. The park also had a zoo, also badly signed and the animals are not given the attention they would be in England, but they were the best looked after that I have seen in Thailand. The Crocodile Farm had a mad bloke doing a show, there is a picture, but we just caught the last few minutes of the show.
On the way back from there the motorbike that we had rented got a puncture. A mile or so down the road (I got a motorbike taxi and Paa rode the bike because she weighs less) was a bike garage. Unfortunately even Paa’s weight had destroyed the tyre, so we had to buy a new tyre and inner tube - the cost 200 baht or £3 and that includes fitting!!!
So we got back, popped in a shop, saw a bed on offer, and had it delivered to the village, Ban Lum Puk in Buriram. Suddenly we realised we were booked on the coach in 20 mins, I don’t know how but we left the shop, got our luggage, took the bike back and got to the bus station.
We arrived in Buriram at about 2am, tried to get in at the disco, but it had closed so we went to the post disco bar, see a couple of pics of us and her brother and uncle who came to pick us up.
So then we had two weeks at Ban Lum Puk, Paa’s village. In that time we have bought a car, Isuzu Hi-Lander 3.0 tdi and a Yamaha Mio Moped, both black and the car/truck has blacked out windows. There is a picture of it in Huai Rat train station car park, Paa is in the noodle bar/hut behind the car. The pictures in the village are from the mobile phone, the batteries ran out on the camera and I forgot the charger, but they are reasonable. The ones of her aunt weaving are an attempt to show daily life which I will attempt to carry on in the pictures, she was weaving for a couple of days while we were there, and she will be doing it for many more days.
Elephant riding was a great adventure. Paa’s cousins uncle has an elephant, so we, Jimmy and Nong, Tony and Donna and their kids went to ride the elephant. Not something I would normally do if in a zoo, but it was family so I thought yes … and I am glad I did. We started off on the road which was a bit boring, and all the cars were zooming past, they didn’t scare the elephants luckily. Then we turned off into countryside and wow, along a track, then into the trees and then a lake. We were doing the Tarzan noise and shouting ‘ungower’, it was great, and we had umbrellas as if we were on some tiger hunt in India 100 years ago. Great time. Then we had to go under the elephant 3 times for luck. Then the elephants ate and drank Thai whiskey.
We decided to start building the wall round the land in the village so that we are ready to build a house. There are some great pictures of the building site. I will put more up when we go back. Children on site, dogs, chickens, it is amazing. But work wise, I was amazed, six men and six women working, and working hard, for 10 hours a day, for very little. I bought food at lunch for them, and then 3 bottles of beer and a bottle of thai whiskey for the end of the day. The pictures are great so I hope that I can up load them.
Then I came back to Pattaya, driving the new car, with the bike roped in the back. Paa and I are setting up a house in Pattaya for six months, to use as base while we get used to living together, and while we build the house. This house has two bedrooms with on-suite bathrooms so that friends can stay. Just need some friends …. to visit :-)