It's astounding at how quickly you can settle in to a place. Although we have only been here a mere 4 weeks, and we've seen precious little, we feel like we have our routine and know pretty well where things are and how to get things done.
I am also aware that we haven't had to deal with the Thai bureaucracy yet, and if we stayed here for extended periods of time that would become inevitable, and it would present challenges.
We also haven't traveled much, or as locals would travel, which would also present some interesting hurdles.
Around the back of our place, in a comparatively quiet street,
we came across this sign for an Italian pizzeria.
I'd say that it's an "Italian guy come to Thailand, meets Thai girl, marries Thai girl, get bored and starts up something to stave off the boredom" story.
We've often heard of people really missing the cuisine of their home, and even people from Melbourne wanting to eat Italian food in South East Asia, but I couldn't think of anything worse.
Thais do Thai cuisine quite well 🙃 so we tend to eat what the locals eat, when at all possible.
One of the extremely disappointing things you see in Thailand is how they deal with their rubbish.
It is strewn everywhere. The top pic above shows a major back road between Cha Am and Hua Hin.
The rubbish on the right hand side is piled high and must be a real health hazard.
On the pic below, and on the left, are more piles of rubbish. This scene is one block back from the beach and is the entrance to a "non-hunting" park.
In many of these piles you see people rummaging through them sifting out recyclable material.
You can barely see the guy on his scooter outfit leaving a pile he has just gone through.
It is sort of sad to see people in a developed country having to go through rubbish heaps to survive, but we should be eternally grateful to them as their efforts help us maintain this planet a little better by having less noxious landfill and making some of it go towards recycling.
Which leads me to the three things that most long term farangs will warn newcomers about are -
1. The rubbish, of which you can see a very small example above.
2. The soi dogs. Soi (a side-street branching off a major street) dogs are wild dogs that although abandoned and left to fend for themselves are often fed by some locals.
They live in empty plots of land, of which there are many and most if it has scrub for shelter.
They are fiercely territorial and should not be trusted the way you might trust a dog back home, which is not a good idea anyway, and they are known to bite and attack.
They often have mange and rabies.
The Thai government has a program with which they are sterilising the males and vaccinating all dogs against rabies. I hope it is effective but as these dogs are wild they are very cunning and are in such enormous numbers that other than a complete extermination program they will never be controlled, and I quote a government source on that.
Apart from being prone to biting they are also noisy of a night, which is when they come out to feed, fight and f ..... breed.
3. It's NOISY. VERY NOISY. VERY NOISY ALL THE TIME.
Thais are the opposite of the Japanese, insofar as being mindful of neighbours, and others in general, when it comes to being loud. It is not a sign of disrespect, it is just their way.
Their party's are noisy, their gatherings are noisy, their vehicles are noisy,
their open air karaoke contests are noisy, their discussions are noisy, their bars are noisy .........
If you have a problem with noise then perhaps Thailand is not the place for you.
Whilst we criss cross Cha Am on our walks we come across not only normal Thai life but also interesting architecture. This is the front unit of four in a back street about 500m from the beach
There are also lots of nice places for rent at very affordable prices -
AUD 800 - 1000/month depending on size, amenities, location etc. but all at great value.
Out to sea is one the "banana boats" getting pulled along by one of those horrifically dangerous outboard motor propelled converted jet-ski's.
Oh yes, not only are they extremely dangerous, think of underwater meat chopper upperer, but they are also noisy, as in INCREDIBLY LOUD.
The bottom pic show the jet-ski driver coming back to pick up a passenger that had fallen off.
My favourite Cha Am seawater truck.
Logic, law and simple physics tell you that this vehicle has no place on the road, and yet here it is drawing up sea water to distribute to all the live seafood vendors along the beach road.
I can't get a good go at taking pics of just how rusted and dilapidated this thing is without running the risk of offending the driver ..... or maybe he might be proud of it!
Just because you're a beach sand shifting excavator doesn't mean you can't benefit from having
10 rear vision mirrors and 14 driving lights
😄😄😄
🎶 You can check out but you can never leave 🎶
Every town, with a beach, has one.
This place is the "Love Restaurant" and I think it is a welfare type place similar to
I hope it is, as KOTO was a wonderful experience and so good for the kids and community.
Here's Tiz on a bike after 45+ years.
She had a very bad fall as a kid and never got back on one after it.
I encouraged her to try, which she has, and I am immensely proud of her courage to do so.
Falling off a two wheeled vehicle can have a profound effect and it takes a very stupid person
🙇♂️ *this is where I take my bow* 🙇♂️
to "jump back on the bike" without any thought other than the desire to fulfil the need of the thrill.
Tiz was a little wobbly at first, but, as in everything she does,
she just chips away at it and gets better and better.
Green curry Chicken and vegetables with rice noodles by world renowned chef
👩🍳👩🍳 👩🍳 Tizi Gava 👏 👏👏
Tiz spent some time in the Phillipines, as an exchange student, and learnt,
amongst other things, to drink cola and beer.
In the Phillipines, Pepsi was and still is the favoured version of cola.
No, I don't get it, but to each their own.
So, given that wine is not a "thing" here and Tiz doesn't drink beer
she decided to give this old fave a go.
I don't know what the beer and cola cocktail tasted like but I can tell you
the green curry chicken and vegetables on rice noodles was exquisite.
I couldn't let a post go by without a pic of a bike.
This grom was spotted on the beach the other day and, to me, was a tribute, of sorts, to .....
...... an MV Agusta F3 ..... sort of ..... if you 😆 a bit ..... 😂
It's Sunday morning and we decided to forego our daily walk for three reasons -
1. Being Sunday all the tourists will be down at the beach making it a chaotic.
Bloody tourists, why don't they go back to where they came from! 🤣
2. It's over over 40℃ and it's only 10:30.
"Ron mak mak", as the locals would say. 🙏
3. Yesterday I set off with my back in real pain and, against all hope, it got no better despite the walk. Tiz suggested that I do some yoga based stretching exercises, which have already helped, and I am going to just flop around in the pool today and call it "exercise".
🧘♂️🤸♂️
Okaly dokaly compadres, stay well, safe, dry and warm and hopefully we'll see you back here soon
Cheers,
Marino & Tiz
