There has been as much talk of the lack of rain and water in Thailand as there is in Australia.
And, much to everyones surprise, NOT, the rain problem is being placed fairly and squarely at the feet of climate change.
Also very unsurprising is the effect of the 10+ dams the Chinese have built in the Upper Mekong on the amount of water the Thai farmers, in the east, have to grow their crops.
China - "You will gain so much from the hydro electricity our dams are producing and from the diversion of water to Chinese crops."
Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam - "Yes. Please hold this empty bucket whilst we dig our dry soil looking for water."
And we Australian have just voted back a government that is not really on board with acknowledging or wanting to do anything worthwhile about the climate change disaster that is affecting the Earth.
I fear for the future of our planet and what we are leaving for our children.
Friday 17th May
As I write this I am thinking of a conversation I was having with a mate of mine a while back.
The conversation was about his parents, who were both long retired , and how their days revolved around their meals. When to eat, what to eat, how to cook it etc. etc.
The way he told it made us both laugh and we agreed that we would never get to that stage.
Well, as I read this blog, I laugh because I reckon I'm not that different to my mates parents.
But, in my defence, I love food and have done so since I can remember and am happy to make food one of the, if not THE, main topic of any day.
You too may have noticed this from reading this blog
😉
During our efforts to get to know Cha Am, as well as we could, before coming here
we looked at a lot of Youtube clips, many if not most, were along the beach road
which is where the majority of the food carts congregate of an evening.
Two of the food carts, although not technically "carts", we have been keen to try
are two VW Kombis.
At one stage Tiz and I were sure, from what we could remember, that there was only one and we disagreed on if it was a cocktail or a seafood "cart".
we looked at a lot of Youtube clips, many if not most, were along the beach road
which is where the majority of the food carts congregate of an evening.
Two of the food carts, although not technically "carts", we have been keen to try
are two VW Kombis.
At one stage Tiz and I were sure, from what we could remember, that there was only one and we disagreed on if it was a cocktail or a seafood "cart".
As it turned out there were two.
We had seen the cocktail Kombi a fair way north on the beach road, on a previous weekend and tonight we went for a walk to look for any cart to eat and stumbled across the "food" Kombi.
As it turned out it wasn't a seafood one, which was a little disappointing.
But it was open and had a good selection of food, cooked to order (which is always preferred over food that is cooked in batches and sits there waiting to be bought) and very cheap to boot.
We had seen the cocktail Kombi a fair way north on the beach road, on a previous weekend and tonight we went for a walk to look for any cart to eat and stumbled across the "food" Kombi.
As it turned out it wasn't a seafood one, which was a little disappointing.
But it was open and had a good selection of food, cooked to order (which is always preferred over food that is cooked in batches and sits there waiting to be bought) and very cheap to boot.
We ordered our selections and sat down.
This pic is as much about the kid in the background as it is about the condiments -
from left to right chilli, tomato, mayo, mustard and all the Thai staples in the basket.
The kid, probably ~17, made us laugh. He was like every other kid his age - head down in his mobile and only did anything when the girl you see in the next two pics asked him to do it.
And then he would do it with about 0.5% interest.
A couple of his mates dropped by later and his face lit up.
Kids are kids, no matter which country they are from.
Not that I'm any good at it but I'd say the guy cooking, the girl serving and the kid helping out were all family of one sort or other. They all put in and work hard, with some needing a push 😐
As it wasn't a seafood cart, as I'd imagined and hoped, but it did have pork steak!
Couple that with a really good pepper gravy, an egg, chips, a reasonable albeit small salad, a piece of bread fried in coconut oil AND a frankfurt.
What is it with love of frankfurts in this country?!
They are as common as prawns or mussels or mackerel on menus and cost as much.
We all know that they are made from lips, bums, meat processors' floor sweepings and filler and are as far away from being good food as you can get ..... unless you've had a few beers at a BBQ or watching a game of football.
Tiz chose a piece of Dory cooked with Panko breadcrumbs and a chilli sauce, thankfully on the side, that was hot enough to strip paint. And that's why I'm a bit over the whole chilli sauce thing.
Great piece of fish well prepared and well cooked and then you pour a sauce that will blister your tongue on it. No, no and no.
Saturday 18th May
Oh yes, there was an election in Retardistan, but I'd rather not comment.
Sunday 19th May
When you move into a place that has had transients living in it, like you and before you, you inherit quite a bit of stuff. Usually it's a shedload of salt, like we did here, various condiments and sauces, like we did here, such as 5 or 6 bottles, large of course, of soy sauce, shakers of spices, an industrial quantity of dried chillis and sometimes something interesting. Such as ......
Tiz figured quite quickly that this was Jok (โจ๊ก, pronounced joke), or the Thai version of congee also known as rice porridge, it's about as comforting as a Thai breakfast can come.
But what interested me was the 🐷 on the packet!
We all know that pork, and not only bacon, makes everything taste better.
I tried to translate the packet using Google Translate but it gave a different result every time.
I'm not criticising Google products ...... yes I am .......
but you wouldn't want to bet on their results being right all the time, like some people do.
Google Maps and Translate are a useful starting point, sometimes.
You still need use your knowledge what the end result could or should be.
The fact was that we knew that it was rice porridge, which is good, and it had pork in it, which obviously made it better. To step it all up a notch the pork was "BBQ Pork".
There was no way it could not be good, but how would we cook it?
There were 2 or 3 words in English on the back but nothing that indicated how to cook this product.
However there were 3 small diagrams with some numbers that we worked out.
They were asking us to pour 250mls of hot water over the contents and then microwave for 2 minutes.
Dry mixture, out of the packet.
Cooked mixture, having followed the instructions.
Added yumminess via pork and chicken burgers cooked last night.
The result was as I expected - Pork-a-licious!
Monday 20th May
At the end of last week one of Tiz's molars lost a large chunk of what was left of the original tooth.
She found what was a highly recommended dentist in Hua Hin and made an appointment for late Monday morning and off we went.
The procedure was going to be lengthy as she was going to have the prep work done for a crown and so I settled in and read the local Hua Hin newspaper. This was one of the headline stories.
I urge you to read this horror story and please note that it is for a seven (7) day period.
I've transcribed it for you below.
"Last year, 3,808 people were injured in 3,690 road crashes.
Most of the road carnage during last year's Songkran stemmed from drunk-driving (40 per cent) and speeding (26 per cent) and 80 per cent of accidents involved motorcycles and 65 per cent took place on straight roads, Deputy Interior Minister Suthee Makboon told the media.
During the seven-day monitoring period (April 11-17), Nakhon Ratchasima, along the "gateway to the Northeast", reported the highest accumulated death toll (20) while the northern province of Chiang Mai had the highest number of injured (142) and accidents (133) he said.
Only Ranong, Samut Songkhram, Nong Khai and Nong Bua Lamphu reported no road accident deaths during Songkran, he added.
On ApriI 17th 2018 there were 307 accidents that killed 26 people and wounded 336 others. Speeding was blamed for 28 per cent of accidents, drunk driving for 26 per cent and suddenly cutting in front of another vehicle, 19 per cent the officers manning 2,029 checkpoints nationwide arrested 146,589 motorists, 39,572 motorcyclists and their passengers for not wearing crash helmets and 37,779 people for not having a driver's license.
Meanwhile, the number of vehicles seized from drunk drivers during Songkran last year was a 100 per cent increase over the previous Songkran 2017.
The NCPO and related authorities, from April 11-17, had identified 490,512 cases of drunk driving (280,631 motorcyclists and 208,881 motorists), down 38 per cent from the previous year, she said.
As many violators were slapped with fines and their driving licenses confiscated, the officers also impounded 16,288 vehicles (11,768 motorcycles and 4,520 cars/trucks) from drunk drivers during the previous Songkran, 8,128 vehicles were impounded, she said.
The vacation home-watch Project was very successful as it monitored 8,348 houses nationwide during the vacation home-watch scheme for April 11-17 and none of those houses had any instances of theft.
The number of participating houses for Songkran 2018 saw a 408 per cent increase, or 2,421 more houses than those that participated in the scheme the previous year.
The police smartphone application "Police I lert U" was downloaded 29,576 times during April 4-15, bringing the total app download to 354,566 times. Only 134 users alerted police of emergency/crimes using the app.
During April 11-17, a total of 213 crimes to life or bodily injury took place and suspects were apprehended in 125 cases
Of these crimes, 100 cases were about physical assault and 72 suspects were apprehended for 47 such physical assault cases. There were nine murder cases and police had arrested the suspects. A total of 422 crimes targeting assets took place - in 227 cases police nabbed the suspects."
Well that really cheered me up and ~1.5 hours later Tiz emerged with a temporary crown.
A less sombre article in the paper spoke about the Market Village Mall as being smaller and older than the much raved about Bluport Mall, both of which were very close to the dentist and on the way home to Cha Am.
We had been to Bluport about a month ago and to me it was certainly very new, large and clinically clean but it was also completely characterless. Once you were inside you could have been in Fort Worth USA or Greensborough Australia or Manchester UK or Shenzhen China.
Reviews in Tripadvisor said that locals preferred Market Village as prices were much lower than Bluport and it had a big food court in the basement where most locals ate at.
So, that's where we went and we weren't disappointed.
There were so many choices!
Tiz chose Pad Thai Gai (chicken) for 50 baht ($2.20!)
I chose Khao (rice) Moo (pork) aka pork on rice for 55 baht ($2.45!)
I then treated myself to a Chocolate and Oreo frappe. Sooooo good AND only 50 baht.
Tiz had an iced coconut drink for 30baht.
The mall has two types of payment .
A card type, which you buy in increments of 100 baht (AUD 4.45), and Cash Only.
If the stall your buying from has the card type they swipe the card and you get a receipt showing the value of your purchase and how much is left on the card. It's not a bad idea.
During lunch Tiz's temporary crown came loose, as in fell off, so we arranged to return to the dentist later in the afternoon. To whittle away the few hours of waiting we went and had a foot massage.
Our "foot massage" was for an hour and cost 300 baht (~AUD 13) but the best part is that it starts at the knees and at the end they do your neck and back for about 5-10 minutes, and then give you some ginger tea.
We were lucky to get a comedy show, provided by a middle aged Indian couple as we were drinking our ginger tea and preparing to leave, thrown in.
It went like this.
The couple walk in to the glass fronted Thai Massage shop, which has a sign board with services and prices out the front, and the man asks "Do you do foot massage?"
Receptionist responds "Yes sir. 300 baht for one hour and . 180 baht for half an hour."
Man says "No, no, no. 150 baht for half an hour. This is for my wife. But you MUST not go above the ankle."
Receptionist after a long hesitant pause says "OK."
The Indian couple sit down with a look of deep apprehension.
We left so I have no idea how that all worked out.
We also went to Tesco Lotus, because it was there and we'd never been.
This would be the standout product, according to someone I know and have traveled with.
They also have pretty much everything else.
On the way out we saw this sign for a Pitbull gathering.
I honestly thought it was for a day of dogfights.
I mean, this is Thailand, where anything is possible, and often legal,
and I should be forgiven for thinking that.
I was wrong. In fact, after looking it up online, it is a dog show.Which to me is still absurd.
If ever there was a dog breed whose looks said
"I want to maul you to death as painfully as possible." Pitbulls are it.
I understand that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and if you like them, then in this case we'll agree to disagree.
We returned to the dentist for yet another attempt at glueing the temporary crown back into place,
which failed again a couple of hours later.
Tuesday 21st May
The last few days had been very lazy. We really hadn't done much exercise and we were really looking forward to a long walk.
Woman raking deep into the sand for shellfish at the waterline, at very low tide.
Lone boat.
Angus pointed out in a recent conversation, in reference to taking good pictures, the Rule of Thirds.
It is not always appropriate but in this case it is, and I tried to apply it as best I could.
Old woman sifting through the sand looking for shellfish,
again, at the waterline at low tide,
as has surely been done for centuries.
Now with high-rise condominiums looming in the background
Not an unusual site here, but it does make you think.
This 35kph speed sign may as well be in the bin for all the good it does.
It seems as if there's a dispensation for young and/or stupid scooter riders and drivers of expensive imported cars, in which case you can ride or drive at any speed you like.
We haven't seen an accident on the beach road, yet, but is surely only due to good luck.
Yes, this is a little stall which sells fresh fish, is erected daily, has no mains power to it and is located in a quiet little town far away from any big city in Thailand. Cha Am
And yes, it has free wifi for anyone in range.
It's hard to be proud to come from a country that has more money and far more need for this sort of infrastructure and yet we continue to support apologists that tell us
that what we have is great value and fit for purpose.
🐂💩
Moving along from a most aggravating subject ....
Yesterday was our 8th anniversary!
Yes, Tiz has looked after me, tolerated me, nursed me back to health and loved me for 8 years.
There is the best corner of Valhalla being kept for her when she is ready to occupy it.
We had wanted to do something a bit special on the day but a slight dental mishap put a damper on that plan so we did the special thing tonight.
We chose a place within walking distance
and on the way there we came across this pack of soi dogs.
We walk down this stretch of road every day and occasionally they will bark, but from a distance.
This time they came up very close and were quite threatening. We have no idea why.
It doesn't matter where you are or what sort of dog you're dealing with
they can never be entirely trusted.
I just stopped and glared at the two that were too close for comfort and they quickly backed away.
It's reviews belie how good it is.
We sat in a quiet corner, but close enough to a table of elderly westerners, and their much younger Thai wives (?), to hear them speaking. We were playing "Where are they from?"
We did not settle on any one country, with any certainty, but Tiz was quite sure it was Norway, which makes sense given we're in Cha Am.
It made me very curious as to the ability of the various Scandinavian countries to communicate.
This is the best, and quite funny, explanation of how it all works -
The languages spoken in Scandinavia are called North Germanic languages and include Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese. They are subdivided into East- (Danish, Swedish) and West-Scandinavian (Norwegian, Icelandic) languages. Finnish, being completely different, belongs to the Finno-Ugric language family.
Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are all very similar, and it is common for people from all three countries to be able to read the two other without too much difficulty. Understanding the spoken languages, however, can present more difficulties, especially for Swedes and Norwegians who have had little exposure to spoken Danish.
Icelandic and Faroese do have some words in common with the three other Scandinavian languages, but it is not common for Scandinavians to be able to understand Icelandic and Faroese, except for certain Norwegians who have a similar dialect (Norwegian nynorsk).
Norwegian is to Danish as Valenciano is to Castellano
In terms of vocabulary, the most similar languages are Danish and Norwegian, which is possibly due to Norway once being under Danish rule. The two languages differ about as much from each other as Castellano does from Valenciano. The main difference lies in the spelling of and pronunciation of words – the words often being the same words and having pretty much the same meaning, just spelled slightly differently. In some cases, however, a certain word will be used in Norwegian and another in Danish in the same way as English for example has ‘lorry’ and ‘truck’.
Whereas written Danish and Norwegian (Norwegian bokmål) is very similar, the written Swedish language contains some words that a Danish and Norwegian person cannot possibly understand unless they know them beforehand.
“Norwegian is Danish spoken in Swedish”
When it comes to pronunciation, however, Swedish and Norwegian are very close. For a Dane and a Norwegain, it can sometimes be quite hard to communicate, as Norwegians tend to ‘sing’, wheras we Danes ‘talk as if we have a potato in our mouth’. Swedes also ‘sing’, but depending on the region, some Swedish speaking people are easier to understand for Danes than Norwegians because they don’t ‘sing’.
In conclusion, this gives us the following equations:
Norwegian + phonology – vocabulary = Swedish
Norwegian – phonology + vocabulary = Danish
Thus, it has been said that “Norwegian is Danish with Swedish pronunciation”. While this is not completely accurate, there is some truth in the statement.
Are the three neighbouring languages becoming strangers?
Despite the similar languages, Scandinavians sometimes end up speaking English between themselves often due to the dialects existing in the Scandinavian countries and the effects of globalisation. However, making an effort to try and understand each other is only a matter of practice – in the same way as when an American person tries to understand a Scottish person.
Tiz with her Piña colada,
which she voted "Best Piña colada in Thailand"
👍👍👍
Entree was four generous serves of pâté on toast.
Quite good.
Thinking "It didn't seem like this much when we ordered it!"
Chicken in coconut milk Seafood basket Prawns and vegetables in oyster sauce
Four styles of mayonnaise for the seafood basket
Overall a super delicious and generously sized meal
prepared and served up by people who obviously care.
As I finish this off it is Wednesday afternoon.
Tiz has worked this morning for one of her Melbourne clients and the rest of the day is going to be spent on planning what we're going to do for the next 10 days.
At this point there are only a few things locked in - a couple of visits to some cultural sites, which I won't reveal at this point, a day at the dentist and a day at the Immigration Office to extend our visa by 3 days. This last task is due to not knowing what we didn't know.
To explain, a normal visitors visa is only valid for 60 days and then visitors need to go into an Immigration Office to get a 30 days extension, which costs AUD 85!
Ouch 🤕 .... but it's better than getting a black mark against your name.
Thai Immigration are talking about cracking down HARD on "overstayers"
including banning them from re-entry for very long periods.
It's not worth trying to buck the rules and it is a great lesson that came at relatively cheap price.
We're thinking of hiring a car for the next week and doing day trips.
A weekly hire is worth ~$180 all up, which is pretty good value.
We'll see what happens and let you know in our next post.
Take care and thanks for taking the time to drop in.
As I finish this off it is Wednesday afternoon.
Tiz has worked this morning for one of her Melbourne clients and the rest of the day is going to be spent on planning what we're going to do for the next 10 days.
At this point there are only a few things locked in - a couple of visits to some cultural sites, which I won't reveal at this point, a day at the dentist and a day at the Immigration Office to extend our visa by 3 days. This last task is due to not knowing what we didn't know.
To explain, a normal visitors visa is only valid for 60 days and then visitors need to go into an Immigration Office to get a 30 days extension, which costs AUD 85!
Ouch 🤕 .... but it's better than getting a black mark against your name.
Thai Immigration are talking about cracking down HARD on "overstayers"
including banning them from re-entry for very long periods.
It's not worth trying to buck the rules and it is a great lesson that came at relatively cheap price.
We're thinking of hiring a car for the next week and doing day trips.
A weekly hire is worth ~$180 all up, which is pretty good value.
We'll see what happens and let you know in our next post.
Take care and thanks for taking the time to drop in.
