Ban Muang country life

So I did get round to making some cheese.  The last lot was so so bad even the pond fish were suspicious of it....

Made from a 5 litre batch of fresh milk. Had a helper, Wanna's nephew.

While doing this Wanna was busy planting trees.  We put in 11 limes, 5 Durians and another 20 assorted fruits.  That was our day.  Evening was spend with family having Bar B q and an early night.

A day in Ban Muang....

Busy day.

Had a  trip out to look at the banana fields. We sold a few bunches (12)  of the bananas last week and eager to get some more funds in ASAP ! All looking good. The whole area around the village is looking sunny, dry and its hot.... Wanna's Nephew is planning staying in the hut when he gets it completed. Outside toilet as show below will I am sure get some walls eventually !!!!

We're decided to sell a Rai of land (1600 m2). Sign went up last night. Already had interest !!!  Sign reads "This for sale.  Area 1 Rai. "

Decided also to get my new still out and give it the first clean out. Only now getting round to reading the instructions!  Need to put water vinegar mix through it first, then, and only then, can I put it to use.  Even then it is advised I run the first batch of fermentation through and then throw it away.. Then I should have the whole thing cleaned out ready for real production. I won't bore you with the details suffice to say distilling in Thailand in illegal so I'll officially only be making distilled water for my motorbike battery !!!  But I think it is the sealed type.... :(

Ban Muang - Our Banana Field

Hardly a worthy post on its own but it does keep you up to date with our activities. And here is a good place for me to keep a record of whats going on with our farming etc and at the banana fields.
We've got a small plot about 2 Rai, (That's 3000m2 or about 1 acre.). Well till very recently the land had been sitting idle, in fact for about 5 years, and over time became overgrown with grass and weeds. We've got another 7 Rai of land also "under" weeds. That's earmarked for another project in due course. Maybe Rubber or palms. Or more Weeds!!!!!!! Time will tell.

But back to the banana fields. A few months back we decided to make use of it and planted some banana and left them to grow. About 300 of them. Since plants we've had a few light showers but not as much rain as usual so I thought the whole crop would die. However some recent showers in the last week has seen the place water logged, and everything is now up and growing at a good rate.

We've got the bananas planted in rows and in between some corn and water melons. Already we are getting water melons to eat and hopefully later in the year some corn and bananas. Something to look forward to.

Wanna asked her brother to build us a small shelter. He did a good job. Used up some old wood we have laying around and its just lovely sitting under there. The other evening we sat and relaxed with a cold beer as the sun went down.

I know not the most exciting post and I do apologise but it's good for me to record this and be able to check progress in a few months time. :)

Road Trip Rayong Chantaburi Part 1

Great weekend away. Road trip to Chantaburi and back. Stayed in small guest house away from it all.

Very relaxing. Little place up in the mountains on the side of a river. 

Stopped off to visit Tuek Deang  known as the "Red House", the National Maritime Museum of Thailand and a bee farm, We also of course made several stops to be sure we kept topped up with good food and drank a lot of coffee along the way.  All in all a simple, relaxing round trip of about 300 kilometers.

The Teuk Daeng, well it was a big disappointment.  Little to see but a red building. Empty save for a rusty cannon and cannon balls. There was an old fella sitting outside selling water etc and overseeing the Visitors book. One good thing. It was free to enter. Unusual for Thailand. I took a few pictures but also found a very good Blog page on it. Describing the original usage etc with the French. Interesting history which needs preserving. tuek-daeng  In fact this is an interesting link for any travelers to Thailand.

Rene my fellow biker signed the book.

The National Maritime Museum was a better visit. An old set of displays but it did have one large mock up boat which you could climb over and have a look round. Other displays included one of a scuba scene and some old battle scenes. Sort of place you visit as its on the list rather than thinking "Must go there, don't want to come this far and miss out !!!".  Anyway as I said we've done it. ticked it off and got the T shirt. Again much better photos int eh web link I added above. Bit embarrassed to post mine!!!

The guide enjoyed her time with us. Probably good for her to have visitors to show round.

The bee farm..Well for me that's something else.  years ago in an earlier life I used to keep bees. Had four hives in UK and then in Seychelles assisted a close friend with his several hundred hives scattered round Mahe. So for me this was interesting. They had an assortment of hives.  All local with different sizes to mine. Also had about 10 different types of bees. Large and small. Some were of a none stinging variety. That said I did get stung. The farmer after removing the "sting" suggested I use my salava on the sting as being the best cure. Worked very well.

Some of the bees were very much at home in natural hives  i.e. using hollows in trees. So the farm had adapted and made some up to meet these bees requirements whilst enabling us to have a good look. Interesting access to these made up hives.  Access was at the bottom of hive through one, only one thin plastic pipe. All in all a very interesting and fun hour for me. All memories of the sting long gone !!

And as for the accommodation.  We had a lovely chalet up in the mountains along side a small river. That's in part 2.....

Thailand Farming

Dragon Fruit. We're been away in Seychelles asyou know.  Wanna back to Thailand me to
 Kazakhstan. Garden in Ban Muang doing well. Dragon Fruit excelling themselves…..