Lovely New Year period. Out with 2014 and in with 2015.

I took the bike and drove up to Khon Kaen and Ban Muang to our house. Took me about 6 hours. Not to much traffic and where the cars were stacked up I managed to take the side lane and keep going. Fortunately there was no rain. 6 hours seated on a bike does give a sore backside no matter what you may think. Still it was worth it for the fun of the trip.
We had friends staying so the holiday was a chance to show them around and make us do a few things. Otherwise I think we would have sat down and used up four days planning what to do next !

That said the plan was for me to drive up and then have 4 days relaxing with Wanna and friends. Rene and O. It was their first time up with us. And the family was holding a new years eve party at Wanna’s Brothers place. Small family affair which we went along to. Lot of fun and everyone enjoyed. Music, Karaoke and some dancing. Wanna organized a raffle. Finally got some sleep around 3.00am…..

The remained of the days were spend lazing around with one night up to Pu Rua ( ภูเรือ ) for camping.  We did go into town and had the famous all you can eat steaks and salads, visited a night market and of course got in a game of pool.  Also visited an old ruin outside town. I’d been before but this time it took some finding, they had not moved it just me having a very bad memory on its location. Rene kindly forwarded me the coordinates for the next time!   Old Temple near Ban Muang
No doubt we will go again as it is an interesting place built in the 1300’s and sort of different to the usual tourist attractions.  In fact I’ve posted on this before but never mind. Always interesting to see things a second time around. Quite some amazing brick work and some of the joining is very clever and precise. Google Street View of Temple

As for the camping. We set off planning on going straight to the camp site stopping along the way to eat, have some coffees  etc. 

Well we got as far as Loei and decided on a small diversion and take in a visit to Chiang Khan.

Chiang Khan is an old town located on the Mekong River. It is a boarder town as the Mekong River is the international separation between Thailand and Laos. SO as you can imagine quite a busy little place. Lots of old wooden building and now of course full of traders selling “t” shirts ad various souvenirs of the place. WE got our compulsory “T” shirts with Chiang Khan stamped all over it…. Just all a bit to much for me. To busy for all the wrong reasons. Yes a good place to see and the river does look good. Would I go back ? Not in any hurry to do so.

So Chiang Khan got “ticked” off and then back on the road to the camp site. We eventually got there after sitting in a traffic jam for 1 hour and arrived in the dark….

It was full, in fact very over crowded to be more correct. This I suppose was to be expected, given it was the main annual holiday. But we found a big concrete area which must have at one time had a chalet on it. Seems everyone thought it was not an allowable camping spot, but we used it ! Had running water and was about 50 meters to showers and toilets etc. (No I did not use the shower. It got down to about 12^oC during the night. So no way was I going to ruin my evening with cold showers).

Had a Bar B Q dinner and lovely campfire coffee in the morning. Managed to get my shadow across the stove in the morning picture ! Never mind. All in all a good time had by all.

Now its back to work and reality.

End Of 2012 And Beginning Of 2013

We had our party.  Went very well. Local tradition is everyone brings a small present and they all get raffled off. Lots of fun. Also everyone helped with the lighting, music and food. Wonderful get together. We also had lanterns and fireworks. I missed the fireworks , went to bed early...

That's it.  May all you resolutions be kept if you so wish.  But of course that's up to you..  :)

Going Away Party

Well we have both handed in our notice and ready to depart. All seems a bit surreal in so much as nothing seems to have changed.

One thing did happen that was quite unexpected. The girls at Wanna’s place of work decided they were coming round to our place for a party. So Thursday evening saw our house once again full up. Along with Wanna’s friends I also invited a few from my office. A good time was had by all. So one more day at work and then the big trip to Perth. All 4,600 kilometers.

February 29th ? In 2010 I don't think so...

So it was with some surprise when Tee and friends turned up at the house to say hello and wish me a belated Happy Birthday. He came with a few friends and whilst I was very happy to see him I had to explain that there was no 29th Feb this year.

I am still a kid only 14 and a half....

Imagine my surprise when Gaew who had come with Tee exclaimed that she also was born on the 29th Feb. For sure a lot of years after me....

So after a quick celebration beer we made party promises and arrangements confirmed for a big do on 29th February 2012!!!! (its a Wednesday)...

Goodbye 2009 and Hello 2010

We had no plans for any big do at the end of the year. In fact I had rather hoped every one had forgotten about the whole thing and we could have an early night and let it pass. But that never seems to be the way these things work out.

In fact it turned out to be a really great evening. We decided at the last moment to have a small party. About 20 of us in all including our house guests.. Those were Owen, Charlie Lynnie Ian and Thia. So already we had enough numbers to have the makings of a good party. So no choice but to go for it.
Charlie, Owen and  I did the 'Tesco' trip to stock up with beer, gin, tonics etc not forgetting of course the plastic plates, cutlery etc.
Wanna meanwhile was far more clever. She organised the cold box for ice, extra chairs and best of all for a roasted pig on a spit to be delivered. That was it the evening was organised.

All that was needed in addition to the above was a few more friends and we were off.  And they were planning on turning upa round 7.30pm.
I might add that the roast pig seller told us he had sold 53 such pigs for this evening!  Thats a good business by any standards.

The pig arrived already laid out on the spit and was half cooked with the charcoal still hot !  Way to go... The seller also organised as part of the deal for a young lad to remain and cook it cut it all up into small sizes ready to go with our potatoes and salads all to be washed down with a couple of very cold beers. See below as pictures tell a thousand words.

Chill Bar The Dark Side........

Monday night saw celebrations. After several months of competing on the pool circuit the Chill Bar team won top of the league. Chill Bar Had a wonderful celebration and excellent food, along with the team and what made it an even better evening, most of the competition turned up to make it a moment to remember. Simon, the Landlord and Pie his wife put on an excellet spread. The league is hardly of a world shattering standard but it's on every Monday evening and its fun. This present league is now over and we should be up and running again in a new league in a month or so. Need to ensure we win again....

It was our 6th ......

It was our 6th Wedding anniversary yesterday. Managed to fool Wanna into thinking I was playing pool and would be home late and that it was just another day at the office with nothing special going on. She was not too impressed with my approach but I did explain the need to honour commitments to my Mates etc. So having planned a surprise party I had to get it all organized and at the same time keep up the appearance. Started with my departing in the morning to work carrying my 'Chill Bar Pool Shirt' adn putting it in the back of my car. Good start. Wanna said very little. I went on my way.
Once at work I got on with checking the food arrangements with Tee. He was organizing the main food and cake! Phuk was getting a range of fresh sea food from Rayong. All sorted. Me I was responsible for the drinks and of course a small present for Wanna.
To be on the safe side I decided to ring my bank to ensure no problems with my credit card. Done. Instruction in place that my limit was increased for 24 hours. Next was a trip to Tesco/Lotus to buy the drinks. Its about 30 minutes away from my work area so in all I needed to be absent for about 2 hours. Imagine my frustration when having arrived at Tesco the drinks area is closed. They do not sell alcoholic drinks between 2pm and 5pm. What to do? I loaded up with the soft drinks, coke, orange etc and of course paper cups and plates. Next, off to buy Wanna a present. Found a suitable gold shop and after a quick inspection found what I wanted. Great, handed over the credit card, which yes you’ve guessed, got declined. To add to this I had a phone in which the prepaid card had run out. Rushed around to find a shop selling a new card, that took 20 minutes. Then phoned the bank, several times.

“Thank you for calling Abbey International, all our Customer Service Advisors are busy with other Customers and your call is important to us and we will be with you shortly. Etc etc…)"

Talk about frustration. Anyway finally got through to them amazingly it was to the same lady I had spoken to in the morning. I was not as polite as I should have been this time, and she did remind me in no uncertain terms that all calls were monitored and recorded, and for sure, not to swear at her!!! Even so, we got over that bit and I kept her on line while I went back to the shop and made for the second time, the same purchase. The card fortunatley worked. Beer, whiskey and of course ice could be bought later on the way home. Enough of shopping, for now I needed to get back to work.
I understand that not long after I left the house in the morning and went to work, Wanna rang her friend Oyi to have a get together.’ Poor Wanna ringing Oyi only to be told 'Sorry cannot make it this morning’…. All part of the plan of deception... Then we organized Khun Nuan and they both went into town for the afternoon. They then ended up at Khun Nuan's house in the afternoon and settled into having a few beers. I turned up at about 6.30 for a quick 'hello' before I went off to play pool! Poor Wanna, she told me she had bought some pork and would do me a stir fry when I got home later in the evening.
Sure, sounded good to me. I left them both, only to come straight back. saying 'my driver had left me ‘. I needed to get a lift from Keith our Pool Captain. He is to pick me up at the Terrace Bar. So we stopped off and went into the Terrace Bar for a beer while I waited for Keith to turn up. Needless to say there was no Keith! And I watched as several friends passed on up the estate to our house. Wanna was oblivious to all this, Just trying to put on a brave face to the evening. I supported all her with all her hard comments on her friends not being around when she needed them etc etc. In a way very good fun. (for me!!!!)
I then made a call 'to Keith' asking "where the hell was he as I was waiting". Then I explained to Wanna I needed to use the pickup as ‘Keith’ had let me down on the offer of a lift. I’d called him in front of her as she had just heard; well actually I called another friend ‘Tee’ who was at our house organizing the whole thing. Tee confirmed everything was in place. So having had what was clearly a strange phone call and informing Wanna that Keith had let me down we went home. Everything organised.

The house was in darkness and Wanna was resigned to just going home. Nuan had said she would join her later…We walked in.
Surprise, the lights came on and she saw everyone. Absolute disbelief. Started crying…
What a really good evening. Videos and photos. It was even more special as Wanna had absolutely no idea of the arrangements and had been lamenting her luck and how her friends had not supported her etc etc!!! Me, I was so happy for all the support and kindness of all concerned. Great Friends. Worked out so very well. Thank you Guys, you were amazing.