Chian Yai

Quick trip to close an unused bank account.

Beautiful isolated town in Nakon Si Thammarat.

Have great dragon boat races.

But not today.

Temple in the wop wops

Shopping at Makro shopping center - Nakhon Si Thammerat

This is Thailand

At the supermarket: Water bugs, grasshoppers, frog meat, crocodile....

:-)

Preparing our garden plot

We're going to have a garden.

Here's Nuk clearing the area....

Breakfast at Pa Rakum

Family is very important to Thai people.

Eating together.

Family.

Songkla watchung bulls on TV

After doing a "visa run" to Malasia at a Songkla beach hotel.

The bull fights are very popular here.

A couple of weeks later I got to go to the bull fights

Pretty intense

the betting seems chaotic

the bulls seem to enjoy it

and here - below - the chaos of free betting at the bull fights

Bloody cold!

First time in all the years I've been coming to Pa Rakum (Southern Thailand - the tropics) I've had to sleep with a blanket. It got down to a shivering 25 degrees celsius. That's bloody cold mate.

It's usually over 30. Most days are around 35.

Everyone visiting the shop here is bundled up and complaining of how cold it was last night.

It rained for about 4 hours. The rainy season is starting. Cooling everything down.

Tomorrow I make a visa run to Malasia. That should warm me up. It's just that much closer to the equator.

Replacing Australian Plug with Thai Plug on Australian multi-point power boards

When we relocated to Thailand we shipped most of our electronic appliances. After the headaches of getting it all through customs and paying the duties and sundries maybe it would have been better just to buy everything here. Ho hum, so we learn.

So, here I have all the Australian appliances with their Aussie plugs. We also have a few dozen multi-point power boards. Simple solution - change the plugs on the power boards.

Here's my wiring diagrams for the plugs:

And sockets:

Note: I'm no electrician so proceed wisely

Refs:

Australian 3-Pin Electrical Mains Plug

The Thailand House Wiring Page

Tang Ke

Dinner by the water at on of Phuket's best places to eat.

Summer Poems by May and Murray

a couple of quick poems about summer:


the spring was lovely in Sydney
that last spring with my friends

to break and leave Australia
my step-dad still defends

the summer turned to winter
but a winter always hot

we're back and living in Thailand
but that seems to be my lot

here every day is summer
there's never any spring

no autumn leaves will ever fall
no Honeyeaters sing

It is my home i know it
and i love it yes i do

but the summer time in Sydney
well i really love that too




in summertime i think of snow
and ice cream cones too don't you know

and showering waterfalls of ice
in summertime i think that's nice

in fact i think of all things cold
when summer heat has taken hold

but maybe there's a better way
to flee the boiling heat of day

if i could do just what i like
in summertime i'd take a flight

i'd fly to mountains high and free
and down them all i'd board and ski

and in between those chilly runs
i'd nibble chips and burger buns

and sipping chocolate thick and hot
i'd love the summertime a lot








May has recently moved back to Thailand after 5 years in Sydney

Had we been able to get PR we would have stayed

but PR is not so easy for Kiwis

that's life

p