Cold Turkey?

Returning to the cultural (and other) differences between Thais and westerners (farangs) as mentioned in a previous blog, I was fascinated to learn the other day that many Thai ladies prefer gold jewellery to diamonds as evidenced by the amazing number of gold shops in every town and city. Actually, I think these outlets are more traders in this commodity as one of the given reasons for preferring gold is that it is easier to sell or pawn than diamonds when the cash flow going gets tough as it frequently does.  So whereas diamonds maybe for ever, it seems that gold certainly is not, irrespective of the emotion behind it’s giving and receiving. Strange to us westerners but seemingly quite normal here.

Of course, not all Thais need such financial help. There is plenty of money around for the privileged few. This bottle of Chivas Regal (branded Alexander McQueen for some bizarre reason) sells for just under £5,000!

And when you’ve had enough fun spending exorbitant sums on alcohol, you can always indulge in a Porsche with a fancy personalised and sparkly number plate.

For most, though, the humble – and far more practical – scooter is the preferred form of transport.

Talking about the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, it must seem to the locals that I fit into the former category judging by the way Fairhurst’s Folly is progressing. The landscaping of the garden has begun

which begins to make the place look very grand indeed – far grander than I ever imagined, I must say!

I have to keep reminding myself that I’m getting all this for more or less  the same price as a 2/3 bedroomed semi in darkest Aylesbury. Crazy!

So all is coming together nicely for my planned occupancy on 20th December except for one small thing……

No kitchen!! So unless the situation improves dramatically over the next 12 days or so, it’s cold turkey for my sister on Christmas Day!!

Another option might be, of course, to eat out ‘on the day’ and there are plenty of places to do that as the Thais just love their eating as we all know. In fact, any excuse for a party seems to be the order of the day here and with Father’s Day falling in early December in this country, a couple of days ago there was yet another opportunity to party with music, food and

copious amounts of beer on tap!

Or if all else fails, I could always follow the example of these small sparrow like birds who quickly build  these extraordinary nests out of what look like fishing nets but which are, in fact, merely twigs and other bits and pieces from the hedgerows.

Maybe I should give the kitchen fitter their number!

Phileas