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For some while now, there has been talk of expanding Hua Airport and indeed, the runway has recently been extended and the airport name somewhat grandly renamed ‘Hua Hin International Airport’ with lots of promises of direct flights to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong but that’s about it. So, at the time of writing there are a mere 4 flights a week from here to/from Chiang Mai in the north of this country. Thus, the skies above us remain largely undisturbed. So, it was with much surprise when two large 4 engined jets repeatedly flew low over our house the other day which my little camera discovered were part of a joint military exercise between the air forces of the USA and Thailand.

Quite what the purpose of these gas guzzling operations were all about is completely beyond me.

Birthdays in Thailand are rarely celebrated with the same razzmatazz as at home which suits me down to the ground – especially when you get to a certain age! Nevertheless, I was delighted to have my sister, Di, (who had travelled from France) and my nephew (who lives in Malaysia) come and stay with us for an all too short few days one of which was a certain anniversary!

In between a fair amount of thoroughly enjoyable eating and drinking we visited the newly refurbished ‘Art Village’ located within 10 minutes from where we live

which is not only home to a large collection of local arts and crafts but also where you can see artists in action and also take some art classes if you wish.

It truly is a remarkable place and with the ever changing contents, well worth visiting.

At the other end of the cultural spectrum, there are, of course the night markets full of food and locally made handicrafts. I’m not sure if this Christmas hat is a leftover from last Christmas or is hoping for an early sale for this year’s event!

Small jewellery items are an ideal buy for the departing traveller. Sadly, I could not persuade my sister to buy this ethnic headgear from the north of Thailand as it would have certainly raised a few eyebrows back in rural France!

An early departure for Di and Andy on the day after my birthday meant we had a few days of tidying up and preparation for my official birthday party in our bar/restaurant

where the food and alcohol flowed freely and the karaoke singing deteriorated as the night went on!

My evening was made even more enjoyable as a repeat of Liverpool’s 7-0 thrashing of Manchester United just happened to be showing on TV as well!

I managed to quietly escape just before turning into a pumpkin, leaving the younger revellers to enjoy themselves – and probably forget exactly what the party had been in aid of.

My initial idea for a St Patrick’s Day promotion (a week after my party) was to offer a fee glass of Guinness with every ‘green’ pizza sold. The only problem was that, try as we may we could find no trace of the iconic Irish drink in any bar, wine shop, supermarket, online or anywhere which struck me as being very strange given that Guinness is such a very well known international beer brand. Definitely an opportunity lost, I thought.

So, almost as a joke, we advertised our ‘green’ pizza on it’s own and were not entirely surprised when the take up of this offer was limited, to say the least!

After all the revelry of the last few weeks, our next guests/friends don’t arrive until the end of the month so there is time to do a bit of necessary DIY around the house and enjoy some of the more extreme food that this country has to offer.

Barbecued rat is, however, not one of my favourites!

Until the next time,

R.

Just a few days after saying goodbye to my daughter, my good friend Russell arrived. I had confidently predicted endless blue skies and sunshine for his first visit to The Land of Smiles but he was greeted by some unseasonal rain when he stepped off his plane. Nevertheless, we decided to press on with a bit of Bangkok sightseeing before moving south to Hua Hin

Being in the construction business himself, Russell was fascinated but some of the intricate designs in the Grand Palace – possibly the most famous tourist attraction in the whole of Thailand built at the end of the 18 century not only as a royal residence but to house many government offices.

Close by the the Grand Palace is Wat Pho, one of Bangkok’s oldest temples, built toward the end of the 17th century and which houses more than one thousand Buddha images, the most famous of which is the enormous 46 metre long image of a reclining Buddha which left Russell wondering whether such a statue was constructed inside the temple after it had been built or if, somehow, it had been placed inside the temple after its construction.. Either way, it is an impressive piece of engineering!

Equally impressive and housed in another smaller temple also close to the Grand Palace is the 700 year old Buddha image weighing 5.5 tons and made out of pure gold. It’s true worth was only discovered in 1955 as up until then it had been covered in plaster to conceal its value from the prying eyes of invaders!

Throughout Thailand, you are never far away from images of Buddha and new ones are popping up everywhere.

So, after some initially damp sightseeing and a serious bout of Buddhas, it was off to Hua Hin and some more exploring. We were not sure why these monkeys were so keen to get into this abandoned toilet but we found another one for Russell – just in time!

Visiting a temple just west of Hua Hin, it soon became clear that Russell has some Thai ancestry! This temple complex houses the biggest statue of his famous monk ‘great grandfather’ who, it is said performed many miracles way back in the 17th century.

I have yet to discover exactly why images of chickens, cockerels and roosters are so popular in Thailand but they are everywhere. Some say that it’s a religious thing but I am told by others that it started back in the 16 century when the then Crown Price was obsessed with cock fighting – a sport that is still very much alive here.

Our final temple visit took us south of Hua Hin where an extraordinary religious complex has been carved out of the sea front rocks and is full of statues and other images of some of the more famous of Russell’s ‘relatives’!

And further up the side of this steep hill there are some fine views of the coastline back to Hua Hin.

In between the odd day of ‘chilling’ by our pool and catching the rays, our final trip was to the wetlands in a national park a bit further south of Hua Hin. The backdrop is stunning and a boat trip through the acres of water lilies is an absolute ‘must’

A short stop at a beach side market on the way back home for a snack and it was time for Russell to pack his bags for an early start the next day back to a chillier UK.

It was good to have you with us, Russ!

Until the next time.

R

When I first visited Cambodia many years ago it was very much as how I imagined the Wild West was like when first seen by the pioneering Americans way back then. So, I was expecting Siem Reap to be a little like Luang Prabang when we touched down after flying almost due south from Laos. Wrong! I just hadn’t really appreciated that the population of Cambodia is about 2.5 times bigger than Laos and that Siem Reap is a large city of around 1 million inhabitants full of bustling markets

with a few not so bustling inhabitants,

strange speciality shops,

some iconic methods of public transport

and a very modern, well policed and friendly tourist ‘walking street’.

and on top of all that, the level of spoken English in every area of this city is quite astounding. Definitely not what I was expecting.

Siem Reap is, however, not typical of much of Cambodia which is still a very poor nation overall. For those who don’t know, it’s the go to destination for those who want to see and explore the many temples built up to 1,000 years ago in Angkor, the ancient capital of the Khmer (Cambodian) empire and located a short distance from Siem Reap’s city centre. Of course, many of these temples have disappeared over the years but those that remain either in whole or in part are stunning – the most famous of which is Angkor Wat, originally built as a Hindu place of worship but turning into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century.

It’s an amazing feat of engineering

which took and estimated 300,000 labourers and 6,000 elephants (!) 35 years to complete

It’s vast, being the largest religious monument on the planet and covering an area of more than 400 acres with a sense of history at every turn. Little wonder, then, that, excepting the Covid years, around 2.5 million people visit Angkor Wat every year with Siem Reap city used as the base for most of these tourists.

A few miles in every direction from Angkor Wat can be found a whole host of smaller but equally impressive temples

Our taxi driver told us that it is estimated that more then one thousand were built between the 9th and 15th centuries in and around the city of Angkor of which a mere 70 0r so survive (albeit in various states of decay) to this day.

Perhaps the most famous of these (after Angkor Wat itself) is the temple of Ta Prohm which owes it’s fame mainly as it featured strongly in the Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie!

It really is an extraordinary structure – what’s left of it- and is a perfect example of how man made buildings, if left alone, will always revert back to nature.

It’s easy to see why this location was a perfect setting for a particular type of movie!

Really quite spooky!

It was just great having Bobbie with us for two weeks. For sure, she looked a much more relaxed and healthy lady when she left than when she arrived!

So, Bobbie’s now back in the UK and we’re in Hua Hin with a few days to get ready for our next visitor. What fun!

R

Thailand, Laos and Cambodia

A few days of recuperation, sunbathing and generally chilling and my daughter quickly returned to her delightful self

although I wasn’t entirely sure why she was so keen to have a lesson in Thai boxing (Muay Thai) while she was with us.

Anyway, this was easily arranged and although exhausting, she clearly loved it!

I am always fascinated by the eclectic mix of people who either pass through or live here in Thailand. On our last evening in Hua Hin we had a brief conversation with a Belgian seated at the next table in our favourite sea food restaurant who was part of the sky diving team who broke the world record of 400 sky divers here in Thailand a few years back. Extraordinary!

And so to Luang Prabang, the royal capital of Laos right up until 1975 and a UNESCO World Heritage site. What a charming spot, nestling amongst the hills and mountains of the northern part of the country and truly a step back in time. No high rise blocks here. No fast food eateries. No karaoke. No noisy bars.

Just the inevitable temples, a lot French influenced old colonial style architecture and all dominated by

the mighty Mekong river, a tributary of which can easily be crossed by way of this rather rickety bamboo bridge but only in the dry season as once the rains come the structure is taken down and assembled again when the dry weather returns.

There doesn’t seem much purpose to this construction other than to enjoy the tranquility of the waterways and the stunning topography of this entire area

It is truly a beautiful part of the world where time seems to have stood still and Mother Nature is clearly in control. Some of the scenery is almost too good to be true and none more so than at the Kuang Si waterfalls which I can only describe as being more like a Disney film set than a creation of nature. The falls are incredible and made more spectacular by the intense blue colour of the water.

Apparently, as the water cascades over the limestone rocks, small copper particles are released which, when reflecting the light turn the water blue – or something like that.

Whatever the reason, the effect is amazing which I hope will also be the case when I finally go on a diet to lessen my Chinese Buddha- like outward appearance!

A sunset cruise on the Mekong is a tourist must and thoroughly worthwhile even though, once the sun falls behind the mountains, so does the thermometer. Watching the end of daytime in this way really does put life’s problems into perspective.

Luang Prabang and the surrounding area is stunning. There’s little to do here other than to enjoy the sense of history in this charmingly preserved town and just immerse yourself in the the beauty of the amazing scenery.

Next stop: Siem Reap in Cambodia. More culture but a very different environment.

R

In Thailand, as in other countries, there are rules but here, few people follow them. And so it is with Christmas where decorations rarely get taken down on 6th January (at the end of the 12 days of Christmas), staying put not only well into the new year but often until after the Chinese New Year celebrations .

It’s all part of the plan to keep the party going for as long as possible which, of course, includes the inevitable night markets, the bigger ones offering more than the usual food and clothing.

I was not tempted to join in this game of Bingo in the hope of winning some very large and not especially appealing cuddly (?) animal!

As we came nearer to Nokky’s home village, the terrain becomes flatter making it easier for the ubiquitous rice to grow. Once the remains of the harvested rice has been cleared, the ground is prepared and watered for the next crop which creates a perfect insect hunting ground for the Asia Openbills.

Shortly after planting begins, the backbreaking task of weeding and fertilizing

takes place until it’s time to cut the rice again .

There is often an oversupply of rice during the good times so the government has been making an effort to encourage farmers to switch crops. Thus far, there isn’t much evidence of this but occasionally you can see fields of local mint

and the odd herd of cattle.

The lady in the above pic became very protective of her offspring when I approached for a better photo. So I had to beat a swift retreat as she had a couple of menacing horns and was very big!

Getting around all this farmland can be done on foot although not only because of the heat but mainly because of the size of the area is more often than not undertaken by a splendid array of old fashioned transport.

You do, occasionally, see something more modern – this Honda off road motorcycle owned by Nokky’s brother who was proudly showing me some land he has recently bought.

And when all the hard work is done it is, of course, time for food and a catch up on the day’s events –

all undertaken, of course, in true north eastern Thai style, sitting on the floor.

A propos of absolutely nothing, whilst ambling through the local shopping mall, I couldn’t help noticing what appeared to be the spitting image of Thomas the Tank Engine. Since when has he been called ‘Happy Train’? Do you think Thomas should be told that there is an imposter here in Thailand?

After a very relaxing few days in Thailand’s deepest countryside, it was a 6+ hour drive south to Bangkok airport to collect my daughter, Robyn, arriving directly from a cold United Kingdom . The post Covid tourist business is definitely picking up as the airport was busy

ad then I spotted a tired and bleary eyed young lady

who immediately fell asleep on our drive back home to Hua Hin! She is clearly in need of some serious battery recharging!

R.

The current dry, sunny and not too hot weather, is a good time to get some outdoor essential repairs done. I’m not sure how ‘Health and Safety’ would view the way this is normally achieved

but needs must when your roof has developed a small leak after the heavens opened earlier in the year!

We had planned to celebrate Christmas Day in an idyllic setting overlooking the sea in a beachfront restaurant. On Christmas morning, however, the proprietor of said restaurant awoke to a howling gale with the accompanying waves which were flooding his beach side terrace! Panic measures ensued, so our table was quickly moved to a safer, totally non idyllic environment with views that were more like a car park than the ocean!

Undeterred, we still managed to have a great time full of good food, good chat and copious amounts of liquid! Good sense should have dictated that we stopped our celebrations there but, hey, it was Christmas Day so ‘one for the road’ was called for on the way home which, perhaps inevitably, turned out to be quite a few more…..

evidenced by the headaches the following day. The only sensible thing we did that day was to use taxis!

As soon as we had recovered from the Yuletide excesses, it was party time again on New Year’s Eve where, at midnight, the bars emptied when everyone moved into the street to watch the various firework displays lighting up the skies

together with a fair amount of inebriated waving!

And it was then back into the bars to continue the night’s excesses. One of our customers got so carried away she insisted in buying ‘shots’ for all customers and staff.

A very generous gesture indeed and one that I managed to escape as I was hiding in the loo!

Meanwhile, in the west of Bangkok a more sedate -and, frankly, bizarre event was taking place. A number of people choose to climb into coffins,

lie down in them , get covered by a few monks who then offer up some prayers after which the ‘corpses’ arise and walk off to start the new year totally cleansed of their past year’s sins and mistakes.

It sure beats the confessional!

It’s been a hectic 2+ months in our bar/restaurant, what with Halloween, Nokky’s birthday, the footy World Cup,Christmas and New Year’s Eve so it was good to finally find some time to do a bit of home entertaining with guests from the UK

whose children -as most children of that age like to do – spent most of the afternoon in the pool

a lot of the time trying to annoy Mummy and Daddy!

And we even managed a country ramble on New Year’s Day which, inevitably led to some edible foraging by Nokky. Whilst she was picking tamarinds, I spotted this amazing ‘thing’ dangling from one of the tree branches.

which I was confidently was a bird’s nest. Exactly which avian creature is able to make such an extraordinary piece of engineering, I do not know.

A very Happy New Year to one and all and here’s hoping that 2023 is better than 2022 but not quite as good as 2024!

R.

The evening of Thailand’s Festival of Light (or Loy Krathong) which falls on the night of the full moon in November, is one of the most picturesque festivals in the whole of Thailand. It’s when people gather around lakes, rivers and canals to pay respect to the goddess of water by releasing small and beautiful ‘rafts’ decorated with candles, incense and flowers and banana leaves onto the water.

And of course, in common with every other festival in Thailand, it’s an opportunity to eat mouth watering street food, hunt for bargains and generally have a good time.

But of course, the main purpose for both young

and old(er)

is either to thank the goddess of water (Mae Khongkha) for the abundant supply or apologise for using too much or contaminating it!

A more international and traditional celebration followed a few days later on Nokky’s birthday

where a good time was had by all in our bar/restaurant.

Buying a birthday present for Nokky is easy as a) she much prefers to buy something for herself and b) all she ever wants is…gold, the buying and selling of which is very big business here as it holds its value much better than, say, diamonds and thus much easier to sell if times get tough! Not the most romantic reason for gift buying but the Thais- perhaps surprisingly – are generally more practical than romantic!

And then there was the football World Cup. In order not to be seen to be too partisan, we decorated our bar/restaurant with some of the flags of the competing finalists. We had a few enthusiasts who watched most – if not all- of the games and had a full house for the final when, towards the exciting finish, it was standing room only. What fun we had!

On a much quieter note, this little fellow (a Kingfisher, perhaps?) injured himself the other day, having flown directly into our bedroom window. We managed to feed him some water and a bit of food (insects) but really thought he was on his last legs as he sat almost motionless on our terrace for close to 10 hours before suddenly and very unexpectedly, taking off.

The beautiful pink water lilies are in abundance at this time of year – on every small pond, canal, lake and river. They are best viewed quite early in the morning which is not ideal photography time for me. But I managed to catch these before the flowers shut up shop for the day on a very small pond close to our house.

It is, I believe, the shortest day tomorrow . So, to remind those of you living in colder climes that there are warmer times ahead, this is where I plan to relax reading my book this afternoon.

S0, all that remains for me to do is to wish you all a…

and here’s hoping that 2023 will be a much better year for everyone.

R.

…and not a drop to drink except in plastic bottles which of course doesn’t help the environment!

We were hoping for an improvement in the weather when we headed south to Hua Hin after our wet trip to Ayutthaya but it was not to be. It was as if the heavens were reminding us how unpredictable nature can be as the rain was relentless.

The tiny little stream at the back of our house turned into a raging torrent,

many of the local roads became well nigh impassable,

and all of this at the start of the ‘dry, tourist season’ !

Then, as if by magic – and just when I was about to panic about what to do with our first overseas guests in more than 2.5 years who were arriving soon – the rain stopped, the sun came out and Hua Hin began to smile again!

And that’s how it stayed for a few days so we were able to do some sightseeing with our friends Chris and Wendy. With all the recent rainfall, the Pal-a-U waterfalls were particularly spectacular

where our very fit guests trekked all the way up to the source.

Some easy to arrange recuperation from such exertions was necessary on one of the many quiet beaches in this area

where the seafood is plentiful and still relatively cheap

So all was going well until………

Whereas the rain in Hua Hin and its surroundings had decided to give up for the year, up in the mountains it had not, to the point where, we were told, a reservoir dam was about to burst its walls. To avoid this potential disaster, the dam sluice gates were opened which certainly saved the dam wall itself but caused mayhem further downstream! Our little stream which was already overflowing, gave up trying to move the water away from our area and proceeded to flood our entire garden

and all the roads leading to our house

With the help of sandbags and pumping,

we managed to limit the extent of the damage to our property and just as quickly as the flooding had begun, the waters receded and we were able to start ‘drying out’ and continue entertaining our friends.

A calming boat trip on a beautiful day in the wetlands of one of the Thailand’s biggest nature brought and end to our friends visit

which had been such good fun, convivial and certainly eventful!

May the dry weather continue!

R

About a 1 hour drive north of Bangkok is the small city of Ayutthaya. From 1350 – 1767 it was the capital of Thailand until the naughty Burmese razed it to the ground after a siege of some 14 months, resulting in the Thai (or ‘Siam’ as it was called then) capital moving south, eventually ending up in Bangkok. Before this move, Ayutthaya’s population stood at around 1 million which made it one of the largest cities in the world of the day. Nowadays, the population is a mere 53,000 although there are app 800k+ Thais living in the surrounding province.

The ruins of the old city are located on an island between 3 rivers and full of the remnants of temples, monasteries and statues. Our small hotel was also on this island. And that’s when our troubles started! Granted that it’s still the rainy season so one can expect a few downpours here and there so it didn’t even cross my mind to worry about the rivers’ water levels when booking a hotel. Our chosen spot looked lovely from the photo with a garden leading on to one of the rivers. The reality was that when we arrived, said garden was close to being part of the river!

And by the next morning, it was!

Luckily, though, we had been assigned a room on the first floor

so we decided to be very ‘British’, keep calm and carry on, borrow some umbrellas, hire one of the strange looking, local Tuk Tuk’s and go sightseeing.

Despite the continuing rain, it was well worth it. There are the ruins of over 40 temples on this small island city, some dating back more than 500 years,

all of which give a very clear idea of what an amazing place this must have been in its heyday.

Everything was built on a grand scale, all at a time of no computer engineering, no excavators or any kind of mechanical equipment. Just human resource-

one of whom, with a sense of humour or history, embedded a Buddha image in this tree!

Or maybe this was done at a later date. Nobody seems to know!

In the afternoon, we headed for the river (or it could have been somebody’s back garden!) where we found someone willing to take us for a trip up/down the swollen river.

Boarding our chosen craft was a bit hazardous as the normal gangway was submerged but we made it

and set off at a leisurely pace, passing some of the local flora and fauna

plus further evidence of the flooding

from which this Roman Catholic church (a rare site in this mainly Buddhist country) was well protected.

All was calm and sedate until we met 4 rather aggressive looking tugboats heading downstream

pulling 3 or 4 enormous barges filled to the brim, we were told, with rice, sugar and molasses from further up country

and with another tug at the rear to nudge the barges around corners! All in all, an impressive site and one to be enjoyed if you didn’t mind the wash these vessels left behind them!

Without getting much wetter, we made it back to our hotel, passing a local elephant transportation service on the way.

In the morning of our check out, the river levels were even higher so the enterprising hotel staff commandeered one boat for our luggage

and one for us to ferry us to our car which had, luckily, been parked on higher ground.

All in all, an eventful -and I must say enjoyable- couple of days, despite the conditions. I would definitely like to visit Ayutthaya again and even stay in the same hotel – but definitely not in the rainy season!

Until we dry out!

R

Overall, our Hua Hin home was not in too bad a shape on our return from our travels. Nevertheless, it took more than a week to get both garden and house back to how we like it. One of the biggest challenges I faced was how to move a couple of pigeon families onto somewhere other than our roof and guttering where they had clearly been enjoying themselves in our absence.

The evidence of their residence was there for all to see – both in our swimming pool and the surrounding patio. Yuk! Nokky had quite a terminal suggestion as to how to get rid of these birds but, being the softie that I am, I preferred a more humane approach! Previously I had put some plastic spikey things in the gutters as a deterrent which worked for a while until these avian Einsteins learnt how to move them out of the way. So a more aggressive approach was needed in the form of a catapult

purchased for the princely sum of about £1. Pigeons are extraordinarily smart and whilst my aim with this ancient weapon has been pretty hopeless so far, the very sight of me with catapult in hand has been enough to put them to flight. I am ever hopeful, therefore that if I can keep this up then No 18, Woodlands may become a no fly zone – for pigeons anyway.

For some time now, the sight in my right eye has been deteriorating (thus not helping my catapult aim!) – thanks to a cataract -to the point where driving in the dark, in particular, was becoming troublesome. So, having done some research into costs, I discovered that to have this small op done in the highly thought of Bangkok Hospital

was less than half the cost of the equivalent treatment in the UK. So, armed with this information, I popped into said hospital , avoiding a dalek-like robot whose purpose was a little unclear

and asked for an appointment to see an eye specialist. After a bit of computer interrogation, the delightful receptionist told me that, with huge regret, the earliest appointment I could have was….. “tomorrow”! So, after a thorough examination the following day, a 75% cataract was confirmed in my right eye whilst at the same time, the good doctor discovered what is technically called a ‘posterior capsular opacification’ (more simply called a ‘secondary cataract’) in my left eye which had similarly been operated on many years ago. Little wonder, therefore, that I was finding night time driving increasingly difficult!

In for a penny etc, I thought, so I gave the go ahead for my right eye to be sorted although I did find the waiting time between my first appointment and the actual operation far too long – all of 5 days!! This just left the matter of the ‘secondary cataract’ to be sorted. “oh, we can deal with that with some laser treatment, right now if you like’ said the good doctor. And so it was that, a mere 24 hours after making the appointment, I had received a very thorough optical examination, had some laser work done on my left eye and arranged for a cataract operation on my right eye for some 5 days later. Incredible!

The cataract operation itself was, I am told, a success and at the time of writing my right eye sight is already clearer and will become more so over the next few weeks. All with the help of loads of pills and potions

to the point where the surgeon told me I may only have need for reading glasses in the future. I am still in awe of the amazing healthcare received at this hospital and in shock at how reasonable the cost of it all was.

Whereas I am seriously impressed at the excellent healthcare here in Thailand (albeit if you have insurance cover and/or money in your pocket), I am totally unimpressed by the country’s overly bureaucratic banking system. I thought that Spanish banks had an unhealthy love of paperwork but they are mere beginners in comparison with their counterparts in Thailand! A while back, I lost my Thai mobile phone whose number I had given to my bank so I could receive alerts, one time passwords etc. As soon as I purchased a new phone, I accessed my personal details on my internet banking and substituted this new number. Easy, I thought. Job done! Silly me as the bank continued to send messages to my old (lost) phone! The next step was to drop into my local branch where I was convinced this very minor technicality could be resolved. Wrong again as I was informed that such an extraordinarily complex technical operation could only be done by the branch where I had opened the account – some few miles away. So, off I went again armed with my bank book, credit card, both new and old passport and- just in case- my Thai driving licence which acts as an ID card. And this is where the fun began. Passports and visas were photocopied, the bank book was scanned (and photocopied) probably five or six times and after making endless copies of all this information (all of which was in the bank’s computer anyway), I had to sign every single page – some 14 pieces of paper in all – merely to change a phone number which I had already changed in ‘my settings’. Unbelievable! To cap off this interesting episode I was told that all this bumph had to be sent to ‘Head Office’ where it would take about 1 week to process. By this time, I had totally lost the will to live so meekly nodded, said thank you and exited.

Somewhere in between the amazing service and value for money of the Bangkok Hospital and Thailand’s paper guzzling banking system (I really should be in the photocopying business here!) is the government’s transport department and, more particularly, the driving licence renewal section. Apart from the (inevitable) gathering – and signing, of course- of a vast array of documents (proof of visa, passport, official letter from the Immigration department confirming, my Thai abode, doctor’s letter stating that I am alive, inside leg measurement etc etc), the actual renewal process was quick and easy. Not yet online, of course but in and out of the relevant office within 30 minutes armed with two new 5 year driving licences for car and motorcycle.

A good result, I thought except for the ghastly photo which reminds me of my grandfather!

In between running around sorting out cataracts, driving licences, pigeon family removal and getting our house and garden back up to scratch, I took time out to take a look at Hua Hin’s annual ‘Blessing of the fishing fleet” ceremony –

a fairly low key affair culminating in the inevitable letting off of fish frightening firecrackers as the boats left for their day’s work.

Meanwhile, our quiet house and garden attract all manner of small (ish) animals and insects. This long tailed lizard is a regular visitor to the patio next to my office

and this initially scary – and large- Owl moth has taken up semi permanent residence in the shade of our curtains and away from the sun outside.

Next week, were off for a couple of days for a first time visit to Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand – or Siam as it was in those days. So, lots of photo opportunities, I hope.

R