Life in Phana

Introducing my new blog

Some months ago I read somewhere of blogs that post a picture for every day of the year. I thought this was an excellent idea and something I would like to do. But not right at that moment. I would begin the following week.

At some later point I thought it would be best to begin on the first day of the following month.

Then, a sensible starting point would obviously be on my birthday.

Well, you know how it is. For a couple of months now I have thought that the first day of a new year, a new decade even, would be the ideal starting point.

So here we are. I don't usually go in for new year resolutions but that seems to be what I have landed myself with. We shall see. And I hope you will see the end of this procrastination tomorrow.  Lets hope you can find it. It will be called "Pic of the Day" and you should be able to get to it from the link at the top of this page.

As I said: we shall see. In the meantime HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!

Scorpion Invasion

The first scorpion I ever saw in Thailand was in a small village in Si Sa Ket Province a few years back. Then last year I found one when I moved a smallish water jar which had been damaged by a branch falling from a tree next door. The scorpion was hiding under the jar and judging by how slowly it moved and how disoriented it seemed -- unable to make up its mind which direction to scuttle off in -- I think it had been hibernating or at least having a prolonged snooze.

Then a couple of days ago Pensri reported finding one in a sort of pit she had dug to start piling cuttings that would need to be burnt because they were too big to compost (greenhouse effect? in Phana?). Although I rushed over there with my camera, the scorpion had disappeared completely.

 

 

 

 

Then only about 10 minutes later Pensri found another one in a different part of the garden. Possibly it was the same scorpion although it would have had to move a lot faster and much more decisively than last year's specimen to have got to the new location in that time.

 

He is covered in bits of earth so he was hiding under a loose pile that may have been where Pensri first saw him.

 

 

I moved him onto this piece of concrete so that there was a bit more contrast and less tocamouflage him.Two red ants have attached themselves to his tail so there could be a battle of the venoms going on here. Scorpions eat small arthropods and insects so they are playing a dangerous game.

Apparently Thai scorpions (there is only the one species here) are fairly harmless. Their venom is about as powerful as a wasp sting but as with a wasp there is always the possibility of an allergic reaction which could be fatal.  They are nocturnal and hide in dark places such as under rocks and in holes in the ground during the day which is why you don't see them very often. They are preyed on by  birds, centipedes, lizards, mice, and rats.

 

 

Living  in the vicinity of snakes (and now scorpions) which are generally invisible, I have got used to the idea that they are not hiding from me so that they can plot ways of getting at me. I think I have also eliminated the desire to kill such creatures if I should see them. At the same time I have become more mindful when moving about the garden (and the house) so that I will hopefully be prepared if I do come across one. I suppose this makes me more like them, though in the case of the scorpion there was little he could do to take avoiding action once his hiding place had been revealed. He was certainly ready to do what he could to fend me off if I attacked him, though. He wasn't to know that I wouldn't do such a thing. 

 

 

 

 

Car Tax and Passport

 

Last year Pensri and I made a 3-week road trip through central and northern Laos, and the year before that we drove around the south. Here we parked beside the road in Hua Phan Province, on the way to the former capital of the liberated zone, Xam Nua.

 

We had stopped to admire this view:

 

Incidentally, we had had the car washed during our 2-day stop in Phonsavanh. Earlier it had looked more like this:

 

Anyway, yesterday I realised that my car tax and car passport (International Transport Permit) were both due for renewal and since a long weekend holiday is about to start I decided to get on and do it.  So I gathered the paperwork as quickly as my inefficient filing system allowed and headed into Ubon.

I have a sister-in-law in Ubon and her husband kindly looks after the insurance of my car for me, mostly because when we go back to England we get a rebate on the policy for the months the car will be off the road and he takes care of that. And the car, too, which he always starts every now and again and has checked before we get back. So I had to call on him first to pick up the insurance documents and he reminded me to go to the insurance office to pay the government premium, which this year has been reduced to 600 Baht, + stamp and VAT bringing it to 645 Baht. Last year it was about 750 Baht.

Second stop was the place which carries out a few tests on cars over a certain age (7 years, I think). This took about 15 minutes so I got to the Land Transport office at 12.20 and about 30 different people told me in a variety of English, Thai and sign language  that they were closed for lunch. So a lunch break for me, too, at the excellent Spago which I learned about from Darwin at We Love Ubon .

Back to the Land Transport office after lunch and it only took me 15 minutes to complete all the formalities and get my windscreen tax sticker for 2553 (2010). What was needed here was just the car registration log book and the insurance documents.

Next I renewed my car passport which required some different paperwork but was again very easy. This is the third time I have had a car passport (as everyone here calls it). The first year was fairly complicated and there were lots of pieces of paper involved. But last year they were just putting a computerised system in place and issued me with a new book and assured me that in future it would be very straightforward. And it was.

The only complications arise because I don't officially own the car, my son does. So what I needed here is a form signed by him and me, photo-copies of his Thai passport and my British one and a letter in Thai and English giving his permission for me to drive the car "in Thailand and other countries". So only a small amount of forgery was required. Plus the car registration document which had just been updated. This took another 20 minutes and could have been less if the woman whose signature was required had not left her desk just before my documents were put on it.

So it was a successful day in the cluthches of the Thai bureaucracy. I must say it was all very easy, very pleasant, and everyone was very kind and helpful. At one point a woman pushed in front of me at the photo-copy machine but when she got to the front of the queue the woman operating the machine turned her away and took my stuff. That was nice.

So now I am looking forward to our next trip to Laos. In the meantime I'll post a couple of blogs about those previous trips. I'll do that when things have quietened down following Phana's Rubbish Parade later today and the King's Birthday tomorrow.

Today's the Day

Today's the day I got married forty years ago! Sort of got married. On 12 November 1969 Pensri and I went to the district office at Din Daeng in Bangkok and registered our marriage. Pensri took the day off work from Coca Cola International and I slipped out during a free period at the school I taught at near the district office. It was the period before lunch so that allowed me some leeway if the 'ceremony' took more than 50 minutes. Which it didn't. So I got my usual school lunch that day.

We got married again three days later (on the 15th, Saturday). This time most of it took place in my house (our house from then on) in a soi off Paholyonthin Road with lots of family and friends, followed in the evening by a reception in a hotel on Surawong Road.

That first marriage at the district office was odd. We sat at the counter next to another couple, all four of us being dealt with by a civil service officer. Pensri and I were very nervous and very careful not to seem too affectionate in public. The other couple were very relaxed and seemed very affectionate. The officer had two big ledgers open and we were going in one and the other couple in the other. That seemed odd to me.

The reason was simple.  They were getting divorced! They both seemed very happy about it.

Twelve months later, on our first FIRST anniversary (12 November 1970), our son Dominic was born. So happy birthday to him, today! Twelve months after our second marriage, on our first SECOND anniversary (15 November 1970), our future daughter-in-law was born. So happy birthday to Jay in three days' time! One way or another we tend not to forget these dates.

And this year, partly in celebrationand parly by coincidence, today Pensri and I are off to Malaysia for a weeks' holiday. So, Happy Anniversary to Pensri! Everything is fine about the trip except that I booked our flights online with Air Asia. They think I am in England and keep sending me e-mails saying I could fly from London to Kuala Lumpur for £6! Great. I paid them many times more than that to fly from Bangkok. I'll try not to let them spoil the week for us.

And not forgetting Sgt. Pepper!

 

 

Small celebration in Phana

I arrived at a great age today; the sort of age I once wouldn't have thought it possible to achieve. This wonderful offering arrived about a week ago and there was no attempt made to make it last until now. It came with my two eldest sisters-in-law who both live in Bangkok.

 

 They have known me for more than 40 years so the 'Mr Lawrence' seems a bit over the top. They never call me that so I guess it was added as a politeness by the cake shop decorator.

Pensri and her sisters were obviously going to enjoy this.

 

And so did I!

So a very big THANKYOU to P'Saisawarth and P'Arunee. Please come to stay again!