Candle Festival

Tuesday saw not only myself with a day off but Seerung as well, and it coincided with a visit from my niece Bow. Perfect timing.

I have a real soft spot for Bow, a delightful 16 year old who you would imagine is just like a young Thai girl was 50 years ago. Very traditional and very very shy. For her to actually call up by herself the day before and ask if she could come and stay for two nights was amazing. She had a cousin coming into the big smoke and due to school holidays thought she would tag along. This was the first time that we have both actually had a conversation with each other as there wasn’t a room full of other Thais around to make her feel embarressed. I even helped her to finish an assignment as the final part of it was to set up an email address and to send an email to the teacher.

The perfect timing continued as the reason she was on school holidays was because of the Candle Festival. It is the big week of the year for Ubon and something I had never attended before so after breakfast we set out to the large park in the centre of town Tung Si Muang.

We thought the traffic would be horrific but managed to find a park close by and soon realised that we were way to early to see any of the big events which actually suited me fine. If you want to see some good pics my friend Jason from Issan Style has some great ones on his blog. While you are there please check out the nice review he did on Peppers.

So we had fun walking around the park where we saw some nice garden displays.

What ever it was these guards were looking after it must have been quite important!

There was a large media contingent.

The kids decided on a little exercise with nanny Joy and Bow helping out before crossing the road where some marquees were set up.

The Marquees were a pleasant surprise from the usual boring cheap Thai markets that you usually see. Inside was a nice selection of local produce that you don’t see all that often and of course some that you see everywhere. The prices were much cheaper then usual as well.

Ariya was extremely interested in this automated ‘pok pok’ machine which she watched for ages.

Plenty of friend grubs to tempt the taste buds.

Also cheap were some of the clothes that were on offer, a lot of stuff was almost half price then what I had seen elsewhere. Bow picked up a few shirts and I got myself a much needed pair of shorts.

Word on the street was that crowd numbers were way down this year due to swine flu. Just before the festival got into full swing a couple of schools shut for a few days due to suspected swine flu cases amongst a few students. Rumours then swept through town that one student actually died, although I am yet to have that confirmed.

The girls had a great time as there were ice cream and balloons.

After all of that it was back to the car and off to lunch at Risottos Italian Restaurant before heading home for an afternoon nap!

Back online

I cannot believe how long it has been since I last posted. Thanks for the recent emails from concerned readers including a phone message from Canada via Australia!

Three reasons can be attributed to my absence.

One: Busy. Very busy. Sine I returned from Bangkok it has been full time back in the shop however I have managed in that time to score a total of three days off which were just wonderful and exactly what the Dr ordered.

Two: No news. Spending so much time in the shop makes Jack a dull boy. Until yesterday there hasn’t been much to report.

Three: Procrastination. There has been a few times when I have opened the computer ready to tap tap away only to do something else instead. Sometimes it is good for a break and I hope that it has re-inspired me!

As I said the last three weeks have been busy but perhaps not as busy as the previous three weeks before that. Just the other day we employed two girls to help out in the front and already they are settling in well which will mean more time off soon as well! The shop has slowly been increasing sales which is great but we still have a long way to go yet. We are still getting positive feed back and have a few small catering orders under out belts. Next Monday we have our first in house function with lunch for between 22 and 34 people which we are looking forward to.
The shop is still fun, we are still learning and we are confident that Peppers will be successful.

As I mentioned I have had three days off in the last week which has been great for me and the kids. The first day I took the kids out after breakfast to do some shopping and lots and lots of eating checking out two different places in town. The kids just loved it when it was me who went into their room in the morning to get them up and not the nanny Joy. They literally beamed and we had a great day. I was heartbroken when Ariya asked me before I put her to bed that night ‘Daddy stay home tomorrow?’ and I had to say no. She was so upset.

My second day off was spent at Toyota. You may be asking what kind of father would take his daughters to Toyota? Well read this post to refresh your memories!
I had booked it in for a service and so we spent an enjoyable 2 1/2 hours in the waiting room. The kids played while I read and then we ate apples, bananas and popcorn before Ariya and I did a little bit of school work before playing again. It was then off for lunch before home for afternoon sleeps.

The third day off was a little more boring as I have become so far behind in my other work that I just had to catch up on some paperwork. I am still way behind but at least I have made a start. The ATO (Australian taxation Office) are at least happy with me again as I was so overdue on some payments!

With the new staff some more regular days off are in the pipeline but that will all need to be rescheduled when Nong heads back to NZ at the end of the month to give birth and then her husband Ben will follow shortly after. This still gives us about two months to get this ship sailing smoothly so that I can get back to where I need to be, with my kids and in my office.

On Monday after work we loaded up the family and headed back to the village for the 100 day ceremony since my father in law passed away. We arrived around 8.30pm and thank fully managed to get the kids to sleep shortly after. The next day a huge crowd of people had gathered to start helping out. Marquees were once again erected, tables and kitchenware was brought in and the cooking began. This went on all day and into the evening. A few hours sleep then back up at 2am (not me) to kill the cow and continue the preparation. The monks turned up at 5pm on the first day and 6am on the second day to do their bit. I watched a bit of the first ceremony but missed the second as the kids were still asleep so I had a lay in with them.
The kids loved being in Thailand. That’s what Ariya calls it. Ubon is Ubon or the new house and the village is called Thailand. However by the second day the constant poking, prodding, pinching and cooing had grown very thin and they wanted to go home. I managed to take them away from it for a while by escaping up to my brother in laws Somboons house and then down to the pig farm to play with the little piglets for a while. Having been in air con almost constantly for the last few months the heat was quite a shock to the system as well.
By 3pm yesterday we had packed up and were on our way back to the ‘new house’
The next few months are going to be very exciting. In two weeks time my brother is going to be visiting for 1 or 2 days on his way back home from Laos. I then have some other very special guests arriving in August (more about this later.) Also in my previous post I wrote about helping my friends the Martins settle into life in Bangkok, well they are planning a trip up here soon. Work permitting I am also tempted to go somewhere for two days when my next visa run is due in 5 weeks time. I have always wanted to go to Hanoi and if Clint is keen to come with me, I will try and organise that.
Well that is about it for the time being, will post some more photos over the next few days and will hopefully be in more regular contact with you all.

Back from the big smoke

Monda morning saw me jump a Air Asia flight to Bangkok to meet up with my great friends the Martins.

They have just relocated to Bangkok for their long service leave which they will use as a base to have a great holiday and visit lots of fantastic places close by like Hong Kong, Malaysia and of course Ubon!

Two years ago I made a promise to Clint that no matter what happened I would make sure i would be with him and his family in Thailand when they arrived to help them get settled in.

With everything that has been happening recently it was pretty bad timing but I am glad I was able to get there and help them out. I flew down on Monday morning and we hit the ground running in our quest to find the perfect apartment. A lot of sweat later and by the end of the first day we had only found one place that was up for consideration. We did have a lot of other leads though. On Tuesday morning we hit a slightly different part of town before heading out to a place just over the river called the Masterview. It was the place that Seerung and I lived for 6 months back in 2004/05 and the Martins actually visited us whilst we were living there. It was never in consideration as a few weeks ago Seerung called them to enquire about a 3 bedroom apartment only to be told that none were available. After our first day of searching the Martins decided that perhaps a 3 bedroom place wasn’t all that necessary so we made contact with the Masterview again and they said they had a few available for us to look at.
Condos are notorious at decreasing in value very quickly and so I wasn’t so sure how the place would look. Imagine our surprise when we both thought that the place had actually improved with age!
Clint was wrapped and so we organised to come back on Wednesday morning with the entire family so that they could all have a look as well. Mrs Clint was also impressed and they chose an apartment on the spot – our old one! Yep exactly the same place they visited us all though years ago is now theirs for the next few months at least!
Back into town to organise money and then back again to sign the contract and pay the deposit. That afternoon I booked my flight home for midday the next day and then we all hit the town to celebrate. We went to Lumpini park first to meet with the Thai tutor that the Martins will be using for the next few months and then went onto the Food Loft at Chidlom. We met up with a good Kiwi friend of mine on the way as he works just a few hundred metres away. After a good feed we bundled Mrs Clint and the three kids into a taxi and sent them on their way while the three of went out and had a few drinks. It was a good night out and I even managed a little sleep in the next morning the first I have had in months.
I left the hotel at midday by taxi and the stupid driver proceeded to take a different way to the airport. While it was still a correct way I believe I could have got us there in half the time via two alternative routes. I don’t think he has made the airport trip all that often as he dropped me off at arrivals which meant another 5 minutes before I could check in which I just plain didn’t have. I rushed and made check in with exactly 31 minutes before departure and one minute before they were going to close the check in counters.
Straight home (via the shop) to see the kids then back to help Seerung pack up the shop. Today was another full day at work although it wasn’t too busy so quite enjoyable.
It is going to be a very busy next couple of days as apart from those being the busiest days at the shop, when we got home today we discovered to my surprise two of Seerungs sisters, two nieces as well as Joy’s (our nanny) Mum and two younger sisters waiting for us! Straight out to the market for seafood and then back home to cook, cook, eat, cook, cook and eat some more. They plan to stay here until Sunday as tomorrow is Seerungs birthday. At least we are due to knock off early tomorrow (4pm) so we will be able to spend a little bit of time together.

Marisahs 2nd birthday part 2

After taking her new bike for a test ride we all piled in the ute and headed off to Pizza company for dinner. I cannot believe how expensive that place is, we paid almost 500 baht ($20 AUS) for just one pizza!
After that we walked next door to Swensons for what was the highlight of the night for the birthday girl, lots and lots of ice cream.
Then it was home to clean all that mess from their faces, and what a ball they had doing that as our new house comes with a huge bath, their first in months (an actual bath that is, not a wash!)
Although Seerung and I were both on our last legs I was really glad that we made the effort to make it a little bit special for my curly topped monkey.

A second birthday for Marisah part 1

My curly haired monkey turned two last week.

My curly top monkey

It coincided with the day we moved into our new house along with a full day at work but we still managed to take the time to celebrate with her.
When the kids were exploring their new house for the very first time I quickly placed her present in the front yard and draped a blanket over it before calling her outside.
Obviously she was immediately curious and with her sister Ariya ran to investigate.

I wonder what is under here?

Whoops where did Marisah go?

It was amazing watching the difference between Marisah and Ariya at similar ages. When we were in NZ our neighbours gave Ariya a bike when she was two and a half. She tried a few times to ride it but quickly lost interest and said she couldn’t do it. When we moved to Thailand and she turned three we bought her a bike. She had a love hate affair with it and really didn’t start riding it for at least a few months afterwards.
Marisah on the other hand with just two minutes of practise was scaring the pants of me by almost cycling out onto the road at the front of the house!
That evening we took her out to celebrate with pizza and ice cream (more pics to come in part 2.)

Six years!

I can’t believe that six years have past since I married my beautiful wife Seerung. On our wedding day instead of the traditional wedding cake I organised a five tiered pizza as the official cake. Since then, every wedding anniversary we have celebrated with some kind of pizza theme.
Yesterday Ben secretly made up a pizza in the shape of a love heart which I surprised Seerung with when we got home yesterday evening. (She is yet to remember a single anniversary so it is always me who does the organising.) Due to the serious lack of time we have been able to spend with the kids recently we decided that they would have to come with us as well. Although we were both tired we managed to shower and dress up into our finest for dinner at the Sunee Grand Hotel which is no more then 100 metres away from our house.
This is a new hotel in Ubon and is rumoured to be trying for a 5 star rating. Some parts of it are still under construction. We took a bottle of wine with us that we had be saving for a special occasion as well as the pizza.

We ordered extra food to go with it and enjoyed watching the kids trying to slow dance to the music coming live from the piano.
The plan was for me to drop the kids home while Seerung had a massage and then I would walk back and join her. Unfortunately there was only one masseuse available so I left her there to enjoy it.
The food at the Sunee was edible but for the price very disappointing. Corkage was 200 baht. The service however was great and the atmosphere perfect for what we wanted.

Sat TV finally! Well sort of…

A few months ago I blogged about here getting satellite TV and how excited I was to finally get to watch the Australia channel just as soon as we bought a TV. Well we never did by that TV and the dish has sat there ever since gathering dust until my trip back the other day. I got my brother in law to pull it down so I could bring it to our new place here in Ubon which came with a TV. I found a local sat guru who came around and set it up for me on Friday.
It was just in time as that night my favourite team was playing real football I was so excited to get to see my first came of footy in almost two years and for it to be my team they were showing was an added bonus. I settled in for a great night on the sofa until a storm blew in from the west and just 15 minutes into the first quarter the signal disappeared and remained like that until the end of the game.
Wasn’t such a bad thing I guess as I read on line the next morning that we got flogged anyway.

Hamburger in Ubon Ratchatani

This is our 250 gram home style beef pattie together with bacon, cheese, tomato, onion and lettuce between a freshly baked bun, served with chips. 195 baht. ($7 AUS) at Peppers.

A flying visit

Keeping the flying theme going here, I made a flying visit home to the village to pick up more items now that we have found a house to live in.

A little over a week ago after much searching we finally found a house. It is owned by a lady from the Philippines who is a Doctor here in Ubon.

It is a two story, four bedroom place in a fantastic location. It is only about 100 metres from the Sunee Grand Hotel which has a supermarket, swimming pool, gym (next month) and shopping centre. It is 2km from Peppers and only takes a few minutes to get to work in the morning and a little longer in the evening.
Plenty of room for the kids to ride their bikes and play outside which was my main requirement when looking for a property. It was so nice to move out of the hotel room and the place feels like a mansion compared to the shoe box that we were in.

So for the last week I have been itching to get back to the village to get a ute load of effects so that we could actually start enjoying the new house. Microwave, rice cooker, pots and pans, pillows, towels and bedding. Food from the pantry, office desk and chair, bookshelves, paper work, bicycle and clothes etc etc.

I decided to take the kids and Joy came as well. Joy is a girl from the village who has been helping us out with the kids recently. We left at 8am and arrived at 10.30 am. Spent an hour catching up with everyone before taking another hour to load the car. Having been working in air conditioning the last four weeks I had totally forgotten how hot it actually is outside! With everything loaded we had intended to stay for lunch but with rain clouds starting to form we decided to get home as quick as possible. A quick stop for some sticky rice and grilled chicken half way back to Ubon and we were back by 3pm.

I really missed not having Por Yai there to great us like usual. The place sure is different without him there. It was great to see everyone again and they are all looking forward to coming and spending a few nights in our new place and trying out the new shop.

Flight path

Thai airways 2.45pm flight from bangkok directly overhead.

I haven’t worn a watch since I was about 20 years old which was lucky as that was about the time I started owning a mobile phone which carried the time.
At the new shop I don’t even need a phone as we are in a direct line with the Ubon Ratchatani International Airport runway.

A google earth image showing how close Peppers is to the runway

Every day we have the 7.05 am, 8.30 am, 2.45 pm and the 6.20 pm flights from Bangkok coming into land which gives me a good handle on what the local time is. Of course all that goes out the window if they happen to be late (which actually is quite rare)
The airport also doubles as the airforce base for the Thai army and they regularly do flight training in the immediate area, usually three or four days a week. Thank goodness for the double glazed windows if you are dining in the restaurant but spare a thought for us out in the kitchen as those babies at just 500 feet are LOUD!

Tomorrow I have managed to escape from the shop for a short while. I need to drive back to the village and pick up some furniture, clothes, books, toys, satellite dish, kitchen gear and what ever else is on the list! I will take the kids so that they can see the cousins but we will only have 3 hours there as I need to be back in town by 4pm so that I can help Seerung with the afternoon shift.