My 2009 Visit To Thailand, The End Of a Beautiful Friendship.

It's So Easy To Get Caught

Finally after nearly 2 yrs the day has come for my return to see Jan again and to see her new home, I’ve seen photo’s but have never been there.
The day starts at 0.300 hrs 19 April 2009, brother in law Malcolm comes to pick me up on time and we set off for the bus pick up point at Trumpington, journey was a lot quicker than we thought so I was dropped off with 1 hr to wait on a cold April morning for my coach to Heathrow Terminal 3, an uneventful journey until we reached Stansted Airport and the driver discovered that a passenger he had asked if he was OK to carry on with his journey, at the previous pick up, had in fact been sick on the coach and made a mess on one of the seats. He immediately when out to try to find the passenger but was unable to find him, while he was out looking he ordered a replacement coach for the rest of the journey. Check in went off without any problem and I was able to locate the boarding gate , no problem, So it was all systems go for the first stage of my journey to Thailand via Abu Dhabi. No problem with changing flights for the second stage to Bangkok, except that my legs were swelling and giving me some discomfort. Nothing I can do about that, it was always going to happen because of the problems I have with circulation in my legs. Now comes the third stage of my journey, I have to find the check in desks for domestic flights and check in for my flight to Udon Thani, I have 6 hrs before my flight is due to leave, and scheduled to arrive at Udon Thani at 14.35 local time and where I have arranged with Jan to be picked up. When I am checking in they ask if I would like to go on an earlier flight, which was leaving in 1 hr instead of waiting for 6 hrs for my original flight, I said yes, but this left the problem of letting Jan know that I was going to be early, my mobile is barred from making calls abroad and I did not have any Thai Baht for the land line, I decided to wait till I actually got to Udon Thani and then make the call from there and while I waited for Jan to arrive, about an hours journey she thought, I could get something to eat at the airport. Jan finally turns up with a neighbour,who has driven her and her mum to pick me up, we say our hello’s and then head for Nong Han to see Jan’s new home for the first time. End the day just getting used to the heat and new surroundings, Jan’s sister was supposed to come and take her to the local Lotus (Thai Tesco)but she was having problems with buying oil ( Thai expression for Diesel ) for the car, they were also going to take Jan’s mum back home. I had Thai omelette and rice before going to bed, the travelling was catching up on me now. Jan’s sister arrived sometime after I had fallen asleep to take mum home.
Tuesday 21st
First full day of my holiday

Today we are going to Lotus to do some shopping, we have booked a Tuk Tuk to take us when he gets back from the trip he is on at the moment, it’s all a bit up in the air as the Tuk Tuk driver left on his present trip without his mobile and it’s a bit vague as to how long he is going to be, anyway we walk up to local eating place, have something to eat and 2-3 cans of Leo beer, finally giving up the wait and return home for a kip. Tuk Tuk finally arrives outside the house just as I was drifting off, quickly we load up and off to Lotus to get the shopping.
Shopping goes OK until I try to put some cans of beer in the trolley and get one of the girls working at lotus in a right flap as she chased after her supervisor to tell them I was putting beer in the trolley, apparently it was only 4.15 and they were not allowed to sell beer until 5.00, how was I supposed to know what the sign pinned to the shelf said, it was all in Thai.
Early night, still a bit jet lagged I think.
Wednesday 22nd

Woken up by Jan bringing me 2 rounds of buttered toast and a cup of tea.
Spoke with Aussie friend Bruce to get the lowdown on how to connect to the Internet via my mobile. Jan has a spare sim card for Thai service provider 1,2,call so can get started right away, if only. After a frustrating hour or so trying to get this dam sim card to work, I finally got through to t-mobile, who, after telling me that they could not help me with any problems with Thai sim cards and maybe I should be speaking to Nokia or someone other than t-mobile, it eventually sunk in that the problem was because it was a t-mobile Nokia phone it was locked to only take t-mobile cards(so beware, make sure your phone is unlocked). They said that they would be able to get the unlock code from Nokia in about 10 days and charge me £15.00 for unlocking the phone, I asked if they thought someone here in Thailand would be able to get the code an unlock my phone, they doubted it would be possible, how little they know about these resourceful Asian peoples.
Got a message from Bruce to call him. He and most of the others that used Deans Five Bell Bar to drink at were going to be at Eddies sports bar on Thursday and would I like him to pick us up to join them, naturally I said it would be great to go and meet them all again. After some time trying to sort out directions to the village for Bruce to pick us up, we finally compromised on meeting on the car park at Lotus in Nong Han at 13.00 Thursday.
Thursday 23rd

Tuk Tuk ordered to pick us up at 12.30 to go to Lotus.
Bruce was already there waiting for us, so we loaded into his 4X4 and set off for a quiet drink in Eddies bar. On the way we had to drive past Dean’s Bar, not something I was looking forward to as Bruce had warned me that it was not being cared for that well, we saw Lang’s mother as we drove past, she has got a stall outside selling locally produced salt, it all looked a bit sad to me, I have not decided if I want to take a closer look or not yet. We arrived at Eddies and were the first ones there, so we had a beer, and then Bruce, using Jan’s bluetooth phone attempted to get a connection for the Internet, so I could check e-mails and other online stuff, eventually he had it sorted out, and by now some of the rest had got here. Jan said that she would go into Bang Dung a get the phone sorted out while I was having a drink with the rest of the gang and we would catch a bus back to Nong Han in the evening to save Bruce having to drive us back. Well like all the best plans it didn’t quite work out as it should have done, some of the gang didn’t arrive until quite a bit later than expected and when I asked Jan what time we should leave she gave a typical Thai response “Up to You”, well one drink led to another and one remembered incident with Dean led to several more memories of happier days, with a few tears thrown in for good measure and a few what ifs, I presume we missed the last bus home, because this is where Thursday’s story ends as far as I am concerned because by this time I was Falling Down drunk, with the scars to prove it, and do not remember anything else until the next morning waking up in a Hotel bed, with a headache.
The hotel,M&B Mansion, is owned by Aussie Marks wife, Mark was Deans friend who also died about a week after getting back to Thailand from a visit with Dean in South Africa.

Friday 24th

After having a shower and shaving etc. we ventured outside to be greeted by Dang, Marks wife, and Lang’s sister Hoi, When I was putting on my trainers, which had been left outside the room door all night, I felt something inside my trainer and as I took it off, out jumped a gecko that had got in during the night, normally I would check my trainers or shoes before putting my feet in them,another tip to remember when visiting Thailand, this time I had not. I got some funny looks from other guests that were having breakfast, I’m not sure why. Breakfast consists of 2 fried eggs, 2 rounds of toast, some sliced tomato and 3 rashers of crispy bacon, plus a welcome cup of tea. When we had finished breakfast and I had had a second cup of tea, we were given a lift to the coach station in Ban Dung, “coach” is a bit posh to describe the vehicles that frequent this station, most have seen better days, but they run a regular service every half hour and seem pretty reliable, we had to wait about 20 mins for a service 269 bus to arrive. The fare was 40 baht each for a journey well over the hour long.
We still hadn’t managed to get the phone unlocked, so, as we had to leave the coach when it got to Nong Han, we decided we would try to get it done while we waited to be picked up to go home . As it was a bit hot ( 30+ ) it was left to Jan to find a phone shop able to unlock the phone and to do some shopping in the market for fresh vegetables, by the time she got back it was time to eat, and as there was ½ hr to wait for the phone it was just right to go to a Thai cafe for something to eat, Thai style. There was a familiar pattern emerging regarding the phone, it was now not going to be ready to pick up until tomorrow. We eventually got a Tuk Tuk to take us home and after ½ hr journey, the rest of the day was free.
During the night we had a fairly loud storm and some of the hardest rain fall I have ever heard beating down on the roof, it must have lasted quite a long time because I fell asleep and woke up again and it was still pelting down.
Saturday 25th

It had stopped raining by morning and everywhere smelt a little bit fresher, but it was a lot more humid and heavy, since the rain. Today was the day to try out my Internet connection and after some hair pulling and name calling I eventually managed to get hooked up with my e-mails, all 257 of them, I was even more frustrated when I tried to delete them as it would only let me do them one at a time and was painfully slow, after an hour or so I gave up and put the TV on to see what I could find in the way of sports, found some Thai kick boxing and settled down to watch. Nothing much to write about for the rest of the day really, except that Jan finally got the dreaded phone back, all sorted out, and some building materials were delivered ready for tomorrow.
Sunday 26th

Had a change for breakfast from my, now usual, 2 rounds of buttered toast and a cup of tea ,I had 2 fried eggs on toast and a cup of tea.
Today Jan’s brother in law is going to make a start on rebuilding an outside toilet that had been partly demolished and contained a dreaded squat down loo, I forgot to mention before, much to my relief, the indoors toilet is quite normal, phew, what a relief.
Couldn’t do much to help, it was to hot anyway, so went in to see if I could find out if the F1 was being shown anywhere, not a mention, but while watching some more kick boxing they screened the 250cc motorbike race live, naturally I thought that the Moto GP would follow afterwards, think again, after the 250 race finished some Thai game show or something similar was on. Jan spent most of the day with her sister Pere watching the rebuilding of the loo, so I was left to my own devices, pretty much. Done some work on the Internet, but it is so slow I soon get fed up with it and pack it in for the day. Sister, husband and children gone home so we eat and then watch an English speaking movie before watching a Thai style soap.
Monday 27th

Woken up about 7.30 with fried eggs on toast and a cup of tea for breakfast.
More building work today, we have a gang of 5, including Jan and Pere, working. Today they are doing the block work and putting on the corrugated iron roof, I felt the weight of a sheet of this roofing it was so light and flimsy. Not much that I can do as they seem to have everything organised between them. I decide to do some more on the internet with my new connection, think again, something has gone wrong and I spend hours trying to figure it out, to no avail. Apparently it has been decided that everyone will be stopping for the night to save travelling back again tomorrow to finish off.

That’s my first week in Thailand over, it’s not gone the way I had imagined, or hoped it would be but maybe the long time apart, 15 months, and not being use to having to think about another person, plus the heat we’ve had this week, 30 – 34 average, might have something to do with it.
Tuesday 28th

Much toing and froing to use the loo and have a shower this morning, I have a lay in to keep out of the way so they can get to work and hopefully finish everything off today. I try again to get the Internet connected, no luck there, spend some time writing these notes up and other offline stuff.
Finally everything seems to have been done and Pere and family pack the car and we say goodbye. Settle down to eat and watch a movie before calling it a day.
Wednesday 29th

Nothing much happening today, Jan is tidying up what was left undone yesterday and I am writing up my notes again.
Something I didn’t mention in yesterday’s notes was that I made a discovery that surprised me,to say the least. On a previous stay in Thailand I had lost some travellers cheques and had to spend best part of a day finding the Travelex offices and reporting them missing, and going back the next day to get them replaced, all this with Jan with me, anyway yesterday Jan asked me to put her hand bag away in the cupboard after she had been to get some more bits that were needed, and I couldn’t resist having a look in her purse to see how much of the food money I had given her was left, what I didn’t expect to find were 2 travellers cheques, signed by me, in there. Now this should not have surprised me really because it is not unknown that some Thai girls have a habit of helping themselves to a bit of petty cash now and again, I was well aware of this, firstly because Dean had warned me of it, and secondly because I had caught out a previous Thai girlfriend doing exactly that, it was only for about 20baht but she had been into my wallet to take it, maybe next time it would have been everything and goodbye. Having said that I have never had cause to suspect that Jan has been helping herself to my money without asking, and apart from what I have just described, I still don’t, but I will be being extra careful for the rest of my stay here. To those that have met and known Jan, I am sure you will be as surprised as I was, but please understand this is Thailand and life is so much different, especially in the rural villages that Jan was raised in, money is not easy to come by and sometimes the only source of food is what they can catch and glean from the wild outdoors, so a few baht from unsuspecting farang (pronounced falang) is not to be passed up easily and the temptation is to great to be missed. Not that that makes it right, but having spent time in the poorer parts of Thailand I do understand.
 Anybody who likes a good read and would like to know more about the Thai girls way of life in places like Bangkok, where most of the “bar girls” come from rural areas to earn money to send home to support the family back in the village, you should read a book called “ Private Dancer

“ by Stephen Leather, it use to be available online to read, but this will go a long way to explain how things are, especially in one chapter where the farang gets a letter from his Thai girlfriend to ask him to send her some money. Regarding my discovery, it is forgotten about it is to long ago to worry about now.

Thursday 30th

Today starts like every other day, 7.30 breakfast followed by shower.
Yesterday we decided that we would go into Nong Han, so I could buy a couple of cheap plastic chairs as my behind was not use to sitting on the floor for long periods of time and was getting a bit numb, we thought we would go early, 9.00 so Bon, Jan’s son, was sent off to order the Tuk Tuk to take us, he came back saying that the Tuk Tuk was already out on a trip and they did not know when he would be back, it could be ½ hr or so, well after waiting 2 hrs and getting a little hungry we walked up to the shop/cafe for something to eat and see if they had any idea when the Tuk Tuk would be back, as this is the only way out of the village, we are a bit restricted as to where and when we can go out. While we were eating the Tuk Tuk came back and the driver said he would be able to take us after he had also eaten and had a shower to freshen up, this took about another 1 hr before we were able to leave, we were joined by the drivers wife who also owned the shop/cafe.
My intention was to go into Nong Han a have a look round the shops etc. then to buy my chairs and get one of the Tuk Tuks from Nong Han to take us home when we were ready, but the driver, his wife and Jan seem to have decided amongst themselves that we would each do our shopping and then go back home, one of the draw backs of not understanding the language is that you are quite often left out of any joint decisions so cannot make your preferences known. I bought my plastic armchairs, 250 baht each, at today’s rate of exchange that is £5.00, there was also a set of slatted free standing shelves that were added to the bill making a total 850 baht, with the shelves and chairs loaded onto the Tuk Tuk there was little room left for three passengers and shopping, somehow we managed to all get in, and set off for home. I shall have to go into Nong Han another day to have a walk round, talking about walking, I might just mention here that although my feet and legs do still swell up I am finding that I am able to walk further before I get the pains in my legs than I can back in UK, and for those who might read this and don’t know that I have Intermittent Claudication in legs, that is to say that I have partially blocked arteries behind both my knees, restricting the blood supply and therefore the oxygen supply to my lower legs causing painful cramp like feeling in my calf muscles, I’ve also had 2 DVT’s over the last 3-4 yrs. The blocking of the arteries was caused by smoking cigarettes and when it was diagnosed I was given a choice of either giving up smoking immediately or risk losing one or both legs from the knee down. I haven’t touched a cigarette since. Back home we dust off the chairs, have something to eat and watch TV, I resist drinking another beer before bed time, will save them for tomorrow.
Friday 1st

Breakfast and shower as normal at the start of what looks like being another hot day.
I did a system restore back to the 18th April to see if I could set up an Internet connection, as I need to be able to check e-mails and get rid of old ones, which must be mounting up by now, it didn’t work.
I have now caught up with my writings here so will have to see what happens today, if anything, and write about it later or tomorrow.
After spending the morning catching up with these notes we went to the village shop/cafe for lunch and a beer, to date the most western food I have eaten has been my breakfasts both here and at the hotel in Ban Dung, the rest of the meals have all been of Thai style foods.
Today Jan is more like the Jan of old and on the way back home from eating we laugh and joke with each other the way we use to do before, it is very hot and I’m thinking what to do this afternoon, maybe have a sleep or maybe watch some TV, I was sitting on the verandah thinking about this when an elderly lady from the village came to the gate and spoke with Jan, who announced that the old lady that lives in the hovel next door had to go to hospital and that she, Jan, was going to go with her and would see me later. Now I thought I would have a quiet afternoon sitting outside with a fan blowing to keep me cool, how wrong can you be, Bon has just come in and put on a CD that is by Thailand’s well known Protest group The Calibeau, needless to say the music is rather heavy and loud, goodbye peaceful afternoon.
Jan gets back after about 2-3 hrs and says that the lady is OK, she had 2 injections and had to pay 1000 baht for the doctor. We eat and watch some TV, I remind Jan to order the Tuk Tuk for the morning to pick us up at 0900, to go to Nong Han, as Jan’s daughter Ann is coming to stay a few days, then it’s time for bed.
Saturday 2nd

Up nice and early this morning so we can all get showered and have breakfast before the Tuk Tuk arrives at 0900, hopefully, to go to Nong Han.
Tuk Tuk arrives 10 mins. early for a change, and we set off for town, where I want to find an Internet cafe to catch up with my e-mails. When we are close to town Jan tells the driver that we want to go to an Internet cafe, he mutters something in reply, presumably to say OK. We get into town and take several twist and turns round small side streets to be dropped off at where he thought the Internet was, his "sat nav" must have malfunctioned because we had to back track on foot to nearer the centre of town before we found anywhere with Internet connection, from the number of pairs of shoes outside it looked as if it might be full up, but we go inside , and there is one terminal free, Jan and Bon go off to look around while I settle down to tackle my e-mail list that has now grown to 376 with another 126 in my Spam box, a quick check through the Spam box reveals 2 that are not spam and I delete the rest, it’s a different story with the Inbox, but after some considerable length of time I have narrowed it down to just 30 or so that are of any relevance, by the time I have dealt with these Jan and Bon are waiting outside, it’s been just about 2 hrs so I sign off and pay the man 20 baht for my time.
On the way to finding the Internet cafe we had passed a street vendor that was cooking chicken with a nice crispy batter that smelt really good so we stopped and bought 3 pieces to have for lunch, but where to sit and eat it seemed to me to be a problem, not so for Jan, we turn up at a roadside “restaurant” and she says to sit at a table, I said we can’t sit down here and eat food we got from somewhere else, she insisted I sit down, so reluctantly I sit along with Jan and Bon, trying to keep our chicken out of site of the waiters, Jan orders some food for her and Bon and a beer for me, and then to my surprise the waiter gave me a clean empty plate for my chicken. I cannot imagine being able to do that anywhere in UK. After lunch we go to the market, make some purchases, then we remember that we need some drinking water at home so it’s off to a small supermarket, where we fill one trolley with 6 packs of water, each with 8 , 1.5ltrs bottles of water, we get a few more essentials and make for the till, now when we went into the shop I had told Jan that I had only got 40 baht in cash left and she had not got much more and had decided that we, correction, I could pay with card, the girl on the till was half way through our shopping, I said to Jan “do they take cards” she looked at me and then asked the girl, who with a horrified look on her face says “No they don’t” so off I trots to find the nearest ATM to get some cash. Tuk Tuk arrives about ½ hr later to take us and our considerable amount of shopping home as it turns out that Ann is not coming until tomorrow now.
Later on, just as we had finished eating our evening meal, a car backs up to the front gate, Bon goes down to unlock the gate and the car reverses up to the house, it’s Pere and family, apparently Hubby, I never have understood what his name is, has got some work in Pattaya and they are travelling down overnight, anyway they are fed and watered before they go. In return they have sorted out Jan’s DVD player so that she can now actually watch video discs rather than just listen to them.
The end of a long day, off to bed.
Sunday 3rd

I thought I would have a lay in this morning so after I had had breakfast in bed I went back to sleep for a while, after I had eventually showered etc. and looked at the time, it was still only 07.40, some lay in that was.
Ann arrived by Tuk Tuk at 08.15, a little earlier than I had expected.
Felt a bit left out of things since Ann arrived, as they catch up on gossip and other family stuff, I always get a bit paranoid when I am the only non Thai speaking person in a group, especially when I keep hearing the word “farang” coming into their conversation.
Still not able to get onto the Internet, sent Bruce a text message asking if he can help put me right, because it must be something I have done wrong that is stopping me getting connected again. Gossiping finished Ann seems to have taken over a chief cook (Jan is still washer upper) today as she cooks both lunch and the evening meal, no idea what it is but it is nice and tasty and just a bit hot, as in chilli hot. Later Ann puts on a Jackie Chan DVD “Rush Hour 1” followed by “Rush Hour 2”. I don’t know if it is the heat or the sitting, but my feet and ankles have been very swollen today and it is beginning to worry me that I didn’t buy any medical insurance, because of my age and medical history they were quoting me in excess of £200 for insurance and I could not afford that much, and if I had taken out something and not declared my condition they would not have accepted liability for anything to do with a medical precondition. I decided to lay on the bed and watch “Rush Hour 3” on my laptop because of my legs, keeping them stretched out helps reduce the swelling, fell asleep watching the out takes at the end of the movie, when I woke up the screen was blank. Disconnected everything a put away in my case then showered and went to bed proper.
Monday 4th

Shower and breakfast as normal, feet and ankles more like normal this morning, and I decided to take a bit of a look around the village so I check my shoes for anything that might have spent the night in them, the other day I was just about to put one of my shoes on when I noticed that there were ants running about, shoes get the all clear so me and Bon, as my guide, set out to see what there was to see. Although it was only 9.00 am it was still quite hot, Bon points to something, it takes me a few seconds to see what it is he is pointing at, there is a lizard in the verge, by the time I had got my camera out it was long gone, we carry, on camera at the ready now, Bon is pointing again, it takes me even longer to spot this one as it’s on an upright bamboo stake, and they are both the same colour, when I finally do see it and try to get a clearer shot for a picture the flipping thing moves round putting the stake between us, so I move again and it moves, Bon tries to help by going towards it to make it move back my way, instead it took off into undergrowth. We must have walked about 1 ½ kilometre and those were the only 2 sightings of wildlife we had. Today I kept my legs stretched as much as possible by sitting on the bed to use the computer, finally managed to send and answer some e-mails, but the connection keeps dropping and I have to start all over.
In the evening we watch movies on TV, have a can of Leo, and say goodnight.
Tuesday 5th

This morning I did manage to have a lay in as everyone seems to have got up later today, and I had to wait for the shower to be free.
I hoped that the Internet was not playing up today as it is Malcolm’s birthday today and I wanted to send him an e-mail wishing him a happy birthday. I eventually manage to get an e-mail off to Malcolm and a few other bits and pieces on the Internet, but I have to give up in the end as it is so frustrating when it keeps dropping the connection.
In the afternoon, the daughter of old lady next door, Att and her husband, a Swede called Hogan, came to see how the builders are getting on with the house they are having built next to the “hovel”,
it seems that they spent some time with Jan when she was on Phi Phi island working, so Jan was well aware of Hogan’s drinking habits, and from the amount he got through during the afternoon and evening he must be one drink short of being an alcoholic. Now I was quite happy to drink his Leo beer, but when Att came back with the shopping and produced 4 mixer size bottles of Smirnoff Black Ice then he was on his own, I did have a taster to be sociable, to be honest it was really quite good and maybe at another time I could have enjoyed a bit more of it, but as we had already shared 6 large bottles of Leo, and he had sent someone off to the village shop/cafe for some more beer to drink with the food that was being cooked for us, a taster was enough.
Hogan was keeping an eye on the builders next door as it was getting close to knocking off time and he had bought them some beer for after work and he didn’t want them stopping early to drink it it seems, mean while he was happily drinking his way through 3 of the bottles of Smirnoff, less my taster of course, he finally says he is tired and Att takes him home,along with one of the bottles of Leo we never drank with the food, as a night cap. Jan tried to persuade them to come back and sleep here, but they declined the offer I’m glad to say, as she had got me and Hogan sharing the bed while the rest of them slept on the floor. Goodnight.
Wednesday 6th

It started like any other morning has since being here at Jan’s, I was sitting out on the verandah with my towel wrapped round me waiting for the shower to become free, then I heard the gate open and there was Hogan, not a good start to the day, and it was only 7.45am, we had the rest of the day ahead of us, and what a day it turned out to be.
It turned out that some time during last night Att had slapped Hogan around because she was not happy about his drinking, maybe there was more to it than just his drinking but anyway he had come round to get away from her for a while. The bathroom became free so I have my shower, when I come out Ann is giving Hogan his last bottle of Smirnoff to take home to drink.
Later on there is a lot of shouting and screaming coming from next door all of it from Att raging at Hogan for something he had done, and if he managed to get a word in it made Att scream even louder, things quieten down for a while, then Hogan appears again with some beer, apparently he had gone up to the village shop/cafe and bought some beer and Thai whiskey for the workers to have when they knock off at 5.00pm, and this was the cause of the argument earlier, she didn’t like him going off on his own. Hogan told us that she had been slapping him and nipping him all over his body, he was not happy and he said if she slaps him once more he will punch her back, and he indicates that it won’t be on her chin it will be to her throat. We are sitting in the shade of one of Jan’s mango trees having a cold beer and Hogan was asking me if I thought it was good that girls of Ann’s age should learn to speak English , I told I thought that they would find it easier to get good jobs if they could communicate in English, with that he then asked how much English lessons cost, so I told him that when we asked ,a few couple of years ago they were 1000 baht per lesson, he then told Ann he would give her 10,000 baht for English lesson, and went home, and returned a little later with the money to give to Ann saying “no clothes only for English lessons”, she thanks him and agrees to his wishes, by this time the beer was finished and it was getting near to feeding time so Hogan goes back home and we sit a little longer outside in the shade, and then the shouting and screaming started all over again, and I wondered if it was about the money but it doesn’t appear to be, Hogan comes back round Jan’s after another slapping looking very dejected and he was not talking, then Att comes to the wall and shouts to Hogan to ask what he wants cooked for the evening meal, well he is still p####d off with her for slapping him so he grunted back to her that he did not want to eat with her, well that started her of again and she was hysterical going on and on about him not going back to her and all sorts, Hogan got up and went to confront her at the dividing wall, and as he was leaning over towards her she rushed in and gave him a almighty slap of the face, as I was standing next to Hogan I could see him make a fist and his knuckles turn white, so I put my hand over his fist and told him it was not good to hit a lady, but it was some time before he relaxed his fists , and then she comes in with another slap on his chest this time, I shout at her to pack it up, and get dagger looks back from her. Things come to a head when she appears with his bags and proceeds to throw them into Jan’s garden and tells him it is finished he can go to Krabi on his own tomorrow she will stay here, he says OK and he will not be giving any more money for the house, she says fine she will stop everything, no more work on the house and storms off, leaving us with Hogan.
Jan and Ann go in to prepare something to eat, it was during this time as Hogan and I sat together on the verandah talking about past experiences with divorces etc. that he told me that his youngest daughter was raped and that he killed the man that raped her by shooting him with an automatic gun, if this is true or not I do not know, I hardly know the man to make an assumption as to whether he is telling me the truth or not, he then goes on to say that he will take his own life, and puts 2 pointed fingers under his chin and mimics a gun firing. This was all getting a bit heavy and I said that he didn’t want to do that, and he still had several years left to enjoy life again, then I asked him how old he was and he replied that he was 58, this surprised me a bit because to me he looked a lot older than that, I had assumed that he was older than me, so I continued to say he was only young and that I would be 67 in August, this surprised him, and he said he did not believe me. The food arrived, although Hogan insisted he did not want to eat Jan put a plate of food in front of him and instead of the beer he asked for, she gave him a glass of water, he ate all the food drank some water and then, I’m ashamed to say, much to my relief he picked up his bags and went home.
Thursday 7th

Last night passed without further ructions from next door, so it starts like every other day,and at 8.35am Att and Hogan left for Krabi and who knows what else was in store for them.
Yesterday was full of fireworks, today we have a different sort of fireworks in store, as today is some sort of festival which is celebrated by the firing of home made rockets to see which travels the longest time before turning and falling back to earth. The “launch pad” is right out the front of Jan’s on some land that use to be a school at one time, and a small crowd was gathering under the shade of some trees watching the finishing touches being made to some of the entrants. It is very hot already and I eagerly wait for the first firing, the proud rocket builder takes his rocket to the launch pad and carefully secures it and lines it up to his satisfaction, we are just seconds away from the first launch of the day, from the tip of the rocket to the end of the stick carrying it must be all of 1-1.5 mtrs, it looks impressive and the man with the battery that supplies the ignition is in position for the countdown to begin, but has to wait a little longer as there are still wagers being struck on the outcome of this the first rocket launch of the day, 3,2,1, boom ignition and the rocket sores all of 1mtr clear of the launch pad and then explodes in a cloud of blue smoke, much to the amusement of the people gathered to watch the spectacle, and the embarrassment of the rocket builder. I hope this is not an omen of what is to come. After a few more failures, some spectacular and some downright dangerous, we at last get to see a rocket launched successfully and reaches a good height before it turns and begins its return to earth, and there seems to be more interest in it’s return than there was in the launch, all eyes are skyward with the occasional shout as someone thinks he has seen it and everyone gets excited and the young boys start to race off to where they think it will land, it seems to me, a mere spectator, that it takes a lot longer for the remains of the rocket to fall back to earth than I would have thought it should take. There are some more successful launches, but there are also a lot more failures, some of which didn’t even leave the launch pad but fizzed and made a lot of blue smoke, and some just exploded in a shower of casing a few centimetres above the launch pad causing a few people to run for cover, which amused the small crowd of spectators.
Later that afternoon we go to the shop/cafe to eat and I have a couple of cans of Leo.
The rest of the day is quite uneventful.
Friday 8

After the last 2 days, today is very boring as far as having anything to write about, and consists of generally lazing about, it’s 37 degrees today, eating and drinking hot tea or ice cold water. The highlight of the day is the evening meal of ants, yes I did mean ants, I tried one or two ,but settled for crispy bacon fried pork and salad with a chilli dipping sauce.
That’s all there is for an uneventful Friday, maybe tomorrow I will have more to write about.
Saturday 9th
Usual morning call and breakfast before taking shower.
Today Ann and Bon have to go back to Pitsanaluk to be ready for return to High School, they have to go by bus to Udon Thani and then onto Pitsanaluk on another bus, Jan is going as far as Udon Thani with them, she asked if I wanted to go to Udon Thani, I declined the invitation, as it could prove to be expensive for the must have for school stuff they just happen not to have, I’m on a very tight budget and I’ve been caught like that before. I gave Jan 1000 baht which, if she is careful will be enough for the buses etc. . Everyone is a little uptight, Jan is cleaning ( a bit more about cleaning later on ), for some reason Ann is fiddling with the TV and moving all the stations about, why is beyond me, Bon is out and about but when he is back at the house seems a bit hyper. Not sure what time they will be leaving but I am looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet for an hour or two, and put my feet up for a bit as they have been swollen up the last couple of days, but go down during the night.
Another reason I didn’t want to go was because I wanted to have a look round ,and see what I could find, what I found was not what I thought I might find. I was looking for any signs of male clothes in the opposite side of the wardrobe to where my clothes were hanging, but when I was rummaging through one of the drawers I found a small purse, for want of a better description, and inside was a mobile phone I had sent to Jan when I had upgraded my own phone, a phone that Jan had only recently told me that she had dropped in the toilet and was not working and the phone she was using had been lent to her by a friend, well the last image in the picture gallery was taken 30/3/2009 so she had deliberately lied to me about it.
The thing is that when Jan had told me about the phone, I said there was nothing I could do at the time but as I was going out there very soon and my phone was due to be upgraded in June then I would leave my current phone for her when I left, and on that basis we had the phone unlocked and the language changed to Thai.
I am now in a bit of a quandary about what to do with this Journal in the future, I was planning to get it Published as an article with one or all of the publishing sites online.
Sunday 10th

Very quiet without the children here, Jan has hardly spoken a civil word since she came back from taking them back yesterday.
She is getting herself deeply into debt, and there is no way that I can help her with that problem, and I think she wants to get back to work as soon as possible, and my being here is stopping her from doing it. I’ll see how things go next week and if I can find out about her going back to work, I might move back to Ban Dung, in the Hotel of Marks wife Dang, not the ideal solution for me, money is tight and always was going to be even staying at Jan’s, but it might help Jan if she can get back to work sooner rather than later.
This is my last visit to Thailand, so saying goodbye 2-3 weeks early is not going to be easy but it will only have to be done once. Maybe once I am alone in Ban Dung I can change my flights and come home before the money runs out completely.
As you have guessed , with all the prior waffling, not a lot happened today, we went to the shop/cafe to eat, this was late afternoon, have a couple of beers and Jan could have a gossip, which seemed to lighten her mood a bit, went home watched some Thai boxing. Later we had an almighty thunder storm that eventually put out the electrics. for the rest of the night Jan got some candles out so that we could see where we were going and not stub our toes on the furniture.
During the storm some strange things happened, firstly, sometimes when there was a lightning flash that seemed closer than others, the fluorescent tube in the ceiling light above the bed, glowed for a second or two, how that could happen is beyond me, secondly, in the headboard there are two small lights, and even all other electric appliances were out of action these lights still came on although at a very reduced level, they still lit up, how was that possible?
Monday 11th
All power was restored by the morning, but after a night without power the fridge had completely defrosted, that meant that stuff in the freezer box was thawed out and had to be cooked soon as it could not be refrozen, so we had a late cooked breakfast. Rained heavily all day, and was a chilly 26 degrees. Spent the day watching TV and generally lazing about. We were getting short on food and were going to go into Nong Han the next day, but the Tuk Tuk driver was having some time off for a couple of days, and as he is our only means of getting anywhere, we were stuck until he started working again.
Tuesday 12th

Skies still looked heavy with rain when we got up today, so it looks like another day of doing nothing. Rain stopped for a while now, but still looks unsettled but we decide to walk up to the shop and have something to eat and a beer for me, had a prolonged stay as it decided to pour with rain again, so I had to have another beer while we waited for the rain to stop. During this enforced stay,evidently, the lady owner said to Jan, that she had to go into Nong Han tomorrow and we could go along with her if we wanted to, her husband is the Tuk Tuk driver, Jan decided that we would go into Nong Han with them but instead of shopping we would take a bus to Ban Dung for a few days and stay at M&B hotel, as she knew that I wanted to go and see some of those that were not at Eddies bar the first time.
We also found out that Hogan, who was scheduled to go back to Sweden on the 10th didn’t make it due to his trying to pick fights with Thais and Farangs alike at the airport as he had been drinking, and he was taken back to Krabi, don’t know what has happened since, but assume he must have gone as his visa was probably due to expire on or around the 10th anyway.
Wednesday 13

Not a good start to the day, I asked Jan how we were going to Nong Han as I was a bit confused about why the driver should take us to Nong Han when he was supposed to be having a break, and what time we had to be ready, as I didn’t understand what had been arranged between Jan and the shop lady yesterday I asked Jan something else and she got a bit annoyed and said “why you keep asking me everything”, so I shut up and just packed some stuff in my case for a couple of days stay,
I offered Jan the choice of putting her stuff in my case as well, but in the end she packed her own bag. I closed my case up and took it out on to the verandah to wait, for how long I didn’t know and was not about to ask again, for the Tuk Tuk to turn up, we spent nearly an hour in virtual silence before it came, this silence lasted all through the journey right until we reached Ban Dung and had to call the hotel to come and pick us up. After we had checked in to our room, we took a ride into town to go to an ATM to get some cash, we were then going onto find Trent, another friend I had made at Five Bell Bar, he had got a bar opposite the Hospital and did mostly Thai food with some western food such as chips, burgers and pies, at the ATM I keyed in what I was sure was my pin number, but it said it was incorrect and to enter the correct pin number and press enter again, I tried a different combination of the same numbers but that didn’t work either, took my card out and went to a different ATM, of which there are many in and around the bus station, same thing happened here and now there were so many different numbers rattling around in my head I didn’t know what to try next so I gave up altogether, to go and see if I had anything back at the hotel in my case that might jog my memory, after going to Trent’s bar for something to eat. At first Trent didn’t remember me then he said “ you’re Deans dad” and we shook hands. He said that he was most surprised when he heard what had happened to Dean and he thought it was very suspicious that a week later Mark had returned from South Africa ,after visiting Dean, and also died, we ate, and had a drink, by this time Jan and I had started to talk, and Jan said she wanted to go and see her Uncle. We waited around , and eventually a Tuk Tuk came along to take us, but needed directions from Jan how to get there, but she was a bit unsure of how to get there herself and we had to ask for help several times before we got to her Uncles place. Got back to the hotel and settled in for the rest of the night to watch a movie.
Thursday 14th

Got up fairly early,after a poor nights sleep trying to think of my PIN numbers, had breakfast of eggs,bacon,sliced tomato,toast and jam, with a cup of tea.
This morning we were going into Ban Dung to get some cash, using my Nationwide card as a last resort, because I didn’t really want to use if possible, I was confident of the number because I had the original slip from Nationwide with the PIN number. First attempt failed, moved on to Thai Farmers banks to use their ATM machines put my card in punched in my PIN number and the machine swallowed my card saying account was suspended. This was really getting to me now because my cash was running very low by now and I had to get some more soon, I daren’t risk using my Natwest card again without being sure of the number in case that was kept by the machine. When we got back to the Hotel I set up my laptop, speakers and microphone and tried to sort out an earlier problem when I had tried to use Skype before to call home where I could hear OK but the other end could not hear me, I found what I hoped was the solution and called Jill’s home number, Malcolm answered. What I asked Malcolm to do was to go to my flat and look in my Natwest folder and get the PIN numbers for both my cards and then e-mail them to me. Being short of cash we sat around the hotel bar area and were talking about the day’s events, later on they, the hotel staff, asked if we wanted to have a barbecued chicken as one of them was going to town to get some, we said we would love to have one, chicken arrived and was served up to us with rice and various dipping sauces, I was not that hungry really, must be worrying about the money situation, ate what I could, Jan seemed to be enjoying hers OK. Went back to our room and I checked my e-mail to see if Malcolm had found the numbers for me, sure enough there was an e-mail from Malcolm with both numbers, what a relief, will be able to go get some money in the morning.
Friday 15th

Up in good time, had breakfast.
Took up the offer of a lift into town full of confidence now that I had the correct number for my Natwest current account. Tried to find Citi Bank ATM because Trent said that they are the only ones that don’t take an additional 150 baht for every transaction, couldn’t find one, so go to 7/11 ATM, put in my card punch in the PIN and get a message to say it’s an invalid code, I couldn’t believe it. We went to Thai Farmers bank to try there, same thing. Try my second Natwest card with the number Malcolm e-mailed, success at last, will have to transfer more cash to that account. Went into the bank were Jan got the bank to agree to get my card out of the machine and return it to me, they would call when they had the card so I could pick it up. Went back to hotel and stayed at hotel waiting for their call, no surprise nobody called. When we got back to the hotel Tuk Tuk driver said that he would take us somewhere beautiful tomorrow for 400 baht if we wanted, we agreed and said we would call him after breakfast.
Paid for 3 more nights stay at hotel.
Saturday 16th

Had breakfast and called the Tuk Tuk driver to take us on our mystery trip. Before we leave Jan buys some lucky numbers.
It turns out that we were going to Kham Chanot, a Buddhist temple/shrine I’m not quite sure what, but something very religious anyway. I didn’t let on but I had been there before with Dean, and could pick out places that we had passed before as we went, bringing back memories of that journey with Dean. When we got there I remembered different bits that were there before but there had been a lot of changes made to the site, particularly to the pathway to the main area, where everyone has to walk barefoot, before it was just a muddy path today it is a properly constructed walk way. Before the problem was the dirt path becoming muddy and slippery after rain the new walk way became very hot on the feet in the hot sun. Before we went to the walk way Jan bought a gift for Buddha consisting of a small bunch of flowers 2 candles and 3 jossticks, we kneel down, light the candles, place the flowers along with all the others and then light the jossticks, this is when the Buddhists say their prayer or whatever it is they do, I just remembered Dean and Mark for a few second , I put my jossticks in the soil filled bucket to let them burn away,and then backed out a stood up to wait for Jan to finish her praying. The next stop is at a pool where everyone is splashing themselves with water from the pool wetting their face, arms and head, Jan does the same, and then starts on me she tells me to take some water in my hand and wet my face while she splashes me on my arms and shoulders then pours some of the water over my feet. She fills an empty water bottle with some of, what is presumably considered , holy water to take home. We walk around the stalls and Jan buys a couple of lucky charms, by this time we are both feeling a bit peckish so we leave to go home. When we get back to outskirts of Ban Dung on Salt Road we stop off at Gary’s Bar to have some thing to eat, introduce myself and Jan to Gary, who says how sorry he was to hear what happened to Dean and Mark, and then welcomed us to his bar, we order drinks. There is a lot of banter going on between other customers and Gary, generally taking digs at him because he was on his own, having told his wife she could go visit a friend as Saturdays morning are always slow, and they were commenting on the slow service etc., a very relaxed feeling. Later we order food, I succumb and order a pizza on the recommendation of an American customer who had just had one and Jan ordered something from the Thai menu, this caused more mickey taking as Gary had to call his wife to come back to cook the Thai food. My pizza was as good as I’ve had anywhere, and Jan was full of praise for the Thai food and when Gary cleared her empty plate she told him “me no like” he understood that she really meant she had liked it a lot. While we had been eating we had had a few claps of thunder and very heavy rain, but by the time we were ready to leave it had nearly stopped so we set off to Eddies Bar where I had arranged to meet Bruce for a beer. Met 2-3 more people that had known Dean when we got to Eddies, my intention was to have one bottle of Chang and then leave, but while I was with Bruce and others Jan was talking with Pin, Eddies wife, and obviously asked about any hairdressers nearby because she said she was going for a shampoo and wouldn’t be long, but long enough for me to have another drink, it turned out to be long enough for 2 more drinks. Couldn’t get our driver on the phone so flagged one down and returned to hotel, where Jan learned that she had won 2000 baht with number 11 on her lucky numbers. Well fed and watered went to hotel room and fell asleep in front of TV, never moved any more that night.
Sunday 17th

Nothing much to write about for the morning and afternoon, just hang around the hotel room, check e-mails while Jan watches TV.
In the evening we go back to Gary’s bar as Jan highly recommends the Thai menu. Peter Blackbourn is in the bar when we get there, along with several other farangs of differing nationalities, I order drinks and ask for the menu, my food comes fairly quickly as it is only cheeseburger and French fries, whilst Jan’s is Thai and there are several orders in front of hers. I have eaten mine and Jan has only just had her order taken. Peter and I get talking about Dean and Five Bell Bar, how he was the first to provide good western food in Ban Dung but,not like now, the farang population was not as numerous as it is today, so although the competition was not there nor were the customers there in great numbers, right place wrong time.
Jan’s meal arrives, I find out that they have Pak Pao on the Thai menu and order some and another beer, I guessed that my Pak Pao was going to be fairly hot as while it was being cooked they fumes from the kitchen had everyone sneezing, I was not wrong, it was hot (chilli hot ), so hot in fact that I had to give up on it ¾ the way through. Peter was getting ready to leave when I went back to the bar, but he started talking about his health, which he said was good at the moment, and what could he do to help keep it that way, he had been talking to another of the customers earlier about it and they had said that they had had a stroke and were taking Warfarin, and that they felt fine. Peter now had it in mind that maybe if he was taking Warfarin it would be good for him, I tried to explain that he would have to see a doctor and be diagnosed as needing Warfarin and then be monitored on a regular basis to get the correct dosage, but he seemed to ignore this advice and thought that if he went into the hospital at Ban Dung he could just ask for Warfarin tablets and they would sell them to him. He eventually goes home and I ask to check bin, ie have the bill, and we leave to go back to the hotel.
Monday 18th
,
We went to the bank this morning to get my card back, after getting a phone call from the bank. Once again I tried to ask about Dean’s bank account, but I always seem to get talked over by those speaking Thai, it turns out that they want to see his passbook before they will talk about how I can get the monies released. When we got back to the hotel Lang’s sister Hoi was there and the discussion eventually got round to what the bank had said, and we learned, from Hoi, that Lang had been to the bank to get his money, but had been refused because she did not have a marriage certificate, although she did have the death certificate and his passbook, Hoi also said that Lang had asked if his father came for the money would he be able to get it and she was supposedly told , no he would not be able to have the money. It is more important now that I can have the passbook and death certificate so the bank will talk about how the monies can be released. Hoi says that if she has my number she will pass it on to Lang so she can phone me and talk about it, I am still waiting for the phone call. It seems, from what Porn has said that Lang wants all the money for herself, my intention is to split it 4 ways between Lang and Lee, Ryan and Ashley. If I can get the money released to me on behalf of the boys, and Lang does not accept a 4 way split then, presumably, as it is released to me on behalf of Lee, Ryan and Ashley they can share it amongst themselves, Lang has got the Bar ( at one time valued at 2.5 million baht ) so why should she expect to take all the monies as well. To Be Continued.
Go to Trent’s bar to eat, we both order Thai food, and I have a couple of beers, no other customers in the bar while we were there, I like Trent and hope he is doing OK with his bar, which is right opposite the Hospital, I believe he does get a few of the nurses eating there on a regular basis.
Go back to the hotel and sit outside with Porn and Dang, I watch the lightning display from several different storms that are all around, while Jan gossips with Porn and Dang.
Tuesday 19th

Going back to Nong Han today, have usual breakfast, and square up the bill. Dang offers to take us to the bus station, where we say our goodbye’s, Dang says see you again, which of course she won’t as this is my last trip to Thailand, unless I go back to the hotel for the last day or two before going back to UK. Bus journey uneventful, and finally we get to Nong Han, have only just got off the bus and already have a Tuk Tuk driver offering his services, he agrees to take us to Tesco Lotus and then onto Nong Han. Just about finished getting settled back in when it starts thunder and lightning, not for almost ½ hour did the rain come, but when it did it absolutely fell down, so much so that it started to find some of the gaps in the house construction and get inside. Storm subsides after a while so can start to watch movie on TV, Jan always disconnects the aerial from TV at the first hint of lightning. For a treat Jan cooks liver,bacon,onion and chips for dinner, on a single gas burner.
Shower, a bit more TV then bed.
Wednesday 20th

Restless night last night, wake about 6.30 am, Jan is up and tackling the stack of washing we have brought back with us, all done by hand no machine to do it, I stay in bed until about 7.00 am, then get up to shower while breakfast is cooking. Jan sweeps and washes the floor, I think she has developed a compulsive cleaning disorder because this will be the first of, maybe, 3-4 times this is done in any one day.
Jin, a friend of Jan’s, has just turned up with her two kids, I have never met Jin but we have said hello on the phone once or twice. Jin and me exchange a few words while Jan is not there but when she gets back they start speaking Thai and that’s me finished, after a while Jin starts going through the hair of the older of her children and starts picking off nits, makes me shiver just at the thought of it, a knee jerk reaction that I should probably know better than, since  I have a website about head lice, I’m still happier when the youngest child says he wants to go home, even so.
Jan has a phone call from, I presume, Ann and it gets very heated at this end and lasts for several minutes, when it is over Jan is very quiet for some time and then says that her children want money,money,money all the time and she is really wound up about it, she says that she don’t have money and she is in debt for all sorts of things and needs to go to work to get some money, I say nothing, because it is all to easy to say something that will cost me money, and I am on a very tight budget and cannot afford any extra expense. Later on Jan asks if I want to go to market with Att and her, after a little thought I decline the offer, it turns out that they went to Udon Thani.
Earlier I had said that I wanted Pak Pao for dinner and that I would cook it if she liked, this got no reaction one way or another, so I just let the subject drop. Come the time to eat Jan asks if I want to eat now and what do I want, I say that I want to eat Pak Pao and does she want me to cook it, to which she replied something about the Wok, in a very agitated way, and then says something about “in box”, meaning the fridge, I shrugged and left the kitchen to go watch TV. Minutes later Jan shows me some food ,obviously bought in Udon Thani for my dinner, when it is served, it is Pak Pao, it is cold and so is the rice, I eat a little of it but I’m sorry, I like my food hot. I take the rest back to the kitchen and say I don’t like it and go back to watching TV before anything is said. The rest of the day is reasonably quiet and uneventful.
Thursday 21st

Usual start to the day, breakfast, shower etc.
It turns out to be be unbearably hot and after the recent rains we have been having it is also very humid, it takes an effort to get up and go to the loo even. Although we do make an effort and walk up to the shop/cafe, as we need some ice, stay and have something to eat and a large Leo, not really beer drinking weather, makes me sweat to much and feel bloated. Get the ice and a couple of cans of Leo for the evening when it is a little cooler.
Something I hadn’t thought of before occurred to me after we got back home, the ice we have just brought home is from the box where all the drinks are kept cold, and all and sundry go into that same box to get whatever drink they want to buy, now who’s to say what they had been doing prior to dipping their hands into the ice box raking over the ice to find their chosen drink whatever, maybe squashing nits in their kids hair, for instance, I’ll try to erase these thoughts from my mind otherwise I’ll be drinking warm water from now on.
Have a sleep outside on the verandah, with a fan blowing full blast in the afternoon, but it soon gets to uncomfortable for that.
Finally Jan cooks me my Pak Pao and rice, and very nice it is too, have a can of Leo before I shower and turn in at about 9.00pm, Jan stays up a bit longer watching Thai soaps.
Friday 22nd

Start the day the same as any other day.
I had some catching up to do with banking and writing this journal, so I begin setting everything up ready to sign on to the Internet, when I take my phone off the charger there is a message waiting, I open it, unsure who it could be from, only to find it is from the internet service to say that my internet service runs out on the 24th and that they will automatically reload it. I hadn’t got a clue what that actually meant, I checked and I had 1230 minutes unused of the 50 hrs I originally purchased, did it mean that I would lose any of those minutes that remained unused, and they would try to load me up with another batch of internet hours or did it mean that they would reload the unused minutes, I will have to wait and see. Just in case it is the former of the two options I will have to do as much as I can on the internet in the next couple of days.
Jan says that she is going up to the shop/cafe to get some phone cards, as hers had run out, and she also said she was going to get someone to massage her right arm and shoulder as she was still having a lot of pain, in the meantime Jin turns up with her children, I stay where I am setting up my computer sitting on the bed, it keeps my feet from swelling if they are horizontal, I couldn’t face the prospect of more nit picking, literally.
Have all sorts of problems moving money around so it is in the one account that I know I can still use at the ATM.
Jin and children leave eventually and Jan comes in to ask if I want to eat yet, I say I’m not hungry and carry on working, next minute Jan holds up a snack packet of Tum Yum or something similar and asks again if I want eat, to save any more confusion I agree to eat now. My lunch is prepared, boiling water poured over it, and served with a certain amount of servility, You OK? You want water?, in spite of the fact that I already have a cup of tea, then she says that she and Att were going up to the shop/cafe. While Jan was gone I took the liberty to have a look into one of her bags that is at the back of the wardrobe shelf, I do feel guilty about doing this but I want to see if I can find out what sort of debt she is in, what I do find is that she has got just over 400 baht in her current account, but in a savings account bank book there is a total of 50,984 baht, now I am assuming that this is Jan’s bank book, as all the details of the account are in Thai, so what is all the fuss about money for, 50,984 baht is more than I’ve got to my name. While I was sorting through the bag my phone rings, I check the number, It’s an unnamed number, but I take it anyway out of curiosity, I can hear voices, but get no reply when I say Hello, I’m pretty sure that one of the voices I can hear is Jan, so it must be Att’s phone that has accidental dialled the number of this phone I am using, I leave it open, at least I wont get caught in the act by Jan‘s unexpected return home. When Jan does come back I ask If she has had a massage and she says that the shop/cafe was closed, so where they were laughing and joking when I heard them on the phone I don;t know. Later Jan ask if I want to go with her and Att to Nong Han, I agree to go with them as I was just finishing my writing up of this journal for the day.
Having seen Att in action when she was arguing with Hogan, I was expecting some aggressive driving from her, I couldn’t have been more wrong, in fact we were in danger of becoming a moving hazard as we were going sedately on our way into Nong Han. Once we got to Nong Han we walked round the market and bought food, mainly vegetables, but Jan bought a large piece of pork loin and when I tried to tell her we didn’t need any meat at the moment, she said it was to cook for me and bought it anyway. Next stop was the Video stall and Jan spent ages picking up DVD’s and showing me, I told her that as they were all Thai videos or western videos dubbed into Thai it was not much good asking me which one to have, not that we needed another one, she finally came away without buying one. On the way back I asked to stop at 7/11 for some deodorant, while I was getting what I wanted Jan had been looking at the DVD’s and put one on the counter with my stuff at the checkout.
Uneventful rest of the day, we eat dinner, watch an English speaking movie and then it’s Thai TV for the rest of the night, I stay for a little while then take a shower and go to bed, as usual Jan stays up and watches TV until late.

street vendors that set up every night on the road side in town, we thanked her and said yes. When we arrived back at M&B Dang was sitting at one of the tables talking with the Thai lady from M1, girlfriend of the orthodox Jew, Dang cleared the way so we could join them at their table, and Porn sorted out the food, she had bought me and Keaw 4 portions of chicken, and something for herself and Dang, the lady from room M1, I never did ask her name as I didn’t want to get to friendly as she seemed a bit of a “hanger on” and I didn’t want any other company at the moment, was eating Mangosteen. I ate 2 of the chicken portions, Keaw had not eaten anything yet so I past the plate over to her and she took one of the portions and started to eat, she only picked at her piece and said she wouldn’t want any more. While this was going on M1 kept eyeing up the remaining portion of chicken, I asked Keaw if she was sure she didn’t want the last one, she said she was, so I took it and ate it myself. Keaw had picked most of the meat off her piece, and had put it back on the plate with the other bones etc. that had been left uneaten, no sooner had Keaw put it on the plate and pushed the plate aside, M1 picked it up and started gnawing away it as if her life depended on it. I finished my drink and then we went home.
Saturday 6th

Today Keaw wanted to take me to a special place somewhere in the mountains that had wonderful views on a clear day looking out over the scenery from above, unfortunately it was not a clear day and Keaw said it was no good going when it was not bright and sunny, instead we would go to the farm and do some fishing after I had cooked us breakfast, while Keaw tended the garden, picking fruits and other stuff that was ready. We went into Ban Dung for some food for the tiny fish fry and something for us to eat and drink while we were at the hut fishing, I wanted to try my luck at getting some cash from an ATM, I was getting very short of funds by now. I got the same message as I had got in Udon Thani, amount requested above account balance, I was really puzzled by this because I knew there was £510 in the account, because I had checked my account on the hotels computer when I had sent Lesley an e-mail wishing her a happy birthday for June 8th.
When I got back into the truck and told Keaw that I had not been able to get any money, she went to the ATM and came back with some money and subbed me 2000 bt, she had already paid for everything yesterday, I promised I would pay her back as soon as I could get my money, she said not to worry and if I need some more to ask her, I could send it to her after I got back to England and sorted it out with the bank. What a change, me owing a Thai money. Spent remainder of the day fishing at the hut, had a good fish hooked and steering it to the bank for Keaw to get it on the bank, she had nearly reached the line to land it when it made an almighty run, and as we found out when I had reeled the line in, my knot to the hook had come undone, we need a net to land any fish of decent size, would go tomorrow, I also needed some more weights.
Keaw had told me that there had been “people die” one or two day’s ago, and while we were fishing we could hear chanting and talking coming from the funeral service not far away, the chanting stopped after awhile and then there were three rockets fired off with a loud bang from each when they were high up in the sky, a little pause and then three more rockets went up, and instead of the bang, each one released a black parachute that drifted away on the wind, I thought that was a nice touch to saying a final goodbye.
Sunday 7th
Keaw was already up when I got up, she was busy gathering stuff from the garden and putting in the back of the pick up, it was for her friend Porn at M&B she told me. I cooked breakfast, for us and managed to burn myself with hot fat, I had knocked the spatula that was in the frying pan and it was falling to the dirt floor, trying to catch it before it hit the ground I missed the handle and the hot end caught my hand, I held it under the tap to take the sting out of it and carried on with cooking breakfast. When Keaw came in to eat she saw my hand and immediately went off and came back with a piece of a plant from the garden, I think it was Aloe Vera, and she let the thick gooey sap drip onto the burn and then spread it over it, and said to let it dry and leave it on as long as possible, after about 5 mins I had forgotten about the burn, there was no stinging or blistering at all.
One of the things that Keaw had gathered for Porn was some Lemon Grass, which I had seen growing in the garden, but had thought it was just a huge clump of grass that Keaw cut and dried in the sun for making the Grass Mats that she made.
We delivered the veggies etc. to Porn and went on to get some bits and pieces in town.
Yesterday I had asked Keaw about another shower unit that was in the laundry room next to the shower room that had the broken unit in that I was using, and apparently the only thing wrong with it was that somehow the flexible water pipe had got twisted and it leaked badly, so we were going to buy a new flexible pipe and replace the leaking one so we,I mainly, could have a warm shower at least, and I wanted to buy a landing net so, if we hooked another decent sized fish we could net it and bring it in without loosing it, we spent so long in the tackle shop that we were walking back to the pick up and realised we had forgotten the bit for the shower, we went back and got that and then went home, dropped off the shopping ,got some food for the fish and then went to the farm. The big catfish didn’t appear to be hungry today as I only saw one come to feed, what I did see and hadn’t seen before when feeding the fish, was a beautiful golden carp and other carp coming to feed, did some fishing until about 2 o’clock then went home for something to eat. When we had eaten I suggested we go to Ban Chiang, a World Heritage site, one of the oldest prehistoric archaeological sites dating back 5600 years, I had been there before with Dean when it was an open site and you could see the actual workings where they were still finding burial sites, and wanted to see what they ha discovered since then, it was a big disappointment, everything was behind glass and it was all reconstructions of the original dig. We had some food at one of the many Thai eating places around the area, done a bit of window shopping in the souvenir shops before going home.
Once we got home I set about changing the water pipe Keaw had found some tools so started taking the twisted pipe off, Keaw said that this shower had originally been in the other room, so I took the broken shower off the wall, Keaw wanted to take it back to the shop because it was not that old, what I found behind it were the original fixing points for the other shower, so instead of just replacing the flexible pipe I decided to move the whole thing back into it’s original place, even though it was late evening, it was still hot and I was sweating profusely. Keaw had to to go to the village shop and get some insulation tape for the taping up the redundant wires in the laundry room, when she got back, I hinted that it would have been nice if she had got a couple of beers, ten minutes later she came back with two cans of Leo. Job finished and everything working, showered and went to bed. What a night.
Monday 8th
My last day in Thailand, I have to be in Udon Thani airport by 6 o’clock. Went to the farm to feed the fish and do some fishing, not really concentrating on what I am doing, thinking of everything that has gone on during this holiday, and what the future might be.
All to soon it’s time to pack up and go home to pack my case, shower etc.,while showering Keaw gives me a silver ring, decorated with hearts and the words Love and Kiss. We are both a bit subdued and not talking much, have to leave at 4 o’clock to get to the airport in time.
This was always going to be a tough day, even if Jan and I had still been together, saying goodbye, knowing it was probably goodbye for ever, is not easy regardless of how long you have known the other person.
We got to the airport with time to spare, check my case in then go to find a Bureau de Change to get some money to repay Keaw the 6000bt that she had lent me, because I knew she had taken most of her savings out to be able to sub me and another thing it would be cheaper to do it now than waiting until I got back to UK and sending it. No luck at Bureau de Change with my Solo card, the only one that I dare use, as I have tried the others twice and am afraid they would be retained if I get the number wrong, although I am sure I am using the correct numbers, no luck at ATM’s either, Keaw said not to worry, I could send it when I got back.
Time to spare, we spent it in a cafe having a snack and a drink reflecting on our few days together, the best days of my whole holiday, if only we could have met earlier, I didn’t want to leave, I wanted to stay and get to know Keaw a lot better. In the short time we had had together I had grown to like her company and we were very comfortable together, we even both liked fishing for goodness sake.
Time to go to the boarding gate, leave it as long as possible before we kiss and say goodbye, I turned once to look back and wave, then she’s out of sight. Will I ever see Keaw again?