Tuesday 7th March 2017:
A day spent around the farm mainly helping to clear up after the big event and clearing heads after the previous night's abuse..
Wednesday 8th:
Time to pay a visit to the Ampur.
As stated on Page 1, we need to finalise changing my wife's name to her married one which is, to say the least, a lengthy, tedious and bureaucratic process. Half of this process has to be done in UK before travelling to Thailand.
This penultimate stage is for my wife to get a new Thai I.D. card in her married name. So, off to the Ampur (council office/town hall equivalent in UK) we went and presented our documents but in our rush to leave we'd forgotten the passports.
I stayed behind to keep our place in the queue whilst Aom dashed back.
I didn't expect this process to go easily as it is backwoods Thailand, but it really was a tedious business; swapping and changing from one person to the next but eventually the deed was done.
However, whilst we were there it seemed a good idea to register me on the House Register. This was fairly simple and I was issued with an official yellow House Register all of my own.
But that's not all, it was then suggested as I had house registration, I could apply for a Thai I.D. card. This took forever to accomplish but after nearly 2 hours the whole process was complete and we both came away with new Thai I.D. cards.
TOP LEFT: Popping to shop in the farm tuk-tuk.
TOP RIGHT: The aunts at work preparing food.
BOTTOM LEFT: Young Jack loose in the hen-house.
BOTTOM RIGHT: A massive pan full of rice "pudding" wrapped in banana leaves simmering away.
Below are two short movies of the the farm's chug-chug tuk-tuk.
Thursday 9th:
A big decision was made today; one that I've been thinking about for a long time and it involves the possible purchase of a car, or to be more precise, a pick-up truck.
For as long as I've been coming to my second home in Thailand, I've realised how important transport is in this very rural part of the country. The family have always relied on a diesel chugging tuk-tuk for general farm use and a couple of 125cc bikes. The former's top speed is about 25mph and decidedly uncomfortable and not particularly safe.
The family have never been able to afford or to even consider buying a car/pick-up. So, we liaised with Mee, one of Aom's cousins to drive us to Surin City to look around some car showrooms. In Surin City, there's a dealer who specialises in certified used Toyotas. After looking around at other dealers we found a pick-up that more or less ticked most of the boxes.
After a bit of haggling we got the price down a little and did all the necessary paperwork. My new Thai I.D. card came in here as it allowed me ownership of the vehicle; the registered keeper as it were. It was a case now of getting the necessary funds sent over from UK. This meant a phone call to London to start the proceedings with my broker.
Popped into Pratas market on the way back in Mee's car and bought some bits & pieces of fruit & veg. Some corn-on-the cob (maize) worked out at 20Baht for six huge ones (a littler over £1).
Friday 10th & Saturday 11th:
Ordinary days around the farm. On Friday we dropped into Aom's cousin/uncle/aunt's house. They have a tree bearing my favourite fruit; Pomelo or Honey Pomelo (photos below). It's a bugger to peel but well worth the trial once you've hacked through the massively thick skin and detached the white membranes within.... gorgeous; a bit like a sweetish grapefruit.
Most of the family were out but Mee's wife Mon was there and said we could pick a couple; well, three. We'd no sooner done the deed when the rest of the family returned. This is normally not a problem except that Aom's aunt is known to be a bit mean (kineow in Thai) and rarely gives.
On Saturday I talked Chet into laying down some gravel (I'm paying for the gravel) over an area outside the house that turns into soft mud after heavy rain. He and James (Aom's) brother set about digging out and I assisted when the 38ºC temperature allowed me to function.
TOP LEFT: Aom doing her scrumping.
TOP RIGHT: The evil deed is done.
BOTTOM LEFT: The results of her "theft"
BOTTOM RIGHT: And that's the deliciously juicy edible bits... YUM!
Sunday 12th:
It was early morning and we'd had some rain overnight. Little Jack was out playing and was asking where his toy digger (JCB) was. I spotted it over at the edge of the rubber tree plantation and told him to go and get it. However, his Mum was nearby and got to it a second earlier, picked it up to give it to Jack and underneath was a huge black scorpion. Clearly crawled under the toy at night to hide out. I dread to think what would have happened if Jack had picked his toy up; scary to say the least. The stings from these are painful but rarely fatal to humans; however, a small child being stung by one is a different matter. Thailand's a lovely country but some nasty things live here; but it is in a very rural place and one should be aware of such nasties.
Here's a photo I took of the thing before we sent it packing:-
Sunday, cont'd:
Still no sign of the money being transferred to pay for the car; it'll be Monday now before we can collect it. This a pity as there's a host of places we needed to go to over the weekend.
At some stage whilst I was in Bangkok I must of rested one of my elbows on something sharp. The cut went unnoticed until my wife pointed it out. It gave me no trouble then but in the past days the cut became infected and very sore and swollen. No signs of healing and the swelling's worse so my wife carted me off to the clinic to see a doctor some 7 or 8 miles away (very pretty one too). She poked around, dressed the wound and prescribed the usual course of antibiotics.... tedious!
Monday 13th:
It was 11:00 am before the money finally came through for the car purchase. We can now arrange to pick it up later in the day after transport has been arranged. The very weak GBP is a real pain here at the moment making the exchange rate a pathetic 43BHT to GBP at best.
In the meantime, after some badgering I pushed Chet into getting a tractor over to dig out the ground to take the new gravel layer I intend to lay down around the side of the house. 500Baht is all it cost for an hours digging and levelling; this would have taken days of effort and a daft amount of energy and sweat to accomplish by hand.
Now the money was available it was down to awaiting the arrival of cousin Mee to give us a lift to Surin via the bank Pratas to collect the money in cash.
The car as there ready for us and after the usual banter we were on our way in the new family pick-up.
We had kept the car business a closely guarded secret from Aom's mum and dad so their faces were a picture when we rolled up in the car. Chet was moved to tears... all good stuff. This vehicle would now be so vital to the farm business as the family will now be able to drive to and fro to Pratas markets to not only sell their produce but to buy provisions at a far cheaper price than around the tiny village stores. Prior to this they had to rely on family members for lifts everywhere. Makes me feel so humbled.
A couple of photos of the Toyota on the day of purchase.
