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TonyT's 10th Thailand blog:
6 weeks in and around the country:
July - August 2026.
Page 2
Surin, Phanom Dong Rak & Bak Dai Village
We are back in rural Thailand. The REAL Thailand.
Where life is in the slow lane, people have got time for you with a smile.
By UK standards a tiny touch basic at times but good to witness and be a part of.
A proverbial million miles away from some of the sleazy, less salubrious cities in the south which gives the Kingdom such bad press.
It’s a land of CAN DO. If someone cannot do it for you, they invariably find or know someone who can. A very positive and up-and-coming country and way ahead in many ways to the negativity and, at times, depressing UK with its broken systems and obsession with health & safety, political correctness and that’s on top of the pathetic immigration that nobody seems able to control.
Empty, boarded-up shops and businesses are almost non-existent here. Rents for premises are so low that most businesses thrive and trade attracts more trade and so on. Trading is so successful here that it spills out onto the streets with thousands of wheeled stalls selling just about anything one can think of. The ‘famed street food’ is invariably delicious and freshly cooked in front of you.
The opposite to UK where exorbitant Business Rates that deny most the ability to open a shop. Rows of shops open for business paying a reasonable rate is way better than empty shops paying no rates at all.
Thailand is far removed from being a 3rd world nation, for sure.
I’m proud to be a member of a Thai family.
The farm is now 100% solar powered. Even the mains cable to the grid has been removed.
Unlimited potable water supply is now from reverse osmosis.
There are plans to increase the air-con to the rest of the house soon.
SATURDAY 25th JULY:
The going-to-bed and getting-out-of-bed times here in rural Surin takes a bit of getting used to.
My in-laws are tucked up in bed an hour or two after sunset; around 9pm. But they're up and about at sparrows-fart at dawn around 5am busying themselves around the farm and preparing breakfasts. This morning was no exception.
Very heavy rain overnight so there'll be lots of mud around the farm.
Went fishing with a bamboo cane first thing in one of the farm ponds and struck lucky so breakfast was fresh-ca
ught fish (similar to a large carp) with rice and veg.[see photos below]
The rest of the morning spent with my wife sorting laundry and unpacking things.
Early afternoon was used up driving my truck to Prasat town and the Lotus supermarket to stock up some essentials for my mother-in-law followed by an Amazon coffee stop and a top-up of diesel. Not exactly exciting but domesticity carries on in this home as well as my UK home.
Another hot and very humid day.
My considerable skills at fishing with a bamboo stick and the end result ready to eat.
SUNDAY 26th:
Humidity very high again this morning. The angry clouds started to build by 12 noon instead of around 4pm. The monsoon is not too far away.
We attempted to go the Pha Manaw viewpoint about 10 miles from home but the barrier was down so no go. Many places near the border with Cambodia are restricted and conflict between the two counties is never far away.
We last visited this place in 2017.
We spotted an ice-cream vendor stopped in the middle of nowhere so we gave him some trade with an ice each.
An attempt to get young Jack's hair cut was similarly thwarted too as the was actually a long queue.
Second attempt at the barber shop was successful; only one customer before Jack. The barber shop itself was a small cabin at the roadside with a bench and a single swivel chair; adequate, I guess. The haircut itself cost a princely 50TBH.
This was followed by a trip to a local noodle restaurant. Extremely tasty and large portions all for 250THB for three people.
Weather now worsening with ominous black clouds. Sure enough, by 4pm the heaven had opened with a true tropical downpour which lasted 40 minutes or so.
Next task was to drive the 40kms to Prasat to pick up my other brother-in-law James from the coach station.
A wander around the meandering streets which hols 100's of market stalls to buy some provisions.
Because of the inclement weather it was a rare indoor family feast of true local Thai food; not a single entity of farang food on the table.
LEFT: The minuscule barber shop. RIGHT: The ice cream vendor
MONDAY 27th:
A family outing day. Drove into Buriram to the Nong Tah Haeng Lake. It's a very large lake with dozens of floating cabins. They call them raft cabins. You book a cabin which comes with a decent menu. You can dive off the raft or use the attached slide into the water; which we did. Seven of us in attendance managed to consume most of the food; all Thai dishes and some too spicy for me.
We spent 4 hours here and got back home around 4:30pm. Once home Aom, Jack and I actually went swimming again; this time in the pool here at home.
Pictures of the Nong Tah Haeng Lake raft-cabins.
We are back in rural Thailand. The REAL Thailand. Where life is in the slow lane, people have got time for you with a smile.
By UK standards a tiny touch basic at times but good to witness and be a part of. A proverbial million miles away from some of the sleazy, less salubrious cities in the south which gives the Kingdom such bad press.
It’s a land of CAN DO. If someone cannot do it for you, they invariably find or know someone who can. A very positive and up-and-coming country and way ahead in many ways to the negativity and, at times, depressing UK with its broken systems and obsession with health & safety, political correctness and that’s on top of the pathetic immigration that nobody seems able to control.
Empty, boarded-up shops and businesses are almost non-existent here. Rents for premises are so low that most businesses thrive and trade attracts more trade and so on. Trading is so successful here that it spills out onto the streets with thousands of wheeled stalls selling just about anything one can think of. The ‘famed street food’ is invariably delicious and freshly cooked in front of you.
The opposite to UK where exorbitant Business Rates that deny most the ability to open a shop. Rows of shops open for business paying a reasonable rate is way better than empty shops paying no rates at all.
Thailand is far removed from being a 3rd world nation, for sure.
I’m proud to be a member of a Thai family.
The farm is now 100% solar powered. Even the mains cable to the grid has been removed.
Unlimited potable water supply is now from reverse osmosis.
There are plans to increase the air-con to the rest of the house soon.
SATURDAY 25th JULY: My considerable skills at fishing with a bamboo stick and the end result ready to eat.
SUNDAY 26th:
LEFT: The minuscule barber shop. RIGHT: The ice cream vendor
MONDAY 27th:
The going-to-bed and getting-out-of-bed times here in rural Surin takes a bit of getting used to.
My in-laws are tucked up in bed an hour or two after sunset; around 9pm. But they're up and about at sparrows-fart at dawn around 5am busying themselves around the farm and preparing breakfasts. This morning was no exception.
Very heavy rain overnight so there'll be lots of mud around the farm.
Went fishing with a bamboo cane first thing in one of the farm ponds and struck lucky so breakfast was fresh-ca
ught fish (similar to a large carp) with rice and veg.[see photos below]
The rest of the morning spent with my wife sorting laundry and unpacking things.
Early afternoon was used up driving my truck to Prasat town and the Lotus supermarket to stock up some essentials for my mother-in-law followed by an Amazon coffee stop and a top-up of diesel. Not exactly exciting but domesticity carries on in this home as well as my UK home.
Another hot and very humid day.
Humidity very high again this morning. The angry clouds started to build by 12 noon instead of around 4pm. The monsoon is not too far away.
We attempted to go the Pha Manaw viewpoint about 10 miles from home but the barrier was down so no go. Many places near the border with Cambodia are restricted and conflict between the two counties is never far away.
We last visited this place in 2017.
We spotted an ice-cream vendor stopped in the middle of nowhere so we gave him some trade with an ice each.
An attempt to get young Jack's hair cut was similarly thwarted too as the was actually a long queue.
Second attempt at the barber shop was successful; only one customer before Jack. The barber shop itself was a small cabin at the roadside with a bench and a single swivel chair; adequate, I guess. The haircut itself cost a princely 50TBH.
This was followed by a trip to a local noodle restaurant. Extremely tasty and large portions all for 250THB for three people.
Weather now worsening with ominous black clouds. Sure enough, by 4pm the heaven had opened with a true tropical downpour which lasted 40 minutes or so.
Next task was to drive the 40kms to Prasat to pick up my other brother-in-law James from the coach station.
A wander around the meandering streets which hols 100's of market stalls to buy some provisions.
Because of the inclement weather it was a rare indoor family feast of true local Thai food; not a single entity of farang food on the table.
A family outing day. Drove into Buriram to the Nong Tah Haeng Lake. It's a very large lake with dozens of floating cabins. They call them raft cabins. You book a cabin which comes with a decent menu. You can dive off the raft or use the attached slide into the water; which we did. Seven of us in attendance managed to consume most of the food; all Thai dishes and some too spicy for me.
We spent 4 hours here and got back home around 4:30pm. Once home Aom, Jack and I actually went swimming again; this time in the pool here at home.
Pictures of the Nong Tah Haeng Lake raft-cabins.