Page 29
MONDAY 25th NOVEMBER 2013:
Change of plan that was Plan-B. I had a rethink of our travel plans from Pattaya up to Phanom Dong Rak and back to Bangkok. I contacted a travel specialist who I've used before on long trips to places like Hua Hin (7 hours) and Phuket (11 hours) and worked out a deal which entailed him driving us up to Surin, waiting for several days and taking us on to Bangkok on the 27th.
Charly (driver's name) is a guy worth knowing and I get good rates from him. Using Charly meant bypassing having to go from Pattaya to Nana, Bangkok to drop off the large suitcases and then jump a bus to Prasat, Surin. Additionally, it's a door-to-door service and negates the need to involve one of Aom's cousins to drive the 45 miles up to Prasat and give us a lift back to Aom's home in PDR. It also promises a greater deal in comfort in his limo as opposed to the bus. This is way more expensive than the bus method but the amount of time and hassle it bypasses I reckoned it worth the extra.
Up and about at 06:30, finished off packing and cleaning the apartment. Charly arrived on time at 09:00 and we were off on the road.
Five & half hours later we arrived at Phanom Dong Rak after an excellent journey; good move travelling on Monday. This is really good going for a journey that normally takes at least 8 hours by bus
Hot up here in Surin Province, around 35ºC; no cooling sea-breezes here.
The first thing I noted (apart from the heat) was it's so peaceful; so quiet after the hubbub of Pattaya. It's so good to leave the crazy Pattaya behind and get back to the REAL Thailand.
Aom's mum & dad there to welcome us back and to see their daughter for quite some time. 30 minutes later she was away to visit her grand-parents and one or two aunts whilst I dossed here on the bed with a fan going full-tilt writing this nonsense.
The temperature dropped massively in the evening and by 9pm it was the lowest by far I've seen it since I arrived in Thailand on September 5th; it's a chilly 23ºC as I write.
Another thing I note is looking out of the glassless window here (shutters only; no real need for glass) apart from the silence outside is the fact I can see the stars vividly; the nearest light pollution is 45 miles away in Prasat.
Chilling-out is SO easy here.
Chet (Aom's dad has just finished bumping-off a large rooster chicken thing. The death-throw squawks were a little unsettling but this is real country life and they survive by raising and eating what they produce on the farm. Somjit (Aom's mum) will prepare the chicken for a family gathering tomorrow. Most of the large family will come to the house and celebrate both Khemjira's homecoming and her leaving. The thought of Aom going to England is so very amazing to many of the older relations; it's as if she's going to live on a distant galaxy.
One thing I meant to mention a week or so ago is that where Aom's family live is in a potential danger-zone when the troubles between Thailand and Cambodia's border disputes kick-off.
As mentioned on Page 4, the border disputes between the two necessitates a considerable military presence around the disputed border regions. Aom's home is very close to the border with Cambodia and there are a few big artillery gun emplacements nearby. When troubles escalate the shells are quite literally flying over the house and the family have had to evacuate several times in recent years.
I doubt it's been aired on UK news (it dominated the news channels here for a time) but there was a recent meeting between the two countries and a UN delegation. The aim was to thrash out a solution to the crisis. The problem, as I have been led to believe, was that there was a very real threat that one or other of them would disagree with the outcome and hostilities would recommence. Before we arrived, Aom's family was in a state of readiness to leave the farm for Prasat and safety if and when the big guns started firing shells over the house. The danger is not from the Thai guns but from the Cambodian ones who’s aim is at times somewhat dubious and homesteads have been hit by accident in the past; hence the evacuation. However, I'm glad to report that all is quiet; for the moment.
TUESDAY 26th:
Off to Prasat to buy food for the family gathering tonight. Aom appeared with two big boxes of dried noodles to take to England. They are a tiny fraction of the cost here in Thailand as they are in UK. The problem is the two boxes must weigh 3 or 4 kilos, so something will have to give in her suitcase; it's gonna have to be less shoes, dresses and bits OR less noodles, I'm afraid. I wonder which will win?
After a mammoth cook-in the family were eating all sorts of until around 13:30 when it all went quiet.
I chose the moment to have a ceremonial burning of the duplicate set of visa support documents; no point in carting them all back to UK. The documents had to be destroyed because of the intensely personal information on them. The originals will need to be kept and brought back home though.
Got to bed around 22:00 and lay there under the mosquito-net watching the stars through the wide-open windows, noting once again how peacefully quiet it is here. Only the gentle jungly-type sounds from outside.
|  |
|  |
|  |
TOP LEFT: Chauffeur driven from Pattaya to Phanom Dong Rak; door-to-door. Better by far than the bus and a bloody-sight quicker.
TOP RIGHT: Home at last (for a time). Aom preparing squid for dinner.
SECOND ROW: Aom and Somjit buying food stuffs at Prasat Market at 4:30am.
THIRD LEFT: That fish really is delicious cooked the Thai way with herbs & spices.
THIRD RIGHT: And here's some of the vast array of those spices, etc on display at Prasat.
BOTTOM LEFT: There's still a lot to do to the new house at our new house. There's been some delays with the Thai builders.
BOTTOM RIGHT: The departure from Phanom Dong Rak. Aom with her mum and dad (Somjit and Chet) with Charlie, our driver on the right.
WEDNESDAY 27th:
Another hot day here in Phanom Dong Rak. A leisurely breakfast of home-grown (harvested 2 weeks ago) rice, omelette, a variety of fresh vegetables and salady things, some minced pork and a selection of spicy things; some hot, some not so bad.
Aom finished packing her suitcase and I didn't believe what she had in it BEFORE any clothes went in. The bottom was stuffed full of around 60 packets of dried noodles she'd bought in Prasat [photo]. Aparantltly, they're ininitely cheaper than in UK. What concerns me now is what happens at the airport when all these dodgy packets of a "substance" show up on x-ray.
Charlie arrived a touch late as Phanom Dong Rak is not at all easy to locate and the farm even less so as it's well off the beaten track. In the end we'd said our farewells to Aom's mum, dad and two younger brothers and we were off. Traffic not too bad and we arrived non-stop (except for LPG refills) at the Omni Tower Residences by around 15:45.
Photos showing Aom's contraband stash of noodles.
This road sign was seen frequently whilst driving through a mountainous area en-route to Bangkok. Asian elephants are commonplace in many areas of Thailand; but we saw none.
Perhaps they've packed their trunks and gone elsewhere?? 
