Getting settled in our little Thai House

December 2, 2019

We arrived yesterday after a ride from Bangkok where the driver was an hour late and took so many breaks the trip was an hour longer than normal.  We picked up our rental car, had lunch at our favorite Duck Soup restaurant where our lunch cost $3.00 (for the two of us).  We then went to a high-end Grocery and stocked up on needed food supplies.  We arrived at the house in the late afternoon.  It was nice to arrive and Linn had the house clean and the bed made.  Ah, so nice.

December 3, 

Today we decided to try on all the clothes we have in the house here. We discovered that a number of items are too big. We both have lost some weight (yay) and we gave the clothes away. No need to take items home when we leave if we cannot use them.

I also started going through all of Nattawan’s clothes. She is the owner of the house and I wanted to go through her clothes and give them away. It feels so good to have emptied closets and drawers of things that are taking up space. Tui, Nattawan’s cousin, who lives in Bangkok, will move into the house when she retires. I want to leave the house uncluttered so she can move in easily. We will leave all the furniture and furnishings here; sheets, towels, dishes, etc. We will bring our artwork home and our clothes and not much else.

It was so cool today. No AC needed at night in the bedroom. Only the bedrooms have AC here and that is a luxury most people do not enjoy. I actually had to get up and turn the fan off. What a dream.

December 4

 

After our Breakfast of Croissants and sweet rolls, we dove over to the King Mongkut Memorial Park to walk for 45 minutes before it got too hot. King Mongkut was the leader of the county in the early 1800s and had his palace here, in Phetchaburi.
The park was built several years ago and is an open area with paved walkways, monuments, and a temple.

We sorted out Nattawan’s clothes and inventoried items we thought could be given away. Many of her items have been damaged by being stored for so long here.  I checked with Nattawan about these things and after some conflicting directions, she finally agreed to allow her clothes to be given away to the family of a charity by one of the Cousins here. 

We went shopping for furniture polish and cleaning agents so we could clean up some of the “give-away items like suitcases that had been stored under the bed or in the closet for the past 15 years and had accumulated lots of dirt and gradoo.

December 5

Ron woke up at 3:30 and read until time to get up. I managed to sleep until the rooster starting announcing that he was awake. I gave up trying to sleep at 6:00 or 6:30. I did go to bed early. After breakfast Ron had a talk with our contractor in Vancouver about his frustration with the project and how much the flakey electrician is holding up progress. 

Afterward, we headed out to King Mongkut Memorial Park for exercise.

Tricia's email account is not functioning so I cannot receive or send email but hope to get it resolved today. Ron and I were last here in March of 2017 yet when we returned to one of our favorite eateries yesterday the owner recognized us. We dined on a set menu of soup, pork, rice, sautéed veggies, and greens. Our tab was $2.64 for the two of us. Yes, the cost of living is less here. 

We ran some errands afterward looking for wood oil or furniture polish for the antique chest we brought from Sri Lanka in 2006 when we moved in here. Ron is leaving it to Tumm, a family member who does not live on the property. Ron is also leaving him all his power and hand tools. We speak very little Thai and the family speaks very little English. However, Tui and Pair who live in Bangkok speak some English and come here on the weekends. Also, we can email Nattawan in Tigard and she conveys messages in Thai via phone or email. She reports that Tumm is very happy regarding the tools and the chest

Eateries

Many eateries here are very small establishments with a cart and limited menu. The place we ate yesterday serves a pork noodle soup or the meal I described above. There are noodle stands everywhere, some are beef-based, others are pork. The typical serving may contain two ounces of meat at most I would guess. Because there is very little infrastructure or little or no ‘mortar and brick’ structure the meal is quite inexpensive. Today we will eat at a soup place we like. It is always crowded and requires patrons to sit together at the tables. It is consistently good and it is a place where we eat one to three times a month. It will be another $3. meal for two.

A few years ago, we discovered a hotel/restaurant called Swiss Palazzo that serves a Swiss menu and wonderful homemade ice cream and sorbet for me. This time we found out they are only open on the weekends so Friday we will eat there then take our friend Hope, who is 12 out, for ice cream. We have known Hope all his life and he is a delight. His English has improved and our Thai has not but we can have a limited conversation with him and have always enjoyed his company. He also helps us with communication on the property.

Family Compound

We live on a family compound here. It was originally owned by Pa Cha An and her husband who died many years ago. Pa Cha An was an amazing woman and we loved her dearly. Near the end of her life, she was blind and bedridden after a fall. We would visit her and we would get on each side of her and hold her hand while we visited. Keep in mind we did not speak each other’s language but we communicated love and joy while we visited. Thai’s have very little body hair. Ron, by contrast, is quite hairy. So when we visited Pa Cha An, she would gently tug on Ron’s arm hair and say in Thai ‘Ron handsome’. We would all laugh.

Ae

Hope

The compound consists of several structures: the big house which is the original house. It is two stories and has big rooms with very high ceilings which helps to keep the house cooler. 

Linn

Currently, six people are living there. Linn, who is an in-law, her daughter Ae and her two sons, Hope who is 12 (who is the son of Ae’s with her first husband), and a two-year-old who is the son of Ae’s with her second husband. Linn also looks after one f her other daughter’s baby girl. We do not know the names of the babies or the new husband…it is complicated to explain so I will resist.

Next to the big house is a structure with various functions: the kitchen is here, a tool room, a room for recycling, and a room for Nit who is one of Pa Cha An’s sons. She had 8 children. Nit works and lives in Bangkok but comes here on some weekends.

Nattawan built her house on the property in 2005 and we started staying here in January of 2006 right after it was finished. It is a one-story two-bedroom, two bath-house. It is a lovely and simple home. It has much lower ceilings and can get quite hot in the warmer weather. The last time we were here in March is would get to 89 degrees by lunchtime. We often retreated to the bedroom after lunch and turned on the AC while reading email or working on the computer. 

Her house is right next to the Phetchaburi River. We often get a nice breeze here. In between the big house and our house, there is an orchard with bananas, mangoes and other trees.

Noi

Previously Noi, another son of Pa Cha An, lived right next to us is a small cinder block house that I think consisted of a bedroom and bathing room. Noi died a couple of years ago and when we returned this trip his house had been disassembled and the materials neatly stacked and the rubble piled up. It was a shock and it made me sad. We always were appreciative of Noi’s effort to maintain the grounds of our property. Linn who lives in the big house is Noi’s former wife. Ae is one of their three daughters.

Tui

Timm and Tumm with son Pon

We have loved living here all these years and being part of this wonderful family. I failed to mention other family members. Tui is a nurse practitioner in Bangkok. She is one of Pa-cha- An’s daughters. She is not married. Her sister Timm lives here in Phetchaburi with her husband Tumm, their son Pon and Tumm’s mother. They live downtown. Their daughter Pair lives in Bangkok where she works full time at a utility and attends and university where she is getting her Master’s degree. She and Tui speak English. Tui and Pair come to Phetchaburi almost weekly on the weekends but Pair less so now that she is in school. There are other adult children of Pa Cha An but none of them live in town and we see them infrequently.

Tumm's Mother

Pair, Tim & Tumm's daughter

We are sad that this is our last trip. We love this family and have always felt so welcomed and a part of the family. But we find the trip grueling when it takes 25-37 hours. We use miles and never get a direct flight so the trip takes a very long time with layovers.