Return to Thailand, a hospital tour,a meal with friends and then back to Phetchaburi

Dec 18

December 17 was a travel day from Colombo to Bangkok. Today we slept until 7:00 which was a real treat. We decided to get a pedicure and run errands. I picked up some pants I had made at the tailors, we bought some wine as gifts for our dinner hosts tonight and for Leslie, our host who invites us to stay at her apartment every time we come to Bangkok. We went to the agency where we hire a driver to take us to Hua Hin where we pick up a rental car when we go to our house in Phetchaburi. We dashed back home because we were getting picked up at 3:00 to be taken to Pat Rangsit Hospital for a tour by the owner, our Friend Dr. Krishrat

Dr. Krishrat built a private hospital 33 years ago. Three months ago he completed an addition (actually a totally new building) and wanted to give us a tour. We have known him and his family for many years. We met his daughter, Aum, when she was an exchange student in Tigard and lived with Nattawan and Sam who own the Phetchaburi house. It’s a long story but we would take Auem to our house some weekends to give Nattawan a break. Over spring break that year, we took Auem on a short tour of Oregon. Every time we are in Bangkok, we have dinner with the family. Auem lives in London working on her Ph.D. but was here tonight since it is Christmas break.

The new branch was so impressive with all the latest equipment. There were things that surprised us like some rooms had an adjoining room for the family to be right next to the patient. This part of the 350-bed hospital is the cash section (meaning paid by the patient or private insurance). The other part is the social welfare section. Apparently, in Thailand, hospitals are like one-stop shopping. This hospital had a dental section including implants for $700. There was an x-ray section, endoscopy and colonoscopy, imaging, heart surgery and other sections that in the USA are usually separate entities. They even had separate prayer rooms for male and female Muslims. It was an impressive tour.

Om, Ron, Dr. Krishrat, Tricia, Auem, and Daung Chai

From there we went to a restaurant on the river and were joined by Daung Chai, Auem’s mom and her brother Om. We had a real feast with river shrimp that are the size of our hand, fish in a fine red sauce with loads of fresh ginger, an omelet, rice, sautéed cabbage, and tom yum soup with shrimp. Every bite was delicious. We must stop eating like this! I told Ron we would go on a salad fast when we got back to Phetchaburi. After two hours of eating and visiting Dr. Krishrat brought us back to Bangkok.

Dec 19

Neither of us slept well. We went to bed after midnight and were up by 7:00. Bangkok was an air pollution mess this morning with a truly bad haze covering the city.  We finished packing, cleaned the bathroom, swept much of the apartment, emptied trash, stripped the bed and started the wash. We had our usual granola breakfast but Ron was still in need of more coffee so he walked over to Starbucks. Our driver was 25 minutes early so we quickly got our load of luggage and hustled downstairs. About ten minutes down the road Ron realized he had left his coffee without drinking it. Bummer.

There is a huge infrastructure project on the highway to Hua Hin (adding more lanes which a BADLY needed) where we pick up our rental car.  The project slows traffic a lot making our trip about 45 minutes longer than normal. After getting the car, we stopped into a store where we bought the wooden blinds for the house years ago to see if it was possible to get one of them repaired. We did not get a definite answer but they will let us know. Next was lunch. Almost every time we got to Hua Hin, we stop at a little open-air eatery where we have duck noodle soup. The broth is always strong and flavorful, the duck tender and the greens fresh. Our lunch was $3 for both of us….last of the big spenders here. I made up for the cheap lunch by going to my favorite grocery store where we can get many things that are not available in our town. Two hundred dollars later I was on my way.

I have a difficult time here in the car. Thais drive very fast and zip back and forth between lanes, often cutting quite close in front of you. I am usually a nervous wreck. I decided today just to look at my phone screen and play solitaire. I was anxious but it was better than watching the craziness. Ron does all the driving here.

We got home and put away the groceries, unpacked and rested in the AC in our bedroom. I was exhausted and fell asleep after a while. Ron took a short 20-minute nap. We got up and it was getting dark so we went for a bite to eat. As we walked out of the restaurant Ron said ‘That meal was food as fuel’. I looked at him and said most of our meals here are just that. One doesn’t do fine dining on a $3. meal. Our dinner was $6.50. Both of us are curious how much weight we may have gained from our multiple Sri Lankan feasts. Tomorrow morning, we will weigh ourselves and have a moment of truth.

It is good to be back in Phetchaburi. Linn always cleans the house while we are gone and it is nice to come home to. She also had done our laundry and had it here. Tomorrow we will give her a huge load.

While we have been here, construction is going on at our house in Vancouver. Our friend Wayne is overseeing the project in our absence. A lot has gone wrong with the electrician the contractor hired, making us a bit crazy. Not only is he unreliable, but he has also made numerous mistakes. Wayne and Dana were staying at the house until the electrician broke something causing us to lose electricity to the house. Wayne and Dana had to move back to their boat. 

Hopefully, the power will be restored very soon as it has been over a week. 

Today the inspector passed the rough electrical. YAY! Next, we are hoping for the rough plumbing to be completed and pass inspection then the contractor can really get to work. We would love it if is the ADU is ready when we get home but I seriously doubt it will happen since we are a month behind schedule. I definitely hope it will be done before we leave for Mexico on February 28. I would really like to have the house rented before we leave so someone is on the property in our absence. We bought a one-way ticket to Mexico, hoping to explore two cities as possible future homes.