We got a mop

And towels and bedding and plates and things....

Althoough the place is furnished and has most of the basics we need, its still nice to go to a home store and sift through the bargain bins for all the basic home stuff we all take for granted.

We paid our booking fees and secured the house today, we have to put down a deposit in a few days but we move in on the 18th :D yes it will be empty for a few months, as we go back on the 26th, with only our mop and towels showing any signs of habitation but when we come back in a few months it will be home.

Quite a feeling, we are very excited.

A whole new life about to start.

Ahthankyew

AND, we have a house

The owner of the house we wanted, has accepted our offer, so subject to some pesky payment details, we have a home in Thailand, for the next year, maybe more...we'll see, but once here and settled we will have the funds to actively look for somewhere to buy, that we hope will be even better.

yipee... 

So cool, this gives us a foothold and a chance to establish our place in Thailand while still finishing things up in NL. We can now ship our 3cubic metres of personal possesions and also get our bank accounts and other details done a bit easier... not totally easy, but easier.. there's currently a bit of a clamp down in Thailand for non thai account holders, but the address helps.

The house is nice, and big, and clean and tidy, with a nice little terrace to sit and eat meals and  a good sized study/office for me to escape from the inevitable invasions of Thai ladies who eat and talk...its Jirawans idea of heaven.. and I want her to enjoy it, but I will need a little man cave refuge and it has that.

Excited

Ahthankyew

hmmm might need to rethink

One thing I have been looking forward to here in Chiang Mai is fish and chips.... no wait its not as mad as it sounds.. There's a chippy here, I won't name it, but they are probably the only chippy in Northern Thailand that actually does UK style fish and chips, including, the scottish preference of Haddock
Last time I was here I went there hoping to sample their fare, only to be crushed that they were out of fish, and their order would'nt be in until we had left.

This time however I went, and though it needed defrosting and there was a wait, they had Haddock.

well...

It was Haddock, but the smallest piece I've ever been served.... and not the crispiest batter, in fact rather an insipid creamy colour rather than a golden brown... but it was Haddock... just, not very good Haddock.

I'm sorry,  I don't in anyway want to undermine what this chap, a Brit living here, is doing, its a noble idea that deserves support... but... it wasn't very good.

Chips, were awesome, so clearly they have a proper fryer in the back of the shop working away (nothing out front), but.. a tail end of a fillet of haddock is not  a Chippy portion of large, Haddock.

So... it was haddock not Haddock, if I ever get absoltuely desperate for that taste of my childhood, I will go back, but I sadly won't be a regular there. 

Shame, I was quite disappointed but you have to learn these things..  We will find a nice place for our regular Friday nights out, just not fish and chips.

There's probably no real chance of finding Cod and Haddock anywhere in any of the stores in CM, even the big ones catering to Brits. so I can imagine I will get an annual craving and head down there, I will even drop by for a poke of chips...

Other news... our trip is continuing, we've seen a lot of houses, including that stunning 4 bedroom place in the last post. But a few more since, which have ranged from 20 years out of date and looks it, to, you have step back to open to door to walk into the cupboard/bedroom.

Its very very mixed, but thats fine, it means if we keep looking we will find what we want. We've pretty much found one that we both agree is very good though not perfect, but the price is a touch too much, we're waiting to see if they drop it a bit, then we'll take it. Its perfect in every way except the kitchen, it basically hasn't got one... but for a year we can live with a portable stove top and a micro wave.. but theres a nice outdoor Thai kitchen/dinner area, we can use when we want to make proper meals.. there's also a nice large study/office room, and the bedrooms are plenty bg enough for guests with a nice lounge

A perfect place for Thai women to eat and talk, eat and talk

A nice lounge for old scottish people to watch netflix.

the office/study area is perfect to get away from chatty Thai women eating and talking...

and yeah.. the upsetting bit

not much of a kitchen

They want 25K pm for it though, thats a good price really, but if we can get 2K knocked off it hits our budget sweet spot. And we can install a BBQ or gas hob in the terrace to cook outside, and decent combi oven, or even get a cooker installed, and this will be a nice place..easy to stay for 1 year maybe more.

And....
Jirawan is determined to take her driving test, and has been doing some lessons with a driving school here.. I'm happy about that as she got a bit annoyed with me, for being unhappy about just turning up to the land office to book a test with no practice at all... I can barely manage the roads here myself, I am certainly not capable of teaching or supervising a new driver.. so the lessons will help to give her a bit of a grounding in the basics, then she can take her test... 

After which... she can drive herself around, since she will have the ability to shout at the crazy drivers in Thai that somehow will make it easier.....

Ahthankyew

So not close and so so far away.

Head must always rule heart, sadly... Today we saw THE MOST PERFECT house for rent, 4 bedrooms, a proper kitchen, lots of space and a really nice outdoor terrace/eating area... it was wonderful. We would love to live in that place.

Sadly however it is in a housing project miles and miles away from any local village and miles more away from the city... We'd be comfortable but very isolated and kinda lonely in our dream home for the 1st year we plan to rent.

So we're going to pass on it. A big part of coming here is to put down some roots and get to know locals and also learn things, we can't do that locked in a dream home hoping the neighbours are nice to  us... I'm sure they will be, but...

Damn.. it was perfect...so so perfect. 

But not to worry, we have a short list and a few more to see tomorrow before we decide.. We just have to make sure we don't rush into anything.

Ahthankyew

And now to work...

It has taken us a few days to get into any kind of rythmn, jetlag  has been quite severe this trip, and a slight sense of urgency to get some things done with the book, house, refunds :- have stopped us getting going..  But the book proofing is done, the last document for the house has been provided, and the request for refunds on the cancelled/delayed flights is in hand... 

I have little hope that we'll get much in the way of refunds, but we have to at least try to claim. Some things, like not getting to the station we have to take the blame for, but other things were totally out of our control, so maybe more options.

The book should now be finalised so I can get cracking in my on time on the final content for the website. And the big one, we got the energy label sorted out for the house and sent it to the estate agent, so any day now the house goes on the market to the public.....phew.

We are staying at a nice old hotel in downtown Chiang Mai, the Duangtawan Hotel, its a little past its prime but still a fine hotel, with lots of facilities and easy access to the old town to look around. We got the car back from Jirawans friend, all nice and clean, and I got my guitar back, the one I bought last year.. Can't play it at any real volume here in a hotel room but 10 mins or so of finger picking will keep my callouses hard for a gig when I get back.

We came out with high expectations for a house that Jirawan and her Daughter had found before we travelled, but on actual inspection it left a bit to be desired... it was a big place for sure, but a little tired and in need of a full reonvation really.. It's still an option, you can't give an automatic no to a house that size for the price it's offered at. But we've looked at a couple more places, and seen at least 2 that are in better condition and worth considering. We will try to look at a few more this week then choose one.. I am going to give Jirawan the final say on this though, as long as I have some quiet space to work and escape from visitors and Jirawans soaps on TV, I'll be happy. But she knows the area and what she wants has to be priority for us.. We can discuss common needs much later when we move and are looking to buy. I trust her judgment on this. 

Chiang Mai is lovely though,  it is the tail end of the rainy season though, so we are getting a nice mix of weather including getting caught in a torrential downpour on the way to view one house, followed by blistering sunshine.. I had forgotton just how hot it gets here... a pasty fat scotsman in the sun can be cooked really quick. I will need to learn to cope though....(its a hard life innit).

ok going to get brekkie, and start the day.

Ahthankyew

Indeed no fun at all

We are finally in Chiang Mai, but my god what an effort it was...

I detailed missing the plane, but that was only the start of the madness. We got tickets to travel via Munich to Bangkok.. I was trying to save a little money, and figured getting a bus from BKK to CM was a good idea... It wasn't.

But lets start with the flight to Munich, which was the only real unremarkable thing, except that due to them being fully booked the asked if we could check in our overhead bags...you know the small suitcase with handle ones... we said ok, since we had a bit of a wait in Munich anyway and lugging them, even with wheels was a bit of a chore...and it was free... so fine.


We get to Munich, nothing crazy about that, a bit of a wait, but we killed the time charging our phones and watching videos etc...

Get on the plane and we're sat right way back, last row, next to the galley, and a very helpful stewardess is chatting and we explain our plight, missing our flight, stress, delay.. sound like you need a drink, what would you like... oh scotch for me, and even Jirawan is happy to take advantage (she's not normally a drinker)...so out comes a massive double/tripple scotch and wine for the lady..  Just let me know when you want some more...... best...flight ....ever....well it seemed that way.

After taxiing for a while we get held on the runway for quite some time, the Captain apologises, but can't proceed till the tower says. Wait a bit longer the captain reveals that someone has been flying drones around the airport, so they have to wait till they get an ok from tower...

Then finally the plane starts moving, we thought to the take off point...but... no

It has come back to the stad. Sorry dear passengers, due to the drone activity the Airport had taken the decision to close down.....we must as you all to de-plane and await instructions.

....

...

...

..

wtf....

ok so we get off, its around 12-30am now.. the airport is deserted. Apart from a few thousand confused and lost passangers from 3 long haul flights the de-planed, wandering around looking for someone to tell them where hotels are..

Eventually we get an announcment that the flight is delayed till 2pm tomorrow, in the mean time people can wait in the lobby, or leave the airport to return tomorrow..

ermm... what.... there's no place to really sleep except the floor, and it didn't take long for the local hotels to fill up to capacity in record time, leaving us, a bit tipsy and tired,.. stuck

We decided to try and get out, but by the time we did, it was clear 100's of others did too, so the taxi rank was utterly filled trying to claim 2 or 3 taxi's arriving every 10 mins, usually by order so unable to pick up from the queue..

Internet was useless at finding a hotel as it kept coming up with the local or 5* hotels on the airport grounds which were actually still full. Calling them put us on hold forever, and still resulted in sorry we have nothing.

Around 2am the queue had cleared and I got to a taxi, and asked the very kind lady driver if she could find us a hotel....15 mins and endless calls later..... she did... and took us there, but it was quite a distance, well over 30kms and over 80 euros. The room itself was snug, but we were tired and needed to sleep, so 152 was a price worth paying...

Next day we have to pay about the same to get a taxi back.

And our flight was now scheduled for 15.00... but, it did go, it did get away and our trip started... stayed off the booze this time though. When we landed the Captain informed us the drones had come back again the next night, but we had taken off before they were sighted..

Anyway....next

We get our luggage ok, thank fuck... but the little fake samsonite case has taken a beating, lost a wheel and cracked its shell so half is hanging on....dammit.. but we have not lost anything.

We get a taxi to the bus station as its across town...turns out the driver took advantage of us since grab took the money themselves, and then he took the money+ tolls via a scan...(they use scans in Thailand) cheeting bastared, but we only found out about 2 hours later when I got a ping from Grab accepting payment.

The bus......we couldn't get a nice cosy VIP bus, only a standard coach....but by now who cares lets get going.

It was quite an old bus...quite old indeed.. But ok, 10 hours isn't the end of the world 
We set off at 10-15am....local time, 10-40 or so, as I am dozing in the chair, the bus breaks down........ yup its an old bus.

We have to wait for a new one, it comes, its newer...but still old.. and still not very cosy, but we get on, we've lost nearly 2 hours by this time... But off we go.

Now...it didn't break down, but it also didn't break any speed records, it was quite a slow bus, and though we had a break mid way for food and toilet, it was a shortend break of 20 mins rather than the usual 30 or so... we rushed the tasy but cheap food included in the price at the stop over..

We get to Chaing Mai around 1am, where Jirawans daughter picks us up, and we finally get to the hotel 2 days later, but lucky I'd sent messages forward we were delayed and our room was still there..


We made it, 4,500euros or so poorer and 2 days later.... but we made it.

Ahthankyew

Well this isn't fun at all....

We are heading to Chaing Mai for a couple of weeks, mainly to scout out rental places and sort out things like the car and other things..

But our trip was immediatlly derailed, literally by some trains to schipol being cancelled due to some incident at Rotterdam... by the time we got the 2nd notice of cancellation and called the cavalry for help with his little car (my mate Martin) we were too late..
We missed the flight......and I have to say what a horrible shit show that is not a single ounce of help is available at the airport, no one willing to rebook, or redirect things..just left on your own to flounder...

The only desk dealing with SIA issues had 1 number to call which turned out to only be for travel agents or corporate customemrs.... otherwise go to the internet, which of course has no options for missed flights.

we had to book new flights at a ticket desk, at considerable cost, and only to Bangkok ...which with hindsite was me being a bit dim and not asking for Chaing Mai....

utter cocking horror story .

Ahthankyew