Cutting Onions

So I am no longer a member of Famous Belcrum Recording. It was a wrench to say the least but I can't commute from Chaing Mai every Thursday to rehearse.. It really has been wonderful to play with Ed all these years, and listen to Rose and then Karlien taking our twiddling to new levels. I feel we were a perfect band. Loved playing and fed off each others energy and joy, such happy memories will stay with me a long time..

Sigh....honestly it was horrible to play what was my last ever gig with them, I barely survived with my dignity... there were a lot of tears, even the audience, (no it wasn't my singing).... our last song together was Rollarcoaster by Danny Vera, a lovely song about overcoming the highs and lows of life by being together... It also has become a popular funeral song in NL.. and when we played it an audience member started crying remembering his mothers funeral.. 

Ah well... As I posted on Facebook, new chapters don't mean the end of the book, but that chapter is now done, and it was fucking wonderful

Ahthankyew

Tennis Elbow and last gigs.

I've had this a few times but its been confirmed by the Doc, I've got Tennis Elbow, and it is mega painful at times. Sadly, there's no real cure, just rest and avoid straining. I am taking some anti-inflamitory Naproxen to try to help but really it needs to be rested, which is not too easy while we are packing and shuffling boxes most days. 

And playing guitar, isn't helping, (especially hauling gear) But the last gig for FBR is coming up tomorrow, I'm very sad about this, its been lovely playing with Ed and Karlien, and Rose before... So this is a sad parting.. We did a gig last night which was a departure from our normal trio, we were joined by Jelmer 1 and 2 from my other band to be the music performance at a music quiz nght. It was a lot of fun. I debuted a Pub Singer character, Brian De-vine, a washed up club singer with  bad jokes and a Vic Reeves singing style... My 1st ever attempt at stand up....and my last, the term dying on stage is very accurate.. but its ok they enjoyed the pub singing (probably better than my usual singing)

But tomorrow is a straight trio gig, after which Ed and Karlien will nvestigate new options for the band. It will continue but probably not the 2 guitar 1 singer format we've promoted so far.

1 more Starrcase gig coming up too the day before we complete the house sale, my final public performance... that will be choker too...

Almost all my guitars are now gone, only a tricky to sell 12 fretter and a bango  guitar left... I will be keeping a couple here, which I hope I can get a friend to sell for me... But Margaret and my Breedlove acoustic will be packed up for shipping n a week or 2. That means I need to use Goldie, my Vintage brand Les Paul for the last gig. To be sold when I am gone.

So there will be tears in my eyes at these last gigs, partly from the pain of my arm, but also from the pain in my heart... these bands have been wonderful for me, good friends, fun times, even if the music wasn't always great (I will never havve to play Maria Carey all I want for Xmas again....thank fuck)
It was easily the highlight of my weekly routine. I hope I can find music friends inThailand but my gigging days are probely gone.

Ahthankyew

living like newlyweds

Though I thought the larger items would take a while we have amazingly sold the Big Fridge, the big table  and now theres someone coming to collect our beloved recliner sofa....  That was a little faster than I anticipated We've got offers on the big bed too, but a bit too low so we'll hang on a bit and if nothing in a week or so we may accept one

Lucky we still have one original, from my almost very first post, 2.5 seat Ikea leather sofa, which I find is fitting, one of the 1st things I ever bought  here will be one of the last things we hopefully sell or give away.

So we're going to be living in quite a sparce space for a few weeks before we move to the luxury of a hotel for a few nights before we fly out

Of course there's still a tonne of small silly things, tools in the shed, the dining chairs which no one wanted with the table, the chests of drawers and wardrobes and shelving,  whch probably won't stand a dismantle. But for the most part we're just clearing out the little things.. still some computer parts to go, and  I still have all my SBC's and Models to sell as a job lot...and the bicycles and of course the car.

I need to spend a bit of money on her 1st a full service already booked, and a deep clean to get her shiney and looking new for the best price. The deep clean is surpisingly expensive though, I never realised car detailing was so lucrative now. 

I remember when it became a thing in the 80's it was just an extra service you'd get at a car wash for an extra 50quid or so.. now they are charging up to 1K for a full clean, inside, outside, engine bay, sills, tyres and minor scratch removal...jeez.. but if it gets me full whack for the car I may have to just go for it.

Its been a mental few weeks, but its progressing, We won't exactly be sitting cross legged on the floor come Dec 19 but we sure will be a lot less asset rich. :D

Ahthankyew

Big step

Not really a major thing but a niggle we had to ensure, we got a non-o visa to travel, that is important, when we get to Thailand I won't be able to open a bank account with a trourist waiver, but I can with a Non-O, that then allows me to get a bank account, put the required funds in it for the marraige visa and sit on it for 2 months before we go for the full visa extension.

The visa application got returned (not refused) a few times due to issues with my photo, and not giving enough or correct details of my bank account to prove income, but it was eventually, on the 3rd or 4th attempt approved.

This makes a big difference now, I was able to book the flights, and we are now ready to make the jump, just as soon as the house sale completes (don't jinx it)..

We hope to spend our 1st Christmas in Chiang Mai, and then we get a visa agent to prepare the full 1 year marriage visa  after 90 days there, to let me stay permenantly. It does need a renewal each year, and a 90 day reporting process, but small price to  pay for retirement happiness.

More home comforts are going out the door, the big fridge leaves tomorrow, the big table on Thursday. I will put the beds online soon too, and maybe some of the things in the shed. 

We booked the shippers to pick up lots of boxes in Dec, and we are shedding things we don't need...

Its all go...

roll on Dec23

Ahthankyew

Bike and guitars...

The Shadow has gone, I must admit I got a bit emotional about that...Even though I only rode it occasionally it was a long standing dream of mine to own one... and I did.... and now I don't... sigh.

Also got a couple more mid priced guitars sold, one to a dealer who took it as it was, so he can do his own clean and set up, and another is going to a student after the luthier has serviced it. Though if the student backs out that dealer will be happy to take her.

Only the really cheap tatty ones left... not really confident I will get them sold, but we'll see if not I'll donate them to the school so they can use them for the jamclub I founded..

Oh I still have my mighty 12 string but that will have to be sold, At this rate, I've go 2 electric and 2 acoustics to pack, and there will be duty on this... 

We put the fridge and sofa on Marktplaats, and we "may" have a buyer for the fridge but.. they've not shown up today to look at it... not a good sign, but we'll see they may have just taken advantage of me saying there was no mad rush.

The Sofa has attracted some interest too, but one from a smartarse making jokes, and another with a lowball and not willing to go up... (very Dutch). But they will sell... That just leaves the beds and washing machine... not the easiest of things to sell.

I've got lightweight solid (foam) cases for my Breedlove Acoustic and Margret, my beloved Patrick Eggle Berlin, which means I can now pack them in the cases, put them in the big box and ship them, I'll use my Vintage Les Paul for the last few gigs, unless we can arrange for the shipping to collect the day before we vacate... Gotta keep at least one spare usable guitar.. and I can leave it with one of my friends while it sells on Marktplaats. Actually I have one more up at the rehearsal studio I need to get back and repaired... probably for sale.... we'll see, its another Eggle, not as nice as Margaret but stll a vintage Eggle... maybe I'll pack her too :D

Ahthankyew

Packing....so much stuff

Yup, we have begun the packing, books, kitchen stuff, dvd's and art...oh and guitars, I had to buy a couple of new cases to pack them into a nice big box. We can take 3cubic meters, so thats quite a lot of boxes, even though some are a bit odd shaped.

So so much stuff, and so so little time, only 6 weeks... But things are moving, sales are continuing for the guitars and other stuff.. The Bike will be gone at the weekend (sob!!). We need to put big items on Marktplaats or arrange for the town seconnd hand store, the kringloop to come and clear out the larger items to sell in the 2nd hand stores... by... the 19th of Dec... Thats our current target date.
Some things just have to go to the junk pile or on offer to students and neighbours for free.... but we still have a solid month of hard selling we can do.

Sale is still dependant on mortgage of course but its unlikely to be a problem, so the buyers hope to complete on the 19th... we have to vacate the house by then and will book a hotel for 4 nights somewhere till we can get our flight on the 23rd... Tuesday flights ar considerbly cheaper than other days.... I don't know why.

As soon as I have my visa (applied yesterday online) we will book the flights and start the count down.

Exciting and also quite terrifying... but needs to be done. Wanna buy a fridge?

Ahthankyew

New PC... kinda

My old PC, the Beast sadly is not longer up to the job, its BSoD'ing every hour or 2, and more worringly it can no longer support the main tools I use for updateing the website and preparing videos for the upcoming book release date.

So I had to fork out on a new PC, just weeks before we head to Thailand... Thats not great as we'll almost certainly have to ship it to ChiangMai and pay duty on it, if it ever actually gets there in my lifetime,

So as a compromise, I have bought a little cute 4inx4in mini PC. The Pigmy, Its no where near as powerful as the Beast, and lets be honest that was ancient and sluggish by modern standards. But it does run Windows 11 which the Beast could not, and all my apps now work again.

So for 200 quid or so, for 6 weeks I have working, though slow,  equipment again to finish things up here and it can go in my cabin bag when we fly to CM.  Where I will promptly buy myself anoother mega beast to last me 10 years...The Pigmy, can then be put to use as a media server or something similar.

Its taken the day to get things on it working, like the twin screens, sound, netword, basic software tools I use, transferring files and so on, but its here and working so... onward.

Ahthankyew

More heartbreak...

Yup another sale.... the mighty Shadow... didn't get close to what I was asking but the guy who is buying her was very clear and honest about all the faults it had, not just the choke cable. He pointed out clearly a long list of small but costly things that needed doing, and I had to accept that I wasn't going to get the top price.

But on the plus side, he's not buying her for parts.. He's going to strip her down, rebuild her, better, stronger and faster, as a present for his wife's upcoming 50th.. So she's going to go to a good home with someone who knows how to give her the mechanical love I simply don't possess.

It was a tricky sale given that its a cold wet day and I couldn't even get her to start, with no choke,  but he was ok with that. I'll put her under cover with a heater to dry her out and get her starting up so he can come and collect her and drive her to her new home in a week or so.

So, one more tick on the list of things to sell off.. Heartbreaking as it is to let her go, I was never going to be able to keep her.

A few more guitars need to get sold tool, hopefully someone is looking for christmas presents.

Anyone want to buy a low milage Kia?

Ahthankyew

We have a date

Sale is going ahead, so far so good.. of course some things can still go wrong, or get delayed, but its all pretty much moving forward. Got the draft contract and dates for different legal points.

If all goes to plan......................we will see..... if all goes to plan we transfer on the 19th Dec, so we can set flights for as soon after that as we can.

We're on our way.

Ahthankyew

Fingers Crossed

We have another interested buyer... we have agreed a price, its not quite what we were asking but close enough to let us fund things, so now we wait for them to move forward and sort out a notaris and arrange their finance.

But as we saw with the last one, things can change, they may decide somewhere else is more for them, or that the area isn't as nice as they thought or... a hundred different things.

I'm not going to get super super excited like I did last time as it was crushing when the 1st bidders pulled out, but this seems more solid. If we can finalise the legals, we will be on our way "home" to Thailand very soon.

fingers very very almost painfully crossed.

Ahthankyew

Another missed flight?

Well... nearly, so so near..

We got a flight from Chiang Mai CNX to BKK at 21.00 arriving 22.00 given our flight out of BKK was at 23.50 that gave us a comfortable 1h.50m to get ourselves out of the domestic terminal to  the international...

We took that flight rather than an afternoon flight as it was the only one that actually allowed us to take some luggage with us. We planned to bring our suitcases back,  albeit mostly empty since we have a house now we left a lot of what we brought there for our return. We were unable to fold our big canvas bag into the hard large suitcase, so we just put our carry on in the hard case

great planning

yes... great planning,  was proud of that.

yes...great

And I wasn't too worried that when we got to  CNX with time to spare, to discover it was 15 mins delayed... no problem.

That is until the delayed 15 mins, didn' t update and it was still not boarding... in fact it was over 30 mins delayed

hmm still ok though

But we didn't take off for a while...didn't record the time

But we got to BKK and our 1.50 margin had slipped to  40 mins....oh shit

And we had baggage to collect....which ddn't show up until 10-15 mins later....

I sense  you're getting the idea now... my nice buffer got eaten away, and BKK is a HUGE airport

We had to get to the International terminal, drop off our luggage and we had now less than 30 mins

We moved as quickly as we could to get the the terminal, and  mean the full, scuse me please, coming through, we're late, sorry sorry, please let us through type of moving as fast as we could and we made it to departures, only to find Gate F....bag/check-in, closed.

FFFFFFUUUUCKKKKK not again.

We were checked in on line, but we needed to drop the bag, Jirawan asked several bored looking attendants  on other desks, if there was anyone from the air line to help but nope, they all said to send the luggage back via an office somewhere the other end of the lounge (when I say lounge I mean 1km square of desks) ...we did find it eventually but Jirawan was unable to get hold of her cousin to ask him to take care of this (he works in the airport).

tick tock....

So we were screwed, but Jirawan had a brilliant idea.. The big case only really contained our carry on bag which had a toilet bag and some change of clothes in it... take out the carry on case, and dump the suitcare...

So we did, we left the case in the airport and run like mad to get to the other side of Bangkok to get to the S120 gate that our flight left from.,...10 mins left.... queues, security, passport and other obsticles in our way... face scan entrance on doors didn't work...had to go to scan passport doors, etc.. oh of course security had another queue, and some of Jirawans creams and tubes caught security attendion for an extra delay... arrhhh

Scanning passport system however was really quick, so we got to run as fast as we could to....a shuttle train....oh gawd... 5 mins

The train can't be rushed, but it got there.... time was up... we were in negative time mode, we could only hope there was a delay...we had little to no chance of catching it, but we still ran as fast as we could carrying the small case, laptop bag and purses as fast as we could, at the top of the S gate escalator we saw 2 staff members holding Austrian Airlines Vienna last call cards...oh thank fuck.. yes yes, us... we're here we were delayed... after checking our boarding passes on our phones, they radioed the gate and took my arm to head there,  then she said those horrible words, can you run?

No... no, I am totally spent now.. but l will go as fast as I can.. Jirawan took the lead and ran with her while I tried to catch a 2nd , no 4th wind.... and jogged on as best I good, we stll had 400-500m to get to the gate... I did manage to increase speed from 2km/h go 2.5 and we almost all 3 of us go there together to face the 4 staff on the gate waving us to hurry......ermm we're doing our best

Passports please, and residence card.... oh shit my card is in wallet in the bottom of my laptop bag.... Jirawan had hers, I said please, my passport is UK so its ok, (it usually is) do you really need mine... yes yes we.....oh no just go...

phew...  go go go quick, through the gate, down the stars, up the ramp, and finally into the air craft where the stewards were clearly waiting to close the door...

WE MADE IT... 

We actually made it... I can't believe it, we got on, sweating like piglets, red face, heavy breathing, immnent heart failure and sat down...oh my ....we made it.

The flight was not the most comfortable though, but we made it to Vienna, where there was far less hassle getting onto the connecting flight to Amsterdam, but it was also delayed about an hour... due to weather
Get to Amsterdam, and...the trains were all delayed...

But we go the train.... we got to Breda, we got home.

What... a nightmare... the time in CM was amazing, the journeys there and back however... unreal.

Now we wait to see what possible refunds/compensation we can get back for the 1st flight.

One thing though that is so abundantly clear, is how little help there is for passengers who turn up late due to curcumstances they have no control over... twice that trip we arrived at an airport check-in late, through no fault of our own and there's no help available at all... its terrifying.  While I was totally overwhelmed with fuccckkkkkk it thoughts Jirawan's brilliant idea gave us a fighting chance to catch the plane... even if it cost us a nice suitcase and a potential heart attack.

I hope that will be the last time we ever had to go through  this, and the lesson is allow for at least 4 hours delays and get to the air port as early as possible....mad.

Ahthankyew

He shoots, he...

misses....

Dammit our buyer pulled out, for 3 days we had all the boxes ticked and started planning the dates and travel plans...

Lucky I choose not to count my chickens before they hatched, cos the buyer had cold feet and then withdrew....damn. 3 days... I thought they'd done their costings...but no apparently they felt the renovations would be too much..

Not totally unknown to happen here but deeply annoying non the less..

So we wait for the next one and we make extra sure that we have signatures in place before we spend a fortune on plane and shipping costs.

But aside from that annoyance, our last 3 weeks here in Chiang Mai has been fun and informative and of course rewarding. We have a home, a car, TV's, internet, phone numbers and a TM.30 which is needed to help register myself when I open up a bank account... something that is a tad tricky to do while in Thailand, but pretty easy when we apply for it in NL... but dates... dates are important and we're back to unknown.

Also I doubt strongly we will get anything back for our missed flights.... but I guess its just something we have to swallow. We had enough savings to cover it, but losing nearly 4K in rebooks is hard to take.

But, positive thoughts, we'll get another buyer soon, even if the current political climate in NL is making people nearvous, we still have a highly desirable propery to sell at a good price.. so it should be too long.

Ahthankyew

In a transition

We have the house, and though we're still checked in with the Hotel, we have been staying mostly at the house to set things up, buy equipment/furniture etc, and get internet and other things sorted.

Its also been a busy house with Jirawans daughter Gift and the grand kids staying a few nights. Geo, our 1 year old grandson, is cute, but very much at the exploring and destroying stage... the house isn't really baby proofed, so we need to get a few things like a baby stair gate to makes sure he's safe walking around the place. Venus, the 11yo pre teen.. is.. a typical pre teen, seem happier in her room and on her phone :D

oh well... 

Gift will be dropping in and out of the place while we are in NL, so the house isn't left empty, attracting Geckos (found one in the loo as I stood up to flush... poor thing had no chance)

Its immediatly a different kind of experience, not quite feeling like home yet, but much more a place to be.. we are putting our things in, buying stuff, and emptying our suitcase and car boot onto the shelves.

Its a far biggert house than we have in NL, but there is much less storage so we need to be a bit more minimalist in our content.

Internet is proving a bit tricky though, my "unlimited" phone internet, was great for 2 weeks, but now has clearly been throttled down to a snails pace, makes doing some basic documentation and contact with work harder than I wanted it to be.. But we get all new internet today and a new permanent Thai mobile phone number so thats a problem quickly resolved.

Working on my laptop has proved a bit cumbersome, especially as the nice little Lenovo monitor I bought last year to help me do some work seems to enjoy blanking out at ran...like that, random times... 

Not sure quite what that is, but not to worry as all these things will be replaced.

Today we wait in for the internet guys to do their stuff, then we can get our mighty new 65" Thailand made 4K TV working at its fullest.. it was sad watching a netflix movie last night in chunky resolution and buffering.

But TV wise, Im going to be totally fine with the options we have here.. Netflix, HBO and Amazon are all working. No SkyHD or Disney+ at the moment but am sure something will come though. And lots of old TV stream systems on most TV's. 

We were debating going for Phillips 65 inch, but got talked into this Thai brand by the salesman,for 5K bhat cheaper. yes I think it is a better TV... but we also bought a 32" bedroom TV, a Phillips which honestly has much better software interface... we have to buy 2 more TVs for the study and 2nd guest room, and I think I will buy Phillips ones... oh yes.. did I mention TV's are cheap as chips here... but I think generally they are cheap everywhere now,...but here... cheap as chips. 

I don't really watch a lot of TV these days though so am not overly worried. A few key programs I like and the news, and the odd Friday night film, but these are available.I will miss The Chase though, thats the pivot around our day in NL... sob..

I'm going to try and do a bit of work today, once the internet is in, to get a sense of how my working life will be here... I mean its all going to be hobby based now, no working when retired,  but I think its important to keep your mind busy with things you like, and doing coding is still my favoute hobby. I will also try to do a bit of model building once things are settled.

Ahh all these plans, but annoying that I have to put them on hold again at the weekend, as we head back for a few months until the house is sold.. Speaking of which, our 1st viewer cancelled... and the seconnd one is on the 27th.. but nothing more... hope thats not a bad sign.. The interest levels on Funda peaked last week and we're not adding any more favourited views... gulp. Nahh am sure its all fine.. maybe we did set the price a bit too high, given we missed the peak season.... we will see. Its not the end of world if we canb't jump till Feb, but April or later could be a pain.

edit... a few hours after posting this I checked my mail... we have a bid on the house... slightly over what we asked... we will see if there are any more when we get home then decide......overjoyed

edit edit, my bad, Venus is 14, so like an 11 year old but 20 times worse (actually she's not too bad, yet, but you can almost hear the internal sigh when she's told to put her phone away while at the table)

Ahthankyew

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