Category Thailand

Holidays – Khao Pansa

Christmas 2015 in a Thai Village

Holidays – Khao Pansa Today is the eve of one of Thailand’s biggest annual holidays in the original sense of the word as a holy day. Khao Pansa is the start of Thai Buddhism’s Lent. It is one of the…

Being An Expat: Personal Aspect

Dreary Day

I have lived here in northern Thailand for 21 years and I lived in The Netherlands for nine years until 1982, so I am sort of used to being an expat in two countries on two continents in two radically different parts of the world. The first thing is that being an expat is not like being on a very long holiday.

Water! Water Everywhere…

Water! Water Everywhere...

Water! Water Everywhere… Yes, friends, the water is back on and flowing in great abundance. From every house you pass can be heard the strains of old washing machines already on their second or third load of the day. My…

Today’s Thailand

Visa Renewal

Today’s Thailand This is going to be a collection of random observations about today’s Thailand, because not enough has been happening in my life in the last twenty-four hours to fill even a short post such as this series, which…

Improvement

Review of 'Fate Twister'

Improvement I now know what those twelve-inch concrete pipes are for as they have dug up the two access points to my house – storm-water drainage, as I think it’s called, as opposed to foul-water drainage. Whoever would have thought…

Our Village

Dreary Day

Our Village Yesterday I went on a pub crawl around our village. It is my romanticised way of saying that I walked around the village and had three pints in various shops. That’s all right, it gives me a connection…

Storm Not Monsoon

The Lek Series

Storm Not Monsoon Yesterday, late afternoon, black clouds could be seen on the horizon, then a wind appeared from nowhere and suddenly the clouds were overhead emptying their contents all over us. When I say suddenly, I mean, I knew…

Holidays in Thailand – How Much?

Holidays - Khao Pansa

Holidays in Thailand – How Much? Thailand is, and has been for at least a decade, right at the top of both the world’s holiday resorts and travellers’ wish-list destinations. The same goes for retirees and expats. The question people…

Lickay – Thai Pantomime

The Lek Series

Lickay – Thai Pantomime Lickay tonight, but more about that later. The weather first as according to tradition. Well, it’s so hot today that it is unpleasant to go to the toilet because the water coming out of the bidet…

Doldrums

The Lek Series

Doldrums The weather reminds me of the stories of the doldrums on the Equator… Another forty-sixer today, but forty-seven yesterday!  I forgot to report our plight. As we approach the Summer Equinox, though, we have gained an hour or daylight…

Expats’ Desires

Downturns

Expats’ Desires Another forty-sixer today! It makes me so apathetic and dozy. At two o’clock this afternoon I put my head down for forty winks and woke up three hours later! That’s not like me, I haven’t needed an afternoon…