Monday, September 26, 2011

Retirement ---Rerun--- Why Thailand ?????

Sabu
Nu and A and Nicky Boy
fishing at one of my favorite spots
Taking a bath and ride on my friend Moll-Lee
Our home the first time we saw and bought it in 2003
A couple years later after the remodel and  adding a few plants and flowers

 We call this our long room
Our home in 2011
fresh chicken and chicken parts
lots of salads to take home
Me and My Girl
I love this
Sunset from the porch
Wang Pho train station
Our church family  Hope of Kanchanaburi
Taking off for a little tripn with folks from our village

We were in town the other day and we saw a friend or two  that was here in the LOS on a holiday and thinking about retirement, and they ask us the same question many have ask us in the past as to why we chose Thailand as our retirement home and country. Well , it will be 7 years in October that we moved here from America," lock stock and barrel "as the ole saying goes and I thought it would be good to repeat a post I posted about a year or so ago , it might help to answer that question, Hope you enjoy the older post and pictures.

                                                             Why Thailand

When we travel on vacation or we are out and about, one of the most ask questions is "Why Thailand."In order to really answer that question , First, you have to know that I am married to a Thai lady , and one of my main concerns in my marriage was what could I do to make her happy .We came to Thailand in 2003 on a vacation and a chance for me to meet her family and kids. I saw at once ,how happy she was to be in her home country with friends and family , and yet have the security in knowing that she had a husband who could and would do anything she needed , with-in reason to make her happy. Not only could I see how happy she was , but I at once fell in love with Thailand , there was lots of things that attracted me to the LOS , BUT the most important one was how happy Ciejay seemed to be .

I knew it was about time for us to start thinking seriously about where we wanted to live out out retirement years , I had always thought about somewhere close to my Brother and Sister, out Tenn. way , and we went for a visit to check things out before coming to Thailand the next year on Vacation , and somehow it just didn't feel right to both of us. Before we came over to the LOS we had mentioned to each other if the opportunity and time arrived that we would look around and maybe think about Thailand (of course it was my first visit ,so much of the decision would be on my shoulders. We looked around and then on the last day when we came to Kanchanaburi and our small village of Whang Pho , We looked at each other and smiled, and knew this was the place. We had little daylight left for this visit to her Older Brother and the next day it was off to Bangkok to catch the plane and head home , Would you believe we found a little house and piece of land and bought it in the dark of night , saying that we would be back next year when I retired and make it our home , Everyone laughed and thought to themselves that they would never see us again, but we fooled them all and you can read about the move and remodel and moving , in a older post , just go back and start from my first ones .



Now that was a long story to tell you the main reason for choosing Thailand. Some of the others are as follows and in no order of importance , all of them to us are important reasons for choosing the LOS.

1.--My small SS check is enough for us here in Thailand.

2.--We were able for Ciejay to buy a house and small piece of land with what little money we had in savings.

3.--The weather is the kind of weather I always thought I would like about a place, when I retired.

4.--The food is out of this world tasty, healthy (spicy mind you ) but plenty and fresh, and growing everywhere , even in your own backyard.

5.--The Thai people,( our neighbors and village folks) even tho it took a while to get use to their way of life and culture and their way of thinking , and for them to get use to me -ha ha ha

6.-- The almost crime free village and area we live in .

7.--Lots of things to see and do , and a lot of it not far from where we live .

8.--Our Thai family

9.--Our dogs(our kids ) that can run free and wild .(we have since lost Bok ), but Sabu is alive and well, and a everyday source of fun and companionship

10.--Our home, our yard with all the plants and flowers and the wonderful view of the mountains from our front porch , all these things make up our little  piece of paradise

11.--Our village and the town folks .

12.--And our neighbors

13.--Our Dr's., and health care

14.-- Our church and church family

15.-- The difference in our health since moving here to Thailand

16.-- And the big difference in me and my thinking about life and living.

17.-- The happiness I see in my wife ,Ciejay,(thai nickname Toon)

That's not all the reasons , I could go on and on , and you might say "well couldn't you find that in your own country ", maybe so , But we didn't. and we have found it here in what we call our little piece of paradise, that , we believe the Lord had saved just for us and all the blessings that go along , with being Retired in Thailand and Loving It .

Friday, September 23, 2011

Nipa Palm--have you ever seen????

I received this e-mail and pictures from my Thai friend ,Aom who is owner and operator of the local computer and video game store in our village. I had gone to add minutes of time to my cell phone and she had this strange fruit that she was chopping open and feeding her son and anyone that wanted to try, and she gave me a few pods to take home and try , she also sent the e-mail and pictures  for me with information  about the plant and fruit. What a interesting plant , and one of many uses for the Thai folks in the villages where it grows . Take a look at the pictures and video and see for yourself  a very interesting plant that most (me for sure ) have never seen or heard of in our lives.Thailand (the country and the people) never lets a day go by that I don't see or hear about something new and interesting to me and I hope to those that read my little blog.Things like this and friends like Aom(who also owns and operates a beautiful resort(family style -kid friendly) on the Famous River Kwai here in Wang Pho, are just another one of the reasons why I'm Rretired in Thailand and Loving It. You can E-mail me if you're ever in this area and would love to stay in a real Thai (house) resort for you and family and there is  enough rooms in the house to bring along your friends too.Thanks for the read .
                                                                                            Malcolm
E-Mail from Aom

Sawasdee ka ,malcolm และพี่ตุ่น


Nipa Palm make thai sweet food ลูกจากลอยแก้ว

Leaves nipa palm can be taken to wrap the sweet food.

ใบสามารถเอาไปห่อทำขนมได้เรียกว่า ขนมจาก

To be able to remove the leaves to make the roof.

และใบก็สามารถไปทำหลังคามุงจากได้






VDO cilp Nipa Palm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnHtqY4GIXY

Bamboo Forest Saiyok



aom

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Talking (feeding) with the animals






A couple days ago I went to the famous Bridge on the River Kwai, to visit Ciejay's nephew Guy, he has a bar-b-que stand near the bridge and sells a great bar-b-que chicken and ribs. You know me and food I just had to give it a try, he ask what I wanted and I said "give me a sampler plate" WELL , he piled a little bit of everything on my plate and a generous side of his famous homemade bar-b-que sauce, I rolled up my shirt sleeves and dug right in, to my surprise, and sauce all over my face,the plate was empty in no time, and it was all good, especially the Bar-b-que chicken legs.The food was good and I would go back for more another day , a great lunch stop, or afternoon snack.
BUTTT the thing that caught my attention that day aside from the great food was a little table beside the stand that had a couple of baby animals on display for picture taking and for a small donation you could hold them ,pet them ,and feed them a bottle of milk.  They had a leopard and a tiger and they were just beautiful, and very playful. The petting and feeding stand are a part of the Safari Park Zoo, in Bophloi , Kanchanaburi.It's a really good zoo and they display and take care of the animals very well, They have several of these stands around the area and the donations help to feed and take care of the many endangered animals in Thailand. It was a real thrill to hold and feed these babies and something I'll remember a long time ., lots of folks were having their pictures taken while feeding the babies , something you get to do maybe once in a lifetime, I loved it .
I took a few pictures and hope you enjoy them , and if you're ever in the area  ,stop by for a bar-b-que plate and  feed yourself and the animals .