Monday, December 31, 2018

Happy New Year

Happy New Year or Sawwa Dee pee mai as they say here in Thailand
Ciejay and Me 
 send our best wishes for a  healthy and happy new year for each of you
Don't forget to do Good and be Kind

Thursday, November 29, 2018

My bucket List and Ramblings

Malcolm's Bucket List and Ramblings

I know you've heard the ole saying "been there , done that ". well, I'm reminded of a song that a group of young men from Australia sang in a church service that I was in in Alaska in 1968, one of the lines was like this " I've been a lot of places and I've seen a lot of faces , but there's still a lot of things that I want to do ."They were know as the Gospel Firebrands .And I never forgot those words and I have tried to cram as much places and as many faces into this life of mine that I could . but at 76, I find that I have still come up short of all the things I want to see and do and some faces that I want to see before I leave this old world. I guess that was the idea behind the hit movie The Bucket List , staring Jack Nikelson and Morgan Freeman, two ole farts each dying of incurable diseases, and each regretting , that there were things that they always wanted to do, so they made up a list and set about doing and seeing all of them they could before the kicked ,THE BUCKET, so to speak.

"I've been there and done that", we hear people say that all the time ,and if they were really truthful about half of the time it's just wishful thinking and not reality. and the same goes for me . I think sometimes we all embellish the truth , when we are together with old and new friends and sometimes it gets into a Bigger , Better, Best contest and pretty soon a little exaggerating here and there, and down right tell of lies. Ever happen to any of you ?, be truthful now
I lived in Alaska for 25 years and there are two kinds of folks in Alaska , sourdoughs and cheechakos, the later being simply put , a newbie or a new comer to the last frontier , and life ain't easy being a tender foot in this great frontier land,and to be a full fledged sourdough you had to do three thing before you could claim this right of passage .Everyone after all those years of living there considered me a Sourdough ,and all thought for sure that I had done them all.

1.--kill a grizzly bear
2.-ride a caribou
3- take a pee in the Yukon River.

Well, before I die, I want to take a pee in the Yukon River , I want to walk , not just see , but walk on the Great China Wall, I want to go Camping in the Out Back of Australia, I want to float down the great Amazon River,I want to fly a ultra-lite airplane, I want to hang glide off a mountain top somewhere in Thailand or (anywhere). And last ,I want to get together with all my ,Sizzler, buddies face to face , and swap life's stories.

I'm not dying of any incurable disease that I know of, and I don't have one foot on my the grave and one foot on a banana peel as they say, and I'm not quite over the hill yet(getting close to be sure ),But from time to time I do find myself making a mental list of things I would like to do., call it a Bucket List , if you want to , I just hope I'm a long ways from kicking it yet.

But, if Ciejay has a say in any of this ,about as far as I will get will be out to the Hammock and with my mind and thoughts in the clouds over Wang Pho ville, and not in a ultra-light or a hang glider . So don't bother looking up.

Maybe , just maybe , I can skip down to the very bottom of my list and and get to see a Buddy or two, anyway I hope so. Malcolm

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

WHO'S KILLING ALL THE BIRDS AND BUGS

Inspiration for this post comes from the latest post by My Thai Friend,about birds and dogs .I have always loved birds as long as I can remember, altho some of my memories or not from just seeing them and taking pictures as I do today .My first memory comes from as a five year old kid growing up in rural South Carolina, in the 40's . My dad was always teaching my Brother and me about life and living, every occasion he got , this time he was showing us how to make a sling shot from a tree branch and rubber from a old tire inter tube, he made a good one and to show us how it worked he said" see that bird in that tree" ,he shot a rock and Bonk, he hit the bird and killed it , now another lesson in life comes quickly , and "remember that whatever you shoot and kill you have to eat" well we ate that little bird after Mom cooked it , and cried the whole time . But needless to say we ate lots of little birds and frogs and squirrels,and rabbits.My brother and our friends loved to play in the woods in our forts and tree houses , and we always had our trusty sling shots with us . When we were teens we moved to Florida for a few years and I can clearly remember early in the morning walking or riding to school ,seeing the power lines just filled with wild parakeets of every color ,I read a few years later, where the last male parakeet that was in captive died ,gone forever. During my adult life I had lived in Oregon for a few years and can remember driving along the country road and seeing ,red winged black birds sitting on all the farm fences, and wild pheasants,running thru the rye grass fields, now they are no more or very few , gone now or soon ,forever.I could talk about memories and birds forever , but then it would be a book and not a post.
Well, you might ask "what happened to all these birds that caused them to disappear",well I have my theory, and here goes > The state road crews used DDT to keep the grass off the sides of the roads and ,farmers use pesticides to kill the bugs from their crops and people use weed killer and pesticides to control the insects and unwanted grass around their house and this has resulted in the killing off off many species of insects, the beautiful butterfly's that used to visit your gardens and flowers and many, many birds.We have a beautiful yard and hundreds of plants and flowers growing , if the grass gets to high or in the flower beds or around the rocks for the walkways , I get off my lazy a-- and pull the weeds and cut the grass with a blade , not a mower to kill lots of bugs and insects in the process and never use any kind of pesticides to control anything , and be careful of all the fertilizers you use these can kill too, but if you use these thing go ahead, but don't cry when no birds come around to sing you a love song and you look up in one of my trees and see a bird nest with a couple little heads sticking out saying " the next worm is mine ",and yours are empty of birds, And you look over and my yard is full of birds , butterfly's , and my pond has frogs and snakes and winged visitors all the time , and I don't even feed them. they eat the bugs if the population gets out of hand , altho they do love some table scraps every once in a while , and you have no visitors to your yard all I can say to you is SOM NAM NA. And stop being one of the problems and save the birds. Here are a few pictures of a couple visitors to our back-yard hope you enjoy them.
"This is my post and I'm sticking by it" as the song goes Malcolm

Thursday, October 25, 2018

THIS IS OUR HOME AND MY CASTLE
THIS IS THE HOUSE WE BOUGHT

The first time we saw our house it was anything but a castle , in fact, it was in really bad run down ,forgotten shape,and it was the subject of bad Karma ,so to speak. The couple that had built it had split up ,even before they had finished the house and so as far as all the village and neighbors were concerned it would just sit there empty till it fell down.When we saw it for the first time it had sit empty for eight years and the bathroom roof ceiling and part of the unfinished kitchen roof and ceiling, had already fallen in and it was in really bad shape .Ciejay and me had decided just a few days before that we wanted to retire in Thailand and we had been lots of places in Thailand while on our vacation , but we just didn't  feel right about any of them , well on our last day before going back to BKK for our flight back to America , we drove down the mountain into the valley to a little village called Whang Pho and our hearts said to each other "this is the place ." We didn't get off to ourselves and talk about it, we were with two other couples, we just knew this was it.It was already five o'clock in the evening and we looked at a piece of land a friend of Ciejay's brother had for sale , but it was to far out of town and no utilities run anywhere near it, so we said we would come back another year and look around, as it was getting dark and the others were in a hurry to get on the road , well out of the blue I ask Ciejay's brother if there was a piece of land in town with a house already on it for sale , I was thinking we could tear and old house down and build what we wanted , as long as it was close to town and had water and electricity available. To my surprise he pointed up the road, fifty yards away and said that old place there belongs to a friend in BKK he might want to sell this place, because he is married again and his new wife will have nothing to do with the house and none in the village will buy it as it is full of bad spirits and bad Karma.( they all being Buddhist of course)being Christians that didn't bother me at all.
It was dark , the doors were locked and all the windows had bars on them and were tinted and we could not see in at all , but my brother -in -law said it had three bedrooms and two baths and a room to be made into a kitchen and a huge living room the full length of the house with the bedrooms off to the side and he drew it with a stick on the ground , Me and Ciejay walked around it and said to each other it has strong foundation and walls and the major roof is in good shape , we can make it a home with a lot of hard work . We called the man while standing there, in the overgrown yard with the car lights shining on the front ,with a gecko telling us this was his place now, and Ciejay and my brother- in -law talking with him and in about five minutes we bought ourselves a house in Thailand , I felt like the opening lines to the movie Out of Africa , when she said"I had a home in Africa."I can remember saying to my self "I have a home in Thailand." That was one of the most emotional moments in my whole live , except when each of my boys were born.
We took a couple of pictures , it was already dark ,to take back home to America.We showed them to our friends and family and they thought we had lost our minds , and if you had seen it before we remodeled it, you would have said the same thing.We had one more year to work before I could retire with a social security check coming in every month, I knew nothing about Thailand , except what I had seen as a tourist for three weeks , and nothing about visa requirements , I thought we would just pack everything up and move to Thailand , was I ever in for a big surprise, And as I read and ask questions I found out a lot and it scared me a little to be honest with you . So we planned and saved and set our sights and hearts toward Thailand , the almost forgotten house as far as Thai's and anyone else were concerned on the other side of the world thousands of miles away in a land that I had only visited for a short time , but we did not forget about our dream , for one day, and we talked about what we were going to do every night after dinner and things were done for the day and readied for tomorrow. I made a cardboard model of the house with a removable top so we could see what we were going to do , inside and out , we put a huge calendar on the wall and begin to mark the days off . That was the longest year of my life ,but it finally did come (a lot of stuff and preparation happened in that year, but that is another story) and on October the 6th 2004 we arrived in Whang Pho and got the keys and walked into the house for the first time ,at six o'clock in the morning on October the 7th,we were shocked to say the least ,it needed more work than we thought,but we had a dream and before the day was over we had a crew cleaning the property and cutting down trees and bushes, and we found a wonderful man named Piak, that said he would make our house a home , I knew not one word Thai and He knew not one word English , him and Ciejay talked and when me and him shook hands I knew I could trust him completely.What a wonderful person he turned out to be , he told me what we needed he would go buy or order and give Ciejay the receipt and she would give him the money , five years have almost gone buy and I have learned a little Thai and I have learned a lot about Thai folks and Thai workman and labors and I can say that Piak never took advantage of us for nothing , even his final bill for all the labor and labors was well under what I was prepared to pay, five years later (almost) and we have not had to redo are repair anything he and his crew did . And I want you to know that I have read and heard so horror stories from farangs that have built houses in Thailand, (most of the time unskilled relatives of their Thai wife or girlfriend) using Thai contractors . And of course we have done a lot of work ourselves , adding a patio and gazebo and carport and a deck all the way around the house, landscaped and planted lots of trees and plants and flowers and "oh ya " built a pond with a water fall out front and got us a dog. We have made the dilapidated ,forgotten , cursed house into a HOME and also into my CASTLE.
And I can say for certain, that the thing that makes this King to have a home to call a Castle is the QUEEN that lives there with him. Malcolm




Growing Old gracefully

Getting old is not all bad and there are lots of pluses and benefits to getting older , and if I can remember some of them I'll share them with you , just can't think of any right off the top of my head . ha ha ha

A friend of mine, Stan found these somewhere and sent them to me , I laughed a little and then relaized that most were true and good advise , hope you get a laugh or two also , after all whats a day without a little laughter. See if you can relate to any of them (just for fun )


First ~ Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.


Second ~ The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.


Third ~ Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know "why" I look this way. I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved.


Fourth ~ When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra,and carrying out the garbage , and cleaning the yard every Saturday , before your folks would let you go to the Sat. movie picture show(as we use to call them ) .


Fifth ~ You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.


Sixth ~ I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.


Seventh ~ One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young.


Eighth ~ One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.


Ninth ~ Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.


Tenth ~ Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it's called golf


And finally ~ If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh at when you are old. Whats a day without a little laughter.



I'm sooooo glad that Ciejay is younger than me and tells me all the time that I'm not getting older , "I'm getting better" and she plans on keeping me around for a long time , and thats just one of the reasons why , I'm RETIRED IN THAILAND AND LOVING IT . Malcolm



Retirement and relocation

LIFESTYLE HEALTH GUIDE FOR 55+ Guest post by Mary Albert

Traveling Versus Temporary or Permanent Relocation

When it comes to retirement, you've got a lot of options out there waiting for you. I love to travel the world, but I also love my home in California, so I always come back. However, I do hear about a lot of people who choose to relocate for their retirement. Some choose to move away permanently and live in paradise, whatever that may mean for them. Others choose to move for a year or two, or even five, to a destination where they've always wanted to stay.

Moving across the country or around the world can seem a bit intimidating, to say the least. I'm a fan of anyone who chooses to follow their heart in retirement and live somewhere new. However, you have to remember that these places can be visited just as easily. Some people might enjoy the newfound freedom and culture that comes from retirement relocation. Others might prefer a more temporary hiatus to an area rather than packing it all up and moving there.

If you're ready to hit the road, good for you. If you're still wondering or questioning whether you should move to the backcountry of Alaska, the beautiful beaches of the Caribbean, or anywhere else in the world, you have to think about a few things. Can you stand to leave your life behind? A lot of times, people have too much attachment to their current life, family, or circle of friends to move permanently. Remember, though, you can always visit whenever you'd like. This is a big decision and some people are better suited for it than others.

If you're dreaming of retirement a world away from it all, you literally have the whole world in your hands. Of course, it doesn't hurt to take a little holiday first and make sure that you'll really enjoy where you're going. I love my home, and I wish everyone else the same success in finding a home for their retirement, no matter where in the world that might be.
"senior lifestyle and senior health" to link to http://www.happyhealth.net/
"medical alert reviews" to link to http://www.happyhealth.net/medical-alert-reviews


Contributed by Mary Albert, a blogger for a senior lifestyle and senior health web site that provides advice for the 55+ age group as well as medical alert reviews . You'll find the link to Mary's web site on my side bar (good stuff)
Malcolm

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

It's market day again YEE HAA

 Thursday morning ,and I can hardly wait to finish my cup of 1,2,3 coffee and jump on the Honda Wave, and head on down to the edge of our little village near the rail road tracks, to a open field and watch it transform into a unbelievable fresh food and sellers market.Vendors will come from all over the country to set up their tables of food and wares,and bar-b-que grills,and fry pots,and fresh fish stands and pork and beef butcher tables. What a sight to behold , just like a well orchestrated band all tuned and set up and ready to go at the same time .I have spent many a hour just watching them do the same old thing everyday of their lives to make a living for themselves and their families moving from village to village on certain ,set days , bringing with them all the necessities of life to the people who look forward to them every week. and the most amazing thing is that they do it with a smile.
Ciejay and me had already decided that market day would be my house whole duty. She hates the dirt and dust and almost every time you just get there it will start to rain.
But what she does'nt know is that market day are the high-lite of my week.
I am amazed at the never ending variety of food and anything else you can think of for sale. Fruits,vegetables,meats,cloths, cell phones , dvd's ,pots and pans and furniture and tools of all sorts , just to name a few of the things for sale or trade.
Pork and beef cut to order right before your eyes, fish cleaned and scaled for you on the spot.All of this done without any worry about the hot weather or the fly's and bugs, not to mention the half dozen or so dogs wondering around under foot looking for a handout.
I remember my first trip to the market, Ciejay went with me to translate(really a little hand signs and a few fingers 1 or 2 and tow rai and you're all set)Well I saw this really fresh ,live, big fish on a table in front of me and commented to Ciejay that we couldn't take the whole fish , but I would love to have a couple center cut steaks . Ciejay said something in Thai to the ladybehind the table and the next thing I know , I see this big knife coming from under the table and with a chop ,chop I had 2 of the nicest center cut steaks you have ever seen and the head of the fish was still alive and flopping around on the table.Something you would never see in the good ole US of A.
There are live eels , and live frogs and birds and fried and dried bugs and insects , and anything else you can think of . I even saw one vendor with roasted scorpions on a stick , and to my udder amazement people were buying them. All of this to cook ,clean, fry ,grill, boil , whatever ,and put in a plastic bag or on a stick for you to take home and enjoy.
I can't believe that back home we use to worry so much about sanitation, temperatures,refrigeration and fifty other things so much. We had to worry about salmonella, e-coli and anything else that they our friends and family and the good ole health department could scare us with. Why is it that no one seems to worry about those things here in Thailand , it doesn't take long till all us transplants stop worrying too, or knowing things are not going to change in the near future , just go with the flow or so it seems to me. I don't hear to many complaints, just a lot of" man this Thai food sure is good."
Didn't take me long to figure out that a good hot stove and lots of spices and a whole lot of praying that all that worrying was a big waste of time .
The market I love it , the vendors , I love them, and what a great place to see and meet people. And maybe just maybe if I'm lucky , there just might be a visiting tourist that speaks English and I can loosen up my tongue and get my brain back in the right gear and have a good ole English conversation, what a real treat that would be .And who knows what new surprises might be in store for me next week at THE MARKET. 

Market Day in Wang Pho

Market Day in Wang Pho,
      Most of these veggies were growing out behind his house just the day before , he has a huge garden. I swear this pork is so fresh , I thought I heard a loud squeal These eggs are so fresh that when they start to run low they run out to the truck where the hens are laying more on demand. After all the eggs are laid they then are sold here , minus all their feathers of course Believe it are not , but some of these fish are still flopping around on the table . It's been a while since I posted anything about one of my favorite things to do here in Wang Pho , doing the weekly shopping at our fresh fruit and veggie market and oh ya I don't want to forget the fresh meat and fish market too . I can't wait for the net to get sooo advanced that we will have scratch and sniff available on all the pictures . The one great thing about the fresh market is all the wonderful smells all mixed together . I would be amiss if I forgot to mention that on market days there is also a lot of already cooked food vendors at the market about 25% of the market is fast (Thai style ) food to take home to eat. Ciejay and me talked about it one day and we both agreed that if we really wanted to we would never have to cook at home ever, and fresh cooked meals are within 5 minutes ride or walk from our home , something to think about as we get older , ha ha .. Sorry no scratch and sniff , but hope you enjoy the pictures .
 Malcolm




 Do you have a fresh fruit and veggie market near you and do you visit it often ???? We have a huge Tesco Lotus that we could buy our fruit and veggies if we wanted to , but not only are the local markets stuff fresher , it helps our local farmer to sell their stuff and get a little income from all their hard work and it also keeps our little town from being a poor village

Friday, October 5, 2018

14 years and still Loving It .

Today is our 14th anniversary, in Thailand , we got here the 6th ,of October ,2004, started remodeling the house on the 7th , and moved in on the King's birthday December the 5th , it's been 14 great years and we love our little home, and small piece of paradise here in Thailand , if you want a vacation of a lifetime come on over we have room for you , and we'll pick you up at the airport , or better yet take the train ride (3 1/2 hours) to Wang Pho train station , 3 blocks from our house, and we'll be standing there when you get off the train









 2003
 Today

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

There's no place like home

It is true  "there's no place like home 
We just got back from a 3 month trip back to the good ole USA , and was it ever a shock to our system , everyone is in a hurry , prices on everything have gone sky high , folks we knew from childhood had died and we didn't know , lots of folks had moved and we didn't know , but we found who we could and let them know we still think of them often .
The main reason for the trip was to celebrate  the 50th anniversary of North Kenai Chapel in Nikiski , Alaska. My family in 1968 moved to Kenai and founded the church , still going and doing great. Of course being in Alaska I had to do a little fishing , and I did and caught my daily limit combat fishing at the famous Russian River. We had a great stay at GoFishAlaska  , Chalet Rental/B&B. What a wonderful few days and our Host Julie Campbell was the best .We were also treated to a week of unbelievable love and care at  a wonderful resort in Sterling ,Alaska , hosted by Jan and Don Shields , it don't get no better . Then off to see family and friends in what the Alaskan's call the Lower 48 . had a wonderful time , visiting family and friends along the way to Texas to visit and stay a month with my Sister Faye in Emory ,Texas , then it was off the South Carolina for the Burgess family reunion. And then back to Texas and what would a vacation be without a trip to California to visit Sister Sue (Ciejay's sister) for a week . All in all it was a wonder trip full of seeing and making new friend and filling our life with lots of memories to be shared for years 
But by now I was ready for home  and as is the name of this Blog Retired in Thailand and Loving It , I was ready to come home to our home Wang Pho , Thailand .
THERE'S REALLY ,NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Friday, April 13, 2018

Happy Thailand New Year --Songkran

What is Songkran and how do Thai's celebrate 
Truly, there are different ways people celebrate New Year. While western countries use fireworks for the celebration, Chinese nationals have their dragon dance. However, Thailand has the most unusual way of celebrating New Year, and this is known as Songkran Festival. If this is the first time you heard about this, then you may want to know more. Who knows? You might also be interested in joining them.
What is Songkran Festival?
If we would take a look at the history, Songkran actually originated from Burma. In fact, there are also other countries practicing such festivity like Vietnam and Laos. The word Songkran was actually derived from “Sankranti”, which means “to move or to change”. Celebrated on particular dates in 13 April – 15 April, Songkran 2017 is regarded as the longest holiday in Thailand. Unlike other festivals in the place, Songkran is said to be the grandest since it is traditionally celebrated for three consecutive days.
Similar to other nationalities, Thais also have beliefs which truly originated from their forefathers. A day before the celebration of Songkran, the housewives must clean their house and remove all the rubbish. Otherwise, it might bring them bad luck for the remaining months of the recent year. As part of the belief, Buddha images should be washed carefully so as to bring good fortune to house owners.
Rather than an earthly enjoyment, Songkran 2016 focuses on spiritual intentions like giving alms to monks and paying a visit to Buddhist temples in their place. In addition to that, they build sand pyramid images and festoon colorful stuff such as flowers and flag lets.
But before we forget, the festival would not be complete without the so-called Water fight. Armed with water guns and water containers, TRAVELERS and natives including children throw water upon others, which symbolizes cleansing and rejuvenating of their bodies. There is no exception in this festival but obviously everyone understands the real meaning of this event
Info from the net

Friday, April 6, 2018

Young Coconuts --How good and healthy

Cool and Refreshing ----- just what I needed
My desk

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Today I was sitting at my computer desk and complaining to myself about how hot it was and that I really needed something cold to drink, I had already drank a Coke Zero earilier and at least two tall glasses of Ice water , but nothing seemed to cool me down or quench that taste I had for something good and cold and refreshing at the same time,When all of a sudden Ciejay walked in and handed me a chilled , young coconut that the neighbor had given her and she had opened up the top and stuck in a straw and said " here honey try this I think you will like ", well I was ready for anthing cold and to my surprise , that was some of the best tasting ,cool juice I have ever tasted and when I had finished she gave me a small spoon and said for me to eat the meat inside , I said "get me the hammer to break the shell open first " Ciejay said "no honey , it's really soft and you can just take it out with the spoon . "I can not begin to tell you how surprise I was at not only how soft the meat was , but there are not good english words to describe how yummy and sweet tasting that meat from the YOUNG COCONUT was , you'll have to try it for yourself. I know some folks will have a hard time finding Young Coconut , but I think if you ask the local produce manager at the market where you shop to order some for you they will. Also you can always find them at a Asian or Mexican food store .
Below is some info I gathered from the web about coconuts and the great health value they can provide for lots of ailments we might have , I know that from now on I'll have a few cold ones in the frig. to grab when I need something cold and refreshing to drink ( I'm not going to give up my Coke Zero ) from time to time . Hope you'll give it a try too , let me know what you think .

Coconuts taste GREAT! Besides the incredibly amazing experience one can have when eating coconuts, there are many other reasons to eat this wonderful delicacy! In fact, the young coconut is one of the most important fruits within the tropics because of its potassium and mineral rich water.
Preferably, the water and meat from young coconuts is used as opposed to the meat of older coconuts which tends to be very hard (as well, older coconuts typically have less water...if any.)
Medicinal Value Besides being highly nutritious, young coconuts have also been exceedingly revered as having medicinal qualities for heart, liver and kidney disorders.
Coconut is a tropical fruit that is rich in protein. The meat of the coconut is very good in destroying intestinal parasites, that we get from eating infected food. Coconut water is good for kidney and urinary bladder problems.
Nutritive Values : Per 100 gm.
Vitamin A :
Vitamin B : Thiamine .10 mg.;
Riboflavin :
Niacin :
Vitamin C : 2 mg.
Calcium : 21 mg.
Iron : 2.0 mg.
Phosphorus : 98 mg.
Fat : 34.7 gm.
Carbohydrates : 14 gm.
Protein : 3.4 gm.
Calories : 359
Other Health Benefits of Coconut :
Prevents simple goiter (enlarged non-toxic thyroid) because of its organic iodine content.
Good body builder, so it is a food recommended for building up the body muscles of thin and emaciated individuals.
Constipation and for any build-up of gas in the stomach and intestinal tract.
Coconut milk has been found to help cases of sore throat as well as relieving stomach ulcers.
Coconut oil has been found to heal cuts, scratches, burns and sunburns.
The oil has also been recommended for facial massage and is reported to be good as a wrinkle remover.
Coconut oil is also good for the scalp and hair and makes hair dressing unnecessary.
Intake of at least 2 Tbsp. of Virgin coconut oil per day can lessen your Vitamin E requirement.
Coconut water is good for kidney and urinary bladder problems.as recently been reported to reduce the viral load of HIV. ( info from the www)

Before coming to Thailand , the only thing I knew about coconuts was that my dad us to draw faces on them to make them look like a monkey ,and that shredded coconut was good on a cake and that the milk was kind of sour and the meat was hard and also a lot of work to get it out of the shell . All that has changed and now that I am in the land of fruits and coconuts , I have learned how great coconuts and their milk and juice and coconut oil, are for your health and that the Thai cooks use them in hundreds of their dishes , there are many varities also, and each has it specific use in the Thai kitchens.
You can find lots of recipes on Golf's new blog http://www.awesomethaifood.com/ together her and Steve write the great blog called ThaiMusings, check them out, you'll find not only a lot of good Thai dishes to cook but , you'll enjoy all the other good stuff on the blog. Thanks for the read . Malcolm

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Life and Living on Moo 1 "Boys will be Boys"

I'll have to say that of all the places I have lived in my life,living on Moo 1 here in Wang Pho ,Thailand , has been one of the most relaxing ,scenic,peaceful,and enjoyable,places of all.Things for the most part are pretty laid back and quite , with the exception of Saturday morning when the next door neighbor feels it is his duty to wake all of the Moo up really early with a demonstration of how loud and full of bass his stereo system can play , and of course along with the loud music comes a variety of Karaoke song ,sung, at their worse. I never get to excited ,because by the time I am ready to roll out of bed , he has consumed his limit of beers and passes out on his couch for the rest of the day. As I said at the first of the post, it's normally pretty quite , but I did fail to mention that about every other week-in the daughters of our neighbors drop of their two sons  for grandma to watch while they get things done around their houses and do a little shopping , I must say I don't know how grandma does it , all they do is fight each other and running up and down the road crying and screaming and when they are not fighting they are chasing all the dogs around  trying to hit them with their sticks. The dogs have gotten use to  the boys and would never bite them and have learned to stay out of their way , Sabu  hides on the back porch under the table.I have to keep a sharp eye out as they like to come over , when they have run out of things to do they will come over and toss rocks into my pond trying to kill as many of my fish as they can ,  the fish have wised up to the boys too and know just where to hide so they don't get hit too. I guess boys will be boys . Ciejay comes out too when they are in front of our house because with the sticks they carry  (they call them swords) they try to knock off all her flower blossoms.I call them weapons of mass destruction . And I've given them the old  "you better go home " eye a few times and that usually does the trick .
Life here is good and as I said before "boys will be boys"  and "kids will be kids." and "neighbors will be neighbors."  And I just fluff my pillow in the hammock and take a nap, Works every time .  Malcolm

"Here comes the JUnk Man"

That's a sound I love to hear , for one thing , it cleans out our storage room of all the plastic and cans and paper that Ciejay has saved to sell to the junk man.For Ciejay it brings a smile to her face , she saves the recyclable things to sell to the junk man and she calls it her "hair money" . The little bit of Baht that she gets adds to the (my) pocket change cup that she keeps on my computer table and when it's full it's time to go to the hair lady in the village, to get a cut and wash and style and sometimes even a dye job , ( when the gray comes peeking thru).
Recycling is sooo easy here in Thailand , because the junk man comes around with his truck and weight scales about once a month to buy from the folks, things that he can buy for a few baht per kilo and hopefully sell in the big city to the larger recyclers for a little profit . Some do this as a way of making a living and a few others in Wang Pho, do it for a week-in or part- time job to add to their monthly income or to help make the payments on the new truck or to pay for the building of a new home, that's the case, for one young couple that comes by.
Ciejay keeps her plastic in one bag and cans in another, all neat for the junk man , and me I am just happy to see it saved for a good cause ,and for the good of Mother Earth, the more we recycle and reuse , the less non biodegradable stuff that goes into the land fields and is dumped alone our highways and by-ways to stay forever polluting our land and landscape and adding another eyesore to our beautiful earth, and the area that we call home.
Do you recycle???  I remember in America it was a pain in the neck to do, because you had to have different color containers , and everything sorted out for the garbage men or they wouldn't pick it up and when they did , if it was something that they didn't want  they would just throw it back on your lawn and drive away , and you never saw a reduction on you (very high) garbage bill each month. Things here in are so different and the "JUNK MAN" makes it sooo easy to recycle , I have found it to be so , and I hope if you live in the LOS or in a place where they take recycling seriously that you do all you can to pitch -in and help , If we don't do it WHO WILL??.  Malcolm



Friday, February 16, 2018

Market Day in Wang Pho

Malcolm Hampton Burgess Jr. Market Day in Wang Pho
Most of these veggies were growing out behind his house just the day before , he has a huge garden.
I swear this pork is so fresh , I thought I heard a loud squeal


Market Day in Wang Pho

These eggs are so fresh that when they start to run low they run out to the truck where the hens are laying more on demand.

After all the eggs are laid they then are sold here , minus all their feathers of course

Believe it are not , but some of these fish are still flopping around on the table .

It's been a while since I posted anything about one of my favorite things to do here in Wang Pho , doing the weekly shopping at our fresh fruit and veggie market and oh ya I don't want to forget the fresh meat and fish market too
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I can't wait for the net to get sooo advanced that we will have scratch and sniff available on all the pictures . The one great thing about the fresh market is all the wonderful smells all mixed together . I would be amiss if I forgot to mention that on market days there is also a lot of already cooked food vendors at the market about 25% of the market is fast (Thai style ) food to take home to eat. Ciejay and me talked about it one day and we both agreed that if we really wanted to we would never have to cook at home ever, and fresh cooked meals are within 5 minutes ride or walk from our home , something to think about as we get older , ha ha ..
Sorry no scratch and sniff , but hope you enjoy the pictures . Malcolm
Do you have a fresh fruit and veggie market near you and do you visit it often ????
We have a huge Tesco Lotus that we could buy our fruit and veggies if we wanted to , but not only are the local markets stuff fresher , it helps our local farmer to sell their stuff and get a little income from all their hard work and it also keeps our little town from being a poor village