We have been infested with pigeons! They are nesting all over our roof – any crevice or corner is fair game. We’ve moved out a number of nests – found a number of eggs and covered any open areas on the roof with some sort of thorny plant material to discourage future nesting. Still they flock to our roof at all hours of the day and night. The scratching continues even in the early morning.
Last night at 3am I was awakened dramatically by a loud bang, seemingly coming from our tin roof. My first thought was a meteorite had crashed through our roof. However in my sleepy state I soon realized the probability of this was quite slim – and we soon found out that my brother in law had been shooting at wild dogs that were trying to kill some of his chickens at 3am.
Yesterday we ordered up a masseuse to come to our village and give each of us a massage. I commented she looked quite tough as soon as I saw her and before she even started the massage on me, I quickly said “bow bow noi krap” or in English something like, “Please go easy on me”. My words fell on deaf ears – she was set on giving me one of the deepest most painful massages imaginable!
Today we went to a nearby hospital to visit a friend who was in a motorbike accident. There are always stories of motorbike accidents this time of year – he was in the “broken leg” ward with all the other motorbike victims. With some downtime during this visit, we decided to do some shopping. This particular hospital seemingly is a shoppers paradise – on site massage, a gift shop, a health shop, lots of food and fruit vendors and much more! We picked up a bottle of Hot Chili Capsicum cream for the hands. Upon trying out this unique product, we found that it slightly burned the skin and is a major nose and eye irritant if you accidentally touch this part of your face!
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- Fresh breakfast condiments
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- Capsicum hot chili cream
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- Our newly born niece
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- Orchid growing in our village
While different, the village aspects remind me of how life was growing up in a small fishing village near Dubai. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Dave, I’ve read a few of the Thailand journals, and saw that you’ve been going there for a long time. Is it always a pleasure visit, seeing relatives, or do you do any travel or wine-related business there as well? I’ve never been, but it’s on the (too big list). Hope you get the pigeons under control!
Tom – thanks for drifting by. Yes, you must visit us while we are here sometime – December-February is a good time to be in the Kingdom. My first trip here was in 96′ and I’ve been coming at least once most years subsequently. This is generally my one computer and utter downtime trip for the year – lots of eating and drinking (various alcohols, I’m actually highly anticipating starting my first Spy Wine Cooler of the day in a few moments) and general relaxation in hammocks. No wine or travel business. And of course for us to visit with my wife’s family.
However, this year my good friend Emil Tedeschi of Tedeschi Vineyards founder of both his Maui and Napa properties will be arriving – his first time to Thailand. I’ve instructed him to fill his suitcase with bottles of Napa wine for additional merriment opportunities at the village (with our fried bugs and grilled rice rats that we catch – both caught using home made traps).