After a few days in Bangkok we took a van to our village and our niece immediately ran up to us and gave us big hugs around the legs (she is only 6 years old). She proudly showed us her Thai/English language book she has been studying in school.
One chapter quickly caught my eye, chapter 8 – “Language for Nightclubs”. I spotted phrases such as “you have a nice dall face” – presumably supposed to say “doll face” and “can I have a cigarette”, “Is she above board in everything”, “She is a looker alright” and “Your Thai Whiskey is very strong”!
Every time we return to the village there are changes – this year my wife’s brothers home has walls and windows rather than just a roof on top of supporting poles. He and his wife let their daughter choose the color of the outside – her favorite color is pink, so naturally they painted the outside walls pink.
We also purchased our first house – for $1000 US dollars. This empty wooden house needs to be moved – but it won’t have to travel to far. With a nearby home-site formed from soil that we had excavated to create create a surrounding ditch (to keep out the wild dogs), and a well we had dug (120 feet down for water) – we are well prepared for when we move the house.
Congratulations on purchasing your first house Dave. We wish you and your family a lot of happiness in it. Don’t forget to plant some of those garlic smelling leaf trees. By the way, what’s the name of the tree…
M and G
Bangkok
Not sure the name of that tree in Thai – everyone calls it the “garlic vine”! …although ours looks more like a tree to me. Unfortunately it is not edible 🙁
Here is some more info about this: http://www.rareflora.com/cydistaaec.htm
I have seen many travel sites across the internet, but I haven’t seen much about the Philippines.
It seems to me, that the PI is the bastard child of asia.
Planning a honeymoon in Thailand and while I am not sure my husband and I will need the bar translation guide, (well I sure hope not!), Eastern Thailand is slowly creeping on to my radar and this makes me bittersweet about visiting as I don’t want to be those people who bring the change. Thanks for sharing, Dave.
Yes – there certainly isn’t much tourism in this particular part of the country east of Bangkok – so in that sense it is refreshing – however the crazy amount of growth here in the past few years is not.
Nice post. Very valuable info.