Last Post Repeat

Sadly I am making an unexpected further post before we head home. Our Day Watchman at the Juniper Tree, was knocked off his motor bike, when he was driving home from work on Saturday night. He didn't recover consciousness and passed away in hospital.
He leaves a family, including Grandchildren and will be sorely missed by all of us here, too. 
He worked seven days a week, 12 hours a day, or more and always greeted the guests cheerfully and took care of them with warmth and kindness.
God bless you, Len!

One of the things about working with people all day, everyday is that you start to get to know their family and so when we visited the family we were expected to go to the Temple to pay our respects to Len and to meet his family. We had already met one of his sons and grandchildren here at the Juniper Tree.
A Buddhist funeral has some striking similarities but some radical differences too, to funerals we are used to, both Christian and Humanist, in the UK.
Len's coffin was resting in the Courtyard of his local temple, here, packed with ice (wealthier families have chiller units, connected to their coffins) visitors can view the body and pray/meditate.
When we arrived at the Temple for the funeral, the coffin was already loaded onto the back of the pickup truck being used as the hearse. The coffin was a white-painted one with short "Cabriole" legs, like much Northern Thai style woodwork.
We drove in convoy through the village to a outdoor crematorium. There is a central high roofed pergoda style structure with a raised platform constructed over a fire pit with arched openings on each side like a bread-oven opening.
The fire is made with large diameter logs arranged criss-cross under the coffin .
Surrounding the platform area were 3 or 4 seating areas, one slightly raised for the Monks, the others for the guests. The furniture was all white plastic patio chairs, and folding steel trestle tables.
 The village Headman acted as MC and he welcomed the guests and gave a brief history of Lens life. As an "incomer" with Chinese roots, he wasn't very well known in his area.
The Monks were presented with flowers and robes as gifts and they prayed briefly in silence before the coffin. In pride of place was an enlarged photo we had given the family of Len, which was one we had taken for our Staff Notice Board. One of our Guests had photo-shopped the background to make it more like a portrait and we had framed it.
Another item that followed the coffin everywhere was Len's Christmas parcel from the Juniper Tree(he had chosen a water boiler)
When the Monks had finished, the pickup truck was manually moved to the front of the furnace and the coffin carried up into place over the fire.
All the guests had been given paper flowers on incense sticks, which we placed in a brass bowl set up in the front of the altar-like table at the front. As we passed by the coffin each person Waied (the prayer-like gesture made by Thai's in greeting and leave taking) Len and the family members standing along side the coffin.
As fuel was poured all over the coffin, the wood and the body, firecrackers and guns were fired off. This went on for 4/5 minutes whilst a wire was set up from the end of the coffin to a tree above the furthest people. 
When it was time to light the fire, a rocket (firework) was set off, which whizzed along the wire, crashing into the coffin and igniting the blaze.
After a few minutes of watching the flames get a good hold on the wood, the family all left quite hurriedly.
As I say, some very different ways of doing things.
We all returned to work, how the family continue in the mourning process I don't yet know. I wondered if they a have a "wake" style of family party?
Having conducted a few funerals myself now, I think the presiding Monk seems to get off lightly; Just a walk on part!

Last Post! (of 2013!+)

How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?

Dr. Seuss

We are just beginning to get ready for heading off home! This trip to Christmas with the kids goes: Chiang Mai -Hong Kong-London-Surrey-Kew-Portsmouth-Caen-Passais-la Conception.
With any luck, Lucy (our intrepid fixer in France) will source the necessary Wild Boar (no jokes about why we need 2, please); otherwise we will turn to the good old "on-line" shopping answer, which will, no doubt, create chaos for our family,friends and neighbors again! (Humble apologies and many thanks to Claire and Derek for all the hassle they willingly went through in collecting my latest Ebay bargain!) They have just shared the very special news that they are now engaged! We are looking forward to hearing all the details very soon.

The photo features: (Including the photographer!: Bride to be's Mother, I assume?) The Bride to be, Bride's Father and 2 Bridesmaids; the core of the entourage to the Whit Sunday Islands, 2015!!
I think the LGC (little green car) looks fine, and so pleased to get a replica of the one I had to let go last year.
Thanks as always to Ian, Derek and others of the famous "BASH" team (Bacchanalian Appreciation Society,Higham.) for taking delivery and coordination of the collection etc! You're good guys really!

Goodbye beetles .........hello karaoke!! 

With a new year approaching I wanted to round off the years blogging with some of the  pictures I haven't had space for yet and last minute events.
Any of my reader's who may be worried about the news they are hearing about political unrest here in Thailand can rest easy, The troubles are confined to areas in Bangkok, security here has been stepped up, but all is calm and peaceful at present in Chiang Mai.

One item of good news for us is that the beetle fighters have finally given up! They finished up with a karaoke night that started at 7.00 p.m. and blasted us at full volume until some time around 3.00 a.m. when I finally went to sleep.......only to be woken at 5.00 a.m. by a hammering on the door! Our Handyman had discovered a distraught young Romanian man running around the site, yelling for the Police.
His story was that he had been left by his friends still dancing at a night club in the middle of Chiang Mai, when he tried to leave he was asked to pay 8,000 Baht (£160) He argued so the Police came and told him he could either pay-up or take the consequences. He didn't pay so he was left to sort it out with the club staff. He says they beat him up , stole his phone and bundled him into a tuk-tuk (perhaps taking him to a ATM?) either way as he passed the Juniper Tree, he jumped out of the Tuk-Tuk and jumped over our gate!
When we telephoned the Tourist Police, they were mysteriously unable to speak English, half way through the story!
We ended up driving him across town to his hotel just to get some peace!
These two pictures of Chiang Mai by night where not taken on the way to his hotel, but during this year's Loy Kratong festival and were taken by Joachim, who came to help us with some jobs recently. He completely overhauled the tractor which is now sold, fixed a load of internal telephones; I am just doing the last 2 to get 100% coverage back. He also did a big clear up of the storage room and too many little repairs to innumerate. 
The following pictures are a mix of the Staff Day Out to Sticky Falls, and other highlights of recent weeks. Most speak for them selves, but I'll still add a caption, which may, or may not, help elucidate!

Juniper Tree Pool by night

Muriel and John Davies Trustees of the Juniper Tree and previously,

We visited Lilly's Noodle Shop with John & Muriel, Joan
 gets an enthusiastic welcome!

The Staff are ready for the off!

Nader leads the way !

Don spent nearly 2 weeks working on the tractor
 with Joachim, he gardens for us but has hidden talents!

I look like "Billy no-mates"-but they all fled from the camera on my side of the party!

Somsack sets of to sell the tractor, at speed, we wouldn't want it to break
down on the way! It took him over an hour to drive it to the dealers.

Don and Joachim at work, cleaning injectors.

Whilst John was here we celebrated 13 years of JTCM, we released 13
sky-lanterns simultaneously!

The staff insisted on an air-con mini bus, not a song-thew,
and who am I to argue!

Khamsi, maintenance man, brought the family! He drove his smart new truck

Laughter was heard all day, we had a ball!

Our staff know how to make a picnic, no soggy sarnies or pork pies. Do
you like the look of the giant pork scratchings though?

Khun Phet enjoying a day with less cooking!

Remember, remember, November

With so many guests, visitors and jobs underway, I got a bit tired of looking at a p.c. screen and hence the lack of posts for weeks on end......
Lots of photo's taken during the "silence" and so I'll bring you up to date with a mainly picture story!

This scene is our attempt to simultaneously release 13 sky lanterns in celebration of the 13th anniversary of Juniper Tree Chiang Mai! John and Muriel Davies were here and it was John who negotiated the purchase of the original "Holiday Resort" that became JTCM. As Elliot Carey's photo shows, staff and guests combined to light and release the lanterns; it is a good thing we had spares because we discovered exactly how long you can keep one alight without releasing it!  We also had to contend with one young guest doing his best to blow out the lights!! (He was given the priviledge of blowing out the candles on the amazing chocolate cake that Phet( one of our cooks) made to help in the celebrations!

John gave a potted history of the JTCM and prayed a brief, thankful prayer before the cake vanished faster than a blink.

The kitchen staff are so proud of their efforts and they work so hard for the guests, who can sometimes test their skills to the max!
It was a blessing that John was here to adjudicate in a dispute between our builder and her foreman; we are hoping that the buildings will be finished in time for their first residents, who I have booked in to arrive on the 2nd Jan. That seemed a very cautious date when the foundations went in over 12 months ago!

No windows, no septic tank, no bathroom fittings, electrical fittings, curtain poles, mozzy nets........ 3 weeks and counting!

If you look closely, in with the biscuits are 2 visitors! Still eat them (the biscuits) One other four legged resident of the JT got made homeless this week, he is a Tokay lizard (gecko) who was hiding among a pile of wooden roofing shingles that we sold for reuse.

These guys are responsible for the extremely loud calls in the night that most people think are birds calling. If you've never heard it, Wikipedia has a good sound clip! tokay 

Khamsi supervising whilst Joachim, Don and Chai fight the good fight with a very reluctant tractor. Having stood idle for a good number of years it needed a lot of persuasion but Joachim's patience and determination paid off:

The internal telephone system and Juniper Tree's motley collection of bicycles also came in for the same thorough treatment!
The sale of the tractor is hopefully going to pay for the air conditioning units needed for the new houses.

Since we came to JTCM we have often heard the well worn observation about how it's a small world; however, meeting the Hartley's just goes to show..... They have supporters at St Anne's in Fence (a mile or so from Higham) It was good to share a few Lancashire moments so far from home!
More Lancashire moments with Pat and Bob (Joan's Sister & B.I.L.):

We visited the Zoo with them, managed a Jazz in the Jungle, night (more later) various meals around Chiang Mai, but Pat & Bob managed to get some really good birding done (see Pats blog)

Part 2 will follow soon: too much to do in one go!!

O is for: Observations on Oriental, October, Occurences

In case you've forgotten what we look like:

It isn't a romantic hug......I'm stopping her running away from a camera!

We took Lynn and Shelley the the airport this week, but not before they gave us one last day off! We are missing them already, it's nice to meet folks from so far away that you see eye-to-eye with, in so many ways, good, good times, Guy's!

We headed off up to "Sticky Falls" to suss out the lay-of-the-land, ready for the long awaited Staff Picnic on Monday. The water levels are safely down and the ground is less water-logged so it's full steam ahead. Mr Teera will arrange a 14 seater, fully air-con bus (the Staff's one stipulation!) Will post more after the event!
Whilst we were there we did the climb up the water falls just to make sure that we could still make it, before we are there with the staff! 
After this we went to check out the Jade Factory on Doi Suthek Mountain. Many guests go there, but we needed to make a visit for purposes related to jewellery that can't be mentioned here, due to the fact that a certain person is likely to read this and spoil their surprise!

With no Shelly and Lynn, days off are not really viable but with Ruth's help the odd half day have been lovely.
A return trip to the Zoo to try out the mono-rail and give Joan a chance to reacquaint herself with the hippo's was welcome.
The view of Chiang Mai was good from the mono rail and you had a good view of the animals you can't see so well from ground level. We enjoyed the ride but got the giggles when we realized that 5 Thai people could comfortably sit on their side of the car, whilst 4 Europeans were squashed into ours!
Decided to walk a bit further after that.....
We saw the beautiful white Tigers this time, they must have been sleeping somewhere last time we came.
We also enjoyed the special Chair with the attached table they have given the panda.
The orchids are flowering much more now and so the grounds looked wonderful.
As we hold Thai driving licences, we get in for only 70 Baht (£1.40) so we didn't feel obliged to stay all day.
JT will be busy for a while ahead as we have a number of visits ahead of us: Pat and Bob will be here soon as will John and Muriel Davies (Trustees and long term JT workers) and Joachim, a volunteer from Germany. An engineer who we are hoping will get tractor working and the internal phone system back in full working order. (both maybe over optimistic but nothing ventured....)
Only a short blog today; possibly a mammoth one next time! 

Beetle Mania and our last first month in Chiang Mai, Thailand

"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn."-   Elizabeth Lawrence

As the 1st anniversary of our arrival here approaches we are amazed, in many ways. Amazed that we have made it to this point, amazed at all that we have experienced here, and amazed at how much we have discovered about this wonderful City and Country.
October is still rainy, but the cool season is approaching, so whilst our friends at home start to think of evenings around log fires and mulled wine, we are approaching the season to plant seeds and many flowers start to come into their own!
When I last posted we were awaiting our visas in Kuala Lumpur. We left the Thai Embassy clutching 90 day non-immigrant visas in our grubby mitts and headed off to celebrate!
This, as you can see, involved a rare sighting of Mrs.P having a rest!

We even manged a couple of games of 
canasta and some seriously relaxing reading. In view of the fact that we needed to be up at 3.30 am for the flight home the following day, we took full advantage of the opportunity.
The QPR livery came as a surprise on the way home, as a South Londoner I wasn't too enamored, but as I never really followed a football team in earnest, I was more happy so see it is quite a new aircraft! I'm told there was a Spurs plane somewhere but they had to pay double......

........because it is a bi-plane!The next two photo's are of things that made us laugh. The first speaks for its self, but a video clip would have been better for the second, but Joan wouldn't stand in the road long enough to take one, she's getting very unadventurous these days! The little green man actually runs as the seconds count down towards the end of the crossing cycle. It isn't such a bad idea to run across, because the driving in KL is a lot faster and more aggressive than it is in Thailand. On the subject of things that make us laugh, we have been compiling a list of missed photo opportunities; pictures that would have been brilliant if we had been quicker: Top was the young girl on her way to work on the back of her friend's motor bike, riding side saddle and eating a bowl of rice with chop-sticks (true). Then there are the other things we've spotted being carried by motor cyclists: Strimmers, wheel-barrows, double mattresses, glazed windows and dogs; all of them bigger than the rider themselves!

Outside the "Antique House" the other night was this hole or "cavity" in the footpath, but on looking up, the sign over the shop says it all.
The Dentist, by the way, is a professor of Dentistry at the University who like to keep his skills sharp; he is really good, he sorted out a filling for me, that 3 different dentists at home have fiddled around with!
Getting back to the Juniper Tree, we found  things starting to get busier, more guests and a lot of jobs to get finished.
We got the office repainted, the main office computer needed replacing and this brought it's own head aches as it involved changing from the now ancient Outlook Express for emails!
One issue that started up the night before we set of for KL is the Beetle fighting".
Signs had appeared near the Juniper Tree with pictures of big stag beetles on them, 

we know that people buy and sell insects and there is even an insect museum in Chiang Mai, so we were not too worried; that is until the noise started! Every night we started to hear what sounded like a drunken party going on from about 11.00 p.m. until 2.00 or 3.00 a.m. 
The idea of the beetle fights is simple if strange; a couple of female beetles are hidden in a long bamboo tube(so they can chat?) and then two male beetles are brought into the ring!
Like males everywhere, they soon start to tussle over who is the strongest most virile, stag! The power of pheromones eh?
Then......
1.30 a.m. just nicely off to sleep when there was a tap on the door (this is really rare) One of the houses had lost half it's electrical supply. It took my muddled brain a good half an hour to work out that the wiring to the big new houses is 3 phase and that one or 2 must have short circuited. I traced it back to a junction box beside the main drive that was smelling very weird. 
The next day meant re-rooming 2 big families, something we couldn't do for most of the year, but we managed. To cut a long story short, a botched underground repair from a couple of years ago was responsible. The next day the remaining phase went down and a minor fire started in the junction box! I've been telling the other manager's that we wouldn't burn the place down on our watch! The picture below shows the remains of the wiring! On the way back to house I found this praying Mantis, he must be a Christian!

Every thing settled down to normal the day after and we are starting to get more guests arriving and filling up the rooms. We are starting to look forward to some family and friends arriving soon and that will be really good fun!

33rd Anniversary, visas KL & Co.

Happy Anniversary

                                              Whilst writing this blog this morning we are waiting for the Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to open it's doors. Yesterday we arrived quite early to drop off the paper work there, but were still waiting (thankfully, in an air conditioned waiting room) by midday.
We are hoping that this time, all the paper work is correct and we will get a 90 day non-immigrant visa at least! 

It says it's 34 Celsius!!

Taxi drivers are a breed apart, all over the world, the guy who took us from the Embassy to the KL tower was a master piece! His favorite expression was: "Come on Buddy, give me a break!" the others are unrepeatable..... He wasn't Malayan, he was a Portuguese called Tommy and was keen to give the impression he was running a vast visa empire and that without him no one would ever get a visa to go anywhere! However he took us up to the entrance of the KL tower in surprisingly short time and for a good fare.
The lifts to the restaurant we had booked as an early celebration of our 33rd wedding anniversary were amazingly fast; they cover the 250 metres in a few seconds and you emerge blinking at the vast panorama of KL and is environs in no time.
We decided that as we are unlikely to get here again that a meal in the famous revolving restaurant would be my present and the ring you can see Joan sporting above, hers.
We had this ring made last week after seeing a display of jewellery at the "Meeting Room" restaurant in Chiang Mai. It is cast silver with gilded edges. I think it is probably made by "lost wax" casting; I intend to have a lengthy chat to the owner of the Meeting Room about it soon; we are going to see a new display of impressionistic paintings that looks promising.
We are staying at the hotel Mi Casa, (photo opposite)  it is so quiet that this morning we haven't moved from our room, (not even for breakfast!)
It is right on the main road into KL but peaceful none the less.
The road pictured is only a couple of hundred yards away but you can't hear it at all.
We have been pleasantly surprised by the difference between the attitude to tourists here from that we encountered in Penang. Also, there are some really modern and pleasant shopping Malls, not that we particularly want that, but it's easy to get good food, and not have to eat out every time.
The views from the revolving restaurant are truly spectacular and the food was very good; London prices, but given the unique situation, I'm surprised they were not even more.
There was a visiting party of Thai people who looked very smart and important, when our waiter discovered that we work in Thailand he was almost incoherent when trying not to give away that they were hosting Royalty! It may have been the Crown Prince but we wouldn't know if it was a distant cousin or something, because we are really only familiar with what the King and the Princess  look like; as their photos are everywhere you go in Thailand!
We are so glad for a couple of days break, this time. We have had such a lot going on, even though we have fewer guests at the Juniper Tree. With all the work on the computer systems,  building repairs, deep cleaning and new air-con units in the Office, it's been a bit too frenetic.
To add to the excitement last week, our Watchman came into the Office with the 2nd Cook to translate in a terrible state. His security scanner had vanished from the guard hut, whilst he was away. He was really upset and obviously in fear for his job. We could see why when Joan reported the theft to the Police; without any facts or questions they were adamant that the guard had stolen it and that they would come and arrest him right away! I think we will have to write this off to experience and chain the replacement scanner to his belt.
Further down you can see a picture of Joan's bag. (Nelson and Colne bag in wash after going moldy from the humidity!) This isn't an accidental shot, this time; this illustrates what happens if you put your bag down in the wrong place in a revolving room, it ends up next to the table behind you! You will know that heart stopping feeling you get when you think your wallet/purse/bag has gone, well it took us a while to realize what happened.......
We walked from the KL tower across the City towards the Petronas Towers, quite easy to navigate by most of the time, and visited the M&S in the Mall below it! We didn't buy anything, we are useless at shopping, but that's probably a good thing these days! If the Student Finance Company don't get their act together soon poor Emma will be a very angry Drama student, and quite rightly too. Last year they attached all our paper work to her sister's file and claimed they hadn't received it; now they seem to be doing something similar again. (I could rant about the rudeness and incompetence of the people who man the phones......)

Must finish now, visa's are calling, hope to visit a roof top, garden cafe nearby on the way back, but need an early start tomorrow; Mr Chin who picked us up at the airport is calling for us at 4.30 am!!