Visas and Death Drive Mountain!

One drawback of working abroad is that of visa's and work permits etc. We needed to renew our visas recently and our plan "A",  that we could take a couple of days leave, fly to Malaysia and come back on a new 90 day visa was not to be! Instead, we had to to either go earlier and leave Simon and Melanie with a very busy Juniper Tree for the best bit of a week, or else take a day off and visit Burma
This last idea sounded a lot more exciting, a drive up to the Thai/Burma border, stroll over the bridge and turn around with a 14 day tourist visa and straight back by Dinner time, simples!

Air Pollution + Steam = bad picture!

All this was without reckoning on the petrol head who was the driver employed to do the daily run up to the border from Chiang Mai. The day started well, Simon dropped us off at the iron bridge and we were picked up on time by a fairly tidy and modern 15 seater mini bus; we toured around Greater Chiang Mai until the bus was full (and what an eclectic mix of people joined us!) All fine except that every time we set off I could hear in my mind the voice of Lennie Henry shouting, "Take her away Ernie!" (if this means nothing to you, ask a Harry Potter fan) Our driver only seemed to have 2 speeds, stationary (accompanied by grumpy mutterings) or top speed; any position on the road will do!
We wove our way out of town up into the mountains to the North. We over/undertook anything and everything  hooting at everything from pedestrians nowhere near the road, cyclists and even Buddhist Shrines (perhaps the equivalent of kissing a St Christopher?) Onward and upward we forged our way until we swept suddenly off the road into what looked like a market; which has apparently sprung up to sell souvenirs to the steady stream of tourists on the "visa run".

Nelson & Colne folks: note bag!

 We had, in fact, stopped at the site of a hot springs and Joan, of course, was unable to resist the opportunity for a hot foot bath.
On the way up we chatted away to a Swedish lady who comes every year to Chiang Mai buying fabrics and stuff for her business. She had a very interesting take on the life here in Thailand and it all helped distract us from Ernie's driving.
The strangest event on the drive up, however, was when we slewed onto the verge in a small village off the main road, we had expected to follow all the way up to Mae Sai, and Ernie jumped out and ran across the road. Our puzzlement was dispelled moments later when he emerged clutching his packed lunch! He grunted "Bhan Mair", ( basically, my Mum's house!)

One in, one out!

The Border crossing at Mae Sai, consists of a bridge with road barriers at each end. Passport Control booths at each side allow people to leave Thailand, cross the bridge and then, after getting their passport stamped for 500 Thai Bhat, cross straight back and join the queue to re-enter Thailand. There seems to be a steady flow of people passing to and fro all day and every day.
The drive home was just a little less hair raising, with fewer squealing brakes and swerves and we, eventually, landed, in one piece, back on the Night Market Road about 11 hours after we left Chiang Mai.
We headed straight to our favourite haunt, the "Lemon Grass" which I'm sure I've mentioned goes under the banner of "No view but tasty" (an entry in the Lonely Planet Guide, or similar, for Chiang  Mai's best places to eat.) Tonight the owner was apologising for playing a Connie Francis CD at top whack and so we enjoyed our Stir fried chicken and rice to the strains of "Who's sorry now?" and "Lipstick on your collar" etc; she was lamenting her dodgy shoulder stopping her playing tennis last time we were there, so I think we are becoming part of the scenery now.

The Lemon Grass

(The walls are covered in graffiti, extolling the food, service and friendliness of the staff here; please don't tell anyone about it!) oops.....

Our problems with visa's have been nothing compared to the Carey's. Because they are applying for a 12 months Non-Immigrant Visa, they can go to the Immigration Office near the airport in Chiang Mai. However, due to people who try to stay on endlessly in Thailand on the wrong type of visas, it seems that the Authorities have clamped down. They were sent away to return with photographic evidence of their daily work, to prove that they really are voluntary workers here. We had fun following them around  taking pictures of them booking in guests, discussing menus with the cooks, directing the gardeners and so forth. All carefully dressed in their Staff Uniforms!
One of the kitchen ladies bringing today's lettuce fresh from the JT  gardens:

Only now, in the cool season, can we grow salad crops, chillies and tomatoes 

 As I write we are expecting them back with probably only a 1 month extension and the need to return for the full visa next month!
We remain quite full and will remain so until into March, we are even beginning to meet guests we have met before either when we came to visit or when I was here in April/May.
During the hurly burly of trying to get all the papers prepared for Simon and Melanie's visas we had another power cut. This time it was because the trees are being trimmed at the road sides and so the power is switched off to protect the workers. The power company said 1/2 an hour but in reality we were off for 2 or more hours. This, at least, gave us time to try out our new emergency power set-up! The new generator cracked into life and all the emergency lights came on in the rooms, the water pumps fired up and we were even able to plug in the Office computer and printer, so that we didn't have the same problem of being unable to checkout guests due to leave. We were pretty smug, truth be told! Our next challenge will be to test the system's water- proofing; we can wait for that as long as possible, in my book.

The Head gardener's domain.
 (Our new house will be where the sticks are just showing in the ground.)

It's been a happening day all round, really, as the first trenches were dug today for the new houses. The land was so hard that the men digging had to take off the turf then soak the ground with water, leave it to soften and then dig about a foot deep before leaving it to soak again. The neatness of the excavations is amazing. With no laser lines, mechanical diggers or spirit levels they take out a perfectly straight and square hole ready for the reinforcement bars and concrete work. The youngest workman looks about 14 yrs old but he was swinging a mattock all day with the best of them. Typically his protective clothing consisted of shorts, tee shirt and rubber crocs! We are expecting the project to be finished by May, hopefully before the rainy season gets going!

I need to leave this now, I've just been told that one of the guests has found a 12 ft long snake!.........

This is the actual snake in question, he looks smaller in the pic, because no one wanted to get near enough to put something next to him for comparison, can't think why!

This friendly Burmese Python was on some land newly cleared
for building next door to the  Juniper Tree.

Further Pics of the first stage of the building works:

Turf off, hose pipe soaking exposed soil, let the digging commence!

Deeper and deeper (4 ft or more) note Health & Safety?

One of 3 men who wire together the iron reinforcement rods.
The yellow blossoms are on a 15 ft tree!

10 or 12 perfect square, deep holes by knocking off time, please!

New Year, New Job, New Life!

L/R Andrew, Josh & Ben. Fireworker's extrordinaire!

New Year's Day is a holiday for our Thai staff. This effectively left Joan and I alone with about 70 guests. You've got to find it in your hearts to feel sorry for them!
The early start to get breakfast, would have been fine, if it wasn't for the habit that New Year's Day has developed of following straight on after New Year's Eve......
We had a great day on New Year's Eve. We started with an early trip to Makro before breakfast; making the school boy error of forgetting our shopping list! As it happened we only forgot seven items but this didn't stop us needing to go back later in the day. We got the wrong bacon, the wrong ham, the wrong rice, etcetera,  etc, etc. (to quote a former, if fictional, King of Siam!) It's a well known joke, that when a Thai person says "same, same" to you, it means something very different!
We had two superb ideas from among our guests. One started as an innocent enquiry as to whether it would be OK for them to have a few fireworks. 

This developed into a posse of the men hiring a songthaew to get a shed load of massive fireworks and organising a brilliant display for the majority of our inmates!
The other idea was that instead of cancelling the evening meal on New Year's Day, we could all make pizza's. This suggestion came from a former baker and so seemed like a fairly easy option for those who didn't want to go off site. More about that later!

N.Y's Eve went very well, I roped off half the field (Once a teacher always a teacher), and Andrew and Josh set off the fireworks with barely a pause between, ending with the most massive mortar bomb imaginable! The kids ended up with loads of sparklers and it made a great end to a good day. What I didn't anticipate was the previously mentioned love of fireworks of the residents of Chiang Mai. The noise on the stroke of Midnight, as the fireworks in town started rivalled anything we've heard in Hyde  Park, London or on the Thames at New Year at home. The display went on until well after 2.00 am and any possibility of sleep was out of the question. It was this that meant a 6.00 am start in the kitchen was achieved with a little less ease than usual!

All systems go!

The last time I fried so many eggs would have been back in the 1970's at Boy's Brigade Camp, when I was a cook for a few years.
We provide cereals, fruit (bananas, pineapple and pomelos), toast, yoghurt, porridge and we set 8 big tables with jams, marmalade etc, so it's a lengthy task. We were ready in good time and thankfully we had some willing volunteers to help wash and dry! We were ready to start on the soup and rolls by about 11 o'clock!
Another batch of volunteers washed and dried after lunch so at 2.30 pm we were ready for the great pizza festival!

The "A" Team, Who's that in the washing up?

 We had scoured Chiang Mai for strong flour, yeast and mozzarela cheese. We found a tomato sauce to use for passata and we had lots of other bits to use for toppings.
We should have suspected a problem when no one seemed to be signing out for dinner. We ended up making 14,  24" x 12" pizza's and having barely any left overs! 
Our team of willing helpers ranged from 11 yrs old to 17. They followed M, our master pizza chef's instructions to the letter and mixed and kneaded dough, sliced and chopped meat and vegetables (even the onions), grated cheese and cooked curried chicken. The final assembly line would have put pizza express to shame!

The Pizza Meister and a growing band of helpers!

By the time we had all eaten and cleared up the kitchen and dining room it was getting on for 8.30 pm.
Joan and I headed straight for the pool as after a full day in a hot kitchen, handling food made us feel in need of a cool, lazy swim to unwind.
We had a great deal of fun working with a group of kids again, and it was interesting to hear a little bit about their lives. Their conversations between themselves were really no different to any of the children their age that I've taught in the last 30 odd years.

Joan say's she's emailing using the
Nelson & Colne ipad (leaving gift) 

Joan and I continue to learn our way around the very different life here. One salutary fact is that nearly everyone seems to travel by motorbikes, from school children to Grannies, rarely wearing shoes or jackets, often without crash helmets. At least two of our staff have been crippled in some way from accidents riding their bikes. One of our staff left on Christmas Eve expecting to enjoy a family holiday only to find that her bother had been in a crash and had broken his jaw and sustained serious facial injuries. Now the family need to raise 60,000 Bt to cover 3 nights in hospital and also enough to cover an operation for him. He has medical insurance which covers some but by no means all of the costs. They will all join together to pay his bills, that's how they cope here.
One really good aspect of this job is that some of our guests come to Chiang Mai to have babies. We had two families over Christmas who could have provided the live new born for a Nativity  Caleb was only a few days late for this engagement being born on 3rd of Jan, his Mum, is doing well. The proud Dad is the guy who helped by playing guitar for our carol concert. Two more of our Guests are expecting any day now too. It is a privilege to help out, as surrogate family, for those who need it. We think back to the days when our neighbours did this for us!

The braver part of the crowd. Most were a good 20 feet
further back, I hid a fire extinguisher behind a tree!

A  humorous incident to close, one guest who works in a hospital in Bangladesh decided to bake some cookies for her boss to give as a Christmas gift. She decorated then by piping the Ladies name on each cookie in red icing. She left them wrapped up on her bosses desk and went home for the holidays. Returning to work after Christmas, she was surprised when the boss said nothing about the gift. The lady asked around, only to be told that to write someone's name in red, in Bangladesh, is to wish then dead!

Christmas celebrated, New Year anticipated

The Norwegian Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square
 this year is surrounded by children's poems 

After my flying visit to England in December, I returned to the "Juniper Tree" just in time for our busiest period. The decorations went up in the Office, Reception & Dining Room and we hit Makro for the veg. order for Christmas dinner! Not a Brussels Sprout to be had, so we settled for snow peas, carrots, roast potatoes, mini sweet corns and green beans. The turkeys were collected, still hot, from the supermarket who cooked 2 of them for us and along with hot stuffing and with "pigs in blankets"; our Christmas Feast was amazing! The Tables in the dinning rooms had holly, tinsel and candles and the extra green table cloths transformed it's usual rather functional appearance; making it truly special.

Extra, temporary, staff were needed for the Festivities!

Danger men at work!

The next challenge was to get 2 large turkeys, two large rolled turkeys and 2 large hams carved before they went cold. Ben was a willing volunteer and together we managed to supply the 70 plus guests with a choice of neatly sliced (by Ben) or rather mutilated meat (by me!) No one complained about the taste, and following the meal, Joan and I persuaded the kitchen Staff to come into the dining room for a well deserved cheer; this turned into a spontaneous standing ovation with compliments shouted in at least half a dozen languages that I could hear.

Cool?

Of course, the hi light for us was having Emma with us for Christmas. Being on duty, we couldn't get out and about much in Chiang Mai, but we did escape to the water-falls near Doi-Sutep National Park.
Here, by a rock pool we enjoyed a lovely cool off, as the temperature during the middle of the day was around 32 deg.
Emma really only has two major fears one is sudden loud noises; fireworks, in particular and the other is creepy crawlies. These we were able to provide in quantities. A nightly routine developed of banging the wooden walls of her house before returning home each night! Only one persistent Gecko, managed to disrupt her sleep. As for fireworks, one of the guests has persuaded us to have some on New Year's Eve- so it's probably good that Emma is safely back in Egham; as Thai fireworks seem so much more explosive.

Another excursion was to our favourite food venue. The official name of this restaurant is "Lemon Grass" but the tag line for their advertising says it all: "No View, but Tasty!" The walls, you will notice are covered in genuine graffiti messages about the amazing food that is not only very inexpensive but arrives quickly, is hot (not always thought to be a virtue here) and the staff seem genuinely pleased to have you in their establishment!

Wot, no chop-sticks?

Messages can be read from visitors from every Nation, celebrating all kinds of events and of course many on holiday but they all have one theme, They want to come back!

That explains that, then!

 Of course the real gems in the Chiang Mai catering world are Ouan and Phet, our Cooks at the Juniper Tree. Pictured below, on Christmas morning, they remained calm and smiling throughout the long job of providing three full meals. They do get the day off on New Year's Day and this will give Joan and I an opportunity to get into the kitchen.

One of our guests, a former baker, suggested we make Pizza for our evening meal at New Year. He and others quickly offered to join in and so we are planning a pizza feast! We expected to make breakfast and soup for lunch but now we are going the full hog and taking orders for various toppings to get from Makro tomorrow! (Where would we be without Makro?)

On all the big occasions  everyone here wants to skype/facetime etc to their families around the globe, It's fascinating to watch as people calling different time zones gather and disperse in hourly groups. We had a little of this as we fixed to contact both Richard and Joanne at 10 O'clock their time, Richard being with Andrea's family in Berlin meant that we had a hour with them before speaking to Joanne and Jon in Reading. Some of guests, however, had lists of people in many time zones to fit in. The technology is great an it really helps you to feel less far away after these calls.

Christmas Thai Style!

Suk San Wan Christmad! (or Wishing you a Happy Christmas)
The lessons go on.... however recently other matters have interrupted our progress. I made a flying visit  back to the UK mid December for the best of reasons; to attend Joanne's Masters graduation. The flights this time went: Chiang Mai to Bangkok, Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur to London. I had to buy a tee shirt at KL, the air-con was so efficient I was freezing! 
Arriving at Heathrow in the early hours and tubing to Boston Manor was straight forward, however looking at the bus times it looked better to walk the 1 1/2 miles to Hanwell rather than stand for 20 mins in the -2 degrees. Three of the urban fox population were the only ones disturbed in my brisk walk through the deserted streets.
I enjoyed a restful few days in London staying with Carolyn before the graduation, meeting with Richard one evening, and visiting the National Library & The National Gallery, as well as a look at platform 9 and three quarters at King's Cross Station

The day of the graduation was superb! I met Emma at Royal Holloway and we made it to Joanne and Jon's in good time to meet Jon and to walk down to join Joanne at the University. Joanne graduated with an MSc in Geo-Archaeology. Reading Uni did a good ceremony with a well timed and genuinely interesting speech from the new Vice Chancellor. We then enjoyed a drinks reception with the Department in the Museum of Rural Life; a part of the University. This takes place amongst various wooden, horse drawn carts and farm implements which interests me at least!
After these celebrations there we went back to the flat to continue the party until it was time to meet with Richard and Andrea at Browns for Dinner! It's a rare and precious time when we get all three of our children together and with such good things to celebrate! Jon has recently started a new job with the Guardian, Richard has just had a paper published in a scientific journal on top of starting his new job with a London sustainability consultancy, Andrea


has started working as a School Nurse; saying goodbye to shift work! Emma continues to attain good marks in her course and to enjoy the productions of her Musical Theatre company; she has also recently started doing a radio show on Insanity Radio (103.2 fm) with her friend Lewis. It's on a Friday at 12.00 till 2.00, you can get it on radio player if you don't live near Egham. (like most of us!). Joanne's Graduation, however, was our focus that evening and it was a truly memorable day As I am writing this blog Emma is only 800 miles from Bangkok, according to the Eva Airlines web site, she will be with us by about 6.30 pm (Thai time).

We toasted absent friends!

After the excitement of the graduation I drove North for Lancashire. I had various essentials to track down; missing glasses, a tax disc and supposedly redirected post. I was successful in the main, but who knows where my newly repaired specs have ended up (they got broken in an over-enthusiastic hug as we left the UK!)
I made a very brief call to see some old friends at Witton Park, stayed over night with my brother, had lunch with him and my brother-in law and then on to visit neighbours and friends around Higham and Sabden. It was lovely to see everyone  even though we've only been away a few months. I preached and led the Carol Service at Sabden Baptist Church and then drove off into the setting sun to return to Thailand.

Once back here it was only a matter of days before Simon, Melanie and Family set off for their first Christmas in the UK for 11 years. We have also rapidly filled up with guests until now we are probably as full as we can get until late Feb. We are really into the Christmas Spirit now here. We took the stable on the roof rack of the Juniper Tree car to erect in the grounds of the Gymkhana club in readiness for the Christmas Pageant that is held each year. Around 2/300 hundred people came to watch the spectacle of various Church dignitaries and children putting on a traditional nativity play under a massive rain tree that grows on the golf course. Paper lanterns hung from the branches, we all held candles and sang our way through the familiar carols and songs of the season. For me, a bunch of marauding angels made the evening, their only competition were the 3 Kings riding some seriously comic cut-out camels. The right blend of gentle humour and participation with the profound truth of the story told made it memorable for many reasons. This group of shepherds were seeing whose candles made the best wax drip shapes!


We had a showing of the Muppets Christmas Carol when a pile of children lay on cushions and the adults sat on sofas enjoying Dickens Christmas classic retold as only the Muppets could! We are having a Christmas Eve carol service and a good number of families have signed up to take part.
Yesterday, Lilly, the Office manager, invited Joan and I to join with the Thai staff who were having a party for Christmas. Lilly was cooking fried fish and we gave the staff their Christmas gifts from the Juniper Tree. I can see why the staff all want lily to cook fried fish! The red grouper fish have fillets cut from them and are fried in tempura; the remaining whole fish are fried separately and the meal is built on top of this, using the body of the fish as a bowl to hold the fiery chilli based sauce and deep fried lemon-grass, kaffir lime leaves and mixed veg. I expected to say grace for the party but didn't expect to play Father Christmas and then give a vote of thanks(in very broken Thai).
I've gone on too long already, more later!

She has 3 bananas and a bag!

Learning to speak Thai has started in earnest now. However there is not much you can say when your only vocab is a few fruit & veg and basic numbers! Of course, we have very important stuff like the the consonants (please Bob), vowels and, vitally, tones to learn. To be honest, anyone listening in on our lessons, would think we were enrolled on a farmyard noises course; rather than language lessons but that's our poor pronunciation of this beautiful language!
We have been enjoying getting to know our local area too. We have walked past a bar/restaurant near

to the Juniper Tree called the Antique House. It is along side the river and looked quite authentically Thai but accessible to Westerners. We called the other day and were delighted to find that there was live music just starting. The performer was about our age and was tuning an electric guitar. He had a keyboard player behind him who was clearly controlling some backing tracks through the system.
He started with some folky sounding songs in Thai but then went into a variety of classic tunes including "The minute you're gone" Cliff Richard, the Bee Gees, various Elvis numbers and so on. He sang very well and played an accurate, if sparse, counter melody against the track. It was amazing and very enjoyable. Some phrases in the lyrics were strangely re-interpreted but compared to our efforts to speak his language we were humbled! We returned on the evening of our day off to eat and there was a  young female vocalist singing with them, this time all Thai songs but wonderful entertainment all the same.
We went to visit some waterfalls this afternoon. We walked, supposedly, 1 kilometre up a track to eventually find amongst a deeply wooded area a gorge with waterfalls cascading through the trees. Luckily for use the area was devoid of snakes and such like, it looked like it should be teeming with
beasties!
Concerning our work here, we have to be circumspect in what we say. However it is true to say we have found ourselves plenty to do and some work with the guests who have been in very difficult circumstances has been much appreciated. We have enjoyed fellowship with people from all over Asia and beyond and found that attentive listening and friendship has been the key to helping many of these people to find their way to a "better place" than when they arrived here.
One family we have got to know well have 2 wonderful children; a boy and a young girl. The Dad is a university teacher and she a speech therapist. The whole family light the place up and have that wonderful gift of seeing the best in every circumstance. When we had the power cuts they were first to offer to help in any way they could. Another couple we have found inspirational run an employment agency for Phillipino girls in Hong Kong. They provide safe, legitimate jobs for many girls who would otherwise be at risk from exploitation and they have such a positive, loving attitude to their work. Joan has found many avenues to allow her to gather a group of eager learners around her, most recently revamping a world map to show the places all the visitors here have come from. The kids have loved to talk about their home countries and their adopted homes too. They have printed out flags, population statistics and all sorts of interesting facts, whilst at the same time giving their Mums and Dads a few minutes peace and quiet!
Another nice event was the Staff Christmas Treat! Khamsi, the handyman, had sold a load of scrap wood for 3,000 Bt (£62) this was used to pay most of the cost of all 20 of us to go to the Holiday Inn in Chiang Mai, where they do an excellent buffet lunch. The dining room seats 100's in great style and there is a massive range of hot and cold food. (Eat as much as you like!)  As it was the King's birthday many people were wearing yellow or pink (The King's colours). It is also Fathers Day in Thailand, so I suppose we were fortunate to get in! Everyone agreed this was an excellent way to enjoy the run up to our busy season before it gets too hectic. We are virtually ram-full through Christmas and until March now.
I have been gradually updating the electrical wiring of some of the houses on the site and also installing a system for the Site Watchmen to use on their patrols to record their rounds and any issues with them like open windows, intruders or water leaks etc. Both Day and Night Watchmen can now be seen strutting around the site with an air of great purpose as they log their visits to the security tags at strategic places. They both seem to have grown a couple of inches taller!
Simon and Melanie the long term managers here go off home to the UK for Christmas soon and we will be left in charge. It's very hard to believe it's so near to Christmas, given the unbroken sunshine and heat here and even though we have a Christmas tree in our house and sang carols at Church on Sunday it is very bizarre!
Tonight we even spent an evening eating Christmas cake (a gift from a guest) to help us get into the Spirit.

Loy Krathong

Yesterday Joan and I were picked up by our new Thai Teacher. She drove us to her "School" a ground floor room, presumably under her house. The teachers were her husband, mother-in-law and another helper. We were the last of 15 or so to arrive and it was a special lesson about the history and culture of Loy Krathong; a Buddhist festival that happens at the full moon at this time of year.

After a talk about how Loy Krathong started (no one is very sure), and what it's all about (this varies too); we got to make a traditional Krathong, see opposite.
These krathongs are made of a slice of banana stem, decorated with folded banana leaves and flowers. They usually have incense sticks in and candles on. Some people put bits of their finger nails or hair clippings in; which represent casting off negative thoughts and attitudes.
The whole thing seems to be about thanking the river goddess for the year's harvest and appeasing her for polluting the river as they use it.

As the full moon rises the people in Chiang Mai go down to the river Ping and put these kranthongs into the river and, as you can imagine, that's only the beginning of the celebrations! Here they also celebrate Yi Peng at the same time. This involves sending off thousands of paper sky lanterns and fireworks. The sight is absolutely spectacular. A huge procession of musicians, singers and dancers; along with fire breathers and assorted others join in the fun.The whole City centre grinds to a halt and it can get a bit scary as the fireworks are monsters and many younger men are none too bothered about where they set them off!Below are some pictures of the evening's entertainment. Getting home was a challenge, we had to abandon the tuk-tuk and walk!