Big Adventure - Part 9

Monday morning. I’m sitting here in my office watching the workers from next door. Over the weekend they broke up what appeared to be a perfectly good concrete driveway by hand, then carried the pieces in baskets to our side of the dividing wall and made a large – large – pile in our yard. Today the job begins to pick up all of those pieces one at a time and throw them in to the back of the pickup truck – the same truck that sat here empty on the weekend while they made the pile. I assume that at the other end of the trip they will unload the truck by hand one piece at a time, into a pile no doubt in the wrong place to be moved again later.

I should mention that the workers consist of men and women. Men fill all of the skill positions, women all of the laborer positions. Even breaking up the concrete driveway with sledgehammers. I’ve got to say it looked like hot work, all bundled up in long pants, long sleeved sweaters, face masks, hats, and swinging sledgehammers that probably weighed as much as they did. While the men worked constructing the sala.

The roof of the Sala is made of about 8 inch square diamond shaped pieces of concrete shingles that overlap and interlock. On the corners (it’s a hip roof) they are building forms and pouring concrete right onto the roof.

I also am listening – want to or not – to the truck radio of the newest team of plumbers here trying to get us water. Now I can communicate with them in Thai – I can say hello, I can say water, and I can say how many minutes they have been here, and I can tell them I have lost my passport or ask where the restaurant is. That’s all, no plumbing conversation yet – It is still early in my new quest. Anyway, they seem to favour extremely loud Thai music. It could be a long day.

The woman from next door on the beach end (our property runs from the road to the beach; beside us are two properties, Richie the Torontonian on the road and a very elderly couple on the beach who share our driveway. Theirs is the third property served by the well, and the woman of whom I speak is the daughter who is doing all of the new construction and renovations as a surprise for her parents who are away because her father is in the hospital getting back surgery) says she knows who worked on the plumbing system originally and she is going to get them to come because they know where all of the pipes go. This is the same woman who is paying a large team of women to move piles of concrete pieces around. I’m confident now.

What I haven’t shared – until now – is that in my search for a house or apartment for when Jacquie and Sam arrive (sooner if I get no water) I discovered that those folks on the beach end have a two bedroom apartment for rent. Furnished. I have spoken with the woman mentioned above, I’ve viewed it and I think I've got it. (I mean verbally I do have it) 2,000 Baht per month cheaper than Richie the Torontonian told me, because he was going to pocket that amount. What a nice guy, doing me the favour to mention the place. I guess he should have kept the location secret, so I couldn’t screw him back. The woman (daughter) lives just up the road and has said we can also drop by anytime we want to swim in their pool, in case we get tired of swimming in the gulf. Anyway, I am watching the renovations and new driveway with greater interest. This place is the perfect location for us, at least for now. On the beach and right next door. It is supposed to be ready by the end of September (when her parents are due back), so I can be all moved in before Jacquie and Sam arrive. Sometimes things just work out.

The team of plumbers want to tear apart the building to get at the pipes below the floor – even though there is no water to the beach house either which would suggest the problem is not beneath the floor. We said no, so within a couple of hours we have water again anyway. They still want to come back and look under the floor, which they do later in the afternoon. I think they are here to stay, till another job comes along.

The guy with no appointment who is building a large resort has just left, and the guy who had an appointment Friday but was sick in Bangkok just called looking for us – he is on his way over. So much for a quiet day watching the women lug concrete.

It’s Tuesday morning and the plumber guys are back. I need to wash some clothes Quick while I still have water. Basketball every night sure makes the dirty laundry pile up. I need a maid.

The process of piling concrete and then moving the pile is continuing. I find it incredibly difficult not to go suggest that they move it directly onto the back of the truck. It keeps lots of people employed I guess.

Last night I watched a lightning storm nearby while I lay under a starry sky. The weather here seems prone to extremes. By November we will be in full blown monsoon season and there will be flooding and mudslides. It will be interesting. I’ve never seen a foot of rain in one day. I can’t even really imagine it. I almost look forward to the experience. Almost.

There has been one disturbingweather pattern developing – perfectly nice all day until late afternoon, then quickly clouding over and raining at basketball time. Already this week we’ve been completely rained out once and mostly rained out the next day – and here come the clouds again today at around sip har nar li gar (15:00). Damn it.

My new daily ordeal is sitting here on my lazy ass while the gang of tiny women haul concrete and rocks and dirt and throw it onto a pile, then periodically load same from that pile onto the back of a pickup truck. It’s no wonder they’re all thin, and no wonder that they seem to look at me like I’m nuts when I exercise for fun. On the plus side I’m drinking less coffee – I’m too embarrassed to walk past all of them to go get it (gee, maybe I should send Ju to fetch it for me?)

Crab curry, mayonnaise seafood, spicy cheese. lobster – yes, those are some of my favourite flavours of potato chips. I buy the bulk / Halloween pack at Tesco. A dozen bags, total weight equals about one large bag there (sip jeht (17) grams each bag). I admit that I sometimes eat two bags at once.

I want to extend a huge apology to my mother. Years of trying to get me to eat liver, and now I eat chicken livers on a stick just so Ju won’t feel bad. I never worried about moms hurt feelings. Sorry mom.

Ju made up for the chicken livers with the Goi Kae – banana deep fried in a coconut batter – for desert. Say, that would make a good potato chip flavour. Better than Nori Seaweed I’m guessing.

I finally found a scale, so I can see how all of this food and exercise is balancing out. According to it I weigh 190 (no, I can’t count past 99 (gao sip gao) yet – about the same as when I left. It must be right – I paid three bucks for it.

It’s Thursday afternoon, and for the first day this week there have not been any plumbers here – at least so far. Yesterday I washed some clothes. The water was almost as brown as it was back on York Street, so I just washed basketball clothes. The water is getting clearer every day, so maybe in a day or two I’ll try some more laundry. If we still have water; I’ve added water to electricity and internet as things that I should not be too dependent on. All I’ll say is that for now I have all three.

Mosquitoes here are tiny and very quick. You can barely see them if at all and you don’t know until it’s way too late that they were around. Probably because they are so small, they go for very specific spots where the blood is close to the surface – backs of hands, feet, ankles, behind ears. The good news is that they don’t appear to carry Malaria or Dengue Fever – at least so far.

As expected, having even a tiny grasp of numbers and time is proving very helpful. I see people warming to me just for trying. Today I heard one of the carpenters next door say “30 blah blah blah” (sahm sip for anyone keeping score). Anyway, what brings that topic up is my attendance at the party supply store I mentioned before, called “Let’s Party” – and no, it is not a bar with girls out front. They have cards and gift wrap and balloons, etc. for all occasions. I was able to arrange for sip sohng (12) balloons to be filled with helium and be ready for pick up at yee sip sohng nar li gar (22:00) tonight (hopefully after Ju has retired for the night) so that they and the birthday card I also got can be outside her room when she opens the door tomorrow morning – her yee sip hoc (26) birthday. I still think I’m their first customer, but there were sohng (2) staff there to help me.

I picked up the balloons, walked home with them. I think the strings could have been tied better, because only seven of them made it. Oh well, she won’t know.

Friday Ju was thrilled with the balloons, the card, the cake, and the party they had for her over at "Club 44" with more cake.

The plumbers were back today, as expected. We still have water, but it’s always nice to see them.

And the work continues next door. Never before have I seen so many people work so hard for so long and accomplish so little. Richie (I’m going to stop calling him Richie the Torontonian before it becomes a habit) says they are all Burmese and that they make 100 Baht a day – 3 bucks.

After basketball I showered but I didn’t use any deodorant. When I walked into the bathroom a lizard scurried behind the deodorant, and being the humanitarian that I am I didn’t want to disturb him/her.

Made another call today to the airline about the dog. Turns out the crate is 30 pounds, so with him in it the total weight is about 115 pounds. I spoke with two people at the Bangkok office and made one of them double check with their supervisor to be sure – there is no problem with the dog coming on the same flight as Jacquie. Over 100 pounds he is considered two extra pieces of luggage instead of one – double the extra charge but still much less than cargo. So now Jacquie has to find a ride to New York and book a flight, then advise the New York reservation office in advance that a big dog will be coming along (and pay). Again I was reassured it would be no problem – as long as he has all of his health certificates when he gets here.

Hopefully one step closer.