Vientiane, Laos November 16, 2017

Vientiane is a small city by most standards, even more so to be a Capital city. It is great for walking, and has food outlets, markets and sites of interest in all quarters. The most visited site is the mini "Arc de Triomphe", which was started in 1962, and has not been finished due to the turbulent history of this country. We walked there on Tuesday, and spent about an hour.The structure is about ten stories high, with the observation deck on the seventh. There is no elevator, but for a small fee, one can walk up the hundred and some stairs. The temperature is 34 degrees so we passed on that offer.
behind the structure is a magnificent garden with fountains ans plants galore.

About two kilometers west of the Arc, is the Presidential Palace. We walked there, and visited museums and other places of interest, including a long walkway and night market on the side of the Mekong river.
The money here in Laos is called the Kip, pronounced "Keep", with one Canadian dollar worth 6300 Kip, one USD at 8385...one needs a backpack to carry the money....just last evening two of us dined for 93000!!!.

Today is to be one of leasure, maybe the night market after five, and a look at the setting sun over the Mekong about five thirty. Tomorrow is the flight back to Bangkok.

Yesterday while walking near the Presidential Palace, I heard someone calling, sir, sir; I looked back and saw two young ladies were trying to catch up to me...they were about 15 or 16 years old. I stopped to talk; they had been assigned by their English teacher to go out and fine some English speaking tourist for a five minute interview. They had met others but no one else wanted to be bothered. I st down in a temple grounds and we had a nice chat for about  ten minutes, The one girl asked questions, the other filmed on her cell phone, for presentation to the class today. I made their day. Both were so polite, and happy that I would spend the time with them. Maybe tonight, I will be on the National News here!!!
Next page will be from my Apartment in down town Bangkok

Vientiane, Laos, November 14, 2017

The family picked me up at 0700 Monday morning, and drove me to the local bus station; this is an open air restaurant. I knew I was in for a surprise when the staff told us the fare would be two dollars and thirty cents Canadian for the 75 kilometer trip to the border city of Nong Khai. The bus appeared right on time..a twenty year old school bus, modified for these type of trips...seats removed for luggage at the back, other seats installed for some comfort, and a door on the left side, front and back which were never shut for the entire trip. We started with 13 passengers, and as we went along, people along the road waved us down, got on at the back, and the ticket taker would go tend to them. At some places, we stopped and the ticket person delivered parcels. After three hours, we arrived at the border, and that ride was over. I had to do lots of paper work for the Lao Visa, but my friends did not require one. After lunch and the usual hour for processing, another vehicle took us to the hotel Vientiane SP in down town Vientiane. We checked in and settled, then set out to explore this city, sometimes called the Paris of Asia.

I will keep this page short. My computer is working ok, but the internet is totally unreliable. I have done this page twice to get this far. I expect to do an update before departing here for Bangkok on Friday afternoon.

I note my team , Saskatchewan defeated Ottawa on Sunday. Now, watch as they beat Toronto next weekend, and go on to play and be beaten by Calgary in the National Drunk, also sometimes called the Gray Cup!!!.

UP Date, November 12, 2017

I have some quiet time at the cabin this afternoon, so will do a short update. In the morning, we take a 0730 small bus to Nong Khai, which is a border city across the Mekong River from Vientiane, Laos.
From there, it is a short 25 kilometer taxi ride over the Friendship bridge to the Laotian capital, where we stay until Friday. Vientiane is a small city, laid out to some extent as a mini Paris. That is from the many years when France ruled there, and the other nations which we knew as youngsters as French Indo-China.

Yesterday was one of fun and games. We departed about nine in the morning with ten in an old pick up truck...the driver and I in front, five kids and three adults in the back. After an hour, we stopped at a kids water park for an hour while the kids had a swim and played in the pool and water slides. It was kids only, so they had a great time. We then drove another hour to the resort known as Kamsamboom. This is a large lake, which I understand is fed by overflows of the Mekong river which is close by. The place is about 130 kilometers east of the small city where I am now at, So Phisai. We had a traditional Thai lunch...lots of rice and very spicy food, then the kids went back into the water. Other than swimming, the only activity was banana boat rides...at about two dollars a person per ride. All ten kids had lots of fun, and the younger ones all asked me to come back again during school vacation next year....they said it was the best day of their vacation. No promises were made.
I will next report sometime after arrival in Vientiane. The temperature here continues around 33 to 34 degrees. It will be much cooler this evening, in Canada as my favorite Saskatchewan team beats the Ottawa team in the football playoffs.

So Phisai Thailand, November 10, 2017

This is my second try at this page; I just spent an hour doing a long page on rice farming, and as I was doing the proof reading, the screen disappeared and came back blank. It is not in the draft file.
so I have no idea what happened.
I will do the story of rice after I return to Canada. As I have more problems with this laptop, I will keep postings shorter for now.

Today is one of relaxing. Two days in the hot jungle with extra clothes because of the mosquitoes is enough for a new- comer .Tomorrow, we will take the kids to a near by water park for the day. Sunday is not yet decided. On Monday, all kids are back to school, and we will go over to Vientiane, Laos for four nights. We fly back to Bangkok on Friday at two in the afternoon. It will be an Air Asia flight.

Last evening, we did a long walk into the country side, and enjoyed the sun setting in the west; It goes down about six every day of the year.

I will do another post, if all goes well for this computer from Vientiane, probably \Monday evening.

Report from So Phisai Thursday, November 9, 2017

I now  have another problem with my laptop, and am not sure how long I have the use of it. I have decided to donate the laptop to the boys when I leave Thailand. Now, the numbers across the top on the keyboard will not print.
On Tuesday, we went to the farm and for the first time, I saw what the term, "Farm Labor", really means. My friends have 200 acres, (called rai,), consisting of about 45 acres of rice, 200 palm oil trees, and between 7-800 rubber trees. The setting is your basic dense jungle, few roads, just trails. The adjoining land is owned by other relatives and family members, who also have rubber trees and sugar cane which is over ten feet high. My friends are not harvesting rubber this year, but uncle is. I will have many photos of this when I return home. I was first exposed to the rubber tree business when in Brazil over 20 years ago. Their industry had all but disappeared because a British sailor had illegally smuggled about 70 thousand rubber tree seeds to England in 1875.At that time, Brazil was believed to have the only such trees in the world. The smuggler, Henry Wickham, worked with others at Kew England, and they sent seeds to India, Singapore and Malaysia, all British colonies at that time.  Today, Thailand is the largest rubber producer in the world. I will speak more on rubber at another time.
Today, Tuesday is a lesson on palm oil. These huge palm trees grow rapidly, and those here are about eight years old, and about three feet across at the base. Each tree produces from one to three huge clusters of  fruit, each protected by huge extremely sharp needled fawns or branches about three inches wide, and four to ten feet long. Strong clothing, thick gloves and a strong back are essential.
The branches are hacked off with a razor sharp five foot long tool, to get to the fruit cluster. The cluster is hacked off the tree trunk, and carried to a cart. Each cluster weighs from five to ten kilos, and is loaded with fruit that looks almost like fresh dates, but are mostly reddish in color. The trees are about twenty five feet apart, and the fruit clusters are carried to a cart for removal from the forest.
Now, for the hairy part. Two people on a motor bike, a driver and a good friend drive the load to a buyer several kilometers away. The draw bar on this trailer, which has about 150 kilos of weight in the palms, is higher than the center of pull from the motor bike. The danger is that a touch too much speed from the bike, in a rough ground, as we have here, or going up a steep hill, the bike will tend to flip backwards...fast. When I pointed out what could happen, I was informed.....we know....one broken leg and two motor bikes show us!!!. I did not offer to hold the trailer pull rod.At the end of the day when the second load had been delivered to the buyer, they received 500 Baht, that's twenty Canadian dollars for five hundred kilos of the rough palm fruit. The refined palm oil is used for cooking oil, and many household items.
In my next posting, which I hope to do tomorrow, I will tell you more than you may want to know about rice farming...which we did yesterday. And to answer your next question, Yes, I am still having fun!.

November 07 , 2017 Dispatch from Thailand

Here at Phon Phisai, (spelling varies due to language difference), I have a cabin at a place called The Roseview Resort. It is on a farm about two kilometers from my friend's home in the small city. I have for the second time in my life, agreed to be taxied on a motor scooter if it is not raining. The forecast is for no rain while I am here!!!.
To finish about my flights here. The A-380 aircraft is double decker, with business and first class on the top deck,  rows one to thirty,with the lower all economy class, rows 31 to 80. I was in row 33.
This was flight number 1102 for me, going back to my first flight in 1954. From London, we went over Brussels, near Nuremberg, over Budapest, over the Black  and Caspian Seas,  Over Tbilsi, Baku, Lahore, Kolkota, Rangoon and on to Bangkok. Total time was eleven hours and fifteen minutes, total miles 7261. I have more, but that is enough for now.

In three hours, we will go to the farm and pick Palms...not sure what that is, however I am about to fine out. Tomorrow will probably work the rice fields.   For someone raised on a dry wheat farm in Western Canada, this is about as far away from that as possible, yet many similarities. The roosters at about four in the morning, then the donkey, the geese and ducks, and some things I do not yet know what. I was promised an adventure, and a full exposure to the Thai farm life...they will not let me down. The kids have grown so fast, that arm wrestling is not so easy...and much more in store.
This blog site is now just over 7500; Thank you all. If computer still works, I will do another report in maybe three days....around November 10.

Report from Asia November 6, 2017

Hello all; I arrived in Bangkok on schedule,  with two very good flights.My computer has been unable to log on to a wifi, so took it in yesterday, had fixed at about 32 dollars. The Air Canada flight departed 20 minutes late, and we arrived 40 minutes early in London. From Ottawa, east over the Strait of Belle Isle about mid way between Goose Bay and Gander, then direct to London. As often happens, London was in fog, and we had to go into a holding pattern for twenty minutes. When we landed, fog so thick planes could not move on the ground, so we set for another twenty minutes until fog lifted somewhat. After three hours, it was on to Bangkok with Thai Airways in the newest and biggest aeroplane flying, the A-380.. It was a very quiet, smooth flight. My seat was well forward of the wings, and therefor ahead of the four engines....fantastic. My seat mated were a lady and gentleman from England. He was the strong silent type, and his wife, who was originally from Malaysia made up for it. She was very friendly and chatty, so my entertainment for twelve hours. I probably was as chatty, however, she fell asleep as we were in landing mode, Bangkok.
After two days to adjust to the time change, and catch up on sleep, I came with friends to a place in North East Thailand, a place called Phon Phisai. It is not far from Laos, and the home of my Thai family and friends. The trip up from Bangkok was 12 hours in a luxury bus, with seats that were similar to Lazy-boy chairs. The cost was twenty seven dollars, with lunch included. It was from seven in the evening to seven this morning.

I will be here for the week, then on the weekend, we will take the boys to a water part on the Mekong river. In the meantime, I will visit the family rice farm which is just out of the city, and where I see bananas and all sorts of fruits growing.

This is about the highlights for now.