Phetchaburi to BKK and back

Oct 11 2014

We have been in BKK since Thursday, Oct 9. Ron had an informal meeting from a professor at Thammasat University about doing some pro bono work. We came up on a van. I have described this system before: vans park in a certain area in Phetchaburi, in this case, and wait until it is filled or nearly filled then take off for BKK. We paid 100 baht each, about $3.00 each. Two hours later we arrived in BKK. Sometimes the van will stop to pick up other riders or let riders off before BKK. We often use this system when traveling between distances that we relatively short. There is not a lot of leg room for tall farangs (foreigners). We were lucky on Thursday because we were the next to last passengers so we didn’t have to wait long before the van took off.

After Ron’s meeting, we went out to dinner with Leslie, our friend from the Republic of Georgia. Leslie was our neighbor there, working for an NGO. Now she is posted in BKK working for another NGO. She has generously offered for us to stay with her when ever we are in BKK.

On Friday had lunch with Nuun and Nuch. Nuun has an exchange student in Tigard a few years ago and we became friends and have managed to see her every time we come to BKK. Her mom Nuch often gets together with us as well.

Afterwards the four of us went to see Pa Cha An who owns the property where our house is. She fell earlier in the week and broke a bone in her leg. She is 91 so we have been quite concerned about her health. She was in ICU. Her eldest son Nung was at the hospital and offered to take us to see her in ICU. She is an AMAZING woman. She had tubes going in and out of her body and had an oxygen mask on yet she chatted up a storm, laughing and smiling. I thought it was crazy for five of us to be in ICU with her and fortunately shortly after our arrival a nurse came in and said she need to remove some of the tubes and we needed to leave. I agreed. We took a taxi back to the town center and parted company with Nuun and Nuch. Ron and I went to a high end grocery store to get some items we cannot get in Phetchaburi. Then we headed home, rather weary from the day’s errands.

We took Leslie to one of our favorite restaurants, Once Upon a Time, which has a garden setting for the outdoor seating and the inside seating is in an old traditional Thai house. We have always had very good food there.

On Saturday we tried to get a flower arrangement in the flower shop next to Leslie’s but their stock was depleted so we ordered an arrangement for Sunday to take to Pa Cha An. Then we headed into the center of town and I got a manicure while Ron had his hair cut. We had lunch then went on a wild goose chase trying to get some caps for 5 gallon water bottles we use at the house. The company was closed so we decided to try again on Monday. We went back to the neighborhood where we had been for lunch and got a snack before getting a foot massage. Off to Leslie’s afterwards to rest up before going back out for dinner. We went to Cabbages and Condoms for dinner. We try to go here at least once each visit to Thailand. The owner who started the restaurant wanted to have an impact on the spread of HIV/AIDS and to help with family planning, particularly in the rural areas of Thailand. Cabbage is a very common vegetable here. He wanted condoms to be as common as cabbages, hence the name. The place is great fun with mannequins that are decorated in costumes completely made from condoms. See photos. Instead of after dinner mints with your bill, you get condoms.

Oct 12

On Sunday we picked up our flower arrangement and headed to the hospital to see Pa Cha An. Tui, one of her daughters was in her room and said Pa Cha An was being transferred from ICU and was due to arrive shortly. Once she was bought in and got settled Tui told her we were there and had brought flowers for her. I think I mentioned previously she is blind. We had a short visit then Nung and his wife arrived so we left. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and met Leslie for a movie, the Homesman, which was not good but it was great to be inside in the air conditioning. That night we met up with Marilyn and her husband Dan and Ann and Jeff, all of whom we met in the Rep of GA when Ron worked there. Marilyn now works for the embassy in BKK and Ann and Jeff for the embassy in Yangon, Myanmar. It was great fun catching up with everyone. We ate at a fabulous restaurant ‘Best Restaurant for 2014’ in BKK. Not only was the food great but the views of the river and Wat Arun were spectacular.

On Monday we hung out until 4:00 because Ron’s debit card had been cancelled due to the Home Depot hacking and his new one was being FedExed to him at Leslie’s. It arrived in good time. Because I wasn’t feeling well we opted to hire a car and driver to take us to Phetchaburi.

After we got home we went to the grocery store and got a quick bite to eat at a restaurant in the mall where the grocery store is before coming home and going to bed.

On Tuesday we both felt badly so we stayed in bed most of the day sleeping off and on. The only meal we ate was breakfast. We watched a video before going to sleep at night and both of us slept well. By late Wenesday we both were feeling better. We went for lunch and to get a few things at the grocery store.

Doing it the Thai way

Oct 3

Our car and driver showed up 40 minutes early but we were ready so we were thankful to get an early start. We were going to Hua Hin to pick up our rental car that we will rent off and on during our three months here. It is about a three hour journey but we made it in record time. After signing all the paperwork, we went to our favorite duck soup eatery and had a cup of duck noodle soup before heading to the grocery store and to Starbucks to get some coffee for the house which costs more than double than at home; but hey, I’m from the NW and if we know one thing it is life is too short to drink bad coffee. Then we headed home about a 40 minute drive back toward Bangkok.

Our little Thai house

Our house in located on a family compound. Pa Cha An is the matriarch. Her son Noi and his adult daughter Ai and her son Hope all live there. Noi’s former wife helps out almost daily. Her name is Lin. On the weekend other family members come from Bangkok where they work. Nit is Noi’s brother and Tui is Noi’s sister. Timm is also Noi’s sister and her husband is Tum. They live in Phetchaburi which is where we live. They have two children Pair who is in her last year of university and her brother Pon who is developmentally disabled and in a wheelchair. Our place is located at the end of the

property, next to Noi’s house and the river.

The big family house

Lin greeted us at the gate and got the keys toPhetchaburi River. The house was hotter than blue blazes. Lin helped open the windows. Fortunately our bedrooms have AC but the rest of the house doesn’t. Unfortunately the house was built without any attic ventilation system so it heats up easily and doesn’t cool down very well. It seems much hotter here than in Bangkok (BKK). We put the food away then started unpacking. Family members clean the house while we are away so it is a blessing that we don’t have to clean before settling in. Our bed was made, another gift. Lin offered to prepare dinner for us and we accepted her offer. Our history here has been that Noi, Lin or Ai will show up unannounced with a meal which has been unsolicited by us. Since we rarely cook it is always appreciated. Sometimes the food is something that isn’t to our liking but we cannot speak Thai and our family doesn’t speak English so it is difficult to relate our preferences so we aren’t wasting food. It is amazing how much we can communicate with our limitations. Ron’s new Smartphone has a translation app and the speaker can speak into the phone and it will translate what has been said. We tried it a couple of times with mixed results.

We drove to the water business to get two five gallon bottles

refilled but they were closed. Lin had gotten six liters for us so we were set for the night. When we returned from trying to get water, we stopped by the big house and had a visit with Pa Cha An who is 91. She is blind but seems to be doing well. She talks up a storm in Thai and we chat back in English and neither of us has a clue as to what the other one has said. But the sense of love and respect is evident.

After dinner we retired to the AC and bedroom to watch a session of a TV serial that Ron had downloaded before we left home. By 9:00 he was asleep and I made it to 9:30 after shower.

Oct 4

Life in the Jet Lag Lane

Ron and I are finding it difficult to stay awake beyond 9:00. Then we wake up in the middle of the night and read for an hour or so and fall back asleep. Today I woke up the second time at 6:30 and decided to get up. I was puttering around the kitchen getting it set up for breakfast. I took the butter out of the frig and put it in the butter dish which I left out to soften and I filled the sugar bowl. I decided to make a singe cup of coffee since Ron wasn’t up yet so heated the water, put the cone, filter and coffee on the coffee cup and was filling the cone with hot water. Once I got it filled, I managed to hit the cone with the teakettle and spilled the entire thing all over the counter. I got coffee grinds and coffee everywhere: in the butter dish, in the sugar bowl, on the bottom of the fruit basket, on the bag of coffee I had just purchased, all over the counter, the louvered cabinet doors below the counter and the floor. It took me 20 friggin’ minutes to clean up. That will teach me to be more awake before trying to tackle complicated tasks! Just after I finished cleaning up Ron woke up and came into the kitchen. Without realizing it was Saturday we made our usual Saturday breakfast of eggs and toast although we had found croissants yesterday in Hua Hin so we had those for breakfast today. I made coffee in the coffee maker without any problems. We also scored some great jam from the same store in Hua Hin. Living in a small town in Thailand we really appreciate the little things in life.

Today it is 88 degrees but due to the humidity factor the weather station said it felt like 95. Let me tell you it is hot, damn hot! We have stayed in the bedroom almost the entire day. After a while I get a little stir crazy and go into the living room but I almost get nauseous due to the heat. I walked up to the big house and had a lovely visit with Pa Cha An with Tui’s help. Tui speaks more English than anyone else. She is a nurse practitioner in BKK and comes home on the weekends to be with her mom.

The house has a small leak in the roof that needs to be fixed and the resulting damage requires some re-painting. Tui arranged for the man who painted the big house some years ago to come and give us an estimate for doing the repair work. With the help of several people, a young girl who knows some English, and our Smartphone app, we were able to come to an understanding on how the work would be done and how much it would cost. We’re going to buy the gallon of paint needed, and the labor will be about $60. Not a bad deal by US pricing. Besides, getting up into the attic to fix the leak is NOT something Ron wants to do with all this heat. Ron said if they do a good job, he’ll ask for a quote to repaint the metal railing along the river.

Living in Thailand and daily differences

I often get asked what we do when we are here. Life is different and some of that has to do with daily living. I will try to highlight those differences as they come to mind. For starters Thai houses are not plumbed with hot water. They wash dishes, clothes and bathe in cold water. Noi who lives right next to us in a cider block house uses buckets of water to bathe. I can hear him pouring a bucketful over himself several times. We had a small appliance installed in our shower that warms water on demand. We have had to replace it once in the eight years we have been here.

Washing dishes means using cold water or heating water on the stove to add to the cold when we have plates or pots that require it. The kitchen sink is small so I usually rinse the dishes first. Then I put a few inches of water in the sink with dish soap. If we ate something that had a lot of oil in it I will heat some water on the stove to add to the dishwater in order to get things clean. I will sometimes need to wash everything first and stack items on the counter then rinse, because there isn’t enough room in the sink to rinse the dishes as I go or the water gets too cold to do the job. There is no dishwasher, no washing machine or dryer. We used wash our clothes by hand then discovered a laundry up in the little village about eight blocks away. Later Ai and Lin asked to do our laundry. They were hand washing our laundry then Lin who lives off the property brought her small washing machine here so they use that now. Given the culture we do not pay them for this service but when we leave we give them a thank you card and money.

We rarely cook as our kitchen is small with a two burner stove top that will only hold one normal size pot and one small pot for example. Due to the heat and no AC in the main part of the house it is usually too hot to cook anything other than something simple like scrambled eggs. There is no oven, but we have a small toaster oven. Many Thai homes have an outside kitchen that is completely separate from the house. I think this operation will give you a clue as to why we don’t cook very often. Also, it is so inexpensive to go out to eat here or to pick up something from a cart that we often take this option. Tonight we had chicken we had picked up at the local grocery store and made a salad to go with it. It was too hot to eat anything else. I am hopeful that I will shed another few pounds with this heat. One of the challenges is finding food that we are familiar with. When we go out to eat most restaurants in Phetchaburi do not have English menus. But we usually find a way to order what we want…. but sometimes are surprised.

We do not drink tap water anywhere in Thailand. In the house  we use a cooler we brought from Sri Lanka when we moved in here at the end of 2006. We have two five gallon bottles and go to a nearby water business to have the bottles filled. When we use up one bottle we go and get it refilled so we always have water on hand. Given the heat we try to stay well hydrated by drinking a lot of water.

We have been in Thailand five days and have had three massages. Ron said we are falling behind. In Phetchaburi an hour long foot massage cost about $6. A foot massage in Thailand includes your feet, legs up to your mid thigh and shoulders usually. In Bangkok we went to a very fancy place that cost twice the price. There is a real range when it comes to massage salons. Some have technicians who are well trained and others are clueless. Some have soft lighting in a quiet room and others have florescence lighting and you sit is full view of passersby. When we were here last winter we couldn’t get an appointment in our usual place in BKK so tried the place two doors down. It turned out to offer massage or sex. One man came in speaking English and he was requesting the woman he had been with before. He said ‘she had dark hair’. Well that would include everyone in Asia, wouldn’t it? That was a first for us so we are more careful now. We prefer the places with better trained staff. The adage of ‘you get what you pay for’ holds true in most cases.

Another difference is our internet access. Here we use a pocket wifi system that requires some set up by Ron. Because we pay by the usage we do not have 24 hours access. Since it has been so hot here, Ron usually sets us up after breakfast in order to do our email.

At home I used a housekeeper to clean the house. Here we do it. Our house is a two bedroom house with a living/dining room, kitchen and sitting area which is basically one large room. There is a full sized large bathroom with a shower and a small bathroom with a toilet and sink. There is a shower wand but no designated area for a shower. The room is the shower. This is very typical in Southeast Asia. We never use it because you have to take many things out of there to prevent them from getting wet if you shower. All the floors are tile except the two bedrooms which have wood floors. The floors need to be swept daily and mopped frequently because all the windows and doors are left open throughout the day. Even though we have screens, we still get a lot of dust, etc. We go barefoot inside the house.

The biggest adjustment to being here is food. We love Thai food. But at times we want something else. It is difficult to find food that we are familiar with. It is always a treat to find a something where we recognize the label. We love dark chocolate and usually eat one or two pieces daily. Finding good chocolate is not easy and we have only been able to find it in two places, one of them is in Hua Hin 40 minutes from here. Yesterday I was thankful to find iceberg lettuce, something I never eat at home but finding any lettuce here is a gift. I don’t know what it costs at home but a small head was $4.00 here. I tried buying coffee here and never found any that passed the taste test so I am glad to find a Starbucks in Hua Hin.

We have one eatery we like here that serves stir fry and noodle soups but it closes around 4:30 or 5:00 so we only have lunch there. We have a place down the road from where we live and she closes at 4:30 also. She has a gas burner, a wok and she works under a thatched roof in a structure with no sides. Birds fly about, trying to get crumbs to eat. Once a bird hopped into her food case. OY!  We can also drive down the road and during the week there is this place that is open for about two hours. Three or four people staff it. There are about 8-10 choices. Each ‘entrée’ is in a large bowl. We point to what we want and the staff puts several large spoonfuls of the item in a small plastic bag that is sealed with a rubber band. This is very cheap eating but by no means gourmet. Grocery shopping is difficult. In order to find items we are familiar with we need to go to the largest store here called Big C. It is similar to a Fred Meyer Store in the Portland area where you can buy food, clothing, electronics, household and hardware items. In the US there is such excess so you will find many brands of orange juice for example and many types such as no pulp to lots of pulp with or with calcium, etc. No so here. I was thrilled to find something beside Smuckers jam on Friday and scored an imported Spanish jam that is quite good. There is a good fruit stand here but I haven’t found a similar vegetable stand. Big C does have lettuce, carrots and red bell peppers so I can make a salad. At home we eat salad almost every day.

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Let the travel begin

Sept 13-16

Charlotte has been cloudy and cool. We had packed for hot climates and we each have one pair of jeans, one sweater and one light jacket for cool weather. I think it is supposed to warm up tomorrow but looking ahead we will be in cooler climates the rest of our time on the east coast. Ron dashed off after lunch as he was giving a presentation on working internationally.

We are right in the city center here so can walk to restaurants and Ron’s meetings. I took Sunday as a day of rest. I got an Americano and NY Times and spent much of the day reading either in Starbucks or my room at the hotel. I loved the solitude and quiet after a very busy visit in SC. Ron got up early for a meeting and was gone most of the day.  We met in the late afternoon for a reception. I had seen a colleague of Ron’s earlier in the day and he asked if I would be wearing something from India for the international committee reception. I realized I did have one outfit from India so promised I would wear it. During the afternoon I discovered the 20^th Indian Festival in Charlotte and walked down the blocked off streets viewing the various stalls with lots of Indian clothing and jewelry. I treated myself to some samosas for a snack.

That night I was the only person in ethnic dress at the reception and a woman from India came to me and asked if my outfit was from her country. We had a delightful conversation about India and I told her we had been there six or seven times and loved India. She said her husband was an American and she thought perhaps he loved India more than she did!

The rest of our stay there, Ron was busy with his meetings and I was content to lounge and walk around the city.  We’d have dinner together with colleagues of his except for our last night when we ate by ourselves at a Spanish restaurant where we enjoyed Paella.

Sept 17-20

We flew to Hartford CT where our friend picked us up at the airport and drove us to Granby, MA.  We stayed with our dear friend Laurie Conly who we met in the Rep of GA (ROG) when we lived there. It was a great reunion, our third since ROG. 

We had great weather, sunny, crisp days and chilly nights. The first

day we took a long walks around Smith college.

And the next day around a reservoir, clocking about 5 miles.
We took a hot tub that night. We ate well and just had a grand time being together.

On our last day we did a boat ride on the Connecticut River.  Interesting and relaxing.

Sept 20-22

Jacob - our oldest Grandchild

David and Mark - age 9 & 12?

From MA we took a bus to New York where we stayed at the Parker’s apartment in Manhattan. Pat and Dick Parker are our daughter in love’s parents. They live in ME but keep a great apartment in the city. We spent time with David, our son and Anne his wife and their children, Jacob who is now taller than his mom and Elizabeth who is blossoming into a lovely young girl.

Robin Siegle and Mo Barron

Reid Rosen

We arrived on Saturday and on Sunday we gathered with family
members from as far away as CA to celebrate Sonia Duboe, Ron’s mom. There were 19 of us: our youngest was Sonia great grand son Reid at 10 months and the oldest was Sonia’s brother Mo who is 83. We had a wonderful time being together and celebrating Sonia’s full, rich life. Sonia passed in September of 2013 at 92.

On Monday Ron and I decided to chill. We’ve been moving a lot since we left Portland Sept 6^th. About every three days we were in a different bed. We have been with people the entire trip, seeing relatives and friends. The only time we were alone was when we drove to NC from SC to see a friend from my college days. That was an hour each way. So we slept in, had a leisurely breakfast over the NY Times, had a tasty deli lunch at the apartment and went to see Love Is Strange in the afternoon. It was a good day. That night we had dinner with our NY family.

Sept 23-25

On Tuesday we took a cab to Penn Station and went to RI by train to visit Sandi and Bill, Ron’s sister and her husband. We always have a grand time being together.

On Wednesday we drove to a nearby nature reserve and took a walk near the bay. We had lunch at a small farm and finished off the excursion at Purgatory Chasm.

RI is so beautiful with incredible stone walls, beautiful old homes, some built in the 1700’s. We went out to dinner for a delicious Italian dinner joined by Maxine, Sandi and Bills’ daughter and Pete, her partner. On Thursday we stayed home making dinner and we took a walk to mail our November ballots in between rain showers.

We leave tomorrow quite early to drive to Providence to catch a 6:40 flight to LA.  Sandi and Bill were too kind to accommodate us by driving us to the airport at 4:10 AM.

Sept 26-29

Time flies when you change residences every few days! We stayed at an airbnb in Redondo Beach, about two blocks from where Ron’s 50^th HS reunion was held. It is owned by Gabe who was out of town but he has two house mates, Justin and Dave who took good care of us. Our room was on the main floor which was upstairs from the entry. There was a large living/dining area, a good sized kitchen and lovely patio overlooking the ocean. Our suite had a great bedroom with large screen TV,

iron and board, and a hair dryer. Gabe thought of  everything! We
took it easy upon arrival as we had gotten up at 3:45 in order to leave the house by 4:10 to catch our plane in Providence for a quick one hr flight to Baltimore and then a 6 ½ hour flight to LA after a 2 hr. layover.  After resting briefly we walked to Whole Foods and picked up some deli food and fruit and took it back to the house and had a lovely lunch on the patio.  Later we explored the Redondo pier and enjoyed a lovely sunset.

The next day we walked to Hermosa Beach so Ron could walk down memory lane. His first professional job in public admin was there. He had a good time remembering favorite haunts including the area of the beach where he hung out as a kid before he could drive. Saturday night was reunion night and I actually had a good time. I knew one person besides Ron, Rich Attridge who had worked  for the City of Portland when Ron and I worked there. Ron had a great time reconnecting with various attendees. He introduced me to a woman whom he had “married” when he was five! Apparently their older sisters were creating dramas and had decided a marriage was in order.

Sunday was a relaxing day with coffee, the Times and a walk to a
classic car show that was on the pier. WOW! Those cars were incredible show pieces. One was for sale for $80,000. A rather pricey hobby! My favorite was a restored 1920 something fire engine, complete with chromed or nickel plated nozzles, a fire hose, and a wood ladder. I can’t even begin to imagine the cost involved in the purchase and restoration. We ended the day with dinner in the harbor with Heidi, Ron’s sister, and her husband Drew. We thoroughly enjoyed our time together. Heidi has just completed a round of treatment for cancer and is healing nicely after surgery, radiation, chemo and more surgery.

We returned to our house and finished packing, and left for the airport around 10:00 p.m. Our plane was scheduled to depart at 1:30 a.m. but left at 2:00. We were to have a two hour layover in Taipei but that turned out to be a mad dash to the other terminal with enough time to grab an Illy coffee before boarding the plane.

Sept 30-Oct 2

We landed in Bangkok around 11:00 on the morning of the 30th, a 20 hour trip all told. For the first time EVER we were first in line at the immigration line. We have been to Thailand about 17 times and usually have to stand in line for up to 45 minutes so imagine how pleased we were. But that was balanced by our luggage being the last to arrive which took about 30-40 minutes. We zipped down stairs and while I got some baht (Thai currency) Ron got SIM cards for our mobile phones. We

grabbed a taxi and headed for Leslie’s. Leslie gave us a recommendation for a massage which was a short two blocks away. We had foot massages before dinner. Leslie and the two of us ate at a nearby restaurant before heading back to the apartment and crashed. Somehow I managed to stay awake until 9:30 but Ron took about an hour nap in the afternoon.  Leslie has a wonderful apartment on the 14th floor of a nice building several stops on the Skytrain from where we normally stay in Bangkok.

On Wednesday our goal today was to get our visas for Laos. We took the sky train to the subway and took a taxi from the subway. We had everything in order so merely had to pay the fee and leave our paperwork and return at 2:00 PM. We went back to our old neighborhood where we usually stay when we are staying in a hotel. We had lunch at a fun place called Chez Charley. The owner has become a friend and her key staff person always recognizes us and greets us warmly. Sitting next to us was a couple woo asked where we were from. They were from Spokane, so we had a good laugh over that. They are teaching at an international school in China and we had a good time exchanging stories of our mutual adventures. After lunch we went on a trek in search of a dust pan for Leslie. Ai the owner of the restaurant had given us a tip on a store that would carry them. Unfortunately we made a couple of wrong turns so walked further than necessary but we were rewarded with the dust pan. Next we hopped back on the sky train, then subway, then taxi and returned to the Laotian embassy to retrieve our passports with visas only to do all this in reverse to go home. It was warm today and way humid so we were rather pooped by late afternoon. We relaxed for a while and then Ron said it was 5:40. Good lord where did the day go?

We walked up the street and ate a hibachi dinner at a nearby Japanese restaurant. From there we returned to our massage place and Ron had another foot massage and I indulged in a traditional Thai massage. Ouch! I was so stiff from sitting on airplanes. Before I went in I realized my neck, back and hips hurt from tight muscles. Thai massage is very athletic as it were. The therapist uses her feet, forearms, elbows and thumbs of steel to work the muscles. Tonight was no exception. Several times I suggested she lighten up as I was experiencing pain but she giggled and told me to relax. Right! Back to the house, we visited with Leslie. Ron went to bed about 10:00 and I stayed up to 11:30 on the computer trying to update the blog. I then read awhile. We had been up since 5:00 a.m. so I was surprised I could stay awake that late. Then I woke up at 4:00 and didn’t get back to sleep until around 6:00. I woke up with a start at 7:00 as I needed to head out early for a hair appointment. Leslie had recommended the salon. Oh my, it was very high end with a formal reception area that hid the rest of the operation. It was beautifully decorated. I was taken to the back section where a woman showed me to a raised bed that allowed me to lie down while she washed my hair. It was lovely. My head rested on a device that is similar to a dish drainer but made for this set up so the bed didn’t get wet yet my neck was fully supported. Then I was taken to another area where she combed out my hair. I then waited for the stylist. He came about ten minutes later and asked how short I wanted the cut. After he finished, a different woman rinsed my hair again and dried my hair and then the stylists returned to do the finishing touches with his scissors and shaver. Very interesting, all for $50 which is an enormous amount of money here and $15 more than I pay at home. I am thankful that he knew how to cut hair well and will use him while in Thailand. I then took the sky train to Starbucks in Times Square (Bangkok that is ) and met Ron for coffee. Then we went to the tailor to inquire about a jacket. This was followed by a dual pedicure. What a treat that is. Again we have found a salon that is very professional and does a great job. We have been to various massage parlors and salons and have learned that not all establishments have trained personnel. So when we find one that is professional, we stick with it. We topped off the morning with a dosa (a large lentil flour pancake stuffed with potatoes, onions and spices) at a vegetarian Indian restaurant before coming home for the day.

Getting Ready and Getting Started

August 22

We are wrapping up things in Portland. It has been a great summer but I couldn’t tell you how we spent it…it just seemed to move along until it was gone! We somehow thought we would have lots of free time, enough time that we might take a drive up the NW coast in search of a Native American mask to add tour collection. That didn’t happen.

The past couple of weeks we have been doing things like taking items from the house we are living in for the summer to our storage unit. We gave our Tahoe to Mark, our older son so borrowed it when he was in town to take the larger items to the unit.

Today marks two weeks before we head out to the east coast and the beginning of our odyssey. We are spending the weekend volunteering for a fund raising event for Our House of Portland. A friend asked us to help her with the cooking so today we were in her kitchen from 8:40 until 4:40. Sophie is a fabulous cook of Indian cuisine, one of our favorites. The dinner for 20 is tomorrow night so we will return tomorrow to help with what needs to be done.

Next week we plan to put more things into storage. We did a practice pack this week to make sure we could pack for seven months of travel in four suitcases. We made it in three. Our goal is to have only the minimum here to pack and take to the unit our last week. We leave Sept 6^th so on the 5^th we will take our bed and bed/bath linens to the unit and any clothes we will not be taking with us. Our Vietnam visas arrived this week, we have suspended our magazine subscriptions and the NY Times, all effective Sept 5^th.  There are so many details to tend to when leaving for an extended period of time. We make lists, mark things on the calendar and think we have thought of everything only to realize we have overlooked something. This week we realized we should get our flu shots before leaving. An ad at a chain pharmacy brought this to our attention.

August 30, 2014

We are now a week away from leaving. We took another load of boxes to the storage unit this week and started more packing today. We will pack all the clothes we aren’t taking with us, all the kitchen items, etc early in the week. We won’t cook after Wednesday. We are making menus from what is left in the freezer and pantry. We took 26# of canned goods and some bed linens to a food bank and household goods place this week. Our load is really getting light!

I have been going through our itinerary and copying notes I made while researching plane, train and bus schedules. So now everything is on an Excel spreadsheet instead of scraps of paper. It is beginning to feel very real and I am excited. We got our flu shots yesterday so we crossed that off the list.

Sept 5

This is our last day in the house we have rented for the summer.  Ron downloaded videos then we made our first run to the storage unit took longer than expected due to a couple of hiccups. We had a plastic cover for the mattress and it turned out it was for the split box springs that we stored in May. The cover we needed for the mattress was on the box springs and we couldn’t get to them. So crafty Ron split the two smaller covers and taped them to each other to make a big cover. It worked but took too much time. Then it took a long time to get the mattress into the space pushing, lifting and grunting seemed to do the trick. We raced off from Sellwood to the unit with the second load and threw it into the unit and dashed to Vancouver in time for Ron’s haircut. We had a late lunch of fish tacos at Woody’s which are the best! Then we went to Max and Donna’s who will take care of our car while we are gone. They drove us to Howard Johnson’s near the airport where we spent the night. We walked about 15 blocks to a great little Colombian/Venezuela place for dinner. We found Mama Leo’s through Trip Advisor and it was fabulous.

We got up at 3:45 to get to the airport by 4:45. Not enough sleep by any stretch of imagination. We arrived in Greenville, SC about 7:00 where we will stay with my sister in the mountains near the NC border. On Sunday, the next day, my sister had all my nieces and nephews and their families up here for lunch. In addition friends of ours from Atlanta drove up to join in the fun. My family all talks at once, loudly. It was a great day.

On Monday we drove up to Flat Rock NC where James and Doug were staying and spent a few hours walking through Hendersonville NC, pursuing shops. We had a great pulled pork platter at a local restaurant before heading home. We thoroughly enjoyed getting in another visit with them before they headed back to Atlanta.

Sept 9

Today I drove to Greer SC to visit a cousin of mine. It was under an hour’s drive. I took a route through some back roads. I came across one of the biggest crosses I have ever seen. I am in the heart of the Bible belt here. At the foot of the cross were the words “Behold the Lamb”. In the NW where we live there is a Starbucks or other espresso shop every two blocks. Here there is a Baptist church every two blocks. On the way home on the same road I saw a sign that read “Fried Oreos”. Welcome to my world in South Carolina.

Sept 12

We ended our stay in SC with a visit with my cousin Ben Geer and dinner at a fish farm. We dined on fried catfish and hush puppies. It just seemed a fitting way to end this part of our trip. Tomorrow we will get up early and Toni and Charlie (my sister and her husband) will drive us to Charlotte NC about two hours away where Ron has his annual ICMA meeting.

Let the Odyssey begin!

ODYSSEY

Definition: a long journey full of adventure

Selling our home

About a year ago Ron and I decided we needed to sell our home and downsize and our plan was to do it in the next few years. For years our plan was to move closer to downtown Vancouver so that as we aged we could still walk to shops and restaurants.

 Last summer the Port of Vancouver voted to lease some land to a company that wanted to build an oil transfer terminal. If this came to fruition, there would be four miles of rail cars coming through downtown Vancouver daily carrying highly volatile Bakken oil. There have been five explosions of trains carrying Bakken oil. The worst was in Quebec last summer where 47 people died and half the town burned down. The toxic mess that was created will take five years to clean up. Added to this, there was also a proposal to build a coal terminal on the WA coast that would bring six miles of rail cars loaded with coal daily through downtown. BNSF Railroad was quoting saying that each car looses 625 pounds of coal dust in a 400 mile journey.

At that point we decided to accelerate our plan to sell the house and wait out the two years it would take to determine if these two projects would pass through the permit process. Ron thought it would be great if we could live in a foreign country while we waited for the outcome of the permit process on the terminals. We hoped to come back to Vancouver and buy our next home once the decisions regarding the terminals were made (the right way).

Getting the house ready took us a while. We were in Asia from January to March this year. When we returned we got very busy getting the house market ready. Ron wanted everything to look perfect and he was lucky that the weather cooperated. We had weeks of sun so he could get outside and paint wood railings and replace dry rot. In addition we had to face 20 years of accumulation of stuff. Ron had saved every piece of leftover wood from any project he had done for 20+ years. You get the picture. We made countless trips to Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity Restore and the landfill. Getting ready for open houses requires a lot of WORK. Everything needed to be simplified: the kitchen counters needed to be clear, dressers and desk tops needed to be de-cluttered, knick knacks had to be put away.  We worked our hinnies off!

We were blessed with a GREAT realtor who advised us all along the way. He had a stellar marketing plan and held two open houses on the weekend that the house went on the market. Our virtual tour had over 6,000 hits in one week! The house sold in six days with three couples bidding against each other. We got an amount above our asking price (which was based on an appraisal) so we were quite happy. Then we had to vacate. Oy! Because we were going to be ‘nestless’ for up to two years, we put 98% of our belongings in storage with the help of professional movers.

Moving to Sellwood, in Portland

Friends, Larry and Susan, offered us their home in Sellwood to rent for the summer. We were thrilled. They live in Parkdale in the Columbia Gorge and come to Portland about twice a month. Our agreement was we could rent the house at a reduced rate with the caveat that they could stay in the house whenever they came to town. We have known Larry and Susan since 2003 when Larry and Ron worked on a project in Thailand. We traveled together in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Argentina. Because their house in Sellwood is mostly furnished  all we brought were our clothes, our mattresses and two bedside tables and lamps. I also brought some kitchen items.

I learned a lot from the move. After all it was 20 years ago when we last moved. I learned I no longer have the body of a 35 year old. My body hurt: my elbows, hands, back, feet and knee all hurt from carrying boxes downstairs and back up stairs from one house to the other. I learned how stressful a move is. Even though it was all good it was still quite stressful. Last summer once we determined that we would move, I felt I had let go of the house which I have loved all these years. Yet as we were vacating the house, each of us was sad. It was particularly difficult for Ron who has poured his heart and soul into the house. He remodeled all three bathrooms to make them more Craftsman period. He helped to re-landscape the backyard and front yard. He designed and built a pergola and tool shed to match the house. He designed and built the double car garage and apartment above it. He took the 1970’s third floor remodel and made it more Craftsman period by changing all the molding and doors. He has painted the inside and outside of the house. Our last day working at the house, we walked through each room and acknowledged what that room had meant to us. A couple of times my voice cracked as I was speaking. Once outside, we turned around to look at the house and each of us shed a tear of two. So many wonderful years and so many good memories. How truly blessed these two decades have been for us.

Now we are settled in Sellwood. There was more stress initially here. Although we had been careful with packing and storing things, the first week or so we couldn’t find things. On a couple of occasions we went through every drawer, every closet, and every surface looking for lost items. Some were eventually found and some weren’t. Such is life. If I had once piece of advice for those who are our age it would be “Don’t put your move off until it is too late”. When we helped Ron’s mom, Sonia, move out of her house into her condo, the first thing she said when we arrived in LA was “I think I have waited too long to do this”. She had not packed the first box. She was 78 years old at the time. We are in our late 60’s and in excellent health. I am so glad we didn’t wait any longer than we did. It took a toll on us physically, emotionally and financially. It is no cake walk.

  

What’s Next: Odyssey

Okay enough with the drama. Many people have asked us what’s next. Here’s our plan. We wanted to stay in the area until the end of summer. Who would want to leave the NW in the summer? So we are ever so lucky that Larry and Susan offered us their home. We plan to leave on our ‘odyssey’ September 6^th. We will fly to the east coast and spend three weeks seeing family, friends and attending Ron’s annual professional association meeting in North Carolina. On September 26^th we fly to LA to attend Ron’s 50^{t h} HS class reunion. On the 29^th we fly to Thailand where we will spend three months. While there we plan to take several side trips. One will be to NE Thailand in October to see friends in Khon Kaen and then jump across the border to Laos where we have never been. In November we plan to meet friends on Sri Lanka. In December we will finally see Viet Nam which we have wanted to do for several years. On January 8^th we fly to Mexico City. We plan to spend about three months in Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama looking at three cities as potential places to live until we return to the US to buy our next home in about 18-24 months from now.

Once we determined that we wanted to live outside the US we had to figure out where to live. We read some articles about ideal places to retire outside the US and started reading about each place. As we read we were able to build criteria and priorities about what was important to us. Here are some of the things we came up with. We wanted to live in a place that was safe, affordable, with access to good medical care, within a reasonable distance to an international airport, and tolerable weather. We ended up wanting to explore Puebla Mexico, San Jose area of Costa Rica and areas in the highlands above Panama City Panama. We prefer to be near the US so places in Europe or further away held less appeal. So that is the current plan. We know this is a dream escapade so our motto is “Life is what happens while making other plans”. We are as curious as can be about how this will end up and where it will take us but we are excited as it becomes more real each day. We have our tickets to Thailand and back to Mexico. This blog will be the record of our odyssey. I will make posts to the blog before we head out and along the way. Ron will add photos when warranted.