Photos are at www.rtsla.photofreeway.com

We are back from Thailand and we had a great time. When we got off the plane in Bangkok, hired a car and driver and went to our favorite temple to get a foot massage (they have a massage school at the temple) and to have our palms read. There were three palmists but we were surprised that the next available person was the man who has read our horoscope and palms the last three times we went. At any rate he was totally consistent with what he has said in the past. This time he mentioned we would have two homes in the future. Pretty funny since Nattawan’s house is just about finished. We then drove to Phetchaburi, had dinner and guess what, a full body massage. At $5. per person for almost two hours each, we couldn’t resist.

The next day we spent a lot of time at the house Nattawan is building. It is wonderful. It has lots of large windows and French doors so it is very light inside which is important to me. Nattawan loved the two paintings we brought. I’m not so sure if she liked the two wall hangings but one was a piece of left over fabric from some cushions we had made and the other one we can take to Vancouver. The floors are a medium range green tile so it looks and feels cool. The kitchen is tiny which is fine with me because it is just as cheap to eat in noodle shops and restaurants as it is to cook and there are places to eat in the neighborhood. There was one big mistake by the builder but apparently it was a mistake on the plans (we have not seen the plans). He didn’t put a door from the guest bedroom to the bathroom so you have to walk out of the bedroom through the kitchen to get to the second bathroom. Again there won’t be that many guests so it isn’t a biggie.

We decided we need a little more furniture for the Thai house, as the kitchen has almost no storage so we need a hutch or breakfront. The guest bedroom doesn’t have a closet so we will get an armoire and maybe a large chest for clothing storage when we aren’t there. We will also need some barstools that I priced today. I will go to a nearby town tomorrow to price some of the other items. The furniture we have will fit well in the house. Nattawan wanted the beds to have the headboards to the east but there would be no room for the nightstands in the master bedroom if we did that. So I think we have convinced Nattawan to put the bed on the north wall in the master bedroom. I’m sure we will come up with a workable solution.

We will have great fun landscaping it also. There is a lot of property in the family compound. Her aunt has a huge house at the front of the property near the road and one of her sons has a room off of the house that he uses when he comes to visit for the weekend. Then there is a large piece of land between the aunt’s house and Nattawan’s house that has trees on it so you can’t see one house from the other. Then another son has a tiny house right to the right of Nattawan’s house and he will be the caretaker as the house is right on the river and it would be easy for someone to come onto the property from a boat. So the actual yard that needs landscaping is pretty small. The builder put in some ceiling light fixtures that none of us were wild about but that will be another fun project finding something suitable.

We are going to try to leave here and go to Thailand in December to receive the furniture that we will be shipping to Phetchaburi, as it is a lot closer for us than for Nattawan. I will need to check with our airline to see how flexible our tickets are, etc. If all else fails, we will go to Phetchaburi when our furniture arrives and come back to Colombo to return to the states in December.

We are so excited about spending time in Thailand in the future. It is light years ahead of SL in terms of governance, infrastructure, commerce, etc. The shopping will be fun instead of a royal pain in the neck and just think how often we can get massages!!! Check out the pictures on the photo site: www.rtsla.photofreeway.com You can see that the river is right in front of the house!!!