Helter Skelter & Everyday Life

I got up Thursday morning, 2nd April, and quite literally hit the ground running. I used my new telescope to check out my old avian friends in the trees and bushes around the house. We have an abundance of pied fantails and they are a joy, albeit very noisy, but a pleasant, melodious song. I love the way they stoop as if to rudely show off their nether regions to all and sundry. The scope brings the fantails and everything else into very sharp bright relief.

The lady who sells breakfast food near the house was happy to see me back and she gave me a delicious coconut dish for my pregnant wife. No car so it was the local songthaew, a shared taxi/local bus costing 8 baht (c £0.13) to the school where I expect to start work imminently. Now that I have a Non-Immigrant "B" Visa the school can obtain a teacher's license and work permit so I needed to let the administrator take a copy of the visa to proceed with the next round of the paperchase.

After this I hopped on a motor cycle taxi, 20 baht, to the railway station and after a long wait the Hua Hin train came and at a cost of 24 baht I had the privilege of standing for almost 2.5 hours on an extremely crowded train. I think the State Railway of Thailand is offering free travel on some trains and I believe my train was part of the deal. This was a classic situation where back home in the UK due to a combination of the heat, the crush and the delay, people would have started screaming at the staff or each other and being loud, objectionable and otherwise unbearable and possibly violent. Not one word of complaint was uttered. We stood and smiled at each other and when the daft boys lit up cigarettes in the partition and the smell started to waft through the carriage no one so much as stirred.

I spotted a fair number of birds as we rolled through the rice paddies: painted stork, asian open bills, greater racket-tailed drongo, an abundance of egrets, mynas, bee eaters, black winged stints, drongos and so on.

Notwithstanding these problems I have no hesitation in recommending the railwaywith the proviso that you just don't treat the timetable too seriously. For long distances a booking is necessary and that guarantees you a seat. Moreover my journey was a fraction of the price of travelling by bus from Ratchaburi to Hua Hin especially as there is no direct service; a change at Petchaburi is required and the service to/from from Ratchaburi is very unpredictable. There have been occasions when I have been stranded in Petchaburi unable to get a bus and my only option has been to take a taxi. Ouch!

The purpose of my trip was to pick up a rental car. If you need to hire a car in this area Hua Hin Car Rental comes very highly recommended, quality vehicles, good value and proper insurance. I count the owner Steve as a personal friend and I am delighted that his business is flourishing. Sometime in the next few weeks Steve is going to take me to the car auctions in Bangkok to purchase a motor and as you will appreciate I will be a bit out of my depth in such a place. Anyhow I drove off in a nice big Ford sedan with a bit of oomph.

Of course I brought my new toy with me so first stop was the deserted building and there were plenty of birds: terns guarding a nest in relay, a few bee eaters and then I took a stroll out into the salt pans and scoped a whole variety of waders: greenshanks, redshanks, curlews, plovers, and such like. I am really lousy at identifying shorebirds so I won't even try to be more specific. Obviously a lot of work to be done in this department.

Onwards to the wader hotspot further up the road and nothing dramatic to report: a beautiful brown headed gull and the avian equivalent of a folly: an escaped flamingo that hangs out on the shore! Then home where I cleared out our bedroom in preparation for painting the next day.

I spent Friday morning painting our bedroom and I must say the room looks so much better thanks to a coat of paint. It will need another coat. Lunch at my favourite kow mun gai restaurant and a leisurely afternoon at home even allowing myself the luxury of a little nap. Come evening we went to Stations of the Cross and Mass all in Thai and nice to see Fr Siripong and Sr Cecilia.

Saturday we headed into Bangkok to Chatuchak market to look at blinds and see if we could get some Japanese style paper lantern lamps. Chatuchak is billed as the biggest outdoor market in the world. It is an amazing place and they say you can buy virtually anything there. I was saddened by the brisk trade in exotic birds but it is one of these situations where I reckon it is better to say nought and move on. These particular traders were not regulars, their set up was impromptu. There is an enormous section on exotic fish and aquatics. Is this the same as keeping caged birds or animals?

The market was blitzed mid afternoon by a major rain storm but we found what we wanted and went home with the two lovely lamps and a whole range of ideas for our blinds. We'll be back next weekend with the measurements. I was very pleased with myself because I drove in and out today and did not miss a turn or get lost! Saturday night we had a beautiful meal at one of our favourite restaurants, beautiful fried fish and morning glory.

Sunday we hit Hua Hin again for mass and I met up at lunchtime with some friends. In the afternoon we had a leisurely stroll through the rice paddies north of Cha am and spotted oriental pratincoles guarding a nest in a field, yellow wagtails and three black shouldered kites among about 27 species identified.

Monday applied the second coat to the bedroom and started tidying up and moving back the furniture. It looks good but it is hot sweaty work. I guess I have a few kilos to shed so mustn't grumble. We had a pleasant stroll round the market in Ratchaburi looking for curtain hooks and came back with some absolutely scrumptious, ripe mangos.....8 large ones for £1.60, £0.20 each. More rain storms this afternoon taking down a neighbour's banana tree. I think this rain is a result of the high humidity and heat.

We have also hung up a bird feeder loaded with peanuts but no takers so far; it is being eyed up suspiciously, maybe the birds fear they might end up for sale in Chatuchak! Luna tells me our orchid has four spikes and we are getting very excited about imminent flowering. In fact the garden looks really good.

So it is really domestic bliss. Lovely to be home and to be able to spend some time with Luna building our little nest.