Danika comes to visit – 7

After visiting Sumatra, I have a couple of weeks before Danika arrives and it seems that dealing with the well is going to be my main job before heading off to meet her in Bangkok.

There is far too much air in the system, despite all the check valves, pressure gauges, control system and the like, the water flow regularly spurts and splutters and Sasipa tells me it is a pain, although much better than no water at all she is quick to add.

I am suspicious of the well diggers/installers and their motives. Both times before, I was there with them helping to drop the pump, attached to a rope and 40 meters of pipe, down the hole. The pipe comes in 4m lengths that I prepared which you screw together as you go. Apparently they lifted the pump out when I wasn’t there to make some adjustments, I only came out as the last few meters of pipe was being reconnected.

Skip forwards a couple of weeks and I am back from Sumatra and decide to lift the pump out myself and see what is going on. As you may remember they were not happy that I went with a submersible pump rather than their suggestion of a jet pump. I am thinking potential sabotage or maybe something is broken.

I enlist the help of my friend John, as it is quite heavy and you need several pairs of hands. Sasipa holds the rope and we lift the pipes out disconnecting each segment as we go. Finally out comes the pump and I lay it on one of the huge pottery urns still connected to the final 4m section of pipe.

Everything appears in order and I’m wondering what to try next when I notice a hole in the pipe just above the pump. It is a man made hole, clearly from a screwdriver or other sharp implement and explains why there is so much air in the system. Sabotage moves from possible to very likely.

I cut out the damaged section and we drop the pump down the well again. Then we try running the water and find that it is better, but still not perfect. I think the pump is too powerful and so I head to the shop that sold it to me in the first place. As it has been 3 weeks they are not that keen on taking the pump back, but I point out that they sold it to me knowing all the specs of the well and it is clearly too powerful.

To my surprise they agree to take it back and and refund me in full. We head to another pump place down the road where they have a larger selection and I buy a 0.5 horsepower pump to replace the 1 horsepower pump I have. Unfortunately I also have to purchase another 40m of pipe as the connections are a bit smaller in diameter and it needs 1 inch not 1.25 inch pipe!

Not wanting to bother John a second time, Sasipa and I manage to pull out the old pump together. I have to cut off the extra 20m of electric cable that the shop added so that I can use it with the new pump and we clean and polish it up, but it definately still looks used.

We head back to the shop and good to their word they give me 3700 baht in cash, not saying a word about the lack of box. I will certainly shop here again.

I replace all the pipework to the house, so it can withstand the higher pressure compared to the village supply and drop in the new pump. It all works fine. There is still a bit of air, but its much better all round. Now I just need to find a use for 40m of PVC 1.25 inch pipe!

Whew, time to put my feet up again except that doesn’t seem likely as it’s starting to get seriously hot and more fans, of the air blowing variety, arrive urgently in need of repair.

Finally the day arrives and I hop in the car for the six hour drive to Bangkok to meet up with Danika. It’s been about 13 months and I am really excited to see her again after all this time.

I’m a couple of hundred kilometers down the road when Sasipa calls to say she thinks the car insurance might have run out. There is a big insurance sticker in the windscreen and when I stop to refuel I go to look at it. The year 2568 is fine, but the date is 20 March. Today is the 21st March, so she is right. Fortunately you have to be very close to see the month and day, only the year is readable from a distance, so I might get lucky at one of the inevitable checkpoints along the way. If not then it will be a 500 baht fine.

The rest of the journey passes smoothly, slightly tempered by my concern about hitting a checkpoint. In the end I do pass a checkpoint, but I smile at the policeman as I drive through and he waves me on with smile himself.

It’s great to see Danika again and we catch up at a coffee shop and then while eating at a restaurant on the river. Tomorrow we will take to the canals and explore Bangkok a bit more for a few days, before heading off to Hua Hin, where Sasipa will join us.

Danika has a couple of friends with her in Bangkok, so we all have meal or two together and then they head off out for a few drinks. The old dad (that’s me) is surplus to requirements, so I listen to bit of live music at one of my favourite bars and then I head back to my hotel.

I am writing this with a considerable delay, so I may get events in the wrong order and forget the odd thing, but hopefully will get most of it down. We have a few things planned for the 3 days in Bangkok, starting off with a ride along the canal to the MBk centre, where Danika wants to do some shopping. In the end she bought some paints and a little art notebook. It was nice to see the different pictures she painted during the holiday.

We had lunch along a little alley just over the road from Siam Discovery. It’s mostly frequented by Thai’s and priced accordingly and I saw, when I was last here a couple of weeks ago, that there was a stall selling Vietnamese Banh Mi’s, so we went there especially to have one of those each. In effect they are a smallish baguette, filled with pate, meat, pickles and some salad leaves, There are numerous different fillings and they are seriously tasty. The seller was very conscientious in preparing them and they were well worth the 99baht each.

Next up was another visit to the bank and to my Thai mobile service provider. Thailand is getting strict with foreigner bank accounts and you have to make sure that the names all match in terms of your phone contract and bank for mobile banking. The rules will change on 30 April and as I write this in July, I know that many thousands of accounts have now been closed or suspended. This apparently has been mostly brought on by Chinese and Russian nationals I’m sorry to say, using accounts for laundering and working illegally. They are also cracking down on accounts opened with tourist visas. I opened mine a couple of years back and use it correctly. So far I have been spared from the purge, so I am hopeful it will be ok. It is so useful to have that I would be really sad to lose it.

We often took the electric Tuk Tuk’s that you can order via the Muvmi app, rather like an Uber or Grab, they are such good value and you don’t get ripped off. We wandered along past the famous Bumrungrad international hospital and the nearby infamous Soi Cowboy, where we poked our heads in and then quickly out again.

Next up was Lumpini park, a beautiful park in the centre of Bangkok, renowned for its resident lizard population. Danika tells me that they are Komodo dragons, but I can’t believe that. I remember from my youth reading about them in the Willard Price adventure series with Hal and Roger and I’m pretty sure they are huge and very dangerous. Certainly capable of killing a man, so I have my doubts that they are strolling around Lumpini park.

When we arrive there are indeed lizards and although you certainly wouldn’t want to get too near they are not Komodo dragons, but monitor lizards. Still they are a decent size and quite happy to roam around the park at will, so care must be taken.

I remember this park from 20 years ago. I had just bought a new guitar and I sat on one of the stone benches and played for a while. My audience, such as it was, has long since departed, but it was nice trip down memory lane for a moment.

We decided to take a motobike taxi to a vintage store that Danika wanted to visit with the thought of buying some cowboy boots. We took a motorbike each, but unfortunately mine was the motorbike taxi from hell. The driver didn’t have a clue and went the wrong way. So much so that my app was asking me if there was an emergency situation. Not only that he drove along dual carriageways at 90+ km an hour, weaving in and out of traffic, doubling backwards and forwards and causing me a lot of anxiety, especially as I didn’t even have a crash helmet! Eventually after numerous retracing of routes and what felt like a high speed chase through most of Bangkok in the vein of the French Connection, we arrived some 15 minutes after Danika. I was furious and left a one star review!

Nor were there any suitable cowboy boots at the shop, so we headed to their second store a few miles away. This time we took an electric Tuk Tuk.

This vintage shop, didn’t have any cowboys boots Danika liked either, but they did have a nice cafe, which was cosy inside and felt a bit like being in a plush train’s restaurant carriage. We had coffee and cake and then went to another shopping centre, which was mostly full of young upwardly mobile Thai’s. Danika was keen to visit a specific hip bakery called the Rolling Pinn, to buy their famous chocolate ‘thingy’. I think it’s the Dubai chocolate with pistacio centre that’s all the rage at the moment, or was a few months ago. It was expensive, but the packaging was exquisite and the chocolate was ok too 🙂

Before heading down to Hua Hin, we went for our usual visit to Chatuchak market, again in search of cowboy boots and for some general clothes shopping. Danika bought a dress, but no cowboy boots. I can’t remember now if I bought anything or not. Little were we to know that in a few days time this area would be hit by a large earthquake, originating in Burma and a nearby skyscraper under construction would collapse, killing around 90.

There is a restaurant in Bangkok called Wattana Panich, which is famous for it’s beef noodle soup. The huge pot of soup has been bubbling away for over 40 years, obviously added to and used up on a constant basis. I rather doubt there are any 40 year old bits of beef floating around in there. Anyway it was somewhere I have been meaning to try for a couple of years so Danika and I went there for a late lunch. It was packed mostly with Thai people, but there were also some tourists.

I wanted to love it, but the staff were not particularly friendly, the beef noodle soup was average and they tried to rip us off. I eat noodle soup (thin lek nam tok) most days and I know what it costs, which is 40 to 60 baht maximum. When I asked for the bill they wanted 300 baht. This is clearly not the real price, because I know for certain that it wouldn’t be full of Thai people if that was the real cost. I complained (in Thai) that the price was extortionate and she called over her boss, who after chatting to me for all of 5 seconds realised I wasn’t some naive tourist and immediately reduced the bill by 50%. Still expensive, but nearer the right price. Rather disappointing and I won’t bother to go back.

Some enjoyable live music and tasty Thai food finished off our stay in Bangkok and we were soon headed for Hua Hin in the car. Getting out of Bangkok was much easier than last time traffic wise, however we had to go through two checkpoints and both times luckily managed to avoid detection for the expired insurance disk.

After a few hours we arrived and checked in to our apartment about 12km south of Hua Hin. We did a bit of shopping and I cooked up a western style dish. We went from a swim and walked on the beach. There is a lot of Kite surfing here as the beach is long and straight and there is a good breeze. The apartment is lovely and it is great to have a bit of luxury, watch a movie and sink into a comfortable sofa with a glass of wine, after so many months away.

Sasipa will arrive tomorrow, having taken the big yellow bus from Satuk all the way here. She gets in very early, so I drive up to the centre of Hua Hin to collect her. She loves the apartment too and is happy to see Danika again. On our last day in Hua Hin, the earthquake strikes, but there are no tremors here as we are some 200km south of Bangkok. Tomorrow, however, I have to drive through Bangkok as we are heading for Koh Chang on the other side of the gulf of Thailand. It’s a long drive and I am concerned that it will be chaos on the roads in Bangkok. Especially as I hear that the elevated expressways that cross the city are closed for inspection.

Sad to leave our apartment in Hua Hin after a few lazy and relaxing days spent walking on the beach, swimming and eating. (Danika had to work a lot unfortunately) We pack up and head for Bangkok.

Fortunately the authorities have clearly been working all night checking the expressways, because they are open again. Luckily we are able to hug the far south of Bangkok and stay as far away as possible from the problems brought on by the tremors.

The journey is still very long and stressful and Danika is cross with me for complaining. I guess she’s right, but it is a hard journey. We eventually arrive at the ferry port and although there is a queue, we are lucky and manage to make it on to the next crossing.

Half an hour later we are driving around Koh Chang, the second largest island in Thailand and generally regarded as one of the most beautiful. It is incredibly hilly to start with and monkeys stare at us from the side of the road as we make our way up and down the road through the jungle. Eventually we decend down to the coast and drive along through numerous resorts. It is busy, vibrant and interesting. The sun flashes off the deep blue sea to our right as we drive along the coast road and before long we start to leave behind the hustle and bustle and head into a much quieter part of the island.

Our apartment is again wonderful, with beautiful views directly out to sea. It is on two floors and this time I get to choose the larger bedroom, which has a view overlooking the sea too.

We explore a bit and eat at a beachside restaurant, which is secluded, with good food and peaceful atmosphere. The swimming pool is large and Danika and I swim in there every evening as the sun sets. Sasipa doesn’t like to swim much, having nearly drowned at Erewan Falls when she was a girl.

I decide I would like to do some diving and head for a German run place down the road, which looks good. Called Scuba Squad, I soon booked up three dives for about 3800 baht. It’s more expensive than Koh Tao, but it’s nice to dive somewhere different and the equipment is excellent quality and new.

The owner agrees to pick me up at 8 am and so the next morning Sasipa, who is coming along for the ride, and I wait outside the apartment. Unfortunately the weather is awful this morning, but I don’t want to let down the owner, who is coming to collect us. Fortunately he immediately says he thinks it will be best not to go out today as the visibilty will be poor and it’s rainy and windy. We are due to leave tomorrow, but are considering an extra day. I tell the dive shop owner that I will let him know if we are staying and so can go out tomorrow instead.

We head to one of the busier parts of the island and wander around the shops. We buy some food in a weird supermarket that has no windows at the front and have lunch on the beach again.

The apartment owner replies that yes we can stay another night and offers me the same rate that we paid initially. I was hoping for a better deal as they don’t have to clean the apartment or pay any commission to the platform, plus it’s a last minute bonus night for them when it would be otherwise empty. Happily he agrees and give me 25% off. Looks like I am going diving after all!

The next morning, fortunately the weather is fine and we are picked up at 8am. There is a bit of a briefing at the dive shop and sorting out of the kit, plus the usual forms and disclaimers. The walk along the jetty to the boat is really interesting. It is covered for the first couple of 100 metres, there are shops and restaurants either side, some on stilts, but mostly on concrete pilings. Apart from the gaps between buildings you could almost forget you are walking above the sea. After a while the buildings finish and we are walking along out in the open air, with sea on both sides. I can see our apartment in the distance and wave, just in case Danika is watching. There are quite a few boats moored up and our is the last. As expected it is reminicent of the bigger dive boats on Koh Tao and we are soon chugging along out to sea.

I will be doing three dives today. I’ve only ever done two before so hopefully the old bod is up to it. I’m excited, because there is a genuine wreck that we will dive today and hopefully we will be able to go inside.

The tanks are well charged here and I have around 270 psi. Normally on Koh Tao they don’t bother to fill much past 200. This is good as we should be able to dive for longer 🙂

I won’t go into minute detail and bore everyone, but the dives were great fun. My Divemaster was very pleased with my air management and so we did all the extras possible on the dives. We swam around inside the wreck, diving right down in to the hold, where there were some very large fish. Groupers and Barracuda’s amongst others. We found a giant turtle having a relax on the coral and it watched us as we slowly circled around it for about 5 minutes. Finally it got bored being the centre of attention and took off leaving us looking after it in awe.

That was the first dive and definately the best, but the other two were good as well. One of them we were down about 64 minutes! On the 2nd dive I felt something pulling at my fin. It was a Trigger fish biting it as I crossed its territory. That’s the first time that’s happened, despite coming face to face with one or two over the years! Sasipa snoozed, took some photo’s, chatted to the other Thai’s on the boat and we all enjoyed the Pad Krapow lunch.

All to soon out time was up and we headed back to the ferry port. There was a very long queue to catch the ferry, but they have quite a few running and I think we only waited about an hour at the most.

After that is was just a long drive. As we neared the bottle neck that runs through a national park, Sasipa’s son rang us to say that there was an accident with an overturned lorry and the traffic was horrendous. He knew this because he was stuck in it coming from the other direction and actually on his way to Koh Chang with his wife and Sasipa’s other son and daughter. We stopped at the same petrol station like ships passing in the night to say hello and introduce Danika as well.

Fortunately for us the delay was down to about 25 minutes by the time we reached the site of the accident and we were soon passed it and heading north east into the Isaan region.

Danika is staying at my friend John’s chalet. It’s a cosy little place, but now that the mercury is rising the lack of aircon is starting to be felt. We manage to do a few things and visit a couple of places, but Danika has to work, so we can’t do too much. Unfortunately her stay coincided with the concrete lorry arriving to fill in the new bit of land that John finally persuaded the farmer to sell him. The lorry was a too heavy and sunk into the ground. Several tractors and 4×4’s were unable to pull it out, but in the end, long after night had fallen they managed to free it.

We head into Satuk for lunch, to eat at a famous Chicken restaurant. It is often filled with local dignataries and one time just as we were leaving, numerous limo’s turned up and loads of people in uniform and smart suits went in, as the police blocked the road.

Danika decided she wanted to learn how to ride a motorbike properly, so once the heat of the day reduced a little we rode out around the village and up and down roads of various sizes. She rode on her own with me following or leading and made excellent progress, learning how to control the bike properly. We also practiced emergency stops, which is something that would have come in useful 10 years ago when I was teaching her to drive a car and she would hare down the Kentish country lanes at 60 miles an hour, while I hung on for dear life in the passenger seat!

Soon enough it was time for Danika to head home and so we took her to the nearby Buriram airport. It is only an hour’s flight and she will back in Bangkok. All over Thailand it’s nearly time for Songkran, but she will miss it and I will miss her. Until next time Peek!