Tag: #retirementtravel

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Around Buriram

Durian ready to eat. Love it or leave it
Grilled chicken and pork
The green Kawasaki is behind the Ducati. I wonder where Kawasaki got the inspiration for their design?
Sushi is now everywhere in Thai markets, especially local ones
And this sushi vendor has a nice Japanese lantern saying that they serve hot pot food. Well, at least if it’s not correct it does provide some Japanese atmosphere
The market is very busy
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the treasures of Buriram – Wat ban Takhong

Buriram is in the Northeast and is very much an entryway into the part of Thailand that used to be part of Laos. It is called Iisan. This area has always been somewhat disrespected and is a poor farming area rich with inexpensive laborers for the rest of Thailand. The food contains some of my favorite recipes and the people are so nice and friendly. I like this area. Buriram has the best known soccer team, Buriram United, and is well known for it’s F1 race track. It is a small town, as well as a province, with big aspirations. I recommend visiting as an entrance to the rest of Iisan.

Wat ban Takhong is a minimal temple but has some interesting architecture. Watch out for the guards at the gate. They have big sticks.
The attractive temple structure.
This is basically Khmer (Cambodian) architecture with a Thai style steeple.

This area was part of the Khmer empire as opposed to the areas farther East which were Lao areas.

Representing the agricultural economic base?
Khmer artwork
It looks as if there was a structure housing a statue.
Every temple has their dogs. People often dump unwanted cats and dogs at the temple for the monks to take care of. But this becomes a heavy burden for the monks and medicine is expensive so it’s not really the best solution but it is a partial solution that society has organized.
You can have your remains buried in style at the temple
got a new sticker for my motorcycle
big breakfast. really too much for me but tasty
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Just Bummin’ Around

Paul’s answer to my luxurious blue basket is a small, free Coca-Cola bottle crate
Just a nice view from where we play bocce

One of my favorite songs by Dean Martin is “just bumming around” so I thought it would be fitting of my feeling for these photos and a good title for this page. Click below and enjoy the song

A fierce swimming bocce warrior
Every inch counts. I caught her several times having gone into my room, grabbing the trash and taking it outside to munch. That’s why I call her “thief”
He makes the only PANZEROTTO and the best TIRAMISU on the island. “Hey Angelo, what does tiramisu mean?” “it means a ‘pick me up'”. “thanks Angelo. I’ll see you again soon for some excellent food.”
good deals at Angelo’s
Every island has to have at least two giant water parks
Interesting plant at Gee’s coffee stall
Yogurt cups come in handy for ……. Well, haven’t figured that out yet. Give me some ideas
I didn’t know you could buy nude without being embarrassed
putting Ducati lipstick on a pig
This is a newer model but I still expected Odd Job to jump out with his bowler hat
Oops, Cheese It”
the dentist who called my tooth which cracked and finally broke on a little pebble in the rice. I think design is meant to read “carrying away your teeth since 2004”
Small dinner, deep fried squid rings

Red Bridge walkway. Good view of Koh Chang National Park wild area
A typical countryside restaurant menu in Laos. What would you like to eat?
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An Italian motorcycle gang conquers Koh Chang

Our bocce group decided to get on our high-powered 125 cc motorcycles (scooters) to conquer the coffee plantations and the red bridges on the island. There is only one of each so it was an easy task.

this is what a geriatric Italian motorcycle gang looks like
here we are in our uniforms. Actually one of us is Swedish and the other one, me, is, I don’t know.
The espresso is from coffee beans from the shop’s plantation, organically grown of course
the espresso
an expensive imported Italian coffee maker
doesn’t every coffee shop have ice cream?
we did not all run out of gas. Actually we got out from the main traffic to see the plantation
here is one of the coffee trees at caffeine central
and here is another tree
some fruit
well cared for fruit
lollypop helmets are very popular here (NOT)
rubber tree sap, very liquid until it dries into a solid blob
a sample home for this development and sales office. WOW!
some of us went to the coconut shell shop
lots of coconut shell souvenirs

Fabio is so happy to be able to go to a temple

the main temple in the area
baskets of goodies and necessities for the monks
Here we are. At least some of us
Lucio, what are you doing?
another temple, building is in progress
it has an imitation emerald buddha
when finished it will look like this. these giant Buddhas are built to be tourist attractions all over asia.
walking to the restaurant for lunch
you can take a trip up the river
get on the boat here
sending messages to each other, the only modern way to socialize
Wow! a lot of work for a small bit of crab meat. not what i expected.
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Rough Sea Live Aboard – Day 4

Back to Koh Bida again. The weather was getting pretty rough and it was getting very difficult diving. The problem is getting back on the boat safely when the dive platform is going up and down and people are trying to climb a ladder with their fins off. So we wound up just doing a couple dives and then going back to Phuket.

On the right is our dive boat after we disembark and it is taken over to the mooring in Chalong Bay.
Returning to the boat in rough waters?

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Can Phuket get any slower?

This is one of the more upscale streets in Phuket town

Covid is still devastating this tourist island. It has been slower such as when I visited last year but it’s still not doing well at all

it looks like they’re doing weddings inside that building on the right
On the local bus. Only 30 Baht
The bus stop is a little crowded. Grab is the equivalent of Uber in the US
Vespa has done well here over the past 40 years selling their motorcycles. Now some England company wants to sell their motorcycles. We know what good quality England vehicles are especially with the wonderful Lucas electronics of the past where the electronics would just go on and off at it’s whim automatically, magically
Almost deserted giant mall but still open
In the end we need to have a nice dinner. Thank you Tik and thank you Kung for coming over from Kata

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Phuket in the Slow Lane

I used to live in Phuket and left 22 years ago. I ventured to the old downtown and not too much has changed but there is a one and a half blocks of improved and very clean places for tourists to sit and also shop. This Japanese MANNEKI NEKO WITH THE DARUMA is a nice addition.
the one on the right used to be a no smoking sign. Times have changed
Don’t forget this.
this old part of Phuket town has not changed much especially where the buses stop
this hasn’t changed either. Every day come on this hill, there are motorcycle accidents
My taxi driver is a fan of …….
The specialty of the restaurant called honeymoon in Patong. Deep fried noodles around shrimp
You must obviously drink blue tea after you have rice porridge for breakfast
Tik (Aunt) and Kung (nephew). Good friends. Hey, Kung, you ain’t 14 anymore.
2 nice smiles and my fake smile (like a politician, ugh)
A wayward Australian also staying at Andaman house add Kenya’s restaurant Honeymoon
Kenya, who I see very seldom nowadays
Part of our dinner. we had TOM YAM KUNG, beef/vegetables in oyster sauce and fish cakes
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Rough Sea Live Aboard – Day 2 & 3

Beautiful places to dive
these islands are very nice dive sites
There they are

The boat started moving and I am wide awake now at 5:30 going for coffee upstairs, dictating my first remembrances on a moving boat with the wind coming at me and hoping I’ll be able to correct all mistaken dictations, completely contorted by the noise of the engine and the wind. It feels so good to get up early as I always did when I had customers on board. Being the first one up I’m able to greet people individually in the galley as they come up the stairs.

It is such a good feeling to be up and ready and waiting for a job I don’t have to do. This is really the first time I’ve been a customer on a dive boat. Comfortable but now i realize there is something about having worked on a boat that never leaves you, the need to always be looking out for something or someone or some situation.

The dives were good, they say, but getting back on the boat today was challenging. Everyone is fine though a few close calls.

The wind is getting stronger so the waves will make boarding the boat more problematic. So the captain just told me the plan is to back to closer islands that provide better shelter around Phi Phi islands. This is a difficult time of year to be diving in the Andaman sea since the monsoon winds are already strong. Strong winds equals big waves.

the towel around the hair trick
Relaxing after the dive
It starts to get rough so we go to the Phi Phi islands and Maya Bay which is famous for the movie “the beach”
Maya bay beach

a typical local boat called a “long tail” because it has a long drive shaft with a propeller at the end
It seems people now have to approach Maya Bay from the other side of the island due to the destruction of the bay from tourism
The larger island is Phi Phi Don and the red area marks the sand spit between the two outcroppings. The Sand spit was completely destroyed by the big tsunami both from the north and from the South Bays

I woke up at six as usual, went upstairs for cups of coffee and then decided to go for a swim. It was still not very light since Maya bay is on the opposite side of the sunrise. I was thinking about going close to the sailboat attend decided since it was quite late and I didn’t see any people up on deck it was probably not a good idea since they might sink I was attempting to orthopod and steal something. You never know.

The first time was at Koh Bida Nok. The waves were not too high so this should be a fairly easy return to the boat.

The wind is getting stronger, should be up to 25 knots later and up to 30 tomorrow with rain.

The second dive is at Koh Bida Nai.

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Homemade Italian Dinners in Paradise

French fries made in an air fryer, nice and crisp and not oily and also white wine with focaccia.

you already know I am living in paradise compared to many other places I could be during this pandemic. But now you know I have some Italian friends who are excellent cooks. Giuseppe is a baker so he made pizza with a very nice but unusual crust as a starter. So, basically, eat your hearts out.

Last but not least is Fábio’s spaghetti
at the end of the dinner Giuseppe brings out his homemade something to drink. After tasting it I really thought it was something to put in my gas tank
And all this was before Spaghetti
and of course we need to top it off with Elizabeth’s fruit salad containing some passionfruit and adding a little red wine for flavor
At the second dinner Giuseppe made some wonderful rye bread and also some other bread with olives in it. Fabio made guacamole which you can see in the red top plastic container. There was quite a bit of guacamole left over so Fabio gave it to me to take home and I gobbled it up for breakfast the next morning.
White wine with some Campari mixed is an unexpectedly very nice taste
The homemade bread came with feta cheese with olives in some olive oil
And I guess you can never say you have had different kinds of Italian food if you have never had polenta and fagioli. Dean Martin told people that he is favorite foods were pasta fazool (pasta fagioli) and a big bowl of spaghetti.
What would an Italian dinner be without a tiramisu?
Thai rum with pineapple is a nice after dinner drink
Fabio brought these stickers back from Italy for me
and I have them proudly displayed on my Honda PCX which is a BMW in disguise which you can see from the sticker on the right side, just barely