100308 Thaikarl - going home again, at last

friends,

finally got the funds together. i'm going home to thailand april 4th. i have a three month ticket, but if the cash runs out, i'll have to book back earlier. i've had a lot of things going on the last four months that enabled this trip. i am soooo looking forward to seeing my wife and her mother and her daughter, our house(s), and everything! looking forward to the HEAT- april is the hottest month in thailand, the food, showering outside, working on the house, going to town, going to the markets, seeing the neighboors, meeting new friends, the bugs, the geko's, the motorbike, our cats, ... need i go on. it's been 8 long months. it has been an El Nino year in seattle, so quite warm and dry... for winter here, so it's not been too bad, but nothing like home.

i have a 23 hour layover in Seoul korea before flying on to bangkok. strange i know, but it means i get to overnight there and look around some more. tok and i would like to holiday in korea. may not this time, but sometime. it costs almost as much for her to fly to korea round trip as it does for me to fly seattle to bangkok!

in the meantime, whilse i've been counting the days, i've been hanging out a little:




ONWARD!!!!

--
" ...when an ideal gas (which doesn't exist) is cooled down to absolute zero (which can't be done) it has zero volume (which also doesn't exist, except as an idea. Isn't Zero great?)" tim anderson
visti http://www.thaicountrylife.com

091204 Thaikarl - homesick indeed

friends,

winter is pooling around my feet here in seattle. i'm still wearing my flip-flops, going to have to find my shoes soon, i think. i came across an article by another man who lives in thailand: http://www.escapefromamerica.com/2009/11/homesick-expat/ echos how i feel. everyday.

Tok and i had a discussion about my going home time. looks like i won't go home until.... shudder... april. if i wait until then, i hope i can save enough money to go home for three or four months, and there are festivals in thailand in aprill (Songkran, Pee ta Khon) and in may (Bang Fai rocket festival) and in july is Kao Pansa which is a festival that tok has never been to, but every year she says she'd like to go. me too! so we'll do our traveling IN thailand this time. we've been to cambodia, vietnam and taiwan and we want to go to korea sometime. but this time we'll get around the home country some. i've been there for Songkran, Pee ta Khon and Bang Fai, and will enjoy them again.

as ever i'm looking, feeling, investigating, thinking, asking, wishing, searching for that person, business, job that will enable me to live at home all the time. just have not found it... yet. i get some good suggestions from people: teach english (not enough income for a man with a family to take care of) import/export (but what product??????) tour guide (dis-allowed by the thai government) internet-based business (yes, but what????). something will click into place. some of the good ideas that might work, aren't ideas that i could get passionate about. i don't mind working (the money's kind of nice) but i'm not one to do some job or business that i am not somewhat excited to be in. something that i like to say "would get me out of bed in the morning" meanwhile, i'm busy keeping the cash flow going day to day. living cheap, sending money home and saving some to go back. if you have any ideas/opportunities, email them to me, or comment on the blog.

meanwhile, back home... we have new next door neighboors. Tai and Sai had a big area in front of their house that is part of the family land. sai's relative is building a house there.... just off our porch.

this is how it looked a couple months ago. it's much further along now. ah progress. Tok says they are good people. but they can see right into our bedroom windows. so i'll have to stay dressed if the curtains are open :-D which i didn't have to do before.... the kids used to play on this area. wonder if they still are?

Gorgeous the life! karl

091121 Thaikarl - i'm a reverse immigrant

friends,

i'm still here in seattle.  would much rather be home in thailand, but that's normal.  i've realized that i have a lot in common with many immigrants to the states.  people who's home is mexico, south america, asia, india can't find good paying work there, so they come here.  they work, send money home to the family, and when they have enough saved up, go back to the home country till the money runs out, then come back to the states to work again.  which is exactly what i do.  i live as cheaply as possible when i'm here, send enough home to thailand to take care of Tok, mama and teri, and when i save up enough, i'll go home for two three months.  the income stops when i get on the plane.  i need roughly one thousand dollars per month that i'm home, plus plane ticket- which could be anywhere from $850 - $1200.  a thousand a  month when i'm home is more than i send over each month, but when i'm home we do more things, and i spend money that tok wouldn't- on tools, books, red-bull etc.

needless to say, this remote life is getting old. but somewhere out there, is the right contact, the right product, the right idea that will somehow, someway enable me to earn our living and (more) from within thailand.  just don't know who or what that is.  yet.

a number of my readers have told me that they miss my entries.  i feel a little odd makiing entries in "thai country life" when i'm not in the thai country actually, so i don't update much when i'm in the states.  but nearly everything i do here is for and by my life there, so why not tell you about it?

it's getting darker earlier here in seattle, and the rains and cold are approaching for real.  meh.  hoping i can get ahead to be home late december- but it's probably going to be january or february.  so i'll still skip a good part of the winter.  this is good.

onward!
karl

090802 Thaikarl - just like home!

friends,  we've been having a "heat wave" here in seattle.  July was the hottest month in seattle recorded history.  upper 90's  for days at a time.  of course, seattlites are complaining.  their wails and moans and screams hang over the city.  but for me, it feels like home in thailand.  and i'm quite happy.  hot is hot- don't get me wrong.  when it gets into the upper 90's it feels hot for me too, but it's not that uncomfortable.  80's feels warm to me. 70's are cool, 60's are cold, 50's are damn cold, 40's and below.  i don't even want to think about it.  strange (even to me) is how i became 'tropicalized'.  i don't remember being so heat tolerant when i was younger.  i guess when "home" becomes the tropics, then things like weather and food become the preferred state of being.

051709 Thaikarl - working in seattle, dreaming of

friends,

after a month and a half in seattle, i'm sorta adjusted.  the weather is improving here, which is comforting, but Tok tells me everyday that it's hot in thailand, and i miss that.  i have been most fortunate to have a good run of work since i've been back. i was hoping to return to thailand in august, as i've never been in there in august or september.  but... my van has a blown head gasket.  so i have to get that solved.  repairing the engine is very expensive, 1500-2000$.  i can get another whole van for that much, but a friend suggested replacing the engine, which would be less.  whatever... means i won't be going back in august tho.  and since i'm living in my van, i have to have that taken care of.

yep, living in my van.  it's rather nice actually.  i'm only here to earn money to support the family in thailand, and get enough to go home again, so i don't need to be paying rent anywhere.  i have two house's to take care of in thailand already.  i'm comfortable.  i have a folding mattress on top of some plywood, resting on plastic tote boxes.  the totes hold my tools and supplies for working.  i find various places to park in the vicinity of whatever job i'm working the next day, so i don't have to commute to work at all.  but i can STILL manage to show up later than planned.  i have a membership at 24hour fitness, where i can take showers and go for a steam room.  i eat at all different places- the deli at safeway is generous.  since i'm driving around, i get my food at the store daily, don't need a refrigerator.  i have a little home made alchohol stove and stovetop espresso maker, so i make coffee right there between the seats. a microwave would be nice, but no way to power that.  i have an aircard for my my old notebook computer, so i have internet anywhere.

things back home in thailand are just fine.  the parakeets Tok has in a cage outside are breeding- there were 4, now there's 8 of them.  the cats are good, Teri (her daughter) did well in summer school and started a new term (i have to buy new uniforms for her as the school is different).  Mama is on medication that keeps her heart and kidney problems in check for now.  a neighbor died, so Tok helped with the cooking and preparations.  we talk on the phone everyday, and when we can we get on skype and do video and voice chats.  i ask her what her plans are for the day, most days it's a "normal" day.  a normal day is cleaning the house, washing cloths, going to market for food, cooking, eating, taking care of business.  the lack of crisis and drama is refreshing.  

the politics and demonstrations in thailand seem to have settled down, at least for now, air fares are a little more expensive than a few months ago, but much lower than they were last year.  i can't wait to go home again.  well, actually i can, as, that's the way it is for us now.

gorgeous the life!

Nu

--
Read my Thailand adventure ::: http://www.thaicountrylife.com
It takes 10,000 hours to be an expert. Only 9,999 to go...

090410 Thaikarl - landed but not here.

friends,

arrggh. back in the USA.  what a weird place.  downtown seoul to downtown seattle- what a difference.  took the bus downtown.  had a piece of (bad) pizza, 5.34$!  190 baht.  i was suffering the usual re-entry traumas.  reading signs i don't care about. not used to people talking to me, so i'm not paying attention to the pizza guy and don't understand what he said.  cold.  driving on right.  young kids shouting and wilding in the mall. homeless guys shouting and digging through trash cans.  got on the number 11 bus.  the driver told us all to get off, there was a handicapped guy in a wheelchair slumped over not moving.  so the aid car was coming.  took me 4 hours to get to my brothers apartment from the airport.

but i didn't have any hassle with immigration and customs this time.  i got diverted thru a second x-ray machine, and asked some survey questions - "have you been on a farm?" because i put on my card that i visited vietnam.  that was it.

now i'm all confused about days and nights, traveling east is worst for "jet lag", getting my phone turned back on and paying for my storage room so i could get to my cloths and stuff drained the last of my bank account.

but here i am, and ready to hustle, work work work- that's my ticket home again.

onward!!!!!!

karl

--
Read my Thailand adventure ::: http://www.thaicountrylife.com

090409 Thaikarl - a free day in Seoul, korea

friends,
since i had so much time on my layover, i decided to go exploring.  it seems you get a visa-on-entry (being american) so i went out thru immigration - got an entrance stamp for korea and went downstairs.  the nice lady at the information desk gave me a map of Seoul, and directed me to the right bus into town.  rode in and got off at the Namdaemun market in downtown area.  pretty cool!  i wandered around all day, figured out how to get the bus back, cleared immigration- now i have both stamps in my passport!  woo hoo.

korea is quite interesting.  seems to be rather wealthy.  lottsa cars, nice well regulated roads, huge towering blocks of apartments.  everyone is dressed nice- no raggedy folk that i could see.  there was all this interesting food, but i wasn't the least bit hungry.  i ate something-on-a-stick, had a couple of espresso's and that's all i had room foor.  tons of stuff at the market, rows and alleys and streets filled with little stalls selling all the usual mega variety of trinkets, cloths, do-dads, finery's, watches, jewelery, kitchen gear.  the korean people sure look different thant he thai's and vietnamese.  paler skin, rougher features, not as many cute girls.  some interesting style choices.  plenty of businessmen in suits.  smokers everywhere.  mobile phones stuck to everyone ears.  no pick-up trucks in korea either, only cars.  the merchant trucks have pickup beds, but they look and are merchant and delivery vehicles.  most of the motorcycles have racks on the back for deliveries of goods.  the personal motorbikes were mostly big scooter style things.  nearly every car has a 6inch LCD screen sitting on the dash- GPS systems???  the land seems to be totally manicured and terra-formed.  except for the steep hills, every inch seems like it was gone over in the past, or is being gone over in the present, lots of road and building construction going on.  really nice airport.

things to seem TOO expensive, jeans and shirts for 10 to 15 dollars in the stalls, espresso was 1.20$ a shot.  and good coffee it was too.  i think tok and i are going to have to figure out a trip here.  i think she would like the food- which is a critical criteria for her.  i didn't spend hardly any money, got a little mobile phone fob with the Korean flag on it, and had my thai name engraved  on a stick as a signature stamp, like the ones they use in japan.

what a deal twelve hour layovers are eh?  i'm all check thru here at the airport, and i still have two hours to wait.  feeling really confused about what time of day it's supposed to be.  i'ts 4 in the afternoon here.  it was cool this morning, but the sun came out and it warmed up.  the whole area is covered with haze- smog maybe?  but my eyes don't burn, so maybe it's just "marine air".  yet another country where i can't read the signs and understand a single word that's being said.  at least now in thailand i can understand a few things.  i pick up a couple of words each time, but it's back to null here. 

the Koreans hardly give me a second look, none of that "hey, it's a foreigner, would ya look at that" like other places.  except for my purple hair, got a few smiles and thumbs up on that.  guess i'll have to come back.
Onward!!!!  Nu
--
Read my Thailand adventure ::: http://www.thaicountrylife.com

090409 Thaikarl - camped out at the airport in korea

friends,
free internet for 30 minutes at the airport in inchon korea.  i have like a 12 hour layover here.  jeez.  but it's a nice airport, and i have some korean money from a previous trip.  so i'll just have to hang out.
i wonder if i can go outside?  hmmm, i'll let you know!
onward!
Nu

--
Read my Thailand adventure ::: http://www.thaicountrylife.com

090408 Thaikarl - bouncing back across the world

friends,
back in bangkok yesterday, i was considering how many times i've been here- 9 times.  i'm must be devoted to this place.  most people only get to thailand once, if ever, and for most it's a one or two week "holiday" place.  and as usual, i become obsessed with figuring out how to get back.  the lang song (medium) says two years till i'm living here.  hope so.  make it so!

new video on youtube:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRw7322EAr8
thai's celebrate a death quite differently than we do in the west, at least from what i've seen.  when i get back to my macintosh computer, it will be much easier to edit and upload videos.  i have a bunch more.  hope i can bring a better camera next time.

i'll keep posting.  there are stories and events i haven't posted yet.  to my surprise, there's people all over the world who are reading these messages on the blogsite.  check out:  http://feedjit.com/stats/thaikarl.blogspot.com/map/?x=94&y=50&w=160&h=94 you have to click on the map and drag it around to expose the USA and europe to see some of the flags... those are people who have been to the blogsite.  imagine that.

see yall soon,  Nu and Tok

--
Read my Thailand adventure ::: http://www.thaicountrylife.com