Just back from my 3rd visit to thailand

[Rik325i]

Well thats me just back in not so sunny Scotland after my 3rd visit to my girlfriend and her family in lopburi,

good and bad on this visit, had a lovely time apart from being involved in a car accident, luckily nobody was seriously injured, the car we were in was a complete write off in fact it was a hell of a mess considering the accident occurred at about 70kmh and weve no idea what the hell happened, we assume there must have been oil or hydraulic fluid on the road from diggers digging the ditch we ended up in !

built the sister and brother in law a nice solid wood prayer room while I was there with materials they supplied, had to buy myself a few tools to do the job but got a good discount on them at a local tool shop, had a great laugh with the staff while trying to explain what I was looking for using small drawings and miming actions lol

The family took me to the monastry for the song kran festival which was a wonderfull experience for me, I was honoured to be asked to participate in a ceremony to put the last piece on top of a new monastery roof( the horn shaped piece) and also to be part of the rituals giving monks food and water and watch the rituals concerning the giving of donations from the local community etc

every morning when I walk across the road to help the girlfriend carry her ingredients for the restaurant, there are always a couple of friendly older thais who give me something new to try for breakfast, usually something theyve cooked themselves or I recieve a fruit I havnt tried yet or some such

slowly but surely as I get used to their way of living and they get to know me im starting to fall in love with the place, hopefully im off back out again in 3 or 4 months depending on how work goes between now and then

Rik

[krisb]

Any pics of the prayer room you built mate?

Feel free to share any you want, we like pics

[marko kok prong]

I hope you earn a lot of money between now and then mate,the" prayer room', is only the start believe me.

[marko kok prong]

Mate,could i ask you where did you build this prayer room as i have yet to see a thai house with such,or was it at the Wat[temple].

[Rik325i]

The prayer room is in my girlfriends sisters house, she lives with, her husband, daughter and husbands mother and father, the husbands father has collected many buddha statues over the years and has some really old ones, the small shrine they had was just too small to accommodate all of them so we designed one using various ideas from google images which I then built for them, dont have any pics of the prayer room yet though as my camera was destroyed in the crash

[marko kok prong]

Okay thanks for the answer,can only wish you the best of luck at least you enjoyed your visit apart from the crash.

[trainman34014]

Glad you enjoyed your visit. I made trips over a four year period before deciding to settle here and it really is the best way to go about things. Take your time and find out all the pitfalls as well as the nice bits. Good Luck.

[Rik325i]

Heres a couple of pics of the car after th accident

[Somtamnication]

Well, my Scottish friend. Glad all went ok. But not trying to change your rose tinted glasses, but be aware that you could be deported and charged with working without a permit simply by doing garden work, even more so, doing construction work.

Just a kind word of advice.

[Rik325i]

Thanks for the advice somtamnication, Ive been warned before that that could happen, the things I build for the family are done in the familys garage, well away from prying eyes and the sisters husband is a fairly high ranking policeman while the sister is assistant manageress of a government bank, theyre helping to keep me right in these matters as well as helping me lay the groundwork towards starting my own business there

[i claudius]

Well, my Scottish friend. Glad all went ok. But not trying to change your rose tinted glasses, but be aware that you could be deported and charged with working without a permit simply by doing garden work, even more so, doing construction work.

Just a kind word of advice.

I always thought that as long as you worked inside the perimiter of your own garden you could do as you liked ,only a problem when you go outside the garden into the road ,

[Jubes]

Well, my Scottish friend. Glad all went ok. But not trying to change your rose tinted glasses, but be aware that you could be deported and charged with working without a permit simply by doing garden work, even more so, doing construction work.

Just a kind word of advice.

I always thought that as long as you worked inside the perimiter of your own garden you could do as you liked ,only a problem when you go outside the garden into the road ,

here we go again....are you ready for it?

[marko kok prong]

who was driving the car,Somchai, her ,erm,brother.

[marko kok prong]

Thanks for the advice somtamnication, Ive been warned before that that could happen, the things I build for the family are done in the familys garage, well away from prying eyes and the sisters husband is a fairly high ranking policeman while the sister is assistant manageress of a government bank, theyre helping to keep me right in these matters as well as helping me lay the groundwork towards starting my own business there

keeping you right i bet they are,mate you really have no idea,try to meet an nice scottish lass,it will probably end no good ,but at least you will be at home,i don't want to sound cynical,but you have not told us your age,your girlfriends status,[ie,where you met],where she lives,or much else if you want help and advice the members on tv will give it to you but you really have to give us a bit more to go on,if you want advice.

[marko kok prong]

Op seems to have gone quite,c'mon if you want to post,at least come back with something we can help you with.

[StreetCowboy]

He'll be watching the rugby at Scotstoun. First Cup Semi-Final since 2009, and a dramatic 17 - 10 defeat to Fiji in the 3rd - 4th play-off.

Personally, I tink it's great that he's so optimistic - we all need something to look forward to, and there's no point in being bitterly cynical to the point of excluding enjoyment and happiness from your life. If we went through life thinking "what's the worst that could happen?" we wouldn't even stay in bed in the mornings.

SC

[NanLaew]

Thanks for the advice somtamnication, Ive been warned before that that could happen, the things I build for the family are done in the familys garage, well away from prying eyes and the sisters husband is a fairly high ranking policeman while the sister is assistant manageress of a government bank, theyre helping to keep me right in these matters as well as helping me lay the groundwork towards starting my own business there

keeping you right i bet they are,mate you really have no idea,try to meet an nice scottish lass,it will probably end no good ,but at least you will be at home,i don't want to sound cynical,but you have not told us your age,your girlfriends status,[ie,where you met],where she lives,or much else if you want help and advice the members on tv will give it to you but you really have to give us a bit more to go on,if you want advice.

I didn't see the OP asking for any advice.

I did see your jibes about the prayer room that you seem unaware of degenerate into the atypical and pathetic "who's her brother?" baiting.

I think you can change hands now, your wrist must be getting sore waiting for the OP's responses.

[Rik325i]

To give you guys a little background info, im 45 and ive been through the marraige grinder in the west, done the scottish lass relationship and that lasted 8 years before going wrong.

Wan is 38, never married, owns and runs her own small restaurant and cafe bar from home where she lives with her parents, who also own land that they farm.

We met originally online 2 years ago as I was trying to find products and sources to help my daughter start her ebay shop, I went over to visit her a few months later where I spent a lot of time photographing leather handbags etc for my daughter and eating at wans restaurant

After watching wan and her helper work round each other for a few days, being a kitchen fitter, I re designed part of her very basic kitchen to make it easier for them to work at the same time and rebuilt her preparation area slightly larger and with shelves to accommodate the amount of ingredients they use, her father being an old carpenter had all the tools I needed to do this and wan bought the materials at a local builders merchants

My second visit was to build her a small cafe bar beside her kitchen in the front of her house to expand her business, again we sat down together and discussed and drew plans up, worked out materials which she then bought and over a period of 3 weeks I built her a cafe bar, as well as having free food and free accomodation the family took me for a long weekends stay at a resort in the mountains where I enjoyed good food, some stunning views of the surrounding countryside and more than a few whiskys with the father and brother in law

All in all apart from the car accident ive enjoyed myself over there, wan and I get on very well together, her parents are very nice people not terribly unbendingly old fashioned or religeous

all of the neighbors are losing their original apprehension and are becoming very open and genuinely friendly towards me now and everyone is eager to help me learn their language and give me small tasters of different foods, fruits etc

But, and I feel I must stress this, right from the start ive made it clear to everyone that im just a normal working class scotsman, im not some rich farang who has money to throw about everywhere

[marko kok prong]

Mate thanks for the extra info,and if my previous posts were a little sarcastic i apologise,i wish you the best of luck.

[marko kok prong]

Thanks for the advice somtamnication, Ive been warned before that that could happen, the things I build for the family are done in the familys garage, well away from prying eyes and the sisters husband is a fairly high ranking policeman while the sister is assistant manageress of a government bank, theyre helping to keep me right in these matters as well as helping me lay the groundwork towards starting my own business there

keeping you right i bet they are,mate you really have no idea,try to meet an nice scottish lass,it will probably end no good ,but at least you will be at home,i don't want to sound cynical,but you have not told us your age,your girlfriends status,[ie,where you met],where she lives,or much else if you want help and advice the members on tv will give it to you but you really have to give us a bit more to go on,if you want advice.

I didn't see the OP asking for any advice.

I did see your jibes about the prayer room that you seem unaware of degenerate into the atypical and pathetic "who's her brother?" baiting.

I think you can change hands now, your wrist must be getting sore waiting for the OP's responses.

I was not baiting the op,where i come from it is called banter,a bit of harmless fun making,but i guess that would not be your style,having a bit of fun i mean.

[kjhbigv]

Jesus! Who owned the car? How the hell did it get the huge dent in the roof? Did it roll?

Was it insured?

Anyway glad you enjoyed your trip, just don't let it all cloud your judgement.

Take it slowly.

Remember, a lot of Thai's think ALL falang are rich....whether you think you are our not!

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited May 5, 2014 by kjhbigv

[krisb]

Rik, I think I remember a thread of a guy asking where to get tools to help build a shop or something along those lines. About a year ago now.

Was that you?

[NanLaew]

Thanks for the advice somtamnication, Ive been warned before that that could happen, the things I build for the family are done in the familys garage, well away from prying eyes and the sisters husband is a fairly high ranking policeman while the sister is assistant manageress of a government bank, theyre helping to keep me right in these matters as well as helping me lay the groundwork towards starting my own business there

keeping you right i bet they are,mate you really have no idea,try to meet an nice scottish lass,it will probably end no good ,but at least you will be at home,i don't want to sound cynical,but you have not told us your age,your girlfriends status,[ie,where you met],where she lives,or much else if you want help and advice the members on tv will give it to you but you really have to give us a bit more to go on,if you want advice.

I didn't see the OP asking for any advice.

I did see your jibes about the prayer room that you seem unaware of degenerate into the atypical and pathetic "who's her brother?" baiting.

I think you can change hands now, your wrist must be getting sore waiting for the OP's responses.

I was not baiting the op,where i come from it is called banter,a bit of harmless fun making,but i guess that would not be your style,having a bit of fun i mean.

Mate, couldn't you tell that it was just a bit of banter, some harmless fun I was having with you?

[Rik325i]

It was the girlfriends car and it was only class 3 insured but there was no other vehicle involved, yeh it finally stopped rolling on its roof !

krisb, that was me asking about tools on another thread over a year ago to build the girlfriends cafe bar, glad to say shes making a nice little profit with it as well as her small restaurant now

[gerry123]

Thanks for the advice somtamnication, Ive been warned before that that could happen, the things I build for the family are done in the familys garage, well away from prying eyes and the sisters husband is a fairly high ranking policeman while the sister is assistant manageress of a government bank, theyre helping to keep me right in these matters as well as helping me lay the groundwork towards starting my own business there

well there's a fine selection of family vocations but don't rely on that to smooth the way any time in the future everything here has a price tag

[johnsuma]

Yeah a new turkey is comming, are you ready Girls & Boygirls ?

[johnsuma]

Yeah a new turkey is comming, are you ready Girls & Boygirls ?

[phuketrichard]

they did arrest 2 farangs here in phuket for building their own boats in their own yards wihtout WP's

They can get you if they want too

Glad you all walked away from that accident.

[minikev]

Mate,could i ask you where did you build this prayer room as i have yet to see a thai house with such,or was it at the Wat[temple].

Very common for a normal Thai house to have a prayer room.

[dotpoom]

Thanks for the advice somtamnication, Ive been warned before that that could happen, the things I build for the family are done in the familys garage, well away from prying eyes and the sisters husband is a fairly high ranking policeman while the sister is assistant manageress of a government bank, theyre helping to keep me right in these matters as well as helping me lay the groundwork towards starting my own business there

keeping you right i bet they are,mate you really have no idea,try to meet an nice scottish lass,it will probably end no good ,but at least you will be at home,i don't want to sound cynical,but you have not told us your age,your girlfriends status,[ie,where you met],where she lives,or much else if you want help and advice the members on tv will give it to you but you really have to give us a bit more to go on,if you want advice.

I didn't get the impression that the OP was looking for advice....he was simply sharing a lovely story....Jeez...what is wrong with some people...looking for faults and attempting to put down a very positive tale of joy.

RIK....I for one was lifted and inspired by your holiday experience and you probably know already...."we get back what we put out there"...so continue being a nice and helpful person and it will be returned to you a thousand fold.

I don't personally look out for possible "pitfalls" I believe we create our future by what we focus on....that's why being "Positive" in mind is the best tool we can possess for a happy future..