Daily Report: Rainy Day In Petchabun #2

This is the Ministry of Agriculture
in Petchabun. All of the government
buildings in Petchabun are really
nice buildings like this.

This is the "stadium" where every
October, the city of Petchabun
comes to watch important people
get in the river with an important
Buddha statue. I don't know any
more than that, to be honest.We were up a little late... at 9:30. Pui wanted to sleep in a bit. I went down to the hotel restaurant with Pot. Pui's father showed up and we had breakfast together. Pui joined us shortly thereafter.

We took Pui's family motorcycle to the Honda dealership today, as a screw had fallen out of one of the body panels, and it was rattling.

While Pot and Pui's father waited for the motorcycle to be fixed, we drove out to a housing development on the north side of town called "Homeland". I'm slightly more than halfway wanting to move to Petchabun, but only if I can find a good house to rent... while building my dream house.

We didn't see any houses for rent there, but there were a couple for sale at very reasonable prices.


The heavy New Year rains have turned
this rice field to a vibrant electric
green... ready for harvest.

Here, people from Pui's village harvest
peppers... one of the spiciest types on
the planet.We went back and paid the motorcycle bill: 1,000 baht for a lost screw. Well, the screw was only 100 baht to replace, but then we decided to change the oil, put on a new set of tires, and fix some of the wiring. You know how it goes.

We went to lunch at KFC, and then Pui's father went home while Pui, Pot, and I wandered through the Tesco Lotus store in the center of town. If I were to move to Petchabun, this would be the source of about 90% of all the things I might buy... and that is a depressing thought indeed, since very few things that I want could be found for sale there. It really is the main reason I wouldn't move to Petchabun.


Pui and Pot walk through
the rain to Eddie's house.While inside Tesco, it started pouring rain. We therefore extended our wander a little bit, and let Pot play in the arcade for a while. We also brought Pot a wrist watch. After waiting about an hour, I wound up getting soaked (I gave Pui and Pot an umbrella) while driving the 5 minutes back to the hotel. Then, almost mocking me, the rain abruptly stopped right as I pulled into the hotel entry. (The staff got a bit of a kick out of that... but also ran and brought me a towel to dry off.)


Pui's village as seen
from Eddie's house.After drying off in the hotel room, Pui, Pot and I drove out to her parents' house one more time. We joined our friend Eddie, a Thai fellow from Chiang Mai who is building a gorgeous house on the hill overlooking Pui's village, and his wife for dinner. Mostly Isaan and Chiang Mai dishes were served, but there was a nice duck dish, and some mangos and sweet rice that was just wonderful. I had brought along a bottle of wine for dinner, and we drank that, as well as some beer.

At about 8:00, Pui, Pot, and I said our farewells to Eddie and his wife, said our farewells to Pui's mother, father, grandmother, and brother, and then drove back into Petchabun.


Eddie's gardner hard at
work amongst the flowers.When we got to Petchabun, we met up with a real estate agent who rents houses, and saw the best house she had to offer: A large, 4-bedroom house (about 2500 square feet) right in the center of town, unfurnished, for 7,000 baht per month. Unfortunately, the house was a very tired-looking, old place. Still though, it's good to know what kind of prices to expect if I ever make up my mind to rent in Petchabun. It's not so comforting to know that there are virtually no houses to rent though.

From there, it was back to the hotel for a quick shower, and then we checked out, returned the motorcycle to the bell boy (plus some money, naturally), and then headed off to the bus station where we caught the 10:40 p.m. bus back to Pattaya. (It's the only reasonable way to get there, really.)