New Tires

Shopping for tires has never been fun... but it was this time.

I shopped online at Tire Rack. They have lots of tires to browse through and include research and survey results on each. Then they ship the tires you select to an installer of your choice. Again, they have survey results on each installer. I picked one of their top recommended installers, 4 Your Wheelz.

The installer was fantastic. The owner called as soon as the tires arrived. Installation and new tire alignment were very reasonably priced. For lunch they suggested Ed's Diner, since 1964, which was a 10 minute walk away. When I returned the car was ready. Never any pressure for additional services just a reminder to come back in 5,000 to 6,000 miles for tire rotation.

The owner of the installation shop is very nice. Said he'd love to do nothing but installations for Tire Rack all day long if the volume were high enough. Makes the customer happy to research and select the exact tires they want and he doesn't need to spend time selling / educating potential customers.

Oyster Festival

Photo from last year's Oyster Festival. Tuk and Kit were missed this year.

Bill the Oyster Man brings and shucks the oysters each year for the private event. He's from Santa Cruz and brings his own tunes as well, mainly Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan and such.

Thailand

School

Kit is enjoying her school in Thailand. She has so much to learn. There is the language, of course, as well as the Thai customs. The school is play-based so she has a lot of interaction with her peers. It is so good for her.

She still refuses to eat lunch at school or take a nap. Instead, Tuk picks her up and they go to lunch together. Basically, she just has a morning program.

The tuition is $60 a month, which is the inflated short-term "foreigner" price, plus uniforms. What a bargain!

Skype

We've been using Skype to video chat. I call at 5:15 PM my time which is 7:15 AM their time. Kit finds it entertaining. Then she goes to school.

Their download speed is fine so they can see and hear me well yet their upload speed is slow so they appear cloudy to me and the audio occassionally drops out.

Loei

Tuk and Kit are visiting Leoi this weekend. It is Neo's home province. They'll meet Neo's parents and go to a festival.

I think they're also planning to visit Dream's parents in Phichit later.

Family day on the farm

Tuk's family makes an annual offering at the farm to satisfy the spirits and ask for a successful harvest in the coming year.

Lots of people at P'Beuk's house.

Kit and Fai had lots of fun together.

Tuk gave each kid a bubble gun. They make a good gang.

Kit resting on a little stool.

Already playing video games, oh no!

A Chinese-style fish stew.

Kit took this photo of us. She's getting good.

Ding set up a little table to have dinner with his girlfriend. We teased him a lot about it.

Kit slept behind them.

Temple

Today was the day for visiting the temple to make an offering.

Kit helps scoop some rice for each monk at the temple.

After only two days at school she is much better at Thai customs.

Offering some flowers.



With Pa'Jan.

Then we went home for breakfast.

Roti

The Roti guy came the other night and parked in front of the house. Lots of kids came over to get rotis.
The stretches out the dough then fries it.

You can get it with egg, sweetened milk and/or sugar.

It is basically a flat, crispy, oily doughnut. Yum!

Farm

Kit had no problem going off with Lung L to get a snack together.

Then we took Pa'Lin to the park.

Crocodile park in Phichit.

Feeding the fish.

Lung Teep prepares canoon (jack fruit), a delicious fruit.

I tried durian. It is quite nice as long as it isn't too ripe.

Lung Mae and P'Ding prepare grilled salted fish.

The kids having fun eating together.

Mae wearing one of my company's work shirts. Says they're perfect for working on the farm.

Lovely sunset at the farm.

School

First school we visited was Joseph Phichit school, a Christian school. It was pink shirt day, a good sign for Kit. They're off to buy a snack.

Kit went along. They promote independence by having the kids purchase their own snack. Kit bought Oreo cookies.

Afterwards, she simply joined the class. She didn't look back for us at all.

The kids brushed their teeth.

Kit has adopted this school so no need for us to visit the other ones. She will attend for 5 weeks learning Thai customs and language.

The next session was sports day.

Here she is in her sports uniform. She loves her dress shoes.

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday are shirt and skirt days. Wednesday is traditional shirt day, which is pink for her class. Friday is sports day.

Morning assembly. The children primarily learn to be polite, respectful, play together and be independent.

The teachers had fun braiding Kit's hair.

Kit refused to nap at school so we picked her up and took her to lunch.

The pad thai lady is 84 years old! She makes every order of pad thai. Her daughters make the other dishes.

Delicious country-style pad thai.

Kit is very creative and silly. Here is her example on how to take a Thai greeting to the extreme.

Drive to Phichit

After work Neo came to our hotel to have dinner with us.

We ordered a spicy fish dish.

And raw shrimps with a spicy lime sauce.

In the morning P'Tak drove us to Phichit. This is a mobile pad thai shop!

We had lunch along a river near Wat Tra Choo temple, where we had lunch with Mom years ago.

The Tom Yum fish was delicious. Spicy and sour!

Garlic fish. Can't go wrong with that, right Uncle Bob?

Restaurant is right on the river.

In Nakon Sawan (3 hrs drive from Bangkok) I heard someone yell, "Daniel!"

It was 2 YFU volunteers from our camp. What a small world!

Kit with Na Lin.

Noodles for dinner, yum!

Sunset view from Tuk's home.