Thailand June 2012

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We stayed only one day in our house in the Netherlands after we came back from Iceland. Next day already we left for Budapest, where Vlado picked us up at the airport. It is night and raining while we are driving to Kosice in Slovakia. Linda sits in front next to her father. They are talking in Slovakian. It is strange to hear my wife talking in a language I cannot understand. Now and then I pick up a word. I do not mind. They see eachother only once or twice a year.

I like Kosice. It is a beautiful city. Nature around is amazing. One of the days we make together with Vlado a daylong hike across Zadielska Dolina, a gorge near Kosice. We see our family and after a week we leave again for Budapest, where we have flight via Cairo to Bangkok.

In Bangkok we stay in the fabulous Ramputri area. After two days we leave with the train to Hua Hin, south of Bangkok. It takes about four hours. Hua Hin is a city along the coast of the Golf of Thailand. Here we find a hotel in South Hua Hin. We are tired of travelling and are looking forward to settle down. At Friday night 15th of June we arrived in Hua Hin at Tuesday we have a house in North Hua Hin. It is exactly the house we had in mind. Not too big, but spacious enough for us and some guests. There is a nice garden around the house with palmtrees and near our house is a big swimmingpool where no one is swimming, so it looks like we have a privat swimmingpool. There are lot of birds and butterflies around and colourful plants and trees. We feel a bit like Odysseus who after a long time travelling finally comes home. Some people call it paradise here. But paradises are treacherous. Was not it Odysseus attracted by the Sirens? We see a lot of older man walking hand in hand with their Thai Sirens, deeply in love, but hardly talking with eachother.

We do not know if we want to stay here. It is forbidden to work for foreigners. That is normal for paradises. Even to make music you need a workpermit. Hua Hin is famous for its jazzfestival, which is organized for the King, who lives in Hua Hin and is a great jazzlover. But this year the festival is cancelled. Maybe there are too little musicians who got a workpermit? Lets do beeswax in our ears otherwise we are condemned too listen to the Sirens again.

The first two weeks we spent buying plants for in the garden and some furniture in the house. We bought two bikes so that we easily can go the center of the city and the beach. We roamed the local markets to find the right herbs, spices, vegetables and fruits for our Thai way cooking. Everything is wonderful. But for how long?

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