April 16 - Hey neighbors!

All 4 kids have varying degrees of hives. It’s the new sun-block SPF 50 that we tried on them yesterday. How do you say Benadryl in Thai?

On a brighter note, we met an English speaking neighbor. Lek has got to be one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. Thailand is FULL of Leks. Everyone has been very friendly and kind. Great people!

But as far as labor goes, it seems that Thai labor is very cheap. For example… At the Tesco/Lotus (think Mega-Wal-Mart) there was a girl assigned to every section of the store. Literally… there was a girl assigned to the 10 feet of aisle space for cereal. Every time we removed a box, she was there to move the next box forward. At the department store there was a salesperson at EVERY table of the children’s section.

Tonight Geoff bought a bottle of “Thai whiskey” (The bottle reads R-U-M) for the Taxi folks who were hanging out at the local convenience shack. What started as a walk to the corner store (corrugated shack) to pick up a few beers turned into a 2 hour $10 hang out with a few locals. Geoff bought the bottle of rum and a couple packs of cigarettes from “Madam” who runs the shack. Madam and her man were anxious for the Farang(Geoff) and the Taxi drivers to leave because after they close shop they roll out the Thai equivalent of the “baneg” (mat) and sleep on the floor. He got to practice his Thai and get to know a few neighbors. One of the guys kept pushing to go home with Geoff to keep drinking and hangin out. Geoff wasn’t having it and Taxi guy got the message… It’s nice to have the peace of mind that comes with living in a security-guarded, gated community.
Geoff and Narong