Per Magica Ad Astra

 Having lived here for a billion years you may think I have been to every possible place. Of course I haven't and what's more, every now and then someone has me taking in a new and worthwhile venue. On Saturday we packed 2 of them in Dantewada Land of Angels Waterfall Park  and  On the Rock . Here in what I hope will be the 1st of a couple of videos, is a slideshow of the types of things you may experience there. Hope you like the snaps: -  Wine.

 Well then. One of those days, hot outside, hot inside. The day started with a trip to the Womens Prison, as we call it. Not actually the prison but the vocational centre where it is possible to get a good massage as well as food and drink. Unfortunately when we turned up, the massage spots were all taken and so we sat down and ate. The family had driven there but I had, and this may come as a surprise to you all, got there by foot and not only that, I recorded the whole journey. With no massage to be had it was back to home which in itself was another plan that went into the ether😁 And so later in the afternoon, having out my party togs on (jeans and a t-shirt), I set out have a bit of Friday night fun. My first port of call was Number 1 bar which, as pretty much a given at this time of day, was very very quiet. But it did serve cold beer, so I had a couple... Then to the Kalae Bar where the wonderful Chipmunk arranged a Tandoori mix to satisfy my tastebuds. Very tasty. My final port

 The last week of April and once again I am thinking how time flies, I think I was listening to Morse when I heard that life passes at a constant rate in 24-hour units, well something like that. Well there was a lot in these 24 hours. For a start off I went into the city and met a chap about travel insurance. He is French and would you believe he is called Clouseau although in a cunning move, he disguises the fact by spelling the name differently. So off I trotted on a little trundle to meet him and have a coffee with my friend Charlie. Of course the tech recorded it so we can all Relive. Whilst I was out and about in the city Mrs T was at the airport picking up Daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. Quite a day. But it wasn't over... At 2am Thai time, the Clarets faced our most despised rivals, Blackburn Rovers at Ewood. A win would secure the Championship for the Clarets, but Rovers were not playing nice including a small allocation of tickets to away fans. Well, despite the spo

 Never thought I would blog about steamed buns. Well I am not really; it is just one of those things that happen. Sunday evening and we had some serious wind and even a spot or two of rain. Mrs T also is a busy bunny as she has, for the first time in many many years a full Tepin Baan Lek . By Monday morning, the high winds has blown all manner of vegetation into the pool and so, the first task was to get it cleaned so that the enthusiastic 10-year-old guest could enjoy. Then it was time to let immigration know we had overseas guests, we are required to do that you know, it's another of those rules that came in who knows when and they just can't bring themselves to take it of the things to do incase they upset someone's ancestors 😌. We normally do this online, but our online account seems to be problematic, so we went in person to register the guests and sort the online bit. That being done I wanted a little exercise, so Pin jumped into the driving seat, and I set out to ha

 Right, a bit of housekeeping before I start. A short while ago I changed the format of the blog following reader input to simply make it easier to read. Whilst I think the new format did go someway to achieving certain objectives, other desirable features were lost...  So I am now trying yest another format which looks like it may give me close to the desired effect, lets see shall we. Feedback appreciated. Also, yesterday I included a YouTube at the end of the blog but, it seems that readers accesing via a mobile phone didn't get the video.  Not sure why so I am going to try and bung it on again here. Did you get to see that mobile viewers? Right, onwards!  I am simply not getting out on the Burg anything like enough, and in the hope that the smog and the extreme hot temperatures are close to ending, I took it on a little outing to get the juices flowing. The Burgs juices obviously needed that as on of the first thing that happened within the first 5km was the oil change indicato

Earlier in the week I had a trip to one of the big private hospitals here in Chiang Mai, private not because I am posh, it is just my stay here does not allow me to take advantage of the Thai heath service. That being said the private hospitals here are very good, very good indeed. I had been required to fast since midnight for reasons I don't quite understand. Not just a food fast, no liquids either, not even water 😮. By 8am they had taken blood checked my vitals (i.e. written down my BP and weight that I gave them). Shortly after I was taken into the bowels of the building where the CT and MRI scanners were housed, sat down then presented with a green liquid. I supped the green whatever in just under an hour. You have to wait a while for the stuff to coat your innards but once that is done and you have changed into a hospital gowns the scan can begin. The scan is performed on some pretty high-tech stuff, in the case of this hospital, a unit made by Phillips which not only does a

 A couple of days sat at home, and I get a longing to stretch the legs. What's the air going to be like I am thinking?  It has been worse and as we had a trip to the market scheduled; I donned the mask the took the chance to walk back. The air didn't look too bad at the river Ping. As usual, I have it for you to Relive.  One of the things that I didn't add to the Relive was the snap I took of this chap. I can't help feeling for these people that are less fortunate than most of us. There are so many more of them in Chiang Mai after the devastating pandemic that not only took lives directly but continue to do so indirectly 😢 Later in the day I set out in what was stonking heat to take a slow stroll into the city, it's Sunday and I rather fancied a roast at the Red Lion  and maybe a little drink in some other bars. Here we go... The chap that was gathering recyclable items was ever so cheerful and I was taken by the size of the bags on the motorbike to carry away hi

 If the last vlog was a bit tooo much for you, I have had the scissors out and the cutting floor is littered with cellulose. Here is the result... Coffee.

 As you can imagine, the 1st Songkran in yonks took me out and about, at least for the 1st day when the parade was help, the time of which I got totally wrong but. Here is a bit of me wondering if I will ever frame my videos right especially when dodging buckets of water... Sawatdee pi mai

So I stuck a little video about chilling on Songkran eve and my good friend told me to stop chilling and get the format right. I have tried again and here is hoping. Chilling on Sonkran eve take 2...  Hope that is better.

Yesterday saw Chiang Mai erupt into the first full blown Songkran celebration for some time. So I grabbed a snap or 2 with my wine and beer and stuck em together as a slide show. Here we go: - Sawatdee Pi Mai.

 Songkran is pretty much around the corner and before we descended into mayhem for the first real time in 3 years, there were things that had to be done. For me that included sorting out my hospital appointment for my annual scan and Tang  Was due for her jabs. Bloody expensive these little monsters😁. Once Tang was jabbed, off I went on my city stroll,  Relive does a rather good job of summarizing stuff and I do wonder if there is much point in adding additional material... But I will. It was not until I got to Loy Kroh Road, famous for its fun and entertainment (it's a bit like Blackpool but the rides are better 😈OK that is such an old one but hey...) that I came across revelers getting ahead of the game for Songkran.  And whilst having a beer I found that the camera app on the S22u update has included some flashy selfie features. So now we prepare for Songkran, the new year and all. Coffee.

 It's Easter, Good Friday came and apart from the standard burning season caveat of the bloody smog, it was a rather good Good Friday. My first little adventure was to get the Burg taxed and here is the Relieve which although this is not a smoggy rant, does have the shitty air stuff on it.  I would have loved to be able to video a train coming out of the smog 😞 I finished the stroll at the Red Lion  knowing my friends at the bar would not let on that I had sneaked a beer 🙈🙉🙊 Later in the day, and with a desire to brave the toxic cloud as it was, after all, a Friday night, I set out, masked against the particles, off in search of, well just a quiet night out. Want to Relive that on as well? Here it is in all its smoggy glory: -  Moment & Wine was, as always, a really wonderful experience, so nice I had 4 glasses of wine there 🍷 After the wine I was starting to feel a little peckish and a curry came to mind. The wonderful Spices was just down the road but as you may have n

 Some things will never change. This is one of them, smog at this time of the year. I do wonder why I go on about it, it is the same every year except for a bit of a lull in Covid times. Geography and the weather patterns play a part in it of course, I guess it is a little like Great Smog of London and if you want to read about that click HERE .  The thing is, that SINGLE event was so significant action was taken and resulted in the clean air act a couple of years later. Here in the body of countries that comprise the ASEAN the problem has been long recognised. ASEAN was formed in 1967 and actually signed and agreement that came into force called " The ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution " in 2003, nearly 20 years ago. The agreement says it "binds a group of contiguous states to tackle transboundary haze pollution resulting from land and forest fires." You can read more in this is you want click HERE . Of course, a part of this is geographical or so it s

 April is underway. Not far from the biggest wet t-shirt event in the world, Songkran. What about the air? Well I think it is getting better, just a bit although overnight the fires continue to burn, and the wind direction is from the east north east. This means that the smoggiest time is the morning, here is what it is like as I blog this. As the days go by the fires will reduce, not, I think because of any action by the authorities, but simply because they have burned out, all the fuel has been used. The other influence we are getting now is the as the day progresses, the wind swings to come from a southerly direction, the monsoon wind is starting to come into play. With improving air I set out yesterday morning to restock my bread, calling for a few innings at the Chiang Mai 6's. If you don't know what this is all about but you enjoy a bit of leather on willow, click HERE  to take a peek. All of this can be seen via Relive.  Coffee.

 Yep, Friday was the last day of the month and as reported on other posts, the north of SE Asia is being ravaged by a firestorm blanketing the whole area in toxic fumes. Ignoring the advice to stay indoors I stuck on my mask and went shopping in the morning. An essential shop. My stock of dark roast arabica was ending and that just wouldn't do. Off I popped into the city: - Did you spot I went to a different coffee place for a brew? Well I did as our normal Pantip place was closed for the day. The coffee was nice and flavoursome but a little pricey. Well that was may opinion. Back home and some confusion about housekeeping, anyone would think I deliberately shortchanged the Mrs... 😈. After a wash and brush up it was time to go for a wander to Moment & Wine who were having a party for their 2nd anniversary. I do intend to try and vlog this but for the blog here is, as usual the Relive  And a few snaps arranged as a slideshow  Coffee.