It is Monday morning and I had one of those slow starts again. I must say I worked on the computer till two in the morning. Copying photos on DVD’s and backing up our computers. Then I woke up several times during the night for no particular reason.
Around eight in the morning I quickly got up to get my cup of coffee downstairs. Just to head up back to bed to do my bible reading. My readers may recall that I started reading the bible from cover to cover last year. I’m up to the book of Esther. After Chronicles and Nehemia very refreshing. I nearly finished the whole book, but my coffee was finished and I had to get up to go to work. A busy day today.
I wish you all a nice day as well.
the adventure I find myself in / das Abenteuer in dem ich mich finde
Month: March 2007
Heute habe ich die Bangkok Post in die Finger genommen und die Werte für die Luftverschmutzung angeschaut. Diese sind auf auf 250,9 microgramm per Kubikmeter. 120 Mg. sind so das Veranttwortbare. Bern wo ich herkomme ist bei 31Mg. (in der Schweiz hatte ich letzten Sommer das Gefühl neben der Autobahn ist bessere Luft als hier) Gestern mussten Flüge nach Chiang Mai gestrichen werden. Man sieht noch kaum die Landebahn am Flughafen. Chiang Mai wurde zur "disaster zone" deklariert. Gemacht wird natürlich nichts dagegen. Die letzen Wochen als ich in die Berge fuhr habe ich unzälige Feuer gesehen. Es würden Bussen gegeben (2000 Baht) Aber eben wer wird die schon einziehen. Dieses Jahr ist es viel schlimmmer als letztes. Seit Wochen haben wir Probleme mit den Atemwegen. Ich fühle mich im Moment auch recht schwach, einfach nicht wohl in meiner Haut. Übelkeit, gerötete Augen, Bronchities und verstopfte Nasen sind einige der Symptome die auftretten. Ich muss sagen Bangkok hatte die saubere Luft. Als ich am Samstag dort war sah ich blauen Himmel, etwas das man hier gar nicht mehr sieht. Es geht kein Wind, der die schlechte Luft vertreibt, noch wird es in den nächsten zwei Monaten regnen. Die heisse Zeit hat angefangen, obwohl mit dem Dunst die sonne gar nicht richtig durchkommt und so die Temperaturen immer noch sher tief sind. Also doch etwas positives in dem ganzen. Ich wünschte mir wir könnten alles zusammenpacken und einfach runter ans Meer fahren. Dort ist die Luft absolut super.
It’s been a long time since I have traveled to Bangkok. We had a great time roaming the shopping centers and taking time to talk and drink coffee. There were two new malls. Siam Paragon, next to Siam Center and connected through a walkway with water plays and Palm trees. Very nice. Siam Paragon is for the upper class shopper. To posh for my taste. But on the ground floor there are a lot of food outlets, very nice. Siam Ocean World is also on the ground floor. A place we will take our kids next time. There is also an IMAX cinema. Something I would recommend to do in the evening.
I went to Pantip plaza (the computer/software/DVD Mecca) Hasn’t changed a bit. Still crazy and noisy. Next to Pantip is the (new?) Platinum Fashion Mall. I didn’t go in there. We also were in Siam tower, Siam Discovery Center and MBK. They are all close together with MBK the best for cheap cloths. After two to three days in Bangkok is enough for me to be overwhelmed and go back to Chiang Mai, where the cows still roam the streets (it is very provincial here compared with Bangkok). Here a list of shopping centers from a link I found.
By the way. Did you know that Spiderman resides now in Bangkok. Or perhaps he is only on a holiday. I could swing from building to building in Spiderman style it would surely be easier to get around in Bangkok (with exception of the power cables that dangle over the streets everywhere)
In a view minutes we are off to Bangkok. Just lillian and me. Two days, shopping, drinking coffee, sight seeing and enjoying two days to our own. It’s not easy when the kids miss us before we even leave. But anyway its the first time in three years.
Sometimes when I leave the "civilization" as we know it, it can feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. Here we were working on a broken pipe in the Hui Kau Laam valley. The undergrowth of the jungle is burned down. Ashes and dust hangs in the air. In four months this area will be grown over with green. Bamboo will grow everywhere and animal live will return back. Here are different seasons than in Europe. Hot season is arriving and the temperatures are rising to 40 degrees. There is barely any rain since November. It won’t rain till the end of May. This is why a good water system is necessary for the development of a village. Most of the villages I come to the system is not in place or inadequate for a healthy live. Sometimes I realy wish would be able to do more.
Last week as I was trekking through the jungle looking for leaks in a water-pipe, I came across those black ants. I have never seen this kind before. They had like horns on the back and were pitch black. Now it took me a long time to actually get a somewhat descent picture. I tried with the macro on my camera but those ants were just too fast and every time I would hit the button the ants would have already run through the picture. I also tried to find out what kind of ant it is. But looking through databases I quickly realized that there are so many different ants and abandoned this quest.
I just call it the "black goblin ant" If anyone knows it’s real name, let me know.
I red a post on Reinhold’s blog. After writing a comment I decided to also post it here.
"This is an interesting post. Made me think a lot about church. If I would have to choose between form and relationship I’d definitely choose the later. Where a greater number gathers I guess there is a need for more structure or form. Even in small gatherings there is a need for it. On the other hand I’m shocked from my own experience how dependable people get on the form and easily discard relationships over it. Even though the later again carries into eternity. Relationship is the harder way. I believe it is the way Jesus chose when he lived church with his disciples. Form didn’t seem to matter so much."
Yesterday I went to the Shell Proserv station to get the engine oil changed on my truck and to get it washed as well. I asked if they could change the breaks at the back since they were breaking only at 46%. I had to test them in January and didn’t have the time to change them. They affirmed that they could do it. (The garage changed my front breaks end of last year). So I left the truck there and was told it would take them 2 hours. When I came back one of the workers was still hammering on the wheel. It took them another hour to finish the job. The truck is still dirty. It hasn’t been washed since January and I spent a lot of time off-road. The last two days we drove through the Hui Kau Laam jungle. Since it hasn’t rained for a long time and they keep burning the undergrowth you can imagine how dirty my truck is by now. With time short I went home without the truck being pampered. hopefully I find time next week.
Forrest fires throughout the North of Thailand
Often when it gets late I will become more active and sometimes more productive. It’s quite, there are less disruptions and if the "devils eye" wouldn’t petrify me to the sofa (by this I mean the TV) so often, I would get a lot more done at night. It is already past midnight and I have to get up 5.30 in the morning. A few hours sleep. Then pick up some people from the Guest-house and off to Prao to the boarding home. 55 Children need rice to eat. So at least once a month I go up there for to bring the monthly support. Then we will go on to Fang. Stay the night in Hui Kau Laam. We have to bring in some water-pipes to fix part of a the pipeline in the jungle. I will be back Friday evening.
So why I am up so late? I need to prepare work for next week and try to solve our wireless network problem we have in the office while backing up Lillian’s computer and writing e-mails. So who says man cannot do some multi-tasking. I guess we just have to be able to get our lazy bones of that blooming sofa and find peace in the stillness of the night.
Good night….. Chiang Mai and the rest of the world! 00.34 A.M
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