Thai Spice

Please note I replaced my avatar by a recent picture of me, more representative of my jungle survival course !

Just put the last touch on my "Indo budget 2019" Excel file....complete with pie chart . 55555 Worse thing is (compared to HKG) my income is 1/3 of before, but I need to double the colum width ..... Yeah, yeah, Ray I could format it in K rupee, but I like the feeling of being a millionaire ! 😄😄😄

Jungle N.Y. dinner... Well, could have been worse ! Note that I cant afford Chanel no5 anymore, but still can buy Barilla no 5 !

Son of brother in law next door has a strange sense of humour for a 22y old guy ! But he is pretty good at hunting, cares a lot for the dogs, plays with them, shower them, bring them along when hunting etc...

Local chicken brunch being prepared by the Miss and brother in law. Considering the pieces I guess the poor thing must have stepped on a landmine last night ?

Imman is getting old, but still smart... They have a backup genset now, so that even when there are blackouts (about 2 per week) he can still carry on ! And he is training his successor, kid must be 12y old...his voice is a bit of a pain.... What I should have thought of when building the mans cave was 20 cm insulation and a remote control to close the windows and door... Well, you learn as you go !

Well, as "business in Thailand" is a topic, what about starting a mobile disco ? You could use @tommy dee's van to start with. Although it may already be full time rented out for the coming elections ?

Preparing for retirement life in Issan ? 😂😂😂😄😄

Now, let me try to rate the presentation of that.....😱😱😱🙈🙈🙈

Shoot them with an airgun . I think I posted something on that previously ? Then they skin them (skin is sold), then they hack them in small cubes and BBQ them. And no, I didn't taste it .....

Another trip to the jungle this 22/12. The usual routine, but nevertheless here are a few pics. I hadn’t been back since nearly 3 months, due to our trip to HKG in Oct and my recent visa renewal for which I prefer to stay close to Denpasar Immigration during the whole process (6 weeks). Timing of the trip was because of Galungan, the Bali Hindu New Year, that this time fell at the same time as Christmas. Note that even they use the same official calendar as us, the Bali Hindu religious cycle is 210 days; Hence every year Galungan falls on a different date on OUR calendar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galungan As usual having some stuff to bring home we travel with our usual driver. Car + driver + petrol + ferry fee comes to 1,300,000 IDR one way (80 Euro / 2,900 Thb) . The return I do usually by plane, the Miss staying a week more and returning to Bali after. Luggage always includes the ice box and a coolbag, for the frog’s food. The bottles are used and distributed in the village for water storage. Google map is as usual VERY optimistic, even leaving at 05.00 am the trip takes 6 h in good traffic condition of which 1 h on the ferry. The ferry : The approach to East Java, city Banyuwangi, volcanos in the background. One is pretty famous for its "bleu fire" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijen The jungle house is located 40 km south from here. Yep, in this country you better get used to live never far away from a volcano …. View of the ferry terminal : And a typical ferry : Ready for disembarking: Home around 11.00 am after the mandatory stop at a supermarket for Bintang supplies. The youngsters just arrived back from a hunting session, pretty successful ! Next morning the preparation works to decorate the house start very early, those big bamboo poles indicate that visitors are welcome to drop by to convey their N.Y. wishes, and yes it will be a 2 day non stop flow of people dropping by, neighbours, family, friends….. Work on the bamboo pole : Preparing the snacks and drinks for the visitors. Non alcoholic only, TBH since I come here I seldom saw anybody drink beer or alcohol, and this is not limited to the Muslims. It is simply not in the mentality. And a bit of lights at night ! And yes of course we have a couple of dogs in the house. 4 of them between our house and the brother in law house just adjacent. This one is the latest arrival, born 9 months ago. Spoiled kid, he has quickly understood that keeping close to the white guy the food was much better than the usual rice ! The waterway near the house has recently been cleaned / drained before the rainy season, so now they can throw more garbage in it…… Of course the digger team justed dumped everything on the pad along the stream, without giving a shit that is was an access (the imperial drive) to our and 3 other houses….. So the kid and brothers had to clear and level it themselves. Now just need to hope it doesn’t rain too much before all this stuff has properly drained and dried ! OK boys, that’s it for today !

We call it potato salad (salade de pommes de terre), plenty variations on it, depending what you like and want to put in it. For me here more depending on what I have in stock ! https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=salade+de+pommes+de+terre&FORM=HDRSC2 Often they put mayonnaise with it, but under those hot climats I am not a fan of mayonnaise. Even less of the shiite that they have in the supermarkets;

Meanwhile here in the jungle, it is salad season again, and the little frog chef has been busy preparing lunch... Potato, tomato, green peas, eggs, ham, emmental cheese, garlic, small onion (shallots ?), and green spring onion (or at least a local version of it..). Olive oil, pepper and salt. A cold large Bintang is well deserved now !

Water or lemon tea for her !

Minced pork, spiced up with garlic, green onions, pepper. Hahaha... The Missus has completely stopped alcohol since we left HKG.

Yesterday dinner.. A bit tastier than the wild jungle fish ! PS: it was 2 tomatoes each.

No, thats the volcano !

Nick, in April the Missus son marries. Now, as you, I have heard parties in houses around here 500 to 800m away and it was unbearable. This time it will be in OUR courtyard, and it last 3 days...nearly non stop. When I raised the situation with the Missus, she said in her immense generosity " no need you stay 3 days papa, 2 is enough..." And yes of course the immam is still there as a additional bonus... You have no idea how I am looking forward to this.... Not to mention I am the only white face, and being Bintang pissed for 48h is a nono considering the "environment" ! Yeah, yeah, T.R. to follow......

Feck me (oops, sorry….) but not even after 3 months in the sandbox or at sea…….

Its called diplomacy....You need a LOT of it with Asian women ! TBH they exhausted my quota and that of my next life....

Well, I had local fish also this evening.... Yeah, yeah, I know ...not very glamorous ! And you aint seen yet where it was fished ....

Was gonna say same.... Just seeing people queuing like that cuts my apetite ! @JPK, Stick to the drink. Who knows if you stand up, somebody is gonna nick you chair !

Just downloaded and watched this. The story of the Krakatau volcano explosion in 1883. The volcano you recently heard about last week is known as "Son of Krakatau", as the 1883 eruption completely destroyed it, but later it raised slowly again from the seabed. And is still "live"..... Movie is half fiction, half documentary and pretty interesting. Better not show it to my Miss.... considering in Bali we have one at 60km distance, and here in Java even less...

Done a few of them boat dinner trips as they were a "classic" for overseas visiting guests at work. Needless to say that for the few hardcore expats of which I was part, it was just a free booze warm up before heading for Patpong !

Never even thought about taking some special resolutions "New Year resolutions" When I decide something I do it, end of. Now, I have cut my partying and drinking drastically in 2018, but nothing to do with N.Y., more to do with realizing I am not 50 or 55 anymore so need to take a bit care of the old mechanism, and with the price of alcohol in Indo vs my "revised" income. I am now just at 1 large Bintang a day, and sure could suppress that one as well if I want. Of course aperitif and wine with lunch or dinner are only sligthly impacted as it is a part of our ancestral traditions that should not get lost !