WOWWWWW : 272252042010 A new generation for my family with the arrival of Levi Daniel!!!

From left to right: Jeroen (happy & proud father), Levi Daniel, Bibi (glowing mother)




Last night, the 27th of April, at 22.52 hours the first (ofcourse we hope he will not be the last) of a new generation in our family arrived.
When I came to the hospital to welcome him personally, and to congratulate my nephem and Bibi with their wonderfull son, the litle guy allready showed how to use his young voice.
MMmmm, what a futur might he have with such a clear and demanding voice. Levi is a smartlooking little fellow and have the feeling he wil be his own man when the time comes. But also a social guy.... his parents will see to that I strongly believe ;-)

Levi was born on a tuesday, same day of the week as me :-)) His daycolour is pink, which in THailand stands for good health and long life. I can only hope & pray that he will not only get that, but that he will receive and give wisdom to the people around him and for himself during his life!

Well, the 27th of April is in my country also the birthday of our futur king. A day when the whole country hang out the national flag to show their appreciation for him and his family... their colour is Orange;-)

When I phoned Kik to tell hiwm the news early this morning, he was clearly sleeping but when I told him the news he was immidiatly excited. He immidiatly wanted to know his full name, time of birth etc. so he could ask his Bhuddist master about the futur of levi.
Will be very curious about that, because sofar on the occasions kik consulted his Bhuddist master, he was pretty accurate in his advice and widom.


Levi teaching his parents, specially his mother ofcourse, that he was not finished with his dinner and wanted more from Mum! ;-)

Grandmother in waiting....... ;-)

Left: My sister wwwith the Bhudda I gave her on behalf of Kik, who sadly coul not join me here in Holland.

My sister Cuny came unexpected to my home in Delft because she came with my nephew Kasper to the west of the country to wait for the birth of her first grandchild... but unintentionally she arrived way to early, so they left Leiden and drove down to Delft, to be with me and wait at my home for news. Advantage: short driving distance to Leiden hospital;-)
While writing this, also Simon decended on Delft and the 3 of them are now waiting....waiting and waiting.
Bibi was, last time we heard, on her way again to hospital and expectations are now that the baby wil be born tonight, the 27th of April, and not anylonger tomorrow, the 28th. That day sounded special to me, and my sister also liked it more, because (for me!) Kik and his older brother Kukai were born on the 28th, and Kiks oldest (and only) niece was born last September also on the 28th ;-)
But its not to be, if the latest reports are correct, and the baby will have the same birthday as our futur King, who turned 43 today!
By the way, thinking of that day I remember very clearly when his birth was announced... the whole country went crazy because it was the first time in 120+ years that a prince was born in our royal family and that after a god 10/125 years we would have a King again...... now we know he will be an intermission between queens, because his oldest daughter and as such futur ruling Queen, will take over from him when he steps down. But well, he first must become King before we can talk about handing the crown down to his daughter again ;-)
But 43 years ago, in the evening, the Dutch went crazy with the arrival of our futur king,

Must say, my sister showed much of the behaviour I recognised and remebered from my mother at the time of the birth of Jeroen, the father in waiting. I told her that and made her think back to the day of Jeroens birth, 31th of October 1980.
And she was struck by my memorie that also my mother was send away because she arrived too early at the hospital, like she and Kasper now........... only 1980 was a time when we still didn't know mobile phones so in that time my mother had no choice then to go back home, a good hours drive.... My sister was more lucky, she could take her mobile, give me a call and quickly she had a location nearby to wait and same time we would have a chance to get together again since we said goodbye to eachother in january on Phuket!
Hugs and who knows soon enough you might hear/read more ;-)

Reading my first original Dutch newspaper of friday in airportlounge, De Telegraaf .. they do not iron the newspapers here, haha, so now black hands.

And the bathroon, where one can wash ones hands, is not in or near the Lounge but some walk outsite.... how unpractical, but then again, one can fly relative cheap businessclass with China Airlines and not only gets one enough kilograms to carry with you on the plane (30+ instead of just 20) but one also gets a chance on a decent/serious sleep.
I needed the kilograms, and the sleep, so I hope I can tell tomorrow it was all worth it ;-)

Realy curious about these lounges belonging to the more known carriers, but sadly they are still too expensive for me compared with the reasons/needs I have to choose this level of airtravel.

Well, why sitting here and reading "De Telegraaf", the biggest morning newspaper of The Netherlands I am, again surprised by the speed with which one reads ones first original newspaper in ones own language since roughly 6 months.
Not impressed by the news as well.. ofcourse the report about the vagueness of the Christen Democrats stands on taxreduction of interest paid on mortgageloans. That Belgium is once again blowing itself up as a result of their langauage struggle between the different language groups (french-dutch), and that Katja delivered a daughter in this troubles world of ours. O, and ofcourse a wasp plague seems to be imminent... maning please scramble to your local pharmacy or supermarket and by your stock of repelents, hurrrry to your do-it-yourself business around the corner to buy "hordeuren" (no idear how to translate "hor" into english, strange because my Phuket home is full with those things) or material to make them yourself.
Probably at the end of summer, when you have hardly seen more mosquitos and or wasps as previous years, you wonder what all the fuss was about ;-)

But the most surprising news before getting on the plane, for me that is, was to read that Mark Rutte is going for the PM position. Am somewhat dissapointed though can understand it ofcourse... specialy when being invited for a PM candidates debate with Cohen (Socialist), Balkenende (Christen Democrat) and Wilders (far right) for RTL Television.
I believe it wrong to put your name forward in this fase of a campaign while it limits your options , nobody expects it from you, but same time ofcourse media (and opponents)like to pressure you in declaring yourself so you become a much more easy target for attack.
And it can reduce the chance that that question becomes realistic, for a change, and God only knows how we liberals long for that.... so can understand the temptations with these questions ;-)
Lucky Mark made a last remark that it ofcourse also depended if it would be wise or not for the leader of the Liberals to lead the parliamentary group in the Lower House, or to be as such in the cabinet.
Hapy with this escape... because I strongly believe when the situation arrises, it takes a damn strong caracter as Liberal Leader to choose the leadership in the Lower House above becomming the first liberal PM in almost a century.
It is also important as leader to make sure you form the strongest group of liberal ministers and possible liberal PM as posible with the best parliamentary coverage as possble, and keep yourself in the backgroud, at least for a while....
But then again, such an attitude neds a damn strong caracter, and to be honest, who could withstand the chance of becomming the first liberal PM in allmost a century? Specially if you are a historybuff... like Mrk, like me.... not at all sure if I would be able to follow my own advice, let alone if I can expect such from Mark.

I do hope he gets trown in just that dilemma, after the elctions!!!


Oeps, my plane is boarding, so I have to stop writing.
will publsih this now as my last entry of today from Thailand.
if all goes as well as is to be expected, I write again when back in good old Holland!!

Hugs!!

"As father fades, his children fight"

Is the title of an article published in The Economist on the 18th of march this year.
This article was never published in Thailand and as such doesn't excist here... simple because that issue wasn't distributed here in Thailand... to prevent being banned/censured.

Even mentioning it here, while still in Thailand, makes it uncertain for me if it can remain here or will be totally blocked by Thai internetfilters.
As a politically very aware person like me, thats something which I experienced for the last time when with Jules Maaten, Maarten van Poelgeest and others at the World Youth Conference in Moscow in 1985, which, by the way confirmed my choice for the dutch liberals. But same time a very unpleasant experience to be censured, your words being taken out of contest by the local english newspaper/website, etc. simply because they support the other collor here, yellow.
Well, am Orange, allways have been, and very lucky same time it is also a mix of red and yellow... but thats a distinction they have a hard time following here ;-)

Because I refered the previous article, I thought it good if you also read this much earlier published article in The Economist.

Enjoy, Enlighten!!

PS You have to search for the article yourself, I can not get the link mentioned in my entry here, its simply filtered out, so have to still wait with that till I am back in Holland, sad but true!! rjv

Wise words on present day problems of Thailand, worth reading!! From Bangkok Post!

No need to add much because it sums up in a very good and blanced way what I have been talking and writing about myself these last weeks, here and on the Phukett Gazett forum.... my words being based on what I saw myself, heard thei talk about and explain to me, as well as I heard from the experiences of families in Kiks hometown and from his own family and himself.
Recognising them in the words of Dr. Pavia, fellow of the Institue of Southeast Asian Studies, made me decide to share them with you... specially because, ofcourse, he says it sooo much better then I could have, with more fact and less gut feeling then my own words sofar ;-)

Opinion » Opinion
SOCIETY

From the chaos may emerge a new Thai identity
Published: 19/04/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

The fatal face-off between the red shirts and security forces in which at least 24 people were killed and more than 800 injured is the latest evidence that Thailand's "glory" days have come to an end. The position of power, long dominated by the Bangkok elite, is on the verge of collapsing.

The bloodbath on the Bangkok streets conveyed a firm message to the established institutions that their days of monopolising state power are over. Some local media are reluctant to use the term "civil war" to describe the ongoing brutal confrontations. Whatever one wants to call it, the conflict, with its deep roots in ideological polarisation, is on its way to generating political changes.

Already the violence that has erupted in the course of countless political battles has redefined the essence of the Thai nation. State-crafted national identity is under threat. Apparently, many Thais are in the process of finding a new meaning to being Thai.

Traditionally, Thailand has been a country proud of its perfection. It is the only country in Southeast Asia that successfully escaped colonialism, it is often claimed. The success, as past Thai leaders saw it, was made possible because of the trait of unity imbued in every Thai. This attribute also made some people feel that Thailand is supposedly more superior to its neighbours. This is how many Thai people perceived themselves. It is this same perception exploited by the state as it tried to construct a national identity.

In many ways, Thailand did have "glory" days. Over the past few decades, Thailand, despite being ruled by numerous despotic regimes, has enjoyed a certain level of political stability. The Thai two-faced strategy, being rebranded more appealingly as a shrewd bending-with-the-wind diplomacy, allowed the country to survive various kinds of threat. Political stability was buttressed by long years of impressive economic growth. There is no doubt Thailand is far ahead of its once war-torn neighbours.

It was the period when the political elite began to re-engineer Thailand's national identity, not only as part of identifying the Thai "self" in the face of supposedly inferior neighbours, but also strengthening the regime of the day by setting certain social rules in order to demand social obedience. Thailand became the "Land of Smiles" because Thais were seemingly happy under the benevolence of the elite in Bangkok. The Thai character, as echoed in the Thai national anthem, was strenuously promoted. "Thailand unites the flesh and blood of Thais. This is the nation that belongs to Thais in all respects ...The Thais are peace-loving", so goes the lyrics of the national anthem.

Beneath the Thai smiles, however, political domination in the hands of the Bangkok elite continued. Poor villagers in far-flung regions were told to remain subservient even when they were left in poverty and politically crippled. For many of them, being Thai was to be politically submissive. The leaders in Bangkok made decisions. The perceived uneducated khon ban nok (upcountry residents) followed them. The elite called this a "social contract". All Thais seemed to live happily in unison. Cashing in on this deceitful image, Thailand even declared to the world that they were welcome to come to "Amazing Thailand".

Throughout the Thaksin Shinawatra period, however, the billionaire prime minister shifted the political consensus. He did this with a series of populist programmes, such as cheap universal health care and ample village development funds. In a sense, he managed to put a genuine smile on people's faces, especially those in the North and Northeast regions. During his six-year administration, not only did they taste a more comfortable life, but they were also offered a chance to elect their favourite leader in a ballot box. Suddenly, their political voice became meaningful.

But their smiles seriously threatened the power interests of the Bangkok elite. Three years after the military coup, the Bangkok elite is fighting back against the khon ban nok who are now labelled as simply unintelligent and easily manipulated. The bloody confrontations during the previous weekend revealed that these villagers, in red T-shirts, are no longer subservient. They are seeking to reinvent a national identity of their own. They are eager to reject the top-down process of identity making, while campaigning for a bottom-up way of how Thais should express their nationhood.

The message of the rural residents is clear: a new Thailand with a new identity which is no longer submissive but one in which the Thais know their rights. The relentless demonstrations confirm the emergence of such a new identity which fiercely contests the traditional one created by Bangkok leaders. Occasionally, this new identity allows Thais to behave unconventionally, as seen in the Bangkok riot of April 2009 and the incident last weekend. It also reveals the unattractive truth behind certain Thai images. That is, the Thai nation no longer unites Thai blood and flesh, that this society is not homogeneous but comprises many different races, and that the people profess different political ideologies. They do not need to pretend to be same.

Thailand is now entering a new political landscape. Recent developments strongly suggest the anti-government forces are yearning to rebuild Thai society and make it more equal. While it will be impossible to remove class divisions, they just hope that the rapidly expanding membership of the "underclass" will be able to access politics without state obstruction.

How will this shape the future of Thailand? The state will have to come to terms with the shift in the people's perception of their identity. They will demand their rights and will protest more. The state will be assigned a new responsibility to ensure that their rights are protected, that their welfare is to be improved and that emerging human rights organisations be strengthened.

Thailand has long lived in a fairy tale world in which the supposed ideal of perfection effectively eclipsed the huge differences and fragmentations in society. The deadly conflict between the red shirts and the state authorities may demonstrate the ugliness of the real Thailand. But it also exposes its other side - the side that values the people's love of democracy and a more equal and just society.

Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun is a Fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

About the author


Writer: Pavin Chachavalpongpun
Position: Reporter

Goodbye Welcome Back in one day OR how the ashes of my plans were scattered all over...

Left: With relative optimism saying goodbye to Phuket... Phuket Iland from the air while taking off from Phuket Internatinal Airport last evening!

While taking off from Phuket last evening, I was contemplating my chances of actually making it to Amsterdam on Tuesday. I thought, expected that when they succeeded to open up the airports again that then I would have a very god chance getting back to Amsterdam on time, because I had a connfirmed seat on the tuesdaymorning flight from Istanbul to Amsterdam. My sincere strong hope was that I would just squeeze trough all this ash disaster striking out all over Europe and the rest of our planet.
Also knowing that if I would not be able to take my flight it might be a pretty long time before getting another chance!

Arriving in Bangkok, after witnessing a beautifull sunset over Thailand, also from the plane, I arrived at Suveranubumi Airport Bangkok...........First I had to collect my luggage, because at Phuket Airport they had refused to book all my luggage straight trough to Istanbul/Amsterdam.. had to check-in again in Bangkok, they told me, because no lugage was labelled trough to anywhere within the no fly zone above Europe.
Arriving with Thai Airways at Suveranubumi I first had to walk to totally the other side of the departure hall... Turkish Airlines is located totally oposite Thai Airways, max distance, haha... and that means quite a walk.
A very charming lady at the check-in desk of Turkish Airlines, was totally happy by letting me take the flight to Istanbul BUT she said, after that I had to wait.... and the situation wasn't that good right now to get stuck in Istanbul. She told me I would be far better of to wait here in Bangkok, THailand for when flights would get restored to Holland, then when I would do so in Istanbul, far beter off she said.
BUT my visa was running out last night and according to Thai law I had to leave Thailand that night. When telling her that, she went to confer with her supervisor, who then came back and told me that Thai Immigration waved all visa limitations for passengers who were booked on flights to Europe till the end of the month... so I would be totally safe if I would remain here in Thailand instead of finding myself in a possible very big mess in Istanbul. O, and Turkish Airlines wanted me to sign a waver of responsibility by the airline if I got stuck in Istanbul unable to get the connecting flight to Amsterdam.. hehe... makes decision-making even more easy huh? ;-)
With such stern advice of Turkish Airlines themselfs, I finally decided not to take the flight and wait here..... after thanking her I turned around and with the whole pile of luggage in front of me walked the whole hall back again to Thai Airways and get myself asap on the first flight back to Phuket............. all in all, arrived back home in Patong around 1 am, deadtired BUT received by a very happy Kik, and Gong, the housekeeper, that I made this wise decision.

The next morning, following the travelnews from Europe, I was more or less relieved that I had taken the right decision to cancel because flight in to Amsterdam were not yet restored and as such I would indeed have been stuck in Istanbul with no reasonable chance to get back to Amsterdam.

When contacting Turkish Airlines Bangkok, they told me in the most friendly way that I could not expect to fly back to Holland before the end of the month, and that they hoped early May would see me returned back to Holland...EARLY MAY??
wowwww,
pffff that would create a small mess, allmost or as much as when I had to suddenly rush from Holland to Thailand last november!

Have one possible 'trick' upon my sleeve though: use my Chine Airlines return ticket to Amsterdam on the 25th.. if they kept me booked on that flight that is ... have to wait and see... I try to get hold of China Airlines office in Amsterdam, but they seem pretty busy haha... so that might take a while.
I asked Turkish Airlines about validity of my ticket with them, and they told me I had a full year to use it BUT had to start using it leaving from Bangkok, so I could not turn the use of the ticket around.... hehe, ofocurse not.... tickets from here with certain airtlines are more cheap then from Europe.
Well, now it is wait and see when having been able to get hold of China Airlines if the 25th of April can gets back on the table as serious option or that I have to skip that one as well ;-)

Below: More sunsets over Thailand to follow while being 'stuck' here on Phuket, it could have been worse ;-)

Iceland derails Europe again by scattering her ashes all over ....

Above: Vulcanic ash being launched in the air, on their way to cause great consternation all over Europe by giving us a taste of pre-airtravel-times!

Oeps, and while she's at it, she also causes problems for a lot of people and businesses all over the world... but he, we all keep smiling because we can not blame anybody.....can we?????
Haha except maybe the Thai, they might say that the influx of tourist from Europe has ceased because of the Red shirts and pro Thaksin protest movement, as they did at times with the effect of the high Thai baht and the general financial situation in the world.
Ofcourse it also has another effect: The Thai raise their prices even further because of lack of tourists.......... haha, the more tourist you see in Thailand, the more they will drop (!!) their prices, the lower the amount of tourist, the higher they will raise their prices. Somewhat opposite the logic the rest of the world seems to follow, but then again, who says Thai logic is logic as well??

But more serious now!

The eruption of Icelands vulcano, and the scattering of her ashes all over the Old World, is causing the Old World some headaches. We have all been so accustomed to the relative comforts of airtravel, the speed etc. that we forgot the much more relaxing way of transporting ourselfs over Europe: Trains, boats, ships, road!

Ofcourse also the rest of the world, looking for ways to get in or out of Europe, are right now dealing with these dilemma's.

Tough chance though, I am afraid, that they will en masse drop airtravel all together and return to the more old fashioned and way more destressing way of travel by train or ship... and as such make it more avordable again so people like me, who would love to travel in the old ways, could afford to do so... because if you want to travel in the old ways these days, you beter have deep pockets and all the available time

Myself right now??

Am in constant conference with myself, what to do, howfar can I change my travelplans?
Thai law says I have to leave the country before midnight 19th of April.
My plane, via Istanbul, leaves around 23.30 hours from Bangkok, to arrive and leave tuesdaymorning from Istanbul to Amsterdam.
Now the big question is, will the flight Istanbul-Amsterdam be on as sheduled or not.

If not then I am stuck in Istanbul, is that worse or in some ways more attractive then elsewhere, like here ;-)
If getting stuck in Istanbul, for how long would that be then, how quick one can rebook to a next flight?
Where to stay in Istanbul?
No doubt I could do a massive amount of sightseeing in a ciity I allways wanted to visit.... and one of the reasons I took this connection, to see if the opportunity arrises to see some of this old gate between Asia Minor and Europe?
Is this that excuse?????

Am in limbo though, funny enough.... reason: I travel alone! If Kik would be with me I would have loved to get stranded in Istanbul and would not think twice of checking anything concerning flightconnections from Istanbul to Amsterdam, would take it as it happened.
But now?
What a wush I am, haha

Any idears, please let me know ;-)

O, and in case you say: Take the Orieint Express: that beautifull romantic trainconnection doesn't exsist anymore, it now only roperates between London and Venice ;-)

Read you...maybe ;-)
hugs

PS and thanks for helping me think and decide again!! ;-)

A relaxing but nonetheless pretty warm evening ;-)

Left: Kik & I preparing our food on a sissling hot plate, deliciously prepared beforehand by Kik & Gong, our housekeeper (and behind the camera).

Kik surprised me the other night with preparing a meal for us which involved us, me, but mainly him, haha, to prepare our food on a sissling hot plate.
Stories of my father and stephmother, having such a dinner at my brothers house, jumped up and were retold with pleasure.
Big difference though is, that Kik and I surrendered to the hot/warm weather by sitting as lightly dressed as possible at the table with two fans blowing from either side of us.
Its not often that we have the chance on a quite home dinner, because normally KIk has to work every evening on stage at Simon Cabaret, and in futur we will also have The Backstage to look after, so as such this is one of our last opportunities for such a meal in a long time.
All made possible by Kik, who has taken off from work for our last days together , before I leave for Holland this comming monday.
A pleasant surprise we both enjoyed... but it was very warm indeed, pffff... and ofcourse we could have switched on the two aircons in the living/diningroom, but well......fans, using much less energy, should be sufficient....so instead we dress a little less formal haha... our small contribution to the environement ;-)
By the way we try only to use our aircons when we sleep/go to bed because a good/decent night rest is truly valuable! ;-)


Right: Me, warm, hot as it is, with a totally relaxed and happy Didi in one of her usual begging positions. Didi is a very rare breed, she truly enjoys the warmth here and seems totally immune to it (which ofcourse she is not). More and more I get the feeling she wouldn't like me bringing her back to Europe if the situation dictated such! She seems to love it here, the freedom, the warmth, even the food, but above all all the attention bestowed upon her by the Thai here ;-)

Putting the trials and tribulations aside: We celebrated Songkran 2010, in other words : Happy Thai New Year!!!

picture above: It is simply impossible to avoid an abundance of blessings with water during Songkran, and I am no exception haha


One can be busy with politics and what is happening in and around Bangkok, and the world for that matter... when it is Songkran, its Songkran. Specially Thai p[eople have a flexibility to switch from the political and real fighting in Bangkok to simply celebrating its one and only true national holliday: Songkran, THai New Year!

For me personally I didn't want to surrender to the effects of the weekly injection of interferon I received, so we were very focussed on having some sort of a good time together and with our friends here!

Though I must admit I was saddend to see so much less people (tourist) to celebrate this happy Thai event, then previous years... even much less then last year, the year/high season which was dominated by the airport occupation by the now governing yellow shirts and also saw a significant drop in tourism compared with the year before... the last year without any major troubles in Thailand, a financial global meltdown, etc.
Also sad because whatever 'we' say, our governements seem to be determined to classify Thailand as a whole when they advice their inhabitants about travel, but except for a few days in september 2008, when the yellow shirts ran a trial run on 'their' 'own' iland Phuket with closing down the airport here, everything has been as peacefull as peacefull can be, at least on the political front that is ;-)
Its one of Phukets strong points, sadly overlooked by all or allmost all foreign governemnts when they make their assesments of the situation here in Thailand.

BUT when going out on mondaynight to start the celebrations of Songkran, with one of them being the blessings and symbollic washing with water, we all intended to shift aside all the lousy things that have happened to us and simply celebrate and truly hope on a better year, not only for ourselfs but also for our neighbours, friends and familly, among, ofcourse, everybody else ;-)
God and Bhudda only knows how much Kik and I, for one, need that, haha, not to mention everybody else!

It was decided that this year we would all meet in front of My Way to celebrate Songkran there with all the Simon people, and so, that part of Paradise Soi became more unsafe and wet then it allready was by the time we arrived on the scene haha

I was also surprised personally when all of a sudden the whole Simongroup turned on me and pushed me down on a chair, and paid me tribute, honor and wishing me as a group as well as individually a very happy New Year/Songkran.... it left me somewhat flushed and terribly shy.
Me shy? I hear you think, YES! ME!

When things like this are focussed on me personally I can get very very shy indeed, not when playing a role as major or city manager or chairperson of organisation x or y, thats different, a lot different.
BUT ofcourse it was also very cool indeed to receive this small unexpected tribute. I hope it is a sign that at least I do some things right in the way I try to behave here in this country which in its ways is so much different from my own home country.
Though in other aspects.... BUT that might be a subject for another rainy day when there's otherwise nothing much to report... maybe then I might go into the differences and similarities, seen trough my eyes ofocurse, bewteen Thailand and The Netherlands ;-)

Again, all of you, a very happy Songkran and who knows, next year we celebrate together, here on Phuket, in Patong at our Backstage (see also www.backstagethailand.blogspot.com) and/or at our home here!

Songkranhugssss xxx

HAPPY SONGKRAN or Thai New Year ....but now with mixed but nonetheless strangly positive feelings!!!

Left: The show allways goes on, after the tsunami, but also after Bangkok these last days, so we all will more or less celebrate the Thai New Year as only the Thai are able to... so we all get also very wet ;-)
And yes, Kik doing an hilarious act.

Tonight, the 12th of April, the Sonkran festivities will start here in Thailand and on Phuket.
On Phuket Sonkran is celebrated just a few days, in Bangkok, if all is quite and normal in the capital, it last a full 5 days... But when you go up to for example Chiang Mai then you discover Sonkran will last 10 days.
So, in theory, and if you organised it all carefully, you can celebrate Sonkran on Phuket, then again in Bangkok, and again in the far north of Chiang Mai.
You have some crazy people who do just that haha, they can't get enough of all the water splashing and the blessings it brings.

For myself one celebration is enough... and am blessed living here with Kik in the traditionally quite province of Phuket.

"The show must go on", life must go on, you can also say! Thats the general attitude I find here around me.
When close (young) friends and co-workers (suddenly) die, when national tragedy hits, like the tsunami and now also the protest and death in Bangkok, and everything in between ... the THai seem to take it al in their stride.

But as the ruling yellow coalition is slowly discovering, the people start to wake up and are not accepting it anymore. The bullshit, the disregard for fairness and equal treatment under the law, the decent treatment of the poorer classes, the ending of a servitude to their ruling classes.

It is/was bound to happen, one day sooner or later.

Those who know me know I detest violance and can not find any excuse for it to solve problems.
I am not allways against it though because I can imagine circumstances in which one has to use violance, liking it or not.
If such a situation applied for Bangkok these last couple of days: I highly doubt that. Can't find any justification sofar on either side!
I allways say: To start the use of violance is a clear sign of weakness, and in general is the start of the end for the one who started it!

I can only hope that these comming days we will be able to honestly celebrate Sonkran
and that the deathtoll as a consequence of drunken driving and reckless behaviour on the roads due to alcoholconsumption, will stay lower then that of the Bangkok violance of these last days... though I have to doubt that!

And for the new year: Less tears, more respect, common sense and honest smills for and to everybody!!

Hugs for you all!!

Aan een (PvdA) kennis in Nederland over Thailandse troebelen

Ach ja kerel,
bedankt voor het al bekende,
hebben hier een prima netwerk van contacten die onderling waarschuwen en info doorgeven!

Phuket is echter uitermate rustig om diverse redenen, ondanks dat er velen uit Isaan zijn die de Roden steunen (w..o. Kik, zijn familie en praktisch al mijn vrienden hier)
tevens sedert afgelopen middag/avond is er regelmatig grote problemen met mobiele telefoons..
sms is dan het enige wat werkt.... hetgeen de communicatie tussen de Rode demonstranten bemoeilijkt .. althans zo zeggen de Thai hier omdat iedereen ineens klaagt over de kwaliteit van het mobiele telefoonnetwerk, die normaal altijd goed is!

De Nederlandse ambassade heeft mij nog niet specefiek gewaarschuwed, en sta hier geregistreerd, zoals in jouw stukje gevraagd... maar sta dat al sedert vorig jaar zomer hoor.

Maak me op zich nergens druk over, want een ding is zeker, beide partijen zullen hun best doen buitenlanders tijdens deze 'strijd'/strijd te sparen!
Deze strijd tussen Rood en Geel zou je moeten aanspreken als PvdA manneke...
Het is in feite nl. een klassieke klassenstrijd, echter een tikkeltje serieuser nog dan degene waar jij en ik mee opgegroeid zijn, maar nietemin van het zelfde karakter!
De adel tegen het plebs,
de haves tegen de have nots
de landheren versus de slaven
en ga zo maar door... je kan het hier allemaal werl van toepassing verklaren omdat deze hier zojuist genoemde karakteriseringen o.a. helaas allemaal waar zijn.

Het is de Gelen van de huidige premier die het elke keer onnodig zo laten koken hier... en volgens ons buitenlanders is hier relatief makkelijk de lont uit te halen, maar ze vertikken dat uit pure machtspolitiek en prestige
enfin

Sedert de bezetting, door de Gelen trouwens, van de vliegvelden en een half jaar lang frustreren van het economische leven hier in Thailand toen de Roden de verkiezngen weer eens hadden gewonnen (!! jaja!!) en daardoor uiteindelijk de macht hebben kunnen grijpen omdat de rode regering lang niet zo ver ging als de gelen!!
En ook nu gaan de roden nog steeds niet zo ver als de gelen toen, alleen de gele machthebbers van nu gaan wel verder als de rode machthebbers toen en zodoende dreigt er inderdaad een verdere escalatie.....
Echter de gelen hebben ongelooflijk veel meer te verliezen dan de roden........... Het droeve is echter dat de gelen proberen vast te houden aan wat ze hadden. En in plaats als de gewone THai nu ook eens als bamboe mee te buigen, verkiezen ze nu star vast te houden aan wat ze kennen en hadden.
De geest is echter uit de fles, daar heeft die boef Thaksin en passant toch voor weten te zorgen. Een geest die er toch wel een keer was uit gekomen, zoals het overal elders op de wereld!

Als farang (=buitenlander hier) kan je hier alleen maar toekijken en je verbazen en speculeren over wat gaat komen. Er wat over zeggen, kunnen en mogen we niet, dat wordt niet bepaald gewaardeerd, door zowel de ene als de andere partij! Trouwens, dat vinden wij wat betreft onze eigen Nederlandse zaakjes ook!

Wel wil ik er nog even op wijzen dat de gelen, toen die in de 2e helft van 2008 hier zo tekeer gingen tegen de net benoemde (rooie) regering, omdat de roden wederom de verkieizngen ruim hadden gewonnen (!!), een uitermate ondemocratisch platform hadden en een buitenlander onvriendelijk platform ... wel of niet voor binnenlandse consumptie laat ik buiten beschouwing, de roden daarentegen hadden het nodige te verdedigen... En daar bedoel ik niet hun door een staatsgreep afgezette leider en premier mee!

Dat de roden nu redelijk hard de beuk er eindelijk in lijken te gooien, echter dat is altijd afwachten hier, is niet verwonderlijk!
Allerlei fasciliteiten uit het eind van de jaren 90 en begin van deze eeuw, worden nu teruggedraaid. Mensen van het platteland moeten ineens zachte studieleningen veel eerder terugbetalen dan was overeengekomen, de renten die betaald moet worden op door de overheid verstrekte zachte leninigen om de verbouw van producten op het platte land van Isaan te stimuleren, zijn ineens hard geworden en de rentes aanzienlijk verhoogd waardoor wederom allerlei relatief kleine landbezitters weer in de problemen komen en dreigen hun grond weer te verliezen ... drie maal raden aan wie dat dan verloren wordt?
Trouwens, de roden o.l.v. zoals hier wordt afgeschilderd, de graaier Thaksin, hadden wel voor de stimulering van het enorme platteland gezorgd, alsmede een sterk verbeterde en bereikbaardere medische zorg...

Als de (gele) overheid hier nu meteen had aangekondigt het geconfisceerde geld van Thaksin ten goede te laten komen aan het oplossen van de problemen van het platteland, resp. zo ongeveer heel Thailand m.u.v. Bangkok zelf en het zuiden, maar neen, dat geldt gaat naar hahahaha ja hoor, dat is inderdaad de verwachting hier.......

Thaksin komt namenlijk vanuit het zelfde milieu als de rest van de (gele) elite hier, alleen hij wist slimmer en beter te graaien, om het zo maar uit te drukken, veel beter dan de rest, EN hij deed waar de rest niet aan wilde, verbeteren van de omstandigheden van het platteland en daarmee bedoeld of onbedoeld, wel in een klap zichzelf een eigen machtsbasis mee bezorgend die de gelen nu proberen te slechten....
Heb altijd echter geleerd dat je met honing veel beter bijen vangt dan met azijn.....enne tot nu toe is er genoeg azijn van de gelen beschikbaar gekomen en verdomd weinig tot geen honing....!
Men is totaal gefixeerd op Thaksin, en de wraak der gelen op Thaksin, en men heeft totaal geen oog wat er feitelijk te winnen valt.... omdat men dat gewoon niet wil!!
Men wil goedkope arbeidskrachten houden, men wil een zo'n onmondige plattelandsbevolking hebben om te kunne sturen.... men wil gewoon niet de 21e eeuw toelaten op het eigen platteland!!

Ook klagen de gelen erover dat de roden alleen maar winnen omdat ze stemmen kopen van de kiezers. dat is zoiets als de pot verwijt de ketel dat die zwart ziet.
Kik's grootvader heeft als (rooie?) kandidaat in het hartland van de Isaan, zijn verkieizing verloren omdat ie prive niet genoeg geld op tafel kon leggen naar zijn kiezers toe. De gele (!!) kandidaat betaalde veel meer. Misschien heb ik daar nog wel een rol in gespeeld omdat ik weigerde geld op tafel te leggen om die stemmen te kopen.
Nou, na alles wat er nadien gebeurd is, ben ik zowaar geneigd van gedachten te veranderen.....en dat uit mijn mond, hoe is dat mogelijk, maar goed..... ook al is dat voor Kiks grootvader ruim te laat en de ellende die het voor zijn familie heeft veroorzaakt in de nalseep.

Het waarom van dat van gedachten veranderen als echte Nederlandse liberaal is pragmatisch ingegeven en een apart verhaal waar t.z.t jij of een ander maar weer eens naar moet vragen om daar een uitgebreider antwoord op te krijgen ;-)

Maar hoe een en ander zich hier gaat uitspelen is echt afwachten, want in Thailand blijkt de soep vaak aanzienlijk minder heet gegeten (en spectaculair uitziend) aaals die wordt opgedient ;-)

Verwacht zelf niet anders dan dat ik probleemloos heen en weer kan blijven gaan tussen mijn veilige thuis en dit ondanks alle troebelen hier, zo verdomd mooie land!!

Hoop dat je weer wat wijzer bent geworden, mijn visie/opvattingen hier zijn trouwens net zo 'gekleurd' als die van elk andere commentator... het zal pas heel veel later zijn als we een meer geobjectiveerd en beter beeld kunnen krijgen over wat er nu precies hier allemaal gaande is. Thailand en zijn bevolking kennen wat dat betreft over de afgelopen eeuwen een knap aardig eigen dynamiek. En zowel de gelen als de rooien zijn daar knap trots op, daarin zijn beide kampen gelijk!

Laat onverlet dat ook hier een soort Oranje revolutie nodig is ;-)

rjv
PS lees ook mijn eerdere bijdragen hierover die ik eerder op deze weblog geplaats heb, weliswaar in het engels, maar even zo goed ook best de moeite waard, zeker de verwijzing die er ook in plaatsvindt ;-)

Another first for me, uhum

In the previous entry I tried to place a link to an article in the Economist ( www.economist.com) about Thailands present predicaments, which was published in their printed issue of the 18th of march.

Maybe with some copypasting you might succeed with the following:
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15718981&source=hptextfeature

And if not then you have to go to the website of The Economist yourself and find and read it and it might help you to get a little bit more understanding of some of the trials and tribulations here in this otherwise more then beautifull country!

O< and it has been the last time since 1985 that I think I have been confronted with some kind of censurship filter in what one can and can not publish via the internet here. Its very rare, but it does happen, definitly with publications as I told you about before and tried to refer to.

MY appologies for any inconvenience caused to you as reader by this ;-)

State of emergency declared in Bangkok, what to think of it?

The Thai prime minister, himself gotten to power on a very big long lasting wave of demonstrations, disruptions, violance and a blockade of the international airports around Bangkok, announced today a state of emergency in and around Bangkok.
In itself not unexpected, but all who look at what is hapening now, should not forget what started this extreme way Thai seem to get into eachothers hair... and while doing so, causing havoc in all kinds of area's of society including the tourism industry.

Kik and I, and our weddingguests from overseas (The Netherlands and Australia), had to find out how disruptive these things can be, how difficult moving trough the country became because the airports were blocked/occupied by what we then caled The Yellow Shirts. Hence it is something you hardly forget, because it is linked to our Thai weddingday!

Sofar we have seen, what we now call The Red Shirts demonstrating, tastly pooring human blood on the streets, BUT at least their own, not their opponents!!!, And disrupting shopping in the luxuury quarters of Bangkok, where the rich, wealthy and influential Thai also live and shop... And ofocurse the demonstartions on the main roadways around Bangkok.
All in all quite a civil series of affairs sofar by the Red Shirts, definitly if one compares with what the Yellow Shirts did themselfs in the secondhalf of 2008, though now these Yellow supporters, including the Thai PM, shout the most terrible warnings and same time ofcourse stating that no vialoant actions will be taken.
The State of Emergency was declared after the Red Shirts for a short while stormed and occupied the parliament building. Something of which I thought : "Is that all?". Did the yellow shirts not for months occupy the offices of the then prime minister and other departments, blocking meetings of parliament, occupying airports and places of assembly, all in all disrupting life in the whole of Thailand and causing terrific economic havoc at a time that the whole world was not only watching what was happening in Bangkok (thats what an occupation of airports does these days) but was also wittnessing the greatest global financial crisis taking place and causing panick in the money area which is regarded as the worse since the Great Depression in the early 1930's!
I allways think that a non elected governement, a governement manipulated into power due to all the protest , non stop sabotage of essential en economic functioning of the state and directed against the majority rule, I think such a governement should be somewhat more modest in its attitude towards the group who represent, for all intent and purposes the majority of the last elections!

Well, ofcourse this is all talk from the side line... like with the upcomming World Championship Soccer in South Africa: we can all watch, get excited, etc. but we have no way of influencing what is happening on the field, in principal (yea, one has to be carefull haha) not even with all the money in the world.... Thank God and Bhudda that not everything can be bought, unlike, as it nowadays often seems, in Thailand.
Not withstanding all of this, it is and remains a wonderfull country, with marvelous people... and maybe that makes me so worried how things will go here, not only for Kik, his family, our frineds here and me.... but for the Thai people in general who so deserve decent, honest and trustworthy leadership, which, sadly, at the moment seems not avaiable here, it is devastating.

6th of May, 9th of June, General elections in the UK and The Netherlands... all the Brits and Dutch will go to the polls and cast their votes, quickly afterwards we know the results of these elections and the formation of a new governement can start. All parties will except the outcome and the fact that they have to live with it till the next general elections are being held.
This concept is still not accepted here in Thailand it sems, when we judge the behaviour of the yellow shirts.

very synical you sometimes hear here: O, when the present PM cals an election, the chances his yellow coalition losses is very to the red coalition is big, very big! But then the whole circus will start all over again, roughly as told above.

Its better to ride out a bad electionresult and fight new elections when you get the chance to, more chance on lasting results and much less economic damage. BUT who will try to explain this to the Thai??

One other, and complicating factor has to be mentioned. The country has a father to whom all parties rever, who for a long time seems to have kept all the excesses into limits, which now seem to have been left.
His role and futur is something which is a non issue by allmost all Thai.
It fits the general picture I have that the average Thai do not learn to plan, to organise, to prepare for events, financially or otherwise. BUT I can not believe that the old Thai elite, who sends their children abroad to get our western (!) education, not prepare for such important questions.
To help you maybe get some insight in this particular situation and all its complications it brings in Thai politics as well, I can refer you to an article in The Economist: (See below)

Hope my 'little' remarks made any sense to you. It was written durting an evening/night with lots of distractions... from simply having dinner, then shower, then supervising our Theater/Cabaret Cafe annec karaokebar (pffff haha) as far as its posisble here to do such a thing succesfully (again pffff haha), and meeting, talking to all kinds of people and then back home talking with Kik about a lot of different things from health issues to travelplans etc etc.... yes, then I hope this whole article stillmakes decent and good sense to you ;-)

The Economist's article is in principal only for non Thai people outsite Thailand. The issue in which this article was published has not been distributed here in Thailand and as such doesn't excist in this country. Just so you know ;-)

Trials, tribulations, distractions, sadness, excitement, joy, stressffull and relaxing times....2

Picture left: Never a dull moment backstage at Simon Cabaret in Patong Beach Phuket where one can enjoy the best lipsing (=playback) theatershow outsite Greater Bangkok....

Picture right: Gong, our housekeeper since february, checking on the waterstorage behind our house on 15 Soi Manessi.


Called this second entry of Siam-Dutch Adventures, simply same same as before but then part 2 ;-)

If you think, is that all he has been occupied with in the last 6 weeks of 2009 and the first month(s) of this year, hell no haha... wish, in a sense, that was true! So, next to all as told before, in those first weks back in Thailand, next to getting papers signed by Kik & legalised in Bangkok by the Dutch Embassy AND the search and organising of the urgently needed medical treatment of my liver, we also needed to move house around the 1st of december, we were receiving friends from Delft same time and we received my sister and brrother-in-law for a good two weeks after Chhristmas.
This last visit felt more like comming home then I ever expected.
When one stays far away from ones natural habitat, for such long periods as I have been doing, then being able to spend so much qualitytime with ones own family and speaking ones own language, feels sooooo great, its hardly to believe! Quite unexpected haha.
I can assure you, its not at all easy for myself, but also not for Kik, having to communicate allways in for both of us a strange language... because english, as good as I might actually be able to express myself in it, is still and remains a foreign language. For Kik its even harder, because he never really learned to speak english on a level we in europe have gotten used to, not to mention the dialect the Thai in general speak with.
This makes communication one of our mayor obstacles.
Every one of you who shares or has shared his life with some person not from your own country (or language), knows what I try to say here.
Also I made the beginning with the first lessons of Thai... which in itself went quite well, but because of cancellation policies if one wants to cancell a lesson, even well in time, caused by accident or illness, is such that I had to decide after a while to stop taking lessons for a while because simply I didn't know when I was going to feel well enough, strong enough to actually follow a lesson effectively.

Knowing, wittnessing that my energylevels were dropping in a scary rate, and knowing that Kik isn't cut out for keeping house on top of some other issues, made me look like crazy for a housekeeper.
And ofcourse I wanted a gay housekeeper. Ergo, it took a while before I found a guy, Gong, who was highly interested to fill that position under the conditions I was willing to offer.
Gong is no stranger to me and Kik and is the friend of another friend of ours, Lin, who performs in the cabaretshow at My Way here in Patong Beach. Till early last year Gong did same, but health problems forced him to stop. Knowing all about such problems I offered him the position and he gladly accepted and now stays in our house and takes care of us, but mainly me, haha. Also he now also helps me/us with preparing our new venture, a theatercafe annec karaoke bar The Backstage here in Patong which should open its doors one of these weeks.
One of the first things he had to take care of was making sure our watersurply would be well taken care off. Till then we had a relative smal watertank which proved not enough to service5-7 people on a daily basis. And with a small baby, Satang (means small money) I wanted to be sure water was not going to be a non stop problem and headache!
So we organised an extra watertank, twice the size of the old one, to be placed next to the old one, so in effect our water storrage capacity trippled. Well, at least we now have much less waterproblems as before and so makes us all relax a little bit better ;-)
Unbelievable that what we take for granted in the West, that you can just open your tap and water flows, and not only water but in Holland also drinkingwater. Here your watersupply is not automatic and guaranteed... or you must be able to have your own well drilled on your property....haha, in which case you only have to worry about electricity for the pump to pump up the water from the well.... and also the electricitysupply is not guaranteed here.

It is a revelation how relaxed the Thai react when either one breaks down .... and I truly wonder how they would react in Holland. Knowing how sometimes panick breaks out there when by accident the electricity drops out for even half an hour, let alone for many hours... companies get sued, local governements climbing up the walls, etc. Here everybody is relaxed, take out the candles, and try to make fun out of a lousy situation.... even when it takes half a day or longer... and may it be water or electricity! Though when the electricity goes, in general people also stop having water because most waterpumps here who take the water out of the municipality waterpipes to the houses, run on... electricity... the pressure on these waterpipes is not allways sufficient to get the water to your tap, ergo, we also at times need an extra pump if we want to be sure that when the water flows it also flows in our storagetanks.

Well, and so we have lots of things which we still take for granted in the 'West' but are much less taken for granted here. By the way a lesson worth learning ;-)

ALso we experienced the unexpected death of 3 (young) friends within 2 weeks, which made me wonder for a while, how Kik and his friends manage to deal with that. Got the impression that I was smore impressed by it all then they are..... it seems, at least thats the expression they give you, that its a normal thing for them that friends die so young, early ... though on the other hand you see that they are impressed by it, and are truly sad and grieving. But still, the realistic way they deal with it, the normal part of daily life they make it, is also healthy for us westerners to experience. The deal with it in a respectfull but same time ordinary way and , as far as I can see, are not hiding anything about it.
Like with most things in Thailand when more then one Thai meet, food gets prepared and served... the most wonderfull food... which one eats near the coffin in the Temple here and when one turns ones head one also has a view on the crematorium of the Temple... all so wonderfully realistic and simple in approach, and it feels very very natural.
And in case the crematorium is working, if the smoke blows down on the tables, they just pick everything up and move all outsite the reach of the smoke..... one time I experienced just that and not knowing if I would be ofensive if I would get up and move, I waited till the Thai took the initiative to move... they have a longer tolerance level, and allways first wait if it keeps on blowing your way before they actually come into action... so for a moment my drink and food smelled of a burned stuffy barbeque... very hard to describe the smell.

And now its enough. One tends to wander off on all kinds of paths here while telling experiences, haha, and enough is enough.. for now!
Hugs to you all!!

And so we keep having our trials, tribulations, distractions, sadness, excitement, joy, stressfull and relaxing times.......

Trials, tribulations, distractions, sadness, excitement, joy, stressffull and relaxing times....

Picture: Cuny, Simon and Rob in front of the entrance to the original house of a famous abbot of Wat Chalong, in Chalong on Phuket Thailand, january 2010 (Kik is behind the camera!!). Ofcourse you have to take my word for it. Come visit me on Phuket and I can show you same (and more!!) if you so desire ;-)

When someone asked me why I so much enjoyed politics I answered simply because I so enjoy having never a dull moment, allways something worthwhile is happening or to take care off and its never the same. And the satisfaction to be able to help other people in a constructive way with their lives ( which doesn't mean you allways do what they like, also the opposite!). Gettting the feeling you are actually needed, wanted, that you can make a difference which benefits the people involved, even if they do not realise it themselfs yet.
That 'someone' then said to me, again, why that hunger for it....but then giving his own answer: Don't I allready have all that in my daily live....yours doesn't sound one bit boring, contrary, sounds more like you never experience a dull moment.
My reply: Simple, if its for me it rarely gives me any satisfaction and too often I look at it as boring. Am pretty lousy taking care of myself, contrary to taking care of others. Bad? I do not know BUT at times it indeed feels that way.
One thing I discovered again though: am very bad at sharing with other people if things do not seem to go too well, with me or those close around me. And that is definitly not a good thing, because sharing also helps yourself seeing light in the tunnel, or looking in the mirror gives you a most usefull perspective and or insight.
Nope, not at all too clever to close down like an oyster and as such unwillingly also hurting those who wanted to be there for you, to help you.
Roughly thats how things have been these last 9 months, since roughly my last weblog-entries in "Thai-Dutch marriage" and "Rob's Adventures" .

Though things haven't really improved since then, more like temporary gotten worse, I decided that Easter 2010 is a good moment to try to bring around a change here.... Now we can only wait and see if this wished change is indeed going to happen!!

An extreme short summary of, lets say the last 6 months:

Trying to solve my urgent problems with my cashflow, because running two households on two different continents and a housemarket which crashed down around me us and as such makes it impossible sofar to access my savings. At last moment finally my bank was willing to help me out, though only for a relative short period... made it necesary though to jump asap on a plane back to Thailand because Kik needed to sign a letter of agreement with me doing this (haha, thats what happens when one gets married). Same day I had to decide to jump the next day on a plane (because paperwork needed to be signed for a certain date!) I was further put in a turmoil by getting a phonecall from my hospital that I needed to report asap (yes, again) for emergency treatment against a liverdisease.
You think you jump on a plane to solve, for the time being, a very urgent problem and you get news that makes your worries reappear in full force again. In the few hours between hearing this news and catching my flight I was blessed to be able to talk to my sister and brother-in-law (see pic).
They told me I should consult a docter/hospital on Phuket and see if they could give a satisfactory treatment and if that would be acceptable for my medical insurrance and my Dutch docter. I agreed that that would be the best way to go about it....and to have to leave Kik on his own for potentially as long a period as 6/9 months, was not very appealing to put it mildly! Also, they argued, that if I succeeded in getting the treatment in Thailand, at least I would be not alone but with my husband Kik.
Well, that night my sister and her husband stayed at my Delft home and my sister brought me to the airport the next morning. Ofcourse I discovered soon enough I forgot lots of things because that is what happens when one suddenly moves ones flight forward in such a speed!

Once on Phuket I had to talk Kik trough the whole procedure of signing that document, which had to be wittnessed by the Dutch Embassy, my notary instructed me. Kik had to get a couple of days free from work to be able to travell with me back to Bangkok to do the signing.... and what an ordeal that turned out to be... and how lucky I have been by having been able to jump on that plane asap from Holland to Thailand otherwise we most likely would not have made the signing in time!
The few days on Phuket we used to visit hospitals here on the iland and to see where one could receive the possible treatment needed with which my dutch docter could live as well as my medical insurrance. We found such in the Phuket International Hospital and Dr. Sumit. While on the hunt for that legalised signature in Bangkok, we were also negotiating with insurance company etc. to get permision to undergo treatment here for this acute liverdissease.
When I arrived back on Phuket two friends from Delft were staying at the house for a couple of days, with Kik. One of them, Bas, is a docter himself, and he has been of great help those first couple of days when I was getting way too stressed about everything.
THose friends were also of great help in getting the paperwork in time to our Delft sollicitors, otherwise an impossibility to accomplish thanks to all the sedbacks we encountered in that area!

In the end we succeeded in both areas and the document got signed and legalised, but in the end not by the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok, who refused (more about that another time) AND we received permission from my medical insurrance to start the treatment here in Thailand.... a big pffffffffff went up ...... but this all was just the beginning of another rough ride which, though in a different way, still lasts till today.... when I slowly start to prepare for the return back home to Delft, again alone, snif!

Since then I started that treatment which consist of a special injection every week for, I now know, 48 weeks. The side effects are no fun but acceptable. They make me tired and irritated, specialy the first 2/3 days after the injection. One can also loose his hair because of it (sofar very limited), loose weight (not happened yet), get easily irritated (happens in the first few days of the week) and am often but mainly first half of the week, very tired. 17 weeks have passed since the start, all goes well sofar in the treatment area -the insurrance area is very different though! And as such still 31 weeks to go, pffffff!!!!!!!!!!!!

Same period I kept on the look-out for a new location of continuing our bar/cafe.... when I finally found that location and we started to prepare for it, I was informed of insurrance problems surrounding my medical treatment here on Phuket. Never experienced that so a new first! But it helped me decide to fly home latest after Sonkran, the Thai New Year, to continue treatment back in Delft and see how to prepare for continuing the treatment in such a way that I can go back to Thailand as soon as possible after Jeroen en Bibi succesfully receive their son or daughter !!!!!!
Because now we finally managed to find and establish a business which has the potential to actually work and provide us with a baht-income, I can not yet afford to stay away that long from Patong....
and it would have been easy to stay here where it not for this medical insurrance problem which needs solving in an acceptable (financial) way.
Next to this I will use my time in Delft to see how I can stimulate the selling of my Delft home. Again the pressure of time is again placed upon us here....................
Also I hope to do some repairs to dissapointed friends who I stood up unwillingly when I left for Thailand that suddenly last november!

Never a dull moment, but Ooo, what could I long for a long relative dull period because sofar we haven't had any time to relax and really unwind............ somehing Kik and I both long for since we got married in October 2008, but due to all kinds of different circumstances we have been unable to sofar!

As my English schoolteachetr allways told me : "Never say die!" (= never give up) or as I like to say : "Keep smiling, a laugh a day makes your worries go away". Humor is powerfull, a true laugh, like an honest cry, works mirracles for once state of mind....and body!!

PS please ignore the typing mistakes, etc.... no energy in checking everything right now, just happy I managed to get this all down in here ;-) rjv!