The Thai Family Coming to Town

[PeteC]

To get the thought out of the way, have the kids fully adjusted to the new time zone? You may find they're snoozing for a few hours then waking up morning Thai time and on Skype, Tango or whatever with their friends here....and transmitting their photos. If this is the case for sure their energy will start to crash during the day there. Pete

[Dan1]

Fantastic Frank. I'm sure you will go onto to better things in the next life. Your retirement also looks secure with all the brownie points.

[Frank La Rue]

To get the thought out of the way, have the kids fully adjusted to the new time zone? You may find they're snoozing for a few hours then waking up morning Thai time and on Skype, Tango or whatever with their friends here....and transmitting their photos. If this is the case for sure their energy will start to crash during the day there. Pete

LOL - valid point. From what we see douring the night they actually sleep

[Frank La Rue]

Whilst seated at the kitchen table in the morning, Sister - in - Law's boy, the eldest of the three children comes up to me and simply asks: "Kuhn Frank, what is the most famous food in Norway?"

Flabbergasted, I look at him! This is the first time in 10 years that he speaks to me without having been spoken to first. Before I manage to asnwer, he continues :

"Is it smoked salmon?"
He has been on the Internet and now he is qurious.

Surprised and enthused, I manage to gather my thoughts into some sort of sensible answer: "Well, I would say there are three, smoked salmon is certainly amongst them. The others I would say is Norwegian meatballs and salted, dried Mouton Ribs (Pinnekjøtt)"
I offer t prepare him meatballs one day this week and he willingly endorses.

The boy speaks with hardly no Thai accent and in complete sentences - what have we got here?!¨

Towards mid day we leave the house in order to go up towards the Lake Tyrifjorden and the county of Hole, where there are several great areas by the lakeside for BBQ.

I make a fire and we enjoy hot dogs and chicken, salad and bread with bottles of Coke and cups of coffee to go. We finish with lychee on ice.

Enjoying a meal outdoor - now we're talking !

Can I have more coke?

During the meal I demonstrate to my Thai nephew the BBQ grill and the portable gaz heater I use to heat coffee water. I tell him that after a long trek, a bath in the lake, hot soup and meal, a sleeping bag and a tent by the camp fire might be so enjoyable that one would not want to swap with the best of restaurants.
I actually have a small tent in the Jeep as part of the equipment I always keep there for outdoor life.

We did not assemble it this time but have used to do for our little son to rest in the shade when we have been out and about on day-time excursions.
He apparently understand everything I say, ask qustions with good command of english and responds.

Breakthrough!

He is growing mentally and emotionally, my job from here on is to foster it - no one knows were it will go.

Wilst we talk the mother and daughters sit with winter jackets over their respective heads. I ask them if they are cold, to which they respond that they don't want to get brown skin.
Mischievously I ask my Sister - in -Law if the sun in Norway is tronger than the one over the rice fields of Issan, to which she smiles and says: "So, you know..."

Protecting themselves from the harsh sun in the rice fields of Issan........

After the very enjoyable meal I drive everybody up into the mountain behind a Peninsula called Sundvollen, where there also is an old and stately hotelbuilding.

Towards the top there is a terrific point for viewing the Amphur all the way towards the majestic Jotun Mountains in the far off distance. These snow peaked mountans attract and challenge any spektactor, it goes through my mind that it's an attaction and challenge yet to be put in front of not only my Thai visitors, I also ove it my son.

The View speaks for itself

Another view hard to beat

This locasion is also the point of departure for Hang gliders and Parachuters off the mountain - there are 2 of them preparing now.
This is the 3rd opportunity in one day to involve my Thai nephew in a conversation, he knows of Parachuting but has never seen it before.
I tell him it must be a thrilling experience but I would not dare to do it and he asks me about the equipment, to which I direct us to one of the sportsmen.

We ask him a few questions and my nephew comments upon the camera on top of the glider's helmet.

Parachutist in preparation

Would we dare to jump?

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The thermal wind required does not appear and after 45 minutes wait I am told the family is hungry so we set our course for home.

Jump or not, this been an important day.

My nephew has broken through with regards to shyness and started to excert his passive English vocabulary and we have found a way of handling the issue of hunger whilst on the road.
We will do our own BBQ from here on. The only remaining issue is what to do with Thai Kids in the car who need to pee...........frequently.

They are not accustomed to the Norwegian way - you piss by the wayside and if any passer - by has a problem with that , it's his problem.

In the evening I notice that that my Sister - in - Law is busy making a whole loaf of bread slices with butter and sugar.
She cuts each slice in pieces of six and subsequently bake them in our owen. We now have a mountain of bisquit - like sugar-butter bread snacks.

It turns out she makes them regularly at home, because they stay with us and we not with them when my wife, my son and I are in Thailand, I have not noticed.

The children now snack on them all the time. With the energy rush from sugar it seems that our days of tired kids will be over.
I am not convinced this is the right course of action but I am not going there yet. It is her children and their custom.

My wife always buys a lot of fruit which we snack on in the house all the time and I have caught on to it, having found that it helps me to keep a heathy diet and a suitable weight for my height. It has enabled me in the last two years to get back to my weight from my late 40ties.

It boggles my mind that I itch to teach them healty diet with fruits when my mind tells me that it all is what I have learned from them, their culture, their diet.

In the evening my nephew is seated by our dining table with a a book which looks like some sort of technical reading, the same I had noticed he sat with yesterday night. I ask him and it turns out it is a technical manual for learning how to draw the human body and face.

Wife's sister told her that he graduated top of his class in 2ndary school before coming here.

Usually there are reality adjustments for any young person along the way but right now it seems he should be nudget towards exploring a potential he is not be aware of?

[TingTongJohn]

I can bet very few(maybe even zero) of the Thai kids friends have been to Norway so good on you.It shows them a whole new side of life and culture.

[migrant]

Very nice Frank, thanks for the posts

[Frank La Rue]

Fantastic Frank. I'm sure you will go onto to better things in the next life. Your retirement also looks secure with all the brownie points.

Dan1, thanks for encouraging words. I would not mind being born straight into early retirement in next life with money sufficient to go

[Frank La Rue]

I can bet very few(maybe even zero) of the Thai kids friends have been to Norway so good on you.It shows them a whole new side of life and culture.

somr presumably have been a broad, probably in SE Asia. I dought any have been to Norway or even Europe

[Frank La Rue]

Very nice Frank, thanks for the posts

You're welcome

[Frank La Rue]

Invigourated by the BBQ experience which encourage us for repeats we wake up to NongNut's Birthday - Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen.....
I doubt she had heard og Neil Sedaka, but I surprised her with a DVD of Carabao in concert and a clip on you tube from the Norwegian oil town of Stavanger - they played again April 18th, last week. I do not know the story behind the Carabao - to - Norway link, but apparently they play here every couple of years, skip jumping all the countries inbetween.

We had planned a boat trip on the fjord for the birthday - girl and the weather could not have been better.
We drove into Oslo harbour sufficiently early in advance to do a walkbout allong harbour - side, which is famous for all its restaurants.
It is a little bit like Boat Quay and Clark Quay in Singapore, retaurants, bars and financial companies feed off each other, one needs the other and help each others sustenance. Well, I sometimes suspect that the finance industry needs the bars more than the the way around on ocassion, albeith on a good day the bars presumably don't mind that finance people celebrate their successes with extravagant Champagne.

It's a fun place to walk about allong the quay- there are literally hundreds of people out and about in the mid day sun and the beers are avidly consumed by young men i T - shirts and sunglasses with muscles to go, the girls in thight jeans and some even in tight shorts with even posher sun glasses, not far behind in beer consumption. This is Norway.

No picures of the young people though but some from our strollabout:

Italian Ice Cream in Norway for a Thai

Art museaum by the Bars

Protected by a 800 year old fortress

Time is up for people - watching - we board the boat.

Buying tickets for smiling Thais

The stories "Three Men in Boat" and "Three Men in Norway" became "Four Thais in a Boat in Norway"

There are Americans, Koreans, French, Japanese, Chinese, Thais and an Australian family accross the isle from me, I seem to be the only Norwegian.

Temperatures are now approaching 20 Degrees from below and allong the coast line people are swamping the beaches.
Every year the major Newspapers carry a front picture of the first people to take a bath in the ocean and I am certain that in Tomorrow's papers the first bathers of the season is somewhere to be found amongst these crowds.

The guide onboard the Boat tells us that the water temperature is some where around 10 Degrees.

Incidentally, she also has checked up on the statistics about Norwegians and boats, she informs us that there are 1.5 Million registered boats in Norway on a population of 5 .5 Million. far more than number of cars on the road.
A nice piece of informastion to feed my youngest Thai niece with refferal to the previous post about Norwegians and sailing boats.

The trip lasts for about 2 hours, it turns out to be about an hour longer than the children can keep they eyes on the life at sea and off the iPads.

We dock and stroll back to the car, driving off to a restaurant in the vincinity of our house, a place which promotes itself on especially welcoming families with children.

The Children porder the only thing they find edible from a western/Norwegian menu, Pizza and Fries respectively.
Sister- in - Law surprises by asking for Spare Ribs with Corn and Friesask her if she knows this is pork, and she does. Together with the son they finish the whole plate, I would not have thought.

Upon return home I realized that no one had taken any pictures from the restaurant, despite all having smart phones. Maybe it was an indication that all had eaten heartily after the boat trip with fresh sea breeze.
We all turnred in earlier than on previous days so I chose to think so.

[Frank La Rue]

This morning it's back to school for our little son so we are all up and about in time for his cousins to come along and follow him on the way.
He does not mind, school for a six year old has structure and learning with considerable playtime inbetween.
Back in the house it's telecomms time for all, untill we walk down to village centre for windowshopping and buying what is needed for this afternoon's planned outing to a local beach by the fjord. The weather is really nice, I walk about in shorts and a T - shirt.

We pick up my son at school at head for the beach. Arriving, I put up the tent this time.

Base Camp

I do as our son asks me, he is used to having it up on all the outings we have undertaken in previous years together with his mum.
It does create sense of domain and feeling of having a Base Camp from which to explore the surrounding area.
Now it turns out a big hit with Sister - In - Law and the two daughters allike, it provides shelter against the sun and the threat of issan - brown Thai skin.

Base Camp Shelter from the Issan Sun

I have brought a cover for outdoor, spreading it out in front of the tent, and several beach chairs to to surround the BBQ grill and gas cooker for coffee making.
Kuhn Frank lectures on the virtues of Strenuous Outdoor Life from one of these beach chairs at Base Camp, enjoying the food, Coke and the Sun.

The appetite is such that I am asked to nip up to the local food shop and buy more hot dogs, which I do. Returning, I am told that we have forgotten to bring the Tin can opener, for the Lychee desert.

There are a couple of houses on the surrounding hills, I decide to go and ask for help:

Maybe some one has a can opener in that house?

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I climb the stairs with the tin cans of lychee in my hands. I trespass a locked, wodden gate and say a loud "Hello - is anybody home" in order to announce my precense in a hopefully non-intrusive way.

A black haired lady is seated with her back to me in an outdoors lounge at the far end of the garden, which stretches along the hillside.

With the two cans held up in the air to display my errand and request, I say "Excuse me - do you happen to have a Can - opener I can borrow?"

The lady gets up, turns and walks towards me.

She is Thai.

I repeat the request and she answers me in a mix of broken Norwegian and English.

I show her the Buddha on gold chain around my neck, my Thai, yellow, gold wedding ring and says, "My wife is Thai - with her family we are camping down on the field by the beach side - do you want to come and say hello?"

She can see our camp and apparently decides it is a credible story. Laughing and joking about the lychees on tin cans, she goes into the house, brings a can opener and comes after me along the stairs and footpath down from the hill and to our camp.

I left for an can opener and come back with a Thai lady.

Your husband came to my house. I am the lady with the can opener

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Introductions are done all around the tin cans become open.

Open can of Lychee

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Amused I reflect on this unforeseen visitor to our party and realize I have to play it right, afterall it was me who suggested she comes along to say hello.

I leave the women to talk and occupy myself away from Base Camp with my son who wants to go exploring everything there is along the cost line between water and land. Fauna, the beach sand, some stones to thow in the water making waves and what else 6 years olds like to do when exploring the oceanside doing their thing.

When I come back it turns our visitor is a bundle of charm and fun, now she is making everybody laugh by demonstrating the training she gets at a weekly course in Norwegian phonetics, how to pronounce various vowels and combinations of vowels/consonants common in Norwegian language but typically alien to languages with entirely other roots and origins.

The "R" and combinations thereof is up for demo and she makes us all laugh, whilst she also laughts heartily. I make some more pics of this funny ado.

Say Rrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

She has a four year old daugher in the nearby kindergarden which she has to fetch at four o'clokc so the party comes to a natural end.
I snap another pic or two with the storytelling on this board in mind, her female intuition at work, she walks over to my wife and cuddle her empathically, as if to pre emt any female tension. Maybe its all in my mind only, a wise move anyway.

[

Female grease at work?

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We pack up our gear after 3 hours at the beach.

I make sure I do not enquire about this lady afterwords. Whether they exchanged phone numbers, as Thai ladies abroad ofte do, I don't know. After all, these two lives 15 minutes drive from each other.

At home wife comes to me with a small crate made of paper. Inside there are 50 - 100 small paper rolls which she and sister have made. I am to pick six, corresponding to the number of digits in the weekly Lottery.
I pick and Saturday night we will know if we can pack up and move to thailand,laughing all the way to Thai Farmers bank.

[Gérard]

Thanks again for your entertaining story and nice pictures !
30 years ago, I wanted to visit your country in July-August, but after a car breakdown near Hamburg and continuous rain in Denmark, I had to drive back to France...

[Frank La Rue]

Thanks again for your entertaining story and nice pictures !
30 years ago, I wanted to visit your country in July-August, but after a car breakdown near Hamburg and continuous rain in Denmark, I had to drive back to France...

Well, coming by plane our Thai vistors could not turn around half way!
I am back at work so at a slower pace on the excursion front, however there are a couple of more outings documented to tell about if the pull is there.
Thanks for your encuragement

[Stargeezer]

Thanks for the great pictures Frank, I have never been to Norway, so the scenery pics are the best!
Sounds like you have to show that the laws in Norway for car occupants are a bit more strict
than in Thailand, 555. I had to do that the first time my Thai family came to Canada. When we got
pulled over by the police they all got pretty scared, but thankfully it was a warning for a burned out
tail light, and I didn't have to give the constable 400 baht to be on my way.
Looks like the Summer sunshine is much like it is in the Yukon in Canada.
Stargeezer

[Frank La Rue]

Thanks for the great pictures Frank, I have never been to Norway, so the scenery pics are the best!
Sounds like you have to show that the laws in Norway for car occupants are a bit more strict
than in Thailand, 555. I had to do that the first time my Thai family came to Canada. When we got
pulled over by the police they all got pretty scared, but thankfully it was a warning for a burned out
tail light, and I didn't have to give the constable 400 baht to be on my way.
Looks like the Summer sunshine is much like it is in the Yukon in Canada.
Stargeezer

Thanks, and now there is 25 degrees C outside, Yukon sunshine 24 hours a day. I have pictures from a few more family outings with our Thai family for stories to tell, if there is a pull from you, the readers.

.......and then there are the pics and the narative from departure day.

........and the Kanchanaburi tour Agency which wants to set up Scan-Thai tours. as Eek, the son and Managing Director of the family buddha factory gets continuous requests for tours to Norway, this time to be paid by him - not me, as was the case on the virgin excursion from Kanchanaburi to Norway.

A lot of fun and posterior developments.

Now the oldest son wants to come to Norway for International School and then onto Engineering studies in London. It is recognized a competitive advantage for Thais to study abroad, but then the Thai family has to sell land to finance the venture. Now. will they?

I don't know - but the A - levels he can do living with us - we are all learning about each other and oursleves here, formula 1 - style.

nNo one knows where this will end, appart for me. I will retire in Hua HIn