Last Monday and Tuesday we did the removal of Phatsamon her belongings from her apartment in Bangkok to Surin. A trip of about 450 km that both times took us a bit more than eight hours drive with the Kia truck. That's actually a long drive and the GPS said a bit more than five hours is 'normal' driving time (90 km/hrs is the regular speed limit in Thailand on highways). But... going to or coming from Bangkok that's never the truth. This capital with over 10 million of inhabitants drives me, driving a car or this time our truck, crazy. Many times 12 lanes and above another 6 so all together 18 lanes also makes the GPS suffer a lot. Even now during the virus problems the city and traffic is more than busy. And travelling in the evening or night seems to be a great idea but... roadwork everywhere. But finally we made it.
Dog Kadhow joined. The city is nothing for him. He did with us an overnight stay at Phatsamons apartment. He is fond of going with the truck. Sitting higher he likes the view but after over three hours sitting it became to much and he found himself a way to sleep between us on the bench.
Arriving at Surin, family members helped us to unload the truck. Yesterday and so far today we spend on fixing things together again at her moms house and our site.
The truck last Sunday was delivered back by the garage and has a new alternator. It worked out the electricity problem is solved. Still the truck seemed not really happy to make the trip, full loaded, back. Producing dark grey and black smoke climbing the hills.
Phatsamon deciced to stop working. Work at the moment in Thailand is hard. Over 8.3 million of unemployed workers because of the virus problems. She could not work for over three months because of lockdowns between provinces. On the other hand her work was getting harder and harder. So we decided working together here on our process gives much more fun and with that she 'earns' more than going on in Bangkok and having her regular costs of rent, travel, energy, etc..
She and we have other plans, look forward to it and we will see what it will bring in the future. She is happy to be close to her family here and with me (so am I).
Now the truck is driving again, yesterday we picked up 28 bags of special gravel for the Labyrinth path to make. We also have to give our sewage system a check up. Possibly because of moving the old tree, months ago, one of the pipes is damaged because of the weight of the big truck of the company that carried the tree.
So, we can go on with our activities now although many depends on the weather. This afternoon I stated with the special gravel. I only can work with it after around 4 pm because of the temperatures. It is a special mixture of very small gravel and special white cement (epoxy?). I can mix one or more bags on a time but need to finish the work with the material within two hours. The cement under layer (concrete base) need to be 'moist' for about 24 hours before pouring the mortar.
The whole labyrinth is grounded at several places (the wind rose) and also the two layer wire mesh has ground pins. The center got a copper ground pin of nearly 2 meters with a copper round wire connection ( a kind of antenna) to be sure of connection with the earth.
Some info about Surin (thanks to Wikipedia): Surin is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces and lies in lower northeastern Thailand also called Isan. To the south it borders Cambodia. Surin, with a population of 1.4 million people, covers a total area of 8,124 km2 from the Mun River in the north to the Dangrek Mountains in the south. The capital is Surin City with a population of around fifty thousand.
Elephant province: Approximately 25 percent of all the elephants in the kingdom are raised in Surin, predominantly by the ethnic Kuy people. Elephants and scenery are increasingly seen as potentially lucrative by the provincial government which has attempted to make Surin a popular destination for international ecotourism. Domestically, Surin has a reputation for its fine silk and silver beaded ornaments produced in tourist-focused villages such as Khwao Sinaring Handicraft Village.
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