The View from Nongkhai

Part 29

Published

26 February 2006
 

Welcome to episode 29

In this edition I shall continue the trip Dott and I took to UK (very interesting for my friends  & family in UK), report on the inaugural music evenings at the Outback Bar (very interesting for Nongkhai residents), and introduce Michael & Marianne visiting from Denmark (very interesting for Michael & Marianne).

I am currently reading 'the extended phenotype', by Richard Dawkins. It is subtitled 'the long reach of the gene', and is by way of a sequel to his renowned book 'The Selfish Gene'. In a note at the beginning of the book, the author says "It doesn't matter if you never read anything else of mine, please at least read this." Although the book is essentially a work on evolutionary biology, Dawkins has many wry comments throughout the book. Here is one of my favourites, concerning a student brought up as a religious fundamentalist who did not believe in evolution. He believed in adaptations, but thought they were designed by God, designed for the benefit of ..... ah, but that is just the problem. What is beneficial to one entity in the hierarchy of life is harmful to another, and creationism gives us no grounds for supposing that one entity's welfare will be preferred to another's.

Dawkins continues, "In passing the fundamentalist student might pause to wonder at a God who goes to great trouble to provide predators with beautiful adaptations to catch prey, while with the other hand giving prey beautiful adaptations to thwart them. Perhaps God enjoys the spectator sport."
 

Comments on episode 28

From Not Gay Dave (right) via email"

Never got a chance to say good bye. Take care and all the best to Dott.

Ps who told you I am selling bike  NO WAY I LOVE IT

From Ken (left) "The hatchet that Paul was burying (in Glen's head) in the last episode wasn't very clear, you should include a picture of it!"

(Happy to oblige Ken, see right, btw the green fruit is a lime).
 

Visit to UK (contd)

Left, Dott's first snowman. I think that it could be a long time before she sees her second!

Right Dott's impression of snow was "it is soft, not like I expected." Overall Dott loved the views of England wherever we travelled.

In episode 28 I paused the tale of our visit to UK in Brighton on Sunday 11th December. Chris, Gemma, Dott and I were reunited at Mike and Sue's house, and we left for Bury St. Edmunds at 2 p.m.

The journey should have taken about two and a half hours, but Chris needed to do some shopping, so by driving at three figure speeds for most of the journey, (UK limit is 70 mph) we were at the Tesco supermarket in Bury St Edmunds at 3.45 p.m., just before they closed! Shopping completed, we headed for Gemma's parents' cottage in the beautiful Suffolk village of Lavenham, where Chris & Gemma (right) were hosting a Mexican themed party for family and friends. We were joined by my daughter Jacq and her daughters Anisa and Chandi, and by Chris's house mate Steve. We all worked together to get the food ready. My contribution was a not too lumpy guacamole.

 

Above left Jacq with daughter Chandi asleep and small 'bump' due in May. Centre, Pete in thoughtful mode, possibly thinking about Nice Fuels and 'bio-diesel' (for more on this 'green' fuel enterprise, see Part 19 ), while right Steve demonstrating how to talk and eat at the same time.

Far left, Pete and Clare compete for the 'biggest belly' prize, while left Muzz lays on hands in an attempt to divine whether Clare's somewhat larger 'bump' would be a boy or a girl. (See Part 3 for a similar story).

I can't remember what Muzz decided, but the correct answer is that Pete and Clare's first child is a boy, Luke, born in January. Best wishes to Pete, Clare and Luke.

Right Dott cuddles up with my granddaughters, Chandi centre and Anisa right. Technically they are her granddaughters too, but Dott doesn't want them calling her Grandma. I can't understand that, I am happy to be called Granddad by them.

That night, and for the following two nights Dott and I stayed in Chris's house in Bury St. Edmunds while Chris stayed with Gemma. On Wednesday Chris and Muzz were due to fly to Cuba for a month, so Dott and I went with them to the airport.

As Chris had no need of the car while he was away, we had arranged that I would go with him to the airport, and meet him on his return. Dott poses here next to Chris's car. Sadly not the Aston Martin Vantage, but the red Escort behind, still with the All ATB number plate from when it was mine. The car is now more than 10 years old, and has exceeded 175,000 miles, so I imagine that the number plate is more valuable than the car.

After our farewells at Heathrow to Chris and Muzz, Dott and I headed back to my parents at Hatfield for a couple of days before heading off to Canterbury in Kent on Friday in All ATB.
Second weekend

Right, Canterbury cathedral at night, complete with illuminated Xmas tree. We arrived early and had time for a little shopping, so while Dott bought Linda some hyacinths, I bought Mark a bottle of Château Latour.

Well I wish it had been Latour, but sadly it is beyond my means. Instead it was a candle, cleverly crafted to look like a bottle of Château Latour. Looking at the picture below, would you be able to tell the difference?
 

Dott and I had brought 'Thai-style' outfits for Rachel and Emma, for which they duly posed, looking very sophisticated. Once more we had a delicious meal with Mark and Linda. The first course was foie gras de canard, which I found excellent. Dott had never eaten it before, and her first comment was, 'this smells the same as Doughnut's tinned dog food.' Not quite the thing to say perhaps, but as she ate it all, it does make me wonder why Doughnut seems to need quite so many tins of dog food. Once again my thanks to Mark and Linda for the food and hospitality. I hope that one day we can offer you the same in Thailand. Saturday dawned bright but very cold when we headed towards the north east tip of Kent and Broadstairs. There we rendezvoused with Dan. Below left and centre, Mark and Linda looking relaxed, while right Dott and Dan dressed for the cold at Broadstairs.

 

Dan's bachelor bungalow in Broadstairs is a stark contrast to the comfortable family homes we had stayed in previously. To be fair to Dan it is a short-term rental, and he will be moving again soon, so he hadn't bothered unpacking more than one mug, one plate, one knife and fork etc. Mealtimes were preceded by a search through various boxes looking for some missing utensil or another, and we never did find a third glass for the wine, so Dott and I always shared. Not only was it very cold, but there was a biting wind too. Dan was worried that Dott was going to freeze to death, so very decently left the central heating on all night, much to his own discomfort. As with the previous Sunday, the day was sunny and bright, and Dan took us on a tour of Broadstairs. Below left, wind driven waves breaking in spectacular fashion against the harbour wall, centre, a group of people attempting to surf, (were they mad) and below right, Dan and Dott warm their feet on the radiator, this being Dan's preferred sitting position in winter.

 

to be continued next episode......

but before leaving my friend Dan in his chilly bungalow in Broadstairs, I include this picture of Wan, who I bumped into on a recent trip to Bangkok. Wan was telling me that she regards Dan with affection as an older brother. So that's one more sister you've got Dan!

I had travelled to Bangkok by overnight train, and had met a delightful Swiss couple Markus and Lea (below left) on the journey. They are both nurses, and both enjoy rock/mountain climbing. Just as well they enjoy climbing as they both had top bunks on the train.

While I was in Bangkok, I was able to meet up with Gemma, just returned from a skiing holiday in Andorra with Chris. We went out to an Italian restaurant, where this photo was taken, catching me in uncharacteristic pose with a glass of red wine.
 

Arrogance

"The best leaders inspire by example. when that's not an option, brute intimidation works pretty well ,too."

 
 

Friday Music Evenings at The Outback

Yes, Friday night is music night at the Outback, alternating between a country evening and a rock'n'roll evening. Here is Glen imitating a cool country dude, complete with Marlborough and Stetson. Even if you aren't so keen on country music, you will probably enjoy the FREE BARBECUE. So far Glen and Ken have held two such evenings, both with a country theme, and they have proved very popular. Next Friday (4th March) will be a rock'n'roll night. See you there, y'all!

While in the Outback, my eye was caught by the two pictures of the King above right. Turns out that Giulio has at some time rung the bell in the Outback, evidently at a time there were no other customers, as the cost of his round was just 200 baht. So the inscription reads "Giulio's bell ring - Just toooo much money to spend!" I think we can count that as an example of Australian wit.

Below left, repeat visitors from the UK are Denis and Derek with Dott, Pranom and Dee, while sitting opposite is first time visitor Tracy showing a lot of leg. Below right Ranger, who is now working for the better English language paper in Bangkok, (i.e. The Nation), was visiting Nongkhai with his girlfriend Ghai, while centre, Part 22 beer thief Dake was in Nongkhai on a visa run.

 

Nongkhai Birthday

A year ago in Part 15  I reported on Nong's 40th birthday. It turned out that she wasn't 40, not even 39, so this year on Valentine's day we were again celebrating her birthday, but now we know that it was her 39th. A small group of friends and family assembled as Derrick's guests for a very tasty meal at an open-air floating restaurant on the Mekhong. Below left, our hosts Derrick and Nong, centre Virginia and Harry (sorry Don), and right Dott with Leo and Win.
     

Michael and Marianne Riecke

From time to time my close friend Kim has friends from Denmark to visit, and I have been privileged to meet them all. Left are Marianne and Michael who were neighbours of Kim in Denmark for some time. Apparently Marianne has been reading this ezine a while. She has especially enjoyed the jokes at Kim's expense, and wanted to meet me. I hope that she wasn't too disappointed. From my point of view I am always flattered to meet regular readers, who enjoy my efforts. I have to thank Marianne & Michael for two splendid evenings in their company. Below left their daughter Lærke with Kim's wife Ou demonstrate different techniques with chopsticks, while their son Casper and Kim show other styles. Interesting how the children hold the chopsticks much closer to the pointy end. Personally I find it easiest to have one in each hand and just spear the food, but that can lead to a big mess with some dishes. Marianne (with Casper's friend Josephine in the background) was very taken by the baby elephant, and wanted to take it back to Denmark. Sorry Marianne it was just too big for the suitcase.

Ou and Lærke

Casper and Kim

 

Marianne, Josephine & baby elephant
   

Hooray I am soon going to be very very rich!
Via Skype I received the following:-

Good day,


I am Mr. Pascal Dufrasne, Branch Manager of BNP Paribas Singapore, Private Bank, 20 Collyer Quay Tung Centre Singapore 049319. I have a  proposition for you.
An american Oil consultant/contractor with the Singapore Solid Minerals Corporation, {Mr.Glenn . B. Hatleberg} made a numbered time (Fixed) Deposit for twelve calendar months, valued at US$15,750,000.00 (Fifteen Million, Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars) in my branch. Upon maturity, I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address $but got no reply. After a month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his contract employers, the Singapore Solid Minerals Corporation that  Mr.Glenn . B. Hatleberg died in a plane crash along with his wife, Barbara Hatleberg in febuary 2001, http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/02/01/alaska.airlines.list/. On further investigation, I found out that he died without making a WILL, and all attempts to trace his next of kin have been fruitless as Mr.Glenn . B. Hatleberg did not declare any kin or relations in all his  official documents, including his Bank Deposit paper work in my Bank.
  
This sum of US$15,750,000.00 is still sitting in my Bank and the interest is being rolled over with the principal sum at the end of each year. No one will ever come forward to claim it. According to Laws of Singapore, at the expiration of 6 (Six) years which is this year, the money will revert to the ownership of the Government if nobody applies to claim the fund. Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand in as the next of kin to Mr.Glenn . B. Hatleberg so that the fruits of this old man's labor will not get into the hands of some corrupt government officials. This is simple, I will like you to provide immediately your full names and address so that the attorney will prepare the necessary documents and affidavits that will put you in place as the next of kin.
  
We shall employ the services of an attorney for drafting and notarization of the WILL and to obtain the necessary documents in your favor for the transfer. A bank account in any part of the world that you will provide will then facilitate the transfer of this money to you as the beneficiary/next of kin. The money will be paid into your account for us to share in the ratio of 70% for me and 30% for you. There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for this transaction will be done by the attorney and my position as the Branch Manager guarantees the successful execution of this transaction. If you are interested, please reply immediately via the private email address below. Upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details and relevant documents to prove the authenticity and this will help you understand the  transaction more. Please send me your confidential telephone and fax numbers for easy communication. Please observe utmost confidentiality, and be rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us because I shall require your assistance to invest my share in your country,
reply me via E-mail Address: pascaldu200@yahoo
Best regards
Mr. Pascal Dufrasne
I replied

Good day Mr Dufrasne, 

Thank you for your communication.  
I am very interested in your offer. It happens that I travel to Indonesia later this month, and stopover in Singapore to change planes. 
I think that we should meet to discuss your proposal further. 
Can you come to the airport, or shall I come to the bank? 
Best regards Tony Brading

To be continued......
 

I finish with a picture of myself with Kim's wife Ou. Kim might be surprised to see this photo of me with his wife in her new salon, and some people might wonder why I bother to get my nails manicured, but ask yourself how else can you legitimately sit and hold hands with an attractive married woman and not arouse any suspicion in her husband. Thanks for the tip Marianne, you were right, Kim wasn't in the least bit suspicious.
   

OK that's enough for this episode. Apologies to my friends and family in the UK not yet mentioned, but in the next episode I will continue the tale of our trip to UK. Plus anything else that I think might amuse or interest you.

If you want to write to us, but you don't know any of our other email addresses, you can email us at mail@nongkhai.co.uk 

Best Wishes to all our readers 

Tony and Dott 

P.S. Doughnut says 'Woofs to all readers' and special kisses to Kim.

P.P.S. You might want to check out how often Tony gets his nails done!          

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