"Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive"

This week, it has become increasingly obvious that winter is long gone & the build up to the hot season (which locals aptly call 'summer' even though it's during the Northern Hemisphere winter/spring) has begun. We haven't yet broken the 40c barrier yet but we will. The Chiang Mai weather office is predicting an extra hot, extra dry summer for northern Thailand & I doubt if things will be much different here in the Centre/South. I can't recall when we last had rain worth mentioning & although some clouds do occasionally venture into the sky overhead, they have yet to drop anything!

Personally speaking, I have heard that two friends, both living in Australia, are planning to pop over & visit me here in Hua Hin. When we first moved here, I was expecting a veritable convoy of people to pop over & visit us, rather like the much-missed John Thaw's character in 'A Year in Provence'. I realise that Hua Hin isn't as accessible as southern France but I thought the chance of a hotel-free holiday on the Thai coast would attract a few friends. However, our 'absent friends' in Tokyo, London & elsewhere seem to lack a taste for new horizons & so apart from a few of my wife's former colleagues (a charming bunch of Japanese ladies who visited Hua Hin for just a few days), our spare room remains remarkably under-utilised.

The first of our expected visitors who are planning to boldly go where so few others have ventured before has, like me, a Japanese wife, & as they are planning to visit during the aforementioned hot season, we might spend more time chatting in the shade than visiting the beach or temples. The other guy spent over 20 years in the Aussie Army, including a spell in Somalia, so whenever he comes, I doubt if the weather will bother him much!

Anyway, unless a visitor is a rugby nut like me, they might find life here a little dull, as I am glued to my TV each weekend, thanks to the ongoing Super 14 & the 6 Nations. The time difference does mean that I'm getting a few late nights -- I went to bed at 3am after watching the Irish thrash England! However, the lack of sleep & resulting hangover were well worth it. To paraphrase the poet, "Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive, But to see the Irish triumph in the warmth of a Thai summer was very heaven."

Looking back on a great weekend . . .

As we approach the next weekend, I can't help recalling last weekend -- & I doubt if it'll be matched! A quick glimpse of Burma, lunch by the beach & then some great live rugby. That's a hard act to follow, right?

Last Saturday (the 10th), I travelled a little closer to Burma that I usually care to. Officially, foreigners can't cross over into 'Myanmar' but the border is less than 60km from my home & if you don't mind using some rather rough mountain paths, is also pretty porous. I have been told that it's easy to cross without knowing, according to some trekkers & motorcyclists. I'd rather not find out.

Anyway, why did I go anywhere near that thoroughly unpleasant, unhappy land? Well, I had been invited to take a look at a new development located on the western side of the mountains that form a backdrop to Hua Hin. Part of the AKA Resort development, this part was very scenic indeed. There are some lovely verdant plains beyond those dusty mountains, stretching off towards the Burmese frontier. Although we could see for a long way, there was barely any sign of life -- no sounds of traffic & very few dwellings. The lack of activity was partly due to the rather intense sunshine, which gave me a little sunburn before the day was over. However, it was worth it, as I enjoyed seeing the other side of the hills, & look forward to returning to that area soon & often.

We had lunch that day at Let's Sea hotel, on the edge of a patio right on the beach. It's a very nice restaurant, with attentive, English-speaking staff -- in fact, I'm taking 'her indoors' there for a Valentine's Day dinner tonight! Anyway, the Japanese visitors who were with us seemed amazed at how empty this long, sandy beach was -- & then I reminded them that this is still the peak season here! This part of the beach is about 4km from downtown & doubtless it was much more crowded around the Sofitel. However, Hua Hin never gets as crowded as some of those European or Florida beaches one sees on TV. Even after the tsunami, I'm willing to bet Phuket gets much more congested. That's one more reason I've only ever been there once -- for a short day trip -- & I have no plans to return.

My weekend ended in a very nice way when, at around 22:00, I watched the Ireland-France game, live from the hallowed turf of Croke Park, Dublin. Hitherto, there was no rugby at Croke Park. The Gaelic Athletic Association's rule 42 ensured that, as it was an English game, it could not be played there. This was partly because of the incident in 1920 when British forces fired into the crowd & killed 14 people, including spectators and players (an exaggerated version of this was shown in the film 'Michael Collins'). It was indeed a fine game, worth staying up for. Ireland got a try from the talented Ronan O'Gara, who also scored with 4 kicks. Indeed, Ireland seemed set for victory when O'Gara's fourth penalty in the 77th minute stretched Ireland's lead to four points (17-13), but France regathered the restart and sent Vincent Clerc through for the winning try. Final score was 17 - 20. As I like both teams, the result was fine for me, though it must have broken a few Irish hearts. I'm sure Guinness did well that night, though

Out of Africa -- or is it Thailand?

Now as it says in my profile, I grew up in Southern Africa, in the country now known as Zimbabwe, & although I miss Africa like a baby might miss its mother, the current situation in Zim (& also in SA, to a lesser extent) makes moving there as advisable as opening a pig farm in Jeddah! But life here in south-central Thailand is often surprisingly similar to life back home. It's not just the weather, as Thailand gets much warmer than Zim, but other things. For example, life is slow, & the locals don't seem to include 'urgent' or 'hurry' in their vocabulary. Prices are generally much lower than in Europe or (of course) Japan, & because it is more often sunny than not, we tend to spend plenty of time outdoors. The veranda of my house gets plenty of use, as does my BBQ. OK, we can't get the same food here (though I have heard it can be found in Bangkok), but we can get biltong (sometimes mistakenly called jerky) -- or Nua Sawan as its known here (Moo Dat Diew if you prefer pork). The Thai love of spicy food means there are many dishes similar to the Portuguese Peri-Peri. I even had some very fine fresh water prawns at a lakeside restaurant inside the huge Kaeng Krachan National Park that tasted very similar to the ones I once enjoyed in Beira -- 'Camarao Grelhado Piripiri' I think the Moz dish was called. Sadly, the rugby missionaries haven't been very active in Thailand, least of all outside of Bangkok, & the national love of football means the oval ball gets very little coverage on Thai TV. However, it is possible to get South African satellite TV here & so I shall be missing very little of the upcoming Super 14 or 6 Nations. Imagine: Sitting on the patio, a bowl of Moo Dat Diew on one side, an icy bottle of Chang (which is a very drinkable beer, & remarkably cheap, too!) on the other, & live rugby on the TV. Ah yes. I accept that this might not be as nice as life back on the ranch on which I grew up -- but it could certainly be worse…