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…