Malc's Writer's Retreat

Due to donating our upper farm land to our local temple for a chedi, we needed to build a new bungalow to house workers during inclement weather and... well, I needed a "writer's retreat", so here are some pics of my new local hangout, on the upper portion of our largest rice farm:

New Hong Nam !!!

Hong Nam is Thai for bathroom. We have completed our remodel here in the Thai countryside. After toughing it out for a half a year, living like a Khon Thai, we decided on a better way... I found out that my decades-long dream of a 3-speed toilet is now a reality and worked the math to discover it is actually better than throwing buckets full of water down a gravity-flow toilet. Duh... Nice to have a sink and hot water, too!

Image #1: Shot taken Fall of 2011, when Thip first moved in and got help from her brother Pawt in cleaning the place up... bathroom on left, closet/washing room right (where Pawt is) and kitchen further right (out of frame). Living room in foreground:

Images Following: The Makeover

So, Cuz Barry: if you guys make it to Thailand, you have no excuse NOT to visit us! Your throne awaits you!

Osric and Grandpa Malc

I had an amazing 5 minutes with my grandson recently. We were on a Skype call and it took him a while to focus in on the computer screen. He's probably seen TV or similar, but... this image talked back to him! He'd make a noise and I'd repeat it as close as I could get and this went on for about 5 minutes where I really felt we connected. Amazing, as he is in Paso Robles, California and I'm out in the Northeastern Thailand countryside...

His mom Diana caught the scene...

Thung Yai 4-6 + 1

The remainder of my travelog, pictures and video of the trek we took into Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Santuary, April 2012 is now complete and posted:

#4: http://the-isaan.blogspot.com/2012/07/thung-yai-4.html

#5: http://the-isaan.blogspot.com/2012/07/thung-yai-5.html

#6: http://the-isaan.blogspot.com/2012/07/thung-yai-6.html

Bonus music/video: http://the-isaan.blogspot.com/2012/08/thung-yai-music.html

Das Website

Das's district slightly changed in 2012. It is now District 37. His official California Assembly website is:

http://www.asmdc.org/members/a37/

If you haven't done so already, I recommend receiving updates from the site. It's a lot more convenient than checking in occasionally.

Here's a shot of Das and Johnnie with family in Europe, July 2012:

Thung Yai 3

THE ISAAN - Life in a Thai-Lao Village: Thung Yai 3

Opa 2

Part 2 of "RENE DIETS, WWII Prisoner of War"...

Opa 1

Das and Senyo's grandfather on their mother's side was Rene Diets of Ojai, California.

Rene and wife Mary, 2015

In 2010 and 2011, Das interviewed Opa ("grandfather") while I shot some video. The audio is low, so you'll need to boost it up a bit to hear accurately. This is the first of several:

Thung Yai 2

Part 2 of 4 videos I put together of video footage and stills:

Yep, that's my wife Thiphawan in the foreground...

Osric

OSRIC MIREU GAULT-WILLIAMS has arrived!

June 5, 2012, 9:14pm PST

Thung Yai 1

As many of you know,  this past April I was honored to accompany a Kamattan Buddhist pilgrimage into one of the most remote parts of Thailand, Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary. I will be sharing excerpts of my writings about the trip at:  http://the-isaan.blogspot.com/, but in the meantime, here's a sneak preview of some of the footage:

Boon Pakwet

In our village, the big party prior to this year's Thai New Year (Somkran) was Boon Pakwet. Here are some scenes from the two day party that included prayers for a bountiful rice harvest, money trees presented to us from neighboring villages, and a good deal of alcohol:

I wrote a bit about Boon Pakwet at:  http://the-isaan.blogspot.com/2012/05/boon-pakwet.html

Fishing The Klong

My first month retired in Thailand (March 2012), I joined the guys out at the klong. Here's some footage:

Osric's Coming!

Osric Mireu Gault-Williams is scheduled to arrive on or around June 11, 2012:

ISAAN, March 2012

Random scenes from my first month retired in Thailand: