Spotted this bird down by the lake. It is a Magpie robin known in Thai as Nok Gan-ken Baan which translates as Roof cross bird.
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Andrew
End of Songkran
Songkran finished on a high with more people out celebrating than the day before. The only down side was that I got water in my camera which is now a right off.
Cattle Egret – Nok Yang Kwai
In the morning these can be seen around the lake but fly off as soon as you approach them. In Thai they are called Nok yang Kwai which translates as Water buffalo Heron.
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SongKran – Thai New Year
Songkran is upon us again with water being thrown over every passer by and dancing in the streets, It is also when the big parade takes place through the town with every Tambon represented. This year I opted not to take part – just watch.
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Thai Fishing
Went to number two Plantation to try out my Bike and also to have a look at what was going on. Tim has had people in pumping all the water out of the lake so she can collect all the fish to sell – Seems like a strange way of fishing to me .
I’m sure it can’t be economical along with the cost of the fish food.
The temperatures was 42 degrees so I wasn’t out long I just swung pass number one plantation on the way hope to make sure everything was OK.
Bike Repairs
After leaving the immigration department I went to the bike shop to get my bike repaired. They fitted a new from and rear chain set, new chain and new crank for 1,800 bahts. My Bike is now as good as new. However whilst I was there I looked around the bikes he had in stock. He had a few with alarger frame and disk brakes so I might make a new purchase next moth – especially since he has reduced the pricess since the last time I bought mine there.
New Visa
Armed with my new Visa I went to the Thai immigration department in Udon to renew my retirement visa for another 12 months. When I said that my passport had been issued in Hong kong there was pandemonium and they insisted I get a passport from Bangkok. I repeatedly explained that the Embassy in Bangkok no longer issued passports – only Hong Kong. Eventually the senior immigration official rang Bangkok and was able to confirm what I was telling them. However he stipulated there should also have been an accompanying letter with my passport stamped by the embassy confirming the cancellation of my old passport and the issuing of the new one. This was obviously something that the embassy in Bangkok used to provide but Hong kong had failed to do. Fortunately( for me ) on this occasion they waived this letter and then transferred my previous retirement visas into my new passport as well as issuing me a new one for the next 12 months.
There seems to have been a lack of communication between the UK embassy and the Thai immigration department about the new processes and the embassy in Hong kong is not following procedures used by the embassy in Bangkok. I assume these issues were presumably because I was one of the first people to have been issued with a new Hong Kong passport – Hopefully as word spreads the process will become easier.
New Passport
I sent of for a new passport, all UK passports for ex-pats living in South east Asia are now dealt with by the British embassy in Hong Kong. The web Site said that passports should be processed within 10 days ( a figure they have now revised upwards) and I knew my debit card had been debited after 7 days – but two weeks later my passport had failed to a arrive. After 3 calls to the helpline ( In Scotland) and 2 calls from the embassy in Hong Kong I was provided with the correct DHL tracking number. When I looked it up I saw that my passport had been sitting in Bangkok and had not been sent on. After calling them up they asked for my address again and said they would hand it over to a Third party for delivery. They gave me the telephone number of the third Party and Tim spoke to them and gave them our address again in Thai .They then delivered it within 2 days.
Clearly DHL don't have the infrastructure to deliver anything outside the Bangkok area and so sees a strange choice of courier to be used within Thailand. The Royal thai post would have been a better option in my opinion.