Thailand 2023 Third Report February 26, 202, I think in all the years I have been coming here, I have not come in the classic high season period of time. November to February. I am glad I did not. There are massive amounts of people here. I hear many, many different languages as I walk around. Tonight, I went to Central Festival (one of their largest and most popular shopping buildings) to get more cash from an ATM at a bank that I trust. While there, I ate in their food court. The food court has drastically expanded and also has more of a selection of vegetarian food. I actually saw a vegy burger. Wonderful. I thought I picked out a soup that did not have meat and told them so. The finished product may have not been pure. The prices are very good. For a large bowl of soup with various ingredients, a slice of vegy pizza and a iced latte coffee came to a total of 6 dollars. That is correct, six dollars. I could barely move for the amount of people there. Packed. Monday, February 27 Played bridge with Jean, results read Hugh Waliford. French speaker and we did not communicate well. I did bid and make 6 no-trump. Wonderful. Otherwise, we were last with 34 %. The last hand I bid incorrectly otherwise I thought I bid OK. I will be surprised if he wants to play with me again. I figured out the problem with my cell phone, I should have switched to cellular. Otherwise, works fine. Golf tomorrow. Tuesday, February 28 Today was golf with the Witherspoon group. We played Mountain Shadow. My caddy was very nice. When they discover my age they try to physically escort me around the course. I discourage that however they do a very nice job of getting me close to my ball to hit it without walking long distances. I got to play with two very nice people, Willie and Gary. Gary is from England, Liverpool and now lives in Scotland for the last 26 years. Willie is a Japanese American with Substantial success in life and a very successful family. His most recent activity was farming in California. His Grandmother just missed the nuclear bomb in Hiroshima when she stayed home sick from school. We had lengthy chats driving to the golf course. He described the success of each family member. It was fun to listen to him. The golf course was very well kept up and was fun to play. In my trips to Thailand, I had repeatedly played it. I struggled initially and started to play well on the back nine. My latest efforts are directed to always hit the ball straight at the target. I mostly was successful when I am able to hit the ball which I struggled with the first part of the game today. Over 9,000 steps today. Back hurts. The herbicides on the golf course brought out my agent orange from Vietnam rash on my legs. I had protective special cream on and only partially worked.

Thailand 2023, Second Report February 23, one the biggest challenges on different zone travel is adjusting to the new time zone. Can be a significant challenge. Thailand is at least 14 time zones different then Texas. So, sleeping takes place at all times of the day because of exhaustion trying to function in a different time zone. The issue for me this year is feelings of significant hunger and then over eating. I was sick twice yesterday from eating too much food. Once after a very good breakfast from the hotel I am staying at and last night after dinner. Too much good food. Yesterday I used the Drug Store Boots (highly recommended in Thailand) at Central Festival shopping center to get some medication that Kaiser (medical group in California) used to give me for trips and the VA does not provide now. It is an antibiotic for extreme stomach sickness for eating in foreign countries where the water is not safe to drink. On further research on the web, the VA medication does the same thing per tests. I am still glad I got it. I used the ride service Bolt (same as lyft) in the U.S.A. It was terrific. The car was a new toyota truck and the driver was very careful. The AP is easy to use and the ride was at the hotel very quickly. Price was Thailand reasonable. Bridge today with the local group which has people in it I have known for years. A variety of personalities shows up to play bridge and I am subject to be assigned to play with any one of them. Challenges in the past was playing with an Englishmen who used the popular system used in England that is radically different from Standard American and an Indian, from India who used what knows system. The Indian person was a retired boat Captain who played bridge over 5 days a week in India. My rooms sliding balcony door sliding door does not lock and I complained to the office yesterday. I also dumped a large of laundry off at a local laundry. Usually very reasonably priced compared to hotel prices. Friday, Played bridge with the local bridge group. Sorry to see so many long timers significantly disabled. John who was in Vietnam with the Australian Army has has a substantial amount of his lower body removed do to cancer. He was in the hospital for months in Australia where their Australian VA picked up the tab because he had been in combat in Vietnam. He was very slim and yet is still playing golf many times during the week and playing duplicate bridge three times a week. Very nice person. I took the ride service Bolt to get to the bridge place. It was good. On the way back, I could not get a car and went with a motorcycle taxi. My first since back here on this trip. Exciting. I had one of the most unusual bridge experiences in my life today. I played with Andrew from Australia, Sidney. He was reported to be one of their best players. We were to play one of the last three tables and he left the bridge area. Someone went after him and he told them, he would not return. He was making some mistakes and yet we were still getting along. He apologized and I told him to forget it that I was here for fun only. I had brushed my teeth before coming to bridge and have no idea why he left. Upsetting. We ended up 4th of 10 pairs. Good for a new partnership. Had a terrific massage then went to bed. Saturday, busy administration day. Did more then I expected, quicker. Went to BJs to try to sign up to play golf with them on Tuesday. All filled up, no vacancies. I also called BJ himself. His back hurts and he was up in his residence. He said he is in too much pain to play golf and also his group is also filled up for Tuesday. Wow, did not expect this. So need to revise my plan. Went to the Sportsman’s club office to see if they could enter my home golf cards so I could post my scores on my local course in Texas on their system on Pattaya. They took the cards an said they would work on it. I then went to Witherspoons on soy Buakhao and made reservations to play with them on Tuesday and Thursday of next week. I paid for the transport. It is a noncompetition group which is fine. They do play later in the day when it is even hotter. I will take a cart so hopefully I will not get heat exhaustion. Paul the coordinator is always very nice to talk to and we chatted for a while. I then took a baht bus to the Tukcom IT center to try to sell or trade my old iPhone 4. The best I could do was 500 baht and after trying to separate vendors, I took it. Equivalent to 15 dollars U.S.. I shopped at Tops grocer store got some basics before taking a motorcycle taxi to Soi Diana to my favorite Subway. Still doing good. Also tried to see if old Australian, Jewish friend from Hotel Metropole was still hanging out in the lobby as he used to years ago. He was not there. Went to drug store to get electrolyte and back to the room. Many of these trips would have taken 1/4 of the day. The Bolt transport system really makes it easy to get a car cheaply and safely transported to a location. In all my travels today, I lost my hearing aid batteries. The drug stores do not sell them like in the States. So I called all the places where I could have dropped them and so far and no results. I visited a lot of places. Also, I went to the highest end drug store. I was referred to a place in Northern Pattaya that should have sold them and they did not have them. A motorcycle taxi to a place that sold them and they are not open until Monday. I will have time to visit them before bridge on Monday. So is the life of a 78 year old.

Linda decorated for Valentines day two Icecycle type decorations I made. Also, the box is one I made from sour wood. The beads are a work in progress. I turned 9 of them and have 27 left to do.

Gary's Vietnam Battle Story 1967

In 1967, I participated in a large battle in Vietnam. I decided to describe this baattle recently in a video. It took three attempts to produce this vide because in the first two I became too emotional, crying, to want to share them with anyone. My wife of 54 years reports that I had not previously told her about this battle in Vietnam. https://youtu.be/CDqGDTh-9EE

This box is made from Sour Wood. The dust from it actually smells sour while I was turning it. Gary

Newly turned bud vase. I have been looking to find a place for this long glass tube for a long time. it does extend past the top of the vase and I think that this OK. Pecan wood. Gary

Tried a new technique with these bowls that did not work out well. I tried to do them in mass a step at a time. This resulted in excessive cracking. Also, had the chuck inside the back of the bowls while turning the front. This resulte in one bowl with a large separation which I repaired and yet does not look good. So, I like trying new wood turning techniques and will go back to proven success actions for bowls. Three of the bowls are going to the thrift shop. Gary