The more interesting thing about the shopping expedition to Nong Khai in Thailand is what I wasn't able to find. Canned goods in particular - one basic thing in a cash-and-carry is trays of 12/24 cans of whatever but not here: tomatoes, mushrooms and peas, yes. But that was about it. And definitely no chickpeas which is what I most wanted!! Also no pitta bread (Alfred: You seriously expected a cash-and-carry to carry something as perishable as bread??) or decaffeinated coffee. In fact, decaffeinated coffee is something of a problem here - there is one available here in Laos and I found another in Tesco in Nong Khai but that's it (Alfred: Logical - if you don't want caffeine, don't drink coffee).
One thing I did buy and can't remember if I mentioned was a 5kg-sack of Asian Purple shallots, best shallots in the world. I bought a kilo the last time and they were wonderful. The unforeseen problem with a 5kg sack (Alfred: it may actually be 10 kg, it doesn't say. A big sack, a swing-it-over-your-shoulder-rather-than-pick-up-to-carry size of sack) is that - in this weather (did I mention rain and humidity before) they have already started sprouting. Anyone out there have a recipe calling for 5kg of shallots, please let me know ASAP.
RAIN RAIN RAIN!
I think I mentioned the rain in my last post but is it absolutely bucketing down here again, both outside and inside the house. Kitchen and sitting-room are awash (Alfred: Well, 'awash' is a bit strong but they will be in a few hours if this downpour keeps up) and there is a torrent of water sweeping down the hill outside our front gate. Unfortunately, about five minutes before all this started, Martine decided to go up the road to get dinner from the market (grilled chicken, sticky rice, papaya salad) and the familiar English phrase referring to saturated rodents was all too apt when she returned home.
The worry is that there are going to have to be extensive repairs to parts of the roof as well as the ceilings inside the house - we'll talk to the landlord tomorrow and see (Alfred: Ruairí actually videoed the water coming through the ceiling in case he didn't believe. Now that the ceiling looks like it is about to collapse into the sitting-room, I don't think willingness to believe is going to be a problem).
There is a festival in early October to celebrate the start of the dry season - seems a long way away.
PUNCTURES
Yeah, that has been the other dominant feature of the week. First Martine, then me, then me again!I got a puncture as I arrived at work Monday: luckily, one of my students drives a pick-up and lives near me and dropped me and the bike home. I fixed the puncture Tuesday morning and all was well but today (Wednesday), as I left the Japanese Embassy after my class, there was a sound like a rifle shot and my front tube deflated in three milliseconds. So a 45-minute walk to the bicycle shop where the owner pointed out that, not only was the tube shot to hell but the tyre had probably first seen service as a fender on the side of Noah's Ark and was due for replacement. The upside is that a new tyre plus tube plus labour comes to less than ten euro here.
COPING WITH HEAT
It's actually less hot at the moment than it was earlier in the year but for whatever reason - increased humidity, three weeks in Europe - we are struggling!! One interesting thing is the disparity between the actual heat and the perceived heat - '30C degrees, feels like 39C' is what it said on the BBC one day (Alfred: This has a familiar ring - did you write about this on a recent blog? I think you did. Move along now ......) I bought a lot of extra shirts while I was in Ireland, thank God - I went through four shirts one day. I also bought a few long-sleeved shirts on the basis you could roll up the sleeves. No. Does not work, I'll have to wait for November when the temperatures fall to a chilly 25C.
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