Market Friday: visiting my neighbour who came back from America.

The afternoon was much cooler in winter which made cycling very pleasant. As I was cycling past the biggest house along the dirt road, I heard a familiar voice shouting at me. I turned around and saw a familiar figure of the lady owner of the house standing on the balcony of her house. She asked me to wait as she would like to talk to me. I was puzzled by her request as she never asked me to stop by her house before. So, I was curious why she wanted to talk to me.

Her gardener was about to leave the house after her full day work. I waited a few minutes for the lady to come to the front gate. She had just come back from her home in America two days ago. She was married to an American engineer with two children. In her old age, she wanted to retire back home in Thailand. So, she had built a very nice and grand house for her family. Her favourite hobby was gardening so her gardens in America and Nongkhai have been her main occupation. She would be willing to pay for expensive and rare trees for her garden. The money she spent on her garden could easily build a house with four rooms!

She looked thinner but healthy with clearer skin. This lady liked to tell me about her expenses and how she got ripped off by the construction team and landscapers. I was curious what she so wanted to talk to me about. But I was disappointed as she had nothing dramatic or exciting to tell me. The only health problem was her liver had too much fat and the doctor warned her to change her diets. So, she was on special diet for thrre months which resulted in her doctor being very surprised by her healthy liver.

So, I now realised that broccoli was very good for cleansing liver. The lady showed me around her garden, pointing out two expensive trees she just bought. I could take photos of her orchids and garden as much as I would like. Her orchids seemed to like growing on mango trees and moke trees. The dwarf orchids just looked after themselves and expanded profusely. I requested some overgrown orchid shoots for sticking them to my moke and mango trees.

She just needed someone to listen to her health problem and the progress she did to her garden. I quite liked listening to all her stories as I could always learn something new and I liked to know how rich and successful people’ s minds operate. Being a housewife, she just looked after the house and spend money to upkeep the house and garden. I couldn’t help thinking if she knew about bitcoins and blockchain, she could have more extra money to beautify her garden and add more expensive trees.

As her husband was a high level management in a blue chip company, the flow of income has been abundant. How I wish I could get a part time job working in her garden! But this would never work as I wasn’t trained in gardening. Being over qualified for practical work, it’s very difficult to earn some income in far flung countryside. Had I been a famous palm reader or astrologer, I could have made lots of money as local people were naturally superstitious.

My neighbour consulted me on her various building projects. She wanted to build a small house in the corner for her live-in maid. The maid house would look much nicer than my house. Then, she asked me whether she should have her driveway beautifully tiled. I told her the cost would be too high, more than doubling her estimates. She’s so lucky that money was never the problem in making improvements to her house. It was as if her money grew on trees!

Her sister lived in the old Thai style house next door. She married a Thai engineer who was successful in his career and they were quite wealthy too. But the American dollars could exchange for more Thai bahts; so the other couples were much wealthier than the local couples. It’s interesting to observe the difference in attitudes and lifestyles between the two sisters’ families. Fortunately, these people were kind and practicing Buddhists. Their down to earth approach to life and death was very practical and healthy. Despite their wealth, they were not possessive of their material stuff and would donate to charity often.

I am very lucky to have very nice and friendly neighbours along the dirt road. They both like cats and gardening. So, one of my orange cats had migrated to the Thai house. The grander house kept offering me small pot plants which I had to decline as there’s no space for pot plants in my garden. So, small orchid shoots were gladly accepted as they could be placed on small branches. I have no ideas what drastic events would take place next year, but I hope that life would continue to be simple and boring in the countryside. It’s better to have secured and safe surroundings with slow changes and sustainable ways of life towards years of retirement.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.

#marketfriday created by @dswigle