More successful House materials shopping

Wow, things happen fast here. I got my sweeping done by 6:30 am and had my cereal with a fresh sweet banana on top. Everything tastes better when you grow it yourself. Phai's oldest son came about 7:00 am and started working and at 8:00 am the truck with the roofing material arrived. It took two guys 1½ hours to unload it because they could only carry two sheets at a time through the restaurant and stack them by the new house. Ning counted every piece including all the brackets before she signed the receipt. Phai is off with her sister looking at some property her younger sister, who is in Florida, wants to buy. It is about an acre and she is buying it as an investment. Property here is escalating nicely in value.

Many people still think of Thailand as "Third World" or a "poor Country" but in fact much has changed. In fact I see a country here headed in the right direction unlike what I see in the U.S.

Here are some interesting stats about the Thai economy:

  • Thailand is the second largest economy in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia.
  • With regards to social and development indicators, Thailand is recognized by the World Bank as “one of the great development success stories”.
  • Within 22 years, the percentage of the population living below the national poverty line decreased dramatically from 65.26% in 1988 to 13.15% in 2011.
  • As of the first quarter of the year 2013, its unemployment rate is 0.7 percent, making Thailand the country with the fourth lowest unemployment rate in the world after Cambodia, Monaco and Qatar.
  • The headline inflation rate as of the first quarter of 2013 remains controllable at 3.09% with the policy interest rate of 2.75%.
  • The 2013 ROSC, a formal assessment of the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, confirms that Thailand has emerged as a regional leader in corporate governance with a relatively comprehensive framework and has achieved high levels of compliance in a number of key areas. Annual reports from Thai companies not only have complete financial statements, but a range of other information often not found in other countries, like details on the compensation of individual board members and the CEO and statements on risk and risk management that go beyond standard “corporate boilerplate”. Information on companies is readily available in English and Thai from a range of sources. Similarly, Thailand has a both a strong legal and regulatory framework for investor protection and a robust culture of board professionalism, with boards of listed companies embracing many of the best practices found in the most developed economies.


Yes, Thailand has come a long way from the country it was when I was here in 1969. Most of it positive. The downside is that due to Western influence the diets of city dwellers have changed and obesity is on the rise. With more fast food restaurants come dietary challenges. The good news is most Thais still prefer Thai food. If you think McDonalds and Burger King are "fast food" you have not eaten thai street food. There are food vendors everywhere on the streets of Bangkok and they can whip up delicious food faster than any McDonalds I have ever visited. It is safe, delicious and costs far less than Western fast food restaurants where prices are very close to the same as in the States.

After soup for lunch we headed into Nong Bua Lamphu. Our son in law took us to a store that sells nothing but tile. I had more choices than I could imagine and after much discussion Phai and I decided on our floor tile and tile for the bathroom. They will deliver all the tile and the total cost for the tile and all the other supplies needed was less than $550. Then we went to another business that specialized in doors and bought 2 nice wood outside doors and a fiberglass door that looks like wood for the bathroom along with all the hardware to install them for less than $300. I did a quick comparison of Lowe's web site and I guarantee it would have cost far more in the U.S.

Got back to the restaurant at 4:30 pm and had soup for dinner. I wonder why I am losing weight? Anyway, they accomplished a lot on the house today. More cinderblock up, we have decided to put heavy duty rain gutters all the way around so they are prepping for those to be installed before putting the roof on. They started framing in the windows. We did make the decision that only the bedroom will be air conditioned. It saves a lot of money and makes construction much easier. I am fine with that, especially now that cooler weather is here. During the hot spells I can escape to my nice air-conditioned bedroom and be happy. 

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This is where the cinder blocks were piled. Phai is putting plants and flowers in their place. The sign says parking for the restaurant this way.

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The truck with our roof arrives and gets as close as possible to the new house.

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All the components for our roof arrived at 8:00 am. It took them 1½ hours to unload.

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Our roof will be very blue. I wanted a deeper shade of blue but it was unavailable. This is interesting because the color changes based on the light. 

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The house is really taking shape.

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Our tile for the house floor (wood look) and the bathroom.

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Just a portion of the tile samples.

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On the way home we  followed this "school bus". I don't think they would allow this in the U.S. They rode at least 5 miles like this. 



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