Korat - Day 3 Part 1
September 9th, 2009Day three (Sunday) was another full day, this time with family members. First item on the agenda was to stop and pick up lunch before heading to Leo’s house. I was amazed at how he knows about all these little food shops scattered around the central area, each with its own specialty. I think we ended up making 4 separate stops to get everything Leo wanted. One shop for chicken, another for noodles, and so on.
At the last stop, Leo suggested I just wait in the car. He left the motor running and A/C on so I’d be comfortable. While waiting for him to return I watched a guy in a small pickup truck rear-end a Toyota like the one I was sitting in. The guy wasn’t moving very fast at all, so I was surprised at the damage it did to the Toyota. His truck, on the other hand, appeared to have made it through this incident without so much as a scratch. The man driving the truck got out first, with a predictable big smile on his face. The lady in the Toyota was not smiling, but no harsh words were spoken. They just pulled to the side and did whatever Thais do after an accident.
Leo soon returned, with yet another bag of food and we headed for his family home. Dad was at work, and younger brother just getting out of the shower when we arrived. Mom brought out some serving dishes and eating utensils and Leo dumped everything from the plastic bags on or into serving plates and bowls. For those that aren’t aware, food purchased for take out, at small family run restaurants, is almost always placed in small plastic bags and tied at the opening with a rubber band. Occasionally you will find places that put food in styrofoam boxes, but it’s extremely rare.
Leo’s home has plenty of room for a kitchen and dinning area, but the space is not used for them. The only thing that resembles a kitchen is a small refrigerator with a microwave on top. Everyone eats from the coffee table in the front living area. If a table and chairs are to be used, they’ll be set up outside, as was the case with the BBQ the night before.
After lunch we (Leo, Brother, Mom and I) drove over to his Aunt’s new 1.2 million baht home. The home is in a new housing development, one of many in this suburb of Korat. I was very impressed with what approximately 35 thousand dollars will buy. It is a very nice three bedroom, 2 bath, home. The property is completely surrounded by a stucco covered brick wall with gated driveway entrance. It has a nice covered front porch, huge living room, and separate rooms for kitchen and dining. The kitchen design looks more like a closed in patio, with lots of ventilation. This is typical in Thai homes as they do not air condition their cooking areas. The front living area has lots of big windows that open to let the breeze through. I must say it was quite comfortable inside. In fact, I noticed there was no air conditioning in the front rooms. I’m not sure if they have A/C in any of the bedrooms, but I didn’t notice any compressors when we walked around the exterior of the home. There were no screens on the windows, so I asked if mosquitoes were a problem and the Aunt said no.

Home Similar To The One I Looked At
Behind her home was a very large two story house, so big it needed a double lot to fit on. Leo told me it cost 2 million to build and was owned by a farang and his Thai wife. Lots in this housing development cost 100k ($3k), so if one wants a bigger home, or large yard, it’s very affordable. All the homes are made with stucco covered brick and have tiled floors and roofs, so there is very little that would need repair as they get older. I didn’t think to take any pictures, so the photo I’m using is just an example that looks very similar to the one I looked at.
After our short visit at the Aunt’s house, with a not so hidden agenda to get me excited about buying my own, we hopped back in the car for our next destination. I thought it was just going to be the four of us, but then Aunt and 12 year old cousin climbed into the small Toyota with us. Two full figured women and a couple of skinny boys made for a full back seat on this one hour trip to Bung Talau Lake. My fat ass was in the front passenger seat and Leo’s plump brother was driving, so there was just enough room for all with the 12 year old sitting on Mom’s lap.

Sneak Peek - Lake Resort
In my next post I’ll talk about the lake and resort we went to, and there will be a lot more photos.






















