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The luxury of a house in Thailand, a holiday home in Spain, a daughter with an estate (panorama photo just above) in Australia, and then also family and friends in the Netherlands, continues to consume a lot of energy, but it's fun!
There, a little to the left of center in the vast prairie, Minke and Laura are contemplating what to do with the dead Banksia serrata.
Lots of eucalyptus in the background, but also a tuft of casuarinis behind Laura, banksias, calistemoms, a lagerstroemia, and the photogenic, yet exotic and invasive, robinias. Almost all the fruit and nut trees planted as wedding gifts by the guests are still alive, with the citrus trees truly thriving. This is to the great delight of the many cockatoos who are the first to arrive to taste whether the lemons are ripe yet. Not so, but the next one will, not so, but the next one will... Laura and Will took their honeymoon to Bhutan and (probably) found our old house there with the help of our Pema, who, with the help of a former colleague of Kees, had been found within fifteen minutes via WhatsApp. Bhutan is also taking the world by storm! In our time in Bhutan, in the early 1990s, there was no internet at all, but we did have a landline with a fax machine at home. It worked. After returning from Laura and Will's wedding in Australia, we went back decades to a reunion in Thailand with the motley crew, including the undersigned, who drove through Africa in old army trucks. The general feeling was that what we did then was completely irresponsible, and would certainly no longer be possible now with all the bloodshed in the countries we drove through, but that the memories would be cherished... |
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After that, we took a beautiful multi-stage trip in the XJ6 to northern Thailand, to Lampang, just south of Chiang Mai.
From our house, we first had to get past Bangkok, and then back again, but once that chore was done, Thailand is an easy country to travel.
Good infrastructure, excellent roads, but the English subtitles on the road signs become scarcer the further away from Bangkok we got. To find the next B&B by a river online while traveling, everything is also excellently organized in Thailand.
Google Maps is completely up-to-date, and this Buddha, a half-hour walk from a dirt road through the rice paddies, was also indicated. If you'd like to see pictures of an old Jaguar XJ6 on the road in Thailand, click here.
The requirements for obtaining a driver's license aren't high here, and yet the driving isn't bad at all; truck drivers are also excellent. The many road deaths are mainly scooter drivers; helmets are mandatory, but enforcement is inadequate.
Honking is rarely, if ever, done, even if you pull a less-than-decent maneuver.
And in turn, you allow others to merge improperly, thus building up traffic karma points, which you can redeem later! No honking! At the row of scooters parked at the 7-11 in the evening, the helmets hang loosely on the mirror and the key is simply in the ignition.
And you have to step over the shop dog lying in the doorway (air-conditioned!).
So we have shop dogs here, in addition to the many stray dogs, beach dogs, and office dogs with puppies.
Isn't the municipality doing anything about this, I hear you ask. And yes, they are: our barrier dog kept having puppies. The municipal official caught the dog with a drugged piece of sausage, took it away, and returned it to our guard the next day, sterilized and all. All these dogs are fed by well-meaning Thai people, who, in the winter months, when the morning temperature threatens to drop below 20°C, put sweaters on the stray dogs.
What a wonderful country this is. |
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Just as in the Netherlands, where enormously overestimating fools think they can govern a country, democracy in Thailand is struggling, with elections scheduled again in February. But with the soldiers back in the barracks, they're bored and apparently now squabbling with the Khmer. Things are still not going well in the south either. The Islamic uprising, which has been bloodily raging in the far south for over twenty years, now seems to be taking on more jihadist characteristics, going from a separatist struggle. So, no prospect of a compromise. Especially Buddhists, elderly nuns, or teenagers doing their temple internship are being murdered by jihadists disguised in niqabs, in the streets or in the backs of pickup trucks. Bombings are also frequent, killing and wounding. So, it's just as horrific here as what happened in Sydney. How far do you have to go to be spared this bloodlust? |
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At Christmas, we headed back to Down Under, where a lot of gardening awaited us. With the newly purchased Land Rover 109 LWB, we might do a little walkabout in the new year, otherwise next season. The year was concluded with the traditional fireworks at the harbour bridge. We wish you all an adventurous, but above all, healthy 2026 from Australia. |
Deze pagina is voor het laatst bijgewerkt op 1 januari 2026.
The Thais are quick to turn any opportunity into a picnic spot, like this one.
The river has deposited a large expanse of pebbles in its wide bed, which is several inches underwater this season.
That makes a great patio! Amidst the lively bustle, ladies stop by with fried chicken and such; you have to get your own beer.
Minke counts out the baht in cash; we could also have paid with the QR code (which is on the table) on our iPhone.
This summer we went through our usual routine: first a few weeks in Warmenhuizen (the Mark 4 restoration project is back on the road and has the bodywork back on the chassis), then leisurely travel through France and Andorra with the E-type to the Costa Brava.
This time back via the Pyrenees and the Dordogne, where we spent a few days in Marciac at the jazz festival.
Everyone should go there at least once, so much fun!
We saw some more amazing castles and came to understand why the French people started a revolution back then.
The final gem of our travels was a stopover in Arras in northern France, with its incredibly beautiful square. 
Minke's mother turned ninety-eight and isn't letting heart attacks (last year) or broken hips (this summer) get her down, just as Laura came to visit to show off her wedding dress, which was done here at the rehabilitation center. Sister Ineke and son Gideon are also pictured.
Minke, along with her sister Dorine and brother-in-law Joris, have adapted their home to better accommodate Paula's unsteady steps with her walker, and also rationalized the layout somewhat. Later, they returned and returned for two weeks to get her back on track after weeks of rehabilitation at home.
Paula is now hopping around in her own home again.