We went to Bangkok yesterday, always a long and tiring journey. We did find the few needed items to finish putting together the aqua-ponics system for Bamboo School.

Bamboo School boys level the hillside for the aqua-ponics system.

Cleaning the glue out of the IBC totes – GO Girls!

The boys had leveled off the hillside on Sunday and the girls had worked on scrubbing out the IBC totes.

Momo Cat and Matthew scrub out the fish tank.

Matthew and Momo cleaned out the last of the glue in the tote for the fish Tuesday morning before we left for the city. Steve is plumbing today and the boys who are not in school, (they arrived after the Thai government school began their semester and Thailand does not allow for late arrivals), these boys are carrying up gravel from a pile at the clinic and then washing it here by the bathroom block before it gets put in the cut-down totes.

Conagee,  Matthew and Eric wash gravel for the Aqua-ponics grow beds.

I think maybe they wish they were in school after-all!

The grow beds are almost ready for gravel.

Coming back to the school last night from our trip to Bangkok, about 1:00 a.m., the entire rear, passenger side, (for those of us who drive on the correct side of the road that would be the driver’s side rear!), wheel assembly flew off the ambulance. We felt a bump and then heard a grinding, knocking noise and then like a flat tire and within milli-seconds the axel was dragging on the road. Thankfully, we had slowed down for a very rough railroad crossing so our speed was maybe 35 when the tire left the car. Cat was driving and managed to drag the car to more or less the side of the road. At first we thought we had a flat and we’d just change the tire, but upon closer inspection two of the lug bolts that hold the wheel to the axel had shired off. Steve went looking for our missing parts and much further back up the road he found the wheel with tire still inflated, and one of the lug bolts with the nut still attached. Cat is going to have to get a new rim, for that one is pretty damaged. The truck skirting got pulled in and dented up when the tire made its escape as well. Soon two Patrol Police pulled up on their motorcycle and then two policemen in a Toyota Hillux came and stopped before the railroad tracks providing a road block for us complete with flashing lights. Cat, even after all her years in Thailand doesn’t speak fluent Thai and we don’t speak Thai at all, so it was quite amusing trying to communicate what happened. The police thought Steve was the driver and had fallen asleep at the wheel – one officer gave him an “energy drink” to wake him up. Steve kept trying to tell him that he didn’t need it, but they were insistent, so he finally drank it. Uug! That satisfied them. Cat called Tooey back at the school and she ended up speaking with the policeman in a three-way conversation; Cat telling her the story, she translating it for the policeman and then telling Cat what the policemen were saying. The long and the short of the night was: Tooey drove the other ambulance down to pick us up and the police called a “tow truck” to take our car to the police station. The tow truck was a Mazda pick-up with a lift mounted in the bed. It did the job, we were thankful. We got back to Bamboo School around 4:00 a.m. Didn’t get up for 5:15 worship this morning though!

Today’s trivia:  Malarial mosquitoes only come out between the hours of sunset to sunrise, that’s why we sleep under mosquito netting in malaria infested areas of which Bong Ti is one such area.  Some varieties of daytime mosquitoes carry denge fever and chickkundungyah (sp) fever – neither one of which would make your day!  Have a good one!!

Our Home Sweet Home at Bamboo School.