Greetings from Isaan (part 3)

The Inquisitor is awakened by the bustle of honey-dear, a glance at the window lets a beginning dawn shine through the curtains. Strange because the sweet is usually already out of bed around this time. Drunk in sleep, The Inquisitor throws off the duvet and then he feels the cold. Guys, it's that time again. Another cold wave passes over Isaan, it was announced but as always it overtakes De Inquisitor.

Because of the cold it was nice to lie down a bit and now she is laughing with a muttering Inquisitor. Because he can't find his 'slows' and the floor is ice cold. The bathrobe is also not to be found, there is nothing else to do than to quickly stumble to the bathroom in his nakedness, the love follows him in the same outfit - so nothing, and we both burst into laughter. Last night we talked about it, we were going to get the slippers and bathrobes ready, it was already cooling down, but forgotten because of other pleasures.

Mumbling even louder, The Inquisitor starts the winter dressing ritual, which he hates. That is so easy about three hundred and forty days a year: a refreshing and awakening shower, wearing underpants and shorts, a T-shirt. Done.
Now the shower is immediately skipped, too cold for the time being. After the underpants the fight with the socks - hopping on one leg every time, it doesn't work very well, the socks purchased here are just a bit too small and difficult to pull over the feet. Then a thermal undershirt, an expensive purchase in a shopping mall but very efficient. Putting on long trousers and noticing that they have shrunk since the last time – De Inquisitor hopes. Then a shirt with long sleeves and as the crowning glory, or rather as a last defense against the cold, a sweater. In speed he quickly scrapes a hat along.

The coffee is also a problem. Hot water in a too thick stone cup, by the time the 'three-in-one' has been dissolved, the water has already cooled down. A lukewarm cup of coffee, yuck. More misery is what follows. In recent months, De Inquisitor has been moving to the downstairs terrace every morning instead of upstairs. That is much more fun because it has been redecorated, and much more social too, because direct contact with the sweetheart who gets her shop ready for the day fifteen meters away. Windows have now been installed in the sitting area, the rest of the terrace is still open. Those windows are there as a shield during the rainy season and also keep the terrace free of wind. But it is just as cold as outside. So the morning ritual of reading newspapers and email, possibly blogging – cold. Too cold this morning, it's fourteen degrees.

So get to work, a house and garden always gives you something to do. Shaving hedges, a big and heavy job, fortunately there is the electric hedge trimmer. After an hour and a half, De Inquisitor is already tired. Wearing too much clothes. That bothers him greatly, The Inquisitor has the feeling that he can hardly move. And despite the wind intensifying the cold, he is sweating. Because The Inquisitor has come to really appreciate the Isaan mantra of 'you should feel good', he leaves the hedge trimmer for what it is. A nice hot shower is what he needs, sweat away and get a warm feeling.

Also not so handy because the bathroom is freezing cold. The sun is failing, which means that the temperature has only risen gradually, and walls and floors have cooled down to such an extent that they radiate cold. Hell, it makes The Inquisitor despondent. So first electrically heating the bathroom, meanwhile comforting the two cats, they don't like it either. Then choose suitable clothing, no more work attire, but that is searching. He still has long jeans, but less sweaters and other suitable clothing. Although it is his fourth Isaan winter, De Inquisitor remains ill-prepared. Every time he intends to buy some thicker clothing, but once those few days of cold are over, he has forgotten it. Who buys winter clothes at thirty degrees and more?

For the rest of the day, his only concern is staying warm. While together with the love on the couch under a Winnie The Pooh blanket, no view but nice and warm. But every time a customer comes, go, blanket away and cold. Just to the neighbor, poa Sid. He has a fire burning around the clock on such days, the smoke will be worst to him, in contrast to De Inquisitor who already feels like a smoked eel after half an hour. And it seems nice, but it's actually not. Your body is alternately warm on either the front or the back, so you always have a cold side. It seems as if the smoke keeps coming towards The Inquisitor, he can choose position wherever he wants, hoopla, smoke in the nose.

Around four o'clock in the afternoon De Inquisitor starts to get bored, how about a beer? Nah, way too cold for that. So a hot chocolate. The Inquisitor is pondering a bit over that cup of consolation. He made a mistake and it is hard to rectify it.

When the house was built, no thought was given to the cold periods here in this climate, which is quite different from the milder maritime climate in Pattaya where he lived for nine years. The Inquisitor had already been to Isaan, but too briefly. Nakhom Panon, around new year and even for few days. Cold after sunset, warm during the day, moreover that was during a three-day party in some village, that nightly cold did not affect De Inquisitor. In the months before the construction of the house started, The Inquisitor regularly came to the village here for a week or so, even in the 'winter'. But every time he was here, coincidentally no cold spell. The construction of the house was from March to September, so warm, much warmer even than there on the coast.

The Inquisitor can handle the heat well, in fact, that was one of the main reasons why he went to Thailand, and he felt that the air conditioning was only necessary in extreme heat. Two were provided, in the bedrooms.
And so it was built with cement blocks that only have a cement coating on the inside and outside. A kind of light insulation under the tiled roof, that was all, and against the heat. Many sliding windows, for fresh air and lots of light, but single glazing. Heating, in any way, nothing provided. On the contrary, het lief and De Inquisitor found out quite quickly that they were outdoorsmen, so there is not even a significant living. Many terraces, nice in the open air.

That's a bit annoying now. Heat, heat – no problem. But those cold days, big problem. It is improvisation: during his first acquaintance with those cool periods, De Inquisitor went looking and found a small electric grill in the moving boxes. You don't use charcoal here, do you? That became a heating element. Surprisingly very efficient: heats up quickly, can be placed anywhere due to its small size. Bit of a strange sight those hot red elements, you have to be a bit careful but it was a relief.

A really hot heated bathroom that was easily brought to thirty degrees in the short term, bliss. This in combination with a new hot water boiler: the first was too small and too light to bring the ice-cold groundwater up to temperature and was replaced by an expensive model of eight thousand watts, but now always nice and hot water. Bringing the bedroom with that grill to twenty-five degrees was no problem at all, we just remained vigilant so that we closed the fire before we fell asleep.
In the meantime, the latter has also changed: a good friend brought the solution, he had a 'real' heating element left over, a graceful block without open heating elements. Also electric, but much more controllable, good efficiency and that is now in the bedroom. Bit in the way yes, no room for it during construction... .

Fortunately, those cool days are actually quite rare. About the same every year: three to four times during a maximum of one week in the period December-February. Still a good advice for those who have become as averse to cold as De Inquisitor and who still have to build in Isaan: also provide the option of heating!

To be continued….