The news is - there is no news really. Life pretty much goes on each day in the village and now that there is more than enough rain there is a collective sigh of relief that the rice harvest will be ok. Khamma has been in the fields most days adding fertiliser and trimming here and there, whilst her brother has been making sure the field walls are well maintained and can keep the water in the place where it does its work best.
Harvest or 'cut rice' will take place in the first couple of weeks of November. This will be a period of intense manual back breaking hard labour and there will hardly be anybody in the village unaffected. From first light to dusk they will work in the fields only returning at night for a good meal, shower and sleep. I will have to be especially mindful when I speak to Khamma and make sure she does fall asleep whilst on the phone.
It also coincides with the project go live in Changi airport, so both of us will be very busy for a few weeks. There has been a slight delay and the end date to my time here has been set for 12 December. I am a little sad to think about this because I have grown to like Singapore over the last five months. It is clean, safe and not rushed. It has very a cosmopolitan atmosphere and is genuinely out to have a good time. The food is great, the people are friendly and the climate only varies between hot and hotter and rain or sun.
My next assignment is in Hong Kong and I shall be moving there when I return from the UK after the Christmas break. I am already looking at accommodation in the old colonial out post and I am looking forward to it. I am very lucky to have a job that sends me all over the world like this and I am pinching myself as I write.
That aside I am going up to the village in a week or so and really looking forward to see the fields in their full glory, at their peak before the harvest. Khamma says the fields look beautiful and green and perfect in the brilliant sunlight. I want to take lots of pictures to capture the atmosphere. Whilst there we will make plans to build a store for the rice after it has been milled and probably get a few things for the house.
We are meeting in Bangkok next week to apply for a UK visitor visa for Khamma so that she can come back with me at Christmas. After last year's abortive effort I have learned many lessons and it is becoming a mission to prepare the application to the highest standard I can manage. I haven't made presentations for work at standards much higher than I am preparing for this! There is so much emotion at stake if we fail, I can't think about it. It is the difference between a fantastic Christmas and the worst one one ever! But I am being positive and being attentive to the detailed demands of the UK Border Agency particularly paying attention to the comments they made last time. We decided it was best to go to the Embassy together next week, but it will almost certainly be a couple of weeks later before we find out if we are successful.
Khamma and I say a little prayer to Buddha each evening in 'good luck for visa'. It is quite a touching moment as I listen to the lilting sound of Khamma's voice chanting a prayer, in Thai of course. The mood she creates is deep and thoughtful and although sometimes the tone and sound of her voice is lost in constraints of Internet phone lines, it is for me magical. She soon breaks the mood of the moment with an unexpected laugh and shouts 'That's it - finished'.
The application is almost complete and when we meet in Bangkok the final touches and signatures will be made. Thanks to several of you out there who have helped. Wish us luck , I'm nervous already!
Good luck with your UK Visa application, with your new house and the fact Khamma has travelled abroad with you I doubt you will have any trouble. Response times for visitors visa's are down to days now, my wife's application was approved in 24 hours last week, also for a Christmas trip.
ReplyDeletePreviously I also suffered the indifference of having the first application for my wife turned down on what was purely my own fault, I believed they would use common sense and check the references provided on the application for my work so signed copies of documents etc were not required. Such is not the case and concrete proof needs to be provided with little or no doubt to its authentication. Income does not seem to matter as much as stability and the clincher seems to be commitment to your partner returning to Thailand and her ability to prove a life in Thailand.
Oops I forgot to mention, we used the Online application form and booked an appointment and it was much better service than the first application in May.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lloyd that is certainly good news all round. I did become a little bit bitter and twisted last time, but on reflection I realise they need 100% and then some more - so with that in mind that's what the boys and girls in the Embassay are going to get.:-)
ReplyDeleteI have spent so much time on this in the last week, but presentation is everything.
Will keep you posted.