Living in the Blue Bus

A lot of the people we met on vacation were curious about our home. We bought the Blue Bus in 2008. It has 38,000 miles on it. Some people call these things RVs. Others call them motor homes. This one weighs 20,000 pounds. It has a 6.8 liter Ford V-10 engine that gets about 7.5 MPG with a 75 gallon gas tank. We live here all the time except when we go on vacation  and have no plans to return to an immobile home.

Inside, the sofa makes into a double bed for visiting grandchildren. We also have a blowup bed for the floor and the dining table makes into another bed. The driver's seat and passenger's seat swivel around when we're parked.

The bus is 35 feet long. The passenger side has an electric awning and a slide room in the bedroom to provide some extra living space when parked. The awning can be set to retract automatically at various wind speeds. The drivers side has a bigger "slide room" that contains the sofa, dining table and refrigerator. The slide rooms go in and out with a push of a button.  Since these pictures were taken, we have removed the carpet and vinyl floor from the living area and put in a vinyl floor that looks like wood.  So much easier to maintain.

This is a view of the kitchen sink and a propane stove and oven. A smaller oven above is electric and is both microwave and conventional. A propane heater is below the sink.

There are two HD TV sets, one over the dashboard and another in the bedroom. They run on cable, satellite, antenna and a DVD player. Sometimes we get 500 channels with nothing to watch. The Rv has three video cameras for viewing traffic on the sides and back. The back camera also has a speaker so Mrs. Phred can talk to me when we are backing into a new home.

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The refrigerator has an ice maker. It also has a computer that tells it to operate on propane or alternating current, depending on what's available.

Bedroom.

Italian washer/dryer.

Four hydraulic jacks level the RV when parked.

An automatic satellite dish on the roof finds the satellite when you turn it on.

Two roof air conditioners also are heat pumps as an alternative to using propane for heat.

The tow bar for the Toyota.

Here is where you plug in sewer, electric and fresh water when parked. If these are not available, you can function on battery power, generator power and the fresh water, gray water and black water holding tanks for a week or so before finding a place to dump. There are two six volt batteries and a 50 amp generator.

The "toad". The RV is 13 feet,  six inches tall. Some bridges aren't. The whole package is 55 feet in length.

I cook most meals outdoors. This goes in the Toyota trunk for travel.

My bathroom.

Mrs. Phred's bathroom.

 

Home is where the wheels are.

 

Thinking Back

Sarasota, Florida

The vacation was really interesting.  The best part was meeting the people. In Thailand, Carol's  cousin Bennett was extremely kind to arrange almost a week of sightseeing. It was good to see him again. You never know when will be the last time. It's hard to imagine topping this vacation.
 

Our local guide and driver in Thailand, Ken, was extremely knowledgeable  about things to do and see in Northern Thailand. We liked him a lot and we felt privileged to meet his wife and three children for dinner one night in Chiang Mai.

 

In Cambodia, our guides were Bantah and Sothy. They both had personal experience with the Khmer Rouge and the genocides in Cambodia at very young ages. Despite this, they were very humorous and knowledgeable guides.

 

Tony and Henry (so what makes me think they might have other names?) were our guides throughout South Vietnam, Cambodia and North Vietnam. Tony was responsible for our section of the group and helped us overcome some Visa difficulties. They both were very likable people who showed a great deal of wisdom and maturity in dealing with some of the more difficult and crotchety members of the tour.

 

Tony would end each evening by singing a beautiful rendition of some song that Frank Sinatra might have managed on a good day. Such likeable people. It's hard to believe that we were trying to rack up a body count on people like Tony's father 45 years ago. What were we thinking?
 

Cambodian Dancing Queen

Siem Reap, Cambodia

I really had to work to get this videa posted. First I had to download it from someone elses Iphone. Then I had to load a Kodak program to play it on my PC. I tried uploading it directly to blogger, but they don't like MOV files. So I opened a You Tube account, uploaded it there and then embedded the You Tube videa in this blog....blah...

The best way to view this is to click where it says "You tube" and go directly to you tube for a bigger image.

We wake up on the boat in Kampong Cham and wait for the bus to take us to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.



It's a five hour bus ride though Cambodia. On the way we stop to look at a rubber tree plantation.

The hotel in Siem Reap is nicely landscaped.

It's Christmas Eve and our 45th anniversary tonight.

Asians like to decorate for Christmas, even if they are mostly Buddhist or Muslim.

The weather is hot and steamy. I'm glad it's winter. This is high season for tourists.

We have dinner on the patio the first night. It is a buffet. The food is really bad. Everything is full of bones. Even the chicken is full of shattered bone as if it has been chopped with a machete. I'd put that down to local custom except the hotel manager is very urbane from Sicily. He's got a contract to provide the meal and is trying to make a profit on non-return customers. We get that in Florida a .lot.'

Local children sing Christmas carols and local artists do traditional dances to entertain the hotel guests..

Kampong Cham, Cambodia

 This is my 3rd week not smoking. I'm taking a great drug called Chantix which suppresses the urge to smoke and gives you very interesting and bizarre dreams.

I really like this entertaining side effect. This morning, as I was walking in the village, a big white dog kept snapping at my ankles if I wandered too close to the hut it was protecting.

I met a man who said his name was Jim Donnelly and he asked me to go with him deeper into the jungle.

We saw giant tree roots growing in an ancient temple and vampire bats and strange fruit everywhere.

A wall of the temple disolved before my eyes into anguished spirits who circled us chanting strange Buddhist mantras.

I found a skeleton wearing a tatttered flight suit near the temple. His dogtags said James A Donnelly.

Then we woke up and went to visit  Chong Koh Island,

Lots of mosques here, but more Buddhist temples.

The people are thinning out as we move upriver. This is a kapok tree plantation. The trees are used to make fabric and incense.

Sunrise at Phnom Pehn, where the day began.

In the background here you man make out a bamboo bridge which stretches a half mile over the Mekong. This is near Kampong Cham where we dock to spend the night.

Kampong Trolach, Cambodia

We cruise up the Mekong to the little village of Kampong Trolach. The river is wide and swift. There are eleborate floating systems in place to net fish all along the river. Mrs. Phred wishes you to know that she took most of these pictures....

Both Muslim mosques and Buddhist temples appear on the river banks.

The top deck has a bar. Drinks are free unless you want something imported. I've been drinking Harpoon gin with tonic water.

Away from the big city, the river supports people who live by farming and fishing. The population fell from 8 million to about 5.5 million under Pol Pot. It has since increased to 14 million. What you notice most is the absense of older people.

Life expectancy for Cambodian men has increased from 45 to 59 in the last 30 years. Women last about five years more on average.

These farmers use small gasoline powered pumps to draw water from the river for irrigation and other purposes.

When we arrive in Kampong Trolach, about 30 oxcarts are waiting to transport  us several miles to an old monastary in the jungle.

I ride with Ray, a veteran of WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He has a bad back and age age related problems, but he hangs in there for the bumpy ride. The wooden wheels and lack of shock absorbers induce him to buy a ride on a scooter for the return trip.

It's dawn here. The sun is just coming up on tomorrow already as rush hour and quiting time are happening half a world from here.

After the oxcart ride we return to the boat and cruise back to Phnom Pehn. I send Mrs. Phred out to get cash, and she did, but she spent it all at the Russian market for jewelry. One lady had here purse snatched while riding in a tuk-tuk. We were warned to keep a grip on things.

This little girl walked by my cart all the way back to the boat. I think she wanted to practice her English (which was good). We sang the "If you're happy, clap your hands" song. She pointed out her home, grandfather, mother and baby brother as we passed through her village.