I come across lots of articles written for those of us who are retired or getting ready to retire. Most of them warn that once we quit work we will have to find something to do with the rest of our lives, or go bonkers, or worse. Here are some things to do if, like me, you have decided that working for a salary was something for a past lifetime.

How does your garden grow?
There is probably no better place to develop a green thumb than right here. In Thailand things just seem to sprout out of the ground on their own. You can take up flower gardening or grow your own fruits and vegetables. Even if you live in a condo you can make your balcony bloom or grow flowers in a window box. My wife is the garden architect in our family but my claim to fame is the compost pile. My compost pile is larger than the New York apartment I grew up in. The least that will happen if you garden is that your carbon footprint will be reduced, something you can brag about even if the birds or bugs get all your tomatoes before you do. Start by visiting the nurseries at the Kham Thiang flower market behind the Tesco Lotus on the Superhighway.

Volunteer
Be careful that your visa allows you to do this, or do it quietly, but find a way to become beneficial to those around you, whether they are orphaned children or orphaned animals. For volunteer ideas check out expat clubs, internet forums or Chiang Mai Citylife. Also, Chiang Mai Friends Group is a new organisation here developing
volunteer opportunities ( http://www.retireinchiangmai.com/aboutus.php ).

Go on a quest
My latest quest is finding the world's best fried bananas. You could look for the world's most delicious squid salad, or largest rain tree, or the best farmers' market or most beautiful coral reef. Last year we escaped the Chiang Mai hot season smog by leaving town and looking for every Khmer-style ruin from here to Buriram. My favourite was the monkey temple in Lopburi.

Do something different
When you do something you have never done before you must approach it with an empty mind, the way a child would when he or she is learning something new. It will rejuvenate you better than a trip to a resort spa. You can do things as varied as raising orchids, collecting butterflies, going bird watching, breeding flower horn fish, learning Thai massage or training to be an elephant mahout. If you don't mind becoming seriously psychologically disturbed then take up golf. If you aren't afraid of losing your sanity completely, and lots of money along with it, then build a house.

Become an expert in something
A friend of mine learned about and then wrote a book on hill tribe embroidery designs. Another friend is making a photographic family tree of his wife's huge extended family. We recently started taking care of endangered mountain tortoises. We saw a man bring a tortoise to the market for sale as food. To save the animal we bought it from him. Now we have more than twenty and work with the zoo to help return them to the wild. Three of our wards have laid eggs and we are expecting soon.

Strangely, I find that now that I am retired I am busier than ever. Where did I ever find the time to go to work?