Dare

Hi,

Last night we went mountain climbing with our friend Ten. The true meaning of a hideaway was revealed. Read on.

'Easy Monday' turned out to be easy after all. I got mail from a bunch of you who had the right answer. At least you knew the song. It was "1-2-3" by Len Barry. Now it's time for 'Dealer's Choice', another way of saying it's something off the top of my head. "When I woke up this morning __ __ __ __ __, and __ __ __ __ __. I got troubles, whoa-oh, I got worries, whoa-oh, I got wounds to bind..." Hint: No, I have no idea where this is going, but it was a happy, bouncy song in the 60's by a group that's in keeping with our counting things. It's about someone being in the singers head. That's as close as I can get without giving it away.

We arrived at Ten's house yesterday evening at the appointed time. We were going to a "very special place," and he wanted me to drive. As we drove through the traffic, more was revealed about our destination. We had just turned onto the major street that has all the schools of Chiang Mai University. We could see how the road seemed to go straight toward a mountain. Ten said, in a casual tone, 'We're going up on that mountain, Doi Sutep'. Then he chuckled a bit. He told us we wouldn't be going all the way up, just a litten (little). The street had become a college district night bazaar, with food and clothing booths set up on the sidewalk. It was fascinating to see. Then we got to the end of the road and started up the mountain. Ten explained that he was afraid to drive it in his truck, and I totally understood. We wound around bend after bend, gradually climbing until finally, we reached the restaurant. it was built on the side of the mountain and the view of Chiang Mai was spectacular. We sat by a rail so we could see the view of the city spread out like a carpet of lights. There was the constant sound of a waterfall behind us, and it felt like we were 'out of town'.

After we ordered dinner, we heard what sounded like live music. Midway through dinner I spotted a guy with a guitar on an upper level and suspected he was in the band. I got curious and went up some stairs to discover a roaming quintet, connected to the house system with wireless mics, and instruments. It was a brilliant set-up. There was a young woman who sang most of the lead vocals, a guitar player/singer, a stand up bass player/singer, a violin/mandolin player, and a percussionist. They all wore what we used to call 'stingy brim' hats, and that was their little signature. They'd play a few songs in front of a table, and then move to another group of diners. By the end of our evening we were becoming fans. They sang a mix of Thai pop songs, and American oldies, in English. I think we enjoyed the atmosphere even more than the food. As we were leaving I noticed some tiny lights moving around on a big tree. It was as if there were hundreds of multicolored fireflies all around. It was produced by a small device that would be great on our waterfall. We are very grateful that Ten took us on our mountainside adventure because we would have never found the place otherwise.

Tomorrow I'll fill you in on today's trip to the zoo, and our further adventures of driving in Chiang Mai.

It's time for Wacky Wednesday.

Peace,
Danny

"Change and growth take place when
a person has risked himself and dares to
become involved with experimenting with his own life."
~Herbert Otto

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