Hi,
In the midst of a very hot and humid weekend, things were pretty busy for us in Chiang Rai. Lots of plants and art.
The 'Old School Friday' tune was "Uptight (Everything is Alright)" by Stevie Wonder. For an 'Easy Monday', see if you remember this one: "Well, I think I'm __ __ __ __ __. Yes, I think I'm __ __ __ __ __ over you, over you. I want you to want me, I need you so badly I can't think of anything but you..." Hint: Some might call him crazy. It's by a group that was lead by a singer who really was what his nickname said. Hmm.
These days, the notion of doing things early and beating the heat are just plain ridiculous. When the overnight temp is in the mid 70s there really is no cooling off at night. We just press forward, complaining from time to time about how hot it is (555). Such was the case on Saturday morning when we went looking for trees and flowers for the yard. The nursery is large so we would get little air/con breaks in the van as we moved from one section to the next. We brought home some flowering trees, a group of citrus trees (orange, lemon, and lime), plus gardenia and jasmine bushes. Everything is in the baby stage now, but when they grow up it will be a sweet smelling yard. I did test out the new electric lawn mower and it works great. Now I can keep it at a reasonable length, especially during the rainy season.
We have never been to Central Plaza mall on a Saturday night, but this weekend we changed that. We picked up some essentials and then went to Swensen's for ice-cream and sorbet. I guess the mall was a cool refuge for a lot of folks because it was jumping. The ice-cream shop was packed with families. We wondered how some of the parents of little ones would deal with their kids after all that sugar in the evening. Hmm. I'm not usually one who endorses products, but one of the things we picked up at the mall was a Belkin laptop cooling stand. If you actually put your laptop on your lap and it gets too hot, you need one of these. It really pulls the hot air away from the computer and keeps your lap cool.
Sunday we drove out to the frame factory. It was Cat's first visit to this amazing place and she really enjoyed it. Khun Tawd took us on a tour of his new concept in progress: An art village. He has a huge gallery about the size of a barn, a smaller gallery that had some work already on the walls, and a few rooms where artists can come and stay. Outside, by a huge pond, he's assembling what he laughingly calls his Thai Stone Henge. Then he took us to his house on the other side of the pond, where he stores original drawing of the Clock Tower and other works by Chalermchai, the creator of Wat Rong Khun. Tawd has worked closely with him to create many large pieces based on the drawings. When we left, we had a new understanding of this very talented man and his dedication to a vision.
Today's photo was taken at the frame factory. This little statue of a boy monk was sitting in the middle of an open space, next to a tiny elephant.
We usually eat out on Sunday evenings, but this week it looked like it wasn't going to happen. We went to three restaurants and they were all closed. Apparently they gave their staff a few days off after Songkran, since they had to work through the holiday period. Our fourth stop proved to be the perfect end to what had been a frustrating hunt for food. The Imperial River House had good food and service and we now have a new place to add to our list.
As I predicted, the Songkran Village on the river lasted until Sunday night. Monday morning they began dismantling the houses and taking apart the floating eating spaces on the water. Vacation is over and life in Chiang Rai is slowly returning to normal. Oddly though, all of the traffic lights were out all over town on the day when everyone was moving around. Not good, but we managed to get where we needed to be.
Have a Great Week.
Peace,
Danny
head and the heating system of the heart.
~Unknown
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