Reality

Hi,

Broadcasting from downtown Chiang Mai, where the evening temps are in the mid-80s.  There was a brief rain during our nap.  

The ‘Easy Monday’ song was “Girl from Ipanema” as recorded by Astrid Gilberto and Stan Getz.  If you’d like more info on this tune let me know.  The ‘Zany Day’ song is one we’ve visited before.  It’s the 50th anniversary of the release of the album it was on and I thought it would be fitting to get zany with this:  “Picture yourself on a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies.  Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly, a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.  Cellophane flowers of yellow and green towering over your head.  Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes and she’s gone.  __ __ __ __ __ __ (x 2), aaaahhh.”  Hint:  Hmm, another song about a girl near water.  A pattern?  

This morning’s drive to Chiang Mai was pleasant.  We listened to more of Harry Potter and the time just flew by.  The countryside is back to it’s beautiful green lush self.  Nothing like a little rain to bring things back to life.  We got to town earlier than we predicted, which gave us time to lunch and browse at Central Festival.  Malls here have bank branches in them, which is very convenient.  At Festival, they are all on one floor at one end of the mall.  It’s like the banking district.  There is a big grocery store on the garage level that we didn’t know about, with lots of things we didn’t know were available in Thailand.  Rice milk is something we hadn’t seen in any of the stores we frequent, but they had it.  We saw many interesting products, but without our resident label translator, Cat, we couldn’t tell what the ingredients were.  The big stores have this nasty habit of putting the Thai ingredient label over the English ingredients.  Why would you do this in a store that is appealing to an international audience?  

When we checked into the D2 after the follow-up appointment, we were greeted with big smiles and eager staff.  We got the same room we were in last week.  

We are not in what would be considered the ‘High Season’ yet, but since it’s summertime in the Northern Hemisphere, there are lots of visitors.  The streets of the Night Bazaar were really busy this evening.  Good for the local merchants.  

Today’s photo was taken by Lisa.  This is a sight not usually seen in the States, but very common here.  Zoom.

Must be Wednesday.

                   Peace,

                             Danny

“Reality leaves a lot to 

the imagination.”

~John Lennon