Acceptance

Hi,

The weather in Chiang Mai has been pretty mellow.  The forecast has been for rain, but we haven’t gotten wet yet.

The ‘Old School Friday’ song was “He Will Break Your Heart” by Jerry Butler.  This ‘Easy Monday’ tune should start the week off with a bang:  “Whenever I’m with him, something inside starts to burning, and I’m filled with desire.  Could it be a devil in me, or is this the way love’s supposed to be?  It’s like a __ __, burning in my heart.  I can’t keep from crying, it’s tearing me apart.”  Hint:  This one goes out to all my friends who live where it’s very hot.

We had planned to go to Chiang Mai on Monday so we’d be there for a Tuesday morning appointment at the U.S. Consulate.  Then I found out that a friend of ours in Chiang Mai was being given a surprise 40th birthday party on Sunday.  We drove down on Sunday morning, through a little rain, but mostly good weather.  The construction zone on the highway that we experienced a few months ago is still happening.  About one half hour of very bad road is never fun.  Before the rough road we stopped at Charoen Gardens for breakfast and pie.  

We missed the surprise aspect of the party because we couldn’t get proper directions until we finally reached someone at the location.  Our Tuk-Tuk driver didn’t understand the map and Grab wouldn’t work because the location is an new business that wasn’t registered.  Anyway, we got there and had fun seeing people we knew and making new friends.  A couple at the party that we’d just met took us back to our hotel. 

The party was held at the Chiang Mai Holistic Center, which is the brainchild of Ali (the birthday boy) and his wife Nim.  She teaches yoga and he will be doing ‘singing bowl therapy’.  They invited us to go back today for individual bowl sessions with Ali.  There were brass bowls from Tibet and Crystal bowls from China.  He placed us on a mat with the bowls all around us.  With our eyes covered, he began sounding them at random locations and intervals.  After a few minutes I was drifting in a kind of meditation, sometimes listening for the sound, other times just feeling a ‘wash’ of relaxation.  It did not feel like an hour had passed.  So grateful for this new experience.

After the bowls, we walked a couple of blocks and met Becky, a friend we met at Lisa's first exhibit in 2009.  We had a wonderful time talking about the art communities and hearing some history on various topics.  An hour later it was time to meet more friends at a cool place called Salad Concepts.  Our friend Marty, his girlfriend Asu and her niece met us there for dinner and we had another positive food experience.  The district where we spent the afternoon is a fairly new addition to the metropolis that is Chiang Mai.  It’s more sophisticated than where we usually stay and felt like places we’d seen in the States.  

Today’s photos were taken at Chiang Mai Holistic Center.  The walls were painted by a local artist.

Tomorrow morning I go to the Consulate and then we start our journey back to Chiang Rai.  Now it’s time to relax.

Have a Great Week.

                      Peace,

                                Danny

“Acceptance is knowing the past 

will never get better.”

~Unknown