Still

Hi,
Well, I'm back from a fun-filled weekend here in Chiang Rai. We had a dinner party, walked the 'street' and played in the dirt.
Looks like a few of you remembered the disco days and "Stayin' Alive" by The Bee Gees. Let's stay here awhile with this:
"First I was afraid I was petrified Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side." Clue: Could have been the theme song for a popular reality show. Hmm.
Saturday night was a blast. Jen, Nu and Pui came over for dinner. We got to hear about Jen's return trip from America. She was flying to Bangkok on the last leg of her journey when the plane was turned around and sent to Hong Kong. The airport in Bangkok had just been occupied by protesters so they couldn't land. She was then flown to Narita airport in Japan where she spent five days. The passengers were put up in accommodations at the airport. She's very glad to be home. Boot prepared one of her marvelous meals and we ate and laughed and had a great time. After dinner they wanted to go to Walking Street so we went with them.
As we walked the street we ran into people we knew and Jen met up with many of her friends. A woman selling fresh squeezed orange juice turned out to be one of those friends and we got free juice. There was lots of live music on the street. Small groups of young people playing acoustic guitars and singing through small P.A. systems. Sometimes the sounds would overlap and it was hard to take. Near the end of the street I heard the familiar sound of Northern instruments. When we got closer I recognized the two singers. They were at a street fair we went to last year. We made eye contact and there were big smiles all around. The group is made up of a guitar-like instrument, two flute like instruments that sound like raspy oboes and the two singers. The whole thing is called a 'saw' (not sure of the correct spelling). The vocals are totally improvisational. They sing about what's going on and what they see. So, they sang about people in the crowd. I inquired about the flutes (musical curiosity) and one of the men hanging out with the group said that one of the players had an extra set. I placed one in my mouth and blew and produced that raspy sound. They tried to sell me a set but it was more than I wanted to spend. I'm not sure what all the chatter was, but I ended up in the song. Oh my. There's a way to get noticed. We politely moved on and called it a night.
Sunday we went back to the massage parlor and then spent the evening hanging out with BamBam. Today we went into town and then did some gardening. We stopped by a small travel agency and had them look up our flight to the U.S. It's scheduled to fly and we're greatly relieved.
Have a Wonderful Week.

Peace,
Danny

"Be not afraid of going slowly;
be afraid only of standing still."
~Unknown


Gettin' Funky, Thai Style

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