Driving In Chiang Rai

Teach

Hi,
The days are winding down and in less than a week we'll be winging our way back to Thailand. For some reason that we don't fully understand, this has been the busiest visit yet. There have been breakfasts, lunches, dinners, coffees, meetings, and of course phones calls. I must admit, it's nice to know that we have so many wonderful friends who even want to spend time with us. After all, we did ditch you all. (Ha)
By now you should all be humming "All You Need Is Love" by The Beatles. The songs have been rather easy so far. I've been asked to step up the challenge so I'll drop this on you: "We walked, the loneliest mile, we smiled, without any style, we kiss altogether wrong, no intention..." Hint: Group named for a place of temporary lodging. (We covered this before)
Today I did a bit more driving in L.A. Whew. It is definitely different from driving in Chiang Rai. As you guessed by now, I notice things. Some of them are trivial, but they're noticed just the same. Here in L.A. there are many types of parking meters and methods of monitoring them. There's the old fashion kind where you put in a coin and twist a nob. Then there's the new ones that require you to buy a card or token and they have a digital screen. In Chiang Rai we have people who approach your car as you park and you pay them four baht (about 12 cents) and they put a little receipt on your window. That's it. No parking enforcement meter-maid business.
Parking lots are another story altogether. Everyone here is sort of on their own when it comes to the flow of traffic. In Chiang Rai there are usually one or more men walking around with whistles, blowing them wildly and waving their arms. Sometimes it's hard to tell just what they want you to do, but eventually you learn to follow until they stop blowing the whistle. We call them all Mr. Whistle. I even bought a whistle and some day I'll get up the nerve to whistle back. That should crack them up.
The August Chronicles: Even though our little inventor is back in school (with homework in the third grade), he found time to position his slide projector so it was beaming light outside. He discovered that in the darkness of the yard the beam hit the wall and he could make shadow puppets that were outside. Hmm.
C-Bass, our resident football coach, decided that it was time to put some of his players in the NFL Draft and then go to another game and draft them. I'm not sure how this worked out but it's an interesting idea. I don't know a thing about the complexities of video games so I just sit and watch and try to sound encouraging.
I spent the afternoon at my friend Frankie's, way up at the top of the Hollywood hills. I could see the San Fernando Valley on one side and Santa Monica on the other. It was amazing. A view like that in Thailand would offer fields of rice and corn and trees. I hope that doesn't change anytime soon. It was another wonderful adventure that I'll always remember.
The hunt for that creature I mentioned yesterday continues. One was spotted in the dale of Glen (Glendale) and tomorrow I will stealthily creep up and see if I can catch it. I made contact with the spotter so spirits are high here at the camp. Of course you'll hear about it tomorrow. (Ha)
Time now for another Wacky Wednesday.

Peace,
Danny

"The more you teach positive ideas to others,
the better you learn them yourself."
~Brian Tracy


Gettin' Funky, Thai Style

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