Shopping in Mae Sai

Friday Funnies

Hi,
As the week winds down (there's another odd expression) so does the celebration. We dined by a river, and got a present for BamBam.
Well kids, the song was "Our Day Will Come" by Ruby and The Romantics. It's OK if you didn't know it. It's a good song though. For the weekend and in honor of Valentine's Day, we'll hum another love song. This one should be easy. Write to me.
"Every night I’m lyin’ in bed holdin’ you close in my dreams. Thinkin’ about all the things that we said, and comin’ apart at the seams...Oh, sweet darlin’ you get __ __ __ __ __." Hint: They probably didn't write this one in Hotel California, but it does pledge a great deal.
Today was the last day of my B'day celebration. Thanks for all those cards and letters. (Ha) You shouldn't have. Actually, my mom sent a package of cards that arrived on the first day of the run. It was perfect timing. Today was a little less dramatic than the previous two. We drove up to Mae Sai for our visa business and then went to the shop that sells old Buddhist amulets and artifacts. There was a young woman there this time who explained each one to us. It was very interesting. From there we strolled and looked and listened. There was some gift buying for others and for ourselves. We started looking for a soft rug for BamBam since she's taken a liking to one of our bathroom rugs. Lisa spotted what turned out to be a cushion that fit the bill so we got it. Bam loves it. Some of the vendors pick up just enough English to try to draw you in and it's sometimes rather funny. The best of the day was "What do you want?" One of the low-lights of shopping in Mae Sai is the children that beg. Some of them are local but most, from what we've been told, are sent across the border to hustle the tourist. It hurts to turn them away, but if you give one of them money, you just continue the cycle of abuse. These kids are being pimped out by someone and it's not right. For a time, there was a crackdown on this sort of thing in Bangkok. Not sure if anyone on the border cares or not. Hmm. On the brighter side, there are many unique things to see as well as piles of 'what's that for' and stuff you know will break as soon as you use it once.
Boot told us about a small cafe near the border that we might check out. It was getting near lunch time and we decided to try and find it. After some asking as we moved in the direction of the place, we found it. We had walked right past it earlier in our travels. We sat at a table overlooking a tributary of the Mae Kong river. Not a very romantic view, with trash and tree branches in a shallow part, but it was nice in it's own way. We thought our waiter had made a mistake when we paid our bill. It just didn't seem like enough money. Hmm. He was right and it was cheap. After a stop at another little spot for some really good coffee, we hit the road.
Our friend Tay has a friend with a little shop across from the bus station and the friend has offered to sell our bags in her shop. Tonight we have work to do. There are tags to attach and bags to be bagged. Time to go to work.
Have a Wonderfilled WeekEnd. I'll leave you with the 'Funnies', sent to me by my friend Blue.

Peace,
Danny

PS If you're from Oklahoma, get over it.

HOW TO INSTALL AN OKLAHOMA HOME SECURITY SYSTEM

1. Go to a secondhand store and buy a pair of men's
used size 14-16 work boots.
2. Place them on your front porch, along with a copy
of Guns & Ammo Magazine.
3. Put a few giant dog dishes next to the boots and
magazines.
4 Leave a note on your door that reads:

Bubba,

Big'un, Duke, Slim, & I went for more ammo and beer.
Back in an hour. Don't mess with the pit bulls - they
attacked the mailman this morning and messed him up
bad. I don't think Killer took part, but it was hard
to tell from all the blood. Anyway, I locked all four
of 'em in the house. Better wait outside.

Gettin' Funky, Thai Style
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