World

Hi,

The weather in Chiang Mai is definitely hotter than Chiang Rai.  The drive south was easy and interesting.

You may not have liked the ‘Zany Day’ song when it was out, but a lot of you remembered it.  A few more ‘lyrics’:

“Hatty told Matty, ‘Let’s don’t take a chance.  Let’s not be ‘L-seven’, come and learn to dance’.  __ __, __ __, __ __….”  Hint:  Maybe the whole thing was a sham, a whole lotta bull.  (555)

Whenever we drive to Chiang Mai, we usually encounter a few slow buses and big trucks.  Today was an exception.  It was mostly clear sailing on the southbound side.  The northbound lane had a heavy flow of cars and vans.  We noticed an SUV with a Chinese license plate while we were still in Chiang Rai and thought nothing of it.  Then, as we got out on the highway we started seeing cars coming toward us with Chinese plates.  They seemed to come in waves of 10 or 12.  It became the thing to do, counting plates, and noticing how many expensive the cars were.  We saw lots of Audis, BMWs, Porche SUVs, and Cadillacs.  By the end of the trip we had seen at least 150 vehicles with Chinese plates going north.  Our guess is, large groups had driven down to Chiang Mai for the New Years' celebration and were returning home.  There is a bridge north of Chiang Rai that crosses the Mekong into Laos and then the road connects to a highway to China.  The world is getting smaller.

About half way to Chiang Mai we stopped for a coffee/tea break at a place called ‘Coffee View’.  It looks out onto a valley and is very pleasant.  Today’s photos were taken there.  The first is obviously the view from the porch where we sat.  The second shows a wire that runs down to the large fish pond.  For about $1 you can send a bag of food down the wire, where it breaks open and the food falls into the pond and the fish swarm to feed.  The large pen in the foreground contained a bunch of rabbits that could be fed in the same manner.

This evening we went to the Night Bazaar, which is a short walk from our hotel.  We saw lots of new items, along with the usual touristy attractions.  Between the heat and the crowds, we lasted through about half of it and decided to go 'home' and relax.  Chiang Mai is still in what looks like 'High Season'.  

Have a Thrilling Thursday.

                 Peace,

                           Danny

“No sensible decision can be made

any longer without taking into account

not only the world as it is, but the world

as it will be…”

~Isaac Asimov

Gettin' Funky, Thai Style 

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