Hi,
This weekend we heard the last hooray from the folks on the river bank, and big noise from the sky. The Sunday night storm was a welcome relief from the heat, although it came back today.
The ‘Old School Friday’ song was “There Goes My Baby” by The Drifters. Oh, nobody knew. Maybe this ‘Easy Monday’ tune will be recognized. “I may not always love you, but long as there are stars above you, you never need to doubt it, I’ll make you so sure about it. __ __ __ what I’d be without you.” Hint: A SoCal group made up of brothers, cousins and friends. This song is a long way from surf and fast cars. It was the theme song for a TV series.
Driving around Chiang Rai, we are always aware of nature. The city has so many huge, incredible trees, and beautiful flower gardens. There are several ‘corridors’ of "Rain Trees" that we drive through and it never gets dull. They create what feels like a tunnel as their tall branches reach over the street from both sides. Many of them have orchid plants growing on the trunks and this adds a touch of color. At Meng Rai Square there are gardens that are maintained by the city. You can always count on seeing seasonal flowers blooming in tasteful arrangements, which is nice if you get stopped at the long traffic light. And then we come home and we are surrounded by nature. Life is good in Chiang Rai.
Sunday morning we had a visit from our friend Eric. We hung out and talked about lots of things, mostly of how much we like it here. He’s from Idaho and is a retired landscape architect. As he was leaving, Blue and I spent some time looking over his new motorbike. Normally, this would not have held our attention for too long, but his bike was designed for Honda in Italy. There were many features we don’t often see, and the styling was very different from most of the bikes we see around town. We’re planning a ‘Boy’s night out’ this week. The plan is to go to the little jazz spot and listen to some music. Can’t wait.
Blue and I went into town in the afternoon. We didn’t realize how crowded Big C would be. Then it hit us, it was the last day of the Songkran vacation for many people. We only wanted to go to the the ‘Stamp Guy’ so Blue could get a rubber stamp made. The stamp guy is only there for a few hours a day and when Blue got to his counter he wasn’t there. The woman in the booth next door read the Thai sign on his counter to us. He’d be back in 10 minutes. We had to laugh because it seemed like such a relaxed way to run his little shop. The business was done and the stamp will be ready on Tuesday. People were walking around with ice-cream cups and tall sodas since it was a very hot day. I suspect some folks were just hanging out in the cool building.
Our next stop was across the highway at Central Plaza. They were having what could best be called a ‘Massage Expo’ on the main floor. We stood upstairs and looked down on the whole thing and noticed something we’d never seen before. Several ‘technicians’ were working on people who were seated using a piece of wood and a wooden mallet to pound out tightness. Weirdest thing ever to watch someone hammering on a person. There were booths selling oils and other healing aids, and some folks getting traditional Thai massages. It made for a very enlightening excursion.
We were just finishing dinner when the wind began to gently blow. It picked up a little and then the rain began. What started as shower became a full-fledged storm, complete with thunder and lighning. Another wave came later and the yard got a thorough soaking. I love it when it rains at night. There is more rain forecast for Wednesday, which would be just about the right time to water the yard again (555).
Today the ‘Village’ by the river was almost gone. The roofs were coming off of the little houses, the umbrellas were closing, and the place looked like a ghost town. One nice thing about all that is the quiet this evening.
Today’s photo was taken at the new home of our friends Caty and Kobchai. They built a house in the country, south of town and their immediate neighbor is a rice field. This is one of their views.
Have a Great Week.
Peace,
Danny
“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
but sometimes your smile can be the source of
your joy.”
~Thich Nhat Hanh
Gettin' Funky, Thai Style
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