Life

Hi,

The morning weather in Chiang Rai made it look like a good day to travel.  Slightly overcast and not too hot.  The weather in Mae Sai was much different; sunny and hot.  It was a good day on both ends of the trip.

The ‘Easy Monday’ song was “It’s Too Late” by Carole King.  For ‘Zany Day’ the novelty goes back  a few years:

“I crashed into the jungle, while trying to keep a date with my little girl who was-a back in the states.  I was __ __ __ __, afraid and alone, trying to figure a way to get a message back home.  But how was I to know that the wreckage of my plane had been picked up and spotted, and my girl in Lover’s Lane?  And meanwhile, back in the states….”  Hint: The title is about a circumstance in a particular location.  

Our adventures in Mae Sai began with the drive up the Super Highway.  The name makes it sound like something where you might set cruise control and zoom up the road.  This highway has many obstacles that impede cruise control.  Things like cross traffic, u-turn lanes, road construction, and two lanes in both directions.  I think it's  called ’Super’ because it runs the length of the country from north to south.  Today we encountered road work that moved us to the other side, so there was only one lane in either direction.  This happened off and on during the trip while they worked on re-paving.  

When we arrived at the Customs office we learned that our package was not there.  They told us it was probably in Bangkok.  Finding out its status was going to be up to us.  This changed things a bit, but didn’t darken our mood since there was a whole world of ‘stuff’ to be discovered in the dense shopping lanes of Mae Sai.  

The district we went into is like another world.  It has a culture of its own and the whole thing is centered around commerce.  Whether it’s selling fresh-roasted chestnuts in the aisle or imported cashmere, it’s all about moving product.  There are lots of duplications, and many variations on the same theme.  Some vendors sell anything with batteries and plugs, making their shops look like Radio Shack on steroids.  There are loads of knock-offs of brand name products, but more often there is no name.  It’s much safer when you enter with an agenda and stick to it.  Today we did that for the most part.  After the primary purchases were made, as we walked through the maze of lanes, it became an adrenaline rush.  We were too deep into the zone to just walk out.  One has to hike out, passing way too much interesting ‘stuff’.  

 

Today’s photo is one of the busy lanes in the Mae Sai shopping district.

After a simple lunch we started for home.  The plan was to stop at the big Makro, but a lot of energy had been expended already.  We did stop on the highway on a stretch where the pineapple sellers were out in force.  They were selling the tiny little version of the fruit that is very sweet.  There were a lot of changes noticed as we drove the highway.  New coffee shops, restaurants and more apartment construction.  It’s still mostly farm land and that was nice to see.  In some areas, as far as we could see, it was farms.  Lots of rice, corn and things we don’t know.  In the foothills a lot of tea is grown.  

Time for Wacky Wednesday.

                  Peace,

                            Danny

“Life might be able to be understood

backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”

~Unknown