Adventures In Thailand

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Fragrance

Hi,

Day three of the Great Bamboo Adventure is over, the weather teased but didn't rain, and Daku went on a romp outside of the wall.

'Easy Monday' got lots of responses, which tells me that it really was easy. These lines don't really speak to the title, but they're pretty cool. "I'm painting my room in a colorful way, and when my mind is wandering, there it will go. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ah, ah... I'm taking the time for a number of things that weren't important yesterday, and still I go..."

Clue: Things got better with a little help from some friends during a day in the life. Hmm.

This morning the fog rolled in and created a bit of concern. It usually doesn't rain when this happens, but there were some threatening clouds as well. We went to Overbrook Hospital early to get overdue tetanus shots. We had to wait until the doctors came on duty, but we got stuck. We have two more to complete the series. Better safe, blah blah.

When we came out of the hospital the sky was clearing and there was sunshine. We stopped and got coffee and drove up to Khun Somluk's compound to continue with the project.

As we strolled down the path from the parking area to the work space we noticed that the Shark was gone. One of the older bamboo guys pointed to where it had been moved. Somluk was worried that the fog might harm the paper so he had some guys move it to a covered porch. It really looked big sitting there, taking up the whole space. He rounded up some help and we moved it back down amongst the trees. We managed to get help from a student who worked with us yesterday. We did a lot of gluing and patching. Lisa cut out some pink shapes that we glued over the basic covering. It's going to be in a garden area near the entrance to the property.

Tomorrow is the birthday of King Bhumibol, the longest reigning monarch in the world. He will be 85 years old. It is also Father's Day here in Thailand. This is a national holiday, which means that schools, banks, and many businesses will be closed. Events will take place throughout The Kingdom in honor of His Majesty.

This afternoon Boot was trying to explain something to me about the front gate. I thought I understood that it was a problem with the battery in the remote. What she was trying to tell me was that it was opening and closing by itself. I went upstairs to change the battery and while I was gone the gate opened. Lisa was out with the dogs and Daku took this opening in the gate as an invitation to adventure. He took off down the road, excited about his new surroundings and ignoring the calls from Lisa. She gave chase and finally caught up with him. Along the way he made friends with a dog on the road, and almost collided with a van. Tomorrow we will do some serious training to prevent this from happening again.

It's been quite a day here in The Land of Smiles. Tomorrow should be a mellow time. I'll leave you with a photo of me taken during my Thailand debut (555) at the Bamboo Workshop.

Have a Happy Tuesday.

Peace,

Danny

"A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers."

~Chinese Proverb

Gettin' Funky, Thai Style

Monday, December 3, 2012

Soar

Hi,

The rainy season is, by official proclamation, officially over but you couldn't tell by recent events. We've had a pretty wild weekend that just kept going.

Our 'Old School Friday' song was "God Bless the Child" as first recorded by Billie Holiday in 1941. There have been hundreds of covers of this song. In honor of the rain in California, here is your 'Easy Monday' song.

"I'm __ __ __ where the rain gets in, and stops my mind from wandering where it will go. I'm filling the cracks that ran through the door, and kept my mind from wandering where it will go. Hint: An action is being taken. One that I hope you don't have to take. It's those four lads again, from the invasion years.

Saturday we went to immigration at Central Plaza. It's really nice not having to drive to Mae Sai for our 90-day check in. We went from Central to the 'Tile Store', which is nothing like it was before. It has been transformed into a very beautiful, bright and spacious shopping experience. We saw a very cool bathtub, watched some young people decorate cakes, and had little chats with the family members who run the place. It will be interesting to go back on a regular day and just browse.

In the late afternoon it rained hard and then cleared out. That meant there could be a good 'Walking Street'. We don't go that often, but when it's High Season we like to think that some of the local merchants will benefit from the tourist traffic.

Sunday was our big 'jump into the unknown' day. We went to Khun Somluk's home north of town to make bamboo sculptures that would serve as lighting for a benefit. I had seen photos of these sculptures, but we had no idea what we were getting into or how to make one. We got to the compound early and saw piles of long bamboo poles. There were a few artists working on their pieces and it looked like everything was being held together with little pieces of wire. We didn't receive much instruction. Somluk told us that the students that were there would help us with the physical part, they just needed to see the concept. Sounds easy enough but just try it. We were very fortunate that one of the two students we had was very creative, and was a good problem solver. Lisa's original drawing morphed into many things before the end of the day. We had to figure out how to create a framework in bamboo that would, when covered with thin paper, give the impression of something. The one saving escape hatch was that it could be abstract and that was OK. Hmm, we actually ended up with a giant shark/sea creature. We got the frame finished near mid-afternoon, just before the rain came. It was lucky that we hadn't started gluing the paper to the frame. During the lunch break I played my guitar and sang 'direct from the back porch' to an audience of artists and students. It was the first time in a very long time and it felt good.

Life continues outside of art projects so Monday morning we had to go to Makro for supplies early, before going back to our 'shark'. When we got back to the work space there were lots of artists and student helpers hard at work. Some of the creations are very ingenious, some are huge, and some are very simple. This Friday night there will be a benefit evening of classical music and traditional dance with proceeds going to the Art Bridge Project. All of the bamboo sculptures will be the lighting for the yard. Lights will be placed inside each creation and the opaque paper will create a glowing 'thing' to illuminate the area. Our 'Kids' today were from a vocational college in town and they worked hard and smart. We just have the bottom of our piece to cover, plus some touching up in places. We have learned so much about working with bamboo that it almost makes me want to make something else. Probably won't, but it wouldn't feel so foreign to think about it now. We watched some of the kids working with a machete-type blade doing things like splitting bamboo poles down the middle, then making even smaller strips from that. They'd trim, shave, notch as if it were second nature. One of the old-timers wedged a blade in the fork of a tree and pushed, then pulled a long pole, splitting the bamboo down the middle. Very clever guy. It's been fun, but it's also been hard work and we're tired. Tomorrow should do it for us. The sky is clear so there's nothing to worry about.

'Oh', Our Student Helper & The Shark

Have a Great Week.

Peace,

Danny

"One can never consent to creep when one has the impulse to soar."

~Helen Keller

Gettin' Funky, Thai Style

Friday, November 30, 2012

Friday Funnies

Hi.

We had a cloudy, warm day with pockets of rain east of the city. The airport offered a challenging adventure this morning, we lunched in town, and attended an open house that was really a garden party.

The 'Zany Day' song was "Drive My Car" by The Beatles. That means it's time for 'Old School Friday'. This one is pretty easy so I'm going to give you a lyric from deep into the song. "Rich relations give, crust of bread and such. You can help yourself but don't take too much. Mama may have, Papa may have, but __ __ __ __ that's got his own, that's got his own."

The first thing I must tell you is: it's very quiet here. It's 8:45pm and there is no music from across the river, there are no bombs going off and there is hardly any traffic on our road. Loy Krathong is over. On our way home this evening I did notice that there were some remaining 'campers', but it didn't look like a party. The whole area was dark.

Since we don't have to go to Bangkok on Monday it meant that we had plane tickets that needed 'adjusting'. The only way to deal with this is to go to the airport. To get the flights we needed we had to book on two different airlines. Our first stop at the airport was the Nok Air window. We were able to change my ticket to February 22 when I'll be going to my Recovery convention in Pattaya. The return ticket meant a stroll over to the Air Asia window and that's when things got weird. First there was one window open and we were in line. It was taking a long time but then another window opened. Someone was standing near it and just stepped up, instead of letting the 'next in line' move up. Then both windows had long dramas. It took us almost an hour to get served. With a deep sigh, we are grateful we don't have to go to the big city and pack up the exhibit.

As we were leaving the airport lobby we noticed a Toyota van being driven through the door. It had been on display. When we got outside we saw a brand new pick-up truck lining up to squeeze into the lobby area.

When we first moved to Chiang Rai we lived at the Wongcome Hotel for one month. In that time we had a chance to sample the restaurants in the downtown area. One of our favorite spots was a little place behind the hotel called

'Siam Corner'. The big attraction was chicken burgers. Today we returned for lunch and it was as good as the first time. The owner and his wife are very devoted to The King and have lots of photos and articles about his life covering the walls of their restaurant. Next Wednesday, December 5, is The King's birthday.

As I was driving home from New Life today I drove under a banner announcing the Chiang Rai Food Festival. I totally forget that it happens this time of year. It's a busy time up here in the north. I also noticed lots of lantern remnants up and down the roads.

Tonight we went to the Mantrini Boutique Hotel for what was billed as an open house. It was all held outside in the driveway and the newly created garden area. There were booths containing vendors of traditional and organically grown products, clothing, and crafts. There was a corner where kids could learn to make iPhone covers with artwork on them, and a man drawing caricatures in charcoal. In the garden area there was a stage, and chairs, benches and hay bales. We visited with all of the members of the host family, and watched a group of young men in traditional attire play traditional tunes. I'm pretty sure the electric bass and the cajon are not traditional, but the audience didn't seem to mind.

Speaking of tradition, Atom told us that she is changing her formal first name. There are certain names and vowel types that correspond with the day of birth. If you are born on a Monday there are certain names that you should have. That's a very loose explanation, but you get the idea. And here you thought you could just make up a name and it would be OK. That is saved for the 'play name'.

Tomorrow morning we will go to Central Plaza when it first opens and do our visa check-in at the temporary immigration tables. This will be much easier that the last time when we were renewing our visas. After a few mall necessities we will go up the highway a bit for the opening of the remodeled 'Tile store'. This is the place where we spent hours going through tile selections for various parts of the house. The same family that owns the Mantrini owns the 'new' store so we'll see them again. From the road it looks great.

Have a Wonderful WeekEnd. Oh, there's 'Funnies'.

Peace,

Danny

Gettin' Funky, Thai Style

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Care

Hi,

The celebration of Loy Krathong continues, with lanterns floating into the sky and a variety of explosions keeping us on edge.

Congrats to all those who knew the 'Zany Day' tune right away. The last verse should help you if you didn't get it:

"I told that girl I can start right away. And she said, 'Listen baby I got something to say. I got no car and it's breaking my heart. But I've found a driver and that's a start'. Baby you can __ __ __....." Hint: I think it should be obvious by now.

Last night, after our visit to the river, the rain finally stopped and things just picked up where they left off. The lanterns, the fireworks, and the noise. The full moon got a chance to shine through the clouds from time to time and the party didn't end until midnight. There were still occasional bursts of noise at odd hours, like 4am.

This morning we had 3 lantern carcasses in our yard. It's so sad, they begin as white crisp paper and end up as gray, soggy messes. They are soggy because the morning dew soaks right through the rice paper. Of course, the ground was quite wet from the rain and that didn't help. Some end up in trees, others on roof-tops. In Chiang Mai they had to close the airport because of the mass of lanterns floating over the city. Here in Chiang Rai, Thai Airways changed the flight path of their one evening flight to avoid the lanterns. I didn't take this photo, but it's probably from Chiang Mai. Pretty intense example of what happens.

We went by Bliss Studio to pick up a photo from Chalit and had a cool visit. He mentioned that we might have trouble parking near the coffee shop we were going to next. There was something happening and the area was busy. When we got there one of the parades was being lined up and we had to detour. We ended up at Doi Chaang, had coffee and a visit with our friend Kwan. On the way home we encountered another parade that was about to start just beyond the Clock Tower. Another detour and quickly home before we found another parade. Some of the floats were amazing looking, but we couldn't get close enough for photos.

We have a busy weekend coming up and we found out today that we can check one thing off of our list. As curator of Lisa's exhibit, Khun Jaffee is going to go to Bangkok and take down the show and pack it up. We were going to fly down on Monday, undo the show and fly back on the same day. It was not something we were looking forward to doing. Now we can breathe easy.

I'll leave you with a sign that we saw while driving around town. Many artists make up names for themselves, but this one is special. It's all in the spelling, and it had us laughing for blocks. Somebody has been studying Western ways.

Have a Thrilling Thursday.

Peace,

Danny

"Seek opportunities to show you care. The smallest gestures often make the biggest difference.

~John R. Wooden

Gettin' Funky, Thai Style

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Waiting

Hi,

Today is Loy Krathong. Tonight was the night to float the krathongs on the river. Sometimes things happen. Read on.

The 'Easy Monday' song was "19th Nervous Breakdown" by The Rolling Stones. That means it must be time for another chapter of 'Zany Day' song. "Asked that girl what she wanted to be. She said baby, 'Can't you see? I wanna be famous, a star on the screen. But you can do something in between. Baby you can __ __ __, yes I'm gonna be a star. Baby you can __ __ __ and maybe I'll love you." Hint: This should be easier than last week. Four lads singing about being used, in a manner of speaking.

This morning the sky was partly cloudy and the air was cool. One could feel the energy in the air as the celebration of Loy Krathong drew closer. This would be the night of the full moon, the big night when lanterns would soar and the small banana-leaf offerings would float down the river with candles burning. We ran some errands after my massage and noticed groups around town working on their floats for tomorrow's parade.

Our friend Atom came over mid-afternoon and we hung out talking for over an hour. We hadn't seen her in a long time so we had lots to catch up on, including the festivities. Friday we will go to her family's boutique hotel, The Mantrini, for an open house. While Atom was visiting, Boot came in with three Krathongs for us to take to the river. Her friend Kwang made them. Atom explained that when she was in school it was a annual project in the classroom. The three that Kwang made are very creative, each made with different types of leaves.

By dinner time it was starting to sprinkle. It stopped and we figured we would have a chance to go down to the river with Tatt. After dinner it started raining hard and we thought we'd have to call it off. We knew that Tatt wanted to go to the river so we kept listening for a break in the rain. Finally it stopped and we all rushed to get ready. We walked down our road to a smaller road that leads to the river. Just as we were starting to light the candles and incense it began to rain. At first it was a few drops, then it was a small downpour. We managed to get things lit, laughing all the time. All of our krathongs ended up crashing or sinking due to the swirling current by the boat dock. Next year we will find a better location. By the time we got home we were soaking wet, but happy we did it. It's probably one of the craziest things we've done. Amazing Thailand.

Time for a Wacky Wednesday.

Peace,

Danny

"We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us."

~Unknown

Gettin' Funky, Thai Style

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Nothing

Hi,

It was a beautiful day to be busy in Chiang Rai. We covered a shopping circuit this morning and hung out in town in the afternoon. I spent the evening at the Farm Festival and just got home.

I really expected more response from our 'Easy Monday' tune. Oh well, you can always jump in when you remember:

"You were still in school when you had that fool who really messed your mind. And after that you turned your back on treating people kind. On our first trip I tried so hard to rearrange your mind. But after while I realized you were disarranging mine. You better stop, look around, here it comes...."

So much to tell you, but so little time. This morning we went to Makro, and then down to Bus Station street where we made two stops. The most significant being the guitar store. I needed to get a new set of strings for my guitar, and also a soft case. I've finally been drawn out of my little (huge) shell and I'm going to play on Sunday at a gathering of artists doing a project. Khun Somluk, the committee chair, told Lisa to 'have Danny bring his guitar'. This has been building and now the door has opened.

This afternoon we were out in the street again. We went back to the guitar store to exchange the case for a larger one. This time I took my guitar. When they saw it they said 'Jumbo', which cracked me up because it's not really that big, but they sell a lot of medium and small size acoustics here. Our final stop was at NorThai for a look around without the crowd. It was the first time we'd been back since the opening night and it was nice to be able to really take in some of the things on display. We hung out with Kay, the co-owner, and had a nice talk about how things are going and what will happen in the near future. We saw the menu and we will probably stop by for a light meal this weekend.

The Farm Festival has been on my mind since I saw the first poster on the street. Tonight I went with my friend Em. We had a good time on the way, listening to my CD and talking about music. The sun was just going down when we arrived and we couldn't help focusing on the giant hot-air balloon that was giving people rides in the evening sky. It went up about four stories and gave them a view of the valley and the tea plantation. I don't know what they saw when it got dark. I guess the festival grounds were enough. The theme of the whole thing was pretty nicely presented, with barn type facades for all the vending booths and a big barn background for the stage. One curious note was the row of three teepees on one side of the grounds. There was lots of food, much of it BBQ or roasted and plenty of Singha beer since they were the major sponsors. Em and I drank water and walked around checking everything out. We ran into two other Chiang Rai artists and their wives, and that became our base of operation.

We basically went for the music, but the music was just OK. The opening act was a duet and they were good, but an hour was too long. Then there was almost an hour of waiting for the main act. They were billed as 'Smile Buffalo' and I don't know why. I think it was a label presenting it's solo artists under the guise of 'guest artists' with a 'house band'. A couple of the singers and their respective songs were quite good. Em and I talked about the music and how it made us feel. We had fun and it's the first time I've done something like this. He wants me to help him with some songs he's written so we'll be getting together on a more regular basis.

Here's a photo of the Farm Festival for you to get an idea of the vibe. I'll post more as the week goes on.

Farm Festival on the Hill

Have a Happy Tuesday.

Peace,

Danny

"As for me, all I know is that I know nothing."

~Socrates

Gettin' Funky, Thai Style