Grandmotherly Duties

Dateline: Chiang Mai - 10/29/08



I've definitely learned a lot about my wee granddaughter. She is quite the gymnist and if she does not get signed up for the Olympics in 2023 it will be a travesty to the American people. I have never seen a child climb more consistently, in more impossible maneuvers, with more determination or patience in spite of repeated failures.



She is extremely bright. OK, I've brought my flashcards with photos of "things and stuff" like apples and animals and we have school each day. (btw - I was always miffed as a child that some artist's intrepretation of what a bear or a car or a monkey should look like was in no way connected with my reality. Use of photographics takes out that artistic license that caused me not to get 100% on my revered papers in first and second grade. So, I say, "hooray" for photos.) We've gone through a series of about 70 cards that she can already pick out from the pack and, in some way, say the name of the object. She can spot an "O" in a mire of text, or an "S", and is working on "X". She "sort of" knows a number of colors. I've truly never seen the kind of attention span she exhibits at the age of 16 months. She is, indeed, bright.



She is very talented. I present the following video as evidence - and will expect your repeated votes on American Idol throughout her tenure there.

She is demanding. That same persistent quality that puts her in good stead in her scholarly duties and her extracurricular activities also applies to her quest to get exactly what she wants when she wants it. Nana and her continue in battles and skirmishes, but I do believe that she may be winning the war.

Other stuff: There are many similarities between the food that we can get at the local "Tops" market (read - foreigner food) and the old Harris-Teeter back home. However, the varieties of food may change just slightly, to wit:

• Yogurt. We buy a good bit of yogurt in the 4-packs. Great varieties are - coconut (with small squares of soft coconut that look like gelled cornstarch); cereal - a favorite I had the unexpected opportunity to sample this morning supplementing the yogurt with bean halves, corn, and I forget what else.


• Potato Chips. Great taste from the folks that bring you all your salty snacks. Included is the porkburger flavor; the prawn, crab, and seaweed ... and I forget a number of the others.

We live next to a Chinese cemetery. So far no ghouls have threatened us. The graves are actually very distinctive from the front, and from the back the cemetery looks like hobbit-land, full of soft green-grass lumps.

The bathrooms here are generally outfitted with the usual stuff, but anything under 6 feet is generally ceramic - waterproof. Next to the western-style toilet is a rubber-hosed sprayer with about 3 feet of hose. This, we're told, is to be used for cleaning oneself, with toiletpaper used only to "dry". This comes in really handy when it's time to clean up the bathroom. Anything can be sprayed clean!

The election. Is it me - or is there more double-talk this year than in most, with candidates taking anything and everything out of context then twisting it into a new "reality".

Smells. These run the gamut. In the countryside, the smells are more "organic". Chickens smell like chickens, pigfarms like pigs, and the flowering trees and bushes embue the air with their special fragrances. In the urban markets the smells change foot by foot, from sewer gas to three-day-old fish, to squid with no smell at all, to the fragrance of eastern spices, the aroma of chicken or pork cooking over charcoal brazziers started with wood ( a smell I identify with my days in Afghanistan).

Well --- that's about all there is to post today from the other side of the clock. More later.

Thoughts, Prison, a Birthday and a Pickup

Dateline Chiangmai October 20, 2008

It's been a few days since my last post, so wanted to put some things down before they're forgotten. A number of things, including Mika's birthday (33) have come and gone.

Karina, Mika and I are currently sitting on the couch in the living room while watching TV and uploading some of the latest pictures.

Mika's Birthday was way better than I thought it would be. I was all prepared to go out to a vegetarian restaurant (the best) and to pick up a cake on the way. (really, now! did you think I had an oven?) Instead, after hauling the stroller over my shoulder and KRose in my arms, getting on the songtow, getting off at the wrong exit, walking down the sidewalk that really isn't a sidewalk - rather it's an extra retail space - for what seemed like at least five miles (I know it wasn't) and crossing who knows how many lanes of traffic (I say, "who knows" because the lane markings don't begin to define where the cars will travel), we made our way to the AIDs/Net office. We walked in to hear Mika say that the office was taking her out to dinner for her birthday.

That was great! ... and a much better time for Mika. Until you've travelled the way I do and availed yourself of all of the wonderful opportunities that arise, you'll never know what you might miss. As it was, we went to the Comeda, a fine riverside restaurant with only a few other diners. That left us to enjoy the ambience, the food, and the lounge music by ourselves. It ended up with about 15 of us, singing Happy Birthday to Mika for her 33rd after a wonderful meal of endless dishes that I can't even begin to describe. I'm not sure what all was in them - but they were great.

That, of course, brings me to what's on the TV. Generally, we watch CNN, Bloomberg, CNN World News, Al Jazeera, or one of two channels with fourth-run movies dubbed in Thai. The advertisements are quite a bit different here, and the economic development advertising agency (I'm presuming there's only one, since they all run on the same format and the announcer has the same tone in his voice) is working overtime telling business and tourists to come to "Kazakhstan, a huge country in the very heart of the Eurasian subcontinent" or to Poland, or Qatar, or "Slovakia, a big little country", or "Croatia, the Mediterranean as it once was", "Yemen - one country, many destinations". Sure.

That was on Tuesday. Then, on Saturday we were pummelled by women at the women's prison. The one-hour Thai massage we received (about $6 ) is a vocational education program run by the prison. Massage is a traditional craft here, and the money these soon-to-be-released prisoners earn goes directly into a fund they can use once they are released to help establish themselves. Of the two we sampled, one had a four year sentence, the other two years. We didn't ask what they were in for, but they were so coy and demure - and tiny - that we wondered what on earth they could have done to merit their "time". Other prisoners are trained in sewing and embroidery.

On the weekend, Jeep (from AIDs/net) asked us if we'd like to accompany her family to an outting at the Doi Inthanon National Park - which, among other things, is the site of Thailand's highest peak (2,565 meters). So ... (again, never let an opportunity pass!) ...

On Sunday morning we arrived at the Office about 8:15 AM and a number of us piled into Jeep's pickup with her husband, Add, driving. Doi is southwest of Chiang Mai - I'm not sure how far, but about two hours in the back of the pickup! We got to know Jeep, her husband, and daughter View, Ana and her husband, Song, and Noy. Mika and KRose, of course, rode in the cab. I was one of those in the back with the wind-blown hair, learning about Thailand from relatively non-English speakers. We had a ball!

Our first stop was a small market where any number of Hmong crafts/produce were sold. Fabrics, resin elephants, traditional Hmong garb, necklaces, passionfruit, roseapples, beans, eggplant, etc. I made it a point to take some pix of the little ladies manning the booths. Note: Little = 4 feet tall on a good day.

Then, off to Phra Mahathat Naphamethanidon (a chedi) built by the air force for the king's 60th birthday - and a somewhat less grand chedi built for the queen. We had been climbing up the mountain on the wrong (left) side of the road - sometimes on the right side - through scenery that was very much "Asheville-esque", until we got to the final few miles of swerves.

At that point, a mossy misty rain forest started presenting itself, and I found myself trying to teach the difference between haze, fog, and smoke to my pickup mates.

Finally, we were at the Phra, which just "appeared" out of the fog-shrouded mountain as two golden peaks Workers demonstrated how the pyramids were probably assembled ... teamwork, much like the workers at Phra were moving large amounts of stone to install an upper gardens at the King's chedi - to match the beautiful gardens (down nearly 100 steps, across a landing, then up about 100 steps) - dedicated to the queen.

The view from each of the chedis was awesome. It was chilly and the fog swirled around us as we took in this awesome structure that I had no idea existed.

The elephant, cont.

Thursday, October 9, 2008 - 7:58 PM

Well, it's been a few days since the first part of the post, and I've already forgotten most of it (so have I, you're probably saying!). Nonetheless, I'll try to go from the prior post.

So ... Karina was terrified when the elephant got close and encircled her and Mika with a trunk. So we weren't hoping for much. We walked down the path past the flea-bitten chickens, and up the steps of a pavillion with four "stations" for loading passengers. At the top were very wide and beautifully carved teak benches. We were sitting on one, worrying. Eventually, an elephant was led toward the bench at our back. We could look at the top of the elephant from over its head. From the bench, Karina had a top view of the elephant and appeared to be much more comfortable with its tonnage from that vantage, not seeing its trunk inching across the floor at our feet.

We were not to ride that elephant, however, and it was a good thing. Apparently, elephants live for so long - and retire at the age of 65 - that they are trained by one mahoot, with an apprentice mahoot that then carries on after the death of the first mahoot. Well, the elephant we had been watching was obviously in the care of the apprentice. He had placed the 6 or so pads made from old rice bags on the elephant's back, then, with difficulty, stood on the back and hoisted over a seat - which the other mahoots immediately noted as being placed incorrectly. After a number of other tries, along with girding the bundle from the elephant's tale and under its front legs. When another couple was given the go-ahead to get on, I showed that we had booked this time. It was way OK, however, when they were the led away on the beast with the slipped seat.

Ours came soon after. We were all really happy to see that our mahoot was older and more experienced! We stepped on the top of the elehant, between its shoulders on our way to the bench seat, closed, like a carnival ride, with a bar across our laps.

The sway of an elephant while sitting in a bench is, um, extreme. This was not the first time to ride an elephant for Mika and I. Sitting on the neck is the best, most gentle ride. (Of course, you have to put up with whatever the elephant happens to blow out its trunk that way.) The sway of the elephant goes from front to back and side to side. It's a bit discomforting, knowing how precarious the whole setup is (having seen the apprentice!).

In these areas, the only elephants one can ride are those that are specifically for rides. There are, then, elephant trails that one rides on. Imagine the three-toed elephant with a foot the size of a large dinner plate walking in the footprints of the ones that went down the trail before it. Now, imagine the same in mud 2 feet deep. That, my friends, is the trail - and walking down that trail is every more uh - extreme - than walking on a flat road.

So, where's the little girl that's afraid of elephants? She's the little one on the top, screaming for more, more, more!

We had tickets for a 1/2 hour ride. It felt like two on the back of a swaying elephant. ... then, towards the end of the ride a large snake crossed our path - about 15 feet in front of us. We knew, not only because we saw it, but because the mahoot jumped off quickly and chased it with his barbed stick, hacking at it wildly.

We found out the most extraordinary thing. Did you know that elephants tremble? We could tell right away that it was afraid. It had three very distinct sets of shudders.

The rest of the ride was looonnnggg, but relatively uneventful in light of the big mudholes (pictured above) and the snake.

After the elephant ride, we worked our way back to the entrance of the camp, stopping for a coconut milk drink. Our tricycle rider was there waiting for us, to take us to the next stop - the orchid farm.

After an elephant ride, what can you say about an orchid farm? There were all kinds and all colors of orchids in all stages of development. They were using tissue cultures to propogate - and had bottles of baby orchids for sale for 250 baht. Maybe another time.... try not to spend money, Nana, while the economy goes down the tube.

Competing for top spot of the day was a sorry "also-ran", the monkey training school. Purporting to be a school for monkeys to train to pick coconuts, it seemed more like a manufactured tourist post to me. Apparently, they can pick 800 to 1000 cocunuts per day. So ... their bag of tricks was unscrewing coconuts from some wire pins, riding a tricycle, shooting baskets, diving for coins - and other useful talents for a well-schooled monkey. (btw- they were pig-tailed monkeys.)

After the monkey farm we stopped at what we thought would be a butterfly farm. It turned out to be an insect farm --- all kinds of big and small insects! ... and ... not much that I really wanted to see. There was, by the way, a butterfly room - but only about two of the butterflies we were expecting to see. The guy that started this large bug collection literally "wrote the book", Thailand's Butterlies. Apparently, the guy and his family run this.

Following the bug zoo we were just too exhausted to do anything else, and made our way back to Chiangmai via our tricycle. We were pretty sure we'd make it considering the road was almost all downhill.

Elephants, monkeys, orchids, and huge bugs, Oh my!

Scooter Tricycle - dead ahead...





Beautiful blue orchids

Nana gets a monkey on her shoulder, and head, and back, and arm ...
















At the Maesa Elephant camp.









Riding the "Beast" - a new type of roller coaster.

















Saturday, October 4th, 4:56 PM
It’s been a full day already. I started my day waking up to Katy’s phone call from Asheville via Skype. I’m not so sure I’m liking having everyone laugh at me waking up... but, it was great seeing Katy and hearing that she’s going to change roommates. Right after her call, Dave called. We had a day planned to go to the elephant camp so … a quick breakfast and we were off to Mae Rim.

Of course the first stop was to get transportation there. That was easily solved by getting a songtow just outside the market next to the apartment. For that, the most dangerous part, generally, is trying to weave our way across the 4 lanes of road with a mixed bag of cars, songtows, motorcycles with sidecar passenger seats, and everywhere motorscooters (not motorcycles) driven by darn near anyone old enough to reach the pedals – and loaded with two, three or four persons and their afternoon baggage. (I’ve not yet seen the cages of chickens teetering precariously on top of it all this trip.) So, while all the vehicles whiz by obeying absolutely no discernable rules of traffic, we take our lives in our hands waiting for the “yellow” bus. This time, however, we were headed north, which meant that the songtow would be on our side of the street.

We pry ourselves into the songtow truck, Mika, me and Rose, and the “babypack” (for Karina to sit in when she wishes) along with the other eight or so passengers crammed in. Karina likes the songtow and the wind blowing in her hair from it. She’s learned from me to put her hand over her mouth and look like she’s gagging from the exhaust fumes so prevalent here.

We proceed for the 12 kilometers to Mai Rim, passing a series of military installations, including the special forces area, a few golf courses, the most well-landscaped of places I’ve seen, roadside stalls consisting of nothing more than a cart, an overhead tarp, a large pot, and, perhaps, a few picnic tables. The landscape is beautiful. Very lush. Flowering locust trees, flowering trees , flowering palms and banana trees – and trees I’ve never seen before. Beneath this roadside canopy a dirt road shoulder serves as a make-do marketplace for any vendor with any wares.
I’m so impressed with the adaptability of the Thai people and their industriousness, their imagination in making a living. If there is a way to start a business, they can do it. And they are so full of love and smiles, stopping and squealing at K Rose, wanting to hold her hand, to share in the joy of a new child.

The songtow stopped at “the stop” in Mai Rim. From there we needed to go further to get to the elephant camp. At the stop there were several other “local” songtows and a tri-motorscooter (scooter with a side car built to seat two on side benches). Well we negotiated a deal with the songtow, but decided not to take it. We walked along the road for a minute or two and were soon approached by one of the drivers we had talked to at the stop. He was willing to take us to a number of stops for 300 baht ($10 or so). We pushed ourselves into the contraption I’ll call the tricycle, and off we went.

I looked to see how may cc the engine had. I couldn’t find any numbers on the base – but I’m guessing it’s not much different than the rest of the scooters here – a maximum of 150 cc. So, figure a 150 cc scooter, a driver, an overweight grandma, a grown woman, a child and a backpack (kiddiepak). The engine on the tricycle was working way harder than it should have been.

We hadn’t gone very far at all until the driver asked that I move to the seat behind him (the motorcycle passenger seat), in order to balance the load – I presume. The elephant camp was about 4 kilometers from where we got on the cycle … most of it uphill. If I thought the engine was working hard before, it was nothing like going uphill in first gear with the motorcycle going slower and slower until it came to a stop, the smell of hot oil permeating the otherwise jungle area.

He told me to get off. Then he went up the hill – without me. So … here I am in the northeastern part of Thailand, knowing no Thai, walking up a mountain (and getting winded) and there’s no one around. My imagination was playing lots of tricks on me … most of them having to do with snakes. Indeed, there was some rustling in the bushes not far from me which, of course, did nothing to help my confidence along this road. It was about 5 minutes later when I spotted the tricycle with the driver coming back my way. It must have been that the hill I was walking up was the steepest. Too much for that poor little engine that wished it could.

Not long after, we made it to the elephant camp, a rather well-maintained tropical area with asphalt or concrete walkways shaded by tropical foliage I’d only seen in potted plants in the US, but towering over us. Orchids were growing, presumably wild, on the stems/trunk of the plants. There were a few vendor stations selling elephant souvenirs, coconut milk, and other refreshments. It reminded me of the tropical section of a zoo in the US.

We were only a few minutes from the show’s start (the tricycle slowed us down a bit with its inching along the road). A herd of about a dozen elephants with their mahoots riding on their necks began to parade around the ring in front of an audience sitting in an amphitheater of wooden benches. There was an audience of no more than 50 or so, and the elephants were walking no more than 10 feet from the audience. The mahoots began their show with the elephants marching two abreast, the lead ones carrying a “welcome” sign. They had many tricks, those elephants. They had one small elephant doing a hulahoop with its trunk, elephants kicking a large soccer ball into a goal, showing how they used the elephants for logging, and finally they had about five of the elephants do paintings. Now, I’ve seen circus elephants that paint – but the quality of these paintings were incredible. They held the brushes in their trunk, very carefully pulling the brush along. The delicacy of the paintings in the trunks of these behemoths was stunning. There was a gallery of their “expensive” paintings, as the sign said.

After the show, the elephants lined up next to the audience, waiting to be fed the sugar cane or banana bundles that were sold to the audience along the trail before the show. After eating the snacks, the mahoots invited the audience forward to have their pictures taken with the beasts. Know that we were on one side of a log fence with timbers no more than 4” thick. On the other side was the elephants.

Karina ‘s eyes were so big as she watched the elephants. When they came close, though, she was not interested in cozying up to them. The elephants reached out their trunks and she was so scared and wanted nothing to do with them any more. Meanwhile I was talked into having the elephant wrap its trunk around my neck – then put a hat on my head – and take it back off. Very delicately.

Mika and I didn’t quite know what to do with Karina given her reaction to the elephants, and the fact that we had a ticket for an elephant ride in our pocket.

… to be continued ….. (6:33 PM)

d9/27/2008 11:15 AM
DATELINE: CHIANGMAI, THAILAND
It’s Saturday morning, and late at that. K Rose woke up about 7 am, and so did I. We went into the living room, and worked on having some breakfast – leftover rolled oats with banana and raisins. She seemed to be very hungry, until she decided that she should be holding the spoon – not Nana, then decided she really didn’t want any breakfast at all. We let Mika sleep for a little while.

Now, I’m sitting on the “lounge” part of our sectional couch – having just watched Mc Cain and Obama duke it out. I’m all for Obama’s charisma – but it looked to me like McCain was the clear winner of the debate, making some of Obama’s actions look foolish. But, I’m afraid of Palin.




It’s hard to believe that we’ve been gone for 12 days already. Unlike my second trip to Thailand, this has not been a sightseeing trip so far – which suits me fine for now. Rather, it has been more of a settling in, finding a routine, doing the regular things which Thais must do every day – and becoming more Thai-

Our new apartment is north of the city’s moat-square, north of the bypass looping around the city, directly behind Boori-Boone market. (I have no clue how that is spelled, I’m going phonetically).

9/28/2008 1:48 AM
DATELINE: CHIANGMAI, THAILAND
So much to catch up on. I’m back on the lounge. It’s easy enough to get around from our apartment using either a tuk-tuk (think three-wheeled motorcycle with an attached, covered back seating three) or a songkow (think a Ford Ranger, covered with padded 1x12 seats lining both sides of the back). I’m never sure if the price is right, because I read one thing on the guide book, and the drivers tell another version.

Yesterday, shortly after my mini-log, K Rose woke up and we all took a trip to Bo San via a Songkow. The guide book alerted us to be careful of those drivers who say they’ll take you to various craft areas, then allow you to look at only one vendor of the various products. That’s the Songkow we hired. She took us to the biggest most expensive silver showroom, then a store specializing in fabric art (think gold, hand embroidered, gemstone encrusted wall hangings), then a silk manufacturing showroom, then an umbrella manufacturer. Again, the choices of which stores to stop at was hers, and hers alone, since she got 50 baht for each of the loads of tourists she brings to these places. I’m more of a “find a great bargain from a little-known craftsman found in the far reaches of a village in a remote part of the ______ (fill in the blank: country, state, county, city).

OK, I did end up buying one nice thing for George and I and three souvenirs for others. But, overall, I resisted the urge.

By the time we got to the umbrella factory, we were hot and sweaty and K Rose was long overdue for some food. Mika fed her at a concrete picnic table next to a small snack vendor. Understand, the umbrella factory was more in line with what I was hoping to see – more craftsmanship – and less “same old same old” product. It was a LOT more primitive than the other swanky places we’d been. We first sat our stuff on top of one table, only to realize at the same time that it was crawling with itty bitty black ants. Moved from that table to another, where we could watch the rivulets of ants follow the trails of those marching before them from the garbage can about five feet away, across the concrete floor to a wooden post where they disappeared somewhere in the roof/canopy above us.

Very tired, we got a songkow back to our apartment.

My back has been aching for some time now, and marching up the four flights of stairs, and down, is very taxing, not to mention painful. There are coin-operated washing machines across the road/alley and others across the creek at Boori Boone market.

The three of us end up making a bit of laundry – given that it’s hot and humid. Since I’m watching K Rose, I can’t just haul the laundry down to the coin washers (btw – these are in the open – sitting for all to use – much as a newspaper rack) unless I also haul her with me. Down those four flights of stairs – and back up.

So … I decided to tackle the job in the bathtub and avoid the impossible. Everything worked out great. I separated into lights and darks, and then did a grape-stomping dance while K Rose took her nap. You wouldn’t believe the sootiness of the water.




Unfortunately, Mika came home shortly after I had finished wringing out the clothes and I hadn’t yet had a chance to get them hanging anywhere (nor a rack upon which to hang them). The unfortunate part is that meant that K Rose’s sheets and blankets were all wet – and we had no way to dry them. So, how do we make K Rose comfortable on a plastic air mattress? Well, necessity being the mother of invention and all, we DID have a dry bath towel – and we found that I’d actually missed getting one of her blankets into the tub in my cleaning rampage, so, she slept with the towel and the blanket.



The clothes are still wet. They’ve been rung out and are sitting on the top base of the tub. They do need to get dry. So, K Rose and I decided to take our first solo flight. We got onto the white songkow headed into town and asked him to take us to the market. Of course, he thought we were talking about the night market – the tourist hang out. “No, not the night market, the big market”. We were off on our adventure. K Rose is all about the tuk-tuk and songkow rides. I fear, however, that this may fade as the adventure wears off and it becomes more mundane, and the sheer toxicity of these modes gets old.

Nonetheless, we headed down the streets of the “market”. We were looking for pots and pans, a drying rack, and some plastics to help organize small things. The sight of the elder white lady walking with a toddler in tow seemed to generate lots of comments. But, since I don’t speak Thai, I have no clue what they said, in general. However, the Thai are a very happy, very loving people and their smiles and SaWadeekaaah’s let me know that they thought K Rose was just too cute.

Hiring a tuk-tuk, we made it back to the apartment with all the items in tow. I’m not sure if it was wise to take K Rose without the stroller or not. Seemed like one more thing to have to haul down and up. I didn’t take the stroller – and the clerk at the stall where I bought the pots and pans lugged them to the tuk-tuk; the driver loaded them in the tuk-tuk, and when we got to the apartment, amazingly to me, the owner’s staff hauled it all up to our apartment – including a microwave he gifted us with.



So … we have achieved cooking.
We have learned about laundering.
We have ventured solo.
We have learned the Guide Book was right.

Tuesday 9-23-08

DATELINE: CHIANGMAI

Mika is off to her NGO to get some things straightened out and to sign for the apartment we'll lease for the next two months. I'm really looking forward to the new place. It has a bedroom, sitting room, kitchen and a small patio. The kitchen means that we can make our own food instead of going to the street vendors for food three times a day. Karina will appreciate the room to run a little from room to room. So - the next time I write it should be from our "permanent" address. I understand that it is north of Chiangmai proper, but next to a laundry, market, and supermarket. It sounds great.

Karina is napping now - and has been for the last 45 minutes. She gets wound up so tightly that we have problems getting her to eat enough - or to take naps. Today, I fed her in the bathtub, which she loves.

I'm sitting by the patio window/door with the peach curtains partially drawn to keep the sun out. The AC is on (thank God!). To my left the view out the balcony/patio is of corrugated hardi-plank in a gun grey shade of sootiness acting as the horizon for the view. Beyond that is a yard full of tall banana trees and, I think, a mimosa tree with frilly bright yellow flowers. Further behind the trees the buildings seem to get taller as they rise further away. I see the sides of some; the backs of others. They range in size from 1 storey to six stories. They are white, pale yellow, bright pink and minty green. In spite of their coloring, they all appear to have layers of soot clinging to the buildings. Laundry is hung out to dry on tiny patios.

Above, the sun is shining in a cloud-filled day. It is about this time each day that the sky fills with lower, darker clouds and the rain begins to fall. I think it has rained every day we've been here - generally in the evenings. Lightening and thunder accompany the rain. It is the monsoon season.

Mika and K Rose make friends along the road in Chiang Mai.















Staff of Fuengfa offer rice to K Rose.

Chiangmai - finally

The amazing discrepancy between the beauty of the flower market, and the soot-covered buildings behind it.
















Please, Mommy. Can I have some more? (Mango smoothie).

Trying to catch up with e-mails and news by the light of the laptop.

Casket shop just around the corner from us in Chiangmai. (Mika likes the one on top.)

On the road again ...

Friends from the Shanti















Improvising a bath tub.




Walking along the Flower Market street.

First Day in Chiang Mai - Friday

9/19/2008 – 9:36 AM (NC time) (8:36 PM Chiang Mai Time)

Left Bangkok about noon today after hauling our four large bags and two carry-ons from the Shanti. Well, actually, the taxi driver did the hauling until we got to the airport. The Suvarnabhumi (or something like that) airport is used for both international and domestic airlines. We travelled on Thai Air. They’ve got some security there! No security outside or within the airport until we got to the gate – then, definitely security. Mika got zapped for having coins in her pocket. Then, after rushing to the front of the line (small children board first – don’cha-know) – K Rose got stopped because we hadn’t gotten a ticket for her for the trip to Chiang Mai. This, because the Shanti (through which we booked the air) told us that K Rose was taken care of and didn’t need a ticket. No problem: we bought her ticket at the gate for about $12, and ended up being the very last to board. Oh well….

We met Wad (the AIDS/NET coordinator) at the airport and he (and another taxi) escorted us and our pile of luggage to the hotel, the Fuengfa, just inside the main part of town in Chiang Mai – due west of its center. (NOTE: Central Chiang Mai is formed in a square from the original moat built here in the 1400’s (need to look this up). You can “almost” look up our place on www.mapjack.com along Arak Road 3, Mika says, though I’ve no real idea what the heck this is all about other than some sort of virtual tour. So… we got here at Fuengfa, checked in, let K Rose run around for awhile - naked as a blue jay - because she’s got a rash on her fanny – which, of course endeared her to the staff who then sought her out to “pinch” her naked butt – from which she ran because (as I would have thought) they were getting just a bit too familiar for a first meeting.

After K Rose was done streaking through Fuengfa we took a stroll around a section (picture the square divided into four sections), got the lay of the land, and ordered some noodles and rice (with veggies and spices, of course) at one of the roadside restaurants. Yum. The walk took a bit longer than I thought, causing us all to be so hot that we added a beer each to the tab. (No, silly, NOT K Rose’s). In sitting at that roadside table, both Mika and I thought “we have arrived in Thailand now”. (Bangkok was just a prelude).

It makes me wonder sometimes why I sweat so profusely now. Is it weight? Age? Metabolic change? I know that it used to be that everyone was sweating but me – but now … I’m older, I’m heavier, my metabolism has changed, but which of the three causes the “glowing”?

We have just got to figure out what to feed this poor child. She likes fruits. She likes vegetables. She likes what the little girl at Shanti had that her mom made (chicken soup?) But … what type of Thai food can we order for her? She just now went to sleep for the night (9:58 PM). She should sleep really well, since her only nap today was while we took our “stroll” earlier.

Our room is about the size of a small hotel room. It has twin beds covered in chartreuse/bright spring green comforters, and peach curtains. A desk, small phone table, closet, dormitory refrigerator, TV, two chairs and a small end table complete the room. A bathroom is adjoining with a toilet, sink, and drain along with lower and higher shower heads for bathing. Once again, I’ve borrowed a tub from the laundry for K Rose’s bathtub. We also have a small (5’ x 4’?) patio we can stand on to look out over the corrugated grey galvanized housetops adjacent to us. (Photos later….)

Laundry …. Not yet gone 5 days and already running short on clothes. This could have a lot to do with needing to change clothes three times a day in order not to be wet all the time. Not to worry – there’s a Laundromat across the alley charging 10 baht per load. (Much better than the 5 baht per shirt the Fuengfa charges)!

We passed on the night market today, though I’m really looking to buy a bath laundry tub for K Rose, two pairs of flip-flops, and a few cotton dresses or pants to wear in the heat of Thailand. May go there tomorrow. Apparently, they have a “street walk” for retailers in different parts of the city on various days of the week. Saturday’s walk is where we’ll be headed tomorrow, along with going to the night market.

Mika and I are both hungry, so after running out for milk and water for the baby, she’s going to be the good sport and go out again to find something for supper.

Wad is slated to pick us up at 11:00 AM in the morning to “show us around”. ()

Bangkok - Thursday

9/18/2008 10:30 AM

Jet lag and heat may just be getting the best of our intentions to do a lot of sightseeing today. Again, slept late – about 11 am – and about the time we were dressed and sat down at the table, breakfast was long over. So … at that point we decided to walk to the touristy mall again and had breakfast (one pancake with a banana on top and one pancake with a piece of pineapple on top). This diet thing might not work, since I was so hungry, I ordered a hamburger with French fries, too. Portion control is definitely practiced here. I’ll never feel too full.

After lunch/breakfast, we took a bus to try to get to the doll factory and the zoo. After waiting for far too long for the wooden-floored, rickety number 43 bus (10 baht/person) it arrived and soon we were on our way back to near where the hotel is, so that we could continue towards the zoo. That wasn’t happening. We walked past the palace, but it was hot and Karina was getting too much sun, and I was sweating like a hot summer shower. So … we turned around, and headed back to the hotel.

At the hotel it was baths for all. (Well, showers, actually). They have two shower heads on the wall, one low and near the toilet, the other head high. The floor is ceramic, causing Karina to fall on her caboose more than once. It is suggested on the hotel’s bathroom note that to save on toilet paper and on water, the lower shower head be used to wash, and paper be used to daub dry, as Thais do. Well, having breathed in the equivalent of a lifetime of toxins from the tuk-tuk, motorcycle, and automobile exhaust over the past few days, I agree. We need to do everything we can to help protect the environment here. Karina isn’t willing to “shower” because she doesn’t want water on her hair, so Nana rounded up a yellow plastic bowl used for laundry and turned it into the mostest coolest bathtub around. She was happy, happy, happy to be in the tub with cool water – and didn’t really want to come out for about ½ hour.

Apparently the Thais bathe at least 3 times a day – considering us foreigners to be “dirty and smelly” for two reasons: first, we eat meat and drink milk causing a distinctive odor; second, we don’t generally bathe as often – particularly most of the foreigners who are hanging around the touristy places on a very very low budget with not enough money to buy the deodorant to protect their reputations.

After bath, it was off for another adventure to the Flower Market. We looked so refreshed, cool and composed as we left the Guest House (Shanti) and felt so for at least the first block we walked, wilting far before we got to the Flower Market about two blocks away. We came in the back way to the Flower Market – on the wrong side of the muddy and rubbish-strewn river – walking through the vegetable and meat markets as they were closing for the day. We were, nonetheless treated to the sights and smells of fresh pineapple, rambutan, coconut, leechies, garlic, and many, many other fruits and vegetables that I still don’t know. The fish, eels looking very snake-like, squid and other delicacies were, at that time, not emoting “yummy” to me. Through the very narrow corridors of vendors’ goods motorcyclists with one two or three passengers were put-putting, causing those in their way to get out of the way or ….
A walk up the river, over the bridge and down the river on the other side brought us to the Flower Market. Oh, George! You just don’t even want me to go on about the open stalls full of orchids of nearly any variety, crotons, spathiphyllum, fishbone cactus, roses, jasmine and …. on and on and on. As rank as the other side of the river was, this side breathed freshness and flower scent into the air. Did I mention that the Shanti puts one or two orchids on each dish they serve? They are, by the way, edible. I tried one. It’s slimy and without much taste. Oh well – looks skin deep and all…. By the time we were done with dinner, Karina was eager to hit the bath “tub” again. Then – our first Skype call via internet camera.

Tomorrow Chiang Mai – after we pay for the guest house and all the meals we’ve eaten over the past few days. I think I’ll enjoy Chiang Mai’s less hectic, noisy, polluted air better. I remember Bangkok from my trip in 1975 – when I found out I was pregnant with Mika and in 1994 – when she was finishing up a year as an exchange student - as being a place I didn’t much like. Too busy. Too polluted. As they say here, “same same”.

We're here, we're here, we're here!

Monday, high noon on September 15^th.

We’re sitting in a restaurant in New York’s JFK airport, sucking down a Bass Ale, licking hummus, sour cream and guacamole on chips at a cost unheard of in old middle-America, while watching the cost of oil at 97.31 per barrel, and talks of immense failures in some of the most well-respected financial and insurance mega-companies. Companies like Lehman Brothers, AIG, and Merrill Lynch, touchstones of the financial health of the US. The question becomes: what effect will this have on our trip? On investments we have and were counting on.

It’s been delightful traveling with Mika and Karina. Other than a snotty nose, she’s been nothing but precious and curious. She’s interested in the air jets overhead in the cabin seats.

JFK is a seriously confusing place. We had to go through security in RDU; then again in JFK. Long walks, bad signage, multiple levels, and trains make the configuration to get from “here” to “there” very confusing.

More later. It’s after lunch at 12:30 pm. Off we go on Cathay Pacific leaving about 2:00 pm. Next stop – Hong Kong.

September 17, 2008 – 10:50 PM

It feels like forever since Hong Kong. Truth is, it’s not been very long. Subtract 11 hours from the above time – and you get Bangkok time – which is where we now are.

The ride from New York to Hong Kong felt like forever on the plane. It was only 15 hours – but felt like 30 in the last half of the trip alone. A very tired Karina slept in my arms some of the way – in Mika’s the rest of the way. Seeing the incredible 1^st class seats – lounges really – made the skinny little seats in the economy class feel even smaller. Cathay Pacific was definitely a great choice. The stewards were friendly, food was good – and very hot, but, be warned if you’re travelling with children, they have a seat belt you MUST use for them that extends from your own. Karina was not happy about that one. Poor little girl has a cold and/or ear infection and just felt miserable.

Great news about the airplane --- my medication took great care of my RLS, the worst problem I’ve ever had on a plane.

Hong Kong was just a brief stop – a few hours. Enough to get a drink of water, buy a coffee, see part of the airport, leave the secure area to go back into the secure area, to leave the secure area again. We felt very secure.

Our flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok only took a few hours, not like the marathon from JFK to Hong Kong. Even so, they served a meal (I think) on the plane. Karina, by this time, is thinking that her life is now just boarding and unboarding, gives up being fussy and rides the last leg to Bangkok worry free. I, however, am pretty exhausted after not having slept since the day prior to when we left. (It’s a problem I have…) Finally, as we circle over Bangkok, I start to doze a little.

Our plane got in about 11 PM Thai time. The dollar is lower against the Thai baht than we had hoped. 32.93 per US Dollar. We got a taxi willing to transport us, our four bags and carry-ons to the Shanti Hotel for only 800 baht, (about a 40 minute ride) where I now write this. By the time we were fully ensconced in our rooms it was 3 am here and I was so ready to “fall out” I could hardly climb up into the bunk bed. We have nice hard ceramic floors and I was really worried about cracking them if I fell out of the bunk.

Up at the crack of dawn (4 PM here – 5 AM there) and hungry for breakfast, we go down to the restaurant here for … no breakfast. They wisely stopped serving it at 11 AM. So, I happily munched on some great pad thai for 75 baht, with a sprinkle of minced peanuts on top. Then, it was off on a walk around our area of town – near the Thai History Museum – to tour the many rows of shops along both sides of the sidewalks offering clothes, material, strings of lamps, tattoos, on-street massage, hats, watches, bananas, rambutan, durian, pineapple, small bottles of the world’s best orange juice (which Karina thought was nummy and smiled really big after her first sip), and many other fruits and veggies I’ll need to look up later because I can’t yet identify them.

Had a bit of Montezuma’s revenge (Mao’s here?) and needed to stop in a restroom we found in a department store. Be warned – toilet was free, but the paper was 2 baht – and I had neither paper nor bahts in there – and the toilet-keeper was not about to hand it out free. I was trapped until a kind stranger paid on my behalf. I told her I’d find Mika (who had all the money) and pay her back, but she said that it was her treat. (Memo to self: make sure to carry my own money).

We walked past a McDonald’s (full of foreigners), and stopped for a coffee for Mika and water for me. Leaving, we ran into a small procession on the pedestrian mall with two dragons and a drummer passing out coupons for Thai Air fares to Chiang Mai. We bought a great picture of a line up of VW’s for David (230 baht), then hurried back to the Shanti for supper. Taste of Siam for me (65 baht). Yum!

I’ve heard no news since we left, and then it was about Lehman Brothers and AIG needing a bail out from the bank of Japan – which didn’t sound like very good news for the economy. I have no idea what is happening on the world markets now, but Bangkok appears to be prospering and a classified section of a newspaper carried a host of ads for employees. Now, I’m off to catch my 40 winks of jet-lagged sleep before tomorrow’s adventures.

Thursday before leaving 9-11-08

It's almost here - the day of the great adventure with my daughter, Mika and granddaughter, K. Rose. I really haven't thought too hard (yet) about what to bring - but the yawing opening in two large suitcases tells me it's time to start that thinking! Chiangmai here we come.

Mika is concerned about K Rose's ability to fly for such a long trip (about 15 hours - plus time between RDU and JFK. I've got earplugs from George - so we can sleep on the plane. Mika says the polite think to do is to give them to the other passengers on the plan for when K Rose acts up. I think we'll be fine. There are rows on the plane that we can run her down to help with the activities.

I've got paper, finger paints, big grip crayons, and lots of flash cards to help keep her entertained. Mika said she bought a DVD player and several cartoon DVDs. I want to make sure that we can pack some food for her - but I understand that we'll need t0 get "whatever" from the high-priced airport shops.

I'm hoping that I won't have problems with the RLS this time - since taking medication has been able to control it in other situations. I remember the last long flight and walking up and down the aisles trying to get it under control.

We plan to stay at Bankok's Shanty, a great little backpacker hotel Mika remembers from her prior trips to the country. Apparently it's next door to one of the best vegetarian restaurants in Bangkok.

I'm hoping that I can lose some weight on this trip. I need to lose some weight on this trip.


I'm tired. After a long trip to Indiana via car --- and a long trip back --- and little sleep in the interim, I'm drowsy beyond belief. It was really great to be able to spend some time with Jeanne, Matthew, and the boys - and Barb, the kids, Logan, Hunter, and Noah. I wish I could talk them into coming to Durham! Jeanne got some great shots of the gang.

More later.

Anticipation, an ti ci payay shun, is making me crazy ...

So all the items are place for my great adventure. I've quit my job --- and been told by many many people that the City needs me too much to quit. I've cajoled my husband. I'm visiting the grandkids (Indiana). Picking up lovebirds to trek back to North Carolina with.

Jeanne says I should stay in Fort Wayne and help her fix up the Somali's house. I'm thinking, NOT! It's hard enough for me to get interested in cleaning up my own house!

Katy's now safely nested in Asheville at UNCA; Najia (legal now!) is nesting at Meredith College in Raleigh. We are officially empty nesters, so ...

Why not take off on a trip to Thailand for a few months. Even the thought energizes me! I do still need to pack my bags, though!