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.