Sawadii Kha...I hope you have had a fantastic week!
First - I'm still not sure what is happening with the photos on this blog, but I have some ideas. It might have to do with bandwidth, and the way I included them. Please let me know if you are able to see the photo in this post. In the meantime, I will continue to work on getting the photos to show in the old posts. It seemed to work better when I only put one photo in...so that's what I'll do from now on. Call me old-fashioned or too cautious, but I'm not interested in putting all my photos on FB - however, I will post a couple of new ones there each week.
I met a Swiss lady in Tanita House cafe (http://www.tanitahouse.com/index.php?lay=show&ac=article&Id=538794828). She was looking for a place to stay with her two adolescent daughters. Tanita House did not have any rooms, so I took her back to my residence & introduced her to the day manager. I wasn't sure she'd come and stay at our location, but two days later, I happened to go to the pool, and who do I see? Yep - Rosemary and her two daughters. The next day we all went up to Doi Suthep mountain together in a song thaew. More about Doi Suthep here: http://www.chiangmai.bangkok.com/attractions/doi-suthep.htm
It was hot and the girls were a bit bored. We stayed for a while, then ate in the worst excuse for a restaurant ever - more like a shanty - I wasn't sure even I (iron stomach) could eat there! It was kind of thrown together and didn't look too clean. Actually...the food was good, and as far as I know, no one got sick. Just proves that you shouldn't make a judgment by the way something looks~
Bathrooms in Chiang Mai – if you’re queasy discussing bathroom issues, please skip this section. I’m sure you can imagine my surprise when I walked into my apartment and noticed this sign near the bathroom toilet – “Please do not drop toilet paper and sanitary napkins in the WC.” My first thought was, “And how am I going to manage that when it’s not just #1?” Well…it’s amazing how quickly we get used to things when we have to. All toilets in Chiang Mai have a similar sign. And not all toilets here have been “Westernized” – there are still plenty of squat toilets around. These are little porcelain holes in the floor that have places for your feet and, instead of sitting or hovering, you squat. You flush squat toilets by either flushing (rare), using the water hose provided (less rare) or by dipping water out of a bucket (very common). Here is a very graphic link about squat toilets in Thailand. http://www.thailandclimbing.
Why so many wats/temples?
From tourismthailand.org - "Buddhism is the official religion in Thailand. While roughly 95% of the Thai people are practitioners of Theravada Buddhism, the official religion of Thailand, religious tolerance is both customary in Thailand and protected by the constitution." One source states that there are approximately 40,717 temples in Thailand, and there are an estimated 200 Buddhist temples in the Chiang Mai area. On one street block the other day, I went to 3 Buddhist temples.
Industrious Thais: I remember a Bangkok friend of mine, Janice, saying that Thais are some of the most industrious people on the planet. They figure out ingenious ways in which to survive. So I was walking down the street the other day and saw this little old lady sitting on the sidewalk. She was just starting to put down her wares - hand-sewn wrist bands. She was so cute that I couldn't not stop. I asked her how much for one. At first I thought she said 5 baht, but she corrected me - 50 baht (about $1.50). Compared to the prices of other things here, 50 THB seemed expensive to me, so I started to walk away. She called me back & in Thai and sign language, she told me how she had sewn them by hand, and how it hurt her fingers, and how she needed the money to buy food. Of course I bought one! To her this is a successful business model. Although she may not get rich, she's figured out a relatively painless way to survive. Good for her!
I started Thai lessons this week. My teacher, Khruu (teacher) Salad, has been teaching Thai to farangs (foreigners) for more than 20 years. He began by teaching Peace Corps workers and eventually ended up teaching at the American University Alumni (AUA) - here's the link: http://www.learnthaiinchiangmai.com/. I taught English at AUA in Bangkok for one year when we lived there. My students were all preparing to study for a masters degree in the US. Anyway...Khruu Salad has a classroom right behind AUA where he teaches. I go for one hour twice a week. My brain is protesting (mainly because we meet at 8:30 a.m. - early for a retiree), but I'm sure this will be good for me.
It's a small world after all...I was at the supermarket the other day and ran into one of Bob's former colleagues. Dave used to live in Atlanta but, upon retirement, decided that Thailand was more to his liking. Always good to know what you like:-) Hopefully we'll see each other around town again.
Picture of the week:
View from my apartment balcony - that's Doi Suthep mountain in the background!
Have a wonderful week!
