Hello Family & Friends!
I hope you had a lovely week...I sure did!
I believe I have solved my internet problem. Right now I am sitting in the bathroom (no more bathroom stories:-) because it is the closest room to the router! I'm actually sitting in the bathtub alcove - I've put in a couple of pillows and am quite comfy. I don't have all 5 signal bars, but I have 4! There's probably a better way to deal with this, but for now this is working for me.
Yada, my friend who had Dengue, is feeling much better, so we went out and did several things this week:
Tuesday - we decided to try the infamous Rice Barge boat ride on the Ping River. It was rather nice, although we worried a bit about what might happen to us if the boat had a problem. We were sure to scout out the life vests! The scariest part of the whole trip was that the driver was texting almost the entire time! Thank goodness we were not on the river when there was a lot of boat traffic - but still...texting while boating - there ought to be a law! Every time we saw another vessel coming our way, we would check to see if the driver was looking or texting. Overall, it was a pretty relaxing trip, and it was wonderful to see the city from the river!
Chiang Mai from the river
After the boat ride, we took a songthaew to a place called Gymkhana. It's a sports facility that offers golf, tennis and squash. They also have a restaurant...so we had lunch. The most lovely thing about this place is that it has a humongous rain-tree. It's so big that they periodically have to prop up its limbs! Here's a link (note the rain-tree): gymkhana chiang mai
Thailand has quite a lot of British influences. Gymkhana is one influence, and driving on the left is another. I don't always remember to ride on the left when I'm on a bicycle, which could be quite dangerous and life threatening. Luckily, I've decided to only cycle in a group - that way they keep me straight. On Friday Yada and I, along with 3 other people, were brochure bicycle models for Grasshopper Adventures (I sent their link in an earlier post). We were asked to ride in front of certain landmarks near the town of Lamphun for photo ops. It was interesting because I'd never been to Lamphun or been photographed for a bicycling brochure. It was also pretty tiring - especially since it was hot. We started out around 8:45 a.m. and didn't get done until about 6 p.m. Fortunately, being treated to free temple tours, free lunch and free snacks made it more than tolerable.
During one of the photo shoots (in front of Lamphun train station), some men jumped out of a van and starting taking our photos and giving us instructions about how to pose. We didn't know who they were, but they acted like they knew who we were (and never asked permission to take our pictures:-). Turns out they were from the tourism authority. So...some of us might make the cover of the Tourism Authority of Thailand brochure or website. Will send you links if I get published:-)
After lunch, we rode to the town of Ban Tawai. It is called the village of Handicrafts. They make beautiful things there. Here's the link: http://www.ban-tawai.com/
A picture of me at Ban Tawai Temple:
Saturday I went with another one of my new friends, Janet, to the Expat Club meeting and luncheon, as well as a theater production of Driving Miss Daisy. It was at Le Meridien Hotel - here's the link to the hotel: http://www.lemeridienchiangmai.com/?&PS=LGEN_AA_DAPI_CGGL_TPRP&SWAQ=8CPE
The food was varied, plentiful and delicious, and it was nice to get to meet some of the expatriates who live here. The production of the play was superb! They only had a few props but did an excellent job! Here's a link about the production: http://www.gate-theater.com/driving-miss-daisy.html#.Vi3fnGvDofU
Sunday Yada and I had lunch and then went swimming at my apartment pool. Before swimming, we went to a restaurant called Bake & Bite. They are a 5 minute walk from my apartment, and they serve delicious Western food! We shared a hot turkey (real turkey!), mayo and cranberry sauce sandwich (probably doesn't sound appetizing...but it was really tasty). We also shared a spinach and 3 cheese quesadilla - also very tasty. Here's the best link I could find for Bake & Bite: http://chiangmaitraveler.blogspot.com/2012/07/bake-and-bite.html It wasn't a particularly warm day, so the pool water was cool. It took us a few minutes to adjust and be able to swim. Very relaxing~
One really cool thing that has happened over the last couple of weeks is that one of my Atlanta friends, Andrea, connected me with one of her Thailand friends, Jim. Jim was kind enough to connect me on Facebook with a group of people - foreigners and Thais - who used to work with me at the Orderly Departure Program (ODP). I have attempted to contact several of these former co-workers, but only a few have written back. A couple have become Facebook friends. This is very exciting for me! I left Thailand in 1990 (a time when we didn't have all this technology) and tried to stay in touch with folks, but it was hard...so we lost touch. I'm hoping for some kind of reunion possibly in December. Wish me luck!
Picture of the week:
In the rice paddy section of the bike ride: Photographer taking a photo of me taking a photo of him!
Enjoy the rest of your week!
