Sorry it has been so long since I posted anything. Kim and I are doing very well here still. We are really enjoying ourselves and the weather has even warmed up some more . It was a teeny bit cool for a while there. Not enough to complain about, but enough to debate buying a blanket for sleeping. We settled for sleeping with the window closed on the chilly nights.
Let's see what have we been up to lately?
New Years Eve 2009 on the river in Chiang Mai
To celebrate the New Year in style we got dressed up and went to one of the finest buffets I have ever eaten at. It was at the Holiday Inn in Chiang Mai and in my opinion rivaled the Sheraton Palace Sunday Brunch for most amazing food and selection. I am certain that I ate enough at the cheese buffet to cover my entry ticket. It had been a while since I'd had any kind of cheese as there is not a lot of dairy in the Thai diet.
After the meal there were floating/flaming lanterns to set aloft out by the riverside as well as awful dancing in the bar before and after the countdown. The fireworks over the river were delightful, although the display in Bangkok back at the Loy Krathong festival was over the top by comparison.
Altogether a lovely and decadent evening.
On the 9th of January Kim and I, along with Linda and Mike hired a car to take us on an excursion out of town. First we went to the Queen Sirikit's Botanical Garden. This place covers an entire mountain. There are huge greenhouses of orchids, begonia's, cacti, rain-forest displays, lily's etc. etc. When we'd had enough of those we had a picnic lunch and then walked the rock garden, enjoying the lovely flowers and waterfalls there.
Check it out online at
http://www.qsbg.org/index_E.aspWe have a slew of other photos of our adventures if you click on the link of the homepage or here:
http://willworkforairlinemiles.com/photos/From there our driver took us to a large temple complex which was part old and part new. It housed a tremendous collection of artifacts and statues . I believe they were building new Wat's just to house all those extra items as it almost looked like a storeroom there were so many.
After the requisite stop at a fancy and expensive store very reminiscent of India, (no we didn't want to buy anything-it was just so the driver could get his free bottle of hooch for bringing us) we went to this gorgeous restaurant on the outskirts of town. No one was really hungry for dinner yet so we all had dessert and I had a coconut milk slushee! The whole place is designed to look like it is built into and out of trees (not wood but trees) and I was enthralled with the "waterfall" sinks in the Ladies' bathroom. We had done so much walking that Kim and I had the driver let us off at our end of town so we could get a foot massage before rejoining Linda and Mike for dinner that evening in the Night Bazaar area.
I did a massage trade with Tameer, friend of Noriko's. She does Cranio-Sacral and energy work which was lovely and I did some Neuro-Kinetic Restructuring on her shoulders in exchange. We are talking of getting together at least once more before I leave and she wants to try a Lymphatic session this time.
One of the nice things about our trade is that she lives a ways out. The second time I went to her house I rented a bike for the day and rode out there. The distances between things here are so small that I unknowingly crossed over the superhighway (just looked like every other intersection) and kept on riding. By the time it occurred to me to stop and call I was practically in the next town! I couldn't help but laugh when she said "Oh NO you have gone way too far! Are you going to be ok?" I told her I'd ride back to superhighway now that I knew where I was going from there and call here back in 10 minutes. With the overshot I got a lovely ride past the golf course and the sports complex and all in all I was actually only 10 minutes late to her house. I do have to say without my own "easy seat" saddle, after the hour and a half getting there and then the perhaps 40 minutes to get back afterwards my butt was sore for a day or so. But it felt good to ride after being off a bike for so long. Ever since riding the ALC, getting on a bike and only riding for 15-30 minutes doesn't feel like riding at all and people who haven't done that kind of long distance think you are crazy to go so far.
This last Friday the 16th we all went to the Alliance Francaise and saw a hilarious film called "Les Vacances de Mr. Hulot". This is a fabulous black and white..mostly dialog free from 1953 and I would recommend it to anyone who likes Charlie Chaplin or Mr. Bean. We are thinking of going again this Friday for "Trafic" as it is the continuing adventures of Mr. Hulot taking a motor caravan to Amsterdam.
On Saturday the 17th we all took a bus down to Hua Hin on the coast, south of Bangkok. The bus took all day 8am-8pm and for the full bizzaro details read Kim's blog as he chronicles the whole strange sugary experience.
The beach was delightful, however the water was too cold for us to want to swim. There was a lovely ocean breeze and we did spend some time in the pool as it was warmer down there as well. This was a nice seaside resort town and Kim and I imagined it was what Miami beach or Cancun had looked like decades and decades ago -with an Asian flair of course.
We had a look at Khao Takip "chopsticks mountain" and the giant standing Buddha there with the view down the beach to town.
Because Monday night was Linda and Mike's last night in Thailand, we went all out and had a seafood extravaganza at a beach-side restaurant. We had crab and prawns and Tom Ka Soup and topped the meal off with mango-sticky-rice and ice-cream. As decadent as it was the whole thing was just over $50!
After another long bus ride yesterday, we are now back in Chiang Mai at the Khumsiphia Grand Hotel and Residence. We paid for last month and are now onto our second one here. It is starting to feel very familiar.
Chinese New Year is this coming Monday so my work with shrimp sales will probably be pretty light to nonexistent for a while. I may take the time to take the courses that I haven't gotten to yet.
Overall I have to say, I am not missing the cold back home and I'm still having a great time. However, I am missing all of you and the swing dancing, so I am looking forward to February as well.
