Laurie's World

Well hindsight being what it is….we should have known better then to just stumble away from Sopa’s without looking into the situation a little closer. Yesterday (Monday), late afternoon….we were wandering aimlessly after a day of blogging, eating and wandering. We decided to go over to the Tapae gate area. This is very close to Sopa’s massage place. So I said “let’s just go and see”. So we go over and we peek in the window…and lo and behold…there is Wan. The lady we met there last year who was very old friend of Sopa’s and who clearly was who she transferred the shop to. Big hugs all around!! She said she was just talking to Sopa on phone and Sopa was asking her if we had come by yet….now I just feel horrible about going somewhere else….we had our massage and walked out of there feeling like everything is right with the world again.

We went to a place that was highly recommended for supper, Huen Phen. It was very different than our normal dining experience here. It was a claustrophobic place with horrendous service, food OK, but tiny little foo foo portions, nsd it was kinda pricey….so needless to say we left and went right over to the Chiang Mai gate and got a bag of our favourite little donuts and pandanus custard AND banana pancake for Troy and a corn and egg pancake for me. It was a dessert blow out!

I forgot to include that B bear, klompy and piglet are all safe and sound in their new home too girls!!

I think they like de Rachamamka!!

Up and out the door by 9am!! What?!!? Can it be done? ; )

Of course it can….

After a great nights sleep….we book another night and have our breakfast and then we are ready for Riam at 9am sharp! We climb into her new van (so much more spacious than her car from car from last year).

The plan is to head out to her garden, her house and then 3 Wats (temples).

We have been to her garden before…but it is always a pleasure and so peaceful! She has longnan trees, bananas, papayas, mangos….yum!!

They also raise chickens for the “chicken fights”. So we met some of the chickens…

Doesn’t Troy look pleased??

Then we went over to Riam’s house where she Iives with her I laws and her children. It is where her husband grew up…it was an awesome experience! We met her family….only her daughter speaks a small bit of English (from school), but she was too shy to speak English to us…I understand… : )

We have some water and fruit and listened to her daughter play a Thai instrument…took some pictures…Troy showed them some pictures from last year on his iPad…the kids knew all about that…not sure how….maybe friends or school? Or TV?

Then we went to Wat pa lad. It was so peaceful! It is a meditation site…so must remain quiet…beautiful waterfall and lush forest area…

We also went to Wat Umong…there was a celebration going on for new monks…so it was packed with families coming to support their sons/brothers etc who are going to be monks for anywhere from 3 days to 3 months to a lifetime (for some). It is an important pasty of Thai culture for all young men to at least once become a monk. It brings good blessings and fortune to the whole family for them to do this….sometimes they go as teens, or they wait until they are 18 or 21.

I don’t have any pictures of the ceremony itself…Troy does…so maybe he will put on his blog…

Then lastly we went to Wat doi kham. One more gorgeous place! Amazing view of Chiang Mai from up in the mountains…lots of lucky rabbits too ; )))

At the temples, there are often these inspirational signs…designed I suppose to incite reflection…which for me they do….

So that was a big day!! But I have reserved some energy for the Sunday market….which you may remember last Sunday I barely could stay awake to walk through a bit and drag myself back to hotel…

So yes…hit the market…it was trying to rain on us…but managed to hold off for the most part…the market was packed but was a very good time…I did find some treasures….so that is all good…found my favourite corn (they roast corn and then cut it off the cob and put in a cup with generous a,out of butter and salt) it is exceptionally yummy….I don’t think Troy gets my fascination with it…or the waffles…(which I also had at the market)….but that is what makes us all so unique ; )))))

As often happens to me here….I am right on top of things at first…then I get lazy and then I miss a day, then it becomes 2!! What I would like to say is that I think I have big busy full day and I am so tired at the end I just flop into bed to go to sleep without time to blog….this sounds better and may be closer to the truth ; )

On Saturday we moved hotels to a small place called de Rachamanka. Named after the road it is on : ) it has around 23 rooms and is run (and owned we believe) by a nice fellow that spent 10 years studying in the USA. 5 years in NY and 5 in LA. Anyway, love the place it is small boutique hotel just like we like, no pool, but that is ok….the beds are actually among the softest we have had ever here, so that makes for happy Troy and Laurie. It is right at the start of the night market so that will make for a perfect situation for shopping on Sunday.

After we got settled in we went up to Ginny Cafe (pretty sure I have been calling it Ginny Place….but that is technically the name of the guesthouse…the cafe is the Cafe). As I continue my tour of the menu, I decide to have Thom Ka gai….yes….got a picture for you Jay!!

As I reflect back on my blogs….there seems to be a lot of pictures of either Troy or I holding a fork/spoon over a Plate of food : )) Hahahahahahahaha! Oh well!

As we were sitting at “our table” (yes I think of it that way), a fellow with a cart of furniture walked by going door to door selling it (I guess) just in case you we sitting in your shop and you saw him and thought to yourself “dang I could actually use a chair”….anyway I didn’t drag out my camera fast enough…but lo and behold I wait a few minutes and a different fellow hauls his cart by in the opposite direction!

While this seems like a tough way to earn a living…I suppose it keeps the overhead costs low if you don’t have to rent a shop…plus good exercise??

After lunch we worked on booking our flight to Laos! Yes yes….that was the final decision. I really do feel like a great adventurer!! After some confusion/clarification we got settled for Wednesday 5pm flight to Luang Prabang…it is a one hour flight for $168 USD (only one airline flies there from Chiang Mai–airlaos) seemed like a better use of resources than floating for 3 days on a wooden boat down the Mekong river with maybe up to 60 other people for $80USD.

Supper was the hilight of the day! Our plan to go to the Thai BBQ with Ian, Tee and Rich came to life! We took a songtao (red truck) to the place…

We find ourselves down this obscure little alley and turn a corner and voila….there is a covered area with easily thousands of seats for people and rows and rows and rows of scooters and cars parked to the side. It was probably 60% full when we got there and totally packed when we left 2+ hours later. The array of food was staggering. I recognized about 15% of it….thank goodness for Tee, she was able to explain most of it to us. The pictures don’t nearly capture the extent of the spread…

And have a look at the pastries for dessert…

I’ll tell you, the Old Country Buffet has nothing on this!!

There were plenty of mysterious things…not the least of were these angry bird characters. They were a jellied like substance…but held their shape etc when grilled…so who really knows! Rich was the only one brave enough to cook and try one…he says once was enough….won’t be doing that again. He is a pretty adventurous eater…

Anyway…I am not a big seafood fan….so thankfully they had chicken wings and French fries already cooked…so I was able to have something…I wasn’t particularly hungry anyway as I think the heat had gotten to me a bit that day…but I did indulge in some ice cream and donuts ; ). The experience was more of interest to me than the food anyway.

Drinks were included (pop and water) unless you did not finish your pop and water….then as this sign says…..you will be fined 10 baht if you leave partly finished drinks!

Good to know…

Good morning Thhaaillaandddd! Said in loud Robin Williams sing song voice! If you get the reference….then you are as old and sage as me….if not (Amber/Chris and all three of my children)….I will have to explain it later. Hahahahahahahaha!!!!

We did not go for BBQ last night….we opted to hang out and visit with friends at Ginny Place. Met one of Ian’s ex pat friends (Rich) originally from the UK. But lives here now….has been all over really…one of the most well travelled people ever I think. It was a blast! We will be going to Thai BBQ with all those folks tonight now….this may (well actually will for sure) cut my time short for the Saturday walking market…but since we are staying until Tuesday…I will be able to hit the Sunday market again and will hopefully be more on my game than last Sunday.

We are moving hotels today : (((

Tried to get 3 more nights here…but they are all booked up!! Where is this “Slow season” they speak of?????

So anyway…moving down the street to a different place…expect similar experience to here…same part of town…closer to Ginny Place though : )) so maybe that’s an upside?? : ))))

I guess I better go get packed up….should be a quick and easy as we did not unpack our bags here like we usually do since there was no place to put our clothes…no wardrobe! So we literally have been living out of the backpack : )

Lots of “faces” in this entry. ; )))))

We have had a pretty lazy day….to say the least…after breakfast….we did some planning for Laos (yup….I think Cambodia is off the table–Laos is the current plan). We also Skyped the St Amands….which was cool….gotta love technology!! Apparently the weather has vastly improved back home….so I am very happy to hear that news for everyone!!

We walked up to Ginny Place for lunch…I had pineapple curry…I am almost done eating my way through the 3 pages of Thai food on their menu. Even though I was VERY tempted when I smelled the bacon cooking (the was an irish dude at the table next to us that orders American breakfast every day (for lunch I guess)). I am also finding that I keep getting spicy food…even though everyone who knows me (and presumably if you have this blog link–you do!) I don’t care for spicy food. Troy had pad see ewe (Rachael!!) which is always very very good choice!!

Then we decided it was WAY too stinking’ hot to do anything….so we came back to hotel and basically sat by/in the pool until my iPad went dead and we were forced to come up to room to put it on to charge.

Then our room phone rings…WOW!! Who could be a callin’?? It was Riam and she was like “hello…Rabbit??” Hahahahahahahaha!!!! So yes she came to visit and talk about our plans. This is what gets me to our super exciting plans!! We are going to go out with her on Sunday, she is going to take us to a few temples that we want to see and we knew she was going to take us to her garden…but she is also going to take us to her house to meet the rest of her family. We met her son 2 years ago….but have not met her daughter or her parents….plus we get to see her house! I am so excited!

Riam brought us three mangoes from her friends garden. We borrowed a knife from front desk to peel one and lets just say it far and away the most exceptional piece of fruit I have ever had! EVER!!!! So we had 2 ; ))))))

Plus we are going to go out for Thai BBQ with Tee and Ian tonight….so that will be so much better than if we try to go and do that ourselves : ))

As we solidify our Laos plans…I will update…but at this point it looks like we are going to fly out on Tuesday….

Well I wanted to go….and so I did! Always a long walk there and back plus all the walking while there…but we made our way to the Warorot Market! That is simply the biggest local market I have ever seen! Love it love it. Got a few of the “must have” things on my list ticked off ; ))

Had a fabulous lunch at Ginny Place (chicken with cashew nut for me!

Troy had american breakfast–if u can imagine–yes that is bacon, German sausage and a hashbrown patty) before we headed over to the market….and this is where my title comes in….the idea of going to Laos sprung into my head! So Ian told us all about it and it piqued my interest….so after much poking around on the Internet this morning…I think we may just book flight to Luang Prabang, Laos and then make our way down through a few of the larger centers in Laos….Ian’s plan includes a 2 day boat ride on a pretty rustic looking contraption…not quite sure we are up for that…so maybe a one hour flight suits me better : )

Back to Ginny Place for supper (yum yum green curry–but spicy!!)

We met a nice couple from Australia a couple days ago. They are in the process of renting an apartment for 12 months and they are going to hang out and see if they like it! They have to go home to Perth every three months (for 5 days) to keep their benefits, but they are pretty excited about their adventure : ) They signed their lease yesterday and a tuk tuk came and got them and their bags this morning at 9:30 to go move into their place! We will stay in touch to see how they do!

Happy 4th of July to all the folks back home! Hope you play safe with your pyrotechnics!!!!!

I hear the weather is on the uptick! That is awesome….please have that all still in line for us when we return ; )

Having brekkie right now….had an awesome FaceTime visit with Jay this morning! That was nice….took her on a tour of the hotel and she sat with us on our table for a bit while we ate. Almost like having her here! : )))

We had a great day yesterday…Very proud of ourselves as we decided to walk up to the Chiang Mai university and then take a tuk tuk home. We actually ended up walking both ways….with a small stop at Swensens (yes….we did this in honour of you Terry!). My goodness that part of town is very different than where we normally spend our time in the old city. I think it means something different to be a student here than at home. The students must have a lot more money here than everyone else. You can just tell by the shops and restaurants and stores. There is no street food and all the shops have doors and are air conditioned vs open air with fans in our neck of the woods. I felt immediately better once we crossed the moat and got back to our comfort zone. (even with the little walk past the women’s prison) … No big deal! It is kind of interesting…

Ang…saw this sign and beverage opportunity and it made me think of you; )

We got some photos printed for Riam and Sopa (I do still have to give her a call). Did some laundry, had a massage and ate supper at Ginny Place. That was the sum total of our 4th….

Apologizing in advance Jackie…but am gonna have to talk a little about sweat…Here is me having a sundae at Swensens….and as always when I see pictures, I am amazed at how prominent the sweat is ; ))

We both wear our packs over one shoulder, so we get this nasty diagonal stripe of sweat…

Troy had Tom Yum gai for lunch today…and it was yum indeed!!

Red alert notification!

Just saw a lady here in the breakfast room dumping some Nescafé cappuccino stuff into a cup….so I asked her if she makes her own with hot water bcz she can’t drink the Thai coffee. She said yes has to ADD coffee to the coffee so she can drink it because it is so weak….I grabbed my stomach and LAUGHED (hard)! I thought she was kidding….so now the couple from Belgium or Germany or somewhere in Europe thinks I am a lunatic! (and they stopped talking to me)

Troy should probably get down here and protect me….

Ok…slipping into bad habits…or maybe good depending on your perspective! I just realized I did not even blog yesterday! So that means one of two things…either I did nothing that is interesting enough to talk about OR I was simply too lazy! Could be a combination of both! Hahahahahahahaha

I will have to check my camera…but I don’t even think I took a photo yesterday….So you know what that means….no photos in this entry : (

The truth of the matter is we did not even leave the hotel until after 1pm yesterday. I think that had a lot to do with the fact we were doing some planning for the “Cambodia” part of the trip. It rained a bit in the morning around 6am when I was up (waiting for 7:30 for coffee to be available), but then the sun came out and the temperature rose up, along with humidity.

I am sitting here in the breakfast room having some coffee right now and let me tell you..even the regular old hotel brewed coffee will curl your hair here (and prolly make it fall out eventually). I drink relatively weak coffee back home….so this always slays me….but I push ahead and drink it like a trouper : ))
Mom…I did not get your information about the health benefits of coffee drinking…so maybe you could resend that!

We were planning on going to the July 4th celebration that the US consulate puts on here every year…until Ian sent us the news article that said they cancelled it this year : (( cut backs everywhere I guess! So that frees us up for the 4th…might rent bicycles and ride up to the university area…

So we did a bunch of walking and wandering yesterday….had lunch and supper at Ginny Place. Did get a banana pancake (RUBY!!) and some Chinese donuts with pandanus custard from the street market by Chiang Mai gate though…

I feel like a lot of my blog entries focus on food….what is UP with that ; )