Laurie's World

We saw our friend Riam yesterday! She came and got us in the morning and took us out to her land in Mae Rim where she lives now. She stopped being a tour guide about one and a half months ago. She has not had a customer since my sister came here in February! She and my nieces were her last customer, so she decided to build a factory on her land and make bricks. What a shift in employment. She looks good and is working hard as always, it is nice for her to be able to keep her family together and work together in a family business. We went for a nice walk to Mae Sa falls….

We then were a bit peckish so we stopped at a nice local roadside eatery and had some food. Troy had khao soi gai and I had garlic and pepper chicken 😃😃

We went on a bit of a wild goose chase to find some woodworking/carving/furniture building, one of Riam’s friends picked us up in the morning and then took us out to find the wood working area. Riam sold her van as part of her getting out of the tour business and getting the funds to start up her brick factory, I think his name was Leow. Very nice, limited English 😉☺️

We came back to the hotel and took a refreshing dip in the pool before heading out to the Sunday market.

This morning, I caused a tiny bit of a stir when I saw the “magical spray” in the housekeepers basket. I pulled it out to get a picture, she came flying over, maybe she thought I was trying to pinch it, I dunno. But here it is…..I think it must be magical…there has been no evidence of any trouble in my bathroom since they ewe here with it. But I do see some small amount of English I didn’t notice before.

Somehow in the space of a short hour that we stepped out to get supper tonight I got not less than a dozen mosquitoes bites on my left leg and arm. Hoping this does not lead to trouble, but the delish Indian meal we had was very much worth it!

We are all going to check out of here tomorrow as we rented a car and will be driving ourselves to Pai tomorrow. Wish us luck! They drive on the left side of the road here! Troy is up for the challenge! Bruce and Jackie are used to the left side driving thing as they live in Australia. But this will be a first for us.

Might not blog tomorrow…should have Internet where we are going, but we will see!

TTFN

Noticed a few funny furry friends here in the last couple days. Dogs here are either really really pampered, or seem to be the mangiest strays ever. Mangy strays are not as fun to take pictures of, but I did notice this one who just pooped out in the middle of the street at the Saturday market. Thinking she was about to have her pups right here. Folks gave her some space….I didn’t stick around for the show!

Then there are the princess dogs!

Also noticed a huge military/police presence at the Saturday market….there were several different groups present. Only saw one small group of soldiers at the Sunday market yesterday. So thought this odd as the Sunday market is easily 4x bigger then the Saturday market.

Bruce just hanging out watching….

Doesn’t concern me at all…they seem friendly and relaxed and I feel very safe here, just as always!

The buskers range from cute to creepy…there are three kinds really. The little kids who are usually quite talented, definitely adorable and probably make a tonne.

Then there are the lady boys? I guess that is what this is. Not sure I saw Him/Her at the Saturday and Sunday market this year. 😳

Then there are the disabled, blind, disfigured, limbless folks. I could not quite bring myself to take a photograph. Maybe I will someday, but it just feels weird to do that. Yesterday there were these two Japanese tourists waving a cloth in front of the face of a man that was playing an instrument and had his coin dish out. They’re were giggling and making a fuss. I am not sure at all what they were thinking as he clearly had NO EYEBALLS, so could not possibly have been faking it! I thought it was rude…

Anyway, this method of raising funds must work well because there is never a shortage of these folks sitting down the center aisle of every market I go to here.

……some I don’t! Time for a blog entry about street food. ☺️😎☺️😎

Despite the fact it is Monday morning, I realize I haven’t blogged since Saturday afternoon! We (meaning Jackie, Bruce and I-Troy went to Ian’s under the guise of research) went to the Saturday walking market (on Saturday evening) and what a treat that always is! I got blog inspired in a couple different ways. One is to show you the street food. So here we go. The food here is really something, while I appreciate their efforts to use all parts of the animal, sometimes I just can’t wrap my North American brain around the things they cook up and eat over here. Let’s start with things I recognize and will eat.

The corn here really is fabulous, and this is from a girl from Alberta who knows her Taber corn! I eat it any way I can get it. Roasted on the cob, cut off the cob in a cup with butter, in a waffle (with or without coconut), in a little cream puff thingy. It’s all good. And very recognize able and safe. Jackie thinks there is something wrong with me that I don’t get the chocolate waffle every chance I get, but there is just something so magical about the corn waffle for me….

What about a spiral deep fried potato (glamorized potato chip on a stick!) I can totally get behind this.

What else, what else…oh yeah, I recognize this….

These are Popsicles, no idea how they freeze them or keep them frozen but they are fruit Popsicles, very cheap, 10 cents a piece, and super popular with the kids (imagine that).

Ok, how about this? French fries! Very popular with the Asian teenagers! Definitely something I recognize, but I refuse to buy! On principal! Maybe if they found some way to put corn in them I might consider it. 😉

Chicken on a stick….I can see this being something I would (and have eaten). Nom Nom

Now, there are far more things I find questionable and/or just plain weird 😳

They find things in the water, or the insides of an animal, or they reconstitute some kind of meat and fat into things that just shouldn’t be consumed (in my opinion). I realize I am the minority here. When all else fails, there is always the classic crispy bug collection. I know I have shown this before, but it never fails to get me squealing. I think there are more people taking pictures of these bugs than buying them. Perhaps the ladies would make more money at this stand if they charged 10 baht for a photo OP, and give up trying to sell the product.

Or how about sushi??? This seem very problematic to me….at these temperatures, to have sushi sitting out….seems risky. But clearly the Japanese travel community doesn’t seem concerned. This is one of the busiest stands everywhere we go.

But when all else fails and I’m hungry and can’t find a waffle, there is the fail safe pad Thai cart! And deluxe version to boot!! Pad Thai in an Thai omelette (my very very favourite!)

No worries folks, I’m clearly NOT starving 😊😊

I am a firm believer in the “10,000 steps a day for health” guideline. I really am! And in my daily life (ie the 180 school days) I have no problem reaching and greatly exceeding this goal. Right Renee and Julie???? But when I am here on vacay, two very different things can happen. Either I knock it outta the park bcz we took off on a walk/hike/expedition that satisfies the quota, or I don’t even get out of the teens bcz all I did was walk to the breakfast room, to the pool, back to supper, then to bed.

For fun, maybe I will let you guess what kind of day I had….

Ok, suspense over. It was a walk day..😛😛..so I was once again up before dawn, made it to 4:45 am today….(so creeping towards a fuller night’s sleep), after finding our pet in the bathroom again this morning, I retreated to the breakfast area where I discovered that they had no intention of bringing me coffee until 7:30!!! I did have a “discussion” with the non English speaking girl at the desk about the “pet”. She assured me “housekeeping would take care of it.” Mhmmmmm 😳

When I wandered back up the at 8:30 am to get something and it gave me the bird once again, I immediately went to get my own help on the issue. I brought 2 girls to the room and I think they thought they were coming to fix a leaky sink until it ran across the floor in front of them. After much squealing etc on their part (love a kindred spirit on the issue), one of them ran to get a can of something with no English on it but a big photog of the unmentionable critter in question on the front. Feeling better now….they went to war….they sprayed and smacked and carried on in there for a few minutes while I stood back. One of them came out triumphant with the twitching seizing vermin in her dust pan. She smiled and nodded and carried on with her day. I am now left with the dilemma of how bad is MY central system nerve damage going to be if I go use my own bathroom now? I decide to let it “air out”. I return at 10 am to find a graveyard (ok, it was only 2) carcasses belly up on the bathroom floor, so I know right who to go get now…I fetch the girl again and she immediately grasps “the can” I say No, no….and gesture to her broom and dustpan. She follows me and does what she does. All the while looking UP?? UP?? This is weird, do I need to look up too?? I have only been looking down….but now I look up…

Anyway….all this drama aside, I am ready for a walk…..so Jackie and Bruce set off to walk the perimeter of the old city and Troy and I decide to be a little more random than that and just head down various small soi….we end up down by Wararot market, nibbling our way through street food etc. a lovely couple hour stroll topped off by a stop at cafe 29 (I think it was called) for a Thai omelette for me and some garlic and pepper chicken for Troy. We make our way back to the hotel for some pool time (for me) and some work (for poor Troy).

The good news is that I found no evidence of intruders after the time away….so hopefully that little issue is dead. (No pun intended)

So this is not the first time I have wished my sweet baby girl a happy birthday from Thailand! But indeed it is her birthday…17 years old! Can’t believe it!!!!

Hope you have a great day kid! 🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂that is 17 cakes!!!

I’m not good with change. Statement pure and simple. Anyone who knows me (which presumably you do if you are reading this) knows this. I don’t hide the fact….

So it is reassuring that, mostly, things in Chiang Mai haven’t changed. Other than it costs 180 baht instead of a 150 baht service fee to withdraw money at the ATM now, there are only 2 good lounge chairs at the Chiang Mai Boutique house instead of 3, Sopa’s (our favourite massage place) is called something else now (Lanna Massage). BUT…major change….not so easy for me! This has to do with Ginny Cafe…it is still there and the food is good as ever, but Tee and Ian are opening a new restaurant out in Mae Rim by Tee’s village. So on the surface this seems exciting and I am happy for gem, but it means they aren’t at the cafe as much (especially Tee) and GASP….they are selling the lease on the cafe and guest house here in the old city. What am I going to do? Well to start I will go out to the grand opening of the new restaurant today. I’ll celebrate and be happy because they are happy, and maybe in time I will adjust my thinking….but change is still hard!!

On a super happy note, our friends Jackie and Bruce, the American and the Brit that live in Australia, that we met in Laos two years ago, arrived safely in Chiang Mai last night so we have been visiting and catching up on everything.

Here we are at Ginny’s last night!

Sorry Ian, totally using this one bcz you must just have been in the middle of a GREAT story 😘😘

There were beautiful swans to greet us when we got here also BTW!

Not sure what I will do if there are not critters on the bed when we check in someday….

When we were having lunch at Ginny’s yesterday there was some work going on across the street, painting and such, but this young fellow was climbing up on the roof to clean before they painted the roof trim (ridge cap?). I tried to capture him walking up in his bare feet, but by the time I got my camera out he was making his way down the other side. I am sure, after some reflection, that this was actually easier in bare feet than if he had his regulation flip flops on. But it just caught my eye….

How’s that for a hook? Now folks will read this entry just to see how I am evolving….what does that mean? How could I BE more evolved you ask? 😉😉

Many of my loyal readers have known me for a long time, my Mom and Dad, my sister, my husband, Vick, maybe even my kids….but others are relatively new to the scene…Julie and Renee 😳. So there is something that you should all know. I used to be very squeamish about certain things (like bugs for example, and sweating (sorry Jay)). But the new and improved me has learned to really go with the flow. I wasn’t going to blog about this necessarily, but feel that it might make a good story so am going to go ahead with it anyway. For the faint of heart, you may want to skip the rest of this blog entry.

Last evening, after a stop for a foot massage, many rounds of fun light hearted conversation and a wonderful meal of Tee’s Pad See Ewe for me and Khao Soi Gai for Troy (thank goodness), I left Troy in Ian, Ritchie and Landon’s capable hands (STOP right there! Who remembers what happened last year when I left the party early?). I wandered back to the hotel at around 8:45pm. Quite tired and really thinking it best to try and get on a real sleep schedule ( despite the nap I took poolside earlier in the day), I was the responsible one. 😳 I came into our room and turned on the light in the bathroom. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the BIGGEST brown something or other scurry across the counter. Hmmmmm, NOT COOL NOT COOL! I have not seen such a thing here, let alone in my room. It was easily the size of a teaspoon not including the 2 long antennae. So I’m faced with a huge dilemma. HUGE. If I smack the snot out of it, what do I use and how to I deal with the aftermath of that? If I run it off, how do I know if, when and where it will come back and will it bring friends? So I decided to try and capture it, and then let Troy deal with it when he got back. Sounds brilliant doesn’t it? So what do I capture it with then? I got a glass…already sounding like a bad idea, as the hotel drinking glasses here are ACTUAL glass, not those flimsy plastic things you get when you rent a $129 room at the Motel 6 in North America.

So I start the chase around the bathroom, started on the counter, fished around under the toiletries container, under the sink, down the front of the cabinet, across the floor board. Smack smack smack with the glass. This thing was fast and hopefully really scared. But alas I didn’t catch it. So you see where this is going….ultimately back to plan B, which was to run it off. But I was a little nervous about breaking the glass, and or catching the thing by part of its body and having to deal with that…I was in the moment folks…don’t judge!

So now I had a new dilemma, how to secure the room against this critter. Given that I now believe this to be the dreaded “C” word creature. I decide that if I leave all the lights on, it won’t come back, so I turn on every light in both rooms, get out my sleep mask and crawl into bed. True sleep eludes me for a few reasons, not the least of which is my body thinks it is 8am, I’m by myself with what I am sure is a man eating creature, the lights are on full blast, and Troy is out…..

When he returns at 1:30am (tsk tsk), I’m wide awake and I have to tell him this story and he feels very bad for me I’m sure when he asks, “so you have been curled up there in the fetal position for all this time?”.

So I wasn’t going to tell this story necessarily but I had an AHA moment just now because as I’m sitting here at the breakfast table and I just picked an ant off my egg, I realized I really have evolved from that girl I was 6+ years ago who would have run screaming like a lunatic and never never never have even tried to catch “the thing in the room”. I remember when Troy and I were on our honeymoon in Hawaii and there was a gecko in the top corner of our room and I didn’t sleep a wink staring at it all night to see if it moved (or god forbid crawled into my suitcase). Troy told me then, and I believe it to be true now, “geckos are our friends”. The old Laurie would have made Troy go down to the desk and demand a fumigated sterile environment. But that’s not my reality anymore folks. It does beg the question of where was my friend the gecko last night??

Rarely do things get hiccupy for us here, but this morning….getting close. So we (ME) are having trouble getting the texting to work consistently. Sometimes I can text some people, then it stops and I am able to text someone else. Sometimes it works as a text, sometimes it goes as an iMessage. And I am literally always just pressing the same buttons. So I dunno…we do however get a text from Ruby saying Chase has called and they have flagged Troy’s c/c for odd charges. Glad we got THAT text (when we got connected to airport wifi??). So got a SIM card with phone minutes and Troy got on that call!!! Only solved when he expressed that they needed to hurry up as it was costing a dollar a minute to be on the phone! Anyway, we are set to take the hotel shuttle back to airport to catch our 10am flight to ChiangMai. We get here and are at the counter only to find out our flight has been cancelled! Wow….first time ever for that. She is very sweet in that super sweet Thai way telling us we will be put in the next flight at 12:30pm and we will get a 300 baht voucher for airport food. Yum yum….poor Troy’s face though. He was really counting on Tee’s Kao soi for lunch (I mean REALLY counting on it). So instead after much debate with the friendly young lady, we take our vouchers and head off. So this is what we ended up with….

In a million years I would have never thought I would eat McGurgles after being in Thailand less than 12 hours. It’s gross, but airport food is tough….they only have fast food junk, or super weird Japanese food that I don’t recognize….so I blame Bangkok Airways for my shame. And later when I am feeling sick….I will still blame them. And we will have Khao Soi Gai for supper!

But at least we had choices of dipping sauce for our fries….yes we had American ketchup 😉😉

So either way, despite our tech troubles, the flight cancellation and having to deal with American credit card companies, the day is going great! You will hear more from me as we move along….stay tuned 😎😎

Got in to Bangkok last night. Got the shuttle to hotel smoothly. IT just ALWAYS works out. Troy stopped and picked up a Thai SIM card but we can’t text with it yet as it doesn’t have any baht on it 😉 and for some reason my phone can receive texts here but not send. So not sure what is up there. I have used my iPad to talk to BK and Jay, but haven’t been able to iMessage Ruby yet 😭😭 I’ll keep trying. Will update as we get these tech problems fixed. Gran if you are reading this, text me and let me know how it’s going! I can’t seem to get you either.

To update on our travel companions on Tokyo-Bangkok leg. Yes, here ewe a boat load of obnoxious Russians, all getting on out flight, but somehow the travel gods smiled on us and arranged for our flight to only be half full. So not only were there no Russians too close to us, but we got to spread out a bit and I secured a row with two empty seats so I was able to stretch out and get a few hours shut eye. That served me well bcz but the time we got to hotel, settled, chatted with kids and showered it was 1am and my alarm was set for 7:30. Knowing full well that I would sleep that long, but had to try. 4:17am came too soon, and every 12 minutes thereafter, I was gazing at the numbers on the clock. I did however stay put until 7am. But am feeling like the brick wall should hit right around 4pm.

Got some picks and will update with those when I dig out the card reader thingy 😃😉😃😉

Ok….here is a picture from our balcony in our room. Quick story….I had to pay an “extra person fee” of 300 baht ($9 usd) for Troy to stay with me last night…..hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha apparently I only booked my room for one person???? Seriously? So it would have costs me $24.50 for the 2 person room if I had done it right, but instead I had to pay $32. Sigh…..live and learn….they do this to discourage/penalize hotel guests from “bringing home a new friend from the bar” but I just don’t think I fit that profile. I really feel like I fit the profile of the “super tired cranky middle aged female traveller from across the planet”. But whatever…..

Here is our room and our travel companions settling in last night…..very happy to pose with the elephant!

The Thong Ta has the most eclectic collection of clay figurines. I am not sure if it crosses the line from quaint to creepy or not….

Things going along very smoothly so far. Caught the shuttle at SeaTac this morning at 7am to take us up to Vancouver airport. Thank you Jackie and Rachael for that early bird ride 😍😍

Caught the flight from Vancouver to Tokyo at 2:25pm. Now we are in Tokyo. It is 4:34 in the afternoon here. But I feel like I’ve been through the ringer…as it is 12:30 in the morning to me. There is a “lovely” Russian family sitting across from us in the waiting area and they have three kids under 10 who are literally tearing the place apart and the parents are so busy with their iPads and earphones they aren’t paying any attention. I sure hope they are in MY section of the plane. That would be GREAT!!!!

I’m NOT complaining…..😩😩😩