Christmas in the sun, Hot Springs, Lady-boy Beauty Contests and Sung Tou Adventures

Christmas dinner at The Garden was a nice mellow social affair with a spread of food that resembled the attendees, a mix of Frarang and Thai. There was turkey and cranberry sauce with potatoes and gravy (neither of the last two resembling the kind we have back home) along side some interesting Thai dishes of rice noodles with green curry eggplant and other interesting dishes. During the midday dinner, the owner Tim had hired an Eastern Thai band to play and their authentic musical style was quite lovely. We had a lovely day as it was sunny and warm and we ate with our English friends Linda and Mike (they are from Hull). It felt a bit odd to be fanning myself and worrying about staying in the shade since we were outdoors for our Christmas dinner! It was a first for me. The owner of "The Garden" is British as well so there was a traditional fruitcake...I asked the Thai girl serving for "A small piece of cake and lots of ice cream". She didn't correct me so when I sat down Mike and Linda said "Wow you sure are going overboard there" and I just thought they were joshing me until I stuffed a whole mouthful in and almost gagged...felt like pure lard and tasted almost as gross. I promptly spit it into my napkin and said "That's not ice cream!!" which prompted the entire table to laugh at me and explain what "hard sauce" or "buttered rum" is.

Saturday, while collecting our laundry down the street, Kim and I were discussing what we should do after dinner when someone handed us a flyer for Miss Hua Puk 2008 Beauty Contest and Cabaret show. Problem solved. So after dinner we walked to the Thapae Gate area paid our 50baht ($1.45 per person) entrance fee and then watched the pagent, cabaret and comedy that was the show. So many of the contestants were so beautiful I had difficulty believing they weren't female-even when they made them take off the wigs! I used up every last photo on shots of the contestants and vegas style costumes worn by the cabaret acts. Check out more amazing photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/KimStJohnWoodward

Today we met Linda and Mike at their hotel early so we could join them for some rice porridge (Juk/Comgee) and then go on a Sung Tou adventure. We had heard that you could get to San Kampang by Sung Tou and so we took one out to the village. 15 baht later we found out that the hot springs labeled San Kampang Hot Springs is about a 30 minute drive outside of said village. After picking up a stray Aussie, nice young man named John, Linda managed to haggle another Sung Tou to take us for 20 baht each. We walked the floral laden grounds, boiled eggs in the hottest pool and then had a swim in a luke warm swimming pool with a light sulfur smell. It was a nice day and although it cost us 300 baht in a taxi to get back to town we all enjoyed the adventure of it all. We had the taxi drop us in BoSarn where the hand painted umbrella factory is. I had one of the artists paint an elephant on the back of my little daypack and now I am quite pleased with it. Before it was just a good deal being 50baht and slightly faded from spending years hanging in the night market but now it is nicely decorated for 50baht more and I like it even better.

Now however it is time to head out and have a little supper since the 2 boiled eggs and handful of banana chips I ate for lunch aren't holding me very well. Tough dilemma now...pizza or Thai food?

Anyone interested in reading more details about what Thailand is like...this writer's description is right on the money! http://mybt.budgettravel.com/_Thailand-The-Land-of-Smiles/BLOG/154630/21864.html

Tomorrow is New Years Eve and we are invited to a BBQ and then have booked in at the Holiday Inn for a Seafood Buffet/Music/Dance evening by the riverside. I expect it will be enjoyable and decadent . I will be thinking of all of you, my dear friends and family back home and around the world and wishing everyone a very Merry New Year!

A day in the life...Chiang Mai style!

So my dear friend Donna mentioned how exotic and adventurous we've been and asked what our typical days are like. I thought I would share my response with all of you.
Since we've been in Chiang Mai, Thailand and Singapore our adventures haven't really been that exotic. They are both modern cities with all the conveniences and amenities. And the demonstrations didn't affect us at all, other than noticing that there are very few tourists around. Certainly not as many as there should be for this time of year.

As a snapshot of our lives here in the north of Thailand:

The other day I woke up early to make my calls to shrimp customers(yes I am still working selling shrimp...same as if I was in Colfax..maybe more as I don't have housework, errands or my massage practice to distract me) then we adventured out to find breakfast. Came back to the hotel and did some paperwork/emails on the computer while Kim worked at his programming. By 1pm we took off and met our friends Linda and Mike and went to a car show at the BigC (K-mart-esque)where we enjoyed puzzling over the Hydrogen kits for better fuel mileage and the fun little fiat 500's with snazzy paint jobs.
Then we came back to the center of town and went out to dinner at this little place next to their hotel. It is someone's front yard and there are several tables set up and one guy with a wok cooking dishes one by one. So eating there with 5 people was interesting as each dish came individually. But they were all lovely so we were happy. I think I had flat noodles with chicken and veggies and Kim had pineapple fried rice with pork. After wandering about the night market and catching a little bit of the puppet show and traditional Thai dancing in the Kalare food court Kim and I walked back across town to our hotel and then I stayed up late enough to call Barry and Skip and put in my shrimp orders.

Today was a Sunday relaxation day with a sleep in until nearly 9 and then a walk about town looking for a new breakfast place. Found one, but it was a disappointment. Luckily, it wasn't far from Starbucks and I got my chocolate fix (only place to get real dessert) of a double chocolate cupcake...warm!! Then we went to the Luck Fish Spa and had another one of the fish clean your feet sessions (see weird video) and a lovely full body Thai massage. The rest of the afternoon has been spent cleaning up my in-box and writing to May re shrimp stuff.
Now it is time to put on shoes walk back to Thapae Gate and listen to some live Jazz at that same Starbucks before we meet Linda and Mike again for dinner and more live music (blues this time I think) at "The Garden". I think that pretty much describes an ideal day for me. If we are feeling really decadent then on the way home tonight we may splurge and spend another $5 dollars each on another hour long foot massage before bed.
Well the music at Starbucks wasn't worth staying for so we went to Ratana's Kitchen on Thapae Road and had an awesome dinner (Khao Soi) one of my favorite dishes. After that we had a long, tedious, slow walk to "The Garden". To get ther we had to walk through the Sunday Walking Market where they close off most of the streets to traffic and everyone has stalls on the sides and middle of the roads. The music was fun...classic rock stuff Jimmy Hendrix, Dire Straights, Beatles etc. By the time we left it was late enough that we passed on getting another foot session and just came back to the hotel.
I am hoping to stay up late enough to make a few work calls but if not I will set an alarm and make the calls first thing when I get up.

So far no special plans for tomorrow, work in the morning and Fish and Chips day at Sunee's restaurant. Other than that I think we will just "wing it".

Emergency Visa Run to Singapore

On the 10^th when we were taking the taxi to the University for the orchid show our friend Allen was bemoaning having to have his visa renewed and I made the nonchalant comment that I was glad as Americans we had 90 instead of only 30 days on our visa. He informed us of the recent changes in the Thai laws which are not so friendly to visitors for some reason. Sure enough we got back to the hotel that evening to find our visa had indeed expired that day! So in a flurry we researched where to go, got up really early, packed up all our stuff and went to the airport. We bought a ticket to Singapore as it made sense to go there and renew our visas in style. I was able to contact my cousin Daniel and voila, it is a return of what my father affectionately calls the “Grateful Dan Fan Club”! Back in 95, the last time we were gallivanting the globe ,we kept following him around from Paris, France to Majorca, Spain and Miami to the Florida Keys too.

Kim and I are in Singapore now and just made the conservative decision :( to go back to Thailand rather than take an 18 day cruise to Hong Kong. It was a tough call as that did sound like fun. It was on the Azamara line which I have been interested in checking out. But, it would have been completely out of budget so we are behaving.

We are also quite enjoying Singapore. It is a clean lovely city, manageable in size, easy to get around and lots to see. There is plenty of upscale stuff but we have found food is really reasonable and the taxi's are downright cheap! Dan has taken us around a bit and turned us on to some local specialties. My current favorite is the Sambal Stingray. Basically BBQ stingray smothered in a sweet and mildly spicy roasted chili paste very unlike the sambal I have had in the past. We have checked out Boat Quay, hiked in the big park up to the top of the small mountain behind his house, had a buffet brunch with him at the American Club and gone to some great hole in the wall eateries. He took us to see Quantum of Solace (ok fun but not spectacular) and we got to hang out at his house for a while. (Bless him for letting us mooch his internet and do some long overdue laundry too!)

The other night we explored Chinatown on our own and we have been taking advantage of the pool at our hotel almost every day. Although it is quite cool in the water we keep reminding ourselves that it is mid-December and really not that cold at all! We have had rain almost every day and it is quite humid and much warmer than the north of Thailand.

It is Monday night and as soon as Kim finishes his work for the day I'd like to go check out all the over-the-top Christmas lights on Orchard Street and find some dinner. Tuesday/tomorrow we pick up our passports and visas at the Thai Consulate office in preparation for our return to Chiang Mai the following morning on Wednesday. At that point we will have 36 more days in Thailand and 5 in Hong Kong before our return. Seems like it is going by super fast.

Life in Chiang Mai Thailand

Kim and I have been in Chiang Mai, here in the north of Thailand since the 15th of November. Most of this time we have been keeping busy by doing some work, walking everywhere, eating delicious food, dancing and seeing the sights.

Kim has been working on his laptop and I have been keeping up with shrimp clients by phone and booking some travel for folks via the Internet. I have done a few hotel reservations, some research for a group going to Hawaii and may be putting together a group for a Panama Canal Cruise at the end of February or the middle of March. Anyone interested? So far I think we have 3 cabins already spoken for. Write me for the details if you want to come with!

What have we been keeping busy with you ask?
On the first two Sundays here at the Queen Vic, we've gone downstairs to the pub for the all you can eat “Carvery” buffet of roast meats, Yorkshire pudding,gravy potatoes etc. and it is almost $10each! So for the sake of our cheapness and our big bellies we've skipped it since.
Every Sunday evening we find ourselves hanging out at “The Garden” listening to the blues/folk music there...we even got up and danced to one 50's song last Sunday despite the fact that we were the only people dancing! We have made some great friends there and have had lots of fun with Linda and Mike from England since our first Sunday at the Garden.
We've gone to High Tea and dancing at the Shangri La hotel for the last few Saturday afternoons. It was fun despite the fact that there wasn't much food and the band stunk- we are talking “cringe” bad. At least we got to dance.
We had two Salsa lessons on Wednesday nights since we have been up here in Chiang Mai and have now switched to Monday night Argentinian Tango class. Only had one lesson so far but really liked it! Linnie and Ty, you would be proud of us!
On the 3rd of December I went with Linda and her friend Valerie to the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School and learned to cook several more Thai dishes. The lesson was: cooked Pad Sey Yew (Wide noodles fried with sweet soy sauce), Steamed fish in Banana leaves, Yellow curry chicken, Chicken with Cashews and Spicy Prawn salad North-Eastern Style (in a chili jam sauce!) Everything was delicious and I brought my leftovers back for Kim. Unfortunately the dessert was a disappointment, it was cooked green bananas in Coconut Milk...not my thing!
On the 4th we went to the, get this...Ratchaphruek rumjaiphukrakporluang, (see Bobbie your name isn't really that long!) The Royal Flora Rachaphruek 2006 exhibit just outside of town. We are talking impressive gardens, with an orchid show going on and all sorts of events leading up to the King's birthday. The evening we chose to go, there was live Jazz and they were to play some of the King's compositions. I don't know if we heard any of his music but the band and singer were really pretty good. Linda caught us dancing on the way up towards the stage (see pics!) I don't know how she managed it but somehow she got us in the shot without anyone else, as if we had the place to ourselves, which was far from the case.
Monday we spent the morning working and then had a lunch date at Sunee's for her Panko battered fish & chips day, with Linda and Mike. After lunch we all went to the Holiday Inn to reserve our New Years Eve Buffet dinner and then to the massive Airport Plaza mall. They have this lame machine at the gym there which I was dying to check out until I saw it- I think it is called the Turbo-sonic back home but this seemed like a knockoff. Remember those goofy machines ages ago that had a vibrating belt you stood in and it was supposed to jiggle the fat away...same thing just a vibrating platform you stand on...no belt. Got back to the hotel with just enough time to grab our shoes and catch a taxi as we had a Tango Dance class that night.
The next day I worked for our dinner. I did an NMR/NKT session on Noriko, one of our Tango classmates. She has had neck stuff for a long time and I am hoping it helped her out. She certainly fed us well on an amazing organic peanut butter curry, which I will be struggling to replicate as soon as we get home!
On Wednesday the 10th we took a Green Sung Teow out to one of the big Universities and checked out the flower show there, orchids, bonsai, gourds, agriculture exhibits and a parade including parrots and a snake that I got to touch.(again see pics)
So we've gone from having very little on our plates to a busy schedule in no time at all! And you can see we are in no danger of getting bored with Thailand. The weather has been in the low 80's consistently and I hear there is snow at home so I am sending you all warm tropical mental hugs from here!

Lovely Chiang Mai

After spending about 2 months total here over the last 5 years, both Kim and I feel pretty familiar and comfortable with the city of Chiang Mai. This time we decided to stay within the moated center of the city. After an extensive search online we ended up choosing "The Garden" due to the advertisement for live music every Sunday of Jump/Jive/Swing. We arrived and checked in to this 3 room guest house. Tim is an ex-pat from England and his lovely Thai wife Thong is a great cook.
To see where we were and where we hang out every Sunday night listening to blues/folk music(swing guitarist being out of commission) go to: http://www.thegardenchiangmai.com/

Well it turned out that because the King's sister had recently passed away there was no music or alcohol being served that week and then the main guitarist broke his wrist. So we had a very nice and quiet couple of days there pretty much having the place to ourselves after dark. During those first few days we spent much of our time walking around town and checking into "long-stay" rates at different hotels until we settled on the one we are in now.

We are staying at The Queen Victoria Inn and Pub. We have a large room overlooking a temple (Watt) with French doors onto a small balcony. Having a really comfortable bed as well as our own bathroom en-suite and free wi-fi cinched the deal. So we booked in for 2 months. It does seem a little odd to be in Thailand staying in a British pub, this one run by an ex-pat from Geneva Switzerland. His name is Pascal and he speaks with a thick French accent.
For pictures and an idea of what our place is like go to http://www.queenvictoria-chiangmai.com/

As we scoured the center of town for our new digs we also went to every bike shop in the area looking for a few decent used bikes for the two of us. By the time we had walked to all of them and looked at the meager offerings we realized "this town is just too small to need bikes" and now we just walk everywhere. If we had bikes we'd spend more time unlocking and locking them to things than it would take to get anywhere.
It takes us less than 30 minutes to walk from one gate all the way across to the other, so nothing is very far.