The Aging Adventurers: 2011

February 7, 2011 #1

Irene

After taking a flight to Vancouver, another to Hong Kong and finally Bangkok we landed late at night not having a clue which day it was or what time (Toronto) it was. Thankfully our luggage arrived with us and we were taken to a nearby hotel by shuttle bus. Much to our surprise, there were throngs of people milling around the lobby where there was a convention/show of rocks on display. Many of the people stood frozen for many minutes with their arms outstretched pointed toward these rocks. It felt as if we had landed in the middle of a Zombie movie. Each of the rocks was labelled as to its properties e.g. healing, energizing....I guess everyone was trying to absorb as much positive energy as they could in a short period of time.

Morris here! Jet lag ain’t what it used to be! Used to be I could ignore it. Now it incapacitates me. Last night I kept dropping off, so we skipped dinner and went to sleep. We desperately tried to stay up as late as we could to try to adjust to local time. But it was a losing battle. We managed to stay up till about 9.00 pm. Of course the consequence was that we were awake at about 3.00 am. Irene fell asleep again, but I don’t think I dozed for more than a few minutes. Now it is about 5pm and I am starting to feel it again. Perhaps I’ll have a nap before going out to dinner.

I love Thai food. Not quite as much as Indian food, but it is still terrific. We have so far eaten at roadside restaurants, both very good food, and inexpensive. Looking forward to eating in a restaurant that comes recommended. It should be fabulous.

Our hotel is wonderful. It’s a smallish hotel, only 4 floors, with a pool and a Zen-type garden. No stones, but no flowers either, just lawn and a water feature. It’s all very modern and minimalistic, but beautiful. Lots of teak. It has an indoor-outdoor lobby. No doors, and no glass. I wonder what they do when it rains. We took photos to show. It’s not often that I really like the architecture of our hotel, since most times we stay in faceless impersonal large hotel chains. The service here is outstanding. They are so helpful, it’s amazing. We still have a day here, but so far it has been a great experience.

What have we done so far – apart from visiting temples and markets - not much. We have already visited about 5 temples. Some are very ornate, but none are as grand as some of the temples I have seen in Japan and Korea. We visited the local market. Actually there seems to always be a market somewhere. This was the “Sunday Walking Market”, where they block off the main street in the old city, and hundreds of vendors set up stall selling all kind of things that I would never want. Prior to that we had visited a flower festival, which was - you guessed it_ really a flower market, together with vendors selling all kinds of stuff I would never want. Tomorrow night we will go to a “night market” where I expect we will find all kinds of stuff that I would, never want. No matter! It’s a way of seeing the people. Besides which, Irene may very well want!

This morning we took a river cruise. That sounds rather grand. Actually it was a trip up river for about 45 minutes in a tourist boat, with a guide telling us that on the left was so-and-so’s house and on the right was a house owned by a European, and on the left now was a house owned by a Japanese. Not really interesting. However, it was cool and pleasant, so we were not disappointed. We stopped at a large herb farm/restaurant where we were given a short tour of the many herbs and served the ubiquitous pineapple and watermelon as refreshment- very delicious and refreshing. We were also told that part of the filming of Rambo 4 took place there.

I went into a temple and asked a monk pray for Issie. I had to write his name on a piece of paper and pick up a small brass bowl and pitcher which had been filled with water. While the monk was praying and mispronouncing Issie’s name-Isak Goorooushka (maybe he thought Issie was Indian) I had to think about Issie and pour the water into the bowl. Once that was done I went outside and poured the water against a tree as per instructions from the monk, always thinking positive thoughts about Issie. To add to the efficacy of this, I then had to purchase 3 eels sitting in a pail of water (stall outside the temple) and walk down to the river and release them. I guess this signified casting the sickness out. Later I went and had a traditional Thai massage while Morris went back to the hotel

Tomorrow we plan to visit a local national park, with another temple, a palace, and some scenery.

If this all sounds a little cynical and world weary I don’t mean it to be. Things are low-key here, and we are glad of that. We are having a good time

We get around on the ubiquitous tuk-tuks. These are three wheeled motorised rickshaws, powered by two-stroke engines. Hence tuk-tuk. They are inexpensive, about $3.00 per ride, and they go like a bat out of hell. Not actually, but with the wind whipping in your face and the engine racing it feels as if you are moving much faster than you really are. Those driving cars here have the task of avoiding the motorcycles and tuk tuks. They don’t seem to care about cars. The cars do the avoiding, not the tuk tuks.

Enough for now. More next time

Morris and Irene

First day in Chiang Mai. Lucky us- we got to enjoy their flower festival!

Imagine assembling thousands of flowers to adorn these figures.

Thai welcome- hands together and bow.

Notice the picture behind this float- the king of Thailand. Everywhere you go there are pictures of the king and queen. There are also tributes made to the king's photography, his music composition, his fine leadership.....