All is Well

Despite what you may have heard on the news all is well here in Chaing Mai.

I am sitting in the lobby of the Lanna Palace Hotel just outside of the old city, which consists of two squares an inner and outer. There are these amazing old brick walls that surround the city as well as a river that follows along. I have been exploring with Mary for a few days, the flower market (Carol you should have seen the lotuses they were amazing). It weird even though I am white and definitely in the minority I don't even notice it I just smile and stay open. The Thai people are lovely, some speak English some not but we manage. Last night we took a stroll to the night market, lots of goodies and beautiful things and of course little oddities. I found a bead store and will return today on my own for a better look and feel.

I am adjusting to the time change quite well I think, although today I am a bit tired. I miss all of you and think of you as I move along my travels. At least one thing a day reminds me of someone or something from home.

I was without a book to read for 5 days, yikes that was tough one. Got one now though (Mom you will love this one). I realized that one of the things I miss the most is touch. I spend so much of my life touching others and here I can't. I am looking forward to starting my Thai Massage course next week, I will be able to get a touch fix.

The heat, ah well that truly is an experience. As many of you know I don't always deal with heat that well. I have had to get used to breaking out in a sweat (along with a song every now and then) and just letting it happen. I take lots of showers and drink an amazing amount of water (yes from a bottle).

The food is good and I am trying new things and yes, the food is spicy. I just make sure I have water, cucumber or sticky rice to get me through. It is very inexpensive to eat out here about $3 for a meal and $1.50 for a large bottle of beer. I cannot express my full enjoyment of a cold beer after being out for the day. Orgasmic. No street food yet. I have found a great place for coffee and a sit down just up the street, where I am headed after my update to you.

When we were in Bangkok on Sunday, I got to ride the Skytrain, cool. The city was very quite as you might imagine with all the unrest. As we were going to airport the next day we saw armed soldiers outside the airport. That was a bit freaky. But here we are in Chaing Mai. Songkran (water festival) is now over. I have never been so wet in all my life, all they do for 3 days is throw water on everyone and anything. Some used melted down ice, you can only imagine what that felt like. Have water thrown on you is considered a blessing and is supposed to encourage the rain which it did. It was also the Thai New Year, so it was party central.

I brought all the wrong clothes have had to buy some, Ah too bad. Most things are quite inexpensive here and very colourful.

We have two TV stations. BBC news and a movie channel, that's it. Hey, can anyone tell me who left the amazing race last week?

We toured a silk factory the other day, I learned about how the silk is made and of course there was a lovely shop attached, I managed to resist. In order for us to get there we were rode on a Tuk Tuk, now you might be asking yourself what's that? Well, imagine your washing machine on spin cycle, sitting on said machine add some dirt and wind and there you have the Tuk Tuk experience. Mr. Mao is our driver while we are here, he gets points for taking us here and there it's works out very well.

Back to the silk farm. Did you know that raw silk comes from the outside of the cocoon and the smooth from the inside. It comes in 4 weights 1 ply, 2ply, 3ply and 4ply. The colours are gorgeous and the textures oh la la.

I have also learned how the Kashmir carpets are made, particularly the silk ones. They can take anywhere from 2 to 10 years to make one carpet. The artists dream about the carpet then make a pattern which is then translated into code. The makers of carpets are only given the pattern/code for a bit at a time. Prayers are said over each rug and when they are complete it is said that their dream will come true. There are no two alike and they glow with energy like you would not believe. I was afraid to ask the cost. I suspect the little prayer carpets were around $10,000-$15,000.

Well, friends I am off to explore on my own. Be well and take care of each other, blessings and peace to all.