A day of rest and recovery.
We arrived at our month-stay townhouse last night and I think this will work out great. I laid in bed wondering if the dreams would begin again, but nothing through the night and early morning. Ezra and Viena slept great and Ezra appears to be improving every day. Now, he only says that his belly and his ankles hurt. The food at the on-site restaurant is excellent but unfortunately, priced at American prices not local Thai street vendor prices. Our refrigerator is bare (yes, we have a refrigerator) so at this point we have zero alternatives. To create some alternatives, I rented for free a mountain bike and took off down the hill to the nearest village 7 km away Mae RIm. They have an evening market at Mae Rim, but when In arrived around 1pm enough of the vendors were setup for business. I had the big backpack so I loaded up with all sorts of crazy fruits and vegetables – crazy cheap prices and crazy looking. Of course to the local Thai vendors, I looked kinda crazy stuffing a big backpacking backpack with all of this produce and hopping back on my bike. when I was ready to bike back home, the backpack weighed much more than when we check in at the airport – probably over 30 kilos of food on board. Needless to say the trip ascending back to the place was not as fast or fun and my ischial tuberosities were feeling sore later. We have food now at least. No one here speaks English, and my minimal attempt at using Malay or Indonesia only provided me more confused looks from the vendors. They speak Thai, and I do not – yet. I have 28 more days to learn. I purchased a Thai Ice Tea for a record low of 10 baht (30 cents). At the local restaurant the price is 45 baht ($1.50). A small local market is down the street 400 meters from our place. At the market they sell Thai ice tea and a few other supplies. When I went to purchased instant noodles, I grabbed 2 packs. Glad I did not grab three because freshly revealed and hanging tightly to pack number three with all eight legs was a huge momma spider carrying all her eggs. I pointed the spider out to the shopkeeper woman who grabbed her knife and quickly scared to spider off to another different location in her store/house and then looked at me like “now, you can continue with your noodle selection”. I only took my two packs and two Thai ice teas for 10 baht each. They do not sell any fruits or vegetables at the local market so I probably will be making the trip into Mae Rim by bike at least every week. Riding a bike cruising down the left side of virtually empty street was really cool. The ride back was not so cool. For the most part, the roads are not busy in this area and I felt very safe to be riding and was only passed by about 10 cars or motorbikes – and zero big trucks. When I returned, we all went to the swimming pool. Earlier in the morning I walked with Viena up to the Yoga sala on the hill with great views of the area. In the evening, we played tennis (that last sentence should be read with an English accent) so try it again. In the evening, we played tennis as the sun set over the mountains of Chiang Mai. Yes, a little different life than in the jungle. Still, lots of birds. Very quiet location and the people here are very nice, but we must leave our cornered cozy campus to see THE REAL THAILAND!
oneworldtwokids 