Category: ASIA

We waited today. My neck, shoulder blades, upper left spine T-2 is still hurting from my only massage of the trip. The last bit of paperwork has been signed. We ate our last supper. I thought of jumping in the pool one last time, but I did not. We did not do much else today. Dwana had a vibration workshop. We sat and talked with Kirah about her Texas-Austin roots. We are all packed and ready to go. The bags feel a little bigger than we arrived. I wish we could have had some more jungle walks, but Dwana gave up the leech fields and eerie junglescapes for Yoga and meditation. Go figure.

Today, I could have jaunted into the city of Chiang Mai for one last dental checkup, but I decided to let it ride. Instead, I was the one who attended early morning meditation. What a treat. We performed a lying meditation focused on breathing, a sitting meditation focused on moving through the discomfort, and a walking meditation that focused on the five stages of gait (heel lift up, foot rise, movement forward, foot down, foot strike). Dwana, Viena, and Ezra showed up at the end. So many beautiful sounds of the morning, but one of the best was hearing Ezra yell, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!” during the quiet walking meditation. At home we wrote words on balloons and bounced them up to the ceiling. I printed out our boarding passes. Ezra and I succeesfully wrestled without anyone being hurt. he enjoyed “pulling off”my toes and gobbling them up. People are on many types of diet here, but I have not heard of the “big toe” diet. A new land calls our name. The sound of the birds will be missed, but there will be new Borneo birds I am certain.

I went downstairs a saw some balloons>V. I went downstairs and saw some toys>E. I asked Viena and Ezra to tell me their thoughts on going downstairs and finding all the loot. Obviously, they both were speechless. Next Chinese Christmas I might need to spend $10.

Yes! We were finally able to play a round of Golf Putt_Putt style. Putt-Putt M&M style. I was saving a bag of M&M’s for a hike, but we ended up just hiking to the putting range. Viena and Ezra took turns trying to “sink” putts, and depending on the distance and success of their putt determined how many M&M’s they would earn. Viena actually “sunk” a 6 M&Mer. Ezra stuck to sinking little short oneM&Mers. I kept using the word “sink”and Viena finally asked me “Dad, what do you mean by “sink!”””? Interesting how sports develope their own lingo. And then, where does “lingo” come from? We tried to play a little tennis but that ended after one minute after I hit Viena near the eye+B57 with the Tennis Ball. I guess Viena slipped twice yesterday and landed on her tailbone and she has not been very energetic today. I think she realizes that we soon travel to the Island of Borneo. Ezra has been enjoying all the Chinese legos. The lego sets did not include any of the little lego people like the packaging showed. The day has been overcast and grey and warm, Our refrigerator is nearly bare, which Viena probably notices as well. I have made my last run to the market.

I returned from Chiang Mai with 12 big balloons, 12 sets of stickers, 10 legoish sets, 2 set of butterfly fairy wings, and 2 new teeth. Let’s hope the teeth last longer than the toys. While wandering the streets of Chiang Mai just North-East of the East Gate, I stumbled upon a flower market. Flower heaven and all so beautifully arranged, and all so fresh, unlike the Malaysian “flower” markets where the flowers were all plastic. After an entire street block of flower vendors, I entered the street block of Chinese wholesale toys. I was just going to buy a single idem, but the store owner said, “wholesale”, which meant I had to buy a dozen. Still the total cost was below $5. I am sure all of the toys were manufactured in the cleanest of China’s factories. Out of all the places we have been, Chiang Mai has had the best markets for food, clothing, hand-maid items, and toys from China. I am going to miss the Dragonfruit-Beet-Pineapple smoothies. The rains started in the afternoon and continued until I was picked up near nightfall. I stood embracing the warm rains of Thailand, knowing that my Thai days are limited and knowing that most likely I will return someday. Ezra and Viena were still awake at home, but everyone looked tired. They all went to bed and I set up for $5 Chinese Christmas in the morning.

Everyone has returned home from their afternoon adventures. Dwana, Viena, and Ezra went on a walk to play in the Yoga Sala. The Yoga Sala is a nice play area as long as a class is not in session. Both Ezra and Viena love using the Big Blue Yoga Blocks to build things. the night time routine has started so hopefully this goes better than last night. 1:30 am was a little bit ridiculous. Dwana had a full morning of activities and then in the afternoon, I went on a solo biking adventure. Like I have mentioned before, finding riding/hiking mates has been difficult. I went on a bike ride to explore the Mae Sa valley. Bike rentals are complimentary but I doubt that anyone has ever ridden them as far as I did today. The biggest discovery today was realizing when you do not ride a bike for over a year, your bike fitness will disappear. My legs were wiped out 5 kilometers into the ride. Could be the liquid diet as well. The path was nice and uncrowded. I did not see a single other biker. most of the ride was on pavement and against gravity – uphill. From Mae Aen, I biked South to Pang Haeo and then West on the main road and up and up and up and up. I almost turned around a couple of times, but I found little markets along the way to stop and rest and replenish. I was trying to reach the viewpoint near Hmong Nong Hoi and after walking and biking and walking and biking, I finally arrived at my destination shortly before my turn around time of 5:00pm. Seeing the Hmong village of Nong Hoi Mai was worth all the up hill. The day was cloudy, but the views were still amazing with all the agriculture growing on the mountainside. Many different foods are being grown at the high altitude (4500 feet) farming village. The descent was a scream, I just had to keep telling myself, “Watch for Cows!”

Ezra is up! Today is Tomorrow! This is what happens when a little boy falls asleep for a 4:30PM nap. I was going to let Ezra prepare today’s journal entry, but once he had finished his online manifesto, he discovered the backspace key and viola – disappeared. I wonder when he will fall asleep. He has been close and already in bed a couple of times, but he is still hanging in there. Maybe he is on Alaska-SummerTime-Time now, or feeling the power of the super-Moon. Oh well, I am just glad he is healthy. Today we took the complany car with driver into Chiang Mai. Guess where? If you said Dentist or Temple, you are right! If you said Temple of the Tooth give yourself some bonus points. I had the driver drop us off at Song Dok Temple which is outside the West Gate. From the Song Dok temple, we walked directly East and all the way across the walled portion of the city to the East Gate near the dental office. We only had 90 minutes to make the crossing so we did not spend much time at any of the Temples along the way. I did not hear complaints from anyone  on the limited time we spent at the Temples. “Dad, can we hang out with the Buddha’s some more?”, “Dad, can we go see some more big old Temples?”, “Dad, can we go see those guys dressed in orange sheets?” No, none of these comments were made. No one else really has Temple fever, but I guess I do have a stronger affiliation with Temple U. Anyway, we were able to stop and have some fruit smoothies and find some cool little outfits for Ezra and Viena. All of the vendors were preparing their booths for the Sunday Night Market … in the Day. The Night Market in the Day works out so much better for us. Fewer people and we were able to earn the “First buyer of the day”price. Ha Ha. Since my mouth was still numb from my dental adventures, I was unable to enjoy the fresh food options, except, you guess it – fruit smoothies and wonderful fresh machete hacked top off cocnut juice. We paid $1 for the coconut juice and $1 to have my flip-flos soles re-glued. the rains started falling harder and harder and harder and harder which left the vendors scurrying to put up tarps to protect their items. The vendors all looked like experts at tarp management. On the way home, Ezra fell asleep. He has been playing so well today with his markers and play dough. I was able to go on a bike ride with a group from the resort. We biked out to Buddha’s footprint. The footprint was still there on the rock and no other new footprints were seen. I keep trying ryingto find other travelers who are styaing at the resort to go off on bike rides or hikes into the jungle, but they all have ZERO energy since they are all on some sort of fasting program. Oh well, that leaves me with more enegry for Ezra, who just fell asleep  – 1:30AM.

Dwana and Viena attended a raw-foods cooking class (is that considered an oxymoron). They returned home with some raw-lasagna, a raw beet smoothie, and raw-soup. Interesting textures of all the foods. I was able to feel my teeth today from yesterdays adventure at the dentist. I brought back some yogurt last night and I think Ezra and Viena gobbled them all up today. We went swimming pool. Ezra really likes moving his arms in fast strokes and kicking his feet across the pool. Viena likes diving to the bottom and loves being thrown up in the air as high as I can throw. Ezra does not like being thrown up in  the air. Dwana went to the local Night Market with some friends from Yoga class. Viena and Ezra and I went walking around in the evening. We watched a beautiful pink orange sunset over the rice fields. The bugs and insects have not been too bad. I made an arrangement for transportation for all of us into Chiang Mai tomorrow. Dwana returned home with some play dough, ink stamp pens and another supply of yogurt.

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The longest day of the year. Summer solstice. Winter solstice. The shortest day of the year. Jerry’s birthday. Dwana and Foley’s anniversary. I made sure I used every part of this day. While Dwana was meditating, Viena, Ezra and I loaded up some water, cashews, and doggie treats and headed up to the Yoga Sala and grabbed Dwana before Yoga to go on a walk to feed the wild dogs of the jungle. Yes, we succeeded in befriending the wild pack of dogs with doggie treats. Once we received our gold medal commendation in canine capitulation, we hiked up the dirt road into the awaiting wilderness. This would be Dwana’s first wild hike of Thailand. We continued up the dirt trail until we reached a plateau on the ridge. No view was to be seen in this jungle – maybe if we were monkeys. We sat atop this summit of sorts and had M&M’s and cashews. And here I must tell a bit of the now and a bit of the future of the day. On the way down, Ezra kept making blockades with his hands across the trail and making demands of a password like children will do at times. PASSWORD. And then I would say something like “abracadabra!” and then he would say “Beethoven!” and then I would say “Beethoven!” and then he would open the “gate” and let me through. He kept doing this, and I kept saying “Beethoven” for the password, and I kept repeating “Beethoven” with a special joy in my heart that my 4-year-old son has chosen arguably the most famous musician/composer in history. Finally, all those Einstein Genius toys were paying off. And then reality struck when he said more clearly after I repeated “Beethoven” … he said “Gate Open!” and went running down the trail to set up the next GATE that I would need to OPEN. There is still hope right, just as I hope Mylon’s next attempt at college entrance exams will go up 10 points because he looked up the word – capitulate. There is still hope, right. Did I mention this is the longest day? and so this will be the longest journal entry. So for those out there who are used to twitter feeds, close this window right now. I am just starting. Fast forward five hours. I am in the back of a yellow painted pickup truck, scratch that – I am hanging onto the ladder bolted onto the camper-shell of a pickup truck. Why? Because, I thought to myself, “What would Mylon do if he were here?”  So, I gave up my “comfortable” bench seat inside the bed of the yellow pickup truck to a older thai woman, and stood on the makeshift tailgate, hanging onto the makeshift ladder and makeshift rack on top, which I was quite jealous of because the rack was bigger than the rack on our now not-ours travel van. I did examine the bolt attachments, but after witnessing something  that would happen 5 hours later, I realize now that rack and ladder and tailgate were not going anywhere. So, I am standing on a tailgate, holding on to the rack/ladder while the yellow pickup (songthaew) travels into Chiang Mai. I am thinking … this is pretty crazy, and then I see a guy who reminds me of young Timothy Dillon – the only guy I know that deals with electricity for a living. Who knows, it could have been Tim. I could not tell because he was all dressed in camouflage – even had a camouflage hat that zipped up so you could only see the eye holes. This guy was 25 feet in the air. This guy  was 25 feet in the air standing on a ladder – not your regular ladder that has feet support every 12-16 inches. He was on a bamboo ladder with supports at least 2 feet apart. He dropped a screwdriver from 25 feet up and then he motioned to the ground guy to throw him up another which he caught no problem. The other guy was not supporting the ladder. The ladder was just leaning on the rats nest of electrical wire around the top of the pole. Must have been over 100 different electrical connections. Then his guy starts trying to bunny hop this ladder to where he needs to be. You know what happens next. Nothing. He was successful. No problem. I had it easy standing on the back on yellow pickup truck.  The elderly woman whom I gave up my “comfortable” seat was also hauling a 50 pound bag of rice. When she exited the pickup at her stop, I helped her out by lifting her 50 pound bag of rice out of the truck. But this was not my stop, so I hopped back onto the truck. A long time will pass before I will be able to forget the image while now seated inside the bed of a yellow pickup driving away, … the image of this elderly woman dragging her 50 pound bag of rice along side of the busy highway of cars and shops and electrical power lines overhead separating the white clouds and the blue sky. She became smaller and smaller as we drove away, but her 50 pound bag was still 50 pounds. And did I tell you about the domestic violence that we witnessed first hand this morning. Hopefully Viena and Ezra will soon forget. Someone must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. We were all at the Yoga Sala waiting for Dwana when I here this screech of a song, a struggle of sorts  and then a “plump”. I look down at me feet and I see a gecko. This gecko literally dropped out of the sky, and was quite shocked from the fall because he did not move for a moment and I say “he” but I am not sure. Once the Gecko came to senses he scurried off under some planks of wood. I then hear this laughing and look at the roof and see another Gecko observing all this and then “she”quickly darts back into a small domiciled hole. I am pretty sure I heard continued laughing. The longest day is just beginning. We came home from our anniversary hike and had an anniversary lunch at the Restaurant. Yummy lentil soup for me. After lunch, I ran into my next dental appointment. I am determined not to use taxis. Songthaews are the way to travel. Songthaew are the way to travel when the sun is out, and on the longest day of the year, the sun is out for a while, but for be the sun was not out long enough, because when I finished with my dental appointment I could not find a yellow songthaew to take me the 20km back home. Which leads me to my last image of the day and how I can be sure that the rack was structurally sound. I was frantically running around searching for maybe the last yellow songthaew heading North to Mae Rim. I asked someone at the deserted bus station and they pointed in the direction of a “white” pickup truck with a shell and a rack – a songthaew. My ticket home. When I ran up to the white pickup I noticed the back was already full and the driver asked me where I was going, and I told him Mae Rim and he kinda mentioned that he was going that way. This was all do in Thai, so I really do not know what he actually said, but he was on the road heading in the right direction. But the back of his pickup was full and there were about 10 guys waiting, so I thought I would just wait with them for the next songthaew, for surely there would be another is all these others were waiting. While I was waiting, I had time to reflect on the culture of the Thai people and how we have really seen nice acts of kindness performed daily, and hear while I waiting was another example. I noticed all those inside the bed of the pickup were girls and all the others waiting with me were young boys, and I thought, how nice of the boys to let the girls have this songthaew ride while they wait to catch the next songthaew. And then I was awaken when the driver made a motion and all 10-12 of the boys jumped onto the back of the pickup and found some way to hang onto the ladder. 2 of them even rode on top of the rack. These 2 were especailly looking at me waiting for my move. But I could not. I would not. I did not. The loaded and white songthaew drove off without me. There goes my ride. After another hour of searching for a ride back to Mae Rim, I finally found a tuk-tuk driver sleeping outside a supermarket. I arrived home around 10:00pm. Way past dark. Another dental day done. 20 Baht to go to town. 500 Baht to return. Truth be told, 500 baht is a small price to pay and much better than riding atop a white songthaew. Walking around at night was much different that walking around during the day. The protection of the Temples had disappeared. Nothing was glittering. Direct light came from open air restaurants, street vendors, and the headlights of cars. For whatever reason, I could not hail a taxi. I could not even find a taxi. I had to walk back almost all the way to the walled portion of the city. The tuk-Tuk ride home was magical. I felt safe and knew I would soon be home. The moon was bright and was showing the shadowy contours of the mountain ridges, in only a way that a strong moon can do. A fresh breeze let me know at this moment – this is where I was supposed to be. I arrived safe and sound at home. Today I did not visit any Temples, except my own version of the Temple of the Tooth. I discovered one more interesting phenomena today for those who have read to the end of this random summer solstice passage. I discovered that the way the gates of Old Chiang Mai were built, they were built with a celestial or solar – terra connection. You see, on each of the equinoxes – Autumnal and Vernal, when the sun set, the suns rays stream directly aligned with the West and East gates. Not too amazing, I am sure many ancient cities have been built this way. There is a 21st century twist though. Because of the tilt of the Earth, on the summer solstice when the Sun is more in the North, when the sun sets, the sun’s ray shine at an angle out of the East gate and lights up and lead people to … of all places … McDonalds. Indiana Jones and Ronald McDonald would be proud. And not to be out done, and not completely verified, but my prediction during the Winter Solstice, on the shortest day of the year when the sun is in the south, the rays on the sun shine at sunset at an angle out of the East gate and illuminates and leads people to … someone Google Maps and do a street view and tell me please. Send in your guess. Let’s be a little interactive. This is the longest day of the year. This is my anniversary and I do not want to forget the Neopolitano Ice Cream with Lime squeezed in between Chocolate and Vanilla that was enjoyed with Dwana when I finally arrived home.

I awoke early and ran into Mae Rim. Sure, some songthaew passed me along the way, but who needs public transportation when you have NATIVE shoes (yes, I am still working on finding a sponsor and I hope one of the Execs and NATIVE shoes contacts me soon). My NATIVE shoes are in need of some new souls and new soles. I cannot remember how many Temples I visited today, but all of the prayers worked because I found an old uppa had setup his shoe repair stand near one of the Temples. For the price of a new pair of shoes, he re-soled my NATIVE shoes. What a deal?!? 200 Baht. On my run I ended up running all the way into Mae Rim. I was surprised how many cars, minvans, scooters, vehicles were on the roads in the early morning. Most of the traffic was focused on transporting children to school. What did people do in the morning before school existed . On the main road in Mae Rim,I found a Yellow Songthaew that transported me into the city for 20 Baht. I just followed the lead of all the other passengers. I had all day until 7pm to explore, so I was able to visit many Temples – many Temples – at least a dozen. The most amazing was by the University. I was able to find a quiet space – not at any of the Temples, but at the library. The library had A/C. My diet has mostly been fruit smoothies these days. I discovered a Dragonfruit-Lime-Pineapple smoothie that was quite yummy. On the way back to the free shuttle, I stopped by the 7-11 and purchased 15 yogurts. Yogurt has become Ezra’s go-to food. And thus ends another “successful”day at the dentist.

Zero photos taken today. Zero activity today. My thoughts have been drifting to other places like Sri Lanka and Europe these days. Thailand has definitely been a good place to rest. I am so glad we are staying outside the city. I investigated the possibility of traveling to Sukhothai, but the bus ride takes 6 hours, and 6 hours is too long in a bus. Not my idea of fun. The price for the bus ride for the 6 hours bus ride to Sukhothai is half the price of a taxi ride from the city (Chiang Mai) to the Spa Resort. That’s the crazy thing about taxi prices. I am planning to mountain bike to one of the local peaks of the area and visit the Temple on the hill that over looks the city of Chiang Mai. Maybe be will visit an Elephant show or botanical garden. I feel like I have spent my excursion budget on my dental expenses. How will I remember Chiang Mai – The Dental Days. I just hope everything goes well and I am so thankful that everyone else is healthy. I asked Ezra and Viena if they wanted to go on a walk to feed the wild dogs, but they did not. Dwana has been the only one who has been following any sort of schedule. I have given up on learning the Thai language. Maybe the next time I visit. Now I need to set my sights on the other languages that will be in our path – Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Sinhalese. They all seem easy after trying to learn Thai. OK. I can not see me learning much Sinhalese either, but we will see.

I ran out of the house with my NATIVE shoes on and the big blue empty backpack. The sun was just beginning to rise over the trees. Looks like the day is going to be a warm one. Today, I am doing a trial run to see how I can travel into town without using the free shuttle or a taxi – using only public transportation. I thought I might have to run all the way into Mae Rim but a red songthaew picked me up about 3km from the townhouse. Prior to the red songthaew , I was offered a ride from a guy on a scooter, but I declined. I was much more comfortable in the bed of a pickup truck. The red songthaew dropped me off at the Tai Pae gate near the dentist. The trip only took 90 minutes door to door. I had plenty of time until the free shuttle would pick me up at noon, so I just wandered around Chiang Mai in the morning. Early morning wanderings are so different from Night Market wanderings. I stopped at the BIG Temple south of the Walking Street. The biggest and best Temple so far, and an added bonus was that I arrived before the busloads of tourists. I spent some time at the library and had a number of fresh fruit smoothies. I stuffed my big blue backpack full of fresh veggies and fruits and caught the free noon shuttle back to the Spa Resort. Dwana was waiting to high five me – tag your it – on her way out the door.

We went on a walk through the village. A quick look at Google Maps showed a nice loop wall on the North end of the village. What Google Maps does not show are packs of wild dogs, barb wire fences, and gates across the walkway. We encounters 2 out of 3 of these. Thankfully no wild dogs. Ezra did have a run-in with some red ants that bit him on the feet and torso. Growing up in Texas, I have this quick built in instinct to sense when ants are on me and what to do. Ezra just stood and screamed. He still has some learning to do. He needs to learn the fire ant dance. This was our only obstacle. We were able to climb through a hole in the barbed wire fence. No stubborn cows in our way. We did see a smaller snake cross the road. I have been a little tired and Ezra and Viena have been playing so well together in our space here. No one wanted to go swim after our walk – so we did not go. I do miss my hand-paddles to use in the pool. Viena and Ezra ran laps around the villa as the day was declining. They did not want to go on another evening village walk and very content to run and roll in the local grass. Ezra has 4 sets of soccer uniforms and has enjoying playing in all of them today.

Another dental appointment day for me. Oh yeah! I took the day off. I tried to just stay upstairs and rest since I would be heading into Chiang Mai in the afternoon. I took a small nap (I wish Ezra took these still) and woke up in just enough time to catch the 3pm free shuttle into Chiang Mai. The dental procedure was successful, I guess. If I can make Borneo with all my teeth then I will be in good shape. After my appointment, I still had 3 hours before the return shuttle arrived so I walked the Night Market. Every Sunday night, they have a Night Market where they close some of the streets inside the walled square of a city and set up a market. People flock from all over to the East Gate of Tae Pae. The need about half the vendors or twice the space. People are crowded too much. In my mind the entire walled portion of the city should be walking only. Some day that will be the case, but this will not happen in the next 2 weeks when I am here.The night market was full of musicians, food, drink, T-shirts, crafts, foot massages, sweet buttered corn, edible grasshoppers and crickets, fresh blended juices and lots of meat on a stick. Given what I had just been through, I stuck with the blended pureed juices. The walkways were shoulder to shoulder with only a few English speaking tourists. Lots of people with their Cannon and Nikon cameras. The walking street goes from the East Gate all the way to the Temple about 1 kilometer. Other side streets were closed off as well and many of the vendors had spilled out onto the mall area outside the East Gate. Good prices on items but I did not purchase much. My heat was starting to hurt and sweat from all the people. I was glad to see the shuttle at 9:00 to take me back home.

Another day in the city. Everyone is officially done with the dentist … except yo. A rendezvous with Jaron from Soldotna.

Another day in the city. Everyone is officially done with the dentist … except yo. A rendezvous with Jaron from Soldotna. I survived Dental Day II. Unfortunately, I have at least 2 more days. If anyone wants the up close shots of the teeth, let me know. The image sown is of our first Tuk-Tuk ride home form Chiang Mai. Viena loved the ride. Ezra fell asleep.The feeling of wind -warm wind flowing across your fce and through your hair – wait, I do not have any hair any more. Well, you have the picture. In addition to holding on tight to a sleeping Ezra, we were trying to hold on tight to the balloons from the dentist. We arrived home shortly after sunset. The rendezvous with Jaron from Soldotna went well. “Meet us at the McDonalds at the Tai Pae gate East Gate at 3:00PM” Simple as that. If anyone else is in the area let us know. We walked around and saw a few Temples, but after all the dental appointments, we did not have much time before nightfall and we wanted to home before dark. My mouth was still numb as we were walking around the Temples. Dwana really enjoyed seeing Daffy Duck among the animals in the Temple landscaping. We did not realize that Daffy was a Buddhist, but now that explains alot in the cartoons where he suffers.

We did not do much today. I stayed close to home today. We all did. A dip in the pool. A walk to the village. We even tried to eat out at the restaurant, but Ezra decided that he would rather play on the floor so we left for home. We always buy our food for “take away” for this reason. Probably the most exciting sight today was the 2 meter snake we saw that slithered quickly past Ezra and Viena. The fastest snake that I have ever seen. Ezra tired himself out at the end of the day. He barely able to make the walk home from the village. We purchased some dog food to take on our walks. Maybe the dog-food will help with our neighborhood canine congeniality  on our walk-a-bouts. I am really not looking forward to tomorrow and the return trip to the dentist, but I guess there is no time like the present. We sat near the Pink Temple and ate some snakes while the sun was setting. The sunset was very pleasant and I have an image of an old farm house barn structure being lit up with the last of the days light creating a rustic shiny orange wood sunset color with a few orange blooming flame trees as the backdrop.  An image I will try to meditate on in times like tonight when Ezra goes screaming into the shower and while brushing his teeth. Ommmm. Breathe. Flame Tree. Ommmmmm. Sunset. Rustic shiny burnt orange. Ommmmm. He was so tired he did not even want to come into the house. And now as darkness shows up. Ezra is fast asleep in dreamland. All of the raw food desserts on the menu do not measure up to the rest of the items on the menu. Who ever heard of Non-cheese cheese cake? But this was my last hoorah.

We took the free shuttle into Chiang Mai. Dentist Day. For around $100 we were all able to have an exam and cleaning. No surprise that I am the one that will be making a return trip to the dentist. All this blogging really takes a toll on my teeth. Chiang Mai is a big enough city that they have a good supply on dentists. Three dental offices could be seen within 50 meters of where the shuttle dropped us off – just look for the tooth. Most clients appear to be ex-patriots, travelers, foreigners. The dental office personnel speak good enough English, so communication is not an issue. I’ll let you know in a couple of days if everything goes well. Ezra was so good during his cleaning. Ezra had the headphones on and I was holding  the Kindle Fire streaming Peppa Pig. Whatever it takes. The entire dental office was laughing. After our teeth cleaning, we went straight to  … McDonalds. By the time we visited some of the nearby Buddhist Temples, ate, and snapped some photos of the non-wall of the great-walled city of Chiang Mai, we barely had time to stuff the backpack full of fresh market fruits and vegetables. The shuttle picked us up shortly after 7:00PM, just as the twilight was beginning. Viena composed a poem on the way home while riding through the city.

I was finally able to snap a photo of this black raven looking orange-brown winged bird. This bird has quite the melodic call – cuuu oo cuuuu oo. Dwana was able to join us in our adventure today, which led us in search of Buddha’s footprints. We met on the the yoga sala ridge after her class and then went straight into the banana tree forest. The trail was muddy from all the rain. The clouds overhead were keeping the heat down. We found the pack of wild dogs and kept on moving. Ezra was not in a mood to walk – even without hill on the straight and narrow. The road to Buddha’s footprint was dirt and mostly flat about a 3km walk from our townhouse. The roads ends in a area where many building are being constructed. As the story goes, a Buddhist monk was meditating in the forest a couple years back (recent stuff)  and discovered Buddha’s footprint. They decided to make the area a Holy Place and now a beautiful Temple has been constructed with other places of offering all near where the footprints were discovered. If you build it they will come, but first you must find the footprint … after a meditation. We saw the bronze winged bird on our return trip.

The dog days are not over. I feel they are just beginning. Thailand by far has more dogs than Bali or Malaysia, at least in the rural areas of Chiang Mai. Each walk or run I go on seems to involve a dog. Today’s walk with Viena and Ezra involved many dogs, a couple of leeches, and a curious or stubborn cow. Yes, our walked through the recently rained upon rice fields yielded two leeches – Don’t tell Dwana or she won’t follow us in next time. Both attacked Ezra. I guess the leech days are not over either. We were planning to walk a simple loop around the neighborhood that involved a short crossing of a farmer’s field, a crossing of the rice fields, a crossing a small river-ditch and then we would circle back to the village past the toy store. The Toy Store is added incentive-carrot for Ezra to keep going. The village market does actually sell 2 toys and balloons. This was our plan, but our hike almost ended at the beginningwhen a cow blocked the only way across the farmer’s field. After careful consideration, we walked skirted around the cow who was tied but not moving. In the rice fields Ezra gave that all too familiar cry now that is etched in my brain as well as the feeling is etched in Ezra’s – “Dad, something is biting my foot! Leech! Leech! Leech!” I could not believe the words, but sure enough. And then the dogs … to be continued.

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Maybe we were inspired by the French Open. Maybe we wanted to be the first ones to leave the house. Maybe we just needed to do something at 6:30AM. Regardless, in the early morning we went to the Sawadee and checked out 3 tennis rackets and 3 tennis balls and marched off towards the tennis courts. Not much else we could do. I made some muesli for breakfast, but Ezra was more into his breakfast of white rice and ketchup. I believe all of Ezra’s top ten foods include ketchup – including #3 on the list – tomatoes dipped in ketchup. We played a little ketchup and we played a little golf. Ezra was not as into collecting beetles this morning, or maybe the word was out in the beetle community about the 4-year-old boy snatching beetles at the tennis courts. A question – 4-year-old boy actions – nature or nurture? As we were leaving the townhouse in the early morning, Ezra discovered a slow moving snail on our front porch. “Look a snail!” Ezra is usually very good with snails, but for whatever reason – Idontknowescargo – Ezra squished the snail out of existence. Viena and I were beyond ourselves at his act. What a karmic way to start your morning! Moments later, not 20 meters from the porch, Ezra tripped on his flip-flops going down a concrete hill and rolled awkwardly onto his face, hands, and knees hard. He could have been hurt bad and that would have changed our entire day, but he survived with a few scratches and a few tears. I was not videotaping, but if I was, you would have seen a small snail reach out and grab Ezra’s flip-flop as he was bounding down the hill and sent Ezra flying. Snails are slow, but snail karma works fast. Who knows where 4-year-old boys learn the things they do? We walked through the village and took a small loop in the direction of Buddha’s footprints and up the red hill, past the pack of wild dogs, through the banana tree forest, and into the safe haven of the yoga sala. The view from the yoga sala is very nice and while Ezra and Viena played with balloons and imagination, I did some yoga. That’s right.

6:00AM. Ezra is up – has been for a while. The sun is up. The son is up. The sunrise is beautiful. Music can be heard in the distance welcoming the sun. SmalL birds and such are heard. No roosters here, at least not nearby. Dwana went off to her morning routine of meditation and yoga. When in Sparesort, do as the Sparesortians. We stayed home and made some fruit smoothies and learned how to draw elephants and the shape of the country of Thailand. –  a heart with a boot is what we decided. Ezra is still on semi-home bound status and I do not want to go too far away from the house with him. The ants were over-running the kitchen in the morning, so we did a little clean up. When Dwana returned, we did a high-five exchange (a passing of the baton) and I went out for a run to find the southern passage to the roads leading to the Mountains on the East side of Chiang Mai. As I said before, we are about 20km from Chiang Mai, so we don’t really have a view of the mountains directly near Chiang Mai, so I ran south until I could see that view. I was not disappointed. No jungle running, most of these were dirt roads or paved roads. All I had to worry about was a rock poking through the thinning sole of my Native Shoes. I was going to buy some real running shoes her in Thailand, but the ones I checked out were over $100. No thanks. I ran past the Pink Temple and onto a dirt road that led to another village where I saw some rice farmers playing in the muddy ricefields just outside another Buddhist Temple. This village connected to a paved road. I was trying to reach the main 1096 road that traverses the mountains. the views were great and even though the middle of the day was upon me, I did not fell especially hot. Clouds in the sky, and overhanging trees provided shade and the humid feeling of Taman Negara Malaysia is not here in the mountains of Chiang Mai Thailand. Using my phone GPS, I arrived at my turn around point (ROad 1096) and briefly considered going forward. The GPS and google maps showed that the road thinned and then doubled back to where I wanted to go, so forward I went for about 200 meters and then the trail I was supposed to turn left and double back was not there. Here is where things become interesting. Coincidentally, accidentally, ironicadentally, Buddhadentially, on my right were concrete stairs leading up the mountain as far as I could see. I checked the GPS and map and they showed nothing on the right. At this point I was on the edge of the jungle forest and I had no idea where the stairs would lead – So UP I stepped. 300 or so steps later I was nearing the top and I could see that on top was a Buddhist Temple. About 10 steps from the top I see looking down at me two dogs –  one white and one black. Now, since I am not running around Alaska worrying about bears, and I am not running around UBUD worrying about scooters or cars, and I am not running through Taman Negara worrying about leeches, the next thing on the list to worry about as I found out earlier on this run when an oversized black dog came charging out of his gate and rushed within meters of me before I shouted him back – the next thing to worry about is dogs. ANd here I had two of them and they were not running away from me and they were not wagging their tails. I stood very calmly and they both came down and sniffed my feet. The white dog (Yin) seemed to give the OK, but the black dog (Yang) sniffed some more like he was not to sure and then they stayed near my feet – blocking my feet from moving on the small steps.Finally I slowly moved my right foot, the one guarded by the white dog and continued up the last few steps to be rewarded with another beautiful Buddhist Temple. This one at the top of a hill overlooking all of Chiang Mai. At the top, the dogs went back and laid down in the sun – their job done. I had the entire Temple to myself. When I looked around after about 5 minutes I could not see any traces of the dogs – disappeared – leaving me with the quietness of the forest and the views of the city to the South, and the mountain tops I hope to summit soon. From my Temple on the mountainside I could look down and see the spires of temples leading all the way to Chiang Mai spaced out about every few kilometers. I selected one to find on my way down, which I did, making this a 4-temple run. The run back was not as fun, wish they had some good public transport around here. Not sure how many kilometers, but my Native Shoes are feeling more and more thin. Ezra fell asleep by 6:30PM, so I guess tomorrow will be another early morning.

So we are actually living at the Spa Resort near the village of Mae An and the PREM school about 20 km to the north of Chiang Mai. We were able to rent one of the townhouses for the entire month for a good price and have some of the modern conveniences around us for a while. The have few tennis, free swimming, and free meditation. They have an on-site restaurant that serves excellent food. A few local markets are close by, but to really stock up on supplies or visit street vendors, the closest is Mae Rim about 10km away. This morning Ezra woke up at 5:40AM, and after making some fruit smoothies, Viena, Ezra and I walked to the PINK Buddhist Temple which is about 1km away. I left with my camera and zoom lens with an extra battery just in case, but I neglected to put back the memory card in the camera so I could not take any photos. We played a new game called “who can spot the next creepy crawly thing?” We saw a millipede and a centipede and Ezra picked up a seemingly dead cicada by the wings and that gave us all a jolt when the wings came alive. Ezra is improving every day but continues to say things like “If I keep walking, I am not going to be able to go on another walk later.” There is a tree right outside our balcony where Ezra spotted a bird. “Dad, there is a bird with a pieru, pieru, pieru on his head.” and he makes the motions of some object coming out of his head. The bird sits at the top of the tree and does have a beautiful crown. I will try to photograph later. We see may of these birds around and many butterflies. We decided that ants do not classify as creepy crawly things. I am trying to plot my ascent of Doi Pui, the mountain to the West of Chiang Mai.

Thank you Dwana for always making where we are feel like home. Ezra still reports that his belly and legs are hurting. Many white gray singular puffy clouds are seen against the equatorial blue sky. Our view is really nice and gives the feel that we are on eye level with the clouds from the balcony. I briefly remember seeing stars last night. We went and played tennis after a small breakfast. For some reason Dwana has brain-washed Ezra and Viena into thinking that she is this superstar tennis player. And so when I mention anything that I do good on the tennis court, they always reppl with “Well, Mom’s better, or Mom can carry more tennis balls in her clothes, or Mom can play tennis an caryy Ezra in her arms at the same time!!!” (Which sh di the other day when Ezra was sick. Viena and I played while Ezra was very content trying to capture these red backed beattles in the tennis ball can. The sun was out and starting to become strong. They have an outdoor landscaped dysfunctional circuit gym area that no one uses. I wish they had a playground. When we arrived back at the house, we found the homemade french-fries and cut up ruit that Dwana prepared before she escaped to work. Viena and I made a Mango-Banana Pear smoothie. Messy, but good. Last night’s foraging at the night market topped off our fresh supply of fruits and vegetables. Apples are expensive here, so I don’t buy too many of those. Ezra tried wrestling and jumping around on the bed, so I know he is feeling better day by day. Good to see he has energy again. Viena wrote a poem today in her work book about flowers. Sometimes doing her workbbok is difficult , especially when Ezra is jumping all around. Travelschool. Gotta love travelschool. We try to find the right moments to learn something – like how do you divide by 30. 30 baht = 1 dollar. Happy Birthday Brother Ira.

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Viena and I are preparing for our venture into the heart of the walled city of Chiang Mai.

Viena and I power-walked the walled city of old Chiang Mai. We discovered that the “wall” around the city barely exists and whether you were “inside” the”walls” or “outside the walls” you did not feel any different. If I were Mayor I would “build those walls back up”- for tourists sake. We took the free shuttle from the townhouses to the Eastern Gate of the city – right across from Burger King, McDonald’s and Starbucks and 7-11. Amazing how multi-national corporations conveniently have ideal locations. The shuttle dropped us off at noon and was going to fetch us back to the townhouse at 7:00pm – just around dark time. So we had 7 hours to explore . We did a little shopping at some markets, found the post office, explored dental options, registered for a library card, visited a hair stylist supply store (that was one to difficult to find), was blessed by a Buddhist monk in the Wat Bupperan Temple, crossed the bridge of the Ping River, walked through the Night Market during the day, explored possible homestay options when we return to the city, and ate a Happy Meal. Viena even sacrificed Hello Kitty toy to have a boy-toy Happy Meal Transformer Cargo Truck for Ezra who was pleasantly recovering at home doing short “tiring”walks with Dwana.

The return of Ezra Swan.

Ezra’s fever appears to have broken “again” during the night. His temperature is in the normal range. He still is very tired and reports his tiredness after only walking a few hundred feet. Difficult to celebrate just yet, but I am so happy that for the now he is not fevery. I went on a run in the morning and tired to find the connector trail so that we might be able to walk  a short loop through the jungle. I tried, and even though I did not want to turn around, I could not find where the loop connects. Funny, interesting, the road just becomes smaller and smaller until the road or “trail” at this point just drifts away and vanishes into the many options of the jungle. I wonder how long people have been walking these trails, and when did they stop walking these trails. The rains fell in the afternoon and Viena was so excited and played on the balcony with her umbrella. Viena and I walked to the local market to practice out Thai interaction and buy our 15 baht Chai Yen (Thai Ice Teas) I am buying the larger size now. Super-size me. The open rice fields and a few cows are along the way on our walk to the market and a guy in a hut with dried leaves as his roof.

I played with Ezra. We  played under the umbrella.

All things come to a halt when your child is sick, no mater what country you are in. On my exploratory hike yesterday while Dwana, Viena and Ezra were relaxing poolside, I was almost lost in the jungle. The feeling of being lost is not a pleasant feeling, but then I found a trail that looked like a well beaten trail heading in the direction that I sort of wanted to go in and so that unpleasant “lost” feeling disappeared and I was skipping and hopping down the bunny trail. I breathed in a sigh of relief knowing that if I just kept walking I too would soon be relaxing poolside – but the well trodden trail, aburtly split into two, with neither one looking desirable. One split was going off the main trail in a different direction but was more walked used (used by what I don’t know). The main split was heading in the “right” direction but was covered with leaves and bamboo shoots and did not looked well used at all. The same anxious feeling arose and I realized “I was not out of the Jungle yet!” SO after going down the more trodden trail and crawling around under bamboo I decided to double back and take the less trodden trail, which proved successful and I finally escaped the Jungle and arrived at the pool. Since life is symbolic, Ezra was doing well a 2 days ago. His fever was gone and he was smiling and laughing and even being the loud Ezra we are used to and so we thought that the worst of the sickness was behind us, but we were not out of the jungle yet. Yesterday evening, Ezra’s fever returned and with the fever a headache ensued. And so we are back in the same boat in a different foreign country with a 4 year old and a fever. His fever is not as high now as the one in Malaysia 6 days ago that caused him to talk through the night, but this one appears to be more painful to his head. He has slept most of the day and we took him to see a local doctor who recommended the hospital in Chiang Mai for blood tests. I do not feel like rushing into a Thai hospital 30 minutes away just yet, so we will just wait and see.

A long scouting hike. Smoothie making day.

A good day resting here in Chiang Mai. Actually we are 20 km from Chiang Mai near the village of Mae An in the hills. A beautiful place. I hope we all rest well here. I woke up slowly this morning and was the last one out of bed. No one made the free morning meditation – maybe tomorrow. I decided today to venture out on a scouting hike through the nearby jungle due West from our place. I sketched some crude maps on a piece of paper from what I saw on Google Earth and Google Mas. Hopefully those images are accurate. In my mind, I knew where I wanted to go, but I had no idea what to expect when I entered the jungle – leeches, spiders, ants, monkeys tigers, elephants? Who knows? Before I left, Viena and I prepared a fruit smoothie to blend up upon my return. The cut of fruit were chilling in the freezer. Yes, we have a freezer. What an upgrade! The thought of drinking that smoothie crossed my mind a couple of times on this hike. I hiked West away from the sunrise, past the yoga sala, past the banana trees until I found the “main” road where I turned right and was greeted by some unfriendly dogs and one friendly dog. Wag wag wag Bark bark bark bark bark. If I could speak Thai or Dog or Thai-Dog, I would have said, “Hey, you there wagging your tail, tell those others guys that are barking and trying to circle around me that I’m OK and to let me pass peacefully.” The trail started climbing. Initially the trail was wide and could easily be traveled by cars then the trail narrowed so that only a motorbike could fit. Up and up through small tree jungle the trail rose. I was generally protected from the sun by the trees. The higher I ascended, the narrower and narrower the trail became until I was in that place called “no-man’s land”. But a summit of sorts was not far off, so I kept walking the ridge up. At the summit of sorts there was a partial clearing with very little view. I could tell I was on a definite ridge of sorts. There was a “trail” to the left (south) and a kinda “trail” to the (north). My google map map suggested I hike north. So I followed my instincts and turned North and after 100 meters or so, the trail quickly deteriorated but continued upwards along a ridge and I could kinda make out another clearing. I was following the marks of cut down trees and that led me to another summit of sorts where there was a burned tree and a trail leading back East. I was feeling fairly confident by now that this trail was going to loop back just like Google maps showed, but I knew I was not going to encounter anyone to ask directions. After a fork in the trail and scurrying through a tunnel of bamboo on all fours, I safely completed the loop. I saw very little signs of life in the jungle. Birds. No leeches. Ants. No monkeys. Spider webs. No spiders. No tigers. No elephants. The familiar smell of cow dung on the trail broadened my confidence concerning nearby civilization. The smoothies Viena and I made upon my return were delicious.

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!

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I love it when a plan comes together. Ka-pU-Kap

Ezra survived the day of international travel. A special thanks goes out today to the Malay guy on the subway who directed us to the right airport or we probably would not be resting in our nice town house in the quiet mountains of Chiang Mai. Story later, but basically we were going the wrong way at full steam and he convinced me that I was going the wrong place, and he was right. I am glad I listened. Ezra’s fever was low all day, but then rose once we were settled in Chiang Mai. A bird heard my thanks.

A travel day. June Day. We called Dad-Dad again and wished him happy birthday. My plan was to find a huge architecturally designed water fountain in Malaysia’s Capital City of Putrajay and bicycle around 74 times (similar to brother Cayce’s birthday message in the Capital of USA – see one of the first posts). But Ezra was sick and they are limited in the area of water fountains in Putrajaya. If I was going to design a brand new capital city ear the equator let just say one thing – lots of water fountains – big water fountains. Since we are technical in the future from most, we have enjoyed being the first one to wish friends and family happy birthday. Meanwhile, back to the action of this day … Before the shuttle bus took us to the Metro train station, everyone went and played in the play room. Hard to calm my thoughts and play in a play room on an international travel day. We are going to spend tonight in Thailand – hopefully. The free shuttle dropped us off at the Metro train station of Putrajaya. At the ticket counter, I looked up at the digital display which read “Next train to KLIA – 7 minutes” !!! The clock had started. We purchased our tickets for 20 ringgits total (instead of the 100 ringgits taxi fare from the hotel) and then hurriedly tried to move through the video game like chopping block turn stills ticket taker – Ouch! Viena was not going through after inserting her ticket so I picked her up and over and Ezra up and over with full backpacks on. The sweat starts coming. The time is ticking. 5 minutes and we have not even made it through the turnstile. Funny sight I guess. Fortunately, we made the train. But I discovered, I was planning to go to the wrong airport. I casually asked a Thai guy about the Metro and the airport and he said we needed to exit at the next stop and take a bus to a different airport – the AirASIA low cost commuter terminal. So I could trust my limited knowledge or have faith in his information. I was ready to kick back and relax and arrive safely at the airport. Instead, we exited with all our bags on his advice and purchased a bus ticket were the last ones to hop on a now waiting bus that drove us 15 minutes to the other airport. Glad I spoke with him. I have learned that on travel days I can really only truly relax when we have actually arrived at our new place and the bags are all unloaded unpacked and accounted for. At this point, we were far from this relaxation point. Everything else went fine. The LCCT was a bit crowded and we had to wait in more lines that I had hoped, but we escaped Malaysia without an 800,000 rupiah fine. Ezra took some medicine prior to the flight and was actually showing some Ezra-like outbursts on the plane. Very thankful. A flying bird acknowledged my thanks on the shuttle bus ride to the LCCT. A breath of relief when I saw one lone guy at the Thai airport holding a sign saying “Foley Weems”. Done deal. Chegamos Thailand.