Exercise at Dawn

Yesterday when we were touring the temples and markets at sunrise we noticed some older people exercising in a square near the gate to the inner city. Just before dawn this morning I went there to join in. On the way the monks were roaming the streets in a rainbow of saffron and bare feet with chanting on the air.
When I arrived at the square they had just begun. I indicated that I would like to join in with gestures and smiles. It was the most beautiful exercise, somewhere between Tai Chi and a morning stretch, all done to the most wonderful music. The people were mostly older to elderly Chinese Thais. I went to the back row where I could see the instructor but wouldn't distract anyone. I had the good luck to be behind a man who was very graceful and knew his stuff so between he and the instructor I managed to keep up.
As new people joined in I kept moving towards the back, still worried I might distract everyone. Luckily I had done Tai Chi for years which helped me with the hand movements.
At the end I neared the instructor and gave him a wai which is a simple prayer like palms together gesture. I love the gesture but sometimes think I might insult people because there is a whole etiquette about it. The hands must be held at different heights depending on the standing of the person, for instance to a monk they would be almost in front of the forehead but for an equal around your nose.
As I walked home the monks alms bowls were getting full of food, dawn had broken and the hustle and bustle of daily life had begun.

Chaing Mai is just about perfect weather right now. Warm to hot days and cool evenings. There is a lot of traffic here right now because there are many Thais here from Bangkok to escape the flooding and many of them must be fairly well off because there are a lot of big suv's and large vehicles. Yesterday while walking the inner city we stepped out of the noise and bustle into the serene and quiet courtyard of a temple. I took the picture of the head of the Buddha in the dappled shade of this lovely retreat.
This morning we arranged a 6 am pickup by a sahm-lor or, in English, peddicab. It was just before dawn and we were off to see the sunrise on the beautiful gilding of the temples and to see the alms parade of monks giving blessings. There were all sizes and shapes of monks including one in a wheelchair and many novice child monks. What a beautiful sight. In one temple courtyard we heard the thwak thwak of young monks sweeping in the dawn to prepare for a new day as the temple gleamed in the half light. We ended the tour in full light at a morning market where locals shop for the day and people buy food for the monks. We decided that we should take more advantage of the early mornings because that's when you see more of the local culture and daily life of Thai people.
I'm still not too great at having this blog appear as I would like and it takes getting used to uploading the pictures in the order I want because they have to be quite organized on the computer and I don't want to spend too much time sorting. On that note I hope you all enjoy it despite this blip!
Oh yeah, have you noticed Philip has a nearly shaved head and no mustache? We visited a barber yesterday and he had the full treatment. We were skyping a friend today and she asked if he was having an identity crisis. He replied that he is now! ! !

Back in Thailand

Well after a fantastic British Airways flight out of London we arrived in Bangkok without a hitch. We were thinking of getting on another flight north without leaving the airport but curiosity got the best of us and we decided to spend a few days in Bangkok to check out the flood situation. The main part of the city was for the most part saved from flooding at the expense of the suburban districts. The main tourist area is close to the river and we saw temporary cement walls, about 2 feet high, across the front of many businesses. There was also sand bagging along the walkways to the river boats and taxis. The park on the river where we escape the heat was half covered with water.People did seem somewhat disspirited and less agressive in their sales pitches for anything from a hand tailored clothing to souvenirs.
We left Bangkok after two nights to go north to a wonderful small city called Chaing Mai. When you buy a bus ticket here you never know what you are getting. Mostly people do it through a travel agent because by the time you figure out what bus station to go to and then get there the day before to get a ticket it ends up costing the same with a lot less hassle.
The agent we use showed us pictures in a book but when we got there the bus was completely different. Rather than a single story smaller bus it was a large air con double deckler complete with a beautifully coifed and dressed hostess rather like what we used to call a stewardess on airlines when I was younger.We were seated on the upper level with about ten seats, a toilet and baggage underneath us. I don't really enjoy these buses because they sway and rock a lot but if you're upstairs you can see very well. The hostess is there to dispense snacks, blankets and generally keep things in order. She also keeps you from getting left behind if you're in the toilet or have wandered off to stretch your legs. There was an Aussie guy who missed his bus at one of the stops so I guess they aren't all on the ball like ours was. Imagine being left behind while everthing you own goes on without you!

The interior of the buses can be quite garish and this one was no exception. Flashy flowered patterned plush seats and plenty of chrome. There's always a tv blaring in the front with speakers all along the sides. The entertainment this trip was one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies with a short break for some Thai pop music and then on to the Transformer movie both subtitled in Thai. Interesting thing though, we were the only foreigners on the bus so this was programming for the Thai passengers. There was only one stop on the way with a free lunch and it was an 11 hour bus ride. We usually like to take shorter rides and on local type buses with regular people. This way we often get to be the only foreigners and have a very differnt experience.

This was the sad part of the ride.. For 4-5 hours heading north out of Bangkok there was flooding. People camped on the shoulder of the highway because of the higher elevation. Huge fancy businesses and vehicles sitting in water and all manner of homes and other buildings. The domestic airport had airplanes sitting in water at least halfway up their tires and that's with the water receded somewhat. In Chaing Mai where we are now there was flooding in one area of about a metre of water but it only lasted a few days so the damage wasn't too extensive. Bad enough though I'm sure.
This is a great place to get over jet lag. We've been pampering ourselves with massages, herbal steam baths and good food. For the time being we're eating in a Thai run 'health food' type restaurant which serves fresh local organic foods and freshly made juices including wheat grass juice. We are both tired after a busy summer and we're trying to have a bit of a detox. It's all so yummy though that it's no hardship!

Emma and Lucy

While visiting England we stayed with Emma and Lucy, our beautiful neices. Lucy is in grade seven and Emma grade two. They call them forms there. The kids wear uniforms to school but as you can see from the pictures that they like to dress up! We took them a bag of costume clothes and they transformed themselves from Lady Gaga to ballerinas and everthing in between.
Emma and Lucy are both fantastic readers and Emma is enamoured with history. They are about as charming as can be and treated us like they' ve known us closely all their lives even though we hardly ever see them. This next picture has our great neice Adele in it as well. I'm going to add a few more pictures and say a big hello to Emma and Lucy when they read this. I don't have a picture of Lucy in her uniform but there is one of Emma.

England

I




hi everyone. Blogger has changed since our last trip and I'm having to figure it out again and you know what a computer dud I am! We just spent a week in a small village in Oxfordshire with Philip's brother and family. They live in a picturesque little village called Benson which I can safely say is what we North American's imagine England to be like. We walked for miles on gorgeous footpaths while being completely charmed by our surroundings. The weather was co-operating and it couldn't have been better. One day while Philip and I were on a walk on our own we came to a beautiful little stone church from the eleven hundreds which was open for visitors on an honor system with no supervision. Many of the defunct little churches are owned by a trust that preserves them and looks after them. We did none of the normal sight seeing, preferring to walk the paths. You can walk from village to village and of course there will always be a pub at the end of a path! The cathedral pictures were taken in a larger town. The names of the places are all a blur but the places themselves will be with me a long time. The bad news about England is that it's becoming Americanized.It has more large vehicles than when we were here before and the most purchased daily newspaper is on par with 'The Enquirer'. Sorry all of you in England who read this! I'm going to write a more Emma and Lucy who made the trip fantastic!
Right now we're in Bangkok and after a good sleep to catch up with all the time changes we're off tomorrow to the north.