Northern Thailand

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TURN OFF audio for video , bottom-centre of video panel above Even though volume control was at lowest during recording, because of the proximity to the speakers, audio is terrible





Chiang Mai:

February is one of the more comfortable months weather wise.
This is when strawberries are abundant and strawberry shakes are available on Sunday walking street for
10 baht (30 cents). Chiang Mai province is Thailand's major source of strawberries.

Also, February is when the Flower Festival occurs.
This was the 33rd Chiang Mai Flower Festival featuring 23 decorated floats.
A beauty contest attracted 20 contestants from 15 countries. If the contestant could speak the
northern Thai dialect she was awarded extra points. A Swedish contestant won the title.

A grand parade with floats decorated in thousands of flowers has night entertainment to boost.






Side Note: Suicide seems to be a commonly blamed for many deaths according to the authorities
(see blog entry of May 1, 2008)).
But strangely there was an exception in
The Bangkok Post February 23, 2009: "The severed head of a foreigner was found hanging from a
Bangkok city bridge. Investigators do not believe it
was a suicide."
Update: Feb 28th, "The case will be registered as a suicide in 30 days if no more evidence to the contrary is put forward"




Double click on photo to be able to read signs




Mae Hong Son
For Valentine Week I was invited to the village of O's (nicknames are common among Thais) a lovely lady from near the Burmese border. Now, if someone told me they lived in Chiang Mai I would assume they lived in the city of Chiang Mai. She told me she lived in Mae Hong Son so I flew to Mae Hong Son from Chiang Mai. Then I discovered it was a three and half hour bus ride to the town close to her village. The bus
didn't
leave until late that night so I decided to spend the night and take an early morning bus. O picked me up at the bus stop on her motorbike and I spend a very pleasant few days there. It was another time I was made to feel so welcome that I won't forget. Neighbours dropped by to say hello and kids came with their cameras to take photos of the me...the big farang.





It's time for another visa run and I plan to go to Cambodia.

It'll be interesting to see how well the trial of Duch, one of the top terrorists of the Kmer Rouge period,
is publicized over there. This trial has been instigated mostly by civil rights groups outside the country. As a rule the people of Cambodia adopt a more Buddhist philosophy of getting on with life
rather than our Judeo-Christian philosophy of dwelling on the past ad nauseum.

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Photos

Durian
The only fruit the tiger eats.
This is definitely an "acquired" taste.

Annual Flower Festival Parade
A two hour parade. Each float is covered with hundreds of flowers and at least a couple of pretty girls.

gold leaf covered statue of respected monk
Thais make merit by affixing small squares of gold leaf.
With the price of gold now, I would think the monks would post their Shaolin counterparts to guard it, but in Thailand
there is a lot of respect for religious articles.

Thai Air
Propeller plane from
Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son

"O"
Who could resist a woman
that can cook a meal on an open fire?

Fresh Coconut in backyard
Mangos, Papaya and other fruit is available for the picking.
If you can climb the tree like this lad.

Backyard
Everyone, even mom, is adept at carving up the coconut