Sweeping in the Morning

There is a lot of sweeping here and I frequently wake to the sound of sweeping in the morning.  Good brooms.  Each morning as I walk to work I pass this lady or one of her off siders sweeping the paths.  They always smile and give me a sawadee hello.

Roof top Phuket Pool with a Frangipani

I spent the weekend at Karon beach on the island of Phuket with Libby Hosking and Ross Taylor, dear friends from Beechworth.
It was wonderful to see them and talk about Meg's death and then talk about it again and then toast Meg with a poolside G&T, which she would have loved.
The pool quickly became my favorite spot, lovely water, frangipanis by the poolside, built in seat and table (under an umbrella) - what's not to like.  The view over the roof tops of other resorts, to the beach and beyond to the fishing boats on the ocean was gorgeous - especially at sunset.
" Let's Frangi Up" was the quote of the weekend.

Flowers for Friday

The vegetation at school and throughout Chiangmai is lush and green and colourful.
I'm enjoying the floral displays, not that I know what many of the flowers are.
 These are some flowers I found growing in the surrounds of a temple in Chiangmai. The cannas and the frangipani are familiar. The red flower in the middle grows everywhere and is called the needle flower and I don't know what the white one is.  Friday flowers for you!!

Shopping in Chiangmai

Maya Mall, Nimmanhaemin

Last night I went into Chiangmai to do some shopping.  On the list - Thai phone, pens, pencils, markers and rulers for my classroom, museli, detergent and CHOCOLATE.
This meant a visit to two shopping malls.
While I have been posting photos of temples, street life and elephants, the mall is probably a truer indicator of life in Chiangmai today. Both were very busy, and don't close until 9.30pm each night.  The Rimping Supermarket (a western orientated supermarket)at MAYA mall is open until midnight. There are Cinemas, as well as Starbucks, KFC, international fashion chains, food halls and technology shops - its just like Highpoint.
 On the weekends they are really crowded.  At Airport Plaza mall the sign tells car owners to park with the car in neutral and the hand brake off as the park cars behind each other.  If you return and your car is jammed in, the attendant comes and pushes the other cars out of the way!!!
The shopping was a chore,  although deciphering which detergent works in a front loader provided a challenge, but now I have markers that work, rulers with a straight edge,  a Thai phone number and of most importantly CHOCOLATE.

It's not an elephant

This lion provides an alternative to my elephant fixation. I was wandering through the old town of Chiangmai and explored this Wat. Lion statues commonly guard the entrance to Wats.

The photo looks scratched and old as I spent time playing with iPad photo effects.

Saturday Afternoon in the River

The girls from the boarding house had an outing on Saturday afternoon to a local riverside resort/cafe.  It's by the river and in the river.
As you can see some of the seats and tables are in the river, with umbrellas. There are also tables on the bank and in small bamboo shelters built over the river.  It was very busy.  Its very popular with the locals and there are men in uniform on the road guiding cars into parking spots.  The girls had to wait quite a while before getting a table in the water. You can order at the table and food and drink are delivered by the waiters.  A fairly surreal experience, but fun.  Would it take off on the banks of  the Ovens River???
There was a swing over the river and a walkway as well as the rubber tyre structure.  At the top of the photo you can just see the tightrope across the river which provided a challenge to some of the students.
I rode down, but gladly put the bike on the bus for the ride home as the heavens were about to open and I was happy to have an excuse to ride up the hill.

Back to Blogging - More Elephants

After a late start (how unusual) I spent Sunday morning at the waterfall near school, reading in the shade and then watching the elephants.
Reading in the shade means perching under a grass thatched roof on a rickety bamboo platform above the water's edge.
Only one elephant was there when I arrived, the others were out taking tourists for a ride through the jungle. They returned to be washed in the river by the tourists.  The water was flowing quite quickly but looking at the color of it I'm not sure I would be too keen to jump in.