We got up early for our morning visit to the Ban Pa Mueat market. The jungle is on fire again so the rising sun looks like the moon.
That is the sun to the left of Daeng's head.
Don't worry, this happens every year. It's kind of funny as the first time I saw this was in 2006. We were flying on Air Asia and I smelt smoke. I call the flight attendant and told her: "I smell smoke!" She just laughed it off and said: "Don't worry, it's just the jungle on fire."
To read more about the jungle burning on fire CLICK HERE.
I had my usually breakfast of coffee, sticky rice, fried chicken, Pa Thong Ko and tea.
I laughed at the little guy between the motorbikes as he was very skeptical
of me. He would come close but not close enough to reach out for the piece of Pa thong Ko that I was offering him.
He is a cute little guy. A lot of kids are afraid of Farangs the first time they see us. I think it is because we are sooo big compared to Thai folks.
As we were having coffee I watched the brightly clothed Buddhist Monks pray and chant for folks that gave them food or money.
After breakfast we when home, I clean off the front concrete area and showered.
Daeng kept telling me that we had to go to the Toyota Car Dealership in Chiang Rai to do something more for the car. it is about 60 kilometer south of us.
I keep asking what it was that we need to do. She again would say: "Don't worry, let's just go and do it."
I said okay, I'll take a shower and we'll go. I dressed and took the pick-up truck out of the inside parking area. Daeng then told me it's going to also be a family outing because her sister-in-law Hlong, niece Nuy, Bang and Bum were going also.
That's correct, four in the bench seat of our Smart Cab. We got stopped at the first and second check points as you can not see into our new vehicle because of the very dark tinting. Also, I can not roll down the windows for a week according to the window tinting company. As soon as I open the drivers door and they can see it's us they waved us through.
First stop was Makro. We bought some chairs for Daeng's brother Tun and son Boonreang, a mattress cover, lots of sweet bakery food as Nuy is about six months pregnant and is always eating, I mean ALWAYS!. She will be larger than me before she has the baby. By the way, many things are very cheap here at Makro.
I bought some "Jif" extra crunchy peanut butter for about $4.28 USD where in Mae Sai the cheapest I can buy it for is $5.25 USD a jar. The fish was also very cheap with Catfish being about 95 US cents a pound.
I was a little puzzled as chicken legs were $.97 USD a pound and chicken feet were $1.16 USD a pound. Oh well, this is Thailand.
The next stop was the big furniture store in Chiang Rai as Daeng and I agreed to move my desk and put two wardrobes in it's place. As long as we were going to Chiang Rai we thought we would order them.
We already have a 120 cm wide and a 90 cm wide unit, side by side and just wanted to buy two more 90 cm wide units to fit in the space my desk is in now. When we got to the store the fellow that came to help us told us the did not have that model any more.
We walked all over the store and finally found the 120 cm wide unit like the one we have now. The young fellow said, "That's the only one we have."
We sat down and an older man was sitting by the desk and he showed me a picture in the catalog that was exactly what we wanted but in black. He said he could have it in white in about two weeks and deliver it to our home in Mae Sai. He knew were we lived as he is one of the men that delivered the original set.
You can read of this and other furniture shopping by CLICKING HERE.
We gave him a deposit on a credit card and made the order. By the way, we use our Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card when ever we can as there is no foreign transfer fee and the exchange rate to Thai Baht is better than I can get for cash here in Thailand.
Daeng said it was time to go to the Toyota Dealer which was by "Big C", another very large shopping place.
When we got to the main Toyota Dealership, Daeng said to just wait and she would run in and handle everything.
Although it was over 34 degrees Centigrade (93 degrees Fahrenheit) the air conditioning worked great and we're glad we had the window tinted so dark. We would not be legal in the USA with the dark window tinting we had done but TIT (This is Thailand.).
A few minutes later, Daeng came out with a big smile on her face. I asked her why she was so happen and she handed me a box that said TOYOTA Galaxy Note 3 on it.
She said it was a surprise and a promotion for buying our vehicle. All she had to do was pay the tax on it, about $42.00 USD.
She also said there was an interface that would allow the phone to talk with the vehicle. I'm sure that will take a few more weeks to learn about.
It was a nice surprise and I was impressed she kept it a secret. That was good also as it had no part of the decisions making process of buying this vehicle.
Time to head back home. We stopped at a barbecue chicken place on the way home. We ate sticky rice, BBQ chicken and Som-tom papaya salad.
Oh, we also stopped at a pineapple wholesaler and bought 8 kilograms, almost 18 pounds, of pineapple for about $3.00 USD. It was ripe and really sweet, also.
The pick-up got 10.7 km per liter on this trip, according to the electronics in the vehicle. That is a little over 25 miles per gallon. I also learned where the fifth gear is on this automatic transmission so if I drive correctly I can get the mileage even higher.
It was a nice trip and we will sleep well during the night.
Well, we're a little bored here in Mae Sai. It's the old get up at five or six o'clock, shower, dress, answer emails and go to the morning market for breakfast. The Ban Pa Mueat Morning Market usually is in full swing by 5:00 AM.
After breakfast it is stop at the exercise equipment beside the road by our house and work out a little.
We then watched the monks do their morning walk collecting food. Many folks come out of their homes and businesses and give food to the monks.
Home and work on quilt or if it's raining, clean the third floor tile roof. Our third floor roof is ceramic tile but does need to be cleaned every once in a while, especially after the jungle being on fire. There was a lot of ash on our roof.
Daeng's quilt is looking good. She put it on the bed today, as well. She starting making it almost a year ago. It is a patchwork quilt, double sided with a soft filling inside.
Because we are bored, we decided we would make a little trip to Chiang Mai for a little holiday. Chiang Mai is about 250 kilometers, by road, from us. It is up through the mountains so it takes about three and a half hours without stops.
We started off pretty early, about 6:15 AM. We stopped at our local market and had a little breakfast. We drove to Jan's coffee shop in 60 km south in Chiang Rai. We talked a little with Jan to be sure she was doing okay. Our friend Charlie is her boyfriend. He is in Canada for a few months.
Then we drove a little more down route number one and made the Chiang Mai turn off onto route 118. About 19 km after the turn off, we stopped for sweets at the Charin Gardens. They have great cheese cake and pies. They are so good you want to lick the plate.
We also watch a man net fishing in the river by the restaurant. We hope he got some fish as he laid out a lot of net.
We drove to the hot springs and stopped to use the rest room. Here they charge five Thai Baht to use the facilities. Many public places in Thailand charge three Baht so it is not that much more.
Onward to Pooie's home. Pooie is one of Daeng's four older brothers. It was easy to find him again as I marked our GPS locator. When we got to the house, Kat, Pooie's daughter said her Dad was coming home for lunch in about a half hour, around noon. We hung out. Daeng took a little bicycle ride with Gla, Pooie's son.
As for me, I just hung around hugging trees. These teak trees grow right in the middle of the road.
Pooie and his wife, "Ley", came home around noon and we spent some time together. They both had to go back to work. We said: "Good-bye" and headed down the road ourselves.
Then onward to the Royal Lanna Hotel in the Night Bazaar section of Chiang Mai. We have a friend, Jay, that lives in the hotel on a monthly basis. It is a big hotel, 22 stories tall in a great location.
We booked the room from their old website for a nice discount. The discounted rate was 1050 THB, about $35.00 USD, a night including a buffet breakfast for two. This picture is a view of part of the night bazaar from the hotel window. The hotel sits in the middle of this Night Bazaar.
Eat, sleep, eat, sleep and a few meetings with friends for the next few days. I took Daeng to stay a few nights with her brother Pooie. I hung out with my friends Brian & Jay. It was pretty relaxing.
While driving across a single lane bridge that crosses the river we saw a small, new hotel with a sign "650 THB" on it. Daeng said lets stop to see it. We liked it and made the decision to change hotels. It was only two blocks from the Royal Lanna Hotel.
The name of the hotel is Mawin Hotel. You can see the Royal Lanna Hotel across the bridge and down the street. It is the large building on the left of the picture.
After seven nights in Chiang Mai we made the trip back to Mae Sai. It was May Day, May 1st and a holiday in Thailand. It is like Labor Day in America. The nice part is almost everything was closed, banks, schools and businesses so the traffic was very light. That was a nice change.
Daeng told me last night that she was going to help make Som-Tom Papaya Salad for the Monks at the local Temple today. I ask her what the occasion was. She tried to explain it to me but I just could not get the substance except this was done every year is this part of Thailand and Myanmar (Burma).
We got up late, around 7:30 AM, showered, dressed and headed to the Pa Thong Ko shop for coffee. To our surprise it was already closed.
After having coffee at another little shop in the back corner of the Ban Pa Meat morning market, we headed over to the Temple.
The place was pretty busy at 9:00 AM with lots of folks and hundreds of baskets full of stuff, wrapped in cellophane, for the Monks.
I wondered around the place and make a little noise hitting the big drum in front of the Temple. It made more noise than I expected.
Daeng hooked up with her friend, Com New Wan (spelled like it sounds), and they started the process for making the Som-Tom Papaya salad.
The process was an example of momentum. It started with the two of them, Daeng and Com New Wan, getting things going with the crabs and papaya and ended up with over 15 people helping out.
I asked a lot of folks what this celebration was about. No one could really make me understand except that they did it every year.
Like I said, toward the end of the food preparation, a lot of folks helped out.
At around noon, the Monks came and sat at the tables that food had been placed. I would guess that about 80 Monks sat down to the tables. After a blessing they all ate.
After the Monks eat, they got up from the table and the regular folks sat down and continued to eat.
As for us folks helping, we ate on a little porch by the food preparation area. We had lots of food and stuffed ourselves. Everyone had fun helping and eating. It is always nice to see folks having fun.
The Som-Tom Papaya Salad we great, as well!
After that, there was a ceremony for all the Monks and then each Monk got a paper with a number of the gift basket that was for them.
They each came and got their basket and then sat and prayed for the person that gave it to them.
It was a nice celebration but I still don't know what it was for. The next time I talk with my friend "Cola", who runs the Internet shop, I'll see if he can make me understand.
Oh, before I forget, we had this desert that I call "worms in coconut milk". It is sweet and tastes like chicken. Come on, I'm kidding. It tastes like a sweet gelatin in coconut milk.
By the way, a couple of things happen when we get older. I just can't remember what they are.
Well, we have been ,here in Mae Sai, for a few days 
and we're back to normal. Normal to us is the morning visit to the market for coffee and Pa Thong Ko (pronounced "Baht-to-go").Something that is not normal is to see monks on
horseback. We see them on the bus, in tuk-tuks, taxis, bicycles and on elephants but this is the first time I have seen a monk on a horse.After coffee, in the Ban Pa 
Meat morning market, we have been doing a little exercise on the equipment beside the road one street over. Ban Pa Meat is the section of Mae Sai that we live in.Just to show the percentage of Buddhists in this area, here is a picture of the morning market on
October 12th which was a Buddhist holiday.The morning market usually is full of folks shopping for produce and food for the home, but not that morning.
