Songkran Party is still Going On - Golden Triangle

Even though Songkran is officially over in Mae Sai, the party still goes on through today or longer.

Daeng, Peter, Nok and I drove over to the center of the Golden Triangle.  I think President Nixon nicknamed this area "The Golden Triangle" because it is were Myanmar (Burma), Laos and Thailand come together on the Mekong River. 

The Mekong River is the world's 12th longest river and the 7th longest in Asia. Its estimated length is 4,350 km (2,703 mi). It runs to the ocean from China through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

We have been on this river a few times in the past.  To read two of those stories just CLICK HERE for our first trips on the river.  That story also talks about "cookies are better than guns".  To read the story of the completed school on the Mekong and see pictures of this old, white, fat boy dancing just CLICK HERE.

This area was, at one time, the largest opium growing area of the world.  Today, it still ranks as number two, losing out only to Afghanistan.

The whole area for hundreds of square miles around is know as "The Golden Triangle" but this is the center.

We had a nice lunch looking over the river.  The day was fairly cool, about 90 degrees Fahrenheit or 32 degrees Celsius. 

We ate salt fish, som-tom papaya salad, bar-be-qued chicken, spicy seafood soup, sticky rice, orange soda and "dancing scrimp". 

Here is a video of the "Dancing Scrimp".

After you watch the video you will know why they call this dish "Dancing Scrimp".

Peter and Nok would not eat the dancing scrimp but I tried it.  The taste was very strong from the spices that were used with the scrimp and mango. 

After we ate we walked up to the "Big Buddha" on the edge of the mighty Mekong River.  There were lots of folks visiting this well know Buddha.

We started to drive down the road to Chiang Saen, about 10-15 km to see if the dragon boat races were still going.

We got to the edge of this little town and the traffic was stopped and everyone throwing water around.  Together we made the decision turn around and go home.  After all it was three o'clock and full stomachs.  A nap sounded real good.

We did have a fun day with Peter and Nok.

Mae Sai 04/24/2010 Roof Puddle

We had a pretty typical day. When I use the word "typical" that does not mean it was a normal day by any terms. We did get up around 7:00 and did the typical thing we do each morning.

The roof tile guys came around 8:00 AM as normal.

Around 11:30 we went and had a nice lunch of soup, Thai omelet and fried vegetables with chicken. It was a quaint little place along the side of an alley a couple of lanes over from us.
There was a rabbit digging away in the bushes and a fruit tree with this hug fruit on it. I have seen this fruit before but do not know the name.

After lunch we went back and watched some television.

Around 4:00 PM it started to rain. We went up onto the roof to see how it was doing. The men were just finishing up a few pieces around the outside of the roof. Even though it was raining we went out onto the roof to find a big puddle in the middle of the back part of the roof.

We waited until the rain stopped to see if it would drain. We waited about an hour and the rest of the roof started to dry but there still was a 1/2" of water in this big puddle. I talked with Daeng and told her I needed to know what the tile men were going to do to get the puddle to drain.

Daeng called Hlong, her sister-in-law, who came over and talked with the men. Hlong speaks Burmese. After a lengthy discussion they said they would come back tomorrow and remove a couple dozen tile and make a little drain area to get the water of the puddle. They will be slanting two tile to meet each other for a little slope so the puddle area we will drain okay.

We'll just have to wait and see how they do tomorrow. I'm going to go over to HOME MART early and buy a level.

We did not hear from Salad today, maybe tomorrow!

TIT!!!

Fun Day with California Friend

We had Breakfast in a little Thai place beside the building next to our hotel. This little Thai restaurant is only about five foot wide and a hundred foot deep. I call it the "Alley Restaurant". The food is fair and the price is very low. Many of the people that work around this area eat here. A couple of motorbike taxi drivers were eating when we came in.

After we ate we walked across Pattaya 2nd Road to the Buddhist Temple. There is Traditional Thai Massage School on the Temple grounds. We talked to the lady in charge and a 60 minute Traditional Thai Massage for an hour is 150 TB (about $4.50 USD). We had just eaten so we had to wait until another time.

I took some pictures of the different Buddha Images. the saying is "Buddha has many faces!". What that means, I think, is that there are many different looks. The one I liked here was the one called "Wednesday Buddha", maybe because it was resting. It is in a collect of images, one for each day of the week.

It was almost 11:00 AM so we hopped onto what most folks call a "Baht Bus". A "Baht Bus" is a small pick up truck with a canape in the bed. People just jump on and off at any locations and the cost is 10 TB (about 30 cents).

We made the trip to Jomtien Beach and met our friend Rick, from California, and his girlfriend, June. I had talked with Rick and June last night, after a meeting of English speaking folks, here in Pattaya. They had invited us to come joint them for lunch today.
Due to the distance we had to pay 20 TB each for the "Baht Bus" that left us off right in front of their condominium. It was one of those BIG beach side condominiums that they build along the ocean front. I thin there was 1300 unit in the complex. I always thing of Miami Beach when I see one like theirs.

I called Rick on our mobile phone when we put our feet on the ground and they met us at the entrance to the building. They live on the 14 floor with a beautiful view of the ocean.

After greeting each other we hung out talking. Daeng and June got along well so it gave Rick and I a chance to talk about California and Thailand and our lives of the last three or four years. Rick has been living about six months of the year in Thailand for the last six years.

June fixed us a great lunch of chicken, mango and pineapple. We then walked to the market about a mile and a half away on the next road. It was good for us to get the exercise. We also looked at the huge swimming pool for the condo complex. It was a beautiful pool with crystal clear water.

When we got back to their apartment Rick and i watch some television and the next thing we knew more food. One of June's favorite things to do is cook. I must also say that she is a excellent cook, as well. We all were stuffed, too.

We rested for a while and agreed to meet again on Saturday. We said good-bye and waddled to the beach road to take a "Baht Bus" back to our hotel in Pattaya.

That was enough fun for us for the day. We had eaten to much so we went to bed, falling asleep with the television on.