First, let me publicly say, "CONGRATS" to my baby sister Courtney and her new fiance Mike Vint. The two were engaged late in the summer and plan on tying the knot Summer of 2011. I am so happy for the both of you :)
Second, Uncle Wayne the beautiful wooden pen that you so expertly crafted for me has allowed me to document my latest expeditions throughout Thailand, Korea and Vietnam. I have fondly nicknamed it Woody and hope that he will ink out far more tales of travels, tally more Canadian Rummy scores and allow me to record new contacts. So I must offer my thanks again for such a beautiful gift.
Now for travel #1 Thailand, yes people T-H-A-I-L-A-N-D. If you haven't guessed by now it's my favorite place to be when I am not in the comforts of Washington family and friends. So, as soon as my last summer school class was over, I caught a bus to the Seoul, Incheon Airport and headed to BKK. By dawn I had landed in the beautiful northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. Too bad I only had three days to stay there, not quite long enough to cause trouble. ;)
My friend Teak, who runs a travel company called Northern Sky Tours (http://www.northernskytours.com/) , picked me up from the airport and we headed to Bo Sang the umbrella village about 6 miles outside of town. This delightful town is full of umbrella manufacturers and when I say manufacturers I mean that delightfully wrinkly women with skilled hands patch together these works of art. Literally they make these umbrellas from the ground up. Each piece of wood is hand cut, chopped, split and constructed one by one as the ladies banter on in Thai. The paper for the shade of the umbrella is made from tree pulp . By mashing the pulp with water over and over it becomes a gooey like paste that is then laid on a screen to dry a bit. I think that was my favorite part since it reminds me of how the rice fields smell after the heavens water their green sprouts.Once the paper is dry enough to move from the screen it is laid out over the newly constructed
frame of the umbrella and laid out to dry in the sun. After it is fully dry from the scorching rays of the sun, painters decorate the parisols with elaborate patterns. Most of the ones I saw were Asian inspired lotus blossoms or tigers, but the color scheme running throughout was bright & bold! My favories however were the ones with little quirks, where one flower didn't match the rest or one tigers eye was a bit larger then the other.
It is always fascinating to me to see the creative minds behind things, to see the humanity that touched it. Too often in the Western world we take out the "people" factor of things as more and more machines make the things we use rather then human hands. I think we all should remember to embrace the quirks of humanity rather then strive so hard for the inattainable "perfection" of the new age.
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The next Chiang Mai adventure was rock climbing with the crazy gang from CMRCA (Chiang Mai
Rock Climbing Adventures). I tagged along on a training climb at Crazy Horse, a series of routes only 45 minutes away by songthaew (or red truck). The group being trained was sent by the government of the Philippines and were all quite skilled climbers. In addition, they were hilarious and made cute Catholic Sunday school jokes the whole way out to the rock.
My expert climbing trainer was Add or Nstar. He taught me all about the climbing lingo, how to tie the correct knots, what to do, what not to do, and how to climb & repel properly. Truly he was a great teacher, he gave perfect instructions for this first time outdoor climber. I was really quite nervous to start the first route but Add was a great encourager; and always seemed to know just when I was about to give up & would then shout tips on how to keep going. So if you ever want to climb in Chiang Mai, ask for Add at CMRCA! (http://www.thailandclimbing.com/)
This I am sad to say pretty much covers my few days in CM, although I did not fully divulge how wonderful it was to see all of my old friends again. I have missed them all and cannot wait until we meet again. "I'll see you when you see me," as the Thai say (and I add), "but until then my heart will see you in all our memories."
Now... on to the next post and next country Vietnam.
