Highlights from Chiang Mai

Sometimes I think my blog is like a Jason Bourne movie without the action.  Things just don't happen in chronological order when I write them.  Unfortunately, there isn't any rhyme or reason to it.  So if you were thinking I gave you promises of future Thailand postings and then made you wait for some purpose, I'm sad to say that is not the case.  So all of a sudden out of nowhere, back we go to Thailand with this list of some things I enjoyed in Chiang Mai.  Please, don't be concerned by my numbering system.  It isn't about rank--just trying to keep things tidy.

1.  Wat Chedi
Considering the hard core celebrations I took part in for Idaho's centinnial growing up, you have to know I am a connoisseur of places with century-plus years on them.  So you can imagine with what joy and reverence I greeted this beautiful old buddy from the 14th century.

It absolutely enchanted me to walk along a road and run into an ancient structure peeping out from between the buildings.  Sam and I both thought the snakes were incredible:

2.  Outdoor Markets

Maybe it's just me, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Thailand seems pretty exotic.  For example, I don't think I've ever encountered anything like this before at home.

Yes, this is a truck of pigs heads.

The flower stalls were so lovely that I wanted to swoop in and buy armfuls of birds of paradise and orchids.  But since I had no home to put them in, a tragic lack of flower purchasing ensued.  

The larger Sunday market was amazing.  There were incredible crafts to discover (though we were tempered by the backpacks to curb crazy shopping impulses).   

My favorite part were the smoothies these ladies made for us.  I got fresh coconut passion fruit and it was ridiculously good.

3.  The Guest House

Our guest house advertised it self as having 24 hour toast and tea.  How in the world could you possibly beat that?  Sam got so addicted to the luxury of having toast available at any time of the day or night that he began to get toast withdrawals once we moved on.   

The people who run this guest house were so kind and helpful.  And best of all, something about the brick buildings and garden reminded me a great deal of being at my Grandma Bonnie's house, only Thai style.  

4.  More Temples!

I don't know what to say about this.  Chiang Mai is a city filled with beautiful temples.  I love them.

5.  Cooking School

If I was going to play favorites, this would be number one on my list.  I LOVED getting to cook a five course meal with a Thai family.  We got to tour the family herb garden.

We went to the market to learn about all the foods we would be cooking...

Sam and I got to wear matching aprons, pound curry, and cut up wood ear mushrooms, which isn't something we do every day, I'll be honest.

The grande finale was an incredible dinner.  Here is a recipe for mango and sticky rice that we particularly liked.  However, I must warn you (as I was strictly warned by our teacher) that it is completely incomprehensible and impossible to make this with anything but Thai sticky rice.  To do so will result in things so terrible they cannot be spoken.  Knowing you as I do though, dear readers, I figured you might try to pull something like not using Thai sticky rice.  So I came home and tried using sushi rice because I had it, and (though it was different from what we had at school) I was satisfied and my face didn't fall off.

Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango


1 cup sticky rice soaked 4-6 hours
1 cup very thick coconut cream (I used sweetened coconut cream for baking and didn't add palm sugar)
2 tablespoons palm sugar
2 pinches salt
2 ripe mangoes


Drain the rice and steam over a medium heat for 20 minutes (I cooked in a pan on the stove, oh I'm so bad!)  Remove the rice from the steamer and mix with coconut cream, sugar and salt immediately.  Stir gently.  Cover and let stand for about 1/2 hour.  Serve with peeled, sliced mango.

The Camera and Me

So I know I'm always saying this, but boy have I had a lot going on lately.  In the midst of getting back from the great voyage, starting my new job, being sick, and making sure that Sam's birthday was celebrated to the largest extent possible, I've also developed a new interest in photography.  

I'm pretty sure that I will never qualify as being a Photographer with a capital P, but the other day I was reading one of my favorite blogs, The Pioneer Woman, and she has a section on BASIC photography skills.  I was so excited because it was all the questions I was too embarrassed to ask friends who are  photographers.  I just about fell out of my chair when I took my first real look at the buttons on my camera and realized it could do way more than flash or not flash, which has been the extent of my skills up to now.  

As I read through the online tutorials my enthusiasm just grew.  Sam helped me learn about my camera by jumping around so I could see if I could find the button that would make my shutter speed fast enough so he wouldn't blur.

  

Not a blur in sight!  Unfortunately the sun was setting and I had to turn to the apartment to find subjects.  

This is the clearest portrait of my shoes that has yet been taken.  You can see they are well loved.  We are conquering the elliptical together.  

Perhaps no plastic flower has been photographed more than this one.  I really wanted the flower to be clear and everything else to be fuzzy, but it was such an uphill battle.  You can see I found the black and white setting.

My favorite photo from this session though was this one, in which our modest t.v. is about to be beamed up into the mothership.

The next day I had a lot more success when I was able to go outside.  I lose time when I am experimenting with taking photographs.  Reggie, the maintenance person at our apartment (who I've spent a lot of time getting to know due to a few apartment disasters) thought it was pretty hilarious when he found me huddled behind a bush with my camera in the parking lot.  I spent about two hours taking pictures of leaves and flowers (again hoping to capture the clear flower fuzzy background look all the cool kids are using) and I only stopped because I had to go somewhere.  

If you wanted to see a couple hundred more pictures of this bush let me know!

Sam has been happy to review all the pictures of grass and leaves I'm taking lately when he gets home from work.  He even votes on which of the twenty pictures of this bad boy is the best...

Sam's choice for Dead Leaf of the Day

  

However he is getting sick of being the star of my portraits, so if you want to sit and let me take your picture for a few hours, let me know.  He will LOVE you.  And I will do everything in my power to make the background fuzzy behind you, I promise.

On a very important side note, thank you for reading my blog.  It means so much to me when I hear that you have read what I wrote and you share comments.  Have a happy day!

Day of Days

Well everyone, today is a HUGE holiday in my year.  I've been waiting and waiting for it to get here, and at last it is Sam's birthday!!  Those who know me well know that while I joke about a lot of things, I take birthdays VERY seriously.  This week for me is all about celebrating the incredible blessing that my husband is to me.  So here are some things I love about my Sam:

He takes my need for cheap puzzles in severe blizzards extremely seriously.  

His smile absolutely makes my day.  Every time.

He doesn't outshine me when it comes to making dogs comfortable.

Plus he is gracious when I choose the picture where his mouth is weird because I look cuter in it.

He can kick major tail in a 5K.  Or even a 10K.  And maybe even a half marathon (go 34!).  Plus he always encourages me in every goal I set and makes me feel like I can try for things that I've never thought possible (can we all remember the backpack I took to Thailand?).

He loves my friends and family and is kind to everyone he meets.

He is ridiculously good to me.  On the day this picture was taken I was sad, and he taught himself how to make cookies online to make me feel better.  

He is so much fun to hang out with.  He cracks me up every day and he never thinks my crazy ideas are too silly to try.  I am so happy, proud, and grateful to be married to him.  Happy Birthday Sam!

Old Blue

Before we jump right into more adventures in Thailand, I need to address an important issue that will no doubt become obvious to you as I share more photos from our trip.  Even to someone who doesn't pay a lot of attention to fashion, it is easy to see a certain theme emerging as the days roll on:

Did Sam not only inspire me to take a tiny backpack, but also somehow convince me that just one shirt would be necessary for this mission?  Friends, I may be growing as a person, but I'm not insane.  No one pushed me in this direction, it was actually a love affair.  

A long time ago, my dermatologist and I decided that I should go for that mysterious, pale girl look.

Unfortunately my look was last popular during the silent screen era

So  you can imagine to what degree of seriousness I took my guide books admonition that the sun in Thailand is much stronger, and you must be prepared.  I went straight online and found my blue shirt, which is just loaded with SPF and wicking and all manner of goodness.  When I put it on that first day in Thailand, I realized that it wasn't just a shirt, it was a miracle.  This shirt is so comfortable that (along with a 9 month stringent humidity training regimen here in the South) I hardly even knew it was blazing hot outside.   In some ways this shirt was so good it was dangerous because I didn't notice I was overheating until I was dizzy and about to pass out.  Every night when I washed it out, I considered the possibility that I wouldn't wear it again the next day.  But I just could not help my self.  The idea that I would want to voluntarily wear the same shirt day after day is staggering to me--and that it would be a functional shirt is even more mind blowing.  I still don't know what to make of it.

I didn't think this blog would be a commercial one, but I'm going to have to give you the information in case you need a shirt like this in your life (which you absolutely do).  It is a Columbia brand sun goddess shirt.  I got mine at Sierra Trading post, and when I got back I ordered what I believe was the last one of that style.  But they also have this one that looks like it could also spawn passionate responses from its wearers:

You can find it here

My efforts paid off in the end as you can see.

Pre-vacation palor

Three days at the beach with no perceptible difference

Our next post will take us back to Thailand, where we will head for the beautiful old city of Chiang Mai.  Hope you can join us!

Thailand

About a month ago, I interviewed for a job as a counselor in Chattanooga.  Things were looking really good and I began a background check process that would take a month to finish.  Sam reacted to this news by announcing that it was time for us to leave the country.  Some who don't know Sam might be surprised by this train of thought, but it didn't completely shock me.  Prior to me being around, Sam had a history of leaving the country and heading to exotic locations at the drop of a hat.  I was excited in a "hmm, that's fun to think about" kind of way.  When I have gone on big adventures in the past, I usually spent about a year planning them.  My husband is not so much a planner.  Sam suggested we go to Thailand.  The next day he booked our tickets and two frantic weeks later (during which time my travel guide actually mutated into a part of my hands) I was on the plane headed to Bangkok.  For those of you who think that I am maybe exaggerating my need to plan and suspect that actually I'm crazy adventuress at heart I give you exhibit A:

Nobody here is overwhelmed

This is me with no sleep, sitting at the airport in Atlanta after having spent a nauseous morning wondering if I really was ready to fly halfway around the world.  It always surprises me how many cool things I get to do considering that I am usually terrified before doing them.  In addition to my fears of what would be awaiting me on the other side of the world, I had the fear that comes when you take a person who normally packs a 70 pound suitcase roughly 4' long for a 2 week trip and you reduce her down to this:

Mom, believe what you are seeing.  That little black backpack on the right held all the clothes I took with me for two weeks.  Were it not for the Starbucks in my hand would we even recognize me at this point?

But a short twenty hour flight and seven in flight movies later, something incredible happened.  I woke up and found out I got to go to this place:

The Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand

This is the thing that makes a scared little me get brave again--the great privilege of getting see something completely exquisite.  Going to the Grand Palace was my first exposure to any type of Asian architecture, and it absolutely took my breath away.  Sam and I walked around in a daze (jet lag no doubt contributed) snapping pictures and grinning at each other.

We barely scratched the surface of Bangkok, but we had a lovely time there.  One of my favorite things about the city was that there are so many high rise buildings people have started getting really creative with their designs.  I liked the robot building in this picture from the rooftop of our hotel.

Hopefully you won't mind traveling with Sam and I for a couple of days as I review some of the highlights of Thailand.  Meanwhile, feel free to call us at 3:00 in the morning.  We're up.

Under-appreciated National Treasures: Balanced Rock

Today it is time to give a little shout out to Castleford, Idaho, home of the Balanced Rock.  I'm sick of all this blah blah blahing about the Grand Canyon and the Taj Mahal as if they are so great.  Anyone can go there and take the same picture as everyone else (Sam and I haven't yet, and maybe that is where this bitter attitude is coming from).  If you really want to be unique, you don't have to rediscover Vietnam, go to Castleford and see this...

Yes, I am not kidding you, that rock is really balancing there.  I know it looks a little small in this photo, but (warning: obvious statement ahead) the closer you get to it, the bigger it is.  This bad boy is (I quote the indisputable Visit Idaho website) "over 48 feet tall and 40 tons, the wind-carved rock balances precariously on a pedestal only 3 feet by 17 inches."  So yeah, you're going to want to see it.

Sam, slightly concerned at the largeness of the rock as he gets closer

As if its natural wonder-ness wasn't enough, you can really get a good workout climbing up there to check it out.  Sam and I were huffing and puffing and mumbling under our breath by the time we made it close enough to touch the rock itself.

A smile hides the pain of too many Christmas cookies + exercise

One thing I love about life is that as you get up into the ancient thirties, you really start to appreciate all the things that are right in your own backyard.  If the budget doesn't have room for a trip to Castleford today, there is probably something within 10 miles of you that other people would travel to see.  Have fun out there!

Big Hair Heroes

Lately, repetitively cleaning every inch of my house, filling out job applications (alas, my Ten Thousand Villages job was only for the holidays!) and drinking a lot of coffee has given me an opportunity to muse about important subjects like my hair and the state of the baseboards around here.   Like many of you, I have an 8x10" black and white photograph of Dolly Parton in a polyester jumpsuit gracing the counter in my bathroom.

I like to imagine I can understand what Dolly would say as I'm getting ready for the day.  More makeup, Dolly? You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap.*  Is this too much jewelry for this outfit? I modeled my looks on the town tramp.*   Is my hair to big?  Dolly doesn't even dignify that with an answer.

During the summer, being a Southern lady for me was characterized by the humidity dictating that my hair would frizz out to troll doll proportions.  I often got the feeling that Dolly would consider that (with a little hairspray) as an advantage.  

Much as I have always loved my In Style magazines, lately I've been thinking that life is too short to fight the larger than life things one sometimes encounters when they look in the mirror.  Maybe they aren't problems. Maybe one is just comparing oneself with the wrong people.  In that spirit, I am dedicating my bathroom (I mean this to be an honor) to my personal big hair heroes.  Women who not only have hair far larger than what I myself might be able to achieve, but who have also done cool things with their lives.

So far I'm a little heavy on country singers and Wonder Woman, but I know that with time this will be an incredibly inspirational collection, and yet another reason to come visit us at the Chalkboard House.

*actual quotes from Dolly Parton