Headed to Petchabun

Most of the folks in my office are headed to an NGO (non-governmental organization) meeting for five days in Petchabun, so I'm going along. Not at all sure what to expect. This will be basically a Thai thing, there will be some of the farmers the organization works with there too. I have no idea where we will stay, but I know things will work out. J is staying in Chiang Mai and they were very cautious in inviting me because they know J gets car sick on windy mountain roads, but J said to go. Otherwise almost no one is in the office. We'll hae lots of time for me to catch up on what they are working on and how I fit in.

Click the link for a map of Thailand. Chiang Mai is below the MAR in MYANMAR - top of the map, left. Petchabun is above the LAND of THAILAND top, middle.

The meeting yesterday afternoon was interesting as I sat there trying to understand. I had learned a lot of the vocabulary they use last year and so that was helpful, but I wasn't sure about how the terms were connected. My mind tried to fill in the blanks. I knew what they were talking about - gathering information, updating planning documents with the farmer communities, but I wasn't quite sure what the issues were. I had to ask after when Eaw was driving me back to the apartment with all the kitchen and other household stuff we'd stored with them (two small boxes.)

So, I'm going to leave my computer with J so she can use it. I don't think there will be internet connetions where we go. If there is, I'll use someone else's computer. So it could be quiet here for a several days.

Meanwhile, for Anchorage folks, there may be interesting developments in the Stevens case. I'm getting some intriguing google searches from Washington DC that are landing on the post about the 'whistleblower'. Maybe someone has seen the Prosecution's response to what the Defense has submitted to Judge Sullivan.

I just looked at last nights post. I see the text isn't coordinated with the pictures. Sorry. I literally fell asleep several times while posting. But I got a good night's sleep. And we didn't leave the sliding glass doors open all the way last night so it isn't so chilly in here this morning.

Day 1 - Off and Running

It's 5:30am Anchorage time and 9:30pm here in Chiang Mai. My eyes are shutting down. So here's

a) Walk to Work, J. came with me this morning.
b. Along the way I pass the huge compound of former Premier Thaksin's Brother


Along the wall of Wat Umong.

This the massage place outside the Wat Umong entrance.











Here's my boss, Pet, and one of the more charismatic farmers, Su Kaew. Most everyone is headed to Petchabun tomrrow for five days of intensive training. That's what I'm here for isn't? So, assuming everything goes as planned, I'm headed for a long weekend visit.

At the meeting today I understood just enough to be dangerous. A lot of the words came from last yer's plan which I translated into Engolish forum

Bon's keeping her socks on inside at the afternoon. That's one way to keep warm.

Sorry, but I keep drifting off as I type. I better let the pictures speak for themselves.



In the market this evening.





On the way back from lunch at the temple, we passed this little shop with all these Free Palestine signs.

Maybe by tomorrow I'll be able to keep my eyes o0

Morning Snacks

We don't have our kitchen stuff yet - the induction cooker, pots, dishes, flatware - that we left when we came home last April, so these are some snacks we picked up last night until we go out. J's still sleeping, but I'm enjoying the morning. It's nice to be up early - the time is quiet. And I'm enjoying being chilly in Chiang Mai. I know my Anchorage friends basking in the relative warmth of 25˚F (-4˚C) after the week of below zero weather and probably think I'm crazy.

Feels Comfortable Here

We pulled up to our place and Pop, the manager, was there to greet us and make sure everything was ok. We did some unpacking and eventually got ready to go out and get some things we needed - like soap and hangers and toilet paper. Pop was wearing a jacket the whole time and I teased him about it. Then wandered down the soi (soi's are streets coming off the main road - usually they are referred to as Thanon Suthep (Thanon means road) Soi 1, Soi 2, etc.)





It felt like we had just gone away for the weekend, not eight months.



There are some changes, most obviously some large buildings at the university are now completed. But the streets are basically the same, if maybe a bit more crowded.



The phone shop - they're everywhere - was informative. There are three different brands competing. They all have promotions (that's now a legit Thai word). He suggested a brand. You get unlimited calls, if the person you call has the same brand. But the first plan I had a couple of years ago was much easier to use and control - 1 Baht per call between 5am and 5pm. In the end I said I'd have to check to see which brands my friends were using.





















This is the main drag along the southern side of Chienag Mai University.



We were told that tomorrow is graduation at the University and that the king will be there. I'm guessing these flowers are there for the king.

And so are these newly painted curbs.

On the way home we stopped at Ek-Ah-Saw-Wah - the restaurant we saw being built last year. It's got a little more landscaping in. We sat outside, and while I didn't shiver, I could feel the cooling air. But the food was delicious. We ate it all up.

Last year it took nearly a week to find a place. Today we're settled from Day 1. I'm sure glad all this hstle and bustle

Safe and Sound in Chiang Mai

They still serve food on international flights and they gave us lots of choices when we got our tickets. So we took Hindu vegetarian. It sure tasted a lot like chicken. I know they can make vegie foods that seem like meat, but I think this was the real thing.






Since we were so late, we got to see the sunrise over the Pacific.









It looks just like being in an airplane. I took two seats in the back because that far back there were just two seats, not a third. But it meant there was a space between me and the window. The space was nice, but I couldn't lean on the window to sleep. But with a little bit of muscle relaxant, I slept a lot on the plane. It was also 5:45 am when we finally left three hours late.



We were on the ground in Taipei for at most 40 minutes. 20 of that was waiting to get off the plane from Anchorage, and another 15 until the plane to Chiang Mai took off. That leaves about five minutes to ask about the Chiang Mai flight as we got off the plane, be greeted as though we won the lottery, and pointed to a lady with a Chiang Mai sign who quickly led us and four others to the Chiang Mai flight. Someone had to move for us. They'd already closed the doors and people thought the empty seats were available. Thanks China Air for making sure we got our connection. That probably saved us four or five more hours.

I’d already assumed that we were going to be rerouted through Bangkok because we were almost three hours late - arriving at 8:30 am Taipei time - and our flight was leaving at 8:35am. Given that we were in the back of a crowded airbus, I knew it would take forever just to get off the plane.

But they knew we were due and the plane waited for us. I didn’t even have time to email Grib to say we’d made the flight. I'd emailed from Anchorage that she shouldn't come til she hears from us because we were probably going to miss our flight.






Mrs. Lee was sitting next to me. We did a lot of hand stuff, but she didn't speak English, Thai, or Chinese. In the end she asked me to fill in her immigration form. She had a Chinese passport and she was born in Thailand. I really wish I could have spoken to her in a language she understood. I did get to show her pictures of Alaska on my computer.



Well, after emailing Grib to not come to the airport, no one was there. We decided it would be faster to just catch a song thaew since we knew that Bon had made arrangements for us to stay where we'd stayed last year.












We stopped at the airport post office and mailed the package we'd taken for the Thai AFS student. That was easy and we had one less piece of luggage to haul around.



Here, we're in a bit of traffic in the back of the SongThaew (Two rows - a pickup with two benches in the back.)

We got a room right next to our old one on the fourth floor. It's not as big, but otherwise identical, except we have a west facing view instead of north. Still lots of trees and we can hear the birds, and the fourth floor means I've gotten more exercise today trying to get the internet connection just right than I've gotten in a couple of weeks.

Brief Guide to Ten (10) Common Birds of Chiang Mai

We got to know a number of birds pretty well after our two and a half month stay in Chiang Mai. I'm only a casual birder so we were dependent on bird books and the internet to identify most of these.

The pictures are from my pocket Canon Powershot so most are just good enough to help you identify the birds. Since I have the pictures, I thought it might be nice for visitors to Chiang Mai to have a brief guide to some common birds they might see or hear. We were in Chiang Mai from early February to late April, so I can't guarantee these birds are all around or sound the same at different times. Regular visitors to this site have seen most of the pictures and videos as they came into being. But here they are all gathered in one post.

#1. Red Whiskered Bulbul


This is one of the easiest to spot because of its distinctive black crest and because it is so common. It's a red-whiskered bulbul. You can see it better in the video below. From the Honolulu Zoo:

The Red-whiskered Bulbul has a distinct red ear patch, and red tail coverts. Both features are very distinctive from other birds. This bulbul averages seven inches in length and can weigh from 23 to 42 grams. The birds are brownish above and white below their stomach region from birth until an age six months. The head is black with a pointed crest and there is a red patch, the "whiskers", behind the eye. The beak is slender and notched. Their nostrils are ovalshaped, and have bristles. The legs and toes have little strength and are usually short. The wings are short and rounded and the tail shape varies from rounded to squared. Immature bulbuls resemble adults except that they lack the red marking on the head.

And for better pictures, check here, and here.


#2. Racket Tailed Drongo

The racket tailed drongo has a number of different calls. One call is on the video below. The long trailing feathers give it away.

From Wikipedia we learn:

The species is well-known as a very accurate vocal mimic, and according to Goodale and Kotagama (2006) appears to learn its alarm calls through interactions in mixed-species flocks. This is quite unusual, as avian vocal mimicry has hitherto been believed to be ignorant of the original context of the imitated vocalization (parrots are known to use imitated human speech in correct context, but do not show this behavior in nature). This drongo's context-sensitive use of other species' alarm calls is thus analogous to a human learning useful short phrases and exclamations in a number of foreign languages.

#3. Black Drongo

A black drongo's tail is more forked and doesn't have the long trailing feathers. For more see www.oiseaux.net.

#4. Greater Coucal

You are more likely to hear than see this bird. It makes a deep toop-toop sound. It's faintly in the background of one of the videos below. It also has a long tail. You can see clearer pictures at nagpurbirds.org.

#5. Magpie Robin
The magpie robin is also pretty distinctive with the white streak on the black wing and white underbelly.

#6. Common Myna

Common Myna.

#7. Spotted Dove

You can hear the spotted dove coo-coo-cooing on one of the videos below.

#8. Pigeon

Pigeon landing.

#9. Scarlet backed flowerpecker. These are tiny and move around a lot. But the red head and back are good tips this might be what you are seeing flitting in the leaves. For much better pictures go to pbase.com

#10 Koel

In this video you can hear the dove and bird #10 the koel (this is a great collection of Thai birds, the koel is in the first row), and one of many calls of the racket-tailed drongo. I did manage to see a few koel, but never managed to get a picture. They're not easy to spot unless they fly, but their voices are very distinctive and very common, at least during the time we were there. You can also see a greater coucal's fuzzy silhouette with its long tail. These are pretty big birds, maybe two feet long,



In this video you can see a red whiskered bulbul, a greater coucal, and a black drongo. You can hear the coucal very, very faintly in the background when the bulbul is on. There is a comment when it starts - put your cursor on the light grey dot on the blue playbar (I know, what's a playbar? I'm trying to figure out a simple way to describe the line that shows where you are on the video. There are two such comments on the first video too.)

Chiang Mai to Bangkok

Waiting for the flight to Singapore.

Leaving Chiang Mai

I had everything packed up by 9:00am, including the few dishes, the electric teapot, and left over food. I started taking things down. Pop, the manager of Baan Nai Lek, and one of the sons of the owner, came up to help bring down the rest. There wasn’t that much. I have a small rolling suitcase and my backpack. J took the big roll suitcase to LA (where she did get to see our daughter going to her flight back to Seattle). Pet, Ping, and Bon, were already downstairs loading the pickup.

We took the bike back to the bike shop and then went to the Buddha Image shopping center. Actually I should have gotten the name. It’s on the way to the airport. A market that has Buddha images, chains of all varieties to wear them on, and places that make plastic and glass covers to put the images in.


This is a whole world of its own. Ping is the expert and took me around while we were waiting. Lewis had asked if I could bring him three more images back from Thailand. We had gotten him a Buddha image at the temple near Sanaoom Luang in Bangkok back in 1968 and he wanted enough for the rest of his family. Of course, we got this done on my very last day, in the very last hour before going to the airport.







I had asked Ping to help me with this since this is his speciality. He brought me three images from his collection yesterday and today we took them to be put in covers so you can put them on chains. These are like any collectable item - there are good ones and better ones, ones that have various different meanings. There made of clay, of stone, of various metals, and he showed me one made of the eye of a coconut. In Thai you don’t use the word ‘buy’ when you purchase an image, you use the word for ‘rent’. The three he gave to me include a metal image of Rian Luang Po Chem a famous monk from Phuket, a white one, not sure what it is made of, of a monk covering his eyes, who brings wealth, and a little tiny one, Phra Rot, that protects against harm


While the man was making the plastic cases, we bought three chains for Lewis family to wear them around their necks.

There are so many worlds hidden away in Thailand and here on my last day, on the way to the airport I got to discover one more, and be reminded of how little I’ve seen, though it seems I’ve seen a lot.

I’m trying to treat this like a border run, I’ll be back soon. We’re talking about December - after the election and after the Anchorage International Film Festival. But it’s hard to leave people you’ve grown attached to.

At the airport I learned the plane would leave 45 minutes late, but I should have time to catch the Singapore flight. There’s wifi, but you have to pay for it. There was a coffee shop outside of security that said free wifi. I think I can wait.

11pm I wrote this at the Chiang Mai airport and I'm posting it from my son's apartment in Singapore. I'm in a bit of culture shock. I haven't been in Singapore since 1968 or so. I knew it had changed and all, but coming here from Chiang Mai is like going to NY City from Anchorage.