Smooth Operators of Construction

While I will never be one to disparage the necessity of OSHA and safety laws, I will say that their restraints and regulations have created a very sanitized appearance of construction within the western world. Stashed behind corrugated metal walls or cordoned off with hundreds of Jersey barriers, the process tends to be merely glimpsed. In contrast, construction in SE Asia tends to be very much in-your-way and anything goes.

While the country has been brought to a standstill in so many ways, it is construction that has been blazing an all-hands-on-deck charge; rice paddies covered by red clay dirt in preparation for housing or retail space to road after road decimated for a new smattering of concrete or asphalt. 

Throughout our onsite school days, we spent many lunch hours munching our sandwiches and watching a project being constructed in the government complex next to us. Therefore, we spent ample time observing and discussing the very wild world of construction in these parts. 

It is common to see flip flop clad feet waggling from beneath massive machinery and rather dangerous tasks completed while precariously dangling from high elevations. Chainsaws are most often involved in the high-level jobs.

Men nonchalantly smoking a cigarette while perched on top of a massive water tank or concrete barriers or a full load of rebar or a towering pile of grain bags is practically an every day, multiple times a day sighting.

Or, a personal favorite: the bamboo ladders leaned again a wild swarm of live electrical wires. 

An interesting aspect of having a motorbike has been our up close encounters with road work machinery. When we started honing our bike skills on Samui, our friend bestowed upon us sage advice: Let the Thais do what the Thais are going to do. Since then, we have even added the appendage of: Follow what the Thais do (within legal reason.) Therefore, Zach has become a professional weaver on deconstructed roads. No road is every truly shut down in Thailand when under construction, which means we have had to dodge a convoy of road rollers and circumvent a milling machine dumping its discharge into an idling dump truck. We have been idling so close to a grader for greetings to be shared with the thanaka-smeared cheeks of the woman operator (side note: most construction workers are Burmese, nearly half being female.)

Of course, to a western eye, none of this is deemed safe. However, I contest that in a world without regulation, unspoken understandings and loose ideas of boundaries emerge. We follow the Thais. We have learned when to go for it, when to take a side soi for an immediately needed detour, and how to zig and zag around these impressive machines. As the passenger during most of these trips, I have really enjoyed having a close encounter with a key component of modern day infrastructure. Yet, as you can tell, I have not taken any pictures during these adventures because someone has to be the lookout for rogue excavators. This is the safe way. 

Evening Walks

Zach and I have been very diligent these past two months to walk at least 5K everyday. Some days that takes the form of an adventure through a wat, a waterfall hike, a night of football games, or a night market ramble. On other days, it means a stroll around the village. We mapped out three routes among our rice paddies; each varying in length should we have a time constraint, need all the steps, or just need a stroll to get out of the house. 

(In full honesty, there have been a couple of days where the walk to the pool was enough for the day.)

These late afternoon/evening jaunts have been very good for us in so many ways, but one highlight has been getting to experience and see the flow of life around us. (Really, this is something I love in each place we live.) The routines we witness - the elderly man and grandbaby who putter around half of our route in their e-trike, the bustle or the closing of our local market, the village kids who know recognize us and trail us on their bikes or yell hellos! as we pass. We also get to see the changes - the rice field recently harvested, the house with an extra car meaning a visitor, or the being-built home on the corner which gained another wall today. A big highlight in daily changes is the flora. We are in the season of abundant blooming and the colors of nature are spectacular right now thanks to an abundance of rain earlier in the month and the recent hot, hot, hot temps. 

The frangipani tree is by far my favorite flowering tropical tree, but I have a couple of close seconds: the ratchaphruek and the kapok (with the peachish-orange blooms.) The ratchaphruek, or aptly nicknamed the golden shower tree, is stunning when in bloom. Obviously, I am smitten with the vibrant yellow, but it is overall a gorgeous natural thing. Apparently a panel of Thai dignitaries felt the same for in 2001 it was selected as Thailand's national flower. I state all this for the context of saying that many golden shower trees can be seen on our walking route. One in particular I have been watching intently for it is a dominating feature on a street corner. It is majestic in size and it has been delightful to see its journey into blooming. 

This picture was snapped seven days ago...

This was tonight....

The amazing thing is that I do not think it is finished yet! I also recognize that my phone camera does a paltry job of capturing its beauty. Nonetheless, this natural gem makes me pause every single walk. I do believe that is what is so endearing about nature.

Lalita Cafe

Our early years in China were a barren coffee shop land. The opening of a Starbucks in Zhanjiang is imprinted on my memory reel - as are the subsequent days where Zach and I sat by a window, sipping our respective beverages, while being stared at and photographed by the locals. A true foreigners in their natural habitat moment. Ha! Oh, but those hour-long bus trips and weird paparazzi moments were so worth it for a familiar smell and a comfortable chair. 

My last jaunt to a Chinese Starbucks was a fifteen-minute walk from my flat and it was not the only coffee shop within a kilometer. The world of cozy coffee hubs was exploding in the adopted motherland. 

Thus, in a weird flip of life, we are bewildered to have landed in the manna-from-heaven-level, or rather an overabundance, of coffee shops in Chiang Rai. It is not a one on a street corner description, but rather about three per city block explanation. We have found ourselves questing to try as many as we can, but often find ourselves retreating to our few favorites because the choices are overwhelming. Plus, when a favorite is found, it takes on the coziness in familiarity one usually desires in such a spot (hi, Nanaba!). But, when I spied the top of a waterfall from a newly constructed establishment and word 'cafe' appeared on the sign out front, an investigative visit had to be done. We even got Jules to meet us there.

A cover charge (60 baht) for a cafe is rather unusual, but we learned later in our visit that should food or beverages be purchased, the cover charge is deducted from the bill amount. Yet, the shock of paying an entrance fee was understood after stepping into a transformed spot of concrete. Mist wafted between gigantic trees hosting lush ferns and cascading orchids. 

A stream flowed from the entrance toards the gigantic waterfalls, which were a mere backdrop to a recreated rainforest Zen garden. The stream branched in different directions towards the buildings, turning into ponds for koi. The buildings, which framed the property in a U-shape, seemed to be an extension of the forest itself, levels and walkways mimicking treehouse access. One could sip and nibble beside the gushing waterfalls or among the vegetation.

Perched among the waterfall pool were the local deities soothing their weary wings with water. Some had even shrugged off their feathery appendages for the moment. (I still think JRR Tolkien's elves were inspired by Southeast Asian deities.) Other art forms found throughout the premise included waterwheels, parasols, rock cairns, and smaller figurines.

I cannot exclaim the food and drink are absolutely amazing, but I can say the setting is divine and the company was everything a person wants in a crew on an investigative jaunt into a new cafe - which ended up nearly being a completely different ecosystem with Thai tea. 

Unique Statues of Chiang Rai

There are a number of things stereotypically Thailand - mango sticky rice, pad thai, elephants, bustling night markets, and gorgeous beaches. However, being local for over a year now, I feel Thailand is missing an opportunity to be a tourist hub for quirky statues. While it does go against the local creed of conformity, things that stick out definitely garner attention. There is a tourist niche for the strange, odd, and unusual of the world. While boasting of an elephant sighting in Thailand is cliche, there are a mere few who can flaunt hugging a brontosaurus statue or mimicking a pterodactyl in front of a government building.

Though, if a dinosaur installation is not that thrilling, then a couple skips across the road brings one to the silly frog pod. 

The delight of this compilation is that it is a new feature to the area. We watched the road be built and decor be placed from our school; though, in full disclosure, we are not sure if the frogs watched the process as well. They seem a bit aged, so either they watched the transformation before them or were moved from another location.

About a month later, while investigating where a road went, we stumbled across another sculpture assembly. It was a doozy and truly encapsulated the idea of eclectic. 

The flowery fairies of sport were an odd sight, especially with awkward arm angles and a flat (carved from stone) football. 

The alternative Monsters, Inc cast members did not make the final cut for the movie, but rather found a home in the northern tropics perched outside an eerily empty building. 

Next to them is what I suspect is the local version of a Mad Hatter's tea party. Thais love a good horror story, which I why I think the hands are missing. 

However, the quintet of elephant entertainers lightened the mood with their colorful costumes, sassy stances, and joyful expressions. That drummer is definitely in the jam zone. 

As much as I giggle when I find these things, I am grateful for them. In a land of a bajillion naga, buddha, deity, teapot, and tribal children statues (which are so cute!), it is the unusual that reminds one that concrete or plaster can come in a wide, very wide, variety of forms. 

Unintentional Blog Hiatus

Songkran sunrise

Hi.

It has been a while since we have met here.

It is completely me. 

I had a touch of writer's block. I neglected my camera's SD card. I got overwhelmed in the amount of stories to tell with all our shenanigans. We finished teaching/grading, but were stuck in an office for no reason, which was soul sucking. We did finally escape for holiday; which is when I am my worst at writing because sitting to type is unappealing when there are things to investigate, pools to lay by, and books to read. We are also in our yearly what's next mode after dealing with a rough school (this means we are job searching.) Tossed into the mix was a jaunt to Chiang Mai for a change of scenery, a lot of video chatting with friends, plotting a summer trip with our parents, a before-sunrise morning to celebrate Songkran downtown, a lot of 5K walks among the village, meeting friends at cafes, a couple of bonfire nights, and tossing a bajillion bumbling beetles out of our bungalow (a bonus bug being a vicious, gigantic roach we took on tonight in the kitchen - it was a tag team effort - which got squashed rather than tossed.) 

I also decided to spend my evenings finishing a quilting project. I love making quilts for friends and family, but every so often I plot a quilt for personal use. I stumbled across the Turkish lantern quilt pattern about five years ago and my attempt has been in piecing stage since then, spanning continents and house moves. A couple of nights ago, I finally finished hand-piecing the beauty. I am so excited and proud of myself - it was a labor of love and long nights. 

So, while my blog hiatus was not planned, I think it was needed. I am ready to return to writing about life once again. 

Welcome back to all of us.