Settling into a Routine

It's Thursday morning here now and we are enjoying the days. After an unusually busy weekend, we are settling into the rhythm of our life here.

We are on the sixth floor of Smith Suites and are very happy to have a separate bedroom and a large living room. (Last year we had a studio.) Again our windows mostly face south (one to the east) so we get a lot of sun. We mostly keep our curtains shut during the day. The temperatures are pleasant -- it gets down to 60°F overnight and about 90°F at midday. We have A/C and a fan we bought last year, but we've only used the fan a few times.

Sunrise from our balcony

Sunset from our balcony

We have our regular activities:  Dan plays pickle ball three mornings a week at the nearby park and takes Thai lessons about three days a week. He is studying a lot. He also takes frequent long walks in the afternoon. I go to tai chi class M-F and swim every afternoon (the pool water is colder than the pool I swim in at home, but I do it!). We both had our first massage on Tuesday and will go about twice a week. The greatest change from last year is that two of our grandchildren are staying in Chiang Mai. On Saturday they came to our place for a visit and we had dinner together. Wednesday we rode the scooter to their part of town and saw the condo Billy and Jasmine are staying in. Seth is in a different place and actually has two condos. One he rents out on Air B&B for some income. I hope we'll be able to get together about twice a week.

Seth, Jasmine and Billy at the restaurant

My Mussaman curry with sweet potato naan

Walking back to their apartment, we passed a roti vendor and couldn't resist having one. This is a thin layer of stretchy dough fried with egg and banana inside. It is folded and cut, then dribbled with chocolate syrup and a bit of sweetened condensed milk. We had two to share among the five of us and it was more than enough!

Roti maker

Restaurant where we ate

On Monday night we had our first dinner back at the Doo Dee, a nearby restaurant we liked a lot last year. The servers remembered us and it was good to be recognized.

They house-label their bottled water

My first pad thai of the season; I took half home for lunch the next day

Dan's caesar salad with chicken

Sunday Afternoon Outing

My last post finished as we were ready to leave Ming's home and head out. I took a few more photos in the garden before we left. I like the first -- hanging CDs in the tree to try to keep the birds away from the fruit.

Her father had a meeting, so just four of us took off in their 4-door pickup. First we headed northeast of the city to a farmers' market that specializes in organic food. They bought a variety of food, fruit and snacks. We enjoyed looking through the market, although we were pretty late (just after noon) and most were packing up.

This vendor had lots of basketry woven items.

The lone food vendor I got a picture of.

From there we headed out of town to the south and east. They wanted to show us a hot springs spa. There are quite a few in the area, and Ming's mother wanted to show us one that wasn't crowded.

The Sippa Spa was lovely. It had a large grounds. There were tent campers in one area and they offer small bungalows for people to stay in.

After a short walk, we arrived at the hot springs. Outside there are three pools in descending order of temperature. The one closest to us was far to hot to even consider -- it might have been 180°. The second was hot and the third was lukewarm (just right for me!).

First, we were taken into a private bathing area. There were four rooms in one hut, so we were all in there. You can't see from this quite how large it is, but I easily could lie back nearly full length. The taps were incredibly strong; it only took a short time to fill the tub. You could add hot or cold water to regulate the temperature. They gave us some mineral liquid soap that was wonderful, even on my sensitive skin. After lounging in the bath a while, we went into the outside pools. Dan and I didn't have suits with us, so they gave us two towels each, one to wrap and one to dry. It felt a bit odd getting into the water with a thick wet towel around me, but it worked!

When we were finished, we saw this lovely outdoor massage pavilion.

Some water to drink after the dip in the springs.

The next stop was a handicrafts area so Ming could pick up some gifts for people back in the States. It was right across from the umbrella factory, so Dan and I went there. Here we three are standing in front of the entrance.

There was a circuit outside the building where we could see the workers making the various parts of the umbrellas. These are made of paper that is treated so that it is thickened and waterproof. The insides are made of bamboo.

They are all sizes; here are some of the small ones.

Decorative painter working

The shop was huge, with all kinds of umbrellas, fans, and even strings of lights.

From the umbrella factory, we headed back to town. We broke into the snacks in the car and finished off a lot of them! I'm sorry I forgot to take photos, but I found these on the web.

The first are very thin and crispy, slightly sweet. Easy to eat a lot!

We had three types of Thai jelly sweets. Again, they aren't too sweet, slightly coconut flavored, and tasty. We ate the blue ones! In the photo, you can see the layers. Evidently they are fairly difficult to make and take a lot of time, each layer cooked on top of the previous one.

What a Weekend!

At the end of my last post, I said we were heading out to get SIM cards for our phones. There is a huge electronics super store within walking distance, so we went there. They had two companies for phone service, but neither of them had the size SIM we needed. On our way back, we stopped in at IDI and scheduled our first massages for Tuesday.

About 4:00, Dan headed out on the scooter to the Airport Plaza Mall, where there are many phone shops and a good likelihood of finding the right size SIM. I had my first swim and, soon after 5:00, I walked over to Chiang Mai Gate, where we were meeting up with our grandchildren, who have been staying in condos over on the northwest side of the old city. They showed up on the dot of 5:30 and we headed back to our apartment. I made some fresh lime sodas and we caught up on what they have been doing. Dan got back at 6:00 with the phones all set up and greeted everyone. We walked over to the Blues Bar, a small restaurant nearby and had dinner together. More visiting after supper and then they took off to catch a song tao (pickup truck taxi) back to their place. We are looking forward to getting together often!!

Last summer we had a young Thai woman, Ming, staying in our basement while she finished up her program at Merry Lea Environmental Center, an arm of Goshen College. She moved to Vermont for a job in food systems with Americorps in August. She was able to come home for the holidays, and we were invited to her parents' home for brunch on Sunday. (We first met them when they came to our house in the summer.) Her parents are very interesting. Her father is a political scientist, mostly retired professor. Her mother was a professor of city planning and is an avid environmentalist. She designed their home, in a quiet neighborhood near the university.

Built into the home are the fixtures from the mother's grandmother's tailoring shop. She was Chinese and had a very large and popular shop with a wide range of fabrics and tailoring services. I would have loved to see it! As we entered the living room, we saw this large standup desk that was used for accepting cash from customers. I don't know if you can see that there is a gap in the railing in the center where the customers could hand over their payment.

The carved wood decoration above the doors is also from the shop. In the background of this photo, you can see some of the fabric cupboards, now bookshelves, that are in the study. They are very tall, necessitating extra-high ceilings in the Thai-style house.

The living room also has an old howdah, or elephant saddle, that two people would ride on.

The dining room is also lined with the shelves. They have a lot of books! Here the family is at the table.

We had a wonderful meal. These dishes were already on the table. Clockwise from the top left are shredded dried pork, pickled cabbage, pickled duck and chicken eggs, special chickpea and peanut condiments and another crunchy topping. The cucumber and tomato dish is centered with Chinese-style fish sausage, very delicious.

This stir-fry dish has tofu, mushrooms, and several other ingredients.

My plate has a mix of rice (purple and two others) surrounded by some of the dishes shown above. We also had a noodle dish I forgot to photograph.

Three fruits -- starfruit, peeled guava, and green mango.

 We toured around the house after eating and I liked this shelf of (mostly) pottery in the kitchen.

Both parents used to paint a lot of watercolors and they are in many rooms of the house. In later years, Ming's grandmother took up watercolors, too, to help her with the loss of her husband.

After lunch we toured the garden. But this is getting long, so I won't put up all the pictures, just this pot of lotus blossoms.

We had a wonderful visit and so enjoyed spending time with Ming and her family. We thought that was it, but then Ming and her mother wanted to take us out for the afternoon. More about that tomorrow!

Sawadee-kaa

...hello and welcome to Thailand! We had a quiet last day in Seoul, going out into Itaewon for soup for lunch and doing some laundry. About 2:00 we took a taxi to the Seoul Center station. We bought our tickets for the express train to the airport and checked out bags and got our boarding passes. What an organized, convenient way to do it! We bid farewell to Anjali and Domingos, but know we will see them in just two months on our way home.

The train was fast and comfortable. I enjoyed watching the scenery fly by. Our flight left at 6:45 and got into Chiang Mai at 10:45. It is only a two-hour time difference from Seoul, and a 12-hour time difference from Goshen. It took a while to get through immigration (we were surprised at the huge lines) and wait for a taxi. There wasn't a long line of taxis, but there were quite a few people. The taxis dribbled in one or two at a time. We got to Smith Residence about midnight (although it felt later!). They said we had to stay there one night, as there is no arrangement for getting into Smith Suites so late. That was fine and we were glad to be in a comfortable bed. This morning they moved our luggage over and we got settled into our one-bedroom apartment in the same building we were in last year. Dan went out to rent a motor scooter and do some other business and I went to the local Tesco Lotus Express, where I got our groceries. We had a light lunch and now are heading out to get some SIM cards for our phones.

As we walked to a coffee shop this morning, we passed the LaPetite restaurant at which we ate frequently last year, and had a short chat with the owner. It was nice to be recognized.

Oh yes, we must get massage appointments soon!

More coming later...

Happy New Year!

While many of you are still celebrating New Year's Eve, we are already up and drinking tea to start off 2016. we've had a wonderful time here in Seoul with Anjali and Domingos, full of new tastes and experiences. This afternoon we head for the airport and will be in Chiang Mai late tonight.

Yesterday morning we headed to the Korean War Museum, walking distance from the main gate. It is a stunning building and the displays were very well done.

The area outside was filled with tanks, airplanes and other types of vehicles.

Outside the main entrance is a very large pavilion. Around it is a memorial to every country that sent forces from the UN to assist the South Koreans. Each pillar shows how many soldiers were sent and how many were injured or died. I think there were 42 countries, with the US having the largest number.

Inside the entrance was this large drum, specially made following the war to symbolize the strength of the country.

There is a large quiet space that is a memorial to all those who died. There are two books on display, one listing the Korean war dead and the other all the UN forces.

There were candles along the side walls. Some were lit. It appeared to me to be an area where one could come and light a candle in memory of someone who died. The center of the room had a large infinity-edge fountain. People were quiet and respectful.

We went through a number of display areas that told the history of the war. I learned a lot I had not known. The North Koreans met with the Chinese and the Russians to plan their attack in June 1950. The South Koreans were taken by surprise and the North Koreans quickly took Seoul. They had a small force and would have been totally overrun if it were not for the assistance of the UN. 

The Koreans love photo ops! This display of Korea's famous island was near the entrance.

From the Maple City (Goshen) to the Maple Tree (Korean barbecue restaurant)! We had made a reservation for our first Korean barbecue. 

The decor was interesting and beautiful. A row of birch trees stood along the center. Several walls were made of green bottles from soju, a beer-like drink.

This is just a display of the condiments! So many I couldn't begin to describe them all.

Our server took care of putting things on the barbecue. In the picture above, you can see the charcoal brazier on the table. There were long copper pipes hanging from the ceiling that had exhaust fans to remove the smoke. (You can also see them in the photo of the walls above.) We had three kinds of meat and shrimp, as well as a plate of vegetables. The first beef was brought and put on the cooker. When it was ready, our server cut it up with scissors and put the pieces on the sides so we could eat them. The beef and pork could be put on a leaf and wrapped up with some of the condiments.

Our server brought the shrimp with the heads on, but cut them off to cook. They were gigantic!

The last meat, bulgogi, was thinly sliced marinated beef. It took a different kind of cooker.

We finished with a bowl of kimchee stew, a spicy soup. The purple rice on the side could be added into the hot bowl.

What a wonderful way to finish off 2015. Best wishes to all of you for a peaceful and joyous new year.