Chiang Rai

First things first.  While waiting to board the plane from Bangkok on our way to Chiang Rai...we heard the usual "Those person needing extra time to board, Parents with children, our Premier members and Monks can now board."  Monks?  Really?  Why would monks need more time to board?  So I ambled to the front desk and asked about boarding early, along with my assistant, Ms. Moon, as a Pastor in the Church of Universal Enlightenment...I have a genuine internet certificate to show for it.  I couldn't believe it...they said no!...to me...Pastor Ed.  So I did what Monks and all Pastors worth there collection plates would do...I blessed them  and went on my merry way.  I noticed they don't pay for ferries in Bangkok either.

Chiang Rai is in the northern part of Thailand.  It has the same types of Markets as the rest of SE Asia..but we especially enjoyed the Saturday Night Walking Market with it's huge line of goods up one side of street...for 5 blocks...then back down the other side.  There was a huge....I'm talking gargantuan...food court in the middle which sat 400-500 people with somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 food stalls around the outside...and dancing and music in the middle.  From fried crickets and larvae to fish omelets to pork satay to squid curry...whatever their tastes, they have something for everyone.  Some of the Thai music sounds not unlike someone torturing a cat with one of those instruments a dentist uses to remove something stuck between your back two teeth...alone with some organ music thrown in to set the mood.  But some of it was pretty good, modern music...with live musicians.

This market....well, all markets in Thailand sell T-shirts.  The favorites are Kurt Cobain and/or Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, and Elvis...all of which have met the big Maestro in the sky except Elvis.  Somebody heard him covering Bruce Springsteens' "Tunnel of Love" down one of the market side streets in a local Karoke bar....which happens to be one of the more credible sightings I've heard...just sayin'.....

All for now. Ed out.