Eclipse!

A few weeks ago we heard that there was going to be an eclipse over Thailand, so we were excited! We planned ahead & managed to come across a funny little store selling hardware & some welding supplies. After some tricky sign language & miscellaneous english words, we were handed 2 lenses for welding hoods. We were all smiles & could see that the three Thai ladies behind the counter were highly amused by our wanting to buy them!

I checked the NASA website & learned that the Annular Eclipse* of Jan 26, 2009, was just going to skim Thailand at 10 am, so the other morning, we got ready. It was a cool morning, so it was nice to sit in the sun at 9:30 after breakfast & wait for it to begin. 10:00 am came & went with no eclipse, so I went back to the NASA site & read the fine print. Ah! convert to UT - Universal time to get the proper viewing schedule - 5 pm as it turns out. 

OK, at least we didn't miss it.

At 4:45 we dropped everything & rushed to the roof of the hotel, welder's glass in hand. I took this picture of the view to the west to see how the light would change during the peak.

The glass was great, our eyes were protected. 

(That's the Thai flag behind Sada.)

The eclipse was, well, not very dramatic! It covered about one eighth of the sun & made no difference whatsoever in the quality of daylight. It was cool to watch it tho - a good time was had by all. 

I, of course took some pictures with my trusty little camera - thru the welder's glass & here's my best pic. See the weird little ghosty sun in the northwest corner? Evidently, that's a mirror reflection of the sun showing the little eclipse bite. No idea why the real sun doesn't show it. Maybe someone can tell me.

For a much better look of what we saw, check online or try this link to someone else's blog:

http://www.thaiphotoblogs.com/index.php?blog=5&title=solar-eclipse-in-thailand&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

*An Annular Eclipse is like a Total Eclipse, except the moon is closer to the earth & altho the moon covers the sun, a fiery ring of the sun still shows at the edge.

AND, on July 22 of this year, there's going to be a Total Eclipse here & in most of Asia. Our welder's glass will stay behind for our hotel friends to use to check it out. We, however will be back in Alaska by then, enjoying another natural phenomenon - the midnight sun!

An Historic Wonderful Day! Obamanos!

We joined the rest of the world watching the Inauguration of Barack Omaba as the 44th President of the United States last night! We are 12 hour from Washington DC, so we stayed up LATE watching the events & turned on the TV again in the morning to watch Barack & Michelle dancing & celebrating at the Balls.

I'll never get enough of those smiles!

Here are some local Thai papers with coverage of the big event.

What a wonderful day for us, the country & the world!

We Back-Up to Our RAYA ISLAND Visit

Back in November, when we were staying on Phuket Island in the south of Thailand, we took a little side trip to Raya Island (or as Liz put it, we took a vacation from our vacation). I want to go back & recap that trip.

We were driven to the southeast part of the island in a minivan that picked up several others along the way from other beach towns. Viewing those other places made us realize what a peaceful place our Bang Tao Beach hotel was & how lovely our wide empty beach was!

From the minivan we transfered to a 'fast-boat' that carried us & 20 or so others (mostly day-trippers) first to Coral Island for an hour of snorkeling or para-sailing if you dared, and then to Raya Island where we were dropped off at a busy beautiful beach. We were met by a young man who took us to our bungalow hotel which we reached by hiking across the bright, hot beach, up a very long, steep path to the top of the ridge, and down to the beach on the other side. Our bungalow was up on the hillside, very rustic, but quiet & peaceful. 

Our tiny porch was just big enough for 2 deck chairs & a little table.

We slept under a mosquito net at night,

and had a very basic, but adequate bathroom, including a toilet with no plumbing! You pour 2 or 3 scoops of water into the toilet to flush, a very simple efficient system!

These are the steps down to the beach &  the little restaurant where we had our meals,

And this is the nice shady restaurant where we would eat overlooking the fantastic beach!

There were a few other people around, but it was incredibly quiet & beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen sand so white!

We stayed for 2 nights & enjoyed the peaceful setting, but then it was time to go. We retraced our steps over the hill & back down the steep path to the beach on the other side. 

It was a very hot day and the beach was busy. We had to wait a couple of hours for the boat to pick us up so we rented a couple of beach beds under an umbrella & entertained ourselves by people-watching. This lovely bride was being photographed by her new husband. He encouraged her to splash around a bit & it was fun to watch her pose. But then a wave caught her, she got completely soaked & she nearly lost her dress! She kept her sense of humor tho & I hope they got some good pictures!

We headed into the shade for a little lunch while we waited for our boat. See the floating dock? Walking on it was a new experience - but the only way to get back onto the boat!

From the boat, as we approached Phuket, we could see this huge white Buddha on top of the hill. We enjoyed our little 'get-away' & had a great time!

So What's Sada Been Up To?

Since I'm the one with the camera, I often take pics of Sada! 

Here he is eating breakfast - our hotel offers a 'Siamese Rice Soup' & we order it veggie style with tofu & add lots of hot stuff - yum!

Napping by the pool in the sun is one of his favorite things!

Actually, napping anywhere is his favorite thing,

We often wander thru the street markets - one day we found the mother lode of cashews!

At this market, we finally found the fruit we were looking for - passionfruit, or Lilikoi in Hawaiian. Here in Thailand they call it something like Otuklo.

It's the weirdest, coolest fruit ever!

We often visit the Buddhist Wats on our walks. This one was beautiful & seemed to be dedicated to all sorts of animals - lots of misc animal statues around, including one of Donald Duck!

This visit was around New Year's when offerings of many kinds are made to the monks. The pretty banners contain cash & New Year's messages.

We often have lunch on our balcony overlooking the pool. Looks like we're having papaya, bananas & cashews today. 

Massage... Deng works right here at the hotel, she's great! 

An hour massage costs 200B - $5.75.

We spend a lovely amount of time reading! Here Sada's about to finish 'Sense & Sensibility' - we both enjoyed it! Did I mention he finished 'War & Peace'? It took about 6 weeks, minus a week for coffee detox. 

Now we're working on 'The Raj Quartet'.

Here he is inspecting some old ceramic roof tiles on a house in the Lanna Traditional Homes Museum.

The Ping River is a little east of the center of Chiang Mai. 

It's one slow moving river!

We found this amazing vegetarian restaurant after a long hot walk one day. The iced teas were incredible - mine was chrysanthemum & his was lemon grass. The rest of the lunch was superb, we can't wait to go back!

Computer work is a new thing in Sada's life - he's having fun with it! Mostly word processing so far & a little internet.

Sudoku too, can you believe it?

We had some Indian food for dinner at one of the evening walking markets & got a couple of these soft white buns too. It wasn't until we looked at the picture that we saw that they look just like breasts!

So, I guess this has turned out to be a sort of 'day in the life' for us here in Chiang Mai. We're having a wonderful time!

My Haircut & Best Shampoo Everrrrr!

I had my hair cut the other day - I chose a little storefront shop on the main street near our hotel. As you can see from their signboards, they do a lot of massages here too. 

My haircutter, 'Mem', was a tiny little woman & didn't speak much english, but I thought she asked if I wanted a haircut & shampoo, and I said yes, I did.  So she sat me down & started by powdering the hair around my ears & neck, I thought, oh well I guess we didn't agree on that shampoo after all, well whatever.  I used a lot of sign language trying to describe the kind of short choppy cut I like & pointed to a picture on the wall and she did a great job!

Then she motioned for me to follow her to the little dimly lit back room, pointed to a strange raised bench & said, 'Shampoo'. Ah ha! I climbed up & figured how to get settled. She fitted a kind of rubbery plastic collar with a pillow that was connected to the bench around my neck & I was ready for the shampoo of my life!

Well, it was very sudsy! The foam was flying! Having someone shampoo your hair is always pretty great, but Mem was really working out! My hair got squeaky clean as did my neck, throat & ears - yup she washed in & all around my ears! She rinsed that out & applied something else and then massaged my head for a while ...ahhhhh. Then she rinsed that out, used a towel on my hair to dry it a bit and massaged some more thru the towel. Next came a face massage! Oh, that was lovely. Then she put something else on my hair that made my scalp tingle & smelled a little like cloves. Yup, she massaged that into my hair, scalp, neck & ears for a nice long time. 

Wow - my whole head sparkled!!

Somehow, I managed to get back to my feet & back to the haircut chair. Mem used a blow drier & had some fun with a gob of hair goo, making my hair stick up all over the place - which it pretty much does anyway. And then she massaged my neck & shoulders for a while & I was done, I floated home feeling very clean & shiny. The price was 150 Baht, about $4.50. 

What a great, wild experience, thanks Mem!

New Year's Eve in Chiang Mai

SAWADEE PI MAI!!  HAPPY  NEW  YEAR!!

New Year's Eve in Chiang Mai was an incredible experience for us. After 23 years of hosting NYE celebrations in Fairbanks - with our candle-filled house looking beautiful, bonfire roaring outside, ice lanterns & fireworks, kids in snowsuits & boots jumping on the trampoline, it was an oddly emotional thing for us to be here & not there with our friends & family seeing in the New Year. 

We missed you all!

Soon after I finished posting my pre-new year's blog - about 9:15, we went out onto our hotel balcony, 4th floor, & saw the sky dotted with gorgeous floating fire lanterns. We turned & said to each other 'Let's get out there!' Loud music was blasting from the Gate stage, firecrackers of all sizes were popping constantly & the crowd was jazzed as we headed down the lane from our hotel & into the fray - the excitement was intoxicating! People were streaming into the center of the party from all directions, but we headed the other way, down to an area where lots of people were buying & lighting the lanterns, and patiently waiting for them to fill with hot air before releasing them to the night sky.

Couples, friends & family groups were sending off  lanterns with their wishes for the New Year.

As some lanterns went up, they got caught in a tree or an electric wire. The crowd would groan, call out encouragement 'C'mon! Keep going!' and then cheer & whoop as it broke free & continued to rise into the sky. Such an enchanting sight!

Some lanterns had the addition of a sparkly firework that was lit at the last moment as it was released, giving the lantern a fiery tale as it headed skyward.

The lanterns are so lovely as they fill with hot air & then float up into the sky! Throughout the evening, we saw literally thousands & thousands of them being sent up into the darkness - what a beautiful sight! I'm having fun taking videos with my little camera  - this one came out great! I wish I could have filmed the whole evening - everything was so interesting & beautiful! Sorry this is sideways tho - I'll try to remember not to do that again!

Eventually, we wandered towards the crowd-filled Gate plaza to see what was happening there. Costumed people were spilling out of bars drinking beer on the street, fireworks were for sale to young & old...

Now, here's a scary sight, yikes!

The road on the far side of the Gate plaza was closed off for the night & the whole area was filled with people! Four huge double-sided projection screens made for easy viewing of the entertainment on the big stage.

The 3 story Starbucks overlooks the plaza & is a good spot to watch the action.

We were carried in on a small rivulet of people moving thru the crowd & eventually got to the far side. Along the way we watched some of this beautiful scene - I think they were acting out a Thai folk tale.

So many people & no Porta-potties... 

then we noticed these Toilet-trucks!

At 11:30 we decided to head back to our hotel - we'd heard that the roof is the perfect place to be for the countdown & to watch the firework displays. On the way we found this old gal again! Remember her Christmas wheels? Check out this chopper - ever seen so many studs? This thing has lights on it like you wouldn't believe when you see it coming down the street!! Boy, is she a piece of work - we're dying to know her story!

Up on the roof, the sight was just incredible! We were overlooking the stage from behind & altho we couldn't see the show, we could see the strobe lights flashing, clouds billowing from the smoke machines & lots of spotlights illuminating the whole area. Firecrackers were popping & screaming from all over the place, & the fire lanterns were rising & drifting in the air currents. We had a very wide view that couldn't be beat & it was spectacular! 

We were joined by a group of friends from the hotel - here's Ellie preparing to let her lantern go...

And then, the fireworks started! Wow - they are as hard to take pictures of as they are to describe! They were rising into the sky & bursting into bloom from areas all around the city - from rooftops of the big hotels, parks along the river, along the moat & really... anywhere & everywhere, and it went on & on! 

Our friends pulled us into their circle, we crossed our arms, held hands & sang 'Auld Lang Syne'. It was sweet & lovely & very touching!

Very close to us, some very big fireworks went up, exploded into huge bursts of layers of color & pattern, then the BOOM! the report that you could feel enter the top of your head & zing down to your toes - so wild & exciting - we were all screaming!

Being on the street watching so many people send off their lanterns, getting caught up in the huge crowd & watching all the activity from our rooftop spot overlooking the city was a wonderful, fantastic, overwhelming experience, a New Year's Eve like no other, full of lovely sights, craziness & wild excitement.

We love our parties at home with 50 or 60 friends, but this time we partied with 10 - 15,000 people - and this celebration started on Dec 25, crescendoed New Year's Eve & continued on thru January 4th! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO US ALL!! 2009! WOW!