YMCA School

I've started back to Thai classes at the YMCA and this time I am going for conversation in the mornings and reading/writing in the afternoons so don't have so much time just now. There's a real need to study in between. This is just such a hard language to learn and my old grey head doesn't cooperate as quickly as it used to. There's 44 consonants, 32 vowels, tone marks and various symbols for punctuation as they don't have any commas or full stops. I am not planning to get as far as reading but do want to understand notices, names of places etc. Our teachers all look like teenagers with long black hair, they dress in little children's dresses and wear backless heeled shoes that go clack clack up and down the stairs. Three of the teachers are on the right.

Since many of the students are only used to "hole in the ground" toilets these signs are considered necessary in many western loos.

Thanksgiving Nov. 09

A group of us decided to go to the Shangri-La hotel for American Thanksgiving Dinner. It wasn't very traditional with sushi, chef's cooking pasta to order, a buffet, pizza etc. There was a turkey but regretfully none of my favourite stuffing. Still they did cook some brussel sprouts and the desserts were lovely.
Below picture is taken with a friend from Singapore who lives here permanently. Her name is June and she makes lovely jewellery and loves to dance. Her two children are beautiful and go to an international school called Prem. Joyce was there as well and here she is with her good friend and "daughter" Lisa who is working on her PHd here.

D2 with Pauline and Tony

My friend's the Botrills are back for the winter in Chiang Mai, they live between England, the States and Tony works often in the Soloman Islands. It's always lovely to get our group together again. They arrived just before an outdoor charity event at the very modern D-2 hotel so this is the three of us enjoying the cocktails.

Joyce's 82nd Birthday

Joyce is a lovely American lady who settled here in Chiang Mai some years ago and lives alone but has lots of friends. She certainly knows how to enjoy life and what better place to do it when one can have a friendly tuk-tuk driver to pull up right outside your door and bring you to luncheons, dinners, shopping, parties etc and either wait for you or return at an appointed hour and all that for little more than a euro. Many here go for a daily massage costing around 2 euros for an hour and a pedicure, manicure is one of the usual weekly appointments. Many older Thai ladies go to the market in a Samlor or Rickshaw propelled by a wiry older man on a bike. They look very graceful and slow. One can imagine the client and driver having a long term relationship like in "Driving Miss Daisy" In the group picture Joyce is wearing a long wig for fun and we hardly recognised her.
Age is revered in Thailand and there is a very international society living here as well as tourists. There is a huge selection of classical performance as well as jazz, R&B and it is all affordable. The Thais love fun and celebrate every possible occasion with laughter, dance, fireworks and of course food.


The picture of Joyce is with her friend Peter and the one underneath is Peter's longstanding friend Coco who is a beautiful ladyboy, great fun and very kind.