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.