Tranquil in Thailand – Chiang Mai – July to Nov 2019

Living tranquil in Thailand is now more about “everyday life” – these are the ordinary things that everyone usually does or experiences. Being semi-retired and enjoying Thailand brings both a routine, normality mixed with busyness and the unexpected. It seems that time has slipped away in this relaxed life and it has been 5 months since my last personal blog post.

In our daily life, we see, hear, smell, taste and sense lots of different things that heighten the joy and awareness of life. I have decided that so much of our life is now more habitual and that it is challenging to share new and interesting aspects. Maybe this is the reason for procrastinating about my blogging, coupled with the fact that I do post activities on Facebook.  However, I still wanted to share a sampling of our everyday life over past 5 months.

Activities

Australia Family Reunion Trip – This was a celebration of my twins 40th birthday, getting all the family together including my son from the USA in one place for some catch up time & visiting with the grand kids. It was a mix of casual family times & events, dinners out celebrating at Aqua Dinning, Milson’s Point & Hugo’s Manly, taking in the sites and exploring Sydney highlights. Adventures included Taranga Zoo, Bondi, harbor cruising, the Rocks, Ghost Tour, Blue Mountains & Manly to name a few. I also managed to catch up with a few previous work colleagues. It was a busy 11 days in Sydney but a great fun time. It’s just the plane ride each way that I really don’t enjoy anymore.

Lamphun Province Trip – we enjoyed a day out exploring Lamphun Province involving late breakfast in Lamphun, temple visit for a lantern festival then a longish drive to Li district for lunch. The trip was through lovely mountain scenery and a stop at some historic temples – always enjoy a road trip.

Ace visits Home – It was a special family occasion after Buddhist lent period for Ace’s family who all got together in his home town of Nahkon Pathom for a few days. Always a nice quiet place with views over the Mekong River to Laos.

Halloween 2019 – the Moo Baan (housing estate) occupants organised a street tour for the children. So we had to be more prepared than last year.  As we weren’t going to be home we but out a few decorations and a self-help candy stand.

Loy Kratong 2019 – The firecrackers were going off everywhere and the lanterns were gently floating into the night skies. It’s when people gather around lakes, rivers and canals to pay respects to the goddess of water by releasing beautiful  Kratongs (lotus-shaped rafts, decorated with candles, incense and flowers) onto the water.

Some believe that this is the time to symbolically ‘float away’ all the anger and grudges you have been holding onto, and including a fingernail or a lock of hair is seen as a way of letting go of the dark side of yourself, to start anew free of negative feelings. If your candle stays alight until your Krathong disappears out of sight, it means a year of good luck. The noise of the nights scare our dogs – so we decided to stay home with them and do our own.

Food & Drinks Adventures

We always enjoy getting out for lunch, treats and coffee’s throughout the week. Many places we have visited over and over or are handy to home. Here are few we enjoyed over the period. You can click on them for the FP post:

• Love me Cafe – Ban Tawai
• Chinese Noodle Shop – Ban Tawai
• Max Coffee on the Hill – Samoeng Rd
• Mr Chan & Miss Pauline Restaurant – Canal Road, Hang Dong
• Royal Project Kitchen – Hang Dong
• JJ Markets – weekends Chiang Mai city
• Four Seasons Char Restaurant – Mae Rim
• Ajarn Saiyud’s Kitchen – Chiang Mai
• Paak Dang Restaurant – Ping Riverside, Chiang Mai

Social Engagements

Aside from our official engagements that we undertake for there are other personal outings such as:

• Movie Night – We really enjoyed a private screening of a film entitled “Jwlwi- The Seed,” written and directed by Ms Rajni Basumatary, who also starred in the film, at the International Convention Center, North Chiang Mai University. Rajni is the wife of the Indian Consul in Chiang Mai and answered questions after the film. Inspired by true stories, “Jwlwi-The Seed” tells the tales of families that break-up due to insurgency in the state of Assam in North-East India.

• Music Night – Ace and I had a really fun night of entertainment featuring the U.S. III Marine Expeditionary Force Band with the Royal Thai Air Force band musical concert in celebration of 200 years of U.S.-Thai Friendship at the Chiang Mai Rajabhat University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.  Lovely reception ahead of the concert. Musical offerings were varied in English and Thai including favorites from the Eagles, Elvis, Louis Armstrong, previous Thai Kings jazz compositions and many more.

• CM Visitor – Enjoyed a relaxing lunch at Galae Restaurant and afternoon treats at Fern Forrest Cafe with an old work acquaintance from Sydney. Fraser and his friend are in Chiang Mai for a visit and we took some time to show them around town.

• Wedding Festivities – Thanks so much Simon and Jay for inviting us to be part of your special wedding day. It was fabulous that you chose Anantara Chiang Mai for your rocking and fun celebration after being legally married in Australia.

• Ace’s Birthday Dinner – a quiet celebration for this years milestone. We headed to Mix at North Hill Golf Course – one of our favorite dinner spots. Nice sun set views and night light course makes a nice outlook – good food to.

• Semi Retirement – the other aspect of day to life has been my part time role. It keeps us active enough and out an about – see what that is all about by checking out this web link.

Around Home

Pets Portrait – The furry ones continue to provide joy and happiness in our life.  All three get along well and can be together in and around the house.  Lex and Izzy are good play mates and often spend long periods having fun together. Lucas the cat is less inclined to join in but prefers to watch their antics – see this video.

Aces New Mobile – It was after exploring many shops and internet searching that Ace landed on his new phone. It was the True shop that provided the goods and customer service to get him up and running on the new device. Best camera phone ever – Vivo V17 Pro.

House & Gardens – With things well established it is about regular maintenance and trimming. We have completed the annual large tree trimming exercise to reduce height and control growth so things don’t get out of control.  This also opens up the lawn and garden to more sunlight for better growth.  Now in November is very green and lush after the rain season and start of the cooler weather. Love this time of year.

The owner of the housing estate is repairing roads in our village. Digging up broken bits of road and sidewalks and repairing them. Lots of noise and dust but at least they keep up maintenance and repairs.

Prostate Cancer Update – With 3 different treatments all completed it is now a wait and watch game to determine if the interventions have been successful – either for the shorter or hopefully the longer term.  My PSA at the last check had actually gone down further and happily trending in the right way. The next check up was in 6 months is at the end of February.  That blood test will see how the PSA is tracking. For now, I try and ignore the prostate cancer journey.

In closing – the month of December begins the next holiday season period. Christmas and New Year functions are being planned & no doubt we will get out to some. Weather is wonderful this time of year – cool nights and pleasant days – that will hopefully last for the next 3 months.