Yesterday, we arrived to the quiet, mountain town of Chiang Dao, thanks to the recommendation of our friend Ian (hi Ian!) back in San Diego. It’s beautiful, quiet, and um BEAUTIFUL!
We took a walk yesterday evening, looking for a local place to eat. On the way, we ran into three young girls who smiled, bowed, and said, “Hello” in Thai. I smiled, bowed, and said, “Thank you” in return. Tom got a good laugh out of it, and I think the girls did too.
We stopped at a humble home, and I ordered rice with fried egg (instead of fried rice with egg as I had intended), and Tom had a pork dish. The elder woman who was serving us was so kind, and I asked her at the end of the meal if I could take her picture. She either didn’t understand or didn’t want to, so I smiled and put my camera away. One minute later she was back and in a picture taking mood. So I took a few shots, and she smiled and said, “I not beautiful.” I laughed, told her she was, and showed her the picture. She replied proudly that she was 70 years old. Boo yeah.
After dinner, we stood on the sidewalk as a big ornate bus passed us on this one lane road. We were surprised as we had only seen motorbikes up to this point. And so we looked to see who it was, and in every window, school children were waving and smiling frantically at the farang (tourists) on the side of the road.
That’s one of the huge differences between here and Mozambique. In Mozambique, people (mainly adults) would stare for days without a hint of a smile. And here, the children wave frantically, and the adults smile and say hello (not thank you). One part of me thinks that we shouldn’t be so attached to greetings, but it feels so dang good.
One beautiful 70-year old:
Their turn:
My turn:
And Tom:
Our beautiful, green, hot, humid, and damp world:
