every year, i do my best to save some time for the mountains of thailand. its cold at night, warm in the day. and we can rent motorbikes to get around. driving is not as dangerous as the cities. but come to find out our secret little town isnt a secret anymore. there are tons of people here and the place seems to be growing faster than possible. sadly it happens everywhere. ten years ago this place was barely on the map. but then again i could say the same for our “crystal coast” right? i guess onslaught of tourism is inevetable. you just have to go farther out to get you peace and quiet. but still there are hotsprings and waterfalls close by. i think its time to go get some vitamin D. but on the note of work, this is the shortest trip we have ever done to asia, but gotten the most done. sadly, i am quite tired and am trying to be positive. am wondering if the quitting nicotene has anything to do with it. we got a lead on some semiprecious bead strands. they are not in this area but are going try and check it out before we leave the country. im sure they will be out of the budget but its worth a look. always lookin for new right. ok, thanks for reading.
i cant believe we dont do this at home. this has gotten very big here. every sunday anyone that makes anything is allowed to set up a little spot on “main street” and it is truly a free market. things in this world i didnt even know were made. everything from foods to paintings to wood crafts. carved drift wood to carved pencils. warm cotton clothes to sheer summer “wrinkle dresses”(want them but blew the budget) painted cartoon figures bouncing from a string to thain and myanmar silver jewelry. leather bags/journals to glass blowers making everthing imaginable. and it is all free to the public and merchants alike. a mass of people walking through closed streets. and not for a block or two. for miles….. i mean karrie and i walked for over 4 hours and dont think we saw it all. so we got some things for ourselves, nothing major but nice unique stuff that is one of a kind. i almost started an international incident though. we are gonna see our long time freind Noi soon. she now has a son, 3yrs i think, and so i got him a mini jr soccer ball. i had it in a plastic bag and the bag was bumping into people and tables and so i just decided to hold the ball in my hands as we walked. well one of the hill tribe women’s kids saw it and (maybe 4yrs old) came over and started to whine for it. in a mass on thousands of people i knew if i gave it up i would never see it again so i apoligized and put it back in the bag. the kid went “postal” on the spot. screaming, clawing at me, then on his back whailing, not understanding why the mean tourist would not give him the ball. the way he was screaming, you would have thought i hit the kid, and then people took notice of the scene and i was getting the stink eye and so we bailed as fast as the crowd would allow. at least the mother saw the whole thing, and gave me a unsympathetic nod as we were leaving the scene ovf her devistated child. i wount say we. me, i am the stupid one that was playing with a ball in a third world country and would not share. there goes the karma i guess. things are good considering i feel like a heel. hope someone got a laugh out of this. ben
sweet, no need for ac when you are mountain bound. so the train ride was great, we got on at 5:30pm and arrived in chiang Mai at 9:00am the next morn. very happy to see the land more green than in years past. it has been a dry couple of years so the area has been very brown. so it is sunday and we are going to go to the weekly market. its a great place to see what is new, old, and simply just fun.
Oh i forgot to tell everyone that we had a great opportinity for karma. we told our shipper(indo) we wanted to visit/dontate to the local orphanage, but she had an even better idea. she saves money every month to make donations too. she had recently done a donation at the orqhanage so we decided to go with her to the govt. hospital, children ward. the problem with donations is making sure it gets to the people that really need it. so we split up the money in different envelopes and handed then directly to the the kids/mothers in the ward. the underfunded hospital is really heartbreaking, it was really cool to do this for these families. there are many more details, but we will be making regular donations over the next year. once a year isnt enough. we all live very fortunate lives. and we feel very fortunate to be able to do this. i mean everyone knows our country’s problem with health care but man this is on a whole other level. all our knees were shaking when we left. we made a difference, small, but still I am very humbled. ok so, our NC stores are open again and thanks to everyone that shopped. and thanks to our team of employees that are making it possible. we will be here for less than a week then its futher into the mountains to be near some shan and karen villages. schools are being built, and we hope to help there too. but that will be another story……ben
so we made the trip to bangkok and got to the backpacker hell/paradise. locals call it farang market. “tourist market”. you can find anything here, and i do mean anything. cheap roach trap hostels to 5 star hotels. after years of doing this, finding a mid range small guesthouse is hard. always busy, food everywhere, and the thai are still as friendy as ever. but we are anxious to get business done. so its on to an overnight train to the nothern city, bout 10hrs. but getting around is tough, tuk tuks are the best. small 3 wheeled open vehicles. all drivers think its a race and you have to just close your eyes and try not to get tossed out on corners. will write again from mountains. thanks ben.
Today is the Lunar New Year. It is a big holiday here in Bali. Many people are dressed up for the ceremonies and ritual dances. When we were out shopping last week there were many people buying unique head pieces for todays events. Due to the holiday we are trying not to do business so that they can enjoy the days events. However, we are going to the batik factory. I’m so excited to be able to show everyone the process of wax batiking for our sarongs and clothing. We are able to take pictures and to buy old design stamps. The batik clothing is such a big part of our store and we are very happy to be able to share this with all of you. Check back later for more details about the batik process.
ok, still trying to figure this blog stuff out but we made it to Indonesia. was a very long series of flights and missing flights. we are safe and have made all the progress you can after a four day trip. as the days go on we will write more, feel free to read and post comments/questions by clicking on this section. thanks again to IN YOUR HEAD ADVERTIZING forgetting this set up before we left. ben
