Paul and Patt: Thailand 41 years later.

Yes we are different and so is Chaing Mai. Not everything, but lots of things have changed. Fortunately much is familiar and oh-so nice to experience once again. Visuals certainly are different. Photo below took some searching on back Soi's (allies) to stumble upon -- an old style house/shop front with push cart and all in operation. Could have been here 40 years ago too.

Now this sign definitely was not. Biggest change is the amount of tourists. We have seen in two days more westerners (not counting far and near east tourists) than we saw during the entire three years we were in Thailand. English is everywhere. Europeans galore, Japanese, and this place is ready for them all!

One thing that is very much the same is the food! We are smiling and enjoying every meal. This is a northern food sampler (would not have been served like this in past) and larp! Mark, you would have loved it. Especially the larp with the sticky rice.

Cook and helper/spouse in restaurant — had fried fish and a sauce that would make you sweat. Also had to order a couple of times as we struggled to communicate despite our excellent Thai. (well pretty good Thai— well they say it is good).

Seriously we are finding that we can speak Thai better than we thought we could — especially me — no surprise there. Example when we were buying a sim card for our old iPhone 3, I was busy working away on my prepared Thai talking when Patt kept interrupting me — nothing new there — however Patt was saying "Paul, listen, listen she is speaking English". Oh well, at least I was not replying "Si" and "Gracias" like Patt did a couple of times.

I did however use the Spanish word for "and" instead of the Thai word several times and have mixed up Spanish and Thai more than once — even tossed in a "ni-hao" — Chinese for hello on occasion. Getting there — getting there.

street food staple, deep fried bananas. 10 Bhat, about $.30, and oh so good too.

We ate here twice. Had bam'mee the first time for lunch and then came back the next day for breakfast of kwayteo. These are two types of noodle dishes that Patt and I realized that we had not had since we were in Thailand. They were some of our favorite road side "short-order" standby dishes.

I used to get a bowl of each most days for lunch at a small restaurant in downtown Tak when I left school for a quiet lunch — ( I took "foreign teacher privilege" and did not eat in the school cafeteria when I was teaching.) After about the first month, I left school - the cafeteria food was terrible and I needed a break.

When Mom and Dad visited us I took Dad to that restaurant and he balked before entering because it looked so rickety and bad. It did have chickens running around under the wooden floor— it like all buildings in town was built up about two feet above ground and there was a wooden sidewalk like in old cowboy movies in front of all the stores on main street.

Patt in the back of a "rote tuk tuk" or motor-cycle with cart on back — like in days of yore.

parking lot full of motor cycles — nicer than and faster than the scooters of days of yore.

rote song tao (truck with two benches) not as nice as days of yore as the sides are now enclosed on the side. We rode one yesterday that was quite crowded like the sagging rear springs in this one and I stood on the back. Loved it.