Places we like

We like to try to share bits about our daily life. It is, in many ways, not terribly exciting. We get up, have breakfast, Michelle zooms off to GIS to teach, I cook breakfast again for Van, and he goes zooming off about an hour later. I clean up, then get to my own tasks. But, it does get exciting when we leave the house. THEN, you realize, "OH, I'm in Chiang Mai!"

Often it is just me going out and finding interesting places beyond the normal grocery store runs. Here is an outdoor avocado place. At many malls and shopping plazas you can find little hut-like eating places like this. There aren't always places to sit though. So, if you can find shade and a small bench, it makes for a cheap lunch or snack.

One place we really like is called Qin. It is a noodle place but with a Chinese twist. In fact, it is probably the only place we've found which has noodles similar to what we loved in China. Thick noodles with rich, spicy sauce. Yum. Since it is often hot here, most of these kinds of sit-down restaurants have a/c inside. So, it is always interesting when we come outside, look up (like in the picture above) and say, "hey, was that there before?" Well, of course it was, we just never noticed it.

At the end of the day, I'm back home, done with the shopping, and Michelle plops down on the sofa for well-earned rest.

She works, as we may have mentioned, from 7 to 4, plus a little extra on either side. This doesn't include driving to GIS, either. So, as you can imagine (and if you are an Elementary school teaching you don't need to imagine!), by the time she comes home she is ready to just sit for a bit. Sometimes she enjoys a visit from this cat pictured above. Apparently the family who owns it (do you ever own a cat?) lived in this same house years ago. But, it still drops by, gets a good petting, and lounges about. That is one definite downside, for us at least, to being overseas - we can't, or won't, own a pet. Some people do, but we prefer the hassle-free moves when it comes up, and not worrying about leaving Kitty behind, or dealing with paperwork and mandatory quarantines. So, this cat is a nice little blessing.