Checkered Lounge Pants

Hello to whomever is out there a week before christmas. And happy birthday to mother. I don't know if she ever tracked down my blog writings after her computer geek ofover 60 years went on to the big hard drive in the sky. But I'll cover all the bases. Returned from Myranmar on Saturday. Two friends and I drove up to Mae Sai and crossed over into Myanmar at Tachilek. Tachileik was a border crossing used in the opium trade from the Golden Triangle, and was the home of the drug lord Khun Sa. On 24 March 2011 a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the region very close to Tachileik. It caused some damage as far away as Chiang Mai. On 24 March 2012, a bomb wounded 2 people at the Regina Hotel golf course in Tachileik, followed by a second bomb an hour that exploded later. Now let me tell you about our crossing. The street vendors are on you like flocking buzzards when you clear Myanmar immigration selling you everything from cigarettes to knock offs and ....hmmmm well lets keep...

Two friends driving to Burma this week. Was not planning to go but that would solve my visa extension with the border crossing into the northern country. It will be nice to go back to Chiang Mai and see the old city and Doi Suthep temple on the mountain. We will have to drive through Chiang Rai and I have never been there. I love a good adventure. Watch for pictures on Facebook. Ill be in touch.

Hello from the land of red shirts and yellow shirts. Perhaps you've seen media reports of demonstrations in Thailand. I have gotten several messages of the stability in my winter home. The news refers to different factions as red shirts and yellow shirts initially the dispute was sparked by a blanket amnesty bill that has since been abandoned. Simply explained, the yellow shirts are Thai version of republican Tea Party (tea-baggers) and the red shirts are the Thai version of working middle class voters (the general electorate). The general population (red shirts) elected the present day government in a democratic fashion and the tea baggers (yellow shirts) want an appointed fascist model government to nullify the existing democracy. As for my exposure to date, I am in east Thailand and the demonstrations are in Bangkok. So far they have not surfaced here. My biggest issue to datehas been miscalculating exchange and short changing my bar tab. Lol. Be assured I will stay out of ha...