Chiang Mai flower festival

Every February Chiang Mai blossoms with its annual Flower festival. The center of the city is full of parade floats made entirely out of flowers, seeds and other natural ingredients. The floats are pretty detailed. Many hours were spent putting it all together.

Of course no Thai event is complete without a sprawling market with food stalls and people hawking their wares. Anybody need a pair of sunglasses?


Beauty and the Beast! Along with the market and the beautiful flower floats comes the trash. I just liked the juxtaposition of the two.


It was cute watching this man trying to photograph his son on the float. Like most kids he couldn't keep still. I wonder if he ever got off a sharp photo. Kids and animals are the hardest things to photograph.

This is the moat that surrounds the city center. The water looks nice,but don't let it fool you. You would get quite sick if you went into the water, its a little dirty!

A young Thai examining the intricacies of the flower float. Very impressive.

It is very similar to going to the Rose Parade for those of you that have done that.

One thing is for sure in Thailand is that you will never go hungry. Food stalls are everywhere. I love this place!!!

Color abounds. you can buy anything here too.

A row of "tuk tuks" to shuttle you on your way.

Poor Ajan Sanan

I'm heading into work this morning and I see a co-worker starting to drive out of the parking lot and I also noticed that the whole office is closed up. She motions me to get in the car with her and I learn on the way as she is driving that Ajan Sanan (my boss)just had back surgery. What!!!!!!
I do remember Ajan Sanan being in the hospital a couple months ago shortly after receiving a Thai massage. Man, that must have been some kind of massage. For those of you who have never had a Thai massage it can be quite painful at times and you also become a contortionist of sorts. Lots of twisting, bending and popping of joints. It does actually feel good afterwards.
Anyways, I guess it was a continual problem for him so he opted for surgery.

These are the fragments of bone and other inside stuff (that is medical terminology). Ajan Sanan tried to tell me what it is and about his surgery. My medical Thai vocabulary is pretty lacking so I nodded a lot and said "Oh" at the right places and was able to pretend I knew what he was talking about. That's pretty much how I go through life. My nursing friends could probably attest to this.

The dressing looks nice and clean and the patient seems to be healing nicely. He anticipates being in the hospital for a week or so. Depends on how well he does. I hope he recovers quickly and has no further problems. I jokingly said as I was leaving that I was on my way to get a Thai massage. The humor did translate in Thai and there was uproarious laughter heard throughout the room. My work is done here. Get well Ajan Sanan!!!!

Horizon Park

Acacia and Anna running through a hedge maze at Horizon Park. This place is a nice tranquil respite from the city of Chiang Mai. The park is filled with beautifully sculpted bushes and trees. Gardens, animals, waterfalls and a small manmade lake are all surround by tree lined shady paths. We've only come here 3 times so far, but I think we should make it a regular thing. You can rent bikes and leisurely ride all around the park.

This is the lake with dolphin sculpted trees. They also have paddle boats to rent and putt around the lake. We didn't do that on this outing, maybe next time.

I think the sign says it all! Acacia and Anna's combined age is 12, so I think they will be ok

Anna showing her prowess as a monkey bar specialist. You go honey! You've got mad skills sweetie!

Acacia showing off her monkey skills. She was able to traverse these bars several times without seeming to tire.

Where do they get all their energy?


Back and forth, back and forth. I was getting tired just watching them. Acacia kept egging me on to do it too.



I couldn't even make it all the way to the end. I told Acacia you try lugging around 190 lbs and see if you can do it! She didn't seem too impressed.



One of the many sculpted garden areas. This one was sporting a dragon. Cool huh!
They even have camels and deer on the other side of the park. The girls love going over there to feed them.




We all worked ourselves into a frenzy and then finally had to break for lunch. This is a silhouette shot of Mommy and Anna enjoying the scenery while eating lunch.

I slowed down the shutter speed to get that blurred effect in the waterfall.

Acacia riding her bike on her way to the playground area.

Anna coming back from the snack shop with Mommy and our visitors from the States. The Wallihans joined us over the Christmas holiday season.

Mommy riding a rental bike. Show em how it's done honey! We love coming here and the kids can't get enough of it.

History in the making!!!!!

I came so close to calling in hopeful this morning to work. I had a serious case of Obama fever. My symptoms were uncontrolled giddiness, uncharacteristic hopefulness. I also had reduced amount of saracsm. What is going on with me? Maybe it is also because I was up so late watching history unfold before my eyes. The Presidential Inaugural speech did not start until midnight here in Thailand. But, that didn't stop anyone from celebrating. This is a picture of my friend Greg sporting an Obama tee shirt written in Thai. We had a gathering at the U.N. Irish pub in the heart of downtown Chiang Mai.
Greg his wife Liz and I showed up early to get a good location. Today was also Liz's birthday. What a memorable birthday for her.
Liz intently watching CNN among the expats of Chiang Mai.

That is me giving a thumbs up to my peeps.

Anytime Obama was shown on TV the crowd would erupt in cheers. I felt like I was watching the superbowl.

This is the moment when Barak Obama took the oath of office. We were all like a bunch of giddy school girls. What a memorable night. Some of my friends were crying and we were all hugging. I will never forget it.

It really felt good to be an American again!

New Years 2009 with friends

The night started out with a friendly game of "Texas Hold em" with our good friends the Wallihans and Matt and Melody. The Wallihans are visiting us from America. Matt and Melody are teachers at Acacia's school. No money was involved so there was no breaking of legs or anything. We purchased this game quite some time ago for the outrageous amount of $1 and this was the first time we played it. It was a lot of fun.

We accidentally set the clock ahead to convince the little ones that it was already midnight. They were completely fooled and were bamboozled into giving each other a hug and then departing for their rooms for a night of slumber. Man, they are so gullable.


Here it is hugfest 2009!!!! Acacia, Anna, Jessica and Jacob you ROCK!

However, prior to all this time deception was the fireworks display. We lit this paper air lantern and watched it float up in the night sky.


The kids holding the lantern while it fills up with hot air. They are very excited to see it float away. It also can get a little hot holding it that is why they are kind of turning away.


We hired a pyrotechnics expert to launch all our fireworks, oh wait just a second, that is Shelly. Be careful Shelly!!! That stuff is hot!

Annapurna showing off her sparkler. Happy New Year sweetie!

More pyrotechnic wizardry in action. You can't see it, but there were lots of ooohhhs and aaahhhhs. Still shots just can't capture that.

Brett Wallihan helping the little ones to light their sparklers. After they were lit they ran around the street waving their sparkler all around. It brings back memories when I was a little kid during the New Year. I loved running around the streets with a piece of metal on fire.

Acacia striking a New Years pose. You look beautiful honey. Happy New Year to everyone. Thank you Wallihans for coming to visit us and help us ring in the new year. Thanks Matt and Melody for joining us to celebrate 2009.
Best wishes to everyone in 2009 Love the Faucett family