Thailand - as I see it.

Motorcycles, Motor Scooters, and Motorbikes everywhere.

We went to the mall today on motor scooters.  I was on one with my son Rob, Adda, and Tyler.  Willi and On were on another.  We parked in this motorcycle parking lot where there must have been 1000 or more.
Everywhere you go there are motorcycles, motorbikes and motor scooters weaving in and out, in between cars and trucks and more motorcycles.

We bought five big bags of groceries and two of them fit in the basket on Rob's motor scooter.  Two bags fit on hooks on On's scooter by her feet. Willi held one bag with one hand and held onto On with the other hand.

They have a small seat for Tyler with a seat belt right in front of Rob as you can see in the picture.
When Rob says they are going out, Tyler says, "rumrum"  and makes the motion of driving the scooter.
It is so cute.  He loves to go riding.  Much of the time he falls asleep on the scooter as they are traveling.

It is very reasonable to fill up a motor scooter even with the price of gas.

Daddy Rob and Tyler

Marcia ready to go.

Marcia and Rob

A parking lot for motorcycles, scooters, etc.

On and Willi.

Tyler waiting to go for a ride.

Thailand - as I see it

An Extended Family


Speaking of family, Boo is grandpa in the Thai Lisu Hill Tribe language. Yah is grandma in the language.  The Hill Tribe people use our alphabet of A,B,C rather than the Thai character alphabet.

Rob and On have an extended family of ADDA and also Supan. Adda is On's brother's little 4 year old. His name ADDA means first son born to that couple.  So every family has an ADDA if they have a boy.  It is like a nickname. His real name is City Chi.  Chi is with a long i.  

ADDA is living with Rob, On and Tyler because he can go to school in Chiang Mai.  There is not a school where he lives in the hills.  He is a cute, happy, smiley little boy and VERY bright.  I read him The Foot Book by Dr Seuss and he said every sentence after me.  He knows his alphabet and numbers to 10.  I brought 2 placemats with colors, numbers and letters and he has read them three or four times.  He does an alphabet puzzle 4 or 5 times at a sitting.  His attention span is long.

Tyler also sat and listened to the book.  Tyler runs around the house with ADDA and they play ball.  They have a huge plastic chest for the toys and they can move it all over the tile floor.  All the toys are picked up when they are through.  Both Tyler and ADDA go around collecting the toys and putting them back in the box.

On, Yah (Marcia), Rob and Tyler

Adda, Yah (Marcia), and Tyler

I was working on my computer and they wanted to play too.  They know how to turn it on, and even use a touch screen.  When I brought out my I Pad, Tyler touched the button on the bottom to start it.  Then he swept his hand over the front to use it.  I have a program where they can color a picture.  They touch the one they want and it comes up full screen.  They can color the black and white picture.  All they do is touch a crayon and then touch the picture.  They made a purple and yellow Santa with a red background. 

Supan, On's Brother.

Rob, On, Tyler and ADDA also have On's brother, Supan living with them.  He is in 8th grade and he is going to the excellent school also in Chiang Mai. This is nice for On and Rob as he also plays with the boys and he takes care of Tyler and ADDA when we go out.  This is a very happy easy going family.  You should see Rob, Supan and ADDA on one motor scooter and On and Tyler on the other.  When we are here, it is Rob, Yah (Marcia), and Tyler on one motor scooter and On, ADDA and Boo, (Willi)  on the other.  It is a treat for us to be part of this family.

What fun to be around little ones.  Have a wonderful day and keep learning. We are sure learning a lot.   

Marcia and Willi

Boo, (Willi) and Adda

Thailand - as I see it.


Our First Day in Chiang Mai


Our first day in Chiang Mai has been a busy one.  We opened the two bags of clothing for the hill tribe children and On separated them all to give them to different families and groups.  Then she washed about 40 pieces of clothing and hung them on the line to dry.  

Clothing we brought for the Hill Tribe Children.

Christmas tree with packages we brought.

Tyler, 1 year and 5 months old and Adda, 4 years old carried the presents from the suitcases and put them under the Christmas tree.  They had as much fun carrying them as they will opening them at Christmas.

Then Rob and I on Rob’s motor scooter and On and Willi on On’s motor scooter went for a foot massage.  It was an hour massage and the therapists had trained at a reflexology school and were excellent.

Then Rob and Willi went to the barber and Willi got his hair cut for $2 including the tip.  It is a nice cut; shorter than he has ever had it.  On and I went to the local open air market and she bought fresh pineapple, papaya, bananas and mandarin oranges.  She also bought the round dough balls which were very light and tasty as well as fried bananas.  She bought some fresh bacon and cooked spaghetti carbonera for dinner.  

I read a book after dinner to the two children and they played so well together with the cloth balls we brought for them.  We were tired around 8:30 and after a hand of hand and foot, we retired.

Our Flight to Thailand

Thailand - as I see it.


Our flight to Thailand.  It is December 8th.  We are taking three flights.  The first one is from Ft. Myers to Atlanta.  It will be only 1 1/2 hours. We got up at 4:15am. We left home at 5:45am.  Jim and Pat Repp were there to pick us up at 5:30am.  They were a welcomed sight. Thank you, Jim and Pat.


When we got to the airport, a porter helped with our bags and with the check in.  It is self serve now.  Our 4 bags went through just as though they were light and small.  They were each just 50 pounds.  We have 100 pounds in two bags for the hill tribe children.  Our two bags are also half full of gifts for Christmas for Rob, On, and Tyler.  No problem there.  Everything is okay now.  Whew.  That was great.  The flight left at 8 am.  We got to Atlanta at 9:30am.  I went to the Customs area as soon as we arrived and I got a Trusted Travelers Card.  Trish Challen told me about it.  Thank you Trish.  My interview was short.  It should make getting through customs easy as pie.  What a wonderful idea.  


We boarded the Korean Air plane at 11:30am. It is now 5pm and we have been flying around five hours already.  It is a 14 hour flight.  We were fed a good meal.  What a nice plane and stewardesses.  We have eaten, had a snack and drinks, I have read a few chapters of the book my friend Marilyn Polen  gave me for the trip.  A good book.  Barefoot.  It is about three women, three secrets and one long hot summer. Thank you Marilyn.  I have played golf, free sell, and memory on the screen in front of me.  I have read many many emails.  I have played a bit of FarmVille and I started to write some children's books for my grandchildren. The first two books are TYLER and SAWYER.  These will be first reading books with the whole theme of the letters in their names.  Every so often, a stewardess comes by with cold water.  We get up and take a little walk every so often.  We were fed two meals on the 14 hour flight and a snack and drinks in between. 


We arrived in Seoul and had an hour wait and boarded our last flight for Chiang Mai.  It is a 5 hour flight.  We arrived in Chiang Mai around midnight on the 9th of December.  As we were landing, Willi said, "That was fast."  I agreed, the flights were all nice and went by quickly.  I had told people that the flights were longer than they were.  It was 26 hours altogether but only 20 1/2 in the air flying.  We are at Rob's house and all settled in.  We peeked at Tyler, had some homemade crystallized ginger, homemade ginger ale and went to bed in our own beautiful suite. Thank you, God.

Marcia Cutler Weis

Chiang Mai Flower Show

Thailand - as I see it.

The Chiang Mai Flower Show comes once a year and is a big extravaganza.  The floats, flower arrangements, booths selling plants and flowers, and booths selling anything else you could imagine.  We had fresh fruit all ready to eat, fried goodies, meat and roties, as well as many different kinds of smoothies.  People come from all over the world for this wonderful experience.  The streets were only for walking and there were hundreds of viewers walking alongside the moat and enjoying the spectacle.

The floats were all built on top of cars and driven to the show site.  They were covered with thousands of flowers.  Pictures and figures of Buddhas and the King were made out of many different kinds of flowers.  There were seats and areas to take pictures near each float and exhibition.

Pictures tell a lot more than words, so I am going to put in my blog some of the pictures we took.

A picture of the King and his wife above the array of flowers.

On's sister and baby, Samuel, Marcia Weis, On  Rob's wife, Willi Weis and On's brother.

Toilets in Thailand

Thailand - as I see it.

Toilets in Thailand

We have seen some very elegant toilets in hotels and restaurants.  They have basins and toilet bowls with covers.

But most anywhere you go in Thailand, the toilets have no toilet paper.  You can buy it at some public toilets.  The toilet paper is not thrown in the toilet, it is put in the waste basket.  

We went to a typical public toilet and they have no seats.  You stand up and then when you are done, you pour water from a container on the floor with a bucket into the toilet to flush it.  The wash basins are outside the toilet area and usually there is no paper for drying your hands.

Wash Basins Outside

A Park Outside the Toilet

 Show all

Unusual and Tasty Fruits of Thailand

Thailand - as I see it

Pineapples   Tiny pineapples the size of  apricots were cut into spirals so that all the eyes were removed.  They lefton t a little stem so you can hold them.   They are exceptionally sweet and yellow.

Ba Ah    Little nuts the size of cashews but very crispy.  They come in a shiny wooden like shell and when heated the shell opens and they look like lips.  They are delicious.

Top Tim   A fruit the size of a big apple has hundreds of little seeds inside and you eat around the seeds and spit out the seeds..  They are very moist and flavorful.  They are sweet and tangy.

Pusa    This is a fruit like a small apple.  It is crisper than an apple, flavorful, sweet and sour at the same time.

Top Tim

Little Pineapples

Ba Ah

Pusa