Just a quickie

After having raved on about the glories of the totally surreal Wat Rung Khon yesterday and promised my faithful reader some photos, I later remembered that I had totally forgotten to attach any, so here are a few. Aparently the bridge leading to the Wat represents the path of suffering we must all travel towards reaching Nirvana, hence the rather ghoulish hands and skulls etc. raised as if in supplication. I cannot stress how truly strange it was. One of the pictures shows the painstaking work involved in the construction of the place. The basic shape is constructed out of some sort of resin and then all the tiny mirror pieces are cut by hand and affixed. The projected completion date for the entire project is 2070, and having seen the way it is done, I can well believe it. It is truly a monumental udertaking in all senses of the word.

I have also included a photo of me "doing my thing" in the Teepee hippy bar. Actually, that is not strictly speaking correct, I was doing it outside on the street for the benefit of several punters and the passing populace. It is indicative of the vibe here that sitting in a busy publis street knocking out old rock standards whilst the world goes about it's business does not seem in the slightest bit odd. I wouldn't dream of doing it in Europe.

I have had some great jams here and ended up singing with the house band in the Cat Bar who I mentioned in an earlier post. They really are rather good. My rendition of Santana's Black Magic Woman / Oye Como Va was particularly well received. That is unusual as I do not know the lyrics of Oye Como Va and was just phonetically inventing some Spanish that I vaguely recollect from the record but it seemed to work. Before any musical pedants start on me, yes I know Black Magic Woman is a Peter Green song but you get the picture. I do seem to get "adopted" by house bands wherever I go and the photo of me with the electric was taken in Lampang a few days ago. I think I may write a book called "Around the world in 80 jams). The standard of musicianship here is high and they seem to favour Western rock so it is easy to fit in.

I have also included the obligatory sunset shot, partially to indicate the huge natural beauty of this region but really to annoy the life out of you poor sods freezing your bits off in Europe and the USA. This retirement really is a chore, don't you think?

I apologise that the pictures are out of order with the writing but people who know me wil appreciate that I am a computer dulard and I have not worked out how to re-order them yet. The very fact I can actually manage to post a blog is a source of constant wonderment to me. On that point, if anyone is actually reading this, please feel free to drop me a line, it would be nice to know what you think. I believe the form is that you register as a follower (it is free) and you can do it or it may be possible to post even if you are not a member.

I am currently still in Chiang Rai although I will be getting a bus this afternoon to Chiang Kong which lies right on the border with Lao. The border here is the Mekong River, possibly my favourite river in the world, so I am looking forward to that. Hopefully I will cross in a day or two, my visa expires on Xmas day.

I will try to keep in touch as best I can