So here I sit in front of our cafe in Chaing Mai, Thailand. Its strange to be here; not only have we been waiting so long, but my friend S just spent three months here so it almost is like his stories have sort of come to life. We are staying in a coffee shop (yep, right up my alley). There are 10 girls in my room, but we each have our own twin bed. The cafe feeds us breakfast and lunch-its a pretty great set up.
Last night was approximately one of the hottest nights of my life…even the wall was hot so I couldn’t even lean on it for cooling. I woke at 5:30am and decided that was enough sleep for one night.
I watched the morning traffic, not quite as busy as during the day, so I feel as though I can really see the people. Everything is opposite on the roads; people driving on the wrong side of the car AND road. It kind of freaks me out. Three children, oldest was maybe 12, on one moped headed to school in uniform. People driving with painter’s masks due to pollution or something. It is all very foreign yet familiar to me. I am very foreign yet familiar to them. I have started my own dictionary to familiarize better.
I am amazed at how far a smile goes here. I have heard it is the land of smiles, but what I didn’t know is that they are genuine smiles. In America you grin at someone and they give you the stink eye, here I can’t help but give them a real smile…and you know what, they give the same back; true, genuine, big smile.
It feels good.
