and headed to the hotel breakfast buffet. Back on the bus and away we went again. We were headed into the northern most regions of Thailand and as we did the landscape began to change dramatically. From the lowlands we began to climb into the mountains where thick groves of teak grew. Much of the Thai teak was deforested after years of unregulated logging. The wood was sent abroad and used in the furniture and boating industries. My own boat has a lot of teak embellishments which most likely came from these forests. Today Thailand is replanting its forests and prohibits the harvesting of teak. It takes about 70 years for a tree to mature, so eventually, with good forest management, the forest will be harvestable once again.
We stopped at a lakeside town where we had lunch. Anil stopped us at a street food spot where the vendor made
up a lunch dish of various herbs and spices and then, at the last moment, threw in a scoop of living, fresh water shrimp that hopped all around in the mixing bowl as they
were stirred into the mixture. Then it was passed around so people could try it. I had a spoonful that squirmed in my mouth before I chomped down and chewed it all up. Talk about fresh fish!We also bought a latte at a really nice coffee shop.
When the cup arrived at our table it was a work of art! The top of the coffee had been decorated sort of like a piece of spin art. It was too beautiful to drink, but down it went, carefully so as to make the design last as long as possible.
We found most of our group sitting in a restaurant down the street. We didn't have time to sit down and order but the display the place had out front showed luscious chunks of pork that we couldn't resist. We had them slice off a styrofoam container full and we walked with it across the street to a park right on the lake and scarfed down the succulent morsels of BBQed pork.
Traveling a little further on our journey we visited a temple in progress of being built by an eccentric local artist with decidedly eccentric tastes. The temple is like no other we'd seen so far. It's builder is apparently quite arrogant and difficult to deal with. He takes only small donations of $300 or less which he believes saves him from the potential political influences on his work of larger donors. The temple buildings look like frosted wedding cakes. But the first look was not all there was to see. In one place a pond of hands reached upward as if attached
to unseen bodies below. Little adornments here and there caught the eye, some fanciful, others disturbing. Interesting.
A half hour on we arrived in the city of Chiang Rai and Le Meridian, a very posh hotel. Very upscale and modern in design with Asian influences in the decor. After another very long day on the bus, it was a welcome site.
We headed for the pool, showered, did laundry and, of course, I caught up on my journaling.
About 6:30 pm we all gathered in the big open air lobby to head out for the night
market. My night market experience was pretty disappointing. A vast market that only opens in the evening, it held small market stalls that sold local and distant crafts, tee-shirts, mostly junk. The market also contained food stalls. 
Everything from Japanese food,
Chinese, Thai, even unusual treats like fried insects of every sort and
size. We ate at a large open-air space with dozens of tables served by a single restaurant. At one end of the table area a stage showcased talented (rather talentless) performers including a drag show with a half dozen beautifully dressed men who danced around and lip-synced to music. Their performance, while showing no real talent, did attract lots of attention from folks who stopped to gawk.
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