Sawadee Ka

Sawadee ka (Hello)


Sabaii dii may (how are you?). I have now started my Thai classes, they are two hour long lessons, and take place Monday to Friday until June 26. Today was our seventh course and it is already getting challenging and confusing. Thai is quite the language to learn. Not only do you have to memorize all these new words but also its tone. There are five tones in the Thai language: high, mid, low, rising and falling. So, for a word like mai the tone being used will mean a different word such as: mai said in a rising tone means silk, while mai said in a low tone will mean new. The course Alain and I are taking is only the beginner speaking level, reading and writing are a whole new ball game. For now, we will focus on the speaking.

Salsa Salad
This is salad that I have tried a couple of times in a little restaurant called Blue Diamond. It is totally delicious and should be really easy to replicate. The recipe below is my "guestimate" of it. Feel free to adjust according to your taste, I do not think it is possible to go wrong with so many good ingredients. 

• 1 Mango
• 1/4 green pepper
• 1/4 sweet onion
• 1 medium tomato
• Cilantro to taste
• Lettuce to cover the bottom of the bowl
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh lime juice to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste

Flowers

These are pictures of some of the flowers I have seen. The pink ones on the left and below are very pretty, but they look like they are made out of plastic. I have no idea what they are called, chances are it will be something I will have difficulty pronouncing so I will stick with my "plastic flower"! 

Spirit Houses

In Thailand you will see everywhere spirit houses; it is a place for the spirits of the site to live in. Without these, it is said that you are likely to have spirits living in the house with you, which can cause all sorts of trouble. To make sure that the spirits take up residence in your spirit house rather than in the main house you make it more inviting. This is achieved by making offerings of food, flowers, candles and incense.

Leaving Canada

Getting Ready to Leave Canada 

Alain and I took one month to wrap things up home before leaving Canada. It was enough time, but we could have used more if we had not already bought our tickets. We sold and gave away the majority of our stuff, and packed the rest in boxes. In the process we became very fond of Kijiji; it helped us numerous times to sell our "stuff".

We left Canada on May 2, 2012 on a foggy morning. There was a little surprise waiting for us when we showed up at the Ottawa airport, our flight to Chicago had been cancelled. Our plane had been forced to land in Toronto the night before due to fog. Luckily, they were able to find us alternative flights and we made it to Thailand 26 hours later.

Arriving in Thailand

We are currently living in Chiang Mai, which is in the north of Thailand. Chiang Mai is the seventh biggest city of the country and has a population of about 200,000 people. The temperature is really hot and humid at the moment. It is considered their summer and the temperature varies from low 20C early morning and late evening to high 30C during the day. I am really happy with this weather, I am no longer cold...except in heavily air conditioned places. 

The Libra Guesthouse is where we are temporarily staying for the month of May. We have found a condominium nearby that we will be renting starting in June. I will post pictures when we move in.

As expected fruits and vegetables are abundant and we are feasting ourselves with really good food. The smoothies are sooooo good with fresh coconut, bananas, mangoes, dragon fruits, etc. Since getting here, I have stuffed my face with sticky rice with mangoes and fried bananas. When I am ready to take cooking class, I am definitely learning how to make those two things.

A cat asleep on spice bags

As you can see from the picture above, life in Thailand is really relaxed. That cat is asleep on top of spice bags that are on display on a busy lane where many people walk by to go to a little market. 

Now that I have started my blog, I will be more attentive in taking pictures to show you what I see and do.