At one of my favorite travel blogs, Cool Travel Guide, Lara is asking her readers about postcard passion.  Since I am a huge fan of postcards, I replied to Lara, and I thought it would be fun to tell you guys what I said, so here goes…

Who I send to: My practice has been that I send a postcard to my mom & dad, sister and brother everywhere I go.  Then if the trip is more special than normal, I send one to my grandmother, aunts, uncles and closest friends.  Then if the trip is extra special, I send postcards to my work, old friends and distant relatives…the Christmas Card list.

Graphic Subject: When I am at the shop, I pick cards that are visually interesting to me, then I later choose who gets which one. I only send postcards with photos or illustrations of places or scenes that I have actually seen or experienced.  I prefer for the subject matter to be architecture, but I sometimes pick up cards with graphics, like the London Tube map, or people, like a Bangkok street vendor.  I also prefer that all my postcards have unique subjects…so that when my sister visits my mom, she doesn’t say, “Jamie sent me that card too!”

Note Subject: If possible, my note is about the image on the front.  I also cater every note to the individual.  If I’m writing my niece I tell her the things I did that day that she would have loved, like watching the ducks play in the lake.  If I’m writing my grandmother, I tell her more about the sensory experiences. I try to keep the note simple and short, aka viewer friendly!! And I always date the postcard the day I write it, and I often include the time.  This way when I forget to put it in the mail (see below), they still know I thought about them while I was away!!

Where I write: I would love to write every post card while I’m experiencing the subject of that particular card.  Sometimes this works out, sometimes it doesn’t.  I often write them as a big group at a park or coffee shop, or sometimes at the hotel as I decompress from a long day.

The added perk: STAMPS!!!  I love picking out stamps from foreign lands.  Again, I try to pick ones that represent the host country, and I always walk away with a few for my own journal pages.

Unsent cards: Sometimes I forget to buy stamps at my destination, so I end up carrying written postcards with me on the plane home.  When this happens, I buy fun stamps at home and send them anyways and hope that they don’t notice!!

As a recipient: I don’t receive many postcards, probably because I move around so much! But when I do, I love it and they go up on the tack board in the kitchen for a month or so, then they move into a drawer with all of the other cards and letters I have received since I was 10.

What do you think about postcards???  Do you still write them?

In Portland, it rains from October-May.  In Thailand, it rains from May-October.  Guess what…I left Portland in May, and came to Thailand in June.  This means that out of the past 10 months, 9 of them have had more rainy days than dry days.  Am I sick of the rain?  Yes.  Am I ready for it to be sunny and dry? Yes.  Would I like to leave my umbrella at home?  Yes.

Rain

However, I think that some of my favorite memories so far in Thailand have been finding shelter from the rain.  We have stopped on the side of the highway to climb under a bamboo farming hut.  We have found shelter at the entrance to a temple while watching orange-robed monks do the same across the street.  We have stopped at a bus stop along a country road where we were joined by stray dogs.  We have stopped at the bus stop on Huay Kaew  Road where we were joined by CMU students. (Not that I’m comparing students and dogs…they just happened to be at bus stops.) And today, we simply lingered for an extra hour at the Galae Restaurant.

The Galae (Hillside) Restaurant is surrounded by a traditional Lanna-style garden overlooking a small reservoir and the city.  Our table was right at the edge of the water, and the rain started right after we finished eating.  All of the tables are covered with large green umbrellas to keep the direct rain off, but the wind still carried a nice mist underneath the canopy.  When it really started coming down, the waiter walked down the hill with a golf umbrella for each table so that we could leave without getting soaked.  How nice!  Although we were finished eating, we opted to wait it out.  Watching and listening to heavy rain while sitting outside under cover has to be one of my favorite things.  Especially when the setting is this beautiful and I have great company!

The Galae Restaurant

For lunch I had a Thai dipping sauce accompanied by fried greens, cucumbers, boiled eggplant, cooked cabbage and green beans, and a fried Mackrel fish. The dipping sauce was delicious and a bit spicy. The vegies were good, but I wasn't fond of the fish.

In other news…here are some photos from the past few days.  Nik and I have been meandering a lot lately, so here are some of our finds!

The Neighborhood...Rainy day, Open Windows, Satelites, Athletic Club

Near the Market...Small Canal/Sewer, Sun Halo, Delivery Cart, Delivery Truck

Meandering...A huge outdoor Restaurant with playground, The Orange wall, Abandoned Construction, the Green Beast

Ban Tawai Tourist Village

Rural Drive...Rice Field, Watch House, On the Road, Gate to Nowhere

To read more about the drive to Hang Dong and Ban Tawai…

Nik’s Blog: Trip to Hang Dong (hahaha)

Nik and I went to see Wall-E, the new Pixar/Disney movie, this afternoon at the Chiang Mai Vista Movie Theater.  The movie was fantastic!  I’m not a movie critic, so I won’t review the movie, but I’ll just say that you should see it!!

I do want to tell you about the experience though.  Going to see a movie in Thailand isn’t much different than everywhere else, but there are a few things that are unique.

1. Ticket Price – In America, you pay $8-15 to see newly released movie, depending on whether you watch before or after 4pm.  In Thailand, you pay 90Baht ($2.70) for the movie no matter when you go.  This price challenges our $10/month Netflix accounts and the iTunes movie rental.

2. Assigned Seats – In Thailand you choose your seats when you buy the tickets.  This is similar to most European theaters, but not so in America.  I can’t decide if I like assigned seats or not because I haven’t been to a movie that was anywhere near capacity.

3. Concessions – In America, “No outside food or beverage” signs are seen at all theaters.  In Thailand, there are no such signs.  It seems that you can bring any food or drink you wish.  They do have a concession stand selling soda, popcorn and candy right next to the theaters, but they seem to be independent and therefore their prices are fair.  Today we spent 55Baht ($1.60) for soda and popcorn, where the same thing would have been $8 in America.  AND they have sweet Popcorn!!!  They have salty too, but for low-grade movie popcorn that sits around all day, the sweet is much better!!

So far, we have only been to two movies, Batman The Dark Knight and Wall-E.  Next I want to see a Thai film, and I also want to try one of the VIP theaters.  They supposedly have sofas and give you a foot massage during as you watch…wouldn’t that be nice?