The month of May passed by pretty quickly. We were looking forward to a trip to Chiang Mai for our annual conference. The question of how we would make the 14 hour trip after the air conditioning in our 14 year old car gave out was one we spent a bit of time answering. Tom looked at a few used car places and felt like a sheep about to be sheered when talking with the salespeople. So we decided to buy a new car as the prices are the same for everyone and the dealers are willing to take trade-ins. So we bought a new Mitzubishi Triton 4 door pickup and had a "Cityboy" top installed over the bed.
It is common for people in Thailand to ride in the back of pickups. Many are modified to seat 10 to 12 people in the back. We had airconditioning installed in the back of the truck as we planned to let the kids ride in back on longer trips.
We ran into one snag. We had to wait for our license plates to come before leaving the province. The salesman had assured us that this would be no problem. But 5 days before we were going to leave to Chiang Mai, I called to ask if the plates had come in. He had forgotten and thought that there was no way the plates would come in time. So we wondered if we would have to fly to Chiang Mai. But the day before we were to leave, the plates came. So Tom went through the process of getting the truck registered and receiving the plates from the Thai department of motor vehicles.
The last week of May, we traveled to Chaing Mai, staying overnight in a small resort in the mountains very close to Laos. The new aircon and the increased power of a truck made the trip much more enjoyable. We were thankful that we did not hit any chickens or dogs on the trip!
Blessings to you all.
(Below) Our neighbor is into cock fighting. He washes his roosters every day. Unfortunately, his roosters all lost their matches and were promptly eaten. Cock fighting is a huge pastime in Thailand.
