Chang Mai Royal Flora Ratchaphruck 2006
Mr. Mark, his helper Jin, and I came to Chang Mai to see the International flower exposition. The King has a phenominal involvement in flowers, plants, and agriculture. On a miniscule scale by comparison, Mark loves flower and plants and has some beautiful well cared for ones which he will leave with Jin, along with his parakeet Petey, when he returns to the states.


Day 1 in Chang Mai. Jin and I bought tickets for the tomorrow's day of Royal Flower Expo by standing in a line at the bank for over an hour. First day tickets had been sold out for a week. We went to the Chang Mai zoo and watched the Panda Bears for a long time then headed up the mountain to visit a temple and next a modern, clean store selling beautiful inexpensive produce from the King's farms, where we ordered several kilos of beets and avocados to take back to Bangkok for a friend who is opening a restaurant. On our return to Bangkok we each had a carry on of beets, avocados and some hard to find new red potatoes that we tracked down in the back alleys and warehouses of vegetables: a sharp contrast to the store selling the King's farms produce.

Day 2 (First day of Expo) Jin and I took a long tuk-tuk ride out to the Expo thinking we might get tickets if we stood in line a couple of hours with thousands of people. We encountered no line and got right in. The gates for Thai people and farang (other people) are separate, but I went throught the Thai gate with Jin. We called Mark to meet us but he said he was too sick.

At the Expo we walked for miles viewing flower displays from Japan, Bhutan, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Quatar, Spain, the Netherlands, Africa, etc. There are acres and acres of land and exhibits from many many foreign countries. There is a rubber plantation as well as many buildings and gardens full of spectacular flowers and replicas of the homes of different tribes of Thai indiginous people and music and dancing and water displays and sculptured trees and lawns and beautiful girls in their native dress.

After walking 4 hours, we sat for 3 hours on a grassy hill directly accross from where the Princess would sit for ceremonies and entertainment. We were in a sea of Thai people wearing yellow shirts (yellow is the color of the king). Searching the crowd I could only find two other farang (foreigners)). Foreign dignitaries from all over the world were seated in front of the queen on the approach to the palace like building which had many steps up to it. The arrival of the princess and the entertainment was spectacular. Jin and I were on Thai television waving at the cameraman.

Day 3 (second Expo Day) Mark went to the Expo today to see the orchid named for the Queen and the smallest orchid in the world as well as the rarest ones and the worst smelling one. The special orchids, in two huge air conditioned rooms and adjoining gardens, were spectacular and Mark was fully enjoying seeing them. At one point, I had my back to him. He was sitting on a railing. A lovely Thai lady asked me in perfect English: "What is wrong with him?" I turned around and Mark was slumped over, looked pale, and was having difficulty breathing. He managed to pull himself together enough to drink some orange juice and see a few more orchids that were must see for him and make it to a cab to go back to the hotel. After being in bed the rest of the day, he looks better.

November 3...Mark is in a lot of pain. His chest wall tumor that was radiated opened up and is draining and we head back to Bangkok and chemo again.
Remember that you can post a note to Mark on the blog (Click the "comments" link right below this paragraph). No need to mail him anything in Bangkok as he will soon be in Austin again.