Is That A Frog In Your Pocket?

Hey everybody! We are still traveling on the Eastern side of the world. Everyday our eyes bug out and our mouths drop at something we see!! From the Ronald McDonald statue welcoming us with his hands together in a bow, to roasted pig feet (and other animal parts) on sidewalk carts, every moment offers something different than we have ever seen before. We left Chiang Mai on an 8:30 flight back to Bangkok Friday morning. Our first trip to Bangkok (en route to Chang Mai) helped us learn where we needed to stay on our trip back, so we are at the Holiday Inn. By 11:00 am, Kyndal, Braden and I were in the pool, while Bobby stayed in the room and tried to sleep off a case of the flu (we think; he began feeling achy and feverish on Wednesday.) Please remember him – he is the only one who dodged Dengue Fever. This could be his Initiation Illness!Our meeting in Chiang Mai was wonderful! We were educated on some vital information for our time in our country, and we made some good friends. This is an annual meeting that we hope to attend next year. The city was beautiful, surrounded by mountains, and not too hot. We were there during a rainy month, so clouds seemed to sit on the mountaintops like smoke. Chiang Mai is big enough to have all the Western conveniences (like fast food and Starbucks), but not large enough to have traffice jams (like Bangkok). Every night we had McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, or Subway. I told my family when we got there that we were going to immerse ourselves in the culture at least enough to experience authentic Thai food. They voted me down!! So we experienced some authentic Thai shopping and ate American food that we can’t even come close to in our country – it was goooood!! And I did get to have one meal of Pad Thai, supposedly their signature dish. I enjoyed it too!More on the shopping – the first night in Chiang Mai, some friends walked with us through what is known as the Night Market. It is simply a long street full of vendors who set up shop each evening around 6:00 to catch tourists as they walk the street to dinner. They sell everything from food to shoes to purses to shoes to lamps to paintings to . . . well, everything! As we walked, a woman (no taller than Braden) came up to us with what sounded like a frog in her pocket. It actually turned out to be sitting in her hand, but it was made of wood and she used a wooden stick to rub on its back and make it sing! It sounded very convincing!! She was also covered with jewelry up and down her arms and purses around her neck that she was selling! After we had politely declined her wares, then declined them again, and then once again, our friends warned us that if these women (who were everywhere) could get a frog into your hand, it was practically yours to buy. They’re very persistent to sell their frogs!! When Kyndal heard this, it put the fear of frogs in her!! She did everything short of running from these little women! When she saw one coming down the street, she would grip my hand harder and warn me, “here comes one, Mom. Don’t let her give you a frog!!” She never picked up on the principal of “Just Say No” (many times), and it took her mom some time to catch on to the “hard sell” philosophy of the street vendors, but the experience was priceless! Every night as we walked down the street, the frog lullabies could be heard everywhere.