Thai Smiles, Part 54: More Thai Folks At Work

River raft guide near Chiang Mai

Ahh, Friday! The weekend opens its arms with the promise of the guilty embrace of sloth, and although I can't speak for any of you I'm ready for a couple of days of as close to nothing as I can manage. It's been a busy week for me and I haven't felt in top form, so it's been a bit of a challenge. Nothing enough to complain about, mind you; I'm just making mention in acknowledgement for the posts that have been somewhat, shall we say, thin?

While I'm not really what you could call "retired" - I do have daily obligations away from this blog - I get to pick my own hours, am able to work from home and honestly love what I do. That alone ought to be enough, I'd say. It makes me smile, and while doing just that a few minutes ago it seemed apropos to look in the folder of prepared "Smile" images and see what was ready to be shared.  I found a few, and here they are today.

The guy up top had ferried a friend and I down a river near Chiang Mai, and I think he, too, was heading off on a break as I called to him from our drop-off point on the opposite shore to take this picture. Very pleasant fellow, via my interpreting friend.

Monks arriving to bless a new building and business

While walking in the late morning early one trip I turned down one of the nightclub soi to see how construction had gone since my  last visit and saw that the club was now nearly finished. As I peeked inside the line of monks above came along and went inside for the traditional blessing of the new business. Yeah, only the one up front was smiling, but I liked the image.

The young men below had just made a sale to me - something I've found to usually encourage those who wouldn't normally pause to pose do just that. I'd noticed a guy sitting on the sidewalk ahead that looked like he hadn't eaten for a while, so I bought some sticks from these two and then passed them along to the street guy. Win-win and win, the way I see it.

This last image has been sitting and waiting in the folder for some time. There's a story behind it, and I may get to telling it some day. Today isn't that day, but the short version is I'd managed to get the guy to smile for me (despite his grumpy father) by doing a rough impression of a caged monkey - throwing all dignity to the wind.

You're all welcome to join me this weekend and do the barest minimum of activity.