Are you happy with the country in which you live? Yes, Siam.

It's Show-and-Tell diary catch-up time again. We've just returned to Chiangmai from Adelaide (the one in Austraya) where we assisted my old mum to move into a Nursing Home [above] to ensure she can enjoy the sunset of her life to the max.

We've been through the archetypal "Family Disruption" soapie, where the script is totally predictable. An extremely exhausting process, both physically and mentally. Could never have done it properly without Marie's stalwart determination. Sell the kitchen sink, sell the piano, go through mountains of paperwork/photos/junk, re-paint, re-carpet, sell the house ....arrrgh!

It's all been a jolting object lesson in Reality: Don't Get Old. Whatever you do, DON'T. GET. OLD. Half of Adelaide comprises retired people, half comprises geriatric patients, and the third half comprises young people either employed in the Nursing Home industry or filling in unemployment forms. Ageing is the city's only growth industry. Weird feeling.

We took an overnight sanity break by car up to the nearby Yorke Peninsula, where Marie lived for 3 years as a child. The sheer desolation, unsustainable dryness, and lethargic stagnation was truly creepy. It really compounded that 'imminent death' sensation we had felt in Adelaide:

This was a derelict barley silo on Yorke Peninsula. No barley crops within coo-ee now. Just stones, a handful of sheep, and eternal saltbush. Low, colourless, and devoid of life as we know it.

So we returned to the Big City to continue our task, but happened to have cause to visit the city centre on a Saturday morning. The photo below was taken in King William Street at 11am, the supposed peak shopping time. Like, um, ...hey, where are the people??

They're all too old to drive? Can't remember where the bus stop is? Can't see to read the tram timetable? Er, oops, we're getting a tad geriatric ourselves...

Anyway, we scuttled back to civilisation here in Chiangmai and were greeted by the usual ongoing array of crazy new sights, young energetic people, concerts, festivals, crowds and congenial ambience. Am I happy living here? Yes, of course Siam.

P.S. We're happy to the extent that we've made an offer to buy a condo unit here, and the offer's just been accepted. Woo-hoo. We're not counting chickens, but watch the space (high-lighted in blue) on the 14th floor, a stretched corner unit with 3 banks of windows facing north, plus one looking at the mountain (same as our current rented apartment).


Looking towards Huaykaew Road in the distance.


Marie celebrates at Chiangmai's famous "Can Do" bar,
while the papparazzi swoops in on a scoop.

STOP PRESS: August. Now we have the orange-highlighted room as well [see below], and the rennovation nightmare is well under way. The big green balcony looks north to infinity. The green window at the right is the lounge, looking west to the mountains. The red room is the kitchen, the blue is the bedroom, and the orange is an office and TV room. Inside there's another office, a dressing room, and 2 bathrooms.