Entries this day: A_peaceful_parade_protest In_the_mall Iron_Man_2

A peaceful parade protest

11:17am ICT Sunday 16 May 2010 (day 14662)

Leaving the dining area after breakfast, Christine and I saw some motorcycles with red flags driven by people wearing red shirts, often featuring passengers with red shirts, and signs with Thai lettering. It's Sunday in Chiang Mai, and the people are peacefully parade-protesting a stolen election.

I took several pictures, and have uploaded some to FB.

In the mall

7:44am ICT Monday 17 May 2010 (day 14663)

I got a bit sunburned on Saturday, so readily agreed to see a movie with Christine during the day instead of laze around by the pool again. We arrived at the airport mall around 2pm and bought tickets for 4:20pm showing of Iron Man 2. She was like, "wow! You get to choose your seats!" Though happy we got to choose seats, I wasn't surprised. "yeah we get to choose seats in Japan as well. Otherwise, there'd be no way to manage the lines that would form."

We visited the adjacent food court, which had a system of handling money which I hadn't quite seen in Japan. We basically put 100 baht each on debit cards that the different shops simply slide through their machines to deduct the payment. That way they don't have to handle dirty money. The cards are valid for that day only, so when we're done chowing, we go back to the cashier and get the balance back, and they get the card back. No hidden fees; very few lost cards for the mall.

Christine and I split up to do our own things; she went to a salon or something, and I went to a sports bar or something. Actually I went wandering around looking for stuffed animals that weren't Disney or Japanese animation characters. Found a set of bears that were either too skinny or a bit too fat, but I bought a too fat one. The bear was marked 199 baht, and the clerk gave it to me for 130 baht. I gave her the 70 baht as a tip, mostly because it was cheap as, and partially because the place looked like a ghost town; they are really short on customers. Staff were all chatting or sleeping or bored. She had been quite eager to help me find just the right bear.

I came across some kids hip hop dancing in an open space in the mall. I thought, dude and fantisized about somehow organizing a way for them to have an official space in the mall so people could come see them perform, pay money and we all make a movie out of it later. Instead, I gave 100 baht to the two hardest practicing dancers there. They seemed happy, and I saw them high five each other as I walked away. Nice.

Iron Man 2

8:03am ICT Monday 17 May 2010 (day 14663)

Iron Man 2 was better than it could have been, partially because it was longer than it could have been. Had to ignore the ridiculous computer h@x0r crap and the ridiculous particle accelerator, but other than that, solid science. (not). It's a bit more of a guy movie than a chick flick, but we knew that already.