Five hour bus ride south to Sukhothai, world heritage sight, ruins from the 13th Century that are accessed on a mellow bike ride through what looks like parkland. We found a nice clean guest house for $10, are ready to call it a day and then rent bikes in the morning. Really nice to be on the road with M, it's a wonderful change of pace.
Had some street food for dinner as there are many booths along the side of the road where the largely Thai clientele get their 'take away' (rather than 'to go'). There are some Farang here but a small percentile, and it's nice to be traveling with a Thai woman, letting her do the negotiations, me basically hanging out with not a huge opinion on most things (as if)
I'll write more after tomorrows sightseeing. Feels like time to crash out after not enough sleep last night. But on the topic, and yes, I know that I've written about numerous 'best nights ever' at the CU Corner, but last night was the best night ever. I had heard about this Russian guy, Vladimir (nickname Vova), but had never met him. He's a slight, slender, ratty bearded looking guy, looks around 26, turns out he's in his mid-40s, and a nice musician. He came to play with Apple last night, as did I, as did Mad Mike, a 50 something American living in Denmark who blows great harmonica and sings well. Vova got down the electric guitar off the wall and we were a smoking quartet.
I know Apple's material and arrangements by now, so that lets me really cut loose and jam on the bass, and with three other pro-caliber players to bounce off of, it was amazingly fun. We drew an enthusiastic crowd who hung out til Jeff pulled the plug at 1am. My friend Michael was in the audience and he said it looked like I was 'ecstatic'. That's about right, we were cooking, great dance music though it's not a venue for dancing.... A nice way to leave town with that in my memory...
More later
