My first post. Living the dream in northern Thailand.

Hello fellow Steemians, My name is Robert Fretwell, and I am originally from Sydney, Australia. I took early retirement from my 35 year career as a professional photographer, and am now living in Chiang Rai city, 390 meters above sea level, in the mountains of northern Thailand, in the province of the same name. ![Robert Steemit.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUEtqDvpLmHtREKsoXaQwoV9EWpi3q5mDetA4C42uJk9J/Robert%20Steemit.jpg) *Robert Fretwell in Chiang Rai, Thailand.* Chiang Rai city is located in the very north of Thailand, and is only 60 kilometers to the golden triangle, an area where Thailand borders both Laos and Myanmar. As there are so many elements of food, culture, traditional costume, art and craft in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai provinces, which are different from other parts of Thailand, visitors to the two provinces might feel they have entered another country, which in fact, is partly true. Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai provinces were once part of Burma, and known as the Lan Na Kingdom. In 1775, the second Anglo-Burmese war took place, and Lan Na chiefs left Burmese control to join Siam. Following the retreat of the Burmese troops, the Burmese control over Lan Na ceased. Siam, under King Taksin of the Thonburi Kingdom, gained control of Lan Na in 1776. Whilst Chiang Rai city has a population of only 70,000 and thus is small, there are nevertheless a large variety of activities to keep both locals and visitors happily entertained. In future posts, my aim is to share with fellow Steemians, experiences, cultural observations and photographs of this area, and hopefully further afield as well. I will write about observations on Thai food, Thai culture, the landscape and other interesting stories, illustrated with photographs made with an iPhone and a professional eye. Chiang Rai has a tropical climate, however, because of the elevation, the average temperatures are much milder than most of Thailand. Here, the weather is mostly beautiful, there is wonderful array of Thai cuisine to be enjoyed and there is a fabulous choice of tropical fruits; there is a different fruit in season all year round – and it’s all very affordable. ![Fruitseller ChiangRai.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmY1mBzhQ6CjjdorN8sUoTYQhrrQw1gYX3j16R91bo4REu/Fruitseller%20ChiangRai.jpg) *A friendly seller at the fruit market.* I enjoy a very relaxed pace of life in a welcoming and friendly community and also I enjoy living in an environment where there is so much colour and the diverse cultures of Thai, Lanna, Laos and Myanmar, in addition to the many mountain hill tribe peoples, such as the Akha, the Karen, the Lisu and the Lahu, add to the appealing diversity. Each mountain hill tribe people have their own distinct language and each has the most beautifully intricate and highly coloured fabric designs as their cultural dress. More in future posts. ![Karen long neck and Akha.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQkGX3UpH8jrDLxuFs4j9JSE8gdm3Qv4u5v172b3iUgT9/Karen%20long%20neck%20and%20Akha.jpg) *Hill tribe people. Karen long neck and Akha.* My first joy of the day; besides that of actually waking up to discover I am still alive, is to admire the view of the mountains from the balcony of the apartment I rent. The mood of the mountains is different every day; sometimes the mountains are crystal clear, and at other times, shrouded in low cloud. ![View from apartment.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRajafjCZ5EBKFW9JUM2qR9xJ1vaAihBeoCFYKJ1n38cp/View%20from%20apartment.jpg) *Mountain view from the apartment.* Speaking of which, some of the cloud formations here in the big skies of Chiang Rai are astounding, especially during the wet season, when thunderstorms are almost a daily event. ![Big skies of Chiang Rai.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmdSyz6ykarvvnoCUnGpbjn3LV3RMD2wcTe4xuGREkC3P2/Big%20skies%20of%20Chiang%20Rai.jpg) *The big skies of Chiang Rai.* I like to consider every day as an opportunity for a new adventure, and perhaps simply living among a predominately practicing Buddhist population, I am learning to live more fully in each moment, a practice which comes from seeing the following quote in a wat (temple)**Today is better than tomorrow.** ![Monks.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQjquvfHMsGDKLkBBwyqZpU9mov5oFKzTFPvuosMe3iea/Monks.jpg) *Novice monks walk past a building site.* The cuisine in Thailand is of course, astounding for the taste sensations, and I am also learning more about the sweet, salty, sour and spicy culinary balancing act of Thai cuisine. The delicate balancing act is the sweet from palm sugar, the saltiness from fish sauce, sour from lemon juice and the spicy heat from chili. On this first post, I will introduce Sai Oua, which is mildy spiced and moist pork sausage, flavored with lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, garlic and kaffir lime leaves and a tiny amount of chili. Sai Oua is specialty of northern Thailand, through being introduced, can be found in some other areas of Thailand. ![Sai Oua.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmbY6rhbbUsnRq1cdqSzAzAwA7mubyNWe7ncvmGrofgQdt/Sai%20Oua.jpg) *Sai Oua, the famous pork and lemongrass sausage.* I hope to be informative and share with other Steemians, the discoveries and visual pleasures of living in another culture and another country, as well as read your posts and learn something new about you and what interests you. Best wishes and good luck; as they say in Thailand : โชคดี, pronounced, chokh dii, good luck.