A couple pictures of monkeys at Iguazu’ in Argentina.

Literally “Market of the Lineman”, Mercado de Liniers is an expansive facility located inside the megalopolis of Buenes Aires which deal exclusively in cattle for slaughter. Fifty or so cooperatives sell cattle at the market, drawing from hundreds of ranches in the country surrounding the city of thirteen-million people.  Every morning ranchers deliver thousands of head of cattle. By 10:00 AM they have all been sold and are on their way back out of the city to the slaughter houses. The auction sets the price for beef throughout the expansive and meat loving country of forty-million people and is broadcast live on several television networks. Prices even find their way onto the internet in near real time despite the markets very simple “old school” way of handling its records.

This is the familiar pampas grass, but this time, actually in (or near) the pampas region of Argentina.

This is a 15 minute exposure of the falls on a moonless clear night. I’m still not happy with the digital camera for this. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, maybe the equipment isn’t up to the task. I may have to try film.

Adrian and I headed to the Marine Corp Memorial (also called the Iwo Jima Memorial) to catch the D.C. fireworks. We assumed it would be busy so we headed out early, around 17:00 and arrived after a short metro ride and walk around 17:30. The place was already hopping with a forest of tripods along the top of the hill. There were still plenty of good places though and we grabbed one and settled in for a long wait until the fireworks would start at 21:00 or 22:00. With an occational breeze, it was not to unpleasant. A very helpful national park service and police force did an excellent job, walking around and making sure everyone was drinking water, and even providing a misting tint and free ice water to everyone and anyone. Finally the show started.

After all was said and done the roads and metro were in grid lock so we decided to walk back to Clarendon, where we had parked. It was a couple of miles, but we made better time than the cars on the road and I’m not joking.

The city's East gate.

We began the last leg of our trip with another wonderful meal at Chaing Dao Nest then hung out checking email, backing up photos and just generally relaxing. Shortly after a wonderful lunch our transport arrived. This time we specifically asked for a van. The owner of Chiang Dao Nest was a little confused why we wanted to pay more for an actual van, but it was worth it. Adrian still got a little motion sick, but it was much more comfortable on the windy roads.

A couple hours later we arrived in old Chaing Mai. Chaing Mai was once a walled city with square outer wall encompassing about a square mile. Except for a few sections and gates that have been restored, most of the wall is gone. It has been replaced by a corridor where the wall once stood, that now serves as a public walk way and a border between the old city and the newer city.

The Chiang Dao Nest Sign.

After 2 days of temple hopping we were ready for something more relaxing and Chiang Dao fit the bill perfectly. Chiang Dao is a small town 2 hours North of Chiang Mai in a mountain valley. We traveled over night, this time in a second class sleeper car the Chiang Mai then caught a taxi to Chiang Dao. The drive was somewhat trying. This wasn’t a normal taxi, but a Thai taxi, which is just a small pickup with a camper shell on the back. Both Adrian and I got motion sick on the windy mountain road.

The ride was quickly forgotten once we arrived at Chiang Dao Nest, a small bungalow resort nestled into the side of the valley. It proved to be another wonderful choice. We were greeted with a glass of iced lemon grass and ginger tea and a short orientation to the area. Shortly after we were shown to our bungalow, complete with wonderful views of the mountains. Over the next several days we explored the surrounding area, including the Chiang Dao cave, a beautiful dry cave filled with small shrines.

Just another temple.

The forth leg of our trip took us to the Phitsanulok train station and then to the Phitsanulok airport to pick up a rental car. From there we headed to our guest house for the night. The next morning we headed out early to explore old Sukhathai, the one time capital of Thailand. We arrived at the park at opening, around 07:00. This turned out to be a wonderful choice. We were able to explore many of the ruins without other tourist around and it was very quite.

Very early in the day the various sites began to run together and I won’t bore anyone with the details of every wat and monument that we visited. The ruins in old Sukhathai have been restored in many cases and are well cared for. Access is very open so we were able to see things from whatever angle we wanted. Despite the nearly unrestricted access, there were no signs of vandalism. Either everyone visiting shares our respect for these sites, or they are quick to correct any transgressions.