This day was saved for seeing things in and around Chiang Rai. The concierge strongly suggested that we go to see the Black House. He drew me a map and wrote the name in Thai. We headed in the direction and did a fair job of finding the landmarks on the map. At that point we needed to ask directions. Most people had no idea what we were looking for even after we showed them the Thai name. After driving down some side streets for a while we found some kids on a motorbike that knew what we were looking for and told us to follow them. The led us to a beautiful set of buildings buried away from the

So apparently this is a temple or some sort of artwork being developed by a Thai artist by the name of Thawan Duchanee. After the workers saw us arrive someone came to show us around. Basically he was able to guide us in single words. "Bedroom" "Living Room" but not much else. It wasn't until halfway through that he mentioned the name of the artist and by the time we left it still wasn't clear to me whether this was a memorial to the artist or something the artist was developing. I would say that it is still in development but definitely worth visiting. It is in a small village north of Chiang Rai by the name of Nang Lae and is at 19.992217° N 99.860183° E.

After the Black House we went south of Chiang Rai to Wat Rong Khun. I'd seen a colleagues pictures of Wat Rong Khun and this is what drew me to Chiang Rai in the first place. It is really beautiful but smaller than I expected. In addition to the temple the art galleries around it have some beautiful works.

As tomorrow we'd be heading south to Khao Lak we decided to give the kids their last bit of really Western food for a while. We stopped in the Big C south of Chiang Rai for some KFC. The hot wings are much spicier than we'd tasted before. Delicious! While everyone was back at the hotel resting I headed out to buy something. At this point it started to rain. When parking the truck I hit a curb the wrong way and the wrong place and ended up with a huge gash in the side of the tire. Of course now the rain really picks up. No clue how to get the spare from under the truck. I climbed under a few times in the pouring rain using my blackberry as a flashlight. I called Hertz. He had no clue but called someone and tried to explain. Thunder and lightning grow more intense. No clue what he was on about but he was wondering whether I had dinner yet. Gave the phone to a shopkeep who explained where I was and the guy from Hertz said he was on the way. Meanwhile a high school track team that was in town for a tournament happened by and the shopkeep asked if they would help the foreigner with the tire. They readily agree. Some squated looking under the car. Shopkeep's wife brought them a flashlight. Some start taking the tools and figuring them out. One gets in the car to move it and straighten the wheels but couldn't get it into drive so said 'you car you car' At one point the 8 of them lifted the front half of the truck to get the jack in place.

After 20 mins or so they get the tire changed, put all the tools back in place and chant the name of their town/team. The shopkeeps wife brought them a bucket of water to clean up. They are clearly proud of themselves. I tried to give them 1000 baht (120 shekels/30 dollars) but they all adamantly refused.

The kindness of strangers always surprises.