Awoke before the
sunrise and walked to the Pharmacy Garden and then did a short run
and some exercises. Felt decent energy. On the walk back I continued
to be adventurous with my food selection and instead of stopping at a
7/11 for a chocolate milk, I bought a few unknown items from street
vendors. The most bizarre piece of food included in the mish mash was
something meaty encased in a hard shell, which did not smell fishy at
all. Was I being served pig brain curry? I did not know and after
taking a very small bite decided not to go any further. The other
meat selections which were included did not suit me either so I ended
up eating an odd kind of rice which was purple in color and stuck
into a mass which was hard to pull apart. I am guessing tomorrow I
will be back to my usual post-exercise breakfast of chocolate milk.
When I returned to
the condo I discovered all tap water including shower and toilet was
severly low pressure and volume, which meant I took an early nap
without taking a shower. Later in the day I received an email from
the owner of the condo explaining that the water pump had broke and
it would soon be fixed.
When cleaning up
in the kitchen I saw a few tiny white ants scurrying on the counter.
I was reminded of my stay at The Dome in 2012, which also had a few
roaming about. Plan of attack is to keep all food stuff in cupboards
and the counters spotless.
Was finally able to
resume my chess studies today, after a break of almost a week. Moving
into a new country means most of my energy is being spent on things
which back in my home country I would not even be conscious of, such
as handling currency correctly, learning new streets and walking
paths, and places to get food and supplies for non-tourist prices.
The book I will be studying during my stay in Chiang Mai is the
famous David Bronstein book covering the 1953 Zurich chess tournament
which was won by Smyslov. Covered game #1 today, Szabo/Geller, where
Geller was able to pull out a win with the black pieces in a Catalan
opening.