Look, it’s a banana tree! I love the rustic fence, the tree with red flowers, the sky stretching to infinity. I love how this is an uncomposed composition.

Banana trees,

lush leaves hanging over fences bursting through fence slats like eager dogs trying to make a get away with green bunches of bananas dangling down and it makes me so happy to see food grown in the middle of a sidewalk or in the Buddhist temple square or on a plot between a botox clinic and a high-end hair salon, it’s there, this plot of banana trees with leaves undulating like Tahitian hips with drooping fruit like heavy breasts and no one tells the banana tree to cover up no one tells the banana tree to stop acting like a slut no one shames the banana tree for bearing its wanton glory its very birth right for boasting its god given power to grow luscious bananas which will be blended in a smoothie, sliced and sprinkled over cereal, or in Thailand, grilled or fried and mixed with coconut milk for a tasty snack. I love how banana trees don’t behave, I love how they don’t get self-conscious when some of their leaves start yellowing and I love how they don’t rush to the hair salon next door to die their roots or rush to the botox clinic to panic-inject their sagging branches. And when bananas become over-ripe, the peel freckled with brown age spots, when the age spots transform the peel into a shiny brown-black sheath? The banana tree doesn’t fret. That’s when she’s sweetest.

I love how the banana leaves spill over the fence and through the slats. I love how in Thailand there’s this aspect of untamed nature that isn’t over-manicured and over-groomed.

Banana leaves dangling over the wall of a Buddhist temple. A bunch of green bananas hang overhead. Thai people grill or fry unripe bananas for a tasty snack.

Street sweepers taking a break outside the Buddhist temple. I love the lush greenery.

This place offers mountain biking tours. There are many mountains in Chiang Mai to challenge every level of cyclist.

Menu offerings at the entrance: various mountain biking tours, fresh coffee, and no breakfast (Ha!)

Vendors working the flea market.

A moat with a bridge, swans, and a swan hut.

Cat waiting to welcome you.

A typical “soi” or alley in Chiang Mai. Effortlessly artistic. Love the clouds like cotton batting.

Get your aura on as you relax in this herb shop, aka weed.