CHILDREN AT PLAY. Probably familiar with the sight of local children with their eyes glued to the latest Angry Birds app on iPads, street surfing with waveboards or running across the neighbourhood playgrounds.

Definitely not a familiar sight when in the streets of Thailand on a weekday evening. We were in a district in Chiang Mai during school dismissal time, when children filled the local street stores. An exciting observation for me – something uniquely different from the spoilt brats I see in Singapore.

Just Me & My Comic Book

A Thai boy resting on the benches reading his comic book, while fellow schoolmates are playing a ball game in the background.

What We Do After School

We stumbled upon a small shop akin to a student day care facility. The lady of the shop explained to us in bits of English that the children would usually hang around the area, while waiting for their parents to fetch them after work. These children are seen making paper model airplanes. Books and simple toys line the inner walls of the shop, aimed to inspire the children that stream in.

Roadside Play

A young girl looks on as her male counterparts are making paper airplane models while sipping on sodas.

Queuing For My Pancake

The peanut pancakes sold by street vendors are a popular treat with the school children.

Check out my other post from my trip to Chiang Mai!