Greetings and Sawatdee

I woke up semi early but spent the morning reading instead of doing anything very productive. I had to teach grade 9b in the afternoon and made my way over to the school in the early afternoon.

All but three of my students had forgotten their books at home and so I really couldn't teach the lesson. We talked about the comprehension test I was going to give them the next week and then I agreed to the idea of going outside to play some basketball. I was wearing my usual skirt, dress shirt and heels that I have to wear as a teacher at the school but I just took off my shoes and played basketball in my bare feet. I had a good talk and visit with some of the students and we spent the hour playing and joking around. Some of my students were amazed that I was going to the Black Eyed Peas concert that evening.

After class I went home and got changed for the concert, and went out to meet Oh for dinner. Oh and I had communication issues and I ended up walking all around Muang Thong and the Impact arena before we managed to find one another. We still had time for dinner and so ate in the Impact cafeteria and went into the concert.

The opening group was Buddha Bless, a Thai rap/reggae group (as far as I've heard the only Thai rap/reggae group). They were pretty fun though the balance of their sound was off and their voices were being drowned out by the base.

There was a break that was much to long between when Buddha Bless left the stage and the Black Eyed Peas came on, but when the Peas finally did get on the stage the Impact had filled up and the crowd was full of energy. They put on a pretty fun show, Oh and I danced a bunch. It was the last show of their Asia tour and the energy was great! Fergie was a bit scary but on the whole every member was pretty entertaining just some much more than others.

After the concert it was raining out so Oh and I went out for noodle soup, we were hungry from dancing and wanted to try to wait out the rain. When then rain wouldn't let up we gave in and took a motorcycle taxi to Chaengwattana where we each caught taxis to hour homes.

Today's picture is of the Nam Khan as seen from my regular perch at the lookout on Phu Si.

The Market

On Thursday I failed to mention that I started reading a book that my parents and Adina had sent me in the mail. It's a book I would never chose for myself but Adina had heard that it was good so I decided I'd give it a chance. I spent most of today reading this book, even though I wouldn't have picked it up it was somehow entrancing, like a car accident you can't stop rubber necking at. I spent most of my day reading my book with a few breaks to go to the night market and to plan my lesson for my Monday class.

The night market was a good time, I hadn't been to the market in Kor Tor Mor in a while because I'd been out of town or busy but it's so close that I decided to go. This is the market I was taken to my first night in Thailand, it runs every Sunday and Wednesday night and is usually packed with people. I bought some coconut juice with peices of coconut flesh floating in it, as well as some bananas, a bag of sticky rice and some chicken on a stick for dinner. I'll miss markets when I go back to Canada, I was realizing how much I was taking for granted the fact that I can just walk out to the fruit stand or the sticky rice/chicken on a stick stand and get something tasty and fresh.

Today's picture is of a woman who was selling embroidered bags at the night market in Luang Prabang.

Lazy Saturday

This was yet another day where I didn't really do all that much with myself. I talked to both of my sisters, did some laundry and then waited until I thought it was a good hour to try to phone my parents in Africa. I hadn't talked to my parents in a while and wanted to know how life in Africa was. It sounds like they're both doing pretty well, just adjusting. Two more months (as of today) and I'll leaving Thailand to visit them! In the evening I cleaned and rearranged my things, packed the presents I bought in Laos into my big suit case and just watched movies until I was tired.

Today's picture is of a butterfly that I saw when I was on the opposite bank of the Mekong. Sadly my camera isn't very good at close-ups on small creatures.

Heart

Today was off to a slow start, I slept in and relaxed for most of the morning. In the afternoon I went to see Oh so that we could plan our children's class for that evening. We planned pretty quickly, sat around and chatted and then walked to my apartment.

The children's classes went well though it's very difficult for me to actually teach because it's in Thai and since Oh is teaching she doesn't always have the time to translate for me. The conversation gets away from me and I don't know what we're talking about or what to do to contribute to the teaching.

After class Oh and I went out for dinner at this place where you take plates and plates of raw foods and cook them at your table in all you can eat fashion. I ate many prawns and was even adventurous enough to taste pig heart. The heart wasn't horrible, it was kind of tasteless actually, but I didn't like the texture and I wouldn't order it for myself in the future.

The days following a trip are always slow because I'm often just getting back into the groove. Laos has left me feeling especially disoriented.

Today's picture is of the boys that I met when I wandered into the gravel road area of Luang Prabang and then again on the top of Phu Si.

Back in Nonthaburi

My train pulled in around 6am and though I had just woken up and was still groggy I managed to collect my bags and get off at the stop closest to Nonthaburi instead of heading too far into Bangkok. I was glad I had managed to get to an ATM before boarding the train because now I had the cash available for a cab ride home.

Once I got home I had my much needed shower, did some laundry and had a nap. I didn't really do much with the day chatted, wrote emails, slept.

I usually tutor Ruhi book one on Thursday nights but the woman who attends told me that she got a new job and would have to put other things on hold until she got used to her new schedule. I was a bit disappointed, especially since I left Luang Prabang so that I could tutor this Thursday night. Ah well, I got over it quickly and just had a relaxing evening. Hopefully we'll pick up book one again soon, I've been really enjoying tutoring. I shouldn't stress about leaving Luang Prabang because I'll go back to Luang Prabang when I return to Asia, maybe I can live there or if not I'll at least visit for a couple of weeks.

I nearly forgot the highlight of the day! When I got home from Laos I had an email waiting for me in my email inbox asking me if one of my photos could be published in a world heritage book! I'm pretty excited that people are enjoying my photos (thanks to those of you who have complimented my photography in the past).

Today's picture is from my second boat ride on the Mekong, isn't it a gorgeous river?!

Waitin' Around

When I woke up I went to go have a shower but the bathroom at the guest house was shared and it was such a disgusting mess that I really couldn't do anything in there. The bathroom had been fine the night before but someone really made a huge mess of it. I cleaned myself up as much as possible using the tap water but was kind of angry that I wouldn't have a shower now until I reached Bangkok the following morning.

Check out wasn't until 11:30am leaving me four hours to walk around with out having to carry my luggage. I went out for breakfast, did some more writing and then walked around visiting some of the used book stores in the area. I ran into some fellow Canadians (a first on my Laos adventure) chatted for a bit, really I was just waiting for time to roll by to the time when I could pick up my bag and check out. I couldn't pick up my passport from the Thai embassy until 1pm so I still had more time to kill and walked around some more. Ugh waiting.

I ended up migrating towards one of the big temples in the town centre and sitting on a bench outside. I wrote in my journal a bit and just chilled. The great things about temples is you can just go and sit and you don't need to order any food or do anything to earn your right to stay you can just sit for hours if you want. There must have been a ceremony or event of some kind going on because there were so many monks there it was a little over whelming. All of the monks started to stare at me, I guess a white girl just chilling in the courtyard writing wasn't very common. My mind started to wander as to what you would call a bunch of monks in a group... a pack of monks? a vale of monks? (my friend Damien always wanted to know what you call a bunch of turtles and we found out it was a vale of turtles) and exaltation of monks? I put this question to Adina (my younger sister) and she said maybe a meditation of monks.... I think she's right, a meditation of monks sounds about right. So anyway, this very large meditation of monks was watching me so I decided that maybe I was intruding and went on my way to look for some lunch.

After lunch I made my way over to pick up my passport with it's new Thai visa unfortunately this took all of five seconds and I had to wait some more. When I bought my train ticket the shop I bought it from included a ride to the border in the cost and so after more wandering around I went to the shop for my pick up. I was, of course, early and my ride was going to be late so I waited around some more. I ordered a coffee but having learned my lesson about the gritty taste of Laos coffee I ordered something that sounded fancy so that it would be cut by a bit of milk and sugar. What a mistake! I got this drink that had condensed milk and sugar in it it was like drinking coffee flavored syrup, I drank maybe a quarter of the gross drink. At least I would be back in Thailand soon with my plain rice and veggies and Thong's good coffee. After waiting around a van pulled up to pick me up, we drove to a guest house and waited for a family to get themselves in the van and went to a small bus station where we boarded a bus to take us across the border. Once on this bus I had to wait some more for the bus to fill up and then we were off across the border. The border stuff didn't take very long and was very easy. In between the departure and arrival gates there is the Friendship bridge across the Mekong river. I was sad to say goodbye to the Mekong, it's so beautiful and I'll miss it.

Once at the train station I began looking for an ATM, I should have taken some Baht out at the border. I hadn't any Kip to exchange back into Baht so I didn't even bothered to go to the counter and so only had maybe 50Baht in my wallet. I went across the street to ask where the nearest ATM machine was, I wasn't worried about the train coming I still had an hour and a half until it's departure. The woman I spoke to about the bank machine told me there was one at the Lotus grocery store in town and her husband had to go do some banking as well and I could get a ride with him. They were really nice and so I put my bag in the corner of the restaurant so I wouldn't need to lug it around and took a ride form the husband. His banking took longer than mine so I bought a couple of bottles of my favorite tea and some snacks for the train ride and waited at the exit of the Lotus for him. There was a woman with an adorable new baby and I was watching this cute little munchkin when she called me over to take a closer look at her sweet baby boy. She spoke some English, I showed her a picture of Etana and told her it was my sister's baby. She asked me if I wanted to hold her little Punkin' and of course I said yes and held and snuggled her sweet little boy. She took a couple of pictures of me with her son on her cell phone and then just as I was returning the baby to his mother my ride was ready and I went back to the train station. I offered to give the man who drove me to the Lotus some gas money but he said "no no no" and so I grabbed my bag and went back over to the train station.

Remember my first train boarding craziness I boarded the train early and waited for our departure. I sat and sipped my tea waiting around again when I saw that Don was getting on the same train in the same car as me! It's funny how you run into the same travellers over and over again, I'd seen a few other familiar faces again as well.

When Don walked by I said "hey" and so after he dropped off his bags he came and sat with me for a while. Not long after the train left they began turning down the beds and so we moved our chat to the dinner car and chatted there until 10:30pm and then it was off to bed for me.

The day on the whole was such a bore waiting for the next thing to happen all day: waiting to check out of the guest house, waiting to pick up my passport, waiting to get a ride to the border, at least the wait for the train was filled with my Lotus adventure and so not as boring. Now that I was on the train in my bed I wasn't looking forward for the next thing to happen I just snuggled into my cozy bed and listened to my music and let my mind wander until I fell into a nice restful sleep.

Today's picture of the glass work at Wat Xieng Thong in Luang Prabang.

The Best Sandwich Ever

When the bus pulled into Vientiane it was around 6:30am. Everyone was going into the town centre so I shared a tuk-tuk into town and found myself a guest house near the fountain. Once I got my room settled and had grabbed a quick breakfast I went to the Thai embassy to apply for my visa. The guy at the embassy who helped me fill out my form and do all of the particulars asked me if I was single and was awfully forward, oye! I was told that they'd only give me a two month tourist visa which is fine though it expires six days before I fly out to Africa and so I'll have to apply for an extension of my visa at Thai immigration in Bangkok.

After the trip to the embassy I got cleaned up, had some lunch,walked around a bit, and bought my train ticket from Nong Khai to Bangkok leaving the next evening. For lunch I went to the Scandanavian bakery and had the most fantastic sandwich! It was on a croissant and was just salami and veggies but everything was so fresh and so good!

The plan I had for the afternoon was to get a massage but I decided to go back to my guest house and lie down for a bit. "A bit" turned into several hours and I woke up in the early evening. I walked around some more, looked in some shops and eventually took myself out for some good Indian food for dinner. I didn't stay out very late, as I was still groggy. Instead I went back to the guest house and listened to some music, wrote more letters, and fell back asleep for the night.

Today's picture is from the day I took the boat ride across the Mekong and it rained on me on the opposite bank... Can you believe I actually took a boat ride with the sky looking like this?! Oye, that sweet talking boatman!

My Last Day In Luang Prabang

Today I slept in a bit later than usual, took my shower, and packed my bag. I didn't need to check out until noon so I left my bag packed and ready to go in my room and went out for breakfast. I had one of the best croissant I have ever had in my life and wrote my second set of post cards. I walked around Luang Prabang , the sun was already hot at 9am and the sky was clear. I did some window shopping and then went to settle my guest house bill and pick up my bag.

My bag was pretty full with the presents I had picked up and though it wasn't heavy it was a bit cumbersome so instead of walking around some more I watched my favorite group of petanque players play another excellent match and then wandered around looking for something to do. I didn't need to be at the bus station until 6:30pm (my bus was leaving at 7:30pm) and so I had hours until I needed to be any where.

I ended up taking another boat ride. I wanted to take another ride because it was such a beautiful day and I love being on the water. I didn't take the boat to anywhere just down the Mekong along part of the Nam Khan and then back. Today's picture is actually from where the rivers meet. I like this picture because the division of the water is so clear an I've never seen anything like it before. The boat ride was really lovely, I took a bunch of pictures, had a fun chat with my boatman, and was invited to swim with a group of kids who were climbing a tree and jumping into the river. I didn't join the kids but they were really funny and fearless! They were jumping off a tree so high that it made me nervous about heights just watching them.

After my boat ride I went for a walk and ran into some of my monk friends. I sat and had a chat for about an hour and then went in search of some lunch. I still had an hour and a half to kill after my late lunch so I decided that even though I wasn't planning on doing any serious climbing with my big bag I would make one more visit to Phu Si and sit on my perch at the look out and just relax and write letters and say goodbye to Luang Prabang.

The weather was still beautiful and there was a refreshing breeze once I reached the top. I sat alone for a half hour or so and then one of my friends came by, we chatted for a bit and then he left. I guess when he left he told the other guys that I was there and so a few of them came to say goodbye and I got to say goodbye to my good friend Link as well.

At 6:30pm I went to the bus station to catch my "VIP" night bus to Vientiane. I find it funny the definition of "VIP" in Asia. I don't get stressed out by low quality transportation, I'm short and don't need to concern myself too much about leg-room issues etc... I'm actually very amused at transportation mishaps since I've had so many and the standards are sometimes not what I would expect. Ok, so this bus was packed all of the seats were taken, they packed the isle in the back full with bicycles, bags of veggies and fruit and other miscellaneous crates (thus blocking off the bathroom entirely) and then in the remaining isle space they put out plastic stools and more people got on the bus and sat on these stools for a 10.5hour night time bus ride! There was a guy on a plastic stool beside my seat so we shared my armrest and leaned on each other for the whole ride. I should have brought a sweater with me because someone opened the roof hatch and the cool mountain air was blowing on my for hours making me so cold that it was hard to sleep. I wasn't feeling fantastic for the ride but this time the curvy road didn't make me feel woozy at least and I did manage to get some sleep. Around one in the morning we had a fifteen minute stop and I was able to get up and stretch a bit. After the stop someone closed the hatch and the cold air stopped blowing on me and I was able to doze for the rest of the way into Vientiane.

It's Very Good

I decided to wake up excessively early today and go for a walk to see the monk collecting alms. Around 5:30am the monks go around collecting food and so if you're up early you can see this. I took some pictures but I didn't want to take too many because there were many other tourist standing around taking pictures and I kind of felt bad for these boys who were just doing their early morning duty being photographed by so many people. I guess the reason I felt bad is because my friend Link said that someone took a picture of him and his friend without them knowing and made it into a poster add for one of the hotels. His friend went to the airport to fly to Bangkok and saw this giant poster of himself and Link. They joke about it and how they're 'famous' now but they also seem a little embarrassed about it.

After my little walk around I chilled out and wrote a few letters and journal entries while eating breakfast. The monks on the hill had asked me to visit again, this time in the morning, and so I was going to go at 9am after I relaxed a bit. I went to an internet cafe and talked to Mattea and wrote a few emails and then off I went to climb the hill once more.

I spent most of my day joking around on the hill, or at least the rest of the morning and some of the early afternoon. The monks who didn't speak any english continued to walk by me making silly faces or hiding around the corner and peeking out to make silly faces when I least expected it. They were really playful. We climbed trees and ate the sour fruits and just relaxed and chatted.

When I left I went for another walk around. I dropped by my guest house to pick up my clean laundry, once again dodging the inappropriate advances of the guest house clerk. Ecky.

The men in Laos play Petanque (a French game with metal balls on a gravel playing field) pretty religiously and often crowds gather to watch a good Petanque match. I watched a specific group of men play, they were really skilled and though I didn't know what they were saying besides when they tallied the score (counting in Laos is the same as in Thai) they were dynamic enough and skilled enough that I could easily figure out what was going on by their body language. During my time in Luang Prabang I watched this group often enough that they would make room for me to watch when they saw me coming and though they didn't speak any english would smile at me when I arrived and when I gasped or reacted to the goings on in their game. They all had a distinct style of play, it was really interesting.

The best part about Petanque though was that the little kids were totally into it too, wanting to emulate their fathers and grandfathers (i never saw women playing just men). Little kids as young as five years old would make their own Petanque using their sandals as the balls, so cute!

In the evening I had dinner, finished the last of my shopping and bought a bus ticket for the Monday night bus back to Vientiane. Since I got up so early I went to bed at a reasonable hour.

Today's picture is of my friend Link sitting in the place he sat every time we chatted.

Volleyball with the Monks

Once again I woke up early and had an early breakfast so that I could begin adventuring as soon as possible. This time in my adventuring I decided to walk in the other direction towards the area where the two rivers (the Mekong and the Nam Khan converge). I was just walking along the Mekong when I ran into a large group of boatmen inviting me to take a boat ride across the river to see the three temples and the cave on the other side. Originally I wasn't going to go, it was awfully cloudy and I was concerned about the possibility of rain.... however this one guy started talking to me and he was so charming that I found my agreeing to a trip the river! The guy wasn't particularly attractive but he was smooth talking. Once I got to the opposite bank I saw Wat Long Khun. This was the temple that the King to be would spend a few days at before the coronation. It was very nice and peaceful, especially since it was only 8am. There were two other temples to walk to and so I walked to the farther one first. It began to rain a little as I walked but the farther I went the more it rained until it was pouring. Luckily, I did bring my umbrella though it didn't help with the slippery mud paths and so I was sliding around on the mud trying not to fall. I wasn't expecting a muddy forest adventure so I had worn my skirt and my legs got quite muddy. I climbed the many stairs to Wat Chom Phet which gave a wonderful view of Luang Prabang from the other side of the Mekong. It's really too bad that it was raining so much because the clouds blocked my view of many of the mountains. Now looking at my pictures I can't believe that I even took a boat ride with the sky looking so menacing. I visited one last temple but it was so old and rotting that I couldn't even step inside for fear that I would fall through the floor and down the hillside. The boatman (I forget his name) and I sat in the entrance of Wat Long Khun waiting out the heavy part of the rain storm and making small talk. When the rain eased up I washed my dirty legs in the Mekong and then he took me across to the other side of the river and dropped me off at the big stair case that lead to Wat Xieng Thong.

Wat Xieng Thong is considered the "most magnificent" temple of Luang Prabang. I have to say I did like it quite a bit though it isn't very well preserved. When I was there dogs were wandering in and out of the temple, I actually took a picture of one rolling on the floor in front of the Buddha. Instead having detailed paintings like Thai temples the pictures were made out of colored glass. Today's picture is of Wat Xieng Thong.

After wandering around Wat Xieng Thong and the surrounding neighbourhood I decided to have lunch and then return to my guest house to drop off some of my shirts to the laundry service. I ended up running into Don and we ate together and then walked back to the guest house.

When I got to the guest house I gave my legs a proper wash and went to give the guy running the front desk at the guest house my laundry. I hadn't said anything to the guest house guy besides "could I please get these washed?" and he was all of the sudden shoulder to shoulder with me and trying to give me a kiss, bleck! I escaped the situation pretty quickly, went to the post office and posted a few postcards and letters and then headed back to Phu Si since I told Link I would meet him at 1pm.

I arrived early at Phu Si so I took in the view and relaxed. The sun had come out and the clouds had cleared and so the view was beautiful and the day was heating up. A few of the other monks came by and chatted with me. Eventually Link arrived and we chatted it up and joked around. Another traveller came by, her name was Sarah-Jane and she was from England and she hung out and talked with us for a couple of hours. She was really fun and taught us Cockney rhyming slang (we were all teaching each other something). The monks on the hill were so much fun, many wanted to talk to me or joke around with me but didn't have as good a command of English as Link did so they would just make silly faces at me when they walked by. One of the monks made me a grasshopper out of bamboo leaves and then a ball out of bamboo leaves. The grasshopper was amazing, very detailed!

The ball that was made out of the bamboo leaves was quite strong and so we ended up making teams and playing volleyball over the rafters of the look-out gazebo. It was so much fun made funnier by the fact that every time tourists came we'd stop so they could play the role of "serene monk". I was so bad at our game but we had a good laugh and I left around dinner time with the promise to return the next day.

For dinner I decided to eat at another open air restaurant along the Mekong. Sadly, this dinner was a bit of a nasty disaster. I sat down and the waiter gave me a plate of complimentary roasted peanuts because I was pretty. I ordered sticky rice and duck. The sticky rice was good because really, what can go wrong with sticky rice? The duck, on the other hand, was a different story! Whoever had plucked the duck didn't do a thorough job and it was still fuzzy/hairy and even had some hard feather spines still sticking out of it in some places. It was pretty nasty and on top of this it had very little meat and many bones. I tried to pick off the edible meat but mostly it was a lost cause. It's a good thing I got those free peanuts because that was the best part of the meal in the end.

After my dismal dinner I bought some gifts at the market and a t-shirt for myself because I planned on getting up early and I didn't think that the laundry service would be done with my shirts by 5:30am.

I'm making a few pictures available on the pictures page. More of Wat Xieng Thong including the one with the dog rolling in front of the Buddha and maybe a couple others.

Everyone is So Friendly

I got up early to explore Luang Prabang I had no real set plan for my path of exploration but instead just meandered through the streets losing my way and finding it again. I ended up seeing the early morning market that takes place in the centre of Luang Prabang and also a community market on the far end of the city where the roads were no longer paved and people stared at me as the only falang around (in Laos they write falang instead of farang like Thais). I don't mind being the only foreigner though, I smiled at everyone and they smiled back and were very nice. I ran into four boys who knew a bit of English and they joked and laughed with me, we learned each other's names, and walked around together.

The markets were interesting enough. They sell a lot of mushrooms at the markets in Laos, more than I have ever seen in Thailand. I don't like to eat mushrooms though so it doesn't really matter one way or the other, but it was something I noticed none the less. They did sell some things that I'd never seen sold at the market before, like dead squirrels. Now that was new, an animal that I could see jumping through the trees in any forest area near Luang Prabang was lying dead on a mat for sale at the market, rats too. The rats I was expecting though because I was told that where there are a lot of rice fields there are many rats and people often eat them. I got a couple of pictures of a boy carrying some rats though the one that would have been excellent angle-wise turned out blurry and the other is ok-ish though he changed the way he was carrying the rats and it's harder to see what they are. Alas. I'll make the picture available on the photo page.

Around 9:30am I found my way back to the centre of town after visiting markets and many small temples. Luang Prabang has a lot of temples for such a small place. I decided to go to the top of Phu Si which is a large hill in the centre of town. Phu Si has a temple on top and monasteries on either side. While at the top I wrote a letter, took some pictures of the amazing view, and ended up running into the four boys I had met earlier in the day. They were playing on top of the hill and got me to take their picture. They were a lot of fun.

I walked across to the other side of the hill where the "Buddha's Footprint" and another look out was located. I met two more boys playing with their dog their and though their English was very limited we talked together for a while and sat on the banister looking out over the Nam Khan River.

When I was preparing to leave and explore a new place a few monks arrived and I ended up talking to them, in particular one named Link. I decided to stay and talk for a bit but a bit turned into an hour and an hour turned into four or five hours. We had a great conversation and when I left it was time for dinner, especially since I'd missed lunch.

I ate dinner at an out door restaurant along the Mekong and then went to walk around the night market so I could buy some presents for my family and friends. I had got a little too much sun sitting on top of the hill all day long though and felt a little ill and out of sorts. I ended up running into Don and we grabbed a snack and sat in front of our guest house talking about what we did all day before I decided to pack it in for the night.

Today's picture is of the Nam Khan River. From the hill you can see the whole city and consequently both the Nam Khan and the Mekong. The look out where I spent much of my time over looked the Nam Khan. This picture wasn't taken from the look out though, I took it on a boat ride down the Nam Khan.

The Road to Luang Prabang

Though today's picture doesn't really do it justice the road to Luang Prabang is very beautiful. I took this picture at the half way point of the ten and a half hour bus ride from Vientiane to Luang Prabang. I thought the scenery was so amazing and had my face pressed to the window trying to catch every detail of the landscape as it passed by. I was amazed, actually, and how everyone else could sleep or read their books when such beauty was just beyond our windows. I really felt that if I had the opportunity I would leap from the bus and go exploring.... or at least I felt that way for the first half of the bus ride. The second half of the bus ride was so curvy and swervey through the mountains that I was starting to feel rather nauseated and I could tell I wasn't the only one. Everyone who had been reading had put down their books and most people had a queasy look on their faces.

When we got into Luang Prabang we quickly found a guest house and cleaned up and then walked around the town. It was only 5pm when we arrived so we still had some day light. We drank fruit shakes by the Mekong and eventually went out for a tasty dinner and another walk around the large night market.

Hello Laos

I slept so well on the train I have to say I think that it may actually be more comfortable then the bed I've been sleeping on these past four months in Nonthaburi. I did have two wake-ups but they had nothing to do with mattress comfort. The first was because I was sleeping with the window open and it started to rain on me and the second was I went to sleep listening to my music and must have rolled in a way that hit the volume control because all the sudden it was yelling at me.

The train attendant was kind of strange and every time he walked by me he would start to sing to me. Over all I have to say I love riding on the train. I took the sleeper train second class with a fan and the lower bunk and everything was comfortable and quick and I had a lovely sleep. I mean there were a few bugs and one beetle landed on me but it didn't really bother me, just surprised me. I hadn't been on a train since I was a baby and now I want to take the train everywhere.

On the train I met a woman from France named Caroline and she and I went through all of the border crossing check points together. Everything was really easy and clean compared to my Cambodia experience (not that that was terribly difficult but it was dirty). Once we were actually on Laos soil we met up with another traveller who was from New Zealand and the three of us shared a taxi into Vientiane. In Vientiane we went searching for a place to stay and ended up staying at the same guest house. The guest house was ok, I was comfortable enough so all was good. In the afternoon we all went our separate ways because we all had different agendas for the day. I was on a mission to the Thai embassy to see if I could secure a longer visa for reentry into Thailand.

When I got to the embassy I found that you are only allowed to apply for visas in the morning and pick up in the afternoon and since I ended up arriving in the afternoon there wasn't anything I could do. I went shopping instead and ended up buying a really beautiful necklace that was a little pricey, but it's my Laos present to myself.

Since I would have to wait for my visa I decided to go straight to Luang Prabang since it is my "must see" place on my Laos list and then return to Vientiane early to do my visa business before returning to Thailand. I went to an internet cafe to send out an email requesting some documents for my visa and ended up running into Don, my new New Zealand friend. We found out we shared the same plan of taking the first bus out to Luang Prabang so we walked to the bus station and bought tickets for the morning bus together. We ended up hanging out for the rest of the evening, finding an atm and having dinner at a French restaurant (where I ordered my meal in French).

I'm not very used to the currency, it has so many zeros on the end so you spend 20000 Kip and it feels like you're really laying down the cash but really you're only spending 2$ USD

Today's picture is from Luang Prabang, this tree is growing near the bank of the glorious Mekong River. I like how fuzzy the tree looks (enlarge the picture for the full effect).

The Train Ride That Almost Wasn't

This morning I woke up early and got ready for school as per my usual routine. As I was finishing getting dressed Tabitha showed up! I was expecting her arrival and was very excited to see her! She asked if she could come to our grade nine class and of course I said yes so she got ready and joined Erfan and I on our trip to school. The class was a lot of fun and Tabz is really very dynamic and fun and the students all really liked her. I'm amazed at how much Thai she's picked up and am a bit embarrassed that I haven't managed to pick up as much since I've been here longer. Tabitha is passing through Nonthaburi on her flight out of Thailand, her destinations being Singapore and the Philippines. After class we came home and Tabitha and I got a chance to visit while I packed for my trip to Laos.

Later in the afternoon I went off to meet Oh for us to pick up our concert tickets, have dinner and grab a coffee. Since I was going to the train station right after our visit I carried around all of my luggage which was cumbersome but ah well. Unfortunately, Oh and I got a little distracted by our conversation and at 8:10pm I realised the time and we had to rush to catch the underground train (the MRT) which would take us to the actual train station. Alas my train was leaving at 8:45pm and we were about ten stops away from the station. By the time we got to the station and ran to my platform I had already missed my train by about ten minutes!

I thought I was out of luck and didn't know what I would do because my Thai visa expires tomorrow. Luckily, Oh spoke to a motorcycle taxi driver who said he'd rush me to the next station. So now here is the picture: me on the back of a motorcycle with a goofy helmet, holding on to my small bag and my large back pack being held by the driver between his legs and the handle bars. If this image isn't enough imagine us like this on this bike travelling at crazy speeds through Bangkok streets fitting through narrow, seemingly impossible gaps in traffic and miraculously arriving at the next station with enough time for me to hop on the train as it begins to pull away! Like a scene out of a movie! The motorcycle taxi diver did charge me more then he told Oh he would but I didn't have time to fight with him and he wouldn't show me which of the three was my train unless I paid up so I just did.

I sent Oh a text message when I was on the train to tell her I made it, she was pleased that I got on the train and said that at least I'd have something to write about... haha. She was also a bit upset that I was so over charged but ah well at least I got on and was able to get out of Thailand on my proper day instead of paying the fee for missing my exit date.

Happy Birthday to Clover who is one year old today! Happy Day to her parents as well who have been really awesome parents in this their first year of parenthood!

Today's picture is of the Patuxai in Vientiane. It's made out of cement that was supposed to go towards building an airport.

Welcome to the World Sophie Lucille

This morning I took it easy. Oh came over for a short bit, I talked to both of my sisters on the phone, and then I went out for an early lunch with Erfan. I'm really excited for my trip tomorrow though I want to remind people that this means that I won't be posting for a week or so, though I will be keeping a journal on the road and will post as soon as I have the energy to type it all out.

Our grade nines were working outside in the school garden where they were working on planting rice for the King. The grade 9 and 10 students have been working on this since the beginning of the school term, it takes a lot of work since they have to dig out the garden and remodel it so that it is deep enough for the rice to grow properly. Our students were so into their work that they asked us if they could continue through our class. Since our lesson today was supposed to be about service and this garden was an act of service for the King and the school we let them continue and spent the hour outside helping them and learning from them, it was really fun.

This evening I sent out a whole bunch of letters and a package and went to Carrefour supermarket to buy some fruit for Tabitha for breakfast since she'll be here tomorrow morning (yay). It's too bad that I won't be able to spend too much time with her because I leave for Laos but at least we'll have most of the day together because my class is early and my train is late so I have most of the day free.

In exciting news my friends Michelle and Michael had their baby and she's adorable. Her name, as you may have guessed from today's title, is Sophie Lucille. Check out there blog where I'm sure a picture or two will be posted soon.

Tonight I have a surprise one night roommate that I wasn't expecting which is ok but my room isn't ready (I was going to clean later tonight for Tabitha coming tomorrow).

I bet everyone is glad I'm going away because it'll be an end to the Cambodia pictures and something new will be posted when I photograph Laos. I know I posted this tree before, but here it is with a monk, and I think a person puts the size into scale a bit.

Chili Face

This morning I got up semi-early to get together with the rest of the Baha'is in my area to study together. We had a really good meeting and I think that everyone got something out of the gathering.

In the afternoon I met up with Oh and her cousin and they took me to buy my train ticket so that I could to go Laos this coming Tuesday night. I haven't been on a train since I was teething so I'm pretty excited, it should be a party. Actually, my whole trip should be a party.

Oh's Mom invited me over for dinner and so we went back to Oh's place where I learned to make more food tasty Thai food and hung out with Oh's fun and funny family. I had a great time and the food was really good. The only thing was we had a dip that had a ton of chilies in it and when I tried it my face turned red! I actually didn't think it was overly spicy, I mean it was a bit of a mouth scorcher, but I could handle it. I was so embarrassed that my face flushed red and made me look like a chili wimp. Oh told me it made me look very healthy but it was still embarrassing. I hung out at Oh's until nearly midnight and then got a ride home, I had a great time and it was really relaxing though I for some reason was tired all day and could barely keep my eyes open.

Funny story:
When we went to the country to stay at Oh's Uncle's house her other Uncle (not the one that owned the house) took a picture of me on his cell phone. That's not the funny part. The funny part is that I found out when I was over at Oh's house today that he had been showing my picture to people and telling them I was his girlfriend. It was funny because he works with Oh's Mom and they were preparing for a business trip and so other employees came over to the house and recognized me from the cell phone picture, I dunno it was funny and we all had a laugh over it. Her Uncle is a clown, in a good way, he's funny and his jokes are harmless so it didn't stress me out.

Here is a picture I took of Oh before we went out dancing this past Friday.

Have a Safe Trip Mom and Dad

So a few days ago I put my spare memory card in my camera for fun and found that I had some pictures on it from the last weekend that I was in Alberta! Of course most of the pictures were of Etana and so I thought I'd post a picture of the little Punkin' on the computer. But anyway on with what I did today.

What did I do today? The answer is nothing. I woke up really late after nearly sleeping the whole morning away and then I chatted online a bit. I took myself out for a late lunch and knocked on Erfan's door to see if he wanted to take an adventure this afternoon/evening. While waiting for Erfan I read a book about travelling to Laos and roughly planned my trip. Erfan and I went out for dinner and were going to look into movie times, but then he decided that he wasn't all that into seeing a movie.

So now I'm just chilling at home and typing, maybe I'll do some letter writing. I did have a little chat with my parents online since I won't talk to them now until I get back from Laos because they will leave Toronto today for Germany and Israel arriving in Africa while I'm still out of town on my own adventure. My parents have their own blog now which everyone should check out. The design is still under construction, but will be wonderful when it's done. Their page is also designed by my good friend Evan who has designed other beautiful blogs such as my own and his baby's.

Tomorrow morning the Baha'is in my area are getting together to study, which will be good. I planned the program so I should go over the details tonight to make sure I didn't leave anything out.

By the way this cute little girl whom I call Punkin' is my adorable niece Etana, she was just over a year old in this picture.

I'm really going to Laos Now

This morning I woke up early so that I could go into Bangkok to the Laos Embassy to get my visa. I took an incredibly crowded bus to Victory monument where I was going to take the 168 bus but after that first long and crowded bus ride I decided to just take a cab. I got to the embassy within a good amount of time. I had been to this embassy once before (if you remember I went back in early April with Jenny) and I was surprised to find that I remembered the area. The visa process was really easy. I had the same official that Jenny did when she got her visa but this time he was happy and smiled at me, and the process was faster this time.

Once I had my visa in my hot little hands I went to MBK to my favorite stationary store where I bought a ton of extremely exciting cute paper! I know that for many people the stationary store isn't terribly exciting but this one really is, there are so many cool and cute paper products on every shelf! I bought some fun little extras as well this time. I love it! I should hit the post office soon too because I have about ten letters and a small packaged to send in the mail, and some have time concerns.

When I got home I had a bit of a nap since I was really tired, I talked on the phone, and then went to teach Baha'i children's classes with Oh.

When classes were over we got all dressed up to go out and went dancing at a place called Santika on Ekkemai road between soi 9 and soi 11 (odd sois are on one side of the road and evens on the other). The music was great. We met up with Oh's sister and her friends, two of which were also from Edmonton (weird). The night started off really slow and when it finally got good they closed it down, boo. I think I enjoyed Immortal better over all the music was just as good there and there was room for dancing. There are two other dance clubs that Oh goes to and so next time we're going to a different one.

Thank you Mandy for your sweet comment, I'm really glad that you have been enjoying the blog. I'm always surprised at the number of people who read it, thanks to everyone for reading along.

Taes of course I remember you! My sweet Korean friend. I found a picture of you and May at Pre Rup and posted it today in honour of your post in the shout box.

Good Bye Kendyl

Today was a long and tiring day and now I'm totally pooped so I won't write very much today. School was ok but mostly uneventful. I think we're going to be changing up the way we run the classes but I'll write more on that news some other day.

I had a great Ruhi book one tonight and Sunantha and Pom helped me to learn the first Hidden Words in Thai. I'll master it before I leave Thailand! Yay!

Kendyl left today to go visit her sister. It was nice to have her come back for a night, she is really fun to talk to and full of a lot of energy. She also has great taste in shopping items and had many cool things to show me that she bought in her Chiang Mai adventures. Tabitha will be coming through next Tuesday on her way out to Singapore and so she and I had a nice long chat on the phone. I'm really happy that I'll get to see her on her way out of the country. Even though I don't want to live in Nonthaburi when I come back to Thailand, it does have some perks like being able to meet many travellers and see friends on their way out of Thailand.

Well tomorrow I have to get up and out early so that I can go to the Laos embassy and get a visa for my trip on Tuesday.

Today's picture is another of Angkor Wat. I took it during my first trip to the temple.

Eleventyone

My dear Bagginses and Boffins! Tooks and Brandybucks! Grubbs! Chubbs! Hornblowers! Bolgers! Bracegirdles! Proudfoots!*

Today marks my blog's one hundred and eleventh post! My blog is eleventyone today!

So, what did I do today? My day started out with an 8:10am class with my grade 7a class. We mostly did book work and they were pretty good. The school had a power outage during our break between our first and second but since we didn't have any students to take care of we were able to just hang out in an unused classroom and avoid the commotion which was nice.

The second class of the day was grade 8a and we planned a fun class for them full of interesting games. They were really happy about this and were full of energy. It was fun and nice to have a games class.

After the second class I ran to meet Oh to plan our Baha'i children's class this Friday night. It was fun to see Oh but all too brief since I had to run back to school to teach another class at 3:10pm. Also when visiting Oh she gave me some sad news, she won't be able to come with me to Laos. It's ok, I think that I'll do fine on my own, it just would have been nice to take the trip with her because she's fun.

When I got back to school we went to teach grade 8b and played some of the same games that we played with 8a. I still love grade 8b but I think they were really stressing Erfan out and they just weren't very focused today. Ah well.

So this is a milestones in writing day for me. Not only is this my blog's eleventyfirst post but I also wrote my 200th letter today! I hope that you have all enjoyed the first eleventyone posts we have give or take one hundred and twenty-three more posts to go.

This evening my roommate from last week, Kendyl, has returned for the evening. We're having loads of fun and she's telling me all her interesting Chiang Mai stories.

For all of you who worry when I don't post for few days (Roy) I'm warning you guys now that I'll be in Laos for a week or so as of next Tuesday night. I will keep a journal when I am absent and will do my best to post everything that happened when I return (faster than I did my posts from Cambodia).

Thank you Michelle for the Shout box posts, don't worry too much about reading everything, I'm aware that I write a whole lot.

Today's picture is once again of the Bayon. It was hard to take pictures that weren't close ups of the faces without catching people in the photos (much like Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm and any other popular temples).

Remember all of you: I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.*

*If you were not aware these quotes are from Lord of the Rings, and if you really weren't aware why not? You should read the books. Some of you may know that I am a big Lord of the Rings geek and if you didn't know, now you know. Happy eleventyfirst blog!

An Absolutely Thrilling Day

So there I was completely surrounded by a pack of wild dogs! They were all frothing at the mouth and ready to lunge at me forcing me to pull out my mad martial arts skillz when.... I woke up. Ya, I did a whole lot of sleeping and nothing much else today. I was supposed to go out with Oh but at the last moment her Mom needed her help with something and so she had to bail. I mean I did get some things done today, but mostly I caught up on sleep and wrote letters. I'm nearly at 200! Including post cards but I try to pack a lot of information on them so I'm counting them anyway. I also went down for dinner, got hollered at by the motorcycle taxi drivers, and ate tofu with veggies and rice and extra fish sauce. Do the thrills ever end? The answer is no, even on the lazy days life is an adventure. Haha! I have a lot of pent up energy from a eventless day and so I'm feeling a little bit silly.

Erfan is back from Cambodia (he went on his first visa run) where he had an awesome time. I think we're going to walk to the 7-11 soon. Hopefully the motorcycle guys aren't still around, they will still holler at me with Erfan around.

I've added Michael and Michelle's baby blog to my "blogs I like" list. They're expecting soon and I'm really excited for them. For those of you who don't know who M&M are, they are some really sweet friends who put me up for a bit before I came here. I knit with Michelle and Michael took me on a "date" to Batman last year which was such a treat, they're all around good fun people and host a fun Halloween get together full of games. There are other great things about them but I think you all get the picture about my awesome friends.

Kara sent me this picture yesterday night of her and I at the 'Bucks on Khao San road. We're big sbux nerds (since we both used to work there) and so we posed with the coffee so we could send it to our respective sbux posses back in Edmonton.

Thai Living

Last night we arrived at Oh's Uncle's house around 10:30pm or so and then chatted when we got there and so I wasn't in bed until around 11:30-11:45pm. We slept on a mat on the wood floor underneath mosquito nets. Sleeping there was no problem but I wasn't used to the night sounds there and the Word Cup final was on at 1am and some of us wanted to get up to watch. Someone woke me when the game started and I watched a little bit through my mosquito net but I was so tired that I couldn't stay awake to follow the match. I watched the highlights of the match this morning, I wish I could have stayed awake for it. It's probably good that I got all the sleep I could, though and didn't watch the match, because we were up at 5am to start making food for the monks. I helped with the making of the Tom Yum and cutting and washing veggies. I didn't really help with anything major but I was glad to help a little.

After we finished preparing food Oh and I went outside to bathe. Bathing is a different but very cool experience (I thought). You change into a sarong that is really just a large tube of cloth (instead of just a sheet) and wrap it tightly around yourself and tuck it in, then you go to the water basin and scoop out water and pour it on yourself, soap up, and rinse yourself off using the same water scooping method. It's a little difficult to splash water up underneath your sarong to wash your nether regions but it's not really that hard to figure out. After you're bathed you pull a dry sarong on over the wet one, let the wet one drop and tighten the dry one around to to go back into the house to change. It was really easy and I actually really like bathing outside. Both men and women bathe this way, men just have shorter sarongs since they're only covering half their body and can walk around bare chested. I think I could spend more time living in the Thai countryside. I love Thai traditional houses and I'm not even all that bad at the squat toilets, at least they don't stress me out.

After we were all washed up we drove down the the temple where Oh's brother is a monk. The place was very crowded with people and we all sat on the ground with the food in front of us waiting for the monks to arrive. When the monks walked in they sat on a raised seating area on one side of the temple and the ceremony began. The eldest monk started to chant and gradually all of the monks joined in. There were 28 monks present. When the chanting ended the families of the new monks give them food they made and the new monks give some of that food to the older monks. The monks don't personally get up to give the food to the older monks there are little boys who volunteer at the temple and they go around with trays and each of the younger monks puts something from their food on to the tray that will be given to the head monk. Once the food from the younger monks was passed on to the head monk everyone who had brought food for the monks brought their food up. We had a huge platter of food for Oh's brother and one for the head monk. You can't pass directly to the monks when you give them food, you kneel on the ground and they put a cloth out and you put the food on the cloth and then they take it off the cloth. Also when one person from your group is giving food you're supposed to touch them so that it is like all of you are performing the act. Oh's family asked me what religion I was and if it was ok for me to take part. I told them that I believe in Buddha and that I had a lot of respect for him and his teachings and I took part in everything. After the monks were done eating everyone reclaimed their cookware and the monks prayed again and then blessed the people in attendance and then each of us got a wish.

That was the end of the ceremony and we returned to Oh's Uncle's house to eat. I ate a bunch of spicy food and some pieces of duck and pork and I think maybe chicken with rice. It was all really tasty.

When we were done eating we went back to the temple to visit the pagoda that contained the Buddha statue to light incense, put down flowers and pray. I was probably the only foreigner for miles since this isn't a tourist destination and so every where I went I could hear farang (pronounced fah-laeng). When we went to the pagoda about ten kids surrounded me chattering and saying something about the farang. It doesn't bother me to be called farang, I know I'm white and especially in the country I'm a bit of a novelty. Oh's grandparent's ashes are at this temple so we dropped off flowers at their ashes as well.

We had more things for Oh's brother and so we went to wait outside of his room for him and when he came back from prayers he had a visit with his family and received our gifts. Oh's brother has only been a monk for a week and will only be a monk for three months, he seems to be doing well and already had a bunch of stories about life as a monk.

When the visit with Oh's brother was over we drove back to Bangkok and took a nice big nap. I was supposed to go to another Filipino party tonight but I was exhausted and it was pouring and so I didn't go, next time I will though since they are a good time.

Today's picture is from the King's exhibition for his sixtieth anniversary on the throne. I wanted to take some when I was at Oh's Uncle's but there was so much to do and I wanted to be part of things instead of just an observer so I didn't get any pictures. Anyway, back to this picture. This was a crazy waterfall that was designed to let water fall in a way that it created shapes as it fell. I know that this picture may look like it's a laser projecting the picture onto the water but it isn't it's just falling that way. It was insane. The pictures were really complex too it said "Long Live the King" in Thai and then English and had all these other neat shapes. I made another picture of the waterfall public if anyone is interested in seeing more.

Martyrdom of the Bab

Today was a Baha'i Holy day, the commemoration of the Martyrdom of the Bab. I had volunteered to prepare the readings and program for this Holy day but many people were out of town so it just ended up being me and Sunantha. We had a really nice Holy day just the two of us.

Afterwards I returned to my room to wash some clothing and pack to go to Oh's Uncle's house. Nothing you buy here is color-stay and so nearly everything has to be washed individually by hand. I used to hate it but I'm getting better at hand washing and I also don't need to wait for enough dirty clothing to make a load to have clean things.

Oh and her family were supposed to pick me up two and half hours ago, but they just phoned to say they'd be here in another half hour. It doesn't stress me out too much, I had a little nap, cleaned up my apartment, wrote a bit, read a bit, and just chilled. Tomorrow I've been invited to another Filipino party after I get back from Oh's Uncle's. I think it would be a lot of fun to go, I guess it depends on when I get back.

Also, Happy Birthday Uncle Harold! I hope you have a great day!

Today's picture was taken by May of me at Banteay Srei.

Partying Karaoke Style

This morning started with an Assembly meeting and then lunch with Erfan, Vaughan and Sunantha. I really love Sunantha she's very sweet and funny.

During the afternoon I really didn't do very much, I did some laundry (which was much needed) and talked on the phone. I was supposed to clean my apartment but really, that didn't happen. Ah well.

In the evening I went over to my friend Eden's house (you may remember we taught summer school together in April). It was Eden's husband's birthday party and so I went ate some excellent Filipino food and sang a lot of karaoke. The karaoke machine that they own is really funny and rates your performance at the end. My first solo performance earned me a 76/100 and my second earned me a 97/100 which was the best of the night at that point. It was really fun. I had to leave early because Erfan came with me and needed to leave early but I was invited to another party with the same crowd Monday night and so I'll probably go.

Tomorrow night there won't be a post (I'll post it sometime on Monday or Tuesday) because I'm going with Oh to Ayutthya province to stay over at her Uncle's. You may remember that I went to her Uncle's place in late April (maybe it was early May?). Oh's brother just became a monk last weekend and this Monday and Tuesday there is a holiday and merit making ceremony because it's the beginning of Buddhist lent. I've been invited to join Oh's family to make food for the merit making ceremony and to go early to her brother's monastery for the big ceremony. I'm so excited to sleep in a traditional Thai-style house and shower outside and see how Thai living is outside the main city.

Thank you Jayne (cloversgamma) for the shoutbox comment. I'm glad my parents had such a nice visit with you and everyone they've seen in Ontario. I'm as proud of them as they are of me. I'm sure they're adventure will be pretty exciting.

This picture is of Phnom Krom which is on top of the mountain that I saw the sunrise from on my last day in Cambodia.

Have a Fun Trip Pun

This morning Kendyl left very early and I'd gotten to bed late, and so I was tired. After she was gone I went back to bed and slept on and off until noon.

When I woke up, for the last time, the internet wasn't working and so I wasn't able to send any emails or chat with any one. Ah well. I got ready to meet Oh and walked over to Magic Years to see her. Lately a lot of dogs are getting killed on Chaengwattana and their bodies are put on the side walk and will sit there for days before they're cleaned up. It really grosses me out to walk by them because with the heat the smell is disgusting and then of course there is the horrible visual of the bloated, bloody dog corpse often with it's entrails showing and it's tongue hanging out the side of it's mouth. Awful. The dog that was dead on the side walk today has been there for two or three days already and is pretty stomach churning.

When I met up with Oh we planned children's classes for the evening and then made cookies. Pun was around for a little but she had to go home to prepare for her flight to Germany at 3am.

After baking and talking Oh and I walked back to my place, unfortunately, having to pass the dead dog again. She didn't seem as phased by the poor beast as I am. It makes my skin crawl.

There were less kids at children's classes tonight and so it was a lot easier to control and class went pretty well. We teach in Thai so really I just help prep and then Oh does the lesson, I wish I could do more but I have no clue what is going on. It can be pretty frustrating.

After class we went to Pun's place and then went with her to the airport. Some how I became the expert on flying and so I walked Pun through all of the baggage checks and airport procedures. We had a lot of fun. We all grabbed some airport fast food and chatted and joked. Pun decided at 1am to go through the passport control gates and so we went home. I'm sure she'll have a good time in Germany for a month. I'll miss hanging out with her, she's a party.

I got one of the best wedding invites I have ever seen. It's too bad that I won't be able to go to Ryan and Meaghan's wedding, it sounds like it'll rock!

Paul thanks again for the many shoutbox messages, what's this about you going to Swaziland? That'll be a good time, I want to hear about your trip/service plans.

Today's picture is of Angkor Wat. It's nearly impossible to get shots of Angkor Wat that don't have people in them. Sometimes I I would sit and wait for the shot to be clear but that often meant waiting for a long time and sometime it just didn't happen (as in this case).

Man of Metropolis

Class was ok today and the leadership club was really good I think. My students are really starting to listen to me... or at least some of them are. It's nice and some of the students are really sweet to me and are concerned about my feelings.

I was going to take my roommate, Kendyl, out to the night market but right when we were planning to step out the door it started to really pour and we didn't want to shop in the rain. The night bazaar is covered but all of the cross streets flood making it really crappy to walk around and many shops won't even open if it's floody.

Since the market was out we decided to go to a movie. I looked the show times up online and we went. I should learn that looking the show times up doesn't help. When you look up a theatre you get a list of show times but it shows the theatre name in Thai and so I'm never sure if I have the right theatre and twice now (out of three times) I have looked up show times and then when I've arrived at the theatre the show I was planning to see isn't even playing. This happened today and so we went to see another movie instead (I am supposed to go with Oh to this movie so I guess I'll be seeing it twice). I really enjoyed it, I love super heros.

Oh, I fixed my cold-at-night-because-of-the-air-conditioner problem! Last night I slept in a sweater, the one I wore to the airport when my family saw me off from Edmonton (I posted a picture of me and Etana at the airport where I'm wearing the sweater). Tonight I'm also going to wear socks and then it'll be perfect.

I also wanted to thank Christine and Krista for their really sweet letters and Evan for three more excellent cds!

Today's picture is of me at Angkor Wat. Taes took the picture and the reason I look scared and unsure is because even though I'm not really close to the edge it felt like I was and I was kind of afraid. Taes wanted me to let go of the edge and stand a little farther back but I wouldn't, I was close enough to the edge as it was.

No Tolerance for Cold

Last night I kept on waking up because I was so cold. I spent the night trying to cover myself with as many blankets as possible to keep myself from freezing. It was like sleeping outside in October with just a thin blankie, brrr. Well I guess it wasn't really like October I'm sure North Americans who aren't used to this heat would be ok with the temperature of my room last night (by the way the air conditioner was on because I have a guest) but I'm not used to it any more. It's a bit pathetic I get cold in the air conditioned buses, taxis, malls, and supermarkets now. I was worried before I came that I would never adapt to the heat but now I'm afraid of returning to cold old Alberta in November. Yipes.

School was ok. My first class was cancelled though no one told me, sounds like yesterday but in stead of five students there were no students. Ah well, I went to buy some new stationary in stead which means that I'm back in the writing groove, yes!

On Wednesday I have two grade 8 classes first is grade 8a and today they just didn't want to work. We tried to teach the lesson but after a while it became apparent that they weren't going to even bother to attempt to make an effort and so we decided to play a game, it was pretty fun and the students livened up a bit.

In the afternoon we have a really long break and then grade 8b. I've written about grade 8b before, I love them a lot, they really are my favorite group despite their often disrespectful behavior. Something has come over them lately though, I don't know what it is. Maybe it's because Mark talked to them (Mark is their homeroom teacher) or maybe I've been around long enough that they are giving in and starting to like me, it's hard to say, but there has been a noticeable improvement lately. I mean the class as a whole is still rowdy but there are students who are starting to ask to read out loud, who want to answer the questions, and who say "it's ok teacher, continue we're listening" when I stop teaching because the rest of the class is being loud. I think I may be making progress. Hooray!

After grade 8b I came home and rested for a little bit and then went out to dinner in Bangkok with some Baha'i friends. My friend Aaron was there (if you remember him I met him in April for the first time) and we had a great chat, I have to remember to phone him tomorrow to make plans for the weekend.Yu and Thai (pronounced Die with a thicker sounding D... like a d/th blend) are in town from studying in Cambodia and so I hung out with them a bit at dinner as well which was nice, they're sweet girls. If you don't remember Yu and Thai see my very first post, I think that I mentioned that they picked me up at the airport my first day in Thailand.

I think I lost my cell phone, again. I think that this time the loss may be permanent, curses! Hopefully it'll turn up at school tomorrow, I can't seem to hold on to a cell phone in Thailand.

Thanks also to my Korean big sister, May, for her sweet shout box post. You're right May, I won't forget you! We had too much fun and how could I ever forget my Korean big sister!

Today's picture is another from Chong Kneas (the floating village). I was amazed that there was a pig pen in the water and so when our speed boat passed it I took a picture (it's on the right side of the picture).

I can't say just how much I am loving it here, I really feel that I could make Thailand my home for a while. Even today just hanging out with friends, enjoying the heat when I am out and not in a cold mall or my cold apartment, and going to school and having an ok day. I will really be sad to leave.

Duck Feet

This morning's class was pretty slow since there is an event going on in the school right now and only five students were in class. We mostly played games since we didn't want to do too much of a lesson with twenty-five students absent. I think they had fun.

When I got home I got ready to go out with Oh, Pun and Patty and then headed out to meet them. They took me to a market I'd never been to before that had a lot of really nice stuff.

After the market we went to a mall where Oh and I got hair cuts. The hair cut experience was really different here. I went in and they washed my hair (normal so far), and then the guy came up looked at my hair gave me a book and got me to point at the picture. I'm sure he didn't even really see the picture because before I finished telling him what I wanted my hair cut was over. I think it turned out ok anyway.

After our hair was beautified Oh and I found Pun and Patty and we all went out for dinner. We had a great time and I was told that I wasn't like a farang (a high compliment) and was even told I was like a Thai (which coming from Thais is pretty awesome). I wasn't like a farang because I didn't freak when the cockroach walked across our table and I was willing to try every food put in front of me. I was told I was like a Thai because I could eat everything spicy and I liked the duck feet (they tasted really good). Good Nai.

I had a great time out with the ladies, they're very sweet and so much fun. The only thing is I need to learn more Thai so I can be more actively involved in conversation. Ah well I'm getting there.

Oh, also when I was out I found a copy of The Velveteen Rabbit which is a book I loved when I was a kid and so I bought it. Maybe Etana will like it too.

Today's picture is of a cow I met in Cambodia. I loved the Cambodian cows they are so skinny and nice looking.

The Brief Return of Jenny

Today class was brief because the students were back late from the class before mine. It didn't stress me out that they were late because when they arrived they were attentive and fun.

I wasn't sure what time Jenny was arriving so I came home directly after school to wait for her and I wrote a bunch of letters.

In the later evening she arrived and it was so good to see her. We told each other stories of the last few months exchanged some fun presents we'd been saving for each other and listened to Tibetan pop music. Jenny showed me her bungee jumping video from Nepal which was cool but I don't think I could ever do it. Good for you Jenny! I still think I wouldn't be able to jump 164 meters.

I'm sad that Jenny wasn't able to spend more time but she's off to China and then back to the U.S. to resume school. We've decided to meet up somewhere between Alberta and Colorado and go camping or something, yay!

Another roommate arrived named Kendyl, she works for the peace core and is living in Vanuatu. We haven't talked too much yet because I was trying to catch up with Jenny as much as possible before she was off again today, but I'm sure I'll get to know her a bit over the next few days. She leaves for North Thailand on Friday morning.

I have to figure out my own trip to Laos soon because I was looking at the calendar and realized that the 19th isn't really that far away. I think that Oh will be coming with me and so I'm pretty excited, she's very sweet.

Thanks Leigh for the nice shoutbox comment. I am having a great time and meeting great people, life is an adventure.

Today's picture is from the Bayon temple again. I saw that the moon was out in a blue sky and I liked the face (of course) and thought that this would be a good picture. It turned out ok I think.

A Day With Lynne

Last night Lynne arrived back in town from visiting her son in New Zealand and she has a couple of days lay-over here before she goes to Canada to visit her daughter. Since she was back in town we went to Chatuchak market during the day. We walked until my feet were too sore to even support me. I'm still not readjusted to proper sleeping patterns and I got really tired part way through the day. When we came home we had planned to chill in our own apartments for a short while with plans to go to a movie later. When I got home and checked the show times and found out that we had to leave nearly right away to MBK. We got there in time for our movie, which was really quite fun, I like dancing movies... most of the time.

Tomorrow Jenny is passing through again (yay!). I am so excited that I'll see Jenny even if it is for a day. I have missed her loads and consider her a very close friend even though we've only known each other a few months. I'm looking forward to hearing some of her fun tales as well.

Today's picture is from Banteay Kdei, the temple was in such ruin and the carved blocks were beginning to shift. I thought it gave an interesting effect but at the same time some areas of the temple weren't stable at all.

Happy Birthday Canada

Today I really did nothing. I had plans but was stood up and was frustrated and tired so I decided at 1:30pm to go back to bed. I slept until 6pm and then went out for dinner and bought unnecessary junk food at the seven (what Thai's call the 7-11).

Right now I'm catching up on some back-logged posts and as of now am officially back on track with my writing... well for blogs those of you waiting for emails that is my next step. Yay.

I had wanted to do something since it is Canada day but I guess not because I haven't really done anything yet. I'm living in the future though and it's just the beginning of the day in Canada now so maybe someone can do some Canada day fun for me. Last year I spent it with Etana and we went all over Edmonton to see Adina, Sean, Mattea and Leo and eventually to Leo's friend's house.... in the evening I think I even joined my friends for the fire works. Busy day.

Happy Day Fellow Canadians!

Today's picture is again from Cambodia and is of the main platform of the Elephant terrace. There aren't six elephants, it's two three headed elephants. I posted five other Elephant Terrace pictures on the photos page, check them out.

I also failed to thank Paul and my Auntie Cie for their sweet shoutbox messages, they don't go unappreciated thank you both.

The Peas