Things I love about Thailand...

• Yellow polo shirt Mondays --- every Monday vast numbers of Thai people don the yellow polo shirt, a sign of respect for the King. I don't think there is any place on the planet that respects their monarch as much as the Thai do. What they think about the prime minister and other government might be a different story. But the people genuinely LOVE their king. And they haven't loved every king, just the 5th and the 9th (the present).


• Banana pancakes with chocolate sauce and condensed milk --- sliced bananas fried inside a crepe-like pancake. Liquids on top. These babies are less than a dollar from street vendors.


• Mango and sticky rice --- with coconut milk... need I say more?


• ...to be continued...

Travel Update

Hello Loved Ones, I know I'm behind in posting, but the update is this:

I'm in Bangkok, Thailand, waiting for my passport and visa documents to process. I should arrive in China by next week. I'll meet up with friends, Isaac and Rachel, in Beijing. Then I plan to catch a train to Chengdu to visit friend Meg who works in the field of micro-credit. As I'm sure you've all heard, Chengdu suffered from a treacherous earthquake, and aftershocks, this month--the current death toll as of this writing was over 51,000. More than 29,000 people are still missing. And almost 288,500 people are counted as injured. (Thank goodness Meg is okay!)

Back to Beijing at the end of the month for a Chinese language course I think. Then maybe I'll be volunteering in some capacity with the Olympics in August. We'll see. I have a position with the Paralympics (the official games for athletes with physical disabilities) in September.

Since my return from Myanmar, I've been back in Sangklaburi (Thailand) helping out at the children's home's school a bit. It's been a great opportunity to hang out with my friends here. I'm always sad to leave. The photo here is of me with a few good friends.

By the way, thanks to everyone for checking up on me after the devastating cyclone in Myanmar. Luckily for me I had already left. My heart goes out to all the good people affected by the disaster. The current official death toll here, according to the Myanmar government, is nearly 78,000, with almost 56,000 people missing. The UN and Red Cross estimate a much higher figure.

R.I.P.

The incident was horrible. Neither of us saw it coming. It all began with the simple task of taking out the trash. Our small rubbish bin had reached its capacity and I took it upon myself to tie up the bag of odiferous fruit waste, walk it out to the gate, and plop it into the iron container the locals use here for neighborhood refuse collection.

It was on the trip back to the house that it happened. It was dark out with the exception of the light from the front room shining through the open door. I made long brisk strides from the gate to the porch, with my mind on the chance encounter with sinister boogiemen hidden in the blackness.

With the first step onto the cement patio, I heard the familiar crunch of a pinecone. Almost simultaneously, there was a croak, not especially loud or angry, but rather of mild and belated surprise. It was too late by the time I’d registered: There aren’t any pinecones in Thailand…

I looked over my shoulder as I continued forward away from the criminals in the shadows. At just a glimpse I was instantly aware of what had happened. I shrieked and shuddered all the way through the entrance, down the hall and to Nadine’s room. I squashed a toad! I maimed a frog! I heard it crunch under my shoe! I think it’s still alive. I heard it crunch! I heard it CRUNCH!

The full weight of my body had already born down upon him, concentrated in the space of my right wooden platform sandal. From the corner of my eye, I had seen an unsymmetrical dark lumpy shape and an outstretched leg.

I’ve blocked out the rest. Of course it was dark out, and the unlucky spot was at the edge of the porch, the edge of the light--

I couldn’t look again. My lovely housemate came out to inspect the situation. I waited in the lit front room as Nadine evaluated: It’s not so bad… She made sure there weren’t any amphibian parts stuck to the bottom of my sandals. I heard a splat outside. And that’s all I needed to hear.

That poor toad and I shared an enormous shock. I would aim to bet that our heart rates jumped about the same degree in the same instant. The difference of course, is that mine stayed up, whereas his… didn’t.

~in honor of The Toad, whose life was cut short~
May 11, 2008

Myanmar: Water Festival

Our second week in Myanmar was Water Festival, and Thursday was the Myanmar New Year. During Water Festival, people party on the streets with music and dancing and WATER. It's impossible to stay dry. People are on the streets, toting water guns, hoses, buckets of water, shampoo bottles full of water, bottles of perfume... And every neighborhood has a station where people with fire hoses are lined up. There is usually a stage nearby with traditionally costumed dancers. Groups of friends or families ride around in pick up trucks, from neighborhood to neighborhood, dousing and being doused. Trucks and dancing areas play techno, R&B, and other (modern) dance music. Some neighborhoods have fair-like areas. Of course there's food everywhere. In Thailand this holiday lasts 3 days, but in Myanmar it is 5 days. And as far as I can tell, only monks are off limits as targets. It would seem that getting the foreigners gets you bonus points (not that there are really points)--especially my blonde travelling companions.

By the way, there are very few white tourists here--less than anywhere else I've visited. We are always received very warmly, and treated very kindly. People have been so genuine and are very happy to have visitors. Please look to my soon to come posting about the situation in Myanmar...

Myanmar: Week One - Bagan

The first week in Myanmar (aka Burma) three of us traveled north to Bagan. They have old temples up there which people compare to the Angkor Temples in Cambodia. We had no choice but to hire a private guide/driver because the buses were all booked full on short notice. But this turned out great as we got a lot more out of the trip because our driver was terrific. He gave us a lot of insight in many areas, and as we did not have to make any of the nitty gritty plans, the 5 days were relaxingly smooth.

"Hello", "Thank you", and "Goodbye"

Language basics in Nepal, South Korea, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and China...

Language	Hello	Thank you	Goodbye
Nepali	Namaste	Danyabad	Namaste
Korean	Annyong-haseo	Kamsa-hamnida	Annyong-hi...?
Myanmar	Mingalaba	Jezu-dembadeh	Da-da
Thai	Sawadee-kaa/krup	Carpoon-kaa/krup	Laa-kawn
Laos	Sa-bai-dee	Crup-jai-lai-lai	La-gon
Mandarin	Ni hao	Xie xie	Zai jian

The Demilitarized Zone (aka DMZ)

On my visit to the DMZ...