23 Thaikarl - it gets dark when the power goes out

friends,

 

sitting in another internet cafe looking thru emails, just opened a compose window and everything went black.  the whole couple of blocks in the area went dark... oh well.  found another place here.

 

Tok had spaghetti napoli at a sidewalk restaurant.  first time.  she said it was "okay".  hundreds of motocycles were passing in front of us. it was sunset and soon after.  whole families of 4 people, lots of kids, teen agers and everybody else cruising the boulevard by the river.  amazing how they don't seem to crash into each other, everyone dodging trucks, bicycle rickshaws, cars and 3 wheelers.  i enjoyed a double espresso and a few "liberation" brand cigarettes.  no messy helmet laws or anti-smoking nazi's here.  most of the motorbikes don't even have plates.  nor do many of the cars.  they have paved a few more of the streets since last year.  many of the side streets are still rocks, dirt and trash.  trash is everywhere.  plastic bags are used for everything, and everyone drinks bottled water, but there are few trash cans, so it all goes on the ground.  an army of street sweepers and collectors comes around at night and picks up the piles.  well, much of it anyway.  little 8/9 year old kids cruize the sidewalks selling counterfeit books, home-made handbags, bracelets.  they hear "no" probably 700 times a day.  you will get an 8 year old with a smaller kid, who is dead asleep hanging from a cloth wrap come up to you and give you the most pained, plaintive expression and do the fingers to mouth gesture - "please sir" shake of the head, and look away and they are off to the next one.  instant smile when one of their friends walks up.  give when you feel like it, don't if you don't.  up to you.  but you will NEVER run out of beggars.

 

back to the hotel, watch a little tv.  my friend/driver Alee phoned to see if we were okay - he'll be picking us up at the hotel to take us to the airport.  if you ever come to phnom phen, i'll give you his phone number. he'll take good care of you, and knows trusty friendly drivers in other cities also.

 

did i tell you that when i sit composing these messages, that Tok sits beside me and edits my spelling and english?  she does.  ever faithful.

 

Onward!

Nu

--
I'm in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address. view previous posts at:  http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

22 Thaikarl back in PP, cambodia bakeland

friends,

took the bus back to phnom phen this morning.  got set up in a 6 dollar hotel room (with satellite tv!) and we're laying back, preparing to fly back to thailand tomorrow.  i will miss cambodia.  i like it here. the streets dont have stop signs, there are only a few traffic lights in PP.  they name the beach huts names like 555, 777, 888 - so they are easy to remember.  the food is not spicy or hot like in thailand, so it tastes rather bland.  they always think Tok is khemer.  Tok asked a waitron why there are not many cambodian girls with farang men. the ladie told us it's because they don't think foreign men are honest, but the teenage girls are starting to show interest.

they have ATMs here now!  they didnt have a single one on all cambodia last year - progress!  not that many, but they can be found.  Toks sandle was loosing the sole on one foot.  we walked by a shoe fixer on the sidewalk, and i gotToks soles all nicely reglued for 2000 riels (50 cents).  Thy sell a version of red bull here that you don't see in thailand.  its in little 250 ml cans, not as syrupy as the 100ml bottles in thailand.  Tokays live here also - those sqwaking lizards i talked about in an earlier message.  at night, small herds of millipieds would be crossing the concrete in front of the rooms. about the diamiter of a pencil, and as long as your finger.. little smaller.  when you touch them, the quickly curl up in a spirial with their head at the center.  after a minute or two, they unwind and go trooping off again.  there were a lot of weddings going on in sihanookville last night.  strangely enough, the band plays the tune to "Happy Birthday" at some point in the flower-throwing, cake cutting ceremony.  internet shops are common, used by the khmer as well as the tourists.  the kids are amazed at the "pull the end of your thumb off" trick.  some truely astonished, others quickly figure out its a trick of some kind.  they almost forget to ask for money after you goof around with them a little while.  the kids at a mountain top temple we visited yesterday were playing a game on the tiled terrace of the budda.  they would put some money on the floor, then kick flip-flops.  the idea was to kick your shoe and hit the other guys shoe.  if you missed, the other guy could kick his towards the money. if he hit it, he wins it, if he misses, you have to hit his flip-flop with yours again.  interesting.  another game we just saw on the sidewalk used round, flat nuts (tok tells me thais call the nuts saba).  the kids would set up a triangle of nuts up on edge.  the shooter at the other side would try to skip his nut and nock over the upright ones - kind of like bowling.  when on kid won the whole game (not exactly sure what the details of that were) he would take two nuts and holding them together would bang them on the losers kneecaps 4 times.

the only tragic thing i saw was the street kids in Siem Riep huffing.  they have small plastic bags they put paint thinner, spray paint or solvents into, then breath in and out of the bag.  they hide the bags when they come up to you, but they get them out when they are off running around.  I suppose, the numerous land mine victims are pretty unpleasant, but different.  kids an adults missing legs, arms and eyes, stumbling around begging.  horrible things - mines.

any questions?

we fly back to thailand tommarow morning.

Onward!
Nu

--
i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address. view previous posts at:   http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

21 Thaikarl don't step in the fire ants, it pisses them off

friends

parked the bike tonight to got get some dinner.  my left foot started flaming.  i did the wildman flip-flop dance, but because it was dark i couldn't see what what happening... it just stung! many times!  checked the spot with my LED light after dinner - sho nuf, little tiny ant hole right where the kickstand was.  no wonder the little buggers were annoyed.

at the street places to eat, they have tissue on the tables to use to wipe your fingers and mouth with.  you throw the used paper on the ground underneath the tables, along with bones and scraps.  Tok pointed out, that you can tell the best/cheapest places to eat by how much tissue is on the ground under the tables and chairs.  seems to work.  Tok notices little things like this.  She's a good traveller.

we took the motobike out of town to the waterfalls today.  it's the dry season, so there wasn't much water, but it was pleasant none the less.  there was a footbridge across the river, which we went over. seemed like the logical think to do.  but a young fellow at the other end wanted 300 Riel's.  but couldn't tell us why.  so we went back and climbed down the rocks.  there was a pretty nice fall about 30 feet high, and you could go back around the falls behind the water.  we took a lot of video.

right at the end of the dirt road, when we got onto the pavement the bike started acting funny, whumpa whumpa from the front end.  flat tire.  great.  pushed the thing about a kilometer up the road to a factory village by the road.  found the bike fixer.  he had the front tube out in minutes, found the blowout and indicated we needed a new tube.  okay.  whipped off the front wheel, put in a new tube and we were ready to go in 10 minutes.  $5.00.   we walked around the place a little bit, got some noodles at a stand.  only 1500 Riels - where they are charging 2000 - 4000 in town.  (4000 Riels is $1.00)  behind the shops were rows of dormitory like rooms.  apparently housing for the shoe factory across the road.  i need to buy a laxative, so we went to the "pharmacy". little shops with all sorts of pills.  you just tell them what you want, and they sell it to you.  except not a word of english beyond "Hello" and "Bye-Bye" was working in this place.  so you can imagine the pantomime i had to do to try to explain what i wanted.  went thru this 3 times, at three places before we figured out they were tellin us we had to look in town.  funny ha ha...  Tok bought 3 apples before we headed on down the road.

we took the turn-off that went to a temple we could see from town.  i parked the bike near the entrance.  notice there were monkeys coming down from the trees.  cute little things.  one of them heads over to the bike, Tok says "My apples!"  the little monkey climbed right up the front wheel, and snatched the bag of apples out of the basket and high-tailed it up a tree!  we just stood there rather helpless looking at this money up there eating out apple.  he just ripped open the plastic bag and started eating.  one of the little monkeys made a grab, and when the bigger one went to swat him away, one of the apples fell to the ground and i barely beat an old female to it.  mr. Big up there happily comped up the first apple, and took off with the second.  occasionally he would nonchalantly toss away a piece that the other guys on the ground would snatch up.  musta been good apples!  my parting comment to the little beasts?  "How do ya like them apples!" (of course)

and the temple was very beautiful besides.


it's dark now.  think it's time to motor down to the room, park the bike and walk the 50 meters to the beach and have a fruit shake.  Care to join us?

Onward!
Nu

--
i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address. view previous posts at:  http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

20 Thaikarl toes in the ocean, life is terrible

friends,

all day on two buses brought us to Sihanoukville, the beach town in southern cambodia.

nice.

the usual crowing crowd of motor drivers were thrashing at the gates of the bus when we arrived.  one boy was pleasant and not pushy.  the kind i usually choose.  6000 reils ( 1.50) motobike ride and he took us to a guesthouse at the end of the southern beach.  8 dollars a night for a room with two beds - too expensive - were moving to a small room tomorrow.  but the sea is 100 yards away across the road, and the sun was just going down.

very nice.

a long, un-crowded beach, lined with restaurants and beach chairs, gentle surf, bilious clouds, pale orange sunsetting.  Tok and i walked along the waters edge to the far end. we had some fresh grilled squid from one of the beach ladies that carry a charcoal grill on one end of a bamboo stick over their shoulder, sauces and supplies in a basket on the other end. yummy.  stopped and sat in some chairs and enjoyed a fruit sake while Tok amused me with stories of her early teaching days - sneaking back into school after the 8pm curfew after they'd been to the movies.  living on 25 USD a month, bringing rice to the border soldiers near cambodia and seeing communist guerrillas thru binoculars...

this end of cambodia is much greener, the people seem better off.  their houses are better.  there's even a range of mountains we drove thru to arrive at the coast.

very very nice.

going broke tho.  oh well.  four days hotel, with breakfasts and water in siem riep came to 38.50 USD.  for two people.  food and things are more expensive in cambodia, lodgings are cheaper than thailand.  If we were in europe, 38 dollars wouldn't even cover 1/2 day.  nor would it in the states for that matter.  we have a few days here. gonna rent a motorbike and sport around some.
wish you were  here.

ONward!
Nu

--
i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address. view previous posts at:   http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

19 Thaikarl - temples have been crawled, next

friends,

we've been crawling the temples for three days.  as immense and absorbing as last time i was here.  i shall have to come back again.

we are heading out early in the morning- taking the bus to phnom phen, and then down to sihouinoukville (sp)  which is cambodis beach front town.  layabout in the heat and salt air for a few days, maybe snorkling.

the many temples of angor wat are mind-boggling.  the story behind them, the history, the people - its a lot to take in, alot to imagine.  all the sandstone was hauled from 120 km away - over 60- miles.  they had elephants for heavy lifting, but everything was done by hand.

and its all falling down.

Onward!
Nu

--
i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address. view previous posts at:  http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

18 Thaikarl Angor Wat

friends,

its nice and toasty here in Siem Riep Cambodia.  Tok and i went on our first day of 3 days touring the temples.  i was here last year, and it is still just as amazing and marvelous.  Tok is really impressed also.  the three day pass is $40.00 USD.  when the gate person came up, they were only talking to me.  they gave tok funny looks when she produced a photo for a pass.  they asked her where she is from, and she told them thailand.  only after the deal was done did we realize that they thought she was cambodian - and didn't need to buy a pass.  if we would have just kept quiet, it would have been 40.00 for my pass instead of 80.00 for two passes.  ouch.  we could have lived on 40.00 for 3 days.  next time we'll know.....

but Tok is a little bit baffled that they start talking to her in khmer.  she understands as much as i do. which is nuttin.  i keep kidding Tok, telling her that now she knows how I feel most of the time. tee hee.

after a day in the hot sun climbing around piles of rocks, i lured us into getting a massage.  from the blind massage people called "Seeing Hands"  $4.00 for an hour.  oh, so very very nice!

packing it in early tonight folks... heading out temple traipsing at 9:00 am.  photos and more details to follow.

ONward!
Nu

--
i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address. view previous posts at:  http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

17 Thaikarl - some thought from earlier

pre-wrote this a few days ago... didn't get to send it before coming to cambodia.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Friends

In response to a couple of queries- no, taking a shower with a bowel from a tank is not the universal method.  Seems to depend on how much income you have.  One of the first things Thais will do to improve their houses is to put in tiled walls and floor, maybe a shower hose and sink.  They will also tile and sink the kitchen, and put in a built in stove top.  This costs money.  Toks family has depended only on her income for some time now.  So the money has gone for more important things, like school for Tery, cloths and food.  Tok is very thrifty, and a great bargain-hunter.  I ran out of Kraeting Daeng the other day.  We were in town in the evening and we checked in a store to see if they had a 10 pack.  The price was 5 baht (13 cents) more than the other store.  Which for me, was negligible. Tok said she wouldn't pay that, she would goto the other store.  But then, I'll go and pay 50 baht (1.25) for a cup of espresso, which to her is quite extravagant. But she never gives me a hard time about it.  As long as there is money for the family and everything, what I do with my money is fine.

 

Everyday I spend hours just absorbing what I see and hear here.  I am fascinated by the differences and similarities.  When you spend your life in your native country, you learn, without really realizing it, that "this is the way things are done".  Living in thailand, or most any other outside your native country, "the way things exist" can be quite different.  Similar, but different.  Here in Thailand you will often hear the phrase "Same Same, but different"  A delightful way to say it I think.

 

Take something simple like writing paper.  Thai's (and most of the rest of the world) use a standard paper size called A4.  this paper is 8.27 inches wide and 11.69 inches long.  A little narrower and a little longer than American paper.  But it's office paper, just like we use.  Same Same, but different.  We used this paper in school in Bangkok.  I didn't realize the difference for a week or so, until I was looking in page set-up in a document I was working on. I like it. The proportions seemed better to me.  A small thing I know, but it serves to illustrate the concept.  Expand this to millions of other things – housing construction, vehicles, roads, writing, speech, clothing, habits, morals, plants, politics… can you see why I am never board? Even when I'm just hanging out somewhere, be it a sidewalk in Bangkok or at a house in the mountains waiting for Tok and Jamlong to do hair and make-up for a wedding party?

 

I am surround by an environment rich in differences in "the way things exist"  I am constantly stimulated – should I care to look.  I have met people here on holiday, who think Thailand is quaint, interesting, and exotic – but only for two weeks.  When they go back home, they go all the way back.  Thailand was a "nice vacation, but the food was too spicy and there was no hot water at the guest house we stayed at on the beach!"  I understand this, but the experience of being here runs hundreds layers deeper than that for me.  I really couldn't tell you why either.  I've thought about it a lot, but haven't reached a conclusion.  Maybe some past-life thing. Maybe I'm just "ready".   I have a friend who lived here for 5 years.  When I came last year, and he read my comments in my emails, he would reply with notices like "that's one of the signs man", or "you're in deep now"  having lived here himself, and seen a lot of vacationers and internationals come and go, he knew the indicators – the ones that tell the difference between the two sets of people.  Seems I've got the set that says: "you're gotta live there".

Onward!
Nu

--
i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address. view previous posts at:  http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

16 Thaikarl -- Moonrise over the Mekong

friends

the waning full moon rose over the mekong river.  orange and beautiful in the horizon haze.  the streets of phenom phen are busy with motorbikes and tuk-tuks, bicycle rickshaws and walkers.  brown-eyed children come begging to buy books from the basket slung around their necks.  it's warm, but with a nice breeze to soften the humid air.  the litter of the day wanders about the streets and gutters, market stalls are closed, and the masses of vegetation and plastic gloam together in little piles.  more westerners about than last year.  young and old.  few americans it appears.

Mr. Alee took us to the lakeside, where his friend owns a guesthouse and restaurant.  the menu was all in english, so i had to describe 'ginger', 'plum sauce' and  'tofu'  to Tok.  Alee went next door to hangout with a few of his friends.  they are all chatting away - in australian accented english.  Tok notices also that there are no tall buildings in phenom phen - the tallest maybe 6 stories.  and the streets are dark.  few people turn on lights in front of buildings, and there are no streetlights anywhere.

I also like it here.  Couldn't tell you why either.  it just feels good.  the people are nice.  there is a bit of a "danger!" flavor in the air... but no obvious threat.  there is a certain rawness of quality, a feeling of recovery and renewal.  other eyes would see dirt, economic hardship, decay, struggle.  children working the streets late at night selling conterfieted books and prayer flowers, ragged and grimy stalls and food of unknown origin.  to me, it's life.  different than other places, but an experience of life non-the-less.

we are bacteria on this planet. eating it up.  everywhere.

Onward!
Nu

--
i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address. view previous posts at:  http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

16 Thaikarl -- Moonrise over the Mekong

friends

the waning full moon rose over the mekong river.  orange and beautiful in the horizon haze.  the streets of phenom phen are busy with motorbikes and tuk-tuks, bicycle rickshaws and walkers.  brown-eyed children come begging to buy books from the basket slung around their necks.  it's warm, but with a nice breeze to soften the humid air.  the litter of the day wanders about the streets and gutters, market stalls are closed, and the masses of vegetation and plastic gloam together in little piles.  more westerners about than last year.  young and old.  few americans it appears.

Mr. Alee took us to the lakeside, where his friend owns a guesthouse and restaurant.  the menu was all in english, so i had to describe 'ginger', 'plum sauce' and  'tofu'  to Tok.  Alee went next door to hangout with a few of his friends.  they are all chatting away - in australian accented english.  Tok notices also that there are no tall buildings in phenom phen - the tallest maybe 6 stories.  and the streets are dark.  few people turn on lights in front of buildings, and there are no streetlights anywhere.

I also like it here.  Couldn't tell you why either.  it just feels good.  the people are nice.  there is a bit of a "danger!" flavor in the air... but no obvious threat.  there is a certain rawness of quality, a feeling of recovery and renewal.  other eyes would see dirt, economic hardship, decay, struggle.  children working the streets late at night selling conterfieted books and prayer flowers, ragged and grimy stalls and food of unknown origin.  to me, it's life.  different than other places, but an experience of life non-the-less.

we are bacteria on this planet. eating it up.  everywhere.

Onward!
Nu

--
i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address. view previous posts at:  http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

16 Thaikarl - Greetings from Phnom Phen

friends,

flew into phnom phen today.  i was asleep before they closd the door of the plane in bangkok and didn't wake up until then engines stopped  in cambodia.  didn't even feel the landing bump this time.

my  friend Alee was waiting for us at the airport, took us in his new tuk-tuk to a hotel, got checked in,  then he took us to book the boat to Siem Riep, have some breakfast and back.

we slept the rest of the afternoon.

things in cambodia seem better, but i can't tell you why.

the locals just start speaking to Tok because they think she is cambodian.  but she understands as much as me. which is none. :-)

Onward!

--
i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address. view previous posts at:  http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

15 Thaikarl - days going by

friends,

 

the days are going by.  i'm busy working around the house (at times), hanging out, drinking krating daeng (thai red bull) and enjoying being warm everyday.  Some days i go with Tok to work.  We get in Somkids truck with Jamlong and assorted people, drive out in the country or up to the mountains somewhere, where Jamlong and Tok do hair an makeup for brides and their family.  i get to just lolabout, read my book, nap.  but yesterday i got to be a human bag-of-bobby-pin and hair-dryer holder.  we always get fed.  i get to see many different thai houses, some are basic, some are big, some are fancy.  and lots of people.  i like it.  yes. yes. yes.

 

Onward!!!

--
i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address. view previous posts at:  http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

14 Thaikarl - cleaning your self up in thailand

How to take a shower.

(see the two photos from the previous email)

 

Toiletry in a basic Thai household.

 

You can find western style toilets, showers and bathtubs in the cities in Thailand.  Most of the hotels and lodges I have stayed in have the ordinary sit-down toilet.   The hotels that have western visitors often have hot water, and a bathtub.  But away from such "modernized" places, toiletry is much simpler.  

 

A Thai bathroom will have a big tank (on the right in the photo) for water for bathing and washing.  Adjacent to that is a smaller tank for flushing water.   The toilet is barely raised from the floor, with ridged pads for your feet.  After you use the toilet, you take the bowel for the flushing water and scoop bowlfuls of water into the toilet to flush away the waste, and splash water onto yourself and your hand for cleaning.    No toilet paper.  If there is paper, it's for drying yourself a bit after you are clean.  You don't throw this paper down the toilet, you put it in a waste basket.   Even in the city, where there is a sit-down commode, there is a spray hose to clean with, not paper. I wasn't sure which direction was proper for using the toilet.   I face the wall, since my western legs can't do a flat footed squat, and I need to balance myself with my hand on the wall.  I asked Tok about it, and of course, I'm going things backwards.

 

Bathing is breath-taking.  You use the bigger bowel to dip water from the big tank and pour it on yourself.   It's not heated, and I can tell you, pouring cold water on yourself from a bowl is exciting, even when it's 95 degrees out.  Even more so in the evening when you shower before bed and the air is a cool 70 degrees.   I can't say I've grown accustomed to the process entirely.  I just can't bring myself to pour cold water over my shoulders and back.   So I make do with pouring water in my hand and sloshing it over myself.  Face, feet, arms and legs, okay… upper body… brrrrrrr.  Tok can tell I am not taking a 'regulation' shower by the difference in sound.   Full-pour water sounds different than hand splashing, and she's knocked on the door and wanted to see how I am taking a shower a couple of times, and chided me for not taking a proper shower.   Farangs are so crude when it comes to personal habits – eating, bathing, and dressing.  We have to be re-trained.

 

I've learned that it is important to not mix up the bowls, and to be careful to not get grey-water in them.  You don't want to contaminate the tank water.   That's one reason for having a separate tank for flushing water, so you will not get any toilet substances into the washing water.  You use the water from the big tank to brush your teeth in after all.

 

You are never alone in the bathroom.  I have seen three different kinds of frogs; gecko's come out on the rafters to eat bugs attracted to the bathroom light.   Last night there was a palm bug (a roach) two inches long on the wall next to the toilet.  Spiders claim the corners, and flying things come in over the top of the wall and flit about the room.   And of course, there's the ants.  Ants are everywhere.  Tiny little societies that live in a world of giants, constantly searching for our droppings and left-overs.

 

Households in the town may have water from a tap to fill the tanks. Out here in the village, there is a well with an electric water pump.   Mama plugs in the pump and takes a big hose and goes around to the tanks and cisterns and fills them.  Some of the houses have a water tank that will supply water to taps by gravity.   Since many Thai houses are on stilts though, the water outlets are on the ground area, not inside the house.

 

Toks kitchen is off the back of the house, kind of a porch area.  There is a low wall that runs along the outside.   The kitchen "sink" is a wooden slatted table on the other side of the wall.  Next to it is a big ceramic cistern.   You get water for washing and cooking using a bowl that is sitting to the side.  All the water from the "sink" drains down a sheet of tin, is collected into a cut open plastic oil container, that feeds a pipe that runs out to the rain pond by the road.

 

By western standards, it may all seem so primitive.  Even so to may Thai's I suppose.   I understand that they build western style fixtures in the more expensive Thai houses.  I don't think either one is "better"  it is fascinating to me of course, because it is different than I have experienced for most of my life.   I'll probably find a 3 liter water bottle, punch some holes in the lid and hang it upside down in the bathroom.  Then I can fill it by hand from the tank, and have water streaming down from overhead.   Just so I can get used to the cold water shock.  Seems easier to step into a falling spray of water than to willfully pour a bowl over your back and shoulders.   Tok thinks this is kind of funny.  She looks at me like "why would you want to do that?"

 

Just crazy I guess.

Onward!

Nu
--
my epitaph will be:   Oh Well....
i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address.

13.5 Thai Karl - photos for the next email

save this photos for the next email:

 

takeashower.jpg

thekitchen.jpg
--

13 Thaikarl - not so lazy in lom sak

friends,

 

managed to get out to the internet cafe for a moment.  i'm busy around the house, wiring in switches and fixing lights, trying to figure out who's who in the chicken flock next door, entertaining the neighborhood kids.  yesterday (and today) i'm following Tok around as she does things with Jamlong who owns the beauty shop Tok works at.  we drove all round the country, looking for a house where they are havning a wedding.  Jamlong and Tok did the brides hair and makeup.  last evening we got in the back of the pickup and went up into the mountains.  Tok and jamlong put together a rose and flower archway for the wedding up there today.  and this afternoon we're going back up to do the brides makeup and we'll stick around for the party.  they like weddings here.  big affairs - more about celebration than extravagance.  should be interesting.  i'll be the only farang amongst several hundred thai's.  Tok waited around for me for hours and hours while i was in school.  now it's my turn.  and i'm diggin it.

10 days till we goto Holiday in Cambodia!

 

onward!!!

Nu
--
my epitaph will be:   Oh Well....
i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address.

12 Thaikarl - off to lomsak today

friends,

 

took the sky train and the river taxi to wat pho yesterday.  fabulous!

 

today we're bussing up to Lom Sak for the country life.

 

couple more videos for ya:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6416682959853945565
and

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=951821324595267206

 

enjoy!

 

ONward!!!
--
Thaibit:  Thai cats (as they say) don't eat sticky rice.  So cats that eat sticky rice must be from Laos.

i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my travelogue, send request to this address.