Goodbye Party and a Wedding

Kelly left to be a buddhist nun in Bangkok. We had a party for her.
I made the sign- real nice eh? I cut it out of styrofoam and glued silver paper to it. Carol is doing a special medley goodbye hip hop dance for Kelly (not pictured, but she's the blond one).


Some girls at the party eating dinner.


One of the teachers got married, here's me and Carol with her, she's the one in white.

Mountains of Mae Sai

Since I've recently bought the motorcycle I've gone on some little exploring adventures. Here's some nice photos of what I've seen so far.


This is downtown Mae Sai at night, I'm at a Thai temple on top of Doi Wow.


One early morning at the crack of 7:45am, I was on morning radio duty and snapped this just before the driveway to the school.


This man was working across the street from where I took that last shot. I wonder what he's going to plant.


Two Saturdays ago, I went exploring on a dirt farm road behind my neighborhood, it led to rice fields, then to this bigger road which led to another town, and some cows crossing the street. I wish I could get the video uploader to work, because after the cows past, there was a lady whose job it was to chase them with a bamboo stick and run after them and be a human herder, she was running around a lot, and it was hot outside.

Mountains to Doi Tung

Just this last Saturday evening I had a little time to kill and wanted to explore the mountains behind the school (to the west). Once on top of the first peak (about 10 minutes from school), it overlooks to the west even more...I think this may be Burma. The little white streak in the middle is a river.


Taken from across the street at the first peak, this overlooks to the east to the valley of Mae Sai. I circled the school in blue. This was one of the mountains that was on fire a while ago.


La La Lahhhhh....the bike of freedom and adventure.


A white wat that overlooks Mae Sai.


About halfway through my little excursion-there were little mountain villages and tribes spread out in the mountains. I think it looks almost European. I like the little grove of trees they've planted, I like to pretend they're nectarines. I think these are the backs of the mountains behind the Tesco Lotus Store.


The end of my excursion. Looking towards the west. Shortly after I took this photo my bike fell over with me on it. Ooops. (no injuries though). I was parked perpendicular to the really steep hill I was on, but when I tried to back up the bike it was kinda scary because I couldn't hold the foot break down because I needed that foot so I wouldn't fall down the hill, so I was using the weak hand break...but it just didn't break enough. So I just kinda lightly laid my bike down as I was standing over it. Oh well. I was just nervous that a car would come whipping around the corner and hit me. Which a car did come around the corner, but they were going slow. Finally I was able to pick up the bike, get it into neutral, then pop it into 1st gear once I was going down the hill real quick while also keeping my balance and my foot on the break. I'm really not that clutsy, I just couldn't defy gravity and the weight of my bike all at once.


(this is not from the same trip)

but is the front side of the mountains at Tesco Lotus parking lot.

Don't Get Burned

I burnt my leg from the exaust of a motorcycle. I parked my bike in the bike parking lot at school, and was getting my stuff from my basket, and had my hands full, then my leg rubbed up against the bike parked next to mine, and I didn't realize how hot it was or that it was just parked, until after my leg was really burning. oops.

This is day one, day two-where it has its own shadow, and then about a week old of burn progress.
It kinda hurts, but only when something hits it.

On a good note- my nails have never been longer.

New House(<>)New Bike

So I have returned after weeks of Songran splashing and cowering I've come back with a bang and a bunch of blog entries. enjoy.

Update on the beige puppy- She's back up and running. Her leg had a miraculous Easter healing, and is pretty much all healed.


Front of the house- (the lady who owns it owns a resort across the street so we get nice patio furniture and plants with our private gardener that comes every day and waters and sweeps away debris). And notice there are two bikes- mine's the black one on the right.


Pilar walking from the living room into the kitchen. Look closely and you can see my baby blue electric wok I just bought.


My bedroom- the bed was included. And it just so happens that its the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in-in Thailand. (most mattresses feel like a piece of plywood wrapped in a moving blanket). This bed has a good six inches of foam before you hit plywood. The blanket and sheets were also an added surprise bonus.


Eww, one night Kelly and I were watching a movie in the living room, and I noticed a bunch of bugs flying around inside around the light, I got up to shoo them outside, and noticed that they were coming from the crack under the door. So I opened the door and boom- it was like the 7th Plague of Apocalypse! These winged bugs were everywhere all trying to get the closest to our porch light. I screamed and slammed the door. We later noticed that there were significantly less, then we noticed this Tookgeh lizard on the porch looking very full and surrounded by only wings from once winged insects. (The wings just must be filled with carbs).


And here is a second very full Tookgeh on my Honda Dream motorbike.

Mae Sai Hot Nights

I woke up one night because it was soo hot. I opened the window, and the door trying to get a breeze going through, as I did, I looked out the window and noticed the mountain was on fire. It was probably a controlled burn or a fire that was out of control-hard to tell, when all you see is a mountain on fire. So after I was awake at 2 in the morning, and hot with no a/c I couldn't go back to sleep and was enjoying the cool outside and ended up taking a bunch of photos. Here is one.



Here's what the burning mountain looked like the next afternoon.

CRITTERS 2

The main course.


This was just outside my house at school. I call him Blue Iguana. Looks just like one.


One day when I spent six hours at the Coffee Shop - Coffee Heart emailing and bluggin, I looked up and out the window and saw this hawk eagle like bird on this man's motorcycle. It looks like its his pet.


I just wanted to make sure that everyone understood how fat Fat Dog is. I caught him sleeping. His real name is Pom Pawn.


This little french mustache moth was just outside my new house- on the porch, he was about three inches across. I call him: "French Mustache Moth."

A Fair Cultural Fair

We had our first annual Cultural Fair last week. Since we not only have Thai students, but also many students from the Hill-tribes. They kicked off the Fair with a Parade down the main street, to help publicize.

These ladies are in traditional Thai costume.

Their signs say: Soon Luuk Ying, Chiang Kong (I can read Thai!) (The Girls' School at Chiang Kong).

These boys from Half Day School helped build a lot of the gazebos and decorate and play the drums for the Cultural fair.


A pretty silver hair piece of one of the students in traditional Thai costume.


Traditional Thai fingernail/finger extensions. I think they're supposed to be especially pretty and accentuate the hand movements when dancing.



Traditional Akha garb. They usually sew and embroider their own traditional outfit.


A very detailed detail of the back of a jacket.


A funny truck that went by during the parade. It was probably going the 100 meters down the road into Burma and wanted to really fill it to the max.


Because they moved two big Buddha statues into the ground floor of the school/dormitory building for the Cultural Fair, all 30 some students had to sleep in the one roomed Kindergarten Building. Here's just one side of the 3 rows of shoes out side the Kindergarten. In Buddhist belief it is offensive to walk above a Buddha statue or monk.


In full swing!
Okay, this whole Cultural Fair was kinda confusing to me. When I heard cultural fair- I was thinking booths and dioramas, food tastings, and dancing lots of adults and kids coming from the community. But....it wasn't quite like that.


It lasted 24 hours and the high point was ...I'm actually not quite sure...I think the highlight was staying up all night and meditating with the monks.

Or maybe it was falling asleep and getting blessed because you were listening to the monks praying. Needless to say being the light sleeper that I am, and an Octoleptic (always sleeping eight hours a night or else I revert to my infant self-being groggy and cranky the whole day), I left around 10 to sleep in my own bed in a nice and quite dark room.


My favorite part of the Fair was looking at the old books and manuscripts that were on display, borrowed from Wats in the area. I thought the writing in this one was especially pretty, and I liked the flower drawings at the bottom.


Then I turned a few pages and found this little tribute to the year 1984-it must have some Buddhist symbolism, or maybe it was a tribute to George Orwell's book, or maybe to the year I started Kindergarten. Either way, the typography was just smashing.


I don't remember what was inside this composition book, the cover was so explosive I didn't get any farther. I guess monks like rockets from the 50s.


Added bonus-This Gazebo was built just outside the school building to make some snacks for the monks. This is a traditional Indian snack with peanuts caramel and rice and coconut, but the best thing about the snack fed to the monks is that only virgins and help prepare it. How crazy right?

Songran

Songran – aka. Thai New Year, aka. If You Go Outside, You are Asking to Die, aka. Why I haven't gone out of my house during daylight for the past week, nor added to the blog.

Take this photo for instance, you might think that you're safe riding down the street in a school bus, but noooooo there are trash cans filled with water and about 10 people on every block with buckets ready to douse you as you drive by.


Or maybe you're posing for a photo-nope still not safe.


Or maybe you think, oh nooo, I'm operating a motor vehicle during a rainstorm, why would you throw a bucket of water at my face? Still not safe. (and don't forget the velocity factor of driving and having water thrown at you - feels like lead).

Kelly and I went with some students to help wash the school bus during Songran. Fun for numerous reasons:

1. They start off with buckets of water on the psychedelic school bus to throw at children along the side of the streets.

2. The people outside weren't worried about getting the inside of the vehicle wet.


3. You got to see children cower and duck in fear as we drove by.


4. After you do a drive-by-dousing they smile and wave at you.


5. You would think that being inside would keep you relatively dry. Nope.


6. We drove the bus into a river during a rain storm to wash it. Isn't it Ironic?


7. But a little convenient too. All one motion, just bend and splash. While we were at the creek, three other parties showed to wash their trucks, cars and even motorcycles-so we gathered that it must be a well known spot to car wash. (click to enlarge and see it in action)

Since it was the New Year Holiday all of the volunteers got together for a nice dinner out. Right after we ordered, a mini hurricane whipped thru Mae Sai. Its not usually so rainy this early during the year, April and May are hottest months, then June-October is the high rain season. But oddly enough, its rained some everyday for the last week.

Dinner was stopped, and the lights were turned off, as to avoid causing an electrical fire from all the water blowing through the restaurant. We all turn around and watch the rain and the wind. So we're looking out at the street, and I'm looking at all the water that's collected on the side of the road and quickly flowing away, then in typical Beky fashion I shout: "Ha Ha there goes some one's helmet! Oh wait, that's MY helmet!" (notice the water is almost up to the car's bumper.) It had blown off my bike seat, where I had placed it as to try and keep the seat dry.


Here's my retrieved helmet with two pieces of hail on display.


Next day...As part of Songran festivities they have a small parade showing off their beauty queens.


Day two of Songran was celebrated in a town two hours away- Chiang Saen. We were waiting for a pickup truck taxi to come down the road, but got impatient and decided to try our luck hitchhiking with some fellow celebrators. Here we are from left to right: me-hitchiker #1, Pilar-hitchhiker #2, truck rider #1, truck rider #2, truck rider #3, inside truck rider #1, truck rider #4, inside truck rider #2, Kelly-hitchhiker #3, and Jamie-hitchhiker #4, and not pictured: Carole-hitchhiker #5. And yes all the truck riders and hitchhikers fit into the back of the pickup truck behind us. whew. and please note how wet we all are. And if you would like to note Jamie's leg wounds acquired from the previous day's Songran + motorcycle driving accidents


Now you observant ones might have noticed the odd packaging I was sporting in the previous photo. Here it is in detail. Yep its me plus baby, aka -my overnight clothes disguised as a baby to avoid getting buckets of ice water poured over my head while you're walking down the street.


Carol actually thought of the idea. The day before we were brainstorming together "Who does NOT get doused during Songran". The following people- monks, old grandmas, pregnant ladies, and ladies with babies. Thus the idea was born, and Carol and I were the proud mothers of a bouncing bundle of clothes. Worked pretty well. Only one person walked up and poured some ice water down my back.


Once in Chiang Saen we spent all afternoon sitting at an outdoor cafe/restaurant eating and drying off, while watching people get doused, and people dousing others. This was a typical scene that afternoon- pickup trucks and farm vehicles filled to the brim with wet people with buckets and buckets of water.