“missing” photos

Just remembered that I have a few photos from Thailand that I never posted.

Chiang Mai Restaurants: In an earlier post, I mentioned that Chiang Mai had quite a range of different types of cuisine.  Here are photos from a lot of different restaurants.  Of course, I didn’t take a picture of a thai restaurant cause that seemed a bit too obvious.

http://www.bubbleshare.com/myalbum/440902.263f6deac26/editor

Funny Signs: These are some funny signs that I found in Chiang Mai.  Make sure to read the captions cause my humor can be a bit subtle.  Okay, I couldn’t get the captions to work properly.  So I’ll just type them here:

1) Who goes around claiming they’re 2nd best???

2) I’m sorry but renting a car from Mr. Beer is just asking for trouble….

3) I don’t know about you but I’m not going to any doctor who sounds like he could be a James Bond villian

4) From the outside this looks like a normal sports bar….but what’s this….”hot women…rooms available”.  Hmm….

Photos are here:

http://www.bubbleshare.com/myalbum/440904.9e3ef7c1b4a/editor

a different kind of post

I came across this article this morning and thought I’d link to it.  It’s definitely worth reading.  And did you know that I almost went to IUPUI for my masters in public policy?

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana&id=3523918&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos2

has it really been 21 days???

21 days: When I arrived in the Philippines, I received a 21 day stamp on my passport.  Before the 21 days was up, I needed to go to immigration, pay about $75, and have then extend it to 59 days.  So today I went down to immigration to have it taken care of.  And was stunned that today was my 21st day in the Philippines.  Good thing I didn’t wait till tomorrow….

English: As I’ve mentioned before, I’m quite relieved to be in a country where a lot of people speak English.  But I’ve discovered something odd in working with the children at the hospital.  Most of the kids that I’ve been around are about 9-12.  And here’s what I’ve found….they can read English and can often figure out words they haven’t encountered before.  If you give them a word in their native language, they can often tell you the word in English.  And they can spell English (for example, one girl correctly spelled the word “orange”, not an easy word to spell).  Now here’s the odd thing….they don’t seem to be able to speak English.  When I talk to them, they look at me like I’m speaking Klingon.  It’s quite strange.  Someone suggested that maybe they’re not used to hearing an American.  And that could be part of it.  But I think there’s more than that going on.  So…I’m back to Mexico…working with kids I can’t communicate with.

frustration

A bit of a frustrating week.  Went in on Monday morning to do my volunteering.  Played with the kids till about noon.  Then came home for lunch.  And ate WAY too much.  Went back to the hospital in the afternoon.  Was reading a book with one of the kids, when Shiena, the volunteer coordinator stopped by to introduce me to someone.  All of a sudden I started feeling sick.  I went from being 100%  to feeling horrible in a matter of minutes.  So I left to go home.  Normally it takes about 10-15 minutes to walk home but this time it took over an hour as I had to stop and rest several times.

I finally reached home where I collapsed in bed and where I must have stayed for some time.  I guess I was sick for two days since today is now Thursday.  Of course, I can’t be around the kids when I’m sick.  Since many of them are receiving chemo, their immune systems are compromised.

This morning I was finally back to normal. Unfortunately, because of some special events going on at the hospital, I was told not to show up till 2.  I twiddled my thumbs the whole day.  Around 1:30, I start heading to the hospital only to get a text message saying to wait till 3.  Around 3, I got another text message saying they wouldn’t be able to open the play room today after all.  Augghhhhh!!!!  To top it off, the special events are going on tomorrow as well, so they may not be able to open the play room tomorrow either.  And the weekend comes up after that.

It’s really hard being in a place when you have lots of free time, only know a few people and don’t have a car so you can just take off and explore whatever you want, whenever you want.  That’s been the hardest thing about the whole journey.

final Thailand photos

Finally getting around to posting these.

Railay:

http://www.bubbleshare.com/myalbum/430226.9fcc318f391/editor

Ayuthaya:

http://www.bubbleshare.com/myalbum/430221.2b62c0ba522/editor

Khao Yai:

http://www.bubbleshare.com/myalbum/430213.b728552384d/editor

Khao Sok:

http://www.bubbleshare.com/myalbum/430209.cd1d8ee1eb0/editor