short china post

i would go ahead and like to apologise once again for not keeping up with this thisng. i have been running accross the whole country of china. its hard time find time to stop and sit for a couple hours or so to write a full update. nonetheless i am goign to try to catch up right now. first the short version. i flew from bangkok to shenzen and my plane arrived late so we stayed in a hotel hat night. the next morning we woke up and went back to the airport to get a bus to guanzhou. the bus wasnt very long but i slep the whole way and upon arriving was stired by bill. from there we walked a long way to the far side of the city where there is a very small island with some youth hostels and other places to stay. we found a small place and i stayed the night there and was also able to book my train ticket for the next day. that night bill and I ate at a more local chinese restuarant and then simply explored the island. the rest of the night i spent reading in my top bunk dorm bed. when i woke up the next morning and bill took me to a bakery for breakfast that he had found the following day after i had gone to bed. we ate a semi late breakfast and from there decided to exit the island and explore some of the local ciy for a while before i was to get on my train. we explored the city and i got on my train to guilin. the train ride was a night train and i arrived the next morning. i got off the train and with my guide in hand walked to my hostel. i slept most of the day dince i had gotten no sleep on the train. when i woke up i went ahead and booked a train ticket for a next day and also a river boat tour. the next day i checked out early and put my things in a safe room. i went on the river tour which lasted a few hours. i got off the boat and had to take a bus back to guilin. from there i got my things and sat in the lobby of the hostel untill i had to wal kto the train station. i got on the train and again it was a night train but this time was worse because i had a....... no seat. no seat means you either stand or sit wherever there is room on the train. the ride was terrible but i got to wuhan safely. i got off the train in wuhan and was lost right from the start. 3 people pointed me in the wrng direction of where i wanted to go right as i got off the train. i luckily met some students who spoke english. they would have been helpful if they had actually lived in the city before but they were not natives to wuhan. so instead of doing the smart thing like calling a cab. a was paraded in a giant crcle around wuhan for the better part of 3 hours. we did end up find my hostel and from there i went to sleep. before i went to my room the studetns invited me to dinner and i promised i would meet them in the lobby later that night. i spent the rest of the day just resting and laying around doing absolutely nothing. i met the students for dinner and they took me accross the river of wuhan for a spicy food dinner and to visit an arcade. I got home late and immediately went to sleep. Day 2 wuhan. i met My teacher ms. carter and got to visit one of her classes. later that day the students took ms. carter and I out for dinner at a dumpling restuarant. after dinner ms. carter had to go work on something for class and the two students and i walked around the city for a while. we ended up going and playing kareoke and then going home. wuhan day 3 i met ms carter again to visit her classes which i did but also visited some of her coleagues classes. later that day the teachers taught the students how to play baseball. i helped with that and from there went back to the teachers hotel to visit with ms. carter and some of her friends since i would be leaving the next day. i left their hotel and got a taxi back to my hostel and stayed up late talking with the workers. they had taken very good care of me while i had been there and many of them let me have stuff for free since i had stayed so. also some of the workers were friends with the sudents i met so i had an in there too. from wuhan i would go to a city called wuxue. the students were from that city and they had invited me to go to their hometown. this town had a train station so i figured i visit for a few days then i can get n the train to xi'an. wuhan day 4. i woke up early and went to the bus station to get my ticket then came back to the hostel and rested until i went back to the bus station to get on the bus to wuxue. the bus trip was short.

cathing up on blog but......

here are some pictures from china

trying to catch up

alright i left off in the hammock and im gonna jump right back into it from there.
we stayed two days on the island of don khone which was plenty of time to see everything that this small island had to offer. the island was so small in fact you could rent bycycles and peddle around the whole island in probably about 2-3 hours. after we had gotten our things set up at our little riverside hovel. we rented bycycles and peddled to the exact opposite side of the island. it really shouldnt have been that much of a feat but, the path we took was specified by a guide book we read to be "too bumpy for bycycles". we did it anyway.. it definitely was too bumby at places but we made it with no ill problems. from there we explored some ruins of a dock where french merchants pulled supplies out of the water to transport by train to the other side of the island. the boats couldnt simply just float around to the other side as it is blocked by rapids. after exploring that for a short while we began the bike ride back choosing a different path this time. the path back was much more relaxing and not nearly as bumpy. we passed over 3 simple bridges and rode through thick jugles of trees, underbrush, and bamboo. we got back to our riverside house and just sat and relaxed for a while. we ended up leaving the house and taking the bikes with us to cross back over to the first island of don det for dinner. we ate at a small little restuarant that had a high porch over looking the bridge and river. Bonus for me they had hammocks next to the tables. we ate our dinners which for me consisted of baguette and fried eggs and then went back to our shack. we read on the porch of our shack untill Bill and Chris went to bed. by this time there was storm moving in and i decided to stay out. in the storm there was no rain no lightning strikes. Lightning would flash across the sky every so often lighting up both sides of the river and making small details on both sides clearly visibly for a spliy second. at one point a praying mantis assumed a position on our porch. i watched it for a good 30 minutes flying back and forth eating the bugs that were drawn to our 1 porch light split between our rooms. the light finally went out when the family we had rented form turned it off. so i went to my room seeing the way by the flashes of lighting and and oil lamp they had provided for us. I slept with the door to my room open which was fine, the only plus was that it brought a cool breeze into the room. i woke up the next morning and it was still rather early so i went back to sleep for an hour or so then got up. taking a morning shower was miserable but necessary. Hot water was neither availible in the house or on the rest of the island for that matter. after the ice bath we went to breakfast at the same restuarant we had been to the day before. this time i ate a fruit saland and baguete with fried egg. not a whole lot of variation in my meals but it was very very good. all of us ate breakfast at our own pace and once we had all gotten back to the shack we decided it was time to go seek out a boat that wwe could charter to see the rare mekhong river dolphin. Bill had gotten up early that morning and had found a place that would take us for a fair price. To get there we walked to an opposite side of the island to a place called the beach. On the island there are many hand drawn maps for visitors. mostly these maps consist of a white backing and somone simply just using a sharpie to draw it on. everyone of the maps had the beach labeled. The walk to the bech wasnt long but it definitely wasnt short. When we got there it looked ..... Like a beach. The whole side of the island after coming through the trees was sand for what seemed like two soccer field lengths. there were fishing boats unused and pulled up high in the sand. and some were in the water tied off to trees or rocks. standing on the shore and looking out there were rapds with very large rocks that stood high out of the water. Bill found the man he had told us about this morning and we paid him and fromt here he walked us down to the water. he un hooked his boat and walked it closer to the shore where we wouldnt have to get wet to get in. we jumped in the boat and took a 15 minute journey to another island where he ushered us to get out. when we got there we realized that not olny could we see the dolphins out in the water we hadnt expected to see but, we were also illegally in cambodia. Those types of trips where foreiners are taken and brought back soon after must be normal, because a combodian soldier didnt even flinch when he saw us landing on his territory. He simply pushed us to a little shack with tables and chairs and asked us if there was somthing he could get us to drink. we were sitting under the shack drinking sodas and looking out over a wide body of water and about 50 meters out you could see the dolphins surfacing for air. it was absolutely amazing. after a short time they gave us our suvenir (i know i spelled that wrong) dolphin watching tickets that said. you have been to cambodia ... blah blah. somthing nice that said we had been to cambodia without getting stamped. from there we simply got back into our rickety boat that was now taking in water.... which was very discouraging. somehow we were able to make it back to the main island with our boatman driving and dumping buckets of water overboard at the same time. we thanked the boatman and headed back to our favorite restuarant on the river and since there really was nothing else to see on the small island we laid around eating at the restuarant and sleeping in the hammocks untill it was late at night. we got to our restuarant at around 1 and we didnt leave till 8. i slept in a hammock from about 3-5 and bill and chris read for that time. when we walked back accross the bride to the island with our riverside hut. would could see an uncountable amount of stars. the cloud looking formation that never moved from its place in the sky was the milky way galaxy and it could be made out very easily and without question. after taking a short while to stare at the celestial beauty we continued our walk to our hut. when we got there we spent no time ont the porch we simply went to sleep. i was awakend late that night by a great storm. the wind blew fiercely against our shack and the door slammed open and shut every few minutes. then the wind slowed and a steady rain began. when i awoke it was still raining and it was time to fun i boat off the island and back to the first village that had the bus station. the house the we were staying at convieniently had a price per person for boat and vip minibus back to the inland. i really cant remember the order of where we went from there but i know that we were able to cross back into thailand that day and we were close to making it back to khon kaen but we missed the last bus there by an hour. so we had to spend the night in a town which i cant for the life of me remember the name. the first bus to Khon Kaen in the morning was at 5 so we ended up going to a cheap hotel and sleeping for a short time before waking up at 4 and walking to the bus station. we left from that bus station and some hours later. we arrived in khon kaen. because we had left so early the day was still young. bill needed to get on the motor bike and take a trip north to see one of his friends before we left thailand completely. Chris ended up going back to the hotel and i had some errands to run in town if i was going to be ready to go on my own. i needed a watch that had an alarm and just some toher travel snacks. i ended up walking around for at least a couple hours trying to explain to street vendors that i wanted a watch with an alarm. i finally realized the easiest way to explain this was to say watch and then say "beep beep". they understood immidiately and were even able to show me how to set it. i stopped at the supermarket and got some simple crackers and snacks for our soon to be trip to bangkok. i went back to the apartment and Chris was there reading and from there we really didnt do much. The last few days in Khon kaen we simply visited interwater everyday, visited the annual student market on campus, walked around town, and went to a rotary meeing. Lek was basically our driver for the last few days we were there. she helped us whenever she could and took us out to eat alot. the student market is simply an annual convention that they have in this big building on KKU campus. students can get good deals on clothes, books, bags, computers, and anything else electronic. even though all of the things at the student sale were interesting/cool i didnt buy anything. Bill bought a pack so he could begin his backpacking again though. The last day we were in KHon kaen we spent the morning at interwater. Interwater not only specialized in water treatment but the also put in pools and so on. out in fron ton Interwater there is one of the pools and Lek let me swim in it for a little while. it wasnt heated but it felt amazing. When we finally left Khon kaen we were able to say our goodbyes to Lek but Chelumchai had left a few days earlier on business. we said our goodbyes and i promised Lek i would return one day to run in the Khon Kaen marathon. Not only does Lek work at interwater but once a year when the marathon happends she works with foreign runners to help get them registered. Back to our story. we Left inter water and headed down town to a rotary meeting that perfectly fit our schedule so that we could sit in on it then get on a bus to Bangkok. The rotary meeting was simple. consisting of a buffet and then sitting at a table with its few members and listening to a language we coulding understand. they asked Bill, Chris and I to stand up and simply speak about our experiences while we had been there and we had a translator to tell them what we were saying. the meeting went on for some time and we had to leave while it was still in session. we said our goodbyes and headed for the bus station which was just around the corner from where there meetings are held. we got to the bus station and got our tickets from there got directly on teh bus and took our 6 hours ride to Bangkok. when we got there we took a taxi to kaoson road which is the main place for tourists to stay. it has all the street bars and worthless t-shirts and just that fickle people think they need. the only stores that are worth anything on that street are the food vendors and the enlgish book stores. we stayed at the same place we had stayed at the last time we were in bangkok. we left our bags in the rooms and went to explore the street looking for one of my favorite food vendors. its a kind of pancake they cook in front of you and fruit on top of it and then add think condensed milk.... very good. especially with strawberry jelly. we couldnt find any but we decided we would come back to the street later. we went looking for dinner and found it at a small indian restuarant that was placed on the second floor of a suits made to fit in 18 hours. the food was amazing and was not very expensive. we left the small restuarant thanking the small family that owned itand from there Chris bought his bus ticket to the airport and went to sleep while Bill and i walked the main street again. after a while Bill went back to his room and i walked finally finding my pancake guy. I ended up eating 3. i banana and two strawberries. after that i explored the shops and by this time the road was begining to slow down so i went back to the rom to get some sleep. When i awoke Chris had already taken his bus to the airport. i felt bad that i had missed my opportunity to say goodbye but notheless what was done was done. Bill had gone to the airport and had said he would meet me in the lobby of the hotel at 10:30 so i spent my morning walking the streets examining the day shops and using the overpriced computers. i met bill in the lobby of my guest house at 10:30 and from there i went ahead and checked out. we left our bags in the lobby of the hotel simply because no one would mess with them. the hotel watches youth bags for a price but no one in that hotel would steal our stuff. we left to go explore the street and find some early luch. it was still early for kauson road to start back up but the vendors were out early trying to sell all the things you dont need to you. we ended up stopping for lunch at a little side vendor that looked like a shack with some cinderblocks as a stove and a few cement tables and chairs. the food was very good although the vendor itself looked a little out there. we walked around for a short time untill Bill took me to a place where we could buy a bus ticket to the airport. we got our tickets and from there we basically had 4 hours untill our bus would get there. we split up to explore the street by ourselves. i ended up just exploringthe shops trying to find some stuff that wsant completely overprices or worthless. i ended up just getting some country flag patches and a cheap cheap pair of knock off ray ban sun glasses. i went back to where we had bought our ticket and the i used their internet to update the blog and checked the email. i sat around for the longes tine before going out one last time to check the book store and go get a drink from 7/11. the book store held nothign that i thought i would be interested in and 7/11 consisted of a water. i went back to the building for the last time and simply wrote untill a man came and picked us up in the minibus to the airport.

better late than never

im sure all of you are on the edge of your seat waiting for me to put up another update. it ahs been over a week to my count and during that week in a broad description, I have travelled to laos and back, layed in a hammock for at least 10 hours, traveled the length of thailand, and numerous other random things that made my overall trip fantastical. since i havent told the laos trip i will go ahead and start with we woke up the morning of and i began to wash some clothes so that i would have some extra clean one when i get back. after i was done with that i finished packing my bag and left to follow chris and bill who had started the walk down the road to the train station. it was a little nerve racking runiing after them only because they were a good distance down the road. i caught them and we continued our walk to a main road when we would get a truck/bus into town and from there walk to the train station. we got to the bus station and bought our tickets sitting in the outdoor staion waiting for our train to arrive. It ended up arriving 40 minutes late. the train was very cramped and no seats were availible when we got on. i sat on the steps next to the entrance door to the traina nd read the rough guide to china which bill had bgiven me to help plan the second half of my trip. the ride would take us a few hours to a town that bordered laos. when we got of the train we immidiately walked to teh border checkpoint and crossed into laos. upon arriving we got our visas and took a bus into the border town of vientiane in laos. the town itself is a very quiet comfortable place the has a very simple offereing to the many tourists who use it as a midway going deeper into the country. we got off the bus and began walking into the town with Bill in the lead. he had been to vientiane before so he lead us to where we could get a guest house. the first two we tried were a little pricy and from there we moved two streets over and found the cheapest room possible. the room cost $5 and since chris and i split it for a double it was all of about $2.50 for us to stay there. we left our things in the room and left out in search of some foodwe managed to find a small indian restuarant and got some pretty good eats. the meal in comparison to the price of the room was much more expensive. after dinner we stopped at a little side shop and bought some fruit shakes that were blended up on the spot. i ended up consuming two large shakes and from there waddled back to the guest house. When i got back to the room i simply laid in my bed writing in my journal and listening to my ipod. chris and Bill left the guest house to explore the city since it was still rather early and the simple guest hosue offered no amusement whatsoever. i stayed in the guesthouse and sinply did the same things until they had returned. our plan from this town was to take the earliest bus possible to some of the more southern islands in laos and from there try and attept to see the rare mekhong river dolphi. i dont know if i spelled mekhong right but i know that when chris and bill returned they had changed our plans to catch a late night bus out tomorrow and explore the town the rest of the day. after Chris, Bill, and I had discussed the next day plans for a short while it was time to turn in and get some rest. I remember waking up before Chris and not wanting to make too much noise and wake him. i rolled over and was able to go back to sleep for a short while before waking up and going to get a shower. Chris was up by this time and after we had gotten ourselves washed and ready we set out to explore the city with Bill. on the Laos money there is a giant temple which is of great size. the building is located just outside the city and when we left the guesthouse we immidiately started walking for it. the journey to the building was probably a little less than an hour but definitely well worh it. the bulding was foursided and at each corner there were large spires standing high. in the center of the large square was the larges spire which stopd much higher than all the rest. the structure was panted in a magnificent bright gold color than shined brightly in the 100 degree weather. normally you can go inside the outer wal of the structure but we had arrived too early. we walked around the large external wall and explored a small temple with some young monks walking around. the small temple was help up by simple pillars but the roof and the one wall it had were painted with bright and sharp mural type images that showed budha doing many different activities. by the time we left the small temple the large structure was open to the public. we paid the entrance fee and explored inside the walls of the structure. you could walk up onto a second level of the structure and after removing our shoes we did so. we left the large structure and walked through the tourist market stopping only get a cold drink. with nothing else to see we walked the long walk back to the main part of town and stopped at our favorite street vendor who sold us the shakes. pinaple wasvery good in the hot veater and after consuming two more {which cost only 50 cents a piece} we walked two blocks to a museum. the museum was simpole, holding many different artifacts throughout many ages. the most interesting being the war areas. tthe museum was very small and after exiting we went back to our guest house to rest. we got to the guest house and told them we needed sleeper bus tickets to paksi which would be ibky a transit point to the island of don khong. in a guide book we had read , it sai dyou could take a boat from paksi down the river to don khong. the guest hosue supplied us our tickets and we still ahd a couple hours to kill before a minibus came and picked us up to go to the sleeper bed bus that would take us to paksi. we left our things in the lobby of our guest house and walked to a nearby market to buy whatever food supplies we would need on the bus. we returned back to the house dropped our granola bars and headed out in search of a last meal before geting on the bus. after dinner we waited another hour at the guest house and were picked up by a what was called a minibus but was simply a truck with seats in the bed and a cover to keep rain off of us. the drive to the bus station was short, Chris and Bill sat up at teh front of the bus and i was crammedinto the back along with the other 10 backpackers plus their bags. upon arriving at the bus station we suffered little confusion before entering our sleeper bus. the beds were not large but not too small and when we bought our tivkets we were under the impresion that each bed was assigned to one person..........that wasnt the case. Chris and Bill ended up sharing a top bunk very close to me and I........ well i got stuck in the fame bunk with an overweight chinese guy. yeah i know go ahead and laugh it up get it out of your system. I took flack from Chris and Bill the whole 40 minutes before the bus started even moving. the bus trip from vientiane is an 11 hr trip which is why we took the sleeper. the guy who i was sharing a bunk with took the inside of the bed facing the aisle and i was left with te spce between him and the window. for the first part of the trip i watched james bond on the bus tvs. and then when all the lights were out and i was forced to try to sleep I pushed myself as close to that glass as mny body would allow and sat for what seemed like hours. i know i did not get much more than 5 hrs sleep because i listened to my ipod for way to long trying to sleep. but darkness finally reached my senses and when i awoke it was light shining into the window i had been pressed so close to and people were filing out of the bus. we got out of the bus and walked a short distance trying to stay as far away from the hustlers trying to sell you and over priced ride into town. we walked a short way and found a fair price tuktuk and from there told the man we wanted to to go the boat dock for the boat to don khong. after much confusion and two translators we found out that the boat to our original destination was no more. so we walked walked away from the hustlers who were now trying to sell overpriced boat rides on friends boats to don khong. we walked a short distance when a small travelers agency caught our eye and they were offering a good price bus and boat to an island called don det which was close to don khong but smaller and "more scenic". the small island was also connected to a larger island called don khone. so we payed the company and took our vip mniibus to a small river village. the bus trip to the viallge was no more than 3 hours and after stepping off the bus we immidiately stepped onto a boat and crossed to don det. we stepped on the boat to the island of don det and took a seat at a open air cafe type place tourists would stop at. the island had no paved roads, no air conditioning, no cars, and pretty much had no lighting to speak of either. all in all it was a pretty majextic paradise. we walked from the dock of don det to the botoom of the island where it was connected to don khone. don khone was much larger than don det and after paying the island entry fee...? we were able to find two small rooms that would suit us for the two nights we spent there. the rooms had no lights, no door handles, and the bathroom door looked more like a shower curtain. nothing that would really cause us any problems but would have been nice to have i suppose. what our riverside hovels did have however. the porch to our shacks was out over the edge of the water and on the porch were two of the most comfortable hammocks ever. alright i will let you guys dream on that for a little while but i am going to make my alst exploration of bangkok in the two hours i have before my bus leaves for the airport. i hope everyone who reads is doing well and had a fun fourth of july.

full laos accounts

i must say that i am sorry it has been a few days since i put up a post. We took a few day trip to Laos and upon returning i was more exhausted than i had been this entire trip. since the long delay of post has happend i am having trouble remembering all the full details of the start of the journey so i will edit this post later when i have my journal in front of me and can give a true update. i will begin it later tonight which will be morning for you all and you should be able to enjoy it by tomorrow.

new pictures from laos

wow such a long week

well let me first say that it has been a long and exhausting week of car travel follwed by hours of hiking or riding in a raft. with that said i will begin to explain. sunday was pretty boring we got up and moving pretty laet and then bill took us into town to get some groceries at my favorite lunch spot. we bought some necessary things and after i had paid and was puttign my things in my backpack chris and bill had accidently left me which was no real big deal other than the fact that i dtill didnt know where the #8 bus was to get home. so i walked the streets for a while until i realized taht all the truck/buses take the same route out of the city stopping at the non air conditioned bus station so i simply jumped on the first one i could find and then got of at the station and jumped on a #8 home. i got to the main road of KKU campus and walked the rest of the way. because it was the weekend, all the students were out doing activities. basketbal, soccer, rugby, a type of soccer volleyball, there are even free like jazzercize things on the street that you can just jump in and start doing. but i stopped at a basketball court on the way home and watched a small sided game of soccer. it was a 7 v7 type game with old tired as the goals. you didnt have to make the ball go through the tire just touch it. it was the first to 1 and then your team would switch out with the team that was sitting. one of the players sitting noticed me and walked right up to introduce himself and invite me to play. i dont know how to spell his name but he indroduced himself as "f", the two friends sitting next to him were "chuan" and "f". so two "f"s and chuan were the first i would meet that evening. i played one game and went back to my aparment to change into my running shorts and a lighter shirt since i was still in my clothes from that day. i was about to run back to by apartment when the "who had introduced himself first offered me a ride on his scooter. we made quick time of the half mile of the walk i would have had. i ran inside quickly changing and running back out to jump back on the bije. back at the court our team had been split up since some of the players i had seen before seemed to have already left. we waited for the game to end and took the field... or basketball court. the ball they played with was the size a younger age ball like size 3 but it weighed a ton. for anyone who doesnt play soccer this means it was really small but weighed too much. my team stayed on for three games and i scored both of the goals to win untill the last game when we lost. by the time the last game was over it was hard to see the ball because the sun had gone down so much. so with that game ending the night was done for futbol. "f" and his friends invited me to dinner later and i said yes immidiately. . they gave me a ride back the apartment and from tehre told me they would be back in 30 minutes. i rushed into the apartment telling chris i had met some students and the we were going to dinner with them. I got my after soccer shower and he got dressed and we sat around watching discovery channel waiting for them to show up. i was so hungry i started to eat my ritz crackers that i had bought. buying a jor of peanut butter and a box of ritz probably was the best idea for power food. Chris and i waited watching our new favorite show on discovery channel called 5th gear. which is an all about cars show and makes me wish i was rich and had an aston martin. "f" arrived on his motor bike and at this point Chris and i had our first 3 people on a motor scooter experience.. it was cramped to say the least. but we arrived safely at a restuarant where our new friends began to order copious amounts of food. rice and chicken pork and some kind of omlette. after we had finished the first large rounde a second was delivered. i had no room to put any of the new food but i watched the thai students make all of the food that was in front of me dissapear in a matter of minutes. by the time the dinner was over and the news theat they had made new foreign friends had spread through their phone contacts list, there were many new faces sitting at the table. there were teh originals the two "f"s and chuan and with that we had the captain, mr mr, om, sin, and tat. all of which were very friendly and welcoming. we talked for a good two hours before deciding it was time to return to the room. before we were given rides home we had to promise to return to see them next saturday and to our knowledge we would be here then so we did. we were returned to our apartment and we said our goodbyes as a good number of our new friends has followed our rides to simply say goodbye. we said our goodbyes and with that went to bed. we woke up the next morning at around 8 and from there packed our bags to go to a place called chaing rai that Lek had promised to take us to. we were picked up that morning to make the drive to chian rai. we got in the car and started the drive only to find out the whole reason Lek was taking us to Chiang rai to complete some buisness, but the night before the client said she didnt need to come and that the deal would be fine the way it was. so now Lek was purely taking us to take us and show us the city. i really dont know how far away chaing rai was but aparently it was a two day trip by car. so on the way we stopped at a town to spend the night where one of chelumchai's brothers lived. i believe there are three brothers in total but i am not sure. but this one took us out to dinner with his family and showed us around town for the rest of the night. our original plan was to go to chiang rai and then return but sicne we now had no specific time to be there Lek planned a few day trip in the mountains with a travel company while we stayed in the town that night. to get to where we would be staying we would have to wake up at 4 in the morning and be ready to go by 5. we got to sleep as early as we could and then before we knew it we were piled in the car. the company that we traveled with provided a driver for our car since the roads we would travel were very curvy. the total drive time through the mountains was 5 hours. the drive itself was miserable if i had eaten before we got into the car i would have definitely gotten car sick but after a couple hours of sleep and alot of ipod jamz we finally arrived. we got out of the car and walked around what appeared to be a camp with counsellors for adults. the camp was called you and me(in thai of course), and was very simple and beautiful. our cabin type deals we like stand alone apartment rooms that had been done in wood furnishing all around. even the bathrooms were done in the whole nature idea. the sink stand was a tree stump and the shower had the appearance of a mountain stream with river rocks and everything all over the floor. after exploring our rooms and the surrounding we went to what would have been the camp cafeteria and were served a late breakfast early lunch. which had eggs toast vegetables and fruit. from there we were told to pack our bags to go on an over night trip they also told us we should pack light since we would be hiking 5 miles. they gave us plastic bags to put our things in before we put our stuff in our packs. this was to protect our belongings from rain if it did indeed come. after we had finished packing we were told to wait out at the front of the small complex and our ride would pick us up. our ride was a pickup truck that had dashed off down the road with a white water raft 5 minutes before. it returned with no raft and we jumped in the bed of the truck and rode to the river where they had large water tight buckets for our things. we hopped in our boat thinking we would have to paddle to the path that would take us to the path that would start our long walk. to my suprize 3 men jumped in our boat and began to paddle us to our destination. we didnt do anythign but take pictures the whole ride. it was probably a two hour ride but the whole ride was very serene and peaceful. halfway through the ride we stopped at a point where i thouhgt we would be spending the night. bamboo shacks were the scenery and i was as happy as ever to see hammocks on the front porch of each of the buildings. but we had merely stopped to enjoy a natural hotspring. the hotspint looked like a simple ditch with some water coming out of a mud wall but unlike the rest of the river the water was crystal clear. Bill was the first to get in and after he had told us that is was fine i lost my shirt and jumped straight off the bamboo bridge that was above the shallow pool. the water felt likea hot tub(minus that wierd chemical smell you get somtimes). the bottom of the pool had been lined with smooth river stones so after i had gotten in and felt comfortable enough to lay down in it i even took my shoes off and just floated for a while. the pool itself was probably no more than two feet deep. we spent about a half an hour there and moved back to the boat to continue our journey. i was wrong we would not be staying at the houses with the hammocks, or the wonderful hotspring for that matter. we got back in the boat took more pictures and simply floated down the river on our raft. we arrived at our starting point which was no more than a section of muddy beach on the river. before we started our walk they passed out our lunch which was simply rice and some vegetables. and after that we began our long hike from the dock point to the campsite. the guide said that the complete walk would take about 3 hours. we walked for about and hr and it began to rain. luckily i had packed my rain jacket and didnt get wet at all. chris, a guide, and I led the way with both Bill and Lek no where in site. the rain stopped about 2 hours into the trip and at 2 hours and 45 minutes we had arrived at a camp site which had the look of a childrens summer camp with cabins and what looked to be a mess hall and surrounding hiking trails. by the time we had reached the camp site it was about 6 or so. Bill and Lek rolled in a good 45 minutes behind us. but for Lek this was a great victory. she is very small with very short legs and was tired after the first 30 minutes of the hike. but she made it the whole way without have to take the motor scooter help up the mountain. by the time we were all located at the campsite tehre really was nothing to do because the rest of the trip would continue tomorrow. so we sat around patiently doing nothing of any real importance while our guides set up a tent for each of us to use. After the tents had been fully set up i picked a red one and put all mythings in it as quicly as i could. the place where we had set up camp was miserably infested with mosquitoes and i stayed in my tent as long as i could. i spent the next hour writing in my journal and litening to my ipod. i have made it my complete task of listening to every song on my ipod all the way through at least once while i am on this trip. For those of you who dont know i dont download individual songs only full albums to the ipod so as of right now i have 4684 songs, all of which have come from albums either i own, my friends own, or my father has given me. it is an 80 gb ipod with no movies on it so i simply put music on it whenever i can, and as of now i finally get to listen to all of it and decide whether the things i havent listen you yet are any good. but with that said i was in my tent writing about the past days experience when our guides brought us out our dinner which consisted of rice, mixed vegetables and pork, a fish cooked whole, fruit, and some kind of soup. all of which was good but i must say that i have had enough fresh water fish from thailand. i have been here for a short time and i am tired of picking fish bones out of what i am eating. that being said the whole meal was delicious minus the fish which i didnt believe was worth the hassle of fightign with. after the dinner was over the guitar brought us out cups that he had made for us out of bamboo shoots behind his cabin. since bamboo has the natural sections he simply used a machete to cut the bamboo in the correct places and viola you have a cup. these were to be our water cups while we were here and we could also use them to make hot tea or cofee when he brought out the hot water. with the cups he had made for us he also made bamboo stirs in the shapes of raft paddles which was as far as im concerned a sweet added bonus since we were alloweed to keep them. the rest of the night i spent my time taking a shower in the sink of the mens room since there was no hot water. i simply washed my face and that was pretty much it. i went back to my tent and spent the rest of my evening writing untill the lights in the structure that i had been using to write to shut off. when the lights in the building went out i used the only light source i had to write which was my digital camera screen but i soon realized that is was a huge waste of my camera battery and my patience. i closed my journal and turned off the camera rolling over in my supplied sleeping back and tried to sleep. the only problem with this was that the company did not supply pillows. the only thing that i could even use as a pillow was my backpack so i put all the thinks i had packed into it and tried once more to sleep. my sleep that night was very very light as i woke up many times trying to get comfortable. but morning finally came and with that another well prepared breakfast from our guides. eggs, fruit, vegetables, and toast with strawberry jelly. it was a small breakfast but it was nonetheless filling. after breakfast had concluded we were told that we would go visit the waterfall on the trip and it was then that i learned that this is from what the guide told me the 6th most beautiful waterfall in the world. after doing some research it didnt even show up in the top 10 but i must say i dont have any idea what could have beaten it. it was a 20 minute walk to the waterfall on a cement path that the park it was in had paid for. the path started out with open trees and grass and by the time we got to the waterfall the surrounding greenery had become that of what you would see in a jungle edition of a natural geographic. we heard the waterfall long before we could see it but upon seeing it, it towered over us with beautiful cascading white water and foam that could only be described as incredible. after we had taken many pictures of the waterfall from a safe distance the guide said it was alright that we walk around the railing and play in the smaller waterfalls nearby, and that we could also play in the lowest pool of the largest part of the waterfall. i immidiately jumped out of my shirt and left my socks off putting back on my shoes that i had gotten specifically for hiking and luckily their second purpose was water shoes. i spent the better part of two hours climbing up and down crashing waterfalls and playing in their wake. many pictures were taken of us in the waterfalls themselves, and with us near and the mighty forces of nature in the back ground. the last hour was spent playing in the lowest pool which was suprisingly very safe. the current was strong next to where the water crashed but if you got tired you could simply let the water carry you to a large rock where you could grab on, climb up, and rest until you jumped back in again. even though we were in the lowest of the large waterfall's crash pool. right below where we were there were many smaller waterfalls of ten feetor so right in a row. Leaving the place was the saddest i have been since i arrived. I was happy simply enjoying the nature that was an escape from the concrete jungles we had been spending most of our time in. But with all good things coming to an end we return ed to the area where we had camped and the guide who had not gone to the waterfall with us, had stayed behind to prepare lunch so when we returned lunch was served. it was a combination of rice, soup, pork, and chicken. the soup today was bomboo soup which i could speak well about but it really isnt that great. the rest of the food was simply prepared nothing really special. after lunch was over we had another 3 hour hike ahead of us and with this being the case Lek had to rent a motor bike to get to the checkpoint this time. she was sore from the past day and something i believe was hurting in one of her knees. but with this being said we lost one of our hiking companions on the way back to another section of the river where we would once again be picked up by the raft and taken to the home base which i described as a summer camp for adults. we departed from our campsite with our packs on our backs and our bamboo cups safe as well. the hike that ensued was much steeper, much more slippery, and the path was very over grown. so over grown infact we had to have a guide lead us today to cut through at points with his machete. the path was much more difficult and i must say that it was miserably hot that day and if we hadnt been in such a dense jungle it would have been 10 times more miserable. at one point we walked through a section that as owned by a elephant trainer or owner. but the land that he had his elephants on was dengerous to walk through because if you saw one you would have to freeze and make sure there was a trainer near by to control it. if there was no trainer however it was a wild elephant which sometimes did wander into that territory. I know some of you may be thinking if this jumgle is so dense how did the elephants get through it. well the answer is simple my freinds they left a huge wake of brokwen bamboo, giant foot prints, destroyed(or eaten) plants, and huge piles of poo. sadly we didnt run into any elephants that day although our guide was extremely relieved. with the last 40 meters of the hike being completely muddy at a terrible downhill slant it was tough going. but when we reached the river we found the raft safe and sound with Lek asleep in it. when she woke she told us that she had been there for at least two hours and the mad who had paddled the boat there had walked down stream to fish. the fisherman upon hearing us had returned with his catch that looked to be somekind of small catfish that of which he had about 9. Bill arrived shortly after this and began to tell us how he had slipped 6 times on the last muddy part which really isnt that suprising as i slipped once and caught myself on some bamboo at least 3 times. we takend for a short time and chris, washed the mudd from our shoes, our guides packed the bags in the water tight containers and we were off again. this section of the trip was very flat and very lazy. i did not take nearly as many pictures as the first section of the rafting. this second time through i really just laid back and watched everything just pass by. it was an amazing sight. we got to the end of our trip and exited the boat only to sit around and enjoy the scenery some more. walked 50 yards downstream to explore a very rickety bamboo bridge that crossed the river. from the ground it really looked like a good idea to cross is but i must stay when i got up there i realized this was a terrible idea. we had to have been 30ft up and nothing was stopping us from plummating into the river other than a few pieces of bamboo. we caustiously left the bridge and loaded into our ride back to grown up summer camp. we ended up back at summer camp and then before we could even get out of the truck they said that we had missed a stop while rafting because we didnt have enough time but it was alrigh to take us back to it now. the side was large cave which we explored for 30 minutes or so. the cave itself was very large and interesting but the coolest part of the cave was within the first 50 feet. there were hundreds of bats that were visibly moving when we shined our lights on them. the ceiling of the cave was very open and you could make out many features of each of the bats. it was very cool i only wish we had had some more powerful flashlights to get better pictures with. after we were done caving we went back to camp and took showers. we were separated with chris and i in one cabin bill in one and Lek in another. in our cabin i took the first shower and couldnt figure out how to get the hot water to come on. chris took the next one and figured it out but aparently took him a while to figure it out. we showered and sat in out rooms for a short time and then went to dinner in the open mess hall of the camp. once again the mosquitoes were great in number but the ones at dinner had to be twice the size of the ones we had seen the night before. dinner was delicious though consisting of fruit, rice, shika bobs, 2 kinds of soup, another whole fish, and chocolate chip ice cream. we ate our meal and had the ice cream surpise afterwards. aparently after Lek had finished her shower she got one of the campcounsellors to drive her into the small village nearby and get it. we started eating it but there was no need to save any cause we ate it in a matter of minutes. after dinner i had two cups of hot tea and went back to the room to get a hot shower. i got out and read for a while, i wrote very little simply cause i was too tired to recolect the day's events. i fell asleep quickly since i had not hada very good sleep the night before. i woke up pretty early and really didnt do anything other than read until chris got up. we walked over to breakfast at the open mess hall and luckily most of the mosquitoes had vanished from the area. we ate breakfast quickly and returned to our rooms to pack our bags and begin the long 5 hour trip out of the mountains. i made the great mistake of eating alot before we got into the car and because of this i was sick the whole was out of the mountains. i never fully got sick but i my head was spinning as i tried to lay on my makeshift pillow in the packed Bmw that was our ride. we made it back to the business of the trval company and dropped off the driver there. after that point we had another few hours to go. the plan from there changed from going to chaing rai to going back to Khon kaen. Another one of Leks business friends would be in Khon Kaen and needed ehr there or wanted to see her or somthign like that. so from where we were we jumped to a town a few hours away to where Lek's family lived. we met them for dinner and then stayed in a very nice hotel while she stayed with her family. we woke the next morning to return to Khon kaen but made some interesting side trips along the way. we stopped at a aquarium. the aquarium was in the shape of a great ark and the inside was just as fun. while we were there a whole section of an elementary school was visiting for a field trip so many of the kids were more interested in the white kids than the fish. after we left the aquarium we stopped at a little place that basically had little sideshow oddities. the first show we attended was a monkey show. they had the monkeys dress up, use props, do cammands, and jump through flaming hoops. by the time itw as over i had understood none of it since it was all in thai but had enjoyed it thuroughly. then we attended a crocodile show where the performer did many feats with the crocodile which was 10 yrs old and had to have weighed at least 250lbs i even got to go in the crocodile ring and sit right on the croc. it was a wild experience. quite a rush for the system. after that we jumped back in the car and headed home. it as still pretty early by the time we got back but we really did not end up doing anything at all. and now on to today which i have finally caught up on once again. today we were all traveled out but we managed to get into Khon Kaen to find some things that we would bring back to the U.S. with us. those things being flags and books and things of that nature. after we were done i walked around one of the more popular places for people in KHon Kaen to shop and spend time. it was the same thing as a mall with all the smae features. stores, food, movie theatre, arcade. after i had thuroughly walked around fairy plaza(the name of that mall type place). i made my way back to the outer bus station to catch a #8 home. i stopped at the computer use place to use some high speed for a short while and then i left back to the apartment. Chris was already back having not stayed with me at fairy plaza. when i got back he told me that bill still wanted to try to put all 3 of us on the scooter and go somewhere. so we gathered ourselves for a while and then wen tover to bill room to ask him where he wanted to go for dinner. he decided that the all you can eat buffet would be a good choice and with that we took off down the street all 3 of us on a 2 person motor scooter. we got pretty far about a mile and a half and were about to get on the main highway to the restuarant when our back tire blew out. we fish tailed and we really almost bit the pavement hard but bill managed to keep us up and slowly moved us over to the shoulder of the road. with that we had to walk the rest of the way to the restuarant which was a mile and a half or so. but bill parked the scooted close to the main highway saying that he would ride it home from that point upon returning. so we took off walking down the highway to the restuarant. it really wasnt a bed walk. but by the time we had gotten there we were ready to eat. we ate plate after plate of food and after we were done with real food we moved on to ice cream which was included in the all you can eat. upon finishing our meal we began the much more difficult return journey back to the KKu main street. when we got to the main road of KKU (for everyone who doesnt know KKU - Khon Kaen university) i decided that i was gonna try and ride on that back of the scooted with bill back but chris said he would play it safe and walk. i must say that i was still very scared to get on the back with it sliding occasisonally but we made it home with no problems and from there i have been in the room just kinda doing nothing since. but now i will explain what will happen the next few days. you all wont hear from me because once again we are taking off on another adventure. this time Bill has decided to take us to laos untill thursday or so i believe. but the way our journeys have turned out so far we may be gone for a day or tow more than that. we will be departing from the train staion of Khon Kaen to the border at 9am tomorrow which in knoxville would be 10pm for anyone who is wondering. i really dont know what we are going to be doing overall but right now i know bill has a plan in his head..... somewhere. until my next post i hope you all are safe and having a good summer. and i willt ry to add more pictures early tomorrow before i leave. whew i can finally sleep...........

pictures

first let me say that every computer i use never works and the past 5 days i have taken about 370 so i am even more behind that before. which then leads me to say how behind i am in posts. i dont know what order they will be up on the page but i think they are all good

unable to get the laptop but....

once again i am back at the internet cafe to try to finish up this where i have been behind. i think it would be smart f me to finish up now since We decided today to travel to another part of thailand and i might be once again away from a computer for some time. Lek has offered to take us to a part of thailand that i cant remember and probably wouldnt be able to spell anyway. but here quickly continuing from the last post. we ended our meal at the very nice chinese themed restuarant and were given a ride by chalumchai back to our apartment so that we could sleep becasue the next day we would be waking up very early to journey back to bangkok to take frank to the airport so that he would make his flight home. so we turned in as early as we possibly could and then 5am came way too soon. we were up by 5 to make our 6 am bus. chris showered first and after he had showered and gotten ready i had finally woken up we were lucky enough to get a ride from chelumchai who being the best host ever woke up just as early as us to give us a ride to the bus station. we got on our early bus and boy let me say that 6 hours in a bus that early int the morning was well... i think i might have been sleep walking cause i really dont remember anything other than waking up on the bus with a blanket over me and my headphones in so i obviously didnt feel like i was in any danger and i obviously was very very comfortable. but when i woke up i couldnt go back to sleep and the alst 3 hours of the ride went by very very slowly. we arrived in bangkok and took a taxi to more or less the more tourist side of the city. there a place there called kousan road which is supposed to be the party street which we stayed near merely beause of the cheap rooms that we found.after we had dumped our bags in the room we proceeded to the grand royal palace which was absolutely amazing. after we had aquired our tickets we entered to find large temples with undescribable beauty. the temples were quite large and ever square inch of every building sized temple was covered in oh jeez i cant even think of the word. grrr. mosaic yeah mosaic every inch of the tecmples were mosaicked with bits of mirror or colored glass. each piece was not broken though all the collors or mirror pieces were symmetrical in certain areas making beautiful shapes and designs most of which being the lotus which i have come to learn is the flower of the Buddha. after we had explored the outside of the temple for a short while we went into the larger of the temples to view the crown relic of the country which is called ethe emerald buddha. sicne they did not allow pictures of the emerald buddha inside the building here is what it looks like just to give and example

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/Emerald_buddha.jpg

the buddha itself is not made out of emerald but jade. it was aparently made hundreds of years ago and the artist to protect the jade covered it in a plaster. supposedly he died and everyone forgot the original interior was jade untill one day a room collapsed on the figure breaking off a piece of the plaster that was covering its nose. from there they took off the rest of the plaster and it was moved to the royal pallace where it now sits. the throne of artifacts that sit around the buddha are said to be mostly gold but i dont know for certain since that is alot of gold if it truly is. the structure housing the buddha has to be at least 25 ft high. whenm you go into his chamber the police inside make you side down untill you are ready to leave at chich point you can show yourself out. from tehre we just explored other sections of the royal palace but sadly most of it was cut off to public because the death of the king. His sister recently passed away in the recent months. but before she passed away before they had finished her ceremonial river death boat type deal. so now she is litterally frozen in the palace untill they finish the boat at which point she will be put into her boat and floated down the river and shown her proper respects. after we were done with that we experience the local river fery system which was fun for al of teh first 30 minutes but then it was just a boat ride. because it was the that locals traveled it was interesting to see where they got on and off though. the time we were on the boat many school children got on to return home. after we had taken our trip on the boat we experience the sky train. all of this was done for franks benefit just to say he had seen the city from all of these angles. after we had taken our sky train visit we took to the underground subway. we went a few stops on the subway and got out exhausted and extremely hungry. we ended up eating at the train station after we had gotten off at our stop. the place we ate at had the same feeling as the cafeteria that i like so much back in khon kaen. we ate quickly and left. we journeyed back to the hotel and from there Frank picked up his luggage and made his way to the airport with Bill as his guide. Chris and I walked kouson street to find some dessert after our meal and after being hassled about buying knock off clothes and beer we settled for what i can only describe as a flat pancake like pastry with your choice of fruit or choclate inside. Chris got banana and i got strawberry jelly. after they put your choice of fruit on top they put the think condensed milk you would find in a can on top. and let me say that was awesome. and it cost 30 cents. Chris and i went of kouson road and walked some of the other surrounding streets close to our hotel to see if we could find some interesting wares and also hoping people wouldnt hassle us about any thing else. we found some interesting things, some very kool things, and some worthless crap. but we turned back to our hotal and went back to the room. we went to sleep quickly and woke up at about 8:30 to meet bill for breakfast. we got dressed and bill was already in the lobby waiting for us. we ended up walking 30 ft down the road from our hotel to a little stand when a boy whole could have been a years difference in age from me but about 2-3 times as much as me when you bbrought weight into consideration. he would cut up different fruit andinto a bowl put some yogurt in it throw granola and honey on top and that for a small but delicious breakfast. after that was done we went to a royal home that was no longer used but was used by one of the kings for many years. it was a pain just get in the place. first off no cameras anywhere in the houseso we had to pay money to use a locker to put our stuff in. then no shorts allowed in the house so i had to deposite a 1000 baht bill to the lady behind the desk who promised not to charge me but i diddnt believe her, for what would be sleep pajamas only in the xxL size. so i was everjoyed at that. so now that we have bought pants and bought a locker we walk through the entrance gate and towards the house where they search you again in the basement and make you remove your shoes. so we remove our shoes and then have to walk outside in our socks while its raining up a flight of stairs to the tour front door. but wait i get to the front door and they try to make me pay for another locker for my hat. no so i store my hat in the extra space that was the knapsack of a pair of pants. but after all that it was completely worth it. the house was done completely in teek wood and there are no nails in the house at all. the house is made completely with wooden pegs. but other than some fire damage in the supstair you would have thought the house to be new. there were rooms with elegant china and then ivory and great elephant tusks. but all in all the house was amazing. after we had finished there we left the house and walked around another huge building that was also beautiful but the name of which i cant for the life of me remember. after that we went back to our hotel to gather our things and check out. from there we walked accross a section of the city we were staying in and met chelumchais other son bank at a burger king. i dont know if i said this or not but chelumchais first son is name bond and the seconds name is bank. they are 28 and 25. but bank had agreed to take us to chattenbury which was a couple hours away. he picked us up at the burger king and at first glance he was tiny. he is my height but reminds me of fez because of how skinny he is. we walked the distance to his car and from tehre he drove us a couple hours so that bill could his friend a favor in chattenburry. the whole trip to chattenburry was a favor for bills friend who cuts gems, the city is known for its gem market so we went up there as an errand to collect some uncut gems for Bill's friend. we arrived early that day which just to help make clear the story was a thursday and then after exploring the market around our house was pretty boring. ok i will pick up there when i aquire yet another 1 hour pass. instead of creating another post i just decided to edit this one since i just learned how. but yes after spending another 25 cents to aquire a pass i am back. but yes we arrived and then there really wasnt much to do so i did alot of reading and then turned in early. Chris and Bank woke me up with a knock on my door at about 10:50 and said that bank had some friends in the city who would show us around a little. we ended up going to a small local pub and sitting and watching tv with the locals and just meeting and greeting for the most part. just so as to reassure everyone at home i did not have any substance that would be considered illegal for my age at the pub. but we ended up getting back to the hotel and getting a good rest. we woke up semi early the next morning and from there bill had alraeady gotten up and left us to explore the market so taht we could go back later if any of us wanted anything. i left the hotel and walked in a big couple mile circle around it hoping to find somethign of interest but i figured it was either too early for anyone or the gem market had lead most people to its treasures. after finding a 7/11 and deciding on what my breakfast cuisine would be i walked back to the hotel with a orange drink that i could not read and a taro filled bun. i waited reading in my room for a little over and hour before bill came back and gethered all of us to go to the gem market. it was a short walk from the hotel no more than half a mile. when we got there we stopped at a simple shop that sold many uncuts and there we got some amethyst and some what i believe to be aquamarine. thinking we might to be able to find better prices other places we went off in search of what could simply be put as cheap treasure. we had many people try to hustle us and after an hour of looking we found a hole in the wall store where a man who actually cut the gems had many luncut left over that he was not using and sold them to us cheap. so we walked back through the crowd of sellers and back to the car where we got back in and drove swiftly to bangkok. and by swiftly i mean that Bank is a semipro race car driver and he drives really fast.... it was awesome. we arrived in bangkok and went directly to the bus station and after getting bus tickets for the 6:30 bus we said our goodbyes to bank and how thankful we were for him driving us around and helping us wit translations. we asked him if he would come and see us in khon kaen and he promised he would if he had time. so we hopped on our unexpected VIP bus which had luckily for us taken the place of a broken down bus that was still being repaired. we arrived in Khon Kaen at about 1:30 in the morning and from the bus station took a tuk tuk to the apartment. i slept till about 8 this morning and then got up and mae my rounds for breakfast at 7/11 and then went to a internet cafe to kinda check what i had missed in knoxville and to start my long but necessary update and now i am finally finished with my update which only took me 5 bought hours to complete. i am going to sit ere and look up guitar tabs now. i left my hard drive in my room but i will upload pictures tomorrow whenever i get the chance because we leave on monday to go to Chiang ria which is on the border of Myanmar and we might be able to get in for a short amount of time. but with that i am tired and mentally tired from recapping the past few days events. i hope you all are doing well and hope to ehar from all of you soon. the truth is out there, may the force be with you , and save the cheerleader..... save the world.

continued from the last one

ok im gonna just jump back to where i was. to laura drewyor it is a rotary trip but at this point chalumchai has pretty much handled everythign and we go and help with the alst stages of the instalations none of which have happend while we have been here. we have visited some of teh rotary members but not really visited a club meeting. i did not take any gifts this time but all i have recieved a gift which was a pillow which i will explain in this post if i have tiem since its a going to be a long one and i am once again on a timer computer which is lame. and when we went to chattenbury and visited the famous gem market there i did pick up a few things as gifts but it was very explensive and hard to find prices that werent completely outrageous. and for dad chattenbury is south of bangkok and when we were at the snake show and the boy was bitten all of the other snake handlers did not move but the crowd around the small stage was in complete shock. even after his turn was over no one rushed to him at all. from what i understand the children who do that only get snakes wild a small amount of poison which has subtle affects on the body. and you want me to say something in thai. sowateacawp which is a traditional greeting when meeting someone. when you say this you also put your hands in a prayer position in front of you and give a slight bow. ad to heather i did not order all that sushi in the picture is was made at a market and you can buy it by piece which is about 2 baht. so to explain the sushi to dollar ratio 30 baht are in a dollar and one piece only costs 2 baht. a man can eat himself silly on sushi for a dollar. now on to teh days that i am goign to have to catch up on. ok well first was the day that bill left the day before for bangkok to pick up frank. chris and i were able to wake up late and kinda hang out for a little while before we went into town to explore. lek was goign to pick us up at our apartment at noon which gave a couple hours to journeyinto town and take in what we could while were there. we wandered around for a little while and not finding anything of any real importance we let time drift. at about 11 we decided to try to fidn the number 8 truck/bus back to the aparemtn but just our luck we had gotten completely lost and had to take a not so cheap tuk tuk. we got back to the apartment in plenty of time and met lek who picked us up and took us to the train station to get bill and frank and then would take us all to lunch. we waited for about half an hour before the two of them arrived and then she took us to a Vietnamese restuarant just around the corner from teh bus station. we ate nothing and then left to go back to the apartment. frank would end up staying in chelumchais house for the short amount of time he would be staying ere. after that we ended up gettign picked up later that night again to go out to dinner. chelumchai took us to one of teh nicer steakhouses in town and told us to oder whatever we wanted. let me take this opportunity to just say that chelumchai has been the most amazing host ever. he has taken care of about half of our meals and not only that but helped to stock our apartment refrigerator with a helpful amount of muchies. but yes back to dinner... since it was more of a american european type resuarant i simply got a grilled chicken sandwich (sorry guys i know its not very out of teh box). durign our dinner they had thai musicians come out and play many different acoustic songs mostly being songs americans would recognise. beetles, simon and garfunkle, ect... we ended up eating dessert which was ice cream. which was no suprise but not unwelcomed either . after that we went back to the hotel and basically crashed for teh next day we were to attedn the dedication of a purication system at a small school. we woke up semi early and got our showers and put on our somewhat nice clothes we arrived just as the ceremony was startign and everyone who had participated in giving the school the system was giving a beautiful flower lai/lay. we sat through the ceremony which had some of the small students perform a traditional fishing dance. the children who did it were so young you could tell their mental fixing was miles away. after that bill did a aspeach and frank did a speach. and then we were allowed to look ni on the students as they were in class which was absolutely a beautiful experience. after that they turned on the system to hand out glasses of water to teh important heads of the ceremony. and after all taht was said and done they were to have frank cut the ribbon in which the system was installed. the building was built solely for the purpose of housing the structure and looked to be perfect for the simple task to which it had been aquited. after the ceremony was over we were brought to what looked to be a meeting hall and were served lunch. with lek not there i thought for once i would be able to eat a normal sized meal in which i would not have food forced on me like i was a cow being fattened up for slaughter. but we ate our food and with many natives there i had too many different kinds of food brought to me on too many plates . after the meal was over the dessert fruit which i throughly enjoyed. one was mangosteen which might be one of the best fruits even as far as i am cnocered. it is sweet and very good. after i had eaten a good portion of fruit we started back to the car or in my case waddled, and were presented gifts on the way to the car. rfash and bill were presented notes and memorabilia, to commemorate the occaisonalong with two traditional thai pillows. since the vilaage had not expected chris and i to be they did not have any real gifts ready for us but they managed to scrounge up two more pillows to give us. to describe the pillows in short they look like elongated tissue boxes and are probably just as soft as the cardcoard from one. we got into chelumchais car and took our hour long trip back to the apartment and fromt here just chilled out untill we were picked up again to go to chelumchai's son's birthday dinner. having been taken to a nice dinner before we couldnt imagine what we were in for then. we pulled up at one of the nicest hotels in khon kaen where chelumchai and lek had rented out a private room for their sons birthday dinner. to say the least the basement where the retuarant was was done in beautiful chinese style and the dinner itself was elegant and absolutely amazingthere were 7 courses all of which were extravagantly amazing. but once again we are going to have to hold off on the story and take a time out because i am on the 2 minute marker again. i will try to borrow the laptop from bill if he will allow cause im tired of paying to rush through my story. because of the time difference i should prolly be able to finish this post by at least noon for you all reading so look for another one later if you are already up.

the long awaited entry

welll let me first say that is has been a long long few days with a lot of thai and knoxville worries. but before my post i get to answer the posts that i was waiting for. ok to renee arrington.. the chicken isnt cooked in its own blood so much as the blood is not taken out of the chicken when its cooked. so the blood is still in some pockets of the chicken and after its fully cooked the chunks are cut out of the chicken. and for aunt carol there is a picture in the post before this with me holding a snake im sure you will love that. ok i have 2 minutes left of my internet card i will get another one and start a new post. grrr this is a pain.

this one is mostly for pictures.

apareently nobody reads this?!?!

after making that last post i am dissapointed to see that there are no new posts?? im just leaving this one to remind everyone that it gives me something to write about when you leave comments or questions!!!!

gone for a few days

hey guys it will be a few days before i can give a full update because we have left khon kaen for bangkok and after that we will be going to be place called chattenbury. now i have no idea whether i spelled that right or not but we will be getting back to khon kaen on about saturday. and the only reason i will not be able to do full updates is because the costs to use internet cafes in bangkok are through the roof becasue of the big tourist area. i will answer all the comments i have in the post right after that but i only have 9 minutes to do it before im out of time. bye be back in a few days.

snakes and temple continued

ok continued from last entry. after we left the snake village we went to a very beautiful and peacefull temple. the temple is believed to be why khon kaen was built where it is. it is told that men on their way east were going to build a temple to buddha on their way they stopped and made camp one night at a dead tamarine tree. they continued on their journey and when they reached their destination somone had already built the temple before they got there. they made the return journey home thinking they would simply build a temple closer to their homeland. they traveled the same course back home with the intent of staying the night once again at the tamarine tree. when they got to the tree it was full alive and budding with fruit. they decided that this was the place that they would build the temple. we explored the area around the temple left and offering of lotus flowers which is the flower of the buddha. we also lit candles and insense at the outside shrine facing the large and beautiful temple. after that we headed back into khon kaen to the apartment. on the way we passed a village that was celebrating the rainy season to come. they buld fireworks out of pipe and bamboo trees. they resemble giant bottle rockets. they meaning behind them doing this is when it is time for the rainy season they will shoot these rockets, which they call rocket fire into the clouds. or in this case heaven, when the rockets reach heaven they alert the rain god that it is time to send the full rainy season to them. the village shoots off many of these rockets. they also have a competition to see whose rocket will stay in the air the longest before it returns to the ground. the record while we were there was just over 5 minutes. i also learned that some villages closer to the airport have to alert the airport a week or so in advance because some of the rockets have been known to fly past planes. although it is very safe most of the time more people are hurt when the rocket falls of the laucher and are crushed by its wieght than victims being burned. some rockets have also been known to land on a house and come completely through the roof or bring the roof and a second floor with it. we watched the festivities for a long while and continued our journey back to khonkaen. we arrived back in khon kaen at a grocery store when Lek and Chelumchai had to pick up a few things. once again Lek grabbed plenty of food for our aparment including 3 different kinds of fruit and wouldnt you know it...... more ice cream. after that we dropped the food off at our apartment and went out to a dinner of noodles from a street vendor. they were good but the very different and a little nerve racking ingedient in this cuisine was cooked chicken blood. the blood is cooked in the chicken when they are boiled. when the chicken is taken out the blood aparently is thinker and sticks together. they collect the blood in a container and put it into a refrigerator where it then becomes like gelatin. and voila cooked chicken blood cubes on top of your noodles. I will say that getting ast the blood aspect of the meal was difficult but it was actually good. i ate the whole bowl and then a second. but thank god Lek did not take us out for ice cream. we returned back to the room stuffed and with a few minutes to mess around on our computer. then fell asleep and that was that. ok that was yesterday now when today is over i will do another one cause it would be very short if i started now.

snakes and temple

well i am up again not quite as late as yesterday but it really doesnt matter since the sun is already up. i think back to what we did yesterday and it was very slow to startout with really. by the time we were up and moving it was too late in the day to go into town. we were sure it would take longer to get back than we had time for. so we waited around the aparment for Lek. she arrived at noon Mr.chelumchai her husband decided to come to or he didnt want his wife to drive his Bmw. i havent figured out which yet. we got into the car and they took us to lunch. when you are eatign with Lek it always means she will order about 5 plates of food too many. and while i am full i continue to eat because she has a smile on her face while she piles food on my plate. we ate at a barbeque chicken type place but this was definitely not the same as american barbeque. they cook the chickens whole over a fire. so as you walk up there are many chickens over several different fires. from there you get a table and they bring you the chickens. before you get the chicken however it has been cut up into pieces. now mind you these are the chickens that are pretty much free range around here, so they dont exactly have a great amount of meat on them. but we ate and ate and then ate more. and then they got us dessert which was good and if i wasnt so full i wouldve finished it. the dessert was coconut milk in a bowl and in the milk were pieces of ice along with what looked to be tadpoles. the tadpoles were green.... well tadpole shaped gelly type things that were colored green. they are made out of rice. it was very good especially the coconut milk which they add sugar to. after we were don eating we kinda slowly made our way to the car and took an hour long drive or so to the traditional snake village.
the village we visited is home of this which you may or may not find interesting.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,218502,00.html

im not sure if that link will work when i post this but if not just copy it and paste it into the navigation box. but when we arrived at the village the show had already begun. when we got there it was still in the early stages of teh show where the girls just dance witht the snakes which really wasnt all that exciting. after that they got out one of the king cobras and a man came us on stage and began to what i can only describe as pissing it off and then pretending like he was a boxer and boxing the snake when it stood up in the air. we was very close to being bitten many times. the show repeated like this for a number of minutes where they would bring out a snake. mind you all of these snakes were at least 4-5 ft long. but they would bring out a snake and aman would step up on stage. he would then bow. and they would ring a bell like a boxing or wrestling match. now i was sittign there thinking it couldnt get any worse...... but of course i was wrong the last 3 matches were kids..... all under 12. yeah it was absolutely amazing. one of them was bitten hut he was a new guy and didnt have a poisonous snake anyway. but i mean it was amazing. after the show was over i got a picture with a big ole python. no cobras in the audience which is no fun. then around back of the stage are all of the snake cages and we got to see all of the other snakes that werent used in the show. and it was all the same for the most part up until we got to the last cage which was a python that had to have been as big around as my head. it was at curled up but from the look of it it had to have been at least 15-20 ft long. the village had a small what we would call zoo with some monkeys and just a few more snakes. i will finish this post and the next when i return we are goign into town.

woke up at 8. woot woot

yes i finally did it i woke up after the sun came up and i didnt have to watch the sunrise for the third time. but there really is no sunrise where i am am cause i could never find a place to actually see the sun come up. yeah today is? i need to buy a calender in town today cause that is not a good start if i cant figure our what day it is. but yeah were gonna start with yesterdays adventure and then tune you guys into what is going to be happening today. i woke up at 5 yesterday and basically didnt want to wake my room mate chris. i sat in bed for at least and hour and a half and finally realized having fallen asleep before dinner again the night before. so basically i got dressed as quiety as possible and really there was not a whole lot open but i managed to find a taro bun breakfast and some type of cheap burger thing at a 7/11. that early in the morning i really wast gonna comlain about where i got my food but the truth was it was really good.so about this time it wasabout 7:40 so instead of going back to the room and waking Chris up i simply walked around and listened to my ipod untill about 8:40. i ended up goign back to the room where Chris was still asleep and what do you know.. i wake him up. instead of me walking around the room making noise i go borrow the laptop from Bill who may or may not have been awake when i knocked on his door. i got the laptop from him but when you get into conversation with him he always has such descriptive and long conversations. i learned a little bit more about the systems and just some other random fun facts andthen was on my way back to the room. i playedon the computer for a while but really never did do anythign of any importance. i just tried to be quiet and that was about it. we finally got moving around 9:30 or some and woke up BIll again who had gone back to sleep from when i woke him up. He got his shower and we went to te main campus road to catch a #16 truck into khon kaen. yesterday was basically just another day to learn the city since Bill would be leaveing us the next day. or since i am writing this in the future he will be gone in an hour so we are on our own today. but we looked at the grad streets and the main places to go. that was really about it. we ate at my favorite grovery story/cafeteria. i had some type of vegetables and pork or beef. couldnt tell what it was but it was very good nonetheless. after we had eaten we needed to meet chelumchai back at his buisness. which i may or may not have told you is interwater treatment. he is basically heading the system operation right now because it is easier for him to do it. his buisness already had all the supplies needed to do this operation and on top of that he speaks the language which is a major bridging point for us who dont. but we were meeting him at his buisness because his wife was back in town from bangkok. she was thee applying for a romainian visa so that she may travel in the coming weeks. we had to take the truck/bus to interwater but because chelimchai and lek were going to take us to certain sites around khon kaen. kind of like a tour around the cool stuff. but we arrived at interwater after crossing a 6 lane highway which amazingly enough couldnt have been safer. but yeah we got to interwater and as tradition to anywhere you go in thailand we recieved cups of water. we met lek for the first time and then waited on chelumchai. chelumchai arrived and he and lek began to disucss where they were going to take us that day. they decided to take us to a dam and there were some things that we could stop and see along the way. im gonna try pictures again cause yesterday ahad some cool stuff.but for now i will finish this post. the first stop was a small temple over looking the dam. and the sotry behind that is long ago before that dam was built people in thailand didnt have enough water. so they prayed and were told to build a temple where it is now. they built the damn and built the temple and they have had enough rain to fill the dam on most years. but the temple was beautifully elegant. so very simple but beutiful. it was built into a forested and rocky hillside that over looked a lake that was made because of the dam. the lake was so large you could not see the other side. you couldnt see that far anyway because of the comeing rain but still it was an enormous lake. from there we traveled to the other side of the dam and there was a restuarant and some boats and a place where you could pay to feed the fish. lek got us ice cream and bottles of water. chelumchai took us to waters edge where we could feed the fish. which looked like catfish except i have never avually seen a cotfish swimming, unless you count a fishing show but yeah. we sat and enjoyed the snenery and it was a nice day. the rain was still very far off in the distance as well. from there we left to another area of that same side of the dam. when we were at the first temple we could see a giant white buddah on top of the hill on the other side of the dam. we went to see that next. when we actally reached the top of the hill we realized how big the buddah actually was. it had to be at least 100-150ft tall. i took many pictures of it and the surrounding scenery. the rain was getting very close now and you could see the drops falling in the middle of the lake. we got back into the car and headed back down stoping halfway down the small mountain to see another set of buddah relics that were very interesting but will be easier to explain as soon as i can get some pictures up. we drove all the way back to the aparment and i slept almost the whole way. they dropped us off and said they would pick us up in a little less than an hour for dinner. Chris and i just kinda around the room for that time playing with the slow motion feature on his HD video camera. it was fun.. chelumchai and lek picked up us americans and took us to what can only be described as the thai version of a melting pot. but it wasnt near;y as expensive or nice for that matter. and there was no chocolate. how it works is the center of the table is a hole and in it they put coals and over that they put a grill but the grill only takes up the center of this. ok heres once again will be easier to explain with pictures. but in short i ate way too much and Bill told me that Lek is famous for trying to make you eat 5x's more than you should have and i definitely did. the kinds of food that we used on the grill were pork, chicken, shrimp, some type of fish, and squid. let me just say that grilled squid is awesome. and yes i ate both sides which you grill separately. the head of the squid tastes a little bit like a warmed up edible rubber balloon. and the tentacles were all around jsut very good. but we finished up there and where did they take us... but out for ice cream. which couldnt have been a more terrible end to a already stuffed body. i ate some kind of chocolate thing with truffles in it. after that they took us back to the aparment and i basically just fell asleep. that was really how my day went yesterday. Bill has already left to bangkok to pick up a rotarian that sponsored a system by himself. because that rotarian did this he has flown over for the dedication. That rotarian is also giving a speach which he is completely unaware of. but i will give you the scoop on how that goes later. today Lek is goign to take us wherever we want to go. but this morning we are going to make our way into town and try not to get lost.