Asara Villa & Suite Hua Hin

... his Thai-tai because everyone, absolutely every single Thai person we meet tells me I look Thai. I don't think I look anything other than VNese but then again, what do I know.<br><br>After Pierre acquired his customary farmer's tan, we head back to Bangkok on the 4 pm train, which was filthy (it was 2nd class, there was no 1st class train to and from Hua Hin... makes you wonder what in Heaven's name 3rd class would be like ...

... and to meet (=drink beer with) some Finnish friends of mine who happened to be there on their Thailand holiday at the same time. <br><br>The most action you could see in the rather boring Hua Hin were the preparations for the ASEAN summit (Association of Southeast Asian Nations, though for instance Australia, Japan, India and China were also present) which is held here, starting today actually. Roads are blocked and policemen with the military are everywhere along ...

Yesterday we negotiated Bangkok public transportation and found our way to Hua Hin via a 3.5 hour "air conditioned" bus ride. We're trying to meet up with our friend Dawn, but so far no luck. <br><br>Last night we went to the night market and went wild; I'm going to have a hard time not bringing all of Thailand home with me in my ...

... sight. at the end of<br>my trip I quickly recovered from the affects of the present, after of<br>course visiting the eye doctor on my vacation. <br><br>Geoffrey has<br>become my travel buddy. We plan on seeing all of Asia one weekend at a<br>time. While traveling with a buddy has it's advantages, it also has<br>it's disadvantages. I have been exploring and living in the world all<br>by myself with God at my ...

... and play. The Thais are fun to play with too. I met an Australian guy who came out and was watching. Eventually I told him to jump in and play if he wanted. He knows some teachers at NIST and so he might come play this week there. Friday, my students had to turn in and give Pet Rock speeches for science. They did a good job making their pet rocks, although you can tell who made their own and who had a lot more parental involvement ...

... for a good cup of coffee. A twelve-hour train ride was hardly inspired by a simple cup of joe, but it helps. A lot of students are going and it looks like it should be an eventful trip. Songkran celebrates the Thai New Year, Buddha statues are paraded through the streets and locals dowse foreigners (and other locals) with water. Water guns went on sale about two weeks ago and trains have been booked since February. The water tossing is a practice of cleansing the statues and people ...

... on the sign. Our guide had arrived, called our room, and as we were not in it, he sent the bellboy around the lobby with this sign looking for us. Felt like we were in Casablanca (although I'm not really sure why J )! We awoke early this morning, so we got to see a beautiful sunrise.

... makes me an "ajarn" (say ah-jawn). According to my friend and colleague Kit Jenkins, the campus rector, ajarn fits into the the hierarchy of respect like this: (ascending order, of course) ajarn, monk, King, Buddha. I'll take that. I have so much to share -- from the trip over to the first week of class. Given that I have daily internet access, I'll try not to give into the temptation to write in excruciating and boring detail. When I was ...

... In his speech, he referred to President Bush as the devil in a gesture that was not unlike America's description of certain nations as being the axis of evil. President Chavez also said that American hegemony was a threat to Latin America and to the world in general because small nations feel disenfranchised; and that the United Nations was a post-war device from ...

We left Hong Kong for Thailand after 2 days. Now we were really moving into the part of our trip that would need a lot of organisation, and patience, this was the start of REAL Asia. It started well at the airport when the people at the exit of the plane wouldn't let anyone through the doors into the airport without their boarding pass from Hong Kong. Kerry "holier than thou" said I should have kept everything to do with the flight until we had at least left the ...