Some May and June notes....


May 1 Sabbath I showered and headed for church without breakfast this morning. A young man named
Tony from Kenya was one of the only other foreigners when I arrived, but then Marc Andre's family came and so there was a small group of us that could have an English lesson study when it was time to break for classes. The lesson this week was about the environment and how Christians should relate to it. We had some interesting conversation. Gabe and I have both been watching a number of documentaries lately and several have been on the state of the world and they paint a rather bleak picture. They mostly end on a hopeful note, but the reality is that we as humans have taken to our role as stewards of the earth very poorly and pushed the planet beyond the point of safe return. Overfishing, deforestation, pollution, depleted water supplies, the burgeoning oil crisis: any of these could cause a global catastrophy by themselves and we are facing them all at once. Despite how depressing that could all be, I see it more as a chance to learn and share with others how God still gives me hope and peace.

The new pastor gave his second sermon today and chose as a topic several aspects of the Job story.

Around 6:30 pm we left the hostel to meet with a person that knows people Gabe knows, who wanted to have dinner with us. Her name is Eva and she has been here for three years on a lectureship at a university here in Chiang Mai. She teaches Old Testament subjects, which seems to be an odd match in Thailand, but she seems to enjoy it. We met her at a Thai restaurant near the Amari Hotel on the west side of the city. For dinner we had two salads (one was a spicy banana flower salad and the other a pomelo salad), a baked fish dish, a fermented fish dish, a traditional soup, and a rice chicken dish. Eva is normally a fan of the pomelo salad, but this time it was different and not very good. The spicy banana flower was also a disappointment. It was more like a tuna salad and I could not even detect anything that seemed like banana flower, which I had been curious about. The baked fish was good, but the fermented fish dish was extremely tasty. I liked the soup although towards the end it was getting pretty salty.

May 3 Monday We slept in this morning to celebrate Thai Labor Day. Then after getting up and having breakfast we moved to a room on the first floor. We think it might be slightly cooler and it has the additional benefit of a stronger wifi signal (when the internet is up). Gabe brought out Citadels and we reacquainted ourselves with the basic rules while playing three games. It was good to finally get it into the mix as we have played quite a bit of Bonanza and San Juan, but this was our first foray into Citadels on this trip. Later in the afternoon we got in touch with Gabe's friend Eva and she gave us directions to meet her at a Burmese restaurant on the west side of town outside the moat. There was just enough time before we arranged to meet her that we could squeeze in massages. This was my second massage at this place. Gabe was getting his third. I have had seven massages so far in Thailand (I know that sounds extravagant, but I can live with that) and each one has been slightly different. By that I mean I have gotten a traditional Thai massage each time and while they follow a certain general pattern, each one has changed up maneuvers and techniques enough that they are different. Only one as been unsatisfactory and that was from a younger masseuse, which I just chalk up to her inexperience. For that matter, my best massage came from a girl that looked to be about 14. She had strong hands and knew what she was doing, while the other young woman had not been very confident in what she was doing. This time I had an older lady who was competent and I had a good massage. Gabe came out of his feeling pretty good, but started feeling sore soon after. That got worse the rest of the evening. He has to evaluate where that is going before we decide to go back.

Having the massages gave us little time to get to our dinner appointment, but we quickly flagged down a mini bus and were on our way. We weren't watching too closely and got out a block too soon and while that probably does not sound like much, outside the moat the blocks are LONG. Walking briskly we soon found the signs for the Burmese place, but it was closed and Eva wasn't around. Gabe called her and she was at a second Burmese place. We were at the right one, but since it was a holiday they were closed and she had gone to a second location nearby to see if they were open. With some rough directions we walked a little further and soon found Eva (and a little place called Hwme in the side alley of the Soi). She had already ordered five dishes and we added another. The food was delicious. There was a bean curd salad, a samosa salad, a tomato salad, a tea leaf salad, a morning glory salad, and then a sauteed mushroom and water cress dish, in addition to our portions of rice. Each one was wonderful, although the stand out for both Gabe and me was the samosa salad. We have learned to pick out the most obvious peppers and to live with the ones you miss before you get them in your mouth. I'm getting used to having the pepper induced hiccups quite regularly. We had some other excitement during dinner in the form of a lightning and thunder storm show (but no rain) and the wind that accompanied that twice knocked down the shade structure on the other side of the restaurant. Luckily no one was under the portion that fell. Just at the end of dinner it did sprinkle just a bit, but we were going to take a mini bus anyway so the little rain we did get hit with did not matter. Our mini bus dropped us at the Tae Phae gate and we grabbed ice cream cones before making a leisurely and indirect walk back 'home'.

May 4 Tuesday After getting up we arranged to go to the ADRA office and see what we could accomplish on the project. We picked up our 'usuals' at the Funky Monkey Cafe for breakfast and met Bob at the Monttri Hotel to drive to the office. Most of the office was empty because tomorrow is another holiday and so most people just take an extra day off. In the evening we met up with Tangmo and saw Iron 2 Man at the airport theater. Tangmo had her scooter, but we would not all fit, so Gabe and I walked back, which was not nearly as long a walk as I had imagined. Gabe split off to go to her house and I ended up walking back most of the way with a couple from Oregon, who had arrived in Chiang Mai three days ago. The guy was saying he had some dental work planned, since he did not have insurance back in the states, and the whole thing would only cost him $45 to do in Thailand.

May 5 Wednesday Another holiday, this time it is Coronation Day, so the office is closed. We slept in and were about to head out for a late breakfast when Eva called and invited us to lunch out at one of the nearby lakes. We met her and one of her friends at a coffee shop near one of the restaurants she had taken us to before and took his car out to the lake a short drive outside town. There were shade structures all along the lakeside, set back some because the lake is low in anticipation of the coming rainy season. We had brought a card game, and Eva had brought a badminton set, but there was too much wind for us to really do anything with either of those. We did order seven dishes for a shared lunch. The most unusual was one called jumping shrimp, which consisted of live shrimp in a strong chili paste. When it arrived Eva lifted the lid and several jumped out. Her friend tried putting them back in and several more jumped out. The people at the next shade structure were laughing at the whole thing since they are Thai and knew what to do. I took the dish and shook it for about a minute and that stunned most of the shrimp enough for everyone to start eating them. The other dishes were quite good.

May 8 Sabbath Another nice Sabbath in Chiang Mai. We had a strong rain shower just at the end of potluck after church and after the sun broke back through, Isaiah and his dad gave me a ride back to Safe House on their scooter.

May 9 Sunday We only left the hostel complex to have breakfast at Funky Monkey and eat lunch. Once it got dark we did meet the staff from the Funky Monkey at a nearby Wat to get dinner. There were five of them, Gabe and Tangmo, and me. I had three samosas, a plate of pad thai, a watermelon shake, and some lemon ancient ice for desert, all for less than three dollars. Jae is really going through a tough time, even though she tries hard not to show it, since her husband asked for a divorce and she has found out about infidelity on his part. She really wants the relationship to work and is not willing to let it go yet, but that is probably where it is headed. It is hard in some ways to realize how involved we have become in the lives of the Funky Monkey staff, the family at Safe House, people at the church, in a relatively short amount of time. I think it does speak to the fact that Gabe and I are accessible and open and people feel comfortable around us.

June 8 Tuesday To make it into Angkor Wat for sunrise we had to leave the hostel at 4:45 am. Our tuk tuk driver Ramon was on time and got us to the ticket entrance quickly. With a little more than a half hour to spare we got dropped off and so began a long day with visits to Angkor Thom then Bayon, then Bapuon then the Suor Prat Towers and the Khleangs, then the Elephant Terrace, the Phimeanakas and the Royal Palace, then the Leper King Terrace, then finally to Ta Prohm (Tombraider site). Then it was back home for showers and rest so much so that we missed dinner (it was raining as well)

June 9 Wednesday Our second day of Angkor began at 11 after we could not contact the person that had been recommended to us. We had a nice breakfast for $3.50 that included eggs, a small baguette with cheese, butter, and jam, fresh fruit and a pancake, with orange juice and tea. It was a place we found walking down a back alley scouting bike rental places. The temples we saw were Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon, Ta Keo, and Phnom Bakheng for sunset.

June 10 Thursday After breakfast at Le Tigre de Papier we met up with Ramon at 9am and headed to Roluos where three temples are concentrated. We drove to the farthest one first and visited tiny Lolei then Preah Ko then Bakong, then negotiated with our driver to head north to Banteay Srei then back near town to the monument for the Killing Fields in the Siem Reap area. Then back to hostel, to pub street to eat, internet and sleep