my own private idaho, or rather thailand

no sleeping today. today we went to the women’s prison gift shop. my mom was all about what a good idea this would be, it is a must see, let’s get there. and i was all about - this is a prison where they keep women and i am a woman… am i illegally parked? oh no, now we’re jaywalking… this could be very bad. i can’t be incarcerated, because i can’t tat a doily and that must be what all the prisoners do because the gift shop was loaded with doilies. but thankfully we weren’t nabbed for any kind of illegal activity. i’m betting there aren’t any jay walking laws in thailand, not that i want to find out. and i breathed a great big sigh of relief when the prison was in my rear view mirror.

then for something far more civilized - the umbrella factory. where i bought this

and we came home and created our own little paradise

where we can sit and read and drink tea with lime - if that’s what you like. that’s my mom’s drink. i’m thinking possibly a margarita machine would do in my personal paradise.

the tea with lime had these limes in it. the ones from our neighbor’s tree. their not home right now and i figure the limes won’t keep until august - so we’re doing them a favor, right?

and in our paradise we had doritos - and these aren’t your momma’s doritos, these are made with 100% australian corn.

a few bites of these and i was hearing

“he just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich
and he said, i come from a land down under…”

and i learned something about paradise… it’s very difficult to sit out there and read - paradise can be way too distracting.

i’m sure she raised me better than this

but… something went wrong somewhere, cuz i’m posting another pic of her pooped!!

busy bees

a day of sightseeing accomplished. we loved the elephant parks - we had to go to two. one for the show and one for riding. the show was fantastic - started with a bath (for the elephants, of course).

then a show - they played soccer, they painted, they created music with harmonicas (and i have to be honest here and tell you that i didn’t notice the harmonicas at first and thought that the swinging around of their trunks was making noise, you know - like the musical tube things.)

and we got to get up close and personal with the elephants

then it was off to the monkey school - creepy monkey school. the kids thought it was great, wanted to bring a monkey home with them, keep it as a pet. but i think everyone over the age of 14 thought it was pretty creepy. yuck. many of the male monkeys seemed to be in a constant state of, hmmm, how to say this delicately, maturity.

then to the next elephant park for elephant and ox cart riding. i never would have made it across america in a horse drawn carriage - those things are a bit rough. while we were riding the elephants we came across a momma and her a few month old baby.

and then we went to visit the akha hill tribe. we arrived there fairly late in the day, not much activity happening, but very interesting.

then home. where a photo op of my mom sleeping was missed, probably because i was sleeping, too.

haiku friday - fun’s just begun

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trav’lins exhausting
jet lag takes it out of her
fun’s not yet begun

tomorrow hill tribes
elephant park, monkey school
should tucker her out

sunday walking street
won’t repeat last time’s mistake
just gonna have fun

no school on monday
for visakha bucha day
wonder what we’ll do?

a visit with the police - a trip to the hospital

i’ve been slightly worried that we aren’t showing my mom a good time. but this morning, that all changed. bh got a phone call from the office. next thing i know he’s running up the stairs telling me to get all the important paperwork together (birth certificates, marriage license, anything i can think of) and our passports. he needs them all. the police are at the office and want to ask him some questions. i start gathering all the important things i can think of and my mom grabs the cameras so we can document. after bh took a shower and changed clothes we jump in the car and i drive as quickly as i can to the interrogation office. as we approach the office my phone rings. i know they are wondering what’s taking so long and wondering if we’ve gone all fugitive on them - when really the delay was just bh showering and getting ready. and i’m right (partially). they are wondering what’s taking so long, but they aren’t out looking for us, they could care less where we are. don’t even want to talk to bh. the office had the paperwork they needed and that’s all they needed. hmph. but since we’re out we go ahead and take bh to the hospital so he can have his ear looked at, again. the dr. sends it to the lab. (that’s exactly what bh told me on the phone - so i was thinking the whole ear - they’d lopped it off and sent it away - but no, just the nasty stuff inside it - so they could find out what nasty organism he has in there). while he was at the hospital my mom and i were sightseeing - we visited a couple of wats, ate some breakfast and waited for bh’s call to let us know he was done at the hospital.

after we picked bh up, we headed home. then my mom and i went to the flower market and bought a few plants for inside the house. i promise not to kill them to try my hardest not to kill them i won’t kill them while my mom is here.

and evidence that the good times are rollin’ here -

the cinema

yep, we took my mom to the movies - you know, cuz they don’t have that in the u.s. we went to see speed racer, on a school night. i’m telling you, she’s getting a real cultural eye opener from us!

that was yesterday evening. yesterday day we all (bh, my mom and me - the kids were in school) got to do something that was new and different and interesting. we went to a compassion international l.d.p. graduation (leadership development program). the ceremony included a good deal of thai tradition. there were 13 students graduating. and two of the sponsor families made the trip to participate! these families committed to helping their sponsored student through monthly financial support, letters and prayer. it’s not a small commitment, but i think each sponsor would say it is well worth it. after the ceremony lunch was served. thai style. and my mom was quite brave. she tried it all. only asked what something was once and - when i couldn’t tell her - she still ate it! even the tofu.

life - sometimes it gets in the way

what great things have we shown my mom today? well, the hospital - at least the outside of it - when we dropped bh off to have his infected ear (ouch) looked at. and the drug store - where we attempted to pick up bh’s over the counter prescription drugs, but weren’t able to. the kids’ school - she got to wait with the kids’ while bh and i had a meeting with c14’s math teacher, whom i would love to tell you all about, but my mom’s here and she always said, “if you can’t say something nice, then shut your pie hole.” or something like that. and then she got to stay at home while bh and i went to teach our english classes. and i know i said y’all at least 5 times during my class. but i have yet to say tumpt, but i’ll figure how to work it in winey.

about the best we’ve done today, as far as giving my mom a taste of thailand goes, is bringing home dinner from the market. a veritable thai feast.

oh, and we had another tokay spotting. she’s thinking she might like one if she could get it leash trained!

mother’s day 2008

so how does one spend mother’s day when visiting thailand?

just joking. that’s not all we did. we also washed the car, cuz we know all about celebrating!

she’s here! she’s here!

here’s my picture documentary of this morning -

this is where we start.

it seems almost unreal.

missed the greeting. and it wasn’t documented, because of the tears.

and then she led us home.

haiku p.s.a.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

it’s national melanoma/skin cancer detection and prevention month!

i’m celebrating
at least participating
4 cancers removed

one was squamous cell
easily treated, freeze it
caught very early

two were basal cell
excision is required
scars small price to pay

one melanoma?
biopsy is still pending
stitches in my butt

stupid as a kid
“wear hat and sunscreen,” dad says
but i was too cool

how can i defend
skin self-exams, sunscreen, hat
doesn’t seem too hard

you should do it, too
no better time than right now
take care of yourself