By the way, I went on a trip to Chiang Mai a couple weeks ago but I haven't had time to write about it. Check back and see if it's up some time in the future.

It's been a while since I had a chance to sit and write but here's a bit of what's been going on.

I'm here in the Internet Cafe more for the atmosphere then anything else. Earlier I was at school setting up my classroom for next weeks lessons and decided the lonely office was a bit too isolated. One aspect of Thai life that I hope to be able to continue practicing through out my life is the constant interaction with people. Even if your pattern is school, home, school, home you still make regular stops at the market for dinner which is always over crowded with people.

So what should I write about today? Let's see. Okay, this has been on my mind for a while now and although it's very sad I think everyone should have a glimpse into this side of Thai life. A few months ago I was having lunch with my coordinator and our conversation turned to the HIV/AIDS epidemic facing the people here in Chiang Rai. I don't remember everything that we talked about but what stands out in my memory is the number of students who have lost both parents to HIV/AIDS. My school has just over 3200 students 800 of which I teach every week. Out of those 3200 students 50 have lost their parents. That's a pretty amazing number for one high school. When I was living in the states I could count the number of people I personally knew that had this disease or had been affected by it on one hand. Now, there is a good probability that at least 10 of my students have been directly affected by HIV/AIDS. Both of their parents have died because of it.

My coordinator, in true Thai style, tried to convince me that all of these parents worked in the health field and therefore contracted the disease through contact with contaminated blood. Unfortunately, this is extremely unlikely to be true. Chiang Rai province is considered very poor and on another occasion I was told it has a very active prostitution market; one of the worst in the country. Also, being this far north near the Golden (Opium) Triangle it's easy to assume there is quite a bit of needle sharing. This is, of course, an assumption but it's also very likely to be true. The opium trade up here is not as dead as Thailand would like the world to believe.

Speaking of the opium trade I visited the Opium Museum last weekend with a whole bunch of students. We took six buses up the Chiang Sien where Myanmar, Loa and Thailand converge. We were able to do a bit of shopping and wander around the town before going on our tour. The Triangle its self isn't much to write home about at this time of year. It's not really all that attractive but it is cool to say you were standing in Thailand and saw houses and casinos scattered along the river bed of what was Burma (now Myanmar) and Loa (Loas is spelled Loa in Thailand because the Thai language generally doesn't pronounce the final sound of any word). Now, don't get the wrong idea when I say there were houses and casinos scattered along the river bed. In actuality I could see one casino in Myanmar and that's it. In Loa there were a few roof tops of small houses but not many. Thailand is, by far, winning the race with its neighbors to become a developed country.

Anyway, the museum is great! It rivals many in Washington DC in terms of size, information provided and overall design. I would recommend it to anyone visiting this part of the country regardless of the farang (foreigner) price. It not only described the process of getting opium from these beautiful flowers but also tells the history of the opium wars throughout the east involving most notably China and Britain. Very interesting.

Our final destination was a temple and pagoda atop a 500 stair mountain (hill really). This temple had a great ceiling structure of dark wood beams with carvings covering everything else in sight. The pagoda was unique in that it was not a closed structure like most in Thailand; it was actually a museum with murals depicting Thai life in the past. What also makes this pagoda special is that it was not close to the temple at all. We had to wander up a clay, mud path for quite a distance. The highlight of the walk was when all the kids came screaming back down the path towards us because someone saw a snake. Heehee!!! The joys of jungle walks.

The day came to a close over an incredibly great ice coffee in my regular coffee shop across from school. They have this really great magazine about touring in Thailand so I was able to start a mental list of all the places I need to visit before departing at the end of March. I plan to get a really big map and slowly cross off everywhere I have been to visit. By the time I leave, that map should be pretty well covered. Woohooo!!!

Okay, it's almost 5:30 and I have a 30 minute bike ride ahead of me before I can settle in for an evening of movie watching and pizza eating. I'll write more soon, hopefully. Heehee!!!