I'm still working on a few old posts where these picture will end up. Just hold your horses. I'm on vacation after all.

This was a ceremonial parade from school to one of the neighboring temples. Many of the students dressed in traditional Thai clothing and performed traditional Thai dance. 

Fellow English language teachers. 

To protest the use of cigarettes the students take part in an aerobics workout. There are about 3200 jumping jacking students down there. 

Lynchi, lynchi, lynchi here!! All you can eat!! 

Lynchi Festival Float 

This was the Hill Tribe Sporting Competition. If you could see the other side of the marching band there would be many more participants visable. 

Why didn't we have press agents and beauty queens at our awards ceremonies? 

Umm, are those sand bags they're carrying?  

Well, that's one way to look taller. 

This is a temple right down the street from school. 

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!!!

School fashion show. Check me out!

Me and Ajan Yupa

Today was the first time I wore my new tailored Thai style suit which just happened to be finished in time for the fashion show at school. Woohooo!! The fashion show was the main entertainment draw for the many clubs at school to raise funds for activities. Most of the participants were teachers and everyone was pretty impressed that their new foreign teacher took part. Would I miss a good fashion show, especially if I could model in it? I think not.

Wow, life sure has it's ups and downs. The situation here has done a 180. I'm actually enjoying myself now. My classes have been made smaller, I'm more prepared and the temperature regularely goes below 80 degrees. Woohoooo!!! The vacation I took a couple weeks ago really helped as well.

Right now I'm sitting in an Internet cafe because the school has disconnected it's Internet service while they look for a new provider. I hope they find one soon considering some of my future lesson plans for class are still sitting on-line. Hmmm...

I'm more settled and life is fun again. Woohooo!!!

I went on a vacation but you will have the check back to read about it. Teeheehee!!

I bet there is some nice rock climbing over on those cliffs.

These guys guard the gates to a temple that sits a top 500 stairs. You can get pretty close, obviously, but they have a tendancy to attack people carrying plastic bags (they think they have bananas) or anything gold in color.

National Park

National Park

Gulf view from my hotel in Hua Hin.

My private beach in Hua Hin.

The road behind me will take you into Myanmar if you dare drive down it. Check out my hair blowing in the wind. It was really ripping that day!

Bored.

There is nothing to do here. It rains a lot. My classes are aweful (except two). On a good note I've read more books since my arrival then I have in the past ten years. Heehee!!!