A Summer in Asia

This is long overdue...  I decided I'd better write about the summer before moving on to my most recent trip.

This summer I spent 4 weeks in southern Thailand teaching English.  What an experience!  I taught in the elementary school in grades 4 - 6.

After school I helped with the "Extra English Class" in the secondary school.

There were no other Americans in town so we had to find our way around on our own.  This turned out to be quite an adventure at times!

At the restaurant below, the menu was in Thai and the waitress could only speak Thai.   We finally thought we ordered cashew chicken.  When the plate came, the waitress was laughing because she knew we did not really want what we ordered.  It was a plate of cashews.  Finally with the help of Google Translate, we managed to order a real meal.

A border run that took all day.

Buying food on the street.  We spent much time finding food to eat.

After quite a search we did finally find a batik shop.  The owner showed us how to make the painted cloth.

We found ourselves at market during rush hour.  We got all kinds of food and brought it home to sample it.

Then I flew to Chiang Mai to visit Carolyn, my former housemate.

And I got to see the school that Nueng started.  How special to see the school she dreamed of years before when I dormed with her at FB.

Carolyn and I were both delighted to find rice paddies that were being planted.  I was happy to have a translator this time so I could find out what was happening.

 Yummy food and fruit smoothies.  I think I had a fruit smoothie everyday except one day.  Not to worry, I made up for that by having two on another day.

I was in Chiang Mai 12 years earlier.  So much had changed and I was not there long either time.  This market was one of the very few places that I actually recognized.

Then it was time to leave, but the adventures were not over.  In the middle of our travels home, Leona and I had 24 hours in Doha, Qatar.  For me this was the most unique part of the trip.

I never experienced heat like this before.  We were in Doha on about the hottest day of the year.  The temperature was around 120 degrees.  It put the Middle Eastern custom of resting at midday in a totally new light for me.