Dogs, motorcycles and walking

We have been in Chiang Mai just over a month and we are into a routine of some sort. We still have not gotten very involved with Kids Ark as they have some projects that keep them very busy but ones that do not need our help. Emma arrives on the 14th with Amara and Dave :-) We are flying down to Bangkok to meet them and to escort them directly to Chiang Mai. It will make for a very, very long trip for them, but Chiang Mai will be a much better place for them to adjust to the jet-lag. Yesterday we went to a tennis court about a 10 minute walk from our apartment. The surface is not in great shape but the real problem was that we had not played for some months. It was good to be running after that damn ball again, but the net kept getting in my way! The cold snap has broken so at nights it gets down to 60 and during the day it can be 85 but it is a relatively dry heat. As I don't have a bunch of amazing photos to post, I have been reflecting on our current situation and what has changed since we lived here 27 years ago. Of course memory is a dangerous thing as it can be selective and unreliable at the best of times!

So why Dogs, motorcycles and walking?
One thing that seems to have changed is the love of pet dogs. When we lived in Thailand 30 years ago people kept dogs as guards and never as pets. Dogs were basically considered dirty and were not allowed inside a house or given any affection etc. Well there has been a cosmic shift in that attitude. The Thais tend to like small/miniature breeds and they take them everywhere! It is very common to see the dogs in baskets on motorcycles or sandwiched between two people on a motorcycle. There is one woman that pushes 3 dogs around in a shopping cart in the late afternoon "for a walk". Since this is the cold season many of the dogs have some kind of clothing on. Most commonly is a T-shirt that is pulled over the dog so the front paws are in the arms of the shirt. Here is one dog that we saw at our local food stall ....


Chiang Mai is a town of motorcycles - lots and lots and lots of motorcycles. It really is not that big a town but many people can afford them so that even though gas is expensive a bike gets you around relatively quickly. In the mornings and evenings the roads are packed with motorcycle commuters. While we may think that a bike can only carry 2 people at the most, here we see 3-4 people packed on to 100cc motorcycles/scooters all the time. We have rented a motorcycle a few times for some trips outside the town - the rental cost is about 6 dollars a day and it is even cheaper for longer rentals. There are some real advantages to riding a motorcycle: at traffic backups motorcycles can weave their way to the front of the pack and wait at the red light for a fast get-away. People with cars are stuck in traffic. There are small traffic jams here but nothing even approaching Bangkok snarls that can take hours to untangle. The Thais also add side cars/carts/food stalls to motorcycles and also trailing carts to move bigger items. Many street food/store stalls are attached to motorcycles. Click the arrow to see a slide show or click anywhere in the photo to see a larger view



Walking - Thais don't tend to walk. I suspect this is for several good reasons: it can be hot, there are very few decent sidewalks, and where there were some good side walks these have been broken up to plant trees along the roads. Walking can be scary as you walk down the streets you are near some really fast moving vehicles! Some years ago it became clear that Thailand had cut down way too many trees and at the King's exhortations many trees have since been planted. The results have been dramatic and positive but the sidewalks were somewhat sacrificed. Having said that, so few Thais walk that it is not a big problem! But we farangs as we are called in Thai do like to walk. I am not sure if this is to try to keep the great food from accumulating on our waists or because we see so much more of everyday life by walking :-). If we need transportation there are lots of options that are very inexpensive. It takes Bev about 45 minutes to walk to her language school and it is about a 25 minute walk to Kids Ark. The "old town" is surrounded by a moat that is about 1 mile square and we are about a 20 minute walk from that moat. See this map

The yellow square is the moat which is about 1 mile on each side.
























Finally, it is clear that every imaginable service is available! See the picture below:

Visit to Paguay village near the Burmese border

This week I visited a Red Lahu hill tribe village in the north near the Burmese border. If you look at the location using Google Earth http://tinyurl.com/2e99el it shows the village in Burma!

In fact when standing on one side of the village you can see a flag on a hill across a small valley that is a Thai military camp, and then down that ridge is a clearing that is a Burmese military outpost, and then a little further along another Thai military camp. This village is situated where it is because the Thai military want it to act as a buffer to the Burmese. It is on the top of a fairly big hill so water is a problem and it has no electricity either.

http://www.hilltribe.org/lahu/ is a site that does a good job describing Lahu culture and beliefs.

I was there on behalf of Kids Ark to help a development group from Australia called Aliamos. I was asked to assist Paul and Theresa from Aliamos who want to help the villagers with sustainable permaculture, water and, possibly, electricity. I helped translate from Australian (English) to Thai, and then Sila, a Lahu, who is employed by Kids Ark, translated to Lahu. Sila is also organizing a Lahu federation of all the tribes so he is a wealth of information. The water situation is very interesting as right now the villagers have two sources of water which is piped in from about 1 mile away from a spring in the jungle. We walked to the beginning of one of the pipes, scrambling, slipping and sliding through bamboo thickets and jungle plants down unbelievably steep inclines to the spring. The return trip was an interesting exercise in pulling ourselves up the hills using vines and bamboo.

The trick is to find a spring high enough up a neighboring hill. At present both springs dry up during the dry season so then the villagers need to go down a VERY steep hill to a small pond, or walk a mile to another spring. Recently a Korean Christian group built a church in the village and gave the villagers 3.1 miles of PVC pipe to connect to a spring that runs all year. The villagers say that once the rice harvest is over they will lay the pipe in 10 days! We hope there will be enough water to run a small generator so that they can at least charge batteries. At this point they use large 12 volt batteries to run fluorescent lights and some TVs etc. When the batteries get low they need to take them to Thaton, a town 1.5 miles away to get them charged.

The village itself is quite clean and so are the houses. The floors are flattened bamboo and are full of spaces to sweep leftovers to the chickens, pigs and dogs that wait below. It makes cleaning up quite easy! Most people raise chickens and pigs and some have vegetable and fruit gardens. This time of year the village is quite deserted during the day as the villagers are out harvesting rice. Once they get back to the village it is quite dark and time for dinner. We had a village meeting at one home which started at almost 8pm to discuss the ideas that were put forward for Aliamos to work on. Sila was very good at encouraging the villagers to be honest about what they really felt was possible, as opposed to being polite and accepting offers that were not feasible.

So, Aliamos will plan to resuscitate the school garden which the chickens destroyed because the fencing did not keep them out. They will also do a small fish pond to show the villagers how to raise cat fish. The villagers committed to fixing the fence and bringing rice stalks for creating mulch. Also, Aliamos will provide local seeds for garden plants. Aliamos will buy some 4' high plastic fencing which keeps the chickens out of the garden, buy some cat fish for a trial of the fish pond and provide some plastic and cement to line the new spring source. You will see some pictures at the end....

The nearest town to the village is Thaton. It has a huge temple with 9 levels called Wat Thaton. It is a VERY wealthy temple and you will see how fancy and large the statues are and the new pagoda in the pictures below.

I have been very impressed by Kids Ark and all the programs they run to help these villages. It supports a teacher for the school in Paguay, in another village Ban Pong Hai, a weaving and handicrafts project, a health center, a womens' health program for AIDS information in the Lahu language, and many other programs. The foundation has been very successful at getting funding through Swedish agencies and individuals who see all the wonderful things Kids Ark does. Of course it is a constant battle to keep the funds flowing, and to meet the needs of the villagers. The goals of Kids' Ark are to educate and equip the villagers and their children for the coming generations. Being able to speak Thai and go to Thai schools allow the children to enter into the Thai educational system. Like it or not the semi-nomadic ways of the villagers are no longer feasible for them.

Click on the triangle to play a slide show or click anywhere else to see a larger version.

Loy Krathong

Last night, November 24th was the first of 2 days of celebration of the full moon called Loy Krathong. This is something between Christmas and Thanksgiving and it is a fun time of year for all. Many people decorate their homes, and businesses and the temples are also decorated. There are some very beautiful natural decorations,using plants and flowers, and some very garish plastic ones too!

We went down to the edge of the Ping river to float our 'sins' away (Tom had plenty and Bev had none) and to watch the festivities. Lots of food (this is Thailand after
all), fireworks coming from every direction and beautiful Khom-loys floating into the sky. After walking by 10,000 food stalls and many,many stalls selling Krathongs we reached the main street where we hoped to see a parade. At first we thought we had missed it,but eventually we found the beginning of a very long parade. The variety of floats was spectacular. Some were carried by men, and some were on huge trucks with spotlights and HIGH power sound systems with generators and computers controlling everything. The pictures below show some that I could capture, and there are some videos that I will post in a few days. By the time we were heading home at 9ish the sky was full of glowing lanterns.

Tonight the 25th we launched our own Khom-loy and again ventured down to the river area. The crowds seemed bigger and the floats seemed a little less hi-tech and more traditional but there were some spectacular big floats too. The fireworks seemed more intense and our friend mentioned that anything goes so people are setting off some VERY big rockets along with the small ones!

Click on the middle play button to see a slideshow or click anywhere else in the picture to see a "senior sized" version of the slideshow. Below is a short video too.


Click on the play button for a short video.

Chiangmai 3 and Donating quilts

It's Thanksgiving today but there is no sign of that holiday here. Of course one of the biggest holidays in Thailand - Loy Krathong when small boats made of banana leaves and candles in them are floated on water - is this coming weekend. It coincides with the full moon, so you can imagine how pretty it is. There is also another northern festival tradition which coincides with Loy Krathong when paper lanterns with candles in them are floated into the air. We have already seen some of these lanterns in the sky. Some people believe that floating the Krathong is an act of prayer, when they ask that their suffering drift away with the Krathong. Others regard Loy Krathong as a ceremonial rite when they apologize and make wishes to the river, a symbol of the great mother of the Thai people. Many festivities are planned and the streets and buildings are being decorated with lanterns, banana stalks and lights for the celebrations this weekend.

In the theme of Thanksgiving we went to donate 210 quilts to poor families that live in the mountains near here. One of our good friends,Siriporn,wanted to donate quilts to people in the north as winter time is very cold for them as they don't have heat or warm clothes. Through another friend we connected with a retired superintendent of schools and he arranged for us to visit 2 of the 4 schools where the children would receive the quilts. All of the children were from a hill tribe group called Karen. Traditionally, the hill tribes were nomadic but as borders became more controlled they have been forced to stay in villages. Many of them don't speak Thai so these schools give the children a Thai language education.

Buying the quilts and visiting the schools.


We also visited a temple nearby with some strange statues and a lone bat!


Finally, some miscellaneous pictures I have take over the last week: It is said that Chiang Mai has more temples and chedis than any other town in Thailand and wherever you look you seem to see one. Also, there is the contrast of the many, many Internet gaming parlours that are full of kids and adults playing games until late at night.

Chiangmai - 2

Thai style taxi (right)
TukTuk (left)

Well it has almost been 2 weeks and we are starting to feel more "at home". This can be measured by the fact that we are using the map less, and getting better at telling the Thai-style taxis where we want to go. At first we were only able to tell them the rotary near where we live, but now we can get them to go right to the end of our street. The "taxis" are basically pickup trucks with 2 benches and a roof. They cruise the streets and stop to hear where you want to go. If that makes sense for them then they agree. Along the way they can, and they hope, to pick up additional passengers. The cost is 50 cents during the day and 65 cents during the night. We also have the option of a TukTuk or three wheeled vehicle that tends to be more expensive as they are dedicated to you. Of course more expensive means $2-3 :-)

The slide show below has pictures from a variety of things, like misc. street scenes, Sri Lankan dancers at a cereomony at the Three Kings square and just silly/humorous signs etc.

Click on the slideshow to see it larger.


Last week we rented a 125 cc motorcycle and rode to Lampun about 15 miles south of Chiangmai. It is an interesting small town. We took the old road and the country side and the huge tall trees along this old road were beautiful. Since there is a larger road now the traffic was light.

Click on the slide show to see larger pictures

Driving in India - Video

The following video shows the challenge of driving in India. The video speaks for itself;I narrated it too. Enjoy.

Click on the Video below

Ganges visit video

In this post is a video of our early morning trip on the Ganges at Varanasi. Varanasi is a holy location for Hindus and dying in the city is especially good. It is believed that bathing in the Ganges purifies one as well. For us Westerners that seems hard to believe seeing the state of the river! Towards the end of the video you will see the place where the bodies are cremated, and behind that area is the place where people go to live before they die. Might it be equated to a hospice?
Here is the google video link Click Here

or click the picture for a YouTube version

Monkey Business Video (Remixed)

We watched these monkeys eat pink flowers all around McLeod Ganj,Dharamsala. They are very graceful and much nicer to watch than the common monkey you see all over India.
The langur monkey is called a 'leaf monkey' because it eats chiefly leaves. The large stomachs and intestines of these monkeys give them a potbellied appearance. They also eat fruit,flowers,and grass.

The langur monkey has a slender body, with a long tail. It's coat may be red, brown, silver, gray, golden, or black so it can blend in with it's habitat. The adult langur weighs from 11 to 40 pounds. It measures 17 to 31 inches tall, and it's tail is 21 to 42 inches long. Male langurs are larger then females.

The langurs live in warm, humid swamp forests to cold mountains. They live in groups from 10 to 40 members. The langur can jump 10 meters which is about 30 feet. They can also jump over rivers when they need to because they cannot swim.


Click Below for the YouTube Video

India 2007 thoughts about poverty and beggars

One of the things I did not mention in much detail was the poverty and quality of life that we observed. We spent most of our time in the north which is the poorest part of India so our view was limited. It was also limited by the fact that much of what we saw was a result of a comparison with the US and Thailand. Virtually every village and town has hand pumped water wells which I assume is the main source of potable water. Compared to having to walk long distances to get what may or may not be clean water vs being able to pump water from a nearby well this is obviously preferable. I do wonder about the potability of the water as there appears to be very few sewage systems. Again, this conclusion was based on seeing people and our experience of the need to just use local fields to "do our business" or as our guide liked to say "take a leak". (on our last night as we were late and rushing to get our flight back to Thailand I had to ask our driver to stop in a dark spot in the middle of Delhi so I could "take a leak" !)

The housing situation also seemed very limited in terms of availability, size, running water and toilets etc. Having said that, the weather is warm year around so needing closed and insulated houses is not an issue. We also saw many workers living in straw huts and tents.

One thing I kept considering is what does this really mean to the people living this life style? If they grow up in this environment is it so unpleasant? Do they have any more frustration or problems in a day or just different ones? I'm sure that life in the US 150 years ago was not so different in regards to water and sewage! As the saying goes "The kings of yesteryear lived like the poor of today" People don't appear to be undernourished or unhappy. When watching people sit around and talk they have lots of laughs just like we do. They might not have a lot of clothes but they appear neat and clean. Do they need cell phones, computers and cars to lead happy lives?


There is one thing that is distressing, and our view is skewed by our experience as "tourists", is the number of beggars. Obviously, tourists and comparatively wealthy tourists are targets for beggars so our exposure is much higher. Still we could observe people begging when there were no tourists. Like any society a certain number of people are just unable, for many reasons, to work and earn a suitable living. However, India seems to have many more beggars than other countries due, most probably, to lack of education, work opportunities and jobs with a living wage.

Finally, there is the question: do we create the problem by giving money to beggars? Still it is unlikely that most tourists - especially Buddhists on a pilgrimage - will stop giving to beggars! There were several scenes when our group threw candy and even money out the bus windows which caused a minor riot with mainly kids fighting over the spoils. To our eyes it was disrespectful.

The question is: how to deal with beggars when visiting India. When you see a young thin mother holding a small baby asking for basically pennies what should one do?
We basically tried to give to some beggars small change. It appeared other Indians did this too. The good news is that the cost of living is very low so that one can get enough to eat with very very little money.

India Buddhist Tour/Pilgrimage 2007

Beverly and I had traveled to India 6 years ago with almost the same itinerary and for us this trip was more an opportunity to meet with Ajan Sujin, Nina von Gorkom and other fellow students for discussions to learn more about "what the Buddha taught". Nina, a spry 79 year-old dutch woman, has written all of the english books about Abidhamma that we read, study and discuss.

Of course many of the people were most interested in the pilgrimage aspect of the visits to the sites where the Buddha lived and taught and to pay their respects to the teachings, see relics of the Buddha and to "Make Merit" by giving robes, supplies to monks and money to less fortunate people. Generosity is an important part of Buddhism but the generosity must be characterized by "Giving and Expecting Nothing in Return" or it is not considered generosity or "merit".

Many of the "foreigners" had also studied with Ajan Sujin 30 years ago so this was a mini reunion in some sense. Some feel that pilgrimages should be a struggle and travel in India sure provides that condition most of the time.

The tour was from Oct 14th to 28th and we arrived a day early as we waited too late to take the flight with the tour from Bangkok. The first night we stayed at the Clark International Hotel (a 3 star rating) in Karol Bagh, a section of Delhi. It was clean and had a nice breakfast. The next day we then moved to the 5+ Star brand new Crowne Plaza Today in Gurgaon south of Delhi to meet the Thai group. This hotel is luxury over the top, especially considering the contrast of most of the rest of Delhi. It took the porter 5 minutes just to explain all the features of the room - remote controlled automatic dual curtains for the picture window, remote controlled blinds between the picture window of the all-glass bathroom, a huge TV and Bose radio set. Ironically the Internet cost about $30/day there and was free at the 3 star hotel! This hotel negated the struggling aspect of our trip but other hotels were not so star studded.

On the 14th we were to meet the other 128 members of our tour for dinner after their flight from Thailand, but in typically Indian manner it was late and 22 people from the tour were bumped from the Air India flight due to overbooking. It didn't help that they had 200 boxes of food, robes, bags and supplies which we were to give to 120 monks in Sarnath.

The next morning we met up with the tired 22 bumped members who took off at 3 am Thai time in what they described as some old plane dug up to get them to Delhi (4hr flight - or is it fright?). We then headed to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Almost every tour visits the Taj Mahal and we visited it 6 years ago. This year we arrived in Agra so late that we would only have had an hour at the site, so we opted for the opportunity to have an English Abidhamma discussion with Ajarn Sujin. Since there were about 10 foreigners and maybe another 5-10 Thais who would participate in English discussions we were always grateful when time was set aside for us farangs :-) . I can understand 80% of the Thai discussions but speaking everyday Thai and understanding Dhamma in Thai is a whole different vocabulary. Recordings of lectures by Ajarn Sujin were played on the bus so little by little we could ask Thai friends to translate words we didn't know. Ajarn Sujin lectures to the Thais, but waits for questions from us before talking, so the dynamics of the English vs Thai sessions are quite different.

We visited 6 Buddhist sites depending on how you count .....
SRAVSTI:
Ananda Bodhi Tree
The Buddha meditated under this tree for a night. It is believed that the tree blesses devotees who meditate under it.
Jetavana Grove
The Buddha and his disciples spent many rainy seasons at the Jetavana Grove.

LUMBINI, Nepal:
Birth place of the Buddha
KUSHINAGAR:
Mahaparinirvana temple Place where the Budda died
Ramabhar stupa where the Buddha was cremated
SARNATH:
Dhamekh Stupa, Deer Park

We also visited the tourist sites: Ganges River, Varanasi and the Taj Mahal, Agra

Click the picture below to see a slideshow of our trip.

India 2007

Finally some thoughts about India:
India has to be one of the most diverse and challenging countries to visit. It constantly challenges one's sense of normalcy compared to our western culture or even Thai culture. There is no doubt that India is developing, but at a pace so slow it seems imperceptible. Everywhere you look there is construction - roads, houses, etc. but completion seems a long way off. Roads are dug up to run Internet fiber optic cables when there are no water or sewage systems! India resists using large machinery in order to use local labor which is good, but sometimes the quality and pace of work seem untenable and the handmade new roads are very uneven.

Pollution is a big problem despite many signs such as "Keep our City Clean" and "Protect Our Environment" , but there is little evidence that it is taken to heart.

Plastic - a big problem for India - is seen everywhere as garbage bags. I suspect that before the advent of plastic, natural products such as leaves, bamboo, etc. were used as packaging but now that plastic is used it never disappears. The result is garbage everywhere.

Another thing that is striking is the chaotic situation on the roads. When going down any road there are not only cars, but walking/sleeping cows, donkeys, camels, goats, dogs, bullock carts, rickshaws, buses, donkey carts, tractors with and without trailers, trucks, and lots and lots of people. Now, any of these vehicles could be traveling or sitting anywhere in the road and going in any direction. (I hope to post some videos to give you a sense of the situation). So when I say that we could only average 25 mph on any trip it was not just the pot holes in the roads but the conditions on the roads too! Driving is a constant game of chicken where painting lines on a road is a complete waste of money. The best analogy I could use to describe their methods is that they drive just like a flock of sheep, constantly jostling for position as they move.

Then there is the noise pollution. Painted on the back of all trucks and most other commercial vehicles are signs imploring other drivers to honk their horns as a way for the driver in front to know they are approaching. The horns are loud and louder, and basically continuous. I call it the Indian acoustical navigation system.

What is interesting is that no one appears to think this is unusual or upsetting! :-)

I suspect many of these problems are a result of taking basically a rural population and putting them into a 21st century world of technology and materials.

Everyone should visit India in their life time - you will learn a great deal about yourself and your own culture by the contrasts!

Tom

(with lots of help from Beverly !)

Nov 2007 Chiangmai - first impressions etc

Rom Yen House

Bev using Skype to see Emma and talk to kids

Honeymoon suite :-)

It has been a VERY busy week for us. We arrived Sunday the 4th of Nov after a 13 hr marathon taxi ride to catch a midnight flight to Bangkok. We arrived at the Delhi airport at 11pm and thought for sure we had missed our flight, but the chaos of India saved us as the flight took off almost an hour late.
We then caught a flight directly to Chiangmai skipping a stopover in Bangkok and arrived at about 1pm. We were met by our friend Rachanee and the owner of the guest house where we were going to stay. The owner Khun Nit is a childhood friend of Rachanee, who was the wife of Bev's boss at the AIT libraray; he died about 2 years ago.

Ron Witsky, our contact at Kids Ark and friend, met us for dinner Sunday night. He gave us some leads on possible apartments, gave us a good map and left the next morning for some R&R and work for 10 days.

So even though Khun Nit was nice and the guest house was quiet we wanted to get settled, so Monday morning we headed out to find a place to stay for the duration. We started calling potential renters and visiting some apartments. We visited everything from small 4-5 room Thai style guest houses to HUGE condo-complexes with 15+ stories and lobbies like a hotel. Nothing struck our fancy and by afternoon we were beginning to get a little discouraged. This is the high season in the north because it is cooler and a popular tourist destination at this time of year. Our desire to rent for 4 months was either too long for hotel type places or too short for houses and some apartments. Anyway we decided to just start wandering through the area we thought was a possibility and kept looking for guest houses and condos. One of the hotels we stopped at did not rent out places for as long as we wanted, but recommended us to look at the place we are now.

We lucked out! Rom Yen House is a smallish apartment complex with about 45 units in a quiet area about a 12 minute walk from a big street and there are many other small shops in the neighborhood. It is a fairly new complex with a mixture of Thais and a few foreigners, and is very quiet. It seems to be the center of the laundry businesses. The good news is we just walk to the end of our short street and have our laundry washed and ironed for about $1 / 2.2 lbs same day service.

We have a two room apartment on the second floor with a bed room and a living room where we have a fridge, TV with a 2 English cable channels, free wireless Internet, a desk, and some wooden chairs and a table. We are paying about $ 275/ month. Each room is about 15 X 20 ft with a small balcony and bathroom. Typically of a Thai house/room there is only hot water in the shower using a small electric heater on demand. This technology has improved considerably as it is now able to maintain a somewhat constant temperature. In the early days it went from cold to scalding during most showers! Other things that are different is that we use the water for brushing our teeth but buy filtered water for drinking. In the "old" days people would boil water even though it was piped as there were leaky pipes and a possibility of water-borne illnesses. The latest innovation in Thailand is water filter vending machines that use reverse-osmosis to purify the water quite inexpensively.

Of course in the 30 some years since we lived here there have been many changes and I will try to post some of our observations. There are many good things and many bad things, primarily coming from our so called developed world. For example, the 7-11 stores are full of processed foods and plastic packaging that we are finally trying to reduce in the West. You can see the Thais getting much taller, but there are more fat Thais than before, but not as fat as we see in America.

McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala visit after 35 years!

Well this is the first post in a long time and in somewhat reverse order.

Below is the link to our pictures from McLeod Ganj (Dharamsala is the Indian town just south )

It will show some of the photos from our visit to this Tibetan camp in northern India. It was the 3rd week of the 3 weeks we spent in India. The first 2 weeks were with a Thai Buddhist Tour/Pilgrimage with 4 buses and 130 people! I will be working on those pictures and videos in the next weeks but the following was more manageable!

McLeod Ganj is still India, but with a Tibetan slant. There are lots of foreigners from all over the world. I lived and worked there with the Tibetans 35 years ago when there were 3 restaurants and a few other stores. Now there are 100s of stores and restaurants and of course lots more people living and visiting there.

The town is on steep hills in the foothills of the Himalayas with 14,000 foot peaks in the background. Everywhere you go it is either up or down a steep hill/very narrow street. I was able to meet one old friend from 35 years ago and we met our friend Carolyn who was there for her sabbatical teaching English. We also were able to meet the family of the girl Bev has been sponsoring for the last several years.

We spent a week in McLeod Ganj and it was a welcome break after our 2 weeks on the tour. The air was quite cool in the early mornings and evenings and it was getting noticeably cooler day by day, so that for the last 2 evenings we rented a heater for our room. Early in the mornings we would get up, buy our bread from our Tibetan "baker", return to the room, make some coffee and sit on the balcony watching the langurs play in the trees. What a life!

For our return to Thailand we rented a car to drive us directly to the New Delhi airport, a trip which took 13 hours for about 400 miles, and that was only with one lunch stop and another "tea and pee" stop! As we neared Delhi the traffic was horrendous - we were in one traffic jam for almost 2 hours.

click the picture below to see the photos

McLeod Gunj 2007

Thai reentry

We arrived in Bangkok on the evening of the 11th and basically did chores around Bangkok, get a cell phone 01166854466954, booked tickets to Chiengmai where we are going to stay for most of the time in Thailand. The tourist business is way down due to the Burma situation in spite of the fact there is no danger etc. Bangkok is the same crazy place with terrible traffic, great food and visual contrasts galore. We will be in India for 2 weeks touring many of the places that the Buddha was born, lived, taught and died. This group consists of 4 buses (approx 100 people). We do a little sightseeing and a lot of discussion about Abidhamma. Out last trip was a similar size but only 4 "foreigners" but this time we have a lot more "farangs" and will have a lot more discussions in English.

Final preparations

It has been quite an experience preparing for such a long time away both emotionally and logistically! The shear number of services to be changed or terminated is sometimes daunting. Telephone, cable, Internet, cell phones, satellite radios, magazine subscriptions, plowing, landscaping, taxes, car registrations, driver license renewals and I am sure several other things I forgot to remember. I sold my hobie cat boat on Ebay to a guy in the Azores and it was picked up today and I sold my Audi TT Roadster to a guy from Burlington, VT on Craigs List!

So 4 more days and we are off! Then 2 days in Bangkok and then 3 weeks in India and then we return to arrive in Chiengmai on Nov 7.

Tool of the trade

I just bought a Canon PowerShot 850 IS for our trip to document life in 2007 in Thailand as well as our trip to India
This is the self portrait of the device :-)
The IS stands for Image Stabilization and it helps to prevent shaky out of focus pictures and warns you if it is shaking more than it can stabilize. I use to take a Canon SLR but it was big and hard to carry all the time. The Canon 850 is small enough to fit in a pants pocket so I take it everywhere as many pictures are unplanned. The videos in this blog were shot with it. The zoom is no where as good as an SLR and the biggest problem is focusing. There is only auto focus and that sometimes just will not cooperate. I turned off the face detection in the focus features and that helped. One really great feature that the camera does have is a quick zoomed preview of the picture just taken to make sure it was in focus. Even with the SLR there were times when you didn't know the picture was out of focus unless you did a review and zoomed in or waited until downloading and that was too late! One additional complaint is the lack of a battery gauge. It only appears when the battery is low - very low - sort of telling you that you are SOL :-(

Cleaning up videos and combining them and posting them is a whole new experience. It is very time consuming and slow to upload them. I have been using Adobe Premiere Elements 4 which can directly upload to YouTube.

Thai retirement visa approved!

Today I heard that our Thai retirement visa was approved. Getting a retirement visa makes staying, and traveling much much easier. We still have to check in every 90 days but that is much easier than leaving every 30 days or after 180 days going on our knees for a visa change. We have our tickets to Bangkok and now we just need to finish all our preparations. There are a lot of things to do before leaving. We are also taking this opportunity to cleanup lots of junk, and donate other items that we never use etc.

We are going to Thailand for 5 months

I don't know if I can do this ...!!
tom