June 9- Well we made it! Mom was not joking when she said it was the rainy season over here. I also watched it rain in Japan. It was beautiful!

The flight was much more bearable this time around. I guess the more you do something, the easier it gets. Or maybe its the business woman in me. *grins* In-flight movies were:

Shakespeare in Love

Class Action

Payback

At Japan International Airport I acquired some yen and an Ultraman action figure. I hope to find more action figures when we shop in Bangkok.

This morning I am writing in Grandma's house in Buri Rum. Its very wet here! Can you say "Monsoon"?

My aunt and uncle across the street are building their already huge house into a huge brick and cement house. They are in the insurance business and business must be good! Unfortunately we won't be here long enough to see it completed. Other than that and the disappearance of the huge tamarind tree in grandma's front yard, nothing seems to have changed.

Mom says we will be visiting the place of my birth on this trip. I'm curious about it.

People have already asked whether or not I'm married. *sigh* I vow that my next trip will be to Europe and I will not be without a mate.  

June 12- The last couple days have been quiet. We mainly visited friends in the neighborhood. Today we went to Korat to deliver a donation that was sent with us. This city is also referred to as Nakhon Ratchasima and is mainly a gateway to the Khmer temples and the national parks of the north-east.

The monks at the temple keep a pet monkey on a long rope tied to a tree there. Its mannerisms are familiar. I vaguely remember playing with a monkey when I was a tiny little thing. When I approached it, it lay on its back for me in a submissive way indicating no threat. It liked to act as if it were looking for bugs on my hands and arms. I believe this is a social thing amongst the "lings" It definitely hated the camera, though. The mechanical sounds emitted drove the monkey mad until I put the camera away. At that point, it lay down and exposed its belly to me again. 

June 18- I haven't been writing much for I've been doing very little but visiting friends and neighbors.

Today my cousin Mui took me to the ruins of Phanom Rung. It is still very impressive. The market featured on the grounds has grown quite a bit. There will be much shopping here. I shall hold off on buying the silver, however, for I was told it would be cheaper in Cambodia.

June 19- We took a day trip into Bangkok, today. Talk about a city that never sleeps! We went to the Bobae street market. If I owned a clothing store, I would have made a killing here. I bought 6 new outfits and only spent about 13 American dollars.

My search for toys and action figures only turned up cheap knock-offs so I passed on buying them on the street. I found some at a large department store but as you guessed, the prices were exorbitant! I hope to find more before our return home.

I cut my right foot a couple of days ago on the new pair of slip on shoes my mother bought for me and it is infected and swollen. I'm afraid the infection, lack of sleep and the two dozen cats my aunt owns has put my immune system under attack. (Those who know me, know of my allergies to cats!) I caught my nephew's flu. (figures he he he) I'm putting a topical antibiotic on the wound and have put myself on penicillin. The flu will just have to go away on its own for man has yet to come up with a cure for any virus. (go mother nature!)

 June 20- The doctor at the local Red Cross Hospital came by today and asked me to accompany her to the clinic. She was very nice. Her name was Maw Keat (Dr. Frog he he) She approved of my self treatment and cleansed my foot with providine and alcohol. (OUCH!!!) Bandaging up the now gaping hole in my foot, she gave me strict orders to return on the marrow to change the dressing. She also gave me a tetanus shot and asked me if I wanted any pain medication. I declined stating I disliked taking more medication than I must. I told her I had aspirin and she feared it would upset my stomach. I also happen to know that it is helpful in breaking my fever. At that point she asked me why I never became a nurse or doctor. I was flattered.

Mom suggested that since my foot (and I ) was in such bad shape, perhaps I shouldn't go to Cambodia. They say its a dirty country. HELLO!!!???

Mui took pity on me and offered to take me to the nearest internet cafe. Woo hoo!!!

 June 21- The flu is better now but I have a persistent headache. This is probably due to my allergies to the cats. The penicillin seems to be keeping most of the symptoms at bay. I can still breathe, I guess that's a good thing. *grins* The swelling in my foot has receded. Icing it has helped a great deal. My toes no longer resemble cocktail sausages.

I have also noticed that no matter where I travel, social behavior is very similar in the country's people. For instance, if I make an objective observation there will be those who feel the need to prove me wrong. I have also realized that my privacy issue has followed me here. Mom must have told them for they are now eavesdropping on my conversations too. *sigh* It doesn't look like I can go any where in the WORLD to escape this problem.

 June 22- The flu is gone!!! WOO HOOO! As a celebration, my aunts daughter, Ba Noi, took me into Pakhon Chai to "play on the internet". Cell phones have become very handy eavesdropping devices. The Milky Way Internet Cafe is its name. I had a ton of e-mails to delete! The lag was terrible! I finally gave up trying to get into my second Hotmail account but was able to download all the mail from my server. The trip to Thailand was not planned in enough time for me to stop mail on all my accounts.

We had lunch at a beautiful restaurant that featured highly polished, hard wood tables and AIR CONDITIONING!!! I'm so spoiled. *grins*

My foot became inflamed due to all the activity so we stopped one more time for some fresh fruit and came home.

 June 24- Today was an eventful day. Mom, Ba Noi, Ay (the girl next door - no really, she is) and I took the bus to where Noi's sister worked. She is a teacher like my aunt and uncle in Sakhunakon. She is a wonderful lady and her home is in Surin. Her English was impeccable and so were her manners.

She took us to see an herbalist and some people who worked silver. Surin is famous for its silver and its four resident elephants. Mom bought a ton of herbal remedies and I bought a ton of silver jewelry. We were taken to lunch and had... you guessed it... Thai! he he he

Surin had a movie theater whose posters boasted of "Entrapment" and "Matrix".  I also saw a video arcade called VDO Games (get it? V-D-O? *grins*) . It was right across the street from a mall we visited where I bought Star Wars magazines written Thai.

We had the chance to see our host's home. It was beautiful on the inside but I was mostly impressed by the fish ponds and gardens on the outside.  

June 25- Ay felt sorry for my confinement due to my foot condition. Its much better now so we celebrated by going into town to pamper ourselves. I got a perm which resulted in a head full of cork screwed hair. *grins* I also had my nails done. (toes and fingers) Unfortunately I ruined my new paint job when we got into an accident on the way home.

I decided to brush up on my motor scooter skills. I was doing great even though I had never carried a passenger before now. That was until a big truck parked on the side of the road decided to pull out in front of us. I got spooked and forgot which fork in the road lead home. I was headed for the right one and the right one when Ay (not realizing I remembered already) told me to pull over. I tried to stop but the dirt in the road was dry and gave no traction. I also forgot to account for the extra weight of my passenger while breaking and we wrecked. Ay fell off and hurt her left knee. I took the bike down with me so I had it a bit worse. I made sure she was ok and assessed the damages. The bike had a broken mirror on its left side, broken turn signal and needs a front wheel alignment. I had crooked Guess glasses, contusions and abrasions along my left arm and down the side of my left leg and a set of bruised baby-back ribs. But my hair looked great!

Note: This is the same knee I hurt while water skiing just the year before. I'm feeling very fortunate right about now!

 June 26- I saw a funny commercial today. Can you say "law suit"? An Alien creature from the Alien series by director James Cameron is featured. The thing is following a man in an underground parking garage. The man is obviously terrified! He gets to his motorcycle and gets on but it won't start! Oh no! He turns his head slowly for the alien is right behind him. It opens its outer jaws and the inner mouth extends itself, slime and saliva dripping disgustingly. At that point, the mouth moves and a tiny, high pitched baby voice says, "your spark plugs are dead". The man is stunned to hear it speak and the fact it knows the problem with the bike but before he can comment, it eats his brain! Oh we didn't get to see the gruesome end but we heard it after it faded to black. Ew! It was funny. If I saw these types of commercials as a kid, no wonder I'm twisted now!  

June 27- Repairs to the motor scooter totaled 495 baht. Not a problem. Before receiving the bill, the family wanted a whole new bike. I said I would only fix what I broke.

Did I mention that at last count there were 20 cats?

We went to the Thai/Cambodia border. It was set up like a giant flea market. I imagined Denio's market but everyone spoke a different language. The kids there were very hard workers. I felt sorry for them. Some of the children saw my bandages and were more curious than usual. I was not in the mood to be friendly at the time, I was miserable so I hid behind my sunglasses and stony facade. They decided I must be military. "Tahan" was the word.

Prices here were just as bad as any where else so we chose to shop back in Thailand. 

June 29- I went to the prasat, today. I found a silver lion "singtho" for Laura and silk bananas "grui" for Rick.

Commercial #2- This one was a Friday the 13th rip off. A man with a chef's knife and a hockey mask is after a girl wearing nothing but a little towel. She screams at the sight of him and drops her towel. He lifts the mask to get a good look at her now naked form. She realizes he's staring and comes to her senses. Replacing the towel, she runs. She decides to hide in an old, abandoned car. He then shows up with a pitch fork and makes a pin cushion out of the roof. She screams and crawls out the windshield. Doing a backwards crab crawl onto the hood, she is trapped! He stabs with the pitchfork but misses her! Instead, he stabbed between her legs and hits the car battery! It is still in good condition after all these years. He is electrocuted! Its a car battery commercial.

Before heading back to Bangkok, my sister took us to the bording school where my niece and nephew were being educated. My how they've grown. My nephew has become quite the man. We noticed we had matching scars for he too had just had an accident on his bike. I love being the cool Auntie! Of course my mother was disgusted. he he he

July 3- We traveled to Bangkok, again. Dusty, crowded and tired, we still shopped. The great part was that I saw a nightclub called "the Vampire". I plan to incorporate it into the Masquerade game. I lost Sara's hat out the back of the truck. Heck! I found a stuffed Ultraman for my nephew in the States. Cool!

We got to our friend, Oi's place and her parents are wonderful hosts. She works at Bangkok International Airport. We bathed and ate. When she showed me to my room I could have fallen face first onto the bed and slept for days. Oi, however, had other plans. She said i couldn't sleep. That she was taking me shopping. *grimace*

July 4- Bang Pa- in Palace was where we went today. Oi and her husband took us there. I followed a cute guy around for a while. Ok, so we were just headed in the same direction and took pictures of the same things. he he he It was just a spooky coincidence. But good looking men are such a pleasure to watch in any case.

***SEE A PICTURE TOUR OF BANG PA***

We also went to a huge aquarium featuring fish that were indigenous to Thailand. Some of these fish were as big as I am. I looked for a copy of the poster featuring all the fish but there were none to be found. However, I did find a hew hat for Sarah! Woo hoo!!!

Next we went to some ruins in the city of Bangkok. I met a cute guy here that seemed very uncomfortable. Either he had heat rash or a sun burn. He spoke both Thai and English. His friends called him and he walked very slowly to where they were. I tried desperately to keep from laughing. I failed. But at least he was smiling about the whole situation.

We saw a film being filmed here. We accidentally tried to buy a coke from the actor who was playing a vendor. He was very nice about it though. Oi asked me if I would pose with the male movie star. He was very polite. I said "thank you" in Thai and he said it in English at the same time. That had me laughing. I was charmed by the whole day.

We topped off the day with a shopping trip to a place called Future Plaza.

We also called the airport, today and were told our flight was not scheduled to take off on the 5th but is scheduled for the 8th, instead. I tried to change it but they said all flights from Tokyo to San Francisco were booked. Oops. Mom suggested we go back to Grandma's until then but I am sooo very weary of traveling at this point. Oi's aunt and mom insisted we stay with them. I gave Oi a pearl necklace for her troubles. I also called Don and asked him to inform work. "Tell them that I've been kidnapped by the Chinese Mafia and I'm being held hostage in a fortune cookie factory".

 July 6- Thank the powers that be that the days have been quiet! Oi took us shopping again today and we struck gold! I found tons of Ultraman and Star wars stuff! Good ones too. We also got some souvenir t-shirts too. Now I'm prepared to go home.

 July 7- Last day in Thailand! When I said all I wanted to do was eat and sleep I was joking! The aunts took me seriously! I feel like a stuffed turkey at Thanksgiving! "Here, have another plateful" Ugh! They are good people and wonderful hosts.

We traveled Japan Airlines this time as we have each other time and, as usual, the service was impeccable! I highly recommend them.