When the elephant bus doesn't like you..... ie: leaves you behind: go find crabs!!!

This boy's travels in India reminded me of my current approach to all things travel and study abroad: be low maintenance and flexible at all times!! :-)

--- The secret was to think of travel in a completely new way. If you took it as a way of getting from A to B, you were done for. You ended up eating your toes with frustration. You had to think of a journey as a state of being. It was an activity in its own right - a social ritual revolving around nourishment and conversation, fleetingly interrupted by pauses for motion. Basically, each trip was a little party.---
Are you experienced? - William Sutcliffe

My WUWU bracelet broke yesterday!
I still have the pieces, but sad day :-(

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head....

It rained!!!! And it's not even April! And this after being told by every Thai instructor and their uncle that it never rains in Thailand until rainy season begins in April/May-ish.

I went running in rain on the beach.
It was beautiful and the waves were huge.
And my hair was so soft afterwards :-)

I sat watching the rain for at least half an hour enjoying the rain
in the company of several of the maintenance folk who were avoiding work
and the security man who rolled up the cuffs of his pant legs
and stretched out his toes into the puddles (while hiding under the awning).
The staff kept encouraging me to go swimming... which I did eventually,
but I jumped in the ocean first!
ps: this is all post-run and pre-breakfast

Allie this is for you!!

The wheels on the bus go....

On mornings when I don't have Thai (therefore am not studying for it on the way to school) I have found a variety of ways to entertain myself on the nearly 30 min bus ride. Observing/taking pictures of my surroundings is one of them.
Thailand is a tropical desert. It is a bizarre mixture. There is lush vegetation in vibrant colors and then mere seconds later, great spaces with naught but brown dirt and swirling dust.

Folks... this is NOT, I repeat, is NOT a tattoo.
It's a sleep-mark, you know like the wrinkle marks from your pillow case you have sometimes when you wake up in the morning? Yeah, so I was experimenting with a new Thai pen and decided to color it in. It turned out surprisingly like Japanese characters (Well Geoff could tell me for sure, but they resemble what I little know).

a small roadside shrine in front of a park

walking the cows out to graze

looking out my window

These are all shot from my balcony or the twenty-first floor windows which west.
The contrast of the first foto is striking to me... modern apartment complexes in the foreground with a traditional style temple in the background framed against the mountains.

This is one of those moments when I truly wished
for a camera with better ability to focus.
My two eyes could see more detail and color than this
but even this paltry offering captures a bit of the graceful design.

Looking south towards Hua Hin.

I walk this street every morning to take the bus to school.

I sat watching these boats for nearly 15 min
as they neared each other and eventually crossed paths.

I love how ripples in water hold a moment of the past.

Dining Out

Got some catching up to do :-)
I've been snapping shots of so many disjointed events I'm just going to have to break things up. But it's been an eventful last couple of days.

Last week my roommate Michelle, Jake, L (a friend from Geneva/Zimbabwe) and I went out looking for food. I'm sure there were other intentions involved, but that was our primary focus. Just across the road from SamSam (a local bar, pub, kareoke place...ie: whatever you want it to be; I got there to watch futbol matches) is a small restaurant. At the moment of choosing however it struck us as clean, cool and close ergo we elected to try it. Good choice us! The waiter seated us immediately (we were a little late for the lunch crowd so had the whole place to ourselves) and brought us chilled towels to clean our hands. They smelled like anti-bacterial stuff. Emily would have happy :-D

Even though the weather was by no means cool,
I couldn't resist a honest-to-gosh cup of tea.

We were endlessly entertained by the heartshaped servings of rice.

Enough so that we all decided to take
fotos.

Lowando posed with his


Chii and I both elected to use chopsticks.
Surprised anyone? Didn't think so ;-)

A Blustery Day

Yesterday morning my alarm clock sounded at 6:25... and the I looked out over my balcony to see the ocean eating the shoreline :( no morning run for me. But it made for wonderful pictures.

View from my balcony.

The fishermen usually just anchor their boats
about 50 yds out to sea.

From the Roof, I travel

Today while thumbing my way through the library's bookshelves I came across a much-loved copy of Gulliver's travels. Having borrowed the title for my own documentation it seemed only just that I site sections of the book that was my inspiration for this blog. (No worries folks, no Olde English here ;-p )

"Having therefore consulted... some of my Acquaintance, I determined to go again to Sea. I was Surgeon successively in two Ships, and made several Voyages, for six Years, to the East and West-Indies. My Hours of Leisure I spent in reading the best Authors, ancient and modern; being always provided with a good Number of Books; and when I was ashore, in observing the Manners and Dispositions of the People, as well as learning their Language; wherein I had a great Facility by the Strength of my Memory..."





Sunset from the 25th floor.
So peaceful.
Such good acoustics ;-)

My true home away from home... who just guessed it was a library? Go you!!

the view from the front door.
One of our IT guys who's name I promise to know by my next posting.
He was shocked to find that girls played soccer in real life. ;-)
Guess how that made me smile!
Girls are taking Webster futbol by storm!!

My friend Evan Mueller in his "American tourist" getup.

Part of the biblioteca.


One of my favorite views.
Amazing sometimes how much my love of books
can make me feel at home round the world.


Every bit of muscle soreness is well earned I assure you,
but even you many bumps and bruises can't keep us from smiling.
Emily scored so many goals on one boy this day that he mock-buried his head in the ground out off shame and refused to get up until someone else volunteered to to be goalie. Then to add insult to injury, Madeline, the least experienced of our ladies scored with a header off an overhead pass!
Why couldn't they have been on my team? haha
Ah well... Jess and I held our own. I put my new-found endurance to work and played attack, pressing the defense and fighting for those rare opportunities when I get to make the boys look silly. Guess it's from all the points I played in ultimate over the last few months as a chaser in the cup. *anyone confused my use of obscure sports terminology at this point just ask :) I'm always happy to talk about ultimate...
But thanks guys and gals from No Exp, WUWU, Contra, Slade Turkey and Nooga Please for encouraging me to run my heart out. It sure shows!!


Our beloved 'party bus' taking us back to VIP.
Sorry the foto's blurry folks.