About to go north

This past week my digital camera broke. It was $200 in the summer of 2009. I bought a comparable camera today in Ubon for 1990 baht, about $60, memory card included. Good deal.

Yesterday Sarah and I went to a highly recommended Italian restaurant that is very expensive but very worth it. We were told that the owner had a restaurant in Italy, then in London, then in Ubon. And it was damn good. Smoked salmon pizza, fresh baked warm bread, the least intense and most flavorful olive oil, apple pie, ginger ale. We had a grand ole time. Probably the most we've paid for a meal since we got to Thailand. 600 baht (a little less than $20) for the two of us.

Today, I also got to visit the premier Isaan food restaurant of the city. Though it did not have my favorite of the Isaan foods, gai yahng (really good grilled chicken), they did have Isaan sausages and the most flavorful, fiery som tam (papaya salad) I've ever had. Good stuff.

Sarah left today for Taiwan on a trip she has dreamed about taking her whole life. She has family in Taiwan and will get to stay with them for two weeks. I am getting ready to enjoy my paid vacation in the north. I am traveling the way I like, with very little planning. I want to go to Chiang Mai and meet up with some old friends and if there is time visit some places in the north that I always wanted to like Chiang Rai, Pai, and northern Laos. If I have an abundance of time I will probably slowly make my way by bus from the northern-most boarder-crossing of Thailand/Laos then making my way to the Laos capital before starting my trek back down to Ubon. If I have a huge abundance of time, I might go all the way down to Pakse in southern Laos which is only about a two hour bus ride (including border crap) back to Ubon. I have a lot of options. I would not be surprised if I never left Thailand or if I never left Chiang Mai for two weeks, but I am ready and willing for any situation. I will keep you updated. Just waiting for my clothes to dry. Stupid rainy season. At least it is almost over.

End of the term

I have turned in my grades and am getting ready to travel during our break, which starts in a few days. I am planning to go to Chiang Mai, meet some friends, and explore areas I haven't been yet.

We turned in our grades. It's interesting to give students their final grades because no one fails. Everyone (in this program) gets 75% or higher (everyone is above average, lol). I created a nice sheet to turn in the grades, modeled off of someone else's sheet, and made up the grade sheets for other computer under-literate coworkers.

Sarah and I have been abusing our salaries as of late. We regularly spend a dollar on the best cup of Indian hot tea in the world at a place near the apartment, and maybe also a piece of heavenly cake from there for another dollar. I have been also indulging in some gai yahng (Isaan style grilled chicken) which tends to be more expensive than other food. We have not yet used some free passes we have for the expensive health club in the mall that we got from a friend of a friend of one of our Thai teacher co-workers. Some of the pastries you can get here are to die for (and are all cheap). Sarah is planning to buy a motorbike soon.

Sorry that I don't have much to say this week. Any suggestions on what I should write about next week?

Laos and the Beatles

Last week I learned that the English Program was going to put on a performance at the party for the retiring teachers. We had nothing planned. Last year was awful and I volunteered/was conscripted to be the lead singer and thus I would be able to decide what we sang. I chose "With a Little Help From my Friends" by the Beatles. Stefan (a senior teacher from Scandinavia) got very excited and wanted to do it 100% with instruments, costumes and the whole thing. I am sorry to say that I do not yet have the pictures of us in the costumes, but I do have the picture we gave the costume people as a model to send us/make. Right here. Anyway we also got fake facial hair and the whole thing. Instruments. We were the life of the party. Everyone wanted to take a picture with us. It was fun. And ridiculous.

Two days later Sarah and I needed to make our way to Laos to get Non-Immigrant B visas. We stayed a night in Mukdahan where we got to see Laos over the Mekong at night (beautiful). (The Mekong is a tremendously long river that runs from Tibet and China, is the border between Laos and Burma and then the border between Laos and Thailand. It then splits Cambodia in half and runs through its capital only to end On the other side of Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City.) We then we ate at a little out of the way restaurant called "Wine Wild Why?" which was a Lonely Planet "Our Pick." We sat in their outdoor seating overlooking the Mekong which was beautiful and romantic and amazing. The food was good. Then after we left we decided to come back and have a drink in their indoor seating which was so beautiful it reminded me of Ms. Kay's back home. We also walked up to their 2nd floor seating, which, again, overlooked the Mekong. The next morning we left for Savannahket (Laos city just across the river from Mukdahan). The Mekong was just as beautiful and wide on that side, running fast and strong. The daylight made it even more picaresque, and we would sometimes spend a few minutes just staring at it. Laos, for me, seems like Thailand Lite. They understand Thai since they watch all Thai TV and they are even more laid back. They are less developed, their food isn't as good. But we did meet several (white) people who seemed to love Laos. A couple strongly recommended going North sometime for its beauty and activities. We saw many temples including the largest and oldest in southern Laos, one where Laos nuns were chanting (really cool to hear), a Catholic church, a Chinese Tao temple (one of two), and a Vietnamese Buddhist temple. All very cool. We also had the pleasure of tasting some French foods like some baguette sandwich things and some exceptional pastries. We had some lemon sorbet that was amazing too. All around a nice vacation, a nice time. Lots of fun. But back to work now; this week is exam week.