Order has been restored. As many of you know, the travelblog web site crashed in early August. This was quite a shock to me as the crash wiped out all of my blogs over the last several months. Thankfully, I've recovered the data and re-uploaded it (with a few changes in photo selection) to travelblog.org's web site. Life goes on... Over these last two weeks, I've been in school. I am taking a 6 week TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course offered by Text & Talk Academy. The intent is to prepare myself to teach before I apply for [View Full Entry]

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Over 4 months after her last day of classes, Saai received her diploma from Kasetsart University today. The ceremony was held in the auditorium on their Bangkok campus, or so I was told. I missed it. Actually, I wasn't the only one. Family & friends were not allowed in the auditorium for the ceremony where Princess Chulabhorn Walailak handed the graduates their diplomas. Instead, guests remained outside. Their involvement was limited to before and/or after the ceremony. It's a long day for the graduates. Although the ceremony itself was in the afternoon, most of the graduates we [View Full Entry]

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Clever title, I know. As I mentioned, it's week # 3 of living in Bangkok. First off, I'm fairly familiar by now with the general area in which I live. I've settled in northern Bangkok, between the old airport (Don Muang) and the city center. Several universities dominate this section of the city; Kasetsart being the largest (approx 20,000 undergraduates on this campus?). Scattered between these universities are government offices and small businesses (primarily casual outdoor restaurants and Mom & Pop type retail stores). Houses and apartments extend off the main roads, along the many sois [View Full Entry]

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I'm up and running again, or rather, my computer is. For whatever reason my laptop crashed earlier today after it went into hibernation mode...I couldn't get it to wake up. My solution was to restore the Windows XP settings to an earlier date and things seem to be working again. As I'm writing, McAfee is busy searching for any viruses, worms, or other malware on the hard drive. If anything exists, hopefully McAfee will find it and fix it. That's not a given. What has been happening since my last blog entry? On Sunday morning I went to Saai's church (Covenant [View Full Entry]

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Huge. That's what Chatuchak market is. This sprawling outdoor market in Bangkok operates only on weekends and consists of a neverending maze of vendors selling anything and everything. Saturday was my first experience at Chatuchak. Saai tutored a few of her students in the morning before meeting up with me around 1:00 at the canteen (food court) in Kasetsart University to grab a quick bite to eat. After a short stop at the university gym (just to check it out - hope to work out soon!), we were on our way to Chatuchak. Chatuchak market is on the same street where [View Full Entry]

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Ok, finally an update from Bangkok. A few days ago (Monday, July 2, 2007 to be exact), I arrived in Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi Airport) to a smiling Saai. A very nice and appropriate greeting, in this, the land of smiles. Getting to Bangkok was fairly uneventful. I flew with EVA Air (Taiwan based airline) in their Evergreen Deluxe Class (business class seats usually priced only a few hundred dollars more than economy) from LAX to Bangkok with a layover in Taipei, Taiwan. My belongings for this stage of my life were all crammed into two suitcases and a backpack (no extra weight [View Full Entry]

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I am just a couple of weeks away from moving to Bangkok, Thailand. I've notified my boss and co-workers of my resignation, effective Friday, June 29, 2007. There are a lot of loose ends to wrap up at work prior to my departure, but I'm confident it will get done. There is also the daunting task of packing & storing my stuff. I will only be bringing two suitcases and a backpack with me to Thailand. Considering I intend to fit everything else I own in a single 5'x7'x8' storage unit, the bigger project is selling all that won't fit. Obviously, [View Full Entry]

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It's May 26, 2007. A few months have passed since my last blog update. What's going on? Ahhh, nothing...I'm just in the midst of making final preparations for moving overseas. Well, actually, that IS something. Indeed. Yes, plans are in motion for a move that is quickly approaching... Considering I've been renting this condo in Thousand Oaks, California for 15 years, it's not only remarkable I'm leaving the country, it's quite a leap to be moving at all. :) For all my travels through the years, I've been pretty stable when it comes to a home base. If I move my [View Full Entry]

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My final blog entry for my Jan/Feb 2007 Thailand trip: Taking you back to Saturday, 2/3/07...I didn't want to leave Chiang Mai, but my vacation was coming to a close. Saai and I grabbed a songthaew (sawngthaew?) from Libernard Cafe to get to the Chiang Mai airport outside of town. Our flight back to Bangkok was on Air Asia. For those not familiar with this airline, it is based out of Malaysia but serves many airports in SE Asia. It's a low cost airline with no reserved seats, and no free drinks/snacks/meals. I think it cost around $18 per person for [View Full Entry]

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I've returned to Los Angeles but my blog coverage of my trip to Thailand is not yet done. Let's get you through the last couple of days... My last blog detailed our trek on Thursday, February 1. This update covers our remaining days in Chiang Mai (Friday & Saturday morning). On Friday, we went to Libernard Cafe for lunch (visit #3 of the week!) and added a panang chicken dish to the mix (banana pancake & cafe latte is a given; the panang chicken is also a winner). Afterwards we walked around town to see the beginning of the flower festival. [View Full Entry]

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