Blogs from Khon Kaen, North-East Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 6

IT'S OFFICIAL; I’m a real Peace Corps Volunteer. Well OK, I haven’t done anything worthwhile yet except to stop and talk to everyone along my bike route. They’re probably laughing more then usual and if I’m the cause of that humor, so be it. I arrived in Tombon, Ponethrong, Changwat, Chaiyaphum, Thursday evening. My house was cleaned and ready for me. I feel like a princess…I not only have a queen size bed (yes a real bed with a frame) but a shower with hot water and a western toilet. Of course the toilet doesn’t flush, but it’s nice to sit on anyway. I've kind'a gotten carried away with my photos today. There's been so much going on that I can't possibly tell it all in text. Yes, sometimes a picture is worth a 1000 words ... read more

Sorry we have not been in much contact, we have been up the north-east of Thailand in a small town called Khon Kaen, population 100,000 so in Thai terms it's about the size of Ararat (sorry Mabel). The north-east is wonderful for a few reasons- there are no tourists, it is rich in Isaan culture, and to rent a 4-star boutique hotel room cost about $12/night each. We spent a few nights just winding down from the past few weeks of travelling around, and to re-charge for Bangkok. We were so lazy we didn't even go to only 2 tourist sites near Khon Kaen - a dinosaur park (which would have been awesome but the 40+ degree heat and the 4 hour round trip was a bit of a turn-off) and some ruins down south, but ... read more

My last week at Nong Kha proved to be the most amazing week on this trip so far. On Monday we had a pretty typical day i showed the new american teacher around the school and the homestay. Then he watched me teach some classes. On Tuesday it was national boy scout day in thailand so the students had a massive marching ceremony at the school. It was quite funny to watch all the students marching around the field and the teachers screaming thai army instructions at them. I of course was sat that the head of the ceremony and had to sit there while all the students marched by and saluted me and the heads of the school. I then spent the rest of the day being taken around different schools to teach while mike ... read more

Well my second weekend here in Northeastern Thailand did not go as I planned at all. I will start with Friday. I had a really long day Friday teaching as I have four classes and one of which is the youngest group of kids. Once I was finished for the day I decided to go fishing in the local pond with a pole one of the teachers said I could use. After about an hour of no success with the finishing pole, a local villager showed and started fishing Thai style. This means he used a massive net that he throws in the water and then jumps in and pulls the net out. It was really cool to watch and after a while he let me do it. Once again I didn’t catch anything but he ... read more

Final posting till we return... read more