Crazy Royal Thainess

This is crazy-beautiful Thailand. Bangkok is glorious and ridiculous. I had a great time! But I am happy to be settling into slower and routinized life in the north, in Chaing Mai.

In the 'Kok we toured many o' wat, pictured above are shots from Wat Pho; the hugely impressive reclining Buddha, as well as the Grand Palace; home of the exquisite solid jade Buddha. Wats [temples] are decked out with gold colored glass and foil that cover absolutely as much as possible, and then everything else is rendered in colored glass pieces. It's all very shiny and pretty. Tre different from the ubiquitous offerings in Bali. Though hand woven grass offering boxes and fresh flowers and whatever goods were available were very beautiful (my favorite offering was the Mars bar and frangipani!) I came to find them a reminder of the oppression of women. Everyday women sit and make these beautiful offerings, and everyday the old ones are tossed to the gutter and new ones are laid. Perpetual, tedious work, that only women can do. Truly, I also only ever saw women steadily stacking cinder blocks on their heads for roadside construction--while men were "tinkering" with motorbike repairs.

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The last picture up there is a few fellow nursing students and I practicing first aid safety for a venomous snake bite at the snake farm in Bangkok. Thailand has loads of these guys. The videos reminded us of Patty and Susanna's pathophys class from last year--ah... the coagulation cascade. We also observed a venom extraction up close and personal. They get these poisonous dudes to bite a rubber capped jar to elicit and collect their venom and this is then injected into a horse at the nearby Red Cross Snake Farm/Horse Ranch. Horses metabolize the small amount of venom and make antibodies to it, they then "donate" their blood for the purposes of sequestering the antibody-rich plasma. It's prepared so that it can be administered as an anti-venom serum as the antidote to scary neurotoxins that slowly and miserably kill you when you get bit by one of these cuddly creatures. Pretty rad.

Also up there in those pics, is Kai! Kaiulani, my darling, thank you for your fabulous Thai hospitality, for living in Bangkok while I'm here, and for working it like you do. 

Feeling very lucky for all there is to be enjoyed here at the moment.

Back from the Beach

After a little respite on the beaches of a few islands off of Southern Thailand, Forest, Mike and I are back in Bangkok.

Photos here are of 1) a shelf of ciggies. FINALLY appropriately labeled! Can you see the cover art? 2) Mike Dow and a puppy. The Thai dogs are by far lovelier and friendlier and way more chill then the Bali dogs--though not less dirty. And 3) our bungalow in quiet Koh Pangnang in the north of the island, pretty much the whole place to ourselves... and I went snorkeling-yikes! It was pretty cool.

Now we are moments away from meeting up with Kaiulani in bustling Bangkok, and tomorrow I start school. Sure beats the day before a new year of classes starts in Seattle. Though I do miss the fall.

love, peace & curry

At Peace

The above glorious photo of a pregnant angel is from a temple in Brasilia, Brazil. My good friend Elizabeth just sent this to me. She has been living and working there all summer.

Me, I am leaving Bali in a few days and will move on to Thailand for the rest of the year, then Elizabeth will find herself in Costa Rica, also for nursing. It amazes me the things we are doing, all around the world.

I have met amazing people here, who do so much, it all touches me greatly. It's an honor to be here, to have met each and every one.

I do love Bali, and I will be back.

...Forest arrives in 2 days!!!

ciao