mike_s

Thank you all for the congrats! I changed my avatar to show a pic of Napha and I on the night we met. Without a little language problem she would have travelled with me to Chiang Mai. She is practicing English every night(after working a 16 hr shift) and I am practicing Thai every night. The language will not get in our way again! We get to talk every weekend for four to six hours on webcam and voice. I am teaching her English on the web. Napha spends all of her money buying property in Thailand, for her future. She is quite a little businesslady. She makes about $500 USD per month and with that she has been able to purchase two pieces of property in Thailand. One five acre parcel she has rented to a farmer, and the other waits for her to save enough to build a business on. Could you imagine doing that on $500/month? I am very impressed. Naphalai used to teach Thai Massage at the most famous school of Thai massage in Thailand, Wat Po. It is very lucky that her best girlfriend owns an internet cafe. To pay her girfriend for internet access to talk to me, she gives her a foot massage every time we talk. Since 9/11 immigration rules have been tightened significantly. Immigration is also understaffed. It will take me four to eight months to bring her here. I have already started the paperwork. Please pray for NED to stay with me till she arrives. She knows all about me being sick, and that it might come back. She knows all about my girlfriend Pan. She does not care. She is a Buddhist, and they have a little different take on life and death, than the average American. I feel very, very lucky. Regards, mike_s

All is well here. I took down the photos of my trip, because it is kind of inappropriate for me to publish photos of old girlfriends when I am going to be a married man again! I will build a nice little site (not including Pan) of some of my favorite pictures of Thailand when I have time. My elder daughter and I built a website for my favorite Thai restaurant, and that is the only link that remains at www.jaggedweb.com . My fiance used to cook at a Thai restaurant in Bangkok, and will probably go to work for this place until we start her a business. Thank you all for your encouragement, and I hope you enjoyed the photos. May NED and good reports be with you all, Regards, mike_s PS - My fiance's name is Naphalai

Anyone who has read all of my posts will notice a little change in my attitude about Naphalai. Language problems. I finally hired a professional translation service to interpret emails between us because I was not sure that her friend Mary was doing an exact translation. I am pretty happy with the results. My Thai is getting better, and so is her English so hopefully we can dispense with the translator soon. Regards, mike_s

Actually all of the pictures are far larger than the ones I posted on the website. I cut every picture down to 640x480 in case someone was calling in on a slow phone line. If you go back to www.jaggedweb.com you will find I posted the full-size pic, just for you. If you want to save a copy on your own machine, you are most welcome to do so. Right-click your mouse on the pic, and do "Save image as", and you will have a copy. Pan (like Peter Pan) is a very sweet gal, but she still wants to go out and hit the clubs all the time. That is just not what I do. My liver could barely handle it for a week, much less long-term. We will remain friends, but that is all. She is still gunning for an American or European husband, and she is determined enough I bet she finds one. She is awfully pretty. Naphalai, is another story. I still talk with her every week-end, and I am kind of crazy about her. She is responsible, quite a little businesslady, does not drink or smoke, and understands that I had cancer, and it might come back. She does not care what country we live in, so long as we are together. I am considering asking her to marry me, but wrestling with the ethics of marrying someone from another culture so soon after diagnosis. Even with two years NED, there are no guarantees. Regards, mike_s

Epilogue..... The last couple of days were spent hanging out in Chiang Mai and just travelling around local markets and such. Nothing really noteworthy. I wanted to wind down a bit, because I knew I was walking into a software development firestorm when I got home. A word of caution to travellers: If you do not have a VISA logo on your ATM card, IT WILL NOT WORK IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY. A few years ago many banks started using the VISA/Cirrus/etc system to process transactions. I did not like this, as it allows anyone who obtains your ATM card to empty your checking account without a PIN. When this first started banks were kind of nasty about returning your cash, because ATM card loss is not protected by law the way credit card loss is. I have always insisted that my bank send me a real ATM card without the VISA logo, so a PIN is required. This led to a rather nasty scene in Chiang Mai where, not understanding the problem, I went to three different ATMS trying to take money out of my account. You really, really do not ever want to run out of money in Asia. I finally walked into a bank, handed them my VISA and had them give me a bunch of cash. Problem solved, but I now have a new ATM card on the way, WITH a visa logo. I just did some research, and banks are much better now than they used to be, and in general treat ATM card loss the same way they treat credit card loss, even though it is not required by law. This was an amazing trip. I found out that I still love Asia as much as I ever did, and exploring different areas is more fun than I remember. I hope you enjoyed the photos and reports of the trip. I will be going back to Asia next year, and will have to spend some time thinking about where to go. Thailand is wonderful, and I may go back there. I barely scratched the surface of the cool places to go. Mainland China is supposed to be very nice, in particular there are some places where the government allows you to actually sleep inside sections of the Great Wall. The nightlife in Shanghai is supposed to be spectacular. There is always the Phillipines, which I enjoyed very much and would like to see again... Regards from me and NED, writing software in Vancouver, WA mike_s

Elephants, Flowers, and hanging with an Expat I had seen about enough temples for the trip so I decided to hang out with the expat Kelly and his wife and go around to places Thais go to for fun. Pan and Kelly's wife are best friends, so they had no problem with this. Kelly is the person who originally gave me Pans phone number. Taxis are a little less frequent in Chiang Mai, so we rented a Tuk-tuk for the day. It will just barely hold 4 of us. The cost was a quite reasonable 400bt ($10) for the driver and vehicle for the day. The first place we went was an Elephant Farm, with the obligitory 2 stops for snacks on the way. I had no idea elephants were so smart. We watched the elephants do some truly amazing things. Playing the harmonica was suprising, but not too outrageous. Playing Soccer was suprising. Elephants painting pictures was not something I expected to see. They did it while I watched. Honest, they really really did. I SAW it. Later elephants were taking their trainers hats, placing them on people, and patting them on the head. I did not understand this until Kelly explained: The elephant is a sacred symbol of Thailand, and the Thai people revere elephants as a symbol of their country. To be patted on the head by an elephant is considered very very good luck. The gesture Pan is making to the elephant in the photo is known as a "wai". Thais wai each other as a sign of respect or deference upon meeting. In general the higher your hands the higher the respect. The tips of her fingers are almost touching her hair, so this is a "wai" of great respect. On the way back from the Elephant Farm, Not spotted an Orchid farm that she thought I might like to see.. I love orchids, and I used to run an nursery, so we stopped and looked around while Kelly and Not waited outside.. Beautiful flowers... Regards from the Road, mike_s pictures at www.jaggedweb.com

Yeah, their feet are kind of hard to miss when you are being very careful not to step on kitty's toes. Regards, mike_s

North to Chiang Mai! Michael sees Doi Suthep, commits a cultural faux-paus, and executes a strategic withdrawl. The trip to Chiang Mai was uneventful, and kind of fun. We had to wait a few hours for a flight, so the day was pretty well shot by the time we arrived. I stayed in a hotel near my expat friends house, and arranged with my "little-sister", Nee to meet her the next morning to go to Doi Sutep. The hotel was quite modern, and not expensive. The courtyard was very very nice. The expats name is Kelly, and he used to own a resteraunt in Florida until he visited Thailand and fell in love with it. He sold the resteraunt and moved to Thailand. He lives pretty comfortably on about $1000/month. Doi Sutep was stunning. The view is marvelous. I declined to walk the 306 steps to the top, and took the tram. There was a haze over Chiang Mai, so I am not happy with my picture of the view. Some better pictures are available at http://www.hasekamp.net/suthep.htm My trip to Doi Suthep was marred by one little problem. Pan and Nee did not get along. AT ALL! They were bickering in Thai most of the time, and though I couldnt understand much of what was said, I was pretty sure they weren't making arrangements to do each others hair later. Each of them had a friend, so you have four Thai ladies arguing, me nursing a hangover (Thai beer was an unexpected 6.9%), and wondering how to get out of this. I had to break this up somehow, so I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and I got sick. After we saw Doi Suthep I developed an acute case of food poisoning that required an immediate return to the hotel. Nee and I had a little chat, and I will see her next trip. She really does just want to be friends, but she was terrified that I would fall for Pan, and marry her. You see, Thai society is very caste-oriented. If you are an upper-class(sometimes called hi-so) Thai, or if you are very well educated, you would not dream of being seen socializing with someone from the lower class. Foreigners are considered fairly high-caste, until they do something stupid like socialize with their poor lower-caste girlfriend in front of God and everyone. This caused me to lose a great deal of face. (Good thing I don't care about face, eh?) Nee was trying to save me, by annoying Pan so badly she left. The caste thing is something I think Americans in particular have problems grasping, because our culture is so egalitarian. Pan on the other hand, was having the time of her life. She was with a "rich" guy who was taking care of her, and gaining great face by being with me. (and trust me, she trotted quite a few of her friends by to see me) Because Pan is poor, divorced, and has one child, she will never remarry a Thai. Fair or not, in Thai society she is "damaged goods" and no Thai man would ever touch her. The fact she is extremely pretty and quite bright never enters into the discussion. That is why she is out to find a caucasian husband. We generally don't care about stuff like that, and according to her, Kelly treats his wife better than she has ever seen a wife treated. She wants to sign up. Aren't cultural differences interesting? Regards from the Road, mike_s pictures at www.jaggedweb.com PS - I now understand why the Chinese ideograph for "Trouble" is the same as the one for "Two women under one roof".

Four years is very, very nice. Congratulations, mike_s

http://www.scandinavica.com/dir/friends.htm In all internet dating there are actually a number of people looking to meet friends. Naphalai, however makes no secret of the fact she wants to marry me. Regards, mike_s

That true for an awful lot of things in life. No, but the last time I was in SEA, I was carrying a rifle. That was a while back. After I got out of the Marines I flew to the Phillipines, and spend six months or so bumming around the islands. Wonderful people. My favorite island was Mindenao, which is waaay south. I probably would have gone to the Phillipines on this trip(Hi francesbean!), but I couldnt figure out a good plane routing that included Hong Kong and Thailand. I also would not really want to go to Mindenao right now, because it is heavily Muslim. I think it would be fun to go there, but it does not hold quite the fascination for me that Asia does. I am not sure what it is, but I have been really interested in Asia since I was very young. I think it has something to do with some areas of Asia being civilized for several thousand years. My ex-wife and ex-fiance both hated all things Asian, so I never went back. Regards, mike_s

Thank you very much. I met Naphalai on an internet dating site in November. She wasn't really all that interested in dating(neither was I), but her best girlfriend Mary kind of pushed her into it. Naphalai's friend Mary owns a small internet cafe in Hong Kong. Naphalai is about 10 years older than Mary. Naphalai and I talk every Saturday morning on a webcam with voice. The first picture in the first report is Naphalai, me, and Mary. I met Nee, who is also pictured in the first series through an internet dating site also. Nee is single, but was not looking for a boyfriend; she just wanted someone to help her improve her english. She is an elementary school teacher in Chiang Rai. Once or twice a week she writes me a letter (in english) about what life is like in the North of Thailand, and I correct her english and send it back to her. She also helps me learn Thai. We have been corresponding since last October. Pan was a total suprise. I did not know her before I went to Thailand. After Naphalai had to go upcountry, I got lost in a taxi, and could not make myself understood. I got a little worried about soloing the rest of the trip, so I called an expatriate american I met on the net for advice and he gave me Pan's phone number and said she might be able to show me around because her english was fairly good, and she might like a vacation. Pan and I got along so well I took her with me when I went North to Chiang Mai. And that is how I met the ladies.. Regards, mike_s PS- If any other single guy is thinking about trying this, be careful; there are an awful lot of scams out there involving asian girls and western guys on the internet. There are also a number of 20-25 yr old girls looking for husbands who are shall we say... "very direct" in their approach. I communicated with about 20 women before I found a few normal women that wanted to be friends, and not just seperate me from my money. I have lost count of the number of cash requests I got from people I barely knew. Every thing from motorcycle accidents, to sick buffalos, to mom needs surgery. A good rule of thumb is "If she asks for money, it is a scam."

Roadtrip to Ayuthaya In some ways the trip to Ayuthaya was my favorite part of the trip. Ayuthaya is a very historic city and contains many Wats(temples) and ruins. It is about two hours north of Bangkok. Ayuthaya was the capitol of Siam(Thailand) from 1350 AD until 1767 AD. Thirty-three Siamese kings ruled their empire from this city. It was destroyed in 1767 when Myramar(Burma) conquered Siam. The ruins are very spread out, so if you are not on a guided tour, it is best to hire a taxi for the day, to get you there and travel between the different ruins. Fortunately Pan had a friend who was a Taxi driver who we could hire for the day. Some friends had told me that Thais like to eat, and that was certainly borne out by my experience. We always had to have food in the vehicle, no matter who I was with. If there was not food in the car, we had to stop at the first roadside stand and get some. This was actually pretty healthy food, fresh mangos, small rolls with some kind of filling and dried mangos. We went first to a large Wat near the entrance of Ayutthaya. It was very pretty and quite historic. I really don't know what to say about the rest of the pictures of the city... You get a feeling of age about the the entire city that is hard to describe. That feeling is only reasonable given the age of the city, I guess. I would really like to know what the city looked like at the height of the Authaya empire. It must have been magnificent. Enjoy the pictures. Regards from the road, mike_s pics at www.jaggedweb.com

The Skytrain and shopping at MBK pictures at www.jaggedweb.com The Skytrain is one of the coolest pieces of technology I have ever seen. It is every bit as efficient as the MTR in HK, if not quite so big. The skytrain runs on tracks elevated about 30 feet above the city. Fares are very cheap, and the skytrain covers a big chunk of the city. Because it is elevated, traffic is not a factor, which in Bangkok is very important. http://www.bts.co.th/en/index.asp I wanted to go shopping at a large shopping center named MBK, so Pan showed me how to use the Skytrain. It is really easy, and the instructions on the ticket machine are in English as well as Thai. I love the way there are entrances every 10 ft or so. I makes loading very quick. They must wash the cars down every day because the trains are spotless inside and out. I parted with a lot of cash at MBK buying gifts for friends. To see what MBK looks like, go to http://www.mbk-center.com/en/index.asp I got some Thai Silk for a friend of mine, which was quite reasonably priced at 350bt($9.00) for four meters. Thai silk scarves for my girls cost $4.00. One whole floor of the store is devoted to cell phones and small electronics. You can find just about any cell phone you want here. We later went on the underground, and it is just as nice as the skytrain. Unfortunately, because of terrorist concerns I was not allowed to take pictures. I was not about to argue with the nice soldiers and their automatic weapons. Regards from the Road, mike_s pictures at www.jaggedweb.com

Thank you so much for saying so. I am terribly, terribly worried that I am annoying people in the group who are sick, with stories of me going out and having fun. I am not a good photographer. I have a very good camera, but this was the first time I ever took the camera off auto, so I was trying a bunch of things. I read the manual for my camera on the plane. My pictures of the chicken and pork dishes didnt come out so well, or I would have posted them. Rest assured that there was plenty of food without eyes, and if you were there you would not have walked away hungry..... or sober. Thank you once again. I would like to once again say why I am doing this. Look at my .signature. I have(had?) stage IIIB, and there is only one stage worse. Do not ever, ever give up. Miracles do happen, and maybe NED is waiting around the corner for you, after your next change in treatment. You will never know unless you tough it out through your current treatment, and talk to your docs. Chok Dee(Good luck) and Regards from the Road, mike_s PS - Bigtime thanks to ConnieB who sent me some very needed words of encouragement at VERY critical times, well before I got my first clear scan.

Lost in a Taxi/Boat Bangkok, Asian Hotel equipment, and Michael gets a new guide... The day after the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi, Napha and I checked out and took cabs our seperate ways. With big hugs, a few sniffles, and promises to keep in touch. Before I left the US I printed out the name and address of all of my Hotels IN THAI SCRIPT, to minimize the chances of getting lost. It didnt't help, the taxi said "kao jai!" which means "understand" and headed in the wrong direction. This led to two hours in a taxi, driving around Bangkok. Taxis are cheap in Bangkok, so this wouldn't have been a problem, but it was raining, and my taxi at times more resembled a boat. Oh well, we finally got there. Before I go further, I want to mention something about the equipment in the hotel rooms in Asia. The hotel rooms in both Hong Kong and Bangkok were equipped with the wierdest plugs. I knew from research on the net that Thailand runs on 220v, but I expected the usual 2 round pin plugs like Europe. The plugs are a universal type that will pretty much fit anything. They would not be allowed here, for liability reasons. If you are dumb enough to plug a 120v appliance into a 220 outlet tough luck. Noone is going to replace your equipment for you. I am absolutely certain they would laugh if you asked. My IBM Thinkpad did just fine. Every where I went all of the controls for the rooms were centralized into one small panel. Lights, tv, ac were all in one place. There is also a master control panel. You must place your room key on the panel in order to turn anyting on in the room. Great way to save power. Every single room I stayed at was this way. I dont like dumps, so I tend to stay in midrange hotels, 3 or 4 star. Only the last night did I really stay at a 5 star, so this electronic system is pretty widespread. The first time I spent the night in one of these rooms, I called the front desk to tell them nothing was working in my room, and they sent a little girl up who explained it to me through her not-so-thinly veiled amusement. Each room is also equipped with a rather nice electronic safe, just big enough for a laptop and a few other valuables. After getting lost with my taxi, I started having doubts about my ability to navigate the city by myself. Bangkok is a VERY big city. I called an american ex-pat who I had met on the net, to ask for advice. As it turns out, his Thai wifes best girlfriend(Pan) lived in Bangkok, and was looking for an American boyfriend, having been recently shafted by her Thai husband. She was single, spoke fair english, could probably get time off, and would probably be pleased to act as my guide. He said he didn't like setting people up, but gave me her phone number, and wished me luck. By this time it is late in the afternoon so I called Pan and asked her out to dinner. She was thrilled, and wanted to know if I would mind teaching her english while she guided me around. Language lessons from a native-speaker are quite expensive. No problem. She could help me with my Thai, also. The last few pictures are of Pan. To say we hit it off would be an understatement. Regards from the Road, mike_s

Back to Bangkok from the Tiger Temple in Kanchanburi pictures at www.jaggedweb.com After playing with the Tigers, it was time to return to Bangkok. On the way out Napha and her sister wanted to pray at the temple that is set up near the entrance. Note that even though tourists are allowed to visit, and are a major revenue source for the temple, this really is a working temple where Thais come to pray every day. Note the position of the feet. Noone is supposed to ever point their feet at a monk, or image of Buddha. Actually you aren't supposed to point your feet at anyone. An interesting offshoot of this is that if you drop money, do not step on it to keep it from being blown away. Images of the King are on the money, and the Thais do not like you stepping on him. As you can see from the next picture, Thais don't mind a bit of color on their busses. I want to know how the man driving the bus sees anything. We got hungry on the way back, and so Napha asked if we could have dinner at a Karaoke Bar. It was an open air resteraunt, with a live band. The reason she asked is that in general, the person of higher status or seniority pays. As a rule, in Thailand, that is you, the "rich" American. Everyone had been so nice to me, that I really did not have a problem with this. The Karaoke was pretty interesting, the band was very good, the food was wonderful, and really really well presented. Every dish was pretty, as well as Tasty. My picture of the band does not do them justice the front ladies were very pretty and enthisiastic. What a suprise for me when dinner for 5 turned into dinner for 20. Oooops. I didn't have enough cash with me so VISA to the rescue. Fortunately for me, This is THAILAND! Dinner for 20, including two bottles of whiskey and a LOT of beer cost about $160.00. I have spent more than that on dinner for two at a nice resort in the US. Regards from the Road, mike_s pictures at www.jaggedweb.com

I told the doctors I would avoid high-risk behavior... do you think this counts? I said I was going to try to wear that shirt in some odd places in asia. That temple is about as odd as it gets. Regards, mds link to pics is www.jaggedweb.com

Actually the two girls are Naphalai and Wan. Naphalai is the one on the left. I met Naphalai on an internet dating site. Her and I have been talking for three months so so, through an interpreter. Once I got to Hong Kong, Naphalai and I had problems communicating so she volunteered her younger sister who had the day off to come help us communicate. Her younger sister is named Wan, and has been dating a Canadian guy for a year, so her english is pretty good. They both travelled with me in Hong Kong. The two girls in the first picture in report #1 are Naphali and Mary. Mary runs a small internet cafe out of her house. Naphalai is 10 years older than Mary, and kind of acts as Mary's big sister. I did not know this until Napha got a lot more english, but Mary sets gals up with western guys through her internet cafe. This is not a "mail-order bride" scam or anything like that. She just knows some gals looking for western guys, and tries to hook them up with western guys looking for wives. Of course since she set them all up with email, they have to buy time on her computers. Napha is a little older than all of the other gals there, and kind of acts like a den mother. I think what happened is that Mary volunteered to help hook up Napha with a western guy. Napha wasnt really all that interested. The problem is that Mary acts as a translator if language skills are bad. She tried to convince me that Napha was in love with me, and I didnt buy it. Napha and I like each other very, very much. She is an absolute sweetheart, but she and I want different things out of life. Napha is kind of a little entrepreneur, and is saving money to start a business in Buriram(her home province) where she has already bought land. She wants someone to live with her there. By the time it got thru Mary to me, it sounded like she was madly in love with me, and willing to live anywhere. When she left, Naphalai gave me a rather large gold ring(that only fits on my little finger) so that I would not forget her and we agreed to be "just friends". I will see her the next time I go to Thailand(and I am definitely going back) Not so much... Been a long time since i saw 10 tigers rolling around Washington State. Regards, mike_s PS - Pan, who I met later is another story.

Road Trip to Kanchanaburi, Thailand, to see the Tiger Temple. The first pic is actually at dinner the night before we went to the temple. We are at an open-air resteraunt, and a guy walks by with an elephant. He was selling bunches of Bananas to feed to the little guy. Of course we had to... The tiger temple was organized by a Buddhist monk to rescue orphaned tigers. It is Kanchanaburi, Thailand, about two hours drive Northwest of Bangkok. I hired Napha's brother-in-law who is a Taxi driver for the day to drive us there. Her older sister, son and nephew accompany us. Her daughter would like to come, but has to work. My first pictures this morning did not come out well. I took a picture of all of us getting ready to go, but the picture came out fogged. I later found that this is because of the temperature and humidity difference between the air conditioned hotel, and the outside. After 30 minutes or so, my camera was fine. We started about 10 am, and headed for Kanchanaburi. On the way we stopped for lunch at a small place catering to Thais. Lunch for all of us was less than $8.00. The monks have actually turned this temple into kind of a game preserve. There are all kinds of animals all over. The tigers sleep in cages when they arent terrifying tourists. The first thing the monks do is walk a tiger to a small canyon about 1/2 kilometer away. During the walk the monk invites tourists to walk with him and pat the tiger While they walk. The tourists are kept a ways behind, and the monk calls each person up who looks interested. His assistant takes the pictures. The canyon is like an oven. It is probably 100 degrees and 100% humidity. There is not one breath of wind to give any relief from the heat. There are a total of about 10 tigers in the small canyon. None are restrained in any way or drugged. I assume the assistants took the other ones to the canyon from the living area. The people in the bright blue shirts are the assistants. They are mostly Thais and Australians. It was pretty fun, if quite hot and a little bit scary. Regards from the Road, mike_s See www.tigertemple.com. There is a button on the left for an english version.

I have a list of places I want to see, and Hotel reservations in the general area. I made the hotel reservations across the internet. I also have about a 100 word vocabulary and a phrasebook. I don't like the packaged tour thing, because you miss out on meeting the people and hearing their stories. That is half of why I travel. I miss out on some facts and figures a professional guide could give me, but I like to think I make up for it be getting a sense of what the people are really like. I also get lost, and get in some pretty funny situations. Like driving all over Bangkok with a taxi driver who has not one word of english, and doesnt know where my hotel is. When you travel this way, you really need a sense of humor. The Thai people I have met are very friendly, and are amazed I took the trouble to learn some of their language for just a vacation. Regards, mike_s

(I had some problems with internet access in Thailand, so I am going to post these every day or so as I finish them) Hello from Bangkok, Thailand. Going through customs in Bangkok, Thailand proved very easy. I had nothing to declare, and they didn't even search my bags. The first thing that you notice is the heat, It is like a sauna even at 12am. The airport is just as crowded as Hong Kong, but somehow it seems far less organized. The first place I wanted to see was Wat Po, which is a very famous temple and school. My hotel was in Sukhumvit, one of the tourist sections of Bangkok. It is actually a fair distance to the Wat. Napha says the easiest way to get to the Wat is by Klong boat. Bangkok used to be known as the "Venice of the east" due to the large number of canals or "klongs". Some have been filled in for the real-estate, but they still play a major part in getting people to work. The Klong Boats act as busses moving through the city. One of the boats will take us very close to the Wat. The fare for the boat is very cheap. The blue tarps on the boat prevent water from passing boats from splashing inside. Images of the Reclining Buddha are all over the web, so I am going to post pictures of some of the other cool things I saw. The vendors all over the place can be kind of annoying. If you go to Thailand, be sure to learn one Thai phrase, "My oww, cup". This means "I dont want it". After the Wat, we had lunch in a small Thai cafe around the corner from the Wat. Some students from the massage school at the Wat had to practice their english on me. By 2pm it was so hot that I thought the fillings were going to melt out of my teeth, so we headed back to the hotel. Regards from the road, mike_s Pictures at www.jaggedweb.com

What is interesting here is that all of the hillls seem to be encased in ferrocement. I understand totally, but it is very wierd to see. The cement is sprayed on the sides of the hill, so it does not wash off during the rainy season. Most of the ride up was spent looking at hilliside covered with cement, with a little hole where each plant comes out. Suprised me a lot. Regards, mds

Road Trip report number 2 - Hong Kong Communication is turning out to be a little tougher than I thought. I wanted to go to an electronics market to do a little shopping, but it did not happen. Just because someone says "I understand" does not mean I have to believe them. Napha's little sister had the day off, so Napha called her to stand in for Mary as an interpreter. Her name is Wan, and she has been dating a Canadian for more than a year. Her english is fair. We met up with Wan in the Central Station of the MTR which is the mass-transit system in HK. Sweet gal, but she has a phone glued to her ear talking to her boyfriend all the time. She is a maid for a wealthy family in HK. She makes much less money than Napha, but still more than she could make in Bangkok. She has a very small room in her employers house. She likes this employer, because she has her own room. At her previous employer she had to sleep on the floor in the bathroom. The MTR is truly a piece of engineering genius. It is the most advanced transport system I have ever seen. I thought we would take a ferry out to Lantau island, but the ferries are old-fashioned now. The underground goes under the harbor, and is much quicker. Traveling on the M TR is cheap and reliable. These trains run on time. You buy a ticket from an automated machine and use it to move through the system. If you are a regular user you can buy a pass that is on a small electronic card. Whe you go in the system, you just wave the card over the reader and it deducts one fare from your card. The technology used is RFID wich uses radio. You do not even need to remove the card from your wallet. Travelling on the MTR is a lot of fun. There is a vibrancy and an energy about the people in Hong Kong that is hard to describe. The Big Buddha is a major tourist attraction, so of course I had to see it. We had dinner with Wan's boyfriend on a resteraunt overlooking HK harbor and I made my first real screwup of the trip. I was not wearing my glasses, and I had a setting on my camera wrong, so all of the pictures I took of HK harbor at night are trash. Victoria Peak is the highest ground in HK. The MTR got us close to Victoria Peak, but we had to take a bus to the top. This is kind of scary, as the road is very narrow and in some places single lane. The buses are huge, and very nice. They are also double-decker. This is pretty scary when they pass each other on a very narrow road leading to the top of a mountain. The busses use the same technology as the MTR, so you can just wave your pass over the reader as you board, and the fare is automatically deducted from your pass. Regards from the road, mike_s Links My pictures: www.jaggedweb.com MTR: http://www.mtr.com.hk/eng/train/intro.html Big Buddha: http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/tou ... sla1.jhtml Victoria Peak: http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/tou ... vict.jhtml

No I am not getting married, even though Napha is trying to change my mind. We are just friends. Regards, mike_s PS - You do have to love a gal that responds to "What if the cancer comes back?" with "No problem, we will move to a smaller apartment and I will take care of you... I will be the bread-earner". I think she meant breadwinner.