Loy Kratong

This is an eventful month for us. All three of us celebrate birthdays in November and two major holidays fall in November. Of course, American Thanksgiving falls at the end of the month. In the middle of the month all of Thailand celebrates Loy Kratong. Loy Kratong marks the end of the rainy season and is a major holiday in Thailand (sort of like Easter or Thanksgiving in America). Loy Kratong is celebrated by floating lotus shaped boats down the river, releasing giant lanterns into the sky and letting off lots of fireworks. Here is a picture of a kratong and of some boys from our school with bags full of fireworks at the river (the center of the celebration).

My family...

...minus us and my brother-in-law Carl

I guess I'm weirder than I thought...

You Are 35% Normal (Occasionally Normal)

You sure do march to your own beat... But you're so weird, people wonder if it's a beat at all You think on a totally different wavelength And it's often a chore to get people to understand you

How Normal Are You?

Happy Birthday!

Weather Forecast

This is for my family who will be coming next week:

Sunny

High during the day: 90 F

Low at night: 69 F

Air Quality: Very clean

Birthday pics

I had a great birthday this year. It was really wonderful to have a friend come celebrate with me. Christina and I went to high school together. This was her first time to come to Asia and to come visit us. We were able to show her around for most of the week, but on Saturday we really did the Chiangmai circuit. We started out at the elephant camp and enjoyed the morning there. For lunch we went to my favorite dessert restaurant. After lunch we went to the big market in town and I introduced her to the best of Thai goods. The day was cool enough to enjoy shopping in what is normally an oven-like atmosphere. After shopping we went to have Thai massages. For dinner we went to my favorite salad restaurant and enjoyed the best fruit shakes in CM. After dinner we came home and I opened the presents from Gabe, Eric & Christina. Eric let Gabe choose a gift for me (within reason). Gabe's first choices were cars and trucks, but Eric steered him away from that and I eventually ended up with a Pingu desk set (Pingu is a Swiss cartoon Penguin who is very popular in Asia). Gabe loves Pingu and immediately after I opened his gift asked if he could borrow it for five minutes (which has extended into several days). The best card of the day came from Eric. I will quote it here.

Outside: With Love and Concern on this Special Day, Happy Birthday

Inside: Can you guess what a special thing is on this day?
Come to near me...
Just whisper you that...
It's you and your special birthday!

I don't really think I needed concern. I felt very spoiled by a day so cram -packed with good things. Thanks to all of you who sent me birthday greetings.

The Elephant Camp

Gabe enjoyed another trip to the elephant camp. He's been there at least four times, but it's always exciting to him. This time we got to see a tiny (80kg) one-month old elephant. Gabey thought he was very cute, but would only pet him very cautiously on the behind. The baby was still taller than Gabe.