Almost out of Thailand

Its been about two weeks since I arrived in Thailand and everything has been super crazy up until now. We've been moving around quite a bit so its been hard to find a computer with a good connection....

Anyway things have been going great overall and we completed our water supply project in Chiang Rai (Northern Thailand) about a week ago. The project came together better than expected, we couldn't have asked for a better outcome. During the first couple of days in Chiang Rai we built a cement/rock dam on a hill above the village. We spent the rest of the week putting down 2 miles of pipe from the dam to water tanks in the village. By our last day in Chiang Rai we had everything tested for leaks and had the pre-existing cement holding tanks cleaned out and ready to be filled up.

In addition to the fourteen of us, we had some help from the villagers throughout the week. What really impressed me was these tiny old Thai ladies that would come up on the hill and work with us. They would collect sand and rocks in a rice sack and carry these big heavy bags to where we were building the dam. They did this all day without stopping! These ladies were ten times tougher than any of us younger guys, it was kinda embarrassing. Ironically, it was the younger men of the village who felt entitled to stand around and watch everyone else sweat it out. But we were happy with all the help we could get and know for fact that this project couldn't have been completed without help from the villagers.

During that week we split up into groups of three and stayed in the village with a Thai family. The families fed us breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday; and they weren't stingy on the portions! Up in the northern hills they have a different diet than most of Thailand so it wasn't typical Thai food. In fact, we were later told that dog meat is a common staple and that we had probably eaten some during the week (I just assumed it was beef or chicken...oh well). Everyday our host families would make a rice and meat dish for lunch and wrap it up in a banana leaf so we could take it with us to the work site. At lunch time we'd unwrap our leafs and compare each of our lunches...kinda like you did in the 4th grade at lunch time (except without fruit sacks or PB&J's). All in all the village food was pretty good and we were far from going hungry.

At the end of the week they had a big party and a feast for us. Some of the village women did a dance all dressed up in their traditional garments. Afterwards some of the guys from our group decided to show the villagers some "traditional" American dancing; it was pretty funny and a little distasteful but I think everyone enjoyed it. The next day, Saturday, we flew back to Bangkok for a night and then the majority of us headed down to the southern gulf islands. We were on Ko Samui for a couple days and then moved on to Ko Pha-Ngan, of the two Pha-Ngan was the most enjoyable. The beaches were super nice and the water was perfect, good snorkeling too! There isn't much traffic on the island so we rented some motorbikes for about five dollars and checked out the other beaches and some waterfalls. It was a nice break after working hard all week...

Yesterday, the last of the remaining guys from my group headed back to Oregon, so I'm kinda moving at my own pace right now. I'm on the west side of Thailand's southern peninsula (called the Andaman Coast) in a smallish town called Krabi. Krabi isn't much of a destination but its been good to take a day and get everything straightened out again. Tomorrow morning I'm taking off for the Phi Phi islands which are supposed to be really scenic and full of nice beaches. After couple days there I should start making my way up north towards Laos. The visa process for Laos and Cambodia is pretty straight-forward, but for Vietnam I understand it's a little more tricky. Although I still have a month before flying home I need to pick up the pace if I wanna see everything on my list!

Thailand has been awesome so far and I could easily spend a couple months here without seeing it all. The food has been great (I've had Phat Thai for probably seven meals straight...so good!) and everything is pretty cheap. For the most part people are very friendly and helpful. I do get quite a few funny stares, especially from little kids, but I'm sure it's harmless (might have something to do with the blond hair though).

I think that's it for now, I need to get some sleep before I take off in the morning.... some Thai guy is singing pretty terrible John Denver covers at the bar next door (I'll have to grab some earplugs before going to bed). Sorry for the long-windedness, hopefully I can update this a little more frequently and make the posts shorter; it all depends on where I can get internet. Hope everything is well back home!