my weekend with the three geeks, part 1

I am at the Bangkok Airport, enroute from Ubon Ratchathani to Chiang Mai.
I really thought I would have a lot of quiet time to update when the formal tour ended and I came back to Bangkok, but it has turned out differently. In a good way!

I went to Ubon on Friday after an interesting night in Bangkok. I have a friend in Ubon--her name is Ting, and she is a nurse at the regional hospital. We had never met in person, but have talked via the internets a lot, and when she found out I was going to be in Thailand, she invited me to visit. So I did.



Ting is way cool, and is a perfect guide for a weekend of fun. She is very high-energy, and reminds me of a couple of my friends back home. She invited a couple of her nurse friends to hang with us, and early saturday morning we all headed out on a bus to parts unknown (at least to me). Turns out we were on the way to Laos.


Ting, Malida and Nich-the three geeks

At some point I was tossing out random american words, and one of those words was "geek". Malida asked what it meant, and I said it was "someone very special". Before I knew it, they were calling themselves my three geeks. I didn't really know how to correct that one, so I let it be. They asked how many geeks I knew back in the the US, and I said, "a lot". They were impressed.

We ended up in a town called Pakse, which is about an hour from the border. Lao is somewhat different from Thailand--much more rural, and generally a lot more straighforward. Hard to explain. It is a great place to visit, though.



We had lunch in a little local restaurant--one of the things that has happened since I left the group is that I am eating a lot more at small local restaurants. This trip, I let the girls do the ordering, so it was always a surprise what I would eat. It's a big change for me, as I am sometimes known as a picky eater. Everything was delicious!

Ok, I gotta go catch my flight. To be, as they say, continued....

weekend with the geeks, part 2

Where was I? Oh yes, catching a plane. I have taken so many plane rides so far--at least 10 since I started this trip, and more to come. It is a lot different over here--much less security, and you don't have to take off your shoes. And the airplane food is way better.

Anyway, we were in Laos for the weekend. We saw all sorts of waterfalls--there seems to be a waterfall around every corner in Laos. It is such a beautiful country, but there is concern that they will just sacrifice the beauty to tourism. I hope not.



In the evening, we went to the temple--it was a special day for the monks, and we prayed with them, and then walked around the temple with incense as they chanted. My friends wanted me to take pictures, but I wanted to be part of the moment.
Ok, I took one picture.



The next morning we got up and headed out to see more waterfalls, and take a river boat trip. It was so cool just to be able to experience the moment. I try to keep in mind that this is a unique experience.



As with most places I have visited, there is never a shortage of kids to photograph. Try to take a picture of one, and pretty soon there are a whole bunch gathered around. I always show them what I have taken, and they just giggle as they see themselves captured on the screen.



As the day drew to a close, we headed back toward the border and returned to Thailand for a delicious dinner at a vietnamese restaurant. "Tonight" they said, " you are our geek".

A perfect end to a perfect weekend.