We've reported about Gretchen's visit (with us) to Bangkok. It was exciting! Bangkok is a very busy, crowded metropolis with many beautiful things to see. But we didn't want her to go home with that as her only experience of Thailand so we asked her to come to Khemmarat with us and see rural Thailand. Game traveler that she is, she agreed. We flew from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani, arriving there in the evening. We'd asked Lauthong, a driver who had first driven us around Isaan in October 2012 to visit two of the schools we were considering, to pick us up the next morning and drive us to Khemmarat, so we stayed in Ubon that night. Our dear friend Wachinee had introduced us to the City Mall in Ubon and told us about the Sunee Grand Hotel that rises above the mall. She assured us that it is the best hotel in Ubon, so we had reserved rooms for us and for Gretchen. Somehow Gretchen got upgraded when we arrived and she was impressed -- she told us she would be trying out all the comforts it offered:
Nice as it was, we drove on to Khemmarat the next morning -- Monday. Mary and Gretchen wanted to check out the Monday Market in Khemmarat.
After the Market, there were some required stops -- first, our friend Moo's Kan Ang Cafe, where we go everyday for cold cappuccinos. We were joined by our friend Kittisak Boonyahjahn, who lives just a block from the coffee shop. He sat down with us to meet Gretchen.
You may notice that Gretchen is wearing a colorful necklace. We bought those in Santa Fe, NM, several years ago. They are filled with crystals that absorb water when they are soaked for a short while. Then one wears them when it's very hot and the water gradually evaporates and provides some cooling to the blood going to one's head. They work!
Next we walked along the Mekong River.
We admired the riverfront scenery and then Gretchen and George took a break in one of the riverfront pavilions that George loves so much.
We had lunch at the Resort of Flowers, a favorite of ours.
As we walked along, Gretchen was taking some pictures of her own and took one of us. Too bad about the garbage can, but that is a pretty typical picture of us walking around Khemmarat -- Mary with her UV-protective umbrella and George with his UV-protective hat. Judging from the bags in our hands, we must have been coming from the Khemmarat Market.
Thanks again for the visit, Gretchen. It was so good to have that time and those adventures with you.
Mary and George in Ubon with Wachinee
Mary had trouble with her MacBook Air connecting and staying connected to the WiFi at Latda Mantion. After she wrote to Tim Cook, she heard from Apple Customer Service in Singapore. After several attempts to resolve the problem over the phone, Apple arranged for some new hardware to be sent to the Apple Store in Ubon and said we would have to bring the laptop into the store to get the new hardware installed. We mentioned that to our dear friend Wachinee and she said she had to drive to Ubon (1-1/2 hours from Khemmarat) to take her printer in and asked if we would like to join her. We said yes, of course. We dropped off Mary's laptop and were told it would be ready in about 2 hours. Wachinee went by the printer shop and took care of her business and then suggested we have lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant (Golfer's House). We went there and had a great lunch of many dishes.
She knows we like cappuccinos and suggested a coffee shop after we ate. What a great suggestion that turned out to be!
A phantom door led to an outdoor garden.
More on Baan Nong Phue School
We've done a lot of reports on the Baan Nong Phue School, including the farewell they gave us, but we have some interesting pictures left that we haven't used before so we want to share them.
Christmas gift: We had posted a picture of all the handmade Christmas cards we were given by the students -- we were so impressed and appreciative. After we returned from our holiday in Taipei and returned to school, Mary was given a handmade scarf by Bongkochrat, one of her 6th grade students.
Valentine's Day: The students make a big deal about Valentine's Day. They put stickers on each other. We got "stickered," as well, and were given flowers.
Food at School: The teachers usually contributed to and/or made special lunches for us (although we were embarrassed by the special treatment), and they were delicious. We were served so many wonderful dishes. We've pictured below some Thai spaghetti and puffed rice with peanuts and black sesame.
One day we saw kao pot (corn) for sale by the roadside on the way to school and stopped to get some to bring to the teachers. The corn is baked in the husk and is delicious.
Here are some students buying popsicles from a vendor.
And here is friend and teacher Toom showing us how to fold drink cartons to minimize their impact on landfills.
Students at school:
And a dragonfly at the pond by the gazebo:
More on Khemmarat
An Elephant and Some Birds:
While we were having our daily cappuccino at Moo's coffee shop, George noticed an elephant down the street. The rider led it into a carport nearby. When he led it back out, some other guys were walking alongside. As they approached George, they offered some sugar cane for sale to feed the elephant.
Mary fed the elephant.
There is a gas station in town that we had never paid much attention to since we don't have a motor vehicle and so don't buy gas. But we were told that behind the gas station is a very impressive collection of birds collected by the owner. We went to check it out.
Silver Pheasant
Reeve's Pheasant
Golden Pheasant
Peacocks
Outdoor Food Preparation:
Kittisak's wife, Wilaiwan, prepares delicacies wrapped in banana leaves.
Not far from Kittisak and Wilaiwan's house on the river, we came across many ladies out preparing food one midday. When we walked by there again in the evening on our way to a restaurant, there was a big block party underway with the food we had seen being prepared. We were invited to join them.
Traditional Wooden Houses (common in Khemmarat):
Mosquito Defense:
Mary seems to have some special attraction for mosquitoes -- they bother her even when they don't bother George. So Mary went into defense mode: a mosquito net (that doesn't leave a lot of room for George in the bed) and a mosquito zapper. They seem to have worked : we don't get as many mosquitoes as we did before we bought our defenses.
Laundry:
Our apartments each have a laundry area -- an outdoor space with some poles for hanging clothes and a hose for water. We suppose you buy a basin to wash and rinse clothes. We've had the luxury of a washer and dryer too long to take up hand washing now so we found a family-run laundry service right next door. We generally take our laundry in Thursday evening and get it back Sunday evening all folded and ironed. We can look out our windows and see our laundry on the clothesline.
This isn't our laundry but we often see these towels hanging next to a house on the riverfront and we think they look so pretty.
River Boats:
George spends a lot of time looking at the Mekong River and the boats that ply its waters.
He noticed that there are poles along the waterfront upriver from the landing area that fisherman use to tie up their boats and dry their nets.
Elections:
We witnessed two municipal elections in Khemmarat -- the first for the mayor and the second for the council. We're sure there's more campaigning that we weren't aware of but we saw sound trucks and posters. The sound trucks came around very frequently and blared a message in Thai. About all we understood was what sounded to us like "bur ning" and "bur song," which mean "Number One" and "Number Two," the positions of the candidates on the ballot. We got a chuckle out of the thought of a candidate in the US running as "Number Two."
As it turned out, Number One, Latda, won the mayoral race and she is our landlady. Our friend Nivat also won a council seat.
Election results are posted in the festival area by the river. This shows Latda's victory margin.
People:
This is a son and father (Potter and Ko) whom George met along the waterfront. They were on a short vacation from Ubon. Ko was teaching Potter the ukelele.
These are nurses who work at Khemmarat Hospital. The lady in the beige jacket in the back row is Mee, who, in addition to being a nurse, is the owner of the little coffee stand in front of which we are standing.
While we haven't met this lady, we have watched her push her food cart and feed working guys their lunch.
Plants and Flowers:
We are constantly amazed at all the beautiful plants and flowers around Khemmarat, even during this very dry season. Here are some.
This is the crown flower. We saw folks picking the blossoms and wondered what the purpose was. Wachinee told us it is to make them into floral decorations to take to the temple.
This is the golden shower tree that we saw in Bangkok. Wachinee tells us it is the national flower of Thailand.
Mary's favorite picture of all time -- of a field near where we live in Khemmarat (taken in November 2012 -- the fields don't look like this in April):
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One last picture in this post putting people and flowers together. We were walking around our neighborhood one day and a lady was out tending to her flowers. We said our "sawatdeekas" and then tried some conversation but didn't get very far. But suddenly she gave Mary a lei and a flower. How kind the Thai people are!
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