This is my last post from Thailand!

Josh and I found out our flight to Delhi has been delayed by 6 hours. This is fine because we were going to have to sit in the Delhi airport waiting for our flight to the US for 14 hours. So we get more sleep and don't have to worry about food as much. There isn't any edible food available in the Delhi airport...

I walked around Bangkok today trying to make sure I took pictures of everything I had wanted to capture. It occurred to me that I hadn't taken any pictures of our hotel or what an average Bangkok street looks like! Never fear, pictures have now been taken!

Josh and I had big plans for this weekend, but we ended up sleeping in and just walking around yesterday and today. He has some sort of virus, so he has been napping quite a bit.

Last night we went to see the new Harry Potter movie. I thought it was great (they just keep getting better). Josh was bored, but didn't complain about going. He hasn't read any of the books or seen any of the other movies. He's so agreeable.

Alright, I look forward to seeing those of you with whom we will cross paths. Bob and Sue and Shayne, I will have my cell phone with me, (617) 223-1392 so give me a call and we'll hopefully see you when we swing through Carlisle! I want to take Josh to the Hamilton for a Hootchie Dog for dinner.

Sawadee-kaa (Bye) from Thailand!
Elizabeth

East Mebon, Angkor, Cambodia. Josh teaching an elephant statue (which was over 8 feet tall) a lesson.

East Mebon, Angkor, Cambodia.

Pre Rup, Angkor, Cambodia. Josh relaxing in the delightful sunlight. Actually this was entirely staged. I thought it would be funny to make Josh SEEM to be enjoying the sun. The day was scorching hot and it was not yet eleven in the morning. We only stayed out a short while that day...then fled for air-conditioning!

Pre Rup, Angkor, Cambodia. Climbing at your risk. We will never cease being amused by signs with strangely constructed English phrases!

The entrance to Angkor Wat, Angkor, Cambodia. At the end of our first day of touring temples our last stop was to Angkor Wat, the most famous temple on the site. It is huge. Approaching it was similarly awe-inspiring as approaching the Taj Mahal. It is impressive and huge. Words cannot describe.

Many of the temples at Angkor would not be for people with a serious fear of heights. Often part of the tour involved climbing up steps that were almost vertical. At Angkor Wat there is even a railing to brace yourself as you descend the precariously steep stairway.

Srah Srang, Angkor, Cambodia. Josh and I were taking pictures with the tripod when these little girls came up asking us to buy bracelets and cold drinks from them. Eventually we caved because they are very charming, and their English is AMAZING. We made them sit for a picture with us first.

Outside of Ta Prohm, Angkor, Cambodia. Me drinking from a young coconut. Josh loves fresh coconut water, which tastes quite a bit like corn (I think). Normally I don't like it much, but the day was so hot, I got one too. I think it only cost $1.00.

Fresh coconut water is the water that is inside the coconut. Coconut milk is actually coconut water mixed with ground coconut flesh. The coconut water is clear, mild, and (at its best) sweet.

Ta Prohm, Angkor, Cambodia. These ruins are overgrown with gigantic trees, whose roots spill down the walls and into the ground. It was like nothing I have ever seen before.

Random ruins, Angkor, Cambodia. Nothing noteworthy at this sight, except I ate an entire pineapple. The result of having done so is captured in this picture. I LOVE the fresh pineapples here! I eat pineapple almost every day. It's cheap and DELICIOUS! I don't recommend small people eating an entire one in one sitting...that was too much.

Bayon, Angkor, Cambodia. The face clearly wanted a kiss!

Bayon, Angkor, Cambodia. Josh with one of the giant faces. You can really see the scale of the thing!

Bayon, Angkor, Cambodia. This was me refusing to attempt to mimick the profile of one of the faces. Somehow it still turned out. It must be my small nose.

Bayon Temple is one of the most famous temples in Angkor. There are dozens of large faces (like the one I'm posing with in the picture). It was the first temple I saw in Angkor (Josh had been there before), and really one of the most stunning temples I have ever seen.

Wat Chiang Mun, Chiang Mai, Thailand. This monk was meditating in front of an alter which houses the Crystal Buddha. I decided to sit and listen. The Crystal Buddha was rather small, but listening to the monk chant was a pleasant break from the craziness of our days in Chiang Mai.

Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Josh is a demanding photographer. He wants are real an impersonation as one can muster. This explains how I ended up balanced on my hands with my back arched and my feet against a wall. But hey, I look like that crocodile-thing, don't I?

Koh Samui, Thailand. We imagined sitting on the beach, sipping pina coladas, enjoying the sun. Well, we ordered the pina coladas, and the best I can say is that they made a need silouette against the ocean. With fresh pineapples AND fresh coconuts all around, how in th world did these end up being mediocre?

Koh Samui, Thailand. Me, before I got sun-burned on both shoulders. Ouch, the Thailand sun reflecting off the water can do some damage!

The beach by our bungalow, Koh Samui, Thailand. I tried to say how beautiful the beach was when we were in Koh Samui, but don't think that words can convey how truly breath-taking it was. WHAT an amazing weekend vacation!

Josh on Silom Road in Bangkok. He's eating some sort of fruit...we have no idea what it actually is, so we call it an "apple-blueberry" (since that's what it tastes like). I don't really like them, but Josh ate an entire bag. Gross.

Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand. This little kitty was so sweet. How could I stop myself from petting her? Josh looked on with disgust, ready with a bottle of hand-sanitizer.

Bangkok, Thailand. Me with the Royal Seal. The seal is displayed on signs, monuments, polo shirts, neck ties, and t-shirts by every Thai person. They respectful sing the National Anthem of Thailand and proclaim "We love the King!" and "Long live the King!" The King is celebrating his 80th birthday this year in December, apparently "long live the king" has had its desired effect!

One of the Protectors at the Royal Palace. And silly Josh pretending to be a Protector (the umbrella is his "sword").

Statue in Bangkok at one of the palaces. That's me being feral (one of Josh's favorite facial expressions of mine).

Bangkok, Thailand. Josh feeding AN ELEPHANT on the street where we live! The elephant was very impatient, so it was hard to get a picture of it taking food from Josh. Every so often we see an elephant on the street and can't help but exclaim "there's an elephant on the sidewalk! And we LIVE here!" The elephants belong to men who charge 30 baht ($1) to feed them.

Leaving Dharamsala, India. Traffic jam. In the mountains. On a one-lane, but two-way road. Buses v. cars v. trucks v. bicycles. Somehow we survived.

The street our hotel was on in Dharamsala, India. Cows wander the cities, towns, and countryside freely. This particular cow was eating some grass by a traffic sign. I guess I am strange, in that I am as easily effected by large animals as by cute, baby ones.

Chonor House, Dharamsala, India. This alter was set up for our engagement ritual. It is an offering in honor of the Dalai Lama.

Our engagement blessing. Josh and I in Dharamsala, India. The monk was chanting in Pali, and occasionally we were required to join him in scattering rice in front of us. But it was nice to be part of that ritual, with a monk who spoke no English and the man I'm going to spend the rest of my life with. (You can see the monk on the right in the top picture.)

The monastery where the Dalai Lama lives, Dharamsala, India. In the monastery there is a worship space with a Buddha and a picture of the Dalai Lama. People leave offerings of food, oil, and silk around the alter. I am standing in front of a MASSIVE wall of Tibetan toast (which is sort of like toasted pita bread). I was SO hungry (after a week of mediocre Tibetan-India food in town) at the moment that this picture was taken, I had seriously contemplated taking a piece of toast!

We call this one "Cow Traffic Jam." That's me to the left, looking on with great concern. This is the most intense traffic situation one will see in "downtown" Dharamsala (India). The cow didn't seem too worried about getting out of the way. She must have known she's sacred!

Near Bagsu waterfall in Dharamsala, India. Little girls at Bagsu waterfall really wanted their picture taken with the "beautiful" women; that would be me and one other girl, the blonde ones. They were very sweet, so I didn't mind. It was funny though, this was supposed to be me and one other girl, but others kept creeping into the picture. She kept yelling "nahiiN, nahiiN! Sufar maiN!" (No, no! Only me!)

This picture was taken outside of Dharamsala, India; me with a mountain goat on the hike to Bagsu Waterfall. The waterfall was supposed to be "beautiful." We were rather disappointed to see that it amounted to a very thin stream of water falling about 10 feet into a shallow pool before continuing to trickle down the mountain. At least the goats were friendly!

This is the view Josh and I had of the valley from our hotel room in Dharamsala, India. The room only cost $16 a night, smelled like mildew, and was visited by the occasional banana slug, but WHAT a view!

FINALLY!!!! Now you can see at least one picture of Josh and I. After roughly half an hour, I managed to get this picture posted! This is Josh and me in Chiang Mai at Doi Suthep. We're so silly!

I'll try to add more pictures now that I know this computer has enough power to do it!

Auttaya

What an awful place. The highlight: we saw a couple of neat temple ruins. Including a stone Buddha-head that a tree has grown around. The face sticks out through the exposed roots.

Now for the bad: we got on the wrong train from Bangkok (we didn't know it was the wrong train because it wasn't labeled and they don't make announcements in English), the tuk-tuk drivers charge A LOT more than Bangkok drivers and refuse to negotiate, my watch got stolen (it was a really nice watch, too. I had gotten it for myself right before I started Harvard as a little congratulatory gift.), our hotel was far away from anything (and despite being the most expensive hotel we have stayed in while traveling in Southeast Asia, it smelled and the beds were hard and dirty).

Needless to say, by Sunday morning Josh and I couldn't WAIT to leave Auttaya and get back to Bangkok. On the upside, we had delicious thai noodle soup from a street vendor at Chatuchak Weekend Market after we returned.

Note on Saxophone: We were excited to hear some live Blues music. The band was okay, good drummer. But it was way too loud and they allowed smoking. So we only stayed for an hour.

This coming weekend we're just going to hang out in Bangkok because Monday morning we fly to Delhi (then to Newark, NJ). Coming adventure: We are flying from Newark, NJ to Portland, ME so that I can meet Josh's parents!

Work...

Things are looking up in my boredom. As Paul (my step-father) pointed out, I love to read. So if my bosses are satisfied with the work I'm doing, I shouldn't feel bad when I don't have work to do and I read. A new development in my office: my boss has left for vacation, so I get to use her office. This means I get to use her computer WHICH has internet access. I only have one more week of work before we leave Thailand, but this makes things a little more bearable.

Since it's Friday, Josh and I are going to a club that has live music tonight. It's called "Saxophone." We're seeing a blues band called "Hoochie Coochie." Should be interesting. I haven't been much fun during the week, with work I like to be home by 9pm. Every weekend we usually leave for our next adventure on Friday evening. SO this will be our first opportunity to have a night out in Bangkok since our first week here!

Tomorrow morning we are taking a train to Auttaya. I am sure we will have some interesting stories to share after we get back.

Then we only have one more week here! I have to make sure I don't forget to buy anything here that I have wanted. I doubt we'll be back in Thailand any time in the near future!

Love,
Elizabeth