A Day at the Beach

Pattaya, Thailand

It is not the most beautiful beach

I have ever been on but it

certainly was the most entertaining.

You sit beneath a sea of beach umbrellas

to protect you from the strong sun.

You pay for a fabric chair and wooden

tables and someone is there to get

you cold drinks all day or they can

get you a meal from any cuisine.

But the show was on the beach.

Here is a man trying to sell fabric

flowers to Katie.

Don't like your outfit?  No worries,

you can buy another one.

Not my decor but it is available.

We ate beautiful fruits and prawns

and crab with hot chile sauce.

You could pay this person to

release a bird for you which

is considered good luck.

My favorite thing was getting

a foot & leg massage in

my beach chair.

I'm going back tomorrow!



A Travel Story

From Siem Reap to Pattaya

On a long journey you have many
experiences and many stories.  On
this journey around the world we
have collected enough stories to
fill a book.  Today we left Siem Reap
in Cambodia and traveled a few hours
by car to the Thai border at Poipet.

When we reached the border we had
to say goodbye to our wonderful
Cambodian driver and load our luggage
into a rickety wooden cart to be taken
across the border.  Poipet is a notorius
border crossing with a reputation for
scam artists.  We exited Cambodia and
had to walk across No Man's Land in
the scorching noon day heat to enter
Thailand.  We made it through the
border crossing in a half an hour and
thought it was going to be smooth sailing.
I guess we forgot about Murphy's Law.
We had arranged for a Thai car service
to meet us with a van to drive us
for 3 hours to the beach in Pattaya.

Once we entered Thailand we could
not find the van or driver.  We spent
45 minutes in heat that I can't even
describe on the side of a 7-11.  We
tried calling, we tried texting, we
kept some people with the luggage
while others went searching for
the driver.  Brennan was carrying
a sign with my brother's name
that we took from the window
of our previous driver's van.

A deaf man approached us and

started pointing to the sign with

the name on it and pointing in

another direction.  We all thought,

oh no, are we getting scammed?

But at this point we needed to

explore any option.  And here is

the amazing thing, this deaf Thai

man had read our name in English

blocks away and he recognized

this foreign word.  On one paper

the name was written in marker,

the other was printed from a

computer.  I can't recognize a

Thai word if I had 2 signs right

next to each other.  Could this man

have a heightened ability to recognize

letters even in a foreign language or

does he have a photographic memory?

We don't know but we do know that

this man, in a town filled with scam

artists and thieves, renewed our faith

in someone just being kind and helpful.



Pub Street ~ Siem Reap, Cambodia

Happy Hour Just Seems To Be Happier in Cambodia

Set amid the jungle and rice

fields of northwestern Cambodia

is the town of Siem Reap.

And in Siem Reap is a street

known as Pub Street.

Pub Street is filled with

restaurants and bars.

Every place offers a Happy

Hour.  I have to ask if Happy

Hour is from morning to

midnight, shouldn't they at

least call it Happy Hours?

Though this place is a big party

plunked down in the middle of

the jungle, it doesn't have the

seediness found in other places

like it.  It is just a place to have fun.

There are musicians

playing in the street.

You can get a fish massage.

But mostly Pub Street is a

place to hang out with your friends.

And remember...

What happens in Siem Reap,

stays in Siem Reap.

Civil War Remembered ~ Block 26

Barbara Frietchie Star

Hello from Siem Reap, Cambodia!

We are quilting along with Barbara

Brackman's Civil War Quilt 2011.

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com

Fabric Requirements:

Fabric A: Dark (Blue)

4 - 3" squares

Fabric B: Light (Cream with blue)

6 - 3" squares - Mark a diagonal

line on the back.

Fabric C: Dark (Brown)

2 - 3" squares

Fabric D: Medium (Pink)

2 - 3" squares

Fabric E: Light (White with blue)

2 - 3" squares - Mark a diagonal

line on the back.

Make Half Square Triangles:

Pair together 3" squares, right sides

together in the following combinations:

4 - A/B         2 - C/B         2 - E/D

Sew 1/4" away from each side of

drawn line.   Cut on drawn line

and press to the dark.

Square to 2 1/2".

Layout units as shown and

sew together in 2 rows.  Press

seam in row 1 to the left and

seam in row 2 to the right.

Sew rows together and press

 seam open to reduce bulk.

Make 4.

Square to 4 1/2".

Layout units as shown and

sew together in 2 rows.  Press

seam in row 1 to the right and

seam in row 2 to the left.

Sew rows together and press

seam open to reduce bulk.

Square to 8 1/2".

This week I am sewing

my block by hand in a

great hotel in Siem Reap,

Cambodia.  The bed even

has mosquito netting. 

This morning I rode the

elephants to Angkor Thom.

Check out everyone's blocks

on Dustin's Flickr site:

www.flickr.com/groups/civilwarquilts2011



Spirit Houses

Spirit Houses can be found

throughout Asia, especially

in Burma, Cambodia, Laos

and Thailand.

Most houses and businesses

have a spirit house ~ most

placed in a corner of the property.

The house provides a shelter

for spirits that could cause

problems if not happy.

People make garlands of

flowers to be used as offerings.

We bought an offering and

placed it at the spirit house

at our hotel at the request

of Uncle Jamie who isn't

on this trip with us but

he is in spirit.

I loved this cat who sought

shelter from the rain in

the Spirit House.

Petronas Towers ~ Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Petronus Charm

Dominating the skyline of

Kuala Lumpur are the

Petronas Towers ~ the tallest

twin building in the world.

The buildings are made of

reinforced concrete with

a steel and glass facade.

As we travel around Asia,

so many people think our

son Brennan is Harry Potter.

He has really caused quite

a stir with people pointing

and calling Harry Potter!

So we had him cast a petronus

charm in front of the

Petronas Towers.

Expecto Patronum!



Mae Taeng Elephant Park

Sometimes It's Fun to Be a Tourist

We aren't big tour group kinds

of travelers.  We find our way

around on local transit, eat the

local foods, wander through

lonely streets, etc.  But every

once in a while taking a tour

is a fun thing.  We planned to

head up into the mountains

outside Chiang Mai and our

local truck taxi driver suggested

 a visit to the Elephant Park.

We had a great time!

First the elephants took

 a bath in the river.

Okay, this is where it did

get rather touristy with the

feeding of the elephants and

the elephants dancing...

...but then, the elephants

painted.  It was amazing.  If

 I had not seen it with my own

eyes I wouldn't have believed it.

Later that night we were showing

some new friends the photos of

the paintings and 3 of us in the

group had Fine Art degrees and

we couldn't get over how well

that darn elephant could paint.

Next it was the highlight of the

day ~ we got to ride the elephants.

I could go on a long journey by

elephant, it was wonderful to

ride atop this majestic animal.

Next we took an oxcart

ride.  That was not so nice,

it hurt to bump along the dirt paths.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch

beside a beautiful garden.

And then it was time for

the bamboo raft ride down the

river, which should have been

fun.  But in typical Murphy's Law

fashion, the monsoon rain started as

soon as we set off.  It was a long

ride down that river.

Even our sweet, kind taxi

driver had to laugh when he

saw us, we were drenched!

I was very glad he was there

to drive us back to the Villa.



Wat Pho ~ Bangkok

The Temple of the Reclining Buddha

The Wat Pho temple complex in

Bangkok, Thailand has the largest

reclining Buddha in Thailand.

The statue is 46 metres long.

On the soles of the feet of the

statue are signs of the Buddha.

People make offerings of

beautiful arrangements of

lotus flowers which are

the flower of the Buddha.

The head of the Buddha

from behind, resting on pillows.

The statue shows the

Buddha in repose.

Wat Pho is the temple

with the most Buddhas

in Thailand.