Culturally sound

hello, how are tricks?

I moved over to Sing buri which is north of Bangkok on Monday 18th March to an eco house where i will be based for the next few weeks. It is on the banks of the Noi (little) river. It is in pretty grounds and my accomodation is really nice. The showers are cold which is great because with the constant humidity i need it. I do not feel it is as hot here as Zim and Zambia but the humidity makes it uncomfortable, 37 degrees on Friday!!.

On Tuesday the 19th we had a tour around the Singburi town and after lunch we learnt some Thai words. In the evening we were asked to join a Thai English group whom get together once a month and aim to practicwe their English. At the same time Karaoke is happening tooand listening to some of the Thais singing in English is quite funny if you are English but the Thais (especially the older ones) take it very serious indeed. When your guide is singing Glen medeiros nothing is gonna change my love for you, there isn't much you can do but to laugh hysterically.

Wedenesday the 19th march, Sandra and myself and the guides had a walk around the local village, if there is one thing i do not like about Thai is the number of dogs there are and they bark at you, will make a note to avoid, do not want rabies!!! in the evening we went out with some of the other volunteers here who are working at the local orphange. karaoke again, this evening, lots of fun and laughter and some of the younger guides joined in too and had a ball. I even had a go and apparently i am quite good, however i think this was in comparison with the Thais and not how good i actually am.

Thursday and Friday was spent visiting alot of temples and museums, the museum was brilliant although i am a bit bored with temples already although i am impressed with the architecture and the detail on the buildings. On Friday we also went to an AIDS temple, it is a bit like a local hospice but it has a lot of educational stuff in there too. Rather strangely at the front was a building with past residence bodies on show. Each person in there had donated there bodies to the cause and wanted others to learn from how there bodies had changed as a result of HIV. And... even stranger was ornaments in the grounds that had been made by an artist from bone resin of past residence. Very strange place but interesting all the same, however i can see how people might feel uncomfortable by it but the residence are not on show and consent is always given if necessary.

Saturday 24th march, we went on a tour of some local farms and sampled some fruits. One was a rose apple garden surrounded by irrigation channels. We went on a little boat up and down the channels and sampled the fruit.

For those of you who wanted me to brush up on my cooking skills i have a recipe for Soy Pad Thai noodles and Papaya salad, i had a go at making it and it was quite nice. Next week i am actually going to stay at a temple, so i will be back next week to tell you all about that.


Love Andreax