Laura's Year in Asia = Fun Stories

So a couple of pics from my last full week in Wiang Sa. The first is of Pa Pian and one of our other neighbors working on dinner. (Pa Pian is the one with the freshly died hair, she wanted it to look more like my "chocolate hair") A couple of our backyard chickens had to be sacrificed for our Pad Thai Kai...oh well. Its funny though because we just got an email from someone in the GAP offices in Thailand telling us that to be safe in Thailand we should try to stay away from live poultry and poultry products. Well, hmmmmmm. That's ok there's no bird flu in Wiang Sa!

Then there's a glamour shot of Maeve at the Greek Restaurant in Chiang Mai that we went to for her birthday. The anatomically-incorrect mural on the wall really added some ambiance to the whole Greek experience. Not to mention the owner of the place buying her 8 roses, and mixing extra strong Vodka/diet cokes.

Then there are these wonderful shots from "THANK YOU PARTY LAURA AND MO" that the teachers at Sriwiangsawittayakarn gave us last night. Miranda is leaving for Bangkok today, so we had the whole goodbye celebrations already. It was an interesting experiences. First it started with a monk in civillian clothing coming to bless us with good luck for the future. A pretty intricate cerimony that involved us sitting infront of him with the two banana leave statues things that the students made. And a dead chicken or two with some random thai sweets. We held onto the string and Wei'd for about 20 minutes while he chanted and chanted and chanted and chanted (check the webshots album to see who long it went on!) Then he sprinkles us with tap water using a tree sprig and then he took some of the string from the banana leaves and tied them around our writs saying 'BAD OUT BAD OUT BAD OUT GOOD IN GOOD IN GOOD IN' Then each teacher came up and did the same. I've got some hot Avril (pre marriage) cuffs going on here now. Then the teachers made speaches and gave us some little presents. They were actually quite thoughtful since they knew I was heading to India for 3 months, gave me pocket money instead of carpets and cloths and stuff. Then we started the feast of great food. Ate so much that I was sick that night...yuck. But not before the traditional Karaoke stared. Honestly Thai people LIVE by their Karaoke skills, or should I say lack there of. Anyone will sing anything. They tried to get Miranda and I up there, but there was just no way. Some of the teachers went pretty crazy after drinking most of the whiskey and water (100 pipers, it was a special occasion!) Anyways it was a fun night. Off to Nan this weekend to say goodbye to all the farangs I've met there, then ONE MORE WEEK TILL LAOS!!!