Okie Dokie…….

I didn’t mean to leave you with a cliff hanger…..well I guess I did, and it was kinda fun. All the speculation was cool, but no I’m definitely NOT getting married, or starting a hemp farm, or coming home right away. While I wouldn’t call it a “reform school”, my philanthropic pursuits have always been directed at wayward Thai girls. That’s nothing new, so it’s not what I was talking about…..Alright here it is………

In my travels around Southeast Asia, nearly everywhere I go they are selling gemstones. I couldn’t help noticing…..I’m just attracted by shiny objects. All those stones are for sale because Thailand, Cambodia, Viet Nam, and Burma all have mine that produce Rubies, Sapphires, Jade and other precious stones. Now, I don’t know the first thing about that stuff so, all I’ve done up to now is look and say “pretty”.

So what does that have to do with Bangkok? Well, I’ve decided to go to school there and learn the gem trade. The Asian Institute of Gemological Science is in Bangkok. I went there yesterday to check it out. I left the mysterious post, because I wasn’t sure about the plan til after I checked out the school. Now I’m sure about it. I start in two weeks. In six months I’ll be an accredited gemologist. At least it will give me something to do besides improve my pool game and play guitar, and I might be able to make some money at it.

I’m going to miss living in Pattaya, but I’ll be able to come back on weekends. Bangkok can be a little rough, but I’ll be alright. Also once again I’m putting off my trip West to finish my round the world, but I’ll make it back to LA some day. I miss all of you guys, but there is something about this plan that is drawing me forward, and I feel like it’s the right thing for me right now. So wish me luck!

Congrats on the new car Jenny.

Were in Phnom Penh!

Well, our thirty day visas expired yesterday, so we headed out to Phnom Penh again. Even though I was out til around 3 AM last night I managed to get up and get out and about. It's really pretty amazing how many friends we have here now. As usual were having lots of fun, but we'll only be here for the weekend. On Monday were going back to Thailand, and I'm planning to stay in Bangkok for a couple days checking out something that may alter my plans in the near future, and possibly be a big part of my life from now on.

Last day of Songkran

Just like everyone said, today the Thais went all out with the water fight. We went to The Flying Dolphins and joined in the fun. There were people in costumes, and the streets were packed with people “playing Songkran”. They load 55 gallon drums into their pick up trucks and drive around town with five or six, (or ten) people in the back splashing everyone they see. They also have baby powder mixed with water to spread on people. On the sidewalk nearly every business has a barrel or tub of water, and the people from the shop battle everyone going by in trucks. I gotta say it’s a lot more fun to get into the game than just be splashed going by (like I’ve been doing the last few days). Iro had a nice big tub of water out in front of Flying Dolphins, with lots of buckets and bowls to throw water with. We spent the whole afternoon there just getting soaked, and goo covered. Everyone was throwing water, or walking up to people and smearing the baby powder mud on them. It’s amazing how most of the time the recipient of the water, or white goo says “thank you” or ‘Happy New Years” after being abused. On the river we always said thank you to the rafters, but that was after we creamed them. Here they voluntarily submit to the baby powder smear. You cant really get away from it. so you just stand there and take it. After a good smearing with the goo, a bucket of water in the face is actually not so bad. Most of the time people are throwing lukewarm water, but you can take it up a notch by making it ice water. Iro had two huge ice blocks ready when I got there, so we were throwing some really cold water. It was nice sunny day, so it was easy to warm up, but the momentary shock was made for a great reaction. As I said in my last post the water fight ends at 6:00, but this year Bhudda took care of that. At about 5:45 it started pouring down rain. Within 5 minutes the rain made a water fight totally irrelevant, and most everyone disappeared. It rained so hard that the asphalt street, that by late afternoon had become a gray white, returned to it’s original color. I took the pictures below with my phone, so the quality isn’t that great. The digital delay made it so I didn’t catch much water in the air, but you get the idea.

Ya gotta love a water fight.

You can see how much fun this is by the look on Harvey's face.

The streets were packed.

Ya rinse and rinse but never get all the powder off.

Harvey and On reloading.

Songkran

Well, it’s Thai New Years. The Thai’s celebrate, first with a big spring cleaning then a nationwide water fight. It’s pretty crazy here. Yesterday I went out intending to go to Pattaya, but I only got about 1 kilometer before I gave up. Sitting in a traffic jam with trucks filled with people and buckets of water made me reassess my plans. I was already soaked, but when I started approaching some trucks that were throwing water and baby powder, I decided to turn around and go to Jomtien. Jomtien was more of the same. I eventually took refuge in The Flying Dolphins. I was wet, but at least I wasn’t all covered in powder. So far only like 126 people have died in the Songkran celebration, that’s not so bad when you think about a water fight with 64 million people in it. Most of the injuries come from people falling from trucks or motorbikes. They’ve made a law that stops the water fight at 6:00 PM, because so many people were getting hurt at night. I think I’m going to lay low til 6:00 before I go out today.

The very last time I will play dress up in Thailand.