Cheonggye Stream Visit

Recently AJ and I paid a visit to the Cheonggye Stream in Seoul. The original stream was covered over with concrete because of sanitary reasons. The current one has been recently restored and is a manmade artificial stream built where the original stream flowed some years ago. If you would like to read more about the project then click on this Wikipedia link to read about it all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheonggye_Stream.

We took the subway this time and came out the wrong exit so we had to work our way around on tera firma to find Cheonggye Square. Sometimes that can be harder than it sounds. Tall buildings block the view and even crossing the street in some areas is not allowed so one has to go back down into the subway to get to the other side of the road.

We went the morning after Korea lost the soccer game that sent them home from the World Cup in Germany so there were still soccer signs everywhere. Koreans like to think that they are big soccer fans but, in my opinion, their ferver is just a shameless display of fanatical nationalism. If they were such big fans of the game then the Korean National League wouldn't have such dismal attendance.

The stream is impossible to see from a distance at ground level. A road runs along each side and if you weren't paying attention you would never know it's there. A waterfall marks the entrance at Cheonggye Square and is quite pretty. The sidewalk leading down to the stream slopes down the side of the falls. There was not much of a crowd probably because everyone stayed up late to watch the game. Great, we planned it perfectly. I was surprised to find everything so clean. The temperature was just right. To steal a quote from Goldilocks it was not to hot and not to cold...it was just right. As we walked down the sloping sidewalk the stream stretched out in front of us as far as you could see with sidewalks serving as creek banks on each side. The tall buildings on each side sort of disapperared as we reached the ground level. An obvious engineering design to allow visitors to escape the ever present visuals that are the big city. They were unseen that is as long as you didn't look up.



Being from the country I enjoyed the sound of the running water over the rocks and even though it was fake I will admit that the engineers should get an A for realism. Some segments of the stream banks had grass growing amoung the rocks that were presumably placed as nature would have dropped them there. There was a nice semblance of realism to the whole thing but it still felt sort of cartoonish. All along the route people walked and took pictures. Under the shade of the bridges people sat and dangled their bare feet in the water. It's probably hard for most of my southern brethren to imagine but I would bet that the majority of the people in Seoul, especially the children, have never been swiming in a real creek or river. The kids were playing in the water along
the banks but if any of the "Stream Monitors"
came along they were hit with a whistle blast and told to get out. The "Stream Monitors" were all of the senior citizen class and wore a blue vest and around their necks hung a whistle. They did a good job keeping everyone in order. All they needed was a tin star and a fake six-shooter for effect.

AJ was no different than all of the other wet-footers because she had to dip her feet in the creek everytime she had the chance and she only had the chance when I allowed her. I can do that because I'm the Daddy. She would have walked in the water the entire way if she could have. I let her get in the water with her shoes on so she would not have to keep taking them on and off. She liked that but was not used to walking around with squeaky shoes. She got her shorts wet too and was worried that they would get dirty. This would have been a perfect creek to tube down.

The water was clear and there was very little trash floating down. Only a couple of plastic bags were guilty of heaving themselves into the slow moving water. Surely no people in this country would ever litter...yea right! Stone bridges allowed people to cross all along the creek and AJ had to cross back and forth on each one. It's funny what kids think are important and it's scary that we parents can't see why that the little things are so important, not just to them, but to us all. What I mean is that as we go through life with our kids and when they want to do something simple then parents have a tendence to say "no" when we should say sure go for it and have fun. Everyday that we spend with our kids is a day that cannot be repeated ever and those days are limited. Each precious moment and each event with our children and loved ones all stack up to form our history as a family. Life is a one way street; there are no u-turns, no replays, and no rewinds so drive slow, enjoy the view and every chance that you get you should stop at all the fun-spots along the way.

We were having a great time and then...one of us had to pee. I can't remember whether it was me, her or both of us. Needless to say there are no places to releive yourself along the Cheonggye Stream. We had to climb the stairs up onto the street and search for a restroom. After walking a considerable distance we finally found the public bathroom that ended up being in a pre-fab building in a parking lot. Whew, that felt good but they could make it a little easier to find. Maybe a neon sign leading the way or a series of well lit buttons that one could push starting a siren where you could follow the sound. Once we finished we went back down and followed the stream quite a ways down. Stopping along the way so AJ could get wet and play in the water. When we finally climbed back up to the street level we ate and did a little exploring until we finally caught a taxi for the trip back home. Here are a few more pictures of the stream and a few of street venders hawking their wares that we saw on the walk lafterwards.

Rock & Roll Enigma Dies

Syd Barrett, the founder of "Pink Floyd" one of my all-time favorite rock bands, died today. First Johnny Carson and now the founder of Pink Floyd. When your icons of 30 years start dying then you know that your years are numbered as well. I was supposed to be a millinaire by now. I never even thought about getting as old as I am now. I'll never forget what I was doing when I first heard one of the coolest albums ever called "The Wall" by Pink Floyd. I was riding around on Old Columbia road with my cousin Sissy in her tan-colored Vega in 197? when she threw in that new double-album 8-track tape. The whole album from beginning to end was a trip. I have been listening to Pink Floyd for so many years it's embarrasing. I purchased their album "The Dark Side of The Moon" and have listened to it so many times since then that I cannot count. The first time that I heard the song about Syd called "Wish You Were Here" I was at Butch Pruitts house in Berlin, TN. Butch had a killer stereo and could halfway strum a guitar. He had a room on the 2d floor and his parents let him play his music loud which is how Pink Flyd should be played. The lyrics of that song mesh with the music so naturally that to me, it seems that it was not written or created but just always was...like sunlight or snow being cold. Until today I did not know that that song was written about Syd nor why. The reasons for his quick exit from the band are puzzling to me. I don't undertand how he could have had such a unique musical talent, could know which people to put together to form Pink Floyd and yet he could not understand that taking LSD everyday would fry his brain. You can't question fate though. The LSD could have been the reason he created the band. Who knows! One thing is for sure the music that he inspired will span far past the lives of all of us who are reading this today. I was lucky enough to see Roger Waters in one of the only times that I can remember that a top name band came to Korea. It was a great concert. I would love to go see the reunion tour of Pink Floyd if it ever came to be. Unfortunatly it is my understanding that Waters and Gilmore do not get along for whatever reasons and a reunion tour is unlikely. I think it's ironic that Gilmore, who was Syd's replacement, would later be the catylyst for the break up of the band.

In closing I would like to say thank you Syd Barrett. Words cannot express my extreme gratitude for what you helped to create. The enjoyment that I have derived from listening to the music of Pink Floyd is a good thing. I hope that God will take you into Heaven's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame so we can all continue to enjoy your music for eternity.

Anmyeon Island Trip

We recently took a weekend trip to Anmyeon Island. Anmyeon is about 174 kilometers southwest from Seoul and is Korea's sixth largest island. We reserved a Pension which is what Koreans call a studio rental when it's in the country. I do not know why it's called a Pension. The trip down was fairly pleasant, mainly because there was very little traffic. The phrase "very little traffic" is rare in Korea. After packing everything into the van we left about 10:00 a.m. . We packed a lot of stuff but hey, when you are camping you need all that stuff, right. WJ drove about a third of the way and then we stopped at a rest-stop. This place was much bigger than most that you find along the Korean expressways. It even had clean bathrooms which is another rarity here. WJ was tired so I took over the wheel. Driving in Korea has many challenges and the highways have their own set of high speed dangers. There is no Korean Highway Patrol and if you see a Korean Policeman in a car they are not the kind of police that hand out tickets. Yes, there are different kinds of police here. What this means is when driving on the highways about the only way to get a speeding ticket is if you are exceeding the speed limit when you go under one of the cameras that are positioned over the roads. It takes a picture of the driver and your license plate and then you get the ticket in the mail. No worries if you have your concubine with you because they block out the passengers side...just don't let the concubine drive. As long as you slow down to the speed limit when going under the camera you are legal and then you can drive as fast as you want the rest of the way. You can imagine what happens when a line of cars are doing 90 mph and all of a sudden the one up front sees a camera just ahead and throws on his breaks then everyone behind does the same which causes a chain reaction. The problem is that those people that like to tailgate don't have enough time to stop and they rear-end the cars in front of them. The people driving over here are very dangerous and callous and it's frustrating. Luckily we made it and arrived at Anmyeon about 12:30. NEWS FLASH...Just prior to our arrival WJ figured out that she forgot the meat. No steaks, no hot dogs, and no sandwich meat, so to prevent the serious impending carnivorous withdrawals we stopped at a local market to stock up on what was available. When I go camping I have to have some part of a dead animal to grill over charcoal. It's just tradition where I come from. AJ, KK and I got out to stretch our legs and check out the scenery. Here is where the weird weather started to set in. A strange fog started to roll in and I presumed it was rolling in from the ocean. Man that fog was thick. You can look at the sign and get an idea of what it looked like. One minute it would be sunny and the next minute it was 15 degrees cooler with the clouds rushing by like a scene out of Moby Dick or some pirate movie. It was surreal. We also found out that there was a marathon being run down the various beaches and we would have to take the long route to our apartment. WJ came out of the market with a pack of steaks that was full of fat and two packs of baby back ribs with no sauce. I was to later find out that we did not need any sauce for the ribs. Off we go now with meat on board, a heavy fog to make our drive a tad more dangerous, a dog that won't quit whimpering with excitement and no barbecue sauce. I had just taken a well needed bathroom break and so I had no worries.

We rode through the winding roads of the country side, passing in and out of the fog. There were some very pretty forests that we passed through displaying a unique type of tall slanting pine tree. Unlike those in the states these rarely grew straight up but did so at a slight angle up towards the sky. They were very pretty and living in Seoul one learns to enjoy trees and the country side. We finally arrived at our pension. The first thing that I
noticed was that it was quiet. There were very few cars and none of the ambient noise that goes with living in an apartment in a city among 12 million people. Noticeably missing were; people outside yelling, car horns, mopeds and city buses climbing hills under a heavy load, dump trucks, speeding motorcycles, etc. The pension complex was a two-story house that was sectioned off in small studio apartments each with a small attached porch and picnic table. The apartments were nice enough. They were all furnished with a queen size bed, 32" TV, small kitchenette and bathroom. They would have been better with a private entrance but that's not a complaint. They were going to give us a room upstairs but a downstairs room was available so we took that one. We started unloading the van and I quickly worked up a sweat carrying our stuff up the mountain. The 8 steps up the mountain quickly let me know how out of shape I am. Once we got everything situated it was time to check out the beach.

We all got into our swim clothes, except WJ, and with KK in tow we immediately set off to the beach in the wrong direction. When we finally
figured out the right way to go we skipped off along the sun splashed road. I'm good at skipping. As we walked along we could see towards the beach and the sky did not look good. The fog was thick as pea soup but that was not, however, what was disconcerting. As we topped the hill to the beach we found out that...we could not see the beach. The fog was so thick that you could barely see 25 feet in front of you and it was not exactly warm either. We walked down to the seawall and then we saw something that was repulsive and utterly pathetic. The roadside, the seawall and the beach was just littered with trash. It was everywhere. You could not find one square yard that did not have someone's refuge discarded within. All of the beaches that I have ever been to combined did not have this much trash on them. Bottles, food, cans, expended fireworks, all kinds of food wrappers and empty chip bags, fishing equipment, shoes, chairs, pretty much everything that you can throw down on the ground after one is finished with it. The good thing is that the tidal movement in Korea is enormous on it's east coast and the tide had carried away most of the trash from about 20 yards off shore. We could here the surf but could not see it so AJ and I ventured out to find the waters edge.
I jokingly told WJ that if she heard me yelling to yell back so we would know which way to walk. We walked about 50 yards to get to the ocean. As we moved on through the fog we saw that there were a lot more people at the surf's edge than there were at the seawall. AJ immediately found some kids to play with. They were catching some kind of salamander looking creature and jumping and playing in the surf. We hung out there for about 2 hours I guess. Then we headed back to the sea wall. WJ had already left. I figured that she would come on out to the surf before we left but I guessed wrong. As soon as we climbed over the little hill which was about 30 yards from the beach the clouds disappeared and the sun was out. It was really weird.

After we got out of our wet clothes AJ and I started scoping out a place for the tent. We quickly discovered that we only had two locations from which to choose. Either next to the porch or at the bottom of the stairs. We started putting it up next to the stairs but the tent was to big to fit. Here we go now dragging all this stuff back down the hill but AJ was a big help. After we got it staked down and poked the tent poles in the liner then we erected the thing in a jiffy. We even got the raincoat on it. That's what AJ called the rainfly. It actually went up easier than I thought it would since it was so big. I was glad that we did not get any wind or rain that night. This is the first tent that Ashley slept in that she can remember. She later asked me "Daddy, is this really camping?" to which I replied "It's as close as we'll get here.". I can't wait to take her to the Buffalo River in West TN. Now that is camping. Canoeing down the river stopping to swim or fish when the notion strikes. Cruising along and just listening to the sounds of the river. At the end of the day stopping on a gravel bar to pitch a tent and cook a steak and most of all talk with friends about things that make us happy or sometimes about things that don't...yep, that is camping. Mainly it's the camaraderie of family and friends and being in the country that I like most. We took out our air mattress and inflated it with our foot powered bellows. It took a while between AJ and I working the bellows but it worked pretty well aside from the irritating noise that it made. Before we even got it blown up all the way AJ wanted to jump on it. I let her turn flips on it but did not want her to bust it so I told her that there were to be no monkeys jumping on the air mattress this night. She wasted no time starting to invoke the one activity that I allowed her which was to turn flips. She has way to much energy but she was having a lot of fun and that's what counts.

WJ was actively involved in conducting an operational test on the sleeping apparatus. Involvement by AJ and I was not required since we were going to be sleeping in the tent. By the way, putting up a tent makes a person powerful hungry so we broke out the grill and started to cook those fatty steaks and the baby-back ribs with no barbecue sauce. The ribs turned out to be delicious. They had no fat on them at all and all we did was put black pepper and salt on them but they were really really good. Before we left we went and bought some more the next day. We also had some grilled potatoes since WJ also forgot the corn on the cob. We still ate like rich pioneers and even gave most of the steak to the dog so she ate well too.

After we ate then AJ and I went back to the beach. The fog had mostly cleared away by this time and we could even see the surf from the sea wall. Lifes little wonders are what make it so special. We headed off to paly on the beach, watch the sunset and take a few more pictures. AJ jumped off into the water lickety split and was jumping and playing in the surf. KK and I ambled up and down the beach and chased these tiny little crabs. Actually KK chased them while I chased after her trying to make sure that she had plenty of slack in the leash. These little crabs lived in little holes in the sand and rolled up these little sand balls all around their abode. Not sure whether they were just bored or needed these sand balls to impress all their other crab neighbors. I did notice that the bigger crabs had bigger balls...no pun intended. As the sun was setting the tide was slowly coming in and the waves were increasing in size. AJ started trying to jump over the waves and I saw an opportunity to maybe capture a few good pictures of her with the sunset in the background. Taking pictures of a sunset is not the easiest task to start with but when a moving person is throwed into the equation and at the same time the photographer is trying to hold a dog on a leash then it becomes even more difficult. Never fear because Super Photographer is here! I took a lot of pictures hoping that a few would come out clear enough to develope. Later, I was ecstatic when they appeared to turn out as well as they did. Here are a few of the better ones. I like the way that she is shadowed against the backdrop of the sunset and the reflection of the water. AJ was getting some pretty good height on her jumps and that made the shots even better. She had pants on over her bathing suit and since they were soaking wet they kept falling down. I kept having to tell her to pull them up. I hate the baggy pants falling down fad. We stuck around there for quite a while as she jumped and fell and jumped over and over again and again. I have since ordered some of these in 8x10 size and hope that they come out well.

We headed back to the camp site to hang out in the tent for a while before going to bed. The mosquitoes are the same here as they are every where else in the world. The little pests seem to like AJ a lot because she gets bit often and the bites always swell up into big red knots. We coat her in repellent and they still gang up on her. We hung out in the tent for a while and I told her some stories. After AJ went to sleep I read for a while. I'm reading a great book about the 1986 NY Mets called "The Bad Boys Won". The worst part about sleeping in a tent is having to get up in the middle of the night to go pee. We still slept cozy in the tent listening to the crickets and frogs. AJ slept in her sleeping bag but mine was to hot for me. A couple in a building across the parking lot stayed up late talking on their balcony and Koreans talk loud...I wished I could have understood them since I could not sleep with them virtually yelling at each other. I slept like a baby afterwards. We both woke up at about 5:30 am and had to go you know where. We went up to the pension and went to the bathroom and then back down to the tent. AJ started talking and I wanted to go back to sleep. In a bid to get me to stay awake she suggested that I start reading again. She finally went back to sleep and did not wake up again until about 9:30 am. I, mean while, woke back up at 8:00 am and fired up a nice cigar, grabbed my camera and went back to the beach. I figured that a cleaning crew had came in and cleaned the beach and hoped that the visibility was better so I could get some better pictures. At least one of my hopes proved to be true but unfortunatly it was the visibility. The beach was even dirtier and I would not have thought that possible. I don't know why Korean people think that it is okay to litter but they do and they don't care. Could you imagine if you were a tourist that paid money to come here and then this is what you found...I was pissed and I only had to go about 150 miles. Here is some more beach scenery.

The bad thing is that littering is not limited to the beaches here in Korea and is a huge problem for the country and it's image. It's routine for people to litter everywhere. If you finish a coke, cigarette, candy bar then just throw your trash on the ground where you stand...that is the general practice in Korea. Bottom line is that this is their country and if they want to trash it then more power to them but when Koreans wonder why the vast majority of tourists go to Thailand, Japan or China rather than come here on vacation, then I say this is just one of the shining reasons why.

We all ate breakfast and the pack up and trip home was rather uneventful. We were going to stop by and hike through the forest but missed it somehow. We did stop by Songtan and go to Chilies on Osan AB to eat supper. We finally got home and downloaded the van and once again I was reminded that I need to do some more exercising. I would like to go back to Anmyeon Island. It's quiet there and the Forrest and surrounding area is very pretty. As far as Kotji Beach goes though, I will not go back and would not recommend anybody else to travel there either until they get that place cleaned up.

I Love My Parents

I thought that writing about my parents would be nice. I wondered whether I should write about them or too them. I suppose both are in order but it seems that this forum and my intention, which is to share what they have done for me and why I Love them so much, is better served by writing ABOUT them.

I have so many fond memories of my parents and making sure that I write about them with heartfelt words that present them in an epic light is a daunting task. Where do I start? I guess that it is appropriate to tell a little about who they are and how they came to be my parents. My Mother was born in Nashville, TN in 1943. She was the 2d child of what was to be a family of 3 sisters and 2 brothers. Her Father died just a few months before I was born. He fought in WW II and I am told that he was a God fearing man who worked hard and was honest as they came. It is a shame that I never got to meet him. Her Mother, my Momma, had to raise her kids on her husbands Social Security and her meager wages as a nurse but she managed and did well by the family. Mother went to school in TN and decided it was in her best interest to quit at the ripe old age of 16. She would probably agree now that it was not one of her wisest decicions. She has never talked much about school but I do remember her saying that she was a pretty fair basketball player. When she quit I think that she was working at the Gizmo. The Gizmo was a small diner just off of West Commerce about one block off of the square. For those of you from the south you know what "The Square" is don't you. The Gizmo was a typical 50's style diner with the stools in front of the bar and served the kind of short order food that you would expect from a place called the Gizmo. Hamburgers, fries, soup and the like. It is no longer there but I have faded memories of going there as a child and eating soft serve ice cream cones and spinning around on a stool in front of the big bay window overlooking the big world that I would soon enough travel quite extensivly. It serves mentioning that the Gizmo was located only a stones throw from Gordons Hospital where my Mother gave birth to me just a few years later. It sure is a small world but just like my Daddy says "I'd sure hate to paint it". Anyway, the Gizmo is where Mother met Daddy before they were a Mother and Daddy. I will have to get them to tell me the first meeting story in detail. I have always said that I hope God has a big DVD collection that one can view the public parts of peoples lives. The DVD of Mother and Daddy meeting for the first time in the Gizmo would probably prove to be great entertainment. God if you do have this library please don't let Ted Turner colorize it, but then again he probably won't be in your neighborhood. Movies in black and white should remain in black and white. The world seemed a simpler place before movies were colorized don't you think. The area between good and evil was muche wider abd did not seem so blurred.

Mother was and still is a very religious person...Daddy, on the other hand, is a Christian but does not attend Church with Mother very much. I like to think it's because Daddy just doesn't like parties and a Church congregation is close to being a party with a lot of hallelujahs and folks congregating and hugging and so forth.

Daddy was born in Yell, TN and is the oldest of three brothers and two sisters. His parents were known to me as Paw Paw and Granny. Paw Paw shoed horses and more inportantly seen to it that I always had a pony to ride. Granny was a school teacher and always saw to it that I had books to read. Daddy was born in 1941 before Pearl Harbor was attacked causing the US to finally enter into the fray of WW II. On the good side too I might add. If you were newlyweds and just starting a family wouldn't that make you question whether it was the right time to have kids and start a family. Obviously they were not scared and they were right. Daddy was working at Forrest Whitsell Tractor & Implement Co. as a parts man when he met Mother. I wonder what led him into the Gizmo on that fateful day? Reckin' it could have been something as simple as being hungry. Or reckin' that he had heard from friends about that pretty waitress working there. Or maybe he passed by there in his car and noticed her through that big old front window. No matter I guess but the arrows of fate were flying straight and about to cause those two to start a family.

Daddy tells me that he was driving a 1953 Canadian made 4 door White Ford Meteor that had a Ford body with a meteor dash. That surely must have impressed Mother...not! I ain't never even heard of a car like that. Daddy said that at the time Mother did not even have a license. So here we have two people that did not come from rich families, both were working because they had to work so had very little money but had love a plenty. Money don't grow on trees you know. When I asked were they used to go on their dates I was told to the Dairy King and to the stock car races at the Nashville Fairgrounds. I am sure that they went to the Highway 50 Drive-In to catch a few movies from time to time as well. When I get up enough guts I might even ask where they were when Daddy stoled his first kiss...I bet that Mother knows the answer but Daddy probably don't. Men are like that you know. After seven months of dating they decided to tie the knot in Shelbyville, TN in 1961 and they have been married ever since. They have been married for 45 years. That almost makes me want to cry when I think about it because I am so proud of them. They have had their ups and downs just like every other married couple but they never gave up on themselves or our family.

I was born on a cold snowy day in February at Gordons Hospital. Thanks Mother for taking the time to bring me into the world. So far I have enjoyed it immensely. My sister was born four years later in the same hospital. We lived in several homes throughout the years. The first one that I remember was in grandmothers old house in Wheel. It had running water in the kitchen sink but no indoor bathroom. It did however have a nice yard that I had free reign over and in it were many trees and a fence to keep out my grandmothers cows. It worked most of the time unless someone left the walk-in gate open. Homes in those days always had front porches and back porches and this one was no different. The swing on the front porch was always a source of amusement and relaxation, never mind the squeak. The back porch was in a state of disrepair and there was one board that was loose and could be used like a diving board. I remember jumping up and down on that thing for hours. We lived in several more homes throughout the years. Two in Lewisburg, two more back in Wheel plus a stint in a house trailer and then finally they built a home in Wheel where we lived until I left for the Air Force in 1981. None of them were real big but they were comfortable, nice, clean and warm. Their Love provided the nourishment that made them all a healthy home for our hearts and minds to grow and learn. Their discipline generally kept us out of trouble through the years. My sister and I were mischevious as teenagers I guess but we were never mean and we turned out okay I think.

After they married Daddy soon got a job at Heil-Quaker where he worked until he retired at the age of __. He worked there for __ years as a millwright. He worked his way up and eventually became a supervisor. He also worked part-time jobs and one being at the Lewisburg Auto Parts. He used to take me there while he worked and I remember it all. The great big catalogs that they would have to look the parts up in and then figure out which row in which it was located. A customer conversation would go like this; Customer: I need a fuel pump for a 68 Ford Falcon. Daddy: What size engine does it have? Customer: A 289 V8. Daddy: That thing must run pretty good. Customer: Yea, it'll hold it's own that's for sure. Daddy: You want a new one or a rebuilt one? Customer: Better get the rebuilt one, my daughter has to go to the dentist next week. He left me free reign to explore the whole store and I did. I would go all through the machine shop and look at all the stuff out front. I remember one time when one of the guys that worked there had some type of seizure and he was laying on the ground and his mouth was foaming. This guy was real big to and they were having a hard time controlling him. The ambulance came and took him away. That was scary for me.

Heil-Quaker built air-conditioners and I guess management could not always match demand with production so Daddy would get layed off every summer until he built up his seniority. He and some of his friends would do odd-jobs like shingling houses, painting tin rooofs on barns and other stuff. So while school was out I would go with him and would work and get paid doing odd-jobs. I have so many memories of these times but this story ain't about me. Suffice it to say that he was teaching me the value of working and that even through hard times a man that wanted to work could find work to do no matter what. That is a good example to set for a child don't you think.

Mother always worked hard as well. Throughout the years she worked at menial low-paying jobs but she did what she could and put her sweat and time into it as good as anyboby. After leaving the Gizmo she worked at Genesco, Rob-Roy, Sanders Nursing Home and then finally Cosmolab from which she retired last year. She has made everything from shoes to shirts to womens make-up. Let me tell you something else...working in a nursing home ain't no cake walk either. At Rob-Roy I remember getting to go inside the factory to visit on one of those kids days. They made shirts. I remember the big tables loaded with material and these big cutters that they used to cut out the pieces from patterns and the people at rows and rows of sewing machines sewing all the peices together. My Mother used to do what they now do in China and Mexico and she did it to raise us kids. I am proud of of my Mother...more proud than you can know. I am proud of them both.

The fruits of their labor was not for their means...no sir re-bob. The fruits of their labor was passed down to thier kids and if you have not been paying attention I am one of them. Aside from the neccesities I also had great toys. When I was six they bought me a mini-bike which I rode and rode and rode. I pretended that I was Bronson from that TV show "Then Came Bronson" starring Michael Parks. My cousin rode with me a lot too. Bubba even broke the front axle off one time but Daddy fixed it. Daddy could and still can fix just about anything mechanical. When I was nine they bought me a Honda Mini-Trail 50. Boy was I big time when I got that because it had a speedometer and most importantly, a kick starter. I was not selfish either. I let all my friends ride it including Goober who ran it into a ditch and bent the front axle. It still worked though and ride it I did until the engine was past repair. Then came my next and last motorcycle that my parents bought me and I will never forget the circumstances as long as I live. We were at the Little League park in Lewisburg and I had just finished a game. Daddy said that he had to do something so he was not there for the game. When we finsihed me and my friends would play our own baseball game next to the bleachers using a stick and whatever else we could fashion into a ball, usually it was two or three paper coke cups all balled up. Anyway, Daddy comes to get me, Mother and and my sister saying that we have to go home and of course I put up a fight. "I don't want to go, let's stay for the next game" I say. "Nope, come on" he says. "We have to go", and so we started walking towards the parking lot. Soon enough I get a glimpse of our red 1965 Ford F-150 pick-up with twin-I-beam suspension and tied down in the back was a brand new Honda XL-125. It was red too. I could not beleive it. They had not even mentioned that I may be getting a new motorcycle but there it was a real as all get out. The feeling that I had that day was so strong that I am getting emotional writing about it now some 32 years later. I had to go get all my friends to show it off. This thing was huge. 125cc's of raw two-wheeled power. I was so short that I could not straddle it and put both feet on the ground at the same time. Don't take a genious to figure that I was ready to go home know. Over the next four years I rode that motorcycle hard and fast. It was were I spent most of my time except for when I was working hauling hay or feeding chickens and it got me back and forth to do that.

Throughout the years I played baseball and football up until I started 9th grade and then I started working most of the time. By then we had moved back out to Wheel and town was a twenty minute ride one way. Living in the country at that time was not what I wanted because my friends were in town. The only two friends that I had that lived close were Richard and Tim. Tim stayed with his grandmother that lived just down the road but only in the summer and Richard was several years younger than me. I worked hauling hay mostly in the summer anyway. I still rode that motorcycle along every inch of those country roads and can still tell you every curve on each one of them.

When I graduated high-school I became disillusioned with the small town and life there that I miss so now. I joined the US Air Force and then promptly left for Denver and then places beyond. Except for a short stay back in TN during 1986 and 2001 I have usually been overseas or in a state other than TN during my entire adult life. It has taken a tole, I am sure, on my parents. They deserved better I suppose but I felt that the world was a place to see and not just read about. I envy the fact that my parents have been able to stay at home in TN all their lives but I also have to think that if I had stayed there things could have turned out worse for me. They both took care of their Mothers in their waning days and I admire them for that and a host of other things that we just don't get around to talking about. They never missed a birthday card or failed to help me when I needed it most. Never failed to whack me across the butt when I needed it either. It's hard to mention all the ways that I could have done better by them. Supposing that they understand is something that I take for granted but I don't do so without some guilt. Right now there is nothing that I would like more than to be there for them all the time to help them in their golden years but reality dictates a different tale.

There are so many other things that you have done for me that hopfully I will get around to writing or telling you about also so just let me say that my heart is always with you and my Love for you runs deep into the core of my soul. I guess at some point I quit writing about you but more to you and that is okay. Just know that everything that is good in me stems from the scarifices that you bore on my behalf and from the way that you raised me. There are not two more people on God's green earth that I would rather have as parents.

Beijing China Trip 1

AJ and I were able to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip to China in July of 2005. It was a two-part trip which included 4 days in Beijing, 5 days on a cruise down the Yangtze River and then back to Beijing for one day before we flew back to Korea. We were touring everyday and I took 1,000s of pictures and over 21 hours of video so there is no way that I can detail the trip into just one blog so I will have to create several. I was not so thrilled about going to Communist China but was thrilled that we were going to get to experience first hand some of the history of a land that has fascinated me since childhood. AJ just knew that she was off on another adventure.

We arrived in Beijing on 1 July 2005. A travel agent was supposed to meet us at the airport. After passing through Customs we exited into the airport and was instead greeted by a huge crowd of people that was composed mostly of young women. At first I thought, "see it's true...I'm not a Rock Star but I look like one in real life". There was a brief few seconds though when they reacted as if we were who they came to see but the screaming quickly died down when they saw that we weren't. They were yelling, screaming and waving posters in Chinese. I thought that communist did not like Western Style hedonistic music. We later found out that the crowd of young ladies were waiting on the famous Korean male singer that goes by the name of "Rain". He was evidently on the same flight that we were on and was in town for a series of concerts. He has even had several concerts in the states. I guess going to see a Korean singer that you can't understand is no different than going to listen to a Rap singer that you can't understand. Anyway, back to finding our travel person. Out of all the agents standing there not one of them was holding a sign that said "H & AJ". After fighting our way back and forth several times through the throngs of young women we finally found our agent that had gotten stuck in traffic and was late.

Enter our travel agent, Ms. Melinda, (not her real name) obviously. She was short had black hair and spoke Chinese. She loaded us up into their very small car and we headed off to the hotel. We barely got all of our luggage into the car. We had to stack what would not fit in the trunk into the back seat and AJ and I sat around it. The first thing that we noticed when we got outside was the heat. Man...it was hottern'a Chinese firecracker. The temperature was over 100 degrees and the humidity seemed higher than that. I knew then that I had not brought enough underarm deodorant. Melinda talked a lot about what we were going to do over the next 4 days and pointed out some landmarks on the way to the Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong which is were we were staying. Melinda spoke very good english but with a heavy accent. I could tell that AJ could not understand most of what she was saying but she nodded her head and smiled even when she was being asked a question. Melinda was enthusiastic though and seemed to know her history well. They dropped us off and we made arrangements to meet them the next morning at 0900.

We had not even got checked in and AJ was asking the question that she always does "Can we go swimming". We found out that the hotel pool was being renovated. They always seem to forget to tell you little details like that when you make reservations. They had made accommodations with an adjacent hotel which was however, not very accommodating to us. We throwed our stuff in the room, changed clothes and immediately set out walking to the other hotel to go swimming in their pool. We ended up staying about 3 hours but with AJ no length of time in a pool is ever enough.

The next day we went to to Tianenmen Square which most remember as the location where the student uprising occurred in 1989 and was squashed by the Chinese government in a bloody clash of which the true details have never been divulged by their government. Never the less this square was really big. Here AJ is with Melinda. Like I
said before it was brutally hot and the sun was shining hotter than Wok oil. The building behind us had something to do with the Chinese communist Party. Here is AJ and I with the entrance to the Forbidden City directly behind us.







The wind was blowing a lot which cooled us down a bit but did nothing for my hair-do. Per Melinda's wish I let AJ wear my hat to help defend her against the hot rays of the sun. I told her that AJ would not wear it for long. AJ just does not like to wear a hat. There was a huge line to a big marble looking building and I asked where they were going and she said that it was the line to go through Chairman Mau's tomb. That is Mao Tse Tung to those of you that don't know. It's the big building in the background. She asked me if I wanted to go see him and I politely said no. What I wanted to say was I really don't care to see the remains of a person that was responsible for the death of tens of millions of innocent people and who caused the destruction of a great number of priceless historical treasures of China. On the other hand...I was surprised that the people were so friendly to us. They always had questions about America and our guide was no different. She never once though said anything bad about her government or it's policies. Probably out of fear. We moved across the expansive square towards the entrance to the Forbidden City and she proceeded to tell us about a lot of the history of the Chinese people. She was very knowlegeable and I had read up on China and watched enough of the Discovery and History Channels to surprise her several times with what I knew about her country. This seemed to surprise her and it obviously made her proud.

Here is a shot of them just inside the Forbidden City. As I predicted AJ gave me back my hat after talking me into buying her an umbrella. I wondered out loud how long it would be before I was totin' that umbrella. Everyone knows about the old saying that "everything is big in Texas" which is true but everything in China is huge . Every building was immense in every sense of the word.













This is the Meridian Gate as viewed from inside the Forbidden City. Built in 1420, it is 37.95 meters high and is the actual main gate of the Forbidden City.

Behind the Meridian Gate, there are five bridges with the courtyard beyond. Further north in the center is Taihemen or the Gate of Supreme Harmony. I'm not sure if these are accurate translations but you can tell that these Emporers were really full of themselves. The river (really a creek) running under the bridges is called the Inner Golden River and the bridges are called the Inner Golden River Bridges...duh! Who'da thunk it. The central bridge was reserved for emperors exclusively. This is the one
that AJ is standing on here. I think it's one of her best pics. I wonder if AJ knows how Princessly she actually looks. I also wondered what would happen if the emperor got tangled up in his smock while crossing the bridge and tripped then fell and broke his leg. Would he let somebody come on the bridge and get him. He probably would but would have to execute them later for stepping on the emperors bridge. There are two bridges flanking each side which were reserved for royal family members while the two outside were for ordinary officials. I guess everyone else had to jump. The bridges have intricately carved marble balustrades with dragon and phoenix motifs. The river also served as a fire break. To think that less than a 100 years ago we could never have come to this place and if we could have somehow possibly made it this far we would have been summarily executed.

The stones that make up the palace courtyard were laid out in an amazingly defensive way...one layer lengthwise and one layer laid crosswise on top of it until there was a total of fifteen layers to protect against assassins from digging tunnels into the palace. And the bricks were specially made to sound nice when walking on, whatever that means. Taihemen, north of the square, is the main gate of the Outer Court and is guarded by a couple of gilded bronze lions which were designed to show imperial dignity. The east one is male, with its front right paw put on a ball, meaning imperial power extended worldwide. The lioness on the west, which is the one that we are standing next to here, puts its front left paw on a lion cub, indicating a prosperous family. We are trying to imitate the lions stance. I guess you could say that we are life imitating art...that's a joke if you didn't notice. I know that's pretty corny but so what. Notice that the gilding has been scraped off which was done by some invading army but from what country escapes my memory. I can't help but think that a woman made these statues. Look at the mane. It looks like someone has put it in curlers. I remember as a kid that my Mother used to look like that about haflway through her beauty shop visits. The curlers went on right before they stuck her under one of those hinged hooded industrial hair dryers that sounded like a jet engine. When she left she could barely get in the car without messing her hair up by scraping it on the inside roof. How they made it so tall I'll never know.


We moved our way around the City and took lots of pictures. This is over the moat that encircles part of the walled compound. There was really so much that we saw it's difficult to talk about all of it and try to keep readers' attention. You really had to be there just to experience the immenseness of the place.

Of course no ancient historical place would be complete without a Starbucks. Right smack in the middle of The Forbidden City is an American Coffee Shop where you have to stand in line to get your coffee, they charge $3.50 for a cup for which there is no such thing as a refill and the workers still expect a tip. AJ and I split an iced coffee which was a mistake on my part. After we worked our way out of the major crowd then AJ spent the next thirty minutes turning cartwheels as we worked our way out of the complex.

We went into a nice garden that was not really a garden in the sense where they grew anything to eat. It was just a place for the royalty to go relax. Looked to me like that is all they did. They sure did everything up right though. Every single area had to have buildings for the folks to set or lay around...it was surreal. How many buildings does an Emperor need?



This alley which went for a long way was supposedly the only part of the Forbidden City that was filmed for the movie The Last Emperor. I am not sure why as the entire place looked like an elaborate movie set.

It seems as if we have walked 10 miles and we are only going to eat lunch. This could be a long day.

Recent Bangkok Trip

This is my first blog so please bear with me as I try to learn to be interesting and not boring, to be informative and but not rattle on and to be upbeat but not nerdy. I only used initials but if you are looking at this you probably know who we are.

We were able to treat Mother to a trip to the Land of Smiles. Thailand is one of mine and AJ's favorite places to visit. The people are nice and there is always so much to see and do. To tell you the truth I would not mind living there...The weather is always warm (sometimes to warm) but it is not cold and that is good in my book. Lots of exiting adventures around every turn and you can't swing a cat anywhere in the country and not hit some of the most delicious food in the world.

Anywho, I think Mother was surprised (I know that I was) that she could still be so adventurous at her age. I do not mean that in a negative way either. My method of sightseeing is often tantamount to picking a place to go and then head in that general direction in anyway that seems easiest, cheapest or most adventourous at the time. At first she was a little uncomfortable about this method but later was able to see that not taking the tour guide every time allows one to see more of the sites and not just the ones that are shown to you.

Here we are in the SkyTrain. It's similar to a subway except its above ground. Well, its actually way above ground as its elevated above the streets as well. Lot's cheaper than a Taxi and much faster. It can get you pretty close to everything in Bangkok. Not real sure where we were going or coming from in this picture but it's not really important. We pretty much took the SkyTrain every time that we could.

Here is another shot of Mother and Ashley on a walkover on Sukhimvit road in Bangkok. Ashley does not look very happy because she just twisted her ankle after she fell off of her platform soled sandal's. I hate those things. If any part of a person attire should be functional it should be their shoes. Pretty is good but if you are prone to fall off of them then what good are they. Women and shoes...I'll never figure it out. The elevated structure behind them and to the left is the SkyTrain track. This was our first day and as you can see Mother looks a little concerned but if you had only been to an overseas Asian country twice in your whole life then you might be a little apprehensive as well. She loosened up later and was a lot more comfortable. I really cannot say enough of how well she did on the trip. I really think that she enjoyed herself and I know that we enjoyed her company.

Another mode of transportation that I liked but was not immediately appreciated by my two travel partners was the commuter river boat. We took the SkyTrain to the Oriental Hotel and and then walked down to the wharf. Before we even got down there we were met by a street hawker trying to sign us up for a tour boat ride. We fended him off and when we got to the wharf we were met by another guy trying to sell us an $80 dollar 1 1/2 hour boat ride. I asked him about the Express Boats and he acted like he didn't know anything about them. Anyway we jumped on the Express River Boat and it cost us about 25 cents each and we could get off anywhere we wanted. The boat was pretty crowded and it was growling and shaking as we took off and scared both of them. It was pretty funny and as you can see that the little one did not like it at all. After much cajoling I convinced here that it was just a big boat and not to be scared of the noise and that it was safe. I was praying that I was right! Keep in mind that this thing was pulling in and out of stops all along the way and this guy could flat drive this boat. We would be in and out really quick. I thrive on this stuff and the little one does to but the vibrations kind of shook her up a bit. Get it!

We visited the the famous Wat Arun Temple, perhaps better known as the Temple of the Dawn, is one of the best known landmarks and one of the most published images of Bangkok. The last Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt that I purchased has this temple as the backdrop. It consists of a massive elongated prang (Khmer-style tower), and is surrounded by four smaller prangs. The prang is described by the Tourism Authority of Thailand as 104m high, while most other sources quote figures around 80-85m. We went up as far as we could but it was almost straight up and I'm way to fat to be climbing in that hot weather and it was hot. It is decorated by bits of porcelain which had previously been used as ballast by merchant boats coming to Bangkok from China, a hallmark of the reign of King Rama III. The Wat had a brief period as host of the celebrated Emerald Buddha, which now resides in nearby Wat Phra Kaew at the Grand Palace. The Wat really looks better from a distance than close up. The grounds are fairly pleasant and peaceful, with good murals and a main Buddha image supposedly designed by King Rama II. We walked up the very steep stairs of the main prang, which gives a reasonable view of the Chao Phraya river. When we left we were going to go to the Royal Palace. However, I failed to bring a map and so we could not poing out our destination to a taxi driver. None of the drivers understood where we wanted to go so we ended up going to Siam Ocean World which is just another name for an Aquarium. It was okay but when you have seen one aquarium you've seen them all unless your 7 years old and they are all the best one you have ever seen.

In the words of Jed Clampett "AJ loves water more'na bullfrog". She would stay in the pool all day and night if I let her. The pool here was no where even close to being as good as the Hard Rock Hotel's pool in Pattaya but it was full of water and that was enough for us. As you can tell from the pictures I have put on a few pounds. I was just sure that all the exercise in the pool was going to lesson my girth by at least an inch...not! Anyway, she drug me and Mother down there at least once a day and sometimes twice. While Mother was able to relax and do one of her favorite pastimes which was doing her word search books... I was relegated to tossing AJ in the air over and over and over for at least two hours at a time. Whew she wore me out. To tell you the truth I had just as much fun as she did just watching her have so much fun. I had to have thrown her once every two minutes. I would go underwater and then she would climb on my shoulders and then I would leap out of the pool and she would jump at the same time launch herself off of my shoulders. You know what...sometimes that hurt a lot. Her feet, when wet, would take on a gecko like form and if she slipped it felt like my skin was being rolled off like knee skin during a fall on a basketball gym floor. The only difference is that it did not make that awful screeching sound. Remember that sound it made when you fell on your bare knees in gym class and then as soon as you stood up and looked at your knee about an inch of skin was rolled back like the top on an opened can of oysters. Boy did that sting and seemed like it took forever to heal. We would also play this game where we would pull ourselves along the edge of the pool going all the way around the pool to see who could go the fastest. AJ won all the time...Boy I am getting old. Not to old to still have fun though.




Our next tour was to the Elephant and crocodile Zoo just outside of Bangkok. The one in Pattaya is much better and the one in Chang Mai is even better than the one in Pattaya...but this one was still very entertaining. AJ has grown to really like elephants as have I. It is normal for grandmother elephants to work up until they are 80 to 90 years old and are as gentle as morning rain. The older females are always more gentle we are told. The greatest aspect of elephants in Thailand are that you get to get up close with them. In the states there are all of the regulatory laws because everyone is afraid that if something goes wrong the zoo will be sued therefore a look but don't touch approach is established. Sure something could go wrong and an elephant could go nuts but that is a part of life and you would actually have a greater chance of dieing in a car crash to or from the zoo than in an altercation with a pachyderm. That is why Thailand is so much fun because they let the individual make the choice to encounter with the elephants or not. Needless to say we chose to encounter and have very fond memories with our adventures. On this trip they only rode the elephants for a 10 minute ride but if this blog works well I will show you other rides that we have taken through jungles, rivers, hillsides and even alongside one of the most famous railways of WWII called the Death Railway alongside the infamous River Kwai but that is another story. The show was very elaborate with examples of work and especially the war between Thailand and Cambodia and how the elephants were used in battle. After the show the up close encounters begin. You can purchase a bunch of bananas or bamboo for 50 cents and feed them to the elephants. This obviously serves two purposes. The elephants get fed at no cost to the zoo and the visitors get to get close to the elephants. The most moving thing about the animals to me are their eyes. They absolutely emit understanding and are full of emotion. You can visibly see feeling in their eyes and it is easy to see. Elephants are amazing animals and their family structure rivals that of their mammalian counterparts called humans. The mothers are the patriarchs and the bulls roam around until it's time to mate. If you think about it their system could be perceived as being more successful than ours in some cases...they never get divorced. You really can't understand how big they are until you're standing right next to them. They are huge but are so docile it's incredible. The pads on their feet make them virtually silent when they move. It is incredible that an animal this big can move so quietly. They are the greatest 4-wheel drives on the planet.
The two girls even went for a short ride. It was Mothers first ride on an elephant and probably AJ's 10th. Don't you think that they both look like they were having a great time. On the other hand the mahout looked hoter'na chinese firecracker. Their ride lasted about 10 minutes and cost a whooping $5. Insurance was not included. Another reason why we love Thailand so much.





Here is AJ with a 2 month old baby elephant. She kept trying to put her trunk in Mothers pockets but I kept missing the shot. It was very funny. Mother fell in love with the orchid farm. She loves flowers and has been able to work with them more since she retired.





There are more different variations of orchids grown in Thailand than in any other country in the world. Orchids are unique in that they do not grow in the ground but rather grow in other plants or structures such as tree branches and rock crevices. So when they are grown for profit the plants are always hanging from elaborate overhead systems. No matter how they are grown they are very pretty and they can grow so many different variations...it is truly a testament to the patience of the growers. They also had a playground that the two girls could not pass up. Without the gray hair it would be hard to be able to tell which one was is the kid. Ain't that what makes life grand. They played up until the time that we had to catch the van back to the hotel.

Our next outing was to one of Bangkok's most traveled to tourist sites The Grand Palace which is full of magnificent buildings displaying a grandeur architectural style with a unique asian flair. Since the founding of Bangkok as the Nations capital by King Rama I, The Grand Palace has been the major architectural symbol of The Thai Royal Family. The Royal Family no longer resides here but lives at Chitralada Palace while The Grand Palace is used only for ceremonial purposes. The main buildings within the Grand Palace compound were built for King Rama V, who was the first Thai King to travel to Europe. I have been to the Grand Plalce several times but this was AJ and Mothers first time. We took the SkyTrain and then a river boat that was for tourist and was less crowded than the last one and it was much more comfortable. As we sat down and enjoyed the ride there was a guide who pointed out the sites as we sloshed and roared up the river. What I always find amazing about historical places is that in the past countless families, warring armies, merchants and sightseers have traveled the same place that we are now on their own adventures that have molded their lives and the particular area and environment. Just being in an historical place makes me feel that all the spirits from the past are plying together to make my trip that much more enjoyable and safe. I know it's wierd but that is how I feel. We visited the grounds and walked around for several hours. The architecture is filled with rounded buildings spiraling up and pointing to the sky and gilded paint schemes that are anointed with very detailed painting schemes which are adorned with shiny mirrored cut tiles that glimmer in a million different shards of light. The entire grounds is abundant in different carvings and statues that are supposed to protect and provide good luck for the palace and it's inhabitants.

The actual buildings where the ceremonies are held is very large but visitors are not allowed inside. The only part were entry is allowed is the armory on the 1st floor which is full of ancient and antique weapons. They have thousands of spears, pikes, knives and swords as well as a huge collection of hundreds of firearms from the US and Europe. There were many early American weapons that were presented to various Kings and dignitaries from Thailand that were presented by companiy founders such as Colt, Winchester and Browning.

The grounds have the standard guards that have to stand in the hot sun and get gawked at all day by passersby but always show no emotion. I could not do that job. My nose would always be itching or some other places in areas that would definitely not be good for someone to get a picture of me scratching. I'm not sure how long their shifts are but even one hour would be a long time in the heat and humidity of Thailand.














Like I said before the journey to and from is often just as exciting and interesting as the place that you are going to or from from (an old Henry Blake quote from MASH). The street back to the wharf was full of hawkers selling a lot of Buddha related items which appeared to be very old but one cannot be sure over here. They were also selling lots of junk. As soon as we left the Palace a woman was trying to sell me some sunglasses and must have followed us for 50 yards continuously dropping her price as we went. I always just politely ignore them and smile and shake my head no and then if they persist I just completely ignore them and continue to go about my business. Sometimes they can be annoyingly persistent. Many sell books about the tourist site and I usually always buy a book that talks about the history to the place that we visited. These hawkers also sell these book at discount prices however, I have discovered that most of them are misprints, have pages that are out of order or are defective in other ways so I always buy in the shops at the site.

When we got back to the wharf we were setting there and started watching what appeared to be a couple of men diving for junk at the waters edge using a small canoe like boat as their diving platform. AJ observed at one point that the person in the boat only had one arm.
They were both slim and muscular. No doubt a result of their daily diving regimen to the bottom searching for salvageable materiel just waiting to be relieved from it's muddy grave. You can't help but feel sorry for people like this but I respect them at the same time for doing what they can to survive. It's hard to see in this photo but the diver has his head just above the surface of the water and had just deposited something that clanged with a metal thud onto the bottom of the boat. Shortly thereafter they motored over to the dock and the one-armed man climed up the side of the dock. AJ was the first to discover that the one-armed man was actually a one-armed woman. Her skin dark and tanned from the sun and her clothes disheveled and worn threadbare. It was the look on her face that was amazing to me and I wish that I could have gotten a picture of her. She wore a resolute and proud expression that was capped off by a big smile. She nodded to us as she went by and I nodded back and smiled at her as well. I wanted to set down with her and hear her stories but she quickly disappeared. It is amazing to me how some people can have so little monitarily and still appear be happy with their life and others can have so much and somehow happiness still eludes thme.

Here is AJ at the pier as we wait for our return ride.







Our hotel room was okay. We tried to get two small beds but because we made our reservations so late we had to take what we could get so Mother or myself had to sleep on the couch every night. Bangkok is still cheap to visit but is still more expensive than the other tourist spots in Thailand. The pool was small but AJ and I usually had it to ourselves so that was okay. During our down time AJ likes to play travel agent with the phone and writing material that is in the room. We also got ourselves a foot massage right across from our hotel room one day. Foot and reflex massage places dot the streets and are quite reasonable. It only costs about $10 for one hour and it is very relaxing. So naturally AJ has to give Mother a foot massage and she actually does a pretty good job herself.

Well we hope you enjoyed reading about our little adventure. Since this is generally for our family and friends we sure hope that all of you are blessed with God's graces and that good fortune runs you over like a freight train. So until next time we say laew phob gan mai or see you again.