Us.....

These are a bunch of photos i had that i just wanted to put up. Most were taken either at home, or at the Dam. The Dam is just a few minutes away, and has a big park area around it.

Many Angry Monkeys.....

One of the highlights of my time here, was to go see the monkeys. About 30 min away from us is a larger city called Lopbury. The name means "Monkey City". In the center of this city of about 45,000 people is the remains of an old temple. Here live the Monkeys. I have know idea how they got there, or why they stay. The building is fenced off, but the monkeys are everywhere within a few block radius. They aren't really angry, just curious. They will snatch your camera, or a gold chain off your neck in a New York Instant. There is a team of guys running around there with slingshots, to keep the hairy bandits in line. We also got to go see one of the old palaces that is near by.

Lots of Wats......

"Wat" means temple in Thai. They are all over the place. Just like churches back home. They don't all have monks running about. We went to one a few weeks ago, that is famous, because they have a shrine that is supposed to have Buddha's footprints in it. From what i could see, he had little tiny tiny feet. This was my first time visiting a Wat. I got to pray (I think i just asked to be able to get back up off my knees), and place the incense, and the whole deal. Also, they give you a little folded piece of paper. In it, are a few small sheets of gold leaf. After you pray, you press these onto the shrine, or one of the statues.
Afterwards, you pick up these special hooked sticks, and walk along this row of hanging bells. Tapping each one as you go is supposed to bring good luck. And, yes, I am aware that in the first shot i am doing that dorky peace sign thing, but Palmy made me do it!

The Market....

As you might imagine, there isn't exactly a buttload of things to do around here. But a few times a week, they have these gatherings call "Fast Markets". We always have a market area, but on these days, many other temporary stalls open up, for the morning or evening, depending on the day. Alot of what they sell is produce, but there are also lots of stands with food, jewelry, or clothes. It's like a flea Market. I like to look alot, but i don't buy much. You have to haggle a bit, and i can't speak the language well enough yet to do that without pissing them off. Haaa!

Our Home...

As i said before, we are about 2 hours north of Bangkok in a little village called Pattananikom. That's a shot of the front of our house, and Puk standing by Roong's little car. Thats Palmy peaking out the front door in the other one. All the houses have bars on everything, and no yards. It seems a quiet place to live so far. I am not sure what they are worried about, but all the little cinderblock houses look alike. The other photos are Roong standing in the bedroom, and a shot of our street.

Bangkok....

I made it to Bangkok! I didn't get any photos on the way. The only interesting place i stopped in was Tokyo, but i didn't have time to go anywhere. I didn't take any pictures, because i am not used to the digital camera yet. I kept worrying about saving film! Haaa! I forgot that i can keep like 250 shots on the damn thing, oh well. This is pretty typical street scene. Lots of scooters, or mopeds, or whatever you call them. We go there once every few weeks or so, so i will add more photos to this page as i get them.

Good-bye St.Louis.......

Isn't this mess about the scariest thing you've ever seen? This is my room about 2 nights before I left for Thailand. I tried to pack my suitcases, but I kept having to redue them because I changed my mind on what to take. So I just threw everything on the floor, and packed them both at the same time. Of course i did this 5 or 6 times. Yeesh!
A few nights before i left, i went and had one last blast at Hooters. The photos are of Joel, Jason, Becky and Lydia, Di, and a girl who's name i can't remember, but looked entirely too hot to leave out. ( Jason, if you ever see this blog, send me your e-mail addy, or phone number, because i can't find my address book!)

The girls.....

I couldn't figure out how to get more photos where i wanted them in that first post, so i will use this one to introduce you to the rest of the family. Here are a few shots of our daughters Palmy and Puk. Thats Palmy on the left and Puk on the right, and Puk giving the peace sign (why do all asian girls do that?). Palmy is a senior in high school this year, and will be off to University next year. Puk lives on KFC and hides in her room playing video games, so i don't know a damn thing about her (Haaaa!). The hairy one on the right is Bongo. Bongo and i had an interesting first few weeks. She is not accustomed to strangers, especially men. So if i went out to smoke a cigarette or something, she wouldn't let me back in. That got old very quickly. But i found that by giving her treats, and letting her come inside with the air conditioning during the day, she was a bit friendlier. Now we get along pretty good...most of the time.

Our Thailand Adventure.....

Hi all, and welcome to our blog site.
This is kind of a record of our life in Thailand. I wish i had more photos to use from these first few weeks, but things were rather hectic to say the least. I will try and be better about showing you what goes on here.

Our story begins....... My name is Don. I moved to Pattananikom Thailand about 7 weeks ago. I live here now with my wife Roong, and our two daughters Palmy (17) and Puk (13), and a psycho dog named Bongo.

Pattananikom is about 2 hours north of Bangkok, and has a population of about 6000 people. It is mostly an agricultural district, with lots of farms scattered about. They grow all types of veggies. Most of which look like something out of a Star Trek episode. But during the fall months there is a vast crop of huge sunflowers harvested. It draws many tourists I hear. In the next posts, i will get some photos my last days in the USA, and the first few weeks here.......