Aw Canada Snow

Alberta Canada has been experiencing a cold snap for the last week. The weather report yesterday said it was -37 degrees Celsius. For some reason they like to add: "feels like -45."
Yes, it does.

My dear friend 'Aw' in Thailand says it is 'lawn jin jin' (very very hot) in Bangkok right now. She says she wishes she was here where it's cold. So for Aw's benefit I will go over a few tips for enjoying this wonderful Alberta weather.

This is me in the cold. The temperature is -33 degrees. Oh my God.

This is my car. I wasn't sure it was my car until I swept some of the snow off it to make sure. By the way, Aw thought it was funny when I told her I drive a 1985 Lincoln Town Car. 'So old Stevie'. But remember it's paid for and it runs.

Okay. Maybe it doesn't run. In Thailand they have Thai massage. In Canada we have 'battery hot tubs'. I didn't plug my car in last night so I had to take my battery inside to warm it up in the sink. And I did actually manage to start my car.

I don't want to go out today but I have to. Today I have an appointment with the International Travel Clinic to get some shots for my upcoming India trip.
I drove to the Travel Clinic where I got some wonderful advice. This is Mary-Beth. She's from the Philippines. She gave me shots in both shoulders and got me excited about visiting her country in the future. I had my consultation with Chris. He's from Northern India and we spent most of the time pouring over a map while he gave me great advice about how and where to travel.

After getting my shots and some very important information about what to do if I eat a bad chapatti, I headed over to see my fellow carpenter; Duncan. This is Duncan's dog; Roxy. This is how Roxy deals with the cold weather.

In Canada when it's cold, we eat. In this case, we had Ted Heller's favorite meal at Ricky's Restaurant; The Roast Beef dinner with Yorkshire pudding. 'Aroi mark mark' (very delicious).

At the end of the day I got a call from my friend Malcome (who sounds just like Raymond Burr). He invited me for dinner at the Olive Garden...where we had some more great food.

I had lots of adventures today but what I enjoyed most was settling in to my Monk's Cell in an unfinished basement room, where I'm staying for a few more days, and reading my Wilbur Smith book. All I kept thinking when I was reading was: 'I wish I was in Bangkok. It's too cold here'.

Cambodia Visa

Cambodia Border, April 18, 2006

So here I am heading to Cambodia to renew my Visa for Thailand. I took a luxury bus to the boarder. I thought it would be a boring trip but when I sat down in my seat I found that the man beside me was a friend I met last year at the Bridge on the River Kwai.

This is Henry from Holland. He has been travelling around the World for several years. He gave me great tips on travelling in Vietnam. I promised to email him when I get there.

This is the Cambodia Boarder at Poi Pet. It reminds me of a refugee path as I see the people heading along on this rough dirt path.

One of the most amazing sights I saw, was this group of men hauling an enormous rice cart across the border.

The border crossing itself, is a modern building. The officers here all wear military uniforms but unlike the border crossing at Pnom Penn, they do not have machine guns.

The whole trip took 15 hours from Khao San Road to Cambodia and back again. This is how our whole group felt by the end of that journey.
The secret to having an enjoyable trip like this is the reading material.

I'm reading Wilber Smith's 'Monsoon'.

'Slow Boat' To Luang Prabang

Laos, April 22, 2005
After staying the night in Pakbeng, our 'Slow Boat' trip down the Mekong River, continues.

I had coffee with some of my friends from the boat here in front of my Guest House. I think I paid three dollars for my room by way.

This very sweet Lao girl made me my lunch. One difference between Laos and Thailand is the bread. Laos learned to make bread from the French, who used to Occupy Laos before the War in Vietnam. Also, the Lao coffee is very unusual. Coffee is very very strong and they pour ten mm of evaporated milk in the bottom of the glass (they usually use glass not mugs) for sweetness and cream.

We had a great view of the Mekong River from where we stayed up on the cliffs.

One of the highlights for me was to see some elephants loading a barge. See Melissa, I knew it was only a matter of times before I would show you elephants. And yes Alex, this is still elephants. Alex and Jude are my friends from England who are teaching in China right now. You can see them in my Posts from Kanchanaburi. China has severe restrictions on the Internet so I have to send these Blog posts in an unusual format so my friends can even read them. Cheers you two!

A Laos man behind me became very animated and insisted I get my camera ready, and sure enough, as we rounded a bend in the river, we saw this amazing Temple inside this ancient cave.

Here we are arriving in the Luang Prabang port. I hope I have as much energy at 60 as my new friend, Hine, has now. He and Heather are on the go, travelling constantly.

This was the end of our boat trip.

I read 300 pages of my Tom Wolfe Novel: A Man In Full, and enjoyed some beautiful scenery and good company along the way.

Sukhothai Snail

Sukhothai, pronouced "Sook-hot-tie'", is the ancient Capital City of Thailand. I arrived yesterday afternoon with a couple from London; Alan and Debbie. Fortunately, they were my protectors til I got here. No one explained where I was staying or how I was getting there. They just pointed at these two and told me to follow them.

We travelled by air conditioned bus from Chiang Mai.

My mom says I've lost weight. I have. 171 lbs as of today Mom. (Talk about a tell-all blog). My goal by April 5th is 167.5 lbs. Okay, on with the story.

When we arrived at the 'Vitoon Guest House' they were given their room key and after I stood there for a while, a smiling Thai woman held up a piece of paper with my name on it and I was all set. By the way, I like to include signs with phone numbers and other information so that a posse can locate me later.

I often forget the important details. You usually are not supplied with toilet paper, drinking water, or a towel. This was the first Guest house that supplied all three. Oh, but there were no sheets on the bed. True. The pack you see is the same one I started out with and everything still fits inside it. I have three changes of clothing and the laundry service is 20 baht.

I really have no sense of direction, as a few of you may recall, so it was an exciting adventure for me to navigate ancient ruins in this strange new/old city. So I simply sat down at an open air cafe and had a coke. That has become my standard way to find the answers I need in Thailand. A few minutes later, Jerry from London England came wheeling in on his bicycle and I immediately invited him to join me. I told him I was looking for some direction and he gave me the ins and outs of exploring the ruins, since he had just finished doing it himself.

Then for the next couple of hours we talked about; what else?, nuclear reactors. Jerry is a Nuclear Engineer in Scotland and he told me he does the same job as Homer Simpson but with marginally better results.

I was the first one up in the Guest House; up at 6am, ready to start exploring. The Guest house was still locked so I had to go out the back way. At 7am there was finally someone around to rent a bicycle from (20 baht for the day) and off I went. Jerry had suggested I go to the far away sites while it was still cool. I went to 'Wat Si Chum' Temple first.

When I explore I like to go by intuition and feel the place out. What I felt here was a contradiction. Around the site itself, I felt very disturbed, as if it had been the scene of some great violence. But when I went into the Temple itself it was a wonderful sensation. Just as with the Golden Mount and several other Temples I have visited, I had the sensation of light-headednes and a sense of floating that originated from the Tisra-Til or third eye. The Crown Chakra also felt like it was being drawn up by the energy. I found that several of the ruins were constructed like this one, and in every case I had the same sensation. It felt like the structures were working like chimneys of Spirit; drawing up the coarse energies of the body, leaving the pure essence in it's place.

I wanted to show you some idea of the size of these statues. There was no one else around most of the time, which is what I wanted. Today I didn't want to be on any one's timetable but my own. These are his fingers.
*My Dear friend Kathy in Calgary mentioned an experience she had the night before I visited this Temple and I forgot to add it from my notes. As I stood in the chamber with the thirty foot Buddha, I saw pigeons flying around the head of the statue, but the sound I heard was the echoing caw-caw-caw of a raven. I also heard what sounded like a coral singing from a long way away. Kathy, I think you told me you had a dream about a raven that night before and when I heard this sound I thought of you. You thought it might be a warning but I think it was more of a remembrance. You may have been picking up on the dichotomy of the feeling of violence outside with the serenity inside the chamber.

At one of the other sites I took this picture of the Buddha.

Something I kept seeing again and again, was this cut in the statue that had been cemented in with plaster. I suspect that someone has hidden something in the solar plexus of several of the statues. I felt I should rename this site 'The Secret City' because it seems that the most important artifacts have been removed or hidden from view.

As I rode along, I felt drawn to a place called "Phra Ruang Dam". I had no idea why I should go there but I felt to go so I did. As I headed along the road to the dam, the bell on my bike kept jingling, which was funny because it didn't work until then. The pitch was the same as a bell I got at the Golden Temple the other day. It woke me up as if to tell me something important was happening.

I saw a sign just before the dam that read: "Experience is the creator of Knowledge".

When I finally got there I was starting to feel the effects of the 40 degree temperatures, and so I headed into the park where the Dam was and went down to the reservoir to cool down. There was no one in the whole place except me.

When I got to the shore I suddenly spotted a snail shell. It was the only one on the whole rocky beach. I immediately thought of the incident I wrote about in my post: The Voice Of The Silence. My Universe felt very comfortable at that moment. I felt I was meant to find that shell. To be all alone, on the shore of this beautiful lake and see symbol that sat there just for me to find, made a chill run down my spine. When I found the shell, I sat down and wrote: "This small shell calls to me: 'remember, remember'. I swim n the water and listen to the birds and hear the few flies that buzz around . I cool my body and take off my shirt and rinse it in the water. 'Remember', the Voice whispers. The Heart beats in Silence until you listen for it."

I would enjoy hearing your interpretation of what you think this experience represents.

Note: I wrote this Post the same day I had this experience. Last night when I got back to Bangkok, I was so drowsy I accidentally deleted most of my pictures; which isn't really such a loss because most of them were of sites you can see better on post cards. As far as the snail shell, I have it with me but it is so smelly I'm afraid to take it out of it's bag until I get it cleaned. I will take a picture of it later and add it here. But for now, if someone could find the Dam I was at, on the Internet and send me the link or some pictures of it, I would be truly grateful. This is what the sign said: 'Sariphong (PHRA RUANG DAM). I noticed there were 193 new hits on this site in the last 10 hours. One of you must be able to find this dam dam.

My Favorite Quotes- Tell Me Yours

"I'm not afraid of dying. I just don't want to be there when it happens." Woody Allen

"My Mind is rusted open" anon

"Sometimes you've got to 'fall' with the punch" Diana Love

Definition of Evil: Making less of what is Good Steve Tennant

"My life has a great cast of characters. I just haven't figured out the plot." Ashley Brilliant

"When your only tool is a hammer, everything tends to look like a nail."
unknown

"It's easier to apologize that to ask permission." unknown

"Plagiarism is when you steal from a source. When you steal from MORE than one source, that's called research." unknown

"When everybody is against you, paranoia is just good sense." Johnny Fever (WKRP In Cincinnati)

"Evil persists when good men do nothing." unknown

"Too much of a good thing... is wonderful" Mae West

"Where ever you go, there you are" Buckaroo Bonsai

2005 Books I Read

Books
Jan: Goodkind, Terry; Soul of the Fire
Jan: Cummings, Joe et al; Lonely Planet Thailand

2004 Books I Read

2004 Books
Jan: King, Stephen; Four Past Midnight
Jan: Posner, Gerald; Cased Closed; Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK
Feb: Gerber, Michael E.; The E Myth Revisited
Feb: House Of Sand And Fog
Mar: Atwood, Margaret; Alias Grace
Mar: The Secret Life Of Bees
Mar: Kennedy, John F.; Profiles In Courage
Mar: Lahiri,Jhumpa; Interpreter of Maladies
Apr: Norwood, Robin; Women Who Love Too Much
June: Irwin, Robert; Find It Buy It Fix It
July: Investing In Condominiums
July: Autistic Boy dog book
July: Sherwood, Ben; The Death And Life Of Charlie St. Cloud
July: Osborn, John Jay; The Man Who Owned New York
Aug: King, Stephen, Hearts In Atlantis
Aug: Haanel,Charles F.; The Master Key
Aug: L'amour,Louis; Haunted Mesa
Sept: Goodkind, Terry; Wizard's First
Oct: Goodkind, Terry; Stone Of Tears
Nov: Goodkind, Terry; Blood Of The Fold
Dec: Goodkind, Terry; Temple Of The Winds

2004 Audio Books
Jan: Flow
Jan: Martini; The Judge
Feb: King, Stephen; On Writing
Feb: Ludlum, Robert; The Sigma Protocol
Feb: Harrison, Colin; After burn
Mar: Berners-Lee, Tim; Weaving The Web
Mar: King, Stephen; Quitters Inc.
Mar: King, Stephen; Mrs. Todd's Shortcut
Mar: Tartt, Donna; The Secret History
Mar: Carlson, Charles B.; Eight Steps To Seven Figures
Mar: Bach, Richard; Illusions
Mar: Groom, Winston; Gump & Co.
Apr: King, Stephen; Thinner
Apr: Clancey, Tom; Op-Centre Mirror Image
Apr: The Tibetan Book Of Living And Dying
May: Jane Roberts; Seth Speaks
May: Castenada, Carlos; A Separate Reality
June: Cayce, Edgar; An American Prophet
June: Wolfe, Tom; Ambush At Fort Bragg
July: Ludlum, Robert; The Bourne Ultimatum
July: Bell;Strieber; The Coming Global Superstorm
July: Stein, Harry, Infinity's Child
July: Darnton, John; The Experiment
Aug: Baldacci, David; The Winner
Aug: Mailer, Norman; An American Dream
Aug: Peters, Tom; Reinventing Work
Aug: The Girl In The Plain Brown Wrapper

2003 Books I Read

2003 Books
Jan: Auel, Jean M.: The Shelters of Stone ***
Jan: King, Stephen: The Stand (Complete) ***
Jan: Kolata, Gina: Flu ****
Feb: King, Stephen: On Writing *****
Feb: Bramley, William: The Gods of Eden *****
Mar: Tennant, Patricia, Tunnel Of Light ***
Mar: Adams, Richard, Watership Down ****
April: Kingsolver, Barbara; The Poisonwood Bible ***
May: Davey, Cyril J.; The Story Of Sadhu Sundar Singh **
May: Minstry, Rohinton; A Fine Balance ****
May: Garcia Marquez, Gabriel; Love In The Time Of Cholera ****
June: Castaneda, Carlos, The Power Of Silence ***
June: Minstry, Rohinton; Such a Long Journey ***
June: Brown, Dee; Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee *****
June: Vidal, Gore; Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace ****
June: Barclay, David; Aliens The Final Answer *****
July: The Dancing Wu Li Masters ****
July: Hitler, Adolf: Mein Kampf **
July: Nilus, Sergyei; The Protocols Of The Learned Elders Of Zion: This is the document that was left on the desk of the British museum
July: Marx, Engels: The Communist Manifesto **
July: Bayat & Jamnia, Tales From The Land Of The Sufis ****
July: Parker, John: The Gurkhas **
July: The Rubayyat of Omar Khayyam (Poem) ****
July: Bach, Richard, Writer Ferrets: Chasing The Muse ***
Aug: Paret, Peter; Makers Of Modern Strategy *
Aug: Fynn, Mr God This Is Anna ****
Aug: Constitution For The United States Of America *****
Aug: Robbins, Alexandra: Secrets Of The Tomb *
Aug: Picknett, Prince, Prior; Double Standards *****
Aug: Schauf, Thomas D., Federal Reserve Conspiracy ***
Aug: McFadden, Louis, Federal Reserve Remarks In Congress ***
Sept: Grisham, John; The Runaway Jury: What a great read. Grisham is hilarious. He tells the story of a Jury in a Big Tobacco trial. Everyone is busy bribing and blackmailing and cheating everyone else. You just don't quite know where it's going until the last page. *****
Sept: Sutton, Anthony; America’s Secret Establishment *****
Sept: Vidal, Gore; Dreaming War: ***** This is an incredible book for putting the elements of American History together. The essay that hit me the most was Gore Vidal's piece on the World Trade Center Bombings of 911. Reading his book is like giving yourself a mental shake and waking up to what's happening around you, if only for a short time.
Sept: Martel, Yann; ***** Life Of Pi: Everyone kept saying how awesome this book is, when they saw I was reading it. They were right. It makes little bombs go off in your head long after you finish reading it. It's a love story. It's an heroic story. It's a horror story. It's still blowing my mind...

Sept: Love,Stanley G; Genesis Cannot Be The Word Of God:** Stan Love was my father-in-law at one time. He has spent years researching the Bible. He hasn't managed to find a publisher for his book but he certainly has done a lot of work. I find his book argumentative and although he makes some interesting points, he tends to end up saying that because you couldn't possibly fit all those animals in one boat the story must be untrue. I find myself wanting to know the answer to the question he keeps leaving alone:If the Bible is made up, who fabricated it and why?

Sept: Diamond, Jared; Guns, Germs, And Steel **
Nov: Cranston, Sylvia; H. P. B.: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky
Oct: Loewen, James W.; Lies My Teacher Told Me
Nov: Albom, Mitch; The Five People You Meet In Heaven
Nov: Vidal, Gore; Lincoln
Dec: Lamb, Wally; She's Come Undone
Dec: Lamb, Wally; I Know This Much Is True

2003 Audiobooks
Jan: Verne, Jules; Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
Jan: Clancy, Tom; Red Rabbit
Jan: Clancy, Tom; Rainbow Six
Jan: Cussler, Clive; The Mediterranean Caper
Feb: The Millionaire Next Door
Feb: Douglas Adams; Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
June: Creighton, Michael; Prey
June: Vidal, Gore; The Golden Age
June: Ludlum, Robert; The Cassandra Compact
July: Broad, Miller, Engelberg; Germs: Biological Weapons
July: Alder, Ken: The Measure Of All Things
July: Voigt, Cynthia; The Runner
July: King, Stephen; Everything’s Eventual
Aug: Sherwood, Ben; The Man Who Ate The 747
Aug: Patterson, James; The Jester
Sept: Creighton, Michael; Airframe: I'm hot and cold on Creighton. This one was totally absorbing. A great listen.*****
Sept: Gods and Generals: It was well done. It just didn't take me anywhere new. Suddenly the story ended and I felt ripped off.**
Sept: Tennant, Mike; Radio Spots
Sept: King, Stephen; Blood & Smoke: He reads this one himself and it's fun to hear him reading his own stuff. I loved his first story about the man going to meet his wife and her lawyer about a divorce. What happens next is totally bizarre. He also brings an amazing element to his story about Room 1408, told about a phony ghost investigator who gets more than he bargained for when he stays overnight. ****
Sept: World War II Europe
Sept: Power Failure
Oct: Cannell, Stephen J.;Runaway Heart
Oct: Flynn, Vince; Separation Of Power: What's really interesting about this novel is that it has a plot about going into Baghdad and raiding a secret installation that houses three atomic bombs that are in production. This is George W. Bush's plan come to life. The novel was released in 2001; two years before the Iraq War. The only difference between fantasy and reality is that in the book they found the weapons. It's a good listen. ****
Oct: Ivins,Molly and Dubose,Lou; Bushwacked
Oct: Shaara,Jeffrey M.; Rise To Rebellion
Oct: Memoirs Of A Geisha
Oct: George Bernard Shaw; Pygmalion
Nov: London, Jack; The Call Of The Wild
Nov: Winchester, Simon; The Map That Changed The World
Nov: Clancey, Tom; Net Force A very entertaining listen but just one thing...that place in Idaho is pronounced 'Core-dah-lane' not 'Core-dah-leen!!!'
Nov: Potshot
Dec: One Minute Millionaire
Dec: Browne, Sylvia; Book Of Angels
Dec: What Should I Do With The Rest Of My Life
Dec: Christmas Present

2002 Books I Read

2002 Books
June: Saramago, Jose’: Blindness *****
June: Jin, Ha: Waiting ****
June: Bohjalian, Chris: Midwives ****
June: Ludlum, Robert: The Bourne Identity ****
July: Auel, Jean M.: Clan of the Cave Bear *****
Aug: Auel, Jean M.: The Valley of The Horses ****
Sept: Auel, Jean M. :The Plains of Passage ****
Oct: Auel, Jean M.: The Mammoth Hunters *****
Nov: Rivers, Francine: Redeeming Love ****
Dec: Lahaye, Tim; Jenkins, Jerry B. :Left Behind ***
Dec: Sylvia Browne; Life On The Other Side ****
Dec: Altea, Rosemary: The Eagle and The Rose*

2002 Audio Books
Verne, Jules; Journey To The Center Of The Earth ****
Clancy, Tom; Red Rabbit
Star Trek: The Valiant
Star Trek: Kahless
Nemesis
I Know What You Need
Sherlock Holmes: Adventure of the...
King, Stephen; Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
King, Stephen; Insomnia (incomplete)
Clancy, Tom; Rainbow Six
Cussler, Clive; Floodtide
King, Stephen; The Bogeyman
Critchton, Michael; Timeline

Oct: Anthony Robbins; Personal Power II ***
November: Anthony Robbins; Get The Edge ***