Tuesday

Another day draws to a close and Eva and I are exhausted. We reviewed and corrected the grammar and punctuation of several more PH'D powerpoint presentations, attended meetings and then were driven to a temple for a visit. Eva and I have worked out a deal that for every shopping excursion we enjoy, we visit one temple or pagoda. This may seem a little like an act of contrition for rampant consumerism to some ,but in fact the temples here are really beautiful and full of interesting people.Today to our astonishment we discovered a tranquil area right next to the Buddha statue with a sign reading "Monk Chat"-and that's exactly what it was - several young monks sitting around engaged in animated conversations with a bunch of "firengi" -foreigners.Not sure just what they were talking about but it looked interesting. Last night we were taken to the nightly flower market where row after row of stalls were offering masses of beautiful cut flowers ,wholesale. Never ones to pass up a deal,we had a bouquet of orchids and pussywillows-an unlikely pairing,granted,but we liked it-made for us by one of the many androgenous looking people in this area.Then we kept walking and ended up in a very lively, crowded outdoor food market where every imaginable food could be had for pennies (bahts,actually-30 bahts=1dollar) Note the roasted cockroaches yours for a mere 20 baht a bag.I haven't tried those but I did eat some squid stuffed with pork and chili peppers. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.Bye for the moment, keep in touch
Jean