Ok, so the last blog was a little disjointed and I have some more time now. So the village we were at for our homestay are living in the forest that the government wants to use for tourism. Right now they have an agreement with the government that basically says if the government can find them land somewhere else they have to leave unless they can prove that they have been on their land for over 50 years. Unfortunately, there just weren't legal land titles and other documents like that 50 years ago so they have no way to prove it. What they want to do is increase tourism so the government will leave them alone while at the same time maintaining the lifestyle they have. The next day we woke up at 6am, helped our meh cook breakfast and then we hiked up a mountain to get to these caves that I think are the big tourist draw. They had cave drawings and chrystals and stuff. The villagers asked if a historian could help date the cave drawings to prove they were over 50 years old. And then we traveled to Khon Kaen. Its kind of a crazy place. The actual campus is maybe 20 minutes from the city but the campus itself is a city. It is HUGE. Everything you need is right here or you can get a tuk tuk, kind of an open air taxi, to go into downtown Khon Kaen. Tomorrow we are meeting with the president of the University to officially register and stuff, then heading off to a homestay in Khon Kaen until Friday. I don't know if it's because every bed and pillow in Thailand feels like sleeping on a cement block or I'm just not adjusted to the time yet, but I've been waking up at around 6 or 7 every morning. In the village, it was because the roosters were cockadoodle-dooing. Seriously. Then I ahp-naam (shower) which in the village was dumping buckets of water on myself and in the city is standing in the bathroom and using a hose. Also there is no toilet paper. Again, buckets of water or a hose. Its quite an experience.
We've only been here for just over a week but already so much has happened that I can't keep it all straight. I'll be sure to put up pictures soon.
OK. This confirms that someone is reading Coat and Thai. It is wonderful to know that you like the strange Target-less world of Thailand. It seems you have not yet tasted food that must be followed by the contents of a fire extinguisher. We know this or you would have written about it. We readers have something to look forward to, and so do you, Margo.
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