A year living, studying and working around the world
On Saturday we ran a 5K for Justice. Ethan is close to the front on the left, and you might be able to find the rest of us behind him.
We watched group after group of locals posing for photos. Above, Matthew, Ethan and Logan do their best to strike some of the most popular poses.
There were over ten justice categories for which you could choose to run. We ran for LQBTIQ rights.
Ethan finished first overall in the 5K race.
A few weeks ago we hiked up Doi Suthep, the mountain that we see from our living room window. The trail first passes through Wat Sakithaka, a Buddhist temple that is surrounded by the forest.
At the top of the mountain sits Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. The hike up was 4 miles with a 2300ft climb, but the Wat was overcrowded with tourist so we didn’t linger.
We stopped by a little waterfall on the hike back down the mountain.
When I was looking for a condo in Thailand, I was told that a kitchen was not needed as we would never cook. I thought that was ridiculous and booked a place with a large, modern kitchen. I have used it twice.
We eat out twice a day… and I LOVE it. Great food, no cooking, no dishes. And I am not even beginning to get tired of the food.
Below is a small sample of the food we have eaten.
We met up with the Chiang Mai hiking club a few weeks ago for their weekly hike. There were about 25 hikers from at least 7 countries.
They reported a distance of 8.5 miles, elevation gain of 2165 ft, and elevation loss of 3362 ft. Obviously, it wasn’t a loop.
We hiked up and down three peaks with some very steep ascents and descents. In some sections we needed to use the long grass to help pull us up or lower us down (using the grass like ropes to walk down backwards). After the first ascent using the grass, I discovered that I had blood all over my hands and shirt. Turns out… the grass cuts.
Above is the third peak we climbed. The kids and I went up the steep rocky looking face, although the path was good and it did not seem perilous. Matthew ended up with a different group that took a longer route around, avoiding the sharp drop offs.
Each peak had a different statue.
On Friday the kids and I headed to Wat Suan Dok to learn about Buddhism and meditation. There are many meditation retreats in Thailand, most lasting from 10 days to a month. Since none of us want to meditate for days (or perhaps at all), we opted for the one day course for beginners.
Wat Suan Dok
Phra KK taught us about Buddhism in general, and answered questions about living as a monk in Thailand.
He showed us the multiple ways to put on the Thai monk robe. It differs according to activity, and the Thai method is much more complicated than in Laos.
Our day at the Wat happened to be on the day of a large “monk competition”. Monks from all over Thailand came to compete in many categories. We met a 12 year old monk who won his public speaking contest, and seemed appropriately terrified to talk to a room full of adult foreigners.
This appeared to be a sculpting competition. I asked the kids if they thought it was okay to take pictures as I didn’t want to interrupt their sculpting to ask. As I turned to take the photos, a monk ripped out a camera and snapped a photo of Ethan and Logan. Apparently, pale foreign children are as interesting to them as they are to us.
We didn’t actually meditate that long. Phra KK talked a lot about meditating twice a day to calm our “monkey mind”. We meditated about 4 times and the longest was for just over 20 minutes. Many of the sessions were dynamic meditation (moving your hand slowly in patterns and focusing on the movements). It was interesting, but it doesn’t look like the kids (or I) will be picking it up as a regular practice.
A few weeks ago we walked up to Huai Kaeo Waterfall.
This is the view of Chiang Mai from the top of the falls. Our condo is located directly behind the closet tall building in the photo. We are on the 13th and 14th floors so we have a good view of the surrounding mountains.
Scenes from the walk back to our condo
The last two photos are from the grounds of Chiang Mai University. It is a great place for walks or runs as it has much less traffic.
A few last photos from our time in Ljubljana…
On the hill of Castle Ljubljana
The War Museum in Logatec, Slovenia had exhibits from WWI, WWII and the War for an Independent Slovenia (1991). We took a tour of a submarine, which convinced us that we never want to work in a submarine. The tour guide also explained to us that Slovenians are superior to all the other ethnic groups in the former Yugoslovia… and Italians. Doubtful that the Croats, Bosnians etc. would agree with his assessment
Tour of Škocjan Caves, a UNESCO world heritage site. It has the largest known underground canyon in the world. Photos were not allowed inside the cave. Those below are of the exit and grounds.
We are staying in Chiang Mai for three months, so I signed the kids up for lots of activities. The kids and I have Muay Thai three mornings a week from 6:30am to 9:30am.
We always have a run prior to training for Muay Thai. Most mornings we run at a lake about 10 minutes out of town. If we show up on a Wednesday, we run part of the way up a mountain to a temple.
Above is our Muay Thai group on the day of our temple run (the trainers brought a camera to post on facebook). The Muay Thai group changes from day to day; it is mostly Europeans with a few Americans and SE Asians.
After our run, we generally go back to the outdoor gym and work with the trainers. This day (for unknown reasons) we did some drills in a parking lot below the temple. This would have been okay if the trainers had mentioned that this was the plan. They did not, so we were all dying of thirst since no one brought water.
The kids go to a fencing club twice a week for two or three hours.
Ethan lunges.
Logan getting ready for a bout.
They also take voice lessons once a week. Since we also venture out to restaurants or food stalls twice a day, we have little time left over for “school”. At least I covered P.E. on this leg of our journey.
Logan started bringing her ipod for the Muay Thai lake runs. These are her photos.
I am not cooking in Thailand often due to the readily available, cheap and tasty food that we can find on just about every corner. But since we want to be able to continue enjoying Thai food after we leave, we took a cooking class on Sunday.
First we headed to a market to get some tips on picking out ingredients.
We then headed to Sammy’s house, located 20 minutes outside of Chiang Mai. Above Sammy is giving us an introduction to Thai spices.
We made all of the dishes below (and a few others that did not get photographed).
Resting after the main course.
Sammy’s Rice Field.
Rest time was followed by appetizers and dessert.
One of the nicer outdoor toilets in Thailand. We were told to remember your umbrella if you need to use it during the rainy season.
On our last day trip out of Rome, we headed to the city of Tivoli. We first toured Villa d’Este, an estate constructed during the Renaissance. Inside there are plenty of frescos, but the gardens are what make it worth a visit.
The designer seriously loved fountains.
Kids trying to look cool?
We then toured Villa Gregoriana… some ruins, nature paths and caves.
The Temple of Vesta, constructed in the 1st century BC, sits on the hill above the ravine.
Logan was more interested in the cat resting in nearby pot.
I love pasta and enjoyed all the dishes I ate in Italy, however, it seems I didn’t take many photos of my food. Matthew took a few more than I did (see meat and fish below). We could have taken numerous photos of Logan’s pizza margharita as she ate it almost every time we went out, but it appears we only took two.
We are now enjoying Chiang Mai… but I still have a few Italy trips to share.
Ostia Antica is a large archeological site that was the port city of ancient Rome. Walking around the vast ruins of the ancient city, you can imagine what it looked like 2000 years ago.
The theater.
There are lots of murals on the floors of buildings.
And some on walls.
This statue, that Logan calls “creepy babies kissing”, was on many of the brochures for Ostia Antica.
And it is near the coast.
Ethan, Logan and I had our first Muay Thai training session today. You may be wondering why I would sign us up for such a violent sport. I am not sure I have a good answer, but we all had a great time.
First we ran around the lake pictured above. I thought we were going to the the lake right around the corner from the gym, however, it turned out to be the lake that is ten minutes out of town via a fast, busy road / highway. By the time I realized this, we were already sitting in the back of a pick up truck heading out. Logan beamed with joy as we flew down the road. I attempted to calculate the probability of a crash. On the way back to the gym, I threw the previous occupant out of the cab and put all of us in it.
We then attempted to learn to punch, kick, elbow and knee someone. Logan said (with a huge smile), “I never knew it wound be so fun to punch and kick a man!”
Although many of the trainees train twice a day for six days a week, we will probably just do three mornings a week. Ethan wanted to return this afternoon, but it is hot in the afternoon and I need to give my ankles / shins a rest.
(Note to those that worry… we don’t have to actually fight anyone… ever. We punch, kick etc the trainers while they hold pads, but we don’t have to get in the ring and have other punch us. All the other trainees are very fit, 20 year old males, so I don’t think we would have much of a chance. )
The kids and I took introductory Italian classes when we arrived in Italy. Walking to class the first day, we happened upon a bunch of columns and even more tourist. I looked around and guessed that we had bumped into the Vatican (although I was not 100% sure). I think we were the only people there who accidentally stumbled into it.
We waited until Aimee and Tessa arrived to tour the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica. We saw the Sistine Chapel too, but photos are not allowed inside it. I had high hopes for being awed by it after having seen Michelangelo’s David. However, it did not impress any of us as much. Perhaps it was due to the overwhelming crowd almost suffocating us as we tried to peer up.
Laocoön
Vatican
Climbing up to the top of the dome at St. Peters’ Basilica, you first reach the interior balcony at the base of the dome. This turned out to be my favorite part of the climb. You can see the mosiacs up close (behind us) . The view down (below) is stunning (the picture does not do it justice), but a bit nauseating.
Continuing the climb to the top of the dome at St. Peter’s Basilica.
View from the top.
Inside St. Peter’s Basilica.
We arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand yesterday. We have the usual difficulties of a new place: slower internet than was promised, “desk” that is a short table, and no office chair. We generally solve these issues with a bit of time, so no major worries.
On the positive side, we are in food heaven. And even better, the food here is cheap. Last night we ate out for under $6… total… the whole family… including the bottles of water. Lunch, which we bought just outside our condo building, was again… less than $6. Tonight we splurged because I decided to go to a Vietnamese restaurant; we spent $10.
I would post pictures of all the tasty food we ate, but every meal I gobbled it down before I thought to take a picture.
Addendum: Matthew read my post and sent me photos of his food. He has enough patience to take photos prior to eating.
Beef Pho, Fried pork noodle
(the photo on the left is not Matthew’s)
Orvieto is a small city perched on the summit of a giant stone in Umbria, Italy. It was inhabited by the Estrucans until the 3rd Century B.C. when they were conquered by the Romans after a two year siege.
There is an intricate system of man made caves below the city. The Etruscan’s started the caves prior to Roman the invasion. They dug wells (1st picture) to help withstand sieges (this is per our guide… or perhaps they just liked not going down the steep cliffs to get water even when there was not a siege?). In the middle ages, many more caves were added and used for storage, workshops, olive presses (3rd picture) and pigeon cotes (last picture). There are now strict rules against enlarging or adding to the caves because they have discovered that one third of the city has caves underneath.
Orvieto Cathedral, 14th Century
St. Patrick’s well was built between 1527 and 1537. It has a double helix staircase that leads to the bottom and back up. Apparently, this is so that pack animals could carry water back up without having to turn around and pass other pack animals.
One of these things is not like the others… Matthew and the kids just about tumbled over laughing at my photo. They say I am falling, not jumping. I think Matthew didn’t catch me at the apex of my jump.
We have been in Rome for a month now. It was Ethan’s choice to visit Rome. I was more excited to learn about the break up of Yugoslavia than the Fall of The Roman Empire, however, it turns out (not surprisingly to most) that the sites here are impressive. They have even succeeded in making me enjoy learning about the Roman Empire.
Touring Rome was even more fun because we got to do it with Tessa and Aimee. They visited us for a week and we packed in the sites and day trips while they were here.
We took a tour of the Colosseum with what may be the fastest talking tour guide on earth. And this is coming from me… not known to be a slow speaker. But still, we were able to learn some nifty facts. For instance, I didn’t know the external facade of the Colosseum had been completely covered in white marble.
At the Roman Forum… we were trying to figure out if the free downloaded audio guide was worth it. As you may be able to guess by the children’s faces, it was not.
Above is the Pantheon, one of my favorite sites in Rome. It was dedicated around 126 A.D. and is one of the best preserved Roman buildings.
Trevi Fountain.
Above: at The Roman Forum, Villa Borghese Gardens, Gucci and walking to Capuchin Crypt. We were not allowed to take photos inside the crypt so the one below is not from Matthew. But you get the idea.
One of our day trips was to visit Santa Severa. The photo shows the castle in the distance that we toured. Tessa and Logan buried Ethan.
Earlier this month was saw a Monet exhibit here in Rome. Ethan said that it looked like scribbles.
He suggested that we go to an art exhibit of his choice, Manga. Actually, the exhibit had lots of Asian comic art through the years. (I am sure that is not stated correctly but I am betting most of you don’t know or care).
The last room had the robot projection that you can see above; it moved quite accurately mirroring your body movements. The 6 year old girls doing splits and flailing their arms made the robot do entertaining dances.
A few weeks ago we took a day trip to Bracciano, a small town just north of Rome. I was looking for any reason to escape the crowds and Bracciano has a lake, a medieval castle, and was easy to reach by train.
The castle was build at the end of the 15th century but is now a museum with period furniture and weapons on display.
We are near the tourist district in Rome so there are tons of restaurants with pasta and pizza, most of them only average. In Bracciano we lucked upon an excellent restaurant. The owner / waiter was extremely friendly as he tried to help us order. He then proceeded to cook the food. This required lots of banging dishes and a fair amount of time, but the end result was worth it.
