Your Above Average Beaver in The Land Of The Smiles: LongLiveTheKing

Sawasdee-Krop (Hello) Family and Friends!

Hi people. Thailand is still treating me as well as when I first arrived! I have been studying quite a bit for school and had midterms a couple weeks ago with group presentations this week. The tests were open-ended and each one lasted three hours. I have not received any grades back, but am keeping my fingers crossed that they will all be good. Over the past couple of weeks I have gone wakeboarding at a cable park with a couple of people from Switzerland, taught them how to wakeboard and by the the end they were pretty good. Sure felt nice to get back out on the water. Can't wait to own my own wakeboard boat in the future!

I had two friends from Bend come through Bangkok over the past couple weeks as well, both traveling around Thailand on their own. It was nice to see familiar faces and catch up on old memories over some cold beers. I traveled with one friend outside Bangkok to Pattaya, a beach area only two hours away. Spent the day there and then went to an island the next day with a 30-minute ferry ride. We rented motor bikes (scooters) on the island and were able to ride all across the island with not much traffic. It was a fun time exploring different Buddhas and the different beaches. Lots of watersports on the island, but did not participate in any because they were pretty expensive.

As some of you may have known, the King of Thailand passed away about a week ago. The King is the most beloved person for every single Thai. The feeling of the King passing is if your father who you idol were to pass. The entire country is in a mourning state right now, it really is a sad time out here. People all across Thailand are coming into Bangkok to say prayers for the beloved King. For the next 30 days all large festivities and entertainment are shut down, the mourning period lasts a full year for government officials and 30 days for everyone else. I walked into a shopping mall a couple days after and all the manikin's in each shop were dressed in Black and White with the retailers clothing brand. All the clothing displayed is black and white and every single person is wearing one of the colors. Every TV and monitor display a similar image of the King with a passage. Literally, everything is in Black and White, such as airline websites, Google and any posters hanging around the city. It really is a sad time in Thailand.

It is truly remarkable to be in Thailand during such a large moment in Thai history. Being on the outside, you could never imagine how much grief there is, I have learned a lot about respect and showing gratitude during this time. The country is very peaceful right now and most business are running like normal, however it will be interesting to see what will happen after this month.

I will be traveling to Siem Reap, Cambodia today for a few days with another guy from Oregon State, and then head to South Laos, which holds the 4000 islands. We will be in the Don Khong area which has some power and electricity. I will be taking my Hammock, book and toothbrush and hope to be taking long naps overlooking the islands. I'm pretty excited to get out of the big city and get back to the rural lifestyle. I will return right before halloween, attend classes, and then head to Europe to visit Taylor for 10 days. I'll try to post a quick blog in between the two trips so you can hear about Cambodia and Laos.

Cheers family and friends. Hope life is treating you all well!
LongLiveTheKing