Thailand 2014

We took our yearly January trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand to visit our kids and grandkids there. All but the two youngest girls are in school now so the days are quite quiet around the house. The oldest, Pan, is in her third year of college and is doing well. We had lunch at her apartment the first Sunday we were there. Walt also had the privilege of playing bass at Adam and Cindy's church that Sunday so now he can add Thailand to the list of countries in which he has played his bass. Cindy is very busy teaching at the school that the kids attend, plus teaching a large number of dance classes. Next month she has her school's dance recital - we just wish we could be there to help out on that as well as see it. This blog will again be mostly photos with captions.

But before we went to Thailand we had Christmas with two of our boys, Andrew and Eric.  We didn't get up to see Jason, Caryn, Alexa and Cassandra but we did get to see Kirsty and Brian in October for the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival.  We posted in our blog on that event and it can be found here.  The photos of our Christmas in Mexico with Andrew and Eric can be found here.

Now for our trip to Thailand, let us first of all introduce you to our family there. Photos of all of them, but one, plus some of their activities can be seen here. The "but one" is a teenage girl who doesn't like her pictures taken. Sounds familiar.

We had the privilege of attending Cindy's classes one morning.  It was an English class so we helped with group activities.  Because almost all of the students are Thai, the level of English understanding varies so her class is made up of students from first to sixth grade.  Not only does the level of English proficiency but of course the learning abilities and maturity levels vary.  Here are photos of her class that we helped out in. By the way, we had a blast working with these students.

One special item we wanted to share was our little miracle girl, Asia. Some of you may remember that she was born early and placed in oxygen which is believed to have damaged her brain as well as her eyesight. She is essentially legally blind but can tell light from dark objects. She will come and caress your cheek and, for example, say "Opa?". She came to Adam and Cindy four years ago this summer. At that point she was two but couldn't walk or talk and was very picky on what she ate and had to be fed. After three and a half years in a loving, caring and safe home her progress has been absolutely amazing. Here is a video showing her four years ago and some of her accomplishments now. 

While we were there a friend of ours began a photography class that included a tour of interesting places in Chiang Mai, as well as teaching how to use a camera properly and how to take quality photos. Walt had received a DSLR last year so wanted to take advantage of this opportunity so that he might add photography to his bag of tricks. Turns out Walt was the first paying student and for this class, was the only student. He had excellent one-on-one time and learned a lot. He learned a significant amount of composition and lighting plus getting to see more of Chiang Mai. He ended up taking close to 500 photos, a sampling of which is here. 

While we were with Adam and Cindy, someone began construction on a house right across the fence from where they live. Since living in Mexico we have been interested in the way construction takes place in different countries. So we took photos as the construction took place over the four week period that we were there. They do apply very interesting techniques and are not squelched by OSHA as you can see no hardhats and, in some cases, workers wearing flip flops. A glimpse of construction can be seen here. 

And as we say goodbye to Thailand we include a few absolutely gorgeous sunset shots. These can be seen here.