Back from the trip to Kanchanaburi

Okay so I was completely confused when Ann said we were going to stay
by the water. When She said that I thought -"oh, she must mean
lake"...

Oh no there's no lake, it was the River Kwai (remember the movie?).
We went to a lot of historical sites, saw the big graveyard with all
of the dead Australians and Dutch .. some Americans died there too (
about 3 or 5 hundred). We walked around on the Bridge that crosses
the river Kwai. Kwai means "water buffalo" by the way.. Thai's dont
call the river Kwai the river kwai. They say "Kwaa" .. no i at the
end.

We then got to this place where we hopped on a long tail boat, and
rode for about 25 minutes upstream on the river Kwai. There was very
few house boats... and even less people as we got further up stream.
Finally appearing on the horizon were these houses constructed on
rafts. We stopped here .. it was quite possibly the most beautiful
place I've ever stayed. The mountains were on the horizon and we sat
there and watched the sun go down as we relaxed on handmade hammocks
by the Mon people. The Mon hilltribes live there and they constructed
this quasi hotel. The hotel consists of cabins sitting on rafts. The
whole construct had no electricity so we had to carry around these
little gas lanterns for light. The rooms had a front "porch" where
you could lounge out on the water and really relax. And it also had a
back "porch" just big enough for a hammock. In the rooms were just
two beds and a water hole for a toilet. It was really awesome
though... As the sun went down some mosquitos came out and then came
the entertainment.

At one end of the string of cabins we were able to view some burmese
style dancing. THat was Awesome. They had little kids dressed
traditionally while some people played music and they danced and sang
to lamp light. I took some pictures but they came out blurry because
of the poor lighting.

The next day we went to check out the hill tribe. I wanted to ride an
elephant but it was way too expensive. 800 baht for an hour. About 20
bucks. Too expensive. So we just walked around the jungle checking
out the Mon people. A huge black scorpion came running across teh
jungle path at one point (I got photos) and the guide scooped it up in
a bag to freak out the tribe kids. Those Mon people have it nice back
there. They are totally sustained by this raft hotel that they
constructed. My sister told me that they learn to speak Mon and
ENglish. But not Thai, so noone could really speak well with her.
Really werid considering that they live in Thailand.

I just got back, and need a shower desperately. I probably stink of
river water hehe. On our way back here I got to feed some elephants
some bananas. Those elephants are pretty smart, they knew when I was
out of them and didnt want anything to do with me anymore. One of them
got elephant snot all over me, my shorts have a stain to prove it...
so that's just to let you know how stinky I am right now!!

Tonight, we're going to go out and get dinner. Then tomorrow morning
Ann will come pick us up to go to Ayutthaya (sp?). You would
recognize this temple if you saw a photo. I think that Mortal Kombat,
and the Power Rangers movies were both filmed here. I've never been
there so this will be a lot of fun.

We will come back to Bangkok tomorrow night, and then the next day we
will depart for Krabi island. It's so far away that we have to fly.
Ann's kids can't come and I"m really sad because I love those kids so
much. I want to spend more time with them. They have to go to school.

We had dinner with them before we went to Kanchanaburi (river kwai).
THe restaurant was on the Chao Praya river right in Bangkok. We ate
right on the water. The restaurant was really nice. We could have
eaten on the boat that goes up and down the river but I didnt' want
Ann paying for anything else!!! She's not that well off.. ANyhow the
restaurant had this playground where the kids could play and when I
got up to use the bathroom the kids talked me into playing with them.
They got me on this giant boat swing and kept swinging it so I
couldn't get off. they think it's really cool to trap a foreigner in
a boat swing :) Man I love these kids so much... It's so neat being
an instant aunt!!! :-D

Well, hopefully I"ll be able to update about Ayuthaya tomorrow night,
if not you won't hear from me again for a while... Finding an internet
cafe is really difficult... and Dad's blackberry didnt even work up in
Kanchanburi!

sawadee kha,
Linda

update (late)

SO this weekend was so much fun. We went to the beach near Pattaya.
We got there I guess it was Saturday day. Gene and his wife Supawan
took us down to the actual walking street in Pattaya where all of the
sex goes on. It totally disgusted me. I'm sorry but I forgot to
bring my camera here. It was nighttime and I didnt think I"d be able
to take any photos anyhow. There were all of these fat OLD men total losers
walking around with thai girls that looked like they were about 15
years old. (in reality probably 21). The men disgusted me so much, I
didnt enjoy that part of the trip at all. Ann and her family arrived at about
11pm in our hotel suite (which kicked ass!! we were on the 31st floor,
I got some great photos).. I was already asleep so I didnt hang out at
all with them. THe next morning we all went down for our "American
Breakfast" .. Then we went outside and played on the swings with the
little girls. The girls spent a lot of time catching crabs that were
running around in the pond, and throwing around big shells that
actually had Escargot in them!!! Lots of fun.

The hotel we were staying in was an Ocean Marina hotel on the 31st
floor. We had a suite with three bedrooms, kitchen, living room, two
balconies and an excellent view of Pattaya from a "god view".

Noi (Ann's boyfriend) told me that the kids wanted to swim in the
ocean, and where we were it wasn't possible because of the Marina and
boats.

So..

They drove me (dad didnt want to go) to this waterfall that was
about 100km away from Pattaya. The waterfall was packed with thais.
This is a holiday weekend for them because it was their king's
brithday from King 5 I think... anyhow the waterfall was filled with
black fish that ranged from about 2-3 feet long. THe kids were
running around the water trying to catch them. THere were so many
fish that you could barely walk there. I went in the water but the
fish swimming around my legs was freaking me out too much. I got a
ton of photos from there.

Then we drove to Rayong to the beach. The kids went swimming (IN
their clothes!! I told you) and we ate ... you wont believe this...
Horseshoe crab eggs. THey bring out the horseshoe crab completely
cooked.. and you have to pry the thing open to get the eggs out of
it!!! And I also had squid cooked on the grill.. And we ate right
there on the the beach while thekids played in the sand. My little
neices are adorable and they love
me so much. They learned some english "Come on Linda!!!!" they love
me to play with them. WE played in the hotel pool this morning which
was a lot of fun too.

Then after we came back from the beach last night (about 9 pm.) we
went back to the hotel and me, Ann and her boyfriend all drank Singha
beer (they call it "Sing") .. Ann told me before I came to thailand
she didnt know what to think.. but she is VERY happy to know me and is
very very happy. She asked me if I"m happy to meet her. I said yes...
and then started to cry. I am sooo happy ... I've never thought this
would actually happen. I had to leave the room to sober up my crying
( wasn't drunk dont worry I had one beer) she was crying when I came
back in the room.

You wouldn't believe how much better my thai has become... I can speak
pretty well, and speak better and better everyday.

At this point I had a horrible stomach ache. IT hurt so bad that I
could barely breathe, and had to go to bed. The spicey thai food got
the best of me. I had heartburn from hell. The food is tooo good
though to not eat!!!

Today we came back to bangkok. Ann will pick me up in an hour for
dinner. Then tomorrow we will take a train to a palce I think called
Kanchaburi... near burma. We'll stay by a lake with my Uncle Wong and
Brother (Cousin) ... I can't wait. We're going to ride elephants and
shit :) will be a blast...

I finally met Ann

After the horrendous 30 hour trip, we finally stepped off of the plane
yesterday morning. As were were exchanging our dollars for thai baht,
I glanced to my right to a group of people holding up signs. There
was a girl in an orange shirt with a young little girl. It was Ann. I
could tell instantly. As we walked over I went straight up to Ann and
we embraced in a hug. IT was so cool to hug my older sister. Of
course at this point of time I was in a haze. I hadn't slept much in
the past 30 hours and the whole ordeal seemed surreal.

We walked over to where we could talk more. Ann and I have a lot of
the same features. Our hair is very similar, our shapes of our faces
is similar too. She and I couldn't say much to eachother... But she
told me Somchai was coming. So we waited. I didnt' know who Somchai
was at first. Then Gene and his wife appeared. I didn't realize at
first that this guy running around speaking perfect english was Gene.
Try to remember I was running on little sleep :) Then Somchai
appeared with his wife. As soon as I saw him, I knew he was my
mother's brother. They look EXACTLY the same!!

At this point we went back to my hotel. I rode with Ann, Somchai,
Somchai's wife her daughters and boyfriend. Dad caught a ride with
Gene and his wife.
Somchai luckily speaks almost perfect english. He remembered my Dad
from before when they had met. My dad didn't recognize him at first
but then eventually remembered. When we got to the hotel the two of
them instantly started drinking some brandy in the restaurant while I
got to meet and talk to my family. I gave my sister's daughters their
gifts - the teddy bear and the Bratz doll. Stupid me.. I should have
known... they both LOVED The bratz doll. I should have gotten them
both one. they were fighting over who got to brush the doll's hair.
It wasn't bad fighting though.. the two girls love eachother very much
:)

While we were at the hotel restaurant another man appeared. It was
Loong Wong my mother's oldest brother. He's 60 years old. He showed
up and paid for breakfast. I met loong wong before when I lived in
thailand during high school. He told everyone that I am a lot
skinnier today then when he met me last time. Apparently I was
fat?!?!!? He said that I was fat about 10 times... Thai people are
practically obsessed wtih age + weight. Anyhow, on with the
events..Then our family left gene and his wife and we went to Loong
Wong's house. He sells precious metals out of a storefront in front
of his house. Ann wanted to take me to her house so we hopped into a
Tuk tuk (Basically a motorcycle with a cart behind it) and rode over
to her little house where her daughters were at this point. They also
sell metals for jewelry out of their house. It was nice, ann's
boyfriend is such a good father to his two daughters. They were so
cute. I look at them together and then think of me and ann and how
that could have been us together as children... if we would have grown
up together.

Anyhow, we then went back to Loong Wong's house and his son (my
cousin, but they call cousin's brothers there - so I have to refer to
him as my brother) took us to the Wat Pho in Bangkok. This is the
King's Palace and temple. I took some amazing photos there. (Will be
uploaded later) I didn't realize it but my hotel's internet cafe is
very nice and it has a USB port on the front of it. It is going to
cost me 100 baht for a half hour to be on this computer. Okay - so we
went to this temple and since I"m a farang ( foreigner), my dad and I
had to pay to get in. As we gave our tickets I got stopped. The man
was pointing at my feet and wouldn't let me in. I was wearing red
birkenstocks. I had to walk about a 1/2 mile to this other place to
rent socks and cheap shoes because my red birkenstocks were
"disrepectful". My feet were cooking as we traversed the temple. It
was so hot out and I was so jet lagged that I almost passed out a few
times. I think the family was picking up on my dads and My discomfort
and they bought us some fresh juice. After the temple we walked over
to another building. This one was the THai history building. That
was pretty interesting - because teh whole place was totally catered
towards foreigners. I was reading the history of all of Thailand's 9
kings. They have some amazing stories of their kings.

After we left the museum/ thai history building we went to a
restaurant and had some AMAZING food. Oh my god, I can't express how
excellent thai food is. I had some fresh fried fish, mushrooms,
vegetables, shrimp... mmm mmm mmm I can't wait to go back to this
place. By this time it was about 3 o'clock and it felt like eternity
to me. I was so exhausted I could have fell asleep on the chair at
the restaurant.

My family brought us back to the hotel, and said goodbye.

Then dad and I got showered and changed and went for a walk around the block.

Bangkok is extremely polluted. There is this constant haze that hangs
over this city. As we walked around we could barely take the heat and
pollution that was making it hard to breathe. Along the streets there
were all of these little stands where people were selling their goods.
Thailand has the best knockoffs of designer clothes and items. I saw
some great gifts. I can't wait to go shopping :)

Today I'm getting ready because we're leaving in about 45 minutes to
go to Pattaya beach. We're going to drive about 2.5 hours south to
get there. I'll try to find an internet cafe there. ... I bet the
hotel has one.

So that's my update!! Sorry it was so long... but this is my story :)

Linda

waiting

My trip is taking forever. It is now thursday and my dad and I are
stuck in sweden on a 6 hour long layover. I havent slept since
tuesday night. dont ask... i just couldnt sleep on the way over. I
plan to sleep on my flight in 1 hour... the flight lasts about 10. I
will arrive in thailand at 5am..''
wow

i desperately need sleep.

Getting ready to go...

Well I just got my bags packed. I am so nervous, yet this whole thing still feels like a dream. It probably won't hit me until I get off that plane and see her waiting for me at the airport.

Someone last night was telling me how cool it will be to look at someone related to you and see the similarities in eachother's features and mannerisms. I can't wait to notice.

This is it! So begins the 20 hour trip around the world!!!!!!!!!

I'll meet her at the airport!

I just got word that Chanjira (Ann) will be meeting me at the airport when we fly in!!! Wow.  I didn't think I'd meet her that fast!  I thought at least I'd meet her later that night. Gene, the man who helped me find her said that he'll *try* to meet me there too.. So this could be interesting!  I don't know how we're going to talk to eachother without a translator.  Also... will I recognize her at the airport?  We will. I have faith.

 

This is very exciting. I think that the whole thing just hit me.  I'm finally going to meet her!!!! Wow.

 

As soon as we meet, the plan is to check into the hotel, and then I believe we will be leaving to drive to the Ocean Marina  (the beach!).  I can't wait.  I still didn't get my neices gifts yet.  So suggestions are more than welcome.

Got the Gift!

As the date draws nearer I'm trying to frantically pull together the loose ends before I leave.  This weekend I went to the mall to do a little bit of shopping and found a gift (finally!) for Ann.  It's a cute necklace from a Hawaiin boutique.  I wanted to get her something definitely from the US.  Unfortunately a lot of the jewelry here is from Thailand, and she could get a lot of the same exact jewelry there.

 

I still have two more gifts to buy, for my two neices.  They are 4 and 7 years old and I am absolutely clueless as to what to buy for them.  I was thinking of getting them some big plush stuffed animals, but the only store that I would have bought them from is now closed!! Fao Schwartz closed its doors around last Christmas.  I even tried KB Toys but their stuffed animal shelf is literally one shelf with only a measly selection of animals.  

 

Other things I have to do before I go is print the photos that I plan to give to her.  I have a bunch that I'd like to give.  Most of them are of our Mother whom she hasn't seen since she was five.  It's very hard to try and select a few photos that represents someone's life for the past 30 years.  I'm not sure what to put in there. My mother has been through a lot.

 

I can't wait.  This is going to be a trip of a lifetime.  Just a few more days of work and then I go.  Wow.

This is my sister's family.
*click to enlarge*

ATOM and Blogger

I noticed that I can use a module called XML::Atom::Syndication to get
the xml from blogspot and use that feed to populate my website
http://www.hellolinda.com.

The only problem is that my hellolinda.com site is hosted by a friend,
and he won't install this module for me because it is dependent on so
many other modules that he doesn't feel comfortable installing. D is
helping me out by getting a box up and running where I can have it
hosted somewhere else but I get full control of what I can install on
the box. That will be soooo awesome.

That's mainly why hellolinda.com is so shoddy looking at the moment.
It's somewhat dynamic, meaning that there are templates rotating
around and you get random bushisms when you visit the site. I would
really like to build it up to be something amazing though :)

By the way this is my first post by email. I hope it works!

This is my sister.

This picture was taken a couple of months ago when my new friend Gene found my family and reported back to me. A local resident had a digital camera and they instantly emailed me proof that she was alive.

This was the single most emotionally charged day of my life so far

I've never met my sister, and I'm about to meet her in a few weeks. I'm about to use this blog as a means to communicate my trip back home to myself, and to others who are wondering how it's going to go.

I'm very nervous... Just imagine going half way around the world to meet someone you've been thinking about your whole entire life. Wondering what they are like... Wondering if you have anything in common... Well it's been my dream ever since I was a little girl. I grew up with no siblings until I was 11 when my little sister was born. I've seen pictures of Ann. Probably a total of about 5 photos. That's all I knew of her.


Well, You'll be hearing a lot more from me about her in a few days. I'll probably be twisting and turning my thoughts on these entries up until my dad and I fly out on October 20th.