Ray's Ramblings from Thailand

This page is devoted to news from Thailand. I will check in once in a while and let you know how things are going. The material is provided in chronological order with most-recent news being appended at the bottom. Click on any section within a chapter to go to it directly. Go to recent news at the bottom of this page. See also the Photos Page or Return Home. Last update July 18, 2006. Now that this journey is over, I look back on these six chapters of my life with many many fond memories.

Table of Contents

Click on any item.

Introduction to Thailand and My First Month There
Sight Seeing and Getting Around
The Adventure Continues
Where Will It Lead Us from Here
The Fulbright Experience Continues
Extending the Fulbright into June

Introduction to Thailand and My First Month There

The Basics and Getting There

I plan to be in Bangkok from January 9 until January 15.
I will arrive in Chiang Mai on January 15.
Recommended links from the Fulbright folks:
I stopped in Singapore for one night of rest on my way to Thailand, and it was a good thing that I did. I was very tired. I stayed at the Orchard Garden Hotel near Panamea.

Malaysia for New Years and Working in Kuala Lumpur

I stopped to work on my visiting professorship at KUTPM in Kuala Lumpur, and that is where I spent New Years ... watching fireworks near the Petronas Towers. I had a busy trip to Malaysia, and this time I learned some words:
- Selamat datang -- welcome
  Selamat tengah hari -- good afternoon
  Selamat pagi -- good morning
  Selamat petang -- good evening
  Selamat tinggal -- goodbye
- Apa khabar? -- how are you?
  Jumpa lagi -- see you again
  Sudah makan? -- have you eaten?
- Terima kasih -- thank you
  Maafkan saya -- excuse me
  Khabar baik -- fine thank you
- Pulau -- island
  Keluar -- exit
  Tandas -- bathroom
- Satu,dua, tiga, empat, lima, enam, tujuh, lapan, sembilan, sepuluh -- 1-10

Growing Thai Vocabulary

My Thai vocabulary is growing. These are the words that I have learned from first to last. Learning Thai gives me great Joy :-)
1. Sa wa dee krab -- hi
2. mai bpen rai -- ok
3. khop khun krab -- thanks
4. phom hue -- I'm hungry
5. phom phud Thai mai keng -- I can't speak Thai
6. chok dee -- good luck
7. sooksan wan kerd -- happy birthday

Visit to the Fulbright Foundation in Bangkok

I will be in Bangkok tomorrow, January 9.
My stay in Bangkok was extremely pleasant thanks to Pete "Fish-out-of-Water" Solomon hooking me up with one of his swimmer's families in Bangkok. I stayed with Poom and Poom. They treated me extremely well, and we spent some time mountain biking on their beautiful farm, which is located about two hours north of Bangkok by car.
I greatly enjoyed the markets in Bangkok, and a boat tour in the canals.
I became very familiar with the Sky Train.

Arrival in Chiang Mai and Getting Setup and My Commute

I arrived in Chiang Mai as scheduled on January 16. There I was met by a professor, Bobby, from Chiang Mai University. We get along very well, and Bobby has been extremely helpful in getting me set up here. We looked at many apartments. Bobby also took me to do grocery shopping, to buy pillows and blankets, and other household necessities. The stores here are great, and I was able to easily find everything---with Bobby's help. We have been out to eat at a number of nice restaurants. I am eating whatever is on the plate, and so far no stomach troubles. I had one meal though where my lips burned for about two hours afterward. "Mai ped" means not spicy.
I found an apartment that is very nice. I have been here for almost a week now. The landlords are great people, and they speak English well. There is a nice pool here with a mountain view. I am going to be comfortable here.
My commute: I walk just over two miles each way to the University everyday. Late at night when I come home after work, there are many dogs and I have been chased a few times. I had to discourage a few of them with rocks to the head once or twice. They are learning.
Graduation week, yes I said week, was this week. The campus was spectacular. Many beautiful flowers, fountains, vendors selling their wares, students walking around in pretty graduation gowns, and a lot of excitement in the air. I wandered around just enjoying the setting and scene. I took a number of pictures with students that they asked me to be in. Hopefully, some of those will make it back to me and I can put them on my Web site.

Eating Out

I found a very nice Italian Restaurant called La Casa. I may become a regular there. The food is good, and the wine is not bad either.
Yesterday I had lunch on campus. I had a huge plate full of rice with several vegetable toppings. The cost of this exquisite meal ... 26 cents. Holy moly! I love this place.
I discovered a place called the Boat which has good Thai food.
I found a place called the Amazing Sandwich, and although not amazing, the sandwiches are quite good. I like the milk shakes there too. Oops, not supposed to eat ice cream here.

Day in and Day Out

I am still working to get high-speed Internet access. Other than that, I am comfortable.
I purchased a guitar yesterday, but I haven't been able to tune it yet ...
I have not been cooking much in my kitchen.
I have a water service where bottled water is delivered to the apartment.
I also have a laundry service where laundry is picked up and delivered twice per week.
It is a bit smoggy here, but the weather is Santa Barbara like.

Running Around the Roads of Chiang Mai

I was out running the other day, and I encountered a Thai runner. Turns out, he is one of the best marathoners in Thailand. I was out for a causal job, but that all changed. He hammered me for about 10 miles. I was badly dehydrated after following him all over unknown back roads. I couldn't hang with him any longer, and luckily I was able to find my way back. I was a badly beaten man. Good run!
My runs up Doi Suthep have been memorable. I do about 19 miles with half up and half down. The temple up top is very scared, and beautiful. Lots of monks and gold Buddhas. I hope to run up there at least once a week.
I have found an awesome marked 5K course. It is like a one lane wide bike/running path. It is about 4 miles from here, and I plan to do some timed 5Ks there. There is no traffic on this pathway. There are also nice mountain views from the path. The course is a little hilly, but I will report my times here later.

Zoo

Took a trip to the zoo which is not far from the U. The animals have pretty good environments at this zoo. It was a hot day out there though.
I went back to the zoo recently. It was great. The big cats were all very active, as were the primates. I also saw two Pandas, and they seemed to be having a ball eating bamboo.
The zoo is in an extremely hilly area. Although I bought a pass for about 50 cents to ride the tram, I walked everywhere. I attracted stares going up some of the hills.
I was the last person in the zoo. A black bear jumped out of his pen, and although still restrained by one wall, I got out of dodge just in case.
I will go back to the zoo.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

I have been walking all over Chiang Mai. Many markets and people out everywhere. The King of Thailand drove by the other nigh when I was walking home. The entire road was blocked off. Police at all intersections. A huge convoy went past while everyone and I mean everyone was standing. People were standing for a long time. Once the King drove by, everyone sat down together.
Its January 27 here and I had a good 13 mile run this morning. I know know my way around the canal here and can run out around a couple of reservoirs. There are nice rice paddy fields where I am running, and a good mountain view off to the left. Not much traffic there either, but there is pollution in the air. Nevertheless, I like that place to run.
My lecturing is going well at the University. I am talking about P-Completeness, and giving a class to a small group of students and professors.
I saw a band with a blind drummer the other night. I was happy to see him.
I walk by Thai boxing on my way to work each day. I have seen some people get their butts kicked ...
Need to be careful walking around here, real careful, pedestrians are considered pedestrian.
Lah gorn (goodbye) for now.

Sight Seeing and Getting Around

Doi Intanon

Doi means mountain.
I went to Doi Intanon last weekend. Along the way I hiked to a couple of spectacular waterfalls. I had them all to myself too, which was nice and peaceful.
By the way Doi Intanon is the highest peak in Thailand at 2,569 meters. There are some interesting temples near the summit.
I hiked the nature trail that I was told would take at least two hours. My guide and I took our time and did it in 40 minutes. He was huffing and puffing though. There was one part of the trail that was labeled Savanna :-)
Tried to find a cave on the way down the mountain, but my driver was getting a little worried. I went out on foot but turned back after a while. I hope to go back and find the cave next time.
The drive to Doi Intanon took about 1.5 hours in my cab. He was going about 80mph for much of the drive.
The mountain was very lush, and I was blessed with perfect weather and blue skies. It was a great day.

Khon Kaen University

In the first week of February I went to give a couple of lectures at Khon Kaen University (KKU).
I have tried hundreds of times, but I am incapable of pronouncing "Khon Kaen" correctly. I can tell you hundreds of ways not to say it.
I was met by a professor from KKU at the University, and we had a nice dinner at the Kosa Hotel in downtown Khon Kaen, where I stayed during my visit. There was good music to enjoy, and a different singer for each song (no kidding).
I gave two lectures: One on parallel computing and the other on ten breakthroughs in computer science.
I met a bunch of the faculty members at the University, and we talked briefly about a possible exchange program with AASU.
I was given a very nice gift after my talks---a framed wooden carving. I have it sitting on my dresser now in my apartment.
I hope to go back to visit the University again. It has about 20,000 students and is the largest campus geographically in Thailand.

Cobras, Dams, Boxing, Temples, and Dinosaurs

I took a 300 kilometer driving tour in Khon Kaen, and I learned a lot about the geography of that part of Thailand. It is flat like Savannah and hot. Temperatures in April reach 40C.
I saw a King Cobra boxing demo and a small zoo. The boxing demo was unreal. An older man, a middle-aged man, and an eleven year old boy separately went in the ring with King Cobras. These people and the snakes are quick. I was the only person in the stands. There was a dancing ceremony before hand, and then the three fighters went a round each. I was sweating watching the hot action.
After the boxing was over, I held (yes, I said held) a King Cobra. Of course, I was nervous, especially when I noticed the end of one of the old snake-handler's fingers was at a right angle. I quickly "handed" the three meter cobra back to his owner. The snake was very heavy and huge. What was I doing holding a King Cobra? What was I thinking? Who knows ...
I visited a pretty lake and dam in the Khon Kaen area. I tossed a few rocks from the top of the dam and watched them splash in the calm water.
Did you know that many dinosaur bones have been found near Khon Kaen? I didn't. Now I am not making this up, there is a species called Siamosauros, really, trust me. The museum was very interesting to me. I also spoke with a number of Thai students, in Thai!
I saw several beautiful temples in the Khon Kaen region, and saw many monks too. It was quite spiritual.
My taxi driver taught me a huge amount of Thai on my trip, and I taught him a lot of English. We laughed ourselves silly several times with our horrible pronunciation of each other's languages. I kept saying "moo-a" for cow, when it is "woo-a", go figure.
By the way there is a lot of Karaoke in Khon Kaen. I took the mike (like Steve would have :-) and sang: Words, Candle in the Wind, The Boxer (in honor of the cobras), and a couple of other tunes. Mint and I did a duet of Hotel California. She carried the tune.
Alas, my trip was too short, but very rewarding.

Khon Kaen Market

I spent three hours walking around the Khon Kaen market. The colors and smells and people were all very interesting to me. This market was great in that people were carrying out their work at the market.
I watched many women who were cleaning fish, butchering chickens, and hacking at meat. I almost got sick a few times ... but, they had some interesting techniques for cleaning fish. My dad had taught me how to clean fish, and he would have loved to have seen this market.
Guys on motorcycles were driving around with hundreds of pounds of beef in their laps. Weaving in and out of tiny stalls. Just amazing stuff.
Two husband and wife teams were making tortillas, and their efficiency, perfection, and technique were cool.
Most of the vendors were as curious about me as I was about them.
I bought one pair of nice khakis. I negotiated the price down to $5.50. I am sure that I could have paid less, but why? I had to try the pants on in the open ...
I did see one person selling cockroaches. I passed.
The fruits and veggies and flowers and produce ... spectacularly impressive.
I love that market!

Thai Language

As I said, my taxi driver helped me out a great deal. I learned the numbers, for example, I would say the number 1,234,567 in Thai and then backwards 7,654,321. He had a hard time following me. I learned the days of the week. Time words. Words for all types of vehicles. Whatever we saw on the road, I asked him to teach me. I even taught him to say something in Thai!
I met a tutor last night; her name is Toey. Her name is unpronounceable by any human except a Thai. I may just ask her if I can drop the "e" rather than butcher her name ...
Guess where I met her? Dunkin Donuts---that good old Rhode Island franchise. Who would have thought 27 years ago, as I passed by that Dunkin Donuts near my high school that I would be meeting a Thai tutor at DD so many years later. By the way, an old friend of my sister's aunt invented the Dunkin Muchkin.
I will be spending at least ten hours per week on Thai. In the long run it will save me time since I will be able to communicate more effectively.

Dogs, Chickens, and Mosquitoes

This beautiful ("soo ay" in Thai) country is full of the three creatures mentioned above.
On my commute yesterday (my walk to work), I encountered no less than 40 dogs. There are a couple that don't like me. I have been being kind to them, but I don't like getting chased, so I may have to use a little force.
By the way, on my walk in yesterday, part of my road was gone. Yes, I did say "gone". There was a 15 meter section of road, well, "gone". I tried to walk across an exposed pipe going balance-beam style, but they wouldn't let me. I detoured around the neighborhood. A lady indicated that I could not go through, well I had to go through, I was lecturing that morning and soon. I passed through and a dog said I could not go through. I let him know otherwise, too. I arrived five minutes late due to the ten minute detour.
I also pass a huge number of chickens on my commute and my runs. They are everywhere. My landlady has the largest egg operation in Chiang Mai. It is on the premises here. Let's hope bird flu isn't an issue. I feel pretty safe, and they do a lot of testing.
The third critter that I see a lot of is the unfriendly mosquito. Now it hasn't rained here for 30 days, and it is dry, but these buggers are still around. There was one in the bedroom last night. You know how difficult it is to sleep with one of those guys bugging you ...
I was chased by three dogs on my run the other day. Of course, I couldn't outrun them, but the "owners" came to my rescue just in time.
I am adjusting and adapting and learning and coping and enjoying and experiencing and teaching and researching, and to me that is what a Fulbright is all about.

Elephant Riding in Lampang

On February 12, Bobby, Yui, and I went to the Elephant Training Center in Lampang. Lampang is the fifth province that I have been to in Thailand.
We saw the elephant washing/bathing ceremony where about 15 elephants were ridden into a pool of water and bathed. It was very interesting. There were about 200 air force cadets there from Thailand.
We then saw an elephant show where the 15 elephants performed all sorts of tricks: From raising the opening flag, to painting (yes, I said painting), to moving logs, to playing music (yes, I said playing music), to wei-ing. The experience was nice, and we rewarded the elephants by hand feeding (yes, ...) them bananas and sugar cane. Did you know that elephants that weigh about 10,000 pounds eat a lot of bananas and sugar cane? They do.
Bobby and I saddled up what appeared to be the largest elephant at the camp. We learned that he was 50 years old. We went for a 1 hour ride in the hills and the forest on him. It was a nice ride, as the weather was perfect.
On our way back we visited a 700-year-old temple in Lampang.
I should mention that we had an incredible lunch in Lampang that consisted of shrimp soup (spicy), breaded shrimp, shrimp and broccoli, and fish soup. It was all delicious (a-roi). The Tom Yum Kung was hot (ped).
All-in-all it was a great day. Thanks to Bobby and Yui.

I Survived Another Thai Massage

I went for a hard 15 mile run the other day. I was out at Huay Tueng Tao, where I really enjoy running around the rice fields and the reservoir.
In the heat and running off trail one could easily get lost out in the fields. The network of trails is a maze and not many venture out there, so I need to keep my wits about me when running in that area. The jungle-like atmosphere and the remoteness are a big attraction.
I went for a Thai massage after the long run. I don't recommend this practice.
I need to learn the word "uncle" in Thai, that is, the equivalent to "uncle". Actually, I have learned it several times, but I need to remember it longer than five seconds.
I felt pretty beaten up after the massage. Has anyone over 45 ever survived a Thai massage before? I would be impressed if they have. Between the bending, jabbing, twisting, and pounding ... well, let's just say it builds mental toughness. Sure makes the 15 mile runs feel easy.

Golden Triangle Tour

What is the Golden Triangle? I can't remember exactly, but I was given three definitions. Well, I probably can remember if you hold a gun to my head. This area is in Chiang Rai (the sixth province that I have been to in Thailand). It is where Mynamar (formerly Burma), Laos, and Thailand come together. It is also the confluence of a couple of big rivers ... one being the Mekong. There used to be a lot of opium transport in this area (see below).
The trip ended up being 14 hours long and was in a van with about 5 other tourists. They were all good people: a single woman May from Thailand, two Canadians from Calgary (left -40C behind), a young Dutch girl traveling alone to the dismay of her parents, and another single woman from Taiwan, plus two guides and a driver.
We went through some interesting country side. Saw lots of neat rock formations.
Visited a pretty-cool old Wat (temple). Made a special offering there.
Went to Myanmar and Laos. Now that was very exciting. What was the first thing that I did when I got to Laos? What any American tourist would do ... I took a shot of King Cobra whiskey ... ouch, that stuff was nasty and potent. I wanted to bring back a bottle for Paulius, but with the entire snake in the bottle there is NO WAY they would allow that back in the US (or me either for that matter for trying).
I did a lot of shopping in Laos :-)
The flat-boat ride on the Mekong River was great and exciting. Those boats have recycled dragster engines in them (really).
The highlight of the trip was the visit to a Karen Longneck Village. This type of village is one of the hilltribes. The women wear the golden bands around their elongated necks. They look extremely beautiful and are very friendly. I was able to take some pictures with them. I hope that the film turns out well.
When leaving the village, I "bumped" into a gnome-like woman who was smoking opium and had been smoking it for many years. Her eyes were right out of the Omega Man. She wanted a picture with me, but I ducked that one, thereby saving a whopping 50 cents (and my job).
The drive home in the dark was epic. Please, don't drive at night in Thailand on mountain roads. Saw lots of accidents and over-turned vehicles. The onion rot-ban tuks (trucks) were absolutely loaded, and every so often would tip over on hairpin corners ... surprise.
To culminate this incredible day I went to an awesome show in Chiang Mai. The costumes were amazing, as was the entertainment.

P-Completeness Seminar

I have been giving four hours of lectures per week on P-completeness theory, my research specialty.
I have a couple of graduate students and some professors in the class. We are covering a lot of material, and all is going well.
I have been grading some homeworks too.
Today I will show that the Context-Free Grammar Non-Empty Problem is P-complete. I'll probably be thinking about my visit to the longneck village while I am lecturing.
We won't have class on this coming Monday, as I leave for Malaysia tomorrow.

The Adventure Continues

Graph Theory Book

Geir and I have been making great strides on our book as of late.
This project has been on our minds for many years, but we now see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The book has been used at Armstrong Atlantic State University and George Mason University.
We should have copies in hand by the end of the year.

Visit to KUTPM in Malaysia

I flew over to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday night, and I was met at the airport by my friend Gapar. I am here for five days with the main purpose of the visit to attend the KUTPM convocation, which is a graduation ceremony in US parlance.
I am settled into the Nikko Hotel now, and the trip is going well. The Nikko is not from the Kuala Lumpur City Center.
Yesterday, we had a rehearsal for the graduation, which is when I learned that I was one of the commencement speakers! Little surprises me any more, so when I was handed my speak, I went up to the mike and gave it. Luckily, it was only a practice run, and I was able to edit and to practice the speech that night.
We had a wonderful dinner reception at the Marriott Hotel in KL. The Queen, Her Royal Highness Tuanku Sultanah Hajjah Haminah Binti Haji Hamidun who serves as the Chancellor of KUTPM, was in attendance, as was the King. There was quite a bit of protocol to follow.
The food was great as was the entertainment: A singer/stand-up comedian and her dancers entertained us, as did KUTPM's own music teacher. Tunes ranged from "Night Fever" by the B-Gees to L. O. V. E. by Nat King Cole to many Malaysian tunes that I couldn't make any of the words out to.
Today the day was spent at the convocation. It was a grand ceremony. I was in a suit and then wearing a Malaysian robe over it. We had a nice procession with the Queen being seated last. The audience was packed with over 2,500 people. I was glad that I had practiced the speech a few times. My speech was extremely well received by all, and I was very happy with the way that it turned out.
The ceremony lasted three hours. There were two live bands playing during the entire ceremony, well except when speeches were being given. The bands did, for instance, play while the names of the 400 graduate were read as they walked across the stage to get their diplomas form the Queen.
After the ceremony, I met my friend Vijaya and her family. I was very happy to see her receive her degree. She is an excellent student, and has helped me do some work on the wireless roaming book.
We had a delicious lunch after the ceremony.
I am going back to work at KUTPM on Monday, and I have no idea what Gapar might have in store. It has been fun to see Ruzie and Maslinda, and other colleagues at KUTPM who I have come to know over the years. It has been good to see Asbi and Shukri and June, and to see KUTPM doing so well as an institution here in Malaysia.

Trip to Mae Rim

This past weekend (March 3-4) I hired a taxi and went out to Mae Rim, the district just outside of Chiang Mai. As usual, my cab driver, who I called Rex all day but whose real nickname was Lex, was my best Thai-language tutor. We spoke a lot of Thai.
I first went to the Butterfly Farm and there saw, well, lots of Thai butterflies. The "farm" was adjacent to the Orchid and Botanical Garden, both of which I greatly enjoyed. The Orchids here are very nice, and the only place that I have seen nicer Orchids in my travels is Fiji.
Next it was on to the Monkey Center. There the monkeys performed all sorts of features including weis; selling items from a basket, taking money, and putting the income into the pocket of the trainer; taking my watch, throwing it into a swimming pool, and then diving in and retrieving the (still-functioning) water-proof watch; selecting a wooden number card between 0-9 once someone called out a number for the monkey to pick; riding a bike; picking coconuts from tall trees (I wouldn't think that that skill would take much training); and so on.
I met a Thai boxer at the Monkey Center, and he told me (in Thai), where I could go to see Thai boxing in Chiang Mai. I may try to go this coming Friday to see a few bouts.
It was on to the "Snake Center" from there. I browsed around and saw several Indiana-Jones-type displays. I thought that I would have nightmares, but I didn't. I went up to the Siamese King Corba, and he become very interested in me. In fact, so interested that he lunged at me to take a chunk out of my leg. Luckily, the wire-mesh fencing held. My adrenaline rush for the day was complete, and shortly after that I took a trip to the restroom. I also carefully looked at all of the trees that I was walking under, as some of the cages looked a little old.
Lex who had spent the entire day waiting patiently for me dropped me off at Garson Gao, where I did some shopping. I bought a sun-hat from Kai at one of the shops on level 1 of this multi-story mall. I have been wearing my PCT-hat that Paul gave me from the Leadville Trail Run, but after 2,659 miles of hiking and lots of runs, it is beginning to get a bit worn. Temperatures have been cracking 100F as of late, so the hat was overdue for sun protection.

Upcoming Travel

I will be going to Bangkok on March 15. There I will give a couple of talks at two of Thailand's top technical universities: Chulalongkorn and the Asian Institute of Technology. I will run the ING Temple Marathon on March 19. Then I will meet up with Pete (Fish-out-of-Water Solomon) and his family in Bangkok. We will stay with Poom and do some sight seeing, as well as travel to Lop Buri and Hua Hin, where we hope to go diving.
I will return to the US in early April. I will catch up on a number of projects going on there at Armstrong Atlantic. I plan to bring home a lot of things from Thailand at the time, so that when I return home for good I don't have too much luggage with me. I will meet up with Paul Goransson to continue work on our book on wireless computer networking. We have been busy writing, and the book is now about 175 pages long!
I am traveling to Taiwan in April and May as part of my Fulbright, and there I will visit three universities in Taiwan, where I will give some lectures. Daniel Liang helped me make these connections, and Jonnie has been great with the trip planning, which is not easy to do from here. A special thanks to both of them.
I plan to go to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos later.
I am trying to work out a Fulbright trip to the Philippines, and I hope to visit three universities there in late May.
At some point in the summer I plan to rent a car and take a nice long drive trip around Thailand. I guess it will be very hot, so I better get a vehicle with good AC.
Fiddlehead is living in Phuket now, and some weekend soon, I hope to go visit him there.
I went to the US Consulate in Chiang Mai this past week, and I was able to get another 26 pages inserted into my passport, so I should be good to go :-)

Mae Sa Waterfall, Umbrella Factory, Elephant Camp II, and Temples

I took a trip today with Bobby (Ray and Bobby), Aoy, and Yui (Aoy, Ray, and Yui). It was a great day. We first visited the 10-level Mae Sa Waterfall. It was a bit warm, but we enjoyed our hike up the falls. The area was very peaceful and few tourists were around.
We also stopped in at the famous umbrella factory in Chiang Mai. There we watched the 30-40 step process of constructing hand-made umbrellas. The umbrellas were beautiful, and I ended up buying three of the silk ones that were hand painted. Sooay maak maak!
Yui and I took an elephant ride at the camp. We also fed the elephants bananas and sugar cane. I was tempted to buy an elephant painting, but I was able to resist the urge again. If I go to another elephant camp, I will almost certainly buy a painting. Elephants here paint quite well.
We also stopped off at an area where there are many archaeological remains of temples. The area had 27 temples that had been excavated so far. We took a horse-drawn carriage ride around the area, and our Thai guide described things to us, well in Thai. I understood nit-noy (a little bit). Bobby, Aoy, and Yui helped me out though. It was a lot of fun, thanks to my friends here.
I am speaking Thai better with each passing day. (I know, not that hard to do when starting from zero.) Now I am busy getting ready for my big trip to Bangkok. I will be racing on Saturday in the ING Temple Marathon. It was 104F here today, and it is hotter in Bangkok. I hope to run under three hours, but I guess the clock will tell the time. Whatever will be will be. I am off to get a Thai massage now. I hope that I survive that. The marathon should be easy in comparison :-)

Bumming Rides

There are a lot of motorbikes in Chiang Mai. I have often thought to myself how dangerous it was for people to use these bikes, and I have resisted the temptation to rent one. I would see Moo Choo students riding side saddle in their school uniforms, and I often wondered how they stayed on the bikes. Well, all that aside consider the following.
I was riding on the back of a rot-motorcycle recently, without a helmet, and my driver just about lost it. Luckily, I was paying attention. I quickly put my feet out and save us from wiping out at about 20 mph. The big danger with crashing is getting run over by a car once you fall. Whew! It was a close call avoided by quick reflexes and paying attention.
I was on my way to town the other night, which means walking about four miles one way, when a pizza guy showed up with a delivery to my neighbor, Alex. In Thai I asked the delivery man where he was coming from and if I could get a ride back. He obliged, and I got a quick trip to town with the pizza guy. He was driving one-handed while hold pizzas in the other ...
A few nights later, I was, well, on my way to town again. I was waiting to cross a nearby road (the one that took me 10 days to learn the name of---in English "seven hundred year old stadium road", now imagine that in Thai). A fellow pulled up next to me on a rot-motorcycle. We began talking in Thai, and he offered me a ride. I hopped on---side saddle. Yes, I said side saddle! On the left-hand side of the motorbike was his food cart. At one point I looked into the food cart. He was selling cockroaches and grasshoppers for snacks. He offered me some, but I declined. As we were whizzing through town, I noticed we were getting kind of close to some bushes on the right. I pulled up my feet at the last-possible second, and avoided be dumped off by my toes. Good thing that I was paying attention. My driver continued on to the Night Bizarre after dropping me at my destination. Whew! By the way, he gave me his business card, which featured the delights he sells for snacks. Interesting card indeed, and a very nice guy.
The girl on the Harley. Yes, I said Harley. The first hog that I have seen in Chiang Mai. I was coming home from town the other night, walking as usual. A Thai woman pulls up beside me on a Harley and says "Get On" ... I am not making this up. I thought about it, and talked to her for a moment. Then I followed my instincts, which said, "Get On." She was very nice and sped me to my apartment. This ride was the first time I remember being on a Harley. She handled the bike well---remember, most Thai woman are petite, and she was no exception. It was quite a ride. I never dreamed of being picked up like that. Keep smiling and be optimistic. Good things happen. Philosophy 101 lesson for the day complete.

Asian Institute of Technology

I arrived in Bangkok on Wednesday night and then went over to stay at the AIT Conference Center Hotel. Bangkok felt a little hotter than Chiang Mai. Is that possible? It has been 104F in Chiang Mai lately.
The campus was nice with many ponds and fountains, and flowers blooming. AIT is about a 15-minute drive north of the BKK airport. I slept little as I have a bit of a cough. I think the cough is pollution induced. Not good with my marathon coming up on Sunday.
I lectured for a few hours this morning, and then I met with some faculty. I went to dinner with a couple of guys at a restaurant nearby AIT. We ate a lot of spicy seafood, and I was handed a tee-shirt after we had a few beers. The other day when Bobby and I were at Suan Park for lunch, we were handed a head of lettuce as we left. Really.
Tomorrow I leave AIT, which incidentally has 2,000 students (all graduate students) and about 150 professors. All instruction is in English.
Oh, by the way, when I met the Department Head of Computer Science, she pulled out a bottle of white wine. We drank it with a couple of other profs in the early afternoon. Very hospitable, and I liked her management style.
Tomorrow and this weekend I expect to see some major protests of Thaksin in Bangkok. Should be very interesting. Stay tuned.

ING Temple Marathon

The ING Temple Marathon is coming up this weekend. Temperatures in Bangkok are hot now. This marathon will be my first in Asia, and despite the cold that I have, I am starting to get excited about the race. It will bring me great joy to run here.
I woke at about 2:30am to catch a bus to the start of the race. I left from the Amari Watergate Hotel. After a two-hour drive, I arrived at the start of the race, which was located at a very nice temple. It was already extremely hot and humid by 5am, and I was sweating heavily before the start of the race.
The race started at about 5:30am. I was already sweating huge amounts (yeah, I know that I have already said that five times), and I was not feeling one hundred percent due to my recent cold. I was up on the front row and a monk blessed us by splashing water on the runners in the typical Buddhist fashion. It was a little eerie running in the dark on the back roads with all the dogs.
I was running in about 15th place for a while with a number of Thailand's top runners running ahead of me. I went through the half marathon in about 1:32, but I was seriously overheating. The aid stations, which were about 2 miles apart, were too far apart for me.
I was not able to cool myself down. I kept drinking as much as possible and was pouring huge volumes of ice water on my head. I was completely soaked, and my shoes were very, very soggy. Naturally, with all the water I was dumping on my head, and with all the sweating, I had a tremendous amount of painful chaffing going on ...
I finished in 3:27:03 which is my slowest road marathon ever. It was survival mode at the end. It was really all I could do to keep running. I had to walk through the aid stations to make sure that I got in enough fluid. At the end of the race, I was in trouble with heat stroke. It took me well over half an hour after the race before I was sure that I would not have to go to a hospital. It was really, really tough. The heat was brutal, as was the humidity.
I was second farang (foreigner). There was a guy from South Africa who beat me. I ended up in 20th place overall and 5th in my age group. Who cares? I was not racing, but surviving.
I gave my medal away and that gave me great joy and happiness, in the Buddhist tradition.
I doubt that I will run the race again, but who knows for sure. It was very hard indeed. Other challenges await.

Bangkok

Pete, Andrea, Shiloh, Poom, and Poom (yes, two Pooms), and I have been hanging out together in Bangkok. We have had a great visit.
We have gone to see the Grand Palace, which was absolutely spectacular. The buildings and the architecture were impressive, as was the spirituality in the air.
We enjoyed seeing the emerald Buddha.
Our tour of the Ancient City with Suree was a lot of fun. We did some shopping along the way too.
We had a great time at the Crocodile Farm and the Zoo. I had my picture taken with a Tiger and a large Crocodile. Shiloh and I fed crocodiles, which was spectacular. I am talking 18 foot long crocodiles here. We also fed elephants. We witnessed a nerve-racking crocodile show, and an interesting elephant show. The day concluded with some shopping.
One night Pete, Andrea, and I went for massages near Poom's house. We enjoyed that experience together.
Pete and I went out near Sala Dang one night, and we caught up on hiking stories and other recent life events.
We have been in Lop Buri at Poom's farm lately. We have been running, hiking, mountain biking, and relaxing. The meals have been great. Salmon, waffles, great salads, spare ribs, steaks ... awesome, awesome food. The farm is wonderful and peaceful. The horses, swans, peacocks, horn-bills, rheas, dogs, tortoises, chickens, and other birds are neat to listen to. Oh, we have also been kayaking and playing paddle tennis. It sure has felt relaxing (Ray, Pete, and Andrea and Ray and Shiloh) despite all of the activities. Tomorrow we go back to Grun Thep (City of Angels) and then head for Hua Hin on Monday.
Oh yeah, I got locked out of the house one night and sleep outside with Duda (one of Poom's dogs). The stars were incredible. I saw one nice shooting star. It was a little cold and there were some mosquitoes, but I have not real complaints about that night.
Poom's farm in spring.
While I was at the Fulbright Office this week, everything went great and they want me to write-up an article for their journal.
We had a nice cruise on one of Poom's uncle's yachts. There we met some new friends, and Pete and I talked finances with one of the passengers. Pete advice, "Higher risk gets higher yield." The food on our cruise was great, and it was a lot of fun to see Bangkok from the river at night. The lights in the city were great, and we saw the Grand Palace lit up.
This week has been another great one. We have met a number of new friends here including Ning, Meow, Porn, Poom, Joy, and others. It has been great seeing Pete, Andrea, and Shiloh. I am so thankful for these great times.

Hua Hin

Pete, Andrea, Shiloh, and I left with Prasert (one of Poom's drivers) and went to Poom's parent's condo in Hua Hin. It was a two and a half hour drive with Prasert wearing lead boots. He did get us there safely.
The condo was on the beach. Right on the beach. It was on the 10th floor. The place was located just south of the main part of the city. The condo was huge. There was an enormous pool on the 14th floor, and we had it all to ourselves each day. The sun was intense.
We ran a few times on the beach. Shiloh took two horse rides on the beach on retired race horse.
We enjoyed shopping at the Village Market, and Ray practiced his Thai there.
We all went for foot massages one night at 10:15pm. Wow! We had a fantastic time and laughed our heads off. Was massaged Andrea, and it was Shiloh's first foot massage.
We shopped until about 12am and then we went to the big condo in a big Tuk Tuk.
We were sorry to have to leave Hua Hin the next day, but I had to catch a flight back to Chiang Mai. I departed Poom's Tuesday afternoon, and was sad to say goodbye to my old friends and my new friends. It was such a good visit. Pete and Andrea thanks for coming over. You made my trip to Thailand all the more special. It was great to travel with you and Shiloh.

Where Will It Lead Us from Here?

First Rain

I made it back from the City of Angels just fine. All was in order with my apartment.
I went out for a 13-mile run on my first day back. It was hot and sunny.
After a long day at the office, I was returning home to meet my tutor Toey, and to my surprise it started raining ... This rain is the first that I have seen in Thailand.
Today the air was cleaner, but I couldn't go running as I had to give an all day seminar at the University. Tomorrow I give another 7 hours of talks.
I forgot to mention the political situation here. So far, things are peaceful. We did do a few detours in Bangkok to avoid Thaksin protests. By the way, Poom's cousin is the head of the democratic party of Thailand ...

Moo Choo Seminar

Moo Choo is the short name for Chiang Mai University. I haven't learned the long name in Thai yet as it is NP-complete.
Bobby arranged a two-day seminar where I was the keynote and only speaker. I gave about 7 hours of talks each day for two days and covered topics including the following: P-completeness Theory, Sequential and Parallel Algorithms on Trees, Overview of ABET, Ten Interesting Computer Scientists, and Ten Breakthroughs in Computer Science. This marathon was fun, and I was able to meet with a number of professors from other Universities in Thailand.
I hope to visit Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University in the near future.
It rained here again yesterday, but I think the weather will be clearing soon. I am going to head out for a 13-mile run now.
The seminar received some good local press.

Picnic Where I Run

Huay Teng Tao is the place where I like to run. This weekend I went there with a group of about eight Thai friends. Our picnic spot was nice and cool. Check out this spread of Thai food. My lips were on fire for about two hours after eating. I mean flames where coming off of them. Big flames. There are lots of suggested ways to alleviate the burning, but, of course, none work.
A view of the hills and the lake area where I run.
A view of our hut. You rent these huts at the lakeside and even though it is about 100F out, you feel a nice breeze off the lake, and the shade keeps you surprisingly comfortable as there is low humidity. We had a lot fun.

Another Night

You really never know what you will encounter when walking around here at night. I was on my way to town the other night on a very dark road and saw this water buffalo coming towards me. With some quick thinking I pulled out the camera, as a passing car light him up, I took this shot. I sneaked by without incident.
Bobby brought me over to his aunt's house. Her son sent a mountain bike back from Australia, and he is letting me use it while I am here. It is a nice ride. I flew home from Moo Coo on it yesterday in 9 minutes.
We took a nice walk on "Tanon Kon Dern" which literally means "Street People Walk". We verified that fact. There were about 10,000 people walking on the street. Lots of vendors. I did a little bit of shopping. It was very interesting looking at all of the different wares.
The election results should be known soon.
Bug cart like the restaurant that I mentioned previously which I hitched a ride on.
I had a good finish to a run up Doi Suthep this weekend. When I left, I felt really bad. One of my legs was cramping ... not a good sign since it was 100F out and I was only out for five minutes at that point. Well, I kept going and bought two bottles of Gatorade. I drank those and then struggled to run up the mountain. Lots of Thai people were cheering me on though: thumbs up, or saying "very strong", "very good", "good man", ... When they say "very", the "v" doesn't sound right, and I will never forget these runs just for that reason alone, among others. At the temple on the summit, I bought five cans of soda, ice tea, and several bottles of water. I downed those and began the run back to my place. Well, I kicked it in over the last 5K and was flying. From barely being able to run during the first mile to flying after 18 miles in 100F, you never know how the body will respond. It was a great run; I am glad that I stuck with it.

Back in the USA

After five flights and 53 hours of traveling, I arrived back in the USA today. I worked for four hours this morning and then went to sleep at 6am. I woke up at 9am again. So, I am a little tired.
I was able to get a huge amount of work done on the flights.
All is going well with getting things organized here. It looks like my taxes will be filed on time.
I brought back a lot of my souvenirs on this journey.
Oh yeah, just before I left, well, I was out walking around. This time I bumped into an elephant on my way home. You just never know what you will see in Chiang Mai.
We had our big meeting about the Prologic Project and that went well.
Chris, Suzy, and I submitted our big NSF proposal with Jonnie and Mirna's help. Thanks.
Geir and I processed the copy-edits on our 550-page graph theory book.

Back in Chiang Mai

After another 50-hour trip, I arrived safely back in Chiang Mai. Bobby was kind enough to pick me up.
My apartment was in great shape, and I was happy to get back to it.
It was another hectic few days with work and getting ready to pack up for my Taiwan trip. I was able to lay around the apartment for a while though to try and get over some of my jet-lag.
Bobby and I had time to go for one of our classic Thai lunches, and I cherished it just like the other ones. I will certainly miss those when I go back to the USA.
Bobby and I caught up on our research, and our paper is in the home stretch.

Visit to the Northwest of Thailand

I rented a car and drove up to Pai and Mae Hong Son in northwestern Thailand. The road was mountainous with huge numbers of switchbacks. Luckily, there was little to no traffic almost the entire 1,000 kilometers!
Pai was an interesting "backpacker" town. Sort of a like a large trail town along the Appalachian Trail. I stayed in a decent place there along the river. During dinner about 50 termites landed on me, I moved to another table. There only 10 or so got in my way. The outdoor shower attached to the room was an entomologist's dream. To ride a bike to complete this loop would be incredible. I returned to Chiang Mai on route 108 completing the gigantic loop. Remember that you drive on the "wrong" side of the road over here, and that does take some getting used to.
I went into a hot springs area and saw a nice little geyser. Brought back some memories of the original geyser from Iceland and Old Faithful.
The Fish Cave was probably the highlight of the trip. The cave was huge and very dark. There were tons of large trout-like fish that I fed, as an old guy dragged my 8 meter by 1 meter long raft through the cave with my guide. I use the word "guide" loosely here, as this woman never said a word. She just carried the ONLY source of light in the cave in the form of a Coleman lantern. If that had gone out, I guess we would have been sitting in bat guano for a while waiting until someone else came into the cave. The cave was absolutely full of swallows, and they were spectacular to see. I pulled my shirt up over my head to cover up fro the aerial assault.
Then I visited a very beautiful waterfall. It is billed as the best one in the Mae Hong Son area. It was nice, as the recent rains left it with a good volume.
I went on to another spectacular fish feeding area, an incredibly clear river leading up to a cave. I purchased all of the fish food that these two old women were selling. I proceeded to feed huge numbers of large (getting larger) trout-like fish. This experience reminded me of feeding carp in Massachusetts as a kid.
I stayed in the Rooks Hotel and Resort in Mae Hong Son. It was pretty good, and I had a nice Thai meal at the Fern restaurant.
The next day I went to another Karen Long Neck Village. This one was right near the Myanmar border. There were guards there with automatic weapons, and I read a few signs about mine fields. There were several beautiful long-necked women in the village, but I liked the village in Chiang Rai better. There were a number of folks with huge earrings too. I mean very very enormous.
The drive back to Chiang Mai was quite wild on the mountain roads, as I was going fairly fast and there was little to no traffic. The Toyota Vios that I was driving held up well. It cost me about $125 for three days and that included insurance. I spent about $50 on gas, which came in at about .70 per liter.
Overall, I was impressed by how remote the northwest in Thailand is and how few people live there. The conditions are quite rustic. There are some gorgeous mountains, lots of jungle, and some big trees. The roads were excellent, if you don't mind 15% grades and super-sharp endless switchbacks.

Fulbright Trip to Taiwan: Part I

I flew to Bangkok and then Taipei. Luckily, thanks to Jonnie and Karin, I was met at the airport in Taipei. There I was able to get some cash, even though it was midnight, and off we drove to my hotel. The driver may have had Parkinson's as the car lurched forward every 15 seconds for our 1-hour ride. Needless to say, I didn't do any work on my laptop through this quaking.
I should mention that as I was walking through the airport in Bangkok I heard my name. Remember, I only know three people in Bangkok (okay, less than fifteen). I had been on my cell-phone talking. Well, my Thai is so "distinctive" that Porntip, Executive Director of the Fulbright Foundation, said she recognized my speech, and sure enough, it was me. We sat in the lounge together while waiting for our flights and caught up on Fulbright activities.
My hotel was right next to the train station. The Cosmos was nice, and I was able to get some sleep, after processing emails.
I was so tired when my 9:30am wakeup call came; wow, I was out of it. After a nice Chinese breakfast, I went out to buy my train ticket to Chiayi. It was pouring rain ... guess what, I didn't have my umbrella. Fortunately, I was wearing a Gore-Tex windbreaker, so only my lower half was utterly soaked. Buying the ticket was not easy, and, of course, once I had it, I had no idea what any of the symbols on it meant.
Okay, I admit it. I was feeling a little down, maybe due to the weather, my exhausted state, missing my friends, my lack of language skills, yada-yada-yada. That all changed after about 5 seconds, when a nice Chinese guy handed me half of his orange. It was a-roi maak maak (very delicious). He smiled at me so big, saying with his expression, I am happy to share and I am glad you appreciate it so much! Honest, I did NOT yogi that piece of orange, well, maybe I was looking at it a little funny. Then the 75-year old sitting next to me helped me decipher my ticket. Now how could he do that you might ask. Well, he showed me his ticket. I noticed it was the same as mine after some complex pattern matching, so when he got off the train, so did I. It worked.
Joseph, a PhD student at the National Chung Cheng University, met me at the station. We sped to campus, and on the way talked about running. We plan to do a 13-miler together in the morning. That will be good because I have not run since the Boston Marathon.
I had a really nice dinner tonight on campus with Professor Maw-Shang Chang and Professor Chia-Ling Tsai, great people, and I loved the restaurant. What an awesome meal: Seafood, fresh fruits, plate of cooked veggies, bowl of seasoned rice, mushroom soup, fresh fruit drink, and the Chinese equivalent of creme brulee for dessert. Did I mention all that was just for me, they had western food. What was nice too was that we walked to the place, and had a nice walk back.
There are lots of pineapples growing here, and we bought some on the way back. They also bought me some tomatoes stuffed with prunes, which were super delicious (I may have more to say about them tomorrow, or they me).
The campus here is lovely, and after just two hours, we were talking about my next visit. This place is beautiful.
By the way the University is only 16 years old and has about 10,500 students. I am staying on campus in a really nice apartment; it is huge and has good Internet connectivity.
Tomorrow I will give a talk here (Ten Breakthroughs in Computer Science), and then meet with the Dean and Chancellor. Should be another great day!

Fulbright Trip to Taiwan: Part II

Joseph met me early in the morning. I was so tired, but we got in a nice and hilly 22.5 kilometer run.
I gave my talk to about 100 people, and it was well received. I had a chance to meet with the President and others on campus, and we discussed many interesting subjects. They would like me to come back for a visit.
We went out for a goose dinner at a local hangout. It was very good food. We did the heart, liver, stomach, and goose meat thing. Lots of good veggies too. After dinner we had a tour of a local temple. At one point I rolled the "dice" in the temple. Two perfect rolls and they awarded .5 Taiwan dollars to start my business. The rolls signified outstanding luck.
The campus was marvelous: Spectacular buildings, landscaping, hilly, nice track, concealed parking, good walkways, pretty lake, and so on.
I caught a taxi, train, plane, and taxi to National Dong Hwa University in Hualien. I almost missed my stop on the train, as I was editing Bobby's and my paper on clustering. At the last minute I stopped a young woman and asked her to look at my ticket. She indicated I needed to get off at that stop. Whew!
On the way to National Dong Hwa University we stopped at a 5-star hotel for an amazing lunch. We ate and ate and ate. Extremely delicious Chinese food, seafood, Japanese food, western food, and Italian food. Lots of desserts too.
The campus here is near the Pacific Ocean and also between two mountain ranges. The campus is home to about 7,000 students and is the largest geographically in Taiwan. This campus is one of the most spectacular that I have seen. Truly remarkable scale and buildings! I was given a nice apartment to stay in, and it was full of oak furniture. I met with many administrators on campus.
Oh yeah, on the way to campus I toured an indigenous millet operation. There we ate JOTA. I addition, I sampled about 6 types of wine. I bought one bottle of sweet plum wine. I also bought one nice package of desserts. The women working at the plant were dressed in interesting traditional garb.
I gave my Ten Breakthroughs in Computer Science talk and my Ten Interesting Computer Scientists talk to an audience of about 150. The talks were well received.
I should mention that when I met with the Dean here the first thing he did was hand me a Singha beer. Thanks for the hospitality.
Tomorrow I leave for Taipei by train. Incidentally, Taipei now has the tallest building in the world. I hope to go in it this weekend. I will miss the people and the places that I have seen in Taiwan. Thanks to all my new friends for welcoming me to your beautiful country.

Fulbright Trip to Taiwan: Part III

The three and a half hour train trip to Taipei was fine, and I read a research paper on the train, while enjoying the scenery.
Bobby and I have finished up our paper on showing a new problem from the clustering domain is CC-complete, and we will submit that to the journal Complexity soon.
I have several offers to come back to work at Universities in Taiwan.
My friends from National Dong Hua University put me in touch with some people at King Songkla University in Thailand, and I will be visiting their campuses in June.
Let me take a break now after all this hard work and do some sightseeing, okay?

The Fulbright Experience Continues

Touring in the Taipei Area

I went by the Presidential Building, the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, the Martyr's Shrine, the National Palace Museum, a pretty Chinese Temple, and a handicraft center. I learned more about the history of Taiwan, saw quite a few interesting things, and bought a few souvenirs.
I took a trip to a Chiufen Village, Pitou Cape, the Nanya Rock formations, and the Bay of Two Colors. Saw an interesting old gold mine, and a nice shopping street high up in the mountains. The views of the water from up top were lovely. The ride up the mountain was sinuous. The rock formations along the coast were impressive. I acquired a few more souvenirs.
I visited the Sanhsia Tsushih Temple, the Old Street in Sanshia (which will soon be a new street after the rebuild is finished from the last Typhoon), an outstanding pottery factory, and the pottery street in Yingko. The vases and pottery were excellent. I picked out two gorgeous vases, but the shipping cost to the US was $300. (I had misunderstood the fellow originally about shipping costs, otherwise, I wouldn't have picked out the ultimates vases.)
I joined a Mongolian Bar-B-Q dinner and poured down some Ashai there, went to the Lungshan Temple, the Hwahsi Street Night Market (including Snake Alley), and to the top of Taipei 101 (the tallest building in the world, as of this writing). The view of Taipei at night was outstanding. There was no wind on top of 101, as I stood gazing around from the outside observatory.
I went to the Wulai Waterfall high up in the mountains. There I enjoyed a pushcart ride, some aboriginal folk dance and singing, the swallow lake, and the Chieftain Statue. I liked the jade carvings. My brother and Dad would have enjoyed seeing some of these spectacular carvings. I acquired my usual compliment of souvenirs.
I bought some shaved-ice ice cream with mangoes. As I was wandering around waiting for it, a woman directed me to a bowl of chocolate ice cream. I knew it wasn't mine, but she insisted. So, I ate it. Then out came the mango ice cream, so I ate that too on the house. She was a bit embarrassed. I was a bit full.
I did manage a couple of massages while here in Taiwan. I will have no trouble severing my own limbs if I ever get pinned under a boulder. If you can withstand a Taiwanese foot massage without saying uncle or breaking down, you can essentially do anything involving pain. Funny thing is later you feel great ... much later, much much later.
The people here have been friendly, but despite my many successes in getting around, touring Taiwan is not easy, if you don't speak Chinese. Taxis, trains, planes, and buses have all been a little difficult to utilize. I sure wish that I could speak Chinese.

Trip to Cambodia

Flew down to Bangkok and spent a lovely night there at the Amari Airport Hotel in preparation for a very early flight to Phnom Penh.
The one or so hour flight to Phnom Penh the next morning was short and sweet. It was fun to see Cambodia from my window seat.
No problem obtaining a visa on arrival. Now entering Cambodia for the first time.
Took a tour of Phnom Penh. It was a lot of fun being on the streets there. From the airplane I had noticed that most of the roads are still dirt. Lots of pedestrians, carts, and bikes. Much activity and I will never forget seeing the people buzzing around Phnom Penh. Checked into the Cambodian Hotel. Then went out for some Cambodian food. Similar to Thai but not as spicy.
Next to the National Museum, the Silver Pagoda, the Royal Palace, and Wat Phnom. Temperatures were around 105F and the sun was more intense than Thailand. Is that possible? Apparently. Had a nice dinner at a Cambodian restaurant.
The Killing Fields of Phnom Penh area deserve a separate entry. It was terribly sad to go there, but I felt it was important to remember the innocent people who fell during the Pol Pot regime. I wept a lot at the place where they smashed babies by holding their feet and then swinging them against the tree. I could feel the spirits calling out to me. It was tragic, extremely tragic. The only similar experience that I have had is visiting the death camps in Germany and Europe. Let us not forget those who have fallen.
Hopped on a prop plane to Siem Reap. The short flight was scenic and lasted just about 35 minutes. It went very smoothly and was my first trip on Bangkok Airways.
I checked into the Sofitel Ankor Hotel. Wow! The place was spectacular! Great room with a view of a nice lily pond. Humongous pool that I swam in for a while.
I went to Wat Thmie and then to The Killing Fields of Siem Reap. I went to the S-21 Prison. Very disturbing place. I almost vomited several times. After seeing the Stupa with 8,750 skulls in Phonm Penh, I had a better sense of what happened during Pol Pot's regime. I am glad that I was able to pay my respects to these people and the Cambodians.
I took a cruise on the largest lake in southeast Asia, Tonle Sap. It was extremely interesting traveling on the lake and seeing the floating villages there, as well as visiting one of them. Seeing young children in tiny tubs paddling around was amazing. The timing was right for a nice sunset too.
I went to Banteay Srei, Srah Srang, Banteay Kdei, Chua Say, Tevoda, Thommanon, Pre Rup, East Mebon, Angkor Thom, Bayon, Baphoun, the Terrace of Elephants, and the Terrace of the Leper King. Next on to Ta Prohm Temple, which incidentally is where Tomb Raider was filmed. Amazingly spectacular temple with enormous trees overgrowing it. Then, of course, I went to see Angkor Wat, the Temple that drew me to Cambodia in the first place. The temples were all terrific.
A must at Angkor Wat is to see the sunset and to climb up to the top of the temple. To see the reelection of the temple in the pool in front of it. Wow! Very moving and very spiritual.
Cambodian women are extremely beautiful and I was able to attend an Apsara Dance Show. The dancers contort their fingers into incredible positions while moving gracefully around the stage. The traditional dress is lovely.
I enjoyed many good meals in Cambodia, did some shopping in the markets (very interesting), and thoroughly enjoyed driving around the back roads of Cambodia. I have a feeling that I will go back to Cambodia. It is a fast developing country whose people are still reeling from the affects of Pol Pot.

Paper with Bobby on Clustering

We went through several more drafts of our paper.
After a series of fine tuning, we both were happy with the fruits of our labors.
We submitted the 19-pager to the Journal of Complexity. Now we will just keep our fingers crossed.

Islands in the South

I took a trip to Krabi. Krabi is located 1 hour and 15 minutes south of Bangkok by airplane. I flew with Thai Airways. I have been flying Thai a lot lately. They are a good airline, and usually seem to run within 20-30 minutes of schedule.
After arriving in Krabi, I was in a taxi for about an hour, then a ferry ride, then more in the taxi, then a second ferry ride, then some more in the taxi, until finally arriving at the Royal Lanta Resort. There was a full moon out, and my room was located in a jungle-like setting right near the beach.
The next day I took a very good four island tour. I went to Koh Mah, Koh Choerk, Koh Muk, and Koh Kradan. By the way, Koh means island in Thai. There was good snorkeling at each island. Lots of coral and fish. The visibility was not great but acceptable. I grabbed a couple of shells from the bottom in some pretty deep water. Temperatures were around 105F. The water was very warm too.
The highlight of the snorkeling was a trip through an underwater cave with about 50 Thai people. We formed a long snake and then went through this tunnel in the complete dark. Lots of people making sounds indicating they were scared. We emerged into a cirque-like setting with 400 foot-high walls all around. Sort of like being in a volcano crater, if you have ever done that. There was a nice beach there and lush vegetation. It was an amazing place.
I had a short run on the beach at Koh Lanta. It was a good trip. I would like to go back to do some fishing or some diving there. It will probably have to wait until another year though.

Large Dangerous Critters

Got in a decent 13 mile run in tremendous rainfall today. Then in the pouring rain, I mean pouring, I went swimming at my condo for about 30 minutes. (I mean in the pool.) It was a lot of fun. Needless to say, I was the only one out running and the only one swimming. What does this have to do with critters? Not much, except I think the rain brings them out and/or makes them grow hai maak (very big).
Okay. The other day I saw something move in my bedroom. The first thing that I thought was how did that kitten get into my room. Well, the kitten turned out to be a huge spider. I mean scary huge. Like tarantula size. I felt it prudent to remove him, so I did. Wow!
I was walking in my driveway the other night. I saw something large moving just as I swung my foot within a whisper of it. It turned out to be a gigantic scorpion. Well, big by my standards, I would say about 8 inches long; you know like a small thin lobster. My toe in open sandals came no more than 1 inch away from the scorpion's tail. Yikes!
I have escorted three large flying ants out of here already tonight. By large I mean 1 to 2 inches long.
Then there was a frog in the middle of my living room. I have never seen a frog that looked like this before. Quite frankly, I don't mind if I don't see another one that looks like this guy either.
Oh, by the way, I survived another Thai massage too. If she wasn't trying to hurt me, she sure fooled me! If pain is preserved, she spread mine around.
Rain has been heavy all day. I called my mom for Mother's Day and she said it was pouring in Rhode Island too.
I had a nice diner at Suan Park recently. The Tom Yum Kung was excellent but very spicy. They have an electronic tennis racket there to zap bugs with ... not real appetizing at this otherwise classy place.
Then there was the lizard that dropped from the ceiling near my head. Okay, don't get me going on the ants and the millipedes that are about 7 inches long and so on. About the ants, they large and red and look super nasty.
Enough said about the critters for now.

Scorpion, Spider, and Cobra

I know that I have been talking a lot about creatures recently, but I still can not believe what I am encountering, and close up. Read on.
I was getting ready to put my shoes on the other day, and well, there was a scorpion the size of a large crayfish hiding among them. I never realized how fast scorpions were until that morning. Yes, this event happened inside my apartment. I used a Leki trekking pole to "escort" him out. The pole was stung many times. I asked around ... a scorpion bite probably will not be fatal. What do you do if you get bitten, I asked. Put ice on it, and call me, I was told by my landlady.
Needless to say when anything moves in this apartment, I jump and look. I put on shoes now only after using the Leki.
After icing the scorpion, I decided to take a shower to cool off a bit. So, I am in the shower and look up. I see the biggest spider that I have ever seen outside of captivity. He appeared to have a bird's egg in his mouth. Maybe it was just baby spiders and it was a female. Using my air freshener, I scared him/her away. Tells you something about the air freshener, doesn't it.
I went out for a run and as I came back into the driveway, well, wouldn't you know it. There is a cobra. Yes, I said cobra. Yes, I said cobra. Yes, I said cobra. What I say three times is true. I had a little water left in one of my water bottles. I went up to the cobra and doused it a little. Its hood went up. I backed off. I tipped toed into my apartment, swiveling my head around like a top, took a quick shower, and left for work.
I had a good run up Doi Suthep the other day. It may be my last run up the mountain before the Phuket Marathon. My legs are still sore from Boston. Mainly my hamstrings.

Millionaire in Laos

I flew from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang to Vientiane. On the latter flight I had a window seat and looked out at the rugged Laos countryside ... little did I know that I would be driving over that terrain later.
I went to Vientiane and had a nice rustic supper along the Mekong River. Like Cambodia, most of the roads in Laos are dirt, and the country is still developing. The people were very friendly. I learned to speak a little Laos as it is very similar to Thai. I liked saying "Sa ba dii" real long for "hello".
I visited Vat Sisaket, Vat Ho Pra Keo, Vat Srimuang, That Luang, and the Patuxai Monument in Vientiane. You might have guessed that Vat means "temple". The thing to do for tourists in most of these countries is to visit temples. The temples are lovely. Since Laos has been invaded so many times, few of the original structures remain. By the way, it was super hot in Laos, so I was always walking around with a wet T-shirt.
I enjoyed the morning market in Vientiane. But, my favorite market is still the one in Kohn Kaen. Lots of smells, sounds, and colors to fill all of the senses.
Then it was quite a drive to Vang Vieng. I wasn't really sure that I was going to drive, but I did. The scenery, now seen from the road, was impressive. Paul would have enjoyed seeing the corn fields on 25 degree slopes. Everywhere there wasn't jungle, there seemed to be corn, and there was a lot of jungle. Very rugged mountains and countryside. Lots of tiny villages with many different tribes.
I went to the Tam Xang Caves and village. The cave was nice and cool inside, and that provided good relief. There was also an excellent viewpoint from the cave, so I was able to get a good look at the valley from up high. The river emerging from the base of the cave looked highly swimable, but I didn't take a dip.
I stayed in a nice bungalow in Vang Vieng on the river bank. The views were of spectacular rock formations, reminiscent of those in Guillen, China. In the morning at breakfast, it was interesting to watch a large lorrie drive across the river. He almost got stuck.
At this point of the trip I am thinking that Laos is nice, but, well, I probably won't be back for another 20 years or so. But, then it was an incredible 6-hour drive through the mountains to Luang Prabang. We are talking just one road through rough and untouched country. There were few to no cars along the route. Stopped for an extremely rustic lunch at a village along the way. I was eating delicious weeds, rice, and chicken. The food was not as spicy as in Thailand.
Luang Prabang was very pretty. A wonderful natural setting and my hotel, the Phou Vao, was great. I took a dip in the swimming pool, which had an infinity edge and actually sloped downhill. I met a guy from Athens there. What you might ask is a Greek doing in Luang Prabang, well, he wasn't Greek ... he was from Athens, Georgia. In that southern drawl he said. "Ya'll must be from near Tybee."
I treated myself to a 3-hour massage after the long drive, and that cost a whopping $14 dollars. Not at my hotel, I might add, but at a local place. The hotel rate was US like.
I went to see the National Museum, Vat Xieng Thong, Vat Mai, Vat Visun, and Mount Phousi. I had a guide on this portion of the trip who was outstanding. His English was very clear, whereas many guides in these parts speak little English. He had trained in the temple for many years; he was quite proud of this fact and repeated it an uncountable number of times.
A highlight of the trip was a several hour boat ride up the Mekong to the Pak Ou Caves, which house around 4,000 Buddhas, mostly crumbling. I went to a village where they make rice wine, but I did not drink any. Enjoyed a very rustic lunch along the way. The Laos people love sticky rice.
I culminated the trip with some shopping at a very nice night market in Luang Prabang. Although Luang Prabang is a little touristy, I liked the town a lot. Very friendly people. I say town because the population is about 60,000. The population of Laos by the way is around 6,000,000.
My travels took me through about one fourth of Laos in a north to south traverse. Extremely interesting country. Rapidly changing. Anywhere from exquisite French meals to village fare. Five star hotels to the ground. I think I will be back.
I was a millionaire for just a day in Laos. I cashed in $100 US for 1,090,000 Kip. But after a few purchases, I was back to non-millionaire status. By the way, you can get a visa on arrival in Laos.

Lecture on Technical Writing

Bobby asked me to give a lecture on technical writing to the theory of computation group.
I am addressing the group.
Drawing a tree on the board and talking about rankings.
After the talk, we went to dinner at th San Kam Restaurant, where I love the Tom Ka Gai.

Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam

This was my first trip to Vietnam. I was full of anticipation about what I would find, and was curious to know how the people would view an American. Even today, few Americans have come to Vietnam, and I have seen few people from the USA here on this trip. The people have been very friendly and the country has been wonderful. Great scenery and great food. The weather has been rainy most of the time though.
Ho Chi Minh City has somewhere around 7,000,000 people, and about half that number of motorbikes. While crossing the street, you don't wait for a break in the traffic (it never comes), you just go. People somehow miss you. Yes, it defies basics physics, but somehow it works here.
I went to the Ben Thanh Market. The crab meat looked incredible. It was fun to watch people cutting up meats and making salads. Lots of sounds, smells, colors, and so on. Very lively indeed. You can buy essentially anything in this market, but I didn't buy anything, except a box for tissue inlaid with images of fish in shell. Later I ate a gigantic crab.
My next trip was to the Cu Chi tunnels. The 1.5-hour drive to Cu Chi allowed me to see some of the countryside, which I enjoyed a lot as it was pretty. I slipped into a hole that was 22cm by 30cm to enter one of the tunnels. Then I pulled over the entry cover. Wow! What an experience. It was so dark, and I was alone. I took a few breaths, and then extracted myself from the tunnel ... with some difficulty I might add. Later I crawled through about 100 meters of tunnel. I also watched a 15-minute film about Cu Chi. I learned quite a bit.
I went to the Ho Chi Minh City Museum. There was a young couple there getting married and taking pictures. The museum housed some nice items; my favorite were the old wooden boats.
I then took a 3-hour drive to the Mekong Delta area. I went on a long boat ride through the canals, crossed the Mekong River, and visited a number of islands. It was great sight seeing. At one stop I went into a candy making shop, where they pop rice and make rice candy. There was a woman there who was amazing at making rice paper. Lunch was memorable for the vertically served elephant-ear fish. The amount of food that I was given would have fed three sumos ... yes, I almost finished it.
I had time to visit a lacquer workshop. The goods were nice and the process of creating them, very labor intensive. I made a big purchase of two end tables with gold fish. I can't wait to see them in Savannah.
I have been doing a lot of walking around Ho Chi Minh City. Of course, I took in the view from the Saigon Saigon Bar, went in some silk embroidery shops, went by the famous Post Office, Notre Dame, and so on.
I went to the War Remnants Museum, and I was deeply sadden by the images displayed there. Intense.
I went to Ho Chi Minh City University and met with some faculty there, and the Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology. We had a nice chat. The facilities were not outstanding but some of the faculty were highly qualified.
In summary, I loved the city, walking around with all the motorbikes, people were friendly, and the food was great. I also had time to see Mission Impossible Three. I was able to call my Mom on her birthday too, June 4. Happy birthday, Mom!

Visiting the Danang Area

Flew from Ho Chi Minh City to Danang. From there I went over to Hoi An. Excellent beaches, but not for running. I went out for an hour and plodded through deep sand in 100F+ heat. It was a difficult workout.
After touring around Hoi An, looking at the usual number of temples and markets and so on, I went back to Danang.
In Danang I visited the Danang University of Technology. The Dean there gave me a warm welcome. It was fun to see the students giving their final presentations.
Then I went to China Beach, Marble Mountain, over a big pass giving me a nice view of Danang Bay, and onto Hue. I visited the Citadel on a very hot day too.
It was festival week in Hue. The city was packed with people and motorbikes. I had a great run in blazing heat 104F+ and high humidity. I ran along a nice little river. A Vietnamese construction worker asked me for one of my water bottles. What was he thinking? What was I thinking? I gave him one ... I paid for it with dehydration ...
Walking around Hue was a lot of fun. I struggled to communicate with people though, as they spoke no English. My Vietnamese is limited to sin gao, m dep lam, and khong.
I took a boat ride on the Perfume River, which was lovely. I also visited the fourth emperor's tomb, and the hilltop pagoda. My shirt was soaked at all times due to the extreme heat, and I mean extreme. I was constantly drinking: water, Lipton tea, coke, Fanta, and so on. Oh, yeah, by the way most of it was hot. How can you have ice outside in those temperatures?
I left too soon to go to Hanoi ...

Extending the Fulbright into June

Visiting Hanoi in Vietnam

I went up to the 20th floor bar at the Sofitel Plaza Hotel when I arrived in Hanoi. From there I took in a nice view of the city at night.
The next day I went over to visit the University of Technology Hanoi. Students were giving final presentations there. The campus was under extremely heavy construction. I may have been the first Caucasian on the campus in a long time, as I caught the interest of everyone. The motorbikes were all over the campus stirring up dirt from the construction. Facilities at the University were limited. I met with some students who were giving their final presentations. They were dressed up in ties (men) and silk dresses (women). Many of the female students had large bouquets of flowers. I took a picture of an old phone , student's laundry, Department of Computer Science, and the entrance of the computing facilities.
Later I took a 6-hour walking tour of the city. Actually, I was just wandering around in the heat. I had the Lonely Planet Guide book with me, but I decided to wing it. Saw lots and lots of interesting things. Temples, millions of motorbikes, shops, Ho Chi Minh's Tomb, and lots of nice French architecture. It rained the last hour, but that didn't matter as my shirt was totally soaked the whole day anyway. I spent about a million Dong on drinks.
I withdrew a little cash today, and I learned that I am a billionaire here, as there are 15,900 Dong in a US dollar.
The next day I went to the Perfume River (the second time) for a two-hour cruise. There was a long three-hour car ride to get to the river with lots and lots of motorcycles constantly honking. The cruise on the river was lovely. I met with some ducks and stood on some stairs at a pagoda. The weather was not too hot, and the scenery was nice. A young man rowed me to visit the Perfume Pagoda. The car ride back was long and tedious. The long car rides were well worth the time on the river though.
I left Vietnam the next day. When I arrived in Bangkok, I found out that there were a lot of dignitaries in town for the celebration of the 60th year since the King of Thailand's ascension to the throne. I was happy to finally arrive in Chiang Mai.

Fulbright Article

I wrote this article for the Fulbright Foundation for potential Fulbrighters to Thailand. It contains some pictures, and I hope that you enjoy it.

Visit to Prince of Songkla University

I made a trip to the very south of Thailand, only 50km north of the Malaya border, to visit Prince of Songkla University. The south in this area is very different from the other parts of Thailand that I have seen. They are different in many ways including the culture, religion, and dialect of Thai. By the way the food is even more spicy there. The city of Hat Yai (300,000 people) where the University is located sits in a valley with mountains all around and the sea visible.
My hosts at the University made some nice arrangements for me at the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel. We had a number of good discussions, and several good meals together as well. I also had a chance to visit a huge Buddha statue in the Municipal Park high above the city. I saw a Chinese Temple there as well. The views of the city and surrounding areas from the park were excellent, and the park was very well kept up.
I gave five talks at the University including my Ten Breakthroughs in Computer Science, Ten Interesting Computer Scientists, Overview of Accreditation for Computing Programs, Introduction to Parallel Computation, and A Talk on Leadership.
They like seafood in this region. One morning I went out for my final tune up before the Phuket Marathon and ran through a very long (1.5km) fish market. The smells were overpowering. I doubt anyone had run through these narrows, smelly, and somewhat muddy pathways before. I received a lot of reactions from the locals. Oh yeah, I was in a white pair of New Balance that I had never worn before. They weren't white when I arrived back at the hotel.
The south of Thailand is not really considered safe for people like me. In fact, there were many bombs that went off while I was in the south. One day while I was there seven train stations were bombed. I was glad to see this part of Thailand, and my hosts were great. I would like to go back for another visit, but I will have to be careful.

Running the Phuket Marathon

Although Hat Yai is only a 35-minute flight from Phuket, there are no planes flying that route now. I had to fly to Bangkok and then to Phuket. So a trip that should have taken less than an hour ended up taking about six hours. I arrived in Phuket and was taken to the Sheraton Grand Hotel, where I would stay for the race.
At the race registration I met up with Fiddlehead (and Wall) and his friend Kim. I had not seen Fiddlehead since my Appalachian Trail thru-hike in 1995. We had hiked together for one day, and his interest in running was born. Over the years, we have kept in touch. I had talked Fiddlehead into running the half marathon. It was a great reunion.
As expected, Phuket was hot and humid. Phuket is also hilly. During the race, I just ran as fast as I could without having a meltdown. By 8K I was cooked. Yes, I said 8K! My shoes were already full of water. Luckily, by 20K I could see that I was in about the top 10 and that gave me some encouragement, as did an ever so slight cooling in temperatures. I attributed the decrease in the heat index due to a reduction in humidity once the sun came up. So, I felt it was hottest around 5am when the humidity was very high. Later when the sun came out ...
I felt good for about 4K from 20-24K, but then I felt lousy again. I actually felt like puking for about the first 35K form the Spaghetti that I had eaten the night before. At one point while running uphill, I did get nauseous.
Two Caucasian runners passed me at around 35K. I was feeling a little low. But, you never know what will happen in a marathon. I was drinking huge amounts at the aid stations and running with a water bottle the whole way. By kilometer 37K I felt very good. I picked up the pace and made up 500 meters on the faster guy who had passed me. I was running very well for this late in the race. With about 2K to go I passed a fit looking Thai guy who was walking. He started running very fast after that, and I couldn't hang with him. I finished strong and then went for a massage where I was cramping up a lot. Fiddlehead and Kim ran well in the half and came in just 5 minutes before me; they had started one hour later.
After the race, we went to Fiddlehead's house and along the way, he gave me a tour of the Phuket beaches. We had lunch on a beach near his house, very near where the tsunami hit. I could see a lot of the new constructions post-tsunami. Phuket was lovely. It was great to see Fiddlehead again and meet his family. I was happy to have survived the Phuket Marathon. We have plans to run again next year ...

On Learning the Thai Language

The Fulbright Commission appreciated my efforts to learn the Thai language, and they asked me to write an article about my experience. By the way I am working on a book with my Thai tutor titled "Essential Conversational Thai", and so far, we have written about 70 pages.

Visit to Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University

I was invited to visit Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University in Bangkok, and there I gave my talks on Ten Interesting Computer Scientists, A Lesson in Leadership, and Ten Breakthroughs in Computer Science. I have found these non-technical are very good for giving in Asia, as both talks help give students perspective on the computing field. I am glad that Chris Williams and Chris McCarthy helped me prepare these talks before I left the USA. I owe the Chris's a lot for that, as they did excellent jobs!
I had not spent any time in Bangkok for quite a while. The city is still very hot, and there is a lot of traffic. Once I arrived at the airport, it took about four hours to have dinner and get to the hotel due to the daily traffic. I actually saw a friend of mine on the street when we were driving in traffic. Remember, this is a city of 12,000,000 or so, so to see someone you know is rather remarkable.
My hosts at the University were very gracious, and I want to thank them for their kindness. All-in-all it was a very good visit to the University.
I made it to the Calypso show in Bangkok, and it was a high-energy show with lots of dancing and music.
I took a tour to a World War II cemetery, a war museum, the Bridge over the River Kwai, and the Tiger Temple. I had always wanted to go to the Bridge over the River Kwai. On my visit there, I learned a lot more about the Death Railway. The Tiger Temple was amazing with lots of big tigers walking around. Many of them were loose. It was fun to see them jumping off rocks and into a small pond to cool off. They were active, and it was fun to see them playing too.

Conference at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology

I was invited to be the Keynote speaker at the 3rd Annual Conference on Computer Science and Software Engineering at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology in north Bangkok.
My hosts took me out for a nice seafood dinner after a 30-minute drive from the airport. After dinner, we took a light tour in Bangkok, and viewed many of the lighted arches over the road in honor of the King's 60th year since ascension to the throne. The lights were spectacular.
I presented two talks at the conference: Sequential and Parallel Algorithms for Problems on Trees, and Ten Interesting Computers and Ten Breakthroughs in Computer Science. The conference was held in a modern auditorium that seated about 200 people. I enjoyed my visit to the University.
While out to dinner one night, I was asked to sing. I guess nobody thought that I would take to the mike. I sang "Let it Be", "Words", and "Massachusetts". Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and the piano player did not want me to sit down ...
You can view the conference program if you would like.
The weather in Bangkok was, well, hot and humid, and there was a lot of traffic.
I went shopping at "The Mall" on Ngam Wong Wan Road. On the way back in the taxi, I could not see out of the windows as they were all fogged up. The taxi driver did not know where the University was located. I asked the taxi driver to put on the defroster. I asked in Thai. The driver had no idea what I was talking about. I reached up and turned the defroster on high. After a minute or two the windows cleared. The driver could not believe it. He told me that he had been driving the cab for 15 years, but he never knew what that button was for, and he said all that in Thai. For the next fifteen minutes all I heard were "thank you"s, and "I never knew what that button was for" in Thai. I was happy, but I did scratch my head a few times.

Driving Trip in Esharn

I finally made it back to Khon Kaen, which was one of the first places that I visited in Thailand. Of course, this time around I could speak Thai and my perspective of Thailand had changed a great deal.
I had a nice meal at the Sofitel, where there was a very good buffet.
I reunited with the taxi driver who was my first Thai tutor. It was good to reconnect with him, and he even taught me some more Thai. I rented a car from him and took a driving tour.
On my driving tour to Loei, Udon Thani, Nong Kai (near the Laos border), and back to Khon Kaen I was more interested in meeting with the locals and learning about their culture rather than visiting tourists sites. It was a great trip driving around these areas, which are some of the hottest and poorest in Thailand. These two facts are, of course, closely linked.
I did get out for one long run in Khon Kaen and encountered a 3.5 meter long python. You just never know what you will "run" into.
I made it to the archaeological site at Ban Chiang, where very old metal workings have been found. They had a small museum which was quite interesting.
Esharn is very hot and even in mid July it was around 35-37C.
I did a lot of writing on the Thai book while I was on the road too.
The roads were excellent and there was very little traffic. I enjoyed the scenery a great deal. The northeast is by no means as hilly as the northwest, but there were still lots of mountains.
All-in-all this trip was wonderful, and a good time to reminisce about my time in Thailand.

Leaving Chiang Mai

All I can say now is wow! What a great year! What a great place to be!
I am very sad to be leaving Chiang Mai now. I have made many wonderful friends on this trip. My deepest thanks to Bobby for his friendship and help with everything! My thanks to Yui for helping me with my work and for her friendship. Thanks to the people at the Fulbright Foundation in Thailand.
Thanks to the faculty and staff in the Department of Computer Science at CMU. Thanks to my friends and colleagues at Armstrong Atlantic for helping to make this dream happen. In particular, Steve Jodis, Jonnie Chandler, Mirna Morrison, Chris Williams, Ben Page, Chris McCarthy, Daniel Liang, Greg Geller, Tom Jones, and others.
Thanks for joining me on this journey and for reading along, as I chronicled this adventure. This experience has been incredibly rewarding personally and professionally. Mii kwam suk maak!

To Be Determined.

I really don't know what is around that next corner, but I will take a look. Mai duu thii wii (I don't watch TV).
I look forward to my return visit to Thailand, which I hope will be very soon. I have been appointed as the Distinguished Professor Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science at Chiang Mai University, and I hope to work there for at least a few months each year.
For now the journey has slowed.

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