A student I greatly respect referenced "The Scarlet Letter" my 1L year in crim pro. Last weekend I finally read this $1 book I picked up in my favorite used book store in DC last summer. Perhaps an "A" should be fastened on my weekend for not reading caselaw. Its legal themes are a break from my prison themed books, and law texts, but still on the legal wavelength. A classic high school text I'm glad to have digested on public transportation. To boot, I enjoyed reading the critique describing "The Scarlet Letter" as a gothic romance. Matches my gothic dance favorite - Inferno. Would Hester Prynne be a regular at Inferno?
Next read? The recommended so far is "The Time Traveler's Wife." I would like to re-read Richard Wright's "Native Son." Any other recommendations?
Musical Theme of my "A" weekend: Chicago by Sufjan Stevens.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
South Bend
Today this blog truly transforms into a travel blog, from none other than tropical South Bend, Indiana. It's reunion weekend with my Sweden travel mate and fellow blugold. http://www.nd.edu/
Tonight we toured campus, saw all the famous Rudy spots, and laughed with Second City Comedy Troupe.
My friend loves pictures of ducks, whether in Sweden, Madison or a museum at UWEC. We have not seen a duck yet this weekend.
Tonight we toured campus, saw all the famous Rudy spots, and laughed with Second City Comedy Troupe.
My friend loves pictures of ducks, whether in Sweden, Madison or a museum at UWEC. We have not seen a duck yet this weekend.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Luang Prabang, Laos: The Best in Pictures
The view from my hotel window. People were working in the fields. What a relief from the smog of Bangkok.
"Pu Si Mountain" - A great view of two rivers and the whole town after climbing many stairs.
Yes, many of these. It's a historic village, yo!
Rules were more strict in Luang Prabang. Is it religion? Small town Laos? The many monks? I'm not sure. But let this warning be a lesson to future travelers! And please be in by 11pm.
The Hmong night market, the only place I wanted to shop in all of Southeast Asia. Loved it.
farang [n] - the word for French/white people b/c we are the pointed nosed who look alike to rural folks
......
Here is a new type of TukTuk and motorbikes! Yes, I did receive a ride on a motorbike to a local dance hangout. It was with Pa-tou, our Hmong guide.
.....
Why you learned the work farang: Pa-tou and I armed wrestled because to his question, "Why are farang so big?" I answered, "Because we are so strong." When I lost the arm wrestling match, not without suspense, he raised his arms in the air and exclaimed, "Lao people." Classic.
Since Laos has only one ATM in the country, and it's not in Luang Prabang, it was easier to convince my travel mate to use the credit card to purchase an overnight trekking adventure. These two days have impacted me in many positive ways. For starters, you'll understand by seeing the view during our first day on a 6 hr trek over mountains and through 3 villages: 2 Kamu and 1 Hmong.
In the first village, children were playing with tires and sticks. This children took beautiful photos in each village. They loved to see themselves in our digital previews.
A man from Vietnam motorcycled into the village. He would take the villager's picture for a small fee. People were excited.
I could not have been more pleased then to find out our guide, Pa-tou, was Hmong. Traveling to the Hmong villages was a goal of my travels because I have grown up along with many Hmong families who moved to Wisconsin. Pa-tou is in the back of the photo. Another guide is in the front, on the left is a girl he had a crush on... at least until he met us.
The Village of our overnight stay: We stayed at the Chief's home! A two story. The first floor was dirt floor, but they did have a TV. People in the village paid 2 cents each and watched a Thai show together that night. It starred a Thai girl working in a factory receiving a text message from a boyfriend. The pictures show the young men playing a sort of soccer/volleyball over a string for a net. The ball was like a whiffle ball but of bamboo maybe. Also,
Pa-tou cooks with his Hmong friend. The Hmong and Kamu have their own languages, but speak Lao to each other. Sometimes a Hmong would speak in Hmong to a Kamu and everyone would giggle. Interesting that the Hmong stick together and visa versa. Also of note, the small kitchen and cooking over a fire.
Women making brooms, men thatch and hang the house walls.
Shaking rice to take out stones, bad pieces. Chickens nearby.
One of my favorite photos. Here a Lao man shares my travel mates packaged roasted and salted peanuts in exchange for some of his fresh peanuts. East meets West, West meets East. A beautiful thing right here. We all shared peanuts. It was a moment.
I'm on an elephant. Need I say more? Yes. This is an elephant camp, more humane than their other heavenbound option. One of the many times on the trip my travel mate and I learned, in another language, "I love you, only one." I love Laos, too.
"Pu Si Mountain" - A great view of two rivers and the whole town after climbing many stairs.
Yes, many of these. It's a historic village, yo!
Rules were more strict in Luang Prabang. Is it religion? Small town Laos? The many monks? I'm not sure. But let this warning be a lesson to future travelers! And please be in by 11pm.
The Hmong night market, the only place I wanted to shop in all of Southeast Asia. Loved it.
farang [n] - the word for French/white people b/c we are the pointed nosed who look alike to rural folks
......
Here is a new type of TukTuk and motorbikes! Yes, I did receive a ride on a motorbike to a local dance hangout. It was with Pa-tou, our Hmong guide.
.....
Why you learned the work farang: Pa-tou and I armed wrestled because to his question, "Why are farang so big?" I answered, "Because we are so strong." When I lost the arm wrestling match, not without suspense, he raised his arms in the air and exclaimed, "Lao people." Classic.
The Great Trek!
Day 1: 6 Hour Hike
Overnight in a village
Day 2: 5 hour Kayak + elephant ride
Day 1: 6 Hour Hike
Overnight in a village
Day 2: 5 hour Kayak + elephant ride
Since Laos has only one ATM in the country, and it's not in Luang Prabang, it was easier to convince my travel mate to use the credit card to purchase an overnight trekking adventure. These two days have impacted me in many positive ways. For starters, you'll understand by seeing the view during our first day on a 6 hr trek over mountains and through 3 villages: 2 Kamu and 1 Hmong.
In the first village, children were playing with tires and sticks. This children took beautiful photos in each village. They loved to see themselves in our digital previews.
A man from Vietnam motorcycled into the village. He would take the villager's picture for a small fee. People were excited.
I could not have been more pleased then to find out our guide, Pa-tou, was Hmong. Traveling to the Hmong villages was a goal of my travels because I have grown up along with many Hmong families who moved to Wisconsin. Pa-tou is in the back of the photo. Another guide is in the front, on the left is a girl he had a crush on... at least until he met us.
The Village of our overnight stay: We stayed at the Chief's home! A two story. The first floor was dirt floor, but they did have a TV. People in the village paid 2 cents each and watched a Thai show together that night. It starred a Thai girl working in a factory receiving a text message from a boyfriend. The pictures show the young men playing a sort of soccer/volleyball over a string for a net. The ball was like a whiffle ball but of bamboo maybe. Also,
Pa-tou cooks with his Hmong friend. The Hmong and Kamu have their own languages, but speak Lao to each other. Sometimes a Hmong would speak in Hmong to a Kamu and everyone would giggle. Interesting that the Hmong stick together and visa versa. Also of note, the small kitchen and cooking over a fire.
Women making brooms, men thatch and hang the house walls.
Shaking rice to take out stones, bad pieces. Chickens nearby.
One of my favorite photos. Here a Lao man shares my travel mates packaged roasted and salted peanuts in exchange for some of his fresh peanuts. East meets West, West meets East. A beautiful thing right here. We all shared peanuts. It was a moment.
I'm on an elephant. Need I say more? Yes. This is an elephant camp, more humane than their other heavenbound option. One of the many times on the trip my travel mate and I learned, in another language, "I love you, only one." I love Laos, too.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Top 10 Thailand
A SAMPLING OF PICTURES...Below are the Top 10 Topics in Pictures of Thailand. To follow in future posts are top ten from Laos and Cambodia. And I will update this with more essential photos.
#10 We Love Our King: The Thai people love their King. Here you see a restaurant with pictures of the King from different times in the King's life. The King was celebrated last year for being in his position for 60 years. For the celebration, people wore these particular yellow shirts every Monday. I though there must be some regulation, but no. People just really love their King. Below you see people walking on the street on Monday, notice the yellow! I am the proud owner of a King's bracelet so graciously gifted by a nice Thai
# 9 Spicy Thai Food: cuisine shown here includes
Some tastybugs to snack on, loads of pineapple, glass noodle pad thai-ish dish from New Years that I could never find again (my favorite), and meat on a stick - that which sustained some of us.
#8 Ko Samet (Escape Island) "On Fire" -- A fire is lit at the base of this paper rectangle. Similar concept to a hot air balloon, this is a fun beach activity, watching the light disappear into the atmosphere . . . fun until the wind shifts and it descends onto romantic beach lovers walking innocently on the beach who scramble to escape the firey fun diving in their direction. Add one other story to this Kodak moment. As we ate dinner on the beach we also watched a fire show. This was put on by boys, from 15-25, throwing 2 foot sticks into the air. They would dip the end of the sticks in oil and light it on fire with a torch, hence the fire show. They also had numb chuck type balls of fire on the end of a wire that they twirled. Also a great show to watch, except that the boys were inhaling oil fumes and if they dropped it or flung it the wrong way, as we experienced one night, it flies toward you ON FIRE.
#7 Ko Samet "22 Baht" --The Thai sold meat on a stick, eggs, dried squid, fruit (yum!!), jewelry, $6/hr massage, and other goodies on the beach. $1=32 Thai Baht, that's a lot of pineapple. I lifted one of the carriers shown in the picture, barely, it was so heavy. Even old women carried these. The meat ones would have coals burning to cook the chicken. Portable coal chicken cooker. Interesting concept. Any Americans interested in serving me this way next time I go to Point Beach in Manitowak, WI? Things to note about this picture: the bathing suit in the background, Marisa's Thai thank you bow in the foreground.
# 6 Ko Samet "Fish Farm" -- I held this "Daw Noi" while at a fish farm off the island. Stay tuned for that explanation. First, the fish farm was the last stop on a 4 hour snorkeling tour my travel friends and I set out on one day on the island. We snorkeled in two places. At the second, our boat driver showed us a few sea treats. He jumped in and said to me "Follow me" and did that finger wiggle, an international sign for "over here." I thought, there's not much to lose, not knowing where we were swimming to. He swam 20 seconds then dived down. I watched through my goggles as he picked up a big stick from the sea floor. Then he dove down again and wedged a prickly prickly sea urchin onto the stick. He brought it to the surface and held it there. WOW! Next he went down and picked up this big slug looking thing, almost a foot long and thick as a softball, with his bare hands. I touched it. He called it a bing, some Japanese thing that people eat as a delicacy. Expensive. So apparently it's not true that you cannot touch the sea creatures when snorkeling. Another reason SE Asia is the land of no law, murphy's law, some kind of law different from home. Now, we finished snorkeling, we headed to the fish farm. This was a place where there were floating planks separating 8ft. X 8ft. areas where different types of fish grew. So while one area has friendly small sharks and friendly sea turtles, another area had vicious puranas that would bite your leg off if you fell in. And falling in was not far from reality with no hand rails or anything, just walking around on floating planks. I loved the turtles, the big ones, the small ones. A Thai taught me to say small turtle, baby turtle, and little turtle (daw noi, look daw, dow lek). Apparently I'm not that easy to teach, because when I returned to the beach I tried my new word out on a boy, saying "Daw Min." He ran to his dad, selling meat on a stick, who told me that meant body odor (as he waved at his arm pit). oops. This turtle story continued through the rest of the trip, including questioning a Cambodian waiter about the spelling and winning a stuffed animal turtle from a shady British fellow after he beat my friend at a dart contest. These good times mean Daw Noi HAS to make it into the best picture list.
#5 Grand Palace:
Our Thai buddies took us to the Grand Palace where the Emerald Budda is located. Here is an image of people worshipping outside the Emerals Budda. Enjoy the architecture.
#4 Thai Boxing:
My friends and I ventured into the world of Thai Boxing. The boxers seemed to be high school age. I am not sure how old they really were. This was interesting because it was boxing, but also to watch the gambling practices in the stands. Gambling is only allowed in the 3rd tier seats, where my friends and I sat. We did not gamble, but observed feverishly. Turns out, none of our buddies from class had ever been to a Thai boxing match.
#2 Essence of Bangkok: Wild traffic, street food vendors, temples, and shopping. Siam Paragon is the most expensive of shopping centers. Gucci, you name it. Around the corner is MBK, a 7 level shopping complex where everything seems to be labeled 199 Baht. Yes, it's mostly knock offs.
#1 Tuk Tuk - open air taxis. One way to truly appreciated the art of negotiation.
#10 We Love Our King: The Thai people love their King. Here you see a restaurant with pictures of the King from different times in the King's life. The King was celebrated last year for being in his position for 60 years. For the celebration, people wore these particular yellow shirts every Monday. I though there must be some regulation, but no. People just really love their King. Below you see people walking on the street on Monday, notice the yellow! I am the proud owner of a King's bracelet so graciously gifted by a nice Thai# 9 Spicy Thai Food: cuisine shown here includes
Some tastybugs to snack on, loads of pineapple, glass noodle pad thai-ish dish from New Years that I could never find again (my favorite), and meat on a stick - that which sustained some of us.
#8 Ko Samet (Escape Island) "On Fire" -- A fire is lit at the base of this paper rectangle. Similar concept to a hot air balloon, this is a fun beach activity, watching the light disappear into the atmosphere . . . fun until the wind shifts and it descends onto romantic beach lovers walking innocently on the beach who scramble to escape the firey fun diving in their direction. Add one other story to this Kodak moment. As we ate dinner on the beach we also watched a fire show. This was put on by boys, from 15-25, throwing 2 foot sticks into the air. They would dip the end of the sticks in oil and light it on fire with a torch, hence the fire show. They also had numb chuck type balls of fire on the end of a wire that they twirled. Also a great show to watch, except that the boys were inhaling oil fumes and if they dropped it or flung it the wrong way, as we experienced one night, it flies toward you ON FIRE.
#7 Ko Samet "22 Baht" --The Thai sold meat on a stick, eggs, dried squid, fruit (yum!!), jewelry, $6/hr massage, and other goodies on the beach. $1=32 Thai Baht, that's a lot of pineapple. I lifted one of the carriers shown in the picture, barely, it was so heavy. Even old women carried these. The meat ones would have coals burning to cook the chicken. Portable coal chicken cooker. Interesting concept. Any Americans interested in serving me this way next time I go to Point Beach in Manitowak, WI? Things to note about this picture: the bathing suit in the background, Marisa's Thai thank you bow in the foreground.
# 6 Ko Samet "Fish Farm" -- I held this "Daw Noi" while at a fish farm off the island. Stay tuned for that explanation. First, the fish farm was the last stop on a 4 hour snorkeling tour my travel friends and I set out on one day on the island. We snorkeled in two places. At the second, our boat driver showed us a few sea treats. He jumped in and said to me "Follow me" and did that finger wiggle, an international sign for "over here." I thought, there's not much to lose, not knowing where we were swimming to. He swam 20 seconds then dived down. I watched through my goggles as he picked up a big stick from the sea floor. Then he dove down again and wedged a prickly prickly sea urchin onto the stick. He brought it to the surface and held it there. WOW! Next he went down and picked up this big slug looking thing, almost a foot long and thick as a softball, with his bare hands. I touched it. He called it a bing, some Japanese thing that people eat as a delicacy. Expensive. So apparently it's not true that you cannot touch the sea creatures when snorkeling. Another reason SE Asia is the land of no law, murphy's law, some kind of law different from home. Now, we finished snorkeling, we headed to the fish farm. This was a place where there were floating planks separating 8ft. X 8ft. areas where different types of fish grew. So while one area has friendly small sharks and friendly sea turtles, another area had vicious puranas that would bite your leg off if you fell in. And falling in was not far from reality with no hand rails or anything, just walking around on floating planks. I loved the turtles, the big ones, the small ones. A Thai taught me to say small turtle, baby turtle, and little turtle (daw noi, look daw, dow lek). Apparently I'm not that easy to teach, because when I returned to the beach I tried my new word out on a boy, saying "Daw Min." He ran to his dad, selling meat on a stick, who told me that meant body odor (as he waved at his arm pit). oops. This turtle story continued through the rest of the trip, including questioning a Cambodian waiter about the spelling and winning a stuffed animal turtle from a shady British fellow after he beat my friend at a dart contest. These good times mean Daw Noi HAS to make it into the best picture list.
#5 Grand Palace:
Our Thai buddies took us to the Grand Palace where the Emerald Budda is located. Here is an image of people worshipping outside the Emerals Budda. Enjoy the architecture.
#4 Thai Boxing:
My friends and I ventured into the world of Thai Boxing. The boxers seemed to be high school age. I am not sure how old they really were. This was interesting because it was boxing, but also to watch the gambling practices in the stands. Gambling is only allowed in the 3rd tier seats, where my friends and I sat. We did not gamble, but observed feverishly. Turns out, none of our buddies from class had ever been to a Thai boxing match.
#3 Thai Buddies:
In class we were all matched up with a Thai student as a buddy. Here are some of the students in class, Jan, Lily, Yod, Kaw. This evening they hosted a welcoming dinner with traditional Thai dancing as entertainment.
#2 Essence of Bangkok: Wild traffic, street food vendors, temples, and shopping. Siam Paragon is the most expensive of shopping centers. Gucci, you name it. Around the corner is MBK, a 7 level shopping complex where everything seems to be labeled 199 Baht. Yes, it's mostly knock offs.
#1 Tuk Tuk - open air taxis. One way to truly appreciated the art of negotiation.
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