Oh heyyy, America

So I got into Grammie's on Saturday, and had a good few days with her, the twins, and Ollie. Got all of the pre-employment logistics out of the way (with HUGE help from Michelle who took me to get my criminal record printed out after Grammie and I had spent the better part of a morning trying to figure out how I could get to the state police's office without a $100 cab ride), and then went down to Boston to visit with some wonderful people there.

Since I was pretty warmed up from my usmile experience, we posed for pictures:::





The top photo is Ayanna,Casey, me and Holly -- and then the bottom photo is Rob, me and Rachel (Rob is from MV, and went to Emory; Rachel is my friend whose boat I lived on two summers back).

I also got to see Julia, Whitney, Zach, Tonelli, and Chloe -- and it was really great to hear about what everyone is up to.

So now I'm staying with my friend Meredith, and probably leaving on the boat Sunday or Monday. She's dog-sitting right now, and we're staying at a really great house with a very pretty field in the backyard::



some flowers to prove it's spring::



and a very endearing heart-rock collection --



I'm so happy to be back, and feel very at home even though I'm camping at other peoples places right now -- but obviously I do miss Thailand, and especially the people there mak mak.

Love to you all,
Paige

Post-Protest

So from what I hear the protestors have dispersed now here in Bangkok. It was pretty bizarre to feel safe over here in my part of town, and then see very aggressive, unpredictable images of the city live on CNN.

There were a few calm protestors two blocks away from where I live, and since it has been the Thai new year (Songkran) there has also been a 3-day countrywide waterfight going on in addition to the protests.

People everywhere have squirt guns, and buckets of water and you can't walk anywhere without ending up wet.



People also ride around in pick-up trucks and motorbikes to soak people. Rachel and I both got soaked while on motorbikes. There's very little pity.

Love to you all,
Paige

Luang Prabang

So after Pai Rachel and I took an 8 or 9pm bus to the Thai-Laos border, and crossed the river in the morning to get into Laos.

The plan was to take 2 days taking a boat up the Mekong, but once we got there and learned that there was a one day bus to Luang Prabang we opted for that since we were a little short on time.

The town is a UNESCO World Heritage site and really mellow and lovely.

Here are some street shots::





The Mekong wraps around the town, and there are restaurants and cafes that line the road looking out on the river::





I also had real, genuine strong-brewed coffee every morning that we were there, and some yummy croissants and things at breakfast::



There was a temple at the top of the hill looking out over the town::





And lots of gorgeous buildings and a few sweetsweet cars --



Loved it.

and love to you all!
-Paige

Also...

... I've given my two weeks notice at my job here and am moving back to the US on April 25th.

Bangkok has been wonderful, and I've been really lucky to make great friends and enjoy myself teaching and all of those good things -- but I'm also reallyreally excited to go back to Martha's Vineyard and work for the Black Dog's tall ship Alabama: theblackdogtallships.com



I'm going to be splitting time between working on the boat, and in their office, and I'm SUPER excited about this.

Love,
Paige

Spring Break Redux: Pai

Hellooo loved ones!

Hope you're all wonderful, and that April is starting well.

Had a REALLY great week in northern Thailand and Laos. I'll take a few days of posting pics to go over it.

The trip started on a train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, and the only photos I have from the train ride were taken right after our table collapsed and our drinks spilled all over Alanna (and then created a river down the train car).

As having cleaning supplies readily accessible is not a top priority on trains, our lovely kathoey train attendant Natalie helped us clean up our mess with toilet paper posthaste.

Here are Rachel and Alanna after the cleaning was done:



We got into Chiang Mai, and met up with Meg and Costa. We had a tasty lunch at a juice bar/ organic sandwich shop, and then got on a mini-bus to get to Pai.

The ride to Pai was through the mountains, and very green, winding and pretty.

Pai is a backpackers haven, and very geared towards things foreigners might want/ will buy (eg: hamburgers, lots of fruit shakes, motorbikes, bars that play exclusively Bob Marley and Jack Johnson).

We decided to give motorbikes a go:



And three incidents, and one flat tire later - we were still all able to walk away from the experience.

We also found a music festival:





and played some balloon darts:



I should mention that Pai is beautiful. I should also mention that all of these photos were taken by Meg.





Pai was soso great, and unfortunately I had to say goodbye to Costa who went back to Austria...



...and also to Meg, who left for a month in the US on Monday -- but not before she won the Only Member of Trip Competent Enough on a Motorbike that She Should Consider Investing in a Vespa Award.



Love to you all and please visit Pai when you come to Thailand!
-Paige

Spring Break!!! (except it's summer here)

Hellooo!

I'm alive and going to Laos next week!

I don't have it in me to do a censored web-friendly report of how it's been working at an English summer day camp recently - but suffice it to say that I'm currently drafting thank you letters to both my parents for never sending me to Spanish or French or Japanese summer day camp. Crimony.

Really it's ok though, and I am very excited for my upcoming trip with my friend Rachel. We'll be going to Chiang Mai, Pai in northern Thailand and then Luang Prabang, Phonsaven, and Vientienne in Laos.

Love to you all,
Paige

A Taste of the Bizarre

I've had 48 fours filled with head-scratching, where-did-that-come-from moments. Here are three:

1. I braided pig-tails for 20 minutes while substituting in a kindergarten class.
2. I witnessed a grown woman retching in a classroom who then pretended like it was totally normal and happens all the time.
3. While stuck in traffic my taxi driver took out a flute and played three songs before traffic started up again.

Nice.

Hope you're all lovely!

Love,
Paige