Birthdays and fall fun

Katrina planned a nice birthday party for her mom in August. She was surrounded by her 4 beautiful "grands" plus lots of family and friends.






Isn't she a "grand" granddaughter? :)









Here is a picture from one of my bike rides. I can ride 20-30 miles and see only a handful off cars. Biking in Illinois is the best kept secret...no hills and no cars. What's even better is that there has been no wind to contend with over the last 2-3 months, too! Good for bikers like me, but bad for all the wind farms!




Tom and Dan eliminated the honey locust. The tree has been bugging Tom for quite some time.

Summer 2009

Look! Here are the South American bicyclists getting ready for a ride through east central Illinois!







Joel and Karen trying some wine.










Karen's friend from McGill U, Iska. She is trying to catch some fish in the pond.







Group cousins hug!










Cousins










The highly skilled Dustin.


















The expectant parents







Uncle Dennie, Aunt Cheryl, Karen and Dan

Mom's 41st Anniversary of her 39th Birthday

We celebrated Mom's birthday last weekend in Cleveland. There were a few surprise guests, too! Sharon and Dave, Walter and Judy, and Mark and Mary Kay &  kids. Lots of fun.






Here are the cousins: Karen, Blake, Kelly, Kylie, Teri and Dan.








Kylie, Dan and Christopher










Rock on, Kylie-girl!









Dan & Kelly




Teri and Blake









Chas and Carolyn







Tom &  Carol

Back to the USA

Here is the Noodle Lady at the SWU canteen who made my lunch for me everyday. The last day she gave me a double of everything in the noodles (2 fish balls, 2 wantons, 2 tofu chips, 2 porks, etc.) for free! I ate every bite. This is only a 10 second video.

Here is Malin. She will take over my classes. She just learned that her Masters Thesis will be published!







My students on the last day. It was a great trip! Before I left people asked how I could travel to Thailand all alone, and wouldn't that be lonely. It easy to do because of my Thai colleagues who are also dear friends. They took excellent care of me, introduced me to all kinds of wonderful food (Tom Yum Noodle Soup), took me to beautiful places in Bangkok and to the sea, and showed me great kindness. Another great person in all of this has been Tom. He was very supportive even though I was gone during one of the busiest times of the summer! And Dan has become quite skilled at doing the laundry. Thanks for checking out my blog!

President and VPs, Classes, and Wallipan's Home

This is after the meeting with the president of SWU, his 2 VPs and other VIPS.






Malin and T co-teach the Sustainable Tourism class. Here they are calling the roll.








And here are their 90 students! I gave a special presentation to their class.










Wallipan, the founder of the Sustainable Tourism program here at SWU, invited us to dinner. Here she is with a picture of her late husband in their beautiful home in North Bangkok.





For dinner we prepared Tom Yam Noodle Soup, my favorite.
Wallipan had all the ingredients ready to go. Everyone was eager to show me how to make the soup.







Here is her mansion, actually, she has several homes!







Wallipan is lovingly referred to as the "royal mum" to everyone at work.

Munnork Island Resort

Munnork Island Resort is about 250 km south of Bangkok and an hour boat ride into the gulf. Before we boarded the boat, Noon saw this woman sorting fresh crab on the pier and ordered a few kilos for our dinner.






Munnork is a private resort serving well-to-do Thais. Of the 50 or so guests, I was one of 2 farangs (foreigners). We enjoyed the white sandy beaches, snorkeling in the nearby coral reef, and good seafood.





I enjoyed the bungalows. No TV, outdoor shower (private, of course), AC and electricity for all but the hours between 9 am - 1 pm. Very relaxing.






Thai fish sauce with lots of red and green chiles. Mmmmm!







Here we are hiking around the island. There were areas along the hike where you could see trash that had washed up on the shore from other boats. Traveling to an island like this makes you think a lot about what it takes to run a sustainable tourism operation, especially on an island in the middle of the sea. So much to ponder: issues of trash disposal, waste water, fresh water, facility maintenance, and the list goes on. Then there are the recreational activities and their impact on the marine life and coral reef...

This squid was caught by one of the resort workers. I'm sure we ate this guy at some point.






Here are the trusty boats. The little boat travels between the bigger boat and the island since it is so shallow. Our return to the mainland was the roughest trip on boat any of us had ever experienced. There were about 20 on board so we were a light load, causing us and the boat to pitch in the swells. The captain received quite a few tips upon our safe return.

It was a wonderful weekend!

06/06/09 Birthday Celebration

Here are some pictures that others took of my birthday last weekend at Pattaya. First is another look at our hotel. Remember to click on a picture if you want a closer look.







Ronald McDonald is offering a hearty HELLO or SAWATDEEKAH and wai (the prayer-like gesture).












Out on the town before the surprise party.








And to think, only 27 years old.











Here we are: T, Nun, Pampim, Barb, Malin, Daow, and Ant. Ant took all of these fabulous pictures. She just graduated with her PhD in Biology from ISU.








Telling Tom about the surprise birthday party complete with chocolate cake and red wine from Australia!