Category: Kalasin

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Here and there!

Visiting the Tsutsumis and family after the funeral of Eli’s mother

Kalasin, Thailand

The great Naga on the hill
people put coins in the Naga’s scales for good luck

not in any shape now to eat us
from a pile of bones to this
primitive in appearance
areas of Thailand with tons of bones
the threat is real
hope this is faster than the hotel’s internet
good noodles for lunch
enjoying their nice house, out of the rain
I receive a blessing from a Chinese monk for the offerings I gave the temple. I dedicated this blessing to a friendship

Luang Prabang

grand design, train station. no vehicles allowed at the vehicle access area.
rice is on the way

on the train
the monks arrive.
the lunch. noodles, of course
they have avocado smoothies. delicious. about 80 cents (US)
a Ruben sandwich for breakfast
nice room in front of the morning market
a tour boat for the monks
everything on the ferry

an electric scooter, from china, of course.

lookin’ out my backdoor
Naga boat to carry the revered
I stop at temples often and stay quiet (meditate?) as a break from driving or during a walking day
good advise. know this before showing up on Southeast Asia
Vientiane in KANJI is “ten thousand elephants”
request on the left – be careful which finger you see doing this. I didn’t see at first but it is a finger raised to lips.
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Kalasin

These are various pictures from my Kalasin trip. Captions explain them.

An overloaded truck by any other name still begs caution
coconut ice cream is always delicious
Home barbecue
Oh, Honey!
Waiting for lunch
The Amazon is in Merry old England which is in Thailand
My friends house in Kalasin
They will take you fishing on the river
These places will cook you lunch and bring it out to your boat
Bugs or mushrooms? Up to you!
At most family restaurants you can take your own bottle of alcohol and the restaurant was supply ice and mixer as well as water. There is no corking charge. You can also get a bottle of your favorite drink from the restaurant.
Within the 15 minutes it took to drink my coffee the air went from clear to field burning white smoky lung clogging junk in the air. People were probably burning plastics and other carcinogenic materials as well.
When you visit some temples they will give you these sheets of very very thin gold (24 karat) which you can press on to certain relics or statues
This is the crematorium within the temple, your last stop before your next trip.
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Eat in Style!

Whether it is a bbq at home with friends or eating at a river restaurant, style and deliciousness are important.

home bbq
river Restaurant
still constructing
our table
shrimp, tempura and lots of other tasty food
Karaoke group

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Mountain Food Shops

As my friends took me around Kalasin and the area today they wanted to stop at the shops selling mountain resourced specialty foods. Here they are, frogs, bugs and all.

Beehives
Worms and bugs
Freshwater eel and rats
More bugs
Live baby frogs
More bugs

Yes, they are alive

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What Do Dinos Park at a DINO PARK?

In Kalasin there seems to be an excellent dinosaur museum of local extractions which was closed but we were able to visit the dinosaur Park, seemingly a kids play area.

Feeding them is very expensive
My new buddy
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North to Alaska? No, not that far north. Just to Kalasin.

I’m on my way to see some friends from Japan who just built a house in Kalasin (northeastern Thailand). One of the temples on my way which I thought was extremely photogenic today was Wat Mae Ya Som วัดแม่ย่าซอม. I will let the photos tell the story. I hope you know that Buddhism is a derivative of Hindu. Alan Watts 

described Buddhism as “Hindu for export“. He also described it as “psychotherapy“ and not a religion.  In any case these images show its relationship in many ways to Hindu.  By the way, the journey to Kalasin from Koh Chang takes about four days by motorcycle, taking it slow. 

Ancient multitasking
Even rats can make offerings
That’s a big gong