Dear Friends,
I hope that you enjoyed our Obama for President rally last week. It is great to see the enthusiasm of the Obama Brigade here in this provincial Thai capital. We had over 100 enthusiastic Obama supporters FIRED UP and READY TO GO!
In the enthusiasm of the rally I mistakenly gave away two Obama posters. These are of great personal value to Gary Suwannarat, the Asia-Pacific Regional Vice-Chair who brought them back with her from the convention. They are both on hard cardboard with a blue background. One is "Obama-Biden" and the other is "CHANGE". If you have either of these posters or know who does, could you please e me back as soon as possible.
Thank you so much for your kind cooperation and your enthusiasm which will see the election of President Barack Obama!
Best wishes,
Steve
Asia-Pacific Regional Vice-Chair
Democrats Abroad
I have the "CHANGE" one... but they said we could have them. I'll think about giving it back, but it's worth 5 cents, and if she's so important, I have a feeling she can get more, since it's a cheap piece of flimsy recycled cardboard...
looks like morals: 0 obama poster: 1
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
White Water Rafting
Guess the biggest thing that has happened in the last couple weeks is White Water Rafting. Four other teachers and myself went out for a day of rafting, about an hour or so drive from Chiang Mai. Funny thing, after the drive out there, we stopped at a place to wait for some more people to meet up with us, and then drove to a Riverside Hut.
This hut is the exact place, 6 months ago or so, I ended a Hill Tribe Trek with Johanna and Dave, at the tail end of our SEA travels. Little bit of nostalgia...
Anyway, we drove from the bottom of the river 10 km upriver (the same 10 km we would be rafting later) standing up, for spacial purposes, in the back of a land rover. It was bumpy, muddy, and trees whipped you in the face. Typical Thailand, I guess :)
Once our arms, hips, sides, and chests were properly sore from holding on the the metal railings for support, we ended up the the river hut. We had a phenomenal lunch of fried chicken, salad and spring rolls. We got a safety demonstration, got fitted into out life jackets and helmets, and put into boats. The five of us had one boat, with Captain Tommy, our 17-year old leader, and one of his friends, to even out the weight on the boat. We practiced paddling up and back, turning, and he held us against the current. Then he jumped in and we were off! The beginning trip wasn't too bad, probably some 2-3's, nothing too crazy. We did get hit around, and splashed and walls of water hit you in the face. The front was very fun, but as I weighed too much, he made me move back... which probably worked out better in the long run... you'll know why in a second
We had to get off the boat at one point, and travel a little down by road, as the river was too swollen from the days rain and it was too dangerous. We called his bluff, but when we got back in the river, looked up at the section we would have just come from, we realized he was right. It looked pretty gnarly, but we still through we could have done it.... That's why Tommy is captain, and not us.
We started again, dodging rocks and avoiding large bamboo poles all floating down the river in a furious rage. When things got too ruff, he yelled "Get Down!" which means hop into the boat and hold on for dear life.
"On the job" means hop back up, lock your feet in position (into cracks to help keep you in) and start paddling hard.
A couple "get down's" and "on the job's later" we got to the best part, and biggest rappid. Paddle! Paddle! Harder! Faster! Harder!!!! GET DOWN!!! ON THE JOB!!! GET DOWN!!! HOLD ON!!!
Next thing you know i feel a body slam on top of me. Assuming it was my friend Paige, who was sitting across from me, I was just glad she didn't fly out and smash on to a rock. When i could see, I noticed it was Captain Tommy,who had flown from the back of the raft on top of me and was scrambling to get back to his post. At the next seccond, I hopped up, and was ready to paddle, only to see Paige get sucked back by water and pulled off the boat. Where we had crashed was a spot where the water swirls, and so we were not moving, and able to jump over the edge and help Paige. Tommy was the only one who helped (we were told not to be heros) but then he yelled for me to help, which worked out well, as we pulled Paige back in the raft, only her shorts and suit sagging low. Thailand has never see so much ass.
We got her in, and paddled like hell to get out of the rapids. It was crazy. It was so much fun. After the rapids, we stopped downstream a little to wait for everyone else. The next two boats came through fine, and the third was missing two people. The fourth was ok. Guess one of the boats had thrown most all of them out, and one guy had to swim to the banks, the other girl I think was grabbed by a rope, and the first two somehow made it back in the boat. Gotta love it
It was such a great day, and after a couple more rapids, and some easier stuff, we made it to camp. It was so much fun, and I forgot how much fun rafting was, and simultaneously dangerous. Good thing we're all ok. a little sore, but nothing serious. And Paige got to flash some people... all in all a successful day!
That was our saturday day, the night we went to a wonderful bar called Samo that served all you can drink beer (heavily iced and watered down) for 3.5 hours. Drink fast enough and it's a good deal. We watched the Liverpool ManU gamee, to which Thai's are obsessed, and then began a good night out.
The night was so good I spent most of Sunday laying around. Then it was Monday, and back to work.
Three more weeks of work, and then Morgan (a teacher from Asian U, the summer camp Johanna and I worked at) comes to visit for a week, and then I go to LAOS!!! for a week and a half backpacking trip. I am beyond excited. It's been too long since I have been a backpacker.
Hope this was a good update. Guess you guys all heard Shelley's getting fat. It happens. Be nice to her, fat robotic cyborg.
This hut is the exact place, 6 months ago or so, I ended a Hill Tribe Trek with Johanna and Dave, at the tail end of our SEA travels. Little bit of nostalgia...
Anyway, we drove from the bottom of the river 10 km upriver (the same 10 km we would be rafting later) standing up, for spacial purposes, in the back of a land rover. It was bumpy, muddy, and trees whipped you in the face. Typical Thailand, I guess :)
Once our arms, hips, sides, and chests were properly sore from holding on the the metal railings for support, we ended up the the river hut. We had a phenomenal lunch of fried chicken, salad and spring rolls. We got a safety demonstration, got fitted into out life jackets and helmets, and put into boats. The five of us had one boat, with Captain Tommy, our 17-year old leader, and one of his friends, to even out the weight on the boat. We practiced paddling up and back, turning, and he held us against the current. Then he jumped in and we were off! The beginning trip wasn't too bad, probably some 2-3's, nothing too crazy. We did get hit around, and splashed and walls of water hit you in the face. The front was very fun, but as I weighed too much, he made me move back... which probably worked out better in the long run... you'll know why in a second
We had to get off the boat at one point, and travel a little down by road, as the river was too swollen from the days rain and it was too dangerous. We called his bluff, but when we got back in the river, looked up at the section we would have just come from, we realized he was right. It looked pretty gnarly, but we still through we could have done it.... That's why Tommy is captain, and not us.
We started again, dodging rocks and avoiding large bamboo poles all floating down the river in a furious rage. When things got too ruff, he yelled "Get Down!" which means hop into the boat and hold on for dear life.
"On the job" means hop back up, lock your feet in position (into cracks to help keep you in) and start paddling hard.
A couple "get down's" and "on the job's later" we got to the best part, and biggest rappid. Paddle! Paddle! Harder! Faster! Harder!!!! GET DOWN!!! ON THE JOB!!! GET DOWN!!! HOLD ON!!!
Next thing you know i feel a body slam on top of me. Assuming it was my friend Paige, who was sitting across from me, I was just glad she didn't fly out and smash on to a rock. When i could see, I noticed it was Captain Tommy,who had flown from the back of the raft on top of me and was scrambling to get back to his post. At the next seccond, I hopped up, and was ready to paddle, only to see Paige get sucked back by water and pulled off the boat. Where we had crashed was a spot where the water swirls, and so we were not moving, and able to jump over the edge and help Paige. Tommy was the only one who helped (we were told not to be heros) but then he yelled for me to help, which worked out well, as we pulled Paige back in the raft, only her shorts and suit sagging low. Thailand has never see so much ass.
We got her in, and paddled like hell to get out of the rapids. It was crazy. It was so much fun. After the rapids, we stopped downstream a little to wait for everyone else. The next two boats came through fine, and the third was missing two people. The fourth was ok. Guess one of the boats had thrown most all of them out, and one guy had to swim to the banks, the other girl I think was grabbed by a rope, and the first two somehow made it back in the boat. Gotta love it
It was such a great day, and after a couple more rapids, and some easier stuff, we made it to camp. It was so much fun, and I forgot how much fun rafting was, and simultaneously dangerous. Good thing we're all ok. a little sore, but nothing serious. And Paige got to flash some people... all in all a successful day!
That was our saturday day, the night we went to a wonderful bar called Samo that served all you can drink beer (heavily iced and watered down) for 3.5 hours. Drink fast enough and it's a good deal. We watched the Liverpool ManU gamee, to which Thai's are obsessed, and then began a good night out.
The night was so good I spent most of Sunday laying around. Then it was Monday, and back to work.
Three more weeks of work, and then Morgan (a teacher from Asian U, the summer camp Johanna and I worked at) comes to visit for a week, and then I go to LAOS!!! for a week and a half backpacking trip. I am beyond excited. It's been too long since I have been a backpacker.
Hope this was a good update. Guess you guys all heard Shelley's getting fat. It happens. Be nice to her, fat robotic cyborg.
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