March 20

3-20: We awoke this morning and turned the TV on to see if we were getting any NCAA basketball. We are now watching Texas thoroughly whomp NC State. Too bad it is not a Duke game for Ginnie. In our daily program this morning there was an announcement for a March Madness get together in the Golden Lion Pub at 4:30. Ginnie is going to wear her blue hair! Yesterday was interesting. As were driving though the city to our first stop we saw how they transport pigs to market - never seen a pickup truck so loaded with ham on the hoof in my life! How would you like to be the pig man sitting in the back with the pigs? Our first stop was the Wooden Pavilion which is being built as a Sanctuary of Truth. It is amazing but seems to be an exercise in futility to me - it is all made of wood and it is rotting and cracking as fast (or should I say as slowly) as they are building it. They have been building it for 20 years and think they will be building it for the next 20 at least! It is a work of art though - so many intricately carved panels and so huge. It is in a beautiful spot - right next to the ocean. But it is weird - not built as a temple but as a cultural learning center to teach young Thais about their culture. Couldn’t resist taking a picture of the sign - I love their translation. We also went to a place called Three Kingdoms Theme Park which is actually a place built by the children of a Chinese Thai business man who had more money than he knew what to do with as his burial ground. He wanted a monument that would keep Chinese traditions alive in Thailand or some such. It was absolutely stunning. The grounds and the buildings were fantastic. It was way out in the boonies - our bus driver kept stopping to ask directions - made us very confident about getting back to the ship! But we went through pineapple fields and tapioca fields - didn’t know pineapples grow close to the ground and that tapioca is scraped off the roots of a tapioca plant! All in all it was a good day - not as oppressively hot as the day before though still VERY hot and muggy - it is all relative! We came back to the ship, ate lunch, and went to the movies - we saw Cinderella Man. Enjoyed it.