What life is really like in Thailand

Wow - life is grand and very different.  We can walk from our Hotel (right next door to the condo we move into on Saturday) to the office in about 10 minutes.  But during some times of the day it is really an "adventure".  You get to cross two busy streets.  For the first one - you go to a cross walk and wait for a small break in the traffic in the closest lane. You then step out into the street and stop just short of half way .... hoping to get the eyes of drivers in the opposite lanes.  If you do... you again dart across the remainder of the Street.  Once safely across, you must then weave in and out of pedestrian traffic along the very uneven sidewalk.  You need to be careful not to twist an ankle or poke you head into a metal support which is part of  a sidewalk vendor umbrella.  In addition you need to look out for the motorcycles who insist on using the sidewalk when the street traffic is too slow for them.  I intend to make a video of our going to the office adventure in the near future - stay tuned.

We are truly enjoying our stay here in Thailand.  We are currently staying at a hotel on the 17th floor.  We can look out our window and see the Condo we will be moving into on Saturday.  This morning there was a street market in the courtyard surrounding our Hotel.  This area is an entrance to a major university here in Thailand.  There were hundreds of stalls. Clothing, furnishings, cooked food and fresh fruit's and vegetables were all here.  I was tempted by the fresh hot sugar donuts.  I watched them being made and could not pass them up.  This evening after spending the day at the office, Elder and Sister Manning invited us out to dinner.  They are the Public Affairs Senior Missionary Couple.  They are originally from Houston, Texas but followed their two married children (and associated grandchildren) to Utah almost a decade ago. The Manning's have been in country about 13 months.  We had Thai food and then followed up with Ice Cream - yum  - the best two things in the world to eat.

We move into our Condo on the 22nd floor on Saturday.  The Jone's (Current Office couple) are moving out Saturday morning and then they will be in a hotel for the last few days of their mission.  They leave Thursday the 21st.  Lois and I are looking forward to some normalcy as we have been moving about from home to hotel etc. for about a month now.