Letter 5 (both)

Hi,



I just had to tell you that I have eaten fried cricket, fried bamboo worm, fried grasshopper (yuch), fried silk worm yuch and a tiny bit of a scorpion's tail.



Quite a Mom, yes?



Love, Mom



Now we switch writers, Mom just left.



Events for January 27:



We began with a farm visit, which was quite an operation. Large catfish raising ponds. Rice, eggplant, pumpkin, morning glory, etc. And got to experience the extended family. While "just" farmers, they have sent their three children to college which I'm sure will change the future dynmics of that family.



We had to travel a fair distance today as well, but it was broken up with other various stops.



The next stop was rice factory where it was milled and bagged. Some of the bags ranged from 50 kilos to 100 kilos. That was a lot of work by the end of the day for the guys who got to carry them. Not much was wasted. Even the husks were burned and resold as fertilizer. No. Not bringing back a bag as a souvenir.



Another stop was at the Wat [temple] Mahathat in Sukothai which dates back to 1238, which is only a hundred years newer than Angkor Wat. One portion of this wat dates back to Hindu influence until "converted" over to Buddhism. We make our way around the grounds via a Tut-Tut, a contraption mounted on the front of a motorcycle which carried four people.



The bus also made a sudden stop at a rice field where they were transplanting rice shoots by hand one by one. How laborious. All women, of course, bending from the waist in the hot sun. They were standing in about eight inches of water as well.



We then learned the process of indigo making and dying. Interesting process. Then comes the handstamping on each fabric with wax image by image. I wonder how long its takes just to make one item?



Finally we stopped at another wat, this one newer having been built about 1900. It was a totally differnt style coming out of Burma.



As you can tell, OAT likes to involve its tourists in many of the day by day activities of the common people which makes it intereting to us.



Hope all is well with you. And is Mehnoush's boss there yet. I lost track of the timeline. Hope the local riots have also ceased and you can freely go about your business.



Perhaps you've done this already, but you can bring Grandma A uptodate on our activities as well.



Now, off for a nice shower!



Love dad