In Other News..

I don't receive a newspaper at my apt, but I occasionally have a Sunday afternoon free to catch up with the Bangkok Post at Starbucks. Among several articles about Thaksin and his whereabouts, a few others jumped out at me.



A newborn baby was left in a box in Lad Phrao..


Six people were killed in a bus crash in the north when the vehicle's brakes failed..


IPads are finally available in Thailand..


Temperatures are steadily rising, and reaching 40 degrees Celsius(104F) last week..


Lady Gaga is beginning her tour through SEAsia..


The Dalai Lama was in California last week after some time in Hawaii..


But this one takes the cake:


Sigh...only in Thailand XD

Songkran 2012

Remember Tim the Tour Guide from Amsterdam? Well he's been volunteering in a little village in northern Thailand near Mae Hong Son and last minute invited me to join him and his friends in Chiang Mai for Songkran. Having had two other sets of plans fall through, I was happy to accept, and booked my flights and guesthouse right away. Flew out Friday evening, and stayed through Monday. Songkran was a little different than last year's madness in Bangkok, and I kind of liked that, although there's something about warm moat water that makes you want to shower as soon as the day's done. Made out with some pretty nasty bruises by the end of the weekend, but otherwise no harm done ;).

Tim's (and now my) friend Hans and me - a force to be reckoned with for sure

Tiny Songkraners! :D

Drawing from our bucket of ice water

No one is safe from the fun

Buckets of water and paste everywhere

Out come the crazies..

Ambush!

Tim and Hans

Tim, Me, Hans :)

Summer School

We split the teaching schedules for summer school this year, so I taught the first two weeks and Jay is teaching the second two weeks (for our class). Check out our cuties for this year:

Final Days in the South

The last 3 days of my trip were spent staying with Flo, as our weekend had gone well and there was no reason for me to go back to Toulouse. I had managed to pick up a cold in Paris, despite the beautiful weather and all, so was mostly parked on the couch with my cold medicine and tissues. Flo had to work Tuesday and Wednesday(and Thursday morning), so I took the time to try to rest and recuperate. He brought me more cold medicine Tuesday evening, cooked us dinner both evenings, and made sure I was well taken care of.
My flight back to Bangkok was leaving from Paris at 10:30am Friday morning, so I booked an overnight trip on a sleeper train for Thursday night. First class, of course. Flo has Thursday afternoons off, so we thought we'd give the beach another try, but on the way there Flo's car insisted it needed a break. Poor car. So we pulled off the road and enjoyed a beautiful walk through the vineyards instead. :)



I insisted on taking us out to dinner that evening, and we went to this hidden little restaurant in Narbonne that was decorated much like an antique victorian house, with a dim atmosphere and lamps on each table. We both started with salad, his with a side of foie gras and mine with a side of toast and goat cheese, then he had duck while I chose the queen scallops.


Dinner was going well..until I looked up at one point and noticed that Flo wasn't eating much of his food. He said he was just feeling a bit full, but the sadness in his eyes said otherwise. We both knew I was leaving in a few hours, and the finality was really setting in. I could see he was hurting, and it made me feel worse, and I felt a few tears run down my cheek as we tried to put on cheerful faces for each other as best we could.
Saying goodbye at the train station that night was the hardest goodbye I've had with him. We had talked about "us" the night before, and with tears I had told him that I couldn't have a future with him; as much as it pained me to say, but because of our conflicting beliefs (well, my beliefs and his lack of beliefs). It had been hard, but we had agreed that it was probably for the best, and I was feeling okay with how we would part...until it actually came time for me to leave. The tears were just flowing at this point, and I didn't want to let go of our embrace. He kept trying to reassure me that it would be okay, that he'd loved every moment we'd spent together, and that I was always welcome in his home, but I still felt miserable. The train blew it's final whistle, and I reluctantly boarded, watching and waving through the window as we slowly pulled out of the station.

Weekend in Paris

After just barely catching my train to Narbonne(bought my ticket at 3:51, train left at 3:54), I arrived at 5:30, switched some stuff to my little weekend bag, and met Flo when he arrived just after 6. Our train left Narbonne at 6:30, and after changing trains in Montpellier, arrived in Paris just before midnight.


Saturday morning was a lazy one, consisting of breakfast and then a nap, and then Flo's mom fed us SO MUCH food. Delicious food, though, mind you, and despite the language barrier I really loved her and she was super sweet. For the afternoon, Flo and I picked up Flo's friend Manu and headed into Paris. We spent the afternoon/evening at Montmartre, and it was absolutely beautiful.







Sunday brought more delicious food from Flo's mother, followed by a sweet strawberry tart.

Back into Paris we went after lunch for a trip to the Eiffel Tower. I hadn't been able to go to the top, or even the second level for the matter, the last time because there had been too much snow, so I insisted on it this time.

Flo's friend Alexis joined us for our touristy venture, and we had a great time enjoying the amazing view from the top. Simply gorgeous.









After coming back down, we sat along the river talking, watching the passersby, and the setting sun. Alexis had gone to see his girlfriend, so it was just me and Flo. We had dinner at Ozio Italian Restaurant, the same restaurant where we had dinner when we first met.


Wandered back to the Tower to see it in all its illuminated glory(and make fun of all the other tourists "ooh-ing and aah-ing" when the lights would change) before going back to the car and calling it a night.

Monday morning we were up bright and early, and after a quick breakfast grabbed our things and Flo's mom dropped us at the train station. We bought our tickets back to the south for that evening, then took the metro all the way to...
DISNEYLAND! :D

I was very excited. We checked our bags into a locker in the train station and entered the park. It being a Monday, the park wasn't quite as crowded as usual, and we didn't wait more than 40 minutes for any ride. Thunder Mountain was closed down, which was disappointing, but I made sure we got a turn on "It's a Small World," despite Flo's protests. He loved it, by the way. ;)

Flo and his teeny little espresso

Pouty Princess didn't want to go to FantasyLand.."It's for girls...see, it's PINK"

Small World!

Pirates

Indiana Jones


The things I do for this man...

Ice cream!

Last ride for the day? Teacups, of course :D


Uh...I was really hungry on the way to the train.


It was a wonderful weekend, and made us both really take a look at what might be left of our relationship, and what our options might be. Perhaps we were both caught up in all the excitement and surroundings, but we couldn't deny the love that we both desperately felt for each other. I still had three more days until my flight home; time enough to take a good look at what we really wanted, and whether we could really make it work or not.

More to come..