Competitive running in Laos

On a bit of a lark, Dung signed up for the Laos half-marathon after we saw a poster for it at a local cafe. At 0600 on Saturday morning hundreds of Laotians and a bunch of foreigners lined up, some for the half marathon but most for a 10K and 5K run. Literally hundreds of kids came out for it. Dung hadn't brought any running gear but made do with her sweats and a regular T-shirt, then went out and ran the whole thing. She even ran extra after taking an accidental detour early in the race and added on an extra couple miles to the race. And in the end she literally finished in the money, taking ninth place for the women and earning a cash prize of 100,000 kip! About nine dollars and about the same as the entry fee. She wouldn't let me open the envelope, we're going to frame the envelope with her win inside, her first competitive victory!

Cold spell

The weather the past few days has actually only made it up to 85 F or so, downright chilly for these parts. I sat outside for lunch today and even felt a bit of a chill when the wind blew. It's been great at night and walking back home from work, too. We're taking the night train up to Vientiane, Laos tonight for Thanksgiving weekend, supposed to be even chillier up there. Nice!

Loi Krathong

Today was Loi Krathong, a Thai holiday that falls on the full moon during November. Tradition on that day is to make a little boat out of banana leaves with a candle and incense on the boat, and let it float out onto the river carrying away all your bad luck. We took the Sky Train over to the Chao Phrya river where there were hundreds of other people with the same idea. We bought our little Krathongs (Loi means to float) and plunked them into the river, or at least a little inlet. I don't think ours got too far, but we did our part.

Marine Ball

Saturday night was the Marine Ball, probably the biggest social occasion at an Embassy. The Marine Ball is put on by Marine Security Guard Detachments at Embassies around the world on or about November 10, the anniversary of the founding of the Marine Corps in 1775. The Embassy Marines spend a good chunk of each year getting ready for the Ball and pretty much everybody makes it out for it. It's a black tie event and this year was held in the ballroom of the Conrad Hotel. All the ladies were looking fabulous as always. After the Ball we went across the street to an Ultimate Frisbee party which was a whole different scene.

Welcome to McDonalds, Thai style

In Thailand Ronald McDonald doesn't wave hi, he does the wai, the traditional Thai greeting.

Happy Hour

Now that we've got all our stuff and pretty much have the place furnished the way we'd like it, it was time for a party. We figured just a happy hour on Thursday, something to kick off the three-day weekend but nothing too huge as most people around here still have to work on Friday. We figured people would come over, have a couple drinks and then head out for dinner around 9:00 or so. However, our happy hour ended at 12:30 when we finally took off and got some soup on the street with Clay and Jessica. Not a bad first party.

Long Live The King

Thais have gone nuts for the new Long Live The King bracelet. It looks like the little yellow rubber Livestrong bracelets that sold in the US for $1 to support cancer research. This one's orange, says Long Live The King and sold for about $2.50. They sold out one million of the bracelets in one day. Thais love the King, but I think they were the fashionable thing to do anyway. Practically everybody in Bangkok has one on. (AFP Photo)

Chillin'

We planned to head off to Indigo on Convent Road for dinner last night but a hard rain at 6:00 scuppered the plans. Soi 6 was completely flooded out, almost knee high in some places. Just wasn't worth slogging through to the Sky Train stop, and getting a cab to get in there would have been impossible. Like anywhere else, as soon as the rain starts all cabs disappear. So instead we watched The Joy Luck Club on DVD. I've seen it five times now but it's still a tear jerker. Dung wasn't immune either, we had to wipe our eyes lots of times.