Roller Rinks in Thailand?!

Even though our backpacks have never weighed more than 10 lbs each, we have been getting by just fine. Both of us have nicely shifted from sailors to newlyweds and on to world travelers. Even now as I am sitting in a busy Internet cafe in a large town that I have yet to pronounce the name correctly, I have found a way to feel comfortable; a way to manipulate my surroundings in order to feel that sense of place typically only found at home. For the last few days, we've been hitting the road hard in order to get into the heart of the Northern regions of the country. Because of the flooding in Cambodia, we opted to make a straight shot North from Chantibuti. For me, it has been a great opportunity to observe. Whether it is peering out the windows at quickly passing landscapes or noticing how similar bus worker are to drug hustlers, I have begun to feel more intimately connected with the Thai way of doing things.

When we arrived yesterday evening, we were unnerved after a few snags in finding a place to stay. We decided that today would be a day of rest; a day to explore with no bags on our shoulders and no logistical details to tackle(mostly Megan's job!). We left our room and almost immediately came upon a parade. As anyone that knows us would assume, we followed it to it's destination. It turned out that it led to some sort of community celebration on Temple grounds. There were tents and live music, food and iced coffee...for FREE! So of course, we gorged. We gorged on pad thai, sum tom, passion-fruit juice, jell-o popsicle, ice cream, and fried sticky-rice cakes. Later, a beautiful traditional group played some incredibly complicated music as several dance groups performed. Megan and I enjoyed it very much from the shade. It was one of those moments of nearly pure joy that almost forces one to say: This is why I travel. I travel because you just really can't know what is around the next corner until to turn it. This was only the most recent of these.

A couple days ago while taking a walk in the city of Buriram, we came around a corner and stumbled upon a roller rink. I just about fell over with surprise. The roller rink was fairly busy with Thai people of all ages. There was areas of closely lined cones in which the good skaters would do trick. Others would be wearing all sorts of pads and falling all over the place. I particularly enjoyed watching the teenage boys. These boys would skate to the far side and come back towards where people(in particular a couple of cute Thai girls and one beautiful Caucasian) would be sitting and watching and do tricks like rolling while balanced on just the front wheel of each skate. It was so entertaining that we left to buy donuts and cookies to eat.

Another of these surprising occurrences happened on our way to the bus station in Buriram. Just as we were turning the corner to the bust station we noticed a large group forming. It turned out that one of the small family home/street-side business buildings had erupted into flames. What unfolded was nothing sort of unusual-a small town Thai fire department in action.  Because there is no fire hydrants to provide water, the department must use expendable water trucks and engine powered pumps. I think I counted over 15 water trucks lined up near the one fire truck. They would pump water from their truck into the fire truck tank. Then, once having run empty, they would be quickly replaced with another. Part of me was impressed, but part of me was suspicious that even after the point that the fire was completely extinguished, they continued to perform the the immense crowd. Perhaps the opportunity to show off as a firefighter only come once in a long time.

Besides these types of occurrences, out time has been more recently spent moving and learning Thai. We plan to continue North tomorrow, then make a wide West-hand turn through part of Laos and arriving neat Changrai in about two weeks. When there, Megan has brilliantly set us up with an organization in which we will help at a children's home.

Apologize for the lack of pictures. We aren't able to insert our camera SD card into the desktop computers hear. We'll figure something out soon. Also, check out Megan's incredible song. You wouldn't believe how many soulful, unique, and just plain great songs she has archives already! If you want to hear more... tell her! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLJuDXBKklU ( I realize the link it just below this post, but I think its worth a second look!)

-Corey