| Brad and Jen's journal entry for: September 28, 2001 |
| Sawatee, We have been traveling for exactly 3 weeks today. It is hard to believe how much the world has changed since we left. We want to assure everyone we are safe, and have daily access to CNN which plays 24/7 on the T.V.'s where we are staying. Actually, now that things have settled for the moment, the t.v. is now being to tuned to other things. What did everyone watch before this tragic event? I think they did not watch the t.v. but spent the day on the beach. Today we wanted to tell you about the daily activites of traveling in Thailand and show you some pictures of the people we have met. Since our last letter we have moved to a new house. The other one had two beds and was 300baht a night, while this one is a bungalow which costs 200 baht. The baht is the Thailand money, and 1U.S. dollar=44Baht. So we are now paying about $4.50 per night. Everyday we get up and eat breakfast at the Diamond Cave restaruant. The manager, Sop bat, and "King", our server have become good friends. Sop bat has given Jennifer a lead on a school that she may be able to go volunteer at. He said it is very poor and they do not see travelers very often. She is looking forward to checking this out hopefully next week. Breakfast is usually oatmeal (porrage) with bananas or eggs of some sort. This cost 100baht ($2.27dollars). We may buy some bread for the day if we climbing and it costs 35 baht ($.80cents). Lunch may be vegetable fried rice or Pad Thai (brad's favorite) for 35 baht per plate. Dinner is a variety of Thai dishes, but we have also had spaghetti, chicken burgers, pizza, veggie burgers which comes with french fries. This usually costs 180 baht ($4.00dollars). If we have a beer chang large, it costs us 70 baht per bottle ($1.60ddollars). You can see that it is very cheap. We have budgeted $1,000 dollars per month, but figure we will only spend about $700 this month. Durning the day we usually try to go climbing, maybe two days of climbing and 1 day of rest. Lately we have been seeing a lot of rain, so our days have been a bit slower. It is nearing the end of the rainy season, so it is to be expected, however it rained for 5 straight days which was a bit unusual. Next week our visa will be up. On Wednesday we will be taking a bus to Had Yai on the Malyasia border. From there we will cross over to Malaysia and turn right around a re-enter Thailand. This will give us a new visa for another 30 days. It has been very interesting to here with the recent events in the U.S. Last night we ate dinner with a couple from Germany, a couple from New Zealand and two others from Switzerland. A truly global event. From Brad's personal journal: "Everyday that passes without a military strike, I gain more hope that a world coalition is forming to solve this crisis together. This should not be a revenge mission, and all possible care should be given to not endanger innocent people. If this were to occur, it would be no differrent than the terrorist acts on the U.S. Peace occurs through building trust not creating fear. The terrorist act has gone so far beyond what is acceptable, that is has galvanized the world against them. If a patient, compassionate, strategic, unified approach is utilized success and peace may be accomplished. If we over react with raw emotion in our need to retaliate we will galvanize the world against us." Click here for the pictures Be safe and be happy, Brad and Jennifer |