Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the gal who'll decide where to go.

~ Dr. Seuss

He says it well, doesn't he? Taking Dr. Seuss' advice I took my head full of brains and my shoes full of feet and headed off to Thailand for my organization's annual conference this past week. We were in the city of Chiang Mai for about 3 days and what did we do there? Shopping, shopping, shopping! As we traveled around the city we took a red bus called a Songthaew, which literally means "two rows." It looks like this...

And here's me riding in one...

We also did some other sightseeing: we went to 5 places where they make and sell various "Thai specialties" such as: silver, jade, gemstones, silk, and paper umbrellas. Below you can see the umbrella place - this woman is in the final painting stage of making an umbrella.


For the second half of the trip we went up into the mountains to a resort called Belle Villa. This area was breathtaking...beautiful. The temps were in the upper 80's with the sun shining everyday. It was so peaceful, we could hear the sounds of running water from the streams and waterfalls during the day and, at night, the croaking of the toads.


We spent a good amount of time at this pool...it was huge and it curved around our living area.


Well, the main purpose of this trip was the conference and it was amazing. I feel so re-energized and rejuvenated after this very relaxing trip. It came at the perfect time - in the middle of some culture stress I had been feeling and right before I start teaching again. Unfortunately, I can't write too many details about the context of the conference here but I can say that my spirits have been lifted and I am reminded of how grateful I am to have this year-long experience of growth, maturity, independence, strength, and faith. It is so important.

Oh, how could I forget the elephant ride!! While at the resort 6 of us took an hour-long elephant ride! It was actually a bit scary at first because we sat on a long seat and anytime the elephant started moving downhill, we slid downhill with it! We had to brace ourselves each time from falling out of the seat and I came out with the bruises on my arms and back to prove it! That's the bad part but the rest of the ride was great! At one point our "professional elephant rider" got down and let us sit behind the ears of the elephant. It was really neat because I could feel the trunk swinging around. Do I look like a professional? :)

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!