You see that scratch on my camera? It's from a monkey in Thailand.

This is me and one of my students.

Hello All,
Sorry I didn’t get this post up right away as I am sure many of you were waiting to hear about how our night went.

We spent most of the day running around Bangkok, not in the literal sense, but doing errands. Misty got her hair highlighted at Carrefour, and it looks great. We also did some shopping (didn’t buy anything) and then came home to prepare for our evening.

We dressed up and met the ladies at Mercy. From there we took a taxi to the Four Seasons Hotel. The hotel itself was very nice, and very hi-so. There was a live band playing in the lobby, and both sides of the walk were fish ponds and fountains. The Japenese restaurant was tucked inside. The waiter immediately recognized Vanessa, so that tells you how often she goes there.
Misty and I did not know what to order, so we left all of the ordering up to Vanessa. We tried some Japanese warm rice wine and Japanese beer. I cannot remember the names of everything we eat but I know we had eel, crab and shrimp. The California rolls were incredibly delicious. We also were lucky enough to have some fatty belly fish, which is the inside of a fish and very very delicate. It is also difficult to come by and only some fish have it, so a lot of times restaurants cannot even serve it. We finished the meal off with dessert, all I know is that it was something chocolate and delicious.

The evening was nice, we had a lovely conversation about the children at Mercy and their future. Most of the conversation revolved around work.

It also turns out that Katisa is not a supermodel at all, although she does model from time to time. Her and her husband own a horse stable in France and raise and train for competitive horse jumping.

I did get a picture at the end of the evening which I will post.

A few more tidbits of information. Vanessa’s father owns the airport in Monaco. And Katisa’s father is a musician. I am unsure of who he is and did not have the opportunity to ask but I will find out.

It was so hard to get up this morning as last night was quite a late night. I only taught one class today and then went to visit Nancy. Momma gave me a ring someone made. It is quite nice. Nancy was very happy to see us and they all begged that we join them for lunch again. Unfortunately today it was not possible.

We met with Vanessa and Katisa and took two van loads of children from Mercy 6 to the Oasis Hotel. This place is the pride of Bangkok, and it is no wonder! The place is incredible, and breath taking. It was definitely high-so, especially after we saw the Louis Vuitton store inside.

There was a boat waiting for us out back and it took us down the river. It was very nice as we got to go inside many of the little canals and see how different things are than on the big part of the river that all of the hotels are on. We had a picnic on the boat which consisted of sandwiches and muffins. We got off at the Snake and Crocodile farm and saw a live snake show. They were playing with cobras and racing snakes. They also milked a snake and showed us their teeth. The grounds were not very well maintained and a lot of the cages were dirty and some even unlocked. Overall I was not impressed with the place.

Misty had a terrifying experience. One of the children were holding her camera by the monkey cage, and the monkey reached underneath the wire and took her camera!! It was going crazy, swinging it all around and smashing it on the cement. I ran over after I heard her scream! I thought the camera was definitely done for, and was in so much shock I only managed to take one picture. All of the foreigners were there snapping pictures and laughing, saying "this is so funny." Finally someone who worked there came over and opened the cage, took the monkey out and retrieved the camera. There does not appear to be any damage on the inside, however the outside suffered a few beatings. There are a few scratches, and a chip missing out of the bottom, but nothing major. What a great story though. "What happened to your camera?" "A monkey took it and was playing with it." I think Sony needs to hear about this story!

Sorry I am not able to post more pictures. I am at an internet cafe and the net is very slow. I will try again at work.

Jodie