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I stayed a few short days in both Nong Khai, Thailand, and Vientiane, Laos. I mainly hung out along the Mekong River, and both cities have built up their respective riverbanks.
Nong Khai hasn’t changed all that much in the year since I’d last been there. It’s a pleasant walk along the river, where you can duck into one of the small shelters, out of the hot sun, and take a nap if you’d like.
There are also any number of small, open-air restaurants. Go in, sit by a fan and grab a snack or a meal. Here, Nai and I prepare to chow down. I’m the fella without glasses. Oh, sorry about that. You’ll just have to guess which one of the handsome guys is yours truly.
I forget what Nai ordered, but I got shrimp pad thai (first photo below) and spring rolls. Yummmmm.
You can also eat dinner ON the river by taking the dinner cruise boat, located at the end of the river walkway. It’s not too expensive and it’s worth it, in my opinion. Nong Khai is very colorful from the middle of the Mekong. One of my favorite sights is the Big Buddha that sits on top of one of the temples, contemplating the river and gazing into Laos.
This particular evening, the sun was close to setting and the golden light it cast really bought out the colors along the river bank.
Let’s take a look into Laos, shall we?
Not too much to see except temples and lots of vegetation. But, then again, it’s not Vientiane. You have to go about 20 kilometers upstream, as the river flows, to get to the capital city. In the past, the river was lined with small restaurants, merely chairs and grills set up to serve diners, but it was a nice spot to watch the sun go down over Thailand. Here’s a shot of one of our favorite spots from days gone by (actually, from December, 2009).
Here’s another one from the same time from the fourth floor location of the Bor Pen Nyang bar. However, this one shows some of the dramatic changes that would be made to the riverside. The image below it gives a broader look at the construction that was still ongoing in June of 2010.
The result of all that work is a very pleasant riverside park, one that Laotians can be very proud of. Gone from that area are all the old dining areas (they’ve moved farther down the river), but there’s a very nice walkway, play areas for the kids and lots of greenery. Here’s another view from almost exactly the same location from the Bor Pen Nyang. The park stretches nearly to the large, white Don Chan Palace hotel in the background, and I believe work is still being done on the section near there.
The two shots below were taken around 6 p.m. on a Saturday, so the place was fairly crowded with families, couples, singles and even a few monks, all out enjoying a stroll or riding their bicycles in the cooling evening breeze.
So, yeah, it’s a nice park and a welcome addition to Vientiane. I kinda miss the small eateries, but they can still be found if you look for them. Sitting on the river, sipping an ice-cold Beer Lao or another beverage of your choice and watching the sun go down over the Mekong is also still possible and a memorable experience.
That’s it for now. I’ll get some more photos up later of Bangkok and Phuket, so stay tuned.
As I mentioned before, we had a full-day field trip this past Saturday, so here are a few of the supposedly funny pictures my students and I took for entry into the English festival tomorrow. While they may not be all that hilarious, we had a great time taking them and visiting the various sites in Yeosu. With the new blogging software, just click on the photo to get a larger picture and click again for the maximum size. You’ll have to click the back button on your browser to return to the main page.
Here’s a shot of the four of us in the parking lot at Hyangiram Temple. From the left, the students are Kyung-hoon (kyuhng-hoon), Sun-tak (soon-tahk) in the middle at the bottom and Jong-cheon (Johng-chuhn) on the right. Yours truly is wearing the hat.
This one is at the Odong Island lighthouse, where we’re attempting to mimic the light house logo. There was too much contrast for my small digital camera to handle, so I played around with the shot in Photoshop to try to cut down on the glare from the upper right portion. Not entirely successful, but better than the original.
I suppose everyone’s heard about the altercation between the South and North Korean navies. Not really a big deal, as it’s happened before, but I hope things don’t escalate into something more serious. Most Koreans that I talk to are ho-hum about the event. Business as usual. The article states that Pres. Obama is visiting South Korea soon as part of a trip to Asia, beginning Thursday. As much as I browse the news daily, that’s one thing I didn’t know. Wonder if he’s coming to Yeosu? 
The weather has certainly changed. Gone are the cool, low-humidity mornings and the moderate afternoons. The sweat that pours out of me on my sunrise jogs has me feeling like I’ve just run through a rain shower. I’ve been wearing long pants to my classes in the afternoon, but I’ll be switching to shorts soon. And my room air-con, which I’ve not had on a whole lot, will now be put to ever more increasing use.
We hadn’t had much rain until last weekend. We had some gentle showers on Friday and Saturday, but Boca Chica had much more, so they told me at the Weekend Office. I think I knew that before I got there. As the Yankee bus to Santo Domingo slowed to let me off in Boca Chica, we noticed a logjam of traffic ahead of us. Skid marks in the watery mud led to a concrete power pole. Here’s what was at the end of those marks:
This had to have happened not much more than 30 minutes before, since an ambulance arrived as I took the photo. Unbelievably, someone survived the single-vehicle wreck. I glimpsed a guy laid out on the ground, bloody arm and hand outstretched, propped on his elbow. I wasn’t about to get closer to take a photo–very inappropriate, and he was surrounded by a few dozen people as he was loaded into the ambulance. Not a pretty scene.
As promised, here are some photos of the April 24th visit to the camp by the U.S. Military baseball team. I thought it was the Army team, but the guys represent all branches of the military. They practiced with the Yankee players about 4 hours, then returned with some of the Yankee coaches to Santo Domingo, where they gave a baseball clinic to some youngsters. It was an interesting visit, something to break up the daily routine.
Infield practice at first base. The Yankee kid on the left is Reymond Nunez, from the D.R. He’s a top prospect who can crush the ball a mile. He’s got a great attitude and he’s an all-round good guy. Let’s hope he can hit a curve. If so, he could be a big star at the major league level. I wrote about him in an earlier post.
Here, Coach Mota (in the shorts) gives baserunning instructions. Mota, coincidentally, coached with the Missoula minor league team for a few years in the early ’90s. I kid him that the cops are still looking for him.
Military team members get ready for practice.
Stretching before the practice session.
Here’s one more photo: me with two of the smaller guys on the team.
If you can’t figure it out, that’s me in the middle. To the left is Luis Guillen, a pitcher, and the other fellow is Manual, the new strength coach. Both are from Venezuela. More later.
Well, at least it seems that way as far as the length of time between posts lately, but I have been fairly busy writing lesson plans and teaching the classes. I finally have a few classes where all the students will be staying here throughout the summer, rather than shuttling between here and Tampa. Thus, I can plan a systematic progression of lessons for them. Come the first part of April, whoever is remaining and whoever returns from Tampa of the earlier group will also be staying here for the summer, so I can plan for them also. It’s keeping me busy. But, for the next couple of weeks, most of my classes will contain players who are going to Tampa the first part of April.
Then comes the good part. The first week in April is Semana Santa, or Holy Week, the week before Easter. The Yanks are putting us up again at Juan Dolio, this time for 10 days, so the rumors say. More beach time! As promised, below are some photos from the previous visit to Juan Dolio at the Decameron Resort Hotel.
Here I am piloting our catamaran back from Saona Island, steering my way easily through the calm waters. Nothing to fear, fellow passengers–the captain knew what he was doing when he entrusted your well-being to Cap’n Ron. Hey, where did those rocks come fr. . . .
A shot of the beautiful Saona, which, unfortunately, is no longer as pristine as it once might have been, what with the dozens of tourists (myself included) who visit there every day. A power boat took us out to the island, where we played volleyball or lounged in the sun. Included in the price of the trip ($50) were a barbecue and beverages, but the most fun was partying on the slow catamaran back. A group of American doctors and nurses, most of whom are from the Flint, Michigan area, was doing volunteer work in nearby San Pedro de Macoris. They were staying at the Decameron, so they made the tour also, and were quite prone to whooping it up in their offtime–a lot of fun to be around.
Surprisingly, except for Saturday and Sunday, the beach at hotel was not that crowded. Here’s the view from one of the thatched-roof cabanas.
The lack of crowds also made for good walking down the beach. Here are a couple of “washed up” boats, lonely in their demise, about a mile-long stroll from the Decameron.
Hope you enjoy these; I certainly enjoyed taking them.  I’ll put them in the Photo Gallery, along with a few others I took. More later.
I went up to the big conference room/player rec room yesterday to begin my classes. A few players were watching TV (if they’re not in the particular class that day, I have to ask them to leave), but next to the 21″ television, on the floor, is this very large (50+”?) High-Def television. Wow! It’s not new and I was told it’s been in the shop for repairs. I suppose I might be watching a few more movies with the players at night! Hopefully, I’ll get the old 21″ set, since I don’t have one in my room yet. I’m also hoping the internet in my room will be hooked up some time next week. Aniuska has to check with Abel, who has returned to the campus. Unfortunately, the projector he bought is back-ordered until the first part of March.
The English Language Fellow program coordinators at Georgetown have asked any of us who keep blogs if we’d care to share with everyone else. I might do so, and if I do, I’ll be adding quite a bit more academic information about what I’m doing here, since that is what they want to focus on. However, I’m sure there are quite a few folks who would be interested in everyday news about working here at the Yankee campus.
I’m hoping to get a good turnout for a new beginner’s class on Monday. This one will be geared to those who don’t speak any English, including the tryout players who are in camp until the end of the month, coaches and members of the staff (cleaning ladies, for example). Since it’s Saturday, I’ll have a good excuse to run into Boca Chica for a while to make copies of the lessons for next week for all the classes. Oh, and I might soak up a little sun on the beach while I’m at it. 
Here’s a photo of the position players (outfielders, infielders and catchers) in class posing for the camera (along with Yours Truly–I think you shouldn’t have too much trouble picking me out). I’ll have to get one of the players to help me with some of the names, since I don’t remember all of them. I can remember them in class, when I have my list in front of me. I’ll post them below the picture when I get them all. I haven’t taken a photo of the pitchers, yet. I’ll try to get one soon. More later.
Back Row, Left to Right: Ron, Kelvin Castro, Melky Mesa, Jimmy Paredes, Zoilo Almonte (somewhat below the others), Wangel Baez, Geraldo Rodriguez, Andreas Dionicio, Elvis Rodriguez, Josue Calzado
Seated, Left to Right: Julian Herrera, Alexis Arosemena, Alex Ramirez, Carlos Hernandez
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