More street sights

Just a few more pictures so you you can visualize the city better . . . normal, every day sights . . .

Need some sewing done? You can find people with sewing machines set up on the street. Many things are done "while you wait".

Want a whole pig head? No problem--they have lots to choose from . . .

Almost looks like some of them are smiling. . .(sorry)

He will walk around the city until he is sold out. Often a long walk with a heavy burden and little profit.

These people will push their cart all around the streets looking for people who want to buy. A movable restaurant. The tuk tuk driver will park on the sidewalk and take care of his vehicle until someone needs a ride.

This hard working man rides around town finding things on the street or in trash cans that can be recycled.

Notice the ladders that the cable company uses--made of bamboo, very sturdy They don't look very portable to us, but they are used everywhere!

People do not like the sun to get on their skin, so this is a very common sight. Sometimes even someone driving a motorcycle will hold a jacket or umbrella over their head to keep the sun (or rain) off.

This picture might give you an idea of how many motorcycles are on the streets. This is during class time at a technical school in Udon. I don't know how they find their own in the rush after class.

This was a house we saw many times as we drove to go visiting or on our way to our one Mexican restaurant in town. Many homes are built like this.

It was very unnerving to me to see families riding on a motorcycle with their little children.This is a small family with just one baby, but it was very common to see families with three children on a motorcycle. One would stand between the driver's legs, another would sit between the parents, and the other parent would hold one. I often saw a mom driving down the street with a baby or young child asleep over one shoulder and driving with the other hand.

I don't think I've seen any sights like these since we came home!

The tri-district conference--Saturday

The tri-district conference was a long time in the planning. As the name implies, it involved three districts--nearly 20 branches of the Church. Every one had things to do to prepare for it. There were displays with presentations, cultural events, food, and travel. (It was a two-day event being held about 90 miles from Udon and farther than that from other branches. Getting all of the people to Khon Kaen, housed, and fed was in itself a major undertaking.)

The branches in Udon were given the assignment to give a presentation about enduring to the endowment--the blessings of the temple. And so it began . . .

Brother O was the architect and project manager of the scale model of the Salt Lake Temple, and many people helped in "building" it. 

                                                    Sister Bee, Brother O, and Elder Lim

                                                           Sister Anne and Sister Bee

                             Sister Dam, Sister Bee, and Brother Jack (creating trees)--many spent long hours.

                               And it was worth it--a beautiful finished project! Very impressive!

Udon's display looked great! Brother Bunthom, Sister Jittra and Elder and Sister Moleff (family history missionaries) were some of the presenters.

There were many other displays and lots of people, so the room was very busy and noisy. Here are just a couple of examples of others. Much work went into these as you can see.

 

The next thing on the agenda was the cultural presentation. The crowd gathered with much anticipation because everyone knew someone who was going to perform.

The participants had put much effort into this, and they all did very well!

 

                                              An amazing group of happy performers!
Saturday was a wonderful day of sharing, learning, performing, visiting friends, and feeling the Spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood.

Tri-district Conference--Sunday

Sunday began early. Each branch had been asked to bake brownies for refreshments at the conclusion of the conference. The expectation was to have about 1200 brownies. People got so excited about learning how to bake brownies, that we ended up with close to 2,000! It was amazing. The missionaries and any other members who wanted to help were asked to come early to frost brownies before the meetings. We had quite a crew!

We knew the crowd was in for quite a treat when we saw not one, not two, but three tables heavily laden with brownies--all of them beautifully frosted and covered with sprinkles!

The crowd arrived early--over an hour before the first meeting, and two-and-a-half hours before the general session. While people were waiting, they were able to watch video taken of the activities of the day before.

The choir practiced during the few minutes of break---led by Sister Darlene Stoker. (I know she has her back to the choir, but she was practicing leading them and the congregation at the same time.)

The crowd at the general session--the room was full.

At this meeting, it was announced that three districts were going to be combined to make two. They divided the Khon Kaen District putting the Khon Kaen Branch into Udon District and all other branches going to the Ubon district. This would create two stronger districts to help prepare for stakes in the future. We all want to build up the church in hopes of having a temple in Thailand soon. District leaders were released and new ones called where needed. We heard testimony from many of these good men. It was a good meeting. The saints love to meet together.

A tour with a friend

Brother Wasana invited us to tour this beautiful Chinese cultural center in Udon with him to celebrate Thailand's Mother's Day. (Mother's Day is celebrated on the queen's birthday which is August 12.) This was a beautiful place, and we enjoyed a nice day.

Odds and Ends

Pedicure anyone?
One of the interesting sights we saw in Chiang Mai night market was this specialty pedicure.This didn't look like the kind I would like, but there were many who seemed to "enjoy" the treatment, and it drew many observers. Just put your feet in the water and let the fish nibble off the dead skin. No kidding!

They mow the lawns (any size) with weed eaters. I still haven't seen a lawnmower in Thailand. In this picture, our guard and outside handyman is edging the grass--with scissors! The cost of labor in Thailand is really cheap, so apparently the price of equipment isn't cost effective.

Here is an example of the installation of a water heater and water pipes into a house. The water is warmed by the sun in this blue tank and the water pipes are run along the outside of the house and then a hole is drilled into the wall where they need the water to a faucet, shower, etc.

Businesses consider the sidewalk in front of their building as part of their usable space. Most local restaurants and stores use the sidewalk to serve, sell, collect, build--whatever they need to do. Many of them tile the sidewalk from the building out to the street so it is easier to keep clean. The tile also identifies their section of the sidewalk.

This sign company is always building huge signs out front like this.

The Thais love colorful buildings. This is the bakery where we buy our bread. It was started by a Swiss man married to a Thai woman. He passed away, and the wife continues to make all kinds of delicious bread. The young elders and sisters love it when we share with them.

Ray was interested to see this drilling rig. It's not as up-to-date as the ones most of our customers have, but apparently it gets the job done.

This fish farm is right in Udon. There are many such fish farms and shrimp farms, as well. We have a family in one of our branches that owns a shrimp farm. They serve them in their own restaurant, and also sell to others. They always fix us a big plate of cooked shrimp with a fabulous dipping sauce when we go to visit them.

The temperatures dipped into the 70's and people were dressed for winter. They were all complaining about the frigid air, and we were enjoying the cool air. They would be shocked to see Ray going to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square in the snow without a coat.

A typical looking neighborhood in Udon.

A procession lined up in preparation for a wedding at a hotel we had just checked out of. The people were very friendly and seemed filled with anticipation for the event.

Thought this was interesting. No matter how little people have, they can find money for what they feel is a priority.

Some of our former English students came back to visit during school break. We were so happy to see them--we love these kids! Two of our English students have been baptized since we've been here. Kwan, on the far right, is the most recent about two weeks ago.

We don't have TV in our apartment, but one night when we stayed in a hotel. we switched it on to see what there was to watch. This was one of our choices. It even had flutter by flutter, peck by peck  announcers! It was amazing to us that people could get so excited about two birds trying to kill each other.

We still haven't figured out the significance of these characters, but they were part of the Christmas celebration in Central Plaza, the big mall here in Udon. They drew quite a crowd and lots of cameras--including ours.

Still think they are a little strange. What do you think? Christmas?

All of the missionaries went to Swenson's for ice cream. This is what one of the Thai sisters ordered. Yes, that is corn on top of the sundae, and it's not a special order item. It's on the menu! She loves it!

One of our English students has a school where he teaches English and abacus math to children. He has about 150 students. He invited us to come visit and talk to some of his classes, mostly eight and nine-year-olds. They were a little intimidated, but some of them asked us questions. We showed them pictures of our family and of Evan and Lydia sledding down the hill of snow. They thought that was pretty fun to watch. It was fun to see Mongkol use some of the skills we have been teaching him.