To: Friends and Family

6 April, 2005

Check in from Thailand...

I'm here at a coffee shop and internet cafe in Bangkok paying by the minute...so not long to write. I'll see you when I return.

long flights...had a delay out of Tokyo so I was a couple of hours late meeting Kelley. We finally found one another. Then we called the hotel where we were staying, but they did not have room for us as it was around 2am by then...fortunately we called from the airport before going to the hotel to confirm. We found an alternate guesthouse that is air conditioned and okay.

Kelley is resting...It is around 8am now. I decided to take a walk around the streets of Bangkok. (Actually I decided initially around 3am to take a walk around he streets of Bangkok. When she heard the door open Kelley asked me where I thought I was going. I said out for a walk. She informed me it was 3am and it was not a wise idea to go out for a walk...guess the jet lag was playing with my sense of time because it felt like morning.)

Amazing...there is a sense of coming home for me in this place...and in such an alien environment it feels a bit strange to feel at home and unable to understand anyone. Guess it is like being a baby born into a world and having to learn the language of your people.

We'll do lunch in a bit and then some of the sights around Bangkok today and tomorrow.

Then perhaps Chang Mai before we go to Cambodia...we've decided to travel as the opportunities present themselves.

A smile from me and my smiley face marble! :-) :-) [For those not in the know about the smiley face marble a gathering of friends (Barb, Lynn, Lorne, Karen, Josh & Emma) offered me a blessing ceremony a few days before I left the States. Each of them gave me a piece of paper with a quote or a personal blessing for me to carry with me on the journey. Barb brought some of the flattened marbles with a smiley face drawn on them. Each person in attendance at the ceremony chose one of the marbles to keep with them as a means of holding the intention for me to return safely from my travels. I carried mine in a talisman pouch -- containing a few protective crystals and stones -- that Emma gave me to take with me. At the next gathering after my return, we brought the marbles back together symbolizing a reconnection of community and gave thanks for my safe return.]

namaste, jace