Thai food for days...

Got here safely! Right now, I'm in one of the many internet cafes here in Lampang. It's such an odd city, I haven't quite got my bearings yet as we arrived, had a welcome dinner and went to work at the two home sites early the next morning. We have to be ready to leave by 7:45 AM which is just about when my alarm goes off for work! We ride to the sites in the back of a covered truck fitted with two benches, I think they're called Song Tel (meaning two benches) and it's hard to see out the windows. The homeowners are helping with the build as are other family members. Everyone lives together here, extended families on the same plot of land. We are using mostly 2 inch cinderblocks on a concrete floor for the house. Both are three rooms with a outside covered kitchen area. Both are going really well and we will probably be completed with the two houses by Friday. That doesn't mean we can leave, it means that we'll start two more houses. The local affiliate is trying to reach a goal of 100 houses in two years. We are 96 & 97. There are a lot of people who have done Habitat before so there is no small amount of drive to get to 100 before September 28th.

The climate and surroundings are very similar to Hondouras and refreshingly, not too hot or humid. It's been just perfect altough there is much sweating. Now, most you know that I don't eat Thai food. I am happy to report that the food has been wonderful. We have a local woman who is cooking lunches and break treats for us. Sticky rice with fruit wrapped in banana leaves, lots of lemon grass based soups and tamirind spiced pork, I could go on. It's delicious, but by the end of this trip I will have had about sixty meals of Thai. There isn't a lot of variety here. In fact, there is none; although one of my co-workers here has offered to take me out to a steak dinner later this week in Chaing Mai.

More to come and hopefully I'll be able to key in some thai and photos to boot!
Kat