Check out the view from my room in Pattaya, Thailand.....

I left Melbourne early Saturday morning with frost on the ground and made a nine-hour flight over Indonesia and the Philippines to Hong Kong. Hong Kong from the air is really impressive--literally a city of skyscrapers built on a narrow beach at the base of mountains. I made the transfer and then a two-hour flight to Bangkok over Vietnam (I viewed Hanoi from above) and out over the Gulf of Tonkin. The water there is so blue and the sea so peaceful it's hard to believe that 40 years the incident that escalated the Vietnam War occured here.

I was met at the Bangkok airport by one of my students who does't speak any English and he made a two-hour drive down to Pattaya through the mountains to the beach. During the Vietnam War Pattaya was a major rest and recreation center for American soldiers and is today a major beach resort for American and European (and Australian) tourists. My hotel is a five-star and is really nice.

I was in Thailand last year and this is probably my favorite country in the world to visit. At Melbourne (wearing a jacket and long-sleeved shirt) I asked the ticket agent what it was like in Thiland this week and she told me "very hot, extremely muggy, and the food is way too spicy." I told her ".....sounds like Texas, book me!!!"

I am having some Internet problems and will have to change rooms this afternoon to get access in my room. Some guy this morning played around with my settings so I could post this but it makes me very nervous when people go into my computer settings so if there's not another post soon I'm having computer problems.

Keep your fingers crossed......