Where's Seabiscuit?

Seven friends and I went horsin' around for a day at The Royal Bangkok Sports Club
race track on Saturday.
There is a scientific way to pick a horse. Don't let anyone tell you differently. I looked critically at the favorites in the printed race guide. I did some in-depth research by noting the times the horses had in previous races and the places they finished. Of course, I had a little difficulty because the guide was written in Thai. But I was not deterred. After I got some explanation from Lindsay about what the columns probably meant, I was set. Two Aussies were in our group. They seemed to have the advantage because they bought a guide written in English, and they were experienced racehorse-pickers. The rest of us were first-timers. But as the day went on, it grew obvious that the playing field was indeed even. As I said, there is a scientific way of picking horses; it just isn't very effective. It's especially that way with limited data. I realized this after two races, and I changed tactics. I closed my eyes and pointed to a name. I announced my pick and new method to the group. Then Mark, one of the Aussies, said and I quote, "That's not a bad horse, mate."
Nara Vadee, lucky number nine, would be my trusty steed. I had picked him-- no he had picked me. Guided by fate and confirmed by Mark's instincts from Down Under, I was confident of victory. But after the horses entered the gates it seemed like an eternity before the race began. The horse stalls were given an appropriate name. The horses were stalled for what must have been three minutes of torture- for both horse, jockey and the betting audience. Thais never rush anything. I began sweating despite the air-conditioned coolness of the room. And an old Thai man started to chat me up in his limited English.
"Where you come from?"
"America. Texas actually."
"Oh Texas. You cowboy." He smiled like everyone does in the Land of Smiles.
"Yep. I reckon." I played along.
"I see cowboy movies. You know Shane? People used to say I look like Shane. You know, 'Come back, Shane?'"
"Yeah. Yeah. Great movie." He would be shocked if I told him I've never seen it. I haven't, but I've heard it's good.
Then he showed an old black and white picture of himself. He used to be a boxer. The picture showed him in fighting stance with a big title belt around his waist. He had a slight resemblence to Muhammad Ali, I swear. Then he demontrated a few quick left jabs and a follow up right hook.
The race finally started. As the horses rounded the first turn, and there was no way for me to tell which one was my horse without a pair of binoculars. It was a big cluster of them with bright colored Thai jockeys whipping their horses furiously. Then one horse broke away from the pack. He shot out like a cannon. The others weren't even close. But I had bet on my horse to place. It didn't matter if it wasn't Nara Vadee racing out ahead. As long as he came in third or better I would make up 150 baht.
But I had misread the signs. My horse came up short; he was fourth by half a length. Ironically, the winner that no one had predicted was named Win! Win! Win! This proves to me that God has a sense of humor.
Actually, one of my friends did have some luck that day. Andrew Cox picked a pathetic horse, a loser that no one gave a chance. It turned out to be his "Seabiscuit." He won 750 baht on a bet of just 50 baht. He wisely stopped betting after that. As the song goes, "You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em..." I knew it was time to fold after 3 races. I felt guilty for wasting money so I gave a little more on Sunday morning. Could that be called hedging my bets?

Thai Mother's Day, Diving at Ko Pi Pi and almost walking on "The Beach"

I had a great weekend! I got my scuba diving certificate during my four days in Ko Pi Pi. I need two more dives to get my open water certificate. I would have done it, but we had to fly on Sunday. You have to wait at least twelve hours before flying after a dive.
There was a holiday because it was Queen Sikrit's birthday on August 12. Thais celebrate Mother's Day on her birthday also. They celebrate it much like we do in America. Farang (foreign) teachers at Chitralada (pronounced Chit-la-da) School were invited to her birthday ceremony. I saw the queen for a second as her motorcade of light tan BMWs drove by the Chitralada Palace. No pictures were permitted. I wasn't looking at her long because I was supposed to bow. Then she made a speech for a long time that none of us farang understood. There were Thais there from all over the country. His Majesty the King wasn't there.
The next day three of us went to Pi Pi. It has two main islands. The big one is Pi Pi Don and the smaller one is Pi Pi Lay. Maya Bay at Pi Pi Lay is where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. We flew to Phuket but didn't look around there. Then we took a taxi out to the pier, caught a boat to Pi Pi Don, and by then it was late in the afternoon. We had to find a place to stay the night. It was a little difficult. We were told all the guesthouses were full, so we had to spend more money than we wanted to. We stayed at a "resort". I would very loosely call it that. It had no A/C. But we found a cheaper place the next two nights.
Leigh and I signed up to get diver training at a PADI diving center, while Zach went diving since he was already certified. Our instructor was a big Swedish man. He was a good teacher and made it feel easier. A British girl joined us to get certified. We had to watch lots of videos that were corny like driver's ed. I was nervous about diving, but after doing it twice I have to say it's really fun. On the first day we stayed in shallow water and learned basic skills. The next day we went to Bata Nai, a small island near Pi Pi Lay. The deepest we went down was 12 meters and we stayed underwater for 47 minutes. It was weird breathing underwater. I couldn't inhale through my nose, which is hard to get used to. It was a little tricky equalizing the pressure in my ears too.
As you go down you have to pinch your nose and then blow gently about every meter. During the first dive we saw a leopard shark and many kinds of fish like trumpet fish, which are long, narrow and almost transparent. The leopard shark, white-gray with black stripes, was resting on the bottom of the ocean. Very lazy.
Then we had a break for lunch before we went to a site called Turtle Village. We were hoping to see a turtle but we didn't. Other divers who on the boat saw one. They also saw moray eels. Our group saw a scorpian fish. It was really cool. Our instructor pointed to it but I didn't see it. Then he tapped a rock and part of the rock was alive. The scorpian fish is very poisonous, but it doesn't attack without being provoked. It went back to hiding almost as soon as it moved. On this dive we stayed down a little longer but went to the same depth. We were under for 52 mintues. By the end I was getting used to hovering. You can control descent and ascent by just my breathing.
One of the things I love about diving is all the hand signals. You can communicate almost anything you need to say underwater with your hands. how much air? ok? go up, go down, follow me, look, i need to equalize, etc. If it's too complicated to say with hands you can use a thing that's like a dry erase board. I especially like the symbols for different animals. I learned signals for turtle, scorpian fish, lion fish, and shark.
The Andeamean Sea is really colorful underwater. I saw greens, purples, pinks, oranges, reds, and browns. It's not just the fish. It's also the coral reefs, sea urchins and other creatures. I want to go back. But I'll probably do my last two dives at Pattaya or Ko Tao. Pattaya is only two hours from Bangkok.
Since we coudn't dive the last day, we went on a snorkeling tour. We saw "The Beach" but we couldn't snorkel there because it was rough water. That was a big disappointment. But I took pictures. I guess I'll have to go back. Wow! Long post!

Thoughts during a Trip to Trang

Trang is a coastal city in southern Thailand (not near the terrorism. Don't worry!). There are many unbelievably beautiful islands right offshore in the Andaman Sea. Seven of us farang (foreign) teachers went. We didn't see many other farang around. Thais know about its beauty, but it hasn't gotten too touristy yet. On the first day we went snorkeling. It was wonderful! I saw many different kinds of fish such as parrot fish. However, the water got too rough and we could not see the Emerald Cave. It's a beach that is hidden inside a rocky island. The only way to get there is to swim underwater, but it was too risky to try it at the time. Our second day plans were canceled by rain, so it was a lazy day. We napped and read books all day. I borrowed Zach's gear and went snorkeling by the Ko Hai (or Ko Ngai), the island we stayed on. It was difficult to get into the water, because I went out during low tide. I had to step around sea urchins and walk over coral before I could swim. I saw some creature that had teeth that could blend in with the rock when it closed its mouth. Most of the pictures I took looked like postcards. Some of them looked like paintings. It makes me look like a good photographer, but it really is just the beauty of the scenery. Seeing the beauty of the beaches made me feel awe for God, the creator of nature.

I thought, God doesn't need any man-made altars. He already makes wonderful islands, mountains, oceans and streams that glorify his name. How can we glorify Him any better?

Obviously, we should glorify God. We should sing and pray and do good deeds. Church buildings and cathedrals are nice too, but God glorifies Himself better than we will ever be able to do it.

On the third day we had some excitement, and it was not welcome. One of the girls crashed her motor bike, but she only broke a sandal. She was almost completely stopped when she lost control. Then we had some trouble communicating with some Thais. We rented motorbikes from a Thai family, and they said they would provide transportation to the airport. So we thought we would get a truck and go straight to the airport. We thought. They got a minibus, a van that picks people up, to take us. The minibus kept stopping and picking up people, but they didn't have any luggage. We asked ourselves: Do Thai people fly without luggage? They don't. They weren't going to the airport. We crammed in 15 people. Then we finally stopped and the driver asked us, where do you go? Uh oh! We thought he knew we needed to go to the airport. I told him we needed to go to the airport, and we needed to now! He demanded that we pay him 600 baht on the spot. We gave it to him. We had no choice. We were afraid of getting stranded. So I said "Okay." Then he dropped off the other passengers and started to drive like a maniac. We made it 30 minutes before the flight was scheduled. But the plane was about 40 minutes late.

Here are some things I'll remember:
I viewed the moon peaking through the clouds while riding the train to Trang.
I saw clouds forming like islands in the sky during a storm.
The sea turned three colors with different shades of blue and green. I could have drawn lines dividing the colors into sections.
After a storm part of the beach crumbled into the sea dumping dozens of coconuts and debris into the water. Zach and I jumped across the gap and then watched it double in size in half an hour.
At night blue and purple silhouettes of the islands were obscured by mist.
I also had some wonderful coconut soup for dinner and for breakfast I ate pineapple pancakes.