4th of July in Chiang Mai

The sweet taste of fresh watermelon shared among good friends. Ahhhh...... this is the life. Of course we have to eat it as fast as we can because it is a watermelon eating contest thank you very much. Every year during the 4th of July the U.S. Embassy puts on a celebration. It is great to see all these Americans get together and show their patriotism. Makes me glad to be an American. The 4th of July is one of our favorite holidays and we all miss going to the parade in downtown Huntington Beach. It was a yearly tradition that the girls loved.

Anna enjoying her Thai friends and Farang friends. They ran around all day/night playing. It was great to see them have so much fun.

Acacia doing her best at the tug-o-war. Look at that determination on her face. Wow!!!! Keep going honey!

There were lots of kids games like the egg race. Steady........ don't drop it honey! Acacia got to see a lot of her friends that she hasn't seen during the summer.

Happy 4th of July everybody. We miss and love you all. Maybe we will be home sometime during the 4th one of these years.
Love the Faucett Family
Brett,Shelly,Acacia and Annapurna

Typical day in Chiang Mai

I was taking Keith and Shelly, who are friends visiting from Albania, to get a Thai massage. Shelly and Keith were in Peace Corps with us in Moldova and now Shelly is the Admin Officer for Peace Corps Albania. On the way out, while we were driving in the Moobaan (neighborhood), we spotted an elephant walking along the street. Which, surprisingly, in not an uncommon occurance. Just a typical day in Chiang Mai. These pictures are taken while sitting in the car at the gate exit of the moobaan. It still amazes me sometimes to see an elephant just walking along the street. What a trip!

The mahout (elephant handler)always has food that you can buy to feed the elephant, which this case is was bag of sugarcane. The elephant reached into the car with its trunk and was practically in my lap while I fished a 20 baht bill out of my pocket. The elephant immediately took the 20 to give to the mahout. They have quite the system going.

The money changes hand and the transaction is complete. Now I can feed elephant his well earned sugarcane. I'm also trying to take pictures during all this with Shelly's camera. Shelly is sitting in the back seat and enjoying the show of me getting acosted by the elephant.

Here we go again for another round of "grab the sugarcane from Brett's hand". Man, elephants are strong in case you didn't know. Especially their trunks. At one time I thought he might take my finger with the other sticks of sugarcane.

Wow!!!!! what an experience! Bye Mr. Elephant and we hope to see you soon!

Wave bye-bye Keith and Shelly and welcome to another typical day in Chiang Mai. I wonder if they will have a chance to see an elephant walking the streets of Albania? I doubt it! It was great having Keith and Shelly visit. I'm also glad they got to have a surreal experience like this.

Baby Sparta and Lucky Charms

Here we go again! We adopted 2 new kitties, teenagers really. Baby Sparta the tabby and Lucky Charms. We got these lovable little purr boxes from a guest house/restaurant here in Chiang Mai. They had about 10-12 cats hanging around the place and all up for adoption. We actually just happened to stop by the place not realizing it was a kitty sanctuary.

I hope that there won't be any sad stories to report in the near future with these ones. They seem really healthy and are very lovable. Acacia and Anna are in love with them. I think they are Ok too. They are quite comical with all their running around the house attacking each other. Let's pray that these guys are keepers!

Blurry

When Shelly and I joined Peace Corps we had to go through a lengthy physical exam. During our eye exam the opthamologist performed the vision test where you had to say which way the "E" was facing going from larger letters to smaller letters. Shelly and I were surprized that we both scored 20/15 vision. That is better than the standard perfect vision score of 20/20. That was 10 years ago when I was 34 and still had the remnants of a 6pack too. At least a 2 pack for sure, or was that Toopak Shakur. I don't know, anyway.....Where was I? I think I'm losing brain cells too!
Oh yeah, ever since coming to Thailand I've noticed that I have trouble reading books in the 12in to 16in range. But, how could that be I have 20/15 vision. The Doc even said so. I am falling apart. Instead of the 6 pack I now have a pony keg and I feel like I'm going blind. I have to hold reading materials at arms length to read anything.

I would keep rubbing my eyes, maybe I just had sleep in them. No, it was old age. I came to a realization that I'm an old fart. At least I have my hair!!
Shelly got me these reading glasses and now it is like I can see again. Wow!!!! vision neat! Brett like read book. Thanks Honey for kickin it with your old man for all these years.

Chiang Mai Challenge 2009

My good friend Andy says "Hey Brett do you want to be my team mate for the Chiang Mai Challenge this year". Shelly and the girls were off to the States for a month so this would be the perfect time to train for it. So, I said yes with some reservations because we only had 5 weeks to train. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I hope Andy knows CPR? I'm not in the best shape anymore and this sounded like a serious race. Andy assured me it would be FUN!!!!! Really a laugh riot! So, we started our training regimen by doing multiple disciplines a day. For example, we might do a bike and swim one day and the next would be a run,bike and swim. Every once in a while we would throw in a kayak after a bike ride. It turned out to be a lot of fun training and it was great to be outside getting some much needed exercise too. The big day was coming up and we were trying to squeeze in training sessions here and there as much as we could. The girls arrived back in Thailand on May 7th and the big race was on the 9th.

Unfortunately, these are the only pictures of us during the race. I wasn't about to lug a camera around the course. Shelly took these pictures as we were about to begin the race. Look at how oblivious and happy I look. The night before the race the sponsors put on a dinner and explained the rules of the race. I asked during the Q/A session what the distances of the different legs of the race were and received the response " If I tell you it wouldn't be an adventure". I still don't know what the distances are today. The race was a combination of mountain biking, trail running, kayaking and swimming. We started the race off with a run around the stadium and made our way to the mountains and began a very steep ascent. Our running turned into mountain climbing. Andy and I decided before the race to start off very slowly so that we would not burn out in the middle of the race. It turned out to be a good strategy because we were passing people left and right along the steep ascent. A lot of the racers were jetting off fast in the beginning. We just kept going slow and steady. The end of the first run we had to climb a rope wall and then start the mountain biking stage. Our time for the first run was 1hr 33min 58sec. Everybody was racing in teams of two. Andy and I were in the Masters category which meant our combined age was over 80yrs. They also seperated participants in categories of Extreme and Adventure. We were in the Adventure category. We decided to fuel up on power bars and rehydrate ourselves. We seemed to be the only people in the water station area eating and drinking. Everybody else was racing to get on their bikes to start their next leg of the race. We also started passing people on the trail that left immediately after the run without drinking or eating. They started to burn out too quickly.

At the end of the first bike leg we ended at the edge of a resevoir. Our 1st bike time was 1hr 11min 28sec. Fortunately, Andy and I trained on the same mountain trails that were in the race so it was very familiar to us. After each leg of the race Andy had to scan the wrist band with a chip in it at a computer for our times.
The swim section was actually kind of a joke. We had to put on a life vest and wade across the resevoir to the other side. Half of the swim was walking through the thigh deep water. 1st swim time was 11min 41sec. Next stage was the kayaking. Each team was given a map to reach 3 points around the resevoir and collect 3 tokens to take back to the race staff to prove you went to all these spots. My shoulders were killing me at this point. My right hip and right knee were throbbing too. The time for the kayaking portion was 34min 11sec. In between all these legs of the race was spent at the water stations guzzling water and gatorade and sponging off with ice water. The temperature was in the high 90's low 100's with very high humidity. The temperature was the killer because it would sap all your strength. After the kayaking we started the 2nd run leg which was by far the hardest. There was no running involved, it was all mountain climbing up the steepest trails known to man. We had sections that had ropes set up to climb up parts of the mountain and bamboo ladders set up because it was too steep to climb without this help. The descent was steep and dangerous too. The trails were very narrow in parts with sharp drop offs on the sides and leaves covering the trails. Very precarious! The end of the 2nd run seemed to last forever which followed a long canal and had no shade whatsoever. This was a point in the race that I thought what in the H&!! am I doing here.

We finally made it to the water station and I squeezed ice water from the sponges in the ice water buckets all over me with great relief. The 2nd run time was 1hr 42min 40sec. The scenery was beautiful and the second run followed along a spectacular waterfall. Too bad I couldn't enjoy it!

We had a second swim/walk across the resevoir to pick up our bikes for the final leg of the race. Our 2nd swim time was 15min 37sec. The final bike leg was great because we were so familiar with the route it was liking being at home. We ended up passing two teams during this portion and were actually racing to the finish. Before the race I was joking with Shelly that she could visit me in the hospital after the race. I thought for sure I would be in room 215 at Chiang Mai Ram Hospital. Our 2nd bike time was 37min 59sec and our overall time was 6hrs 7min and 11sec. Andy and I placed 15th out of 29 teams. Not too bad for our first time and only 5 weeks of training.

This is a typical day in the life of a Mission worker here in Chiang Mai. Hey, Andy we better start getting ready for next years Challenge! I say that now after the soreness has worn off. I hurt in places I never knew I had.
It was great fun and I'm glad I did it.

SONGKRAN

Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year. It marks the time when the Sun passes from the zodiac sign of Aries into that of Taurus and is celebrated every year on April 13 or 14. In fact, Songkran, which once was not only the traditional but also the official Thai New Year, spreads from over 3 days from the thirteenth to the fifteenth. But in reality it is over 5 days.
In the provinces, it remains an occasion for young men and girls to meet. The season is just right for leisurely courtship, with the rice harvesting finished and the planting of the new crop not yet begun. In the North, around Chiang Mai, sand is taken into temple compounds at this time. It is believed that this will bring good health and prosperity, and that the more sand one takes into the compound, the better. The sand is built into miniature chedi, or pagodas, which are then garlanded with flowers- another good chance for boys and girls to meet.
It is also one of the BIGGEST WATER FIGHTS' you'll ever see in your life! If you don't want to get wet you better not leave your house for three days.


Most of the action is centered around the moat which also serves the purpose of becoming an endless water source to be hurled at anyone and everyone. There are tons of trucks circling the moat with its bed filled with people. They usually have a large trash can filled with water and often the water is cooled down with big blocks of ice. Fortunately, Songkran coincides with the hottest time of the year. The country wide water fight becomes a welcome relief to the scorching heat.

It is a family affair with everybody getting into the action. Unfortunately, the girls are back in the states and I am by myself here. I know next year they will not want to miss it. I felt like a 7 year old boy during Songkran. What an amazing feeling to have a water fight for 3 days in the middle of town. Think of that happening in the States. Surreal!!!!1


This is our friend Melody throwing water on a little kid and vice versa. Melody was Acacia's first grade teacher last year.

The streets are filled with families on motorcycles. Can you imagine get a bucketful of ice water thrown on you as you try to navigate a motorcycle. I don't know how they do it.

This little girl was so cute! I insisted that she throw some water on me and she was kind enough to oblige.

Melody helping fellow Chiang Mai residents beat the heat. Keep up the good work Melody.

This is a view of the moat. The water is quite dirty, but after a while of bucket after bucket thrown in your face you forget to care.

People dress up and wear silly hats like this guy wearing an appropriate watermelon hat.

I don't believe that is their real hair, but I'm not sure.

Oh, man! She got them good! When you are in the back of a truck you are a sitting duck.

Nice throw. I think they were a little wet after that.

There are bands playing and parades going on throughout town. It was such a fun and festive atmosphere. It was like the whole country was a huge Chuck- E- Cheese "where a kid could be a kid". It was AWESOME!!!


It is hard to tell in this picture but I am soaked to the bone. GOOD TIMES!!!!!!
So many of the expats and missionaries living here in Chiang Mai talk about how they hate Songkran because they can't get anything done around town for 3 days. I found it to be the funnest time I've ever had in Thailand. I love it. I know my girls will love it too. Are you kidding me a country wide water fight for 3 days. They won't be able to get enough of it.

A Broken Heart

It was Sunday night and we were just saying goodbye to a friend that was visiting us from our church back in California. I dropped Erin off at her hotel and I start heading home. During the drive home I get a call from Acacia that her cat Tiger Lilly is having a hard time breathing and her tongue is dark purple. All this is happening at about 11pm. I get home and Shelly and Acacia grab Tiger and wisk her off to the animal hospital. They seem to be gone forever. I start to worry and call them to get an update. Shelly tells me that they took an X-ray and it shows that Tiger is only able to use 10% of her lungs. She apparently has some sort of infection and because of her previous injury it is making it worse. For those of you that follow our blog you may remember when Tiger had her ribs broken and her heart was bruised. Evidently somebody had kicked her really hard. Shelly calls me back to tell me that the Vets will keep her and do whatever it takes to keep her alive. Shelly and Acacia finally arrive home around midnight and Acacia is off to bed. We get a call about an hour later that Tiger had died. My heart sank. This is the 3rd cat that has died in the short time that we've been here. In the morning I took the girls to school without telling them that Tiger has gone to heaven. Just as a side note, Shelly left that morning to go to Nepal for a week. She was very hesitant to leave due to the circumstances. I assured her that it would be ok and that I would handle it. When I picked the girls up from school I had a very heavy heart. I sat at a bench in the school playground and told my little girl that her cat went up to heaven. She immediately started crying and I held her in my arms and started crying too. I wasn't crying so much for the cat, rather I was crying that my little girl's heart was breaking once again. The girls have a tendency to gravitate to their Mom when something like this happens. I think maybe Shelly leaving and myself having to deal with this alone was not a coincidence. I think God has some hand in this to create a deeper bond between my daughter and myself.

Acacia asked if we could bury Tiger next to Love Bug in the front yard. She held Tiger one last time and we dug the hole together.

As a way of saying goodbye I had the girls write a note saying what they felt about Tiger Lilly. Acacia's drawing of a broken heart just about broke my heart.

We covered the box that held Tiger and had a little funeral ceremony.


Anna and I both wrote a note to Tiger to send up to heaven.

Acacia standing on Tiger's grave site to pack down the earth.

We attached all of our notes to Tiger on the hot air lantern to be sent to heaven.

As the hot air lantern floats up we say our last goodbyes.

I am so sorry honey that Tiger had to leave this world. I know she meant a lot to you and that you will miss her deeply.

I love you more than all the stars in the sky sweetie!

Love Dad