We slept surprisingly well the first night. In fact, the girls slept so well that Anders had time to jump on a motorcycle and disappear. Grandfather sat in his office, working on the translation of a game.

View from the office

Lost in translation

Grandfather and his family own some land around town. Among other things, they grow:

• Cassava, a potato-like crop which can be eaten or used for industrial purposes, depending on the type.
• Rubber, which is made from the milky white sap of rubber trees.
• Pineapple

They've also got a limited amount of coffee and mango bushes, some banana trees, sizzling hot chili peppers and who knows what else. Since these things are presented in Thai for the most part, we cannot tell you what it is... yet.

Rubber seeping out of the tree

The house as seen from the front yard

This is what fresh coffee REALLY looks like

Emi has made two new friends. Mook, who stays with Emi's granddaddy and Dow, and Twang, who is the youngest niese of Dow. Twang lives at the other end of the village, right next to some of the cassava, pineapple, and rubber fields. They get along great and don't seem to mind the language barrier too much.

Emi and her friend Twang (spell check, please)

This last picture was taken northbound from Bangkok to Chaiyaphum, but these trucks drive by frequently. They're slow, probably based on simple tractor engines, and they're quite noisy. They haul all kinds of stuff, but generally produce from farms. Check out the funky colors on the thing!