Flashback Thailand

I have just found some old pictures when I was about 15 years old, the first time I went to Thailand.  These are old photos of me (in the maroon shirt)  in the Wat Pho Temple.  Taken way back in 1995, my mom was on a business trip and my brother, sister and I were able to tag along.

One thing that struck me before entering the temple was that we were not allowed to point our toes inside the temple.  Reverence to authority is a very important virtue for the Thai people.

My wife and I recently were on a plane and were seated beside a passenger who loves Thailand very much.  He adores the gentleness and respect shown to the King by the people.  I heard the same from another friend who commented that currencies are not usually folded because the image of the King is printed there! What awesome respect!

And so Thailand, I am coming back.

Tokens of Love

Wow! We have reached the 1,000 mark in 4 short days. The last time we checked we were in 4th place. Michael and I were out the whole day to prepare gifts for the Ultimate Thailand Explorers. We're so happy to  know that we made it to the top today (but we are now No. 2!) Thanks to YOU! And thanks to PEP (Thanks, Yas!) and  Yahoo! for featuring us on their  Showbiz page. They made us feel like celebrities. We're speechless. . . 

First stop for us this morning was the Department of Tourism. Tourism Secretary Ace Durano was so nice  to have personally  prepared gifts for the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the organizer of the Ultimate Thailand Explorers. Sec. Ace is also into adventurous pursuits and has recently zip-lined in Davao and Danao! He couldn't meet us because he was out of the town today, so he asked his executive assistant Ms. Karen Sanchez to hand us the gifts. They are beautiful! I so want to keep them!  We're not allowed to tell you what the gifts are. Not yet! We don't want to spoil the surprise.

We also went to our favorite bookshop to prepare gifts to the other contestants and the liason officer that the UTE has assigned to us. His name is Big and from his picture in Facebook he looks like a nice young man with a  sunny disposition. We can't wait to meet him and the other contestants. We also have new friends from Bangkok whom we will be meeting for the first time in the welcome party--all 40 of them!  Hmm, it will be a challenge to remember all their names, but we will try.

We received a feedback today from Siampinoy. Yes,we have a strong Filipino community in Bangkok! (Hello, everyone! Salamat sa suporta!). Angilicus told us that some of you are having problems voting after registration.  I'll post a guideline here. Hope it helps. :)

1. After registering,  you can log on to this page: www.tinyurl.com/mikejenkohsamui

2. Look for the "LOG-IN" tab on top of the page.

3. Log in your Username and Password.

4. Then, a pink button with the word "VOTE" will appear below the video screen.

Angelicus and Peachy, both expats in Thailand, reported to us how nice the Thai people are and what a wonderful experience it was for them to work there. We're very glad to hear that! Thais and Filipinos share many similar traits. Like their Filipino counterparts, Thais  are warm and hospitable. They are family-oriented, respectful, religious, very fashion savvy  and they love spicy food! We look a lot like them, too.

Love Samui