Sawat dee, Everyone!
We were in Khon Kaen for the week, so Grandma could teach some people there. Khon Kaen is northeast of Bangkok, and it is famous for the dinosaur fossils that are being found nearby. When we got to our hotel, there was a red carpet out! I was excited at being treated like a famous person, but I found out the hotel was getting ready for a visit by a member of the royal family. Thailand is headed by a king, and so there are real princes and princesses travelling around the country.
Our first adventure was a walk to a nearby city park that still had Chinese New Year decorations. I made friends with a straw dinosaur, and some lions, and a tiger. Then at the next park I met some more dinosaurs. It was after dark when we got back from our walk, and my new dinosaur friend was all lighted up. Don’t the dinosaurs look nice that way?
The next day, Grandma’s hosts took us for a drive in the country to the real dinosaur museum. There were lots of dinosaurs assembled from fossil bones found in the area. Some of the dinosaurs have only been found in Thailand! One kind is called Siamosaurus, because Siam is the old name for Thailand.
Before I came, Joe-san warned me to stay away from Siamese kitties. When I saw this skull of a saber-tooth tiger, I understood why! That cat had BIG teeth! I got to meet Amy and Anya and their friends elephant and rabbit. Then we all walked up the hill to the site of the dinosaur excavation, and Grandma helped me look at the fossil skeletons that have just been discovered.
On the way back to Khon Kaen, we stopped at a village where everybody has pet snakes. The snakes are mostly king cobras, and even young boys learn to do pretend fighting with them. I was feeling brave, so I made friends with two of the cobras. After that, we stopped at a big dam to watch the sun set. We climbed all the way up to a Buddhist shrine on top of the hill to watch. That is a very pretty place! Then Grandma’s hosts showed us where to get really good pad thai for dinner. Best of all, they knew where the best banana roti in town was made and got us some to take back to the hotel. Grandpa finally got his first roti on this trip!
The next day, we went on an adventure with another of Grandma’s hosts. We climbed all the way to the top of this temple! It was nine flights of stairs, so Grandma helped me. Afterward, I made friends with another snake: this is a naga – a seven-headed snake from Thai stories. Then we had more good local food. I like Thai noodles!!
After lunch I made friends with two more dinosaurs. These ones were made of silk and were at a textile exhibit in a little town where special patterns of silk fabric are woven. Then we stopped at a village where everybody keeps turtles as pets. So I got to make more turtle friends, too!
We flew back to Bangkok last night. I could see the full moon out the window of the plane, just like when Grandma and I first got here. We have been here a full lunar month! Grandma says we will have time for lots more summer adventures here before we come back to winter.
Love,
Lion-san