Jan and Lawrie In Thailand: April 2007

This was the beginning of the Songkran festival, it is Thailand's new year. The monks came from the temples for donations...we had a weeks holiday & headed to China...this is generally the only holiday most Thai's get all year, huge event for them as you can imagine!

Thailand loves this festival, it is a chance for them to get away with reckless behavior. They stand in the streets and throw water at each other, or drive around in open trucks throwing water & talcum powder at anyone who looks dry...Crazy!!

As a senior member on staff I had to be blessed with water from all the staff & students!

We all got pretty wet!

Welcome to PRC...People's Republic of China

This was a park we walked through on the way to the Forbidden city, just one year before there were people living in this area...guess this is what happens when a goverment needs to beautify their city!

Military service is voluntary, but there sure were a lot young men in uniform.

Forbidden City

Tiananmen Square...just a nice place to fly a kite now!

Beijing is getting ready for the Olympics...the countdown is on! We drove by 4 of the stadiums under construction, very impressive! This will be good for China, they are calling it the golden week & are encouraging people to take their holidays during the games...maybe they think it will look like there aren't so many of them!!