Varanasi

A tea shop



A man who died overnight was covered with a white cloth.

The end

I am mentally on the way home---I leave Bangkok tomorrow afternoon---and Joe is already there. Bob Wheaton, Joe's father, is suffering from some strange post-knee-surgery malady, maybe drug-related, maybe not. Bob is steadily improving, but the situation is worrisome, so Joe flew to Boston Saturday morning. He spent two nights in Concord with the Wheatons and is now back in Becket.

Joe is going to pick me up at JFK on Wednesday, rescuing me from protracted airline hell. We'll have lunch with Zack and then head for the hills.

One indication that Bangkok is pretty much back to normal after weeks of political turmoil, some of it violent, is the front page of today's Bangkok Post. Among the ads and the banners directing readers to this or that feature inside the paper are just two stories. One, about the aftermath of an assassination attempt last week on Sonhi Limthongkul, leader of the "yellow shirts," is headlined "Police search for source of weapons." The other page one story is "U.S. woman makes tea after being shot in the head." I'll have no trouble at all transitioning back to The Berkshire Eagle.

Here is a bunch of pictures of our visit to Burma

Public transportation in Mandalay



Buddhist nuns
















Your wish could be granted at this temple if you could toss some money into the LUCKY bin





The construction on this house belonging to the brother of "the lady" was stopped by the government for no reason