If you squint and tilt your head a bit they almost look like real curtains!

Last year I had been gung ho on getting my dad's old leather jacket
fixed up so I could wear it. I had been told if I bought my own lining
for the jacket I could get whatever color I wanted. I purchased a
ridiculous amount of dark teal lining and proudly brought it to the
seamstress. She told me I had the wrong stuff and even tho I said I
didn't care if the lining wouldn't last and I didn't care it would
cost me more money in the long run she still refused to use the lining
material I had picked; she also thought I was quite strange for
picking TEAL to line a black leather jacket.

As the lining cost me $50 I decided I couldn't waste it. I carefully
measured, cut, and pinned the fabric into two curtain panels then
promptly felt I'd done enough and left the unfinished panels in a pile
for the next few months.

Last night I finally decided to finish the job.

It took me half an hour to figure out how to fill a bobbin with thread
then another 45 minutes to figure out how to thread my machine.

Hush, I lost the manual.

It took another twenty minutes to figure out why the heck my stitches
were wonky but Google was very helpful and I found out how to adjust
tension. Finally, after three hours of fiddling and raging and sewing
I managed to sew four, straight lines and my curtains were finished!

...only after I'd finished did I notice the edges are raw. *FACEPALM*

BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER because these curtains are temporary until I
buy a real set of curtains. It only took me nine years to hang
curtains in my studio, I'm sure in another five years I will have
picked out a proper set.

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I'm back from my trip and about one hour away from collapsing on my bed for a few days.

More after I get some sleep.

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I like to pick up a necklace or something practical to remind me of my travels and this necklace caught my eye.

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Iced coffee and a pineapple shake!

See the full gallery on Posterous

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When I'm in Canada I rarely go to a 7-11, after all, I don't drink slurpees, smoke cigarettes, or eat junk food very often.

In Thailand, 7-11 is my best friend!

7-11 is open all the time, it has air conditioning, it has bottles of ice-cold water for only 7 baht each, hot pao buns with mystery fillings (bbq pork, pork and salted yolk, and my favorite pumpkin), and 7-11 carries the new love of my life: yogurt with young coconut.

I always eat yogurt as often as I can when I travel and my parents suggested I try the young coconut as it was one of their favorites.

The yogurt tastes like full-fat with small cubes of chewy coconut mixed in. It's refreshing and filling and I eat one or two a day.

I'll be sad to leave my new best friend and it's tasty, affordable delights behind. I may have to quest for young coconut yogurt from a local source when I get home.

I just know that local source won't be a Canadian 7-11.

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This morning my dad rented us a scooter to go to the Tiger Cave
Temple! I am sunburned from yesterday's excursion to Ao nang beach so
I'm glad we had a morning excursion which left me free to hide my
crispy skin from the heat of the afternoon in an air-conditioned
bungalow.

I'm such a farang. Farang, btw, means foreigner. I can dig it. It
makes me feel like I'm in an episode of Star Trek!

Tomorrow afternoon my stepmother and I will be attending a cooking
class where we will make 6 authentic Thai dishes for 1,000 baht each.
This culinary adventure includes transportation to and from our hotel.
I'm looking forward to riding in a little truck/taxi!

Here's hoping the 'breezy outdoor kitchen' is, indeed, breezy. It
would be painful and embarrassing to pass out, face-first, in my wok
full of green curry.

Food today:
- leftover pork skewers and a pork pao (bun)
- young coconut yogurt
- baked beans on toast
- pineapple shake
- store-bough bbq chicken and slightly curried noodles
- chocolate soymilk
...and I'm about to scrounge for supper in my parents' fridge.

My flickr account is updated now! You can see photos of my trip here:

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These pictures don't do the landscape justice. It's so beautiful here it takes a few days to learn how to filter the lush green enough that you can pick out the details.

Half the trees and shrubs I can see sport flowers and those that don't are so darn interesting I have to stop to investigate.

The birds that live in this tropical paradise are colourful, quick, and musical. Even the insects and lizards are musical, too!

Because of jet lag I wake up between 3 and 5 on the morning so I have been awake to really enjoy the pre-dawn rise in volume. Cicadas, geckos, birds, gibbons (well, it's probably just a bird that likes to hoot), and domestic animals scrapping call out at the same time and create a din that wakes the sun.

As long as all that noise stays outside I'm fine; it's the gecko barking in my ear at night that makes me want to keep a light on while I sleep.

I haven't seen a cobra or a land crab with my own eyes, yet, but if they make a noise I've probably heard them.

The photos provided are my view from my bungalow porch. Even overgrown, vacant lots are beautiful because of the plants and animals inhabiting them.

Or, as my dad pointed out, if we had bird-of-paradise growing everywhere, too, then we'd start to see it as a weed.

Well, sure, but it would be a beautiful weed. That's my point, really. It's so beautiful here even the weeds are pretty.

See the full gallery on Posterous

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We've been going to the weekend market for our supper the past couple of days and I am in love with this one dessert.

Frustratingly I have no idea what the are called but they appear to have coconut milk, corn, and chopped coconut as ingredients.

The batter (milk) is poured into a huge cooker designed to cook quail eggs (or octopus balls in Japan?) The cooked half-balls are removed and cut away from each other with scissors then one half of the half-balls are flipped over onto the other half of the half-balls making full balls!

Eaten hot, they are crispy on the outside and creamy custard on the inside. I can never finish a full order (there's so much good food to eat at weekend market) but they're just as good refrigerated; or as the locals say, "Same-same, only different."

It's 20 baht for a small order and 30 baht for a large. Tonight is the last night of weekend market and my last chance to eat these so I may spring for large order... or two.

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It took over 24 hours to get to Thailand. My mind is still trying to catch up to my body. 24 hours seems like a long time until you consider I am half-way across the world!

I've never made a trip of this length before but I was amazed at how smoothly it went. Canada to Korea to Thailand... three flights, five airports, six in-flight meals... and despite language barriers and time zone differences the machine smoothly propelled me towards my final destination.

Amazing!

Yesterday, as I clung to my dad as he drove the rental scooter to our bungalows, I felt moved to suddenly declare, "I'm in Thailand" like I couldn't believe it. My dad laughed.

It's amazing how accessible the world is if you have the means to travel.

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Doin' laundry like a boss! Mountain style.

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I love my dad.

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Rainbow after a big storm. #yeg

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I just can't stop drawing merbears.

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