Omkoi, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
No Luck. The Roosters are still out of sync --- except for the fact that they all crow at 4:30am! We all enjoyed peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast along with a cup of Joe's excellent drip coffee from beans grown in Thailand. We bid our goodbyes to the villagers, and loaded up the truck for another long journey on another dirt, bumpy, up, down, narrow, pothole road for about four more hours. We came out on a paved road and headed north to Omkoi which is a nice looking village. We stayed at the Omkoi resort which is a cluster of small cabins on a both sides of a quaint river. Once settled in, we visited the Omkoi hostel. Victor and his wife run the hostel. They also are a dropping off point for coffee beans grown in the mountains. They dry much of the beans in their yard. However, they have very little room to work with and because they are situated on a small plot of land next to a much-traveled paved road near Omkoi, and land prices are higher than in the mountains. The hostel-building was erected from planks that were borrowed, and they must soon be returned
. They are hoping to build a two story dormatory to house the children. This will save them much needed room. Believe it or not, wooden planks are very valuable in this area, even if they are not in great shape. They also have a ditch on the edge of the property that they would like to fill in to make more room. Hmmm. Sounds like another worthwhile project to us.
One last note: Pastor Jack was going to preach to the children with the help of a dry eraser board. When he grabbed the marker to write with, the children all giggled and no one could figure out why. Well, it turned out they had put an empty marker up there and when Jack tried to write on the board, nothing happened. The kids pulled one over on Jack. Then to rub it in, Jack usually jokes about being 18 years old to get a laugh from the kids, but this time, Joe interpreted it to say 80 years old, not 18 and they all cracked up. We all had a laugh at the expense of Jack, but I we all know he enjoyed every minute of it. After some more songs and games, we went back to our cabins and got some much needed sleep (again).
