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Spring has sprung eternal here in Thailand with Smiling Albino. This version of Albino Smiles features news about our new cycling adventures in the north of Thailand, kayaking and cooking in the south of Thailand and some good news about our community volunteering programs in Bangkok, Tak and Chiang Rai provinces. Be sure to enter the contest for a CD from Thailand’s greatest singer, Thee Chaiyadej, as well as learn some new Thai cooking and quirky Siamese tidbits. If you're in and around Calgary at the end of the month, Smiling Albino will be hosting a booth at Calgary’s Outdoor Adventure Travel Show from March 28-30!
Enjoy!
Well, if you or anyone you knew were contemplating another wet and wild Songkran celebration with SA this year it’ll have to wait until 2004. SA’s April Songkran Extravaganza is officially sold out for this year. Thanks for all the enquiries!
Later next month we’ll be kicking off a new program down in Krabi featuring sea kayaking, jungle creek picnicking, rubber tree farm hikes, snorkeling and a full day of an original Thai cooking program. This program will soon feature on usual SA trips down south. We’ll keep you posted!
It’s official! SA now customizes cycling adventures for groups of four or more.
Six Canadian cycling aficionados recently joined us here in Thailand for 10 days of challenging cycling (road, single track, dirt trail, highway and jungle jaunts) in Bangkok, Ancient Ayutthaya and Chiang Rai. Contact us to customize the best road and mountain biking trip you'll ever take.
Smiling Albino will be hosting a booth at this year’s Outdoor Adventure Travel Show at Calgary’s Round-Up Centre on March 28, 29 and 30th from 9:00am until 5:00pm daily. You are officially invited to come down and visit the booth, catch up with Sue and Todd other Albinos, and learn about all the new happenings with SA. Also, be sure to come and see a Smiling Albino presentation on Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm at the Adventure Theatre.
HEY LOOK! The first 8 clients to contact us will receive a free pass to the show.
Show hours:
- March 28, Friday: 4 pm - 10 pm,
- March 29, Sat: 10 am - 7 pm ,
- March 30, Sun: 10 am - 5 pm
Smiling Albino celebrated our third anniversary recently at a small get together in Bangkok. Longtime friends, family and supporters raised a glass to three great years of adventuring in Thailand. Here’s to many more to come!
Scott was recently published in ‘TimeOut’s’ new guide to Thailand, entitled ‘Bangkok, Chiang Mai & the islands’. He contributed to the ‘Sukhothai’ section. Be sure to pick up a copy at your local bookstore.
Lots of great news coming out of Highland Farm and Gibbon Sanctuary, especially the arrival of two new babies: Chester the gibbon had a baby in Janaury and Mimi is pregnant with another on the way. Congratulations to Adam the blind ape for his ‘diligence’!
A new community volunteer project is on the rise here in Thailand. SA recently began volunteering time and resources the Phayathai Babies’ Home in central Bangkok for over 200 Thai orphans. SA is joining forces with the orphanage in a program called ‘Bridge the Gap’, which aims to facilitate the transition process for soon-to-be-adopted Thai orphans going to western families. SA clients and friends are welcome to spend time with the children at the orphanage and help them adjust to life around foreigners. Check out Sue’s great story on her visit to the orphanage last month.
Very special thanks to Jimmy Montalvo and Jodi Bruder of Calgary who recently volunteered for two weeks in the inaugural mentorship session. Also, special thanks to Jane and Laura Shoemaker of Kipling, Saskatchewan for volunteering their time and expertise at the orphanage as well!
We’re so grateful for the wonderful clients and friends who have helped our community programs here in Thailand over the last few months.
- Thank you very much to Seth and Kathi Samuels of Washinton, DC for your generous contributions to both the development of Highland Farm and Gibbon Sanctuary and our ‘English Fun Days’ teaching program in Chiang Rai.
- Thanks a bunch to Bill Connolly and Laurel Griffen for their recent donations towards our ‘English Fun Days’ program at Santikiri School in Chiang Rai.
- Thanks very much to Harriet Wiseman of London, UK, Donna Jone and Kathy Tynan of Caglary, Canada for the large clothing donation which was recently delivered to a Hmong hilltribe village near Chiang Khong, Chiang Rai.
Different things Thais do that we sometimes find odd, but sometimes aren't much different from what we as westerners do.
Foreigners have long wondered how any work can get done in a busy office or shopping mall in Thailand where is seems that a variety of competing noises have been set merely to keep your mind off track. A construction project beside an office at home could prove disastrous for a group of colleagues trying to have a meeting. In Thailand, particularly in the noise and congestion of Bangkok, an amazing sense of spirit and harmony occurs in an environment of seeming cacophony. Lots of noises and distractions, such as radios and TVs on in the office, sound bites blurping from every desktop, a karaoke machine next door, a marching band outside can all be considered ‘fun’ additions to a working environment. Thais are incredibly resilient people in this regard and have the ability to work, conduct meetings and manage projects amid a variety of competing noises and distractions. Western employees, closing their office doors and covering their ears to hide from the noise, are bedazzled that company output may actually be higher on a particularly noisy day in a local office!
The ride started on our street in Bang Kapi, an eastern suburb district of Bangkok. We'd packed enough clothes and gear for a three day ride, hoping to not just make it to the Gulf of Thailand but also find some untrammled routes that we could take friends and clients on in the future.
Read the whole story, at the site.
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