Bangkok
Thailand

26 March 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

March has been my own mad month - of visits and visitors: Ngoc Vi and Thao My; Moon and Kevin; Mai and Mark; Luisa and Dolly; DeeDee and Richard.

Ngoc Vi came to Thailand on a four-day tour with her daughter Thao My. They live near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

I met Ngoc Vi seven years ago near the cathedral in HCMC (Saigon). After a brief chat, she invited me to her sister's wedding the next day.

Ngoc Vi is a specialist in agricultural productivity. She has worked as a consultant to Vietnamese farmers. This year she left her job and is enrolled as a full-time student. She expects to earn a Master's degree in Business Administration.

Thao My is an energetic, talkative, irrepressible four-year-old girl. Her goal was to ride an elephant here in Thailand. She did just that, all alone, according to her mother, at an elephant park south of Bangkok.