Next stop, breakfast "Thai" style. On the menu, Egg McMuffins and hash browns. It was every bit as good if not better than those I have had in America. The only difference, you don't clean your table when you leave. The staff at McDonalds throws your trash away and cleans up after you. This McDonalds is located beside the tollway and backs up to the interstate. The restroom is located upstairs and overlooks the highway. It is an open air restroom so you hear all the traffic going by as well as a constant breeze blowing through. It was quite an experience washing my hands with tractor trailer trucks blowing by one floor down.
There was also a Starbucks, Burger King and 7 Eleven at this stop along with other shops we didn't have time to explore.
Then it was off to find the sunflower fields. I have to interject here that driving on the interstate is almost as "interesting" as driving on the local streets. The only difference, there aren't as many motor scooters and the speed is much greater. Makaila and I played the "ABC" game and of course she won. There are many signs in Thai and English. Joseph said the further North we go and the further away from the big cities, the less English we will see. Also, the more stares we will receive. There are so many European tourists around Pattaya, people don't pay much attention. But I caught many people staring at us yesterday, so I guess I will have to get used to that.We finally found a sunflower field and also were able to buy fresh roasted sunflower seeds. Oh my, were they ever good. They even had some roasted with sunflower honey. We also bought some of that wonderful sunflower honey. It is delicious. Too bad I can't bring some home. Makaila didn't really like walking through the sunflowers because the weeds were scratching her legs and there might be some bugs. She is such a girly girl :). But we did manage to get a few pictures of her smiling.
Now I know that those of you who know me know that I have many more pictures than these, and I will post them on my site as time and internet permit. But these are a few samplings to show what fun we are having. Joshua was having a great time running around and climbing on things. He is all "boy" and operates wide open most of the time. Even in the midst of his busyness, he never fails to miss anything that is going on around him.
Next stop, Topasak Dam, Lopburi. This was not far from the sunflower fields, so we decided to check it out and it was worth the stop. We rode and open tram across the dam and were able to see many egrets and herons. It was wonderful. Joshua looked up at me at one point and said, "Nai Nai, isn't this exciting?" And it was. We were making memories, and the day was by far not over. On the other side of the dam was a Buddhist shrine. They are all over Thailand and even though we were only there for a few minutes, most people went over to offer alms and pray. The artwork on these idols is beautiful, but they are no more worthy of worship than am I. Only the one true God is worthy of my worship.
As we made our way to our destination for the evening, we suddenly discovered we were in Lopburi, commonly known as "Monkey City" because it is literally overrun by monkeys. At the center of this intersection is a shrine that was originally built as a Hindu shrine in the 13th century, but now is a shrine to Buddha. There were countless numbers of monkeys everywhere you looked. Of course, we had to stop to get out and take a closer look. Sai refused to get out of the truck so she watched from the comfort and safety of the truck. As we walked up the steps toward the shrine taking pictures of the kids and the monkeys, I heard Wanda hollering. I looked around an a monkey had jumped on her back, and was playing with her hair. I immediately went to her aide to try to get the monkey off her back. Once that was accomplished among the laughter, she said, "Why didn't you take a picture?" 
All of the sudden, I felt a monkey jump on my back. He was very gentle and didn't scratch or bite me. I wasn't afraid of it, I was mainly worried it would use the bathroom on me. Of course, Joseph and Wanda were laughing as was I and they were taking pictures of the hilarity. Before I knew what was happening, a second one jumped on me and proceeded to look for bugs in my hair just like you see them doing to each other. Thank goodness Joseph came and shooed them away. We then decided it was time to leave.
There were monkeys everywhere you looked. They would jump on cars driving by, one was chewing on the car's antenna as it drove down the street. They were climbing on buildings, crawling across the electrical wires and even playing in the gutters. It looked like a rat infestation. As we sat and watched Joseph said one had just jumped on our truck. I rolled my window down to have a look and the monkey was hanging on the back of the truck. All of the sudden, he grabbed one of the emblems off the truck, jumped down and proceeded to eat it. It was at that point that Joseph had enough, so we left monkey city. We were excited to have happened upon it and are so glad we did.
We then made our way to Mae Sot for the night before we continue our trek to Sai's parents house in the mountains. I am amazed at the spirit houses that are at almost every house and place of business. I find it very sad that these people believe the blessings in their lives are dependent on how many alms they give and how well they feed and take care of the spirits. I am so glad that I don't have to hope and wish for blessings based on something I do, but can rest assured in the precious gift of Jesus that was freely given to me. I am glad that my eternal future isn't based on something that I have done, but is secured by the blood of the Lamb.
In His love,
Pam
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