A Hamster Running

A Hamster Running, a double haiku written by Jacob

Feet are a running

In some repeated circles

The wheel is rolling

The hamster breathing

Tinkling sound of its wheel
Then the hamster stops.

History of Ubon Ratchathani Candle Festival

The Ubon Ratchathani Candle Festival Starded with the giving of Candles to Monks. Buddhist Lent period is a time where the Buddha stops monks from going outside their chosen temples. Khao Phansa is the day that starts the Buddhist Lent period. On that day people give candles to monks in return for merit (blessings). The monks like this because they learn and study at night, for it is very quite at night. The candles helped them read and study, for there was no electrical light back then. The candle festival started like this:
In Thailand the people held local traditional firework festivals. Fireworks often blew up people's houses and killed many people. When the current king's grandson came he was shocked by the violence of the festival. He changed it around the festival to the candle festival. Communities of people would make candles and the communities that made the best candles would be rewarded with money. It changed over time and is now what it is today, large candles on big floats, stands selling goods, and rides everywhere.

If you want more information please visit this link:
The History of the Ubon Ratchathani Candle - อุบลราชธานีไกด์

Thanks for reading Jacob

A Road Trip in Asia

A Road Trip in Asia

Here in Thailand I have been lagging behind on my journal entries. It’s partly because I haven’t been doing too much, and partly because I couldn’t find my journal. Well, here is my story:

Have you ever been on a road trip for 7 days, and in a tiny car that is so stuffed it can’t even fit a hat in the trunk? Well, I have. The first 2 days of our trip we spent going to Ubon from Phuket.

On the way we stopped at many temples and gas stations. We also stopped at the Surin Elephant Camp. That place was devoted to giving elephants better treatment in captivity. At Surin, a while ago, my mom volunteered to help the elephants. While I was there, I rode some elephants, went to an elephant history museum, went on a walk, and visited some of my mom’s friends. The elephant ride was fun, and it was my third time riding an elephant.

When we finished doing our stuff at Surin elephant camp, we drove to Ubon Ratchathani. We eventually arrived to the hotel that we reserved after a long car drive.

The room we got was on the very last floor and had the highest number in the entire hotel. My parents were expecting a small room (we only got 1) but it was a fairly good size for the price. There were only two beds, so Josh had to sleep on the mattress we had brought and James had to sleep on the couch. I got my own bed, and Dad and Mom slept together on the other bed. Also, there was a singing electric kettle.

When it was night, we went to the dinner buffet. There, I ate papaya salad, some rice, and more.

Next day, we woke up in time for the breakfast buffet. At that buffet, I ate so much food that I don’t think I could write all of what I had in this blog entry. When my stomach gauge changed to full, I left and went to the mall.

At the mall, I got a pair of pants and a swimming suit. I also ate some donuts. When I had finished shopping, I went to the 5^th floor for a swim in the pool.

The pool that was there had two sections. There was the toddler section and the regular pool. They were connected by a line of water long enough to stretch you arms in. There was also were a few waterfalls coming off of greenish-gray rocks. After I played in the pool for a while, I got the card for our room from Dad, and left.

Mine and James' puppets

A wax float at the judging

Some of the delicious food 

Later, after I took a shower and got dressed, I went to the Ubon Candle Festival. The festival was very exciting. There were lots of stands selling everything from fried insects to puppets. There were a few rides, too. While I was waiting for the judging of the floats to begin, we played on a trampoline, got some beverages, and rode a Ferris wheel. I even got a puppet.

After we finished playing in the fair, we went and watched some

of the floats. The floats were coming one at a time, for it was not the parade. The parade was tomorrow morning. My dad said they were getting judged. The floats were almost completely made out of wax, and had delicate carvings of the Buddha and more. The judging of the floats seemed to be going on forever, and it was very late, so Dad ran into the middle of the street to get a taxi motorcycle. My entire family was able to shove themselves in the motorbike’s sidecar and we got to ride the down the back alleys to get quickly home.

Tomorrow, in the morning, we set out to get a taxi for the parade. We were early, so we got some drinks and played on the same trampoline as last time. When the parade started we got some seats, and watched the show.

My brothers and I playing

dancers

A wax float at the parade

The parade had many wax floats. There was also fingernail dancers and marching bands. My favorite dancers was a group that signaled the “eat”, as I heard from the Thai speaker (I speak Thai). They would wave their grass around and dance to some music. The music came from a speaker being pushed behind them.

After some of the parade, Dad got another taxi motorbike, and we set out for our hotel. When we arrived at the hotel Joshua and James left to go to see Lambang, while I stayed home.

The next day we set out to Bangkok. On the way we tried to go into Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. Unfortunately we decided not to go because I wasn’t feeling to well and we couldn’t bring our rental car. Late that night we arrived, and we went inside to the hotel we had reserved. We immediately fell asleep in our beds, for we were tired.

Next morning we woke up and went to the mall next to the hotel we were staying at. In the mall, we went to Kidzania, a place where kids learned how to do occupations. Kidzania is a city built inside a building. It is in an enclosed area with a ceiling made to look like the sky. The currency there was kidzos, and you earned kidzos by doing the many different jobs there.

I am going to name some of the jobs I did. The first job I did was a Canon Photographer in which I went around the busy streets of Kidzania and took pictures of specific memorials and statues. Another Job I did was a veterinarian, where I took care of some animals (not real). I spent some of my Kidzos on an eyesight test so I could do my driving test. The driving test had a driving simulator that was actually quite hard. I made one mistake on the driving simulator, and it was passing the red light. After I passed the driving test I got to drive a mini car around on a mini road.

When we finished in our jobs, we went to the department store. Inside the department store, there was super expensive stuff. The most expensive thing was a scooter, which cost 20,000 Kidzos. I only earned 94 so I would have had to come about 199 more times to get it.

When we exited Kidzania I went to a restaurant where you cooked your own food. There, we had various meats, seafood, and vegetables.

When we finished our meal, we went to the shopping part of the mall. There, my brothers and I looked at Legos.

After we finished shopping, we went back to our room. I shall now describe it.  My family got two rooms. A door connected them. Our room had two beds. James slept on the floor with our mattress while Joshua and I slept in the beds. There was a TV too. Inside the bathroom there was an electric toilet that washed your posterior for you.

On the next day in Bangkok we went to the immigration center, for Mom needed a new visa. The immigration center was huge. One of the coolest things about the immigration center was this room in the middle of it. The room was an immense amount of space with barely anything in it.

After a while of waiting, we left mom and went to explore the city. We walked through a street that had tons of people selling fish. There were a lot of types of fish. We also went to the mall and got haircuts.

When we got a call from mom we went to go pick her up. When we got her, we immediately went back to the hotel. When we arrived, we swam in the pool there.

Next morning we left and traveled back to Phuket. On the way we stopped by a farm and feed the sheep.

Thanks for reading   Jacob

Tiger Kingdom

a tiger

Have you ever pet a tiger? Well I have. It happened on my 12^th birthday on June 2014, in Phuket, Thailand.

A 30-minute drive in our rental car and we arrived at our destination, Tiger Kingdom. I was astonished by how many cars were parked in the parking lot. I suspected there wasn’t going to be many, for it was low season. There was such an enormous amount of cars in fact; we had a bit of trouble finding a parking spot.

When we entered Tiger Kingdom we saw that it was packed with tourists. There was a lot of racket from all of the people inside the building talking in their different languages. After looking at the sizes of the tigers on computer screens for a small amount of time, we bought our tickets for the size smallest. Any larger size tiger you would have to be 15 years old.

The size smallest was quite small, but they were not babies. They were at least 1 – 2 years old and were about the size of me. When we got our tickets, we headed down to the space where the tigers were held and waited for our turn. The cage for smallest had a smooth floor and little wooden fences. There was

no mess because the trainers cleaned everything up.

Me cuddling with our tiger

Joshua, James and I with our tiger

 While we were waiting for our turn, we took pictures of ourselves. When it was time for us to come in, we read the rules, washed our hands, put on some sandals (we couldn’t wear our shoes inside the cage), and entered. I was amazed by how domesticated all the tigers were. The tiger we got was very calm and was absolutely OK with us petting him. I got to lie with, cuddle, and pet him a lot. He especially liked it when my dad rubbed his belly. He rolled around and purred like it was very comfortable. We got a lot of good pictures with him. After about thirty minutes we had to leave. I was unhappy to leave my friend but I felt my birthday present was one of the best.

 When we left the tiger we were petting, we instantly started washing our hands. While that was happening some of the smallest tigers started play fighting together. They were rolling around and growling. After that we looked at the other tigers.

Smallest

Mom and I with our tiger

Small was a bit bigger then the Smallest by about 1^1/2 of a foot and were 2 – 3 years old. The Mediums were a bit smaller then my dad and the big were bigger than him. Those large tigers had big grassy terrains with a pool unlike the smallest who has the same habitat as the small. There were people petting the bigs and it was pretty funny because the Thai people were very small compared to the big tigers. After we finished looking at all the tigers we went out of the tiger zone and into the gift shop. In the gift shop I looked at some things and decided on getting a cool and realistic tiger t–shirt. When we left we took one last picture in front of a sign with my new shirt.

Thanks for reading   Jacob

Supreme Blackjack update

1) The wheel from Blackjacks old cage

2) Tube leading from Blackjacks cage to dining room (9) 

3) Ropes

4) Cool house 

5) Water container

6) Food bowl

7) Tube leading from Blackjacks cage to lookout (8)

8) Lookout

9) Dining room

Blackjack is getting spoiled. He has now moved from his little home to a giant mansion. His favorite thing in his new cage is the cool house. He spends a lot of time in the place eating and sleeping because the thing is made from a special aluminum so it is always cold. Another thing Blackjack loves is the dining room. He stores his food in the place and likes to clean himself in there too. He also goes there when the air con (which is right next to the dining room) is on. The last thing I am going to mention in this update is the lookout. Blackjack likes to climb up on the top and sometimes I feed him his treats through the top.

Causeway bay big pool party

Every few weeks there is a giant pool party at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club in Causeway bay. So far I have been there two times. The party fills up quite quick so you have to get reservations pretty fast. The pool party has one huge inflatable with a slid on it and, there are a lot of small inflatables. There is also huge buffet with an infinite amount of ice cream! The last time I went there was Saturday the 5^th. There were lots of kids and I even made friends with some of them. That time all the kids could bring inflatables on the giant floating plaything. In the beginning when most of the kids were around a lot of kids were running and jumping trying to get on the barge. So many kids did this that the lifeguards had to push the kids off. There plan kind of backfired because all the kids started pushing the lifeguards off. At the end of the party a lot of the kids had left so it wasn’t so crazy. The day was very fun.

            

Greek Half Bloods and Monsters

Chapter 1 - I Beat the Bully
“Hi” my name is Charlie Thomas. I live in Seattle in an apartment with my mom Claire Thomas. I had a normal life until one day at the school cafeteria.
While eating my lunch, Buddy, the class bully said, “Catch this!” I turned and saw his lunch box flying through the air. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact. Surprisingly, it didn’t hit me. When I opened my eyes, I saw buddy on the floor unconscious with his lunch box on his chest.
Just then, the math teacher Mr. Brian came in the room, grabbed me, and walked me out of the room and into the back entrance. Suddenly he hit me hard on the head. The last thing I remember was Mr. Brian dragging me out of the

school grounds.

Chapter 2 - I Fight Cyclops
When I returned to consciousness, I was in a dark cave with lime stone ridges and watermarks. It looked like it was thousands of years old. I was bound in rope near a girl that looked a couple years older then me.
I asked her what she was doing here and why my math teacher attacked me. All she said was “You’re a half blood”. “A what?” I exclaimed. “A hal”- she was interrupted, “Where’s my lunch!” roared a booming voice.
Just then a giant humanoid entered the room. It was hairy, 7 feet tall, and had one big eye with a red pupil. The girl next to me said “of course. A Cyclops.” I thought about the name and realized that Cyclops meant ‘kuklōps’ in Greek.

The Cyclops interrupted my thoughts by picking me up
and throwing me across the room. I hit the cave wall with a crash and got dizzy but fortunately didn’t black out. It hurt and I got pretty mad at the Cyclops. The anger caused a tugging sensation in my gut. I heard thunder and saw a lightning bolt blast a hole in the ceiling, then hit the Cyclops on the head with a loud thump. That was obviously too much energy for the Cyclops because he instantly disintegrated forming a big mound of dust on the cave floor.
The girl had somehow gotten out of her binds and untied me. We ran out of the cave and walked in the forest. I asked her a lot of questions and she gave me an assortment of yes’s, no’s, and wait till we arrive at camp’s. After I gave up on getting a clear answer from her I asked her what her name was. She said “Sophie”. “What’s yours?” she asked.
“Charlie” I said.

After walking over a couple hills, around a swamp, and through a lake we reached the end of the forest. We went through the last of the trees and I could see a camp across a large field in the distance.

Chapter 3 Camp Half Blood
When we arrived at the camp I noticed a lot of kids about my age. I followed Sophie into a large farmhouse she called The Big House.
When we were inside the building I saw two people playing a game with cards. One of them was in a wheel chair, had a long white beard, and looked ancient. The other person had a tropical themed t-shirt and pants. The guy in the wheel- chair said “How was your quest Sophie?”
“Can we talk about this later Chiron?” she answered. Chiron looked at me, “I see you found a new demigod”. “Yes, his name is Charlie,” Sophie informed.
Chiron pointed across the room and said, “Charlie, can we

please talk in my room?” “Sure” I answered.
We went to his room and Chiron started “Charlie do you only have one parent?”
I was startled but answered, “Yes, how did you know?” Chiron looked at me “You’re a half blood”.
There was a pause then I said, “what’s a half blood?”
“A human that has a godly side and a mortal side” Chiron answered.
“Let me guess, Greek mythology is real?” I asked.
Chiron looked at the mini stuffed animal hydras in the corner and said, “Yes you are correct”. After a long silence Chiron said, “Go to Sophie, she will show you the camp.”
Camp half blood was made up of teenagers. There was a basketball court and a whole field of growing strawberries. There were 12 cabins each standing for a separate major god. There was archery class, swords class, canoeing races,

and more. After touring the camp Sophie showed me the weapons shed. I found interest in an axe and kept it.

Chapter 4 - I Get Claimed
After three days at camp I learned a couple things. First, that I could read Greek easily. Second, I liked fighting with an axe and third, you got to fight real monsters like giant scorpions, hydras, big bats, and more.
I lived in the Hermes cabin with all the other unclaimed kids. Chiron got me some belongings of a mattress, a toothbrush and paste, a light, and some other stuff.
One night at the campfire after eating the dinner of a BBQ, shepherds pie, a line of pastries, and more a camper gasped and said “look!”
All the campers stared at me. I realized I had a bright glow above my head. I swatted at it but it didn’t go away. The mark stayed for a moment but disappeared after a while. “What was that?” I said. Chiron answered by saying, “all hail son of Zeus”.

Chapter 5 - Lightning

After the songs from the Apollo cabin we all went back to our cabins. Sadly, I was all alone in cabin 1 with a big statue of Zeus staring at me. Miniature lightning storms circled the room with lightning coming out of the clouds making thunder sounds. There were no bathrooms, beds or any thing you needed to live with so I put my belongings on the floor and went to sleep.
While I was sleeping I had a dream. There was a flash of gold as a creature 40 feet long crushed a building. It had long iron sharp claws and two glowing red eyes. Its teeth were bright white and were so sharp it looked like they could poke a hole in metal, as a needle would do to a Balloon. Its scales were harder then titanium and were blocking everything that hit it. My fellow campers were hacking away at the thing with all their weapons. The massive destruction machine turned toward me and blew fire.

I woke up with a start. I heard a tapping sound on my door so I got out of bed and opened it. There was a cat outside. He had a yellowish tinge to his fur. He had blue eyes and was quite cute so I let him inside. I gave him some of my beef jerky from my belongings and made a miniature bed for him. After doing this I went back to sleep.
*
Next morning when I woke up I fed my hungry cat some more beef jerky and thought of a name for my cat. I decided I’d name him Lightning.

Chapter 6
The Golden Drakon
Two days later.
I woke up in the morning and I heard a lot of noise outside. I jumped out of bed, opened my window, and looked. There was the terrifying dragon-like thing of my dreams fighting my friends. I strapped on my armor, grabbed my axe then went outside.
My cat Lightning was raking the creature with his sharp iron like claws while Sophie and her friends from the Athena cabin attacked it with their daggers, swords, axes, and more weapons. Everything that hit the creature bounced of it.
I ran in and started slicing at the thing. An Ares sibling shouted, “die drakon!” but got silenced as the drakon blew a column flame at her. I summoned a few lightning bolts but they did nothing but irritate the drakon. After smashing the Hera cabin the drakon roared and ran away. When I went back to my cabin to get out of my armor I realized I was missing something, my cat! 

Chapter 7 Lightning goes Lightning
I decided I’d go get Lightning. I’m pretty sure the golden drakon took Lightning somewhere in the forest. I kept on my armor and followed the drakons’ huge footprints into the forest.
Its footprints lead through the wreckage and went to a cave. When I went inside the cave, I saw a pair of blue eyes as a creature zipped past me.

After a moment I saw a pair of big red eyes that belonged to the drakon in the distance and quickly decided I’d follow the creature with blue eyes. After I was out of the cave I realized that the creature with the blue eyes was my cat, I said to him “Quick lets get out of here” He seemed to understand me but the drakon came out of the tunnel and blocked our path. We were trapped!

I took out my axe ready to fight and Lightning unsheathed his claws. I charged at the massive drakon and started looking for cracks in its armor where I could stab while my cat was clawing the drakon like crazy. The drakon was too powerful and was gaining on us.

The drakon was about to smash my cat when Lightning did the most amazing thing. He turned into lightning. Lightning the lightning zapped the drakon over and over while I summoned some lightning bolts to help him. The drakon started to weaken from all the power and with a last agonizing roar crumpled to ash.

Chapter 8 The End
I made my way back to camp. I was sweating and real tired. When I came to the front of the big house I collapsed. When I woke up I was in the big house with my cat snuggled up to me on a bed. Chiron came in the room and said, “I see your awake Charlie.”
“Yes, I am” I said.
“Do you know who your cat is?” said Chiron.
I thought about it then with no answer said “Who?” Chiron said, “Your cat was Zeus’s pet a long time ago”.
I questioned him “why are you telling me this, does my cat have to go?”
“No, just telling you that your cat is an immortal indestructible beast that was made to protect Zeus when he was young.” Chiron explained.

I frantically said “But he is my friend too!”
Chiron looked at me with a serious stare “Do you want to keep him?”
There was a long pause, then I answered him, “Yes”.
Chiron ended the conversation “Then you may”.
“Can I take a look outside Chiron?” I asked him.
“If you are able to you can, and remember to defeat a drakon is a heroic thing, ” he told me.
I went outside, there was a cool breeze cooling me down on the hot sunny day. The boys from the Apollo cabin were playing basketball with the Hermes siblings while the Ares cabin members battled a giant spider that strayed out ofthe woods. The Hephaestus siblings were in the forge and Hypnos’ children were sleeping. I guess I will be in Camp half blood for a while.
THE END (for now)

The Greek Glossary
DRAKON: RELATIVES OF THE DRAGONS BUT OLDER AND BIGGER.
CYCLOPS: BIG HUMANOIDS THAT HAVE ONE EYE.
LIGHTNING: A CAT THAT HELPED ZEUS WHEN HE WAS YOUNG.
HYDRAS: THESE GIANT SNAKE LIZARDS HAD HEADS THAT WOULD GROW MORE HEADS IF CUT OF.
CHIRON: A CENTAUR (HORSE-MAN) THAT BECAME IMMORTAL WHEN HE STARTED TRAINING HALF BLOODS.
HYPNOS: THE GREEK GOD OF SLEEP.
ZEUS: THE GREEK GOD OF THE HEAVENS AND SKY. ALSO THE KING OF THE GODS.

HERA: THE GREEK GOD OF MARRIAGE. ALSO QUEEN OF THE GODS.
ARES: THE GREEK GOD OF WAR.
ATHENA: THE GREEK GOD OF WISDOM AND STRATEGY.
HERMES: THE GREEK GOD OF TRAVELLING, COMMUNICATION, AND THIEVES.
APOLLO: THE GREEK GOD OF THE SUN, PROPHECY, MUSIC, AND HEALING.
HEPHAESTUS: THE GREEK GOD OF FIRE, CRAFTS, AND OF BLACKSMITHS.
HALF BLOODS (ALSO DEMIGODS): HALF BLOODS HAVE A GODLY SIDE AND A MORTAL SIDE.