Yorktown and Jamestown

We visited the other two areas of the Historic Triangle, Yorktown and Jamestown. Jamestown is the area of the first settlement in Virginia and Yorktown is the place of the last large battle between Washington and Cornwallis in the Revolutionary War.
I enjoyed the Jamestown the most of the two. It is really two areas. One is a visitor’s center and recreations of a Powhatan Village, the James Fort, and the Susan Constant and a second archeological area at the original site of the settlement. The Powhatan Indians were the natives to the area and Pocahontas was the daughter of the Chief. In the Powhatan Village in addition to the examples of homes and other things you would see in a village there were a number of people in native dress performing some of the activities you would see in a village such as basket making, scraping deer hides, and making stone tools.
The James Fort was their best guess of what the first fort was in size and contents. Recent discovers by archaeologists has required some changes but for the most part they have found the recreation to be very accurate. There you would also find a blacksmith, person demonstration the firing of a musket, and others answering questions about the other buildings in the fort all in period dress. I found it interesting that both the person firing the musket and running the blacksmith shop were both women while the original group that settled the Jamestown had no women.
The original site of the settlement is most an area set aside for archeological study. They have found the corners of the fort and many of the building in addition to many graves throughout the area.
The Yorktown area shows the area of the battle and I was not interested in visiting all of the different encampments but we did visit two houses in the area. The Thomas Nelson Jr. house is in the town of Yorktown. Nelson was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Governor of Virginia, and commander of the Virginia Militia. He lost all his money in support of the revolution. The Moore House is located more in the area of the fighting was the site of the negotiations that lead to the British surrender on October 19, 1781.

Williamsburg

We have spent the last two days in Virginia as they experience record breaking heat. It has been at least 100 degrees both days and it can really make you tired walking and viewing much of the history of the early Colonies.
We are stay at a large resort on an old plantation by Williamsburg, Virginia. I am not sure how many units are on the 250 plus acres. There are many geese, rabbits, and squirrels roaming the grounds. It is a very nice setting and has many amenities such as tennis, pool, restaurant, etc. for our use. Internet is available in the unit for $40 for the week but free at the Grill so we walk the Grill to use the internet.
The first day we drove the 100 miles to visit Thomas Jefferson’s home of Monticello. The foundation is doing an excellent job of resoring the home, garden, and many of the dependencies; We toured the home, garden and Mulberry Row.
The vegetable garden and flower garden have been restored as much as possible to the directions drawn by Jefferson and contain older varieties of flowers and vegetables that we grow in much of our yards.
Mulberry Row was the area where much of the work to support the plantation was done. The blacksmith and carpenter’s shop as well as the dwellings of both free and slave workers are gone but through Jefferson’s notes and archaeological digs provided at history of the walk that was one of our tours.
The home and the two wings placed under below the home are well restored. We toured the two wings of the dependencies before taking the house tour. One side contained the kitchen, cooks room, and smoke house the other side had the ice house and stable. They are connected by a tunnel under the house that provides storage and access to the house.
We finished the day with a late lunch at a tavern a short distance from Monticello that served traditional buffet lunch of the time.
The second day we explored part of Colonial Williamsburg. After the introductory film and walk we explored some of the buildings in the area. We visited the George Wythe home which also had weaver and basket makers at work in the out buildings. Wythe was the founder of the William and Mary Law School and teacher of many of the early lawyers such as Jefferson. We also visited the Capital and a number of the other shops along the way. There a few more we will visit another day.
Once of the most interesting presentations was a presentation by a man portraying George Washington. He gave a talk and then answered questions in character as if it was 1777(?).

Hot Air Balloons

After reading about the German man that cause a number of calls about a UFO, when he sent a number of hot air lanterns into the sky to propose to his lady, I thought I should share our hot air balloons. We did not cause much concern with the locals, but maybe it is because these are often used in festivals in Northern Thailand.
The balloon is made of what I assume is rice paper and is about a meter high and about a meter in diameter. The top is closed and in the center of the bottom is a small ring of material that has been soaked in kerosene and then covered in wax. Bamboo is used for the top and bottom ring but nothing on the side so it will collapse to a flat ring. When you are ready to fly you open it up and light the ring in the center of the bottom. After waiting a little time the balloon is filled with hot air and will fly off into the sky.
We released eight of them and I was amazed at how high they went. Our guide said they would fly for about thirty minutes. As for the fire danger, I would not think there is much of a problem. They go very high and will not come down until the fire goes out. And the material the is burning will all burn so there should be now embers by the time it reaches the ground. It was a very fun activity and Marilyn started saying immediately that it would be fun to do it here but I don’t think our neighbors would think much of it.

Buddhism

Writing about Thailand and not talking about Buddhism would be ignoring the elephant standing in your living room. Ninety percent of the people are Buddhist and it is a major influence over the lives of people in Thailand. Our guide said many times that Buddhism in not a religion it is a way of life and you see it every day from the monks walking the street to the many Wats (temples) and the people visiting with gifts to present. Also almost every house, and hotel, has a spirit house where offerings are place regularly.
We visited many different Wats and most were similar but each had a significant reason for the visit. The Golden Buddha is a must see in Bangkok. The solid gold Buddha weights about 5 tons and was not discovered until 1955 that it was discovered that the plaster was covering a solid gold image. We also visited Wat Pho which contains the largest Reclining Buddha. The highly impressive gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana.
What can I say about some of the other Wats? They all have a Buddha image and most are traditional in style and construction, you must take off your shoes before entering, and you will encounter people giving offerings and taking pictures, where allowed. The Wat Rong Khun was perhaps the most unique of the temples. It is completely white and very modern in design. It is designed and financed by and artist Chalermchai Kositpipat. We also visited another wat that I do not remember the name but the anterior was covered with small mirrors that gave it a very interest look. One of the interesting things at this temple was you could buy your offering including your small Buddha image to present inside the temple. The food in the offering was giving to the monks and the Buddha image would be recycled after a day.
We visited the Emerald Buddha at the Grand Palace in Bangkok and also the pagoda where the Buddha was found after a lighting strike.
One morning some of us took part in the traditional Buddhist alms giving. For the one-hour after sunrise the monks will walk through the streets collecting food to eat and to share with other people that come the monastery needing food. Our guide had purchased some non-perishable food to give but you can also buy small trays of food at stands located close to where the monks walk to give to the monks. The trays we purchased where about a dollar and contained small cooked fish and rice, some water and bread.
It is impossible to understand all about Buddhism in such a short time or short story but it was a great experience. I would like to share something of Buddhist thought that our guide gave us. It is more about thinking of others and a better world only in the last line is the work me used.
Spread loving kindness and compassion
May all living beings be free from violence and fear
May all living beings be free from suffering and pain
May all living beings be free from hatred and killing
May all living beings be free from hostility and affliction
May all living beings be free from misery and depression
May all living beings be happy and secure
May all living beings be healing and cured
May peace prevail in the world
May peace prevail in me