This time I flew Vietnam Airlines for the first time. Since I have to pay for the round trip ticket on my own, I searched for the cheapest one on Agoda and found that it was not a direct flight but a transfer flight to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam! The return flight will be by Macau Airlines after the new year, and it will be 23,000 yen, which is unbelievable for a round trip of over 50,000 yen! These are both legacy carriers, not LCCs! The seats in the larger Airbus aircraft are almost full.

Drinks were served immediately, and this was still mid-morning, so of course it was my uncle's beer for lunch. There were no alcohol free lounges in Kansai International Airport, so I quickly got one.

The food was acceptable, but not extravagant. After that, more drinks were rationed, and of course I had another bottle of Ichiban Shibori.

A330 with TV. I flew to Ho Chi Minh City. I got two cans of Jpanese Itiban-Shibori, coffee and I'm going to be a Vietnam Airlines fan.

There are no direct flights to Mukdahan in the northeast (there is no suitable airport in Mukdahan), so I just got off the plane to Ubon Ratchathani, a neighboring province that I visited in the summer. After this, Niwat sensei picked me up in his car and took me to the high school, which is about 2 hours away. It's been a while since I flew with AirAsia, and I have only a medium-sized suitcase, but since it's an LCC, I asked them to add an extra 25kg of checked baggage to my ticket.

At the high school in Mukdahan, I immediately repaired the old seismograph that I had installed four years ago. One of the cross springs had been torn off, and I replaced it with a spring that I had brought as a backup. In addition, I cleaned up some of the dust that had accumulated over the past four years. I met up with Mr. Pao, the laboratory teacher who has been doing the maintenance. He is an enthusiastic young man who has been taking video of my work. He said he was going to use it for his own study.

The repair was successfully completed. Now the system can observe again. I am very grateful that he went to the trouble of buying a new PC for me. After that, we went out for dinner.

Here I made a great discovery. I was having a hard time thinking about it, because I got a call yesterday that the power unit with both power supplies(+,-) that I had ordered from a teacher of a high school affiliated with Phayao University, which I was going to visit in the new year, had been mistakenly purchased as a single power supply(+ only) unit. I was puzzled, because even if I reorder them now, they will not be ready in time for my visit, since they are mail-ordered in China. I had been planning to use a rather complecated method of stacking two single power supply units, but to my surprise, Mukdahan High School had a power supply unit that I had stocked up just in case! I was really lucky. I asked Niwat sensei to send it to the destination, and it will arrive there in plenty of time, since it is in the same country. I am very happy that the case is settled.

The principal of the school at that time (called "director" here, the one next to me in the center), who took care of me 4 years ago, came all the way to see me. His wife was delighted with the furoshiki (wrapping cloth) with the Wind and Thunder Gods on it, this is very faous Japanese ancient art, which I brought as a souvenir, because she thought it could be used as a scarf. The teacher next to me is Niwat sensei, the physics teacher who took care of me last time and this time. He has been very kind to me.

This is the hotel room provided by the school. It looks like a suite, and I am very grateful. I had a little problem with the shower temperature control, and the air conditioner did not turn off for some reason.

This corner room has a balcony like this. You can see the Mekong River at the back left. The other side of the river is Laos. I am very grateful to have such a room for me.

In the afternoon, we talked about rocks and minerals and practiced microscopy. First, a PPT was given on the types and characteristics of minerals. Since geology is not a compulsory subject at this school, the talk seemed fresh to the students.

Next, we practiced taking micrographs of rocks using polarizing units and thin-sections of rocks, which I already kept in the school. The students are taking very good pictures with their smart phones. I think they will be published on their social networking pages. I was somewhat tired after 3 hours of class in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon.

After the class, two female students who have a joint project with a Japanese high school and their young physics teacher are discussing how to measure the vibration response of a building made mainly of locally grown bamboo during an earthquake. I advised them to think of more primitive and unexpected methods that high school students might consider, rather than the specialized methods used by companies and other organizations.

From the car of Niwat sensei, who is driving me to the dinner place today. The decorations of the local church on Christmas Eve are very beautiful.

The restaurant for today's dinner. Niwat sensei is in the picture. He is in charge of taking me to and from school and all the events. I forgot a lot of things this time, and he drove me around every time I forgot something. I am so grateful to him!

Outside the restaurant where we had dinner. Insects are said to be abundant along the banks of the Mekong River at this time of year. I was surprised at this. There was a warning in the hotel not to open the windows. After that, we went to a high school for star gazing, and the students in light clothing were shivering in the cold. I was so cold in my hotel room that I had to borrow a blanket from the front desk for a fee. It was the first time for me to know that air conditioners in Thai hotels are not heated.

I had no choice but to pinch-hit and talk about the origin of life in relation to the origin of the moon, which I had planned to observe. I adapted a bit of an old teaching material I had made up. The source of the material is as follows.

http://seagull.stars.ne.jp/Old.../Crater_Hiroshima_2011.pdf

The story of the late heavy bombing period from

http://seagull.stars.ne.jp/Articles/Japanese/SA_Early_E.pdf

I used the story of the early earth from the following as a skeleton. I had a bit of trouble because I was speaking in plain English without any preparation, but I am glad that the students enjoyed it!

Unfortunately, the star gazing ended in ilusion, but I am glad that the students seemed to be pleased with it. The weather has been unusually cold for Thailand, but this is probably limited to northern and northeastern Thailand.Tomorrow I will start a geological field trip to the southern peninsula of Thailand, where it is hot and rainy. I will write about this geological expedition after tomorrow when I have some free time.

Now that the cloud-disturbed observing session is over, a few students came to look at my seismograph. It is a new PC and is working well. I am looking forward to getting new seismogram records.

On the next day, Niwat Sensei took me to the airport again. This is where we stopped for lunch on the way.

I had a gorgeous lunch at the end of the Mukdahan stay. As always,  I am very grateful to PCSHS Mukdahan for all the help and support. After this, we returned to Bangkok and then go to Hat Yai airport for the departure to the end of the year tour.