We stayed at home today. A day of RnR before Liz and I leave at 5:30am tomorrow for our trip to Bangkok. Dad ordered oliebollen, which is sort of like a donut ball without the American icing, but often topped with fine powdered sugar. It's a traditional New Years Eve food in the Netherlands. A few massages, but other than that we are looking at books and pools, with dinner at my brother's locale Saffraan.

One thing we haven't talked to you about, yet, is the ducks walking the beach. Mostly because we didn't know why, but now we know, so here we go. Every morning between 9:00 and 9:30, about 100 ducks walk east to west near the shoreline. You first see ducks waddle at medium speed (for them) and after about 15 seconds a guy who guides the ducks comes into view. Every morning. So we asked, and learned.

The ducks are marched by their owner to one of the rice paddies that has been harvested. During harvest you cut the rice from the plant, and you drop some small pieces here and there. The ducks are brought in to pick those up, effectively cleaning the paddy, and they fertilize the paddy for the next crop while they're at it - leaving those details to your imagination, but suffice to say they don't use their beaks to carry fertilizer from a wheel barrel by the side of the field. Then at the end of the day, or whenever they're done, the owner marches them back to his place. It's an interesting and funny daily ritual to watch, the marching of the ducks.

Happy new year! Looking forward to sharing more from Thailand tomorrow.