Thailand

Last Vietnam post...for real!

2009-05-14T10:49:00.000+07:00

After Mui Ne I split up with Scott and Oil. I went to meet Berret in Dalat and they went to Ho Chi Minh City. Dalat was another mountain city. When I arrived I walked to the guesthouse Berret was staying in. The guesthouse cost $6 per night and didn’t have air conditioning or a fan because it was so cool! Once I got settled we went to get some coffee and breakfast. We weren’t sure what we were going to do that day but then it started raining so our decision was made; drink more coffee, eat, play cards, etc. That night we found a cute little wine bar, or at least that’s what I’ll call it. It was a small wine shop that also had some small tables and chairs in it. Berret and I bought a bottle of red wine for about $2!!!!! and sat and played cards. We couldn’t believe how cheap it was, and it tasted good too! The wine was made in that city so that might have been part of the reason it was so cheap. But it was sold throughout the country for not a whole lot more.

The next day Berret and I did some sightseeing. We went to a place called the crazy house. Rather than write a lot about it I am going to be lazy (and save my time so I can actually get some school work done today) and put the link here. http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/asia/crazyhouse.shtml Now you can read about it and see some pictures if you want. Basically a woman designed this very strange house that’s base is a tree; the architecture of the building is not typical for Vietnam. An earlier design done by the woman was torn down earlier because it was considered to be anti-socialist. Some people still don’t approve this design but her father was the president of Vietnam in the 1980s so it will continue to stand. After that we went to Bao Dai Summer Palace which is an old king’s summer palace. It’s always interesting to go into old houses, palaces, etc. I just wonder what it was like at the time the king was there. After the summer palace we tried to go to a church but it was closed, so instead we just looked at the view of the city from there because it was up in the mountains. We also saw a cemetery which was very interesting. They have little house type things instead of headstones. From there we ate lunch at a nice little restaurant and decided to go see one more waterfall (we had seen one earlier in the day but it wasn’t very great). We knew we were taking a chance by going because it had rained every day after lunch, but we decided we’d go anyway. The reason the rain would be a big deal is because the waterfall was in the mountains and we were riding a motorbike; but we decided to go anyway. As we were driving there we stopped to take a few pictures of the scenery and as we did that we saw the weather was getting bad. Of course, this is when we should have turned around, but we didn’t, we continued to go. After we got past a SUPER bumpy part of the road (it was all gravel, but this part was just big rocks everywhere) it started to rain...we kept driving, all the way down the other side to the waterfall. When we got there it started to POUR!! We ran to a little shelter that had a worker sitting under it and about four other people. As we waited out the rain I really wished I had brought a rain jacket. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and was so cold. Luckily the people sitting with us had a rain jacket that they opened up to use as a windbreaker for me and one of the ladies with them. I was so happy because just having the wind stopped made me a little bit warmer. We sat there for a long time getting really nervous; the water was gushing down the mountain, the ditch right behind us had filled up and was flooding over. I was super scared; I thought it wouldn’t stop and that we’d be stuck there for a long time. Eventually it slowed down a bit so we all went and saw the waterfall. It was difficult to tell what it would look like on a normal day because the water was gushing from it from all the rain. It was orangish-red water because of the soil. After we looked at it for a few minutes we went back to the shelter. The other people were all going back but we wanted to let the rain slow down a little bit more before we drove on the mountain roads again. Finally we just decided to go. It was SCARY!! Berret was driving, I was holding on still getting soaked and being frozen and the roads were wet, windy, and rocky from rocks that had fallen. We made it up from the bottom on those wet, windy roads. Then it was time to go through the really bumpy rocks again. Oh, I forgot to mention. The first time we went through we hit a big bump as I was adjusting something and I basically bounced onto Berret’s back and we almost tipped over—really dangerous! But we made it through this time with no problems (I held on really tight-my hand actually hurt when we got back!) and headed straight back to our guesthouse. We were both really, really happy to be back safely. After that we both took hot showers and then went and drank some tea. What a journey!

Our final city was Ho Chi Minh City. This isn’t the capital but I think it is the most populated city in Vietnam. Before we ever went to Vietnam we always joked about me being stuck on one side of the road because I would be too scared to cross through all the traffic. Well let me tell you, that was almost true!! Let me remind you, nobody stops for you; you just maneuver your way through loads of traffic. If a light is red, don’t trust it, someone is probably going to drive through. Of course, I did make it through the city, but I would like to mention that Berret was nervous crossing too! I have some pictures of traffic that I am hopefully going to eventually post. In Ho Chi Minh City we didn’t do a whole lot. The first day we just hung out at bars and restaurants because we didn’t have a lot of time left for sightseeing. But the next day we did go on a walking tour. We saw the Rex Hotel which is where a lot of reporters and other people hung out during the war. We saw another old hotel that was now used as some sort of government building. As we were walking toward it we saw some protesters walking. We don’t know what they were protesting because we couldn’t read the signs or understand what they were saying, but they eventually made it to that building where a bunch of cops or guards were standing in uniform. There were other officers around the area trying to get people to keep moving; they didn’t want people by the protesters and they wanted to keep traffic and foot traffic moving. We checked the news, but didn’t see anything about it. It was still interesting to see though. From there we saw a famous theatre and we talked to the river. This part of the river wasn’t very picturesque; it was definitely used to ship things up and down. Next on our walk was the Independence Palace. This had a lot of history and was interesting and the final stop was even more interesting, but very, very sad. We went to a museum that was about the Vietnam War (which they call the American War). There was a lot of good information here, but when I got to another area where they had pictures of Agent Orange victims I could hardly stand to be in the museum anymore. I didn’t really know much, if anything about Agent Orange but those pictures made me so sad. It was really hard to look at, but also interesting to read people’s stories.

The next day we flew out of Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok and the next day BKK to Nakhon and our trip ended. Since then I’ve been trying to update this blog, upload pictures, search for jobs back home, catch up with friends, catch up on laundry and a messy house, etc. Speaking of house…I will be moving at the end of this month. Our roommate Jessie left in March so Michelle and I had to pay 5,000 baht each for April and May and that’s just way too much. So I will be moving in with Berret and Maew who just rented a new house. I’m very excited because I will live much closer to school, and it’s in town. Yay!!!

I better get some work done now. I haven’t done a thing all day!!

More Vietnam

2009-05-09T12:13:00.001+07:00

Okay, I think this will be my final Vietnam post. Hopefully! And in case you’re wondering, no news of a new job yet…dang!

So the next city was NhaTrang. This city was on the beach which was great. We sat at the beach and swam one day. The water was really cold which was refreshing. Another day we went on a boat trip. We went to four different islands and snorkeled a little bit. This time there wasn’t enough equipment for everybody so I just went in and swam around and tried to look from the top of the water. Maybe one day I will truly snorkel…maybe. J When it was time for lunch we assumed we would go sit on an island and eat already prepared food, but we were surprised. They had prepared everything on the boat and then made us all move to the sides of the boat. The backs of the benches in the middle of the boat were put down which made a big table. It was pretty crazy. After they had served the food and cleaned everything up they joked that the best boy band in the world was being flown in to play just for our boat. Of course we knew they were joking, but they did surprise us by taking out their instruments. They used buckets for drums, two men had real guitars, they had a tambourine, the microphone holder was a piece of plastic piping. I can’t remember exactly anymore, but it was hilarious!! They were actually pretty good; it was a lot of fun. After that the next promise the fulfilled was the wine bar. They said we would get free wine and fruit. The wine bar was one of the workers jumping in the water with a tube to sit in. They had rigged the tube to allow him to sit inside, and it could also hold wine bottles and glasses. We all had to hold onto his and each other’s tubes because the current/waves were so strong (his was tied to the boat). It was a ton of fun. There are many boats that do this same trip, but I don’t believe all of them have the band and wine bar, we were lucky!

Mui Ne was the next stop for Scott, Oil, and me. Berret didn’t go because she had been there already and we were just going for two nights. We went there to see the sand dunes it’s famous for. Our guesthouse was right on the beach (with hammocks all around) so we checked it out right when we got there. There were tons (probably 30 or so) kite surfers. Kite surfing looks fun, scary, and difficult! We had randomly met another Nakhon teacher a couple cities before and she said she had tried it, but she also told us how much it cost. I can’t remember exactly how much she said, but it was several hundred dollars, so unfortunately none of us tried it.

Instead we rented motorbikes the second day we were there and drove to the sand dunes. It was pretty cool driving because I have only driven a motorbike in Thailand. And, in Vietnam they drive on the right hand side. I was a little bit nervous because Vietnamese people drive differently than Thai people, so I had to watch out for them, but I was also worried I might drive on the wrong side!! I didn’t though, and I stayed safe. There were red sand dunes and white ones. We drove to the red ones first. When we turned onto the road they were on a man came out to the street immediately to get us to park our bikes at his shop. We rented “sleds” from him, they were basically a piece of hard plastic. They cost about $1 each. Then he came with us to the sand dunes and helped us slide down. He would pile sand onto them so we could sit down before it blew away, then he’d push us down. The first time I did fine, but the second time I tipped off my sled. It was fun, but the hike back up was very tiring. And we were all VERY sandy by the time we finished. It was pretty cool scenery. We could see high sand dunes all around us, but when we looked the other way we could see the beach. It was like we were in a desert; there were no trees around and the sun was beating down on us. But then we saw the beach just the other way, crazy. On the way to the white sand dunes we stopped off at the ocean and jumped in to clean some of the sand off. I didn’t have my swimsuit on so I swam Thai style in my clothes; I dried off pretty quickly in the sun and on the drive to the next dunes.

It was an interesting drive getting to the white sand dunes. Scott was leading the way and he thought we had to go down this really rocky dirt road. I thought he was wrong for sure but followed him anyway. After driving through some loose sand and swerving a lot because of it I finally honked at him and told him I thought it was wrong because I couldn’t believe a tourist attraction would be on such a bad road. But he thought we should just drive a little bit further…he was right!! After a few more minutes we saw a little lake and the sand dunes. The white sand dunes were bigger than the red ones. Here some little boys rented us sleds and sent us on our way. We went and sledded down the dunes again and then again stopped by the ocean to clean up on our drive back.

That was about all we did in Mui Ne. And unfortunately I was wrong. I’m not going to finish writing about Vietnam this time. So, look for more to come eventually.

Back in Nakhon

2009-05-02T11:19:00.006+07:00

Happy spring to everyone at home! I'm back in Nakhon and it's VERY hot. Our Vietnam trip came to an end on April 28th when Berret and I flew back to Bangkok. Scott and Oil left early (as planned) because of money. I'm going to briefly try to catch you all up on the rest of my trip. I looked back and saw Ninh Binh was where we were the last time I wrote. That was a long time ago! Ninh Binh finished off being a great little town. The day after we went on a small boat trip to Kenh Ga with a man who rowed with his hands or feet. It was interesting because it was the same oars, he just chose whether he wanted to use his hands or lean back and relax and paddle with his feet! We went to Tam Coc which was another boat trip, but this time we went through small caves and other beautiful scenery like rice fields and limestone mountains. We read about this in Berret's guidebook and it told us what was going to happen: we would be paddled through the caves and wonderful scenery. At the end before we turned to go back other ladies would be in boats with snacks and drinks. They would ask us to buy something, if we didn't want anything they would "suggest" we buy something for the ladies who paddled our boat. Then as we're going back one of our ladies would take out the embroidery work that they have done and try to sell us that. The book was 100% right-it happened just like that!! It was a little bit annoying because we wanted to have a relaxing boat ride, but it was still okay. And a little bit funny since it went exactly was we had read!

We had biked to Tam Coc and on our ride back it started to pour so we biked as fast as we could to a restaurant we had planned at stopping at and sat there for awhile. It was quite a site because the bikes we had were not good bikes at all! Two of them were actually similar to the bike the witch rides in The Wizard of Oz so I started humming that song to Scott as we peddled off!

From Ninh Binh we took a night bus at around 10 pm. It was one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever been on!! The bus is made with long seats that are meant to be layed down on, but they aren't quite long enough to be comfortable and the back part is slightly raised so it felt like we were in a doctor or dentist chair. And to top it all off, Berret, Scott and I all had the upper beds in the middle. I swore we were going to tip out of our seats and fall to the ground (even though we had small guardrails). Luckily, we made it safely, but let me tell you...we were all pretty crabby when we got to Hue, the next city.

Hue is an old city that used to be the capital. Here we spent some time in the Citadel and Imperial complex. There were definitely some interesting historic things to see. We spent a day going through all that. While we were there we saw the highest flag tower in Vietnam as well. After we finished Berret and I went down to the river to play cards and relax. The Vietnamese guys next to us were also playing cards and they were really impressed by our shuffling abilities and tried to shuffle the same way. They couldn't; it was quite entertaining!!

We also took a day trip while we were in Hue. I wrote just a few notes, but unfortunately they don't mean much to me anymore. I have a VERY bad memory!! So I'll tell you about the most interesting thing on that trip...the Vinh Moc tunnels. These were tunnels built between northern and southern Vietnam during the war. We got to go into the tunnels which was pretty amazing. I just kept thinking about what it would have been like for the people who really lived there. People lived in these tunnels for 5 or 6 years. They had "rooms" for families, a maternity ward, one bathroom, a meeting room and a couple other things. There are three levels to these tunnels and 17 children were born in them!! It was really an amazing site and very crazy to think about. The "rooms" that they stayed in were probably not even big enough for me to lay down in...incredible!! We had to duck our heads the whole time we were walking, but the tunnels were big enough that we could walk. There are also tunnels in southern Vietnam that are more well-known that have been changed to fit tourists in, but these tunnels that we went in hadn't been altered at all; such an amazing site and experience.

Hoi An was our next stop. It is a fairly small city, but it has been declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO so it still has a lot of it's older buildings, etc. It's located on the South China Sea and has a nice little river flowing through the city. It was a very relaxing place to be. Berret and I bought tickets that allowed us into certain old buildings. We had to buy tickets to help pay for the upkeep of these buildings. We saw an old house that was right along the river. Inside they mark the wall every year with how high the water gets when it floods. I took a picture of this (hopefully I'll get them online soon). We also saw a workshop where they carved things and made lanterns, etc. Sadly, they were all eating lunch when we got there so we didn't get to see anything be done. We also saw a museum. After that we took the bicycles we had rented for the day and rode to the beach. It was SO hot. Oil and Scott were already there. When we arrived Oil asked if we had stopped at a different part of the beach and swam already--that's how sweaty we were!!!

Okay, I'm going to stop here. I have a few more cities to write about, but I'm still trying to catch up on everything. I don't have internet at home, so I have limited time and I'm trying to write this blog, upload pictures, and search for a job for when I come home. So, I'm trying to split my time up between those things. Hopefully I'll be successful in completing them all soon!

Vietnam

2009-04-12T07:25:00.011+07:00

We've been in Vietnam since March 6th and so far we've had good and bad experiences. I guess that happens on any trip, but at this moment the bad is outweighing the good because we just got ripped off by a baguette seller. They should have been about 10,000 dong for three but she charged us 30,000!! We also got ripped off our first day in Hanoi. We got in late and were brought to a guesthouse. They told us a certain price, but the next morning when we were getting ready to pay they overcharged us. We told them the price the man had said the night before, but they refused that price and said that man didn't work there. It was crazy though, because he definitely did. He was behind the desk, he showed us the rooms, and gave us the keys. We were really disapointed in the experience and were much more cautious the next night. Now today, at 7am, we all have a bitter taste in our mouths again. Anyway...aside from that, Vietnam has been great. I'm looking forward to the south because travelers we've ran into say it's more relaxed and there are less scams...yay!!!

So far we've spent a couple of days in Hanoi (Hanoi is in northern Vietnam for those of you who don't have a map handy and aren't familiar with Vietnam). In Hanoi we just sort of walked around checking things out. They have a nice lake in the city that we walked around. One night we sat out on the sidewalk at a Bia Hoi stand. Bia Hoi is a very cheap beer that can be bought basically on any street corner. We sat in a line of plastic chairs that had little stools that we set our beer glasses on. A man would bring us a glass, when we finished if we wanted another one he would come take our glass and refill it, no new glasses. It was 3,000 dong for one glass of beer. With the exchange rate where it's at we can have 6 glasses for $1!!! Let me tell you though, the beer isn't that great. :) Vietnam does have better beers in restaurants though, so we can drink a lot of super cheap, or we can drink something we really like for a bit more. Most beers in restaurants have been 15-25,000 dong.

One thing I've been surprised by is smoking in Vietnam. Thailand recently made all enclosed spaces smoke free so I haven't been surrounded by smoke for a long time. In Vietnam you can smoke in bars, restaurants, etc. I was most surprised when Berret and I went into a cute little coffee shop one day and a man just lit up a cigarette there. It seemed like he definitely should not, but the waitress brought him an ashtray, so I guess it's okay.

The driving in Vietnam is a bit crazier than Thailand (believe it or not mom, dad, aunts, Joy). Everyone drives on the right hand side so that is a bit more normal, but there doesn't seem to be any other set laws. There are stop lights, but a honk allows you to drive through a red light, even when the intersection is busy. EVERYONE honks ALL the time. Motorbikes park on the sidewalks-sometimes we have to walk on the rode because the sidewalk is so full. I don't know how to describe the traffic, it's just something you have to see. We've seen a few different accidents already. One was a motorbike running into a lady on a bicycle. The two people on the motorbike and the lady all tipped over-the bicycle lady was on the bottom. Everyone stared, a few people helped them all get up, they brushed themselves off and they were all on their way again!!! And to walk across the street you just go at a slow and steady pace and the motorbikes and cars just kind of make their way around you. You don't wait for a break in traffic, you just walk...scary!!

One afternoon while we were in Hanoi we went to a water puppet show. It's exactly what the name says, puppets in water. There was a band that played music and they sang and talked for the puppets. There were different scenes with different puppets. It was all done in Vietnamese so we couldn't understand, but we did get a program so we had a little bit of an idea. I don't think I did them justice just now writing about them, maybe when I post my pictures you'll get a better idea. It was pretty neat to see. That same night Scott, Oil, and I took a night train to Sapa. Berret stayed in Hanoi one more night to get her visa for Thailand for her new job. The night train had little rooms, unlike Thai trains. We stayed in a "soft-sleeper" which has four beds, bunkbed style. We got to Sapa early the next morning and found our new guesthouse.

Sapa is a cute little town in northern Vietnam-farther north than Hanoi. It's up in the mountains quite a way. On the ride up there the woman sitting next to me in the mini bus got sick several times. It wasn't pleasant! Luckily, the scenery was so I tried to focus on that. When we got to Sapa, we could see our breath!!! I was very excited and very cold. The guesthouse we stayed at had a thermometer inside and one time when I looked it was 52 degrees. That was inside with the doors open, so I assume it might have been just a bit cooler outside. I'm sure 52 sounds pretty good to you all just coming out of winter but keep in mind we're used to mid 90s right now!

Sapa is absolutely gorgous (I was just trying to decide what words to use to describe the landscape and that's all I could come up with. You just have to see it!). It's located near the Chinese border and the Tokinese Alps. The people who live down in the valleys have terraced their land to grow rice, it's really cool to see. Again, when I post my pictures you'll be able to understand. Of course, the pictures will not do it justice! The weather was very interesting the whole time we were there. It would be hot, then cold gusts of wind and mist would just blow in off the mountains without any warning. I was very glad I had tennis shoes and jeans with!

When we first walked out of our guesthouse after we put our bags away a group of three hilltribe women greeted us and started to walk with us. They asked us where we were going, if we wanted to go to their village(most likely to sell us stuff), how old we were, where we were from, etc. We walked with them for quite awhile, or rather, they walked with us, until we decided to turn around. They turned around with us and walked all the way back into town with us! At the end they finally asked if we would buy some of their handicrafts. We all refused, but they didn't seem to mind to much. As the day went on we saw basically every group of tourists had some local tribe women walking with them. It was very interesting. Then of course there were also women, and young girls and boys who would stop by restaurants and ask us to buy things.

Another day we all walked to a local village 3km out of town called Cat Cat. It was down in the valley of the mountains so it was cool to see as we walked down there, however, the climb back up was not so much fun. We all definitely felt like we had accomplished something though! Scott guessed that the whole thing was around 7km. The village itself was very scenic and we got to see many locals. At the end there are men with motorbikes who try to drive you back up to make some money, but we wouldn't do it!

That same night we took a night train back to Hanoi. This time we took a cheaper car and had 6 people in a car. It was pretty tight, we looked like sardines! When we got back to Hanoi we had two hours before we went on a day tour to the Perfume Pagoda. We took a mini bus part way there and then we got in a boat and had another scenic adventure (another good description...not!). Women rowed almost all of the boats going to the Perfume Pagoda. On our way back Scott and Oil both tried it and couldn't do it. The women are very strong!! Scott blamed it on the oars being tied loosely, but I don't know. The Perfume Pagoda itself wasn't that great. It was another long climb up and at the top we had to go down into a cave. There were many, many people because it was a special time/holiday for Vietnamese people. After we climbed all the way out of the cave and back down the mountain we ate lunch. I ate rice with chopsticks for the first time ever. What a challenge!! I'm not very good with chopsticks in general, but each grain of rice is doubly hard!!

Now today we're in Ninh Binh. So far this is probably all of our favorite place so far. It's very laid back compared to Hanoi. Wait, Sapa was good too, so it's up in the air between the two. It's just that it's not very touristy here. Most people come on a day trip and then get out of town. We're staying the night. Today we rented motorbikes and went to a floating village. A man rowed us through the river for an hour. In Ninh Binh people row with feet or hands. It was crazy to see them use their feet!! It's the same oars no matter what they use. We just got back and showered up, now I think we'll find some food and drinks and play cards.

Happy late Easter to everyone at home. I hope you enjoyed it!
**For some reason I can't get the spell check to work right now, so please excuse any errors.

English Camp and What a Night!!

2009-03-14T11:13:00.011+07:00

A few weeks ago I went on an English camp with P5 and this week I had to go on one with P6. We went from Monday to Friday. The first two days were mostly driving, looking at temples, seeing an old market and going to the beach for a little bit.

Wednesday we went to Chokchai Farm which is apparently very famous in Thailand (maybe in other countries too, I'm not sure). There we saw a cowboy show, how they make their milk and ice cream, how to milk cows (a couple of our students got to try it as well) and we saw a dog herd some sheep. The kids seemed to love it.

After we finished we got to eat a steak lunch, which we were all looking forward to since we don't normally get steak in Thailand. However, we were all disappointed very soon after we got to the restaurant. Pi Bpen, our boss, told us everything had been pre-ordered since we were a big group and we would all be getting chicken steaks...BOOOO!!! It was still a great, hardy meal, but we were all looking so forward to beef.

When we had all finished our chicken steaks we went to a winery. Yes, a winery, with students. Can you believe it?!? It definitely wasn't a typical American winery though. They sold some juices that the students bought. Us teachers asked if we could sample some and the lady just kind of looked at us funny. Finally she opened a bottle and gave us a sample, but only one. Some teachers bought some, but I did not. although it was good. Then we went over with the students who were going to ride 4-wheelers (at the winery). Can you imagine bringing your students to a winery on a field trip and then letting them drive a 4-wheeler?? These are not typical field trip activities. And out of the 34 students I would guess less than 5 had ever driven a 4-wheeler. So, whoever bought a ticket could go on a ride around a little course they had made up through their field. It was HILARIOUS to watch! They gave each student about a one minute lesson on how to start the 4-wheeler and how to drive it. Keep in mind that if these students have driven anything in their life it was a bicycle or a motorbike which are both super easy to turn; a 4-wheeler isn't nearly as easy to turn. The students would take off, either super fast or super slow (there wasn't much in between) and a good share of them immediately drove off the path into a fence of hoses that were there to water their fruit. It was so funny to watch, but also looked quite dangerous. Throughout the course the students would go off the path so the workers would have to drive over to them and pull them back out.

That night we ate dinner on a riverboat which was a really cool experience. We got to go up and down part of the river while eating and watching the sunset. It was neat to see the different types of houses on the river. I think of America where usually if you want to have land on a river, lake, etc. you've got to have some money. Here there were some very beautiful, expensive houses and others that were just little shacks that were no bigger than 2 rooms that we could see right in to.

Thursday we went to Safari World which is an open zoo that also has some animals in cages and different shows to watch. We drove around the open zoo in our bus first. The students' reactions were great. There were signs posted in Thai and English telling you to stay in your vehicle and leave the windows closed, etc. when we went by the tigers and lions and a few other animals. Some students were super scared while others joked that they were going to go out and pet the animals. I'm pretty sure they have all seen these animals before, but they still loved it.

After driving through we went to the other part to see a few caged animals and to watch the shows. We saw an orangutan show; a sea lion show; a seal show; a James Bond show where there was fire, explosions, jumping into water from several stories up, etc.; and a cowboy show, where there was fake shooting, jumping off high buildings (onto what, I'm not sure, because we couldn't see it), and the crowd getting wet. It was a good day, but it was SO hot. We all sweat just sitting watching the shows. I was definitely ready to go by the end of all of that.

That night after dinner we put on shows that our students had made for us. P6 is a fairly quiet class who are very studious but don't like to perform. So we decided as a gift to them, we would let them make up shows for us to present to them. One group did a game show, one group did a fashion show, one group did a play, and one group did a song and dance. The game show and the play weren't much fun but the fashion show and the song and dance were great. In the fashion show I was a famous rock star so they gave me a fake guitar to go out with (the didn't really have much for props since we were travelling) and they had me dance around, head bang, etc. We don't think they really understood fashion show though, we think they had more of a red carpet idea going through their heads, although that wasn't quite accurate either. One teacher was a drunk man, there was me the rock star, 2 of our guy teachers were girls who were going to take a shower (they had to wear sarongs and shower caps) and 2 teachers were movie stars and the guy (fake)proposed to the girl during the fashion show. It was really silly and funny and the rest of the kids loved it. For the song and dance we had to do 3 different songs and dances, all quite short. At the end the gave out a prize to the 3 best dancers--it was Pierre, Cara, and ME!!! Can you believe it?!?! It was super fun, the kids don't usually see us acting quite so crazy so they loved it.

On Friday we just drove the 13, or so, hours back to Nakhon. If you've read my last blog you saw I have written a few things I noticed about Thailand and Thai people. Well, I've got another observation. Yesterday when we were going home we stopped at a place along the side of the road that's got all sorts of food stalls and you can just order any food you want. I wasn't sure how to say one thing so I asked one of my students to help me. To get a worker's attention in Thailand a person usually says, "nong." It means younger person. I am usually with older Thai people so I am used to hearing them say this (it isn't always said very politely). But when my student said it to get the attention of the over 50 year old worker I was quite surprised. Nong is also used for people of lower status, but I didn't think a child would say it to an adult. However, it must be pretty normal because the woman didn't even flinch and she didn't seem at all offended. Thailand is sometimes a confusing place to figure things out. Status is quite a big deal, but it's hard for me to know when age or money is more important. People constantly use pi and nong as a sign of who is older or younger-age is talked about constantly to figure out who is who. But then you have situations where someone who serves you is nong no matter what. I have a really hard time calling someone older than me nong no matter how much money they make, or if they're serving me, etc. Then, if you make more money than someone you're expected to pick up the bill whether you're a man or woman, young or old. And it doesn't matter whether it's a big group or just 2 people. Status is an interesting thing that I may never quite get a grip on.

But back to the final part of the trip...on the way home we each gave a small speech (I was reluctant to do this at first) to the students. Not only was it the end of our 5 day English camp, it was the last time we'd see them all together. P6 is as high as our school goes. They will now move to Matium which is like high school. They have each taken exams to get into the school they want. Some will just move across the street to the Matium school over there, some will go the the most popular Matium school in town which is farther away from ours, and some will go to Bangkok which is super far! I didn't think much about it but when I started speaking I realized how big of deal that was, not only that we'll never or hardly ever see them again, but that they're taking a big step in their life. A few of the students got emotional during our speeches. It was great to see that we had impacted their lives even though sometimes it feels like we don't.

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What a Night!!!

Last night we got back from BKK at around 7. I showered and then met my roommate and a bunch of other people at Rock 99, a local hangout. We ate dinner there and everybody caught up on the week, then a few of us went to a dance club called Venice.

We had just ordered our mixers (in Thailand you don't order a drink, instead you bring a bottle of alcohol and order mixers and ice at the bar) when a spotlight shined in. Then all of the lights came in and there were over 15 police officers in the club. I had heard of this happening before so I wasn't too worried, but instead, annoyed. We knew then we wouldn't get our mixers until they left, so we were stuck with just a bottle of whiskey for over an hour. What happens is they come to do a drug raid/drug bust. First they check all of the Thai people's I.D.s to make sure they're of age (foreigners get out of a lot of things like this in Thailand so we didn't have to show our I.D.s or take part in the rest, but we couldn't leave) then every person has to pee in a cup. They lined up all the men and women and got started right away while the rest of the cops finished checking I.D.s and then just stood around to block the doors. I was really annoyed because I had to go to the bathroom but didn't want to go in a cup, or wait in a line that was the entire length of the club. And I wanted to have something to drink if we were going to be stuck there, but we couldn't since they couldn't serve anyone while the police were there. Finally, after over an hour the head policeman announced in Thai that everyone was clean and the whole club cheered. I have heard of this happening before and I heard that they don't really test all of the urine, that it's more of a show for publicity to show that the police are doing their job, etc. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but either way it was a waste of part of our night.

After the police finally left we got our mixers and started to have fun. Around 1ish Berret and I left. I was driving her back to Country Home, where her boyfriend works, when we saw a police barricade (what else could happen?!?!). In the day these checks are usually about helmets, but the night tends to be more about drinking. But either way I would have been in trouble-I had been drinking and I had no helmet on. Luckily though when we got close they waved the car and motorbike in front of us, and us through!!!! What a Friday the 13th--maybe it's a lucky day rather than an unlucky day!!

Sunday is Berret's birthday so today we will celebrate with her. She wanted to go to an island but since we got back from BKK just last night it wouldn't have been worth leaving again so we'll all stay in Nakhon. Luckily Country Home is having a cowboy party tonight so we'll all go there and celebrate. It should be a pretty good night!!

Another day in Nakhon

2009-03-07T11:06:00.003+07:00

Here I am, Saturday morning, sitting at the coffee shop. Last weekend I went to Koh Samui again and had a great time. I hadn't seen much of the island the other two times I've been there, but this time we rented a motor bike and went around the island checking things out. And I had a true Thai experience on one of the most popular islands for foreigners to visit in Thailand. Really...there are tourists everywhere you look in Samui, everybody can speak English, and prices of everything are probably 5 times as much as anywhere else because of all the tourists. But, back to my experience. I was with 3 Thai people and was told that we were going to go watch Thai boxing for a little bit. Having already watched it for a night once in BKK I wasn't thrilled, but it was fun to see so I didn't mind going. However, when we got back to the village in the middle of nowhere (not a white face in sight, this was the Thai part of Samui that I've never seen) I was taken to a table with Fah, the Thai girl that was with, to eat. I didn't know why but just went with it. About five minutes later she told me in her broken English that the guys were going to watch boxing. Then I understood--they were watching it on TV, not live. So Fah and I sat at that first house for another 5 minutes while she finished eating what they had given her, then we moved to a different house where she ordered more food. This was closer to where the guys had gone and I could see them from here. They sat in a shop about the size of a garage with about 30 other Thai men. There were plastic chairs set up in rows and they all stared at a small TV in the front. They watched, yelled, placed bets, took bets from people who called them, yelled some more, etc. It was crazy! I knew this happened but I've never seen it before. It was, like I said, a true Thai experience. I was the only white person around, which really hasn't happened much since I moved down south. After Fah finished her second meal the lady had us sit in her house to watch TV and sit in front of a fan...I was very grateful because it was super hot!

This weekend I'm staying in Nakhon relaxing. I went out Thursday night with a few teachers. I hadn't planned to because Friday we had a field trip with our P1 and P2 students and had to be to school by 6:30, but I decided I could go out for a little bit. That little bit turned into 3am!!!I did see something really cool though when we were at one of the bars. We were sitting outside (I love that about Thailand-pretty much every bar and restaurant has an indoor and outdoor part and the indoor part is open air as well--no doors no windows, so it's pretty much outdoor except it has a roof) and me and one of our Thai friends happened to both see a shooting star or something (it didn't look like any shooting star I've seen, it was bigger and brighter--it was just different). I hit Papown to get his attention to see if he had seen it and he had his eyes closed and hands together like he was praying or waiing...he had definitely seen it. After he finished we both just looked at each other in shock. I don't know how to explain it but it was an amazing moment.

I woke up (reluctantly) at 6am Friday wondering why I had been so stupid. Luckily the field trip was fun so I stayed awake and didn't complain too much. Scott, on the other hand, stayed out even later than I did so he napped on the bus. We went to Khao Plai Dam. It's about an hour from Nakon. It's a mountain that's right on the Gulf of Thailand, so there's mountain and beach. I had been here once before with friends when I first came to Nakhon but had forgotten how beautiful it is. I didn't take my camera but if you look back through my pictures on the Kodak site you can see it probably in November or December. During our first activity we walked up and down the beach with the students and I found myself caught up in the beauty and thinking how lucky I am. Of course I don't get to go to the beach every day I teach, but I did yesterday and it was GREAT!! Oh, and I almost forgot...we saw dolphins!!! I have never seen them in Thailand before. It was pretty cool, I don't think most of the students had either because they ran up to the water and got super excited. There were pink ones and gray ones...amazing!

Today I'm sitting at the coffee shop. I got here at about 10am and was already sweating. The hot season (summer) is definitely here. I think today we'll go to Nam's fishing village to get away from the heat this afternoon. It's really not much cooler there, or maybe not cooler at all, but we always like the excuse to get together and go out there and play cards, etc.

Then on Monday I'll be going to Bangkok...again. I just went a few weeks ago with Pratom 5, now we'll go with P6. We were supposed to go to Singapore with them. I had even signed some paperwork for it, which is as close as you get to a guarantee that something is going to happen in Thailand. But it still ended up getting canceled. Instead, we'll go to BKK with them. I was really disappointed, and I'm sure the students were as well. And the craziest thing is, they told us Tuesday that we all have to go to BKK--less than a week before we go!

Okay, now that I have caught you up with the things I can remember, I'll tell you some random things that have happened to me recently and just some random stuff that I think you might all find interesting.
-Our waiter served us our food with a cigarette in his mouth the other night. That would never happen in America!! Thailand is smoke-free (for the most part) in any closed in areas, but as I said most bars and restaurants are open air or outdoors. But even if you are outside in America, a server, would never smoke while working!
-Driving...when driving people will cut you off anytime, anywhere. Small always yields to big which is important to realize when driving a motorbike! Any and all vehicles will pull out in front of oncoming cars if they feel they've waited too long at an intersection. Motorbikes are very convenient when there is a lot of traffic. We can zip through anywhere there's open space.
Stoplights always have motorbikes at the front because we squeeze through the big vehicles to get to the front. People drive on the wrong side of the rode if it's more convenient for where they're going or if it's easier to turn that way-say you want to make a right hand turn and there's oncoming traffic (we drive on the left here), instead of waiting for the traffic to pass you make the right hand turn but stay on the right hand side near the curb or ditch and drive there until you can go to the left side. If there's a yellow light and the person is driving too fast to slow down and stop (or just don't want to) they will honk from a ways away to let everyone know they're coming through even if the light is red, and then they'll barrel through at a high speed. It's really dangerous, but most people understand this is going to happen so when your light changes to green you still look both ways before going. If there's a parallel parking spot that's not big enough to fit your car or truck into you angle park and put your front wheels up on the sidewalk. There are probably so many more crazy driving things, but those are what come to mind right now.
-Thai people eat with a fork and spoon. They use the fork to push food onto their spoon. It's considered rude to put a fork in your mouth. When we were in Samui Fah got her food one night with only a fork, they either didn't give her one because Samui is filled with foreigners who do use just forks or they just forgot it. But Fah would not touch her food until she got a spoon a few minutes later. I know it's considered rude, but I have never seen someone in that position before. It's definitely taken seriously.

Well, on that note I better sign off. My computer battery is just about to die. I will probably write again after I get back from Bangkok.

EP trip

2009-02-19T11:11:00.008+07:00

On Friday the 13th at 6:30am I hopped on a bus to Bangkok with 34 of my Pratom 5 students, 3 Thai teachers, and 1 foreign teacher. About 14 hours later we arrived, tired, hungry, and ready for bed. Of course we stopped many times for bathroom breaks (about every 2 hours), for lunch, and we also stopped at a temple for about a half hour. I was just reminded by some other teachers how lucky I was that I got to BKK safely on Friday the 13th-haha!

I was surprised as we were driving into BKK when Pi Bpen, one of my Thai bosses, asked me if I could stay in a room with two boys. I just assumed boys would stay with men and girls would stay with women. But the way the student to adult ratio worked out I got put with two boys. It was interesting. One of them is probably one of, if not, the brightest student in P5 but he never participates in class. Instead he draws or reads comic books. Sure enough, in our room he didn't say a word in English either!! Luckily, my other roommate did.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at 7:00 then went to Wat Phra Kaew which is part of the Grand Palace. The Thai teachers and our tour guides, who were on the entire trip with us, tried to hurry Simon and me through the line with the students, but with our white faces and light hair we got stopped and sent back to buy a foreign ticket. The school had to pay 350 baht for each of us to get in. That's about $12. Our tour guide led the students through the temple explaining things in Thai as we went along. Then came one of the only English parts of the Pratom 5 "English camp." We had students pair up and ask foreigners five questions that we had already written up for them. The idea behind this activity was to get students to be comfortable around foreigners in a non-school setting. A lot of times if we see our students around town they get super shy and will barely say hello to us. It was a lot of fun to watch them interact with foreigners, and of course, some of the travelers couldn't speak English, which really surprised the students.

After the temple we ate lunch and then went to a Children's Museum. The kids really enjoyed it there because there were many cool new things for them to try-basically the same as our Children's Museums back home. The students' favorite part was when they got to learn about being on the radio and being on TV. They got to go in the actual studios and "be on air."

Our last big stop for the day was a science center. We went to a planetarium and saw the stars but the speaker spoke Thai so I found it to be quite boring. I think a few of the kids fell asleep as well-probably more so because they were tired, not bored.

On Sunday we drove to Pattaya, in Chonburi province, which was a surprise because we had only been told we were going to BKK. It was about a 2 hour drive. We went to a really cool flower garden that was just gorgeous. It was huge, with flowers and shrubs everywhere. They were all trimmed and kept very nicely. I was amazed, but also super, super hot so I didn't appreciate it all quite as much as I would have liked to. Before we went and looked at all the flowers we saw a Thai culture show which I had basically seen already when 3 of my aunts came last year. It was still neat to see though. Then we saw an elephant show, which was a typical elephant show. I think once you've seen one, you've seen them all. Except, one elephant did ride a tricycle which I hadn't seen at the other shows I've been to. From there we went to a turtle farm(not sure that's the correct term for it, but I'm not sure what to call it!). We saw a bunch of turtles in tanks of water. There were really big turtles, and some baby ones as well. The last big event of the day was going on a military ship, however, Simon and I couldn't go because foreigners aren't allowed on it. The students said the view was great though.

Monday was our last day of sightseeing. We drove to an ocean viewpoint where we all got out and walked around for a bit, then we went to a Chinese temple. I'm not sure what I think of the architecture of Chinese temples. They're very beautiful, but they're also very bright with red, yellow, and green everywhere.

We ate our lunch that day at a different temple. The grounds were filled with really strange statues. Some had their heads cut off and were bleeding, some were fighting...I'm not sure what else. But I remember thinking it was really odd and wondering why they would have such weird statues. Some of the students said it was to represent hell and paradise (I apparently missed the paradise statues) but I just don't understand why they would have statues like that on temple grounds.

Our last destination for the day was Khao Kheow Open Zoo which is also where we stayed the night. We walked around the zoo with the students and the tour guide looking at all the different animals. The students were told they had to write down 50 animals that they saw in both Thai and English. Of course they asked us to spell a bunch of animal names and even what some of them were called in English...but we didn't know what some of them were. There were a few animals I had never seen before. After a few hours of walking around we were all hot and sweaty so we jumped on a little trolley type thing that took us through the rest of the zoo. Then we drove to the top of either a big hill or mountain to the place we were going to stay for the night.

I stayed in a room that reminded me of an orphanage in a movie. There were about 6 or 8 bunk beds in the room. I stayed in our room with 9 girls and a Thai teacher. We dropped off our bags, took showers and then we(the teachers) had dinner overlooking mountains with a sunset view before we went on a "night safari."

Supposedly we were supposed to see animals in the zoo that we hadn't seen during the day. But basically we rode around on the trolley again while a man rode on the roof shining a light on the animals we had already seen that day. The best part of the night safari was the ride. The driver turned the headlights off and even covered the dashboard lights and drove through the zoo. When the guide on the roof with the light wasn't shining it on the animals he would turn his light off as well. The road wasn't big and straight, instead it was quite narrow and hilly and windy. There were parts where I was scared we'd go over the edge but at the last minute the guide on the roof would shine his light on the road for just a second. I'm sure the driver has driven the same route many times in both the day and night so he is quite used to it, but my adrenaline was definitely pumping a few times!

That night we went to sleep around 9:00. We were going to wake up at 5 the next morning and be on our way back to Nakhon at 6, but everybody was so anxious that we woke up early. The boys woke up first...at 3:00!! and started taking showers. We could hear them because the showers were communal so they had to walk in the hall to get outside to the showers. So, everybody started slowly getting up and showering. We ate breakfast at 5 and were on the road by 5:30!! We made the long journey home stopping several times again and once we were about 1 1/2 away from Nakhon they broke out the karaoke...Thai people's favorite thing to do!! What a trip!

Koh Lipe

2009-02-10T08:25:00.010+07:00

I just got back from a long weekend. Thursday and Friday our students had scout camp, which we didn't have to take part in. We had to come to school both days to sign in, but then we were free to go. We also had Monday off for a Thai holiday so we sort of had a 5 day weekend. Needless to say we went on holiday. Friday at about 9:30 am Pierre, Cara, Scott, Oil, and I took off for Koh Lipe. Berret also went, but she left from Songkhla so she didn't make the journey with us. The trip there took us about 5 1/2 hours. We had to take a mini bus (mini van basically but they're called mini buses here) from Nakhon to Trang, then we took a "taxi" from Trang to Pakbara. I put taxi in quotes because it was some man's car that was quite small. We had to squish 4 of us in the back seat and it had no air conditioner!! It was a hot, sticky ride. Then from Pakbara we took a speedboat to just off Koh Lipe where we had to transfer to a long tail boat that took us onto the island. It was a long process to get there but definitely worth it! We were just lucky we had Friday and Monday, otherwise we couldn't have gone.

On the long tail boat ride we saw another long tail boat that had about 5 young school children on it. They were all in their uniforms hanging onto the front of the boat. It was such a cool thing to see, we were all taking pictures of them. Even some Thai people took their picture! Later we saw their school. It's a couple hundred meters off the beach looking directly at it. It got hit in the '04 tsunami and has now been rebuilt and looks pretty nice. We all decided we would love to teach there.

When we arrived Berret was already there so she had found a guesthouse for us all to stay at. The island is run on generators and some guesthouses keep theirs running all day and some don't. Ours turned the generator on at around 6pm and turned it off around 7am. That definitely kept things interesting. Each morning I would wake up when the generator went off because that meant our fan turned off as well and our room would start to heat up. And it was interesting taking a shower in the morning because there were no lights and our bathroom didn't have a window so it was a little dark. But once we got ready for the day we usually didn't go back to our room until night, so it didn't really matter that we had no electricity. Except when we wanted to charge our phones or iPods because when the power would come back on we didn't want to unplug the fan...there was only one outlet in the room!!

Friday and Saturday were pretty much spent eating, drinking, playing cards and dice, and exploring the island. The island had three main beaches so we went to one for dinner each of the nights we were there. Saturday night was the most adventurous walk back from dinner. We had to cut through the middle of the island to get to Sunset Beach. It wasn't too big of deal on the way there. It was basically a dirt path through a forest cutting through the island where there were no houses, guesthouses, or anything. Sometimes the path would fork off and we'd just have to guess where to go, but we eventually made it. The way back was the adventurous part though because all we had to light our path was the moon. I think all of us almost fell at least once, but Pierre definitely had the hardest time. He even twisted his ankle a little bit one time he said!

On Sunday the 6 of us hired a long tail boat to take us around to see other islands and to go snorkeling. The boat driver brought us to a spot in the middle of the ocean first. There was a big X made out of string that snorkelers were apparently supposed to hold onto, but we didn't know that. Pierre jumped in and in no time at all he was pulled away from the boat and had no chance of swimming back. Meanwhile we were all still in the boat watching him and laughing...too scared to go in. Finally Scott jumped in and grabbed the rope and looked around. He said he saw a lot of fish but the rest of us were still too scared to go in. Finally the driver tried to throw Pierre a rope but it didn't work so we drove over and picked him up. Then we went back and got Scott and moved to a calmer spot. I'm not a big fan of snorkeling ever since the first time I went and sucked water through the tube thing. But I did try it, and failed again, so I put goggles on and held my breath instead. There were so many gorgeous fish. The colors were so bright and beautiful, I loved it! I think maybe some day I need to try snorkeling in a pool so I can figure out how to do it before I get in water that's too deep for me to touch. After we had snorkeled the driver took us to a remote island where we just laid around on our sarongs and watched the birds and fish and boats around us. There was only one other boat that had stopped on the island by us, it was great! That night we watched the sunset a little ways down from our guesthouse. Our place was actually on the sunset side of the island, but just down the beach the island bended enough that we could also see the sunset. And the moon was almost full that night as well, so if we looked one way we could see the sunset and if we turned around we could see a big bright moon. It was pretty cool.

On Monday we woke up early and got on our boat at 9:00. Our speedboat ride was going along fine, a little bumpier than the way there but still good, when we heard a big clunk and immediately slowed down. If you didn't know, I'm not a really big fan of water. I can swim, but not as well as I'd like to. I get nervous being on boats in the middle of the sea, but I can handle it...until something goes wrong. I immediately start silently freaking out thinking our boat will tip over because of the waves, even though it's not really wavy at all as we slowly move along. Eventually we come to a complete stop which is when I'm sure the waves are going to start coming at us strong. At this time everyone on the boat is turned around looking at the boat crew who is checking out the motors, etc. in the back. One of the boat crew finally tells us what the problem is but he spoke in Thai and I couldn't understand what he said but I did catch that we would have to wait about 20 minutes (Oil is Thai and could understand them but we weren't all sitting together because their weren't seats for everybody when we got there. They pack the boat as full as they can, another thing I don't appreciate when I think the boat will tip or sink at any minute). This man continues to talk and joke around with the passengers, who are Thai except for a few foreigners, who all seem to really enjoy him. Finally another boat pulls up and starts putting gas in our boat...we ran out of gas!!! After that we start driving again for about 2 minutes when the man says we're there. I can't see from the seat I'm in so I assume he's joking, but then everybody starts getting up. We ran out of gas 2 minutes away from the pier-what a ride!

Now I'm back at school. This Friday I will go to Bangkok with my Pratom 5 students until Tuesday. I'll have a very romantic Valentine's Day-haha. I hope you all have better plans than me!

Songkhla

2009-01-20T11:04:00.004+07:00

This past weekend I went to visit my old roommate, Berret, in her new city, Songkhla. I figured I better go quickly because she will be moving back to Nakhon sometime in March or April. I'm really glad I decided to go because it's a lovely city. It reminded me a lot of Duluth. The city itself is situated on Songkhla lake (supposedly the biggest natural lake in Thailand) and the Gulf of Thailand, so there is water all around. Because of it's position next to the water we could see ships all day while we sat on the beach and played cards. Now, don't let me fool you. This is not a super beautiful, touristy beach like Phuket and some other islands. Instead it's a Thai beach that is just plain beautiful.

I took the bus there Friday morning because we didn't have school. It cost 90 baht for a 3 1/2-4 hour ride...90 baht is about $3!! The bus wasn't fancy and it had fans instead of air conditioning, but I was still surprised by the low cost.

When I arrived in Songkhla Berret picked me up at the bus station, we went to her place to drop off my bag, and then we headed to the beach to eat. We ate and had a few beers while catching up, then moved to another part of the beach to sit and play cards. However, the wind was gusting so we had to put coconuts on top of our mat and cards to hold them all in place. After we had finished playing a game of Phase 10 we showered and got ready to go out for the night.

That night we didn't stay out long since we had already been eating and drinking all afternoon and into the early evening. We tried to go get a foot massage on our way home but the place was already closed...dang!

The next day we ate breakfast then went back to the beach to play cards and walk around. Unfortunately Berret's cards were all in Nakhon at her boyfriend's house and I couldn't find mine before we left so Berret bought new ones...for $10!!! Cards are quite expensive to come by in certain parts of Thailand because gambling is illegal. But she bought some anyway and we played gin on the beach. Then we walked down to a mermaid statue, that is Songkhla's symbol from a legend, and took a picture with it. After that we went and got a foot massage so we wouldn't miss out again. That night we ate dinner on the beach and went to a few bars before going back to relax and sleep.

The next day before I went back we went to the Songkhla Zoo which is an open zoo. We drove around looking at the animals and got off the motor bike sometimes to take pictures and walk around. It was pretty neat. I'll post some pictures at the end of the month. When we finished at the zoo we showered, ate, and I took the bus back to Nakhon. It was a pretty good weekend. A beautiful city that was cheaper than the islands...yay!!

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-05T15:11:00.006+07:00

Happy New Year to everyone!! I hope 2009 is a great year for us all! I just realized the last time I wrote was in November. Sorry! I thought I had written more recently. So, basically in all that time I have been teaching, traveling, relaxing, eating, drinking, and many other things.

I will try to post my pictures soon so you can see where I've all been in December because I can't remember off the top of my head. I went to Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao, and maybe some other places. I can't remember. Unfortunately, I can't put my pictures up now because I dropped my camera on the beach and got sand in it. It's currently at a shop, hopefully being fixed!!

So, I went to Koh Samui for one night and Koh Phangan the next night of one weekend in December. I had been to Samui before but never to Phangan. Oh, a Thai lesson for you: Koh means island. So the last three places I went were islands. Phangan was a little too much for me that first time. It was the day after full moon and Phangan is famous for full moon parties. The main beach is full of travelers who drink a ton and do a bunch of hallucinogenic drugs the whole night of the full moon and they continue to party throughout the next day. We got there in the afternoon the day after and everyone was still super messed up. I didn't enjoy it at all. I immediately wanted to get away from all those people and just relax with normal people-so that's what we did.

For Christmas Eve the mayor of Nakhon Si Thammarat threw a party for the foreign teachers. It was amazing to see everyone who was there. I knew a good share of them, but there were also new faces. When I taught in Uttaradit last year there were maybe 15-20 foreign teachers in the whole city, 10 being from our school. Here in Nakhon there are probably more than 50, it's crazy! The party had a bunch of food and a few drinks. After it was over a bunch of us went out on the town (even though we had to work the next day...yes, Christmas day). On Christmas Day the students put on a Christmas show that was about 1 1/2 hours long, then we had to teach the rest of the day. Of course, we tried to keep it a relaxed day for all of us and did Christmas activities, etc. I was told this year that Thai people celebrate Christmas but just as a holiday. They don't know the religion part of it. When they said that it made complete sense, because last year everyone dressed up as Santa, people had Christmas trees, and got Christmas gifts. So although we sort of celebrated I am very excited to celebrate Christmas at home next year.

After Christmas, New Year's was the next big thing. We got off the 31st, 1st, and 2nd so we had a total of 5 days off. We left Tuesday night on a boat to Koh Phangan (yes, I tried it again) for New Year's Eve. The first night we got there around 8 or 9 I think. We ate some dinner, got situated in our rooms, and had a few drinks. The next day was New Year's Eve. It rained in the morning so we didn't do much, but that afternoon a few of us went up in the mountains to a bar that looked out over the main beach. It was a great view and as it got dark that night we could see the beach start to light up. The New Year's party was the entire length of that beach. There were some bar areas set up where you could sit on mats on the beach around short tables and there were other areas where you could dance, and there were some bars that were actually enclosed. Then the music started up and the island was alive. I've never seen anything like it before. At that time we hadn't showered or gotten ready for the big night yet so we quickly did that and then went back to the beach to enjoy the party. What a night. I met tons of people and got split up from everyone I knew several times because there were so many people. They had a countdown clock so we could see when the New Year was and they had a huge sign that had a message lit up in fire. There were actually two. One was 'Welcome to Thailand.' And the other was something about Happy New Year's. It was pretty cool because they had one message first and the next time I looked the other message was up. It was great!! However, it was really difficult to find people back once you lost them. Oh, and I forgot to mention the best thing. When we were up in the mountain bar I met two girls from MINNESOTA!!! They went to St. Cloud State University as well but graduated before me. What a small world! I hardly ever meet any Americans let alone Minnesotans. Wow!!!!

The next day when I woke up the music was still bumping throughout the main beach area so a few of us decided to get off the island. We had had a crazy New Year's and were ready for something more relaxed. Some people went back to Nakhon but I went to Koh Tao (Turtle Island). I had never been there before. It was a very nice island. It's less developed than some of the others, but it's famous for diving so dive shops are opening everywhere and in no time it's going to be just as developed as the rest. We spent one day out on a small island off of Koh Tao just hanging out suntanning, swimming, and checking the island out. The rest of the days we just relaxed and enjoyed our holiday.

Now I'm back at school. I had a great holiday but it's good to be back too. I'm not sure where my next trip will be, but I'll try to be better about updating this.

Rain, rain, go away

2008-11-23T14:06:00.002+07:00

Well, it's been raining here for over 2 weeks now, almost non-stop. It's unbelievable. I never saw this much rain up north. Last weekend it was nice I guess, but besides that and Tuesday I don't remember a day where I didn't get drenched. I'm SOOO sick of rain. School was actually closed Friday because of it. Roads have been closed and one part of town is flooded waist deep. And to top it all off, my raincoat that I never used once last year was super cheap and got holes in it so it really didn't keep me dry. And I drove in the worst rain I've ever driven in with no raincoat last Wednesday. We stopped to have some food and drinks after work and we were all going to head home before it started raining hard again. Well, just as I was leaving town it started pouring. And I was already far enough that it didn't make sense to turn back. To top it all off I had to drive right by a motorbike accident (no doubt caused by rain) where two people were sprawled out in the middle of the road. That scared me into slowing down and just getting absolutely drenched. I literally made puddles in my house when I walked upstairs to shower. Oh, and that same day Pierre ruined his computer driving to the restaurant. It poured on us all when we were driving there too and his computer was in his backpack...no good. So, if someone has magical powers, please stop the rain!!

Okay, aside from that all, what else is new? Not too much. Last weekend we went to Khao Plai Daam. It's a beach about an hour or so from Nakhon. We left Rock at 10:30 Friday night after the guys decided we should go that night. So we got there and hung out playing cards, etc. until the sun came up. Then we slept for about 3 hours and got up again to enjoy the first sunny day in awhile. Just down the beach they had tubes that we could rent to take into the ocean. It was a little bit of a challenge getting out into the water since the waves were trying to push us into the shore, but once we got in it was great! We just hung out there all day eating, drinking, basking in the sun, then came back to Nakhon that night. It wasn't a super beautiful beach but it was still great to get away for a little while.

This weekend it's been rainy all the time. I went with Berret, Maew, and Mr. A to Maew's village yesterday. I met a bunch of his family and again we just ate, drank, played cards, etc. Basically relaxed all day. Both Friday and Saturday we went out because Mr. A has a truck...yay!!!! Everybody else drove in the rain, but lucky us to be able to ride with him and stay dry. Friday we went to Country Home which is where Maew plays in a band, then to a dance club, and finally to Shadow Puppets which is a late night bar. The south is famous for Shadow Puppets. Maybe I'll write more about it another time. I don't know the history of it yet. And then last night we went to a new place, then to 2 dance clubs and back to Shadow Puppets. I was involved in my first bottle fight at Buddy Club which is one of the dance clubs. Berret and I were on the dance floor dancing to some song and when it finished we went back by everyone else. Almost right after that I saw some Thai people crouching down by tables. I wondered what they were looking for, but then more people were going over there quickly and I heard smashing glass. I look over at Popawn, one of our Thai friends, and he's walking to the back of the room near a corner and I finally realize there's a fight going on, right where Berret and I just were. I looked at Cara and told her we better move too. At first she thought it was just part of the song and then she saw all the Thai people running, so we moved back by Popawn and everyone else. But the staff at Buddy did a pretty good job controlling it-they immediately turned on all the lights which I guess doesn't usually happen. I think whoever did it ran out though, we never saw who was involved. But when the lights came on there was glass everywhere...and I mean everywhere. All the way into the bathrooms which are through a door and the another door. Scott thinks maybe when it happened everyone just got up and ran, knocking glasses and bottles off their tables. I don't know...it was pretty crazy, but we were all fine. After it happened we left, along with most of the other people and headed to a new place.

Today has been a pretty low-key day. I took my laundry to get done because we can't dry it at our house. Then I came to the coffee shop which is where I'm at now. People are talking about no school again tomorrow, but I don't know. I think it might be on again. We'll see though. I definitely wouldn't mind if it was canceled!!

First week of school

2008-11-05T12:39:00.003+07:00

I have been very busy since my last update on here. I moved in to my new house, went to two Halloween parties, started school, got a motorbike, and so much more!!!

So, first of all, I moved into my new house last week. It is quite large compared to my old house in U-dit. It has three bedrooms, four bathrooms, an office, a kitchen, a dining room, a living room, and another small area off the living room. My room does not have air con like I did last time, but my room makes up for it by having a large balcony. I love it! We also have a yard, which I didn't have last time...although I haven't used it for anything yet. With all that said, I still liked my U-dit house better so far. Partly because this one is still a mess. A few things had to be fixed in it so there was dirt and dust everywhere, and we're not completely unpacked yet so it's hard to get around. Also, my house in U-dit was right in town, close to everything. This house is about 10 minutes out of town. But it is in what we might call a gated community at home, so it is in a safer location than my house in U-dit. I guess both places just have their ups and downs. I'll let you know at the end of the year which one I liked the best! This neighborhood I live in does have a swimming pool and tennis courts though, so if I ever get over there to use them, this one might win. :)

Friday night I went to a Halloween party in Nakhon. Some foreign teachers had it at their house. I dressed up as Batman and Kaley, another teacher at my school, was Robin. We found a costume shop and rented them for the weekend. The party wasn't that great as far as I was concerned, but Berret, my old roommate, came that day so we spent most of the day and night together so that made it better! Around midnight we all decided to go to Fusion, a dance club, because they were supposedly having a costume contest. Well, when we got there it was packed, they didn't even let us in for about 10 minutes. Then when they did it was still packed and nobody seemed to be in costume, although there were Halloween decorations up. It was interesting, but fun. Then after that closed we all went to a bar called Vientiane for a little bit. We all got home around 4 Saturday morning.

The next day I woke up around 11 and packed my bag for Khanom. Khanom is a little town about an hour away from Nakhon that is right on the beach. Berret, Kaley and I rode with two Thai guys-James and Mr. A. We only left around 2:30 though so when we got there we ate, checked out the beach (just walked on it, no swimming), and then got ready for the Halloween party. I wasn't too disappointed about not hanging out at the beach because it's close enough that I can go back another time. This party was held at a foreign owned bar and had a bunch of farang from Nakhon and from Surat Thani, a city to the opposite side of Khanom. The party was just so-so although it lasted a long time. The next day we left by noon so Berret could catch her mini-bus back to Songkhla.

On Monday I started school. So far I think I'll like this school and school year better than my last one. There are 7 foreign teachers-4 guys and three girls. We teach just 16 hours a week whereas last year I taught 21. Do keep in mind though that I am at school from 7:30-4 each day...I don't have just a 21 hour week! Last year I taught first graders math, science, English, health, and drama. This year I teach English only to 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. So far I love it, because the students are way more independent and it's easier to go from class to class rather than stay with the same class in the same classroom all day long. However, if I were teaching in America, I would prefer the younger students and staying in the same class all day! Anyway...this week we're just welcoming the students back and playing games basically. I look forward to teaching next week so I can see how brilliant my students are, and so I feel like we're accomplishing something.

And yes, yesterday I got a motorbike!! My boss Paul, and his wife helped me get it. Actually, they basically went and checked it all out and then called me to ask if I wanted to see it or if they could just get it. I told them to go ahead and get it! It's not the same as my bike last year, but I think I can and will get used to it. Another difference is in U-dit we rented from our school, but here we have to buy our own. Mine was 19,000 baht or about $635. I hope to sell it back for just about the same amount when I leave!! It's a Suzuki (I think) and it's red.

I'm sure there's so much more I could write, but I really should get some work done since I'm at school. And I feel like I've just been babbling. I'll tell you that although I'm an English teacher here, these blogs I post may not be completely correct!!

Oh, and I heard Obama is our new president!

Nakhon Si Thammarat

2008-10-27T11:06:00.002+07:00

I am officially in my new city for the year. I arrived in Nakhon yesterday around 2:30-3:00. My boss, Paul, picked me up at the airport. I was SO happy to have finally arrived after traveling for so long. I flew from Mpls. to Tokyo which took about 12 hours, then had about a one hour layover. Then from Tokyo to Bangkok was about 6 hours. I arrived around midnight so I couldn't fly to Nakhon. Instead I stayed at a guesthouse between both airports and flew out the next afternoon. That flight was only about an hour. So my total flying time was about 19 hours...too long!!! But luckily all of my flights were on time and they went well, so I can't complain too much.

When I got here Paul took me to the Thai Hotel, which is where I'll be staying for a few nights. I met up with a teacher named Michelle, who I had met before, at about 6. I thought it would be just her and maybe one other person. It turned out that by the end of the night there were 12 of us at Rock 99 (the name of the place we were at). Of course I don't remember every one's names. I knew Michelle and another teacher Scott already. I met another girl who is a teacher at my school. Then two others who have been in Nakhon awhile. And then two other new teachers showed up! They'll be teaching at a different school though. Then the rest were Thai people. Maew (Berret's boyfriend) and his sister and two others. Needless to say it was an interesting and fun night. It was great to meet so many new people right away.

Today I haven't done much. My sleep schedule is still off. I woke up around 4:30 this morning and never fell back asleep. I finally got up and showered around 7, then went down and changed rooms. I changed from air con to fan partly to save money and also because I only used the air yesterday for about an hour. After I took care of all that I went for coffee and toast at a cute little coffee shop down the street. On my way back I wasted a few minutes checking out a street market that's on the same street as my hotel. Now, here I am.

I'm fairly bored because we don't start teaching until next Monday. Hopefully tomorrow Michelle will sign for our house and we can move in then or Wednesday. I will also probably find a motorbike soon. I might rent one for the first month until I get paid, we'll see. This weekend we're all going out of town for a Halloween party. I think there will be mostly farang (foreigners) there. I don't have a costume idea-if anyone has one, let me know!!

Well, now that I've told you everything and then some, I might go get something to eat. I hope you all keep in touch and like last time, come for a visit if you can!!

Going Back

2008-10-21T21:29:00.002+07:00

Well, in case you didn't know, I'm going back to Thailand. I leave this Friday at 3pm. I will fly from Minneapolis to Tokyo and then Tokyo to Bangkok. I will get into Bangkok their Saturday at 11:45 pm. I will stay at a guesthouse one night, then fly to Nakhon Si Thammarat which is where I'll teach and live this year.

Nakhon is down south near the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. If you're familiar with Thailand, it's almost straight across from Phuket. I am very excited to be down south by the beaches this year. And I'm excited because this city is bigger than Uttaradit, where I lived last year. It is still considered a very Thai town, but I believe there will be more foreigners than U-dit had. Yay!!

This year I will teach 4th-6th graders English only, supposedly. I say that because last year I was supposed to teach kindergarten, but ended up teaching first grade, so things could still change when I get there. But I'm looking forward to this because the students' vocabulary should be bigger which will make teaching easier in a way, and more fun! And last year I also had to teach science, health, math, and drama. This should be so much better!!

I will try to keep up with this blog as well as I did last year, but I have to admit, I did get sick of keeping it updated last year! I hope you all keep in touch. E-mail often, and come for a visit if you can!!

Update

2008-05-26T13:21:00.005+07:00

It's Monday afternoon and school has officially started. It actually started last Tuesday, but last week was a pretty easy week for me. My non-bilingual schedule wasn't finished yet so I only had to teach my bilingual students.

The bad news is my class this year is even bigger than last year! Last year I had 36 students, this year I have 40! I have heard the classes are supposed to be capped at 35 but I guess they don't always follow that rule.

Today I had my first non-bilingual class and they were great! They listened to the lesson and when it was time to do a worksheet, they did it with no problem. And it was amazing how curious they were. When they finished their worksheet they pointed at different things in the room and asked me what it was in English, what color things were, etc. I hope all of my non-bilinguals are like that!

Oh, I forgot to mention, when I got back last week I was informed that I had to go to a science seminar in Kampheng Phet. It's a city about 2 1/2 hours from here. We had to leave at 6am Saturday morning and we got back around 7pm Sunday night. The whole thing was pretty pointless for me because the material was more middle/high school level and I teach first graders. So I feel like my weekend was wasted, but the city was nice. We ate dinner on the river Saturday night at our guesthouse. The scenery was beautiful.

Oh, and...I have new roommates. Berret's contract finished so she's moved back to southern Thailand. The night my camera got stolen I was also told I would have new roommates when I got home. Nobody actually asked me, they just told me, which I found a little frustrating. And, when I got home early in the morning from BKK they had locked me out of my own house! We have a door that unlocks with a key and another one that you can latch on the inside, so it can't open it from the outside. What an end to my holiday...stolen camera, locked out of my own house, etc. Anyway...the new roommates are teaching at Anuban as well. They are a couple from Australia-Jennifer and John.

Well, just about one month until I'm on my way home. For those of you who don't know, 3 of my aunts are coming to Thailand June 24th and will explore Thailand for a few short days until the 30th. Then we(me too!!) will fly to Tokyo where we have a layover and then to HAWAII!!! We will stay in Hawaii 5 days (I think) and I should be back home July 6th!!! I can't wait to see everybody!

Sorry this post was so random!

Back home

2008-05-26T13:05:00.004+07:00

Early Monday morning I took a mini van to the airport in Phuket, flew to Don Muang in BKK and took a taxi to the train station by myself. My holiday was officially ending. I dropped my bag off at the train station for them to keep for the day until my train left at 10pm.

Then I went to MBK for the day. I shopped around a little bit again like usual, watched a movie-"What Happens in Vegas," then ate and shopped some more. When it was getting late I took the sky train and subway back to the train station. I decided to get one more foot massage while I was there and then went to pick my bag up.

When I got my bag I opened it to get my phone charger out, only to realize someone had stolen my camera. The case was still there but my camera was gone. I debated going back to the place where I had left it all day, but when you drop a bag off you sign something, so I figured it probably said they're not responsible for lost or stolen items. But eventually I went over there anyway. I talked to them and explained the situation. One of the men working finally got a lady to come over who could speak English to me and we watched the security video. I am about 97% positive that a younger guy working there is the one who took it. On the camera you could see me drop my bag off, the guy taking it into the other room, and then I realized I still had a book in my purse, so I went in the room, opened my bag and put it in. This whole time he was standing above me looking in my bag (where my camera was in plain view-stupid me!). Then I left, my bag got put just out of camera view and some time later, the guy went back in, sat on the floor right near where my bag was, his hands reached towards my bag but out of camera view and then he left again. I saw all this and tried to get the woman to see it. She called many people but then it was 9:57 or so and I had to get on the train. I ended up giving her the schools' address and asked her to send it if she could get it back, but I'm really not counting on it. So sadly, I lost forty-some days of pictures because I hadn't put them on a CD yet. I am SO disappointed, but there's really nothing I can do. I guess I'll just have to go back to all of those places again!

So that night I took the train back to Uttaradit, arrived there the next morning around 6:30 and my holiday was officially over.

Phuket

2008-05-22T08:10:00.006+07:00

On Saturday we left Railay by boat again, got in a minivan and traveled to Phuket by land. Phuket has just one road going into it. Now I have gotten there by air and by land! We stayed at a guesthouse about 200 meters from where I stayed with mom and dad when we went-pretty ironic.

Phuket was a very short trip this time. We got there on Saturday and stayed until Monday morning. The first night there we ate at a really fancy restaurant on the beach. It was a very nice place and we had it all to ourselves because the weather was bad and it is low season. On our way back to the main street it started raining (down pouring), so we all started running to get under an awning. However, Jorie saw what she thought was a sidewalk and jumped up "on it." But...it was actually water! It was dark so I understand how she might have thought it was a sidewalk, but it wasn't. She was up to her knees in water! It was right by a restaurant and I think maybe it was like a little pool for fish or something. Once we all knew she was okay we laughed forever! I still laugh now writing about it. Berret and I had both known it wasn't a sidewalk, but she was going so fast we couldn't stop her!

Sunday was a very lazy day. I got a massage, went to the beach, read a book, etc. That night we went to Patong beach which is where I took mom and dad one night too. We went to Coyote, had a few margaritas, went shopping and then went to some bars that were on a walking street. There was a lot of action to see and our bartender played Jenga with us. It was a lot of fun...too much fun I realized the next morning when I had to wake up early to go to the airport!

Railay

2008-05-19T14:24:00.004+07:00

We (Meow too, I think I forgot to mention him) took a mini van from Nakhon to Krabi and from Krabi we took a long tail boat to the island of Railay. The water was very choppy and it sprayed into the boat. By the time we got there most of us were soaked, but it was okay because we were hot anyway. There are no docks for the boats to pull up to so everybody has to get out into the shallow water. Right as we were taking our bags out of the boat it started raining (perfect timing!), so we ran up to a restaurant, dropped our stuff and had some food and drinks. A perfect way to start our time there! When the rain stopped and we were finished at the restaurant we walked to the east side of the island to our guesthouse.

I loved this island because it is really small (you can walk everywhere), it's absolutely beautiful and it's very relaxed. You can only get there by boat and to do that you have to go around high limestone cliffs. This is in the same area where "The Beach" was filmed. The beaches on Railay also have these limestone cliffs, some people would jump off them into the water. The island is also very popular with rock climbers because of those. Berret's visitors went rock climbing one day but we didn't join them. The island is very "hippyish" (not a real word I'm sure) with reggae music playing everywhere. The bars have cushions laid out on the ground where you sit/lay/lounge around. Many of the workers have dread locks, etc. Very different than other parts of Thailand, but really relaxing and laid back.

The third day we were there I went with Berret's visitors on a day trip. We went to Phi Phi Don Island (another place I would like to stay sometime), Maya Bay (where part "The Beach" was actually filmed), Viking Cave, Lohsamah Bay, Bamboo Island, Pileh Bay, Monkey Bay and Hing Klarng. The trip started around 9am. We took a speed boat to all of these places and got to go snorkeling a few different times. I don't really like to snorkel though so I just swam in the water and looked at the fish from above the water. The whole day was really nice. The sites were beautiful-watch "The Beach" if you want to see the limestone cliffs that we did. We also saw some very beautiful beaches, colorful fish and a nice lagoon. Right at the end of our trip, at about 4pm the sky started to darken up dramatically (it had sprinkled a little bit earlier in the day). The driver and our guides kept looking in all directions. I was a little bit scared because this was shortly after the cyclone in Burma, so I figured the weather might get pretty bad. Luckily we got back to Railay just as it started to downpour. We weren't on the side of the island we were staying on, but we still got off the boat there to try to find some cover rather than riding the boat to the other side. All in all, it was a great day!

The whole time in Railay was a lot of fun. I want to go back already! We went out for drinks and dinner every night and always met new people. It was a fun, relaxed, friendly island. Oh! I almost forgot to say, I saw my first official fire show...and it was done by a child. They light the end of certain things on fire (sticks, chains with balls on the ends, etc.) and then dance with them to music. Pretty cool to see, especially since a young boy was doing it!

Nakhon Si Thammarat

2008-05-19T11:55:00.002+07:00

On Monday we all (Berret, Ellie, William, Jorie, Sarah, and I) checked out of our guesthouses, went to the Don Muang Airport (domestic) and flew to Nakhon Si Thammarat. Nakhon is where Berret taught before she came to Uttaradit. Her boyfriend Meow(another funny Thai nickname) lives there.

Nakhon was another really cool Thai city. When I say Thai city, I mean mostly Thai people live there. Of course all cities are Thai cities since they're in Thailand, but we call them Thai cities because hardly anybody would ever travel there like they would to BKK, Phuket, etc. Right when we got there we went to Meow's sister's restaurant opening. We ate, drank a few beers and then left to check into our hotel. I thought the opening would be a bigger deal, but I think it was basically their family and friends. And all of us farang (westerners) sat together and hardly talked to the Thai people. The hotel reminded me a lot of the Holiday Inn at home. There was carpet, 2 beds (with bedspreads...another thing you usually don't find), a nice bathroom, etc. I really liked this hotel and it was cheap.

That first night we went to eat at a restaurant that was at fishing village. We wanted to watch the sunset but the weather didn't cooperate. Then that night we went to Country Home, the bar that Meow works at-he plays bass guitar in the house band. Then we left and went to another bar (Buddy Bar), then a dance club (Fusion) and then to a bar that had shadow puppets. I don't really know the story of the shadow puppets but I know the south is famous for them. They are done in Thai, so I didn't understand what they were saying but for some reason I think I remember someone saying sometimes they are about politics, etc. It was interesting to watch, and I went to look behind the screen and it was just one man doing it! There were several puppets-pretty talented. That night was a lot of fun-drinking, dancing, meeting new people, etc. We got home around 4 in the morning I think-yikes!

The next afternoon we went to a river out of town where we ate lunch in a little salla and then rented tubes to float in the river on. Again, I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Thai people are conservative in their dress for the most part. When they swim they swim in their clothes, not swimsuits (inThai towns that is...in Phuket and other touristy places you will see some Thais in swimsuits) so we also went in the river in just shorts and shirts. After we left the river we went to a different fishing village where we ate dinner and watched boats come in. It was a really nice place to sit and relax and it was cool to see the colorful long tail boats coming in knowing that they had been out all day catching fish, etc. to eat and sell. It was very picturesque. That night only Berret and I went out. The rest were tired. So we went to a different bar that Berret likes then back to Country Home to watch Meow play and then back to Fusion one more time. And in between all that we met Meow's brother Wood who works at a nicer hotel in Nakhon.

The next day we were on our way to a new destination again...Railay...possibly my favorite place in Thailand!

Bangkok...again

2008-05-19T11:40:00.003+07:00

After mom and dad left I traveled back into the center of BKK. I stayed in the Khao San area, but in a quieter part called Soi Rambutree. The first night I was there I met up with Berret and her cousin Ellie, from America. We had a few drinks, then took a boat on the river to Wat Arun which is known as the Temple of the Dawn. It is a gorgeous temple, I am so disappointed I don't have my camera to show you all pictures of it. If you have a chance look it up online. After seeing that and having a few drinks and dinner on the river we all went back to shower.

The next day I met up with Add again. We ate and played some cards (I taught him slap jack, go fish, crazy eights, etc. a few weeks before this. Those were the only games I could think to teach him where the explanation in English would be easy to understand, but he loved them!), then I went out for some drinks with Berret and Ellie while Add took a nap. Later that night I met up with Add again and we went to Khao San Road to meet his friend. His friend makes a living dressing up like Jack Sparrow from "Pirates of the Caribbean" and selling reggae stuff. We sat with him for a few hours and it was hilarious. People would stop and stare at him, take his picture, walk by and point and say, "Look, it's Jack Sparrow," etc. It was amazing, people of all nationalities recognized him.

I stayed in BKK one more day after this and then traveled with Berret and her guests. Berret's cousin Ellie came first and then a few days later Ellie's brother William came with his girlfriend Jorie and their friend Sarah.

Bangkok

2008-05-19T09:15:00.002+07:00

On Thursday Mom, Dad and I flew back to Bangkok. It was almost the end of our vacation together-sad! We flew to the domestic airport and took a taxi to our hotel. The hotel was kind of out in the middle of nowhere, but I chose this one because it was near the international airport where mom and dad would fly out the next day.

The hotel had drivers though, so they drove us into the city and we met up with Berret. We met at a bar/restuarant on Khao San Road. Unfortunately we had some bad luck here. I'm not sure how much I've explained Khao San before. It is a very busy area because most backpackers who come BKK stay on this road, or in this area. It has shops up and down the street on both sides, many hotels, many bars, food vendors, etc. It's open late and you can get just about anything here. So, needless to say there were tons of people constantly walking by our table. One minute we were all talking and having a good time, the next Berret was frantically looking for her purse. She had hung it on the back of her chair (not smart which she knows, but she just didn't think about it) and someone had taken it. So she went to the tourist police where for some reason no English speakers were in at the moment. She spoke Thai, gave them a description of everything in her purse and they sent her on her way. Although that put a damper on our night we still went out to grab something to eat and drink before she had to go pick up her cousin, at the airport, who was coming to visit her.

The rest of us made our way back to the hotel to go to bed because mom and dad had to leave very early the next morning. We slept for a very short time and then mom and dad got ready to go to the airport. I woke up but didn't go with them. We said goodbye at the hotel instead. It was sad, but I knew I'd see them in a few short months. After they left I tried to go back to sleep and was eventually successful.

Phuket

2008-05-16T15:39:00.002+07:00

Phuket is Thailand's biggest island (and I'm guessing also the most popular with tourists). This is one place I knew I wanted to visit before I ever left America to come here. Can you believe I waited 9 months to finally go!?!

We got to the beach we were staying on, Kata Beach, late that afternoon and checked into Kata Minta. It was a cute little guesthouse with a nice room and bathroom and we had a balcony too! We walked down to the beach which was about a 5 minute walk, then found some snacks and drinks. Later that night we went to Capannina, an Italian restaurant. Then we bought a bottle of Kahlua for an after dinner drink which was a huge treat for me!

The next day we ate breakfast at our guesthouse. It was delicious! Breakfast is generally a big deal for me on holidays because in Uttaradit I eat Corn Flakes dry every morning. So when I can have eggs, bacon, toast, etc. I am in heaven! Then we walked around Kata Beach a little bit, both on the street and on the beach. We swam in the ocean (Andaman Sea). Dad swam the most. Mom and I were scared of the waves! Later on we did our normal-played cards and had some drinks. Then we went to the hotel across the street to a steak buffet. Wow, that was the most and best meat I have eaten since I got here. What a day!

Tuesday was a lazy day. We played some cards, mom and I got massages again, and then we sat in the jacuzzi at our hotel. The sun was so hot and intense I was happy to not go to the beach (sadly). The jacuzzi had cold water-it was great! Later that night we went to another beach called Patong. This beach has great nightlife but is not as good in the day. We shopped a little bit and then ate dinner at Coyote, a Mexican restaurant. I never liked Mexican food much at home, but Berret introduced me to Coyote in BKK and they have a ton of flavors of margaritas so I wanted to bring mom and dad there. According to mom and dad the food isn't like normal Mexican food. I guess I'll have to try some when I get back home.

We had one more full day in Phuket. We went to the beach where Dad swam and played in the waves for a long time again while mom and I read, watched people, etc. The rest of the day was very relaxing. One more foot massage for mom and I, drinks at a bar for sunset and dinner.

The next day we packed up, took a taxi to the airport and flew back to Bangkok.

Chiang Mai

2008-05-15T20:38:00.002+07:00

We took the 2:45 train from Uttaradit to Chiang Mai. It's a great ride because the scenery is mountainous and beautiful. When we got to the Chiang Mai bus station we took a songthaew (a truck that is covered in the back and has benches to sit on) to Top North Hotel where we checked in. That night we had dinner and drinks and went to bed.

The next morning we got up, showered and ate breakfast. Then we walked around a little bit until we decided what we wanted to do for the day. We took a tuk-tuk to Wat Umong. It is a forested temple that I had been to before but wanted to show mom and dad. The rest of the day we swam in the pool at the hotel, played cards and had dinner and drinks.

The next day we took a tour to Doi Suthep and a Hmong hill tribe. The Hmong hill tribe was interesting to see. I have been to other hill tribes before but they're all a little bit different. We lucked out on the tour. April is low season so we were the only ones on the tour which meant we had a tour guide all to ourselves. We could ask him questions anytime, it was great.

Doi Suthep is a temple on the top of a mountain. I really wanted to go because you can see all of Chiang Mai from the top. Unfortunately it was so cloudy we couldn't see. But on the way back down our driver did stop once so we could see the view from a little bit lower.

Later that night we walked to the night bizarre to shop around a little. We also ate at The Duke's, a delicious restaurant!

The next day was our last. We were quite lazy most of the day. Hung out at the pool, mom and I got a foot massage, played cards, etc. That night we went to the river to have dinner. We got to sit right next to the river. It was good food and a great view.

Sunday morning we got a ride to the airport and flew down to Phuket.

Uttaradit

2008-05-15T16:03:00.002+07:00

We arrived in Uttaradit at about 6:15 am. Usually when I take the train I leave my motorbike at school so I can just walk over and drive home from there. But this time I knew I'd have mom and dad and all of our luggage, so we had to get a "taxi." Uttaradit doesn't have official taxis. It's just random men with cars who offer you a ride. A man approached us and asked in Thai where we wanted to go. I told him the name of my street but he didn't understand. My street is called Charoenbandid. No matter how a foreigner says it, it's never right to a Thai person's ear. Mike, Tony, Berret and I have all tried. Luckily though, Mike met us there (my hero!) so he drove his motor bike to my house to lead the taxi.

I did some laundry, then we went to school so I could show mom and dad where I work. I showed them our office and then went up to where I teach. Some of my students and Thai teachers were there, so I got to introduce mom and dad to them. My co-teacher, Pi Lamtiew, forced one of my poor students to think of questions to ask my parents (you have to realize that these are first grade students who most likely haven't spoken English in over a month!). Then Pi Pawnee took us around school so mom and dad could meet more teachers. They met most of the co-teachers of the English teachers and then some other Thai teachers. And then of course she took us out for lunch after that.

That afternoon we rested for awhile, then showered and got ready for dinner. We went to The Rim, a bar and restaurant that we like a lot, with Mike and Tony. We ate good food and talked until we were all tired.

The next day I drove mom around a little bit showing her the city. Dad unfortunately didn't like driving a motor bike so he didn't see it all (because I can't drive 2 people-Thai people definitely can though!). I think Dad said the combination of driving on the left hand side and people driving right next to you in the same lane made him not like it. It also didn't help that Berret's bike wasn't working properly. After I showed mom some stuff I helped Mike ship his bike to his new province then mom, dad and I had pizza before we got on the 2:45 train to Chiang Mai...Tony and Mike came to see us off! Actually, Tony was going to bring mom and our luggage to the train station while dad and I took the bikes back to school. But his car ended up breaking down by school, so we all walked from there (just a few minutes). Always something!

Damnoen Saduak

2008-05-15T15:41:00.004+07:00

We took an expensive taxi ride from Century Park Hotel to the southern bus terminal. When we got there we bought our tickets to Damnoen Saduak. This was one place I really wanted to go to before I left Thailand. Its is known for its daily floating market. However, the market has lost its authenticity because it's so close to BKK and many tourists come to see it.

When we got to Damnoen Saduak they dropped us all off on the street. I was surprised that there was no bus station. I asked 2 different people on the street where our hotel was. It was called Nok Noi Hotel which means little bird. We found it, checked in, and then mom and I walked to Tesco Lotus to grab some drinks.

The next morning we woke up early to take a ride through the floating market. I'm not sure how to explain it all, because I may not be accurate, but I'll try my best. I think there are many different canals all connected like roads. In fact, canals were used for transportation quite a bit in the past-even in BKK. So we started out on one where our driver could use his motor to drive us. Then we turned into a different one where there was a sign that said to shut your motor off. From there our guide paddled us through the market. We could look at many souvenirs and a lot of food on all sides of us. Some people sold stuff from their boats (mostly food) while others sold things from their houses or shops(mostly souvenirs). It was pretty neat to see and as it got later it was more picturesque because the canals filled up with more boats. I heard that around 9:00 many tour buses come in from BKK and then there are so many boats it's like a big traffic jam. Luckily our tour ended before then, but it was neat to see it get busier.

When we finished our tour we went back to Nok Noi, showered, and caught a bus back to BKK. In BKK we dropped our bags off at the train station then went to MBK to waste time again like I did before. Then at 10 pm we took the night train up to my house in Uttaradit.

Bangkok-Mom and Dad!!!

2008-05-15T11:11:00.005+07:00

When Add and I got back to BKK he went back to his shop and I checked into a really sketchy guesthouse. I chose that one though because it was close to the sky train so I could get around easily. I went to MBK (a huge mall) to waste some time. I shopped around, but didn't buy anything and I went to a movie! It's a real treat to go to a movie theatre and eat popcorn. I love it! I also got a foot massage-one of the best I've had.

Later I took the sky train to the hotel where I would meet my mom and dad. I had a hard time finding it and I was carrying my huge bag so I was nice and sweaty when I got there. They probably thought I was crazy walking into such a nice, beautiful, expensive hotel all sweaty with a huge backpack. I have not been in a hotel this nice in a LONG time! The room had carpeting which I hadn't seen yet in Thailand and the bathroom was amazing. It was big, had a bathtub and a beautiful glass shower. I'm sure mom and dad looked at it like any other hotel but I was impressed! After waiting 9 months I finally got to see my mom and dad at 2 something in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a beer, talked for awhile and then finally tried to get some sleep.

We all woke up early the next morning, showered, and went to breakfast. After that I took mom and dad to Chatuchak Market. It is a huge weekend market that I have written about before. I just read online that it is 35 acres and that it has over 9,000 individual booths selling things. We walked through for awhile, but when we had enough and were pretty sweaty we decided to leave.

From there we took the sky train to the Jim Thompson house. Jim Thompson was an American man who came to Thailand in the 1950's and helped build the Thai silk industry. He studied architecture in America before he came to Thailand and when he got here he built his house. He took parts from 6 different antique Thai houses to make it. He mysteriously disappeared in Malaysia in '67 so his house is now a museum. I also just read about this online and it says that the Jim Thompson house is the second most popular tourist attraction in BKK, surpassed only by the Grand Palace in visitor attendance (wow...mom and dad, do you believe that?).

The next day we did a package tour through our hotel. We took a bus to our first stop which was Wat Traimit. This temple is known as the temple of the golden Buddha. The Buddha weighs 5 and a half tons, is 15 feet tall (the Buddha is sitting), and is worth about 14 million U.S. dollars!! Our second stop was Wat Pho. This is the temple of the reclining Buddha. The reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high. The reclining position is supposed to represent the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. This temple was amazing to me. The Buddha was HUGE! Our third stop was the Grand Palace. This is the most popular tourist attraction in BKK. The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings. It was the king of Thailand's residence from the 18th century to the mid-20th century. The Grand Palace also houses Wat Phra Kaew which contains the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha is up very high in the temple, it's also very small, and...you can't take a picture of it. It was still cool to see it all though.

After we got back to our hotel we ate lunch and then took a taxi to the southern bus terminal to catch a bus to Damnoen Saduak.

Kanchanaburi

2008-05-15T10:20:00.003+07:00

On the 10th day of my holiday I took the bus from BKK to Kanchanaburi with Add. Kanchanaburi is a province on the west side of Thailand. It is famous for the River Kwai Bridge (there was a movie made about it) from World War II. The city has a lot of historical sites so between that and just general site seeing we had a great time. We stayed at Bamboo House, a guesthouse right on the river, for 6 nights.

One day we walked down toward the bride and went to a museum that had a lot of information about the Death Railway, etc. We also walked to the bridge the first day. We walked across it and saw a train come through. Actually, I think we went to the bridge basically every day because there was a lot going on down there.

Another day we went to Erawan National Park. We took a local bus and a few minutes into the ride an older woman got on so I moved over so she could sit down. She continued to stare at me like she had never seen a white person before. I gave Add a piece of gum and she threw her hand at me like she wanted a piece too (she couldn't speak English) so I gave her one. A few minutes later she pointed at me, then her heart and gave me a thumbs up sign. I assume that means she thinks I am a good-hearted person. Then she gave my leg a squeeze. When we finally got to Erawan and off the bus Add and I had a good laugh. Traveling always seems to be interesting! The park has a waterfall that is 7 tiers (I think almost a mile high). We climbed up to the top and went swimming-the water was super cold and the rocks were very slippery. It was fun, but I kept thinking I was going to fall on the rocks.

That afternoon when we got back we saw the river had flooded (I think they must have opened a dam or something because it hadn't rained at all) so we went and sat on one of the docks that was buried in water and watched the sunset.

I haven't mentioned that April 13, 14, and 15 are Songkran. It is the traditional Thai New Year. I heard these days are really hard to travel since so many Thai people are trying to get home and other places. All transportation is supposedly as full as it can get (people packed in sitting and standing on trains, buses, etc.) so I knew I wanted to stay in one spot for those days). And I actually did see a train leaving one of the days-the people were packed in like sardines (I'm not exaggerating!). Songkran was traditionally a time to pay respect to elders. They also cleanse Buddha images by pouring a mixture of water and Thai fragrance over them. They believe this will bring good luck and prosperity for the New Year. Thai people still do these things but they have also taken it to a new level. April is the hottest time of the year, so they have turned Songkran into a huge water fight. People stand by the side of the road with hoses, water guns, big barrels of water, etc. and splash anyone who walks or drives by. People also drive by in the back of trucks with barrels of water and splash people in other vehicles or people on the side of the road. Add and I hung out with some random Thai people one day and participated in the celebration. It was fun and a great way to cool off. Another one of the days we were driving on a motor bike and got drenched!! Oh, and one more thing...they also take a mixture of powder and water and wipe it on your face. I don't understand why they do this, but I was full of it by the time we got where we were going. It was many colors and it was all over my face, my clothes, my purse...everything! I was a mess, but...so was everyone else!

Another day we rented a motor bike and drove to many places. I wanted to go to a temple where they have tigers. Add didn't want to go, it's quite expensive to get in and Thai people had told him it wasn't worth it. We went, but the Thai people were right! I did get a picture touching a tiger...but it's gone now since my camera was stolen. We also stopped at an elephant park. We just watched them for a little bit. There was one with a baby elephant--so cute! After that we stopped at Muang Sing Historical Park and some other places. I think we basically stopped anywhere we saw on the way back! It was a long, busy, hot day.

Traveling with Add was a lot of fun. We did everything Thai style which meant it was all very cheap. And we ate at food stalls the entire time. I never stepped foot in a restaurant. It was a great cultural experience. After the 6 nights we took the bus back to BKK where I patiently waited for my mom and dad!!

Bangkok and Koh Chang

2008-05-13T16:18:00.005+07:00

My trip started the night of April 1st. I took the night train to Bangkok. When I take the night train I buy a ticket that allows me to have a bed to sleep in. It's nothing fancy at all, but it is better than sitting for over 8 hours. I arrived in BKK early on the 2nd. Add, the Thai man I met in Uttaradit in November, came to pick me up. I was very glad because when taxi drivers see a white girl all by herself they think they can say any price rather than use the meter. So he picked me up, we went to his shop (he installs flooring...it looks like hard wood but it is something else...not sure). We spent most of the day with the guy he owns the shop with. We ate street food a few times which was pretty cool-usually where I go in BKK there are a lot of travelers and hardly any Thai people, but here I was the only traveler. Later that night we went to the Khao San area, which is a backpacker area, to have some drinks on a rooftop bar.

The next day I didn't do much besides be lazy. I bought my ticket to Koh Chang, walked around Khao San and went to the riverside in the night.

The third morning I was up early to get on a bus heading for Koh Chang. I took a bus to the pier, then a big ferry to the actual island. I chose to go to this island because I read how nice it is now, but that it's developing quickly, so if you want to see it quiet and calm you should go now. And it was beautiful. Green and mountainous everywhere. Unfortunately because of that I didn't rent a motor bike so I was stuck on the beach I stayed at. I didn't want to drive because of the mountains and because many foreigners choose these islands as their first place to drive. I don't want to be on the road with them!

I stayed on Lonely Beach at Siam Beach Resort in a cheap little bungalow in the hills. Lonely Beach used to be a very quiet beach, a great place to hang out and relax...this is what I read. But I already saw some of the development...it's not so lonely anymore. It is lonely though in the fact that there are no shops nearby so I couldn't do any shopping for souvenirs. The only shop was a small one maybe half a mile away that sold a little bit of food and drinks. I walked there most nights to grab a few drinks to drink while I watched the sunset. My whole time in Koh Chang I basically swam in the pool, swam in the ocean (Gulf of Thailand), and read on the beach. It was a very quiet, lazy vacation.

My accommodation was interesting. The place I stayed at was a nice resort but they also had some cheap bungalows, which is where I stayed. They were up in the hills and looked really cool, however, once you got inside they really weren't good at all! They are very old and worn out inside. The resort is thinking about getting rid of them, but people always want to stay there because they are cheap so they're keeping them for now. It was very basic-two beds, two wooden chairs, and a really bad bathroom. The bonus was that they have balconies that look out over the beach-a BEAUTIFUL view. But the bathroom...there are gaps everywhere (I guess in the whole bungalow) so many mosquitoes came in, and one night there was a huge lizard/iguana thing in my bathroom. It scared the _____ out of me! I pushed the door at it to try to get it to go back outside (because there were plenty of big enough gaps for it to get through) but it didn't even move. So I took my towel and threw it at it and it scurried out!! Eeek!! And another night there was a mouse in my room! It just climbed around on the curtain rods. I walked almost right up to it and it didn't get scared. Finally I shook the rod a little and it ran away.

Koh Chang was a nice, quiet get away, but I was also a little bit happy when it was time for me to go back to BKK! I stayed in Koh Chang 6 nights and then I did the whole ferry and bus process back to Bangkok. I stayed in BKK that one night and then moved on to Kanchanaburi the next day with Add.

Holiday!

2008-05-13T15:55:00.005+07:00

I am officially back in Uttaradit after traveling for 41 days (I think). I will slowly try to update this, unfortunately my camera was stolen yesterday (my last day traveling) so I cannot post any pictures on my Kodak site. I am really disappointed, irritated, sad, etc. about my camera being gone. I dropped my bag off at a company in the train station for the day because my train didn't leave until 10 pm. When I went back to get my bag that night my camera was missing, but the case was still there. I told the workers and although nothing happened then, I did give them my address so they can send it to me if they find anything out. Keep your fingers crossed!

My travels started in BKK, from there I went to Koh Chang, then back to BKK, to Kanchanaburi, back to BKK, to Damnoen Saduak, to BKK, to Uttaradit, to Chiang Mai, to Phuket, to BKK, to Nakhon Si Thammarat, to Railay, to Phuket, to BKK, to Uttaradit. Wow, I just realized how much I actually moved around, and how much I was in Bangkok!

I did some of that traveling by myself, some with a Thai friend, some with my parents, and some with my roommate and her cousins and their friends. It was definitely more fun traveling with people, but also fun by myself.

I plan to write individual posts for the places I went. Hopefully I will finish writing quicker that way since I won't have to sit down and write it in one big chunk!

My First Visitor!!!

2008-03-20T14:34:00.008+07:00

I had my first visitor from home last week!! Joy was the first brave soul to come over and see the wonderful country I've been living in for the past 8 months. I met her in Bangkok Wednesday morning. She had already been there one day and seen a little bit of the city. I showed her my style-foot massages and lunch, then we went to the airport to fly to Koh Samui. Samui is an island on the Gulf of Thailand side.

We flew into a beautiful open-air airport, grabbed our bags and met our driver. The first thing I noticed about Samui was how developed it is and how much more they are building currently. As Berret and her boyfriend mentioned later-it's becoming overdeveloped very quickly.

Our driver dropped us off at our guesthouse, The Island Resort and Spa. We checked in, went to our room and immediately went out the beach. Unfortunately, the area of the beach we were on wasn't as nice as a few hundred meters down. But it was still great. While on the beach we set up a day trip for Thursday. We decided to go to Angthong National Marine Park which is many small islands about an hour northwest of Samui.

We woke up Thursday morning and took a van to Maenam pier. From there we took a speed boat to Koh Phangan (another small island) to pick up other tourists and then made our way to the Marine Park. We got to go snorkeling-which I didn't do-I did put a life jacket on though and just floated around in the water. It was still cool because they would throw bread in the water and TONS of fish would swim right up to us. They were very colorful and beautiful. And even though I wasn't snorkeling, I managed to kick some coral and cut the top of my foot-ouch!

After that we got back on the boat and went to an island and saw Emerald Lake. To see it we climbed down some very steep steps, then later back up, and up some more to see it from a higher view. It was beautiful! But stupid me-I forgot to take my camera off the boat. So I'll have to get pictures of that from Joy.

Then we went to another island to eat some lunch. We did that and then had a chance to go kayaking. Joy and I went together-she sat in the back and I sat in the front. We had a little trouble steering through the big waves (to say the least). Eventually, the two guides riding together made us split up and each of us had to ride with one of them. I think Joy and I were both relieved! It was easier and we got to see even more with them. They took us into little cave like rapid areas that nobody else went through. It was a lot of fun, but still SO much work. My entire body was sore the next day. I've only kayaked in a lake and on a river before, never in so many huge waves when it was so windy!!

The kayaking ended our trip. We finished that and then had another speedboat ride back to Koh Samui. Luckily on the way back I rode in the lower part of the boat. It was very wavy, bumpy and wet on top. I looked back at the rest of the people at one point and they were just dripping wet! Their bags had to be moved underneath because they were getting so wet!

After the trip we showered and went to get some food and drinks. The next day we relaxed by the beach. That afternoon we met up with Berret and her mom. Berret's mom had just come to visit her and we had the pleasure of meeting her. A real southern lady she is!

Saturday was Berret's 26th birthday!! We met up with her, her mom, her boyfriend, and some friends from her old school in Nakon for dinner and drinks. It was a pretty good time--hopefully she agrees!

Sunday was my favorite night in Samui though. We met up with Berret and all of them again to eat dinner. After that we met one of Meow's (Berret's boyfriend) friends and went to some Thai bars. I was very happy about that. After living up north with basically all Thai people I always want to see the Thai side of these touristy places. We went to one bar and listened to some live Thai music and then we went to Meow's friend's restaurant/bar to listen to music there. It was a ton of fun, but the next morning when we flew back to BKK I wished I had gone to bed earlier!

Back in BKK we stayed at D&D Hotel on Khao San road. We walked up and down Khao San a little bit, set up a trip to Ayuthaya, and then hung out by our pool. Later that night we checked out a few bars around Khao San. I stayed out way too late with a Thai man we met at a bar while Joy was smart and went back to go to bed.

The next morning we had to be ready for Ayuthaya at 7...I was tired!!! Ayuthaya is one of Thailand's old capitals. We took a mini-van there and saw many historic ruins. It was pretty neat to see and we had a tour guide so we heard a lot of history too. However, it was a long, hot day walking around outside! When we got back to BKK I used Joy's shower because I had to ride the train home that night and we had sweat all day long! After that we took a taxi to the National Stadium so we could jump on the sky train to Sukhumvit. In Sukhumvit (an area of BKK) we basically walked around and ate dinner. We also saw a baby elephant just roaming the sidewalks of Sukhumvit. Apparently elephants are banned from the city because it's so dangerous for them to be there, but people still bring them in to try to make money off tourists. Mimi, Berret's mom had also seen one before she came to Samui-so sad!

After that it was time for me to get my night train home. I jumped on the subway and Joy went back on the sky train and that was the end of our trip together...so sad...but a fun trip. Thanks for coming Joy!!!

Chiang Mai

2008-03-02T18:18:00.005+07:00

Berret and I went to Chiang Mai again this weekend. She is going to China in April and needs to get a visa, so I went along to get out of Uttaradit. We left Friday afternoon on the train and got there around 8:30.

After checking in to a guesthouse and showering we went out to get some drinks. As we were walking to a bar it started to rain so we ducked inside a random bar. It turned out to be great. There was a Thai customer sitting at the bar and she and the bartender could speak English, so we chatted with them for awhile. Then two Thai guys showed up and started trying to talk to us. So between English and Thai Berret talked to the girls most of the night and I talked to the guys most of the night. It was a good time and a really unique experience for the area of Chiang Mai we were in-Chiang Mai is full of tourists and Thai people don't usually hang out at the same bars, etc. We ended up shutting the bar down and then making our way back to the guesthouse.

Needless to say, the next morning we slept in. When we did get up we went to get some coffee and buy/sell books at a used book store. After we bought a bunch of books for our March/April holiday we went to a cute little restaurant for breakfast. Berret had been there before. It was hidden down an alley and in the middle of some trees, so it was quiet and shady. And the food and coffee was great!

Then we went to a temple just out of town. I'm not positive what the actual name was-in English one of the words meant tunnel. It was a unique temple because it was in the forest and we did walk through small tunnels. Besides that though, I guess it wasn't that great! :)

Our next stop was a historical museum or something. But we didn't actually go to that. Instead we drove to the lake behind it. There were sallas set up on two full sides of the lake. We found an empty one and had a snack and some drinks while we played cards and watched the sun go down. Unfortunately there were elections this weekend (which means they can't serve alcohol for a certain time) so we could only be there until 6 pm.

We went back to our guesthouse, showered and then went out for dinner. We ate at The Duke's. It's a great restaurant with foreign food-I had lasagna. Then we shopped around the night market for awhile, got a foot massage and went back to go to bed. So the second night was low key, but that was okay.

Then this morning (Sunday) we had coffee and breakfast again and by the time we had done that and walked around a little it was after noon. I was planning to get a bus back in the early afternoon but Berret wouldn't because she can only get her visa Monday. We got to the bus station at about 1:20 and I asked when the next bus for U-dit was and it was 1:30-perfect timing! So I bought a ticket and was on my way. And here I am, back at home. In just a few minutes I'm going to go get some dinner with Mike. There are a few restaurants in our city that will still serve alcohol so we're keeping our fingers crossed for one more relaxing night before it's back to teaching tomorrow.

Bangkok

2008-02-01T18:13:00.000+07:00

The last weekend in January Berret and I took a trip down to Bangkok. A weekend isn't really long enough to go to Bangkok when you're coming from Uttaradit, but we wanted to go bad enough that we decided to just do it. We left Friday at 10:30 on the night train, arrived in Bangkok about 6:30 Saturday morning and started our weekend. We dropped our bags off at our guesthouse and made our way to the Chatuchak market. I was told Chatuchak is the biggest outdoor market in the world, but don't quote me on that. I just found on Wikipedia that it is 35 acres! They have maps and it was also suggested to me that if I like a certain shop I should have the shop owners mark it on my map or I would never find it back. I believe that! Berret was proof of it-she was trying to find a certain shop back...we never found it. After that we went back to our guesthouse and took a nap because sleeping on the train is never the best. When we woke up we went to Coyote for some excellent Mexican food and margaritas. From there we went to my first Thai boxing match ever (Muay Thai). There were 9 matches I think. Berret and I unofficially bet on each match-sometimes by color (red or blue), sometimes by name. I didn't win a single one!!!!! The boxing match was a lot of fun to watch, although it was probably the most expensive tourist attraction I'll see in Thailand. Afterwards we went for a foot massage and then back to our guesthouse.

Sunday we went to a place called Bourbon Street Restuarant for breakfast. It was great! I had a real American breakfast-eggs, toast and bacon-yum!! Then we went to Siam Paragon and Central to do some shopping. We shopped around for awhile, hung out, ate some lunch, then went to a movie. I think it was called "The Flock." It was really a creepy movie, but I got to eat popcorn! Then that afternoon/night we went to a bar called Charlie Brown's for more margaritas, went shopping at a market, bought Subway for the train station and then went to the train station for our night train back to U-dit.

While we were in BKK we took the skytrain and subway all except the one time we took a tuk-tuk. That was pretty amazing, and a lot cheaper than taxis-good all around!

All in all the weekend was fast but fun. It seems like so long ago now that I might have missed some small things when writing about it. Oh well! :)

Tomorrow morning the head of education in Thailand is coming to our school. The school has been going crazy the past 3 weeks or so, now she will finally come and then we'll be done. I can't wait! It has been stressful. We had to do many projects with our kids (and mine are 1st graders so I had to spell many words and definitely check the grammar), they've also been "shining up" the school, etc. A lot of work for this one visit. I hope it goes well. Just 2 months left until the school year is over-I can't wait!!!

Chiang Rai

2008-01-07T09:38:00.000+07:00

New Year's weekend Berret and I went to Chiang Rai. We went for the New Year and just to get out of town again. The bus ride there was about 5-5 1/2 hours. Sort of long, but new scenery so it was okay.

We got to town around 4 I think. We walked around looking for a place to stay-that took awhile since it was New Year's weekend. A lot of the guesthouses were already full. We finally found a place though and then went out to the night market. Every night in Chiang Rai there is a night market and a big open air space where they have live music, food, and drinks. So we spent our whole night shopping, eating, and drinking.

The next day we rented a motorbike and drove around the city. We saw a few temples-one was really cool and it was one of the main reasons I wanted to go to Chiang Rai. The temple was entirely white on the outside. Usually they are a goldish color so this one was very unique. There were SO many people there, again, because of the holiday I think. After that temple we drove out to "the beach." Ivan and Spencer had told us about it so we decided to go hang out there for a little while. Turns out there was a big flower festival so there were tons of people there too! We didn't check out the flowers though, instead we went and sat down by the river and had some lunch and drinks. They had a bunch of little tables set up along the river and pillows to sit on. Although there were a lot, we were lucky to find one because there were so many people there. That night we just went back into town and hung around there again.

The next day we took a private day tour which was really cool. We left at 9am and got back around 6pm. It was just Berret, me, a driver, and a tour guide! We went to a some hill tribe villages, a monkey cave, Mae Sai, the Golden Triangle, and Chiang Saen.

We stopped at the Hill tribe Villages first. The ones we saw were the Long Neck Karen, Akha, Lahu-musur, Palong, and Lu Mien-Yao. We saw music and dancing performances at two of the hill tribes, at another we saw crafts that they make. But the two that stuck out the most were the Long Neck Karen and the Palong. Long Neck Karens wear brass rings around their necks. The legend claims that the brass rings protect the women from tiger bites. But apparently now they are worn more to maintain their tribal identity. They start out with just a few rings as children, but as they get older they add more and more and it stretches their necks up so they get long necks. They also wear the rings around their arms and legs and can apparently weigh a woman down with an additional 30 pounds!!! I can't imagine. It was really interesting to see, but also sad. Our tour guide told us that these young girls aren't allowed to go to school because other children will look at them and maybe make fun of them. So instead a teacher from Chiang Rai goes to teach them on Saturday and Sunday. But he said they don't really learn much at all. I didn't understand for sure but I think the tour guide said it's the government that won't allow them to go to school. But then I still question the judgment of the parents. I know it's their identity, but they also need schooling or they are going to live at that same place forever and only make money from tourists like us! I could go on and on about this, but I won't. I just found it sad and a little unbelievable.

After the hill tribes we went to a monkey cave. We walked into a park like area and there were a bunch of monkeys! Berret wasn't too fond of this stop because she's afraid of monkeys. I was okay with it until I decided to climb up to the cave. Our tour guide said it was just a little climb up. Turns out it was quite a hike and there were monkeys the entire way up. I was never afraid of monkeys until that climb. I was the only person going up to the cave and the monkeys were everywhere and they were very close-they were not scared of people at all. I even got a little monkey pee on my foot(gross!!)-that's how close they were!

The next stop was the coolest. We went to Mae Sai which is the northern most city in Thailand. They have a big border market there which was cool to see-there were a bunch of people there! Our tour guide suggested we just stay in Mae Sai and shop around but Berret and I had decided before we went to Chiang Rai that we wanted to cross the border and shop in Burma (Myanmar)...that was one of the main reasons we went to Chiang Rai. Spencer told us that things were super cheap in Burma, and I just wanted to say I had been there! So we went to the border, made copies of our passports, gave the officials our real passports to hold, got a special paper, and we got to cross the border! We couldn't get our passport stamped or the Visa we have to teach in Thailand would have invalid. I was kind of bummed out about that, but it's okay, I can still say I've been there. And Spencer was right-everything is SUPER cheap! I bought two seasons of "The Office" for 175 Baht which is less than $10!! It was pretty cool to be over there, but the market was packed. We could barely walk through. I was constantly bumping into people and people were constantly bumping into me.

The Golden Triangle was next. We were on the Thailand side, and from where we were standing we could see Burma to the west and Laos to the east-I've been to all three places now!

Our final stops were a few temples which were located in Chiang Saen. They were beautiful, but there's not much more to say than that. The whole day was quite long, but a lot of fun. I'm really glad we did the tour because we got to see a lot of great stuff.

That night was New Year's Eve. Berret and I bought some champagne in Burma so we drank that at the guest house before we left. Unfortunately that was the most exciting part of our New Year's Eve. There wasn't much going on in Chiang Rai. We went to the open air place again and listened to some music. There were fireworks at midnight so that was cool. But there were also travelers trying to set off fireworks on the street very close to the crowd. One went off and almost hit a bunch of us. It was funny because one woman got so scared she practically jumped into her boyfriend's arms and they both fell down! It was pretty funny.

The next day we traveled back home. And that was my weekend to Chiang Rai. A beautiful city that I would definitely go back to!

Now we're back at work...booo!! We had a New Year's party last Wednesday for work but it was pretty low key because the King's sister had just passed away. The public is supposed to mourn for 15 days which means no celebrations and we have to wear black every day. Of course these rules are broken sometimes-we had a party, etc.

Anyway, I've been here 5 months now. I have visitors coming in March, April, and July. Who else wants to come?

Merry Christmas...again!

2007-12-25T17:16:00.000+07:00

When I wrote the last time I didn't think I would have time to write again so soon. But today is Christmas and I decided to skip running at the park, so that gave me some free time! So, Merry Christmas for real! I hope you're all having a great holiday season at home.

I had to go to school today, but luckily I didn't have to teach. Instead I had to be Mrs. Claus all day long-haha! Although most Thai people are Buddhist we still did Christmas performances at school. I taught my kids "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" last week. I thought teaching them and helping them with their performance today would be my only duties, but when I got to school this morning Pi Yai, my Thai boss, gave me a dress and asked me to be Mrs. Claus.

So I went to morning assembly with Jon (a foreign teacher from Kansas who played Santa Claus) and spoke to the students about Christmas. Then the K1, K2, P1, and P2 non-bilinguals all went into the meeting hall to watch the performances of the bilingual kids. K1 (age 4-5) danced to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," K2 (age 5-6) danced to "Jingle Bells" maybe-I don't remember. P1 (my students-equal to first grade at home) sang and danced to "We Wish you a Merry Christmas," P2 (2nd grade) danced to "You Are My Sunshine" although I don't know why since it's not a Christmas song, P3 did a play (not about Christmas), P4 sang "The 12 Days of Christmas" but with Thai foods..."On the first day of Christmas my teacher gave to me ___________." And P5 danced around a Christmas tree to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree."

After we all performed that time the non-bilingual students left and the P3, P4, P5, and P6 non-bilinguals came to watch the performances. That all took from about 8:30-12 with a lot of talking and handing out of candy in between.

We got a break for lunch then. Five of us foreign teachers went to i-Krun (a coffee shop by our school) because the owners had said they wanted to give us a Christmas present. They made us a special pasta for lunch, gave us a beautifully hand-painted coffee mug (painted by the owner), and some Thai snack to take back with us. It was all a very nice gesture and much appreciated by all of us!

After lunch we went to Banco (like a sister school to Anuban) and performed one more time for those kids. So basically we spent the whole day celebrating Christmas. Even though we did, it didn't feel anything like Christmas. Oh well, that's okay-it was still fun!

Tonight a few of us teachers will go out to celebrate and then it's back to a regular school day tomorrow. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you!!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-23T15:57:00.000+07:00

December 23rd already-just two days until Christmas! I can't believe how fast the time is going. When I first got to Thailand I couldn't wait until July, but now it seems like it's going to be here before I know it. Anyway...Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you have a good holiday season. I get off Christmas Eve (for elections) but I will be teaching on Christmas day.

We were going to have a big Christmas party at my American boss' house this weekend. Kegs, beer frisbee, turkey, etc. But there has been some office drama and the party didn't happen. So instead we went to Mike's last night where we drank a keg, grilled some meat and vegetables and played a big game of Yahtzee. Mike made a large score board that can be written on with a dry erase marker and he also made big dice. It was a pretty fun night. It was the regulars and a new guy named David. He recently started working at Ratchapat University. We ate, drank, played Yahtzee, and talked to Mike's neighbors. Some new people just moved in and are staying just 5 months I think. They were born in Laos but now live in Canada-pretty interesting people. So even though we didn't get to eat turkey and play beer frisbee for Christmas, it was still a fun night. It didn't feel like Christmas at all though-just another night in U-dit.

It also didn't feel like Christmas when Tony got a can of Heineken for Christmas from one of his students...at school! I walked into the office on Friday to see a probably 20 oz. can of Heineken sitting on his desk with a green bow wrapped around it! Something I'll never see in America. We all had a good laugh about it.

Another random thing I won't see in America (I don't think) is a flight for $27.54. I forgot to mention after my holiday in October that that's how much my flight back to Bangkok cost from Ubon Ratchatani! The flight was just one hour, but I still think that was very cheap.

We get Monday (Christmas Eve) off for the elections. Voting is today, but I think they give an extra day so people who had to travel home can get back to the city they work in. Then Tuesday morning all bilingual classes have to perform something for Christmas at morning assembly. My class will be singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Although most Thais are Buddhist and don't celebrate Christmas, they still like the holiday-the family I tutor has a Christmas tree, there are Christmas decorations at many houses and businesses, we're putting on Christmas performances at school, etc. It will be fun to see some Christmas performances, and it will take away some teaching time! I'm pretty excited about that.

Pai

2007-12-11T09:03:00.000+07:00

Last week we had off from school on Wednesday for the King's 80th birthday and Father's Day. We also had off this Monday for Constitution Day. So Berret, Mike, and I decided to take off the Thursday and Friday and have a long weekend in Pai.

Pai is about 7-8 hours north of Uttaradit, and the main reason I wanted to go was because Mike went last year and said it gets so cold you can see your breath!!! I also heard it was supposed to be a very beautiful place and full of young travelers and Thais from Bangkok mostly. Well, all of those things seemed to be true, and it was a great 6 days!

Mike and I left Wednesday morning on the 5:30 am bus to Chiang Mai. We got there about 4 hours later and went to the airport to pick up Pam, Mike's girlfriend, who was flying in from Bangkok. Then the three of us took a mini bus to Pai which was probably a 3 1/2 hour ride up the windy mountainside. There were some very sharp corners and some very sketchy driving done by everybody on the road but we eventually made it to Pai.

That was the day of the King's birthday so the town was actually not very busy that night. There is a law that alcohol cannot be served on his birthday so the town was pretty quiet. We did manage to find a pharmacy that sold us a bottle of whiskey though, so we bought that and took it back to our guest house. On our way back we saw a little bit of a parade but it wasn't very interesting so we didn't stop to watch it.

Later that night at our guest house one of the owners brought us a paper lantern to light and let go (I think for the King's birthday) just like the ones at Loy Krathong. I let him, Mike and Pam do it while I took pictures. It was pretty cool to see up close though. There was a little ring of something on the inside that they lit to make it rise. But it took awhile to get it hot enough to rise.

The rest of the holiday we didn't do much else besides eat and drink. Berret and Meow (her boyfriend) came Friday but we continued to keep our routine of eating, checking out the town, and then enjoying happy hour and the night.

Sunday afternoon Berret, Meow, and I took a mini bus back to Chiang Mai where we met Tony and stayed for a night. We went to the Sunday market but there were TONS of people there so we didn't stay long. After that we just checked out some restaurants and bars and then made our way back to where we were staying.

Monday afternoon Tony drove me home from Chiang Mai. It was an interesting and scary ride!! The gears in his car got messed up part way home. This has happened to him before-they just "go out" apparently and he can't tell what gear he's in and he has trouble finding the gear he wants. That in itself was scary. But then the car would just shut off randomly too! Okay, not too big of deal...until we're going through windy mountains and he mentions that when the car shuts off the power steering goes out too!!! Just what I wanted to hear as we're driving along high, curvy roads! And along with all of that we have the regular Thai drivers all around us. By regular Thai drivers I mean vehicles that will pass around blind corners, drivers, who will pass over 7 cars at once rather than waiting for the rest of the cars to pass, and drivers who will pull out into oncoming traffic and expect the oncoming traffic to pull over and wait for them to pass (there were big semis with flame symbols and other symbols on the back of their truck that were part of all this crazy driving as well!). Scary! We witnessed 3 or 4 charter buses traveling together pass probably 5 cars while traffic was coming right at them. The vehicles coming at them did pull over, but gosh, what if they didn't see them coming, couldn't pull over in time, couldn't pull over because there was no spot to, etc. Wow! It was a crazy experience, and I was VERY happy when Tony dropped me off at the bus station so I could pick my motor bike up and drive to my house. I was home safely!

Altogether it was a great holiday! I certainly wasn't excited to go back to school today. But it turns out Friday all of Pratom 1 (the students I teach) are taking a walking field trip around Uttaradit. I will go with them and it will be a longer day than usual, but I won't have to teach!! So it's really just a 3 day week for me!

Update

2007-11-24T10:17:00.000+07:00

Alright, I've finally finished writing about my holiday!! It took almost a month-wow, sorry! Since I've gotten back lots of things have happened. We went to a bike festival, my helmet got stolen for a second time, I met a super cute and nice Thai man, got a Thai tattoo, got a flat tire, almost got a ticket for not wearing a helmet, had another English camp, celebrated Mike's birthday, and Saturday was a holiday-Loy Krathong.

The bike festival was almost right when we got back from holiday. Tons of people (mostly men) from around Thailand came to Uttaradit for the first part of the northern bike week. Apparently there were other stops after this. I'm not sure. What I do know is we went and there were tons of "tricked out" motorcycles there. Is "tricked out" right? I guess I've been here too long. What I'm saying though is there were super nice motorcycles there, and some crazy ones with really long handle bars, or really high, etc. I don't know how people drove some of them. And the paint jobs were amazing! I unfortunately didn't have my camera with. There were a bunch of food stands, a local band who plays at a bar we go to played some music, and Karabow-a very popular Thai band played some music. This was also where I met the most handsome Thai man I have ever seen. I talked to him a lot of the night and we still talk now. Unfortunately he lives down close to Bangkok which is pretty far from where I live. The bike festival is also where my helmet got stolen. That was my second helmet in less than 4 months!

Now about my Thai tattoo. I bet you're wondering where it is. It's on my left leg-haha! A Thai tattoo is actually a burn from a motor bike exhaust pipe. I learned the term from my roommate I think. Apparently pretty much anyone who drives a motor bike in Thailand gets one. There are some islands down south where travelers can rent motor bikes and I guess almost everyone there is just walking around with a Thai tatoo. I actually didn't get mine from my own bike though-I like to think I'm smarter than that! I got mine at school getting off my bike. I had squeezed in between two bikes to park and getting off I bumped my leg on the bike next to me. Apparently the owner of that bike had just gotten to school too. Now I'll have something to remind me of Thailand forever.

I got my second flat tire two weeks ago. I was on my way to school Thursday night to meet one of student's mom. I thought my bike felt a little wobbly so I tried to see if I had a flat tire. I couldn't tell, so I kept driving. Unfortunately there was a "helmet trap" set up. I use that term instead of speed trap like at home. Basically there were 3 cops on my side of the road and one on the opposite side. And no, I still hadn't bought a new helmet. So yes, I got pulled over. The first cop just pointed at my head. I told him it had been stolen even though he probably couldn't speak English, and it wouldn't have mattered anyway. He just waved me up to the next officer who was writing out tickets. While I waited for him to write out other people's tickets I tried to look at my tire again. As he finished writing the ticket for the person in front of me the cop on the other side of the road was yelling at him in Thai. The officer looked at my tire and said, "bai bai" which means go. So I was stuck. I didn't think I should drive on a flat tire but I also didn't want to sit there in case they decided they should still write me a ticket. So I pulled up a little bit and was going to call Berret to pick me up. Just then I see Jon staring out the window of the car next to me. He asked if I needed help. I explained the situation and his Thai mom got out of the car, talked to the police officers, then made Jon push my bike to a place to get the tire fixed while I road in the car. I told her I could push my bike but she insisted that I get in the car and Jon push! So although getting a flat tire is no fun, it helped me get out of a ticket!!

Last weekend we had the Prathom 5 English camp at school. It was supposed to be first term but got pushed back to second term. The camp was Saturday and Sunday so we had to teach all weekend. 12 days straight of teaching-yuck! Needless to say we were all VERY excited to have some time off this weekend. For the camp each of us foreign teachers had a topic. Mine was eating and meeting. We each had two Thai teachers to help us. Mine were my bilingual class co-teacher and my non-bilingual classes co-teacher. We set up a fake restaurant and taught students how to order in English. The kids really liked it...because there was food involved! Even though it was fun teaching, it was tiring. Group after group came both days and it was hot outside so I was glad when it was over on Sunday!

Mike's birthday was Thursday...also Thanksgiving for you all back home. We went out for dinner and then went to a karaoke bar. It got to be a late night which made teaching hard on Friday, but it was well worth it. Yes, we had to teach Thursday and Friday while you all had off. But don't feel bad for me-we get plenty of time off in December!! But no, not for Christmas.

Finally, Loy Krathong. Loy Krathong is a holiday celebrated in Thailand. People float small boat/raft things, called a krathong (about the size of a hand) down a river. The krathong is usually made from a banana tree and is decorated with banana leaves, candles, flowers, and incense sticks. I read online that letting the krathong go symbolizes letting go of your grudges, anger, etc. so you can start on a fresh foot. I also heard though that it is to thank the rivers. We joined in the celebration in Uttaradit. Berret's teacher made a krathong for me on Friday, so I bought some flowers and incense to put on it and then let it float. There were also fireworks and a bunch of food since it was a festival. It was cool to see because there were hundreds, maybe even thousands of krathongs lit up, floating down the river. And that was just here-this is done all throughout Thailand. There were also paper lantern things for sale. I don't know how they worked, but something inside was lit on fire and then they were let up into the sky. It was beautiful to look up and see all of them floating by. I took pictures of all of this, but they didn't turn out that well. It is definitely something to see in person!

This week we teach all 5 days, then we're going to Chiang Mai for the weekend. The next week we get off the 5th for the King's birthday. A few of us are also taking off the 6th and 7th to go to Pai. Pai apparently gets really cold in the night. Mike insists you can even see your breath. I can't wait for this since it is still hot here every day. We also get the 10th off for Constitution Day or something, and more time toward the end of December I think. Needless to say, we're all looking forward to the end of this week so we're closer to holiday!!

This post was very random, but I feel like I've caught you all up on everything now...at least the bigger things! Please let me know if I can clarify anything for you, because I know I just sort of rambled and I didn't go into depth on some of the stuff. I never know how much to write. I don't want to be too vague, but I also don't want to bore you all!

Ubon Ratchathani

2007-11-23T07:36:00.000+07:00

Ubon Ratchathani was our first stop back in Thailand. We had read about it and thought it might be a fun city, but it really wasn't that great. When we arrived we walked around to see the city and find a place for lunch. After close to an hour of walking and not seeing much we found a cute little bakery/deli type place to eat at.

We tried to go to a movie in the afternoon, but they only had one or two in English and they weren't something we wanted to see. I was sad because I really wanted movie theatre popcorn! Instead we went back to our hotel room and played cards. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but gambling is illegal in Thailand. Because of that we usually don't play cards or other games in public.

That night we found a restaurant with a bunch of foreign people. We ate there, went to a few bars (none were that great), and went back to the hotel.

The next morning we went to a Starbucks (yes, they're everywhere!), ate lunch and went to the airport to fly to Bangkok. When we got to Bangkok we took a taxi to the train station. We ate supper and Dairy Queen there!! Then we got on the overnight train. We found our beds and then found the bar car. Berret was very excited for that as was I because I'd never been on an overnight train before so I had never been on the bar car-the normal train doesn't have one. We had a few drinks then went to bed. We arrived back in Uttaradit just before 6 am that Sunday morning. And that was my holiday!! Unfortunately we had to be back to teach the very next day. But the time off was good and the traveling was amazing! I met so many people and saw so many things. It was such a good experience; something I will never forget!

Pakse, Laos

2007-11-22T17:47:00.000+07:00

Our final city in Laos was Pakse. We had traveled through before, but now we stayed for two nights. This was another low key city. Our trip was sadly coming to an end. The excitement in Pakse was getting another cheap foot massage, sitting on a rooftop bar watching a beautiful sunset, eating and liking Indian food for the second time and going to Vat Phou.

Vat Phou is a ruined Khmer temple complex. We climbed a big hill and a lot of steps to see it. We had heard about it a lot, but I really wasn't that impressed unfortunately. We spent about an hour or two there if that-including the walk up and back down. Then we ate lunch and went back to Pakse.

Our next move was a bus ride from Pakse over the border to Thailand...boooo!! We rode a bus from Pakse to the border, went through immigration, and then stayed in Ubon Ratchathani for one night.

Si Phan Don

2007-11-18T21:16:00.000+07:00

When we arrived in Pakse that morning we ate a quick breakfast and then took a mini bus to another small town. From there we got on a boat to go to Don Det Island. Down south there is an area called Si Phan Don (4,000 islands). I'm not sure exactly what the story is, but the Mekong River gets really wide down there-maybe 14 kilometers-so there are some channels, sandbars, and islands. Don Det is just one of the islands. We stayed there one night. We heard it was a very relaxing place and it was, but Berret and I were both looking for something a little more modern after that night. We knew going in that there was not electricity all the time. They also tell you when you check in to your guesthouse when the electricity gets shut off at that particular one. Our electricity was on from about 6-10 pm. It wasn't a huge deal having no electricity except that it was SO hot. No air conditioning which was fine, but also no fan. Hot, still air all night. Yuck!

But let me go back and tell you about our day on Don Det. We arrived and walked to many, many guesthouses because I was picky and wanted a bathroom in our bungalow rather than sharing one outside with other guests-this includes showers (bucket showers most likely) and Berret wanted a bungalow that had a good view of the river and two hammocks. Eventually we settled for one and we both got our way. But let me tell you, we were SWEATY...we had lugged our huge backpacks around this entire time in the heat of the day. So we both showered and then started exploring the island.

We rented bicycles from a guesthouse and went all around our island and to the one right next to us. It was a really great experience. We got to say hello to the locals in their villages, we saw very beautiful scenery and weird scenery as well. At one house they had a pig and piglet tied up underneath their house. It looked like they were the people's pets! On the island next to us we saw a really gorgeous waterfall. Unfortunately the pictures I took don't do it justice. While biking on the islands we had to dodge a bunch of big potholes. Many of those potholes were filled with muddy water. Sometimes we went through them if there was no way to get around them. Once Berret actually lost her balance and stuck her foot ankle deep into a mud puddle. It was really funny to me at the time, and luckily she laughs about it now too!

We also went to a Halloween party while on Don Det. It was a few days before Halloween but some foreigners picked a bar and told everyone there would be a party that night. Some people dressed up and there were jack-o-lanterns because there is a lot of pumpkin stuff cooked on the island. It was kind of cool that a traveler set it up, because otherwise it would have been just another day, not Halloween.

The next day we took a small boat north about an hour and a half or so to Khong Island. The ride was hot and uncomfortable because there was no top on the boat and we sat on a flat board the entire time, but it was still fun. We saw many people on the way. Some were bathing, some were fishing, some were playing, etc. Children absolutely loved to see us. They would wave and yell and jump up and down-it was so cute! Khong Island was more developed than Don Det. We had electricity all day and night, but there really wasn't much to do. We basically hung out on the river reading, playing cards, talking to travelers and natives, etc.

And that was basically Si Phan Don. Pretty low key, but still a good time. We took a boat back to Champasak, and got a mini bus Pakse-our last Laos city.

Vientiane, Laos

2007-11-16T16:07:00.000+07:00

From Vang Vieng we took another bus to Vientiane. This ride was probably close to the same distance as the last ride, but the road was not as windy so it didn't take as long to get there. We arrived in Vientiane and stayed at Joe Guesthouse. No, not Joe's, just Joe-haha! This guesthouse cost us $13 a night.

We didn't know it, but we were in Vientiane at the time of a boat festival. The street we stayed on was a huge market all day and night (until midnight). There were shops set up for blocks and they went down some side streets as well. There was constantly music blaring from speakers. Usually it was good either Thai or Laos music (maybe it's the same-it sounded like Thai music!), but more than once every day we heard the song, "she wore an itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, yellow polka dot bikini." Needless to say we were going crazy because of that song by the time we left Vientiane!

While we were in Vientiane we checked out some of the shops and beer gardens that were set up along the river. There were tents set up for blocks along the river, it was crazy! The beer gardens also sold food, so we ate there sometimes so we could have a relaxing time by the river. But we also ate at a Tex-Mex restaurant. We had chips and salsa, margaritas and enchiladas-delicious!

We saw the Victory Monument, the Ho Phra Keo Museum and the Sisaket Museum (the museums were not very interesting). One day we also took a trip to a Buddha Park. I'm not sure what the actual name of it was, but there were just several statues of Buddhas and other religious symbols. I didn't know what many of them represented, but it was interesting to see it all anyway. There are also pictures of that on the website that you can check out.

The last event that I remember from Vientiane, and probably the most exciting was the boat races. The last day we were there the boat races were held. We tried to get down by the river to watch them but the crowd was too big. We had to settle about half way down under a tent (luckily because it was HOT). We were sitting behind a huge crowd that was cheering for the same team, so when that boat came by everybody around us was crazy-they won too! It was pretty cool to see the races. Each boat had probably 50-60 men on it all rowing in rhythm. I have never seen something like it before. I was very impressed! Eventually we got hot and tired of being in such a big crowd so we went to a rooftop bar where we could eat and also see the races. It was great because we could still catch the action but we didn't have to be in it. That same day we took a night bus to Pakse. We left around 8:30 pm and arrived in Pakse at about 6:00 am.

Vang Vieng, Laos

2007-11-14T20:50:00.000+07:00

From Luang Prabong we took a bus to Vang Vieng. I don't remember anymore how long the ride was, maybe 6 or 8 hours. The roads were very windy-I literally almost fell out of my seat into the aisle a few times!

We stayed at a guesthouse called Sunset Home that had a view of mountains and it looked over the river. Vang Vieng is situated on the Nam Song River and is known for tubing because of that. There are several places to rent tubes and there are many bars along the river on the way down. A few of these bars had rope swings that customers could use to jump into the river. That in itself was great entertainment. Some people would do flips into the river while others would bellyflop or fall flat on their back. We tubed a few different times. The first time was interesting. We had read that there would be young kids near the end who would offer to take our tubes back to the rental place, but that we shouldn't let them because we would end up paying for the tube. So when we got toward the end and saw the kids we kept going and didn't let them take our tubes. Another trick was that bars had put signs up saying it was the last stop, or 'the end-get out here'. There were so many signs we didn't know where the real end was. We ended up going past it! So instead we climbed up somebody's personal steps to get to the riverbank. However, in the process I cut my foot in two spots on rocks in the river. I was really mad and frustrated at the time but now my foot is healed, so I can laugh about it.

Just a side note-Vang Vieng was said to be one of the most dangerous cities in Laos (according to a Lonely Planet book) because of the water activities mixed with the bars, and because you could order your food "happy" at any of the bars. "Happy" meant it could come with marijuana, opium, mushrooms, or meth in it. No, I didn't order anything happy. But I did enjoy the tubing and bars!!

We met up with the Nakon people again (Berret's old roommate and other teachers) in Vang Vieng. We tubed with them one day and then went to an Indian restaurant with them. I have never eaten Indian food. Shockingly, it wasn't too bad!

Another day Berret and I did a group day tour to some caves. First we rode in a truck to a drop off point at the river out of Vang Vieng. From there we kayaked a short distance and got out. We walked through a small village and got to the first cave. There were inner tubes waiting there for us because the cave is filled with water. We all had to put lights on our heads so we could see where we were going in the cave because there wasn't a lot of head room. We were nervous because we were putting wires around our necks and then going into the water! Our guide insisted they were waterproof though, and of course they were. So we tubed into the cave where there was a rope to hold onto to guide us. There was a point where we had to stand up and walk our tubes through (there was more head room here but we still had to crouch), and eventually we got to an opening. Our guide said we could swim there if we wanted to. I think maybe two people actually went in to the deeper part to swim. I didn't, because as some of you may know, I am not that strong of a swimmer, and it was dark, so I was a little creeped out about what might have been in there!! After that cave we walked back to the village and went to a cave there. That cave was dry and light. The main attraction of that cave was an elephant that had naturally formed in the rock wall. There were also Buddha images, etc. in that cave. After the second cave we ate lunch, then set off for a 1 1/2 hour kayak trip. We kayaked down the river back to Vang Vieng, stopped at one bar for a few hours, then finished kayaking into town. And that was our day trip!

Our nights in Vang Vieng consisted mostly of watching Friends. Berret and I don't pay for cable at our house so we can only watch DVDs. Because of that we have really missed sitcoms (we do have Sex and the City and Seinfeld seasons on DVD but we've seen them all many times!). Vang Vieng was very popular for having restaurants that played reruns of Friends and instead of having tables and chairs like a regular restaurant they had more like bed areas where you lounged around to eat and drink. It was very relaxing!

The last thing to mention about Vang Vieng is the Smile Bar. It was a bar on an island that we could walk to from our guesthouse. This bar was outside and they had several little hut like things with hammocks set up in them. Berret and I just laid around in the hammocks most of one afternoon. It was amazing because it was right on the river. We could watch people tube or kayak by and we could see the mountains. Check out my pictures if you get a chance. I have a picture from the Smile Bar on there.

Vang Vieng was basically a city to relax in. Everything was very laid back, and we loved it! We actually ended up staying there one more day than we had planned because we enjoyed it so much. The next stop was Vientiane-the capital city.

Luang Prabong, Laos

2007-11-08T16:26:00.000+07:00

The morning of the 18th Berret and I took a mini bus to the Don Muang airport in Bangkok. We had to get there early because we had to get reentry stamps in our passports so our visa would still be valid when we returned. The whole process went pretty quick and smooth compared to what I expected. From there it was to the plane.

We arrived in Luang Prabong, went through immigration, and officially started our Laos trip!! It was a big deal because this trip was talked about for a long time, then we thought we wouldn't get enough holiday to make it worth while, but in the end we did!

Luang Prabong was a great place to start our trip. It is located in north central Laos and is a small, gorgeous city. It used to be the capital of Laos. Now it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. I don't understand exactly what that means but I think it basically means it was an important place and now they want to preserve that. As far as I know buildings have to be kept up to a certain standard, they can't build a lot more things in the city, etc. Anyway...it was a beautiful city.

It was here that I started thinking that Lao people are even more laid back than Thai people. They were so friendly-always smiling and saying hi (sabaai dee). And they were much more relaxed on their motor bikes. Thai people drive crazy! I noticed right away in Luang Prabong that nobody, and I mean nobody, was wearing a helmet. But they drive so slowly and cautiously that it probably wasn't really needed there. So laid back! There were people with helmets in other Lao cities though. Oh, and speaking of helmets-mine was stolen at the bike festival we had in U-dit this past weekend-that was #2!

The first night we were in L.P. we met up with Berret's old roommate from down south and some of the teachers from that school. We went out to eat and then went to a pretty cool bar where there were a ton of foreigners! We were home before midnight because Laos has a law saying businesses have to shut down by midnight. One bar explained that the city shuts down at midnight because most Lao people get up by 4 am or so to give alms to the monks and then they start their day. There was apparently a bowling alley in L.P. that stayed open later, but if you went there you would have to wake up your guesthouse owner when you got back because they lock the gate. So Berret and I were home by midnight every night in Laos.

While in L.P. we rented bikes to ride around the town. It's so small you could basically bike or walk anywhere. We got bikes and rode them all around. We stopped by some temples, took some pictures of scenery, biked over a bridge that only bikers and motor bikers could cross, etc. I got really hot part way through and ended up going back into the main part of town to relax. I ended up getting a 50,000 kip foot massage...sounds expensive, huh? It wasn't! The currency in Laos is Kip and $1=10,000 Kip so my massage was just $5 for an hour! We were carrying around thousands of kip-it was pretty crazy! At one point Berret exchanged a lot of Baht (Thai currency) and ended up with a huge pile of Kip.

We took a trip to the National Museum in L.P. which was formerly the Royal Palace. You were not allowed to take any purses, bags, etc. inside and NO cameras. So I have no pictures of this, but the palace was amazing. The rooms were huge and it was decorated gorgeously.

We also went on a day trip to the PakOu caves and a whiskey plantation one day. We were picked up on a motor bike and brought to a small boat where we rode with 3 other people...at first. We stopped for gas along the way on the river but our boat wouldn't start after that! So we had to climb in another boat with 5 other people. We stopped at a whiskey plantation where we could buy souvenirs, go to a temple, and see the way the people in that village lived. I took some pictures of a woman weaving knowing Grandma might be interested in it! From there we got back on the boat and went to the PakOu caves. Tham Ting was the lower of the two caves and was open and light inside, but the upper one, Tham Phum was deep and dark. We had to use flashlights to see inside.

The trip was from early in the morning until early afternoon. When we got back we ate some lunch and then got a ride to a waterfall that was nearby. It was just Berret and I in the back of this truck/taxi. We got a chance to see some beautiful scenery and some very friendly and excited Lao people. Any children we passed would basically jump up and down waving-I think because we rode so far out of town they aren't as used to seeing foreigners and just love to see them! It was so cute and it never got old-we would wave just as big!

The waterfall was called Kuang Si Waterfall. I have pictures up on my Kodak site that you can check out. It was super high. And the water was a beautiful blue color I had never seen before-but of course you can't see it as well in my pictures-isn't that how it always works! Berret and I saw a guy part way up the waterfall so we thought we should try to go up too. Well, there were no steps like we had hoped for. We just hiked up the side of the hill to get there. When we got as high as the man had been we had to climb through bits of the waterfall to get to the dry part where he had been. The rocks that we crossed were wet and slippery and Berret ended up falling flat on her butt once. I felt bad because it looked like it hurt, but she was okay. And luckily she didn't fall further-there was a little stick guarding the edge, but I don't really think it would have held anyone if they fell into it! But when we got to the open place the man had been the view was great. It was totally worth climbing up!

We spent a few hours at the waterfall and then went back into the city. On the way back Berret gave me more Thai lessons. Yes, I am slowly (very slowly) learning some Thai. There are some days I am totally into learning it, but others where I just don't care. At least I make an effort some days!

The only other really fun thing we did in L.P. that I can remember is going to a night market. They had it every night. It was several blocks long. The people would set out all their goods on the ground and just wait for buyers. And when somebody did buy something they would take the money they received and hit the items they still had for sale-I think they thought it was lucky and that someone would come buy those things too. I bought a small bag there for less than $5 when in America I'm sure I would have paid at least $10-$15. I am always amazed by the prices of things. We stayed at a guesthouse in L.P. two nights for $8 total!!! No, it was not super nice. We did move part way through to one that was a little nicer and a little more expensive. But it was still cheap-maybe $6/night instead of $4. I don't remember for sure.

And that was Luang Prabong, Laos. Of course there is so much more I could write, but these were the main things. And sorry if things are a bit rambly or confusing/out of order. I'm trying my best, but my memory can't hold it all in perfectly! Next up is Vang Vieng.

Bangkok

2007-11-08T15:40:00.000+07:00

I left Ko Samet early on the 17th. I took the ferry back to Ban Phe and took a mini bus to Bangkok which I had set up on Ko Samet. When I got to Bangkok I was dropped off close to Khao San Road which is where the majority of backpackers from around the world stay when they go to Bangkok. It was quite overwhelming. I had a huge backpack on, there were people everywhere, and I had no idea where I was going! I asked a few random Thai people where D&D was-I knew that was the hotel I wanted to stay at-and eventually made it there.

I checked in to the hotel and then went to see what Khao San is all about. It's basically a one-way street that is filled with vendors, restaurants, bars, and tourists. Taxis and tuk-tuks are almost the only vehicles that drive through because there's so much foot traffic. I meant to take a picture, but forgot. Next time I go to Bangkok I will get one. It is just crazy busy! I walked up and down both sides looking at everything that was for sale, had something to eat, and then went back to D&D to check that out.

The top floor of D&D is open. There was a swimming pool, a bar, an internet shop, a beauty salon, and a place to get massages. Then there were also just a few open deck areas with some chairs and tables. Needless to say I went to get a massage right away. That was my first Thai massage and after I was finished I wasn't sure I would ever get another. They don't really massage you too much, instead they twist and bend you and then push on you. Ouch! I liked maybe 60% of it-the rest of the time I was just uncomfortable. But it was a good experience anyway. If it hadn't been for the pain it would have been very relaxing. It was in a small wooden hut like thing where the windows and doors were open so there was a nice breeze. I also got a pedicure when I was there. Things like that are so cheap here it's hard to pass them up!

I stayed in Bangkok one night alone and Berret came the next evening. She and I checked out a little more of the city. We took a boat to a great Mexican bar called Coyote. It was ladies night so we had free margaritas until 9. The food was great and we had chips and salsa!!!! After that we walked around the streets and through a market. And...we went to a ping pong show. I'll just leave it at that. If you know what it is, you'll understand, if not, ask me sometime and maybe I'll tell you what it is. After watching the show for about 30 minutes we left and were off to bed. The next day...Laos!

Ko Samet

2007-11-06T17:26:00.000+07:00

Ko Samet was my next stop for holiday. Or should I write Kohsamed or Ko Samed?? The funny thing about Thailand, and Laos for that matter, is it seems there is no definite way to spell some city names. They are spelled differently many places, including maps and travel books!

Anyway...I was dropped off by the bus in Rayong. From there I had to get to the Ban Phe pier which was maybe 20 minutes away. I tried to get a ride by myself, but the drivers were really trying to rip me off. I saw a foreign man and Thai woman close by and talked to them. They were going to Ko Samet too, so I asked if we could all ride to Ban Phe together. They had no problem with it and I figured since there was a Thai woman we would get a fairly cheap ride. I was wrong, we still got ripped off, just not as bad as I would have by myself. And the driver didn't drop us off at the pier. Instead she took us to a travel agent, where I'm sure she got commission for bringing travelers. I had read before we got there that you should buy a ticket at the pier for 50 Baht. When we talked to the people at the travel office they said that you couldn't buy a ticket at the pier anymore and they were charging 100 Baht at their office. I had read about scams like this, so I chose to walk to the pier instead and find out for myself. The other two travelers decided the travel office probably wasn't lying even after I explained what I had read. So I walked a few blocks to the pier and sure enough, there was a ticket booth-and tickets were 50 Baht!! Although I only saved 50 Baht, I was proud of myself for being aware of the scam. And shortly after I reached the ticket booth, the man I had ridden with showed up beside me and saw they were just 50 Baht...he was disappointed!

So I took my ticket and got on a ferry and rode over to Ko Samet with all Thai people. Ko Samet is probably the closest island to Bangkok so a lot of people from there like to go to Ko Samet on the weekends to get away. When I got there I walked to the beach right before the one I wanted to stay at. By that time I was tired and hot and just decided to stay there instead. Ko Samet has many beaches on the east side and Ivan had suggested I stay at Ao Phutsa, but I ended up stopping one beach before at Ao Phai. I found a cheap place to stay and went to the beach to have some lunch and a few drinks. I also had some entertainment because some island workers were playing a game of soccer right next to where I was eating.

I stayed on Ko Samet I think 5 days or so (my memory isn't that sharp after traveling and loafing around for a month!). While I was there I checked out 5 of the beaches on the east side, swam in the Gulf of Thailand, tanned on the beach, read a lot, ate and drank. I basically relaxed for 5 days and it was amazing!! Talked to some other travelers and...met a Thai guy! Don't worry, no marriage plans in the near future-haha! I met him at the bar he bartends at. I ended up going there two nights. He and the other bartenders at that bar could speak English pretty well and they taught me a little bit of Thai. He asked for my number and has been calling me since I left. But don't worry, I won't end up staying here because of him or anything. I don't agree with the way Thai men live. You can ask my mom about that, or you can ask me sometime if you're curious. :)

And that's my trip to Ko Samet in a nutshell. I thought I'd get bored traveling by myself, but I didn't at all. It was GREAT!

Pattaya English Camp

2007-11-06T16:41:00.000+07:00

In my mind October 8th started my holiday, even though we had the English camp the 8th-11th. We rode a bus overnight to Pattaya and arrived around 6 the next morning. We had a chance to shower, take a small nap if we wanted, and eat breakfast. Then it was time to start our first activity.

Us foreign teachers were partnered up to teach and the students rotated through us in groups of about 6 people. I was paired with Ivan. He and I taught the kids a true/false game. We would say something like "Pattaya is in Canada," and the kids would have to run to the true side or the false side. The person who got there last was out, or if they went to the wrong side they were out. It was fun and there were only a few minor collisions!

The next big activity was the Tiger Zoo in Sriricha. It was pretty cool. We got to see some shows. We got to see people sticking their hands, heads, etc. in crocodiles mouths. We also got to see an elephant show where the elephants played basketball, stepped over volunteers from the audience who layed down, picked their trainer up in their trunk, etc. And we saw a show with tigers jumping through rings of fire, sitting on their hind legs, etc. It was all pretty cool. The crocodile show was a little scary because it was storming at the time and right as one guy put his head inside the crocodiles mouth there was a HUGE clap of thunder. I thought for sure the mouth was going to chomp down on his head!!

From there we went back to the beach so the kids could swim, then we ate supper and the kids went to bed. Of course, us foreigners took that chance to check out the city. We went to a few bars, but none were that great. Maybe it had something to do with how tired we were too though!

The next day we went to a nature zoo. We basically rode around on a trolley through an open zoo. It was pretty cool. I don't remember ever going to an open zoo back home-are there any??

That night we went to a revolving restaurant that was thirty-some stories up. It was pretty cool. At first I couldn't tell we were even revolving because it was pretty slow, but soon the food we had been sitting by (it was buffet style) was gone and there was different food by us...and the view of the city had changed! We spent a few hours there. It was pretty cool for the students, and for us teachers!

The next day we just did stuff at the resort, then it was time to go to an aquarium. But Tony and I didn't go since we were both staying south for the holiday and the aquarium was north on the way back to U-dit. Tony stayed in Pattaya for a few days so he just took his bag and found a place to stay. The director took me in his van and got me on a bus to Rayong which was the stop right before the pier to get to Ko Samet. That will be the next post!

I have to say though that I have been back to teaching for 2 days now, and I'm in the same place as when I left in October...not liking it!! Just 20 weeks though-that's Mike's count down at least...hopefully he's right!

Last day of holiday-nooooooo!

2007-11-04T08:23:00.000+07:00

Well, today (Sunday) is my last day of holiday. We got home this morning at a little before 6 on an overnight train from Bangkok. Although it is nice to know I won't be living out of luggage anymore for awhile, I am not happy to have to teach tomorrow.

We had the English camp in Pattaya October 8-11. After that I didn't go to Bangkok like I had planned. Instead, I went to a small island in the Gulf of Thailand called Ko Samet. I stayed there for about 5 days, then went to Bangkok for 2 nights where I met up with Berret the 2nd night. The next day we flew to Luang Prabong, Laos. We spent about 3 days there then took a bus down to Vang Vieng, Laos. Four days later we took another bus to the capital of Laos-Vientanne. We bummed around Vientanne for 3 days or so then took an overnight bus down south. There we went to Si Pan Don (4,000 islands). We spent one night on Don Det then moved to Khong Island for 2 days. Then it was back to land (okay, I know...islands are land too)-Pakse, Laos for 2 days. Sadly our next move was back to Ubon Ratchatoni, Thailand on a bus. We spent just one day there, flew to Bangkok, got on the overnight train, and here I am. That's October 8-November 4, 2007 for me!

Hopefully throughout this week I will write about each individual leg of the journey. Right now I'm a little tired because of the train ride. It was about 10 hours long. I slept maybe 5 hours-but it was off and on since we were always making stops. Anyway...I'll do my best to catch this up quickly and get some pictures posted. Laos was absolutely beautiful! I would love to spend a LOT more time there. If you ever get the chance...GO!! And if you do go within the next year let me know. You can visit me on your way, and I'll go vacation with you in Laos too!

Holiday

2007-10-07T16:12:00.000+07:00

First term ends for our school this week. I am done teaching until November. But we do have one more school obligation before we can officially be on holiday. Tomorrow we have to take a bus down to Pattaya for an English camp for the P3 students. We will leave around 8 pm, travel through the night and get to Pattaya around 6-7 am, I think. I'm not looking forward to that, but it'll be okay. The camp itself should be pretty fun and easy. It sounds like we basically just play games with the students so they can practice speaking and listening to English. There are also day trips that we will go on. I think mostly to zoos, but I don't remember for sure-I just glanced at the itinerary.

After the camp is finished I will take a bus from Pattaya to Bangkok and spend about a week there. I will go by myself, but throughout my week I might see Mike and Tony (at different times) and Berret will come the last night I'm there. Then she and I are going to Laos for two weeks. I'm pretty excited about the whole holiday, but a little nervous to be alone the first time I go to Bangkok. It's quite touristy though, so it should be just fine. And I can't imagine I will get bored with so much to do!

So with all of that I will be gone for about a month. We have to be back to teach November 5th. When I get back I will update this and of course, put up new pictures too!!

Chiang Mai

2007-09-25T07:26:00.000+07:00

Last weekend Mike and I traveled to Chiang Mai by train. I have been here over two months so I could go extend my Visa. With the type of Visa I have, I had to go to immigration to extend it sometime between the second and third month I was here. So I took advantage of getting a day off and went now rather than waiting to do it in the middle of my holiday time in October. We left Friday after school and took the Rapid Express train, which was rapid, but it was also late picking us up. So we arrived in Chiang Mai after 8 pm.

We checked into our hotel-the Top North Hotel. Then we ate at a place called Mike's Original. It was an outdoor restaurant with hotdogs and chicken sandwiches. Not the foreign food I would have chosen to eat-I had chicken and it really wasn't that good at all. That night we went to a rooftop bar called THC. It was very cool-it was on a rooftop so you could look up at the sky, but it was cloudy so that part didn't matter too much. But there was good music, good drinks, and the atmosphere was great. People just sat and layed around-there were short tables and you sat on the floor. There were black lights and great decorations everywhere.

Saturday Mike and I went shopping at some bookstores-Mike is a science fiction freak!! So while he shopped for books I tagged along and just looked. Then we went to the Chiang Mai Saloon for lunch. I had a very tasty grilled cheese sandwich there. I know, who eats grilled cheese at a restaurant...but I miss simple food like that! We proceeded to waste most of our afternoon there having drinks and playing random games that we made up. Afterwards we went back to our hotel and swam in the pool. That night we went to the night bizarre which had some very cool crafts and other items for sale. I bought a few DVDs for our house because we have a TV but we don't pay to have cable-or any shows, so we can only watch DVDs. On our way back from the bizarre we stopped at a bar called John's Place. Then we went home and went to bed.

On Sunday we ate lunch at the Chiang Mai Saloon again. After that we went swimming again, but Mike ended up going back to the room because it was so hot. I still like the sun, even though it is hot every day! Sunday in Chiang Mai is popular for the Sunday Market. It is a HUGE market-several blocks long and wide. So Mike and I walked through that-there was a lot of cool stuff again, but I didn't buy anything. I hope to go back soon though and make some purchases! That night we ate at O'Mahley's for supper. I had lasagna and it was amazing!!! I ate so much I was uncomfortably full. It was great! Then we ended up going to a bar called Marijuana, even though I was so full. I definitely didn't have much to drink-there was no room left. In fact, Mike stopped at the 7-11 on the way back to buy some beer for himself because he still wanted to drink!

Monday morning we were up early to go to immigration-the point of the trip. When we got to the immigration office I was glad Mike was with because there were a few different buildings and I didn't know where to go. So we went to the one Mike said it was and Mike told them what we were there for. They said something to him in Thai and Mike said we had to go to a different building. So we went there, I filled out an application and when I went to turn it in they looked at my Passport and said we were at the wrong building. They sent us back the the first building!! This time we had better luck. I got an application, got my name on the list, and then waited to be called. What I haven't mentioned is that this immigration office is a building with windows-the workers are inside in air conditioning, but we had to wait outside in the sun-it was hot! For the next two hours I went back and forth between my seat and the inside of the office. When they called your name to ask you questions you got to go inside-I liked that part. After two hours of that I was finally finished! Now I just have to mail something in every 3 months to extend my Visa. After I had finished at the Immigration office Mike and I went to the bus station and got a bus home. It was faster and nicer than the train. And that was my trip to Chiang Mai!!

Now I am back teaching this week and next week. After that we go to Pataya for an English camp for 4 days, I think...then it's October holiday!! For that I have about a week in the beginning that I don't have official plans for yet, but then Berret and I are going to Laos for two weeks. That should be a good experience I think. So, I may not write on here for awhile now. But when I get back I will!

10 months left to come and visit!

Parent meeting

2007-09-08T11:21:00.000+07:00

Last Thursday I had a meeting with my students' parents at 5 pm. One mom asked me to meet with the parents to discuss how the class was doing and to share ideas about what could be done at home and school to help the students (the rest of the foreign teachers had already done this but I hadn't because they did it in July when I had just arrived). That same mom studied in America and can speak very good English, so she was going to translate what I said to the parents.

When 5:00 rolled around there were probably 15-20 parents there (I have 36 students), so Pu, the woman who was going to translate, asked if we could wait 5 minutes before we started. About 30 seconds later she asked if I would be willing to talk to the parents who were already there. So I proceeded to talk to each parent individually about their child. It was a bit awkward because although I talked to them individually the rest of the parents heard every conversation I had. So by the end of telling each parent how their child was doing, every parent knew how every child in the class was doing. And even though we were only waiting 5 minutes for the rest of the parents, Pu and I proceeded to talk to every parent as they came in. So, 40 minutes later I had shared very briefly how each student was doing. Then Pu took me to the front of the class, said something in Thai and all of the parents clapped for me-I was a little bit embarrassed/uncomfortable, but I knew it meant they appreciated my comments and my teaching.

I was glad when the meeting was over, because I had not been prepared to share specific information about each student. I had to go off the top of my head on how they were doing in each subject. It was a bit stressful trying to do that, and thinking of something good/positive to say about each child. And I also didn't want to give the same generic positive comment to many parents since they all heard every mini conference. I think having done that will really make me enjoy one-on-one conferences when I get back to America!

Another big piece of news is...I got married!! And divorced already-haha! No, not really. We joke about it though because our school is ridiculous when it comes to filling out paperwork. I have to get a tax card, so my Thai boss gave the paperwork to my American boss and it said Amanda Gardner. Berret, my roommate, is Berret Gardner, so we were all joking about how she and I had gotten married. But now on Friday I received new paperwork with my correct name, so it's official-Berret and I have gotten a divorce! Really though, our school is horrible at completing paperwork accurately. When I received my paperwork for my Visa in July it had my middle and last name switched around, and when Berret had to go to Chiang Mai to renew her Visa her passport number was wrong. And the passport number appears in more than one place on that form and those numbers weren't even the same. AND there weren't even the correct amount of numbers-so it wasn't like they had accidentally put someone elses number-it was just a random number!! Needless to say, she could not renew her Visa that weekend. She had to come back and get new paperwork and go back again another weekend. So if somebody would like to come to Thailand and take over the job of filling out all this paperwork I would really appreciate it! :)

Speaking of, who is planning on coming to Thailand? I would love to have any visitors!!! You're running out of time, only 11 months left! Start booking your flights and let me know when you'll get here.

Phitsanulok

2007-08-26T22:44:00.001+07:00

Hello all!! F.Y.I. I have been here just over one month. Last weekend we did end up going to the Sirikit Dam. It was pretty cool. We went with my Thai co-teacher and another Thai teacher who is a non-bilingual teacher in first grade so I knew them both. The whole day was fun. We "fished" for iron, saw the biggest teak tree in the world, and went to the dam. And then on the way home 3 of us "farang" (foreigners) sat in the back of the truck and drank beer. It was quite a day!

This weekend Berret and I traveled to Phitsanulok by train which took about 1 hour and 40 minutes. It was great because I hadn't been on a train here, or maybe anywhere...?? Again, like the bus when Mike and I went to Sukhothai, it was not a fancy mode of transportation, but it was still fun, and the view was great! And our ticket there cost 21 Baht-that's less than $1!! The cost of that ticket and my lunch on Friday cost about $1.05!!!

We really didn't do anything too exciting in Phitsanulok, but it was a cute little town. We got there Friday at about 6:30 pm. We stayed at a place called Bon Bon Guesthouse (Bonnie, I'll be sending you a picture!!!). Friday night we walked around, saw a night market, checked out some bars and restaurants, and then got an hour long foot massage for 100 Baht!! That's just over $3.

Saturday we walked around a LONG time. We walked to the main temple of Phitsanulok, looked around, and then we wanted to rent a motor bike to go see a waterfall just out of town. When we got to the place we knew about that rented motor bikes, it was closed-even though the sign on the window said "open 24 hours"!!! They must have meant 24 hours a week! So we walked and tried to find a different place to rent one, but did not succeed. It was a looooong, hot day of walking!

In general though Phitsanulok was a very nice town. I hope to go back again and see more. This weekend was low-key, but that was fine too. I had fun!

Oh, and just a small update for you all. As you may recall, I was having problems starting my motor bike (I am doing better-knock on wood). Well, early last week I got a flat tire, and later someone stole my helmet...at school!!! I am having some bad luck with this bike! Hopefully that changes soon.

Lampang

2007-08-15T17:52:00.000+07:00

Last weekend Berret and I went to Lampang. We tried to leave Friday after school, but it didn't work out. We bought "tickets" at the bus station, but about 5 minutes before it was time for us to go they took our tickets away, gave us our money back, and said there was no room. Apparently since Uttaradit is in the middle of stops they can't tell how many seats will be open until right before they arrive. Of course there is a way, they just haven't figured it out in Thailand yet! So we left Saturday instead and Berret ended up standing because they still didn't have enough seats. Standing isn't unusual, so I'm thinking on Friday it must have just been really full!

Lampang was a cute little town. Driving through the mountains to get there it took us about 2-2 1/2 hours. We got a ride to the Riverside Guesthouse (I think it was called that) which is where we stayed. It was a nice place-not a hotel, more like a bed and breakfast or something...I'm not sure how to describe it. Very nice though, and we rented a motor bike from them to take around town.

Saturday we drove out to the Wat Phra That Lampang Luang-it is a very nice temple that is about 20k out of Lampang. However, it was closed when we got there. So we looked from the outside and decided we'd go back Sunday. When we got back to town we ate, had some drinks, and went to bed.

Sunday morning we went back to the Wat (temple) and it was open. It was crowded though because it was Mother's Day. We looked around the Wat, sweat a LOT, then drove on to an elephant conservation center. There we bought tickets to an elephant show, but we had time to kill before it started, so I went on an elephant ride. Berret had been on a few before, so she took pictures of me on the elephant instead of going for a ride as well. It was pretty cool, mostly just because now I can say I rode an elephant. After that we went to the show which was in Thai and English. There were probably 15-20 elephants and we got to see them be bathed in a river or lake before the show started. The actual show consisted of them being introduced-they would "bow or curtsy" when their name was said-it was very cute! Then they showed us how elephants work in the woods. The elephants lifted logs alone, and with other elephants, then they stacked them into a neat pile by pushing them with their trunks. The elephants also painted, played instruments, balanced on a log, turned a facet on to get a drink, and a few other things. It was pretty cool to see. I would not want to be the one to train them though-I'd be afraid I'd get trampled on!! I did touch an elephant after the show though. It was a great experience. After that we went back home, showered and went to have a drink. We had some Chang beer, which was very appropriate because Chang means elephant in Thai. Then we went to a walking market. They had closed off some streets to have a market. Berret and I both bought a purse there and Berret also bought some kind of food-an egg something. It was then time to get some supper and more drinks. Except...the bar/restaurant we went to would not serve us beer because it was the Queen's birthday. That is another thing that is hit or miss in Thailand. They have certain days they aren't supposed to serve alcohol, but you can apparently always find it somewhere (as we had earlier). And as we were finishing our meal we saw a server bring a can of beer wrapped in a napkin to an older woman who then drank it secretly and put it on the chair beside her when she wasn't drinking!! I guess "Happy Mother's Day" to her! So we finished our meal and then went back to the other bar for a few more drinks. Then back home to bed.

Monday was the end of my holiday, but Berret had one more day because she had to go to Chiang Mai to extend her Visa. So we went to the bus station and got "tickets" for Uttaradit and Chiang Mai. My ticket lady said I had to come back and see her right before 12:30-when my bus was supposed to leave. Berret got a ticket for 11:30 but only got on a bus at 12:15. I went back to my lady at 12:15 and she had a ticket for me!! My bus only came at 1, but I was glad to see it! And that was my holiday.

About the audit Friday. It went well as far as we know. The auditors arrived late, but when they got there we sat through a meeting that our director led in Thai, then an auditor talked in Thai, then we all went to a different area so they could see some of our students in action and see some of their work. So long story short, it was an audit of the English program in mostly Thai. Strange! A few of our bilingual teachers can speak Thai though so they knew what was going on. They said later that the auditor who talked said she was impressed by how many English teachers Anuban Uttaradit has. We have 10, which is apparently amazing for Thailand. So as far as I know, the audit went well.

Another cool thing Friday was the Mother's Day celebration. I went to my classroom to teach like normal, and there were all of my kids and their moms and some dads. I didn't know it was going to be that way, so I was surprised. I had to introduce myself, tell them where I was from, and that I was their child's teacher. After I did that a mom who studied in America for her Masters translated what I said since most of the parents do not speak English. I was very impressed by that mom because she spoke perfect English. A lot of Thais can speak English, but they mix up L and R, and some other things that makes it a little hard to understand. But this woman sounded like she had spoken English her whole life. The Mother's Day celebration consisted of the moms sitting on a chair, their child on the floor at their feet (the child sits lower than their mom to show respect) singing songs. It was very emotional. Moms and children were crying. Some students could not even sing because they were crying so hard-they buried their head in their mom's lap. I don't understand why it was so emotional. My guess is just that they are showing their respect to their mom. After they sang they each gave their mom a bracelet made of jasmine flowers and a rose. My student, Peak, whose mom is the one who spoke great English came and gave me his bracelet that he had given his mom. As he was hugging me I looked at her and she just smiled. It was SO sweet. She gave up her bracelet which I took as a sign of welcome and respect. I felt so lucky and touched (I know it sounds like a sappy movie). And then later the students also gave my co-teacher and me a Jasmin bracelet because, "teachers are like a Thai students' second mom." The whole experience was pretty neat to see.

We get a three day weekend again this weekend because they are voting on the Constitution Monday. Apparently Thailand doesn't have a Constitution right now, so they're voting on it Monday and need to give people time to get home since a lot of Thais don't live in their hometown because of work. I'm not sure what I'll do yet though. Mike is going to Chiang Mai and has invited me, but some other teachers are also talking about going to a dam or something around here. I'll have to decide soon I guess since it's Thursday night! If I do stay around here there is an "opening" for a bar in Uttaradit. We went to the bar last night-they've been here for about a month apparently. It was a lot of fun. It is a English man, a Thai woman, their Thai daughter, and the daughter's boyfriend/fiance (that's really what the dad said!) who run it. Apparently the daughter wanted to start it but it's the dad's money. It was very nice-a lot of space, very clean, nice big wood tables and chairs, food, a Western bathroom, places to sit outside, and they have more space upstairs, and a roof where there are chairs and tables. It was super nice. And the owners were great. They sat with us most of the night chatting and gave us some free drinks.

Thailand is a very nice place. I like it here, but so far I still like home more!! It sounds like I'll be home next July. I asked my American boss and he said I signed a one year (365 day) contract. So I will start the new year and then they will replace me. That means less than 365 days for you to all come visit me. You'd better start booking your flights now!! Let me know when your plane gets to Thailand-I'll pick you up!

Update

2007-08-09T16:23:00.000+07:00

Tomorrow is FRIDAY!! I get just as excited about Fridays as I did at home! Some things just don't change. Tomorrow is big day though. Our school is being audited and tomorrow is the English program's turn. I will not play a huge role though since I've only been here a few weeks. I will have to meet with them just like everybody else, but the man who used to teach my first graders will talk to them about what the students have been learning. They may pop into my room sometime to watch me teach though. From what I understand, if we are doing as well as they want us to be doing the parents will get a small refund from the tuition they pay to have their children in our program. However, understanding things in Thailand is always sketchy. There are times where I will ask an either-or question and then answer I get is, "yes." Very interesting...I think a lot of it is just the language barrier.

This weekend (Sunday I think) is the Queen's birthday so we get Monday off as a holiday. In Thailand the Queen's birthday is also Mother's Day, and you guessed it...the King's birthday is Father's Day. So Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms! Berret and I are planning on leaving for Lampang tomorrow for our 3 day weekend. Lampang is a city north of Uttaradit. I'm not sure how far, and I'm not sure what we'll see, but I want to travel so it's a good opportunity! I'm very lucky that Berret likes to travel. I think I will get to tag along with her a lot!

I'm not sure if I mentioned it yet or not, but I'm having some trouble getting my motor bike started sometimes. So lately random men have been helping me when I can't start it. Luckily Thai people are friendly and helpful! Theresa, I think you're right, my motor bike has a mind of it's own. I need to get on it's good side!

Another random thought...Thailand is full of dogs. There are stray dogs EVERYWHERE! At first I didn't understand why they didn't control that somehow, but I was told that Thai people feed them for merit. I bet I see at least 30 stray dogs every day (no, I'm not exagerating). They are everywhere you look-including in my "yard," in restaurants roaming around, in the middle of the street, etc. And as you may or may not know, I hate dogs.

I found out just the other day that the academic year is over in March or April (there is never a definite answer around here until the day before the event is supposed to happen). So I'm really not sure what will happen with me. I signed a one year contract, but I again don't know whether that meant 1 year (365 days) or 1 academic year. I'll have to talk to my boss to see what their plan is. I could either be done with everyone else in March or April, or maybe I'll start the next academic year and leave in July. Who knows!

What a random post! I have a feeling this is how they will all be. The Thai water must be getting to me!

Teaching

2007-08-03T15:23:00.000+07:00

I officially taught this week. I teach first graders. I have 10 different groups of kids to teach, but there is one group that is my main group-my bilingual class (Pratom 1/8). I teach 1/1-1/9 and have an English Center (10 groups). However, the P 1/1-1/7 and 1/9 and English Center are non-bilingual students. Did you follow that?

Basically P 1/8 is the class I spend the most time with. In one week I teach them 5 hours of math, 4 hours of English, 2 hours of science, 1 hour of health, and 1 hour of drama. During the rest of the time those P 1/8 kids are in school they have core classes in Thai. The reason I only teach P 1/1-1/7, 1/9 and the English Center one hour a week is because those students do not pay for English classes. The school is basically doing them a favor by giving them one hour of English a week. The skill difference between the bilingual students and the non-bilingual students is ENORMOUS, as one would expect.

My P 1/8 class (the bilingual class) has 36 students in it. The non-bilingual classes all have more; probably 40-50 depending on the section. I'm not sure how many students I'll have in the English Center. I have not taught there yet. But from what I understand, the English Center is a mix of bilingual and non-bilingual students who I entertain for an hour. We can play games, color, etc. Any kind of fun activity--that should be fun. But if you have any ideas of games or activities for first graders you should pass them along; I could use a few!

Teaching will definitely be a challenge. Some things are so simple for the students but with other things it's like pulling teeth! And I never can guess what will be easy or what will be hard; one concept can be simple for them but then something very similar can be the hardest thing they've ever done and they have no clue what I'm talking about!! I just have to remind myself that this is only the beginning of their second year of English...things will be difficult!

The students are more similar to American students than I ever expected. I thought Thai students would sit in their desks and listen to every word and follow along in the book, etc. Who was I kidding?!?! They're kids too!! They are very chatty, very sneaky, and very energetic which can make them difficult to teach. However, they are also respectful, fun, and lovable.

I will stop writing here for now because I could go on forever about the students and Thai culture. Let me know if there are specific things you are curious about and I will tell you about them. Also, I cannot get my pictures uploaded even though I have the website in English now. So if you want to see them, let me know because I have a Kodak site set up. And...let me know what's new back home--keep me updated too!!

Sukhothai

2007-07-29T20:25:00.000+07:00

Mike and I just got back from Sukhothai today. We left Friday around noon and came back today (Sunday) around 3:30. Mike lived in Sukhothai when he first came to Thailand five years ago or so, so we visited some of his friends there. Sukhothai is southwest of Uttaradit-it was about a 2-2.5 hour bus ride. I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of the bus-maybe next time. It was not very nice, to say the least. Besides hanging out with Mike's friends we also saw the Old City. Sukhothai was Thailand's old capital. I don't know the rest of the history-I'll have to research it. But the Old City had a lot of remains that were stone and there were many Budhas-it was pretty cool. On our drive back from the Old City we drove to see a waterfall. It was a fun adventure. We drove a long way (ended up getting sunburned) and when we got to the the place it was supposed to be we hiked through the woods a ways (hot, hot, hot) to find the waterfall, but all we ever found was maybe a foot of water dribbling down a small hill!! I don't know if that was supposed to be it, or if we just didn't find it, but either way it was fun! Again, I took pictures but can't put them up yet. This blog website is currently in Thai for me so I can't read anything. So to write these entries I just guessed where to go and figured it out, but I don't think the picture part will be so easy. As soon as I figure out how to switch it to English I will try to get some photos up!!

Finally!!

2007-07-26T20:57:00.000+07:00

I am finally trying to catch this blog up! I arrived in Thailand almost a week ago. I left last week Wednesday and go here on Thailand's Friday morning around 2:30. I had flight delays on the way over which resulted in my luggage being held back in New York. That arrived Sunday, so I wore the same the same outfits those first few days.
There is so much to write about that I don't even know where to start! I guess with my first impressions. When I arrived in Bangkok I had to catch a flight to Chiang Mai, but my flight had already left. A very nice lady was waiting outside my plane with a sign with my name though. She helped me try to find my luggage (which wasn't successful) but then she also got me a ride to a different Bangkok airport so I could get to Chiang Mai. She was SO helpful! My roommate and my Thai boss picked me up at the airport in Chiang Mai-both were very welcoming. And they brought me a sandwich!! The drive back to Uttaradit (where I live) was I think 4-4 1/2 hours. It was a dark and kind of scary drive. The man driving us liked to pass when he shouldn't have-we almost got hit by large trucks a few times, but we survived! At my house Berret (my roommate) showed me around. We have 3 rooms upstairs-2 airconditioned...where we sleep. Our bathroom has a toilet, a sink that drains directly onto the floor-toward a drain, and a shower that has horrible water pressure-and also goes right on the floor!! It is a shower head and nothing else. So the entire bathroom floor is wet when we're finished showering. Our downstairs has a bathroom with a "squatty potty" which is normal for Thailand. I took a picture, but can't put it on here yet. The rest of the downstairs/main level is one big room. It includes the living room which has a few chairs, a tv, and a dvd player. And a kitchen which has a sink, some dishes, a small fridge, two tables, and now a washer!! Pi Yai, my Thai boss bought us a washer over the weeekend! You might have noticed though...no stove or microwave. So we go out to eat every night-it's very cheap and healthy food-but I don't like it much. Berret and the other teachers I work with are great. There is Berret from Louisiana, Tony-my neighbor-from England, Ivan from England, Mike from Illinois, Scott-my American boss-from California but here for 10 years, Lee from China, Bi Bi from _____ not sure, John from Kansas and Ida from Massachusetts I think. Those are the teachers in my office-of course there are MANY Thai teachers as well. Our school is grades K-6 and we have over 2,000 students I think. Teachers are very well respected here-but the kids don't respect us English teachers quite as much. Maybe I will get more into that later.
For now I am going to relax for the first night. Berret has left for "holiday" (break-we get off the weekend and Monday and Tuesday for a Thai or Buddhist holdiday, I think) so this is the first night I haven't gone out to do anything. Tomorrow I am going with Mike to Sukhothai-not sure where it is but we're going for 2 days or so. Will write more later! And hopefully add pictures too.

Getting ready for Thailand

2007-07-09T21:32:00.000+07:00

I'm going to Thailand!!! I have been talking with a man named Scott, at the school where I will teach, in Thailand since May and now I am finally going in July. To catch some of you up-I student taught in Minneapolis for the 2006-2007 school year. A wonderful teacher there named Ruth helped set me up with this experience. Her sister-in-law from Thailand, now living in the United States, has relatives who still live in Thailand. With help from all of them I was able to get a teaching position in Uttaradit, Thailand. I could have gone already in June but I worked it out so I could stay here for Jenni and Joe's wedding. Now, after receiving the paperwork I needed from the school to get my Visa, I have finally sent it in to Chicago and am patiently waiting to get it back. I have set up a flight for July 18th so hopefully I will get it back in time!!