Caught the plane from Phuket to Bangkok. We catch the plane home tomorrow at 8am. The taxi has to pick us up at 5 am to miss the morning rush hour! Shouldn't have any problem sleeping on the plane startin gat that time!
We had one last visit to Khaosan Road for one last taste of Thailand. Had our last taste of Pad Thai, satay, banana pancakes and finally got to taste mango sticky rice. Those are all things I'd like to take home.
A tuk tuk driver spotted us and talked us into going to the largest gem factory in Thailand with him. The staff is almost 1:1 with the tourists. You get to see the workers making them, then the massive show/sales room. After 2 hours Norrie has a new jewellery wardrobe. She's a happy girl now.
As we bid farewell to Thailand we are thankful that we saw such a breadth of this country and its people. The Lahu and Akha tribes were a highlight!! We will never forget the phrases "madame, madame , a deal just for you..." and "same, same", and "taxi" and "tuk tuk", and "massage, madame?" And the printed menu items: bloccoli, friend egg on toast, chicken Gordon Blue ; and only getting "very hot" when ever we asked what the temperature was.
Its been a blast. Never a dull moment. Its amazing what we could accomplish in such a short time. We've had a pretty thorough and intimate overview of this country. And recommend it to anyone. Just pack nose plugs and earplugs!
An experience of a lifetime.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30
It is our last day to do any of those things we haven't done yet. Is there such a thing? We tried to find options that included very little sun- as some of us were still a little sensitive!! That is pretty hard to do on the tropical island of Phuket
We ended up wandering, and landed in a beauty salon owned by "Dan" from France. He and his boyfriend ran the outfit, and loved pampering us. Norrie ended up spending 5 hours in there! For $75.00 Cadn- she got a haircut, color, highlights,manicure, foot treatment, and eye brow tweezing- can't do that at home!!!She is a new woman! Esther fit in one more foot massage. Terry got a pedicure, and shopped in the nearby stores, loading up on the big brands for my boys. If I ever see Billabong again I will spit. It is EVERYWHERE and a fraction of the Canadian prices.
Around 4:00 pm we wandered around more, looking for a place to possibly ship our excess cargo home to Canada, to no avail. We'll try fit it onto the airplane after all. We had supper and did some more wandering. Saw the modern side of town, including a shiny new mall, with a huge cinema. We love just landing on this stuff. By the time we wanted to go home we had lost complete orientation to where we lived. The taxi drove forever it seemed, we had no idea we had gotten so far away!!!
Once at the hotel we had our ritual rooftop swim. We enjoyed standing at the top looking down on the action below us. Birds eye view for the interesting transactions! Then we had a downpour, and things got really interesting as everyone scurried in different directions, and tuk tuks loaded with people got into near traffic jams.
One more sleep and we begin the trip towards home! We are both happy to go home and sorry to see the end of an adventure that has been so... soul enriching...It is amazing that five strangers a year ago, travel across half the world , and live together 24-7 with no conflict or unease. It is a blessing and a gift that we still adore each other and have been able to grow individually at the same time.... Thank-you Universe
Watch for pictures and funny stories to come- will add when we get home- Norrie has at least 4000 pics- I promise she won't down load that many!!!!!
We ended up wandering, and landed in a beauty salon owned by "Dan" from France. He and his boyfriend ran the outfit, and loved pampering us. Norrie ended up spending 5 hours in there! For $75.00 Cadn- she got a haircut, color, highlights,manicure, foot treatment, and eye brow tweezing- can't do that at home!!!She is a new woman! Esther fit in one more foot massage. Terry got a pedicure, and shopped in the nearby stores, loading up on the big brands for my boys. If I ever see Billabong again I will spit. It is EVERYWHERE and a fraction of the Canadian prices.
Around 4:00 pm we wandered around more, looking for a place to possibly ship our excess cargo home to Canada, to no avail. We'll try fit it onto the airplane after all. We had supper and did some more wandering. Saw the modern side of town, including a shiny new mall, with a huge cinema. We love just landing on this stuff. By the time we wanted to go home we had lost complete orientation to where we lived. The taxi drove forever it seemed, we had no idea we had gotten so far away!!!
Once at the hotel we had our ritual rooftop swim. We enjoyed standing at the top looking down on the action below us. Birds eye view for the interesting transactions! Then we had a downpour, and things got really interesting as everyone scurried in different directions, and tuk tuks loaded with people got into near traffic jams.
One more sleep and we begin the trip towards home! We are both happy to go home and sorry to see the end of an adventure that has been so... soul enriching...It is amazing that five strangers a year ago, travel across half the world , and live together 24-7 with no conflict or unease. It is a blessing and a gift that we still adore each other and have been able to grow individually at the same time.... Thank-you Universe
Watch for pictures and funny stories to come- will add when we get home- Norrie has at least 4000 pics- I promise she won't down load that many!!!!!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Found Nemo!! Saturday March 29
Another day- another adventure! Last night we booked ourselves onto an island hopping boat tour for today (Saturday). It was a fabulous day!!
We got picked up from our hotel at 7:30 am, loaded into a van with a bunch of Aussies,whom we got to chum with all day. He delivered us to the Phuket pier about 30 minutes away. After we acquired our snorkel gear ( that Terry was sure was sanitized and soaked in bleach before she used it!) we loaded onto a beautiful 42 foot speed boat with three 225 Honda motors and out into the ocean South of the main island.
Our first landing was at Khai Nok island, tiny but with some of the best snorkeling Norrie-Shan has seen (had to use her as a reference point since she is the only experienced one between the three of us). This is where Terry had to learn the ropes from Norrie, as there was no instruction included with this tour. The hardest thing for Terry to do was to spit in the mask- Norrie told her, but she wasn't so sure it was right until someone else told her to do it. It is very hard for a public health nurse to imagine doing this, let alone how many other people have done it!! After a few mouthfuls of salt water Terry quickly learned to relax and enjoy the scenery down under.
Amazing color. Rainbow, clown, angel, spotted, neon, purple, yellow and black, huge, small, you name it we saw it .There were supposed to be nurse sharks here but we were unable to find any. And sound - you can actually hear the fish gnaw off the chunks of food off the rocks - that blew me away. And the fish coming right up to your mask was so cool. It was a first for Terry! Norrie-Shan was in her element. At this spot we got Esther as far as her knees to enjoy the clean, clear water - baby steps!Although Esther got a good view of the smaller cyclid fish as they swim in schools close to the beach. We got to snorkel for 1 1/2 hours here, it was stunning.
Next we stopped at monkey beach/ island and watched their antics. Our guide gave the leader a glass of coke- I'm not sure that is its normal diet, but they all came to look anyway. We were allowed to get fairly close but most of us stayed at the waters edge- a safe distance away. One of the dads kept putting his younger son close to the monkeys so he got a picture- instead the monkey tried to bite the boy!! Yup they are still wild animals!
Then onto the next reef where we once again jumped out to snorkel. Esther stayed in the boat this time because there was no shore. The ref was farther out into the middle of the ocean. Unfortunately this is where Esther started to feel motion sickness- due to sitting in the boat while it rocked in the ocean as we snorkeled.
Again more beautiful fish. Then we had lunch on Phi Phi island - looks just like Gilligans Island. Served us a great buffet Thai/Seafood lunch, and off to some more coves and islands to swim. One was surrounded by tall cliffs, the water was pure turquoise, felt like we were in the Blue Lagoon. And that was Esthers big stretch! She got in and swam with a life jacket in 20 m of water! Esther had never used a life jacket before- but she jumped off the boat like she had done this before. This was huge for her, as she had been feeling "seasick" an hour earlier. She found being in the water better than floating on it!
The sand on these beaches were the texture of cornstarch, and almost as white.
The boat staff kept us well hydrated and lots of watermelon and pineapple for snacking. All this for $36 Cndn. We were delivered back to our hotel around 4:30. A little redder than yesterday!Only we burnt the reverse side today.
We are headed out for our evening entertainment now - will stay away from the "strip"on Bangla Road. We landed on it by happenstance last night. Had our eyes opened to what the foreigners come here for. It was our first taste of sleaze since we arrived. And it was enough for a while.
After our hot and over-stimulating walk on the wild side we ended the evening with a midnight swim in our rooftop pool. Glorious!!!! This is the Good Life.
We got picked up from our hotel at 7:30 am, loaded into a van with a bunch of Aussies,whom we got to chum with all day. He delivered us to the Phuket pier about 30 minutes away. After we acquired our snorkel gear ( that Terry was sure was sanitized and soaked in bleach before she used it!) we loaded onto a beautiful 42 foot speed boat with three 225 Honda motors and out into the ocean South of the main island.
Our first landing was at Khai Nok island, tiny but with some of the best snorkeling Norrie-Shan has seen (had to use her as a reference point since she is the only experienced one between the three of us). This is where Terry had to learn the ropes from Norrie, as there was no instruction included with this tour. The hardest thing for Terry to do was to spit in the mask- Norrie told her, but she wasn't so sure it was right until someone else told her to do it. It is very hard for a public health nurse to imagine doing this, let alone how many other people have done it!! After a few mouthfuls of salt water Terry quickly learned to relax and enjoy the scenery down under.
Amazing color. Rainbow, clown, angel, spotted, neon, purple, yellow and black, huge, small, you name it we saw it .There were supposed to be nurse sharks here but we were unable to find any. And sound - you can actually hear the fish gnaw off the chunks of food off the rocks - that blew me away. And the fish coming right up to your mask was so cool. It was a first for Terry! Norrie-Shan was in her element. At this spot we got Esther as far as her knees to enjoy the clean, clear water - baby steps!Although Esther got a good view of the smaller cyclid fish as they swim in schools close to the beach. We got to snorkel for 1 1/2 hours here, it was stunning.
Next we stopped at monkey beach/ island and watched their antics. Our guide gave the leader a glass of coke- I'm not sure that is its normal diet, but they all came to look anyway. We were allowed to get fairly close but most of us stayed at the waters edge- a safe distance away. One of the dads kept putting his younger son close to the monkeys so he got a picture- instead the monkey tried to bite the boy!! Yup they are still wild animals!
Then onto the next reef where we once again jumped out to snorkel. Esther stayed in the boat this time because there was no shore. The ref was farther out into the middle of the ocean. Unfortunately this is where Esther started to feel motion sickness- due to sitting in the boat while it rocked in the ocean as we snorkeled.
Again more beautiful fish. Then we had lunch on Phi Phi island - looks just like Gilligans Island. Served us a great buffet Thai/Seafood lunch, and off to some more coves and islands to swim. One was surrounded by tall cliffs, the water was pure turquoise, felt like we were in the Blue Lagoon. And that was Esthers big stretch! She got in and swam with a life jacket in 20 m of water! Esther had never used a life jacket before- but she jumped off the boat like she had done this before. This was huge for her, as she had been feeling "seasick" an hour earlier. She found being in the water better than floating on it!
The sand on these beaches were the texture of cornstarch, and almost as white.
The boat staff kept us well hydrated and lots of watermelon and pineapple for snacking. All this for $36 Cndn. We were delivered back to our hotel around 4:30. A little redder than yesterday!Only we burnt the reverse side today.
We are headed out for our evening entertainment now - will stay away from the "strip"on Bangla Road. We landed on it by happenstance last night. Had our eyes opened to what the foreigners come here for. It was our first taste of sleaze since we arrived. And it was enough for a while.
After our hot and over-stimulating walk on the wild side we ended the evening with a midnight swim in our rooftop pool. Glorious!!!! This is the Good Life.
Friday, March 28, 2008
moving south
Well we got a luxury liner for a bus to Chiang Mai - but Esther will remember it as the bus from Hell. She became carsick within the 1st half hour. It was the longest 3 hours of her life. Terry practiced surfing though, as she stood up the whole trip holding Esthers head with cold cloths on the twisty, winding road. Esther was fine after the bus stopped, but we had a drugged out girl (from so much gravol) the rest of the day. Lucky for her the 2 flights we had to take didn't bother her too much.
We arrived in Phuket around 8:30 pm and took a taxi to the west side of the island to the famous "Patong". A true beach resort. After checking into our musty smelling guest house, we went walking to check out the town. The water is only 5 min walk from our accommodation. We wet our feet and were amazed how warm the water was, and so refreshing. The rest of the town comes alive at night it would appear. Lots of "discos", lots of travel agencies, food shops, souvenir shops, bars, and yet still a dominance of Thai culture. Interesting blend. Already we observed lots of foreigners, many sound European. We searched on our tour for better accommodations.
Woke early and were on the beach by 9 am Friday. Interesting system of renting your chair and umbrella for the day ($3) each. And the shopping you can do without leaving your chair - Wow! Even a pedicure. The peddlars are by at least every 10 minutes with something. Theres a mix of all kinds here, and topless seems to be ok. Esther has a new stretch planned for us tomorrow!!!!
By noon Norrie and Terry had taken a stroll and checked out a hotel steps from the beach, that looked very elaborate, but what the heck... It actually turned out to be our home for the next 3 days - for $60/night split between 3 of us. This one tops anything we've seen so far, makes up for roosters, floor mats, leaking sinks, cold showers, frogs, spiders, ..... This has a KING bed and the most luxurious cot I've ever seen, a huge bathroom, with glass wall on one side of the shower, a counter a mile long when you first walk in, with a sink also. The room is divided into 3 rooms and sitting area by sliding glass Japanese style doors. And we have a small patio. All tile floors, its gorgeous, and to top it off we are only steps from the beach!!! We all are enjoying our newfound comfort.
Today on the beach, among the 3000 people sitting our there, beside us sat a Canadian!! Been teaching in Japan 10 years, on vacation from teaching.
Its supper time now - don't know what adventures we'll finish our day with. Will try find a tour or island trip for tomorrow - we all got a little much sun today!
We arrived in Phuket around 8:30 pm and took a taxi to the west side of the island to the famous "Patong". A true beach resort. After checking into our musty smelling guest house, we went walking to check out the town. The water is only 5 min walk from our accommodation. We wet our feet and were amazed how warm the water was, and so refreshing. The rest of the town comes alive at night it would appear. Lots of "discos", lots of travel agencies, food shops, souvenir shops, bars, and yet still a dominance of Thai culture. Interesting blend. Already we observed lots of foreigners, many sound European. We searched on our tour for better accommodations.
Woke early and were on the beach by 9 am Friday. Interesting system of renting your chair and umbrella for the day ($3) each. And the shopping you can do without leaving your chair - Wow! Even a pedicure. The peddlars are by at least every 10 minutes with something. Theres a mix of all kinds here, and topless seems to be ok. Esther has a new stretch planned for us tomorrow!!!!
By noon Norrie and Terry had taken a stroll and checked out a hotel steps from the beach, that looked very elaborate, but what the heck... It actually turned out to be our home for the next 3 days - for $60/night split between 3 of us. This one tops anything we've seen so far, makes up for roosters, floor mats, leaking sinks, cold showers, frogs, spiders, ..... This has a KING bed and the most luxurious cot I've ever seen, a huge bathroom, with glass wall on one side of the shower, a counter a mile long when you first walk in, with a sink also. The room is divided into 3 rooms and sitting area by sliding glass Japanese style doors. And we have a small patio. All tile floors, its gorgeous, and to top it off we are only steps from the beach!!! We all are enjoying our newfound comfort.
Today on the beach, among the 3000 people sitting our there, beside us sat a Canadian!! Been teaching in Japan 10 years, on vacation from teaching.
Its supper time now - don't know what adventures we'll finish our day with. Will try find a tour or island trip for tomorrow - we all got a little much sun today!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Goodbye Mirror- Wed 26/08
Today is a day of mixed emotions as we bid farewell to the people that became like team mates and our adopted children. We played the amazing Race for our learning activity today. There were 7 stations that the kids went to, each station reviewed what we learned over the last 2 weeks. They had to preform an acrobatic feat to get to the next station , ie wheel barrow, three legged race,hopping on one leg, etc., which made us all smile at their antics. After our 1 1/2hour lesson we had a farewell celebration that included a power point presentation, a certificate and grab bags for the kids and speeches from one of the founders of Mirror Art Foundation. It was beautiful, and emotional for all of us as volunteers.
We were happy to announce our intention to raise $6000.00 Cad for Jay to go to Pharmaceutical school in Chaing Mai. So any one who wanted to help before and didn't know what to do --- this would be a great opportunity to make a huge difference directly in someones life. Terry, Esther and Norrie-Shan have committed to fund raising $500.00Cad each to his cause, so if you want to help Jay out, please let one of us know and we can connect you to the right people!!! Jay is a member of the Karen Hill Tribe, who showed amazing intelligence and drive to become better. His tribe is one of the tribes who loses the highest number of children to human trafficking, as it is so poor. The obstacles he has had to face seem insurmountable to us, yet he is still battling through- he really is inspirational to talk too.
Thank-you for allowing us on our soapbox- back to our day!
We had lunch with the children, and got ready to leave. By the way, does any one know why things fit into the suitcase coming but we need twice as much luggage to leave??? After saying our bittersweet goodbyes- sad to leave students, staff and volunteers, but OK to say goodbye to what they call a bathroom and a bed, we headed to town to book our tickets for tomorrow's bus ride to Chaing Mia. After the bus we take a taxi directly to the airport to go to Bangkok. When in Bangkok waiting for our next flight we have to taxi out into town to get hotel tickets, leave suitcases and taxi back to get to our flight to Phuket!!! Who planned that?
But it should all be worth it, since we get to be by the ocean for 3 days- not so bad for a volunteering holiday!!
Next we took a 30 hour certified foot massage course, from a certified teacher who did not speak more than 2 words of English, in less than 2 hours. Lucky for the people we are going to practice on Norrie bought the DVD, as I am pretty sure we will have to review! It was a very hands on course so we will study and practice on each other and let you know how it turns out!!It was the usual Thai miscommunication involving vehicles , people doing favors for people, a guy knows a guy... your getting this I'm sure. Same Same.
Since we were in town, we had to shop the night Bazaar- there is not a bad time to shop! We bought a few things, picked up the girls glasses- all of us got new glasses here for - CHEAP, blogged and are now going home to repack - AGAIN.
You won't hear from us tomorrow as we will be traveling all day , so have a good Wednesday and we will talk with you on Thursday!!
We were happy to announce our intention to raise $6000.00 Cad for Jay to go to Pharmaceutical school in Chaing Mai. So any one who wanted to help before and didn't know what to do --- this would be a great opportunity to make a huge difference directly in someones life. Terry, Esther and Norrie-Shan have committed to fund raising $500.00Cad each to his cause, so if you want to help Jay out, please let one of us know and we can connect you to the right people!!! Jay is a member of the Karen Hill Tribe, who showed amazing intelligence and drive to become better. His tribe is one of the tribes who loses the highest number of children to human trafficking, as it is so poor. The obstacles he has had to face seem insurmountable to us, yet he is still battling through- he really is inspirational to talk too.
Thank-you for allowing us on our soapbox- back to our day!
We had lunch with the children, and got ready to leave. By the way, does any one know why things fit into the suitcase coming but we need twice as much luggage to leave??? After saying our bittersweet goodbyes- sad to leave students, staff and volunteers, but OK to say goodbye to what they call a bathroom and a bed, we headed to town to book our tickets for tomorrow's bus ride to Chaing Mia. After the bus we take a taxi directly to the airport to go to Bangkok. When in Bangkok waiting for our next flight we have to taxi out into town to get hotel tickets, leave suitcases and taxi back to get to our flight to Phuket!!! Who planned that?
But it should all be worth it, since we get to be by the ocean for 3 days- not so bad for a volunteering holiday!!
Next we took a 30 hour certified foot massage course, from a certified teacher who did not speak more than 2 words of English, in less than 2 hours. Lucky for the people we are going to practice on Norrie bought the DVD, as I am pretty sure we will have to review! It was a very hands on course so we will study and practice on each other and let you know how it turns out!!It was the usual Thai miscommunication involving vehicles , people doing favors for people, a guy knows a guy... your getting this I'm sure. Same Same.
Since we were in town, we had to shop the night Bazaar- there is not a bad time to shop! We bought a few things, picked up the girls glasses- all of us got new glasses here for - CHEAP, blogged and are now going home to repack - AGAIN.
You won't hear from us tomorrow as we will be traveling all day , so have a good Wednesday and we will talk with you on Thursday!!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Tuesday at Mirror
After a restless night for Norrie on snake patrol (she actually felt some critter crawl across her in the night) we had a treat for breakfast - macaroni!! No cheese but it was a tasty concoction nonetheless and a fine break from rice.
Our lesson for the students today was on time, days, months, etc. and made kites with them. Again it was fun and another chance to get to know these amazing kids more. My (Terry) favorite part was working with the advanced students to write their life stories to use in appeals for scholarships. The boy, Jay, that we have been so impressed with all week, with his good English and dedication to learning from us, stole our hearts today with his story. He is 21 years old from an isolated Karen tribe village (typically very shy). Finished high school and dreams of being a pharmacist "so he can get medicine to the poor people". He is very bright and has already passed the entrance exams but his mom says they cannot afford the $6000 tuition (includes rooming) for his 4 years of University. He has had to change his career plan to the more affordable vocational college in marketing, but has no interest in it. He would be the only one from his village of 45 homes to ever attend University. How does a kid get that kind of dedication when he is not surrounded by parents and friends that speak any English or have career goals at all? His parents I believe farm rice. The foreign volunteers here have begun discussing how we can help him achieve his dreams. There is a scholarship coordinator here we will work with tomorrow to see how we might be able to contribute. It will be so rewarding to follow his progress and know that we made a difference of such huge magnitude, and even more when he proceeds to contribute back to his village. Thats what Mirror Foundation is all about. Several young adults here have listed Mirror as one of the influences that got them where they want to be. More news on that as it progresses.
After our lunch of eggs, curry and rice and the best mandarin oranges you've ever had Esther did some teaching with the Ebannock women who market their crafts here. Terry and Norrie did some planning work and some phoning to plan the rest of our Thailand visit. Our volunteering days are done earlier than we expected due to no students scheduled the rest of the week. We say farewell to our camp students tomorrow then we are free. So we went to town today to arrange a Thai massage course for Wednesday night, then we went to a travel agent to rearrange flights, and will spend the rest of our trip on the beaches of Phuket. A definite detour in our itinerary - but not a bad one!!! So we will be in transit after tomorrow getting to Chiang Mai by bus to the airport, then flying to Bangkok, to catch a flight to Phuket.
We had another somewhat eventful trip back to Mirror because the travel agent visit took us past the 6 pm curfew for truck taxis (songthews). We had to take a Tuk Tuk all the way back, 20 minutes outside the city, and hit RAIN on the way and the dark. But here we are safe and sound. Had a great Thai language lesson this evening. They taught us 2 songs. So 8 volunteers with our 2 Thai staff (Nu and Naan)had a good old sing song including guitar. What a uniting experience. It was a great evening. Our last at this "home away from home" with our friends that became like family. An interesting point from the women in our group - we all came here reading the same books!! And we have never even met each other before now.
We were talking about how some day we'll miss rice 3 times a day, wet toilet seats, toilets you flush with a bucket of water, having to carry your own toilet paper with you, remembering not to flush it down, doing spider checks when you enter the shower, wiping sweat off your face all day long, feeling sticky 10 minutes after a shower........
Stay posted for life on the opposite end of Thailand!!
Our lesson for the students today was on time, days, months, etc. and made kites with them. Again it was fun and another chance to get to know these amazing kids more. My (Terry) favorite part was working with the advanced students to write their life stories to use in appeals for scholarships. The boy, Jay, that we have been so impressed with all week, with his good English and dedication to learning from us, stole our hearts today with his story. He is 21 years old from an isolated Karen tribe village (typically very shy). Finished high school and dreams of being a pharmacist "so he can get medicine to the poor people". He is very bright and has already passed the entrance exams but his mom says they cannot afford the $6000 tuition (includes rooming) for his 4 years of University. He has had to change his career plan to the more affordable vocational college in marketing, but has no interest in it. He would be the only one from his village of 45 homes to ever attend University. How does a kid get that kind of dedication when he is not surrounded by parents and friends that speak any English or have career goals at all? His parents I believe farm rice. The foreign volunteers here have begun discussing how we can help him achieve his dreams. There is a scholarship coordinator here we will work with tomorrow to see how we might be able to contribute. It will be so rewarding to follow his progress and know that we made a difference of such huge magnitude, and even more when he proceeds to contribute back to his village. Thats what Mirror Foundation is all about. Several young adults here have listed Mirror as one of the influences that got them where they want to be. More news on that as it progresses.
After our lunch of eggs, curry and rice and the best mandarin oranges you've ever had Esther did some teaching with the Ebannock women who market their crafts here. Terry and Norrie did some planning work and some phoning to plan the rest of our Thailand visit. Our volunteering days are done earlier than we expected due to no students scheduled the rest of the week. We say farewell to our camp students tomorrow then we are free. So we went to town today to arrange a Thai massage course for Wednesday night, then we went to a travel agent to rearrange flights, and will spend the rest of our trip on the beaches of Phuket. A definite detour in our itinerary - but not a bad one!!! So we will be in transit after tomorrow getting to Chiang Mai by bus to the airport, then flying to Bangkok, to catch a flight to Phuket.
We had another somewhat eventful trip back to Mirror because the travel agent visit took us past the 6 pm curfew for truck taxis (songthews). We had to take a Tuk Tuk all the way back, 20 minutes outside the city, and hit RAIN on the way and the dark. But here we are safe and sound. Had a great Thai language lesson this evening. They taught us 2 songs. So 8 volunteers with our 2 Thai staff (Nu and Naan)had a good old sing song including guitar. What a uniting experience. It was a great evening. Our last at this "home away from home" with our friends that became like family. An interesting point from the women in our group - we all came here reading the same books!! And we have never even met each other before now.
We were talking about how some day we'll miss rice 3 times a day, wet toilet seats, toilets you flush with a bucket of water, having to carry your own toilet paper with you, remembering not to flush it down, doing spider checks when you enter the shower, wiping sweat off your face all day long, feeling sticky 10 minutes after a shower........
Stay posted for life on the opposite end of Thailand!!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Back to work - Monday March 24/08
We actually have a Sunday story first-
We wanted to stay as long as possible in town, so we stayed in the night market till 9:00pm, grabbed some food and started to look for a ride home. That is when we learned that there are no sonthew (mini bus, truck with benches in back) did not run in the evenings. The only way to get around at night is to use a tuk tuk ( a three wheel bike) But we had 3 people , purchases and luggage to get home- So that was not going to work. We decided to go back to our last hotel - to pick up luggage and help find transportation home. When we got there the owner was gone and only there daughter was there, not knowing a lot of English. We had asked our tuk tuk driver to wait , as he watched our attempts for a ride home , he got on the phone to a friend. He motioned us top go with him, which we did, got back in the tuk tuk and waited to see what was happening( he spoke English as well as we spoke Thai) and where we would end up. We drove down unfamiliar streets to meet another tuk tuk driver, we both pulled over and his passengers got out and we switched drivers. Again more unrecognizable streets to a rented house. He got out opened a locked gate and pulled in to his house. We got out of our 2nd vehicle and got into our 3rd vehicle to go home. This car was a sight, it was rusty, it had Winnie the pooh sticker, cracked windows, doors that did not open, so we were feeling pretty safe( NOT). He had to start it 3 times before it would start and stay running- yup we were making good decisions. He was so proud of his car and told us he bought it for 10500.00 Baht- 300.00 Cadn!- it ran like that also!
He again drove down streets we weren't sure of and we were starting to feel a little nervous, then he asked for the directions- not sure but don't you ask for directions first!! As Esther communicated with our new friend- neither knowing the other language- we headed to Mirror. We arrived there to a locked gate and security guards, we payed him 400.00 baht- 12.00 Cadn- and woke the village up getting in so late!It was now 11:00 pm so much for 9:00pm curfew.
Monday-
We had to move rooms this morning- downstairs, we have windows, and a door for privacy now. When moving everything Norrie found a loonie sized spider crawling from her bed - YUCK. So we were very good about shaking out our blankets and beds.
The 3 of us taught a English lesson about jobs and what you would like to do when you grow up- we were amazed at the high career goals- vet, policeman, missionary,doctor, pharmacist, human rights activist, and many more. We wish we still had that ability to dream those dreams. Remember these children are living in straw huts, no or little education, economically poor, having not been away from there home or village, yet striving and hoping for so much more. The people who are interns and volunteers here are great role models as they have achieved some of these dreams, by attending university and going places, yet coming back to help their communities. This organization, Mirror Art Foundation, has had a profound effect on the community and its people. Every where we go we meet people who have benefited from being here , by learning English, or with citizenship. It is so rewarding to know and see the results of the work this organization is doing, and we are lucky enough to be involved.
The afternoon was filled with planning for the next day. After that we had supper and headed back up to do more work, as we were up on the deck it started to rain. We were admiring the lightning and the rain pouring down, just as there was no power in the office( so no Internet access). One of the camp managers, p-aye, came down and told us to go back to our rooms. As it is not safe to be out in the rain, as the snakes come out, and are in the grass since it was so dark we would not be able to see if we stepped on one.
Well that got some of the girls pretty worried, no power, lots of snakes, and a house with more holes and gaps than you can count. We went on gap patrol with our flash lights and stuffed as many floor holes as we could. One of the girls has a phobia of snakes- not terry- Ash really can't even handle watching Jungle Book because of the snake- YUP that's bad. So we had to triple check the walls, move all her belongings off the floor and check her bed before she climbed up and wouldn't come down.
In the dark, with only flashlights, most of us gathered downstairs to talk. One of the guys brought candles- we all cheered until we realized we had no matches or lighters. Again we had to shout to someone to bring us a lighting utensil- to no avail. Esther came to the rescue as she found a lighter. So we sat down and all hauled out whatever food we had , sat in a circle, talked girl stuff, avoided snake stories, and had a great time. About 10:00pm the rain was still poring down but the power came back on!! Some of the girls played Boggle- Norrie did quite well, and we did some reading, before carefully tucking in so we would be rodent,snake, and bug free.
We slept cautiously and woke up frequently to see if there was something else in our room or on our beds!!
We wanted to stay as long as possible in town, so we stayed in the night market till 9:00pm, grabbed some food and started to look for a ride home. That is when we learned that there are no sonthew (mini bus, truck with benches in back) did not run in the evenings. The only way to get around at night is to use a tuk tuk ( a three wheel bike) But we had 3 people , purchases and luggage to get home- So that was not going to work. We decided to go back to our last hotel - to pick up luggage and help find transportation home. When we got there the owner was gone and only there daughter was there, not knowing a lot of English. We had asked our tuk tuk driver to wait , as he watched our attempts for a ride home , he got on the phone to a friend. He motioned us top go with him, which we did, got back in the tuk tuk and waited to see what was happening( he spoke English as well as we spoke Thai) and where we would end up. We drove down unfamiliar streets to meet another tuk tuk driver, we both pulled over and his passengers got out and we switched drivers. Again more unrecognizable streets to a rented house. He got out opened a locked gate and pulled in to his house. We got out of our 2nd vehicle and got into our 3rd vehicle to go home. This car was a sight, it was rusty, it had Winnie the pooh sticker, cracked windows, doors that did not open, so we were feeling pretty safe( NOT). He had to start it 3 times before it would start and stay running- yup we were making good decisions. He was so proud of his car and told us he bought it for 10500.00 Baht- 300.00 Cadn!- it ran like that also!
He again drove down streets we weren't sure of and we were starting to feel a little nervous, then he asked for the directions- not sure but don't you ask for directions first!! As Esther communicated with our new friend- neither knowing the other language- we headed to Mirror. We arrived there to a locked gate and security guards, we payed him 400.00 baht- 12.00 Cadn- and woke the village up getting in so late!It was now 11:00 pm so much for 9:00pm curfew.
Monday-
We had to move rooms this morning- downstairs, we have windows, and a door for privacy now. When moving everything Norrie found a loonie sized spider crawling from her bed - YUCK. So we were very good about shaking out our blankets and beds.
The 3 of us taught a English lesson about jobs and what you would like to do when you grow up- we were amazed at the high career goals- vet, policeman, missionary,doctor, pharmacist, human rights activist, and many more. We wish we still had that ability to dream those dreams. Remember these children are living in straw huts, no or little education, economically poor, having not been away from there home or village, yet striving and hoping for so much more. The people who are interns and volunteers here are great role models as they have achieved some of these dreams, by attending university and going places, yet coming back to help their communities. This organization, Mirror Art Foundation, has had a profound effect on the community and its people. Every where we go we meet people who have benefited from being here , by learning English, or with citizenship. It is so rewarding to know and see the results of the work this organization is doing, and we are lucky enough to be involved.
The afternoon was filled with planning for the next day. After that we had supper and headed back up to do more work, as we were up on the deck it started to rain. We were admiring the lightning and the rain pouring down, just as there was no power in the office( so no Internet access). One of the camp managers, p-aye, came down and told us to go back to our rooms. As it is not safe to be out in the rain, as the snakes come out, and are in the grass since it was so dark we would not be able to see if we stepped on one.
Well that got some of the girls pretty worried, no power, lots of snakes, and a house with more holes and gaps than you can count. We went on gap patrol with our flash lights and stuffed as many floor holes as we could. One of the girls has a phobia of snakes- not terry- Ash really can't even handle watching Jungle Book because of the snake- YUP that's bad. So we had to triple check the walls, move all her belongings off the floor and check her bed before she climbed up and wouldn't come down.
In the dark, with only flashlights, most of us gathered downstairs to talk. One of the guys brought candles- we all cheered until we realized we had no matches or lighters. Again we had to shout to someone to bring us a lighting utensil- to no avail. Esther came to the rescue as she found a lighter. So we sat down and all hauled out whatever food we had , sat in a circle, talked girl stuff, avoided snake stories, and had a great time. About 10:00pm the rain was still poring down but the power came back on!! Some of the girls played Boggle- Norrie did quite well, and we did some reading, before carefully tucking in so we would be rodent,snake, and bug free.
We slept cautiously and woke up frequently to see if there was something else in our room or on our beds!!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Saturday/Sunday in Chiang Rai- March 22/23
Saturday we spent walking, first to find the Tourism Office to make a plan for our weekend visit to Chiang Rai (they weren't that helpful finding something we had not already done - maybe our issue not theirs!). Amazingly we found our way via a map on streets that have very few English landmarks. Then we found our way to lovely coffee shop/internet cafe - the first time we had seen fries or burgers on a menu- no we did not indulge! We only had our favorite drink- smoothies- an did some internet work.Luckily we found an informative English speaking pharmacist who sold us an antihistamine which worked well to get rid of the swelling of Terrys nose and lip. Also we filled in some time by shopping, including finding new glasses for Norrie and Terry for a quarter of the price in Canada. Esther eventually broke down too and got hers on Sunday. Norrie got 2 pairs of glasses for $180.00 Cadn. 3 of us had another massage, full body this time. Can never have too many of those. We discovered the oil ones are the way to go. This is where we met Pookie who is a Thai nurse, speaks very good English and became a good Thai friend quickly, helping us with planning our time here. Interesting thing here was the goldfish bowl full of what we thought was black rice - except that they were moving!!! She explained to us these black bugs were a good luck charm!!
For supper we again took a break from rice and ate PIZZA! And off to the night market for more ....guess....shopping!!!!! We all found treasures,even Norrie bought stuff finally, and did a show and tell session back at the hotel. Another day of laughs.
Sunday we had an interesting encounter to start our day. On our deck as we discussed how to walk to the church we had seen, to go to Easter Sunday service the neighbour came bounding out of his room offering us a ride to his Burmese church. He was an American mission-type fella so excited to meet us. So that's what we did, we took a ride with complete strangers to some church out of the city limits. Smart huh! We were treated like royal guests. Andwere even introduced and invited to sing a song in English. We sang Jesus Loves Me, as we were having a hard time remembering other hymns!! After we sang we looked at their song book, although it was all in Thai the titles were in English - and all the same as the ones at home! As he drove us back home we learned more about the work they are doing with orphans in Burma and their boarding school. We were happy to offer him the remainder of Anita's pay-it-forward contribution to our trip.
Then we squeezed in another trip downtown before Jamie and Arlene had to catch their plane to start back home to Canada.We were sad to see them go as we all worked well as a team and would miss them. The 3 remaining girls aimlessly hung out downtown ending up having a huge unloading session in aItalian cafe ,this left us refreshed and ready for more adventures. From there we meandered to a travel agent to plan the rest of our week, and to our favorite internet cafe to do THIS, of course trying not to enjoy the smoothies and brownies too much! We also went and discussed with Pookie our opportunities to take a massage CLASS - so watch out we might practise on you when we get back!!
For supper we again took a break from rice and ate PIZZA! And off to the night market for more ....guess....shopping!!!!! We all found treasures,even Norrie bought stuff finally, and did a show and tell session back at the hotel. Another day of laughs.
Sunday we had an interesting encounter to start our day. On our deck as we discussed how to walk to the church we had seen, to go to Easter Sunday service the neighbour came bounding out of his room offering us a ride to his Burmese church. He was an American mission-type fella so excited to meet us. So that's what we did, we took a ride with complete strangers to some church out of the city limits. Smart huh! We were treated like royal guests. Andwere even introduced and invited to sing a song in English. We sang Jesus Loves Me, as we were having a hard time remembering other hymns!! After we sang we looked at their song book, although it was all in Thai the titles were in English - and all the same as the ones at home! As he drove us back home we learned more about the work they are doing with orphans in Burma and their boarding school. We were happy to offer him the remainder of Anita's pay-it-forward contribution to our trip.
Then we squeezed in another trip downtown before Jamie and Arlene had to catch their plane to start back home to Canada.We were sad to see them go as we all worked well as a team and would miss them. The 3 remaining girls aimlessly hung out downtown ending up having a huge unloading session in aItalian cafe ,this left us refreshed and ready for more adventures. From there we meandered to a travel agent to plan the rest of our week, and to our favorite internet cafe to do THIS, of course trying not to enjoy the smoothies and brownies too much! We also went and discussed with Pookie our opportunities to take a massage CLASS - so watch out we might practise on you when we get back!!
Thursday/Friday- Akha Tribe
Well you know how we slept...
We awoke to a huge traditional breakfast- yup consisting of RICE, Vegetables, scrambled eggs, and pork soup. Our host would of got up 1-2 hours before the meal to prepare it. We ate at 8:00 am, and enjoyed our tea from our new Bamboo mugs. Then it was time to climb again, we went up to the view point- notice we said UP. On the way up Jack and Jamie cut down a bamboo tree with a machete and carried it up to the top so we could use it as our cooking implement. Another steep hill to a picnic spot marked by a bamboo straw hut with a deck ( that we ate our lunch off of).There was pipe sticking out of the hill with a constant stream of water flowing from it.
Once there our guide started to prepare our meal with us, he cut down 4 banana leafs to use with the Bamboo. He made the bamboo into a rice cooker, an egg cooker, tea pot,serving dishes and tea cups! Multi uses out of one Tree!! He also cooked meat on a stick that looked like intestine- when asked what we were eating all we could gather was that it "was pig insides" - One was liver but we could not figure out the other tube shaped meat- heart, aorta,intestines- who knows! While we were waiting for everything to cook- 2 hours- we walked the hillside, our guide found a snake skin that was at least 4 feet long- again Terry got over her snake phobia and touched it -
He served our lunch from the bamboo cooking vessels to banana leaf plates- how tropical - even more so considering the heat - at least 36-38 degrees in the sun! We encouraged Jack to eat early so we could leave the heat a little early- so we started our trek down the hill- even that is difficult when the incline is so steep. Back at the village we gathered our belongings- but before we left Jamie purchased one of the two machete knives and cases our host had made and used for the last 10 years. Jamie paid 400 baht ( 12.00 Can) for both knife and holder , he had no way to carry it, so our host and his wife sat on the floor and braided a new belt out of a wood like strand for Jamie to wear it. He looks officially jungle ready.
Now it was time to trek again, this time 5 km across 7 hills to the Akha tribe village. A more level walk but very narrow path along the sides of steep hills. Along the way, Jak cut us some bamboo walking sticks which proved helpful. Once arriving in the new village the feel was amazingly different. This time there were a few more modern looking homes under construction. The children here ran freely and approached us curious and excited especially when they saw the stickers Jamie was carrying and starting distributing. Pretty soon every local child heard we were in town and what we were giving. We were introduced to our host families next, separated this time into 2 groups. Our experiences therefore differed from host to host. We stayed in bamboo huts that were barren of anything likely just used for sleeping guests. The girls had wasp central, it wasn't an hour before Terry got stung on the end of her nose! They were literally hanging off the light on the ceiling, hovering everywhere, crawling around us during supper, sitting on the floor. Norrie got caught squishing one under the mat. Meals were interesting. The wife served us rice scooped up with her hand!! Appetizing. Especially since there aren't a lot of sinks or soap around..... Here again we had no hot water and had only squat toilets. We are getting good at that! Again no toilet paper, and any of our own we used had to be hauled out of the village when we left!!
We were again treated to their traditional fire dance. Dressed us in full costume which consisted of a heavy and elaborate headdress, lots of jewellery and beads, and black skirts, and colorful embroidered jackets and leggings. Just what we were looking for at 36 degrees! While we were waiting (remember Thai time) for it to start, Terry taught the kids ring-around -the rosy with the children. Lots of laughing over the falling down part.
Unlike the Lahus they sang a chant with no drums or instruments. You could feel the emotion of their celebration in their sincerity and seriousness. Obviously a very spiritual experience for them, and us.
From this center of town we spotted the fires in the hills glowing against the horizon. The air by now has become very smoky from crop burning. Something the foreign agencies are trying to discourage and teach better practices.
FRIDAY
Sleep here again was limited, thanks to the pigs, roosters and early rising villagers (5 am). Our host, the town chief, did his morning announcements over the loud speaker. We people watched until our truck came to pick us up to return us to Mirror Foundation. Suddenly Mirror feels like luxury, like coming home.
We unpacked, showered then joined into the English camp. This is the day we got to break out the hockey sticks!! I don't know who was more excited, the foreign volunteers or the kids. They caught on FAST and loved it. Even the camp manager ( a 30 ish yr old woman)couldn't resist joining in. They were thrilled when they found out they get to keep the sticks. Picture 20 people playing hockey in 36 degrees. Hot and sweaty but fun!! I think that was a first for them.
After lunch, where we gorged on the fruit (getting tired of rice???), and had our daily treat from the ice cream truck, we planned our lesson for Monday so we could relax on the weekend. At 5 pm 14 of us piled into a half ton truck (only in Thailand) and went into Chiang Rai which is customary for Friday nights at Mirror. We enjoyed a Thai barbecue/buffet. Very interesting process, you choose your ingredients and barbecue them at your table ( in 36 degrees remember). It was fun and a nice change to choose our own tastes. Including ice cream!!! From here we were taken to the famous night bazaar. After shopping the crowded streets we enjoyed yet another massage. This time of our feet. A simply decadent hour. Nothing quite like it, and only about 250 bhat, $7.50 cndn. We headed to stay at Ben Guest House to our glorious air conditioned rooms. Had some beer from 7-11 on our deck and yacked til 1 am. These rooms almost felt like a REAL hotel after our recent lodgings. They actually provided toilet paper, and the shower had a curtain separating it from the bathroom, AND hot water.
Points of interest:
- Akha tribe is mostly farmers and work on steep hills to grow their produce. Tough people.
-They have no written language. Yet economically they are stronger than most tribes around
-Women and even babies wear headdresses
-It costs students who wan to learn English in Chiang Rai one day/week $25 a month. This does incredible things for them in terms of increasing their opportunities in life.
We awoke to a huge traditional breakfast- yup consisting of RICE, Vegetables, scrambled eggs, and pork soup. Our host would of got up 1-2 hours before the meal to prepare it. We ate at 8:00 am, and enjoyed our tea from our new Bamboo mugs. Then it was time to climb again, we went up to the view point- notice we said UP. On the way up Jack and Jamie cut down a bamboo tree with a machete and carried it up to the top so we could use it as our cooking implement. Another steep hill to a picnic spot marked by a bamboo straw hut with a deck ( that we ate our lunch off of).There was pipe sticking out of the hill with a constant stream of water flowing from it.
Once there our guide started to prepare our meal with us, he cut down 4 banana leafs to use with the Bamboo. He made the bamboo into a rice cooker, an egg cooker, tea pot,serving dishes and tea cups! Multi uses out of one Tree!! He also cooked meat on a stick that looked like intestine- when asked what we were eating all we could gather was that it "was pig insides" - One was liver but we could not figure out the other tube shaped meat- heart, aorta,intestines- who knows! While we were waiting for everything to cook- 2 hours- we walked the hillside, our guide found a snake skin that was at least 4 feet long- again Terry got over her snake phobia and touched it -
He served our lunch from the bamboo cooking vessels to banana leaf plates- how tropical - even more so considering the heat - at least 36-38 degrees in the sun! We encouraged Jack to eat early so we could leave the heat a little early- so we started our trek down the hill- even that is difficult when the incline is so steep. Back at the village we gathered our belongings- but before we left Jamie purchased one of the two machete knives and cases our host had made and used for the last 10 years. Jamie paid 400 baht ( 12.00 Can) for both knife and holder , he had no way to carry it, so our host and his wife sat on the floor and braided a new belt out of a wood like strand for Jamie to wear it. He looks officially jungle ready.
Now it was time to trek again, this time 5 km across 7 hills to the Akha tribe village. A more level walk but very narrow path along the sides of steep hills. Along the way, Jak cut us some bamboo walking sticks which proved helpful. Once arriving in the new village the feel was amazingly different. This time there were a few more modern looking homes under construction. The children here ran freely and approached us curious and excited especially when they saw the stickers Jamie was carrying and starting distributing. Pretty soon every local child heard we were in town and what we were giving. We were introduced to our host families next, separated this time into 2 groups. Our experiences therefore differed from host to host. We stayed in bamboo huts that were barren of anything likely just used for sleeping guests. The girls had wasp central, it wasn't an hour before Terry got stung on the end of her nose! They were literally hanging off the light on the ceiling, hovering everywhere, crawling around us during supper, sitting on the floor. Norrie got caught squishing one under the mat. Meals were interesting. The wife served us rice scooped up with her hand!! Appetizing. Especially since there aren't a lot of sinks or soap around..... Here again we had no hot water and had only squat toilets. We are getting good at that! Again no toilet paper, and any of our own we used had to be hauled out of the village when we left!!
We were again treated to their traditional fire dance. Dressed us in full costume which consisted of a heavy and elaborate headdress, lots of jewellery and beads, and black skirts, and colorful embroidered jackets and leggings. Just what we were looking for at 36 degrees! While we were waiting (remember Thai time) for it to start, Terry taught the kids ring-around -the rosy with the children. Lots of laughing over the falling down part.
Unlike the Lahus they sang a chant with no drums or instruments. You could feel the emotion of their celebration in their sincerity and seriousness. Obviously a very spiritual experience for them, and us.
From this center of town we spotted the fires in the hills glowing against the horizon. The air by now has become very smoky from crop burning. Something the foreign agencies are trying to discourage and teach better practices.
FRIDAY
Sleep here again was limited, thanks to the pigs, roosters and early rising villagers (5 am). Our host, the town chief, did his morning announcements over the loud speaker. We people watched until our truck came to pick us up to return us to Mirror Foundation. Suddenly Mirror feels like luxury, like coming home.
We unpacked, showered then joined into the English camp. This is the day we got to break out the hockey sticks!! I don't know who was more excited, the foreign volunteers or the kids. They caught on FAST and loved it. Even the camp manager ( a 30 ish yr old woman)couldn't resist joining in. They were thrilled when they found out they get to keep the sticks. Picture 20 people playing hockey in 36 degrees. Hot and sweaty but fun!! I think that was a first for them.
After lunch, where we gorged on the fruit (getting tired of rice???), and had our daily treat from the ice cream truck, we planned our lesson for Monday so we could relax on the weekend. At 5 pm 14 of us piled into a half ton truck (only in Thailand) and went into Chiang Rai which is customary for Friday nights at Mirror. We enjoyed a Thai barbecue/buffet. Very interesting process, you choose your ingredients and barbecue them at your table ( in 36 degrees remember). It was fun and a nice change to choose our own tastes. Including ice cream!!! From here we were taken to the famous night bazaar. After shopping the crowded streets we enjoyed yet another massage. This time of our feet. A simply decadent hour. Nothing quite like it, and only about 250 bhat, $7.50 cndn. We headed to stay at Ben Guest House to our glorious air conditioned rooms. Had some beer from 7-11 on our deck and yacked til 1 am. These rooms almost felt like a REAL hotel after our recent lodgings. They actually provided toilet paper, and the shower had a curtain separating it from the bathroom, AND hot water.
Points of interest:
- Akha tribe is mostly farmers and work on steep hills to grow their produce. Tough people.
-They have no written language. Yet economically they are stronger than most tribes around
-Women and even babies wear headdresses
-It costs students who wan to learn English in Chiang Rai one day/week $25 a month. This does incredible things for them in terms of increasing their opportunities in life.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Hillside Tribes of Northern Thailand! Mar 19
We left Mirror with our guide ( Jackabo) around 9:30 a.m. on our 2 day adventure. First we went into Chaing Rai to visit the day market. Here Jack took us to a different part of the market we had not seen before. We saw LIVE frogs, eels, crickets, bugs, lots of fish, and the smells that we really do not want to remember!! Saw the temple with some huge turtles and an emerald Buddha.
Our next stop was the Karen village where we had an elephant ride through the market area. The interesting part of this ride was the portion when all the elephants walked through the river. After we went to the market area and got our pictures taken holding a very, very large anaconda snake that weighing 225 lbs. All five of us were lifting it including Terry who swore she would never touch a snake. Wow the stretches we are doing out of our comfort zone here is incredible!!
We climbed up a steep narrow path to have our lunch and enjoy the coolness of a waterfall. Our lunch consisted of 3 portions of our meal wrapped in banana leaves. It was sticky rice, pork, greens and chili paste. We waded in the cool water and actually saw a live snake slithering through the water. It was Lahu New Year so families were also having a picnic. Jamie once again was offered a taste of some local alcohol, and accepted to their cheers. They even had him sample another type and liked his willingness to try it.
We walked to the hill tribe museum to give us some history about the tribe we were about to visit. Then our 2 and a 1/2 hour trek began at around 2:00 p.m. in 38 degree heat This was a dirt trail leading straight uphill!!! There was very little shade to hide under, but when we found some took advantage of a little break. Our backpacks loaded with all necessities for 3 days felt very heavy and added to the exhaustion. Arriving at the village was like a step back in time. There were bamboo houses with thatch roofs all on stilts so the pigs, chickens, dogs, cats could live underneath. These animals wandered all over the village. The Lahu speak a totally different language from Thailand so we practiced our new greetings (Abooya' spelled phonetically) to anyone we met. We were greeted with a lot of toothless and black teeth smiles from some of the locals (a result of the use of beetlenut). The Lahu also has no written language, like many of the other hillside tribes. We had all made it safely- the hills were daunting - but a small slip cost us a casualty as Terry fell onto the path. Her bruise turned some pretty wild colors- what a trouper she didn't even CRY!!!
Our host family was an elderly couple. He was in the process of making bamboo cups for us, a gift from them. They offered us tea and bananas. We were in awe in our surroundings sitting cross legged on the floor deck on a woven mat overlooking the village. The house was big with no furnishings and was made entirely of bamboo. You could see through the slats in the floor, which made it very easy to dispose of dishwater, vegetable waste or scraps. The stove consisted of a fire, that was placed on a cement slab on the floor inside the house (with no chimney). A slice of a tree was her cutting board, the few cooking utensils were hung on the wall, and one piece of wood that served as a counter were all that were in the room. There was no sink, no cupboards, no fridge and no furniture.
The toilet was about 70 yards from the house and about to topple over, but it did not smell. However it was the true squat style toilet. The shower was a open hose pouring out of the hillside. This was apparently used by a few families. Needless to stay, only Jamie took advantage of this service. They served us plentiful food for supper (way too much) the usual, but very delicious. After supper she and her daughter brought their crafts of purses, water bottle containers, belts, bracelets, scarves and other. We were advised to buy from our hosts, so we all were happy to purchase these wonderful items from the creators!!
We soon were dressed in their tribal costume for the dance celebration. The Lahu dress is full of color,and Due to Jamie's North American sized shoulders they had a hard time finding a jacket that fit him! We wore a colorful jacket with a black skirt with hand sewn colorful stitching, amazing amount of work to do all that.
They led us outside and they did some tribal dances around the fire. The Lahu do not sing , they use is a drum and symbols and dance. It was different as we usually have music and some vocals. It was silent but beautiful. The children ran around the circle and as the evening went on more adults from the tribe gathered around. With the heat of the fire and the heat of the day we were all exhausted and were content with the night ending. To our surprise they offered a one hour massage ( for 100 baht= $3.00) for each of us, so of course we had to have one!! The massage at this village is quite different, it was more of a superficial pinching motion on your skin. Very relaxing and good for people who had treked up hill for most of the day!
Getting comfortable was a bit of a challenge as you are sleeping on a blanket on the bamboo floor, with a pillow made from stone- or at least hard packed sand. We had all settled in and slept for at least one hour before the various roosters started to crow. At least 13 roosters competing for the loudest crower award were present and showing off their skills- You can guess how much sleep we got- yup at least that first hour!! It felt like we were right next to them- Bamboo walls have no soundproofing qualities. I am not so sure how anyone could be accustomed to that noise- but I'm sure you must get used to it.
It was a day of" stretching out of our comfort zone"- for some the hills were daunting, others the lifestyle,and the hygeine but through all of this we each have all grown one way or another. We definetly have an appreciation for a lifestyle that is hard to comprehend and should be perserved and not torn apart. How bare a hut can be, but is still a warm and welcoming home- not the things but the people make a home- a lesson we have all learned.
Interesting Facts
- the Lahu tribe has no written language
- it was 90% self sufficient - only buying salt- until the goverment disallowed them from moving around and made them stay in one place, now they are only 10% self sufficient and go outside their community for 90% of their supplies
- they do not have citizenship in the country they were born in automatically- they have to go through a very expensive process ( requireing DNA testing) to apply - which could take years
- The work is divided equally between men and women - a man shares all duties equally
- there are many many intersting uses for Bamboo- which they use in their everyday lives- but the goverment is not allowing the hill tribes to cut any more Bamboo even that around their own huts!!
- The children walk a long long way to school to learn English and are quite shy
They led us outside and they did some tribal dances around the fire. The Lahu do not sing , they use is a drum and symbols and dance. It was different as we usually have music and some vocals. It was silent but beautiful. The children ran around the circle and as the evening went on more adults from the tribe gathered around. With the heat of the fire and the heat of the day we were all exhausted and were content with the night ending. To our surprise they offered a one hour massage ( for 100 baht= $3.00) for each of us, so of course we had to have one!! The massage at this village is quite different, it was more of a superficial pinching motion on your skin. Very relaxing and good for people who had treked up hill for most of the day!
Getting comfortable was a bit of a challenge as you are sleeping on a blanket on the bamboo floor, with a pillow made from stone- or at least hard packed sand. We had all settled in and slept for at least one hour before the various roosters started to crow. At least 13 roosters competing for the loudest crower award were present and showing off their skills- You can guess how much sleep we got- yup at least that first hour!! It felt like we were right next to them- Bamboo walls have no soundproofing qualities. I am not so sure how anyone could be accustomed to that noise- but I'm sure you must get used to it.
It was a day of" stretching out of our comfort zone"- for some the hills were daunting, others the lifestyle,and the hygeine but through all of this we each have all grown one way or another. We definetly have an appreciation for a lifestyle that is hard to comprehend and should be perserved and not torn apart. How bare a hut can be, but is still a warm and welcoming home- not the things but the people make a home- a lesson we have all learned.
Interesting Facts
- the Lahu tribe has no written language
- it was 90% self sufficient - only buying salt- until the goverment disallowed them from moving around and made them stay in one place, now they are only 10% self sufficient and go outside their community for 90% of their supplies
- they do not have citizenship in the country they were born in automatically- they have to go through a very expensive process ( requireing DNA testing) to apply - which could take years
- The work is divided equally between men and women - a man shares all duties equally
- there are many many intersting uses for Bamboo- which they use in their everyday lives- but the goverment is not allowing the hill tribes to cut any more Bamboo even that around their own huts!!
- The children walk a long long way to school to learn English and are quite shy
Thursday, March 20, 2008
March 17th & 18th Mirror Volunteer
Every morning at the Mirror Volunteer headquarter we are served breakfast at 8:00 a.m. This consists of rice, a vegetable dish and an egg dish. After that we have a meeting in Thai at 8:30 a.m. Basically this is information of what is happening in hillside tribe villages also organizing vehicles to transport volunteers to various places. Some of this information gets translated for us, but generally "we are in the dark".
We started doing an 8 day summer camp with 14 students from various tribes ranging in age from 9 - 21 years. All of these students were highly motivated and some come very long distances for the English instruction that is from 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 everyday. We practice a lot of everyday conversation to aid them in real life situations. We have worked on greetings, likes and dislikes, feelings, body parts, actions and tried geography which failed miserably. Some of the games we have played with them include BINGO, capture the flag type games, hockey (with sticks brought from Canada), sing song primary games -- some of these running games are extremely exhausting in 36 degree weather!!!!!
Lunch is served at 12:00. Surprise, surprise rice, a vegetable dish and a pork or chicken dish. We really get excited when we see fruit, as it is delicious (mandarin oranges, mango, pineapple, bananas and watermelon) The highlight of lunch everyday is the sound of the icecream truck (just like at home -- the 3 wheel vehicle) where we can buy a popsicle for 8 baht (24 cents) drumstick 14 baht (50 cents) -- a little taste of home.
After lunch we have an hour free time, then we meet again with all the volunteers to plan the next days lesson at 1:30 p.m. In the afternoon we have some options: practice reading English with the staff here, meet at the Ebaunok shop (a small confectionary type store) in the small village (50 people) just below our headquarters to teach the locals practical English for selling their products, teach English to the local trek guides, clean and organize facilities (Norrie, Arlene and Esther worked very hard organizing the store room).
Supper is at 6:00 p.m. Once again RICE, vegetable dish, and a pork or chicken dish. After supper we either go on computers, walk to the small village for a pop (they empty the bottle into a bag with a straw and keep the bottle). Jamie was adventurous and tried the local moonshine (around 44 % alcohol) sharing sips to the rest of us who wanted to try it. While he was in his quest for adventure he also ate a cricket (after convincing the shop owner to eat one first). As we were walking past, a table of locals called Jamie to join them for a drink -- which Jamie initially declined, but ended up taking a sip out of a not so clean glass to maintain a positive relationship with the locals. The sun sets at 6:30 p.m. everyday so it is very dark by the time we walk back to our camp.
Tuesday after volunteering in the afternoon we decided to take a taxi into Chaing Rai. We did a little shopping and had a wonderful oil massage. The traditional Thai massages are great, but have left some of us bruised (finger and thumb prints) and a little sore from the deep muscle manipulation. We picked up our supper from the vendors on the street before hopping back in a taxi to go back to camp. We had our Thai lesson from one of the volunteer staff and learned a lot!! But we still have a long way to go. Jit (volunteer staff) and Martin (volunteer from Scotland) played guitar and we enjoyed the cooling off of the evening.
Anticipating our Homestay experience that we leave on tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. This is our experience to stay with a host family at two of the tribal hillside villages, for two days.
Will be continued after our 2 day adventure!!!!
We started doing an 8 day summer camp with 14 students from various tribes ranging in age from 9 - 21 years. All of these students were highly motivated and some come very long distances for the English instruction that is from 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 everyday. We practice a lot of everyday conversation to aid them in real life situations. We have worked on greetings, likes and dislikes, feelings, body parts, actions and tried geography which failed miserably. Some of the games we have played with them include BINGO, capture the flag type games, hockey (with sticks brought from Canada), sing song primary games -- some of these running games are extremely exhausting in 36 degree weather!!!!!
Lunch is served at 12:00. Surprise, surprise rice, a vegetable dish and a pork or chicken dish. We really get excited when we see fruit, as it is delicious (mandarin oranges, mango, pineapple, bananas and watermelon) The highlight of lunch everyday is the sound of the icecream truck (just like at home -- the 3 wheel vehicle) where we can buy a popsicle for 8 baht (24 cents) drumstick 14 baht (50 cents) -- a little taste of home.
After lunch we have an hour free time, then we meet again with all the volunteers to plan the next days lesson at 1:30 p.m. In the afternoon we have some options: practice reading English with the staff here, meet at the Ebaunok shop (a small confectionary type store) in the small village (50 people) just below our headquarters to teach the locals practical English for selling their products, teach English to the local trek guides, clean and organize facilities (Norrie, Arlene and Esther worked very hard organizing the store room).
Supper is at 6:00 p.m. Once again RICE, vegetable dish, and a pork or chicken dish. After supper we either go on computers, walk to the small village for a pop (they empty the bottle into a bag with a straw and keep the bottle). Jamie was adventurous and tried the local moonshine (around 44 % alcohol) sharing sips to the rest of us who wanted to try it. While he was in his quest for adventure he also ate a cricket (after convincing the shop owner to eat one first). As we were walking past, a table of locals called Jamie to join them for a drink -- which Jamie initially declined, but ended up taking a sip out of a not so clean glass to maintain a positive relationship with the locals. The sun sets at 6:30 p.m. everyday so it is very dark by the time we walk back to our camp.
Tuesday after volunteering in the afternoon we decided to take a taxi into Chaing Rai. We did a little shopping and had a wonderful oil massage. The traditional Thai massages are great, but have left some of us bruised (finger and thumb prints) and a little sore from the deep muscle manipulation. We picked up our supper from the vendors on the street before hopping back in a taxi to go back to camp. We had our Thai lesson from one of the volunteer staff and learned a lot!! But we still have a long way to go. Jit (volunteer staff) and Martin (volunteer from Scotland) played guitar and we enjoyed the cooling off of the evening.
Anticipating our Homestay experience that we leave on tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. This is our experience to stay with a host family at two of the tribal hillside villages, for two days.
Will be continued after our 2 day adventure!!!!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Sunday, March 16th Off to Chiang Rai
We were leaving for Chiang Rai so had to hop in the back of a Songthaew (a pickup with benches in the back) to get to the bus depot by10:00 a.m. When we arrived we found out that, as per usual, according to Thai time our bus left at 11:30 a.m. After we passed a few concessions and had some testers, we purchased some strawberries and oranges for the ride. We are getting much braver at trying new foods we see being cooked. We don't always know what we are eating, but we can figure it out after -- lots of chicken and pork.
It cost us 175 baht ( a little less than $6.00) for the bus ride to Chiang Rai, a 3 and a half hour drive from Chiang Mai. We needed to store our 10 bags so we did not have to carry them around -- this service cost 300 baht (about $9.00). It was nice to have an air conditioned bus, but it was a bumpy ride -- some of us had to take gravol. The plan to finish our journal ling went out the window as it was impossible to write. The truck box to the camp was not so luxurious!
When we arrived, in true Thai style, no one seemed to recognize why we were there. Nonetheless it all got sorted out. We instantly got chatting with the other volunteers, from Vancouver, Australia, England, Scotland, Quebec, USA. That has been really neat, hearing their stories.
This reminds us so much of summer camp. An office, some cabins, open play space, common dining room which is actually a cement pad with mats outside with a grass roof, no walls. The kitchen also is more outside than inside. A far cry from our designer kitchens in the western world. they only have 2 free standing burners (propane?) to cook for a whole camp. They chop vegetables only by hand, takes most of the day I'm sure. We eat off metal plates sitting on the floor. Hand washing our own dishes after.
The girls are sleeping in the loft of an old teak 2 story cabin. 13 narrow stairs to carry our 8 pieces of luggage up. Next time we will pack lighter!! We are sleeping on mats that are on the floor.There is one shower/toilet inside and one outside for 13 women to share. We have a resident frog, a noisy gecko, and a spider I met in the night in the bathroom that was the size of a small saucer. The shower is an real shower, but only cold water, and we mean mountain stream cold. Most of us only shower in the afternoon when we are soooo hot that the cold ice water looks good! The toilet is a bucket flusher, and cannot accept toilet paper. Use your imagination. (That s what the bucket beside the toilet is for.)
The meals are so tasty, haven't had anything we haven't liked. Rice for every meal, but its better than our rice at home. The ginger dish last evening pushed the boundary on the "spice" tolerance. Lots of vegetables with every meal, even breakfast, not much meat. But you don't miss it at all. Jamie sleeps in the dirt house with the guys. Not much sleep on the cement floor the first night. He gathered some extra padding after that. He got to meet the night watchman anyway!
Sunday we got the lowdown on how things are done here. Its quite an organization, Mirror Foundation. They have a lot of respect for the hill tribe people, the motto being "we learn from them". The program is way bigger than what we will touch ourselves, ie loan program, citizenship program, rescue program. A person learns to be very open and flexible here. Nothing is in stone. Seldom on time. Missing paperwork. However meals are sharp at 8am, 12, and 6pm.
It gets dark at 6 pm here so we have to be back on the property by then. There is a village 1 km from camp and we walk into it to get cold drinks from the"convenience store". Our water supply here is reliable but room temperature - which gets close to 30 degrees up here.
We are still all nervous as we have no idea what we are expected to do, but are feeling hopeful that we can make a difference, even in a small way.
Thanks for the comments- it keeps us motivated to keep writing- Miss you all -
Tune in for Monday!
It cost us 175 baht ( a little less than $6.00) for the bus ride to Chiang Rai, a 3 and a half hour drive from Chiang Mai. We needed to store our 10 bags so we did not have to carry them around -- this service cost 300 baht (about $9.00). It was nice to have an air conditioned bus, but it was a bumpy ride -- some of us had to take gravol. The plan to finish our journal ling went out the window as it was impossible to write. The truck box to the camp was not so luxurious!
When we arrived, in true Thai style, no one seemed to recognize why we were there. Nonetheless it all got sorted out. We instantly got chatting with the other volunteers, from Vancouver, Australia, England, Scotland, Quebec, USA. That has been really neat, hearing their stories.
This reminds us so much of summer camp. An office, some cabins, open play space, common dining room which is actually a cement pad with mats outside with a grass roof, no walls. The kitchen also is more outside than inside. A far cry from our designer kitchens in the western world. they only have 2 free standing burners (propane?) to cook for a whole camp. They chop vegetables only by hand, takes most of the day I'm sure. We eat off metal plates sitting on the floor. Hand washing our own dishes after.
The girls are sleeping in the loft of an old teak 2 story cabin. 13 narrow stairs to carry our 8 pieces of luggage up. Next time we will pack lighter!! We are sleeping on mats that are on the floor.There is one shower/toilet inside and one outside for 13 women to share. We have a resident frog, a noisy gecko, and a spider I met in the night in the bathroom that was the size of a small saucer. The shower is an real shower, but only cold water, and we mean mountain stream cold. Most of us only shower in the afternoon when we are soooo hot that the cold ice water looks good! The toilet is a bucket flusher, and cannot accept toilet paper. Use your imagination. (That s what the bucket beside the toilet is for.)
The meals are so tasty, haven't had anything we haven't liked. Rice for every meal, but its better than our rice at home. The ginger dish last evening pushed the boundary on the "spice" tolerance. Lots of vegetables with every meal, even breakfast, not much meat. But you don't miss it at all. Jamie sleeps in the dirt house with the guys. Not much sleep on the cement floor the first night. He gathered some extra padding after that. He got to meet the night watchman anyway!
Sunday we got the lowdown on how things are done here. Its quite an organization, Mirror Foundation. They have a lot of respect for the hill tribe people, the motto being "we learn from them". The program is way bigger than what we will touch ourselves, ie loan program, citizenship program, rescue program. A person learns to be very open and flexible here. Nothing is in stone. Seldom on time. Missing paperwork. However meals are sharp at 8am, 12, and 6pm.
It gets dark at 6 pm here so we have to be back on the property by then. There is a village 1 km from camp and we walk into it to get cold drinks from the"convenience store". Our water supply here is reliable but room temperature - which gets close to 30 degrees up here.
We are still all nervous as we have no idea what we are expected to do, but are feeling hopeful that we can make a difference, even in a small way.
Thanks for the comments- it keeps us motivated to keep writing- Miss you all -
Tune in for Monday!
Saturday March 15 - trekking
Our second day in Chaing Mai had been arranged by Johnny at TAT so again we were picked up in a van and hosted by a fella named Bot. It was such an exhilarating day. We started at the Elephant Camp an hour out of town. We rode into the jungle, 2 of us in a seat and a driver(mahout) sitting on the beasts head. We LOVED it. Had to keep shoving bananas in their trunk to keep them happy. We laughed when Jamie had to ride a baby 6 year old and the rest of us were towering above him on our 25-35 year old elephants. After we finished they met us at the finish with photos of us on them, sold for only 100 baht ($3) - big difference from Canadian tourist traps.
From there we proceeded to a Hill Tribe village where the children ran to the van to meet us begging for 5 baht for their home made necklaces. We also bought silk scarves from the women making them. No English here. Bot did explain the issues and history of these migrant families to us. We saw a woman who had the blackest teeth ever. She had chewed beetle nut for years. We got pictures!! Jamie was offered to try some beetle nut -- he did not refuse the offer!!! We had fun watching his face turn green as he said it tasted like dirt. He also said he got an instant "head rush".
Next - the million dollar swim! Worth the whole trip. We climbed down a very steep hill (and back up after) about a thousand steps and had a swim in a waterfall. We were amazed that the force is too strong to get close to it.The current makes you swim in one spot like on a treadmill. We had to swim very hard to make it to the waterfall but we ALL did it. Jamie was helping Esther come back from the waterfall and he stepped into a deep hole. This scared Esther into thinking she was going down and going to die. (Esther is not a good swimmer) She ended up on top of Jamie almost drowning him. Our "near miss" was that Norrie just about died climbing back up those stairs. To be fair- she had major surgery only 6 weeks ago, and it was HOT and STEEP.
From there another thrill. Rafting down the river on bamboo rafts. 2 people sat in the middle and one stands on the back with a pole to help steer, then a local uses a pole in front to guide us. Raft is a very strong word for these floating apparatas, there are 5-7 bamboo poles held together with strips of old tires - And not all that securely at that. The water was peaceful and then bouts of small rapids to keep it exciting. We even saw elephants at the edge, stationed by the water by their camp. There were lots of Thai tourists spending a day at the river parked along the riverside too. The really amazing thing was at the end of our one hour ride they take the rafts apart and transport them back to the start as separate bamboo poles. Labour intensive!
The day had come to an end and we rode back with Some Aussie trekkers. We later found an Internet cafe near our guest house and did some blogging. This is when we got separated and Jamie abandoned the women. Actually Jamie's story is that he was bored with the computer stuff, so was drinking a beer at a table beside the internet cafe, and he didn't see us leave. Thinking Jamie had already left, the women went and got a hour massage and then a wonderful Italian supper (for about $6 each). Arlene and Esther still had energy left and went back to empty the night market of their goods. If nothing else they know how to shop!!
From there we proceeded to a Hill Tribe village where the children ran to the van to meet us begging for 5 baht for their home made necklaces. We also bought silk scarves from the women making them. No English here. Bot did explain the issues and history of these migrant families to us. We saw a woman who had the blackest teeth ever. She had chewed beetle nut for years. We got pictures!! Jamie was offered to try some beetle nut -- he did not refuse the offer!!! We had fun watching his face turn green as he said it tasted like dirt. He also said he got an instant "head rush".
Next - the million dollar swim! Worth the whole trip. We climbed down a very steep hill (and back up after) about a thousand steps and had a swim in a waterfall. We were amazed that the force is too strong to get close to it.The current makes you swim in one spot like on a treadmill. We had to swim very hard to make it to the waterfall but we ALL did it. Jamie was helping Esther come back from the waterfall and he stepped into a deep hole. This scared Esther into thinking she was going down and going to die. (Esther is not a good swimmer) She ended up on top of Jamie almost drowning him. Our "near miss" was that Norrie just about died climbing back up those stairs. To be fair- she had major surgery only 6 weeks ago, and it was HOT and STEEP.
From there another thrill. Rafting down the river on bamboo rafts. 2 people sat in the middle and one stands on the back with a pole to help steer, then a local uses a pole in front to guide us. Raft is a very strong word for these floating apparatas, there are 5-7 bamboo poles held together with strips of old tires - And not all that securely at that. The water was peaceful and then bouts of small rapids to keep it exciting. We even saw elephants at the edge, stationed by the water by their camp. There were lots of Thai tourists spending a day at the river parked along the riverside too. The really amazing thing was at the end of our one hour ride they take the rafts apart and transport them back to the start as separate bamboo poles. Labour intensive!
The day had come to an end and we rode back with Some Aussie trekkers. We later found an Internet cafe near our guest house and did some blogging. This is when we got separated and Jamie abandoned the women. Actually Jamie's story is that he was bored with the computer stuff, so was drinking a beer at a table beside the internet cafe, and he didn't see us leave. Thinking Jamie had already left, the women went and got a hour massage and then a wonderful Italian supper (for about $6 each). Arlene and Esther still had energy left and went back to empty the night market of their goods. If nothing else they know how to shop!!
March 14, move to Chiang Mai
We got a ride to the airport with Johnny's help. A nice air conditioned van - the last we'd see for a while! Got to the airport in lots of time, needed to pay extra because our luggage was too heavy by Thai standards. Had an interesting lunch - getting things we never ordered. It was all good but we don't quite know how that happened. It was only a 1 hour flight to Chiang Mai, good thing because it was built to Thai sized people, so cramped for a bunch of Canucks. Arriving in Chiang Mai we were greeted with a sign "Terry" because Johnny had prearranged our pick up. This time we loaded 9 suitcases and 5 of us in the back of a half ton. We were delivered to the Holiday Garden View Guest House. Rustic as they all are. But we do have a pool. And air conditioning! They advertise it across from a playground - they don't tell you its a hundred years old. We had a western breakfast each morning here - the eggs just about got up and ran away they were so raw. And we noted often that they leave their eggs out in the sun for who know how long! So far no sickness.
We went about town on foot and found a nearby market with some very "interesting" looking foods. Found some fresh watermelon and grapes to snack on. The fruit here is sooooo goooood. Bought a few souvenirs here too. Later we discovered the night market and bought more souvenirs. Everything seems so cheap you don't want to leave it behind. We are finding more silk up here, scarves for 150 bhat (4.50), silk robes for 300 bhat ($9). From there we caught a truck to the arena to watch Thai boxing. There was a Canadian fighting, and we had front row seats. It was just as entertaining to watch the crowd as it was the fight. The Thais are REALLY into their boxing! A Thai man, manager of the place, took a liking to Norrie. Had some good laughs over that. Got back to our rooms around 11:30 and crashed.
We went about town on foot and found a nearby market with some very "interesting" looking foods. Found some fresh watermelon and grapes to snack on. The fruit here is sooooo goooood. Bought a few souvenirs here too. Later we discovered the night market and bought more souvenirs. Everything seems so cheap you don't want to leave it behind. We are finding more silk up here, scarves for 150 bhat (4.50), silk robes for 300 bhat ($9). From there we caught a truck to the arena to watch Thai boxing. There was a Canadian fighting, and we had front row seats. It was just as entertaining to watch the crowd as it was the fight. The Thais are REALLY into their boxing! A Thai man, manager of the place, took a liking to Norrie. Had some good laughs over that. Got back to our rooms around 11:30 and crashed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)