So I lied about posting more regularly... by the time we turn in for the day, or whenever I am lucky enough to have internet, I'm so dead tired. We pack an insane amount of activities into a single day. Most days we leave at 8AM and don't get to where we're staying until 9PM. But it's definitely worth it!!
Here's a synopsis of what else we've done/ odd things I've eaten the past 5 days:
- Had authentic pad thai (twice)
- Toured a Thai hospital and the herbal productions farm that supplies their medicines. They treat illnesses with herbs and natural remedies and even spa therapy.
- Toured Talaad Thai, a 250 acre market. They sell everything from candy to vegetables to pig penis
- Ate a sugar taco, aka 'Sai Mai'
- Ate chicken blood. I was dared to, ok. It actually didn't taste like anything, and they serve it with a lot of meals.
- Ate lotus flower - that was delcious. You can eat the seeds from the core that grows in the middle of all the petals.
- Got "Happy Feet," which is when 50 tiny fish nibble/clean your legs and feet for 15 minutes
- Took a subway, two sky trains, and a boat to get to a restaurant
- Went to a local bar for Ghan's birthday. Thais apparently get drunk rather quickly, so their alcohol is very weak. There was live music, singing more American pop songs, and they loved that we actually knew the words!
- Toured the Golden Jubilee - a museum concerning the king's contribution to agriculture. He has done so many wonderful things for the Thai people. They love him so much that they do not talk about his son, whom is soon to be on the throne. (The king has been ill going on 20 years)
- Saw wild monkeys and a baby peacock
- Climbed 1000 steps to a GIANT Buddha in the mountains (see picture)
- Hiked up to a temple inside of a bat cave
- Hiked around Namtok Chet Saonoi National Park at the Muak-Lek Waterfall
Some crazy things:
- It is currently the year 2558 in Thailand. Yeah. So technically I have travelled across the globe AND through time! I also learned that its the year 103 in China because they restarted their years when they turned to democracy. It is said that Buddha arrived in India 2558 years ago. We base our years on Christ's death, so the similarites are pretty funny. Its interesting that we base something so concrete, such as time and years, on things we don't know and will never know. I think people feel more comfortable this way.
- We were surprised with a BBQ party from our Thai family! We weren't supposed to see them for almost a week. P Sue, Jiop, Agent Jay (I honestly don't know why we call him this), and Minju were already with us, but as soon as we walked into the dining area, Ahn, Ghan, and Nan jumped out from the kitchen! They had driven two hours just to have dinner with us. It made us all so happy because we missed them after only two days apart. Leaving them will be the hardest part about leaving Thailand. Everyone but Jiop is flying to Chiang Mai with us on Wednesday, but Jiop is taking us to a Thai boxing show on the 30th!
Last thing: Thailand seems more advanced than America in agricultural production. We visited Tubkwang Farm today, and they have a chamber that collects waste from the animals and turns it into Biogas. They collect the gas in a generator and it accounts for one sixth of the total electricity for the entire facility. Animal waste is the third largest source of methane released into the atmosphere. If this was practiced all over the world, we could make a serious contribution to our decaying atmospheric environment.
Thanks so much for reading!!
Sawatdee ka!
