Ok, it seems that we have a hard time keeping up to date on the blog, but I guess every few weeks is better than never, right?! It also seems that every time we update the blog, it’s after a week’s long vacation. So you might guess that with this new blog update, it means we had another week off of school.
Korean Sports Week—don’t ask us, don’t ask the students, but for some reason it took the entire week and we decided to travel up to Northern Thailand to Chiang Mai. Before we get to our travels up north, here’s a little glimpse into what’s been going on.
At the end of July we spent an amazing week in Hong Kong with Andy: botanical and zoological gardens, Hong Kong Disneyland, 3 nights of sushi—THANKS TO ‘SUSHI ONE’ FOR BEING AMAZING WITH ½ PRICE MIDNIGHT SUSHI AND SAKE, kilometers of walking in the city, the trip up to Ngong Ping and the giant Buddha via the sky tram, the efficiency and cleanliness of a major city with all of the amazing skyline views from Victoria Peak!!
About 3 or 4 days after we returned from Hong Kong, Andy surprised us at our door in SiSaket which left Amye speechless. Andy had some time to travel, finish his dissertation, and prepare for teaching before heading to Beijing, so he decided to visit Thailand.
With the arrival of a visitor, we luckily had a 3-day weekend and took off to the island of Koh Samet. Although “green season” (a.k.a. rainy season or low season), we had wonderful weather and the beaches were not crowded which made for a great long weekend. After a long weekend, we sadly left Andy on the island while we had to head back to school.
After a week of teaching, we were looked forward to another short week with HM the Queen’s Birthday which is also Mother’s Day here in Thailand (Aug. 12). This was a national holiday and a nice mid-week break on a Wednesday. The evening of Mother’s Day, our good Thai friend and co-teacher took us to the local celebration at the government hall. This outdoor ceremony ended the day of festivities and presentations, and included a visit by the Governor of the SiSaket province. Of course the only two white people there (Amye and myself) were definitely introduced to the Governor and there were multiple photos taken with us.—not to brag though. The evening included a candle-lit ceremony and fireworks.
Ok, now on to Chiang Mai (which happened mid-August!)
Chiang Mai is a city in the mountainous region of northern Thailand, and a famous destination for tourists after Bangkok and the southern islands. Even before we came to Thailand we knew that we wanted to visit Chiang Mai because of all the wonderful things we had read and heard about this city.
We stayed inside the ‘Old City’ of Chiang Mai which has the ruins of an old wall and a surrounding moat. Chiang Mai has many temples and ruins, it is famous for it’s Sunday night market, and is now a very Westernized/Europeanized city in terms of food and amenities.
One thing we were really looking forward to was eating our hearts desire of Mexican food while in Chiang Mai which we have heard about for the last 4 months from one of our co-workers. We can say that we ate 4 burritos in the span of one week. It was nice to have the Western amenities but we found the vast amount of tourists in the streets was a negative aspect for us. We then realized how grateful we were to be living in a city (SiSaket) off the beaten tracks (in the northeast “Isan” region) where tourists don’t travel to.
We spent our first few days in Chiang Mai relaxing, going to the local markets and walking the city. One day we ventured to the Chiang Mai zoo where Thailand’s newest pride and joy, a baby panda, was born about two months before. Neither of us had been to a zoo this vast—walking was not an option. We saw the usual zoo suspects, but could get much closer to and interact more with the animals that you would at zoos in the states. The giraffes were just a few feet away and we fed them long green beans which they enjoyed. The elephant was not in an enclosure, but camped out along the road for us to feed as well. The big attraction of the baby panda was a scam! There was actually a baby panda, but it was on a TV screen they had put up in the panda enclosure and of course it was asleep. No, they don’t tell you that the panda isn’t available to be seen in person, it’s after you spend the money to go into the viewing area that you learn you paid money to look at a TV! Luckily, the male panda was there and very active so it was entertaining to watch. Oh, and if you ever wanted to know about how to inseminate a panda, there are plenty of graphic photos, diagrams, charts, and descriptions available for your viewing. J
Another highlight of the zoo was a big dose of irony. Since the zoo is so vast and large, they try to cater to everyone’s interests, including botanical gardens, an aquarium, and a shooting range. There are numerous posters strewn about the zoo advertising the shooting range where you too can shoot two handguns at the same time or a semi-automatic weapon at targets (located just past the seal enclosure). As we rode by the shooting range on the tram, we caught a glimpse of two young monks, dressed in their bright orange robes, at the shooting range. We just looked at each other and laughed-- Buddhist monks at a shooting range inside a zoo…UNBELIEVABLE!! Now that’s irony.
Chiang Mai offers an endless amount of tours and outdoor adventures. After exploring the city we decided that a tour out into the jungle might be a good option for a day or two.
We did a two-day one-night trek in the jungle. It was an unforgettable experience. We first traveled by truck into the jungle where we road elephants down a hill to a river and back up. After the elephant riding we began our hike. This was definitely not a stroll through the park, it would be better described as a straight uphill hike, complete with walking sticks. We had a few people in our group who struggled to make it the entire way. We hiked for 5 hours straight uphill, passing waterfalls into the heart of the jungle. When we finally arrived at the hill tribe, our destination for the night, we were greatly rewarded with the view from the top of the mountain. The bright green rice paddies sprawled down the mountains to the valley below. We spent the evening in a traditional Thai house, we slept on bamboo mats. We were very interested in hearing about the Lahu hill tribe that we visited. The people that lived in this hill tribe face a great deal of opposition and live lives that most people could not even contemplate. It was very eye-opening to learn about the people in this tribe.
After a night’s rest we woke up to do some more hiking, this time downhill. We spent the first few hours hiking to a beautiful waterfall which we swam in. From there the hike was easy and made for a relaxing day. We ended the hike with white water rafting. This was quite the experience! Before rafting, there was a 2 minute introduction in broken English about the “how to’s” of white water rafting; which no one understood. Luckily they supplied us with life-vests and helmets. We were the first raft out; in our raft was Tyler, myself, 3 other people and a guide. I am 90% sure that this was the guides first white water rafting trip as he seemed to be very inexperienced. We were about a minute in when we hit a rapid. The current was strong and the boat flipped, everyone was dramatically tossed into the water; including the guide. The current took us quickly down the river as we hit rock after rock. We were the only two able to find rocks and hold on---basically the only ones with a hope of getting back into a boat. Everyone else was a mess and far away from the raft. Luckily we all made it safely back into the raft, I am still now sure how, but with God watching over us, we all survived. One of the Irish girls with us was sure that she was going to die and had one of the most extreme looks of terror I have ever seen on a face for the duration of the rafting trip. The rest of the trip went swimmingly well. From there we went bamboo rafting for a short time. Bamboo rafting is simply bamboo tied together to make a raft. We floated down the river enjoying the scenery around us and the elephants coming down for water. All in all, the trek was a great time; an experience we hadn’t anticipated but thoroughly enjoyed.
Chiang Mai is a great city that we both grew to love in the week that we were there, hopefully we’ll be back soon!
The old rickety train door.
Both of our classes of 8th grade students.
Our group of 11th grade students, giving us the peace sign.
Some of our 8th grade girls that we will miss.
Kung & Audi from one of my classes.
A group of girls from both of our classes.
These teachers are ready to be done...
Us, a few members of the Thai staff, and a foreign exchange student at a retirement party the last day of classes.
Our friend, P Toey, and I outside of the retirement dinner.
One of our last days, P Toey took us to an ancient temple just outside of SiSaket. This photo is a little of the new and a little of the old.
Sandstone and brick temples from the 9th Century AD
P Toey and I standing in the entrance of one of the buildings.
Tyler's quite the photographer.
Tyler's quite the photographer.
The two of us with the ancient and new temple in the background.
The two of us with the ancient and new temple in the background.
We traveled to another near-by temple also having ancient ruins.
Some of the detailed railings at the floating temple.
Awww... Tyler and I.
Ok, crazy looking chicks on our way home from work one day. There is also a bright green one we've seen since then. Rumor has it that they are dyed with food coloring for a ceremony or celebration. These guys have their white feathers growing in now.
Our favorite spot for a sunset in SiSaket.
Oh, his antics.
Beautiful.
A water lily from one of the temples we visited.
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