Cabbage and Condoms

Yes you read that title right… we stopped today at a restaurant/ store that Nathan and I went to today, but more on that later.

We woke up today at the Plaza, finished packing for our 2 day adventure to Chiang Rai. We ate breakfast then headed out of the hotel. Nathan and I met up with Tip, our tour guide for the day, and got into the van heading north east. Our first stop was the orchid farm. It was so amazing and beautiful, I have never seen so many orchids of different colors and sizes. You first walk into a butterfly sanctuary, which has hundreds of different butterflies just hanging out and eating pineapple. After that we entered the actual orchid rows. Did any of you know that orchids here in Thailand grow in these pots with the roots sticking out of the bottom from hanging pods? I didn’t but they sure did look cool. There were tons of different colors and sizes of the flowers all over the farm which was so much fun to walk through. We also got to see how the orchids start from seeds, in a bottle of jelly and food, they are kept there for about 3 months until the jelly turns black, then the bottles are broken and the seedlings are transferred into a new bottle. This happens 3-4 times before the seedlings are big enough to put into a pot.

After this we got back into the van and headed to the Maesa Elephant Camp. We arrived there and were able to feed some of the elephants, which was so crazy cool! This elephant camp was started about 30 years ago as an elephant rescue for those elephants who were being poorly treated. They have since bread the elephants and train them to work and to do the shows at this camp. All the money that is raised goes to the trainers and the food, basically a non profit which we liked!

We then were able to watch the elephants bath in the river. It was funny how much of the different personalities you could see in each of the elephants when they would bath. Some loved it and jumped right in and laid down, others had to be pulled in and then scrubbed down. They were so much fun to watch!

We were then able to go into the arena and watch the elephants put on a show. They paraded around and showed off some fancy dancing and poses. They played the harmonica and twirled their trunks. Some played soccer and others played darts. There was an obstacle course and there was elephant painting… yes I said it, elephant painting. They were not just throwing paint around either, they were actually painting things, some did landscapes, some flowers and even another did a self portrait! I couldn’t believe how good they were, and then they sold the art work!

Nathan and I then were able to go on an hour long elephant ride. This wasn’t like the previous one we were on, this was more into the jungle and it was fully guided with a trainer on the elephant the whole time. We only got a few pictures of this one, but we did get some. It was awesome and gave me a whole new respect for these beautiful and giant creatures, they are so graceful and can actually go in pretty small paths to get to what they want or need.

After this we started towards Chiang Rai. We weren’t hungry yet so we just started down the road. It was a wonderful ride up and down some of Thailand’s mountains, although I would probably just call them hills compared to Utah’s mountains. They are great and lush with greenery so much more than anything we have in the states. It is a wonderful jungle full of surprises, especially the blessed portions of the jungle. When we were driving all of the sudden there were these orange pieces of fabric tied together stringing along kilometers and kilometers of the highway so we asked what it was for. It was monk cloth and it was put there to protect the jungle, the villages inside the jungles and to remind the drivers to be safe. The monks blessed the cloths, the jungles and the people too. Good stuff right!

We stopped finally at a little shop/ restaurant called Cabbage and Condoms. Now those of you who know me, know that I teach sex education and human sexuality issues to the adolescents that I work with…. I loved this place. In Thailand, but even more in these northern cities HIV and AIDS were a huge problem and very common. Something that the government did to help with this was start promoting safe sex, more specifically the use of condoms! In the northern Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai is where cabbage is grown and shipped to all over the country and even some other countries. So naturally when a restaurant opened during this time they named it Cabbage and Condoms. Now it is more of a novelty store, but boy to they have some funny stuff! They had shirts that had I heart Safe Sex, anything and everything with cartoon condoms on it and much much more. This is my kind of store, educational and funny! I am thinking that some of these idea’s for shirts and promotional adds need to be shared with Planned Parenthood and the Utah AIDS Foundation! I would have put a picture here but our batteries died in our camera at the elephant camp... too many picts of those adorable animals!

We were then off again to the new hotel at Chiang Rai, The Phowadol Hotel and Spa! Another great place, thanks to Brian our travel agent!!! We were able to go swimming and have dinner here and then just be able to relax and get ready for a great tour tomorrow.

One of my most favorite places on earth

So today’s entry will be a shorter one. We woke up and got everything ready, but did not have any time to eat breakfast. We were picked up by our van driver and dropped off at the Phuket airport. Here we ate breakfast while waiting to board on the plain.

We flew north to the new Bangkok airport. This is a nice airport, and very large. The roof was maybe over forty or fifty yards high. Here we had a three-hour lay over, which went by fast. And then we flew into Chiang Mai.

Our luggage was a little slow to come out on the baggage claim belt, but we did get it in the end. Once we had our baggage, we went out of the security area and met our tour guide for this area. Her name is Tip and she is probably in her mid to late 50’s, and speaks English very well. She is a talker; she could talk to herself for hours. When she found out that I could speak some Thai, she started going off in the northern dialect, which is almost a completely different language with only grammar in common. Now as she is telling about different things she makes sure to tell us in the northern dialect as well as English.

Once we were dropped off at the hotel, we wondered out into the city, and entered the night market. We walked for several blocks, and then headed over to the old city boarder. This part of the city is surrounded by a moat and large wall. We only walked along the moat for a few blocks then we headed back to the hotel. We then went to bed, so we could wake up for the next days adventures.

Disney Land + Siegfried and Roy + Circ De Sole + Thailand = …

Sorry it is a little long today...

This morning we started off the day really slow. We, more specifically I, rolled out of the bed around 11 a.m. It was the first time that we were able to sleep in, in about three weeks. It felt good, but VaRonica woke up around 9 and couldn’t go back to sleep.

We got up and headed out with the goal to see the Tsunami Memorial, on Kamala Beach. This was the area that had the highest number of people die during the 2004 tsunami. The Phi Phi Islands got more media time in the US because that is where several American tourists were when it happened. But Kamala beach, which was mostly Thai people, had deaths in the thousands.

The Memorial was a little, um… well, less than I thought it would be. VaRonica agreed that for the thousands that died we expected more than what it was. There was a small park with a large sculpture off to the side. At first glance the sculpture was like any piece of metal art that I have seen everywhere from business parks to community colleges. But then I read the caption that went with the piece and it took on a whole new meaning.

The capture started out by mentioning the constant battle from several different forces that are around and within the earth. And how they are constantly trying to reach equilibrium. The outermost ring represented the radiation (magnetic and solar) sent to the earth by the sun. The innermost ring is the rotation of the magma inside the earth. The ring just outside that was the tectonic plate. In this ring we see a ripple, representing the earthquake that started the event. The next ring is the ocean, and over the smaller ripple of the ring inside this one now we have a larger ripple that is cresting. This is the representation of the Tsunami. Also there are several waves connecting every piece of the artwork. This ties these four forces together. I was really glad that we had the opportunity to see the monument.

We then went home and began to pack; tomorrow we are heading to the airport to fly up to Chiang Mai. We got almost everything packed; each took a quick shower, and was picked up by a driver to take us to our evening entertainment.

The city of Kamala has been making a little money with a show called FantaSea. Now when I say a little money I mean a lot. As soon as we arrived, park employees dressed in full traditional silk outfits greeted us. They opened the van door for us, and directed us to the ticket booth were we picked up our tickets that were being held for us. We then walked over to a Koi pond that was right next to the ticket booth. Oh, did I mention that the ticket booth looked like a cave, which had elephant sculptures all over the walls and pillars? Well I meant to.

The koi pond had thousands of large koi that are probably some of the best-fed fish in the world. For about a dollar you can buy food to throw into the water and make the fish go crazy. Also in this pond there were several life-sized and larger than life sculptures of all sorts of Thai mythical beings.

Just beyond the pond we walked up a large ramp into the security checkpoint were they check you tickets. VaRonica was already giddy with excitement, but what came next almost made her, um well, more excited. Passed the checkpoint, you walk down a ram and when the covered area gives way you can see what looks like Disney Land, well a Thai version any way. The first thing that you see is a group of bushes trimmed to look like different animals, a large sign that says welcome, and a large number of life sized caricatures. It was all very hard to explain so we got lots of pictures.

We then went into the Tiger Jungle Adventure. Hum, the best way that I can explain it is by combining a simple zoo with a fun house at the fair. There weren’t too many animals, but the presentation was really cool. First there is a cave with Pac man frogs, a few deer, a couple lemurs, and a few snakes. Then you enter a room that is bright white, when the lights dim, the black lights become more pronounced and there are trees, fake butterflies, people, and even a few birds that look really cool in the black light.

We then came upon what can only be described as hamster heaven. Several different layers with lots of moving things, and probably twenty running wheels. Hamsters were running everywhere, like there were on some drug. This tunnel opens up on the other side of the koi pond that I described earlier, right next to a large waterfall.

From the pond you next enter the tiger cave. There is a large room, with half of it built to look like an ancient palace. There were several large windows spanning from floor to ceiling. And behind the windows were two Siberian White Tigers. One was larger than the other, and it paced back and forth along the windows allowing several opportunities to take pictures.

After the Jungle Adventure we went to the dinning hall. The dinning hall was big enough that you could play football, or soccer inside and still have enough room on the sides to have benches for the players when not playing. There were several hundred tables, and all of them were assigned. Along the outsides of the dinning hall there was a large buffet with foods from all over the world.

After dinner we had a little time before the show started so we wandered around the park again. Another pond had Mekong Catfish; I have never seen a larger fish in my life. These were probably three or more feet long, and if you can imagine a catfish its head was almost a foot wide. They probably weighed a hundred pounds each. By this time it was dark and we couldn’t get a good picture in the water.

We made our way back to the theater, which looked like a thousand year old ruined palace. There were giant elephants all over this building. We went inside and we gave them our ticket and had to submit to a light pat down to make sure we checked any recording devices. Once we got pass the checkpoint we turned the corner, and the actors were in the next hallway waiting for tourist who wanted to pay to get a picture with them. As we walked further down the hallway, there were animals that you could take a picture with. They had a couple of baby elephants, and two young tiger cubs. Once happened to be just a couple months old. These pictures aren’t of you standing next to the animals, no. The pictures are of you holding the tiger cub in your lap as it sucks on a bottle of milk. Both VaRonica and I wished we had more money to spend, but we are on a fixed budget.

We got in our seats and the show started a few moments latter. Tigers and elephants and post ops, oh my. This show was could easily be a show on the Vegas strip. It was amazing; there was trapeze work above our heads, fight scenes on the stage, pyrotechnics, and several different animals. Including several large white chickens trained to run across the stage, several small goats, a few water buffalo, and several elephants ranging from small to very large. It was awesome!!!

After the show we got a ride back to the hotel, dropped off a few things in our room, and walked down to the beach. We took one last walk on the beach before we have to leave it. It was nice, but by the time we were getting back to the hotel it was starting to rain. Well, I have to get some sleep; I have a long day of traveling ahead of us tomorrow.

(insert James Bond theme music here...)

This morning we got ready for our final ocean tour. We met our driver at the hotel lobby at 7:20 a.m. We drove to a neighboring city were we picked up another two people, and drove to the marina on the opposite side of Phuket Island.

We were in a small group of 14 people for this tour. We loaded onto our boat at 9 a.m. The boat was an old Chinese junk style ship, modified into a yacht. We headed out into the bay and headed north, into Phang Nga bay. It was the same area as our first tour with the Youth Linc group. But luckily for us, it had different destinations.

At the beginning of the tour as we were leaving cove that the marina was in, we were being led by a dolphin. It led us for several miles, then trailed behind us and played in our wake for a little while. Then the dolphin got boarded with us and left. We continued straight up to the north end of the bay, where we loaded onto a long tail boat. This is a speedboat that is very long and narrow with a large on board engine. We cursed a little farther north to a cave that goes the complete length of a small island maybe sixty yards long. After a few pictures we continued up to a Sea Gipsy village. The entire village is built on the water. We had a quick tour of the village, including the cemetery, the school, and a look at there fish farms.

We loaded up on the long tail boat again and headed south. That is when we stopped at James Bond Island. Here over thirty years ago they filmed The Man With The Golden Gun. Not the most popular Bond movie, but one that holds a special place in my heart. After several photos of the Island, we walked around the Island that surrounds it. On the north side there is a stone step walkway that goes half way around the Island. This gives a nice scenic view of the Island and surrounding areas. On the other side is a cave that goes around the south side of the Island, but only about a 100 yards.

We then got back onto the long tail boat, and headed back to the junk. We boarded and had lunch as we headed back to the marina. It was a very nice tour, but out of the three tours that we have taken it was my least favorite one. But I am totally geeked out that I got to see James Bond Island.

We got back to the hotel and relaxed for a few hours, then went out and got some dinner and did some miner shopping. We tried to withdrawal some money from the ATM, but it would only let us take out a small amount. So we will have to figure out if we have a withdrawal limit. That is all I got for today, thanks for reading.

Sorry Reed, We cheated on your Speed Boat!

Today, Friday June 25^th, Nathan and I went on another boat tour. This one was around the Phi Phi Islands, and it was on a speed boat. I can’t even begin to explain to you all how beautiful Thailand is in general, but times that by ten and you get the beaches and water that we were in today. The water was great on the way there and a bit choppy on the way back home at the end of the day. This type of tour is not for those who have motion sickness at all, but we were just fine and enjoyed the day without problem. The first stop we made was about an hour off shore, at a Viking cave. The people who live there now collect birds nests for a Thai soup that is supposed to give divine healing powers. It was beautiful and there were tons of fish that we could see, the water was so clear!

The next stop that we had was a great little lagoon with tealish green water where we were able to go swimming. Nathan and I had a floating competition, I won! Again the water was very clear and the water temperature was in the 70’s and the outside temperature was in the low 90’s which made for a perfect swim.

Next we were off to the other side of the Island to tour Maya Bay, where a large portion of the movie The Beach was filmed. It was so wonderful to see again teal but more blue this time water and a white sand beach. The tour guide told us to leave our sandals on the boat, that they wouldn’t be needed, so we did. Please for the love people, if you go on this tour do not believe them… take the sandals!!! Yes the beach was the softest most beautiful sand ever, but they take you back to this wonderful lagoon but to get to the best part you have to walk over these razor sharp rocks then over this old walk way of wood then back onto razor sharp rocks to see it. This lagoon was beautiful, but my feet are totally paying the price for it now.

We were then off for yet another Island for lunch. We had a wonderful buffet lunch ready for us and we relaxed for about an hour. Then we were off again to snorkel. The cove we went to wasn’t large, but it was swarming with wonderful and very colorful fish. They were so bright and were not afraid at all to swim right up to you.

Our last stop of this 8 hour boat tour was Egg Island. This is a tiny island that is oblong and very small. Nathan and I walked around the whole thing in less than 30 minutes. We collected shells and played in the sand before we headed back to town. We both got a bit pink, we think from the snorkeling, but nothing too bad. You can see my red outlines from the first parts of the Thailand trip in the pictures hahaha.

When we got back, we showered and headed back out for some dinner and walking around. To top off a wonderful day on the ocean we ate our favorite Thai foods, BBQ Pork with sticky rice and Papaya salad. It was so wonderful and to feed the two of us more than we needed to eat it was only about $6.

Another wonderful day in our paradise Thailand vacation

Same Same, But Different

Today, June 24^th (Thursday) was the official first day of mine and Nathan’s vacation. We got to our new Hotel, Deevanna Patong Resort and Spa, which is soooooo nice! I would say it is four star status. There is wonderful tile floor throughout our room, a queen size bed that is comfy and a wonderful two door sliding glass entry onto the balcony which overlooks one of the hotels 3 pools. The bathroom is spacious and has a set in shower with an actual shower head that isn’t little person sized. Nice soft towels and wonderful dark wood furniture. The “continental breakfast” is anything but, it is a huge buffet that you can serve as much of whatever you want and you have a wonderful outdoor dining room overlooking a pool to eat at. I can’t believe that we got such a great deal on staying here!!!

So today we slept in until 8 am and got ready at our leisure before we ate breakfast at 9. After breakfast we walked down the road two miles and went to a shopping market where you can buy anything a tourist would want. Clothes, shoes, purses, jackets, watches, suits and much much more. The funny part about it is that for about a half mile radius there are hundreds of shops that all have the “same same, but different” things. This is a saying that the Thai’s use a lot and I for one find it super funny and true. It is a Thai tradition and custom to barter for items. It seems that they love it here and I am usually not very good at this kind of thing, but I am getting quite good at it. As things go I am a bargain shopper, but I have found my place here in Thailand.

I bought 3 sun dresses for just about $15 today, after talking them down from about $30. I also bought a pair of really cute leather sandals for $8 that were originally going for about $19. I don’t know how I will be able to buy things again when I come home! Nathan got a shave which was much over due and enjoyed every minute of it, shaving with a straight edge razor is highly recommended by him. Nathan and I had a good time walking around and bartering for things, then walked back to the hotel. We got to meet our tour guide and review our itinerary for our remaining time here in southern Thailand.

We got some things ready and set out again for the evening. We stopped at a 7-11 got some water and some pot stickers on a stick and set off for our next destination. We made it to get our first Thai massages and pedicures! It was so nice to lay back and relax and the whole hour and a half of relaxation only cost us about $25. Now I do need to explain a little that a Thai massage is not exactly what you are thinking. It is not like the traditional Swedish massages that you get in the states. Thai massages are nice and relaxing but not typical. You get a loose white shirt and some fisher pants (think a mix of pajama pants and Capri’s) to wear. The cute little Thai women use their hands, arms, elbow’s, knee’s, feet and any other body part they can to rub, push and contort your body. They start with you laying face down on a little mattress and you have a pillow. Your feet get a good rub and then calves then the little women start crawling up your legs… literally start crawling up you. They then start walking once they get to your thighs. They don’t weigh much but it is a lot of pressure. They continue to walk, crawl move and squeeze all over your body, and I do mean all over which could be a bit uncomfortable for some but it didn’t bother us at all. The thing that I loved most was that they contort and pop a ton of joints throughout your whole body. I didn’t know that I could be moved in some of those ways. I think that the world would be a much more flexible place if they gave Thai massages more often and in more places. We then changed back into our own clothes and got pedicures. The only picture we got of this is my toes, but when we go back I will see if they will let me take some candid’s of the whole situation J

We then ate us some dinner and are now relaxing in our wonderful room. Great start to our two weeks of fabulous vacation here in Thailand I would say!

A three-hour tour…

Wednesday, June 23^rd. We woke up all bright and shiny, some brighter than others. We drove south onto Phuket Island to a marina, were we loaded onto two large sea cruse ships. We headed north towards several islands in the Phang Nga bay.

Our first stop was off a beach on a secluded island. Were we could swim in the ocean, walk on the beach find shells, and play with the hermit crabs. After about an hour we loaded back onto our respective boats and continued to go north. Our next stop was an island where part of the movie The Beach was filmed. After loading into our sea kayaks we could go through a cave and into a large open cove with a large beach.

Our last stop for the day was at another island that we had passed getting to the last stop. The tide had to be lower so we could get to this hidden destination. First we stopped at a small beach where we beached our sea kayaks, and the tour guides handed out flashlights. And then we entered the cave, it was probably about 100 yards long, but wound a little so very little light entered. Once inside we found ourselves in the center of a towering rock column. The cliffs of the rock rose several hundreds of feet straight up. In the center there were several rocks that had a worn in such a pattern they looked and felt like razor blades. Around the rocks there were several mangroves, and towards the edges, the ground became muddy and there were hundreds of mudskippers. Mudskippers are fish that hop on land, they use there tail like a spring and almost bounce from one mud hole to the next, he Thai’s call them feet fish. We then were able to kayak into another cave and go through to a different opening where we could see the most beautiful tree’s and foliage in the center of the island, there were lots of hidden treasures including a monitor lizard in there!

We loaded back onto the boat and before heading south back towards the marina we took some time to swim and play around on the boat. There were a bunch of us jumping off the decks, the highest one about 25 feet from the water. There were all sort of people jumping but also some of us doing back flips off the boat.

We then started back for the shore, but shortly after leaving the island we were hit by some very powerful head winds. The captain got us all inside the main part of the boat and wouldn’t let us leave the area until the storm cleared up. Like with most storms in Thailand they come hard but only last a short while.

We got back to the marina safely and headed back to the hotel. We had dinner, and then everyone went to his or her rooms to shower off the sea salt and finish packing. We all met in the lobby about 9 p.m. and loaded into the vans. The vans then drove us the Phuket Airport. Here we said some good byes to several people in our group, and even exchanged a few hugs. Then two groups loaded into vans that were diverging from the rest of the group.

The van that VaRonica and I got into took us and four other people back into the Patong Beach area. We were dropped off in front of our hotel, and we were amazed at how high quality this hotel is. We booked it for four nights, and it is costing us less than $50 per night! We booked this hotel during the Bankok riots, and that is why we got such a good price. We got checked in, and went right to bed.

The last two days were long but very fun and exciting.

I’m kind of a big thing…

Tuesday, June 22^nd. I apologize, we have not had the time in the last few days to update the blog, but this is what we have been up to…

We got up a little later than we normally and started a two-hour drive into Patong Beach. We made a quick stop at Srisupphaluck Orchid; some of you may recognize it from an episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman. Here they grow cashews, package and flavor them. We had the opportunity to test out several of their flavors, but VaRonica was a little upset that they didn’t have any of the wasabi flavored ones.

We continued on to Patong, stopping in the center of the city. Here we walked through several tourist shops trying to sell you clothing, jewelry, silks, pirated DVD’s, and just about anything else you could want.

A short walk down the busy street is the main shopping mall in Patong. Our group spent the next few hours buying things in and around the mall. One of the features in the mall is all of the massage parlors and mini spas. A few people from our group got the fish spa treatment. This is simply placing your feet into a fish tank, and the fish suck all the dead skin off. While the fish are working hard, you also receive a shoulder and neck massage. Both VaRonica and I had to put our hands in to see how it felt, which was weird but didn’t hurt like one picture might make you think.

After leaving the mall we drove down to the beach, a few blocks away. Unfortunately for everyone in our group, it was raining. VaRonica and I stayed in the van because we would have more opportunities to play on the beach.

Next came our two-hour drive back into Phang Nga. We had a quick stop at our hotel, and then we were off to have dinner with the Rotarians who helped sponsor our trip. After dinner the Governor of Phang Nga came in and we started our meeting (I mean there meeting). The Governor got up and gave a 15 minute speech about who knows what. Everyone was bored out of his or her minds. Then another person spoke, and another, and another. Because I only understood a small portion of what they were saying, I had a hard time staying focused. I can’t imagine how it would have been for most of our group who didn’t understand any of it because it was all in Thai.

After the meeting we went back to our hotel, and had our final team meeting. Our team leader gave out prizes to all of the students. I received the “human factoid” prize. It was kind of funny, but I can’t help it if people keep coming to me for information. Afterward we headed up to our room to start packing.

It’s my party and I will Thai if I want to!

Today was our last day at the school. When we arrived at the school, we began to set up for a fun fair that we had planned for our last day. Fortunately for me I really didn’t have much to set up. Once I got everything ready for my beanbag toss, I wondered around and helped other people.

Before the fun fair began the children had a presentation for us. The kids did a few traditional dances for us; the first is the Minora dance, which is one of the iconic things about Thailand. Six girls wore beautiful silk outfits, with the large headdresses, and finger extensions.

Second, three of the students preformed the opening ceremonies to a traditional Muey Thai boxing match. This dance is done to honor their teachers before every match.

After the children had finished their dances, we began the fun fair. I manned the beanbag toss, while VaRonica (being a mentor) walked from station to station to make sure everything was flowing smoothly. If you scored at the beanbag toss, I would give the children fake money. The fake money could then be used to buy candy, toys, and some fun school supplies. A few of the kids learned that they could make some quick and easy cash by just playing my game. But I made sure the newcomers had first play over those who were returning.

During the fun fair, Japan (our tour guide who’s name is actually Natthapone) caught a scorpion and was showing it off to several of us volunteers and the kids. At some time before we began lunch, someone told some of the kids that we were about to leave, and… well… I am not sure what happened. Several people began to cry, and most of them were the volunteers that had come with our group to Thailand. Because they were crying several of the children started to cry, and it was… well uncomfortable. I, having the emotional range of a teaspoon, was not a part of the cry fest, and just got out of the way. And no, VaRonica was not among the crying either.

After lunch we began a large game of soccer. There were probably thirty people playing. When so many people are playing it becomes difficult to move the ball for much more than just a few feet. I played defense along with VaRonica. It just so happened that I only wore my flip-flops to the school today. And then the heavens opened up and the rain started to fall. My flip-flops became a hazard, so I kicked them off and played bare foot (or as Sari use to say “belly footed”).

We said good-bye to all of the kids and began to load into the vans. Surprisingly the loading happened fairly quickly. And because I was one of the first in the van I don’t know if there were more tears. So now I am sitting in our hotel room, watching the rainfall on the river. VaRonica had her first chill here in Thailand, being wet from the rain. Hopefully it doesn’t rain the rest of the time while we are here.

Health, White Water Rafting, Elephants and a Slurpee Oh My

This is officially the best fathers day ever!!! We were able to get up and out of here in good time to go and set up the health fair at the school today. This was an even where the kids of the school and the rest of the community were able to come and learn things about health. There was a lesson on hand washing, brushing and flossing teeth, basic first aid, cooking/ food handling and bug bites. We were able to give the community hygiene kits and some donated clothes. It was so fun to see the kids with their families and some of the older kids in the community.

We had lunch and then we were off for an adventure! We went white water rafting. Well it was more of white water bumper rafting, but fun none the less! We broke off into groups of 4 or 5 and had a guide in the raft, it was so funny. We were splashing and playing around not only with our group of people but with others that were visiting Thailand. We had a great time slamming into others and splashing around tons. We went a total of 5 kilometers rafting and enjoyed every minute of it!

We were then able to go on an elephant ride, it was so amazing. It was more than that, it was 30 minutes of pure joy!!! Our elephant was a boy who's name is Moon. He was so sweet and gentle, they are the so light on their feet and smooth to ride. Their hair is in some serious need of some conditioner, but you totally get use to it! I loved and so did Nathan. We got a lot of fun pictures too.

We saw some monkeys that were being kept as pets. Later we learned that in order to get these baby monkey's their mothers must be killed and typically when they get older the pets are then killed as well due to their aggressive nature.

On the way back from our adventures of the day I mentioned that I would love a slurpee... then what happened, we stopped by a 7-11 and got one!!!! It was official, THE BEST FATHERS DAY EVER!!!!

Finished... or are we?

Yesterday as I was uploading pictures onto our blog, the Internet crashed. So once again you guys get two blogs on one day.

It was another hot one today. Sun blaring and draining our energy. Today was the last day of construction for the school. For the most part all that we were doing was doing a patch job on some of the cement buildings, building a cement step by the bathroom, leveling all of the dirt piles out and building a tire swing in the play area. We did that for the entire morning. We also repainted the bathroom and cleaned them out. The children now have two working bathroom stalls, and two sinks to wash their hands.

For lunch every day some of the ladies from the local village make us some food. Today they served us Somptom. It is one of my favorite Thai dishes, but they added a lot of dried fish into it. I really don’t like fish, and it almost ruined lunch for me. But I did eat around them, and I had a lot of mango and guava, so it was ok in the end.

We left the school earlier than normal because we had finished a little early. So the van drivers took us to a small waterfall. On the way our van almost hit a large monitor lizard. It was probably about three feet long and a good eight inches tall. At the waterfall several children were swimming in the pools, and a few of the volunteers waded in them as well. Then we headed back to the hotel.

A few people rented a boat that would give them an hour-long tour of the mangrove forests, a sea cave, and the surrounding delta that we are currently in. VaRonica and I decided not to go on the boat because we have two other boat tours lined up after the volunteer’s head home. Also we are really tired!

We asked the front desk to give us a wake up call an hour before lunch. And it never came, someone from our group called us down a half an hour into eating, mainly because there was a meeting afterwards.

Hand prints, games, and blessings

Today we started once again by singing to the children, we sang In the jungle the lion sleeps tonight. The men all did the awimba-way parts, while the women did the actual singing. It turned out alrighe for never having practiced before.

We decided that we did not want to start the day by doing construction like we had been doing every day previous too. So we started out by helping out on the mural. The mural was mostly done, but we added our hand prints to the two trees to make leaves. We also wrote out names in English and the Thai version as well. VaRonica is totally in love with being able to write her name in Thai.

After helping at the mural we went to the first aid room, where we assisted in doing basic physicals on some of the kids. Each was given a piece of paper, they wrote there name on it, and went to five different stations. We measured there height, weight, temperature (in Ferinheight and not Celcius), listened to there heart and lungs, tested reflexes and sent them on there way, most of the kids loved it, but a few didn’t want to try at all. One girl started to cry as VaRonica was about to take her temp, she said her teeth hurt, so I got the nurse who after looking at her tried to give her some Tylenol. The girl wouldn’t take it, and I sugjested that she probably lied about being in pain because she was scared and didn’t want to do it. But no one listened to me and about four or five different people were trying to figure out what was wrong. Finally an interperature came in to find out what the issue was, and finally he was able to get out that she was scared and didn’t want to do any of physical.

VaRonica and I then went and helped out with a few peoples English lesson. We helped a little with a lesson on introductions, one on directions, and also helped some kids create a “Me” book.

After the English lessons, VaRonica and I went to the pavilion and drew pictures with the kids and played games with them. One girl played tic tac toe with me for almost twenty minutes. Then I tought her how to play boxes, a game were you take turns drawing lines. When someone compleates a box they write there initial in it and get a point. I remember playing that game during sacrament meetings.

The monk who was taking care of the temple close to the school invited us into the temple. So all of us volunteeres walked to the temple, were the monk told us about all of the paintings on the walls of the inside of the temple. After explaining the paintings he offered to give us a blessing. We all kneeled down and he kneeled in front of us and gave us a blessing in Bali, the anchent language of Budha. I was extremely honered because I know that very few people receive blessings from the monks.

After arriving back to the hotel, we decided to walk to some of the small tourist shops along the road that our hotel is on. VaRonica got a simple dress, some leg warmers that are very Asian, and a necklace with a single pearl on it. It is almost time for dinner, and then the party. The party is actually a game party for the World Cup. I guess the US is playing tonight at 9 p.m.

That is it for now, see you latter!

What Now?!?!?!

We have completed so many of the construction projects that we had planned to do here in Thailand, that we are now trying to pace ourselves even more. So today there was a small group of people working on clean up stuff and finishing projects that have already been completed. There was a group that was finishing painting the murals that the Thai kids were helping with. And there were a bunch of people standing around. I was able to join some of the other mentors to go and check out a new school site for next year’s Thailand Youthlinc trip.

We went to a smaller school there were 50 students total but many were not there regularly. There is a portion of the school already under construction and there is some major projects that could be used there for construction too. The kids at this new school were so excited to have visitors that they were running out of classes to greet us! The finished up their class and then lined up in the hall to give an official school greeting. It was at this time that we got to provide them with tooth brushes and tooth paste, spiral notebooks and pencils. It was so much fun to get to meet these kids and to see the joy and gratitude for such small things. The kids ran around asking us to sign their new note books and were happy to take pictures with us and in turn took some of us. There was one boy in particular who I fell in love with instantly, he was the class clown of the younger kids and was dancing around and pretending to brush his teeth. He was very interactive right away with us, which is unusual for the Thai children, they are generally shy people.

Then on the way back to our original school site we were able to stop by this amazing temple. It was built into the side of a mountain and the majority of it was in the caves. The pictures definitely don’t do it justice, but it will have to do. There were tons of stairs to climb but we saw water lines on all of the rocks and sand inside the caves which indicates that that whole place was under water which is crazy to think about! It was beautiful inside and fun to get to explore a place with a smaller group.

We returned to the school just in time to see some of the students teaching. All of the students that have come here are amazing and have worked so hard at preparing fun and easy lessons to help the Thai children learn the English language better. It has been fun to watch. We were then able to just hang out and play with the kids for the remainder of the school day.

We are getting ready to go out to dinner for the first time in Phang Nga. A man here named Stephan who is German but moved and has lived in Thailand for roughly 18 years and is one of the heads of the Rotarian club that is helping pay for the school projects, is taking us to his pizza pub for dinner. There are many of the students who are struggling with the types of food and the frequency of the authentic Thai food that we receive at the hotel, so this is an extra nice night for them. Nathan and I have not been minding the food at all, but are excited to go out and see the town a little more. We will have to tell you all about it later, but if there is anything that we can expect from Stephan it is that tonight will be crazy and definitely one to remember J

Sorry no pictures tonight... slow slow slow internet!