Thanks for coming back! Hope you haven’t given up hope on me after my long hiatus from blogging. Spent the weekend recuperating from our weeklong fieldtrip and yesterday morning at work they so nicely informed that we would be leaving yet again tomorrow (so, today). More on that later. Now we are finally in a hotel room where Sarah and I can sit and enjoy peace and quiet and kind of hot showers. Prime atmosphere for getting back into my groove.
Let me tell you about our spring break vacation education trip to the south.
I don’t really know where I was most of the time, so forgive me for not knowing many names… :/
Day 1, Sunday Feb 27
Leave AIT for the south with Nat, Yudy, and Francis (an advisor from MSU). Drove a lot, some of it through a mini rainstorm. We picked up Ben in Chumpon, where he is doing his internship. The Capulets, Montagues, and Mercutio are reunited!
Once the sun set and everything went blue, we hopped back in the longtail for a night of squid fishing! The fisherman turned on these huge, fluorescent green lights that attract the squid over to the boat, and we sat with our legs over the gunwales and toes ready for squid nibbling. We were each given a plastic bottle with a fishing line and hook taped to it… we would drop the line into the water and rotate the bottle to wind the line back up when we thought we had a bite. I got naush before I could catch one, but it was fun nonetheless. The squid have seriously the most dramatic deaths ever- they keep pulsing and wriggling and making gross noises for a while. Chelsea got inked on during the process:)
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| Francis- before the seasickness set in |
Upon our return we received Thai massages on the deck. I was ok with that.
Day 2, Monday Feb 28
After an interesting night of trying to sleep, we were back on the go. In the morning we had a tour around the island (which included A LOT OF STAIRS) and got to learn about what they do on the island, how they are self sufficient, etc. Cool stuff. At one point we were in a little gazebo thing and there were thick vine-like things hanging from the ceiling: we find out that it is snakeskin. Just hanging there. Like NBD. THEN we find out that there used to be massive pythons on the island. Then we see some millipedes on the way down. I was a little jumpy after that!
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| Snakeskin. |
Before we knew it, we were packed up and back in the van, headed for Kao Lak National Park. I think this was my favorite part of the trip- we each had our own little twin beds in a big cabin with Nat and Yudy and Francis got her own deluxe little cabin. That Lucky Duck. Anyways, we had this huge wooden porch that overlooked basically our own private beach. This beach was perfect… the softest sand and just enough rocks to give it personality. The water was SO warm. It didn’t take any adjusting- we would just walk right in. Perfecto.
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| Secret beach:) |
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| Nature, inspired by Disney's Tarzan |
By the time we got there, it was fairly late, so we did dinner in the beach town and that was about it. Jordan told a ghost story, and we went to bed.
Day 3, Tuesday March 1
On Tuesday we did a short hike around the National Park. Saw an alleged prehistoric footprint, a bamboo forest, a giant tree, and a lizard swimming. The trail spit us out on another unfairly beautiful beach that we got to enjoy for a while.
Next on the agenda was a fun waterfall that we got swim in. It wasn’t all fun and games though- it was about a 20 minute hike (uphill both ways, right?) and it was pretty dang exhausting. And hot. We spend a lot of time sweating here.
Waterfall was cool- saw (and felt) the Dr. Fish in their natural habitat as they nibbled our toes, ankles, and calves as we went deeper and deeper. I didn’t dare sit in the water! I don’t think these fish have too many personal boundaries. We had PB&J for lunch while we sat in the middle of this rainforest oasis enjoying the peace of it all.
Where we were was heavily hit by the Tsunami, so our next stop was to a tsunami education spot. There were some picture books to look through and it was pretty amazing hearing about the devastation. More amazing was the monument it was nested on- during the tsunami a huge military patrol boat had been washed ashore 2km and it now rests in the grass and serves a monument to remember all the lives lost. Powerful stuff.
Back at the park, we swam (which was a little eerie after learning about the tsunami), explored, and watched the crabs all afternoon. We were fascinated by the little crabs- they use their saliva to make these little sand balls around their hole. When you look out on the beach you just see these sprays of mini sand balls and these bitty crabs working furiously trying to make as many as possible before the tide comes in. I don’t get it, but it was surely entertaining and sweet.
Before we knew it, night had fallen and we sat on the beach laughing until it was late, and went for a midnight swim:) Don’t tell the park rangers.
Day 4, Wednesday March 2
It wasn’t until we got in the van and left that Nat and Yudy told us about how Thai’s believe Kao Lak to be haunted of the tsunami victims. I guess it is a big thing here- Nat’s aunt was not pleased that she was staying there and Nat and Yudy were freaked out the entire time. AND next to our cabin was a completely dilapidated, run down one that gave us the creeps. I don’t buy into it, but it’s fun to hear the stories of the place’s you’re staying.
In the morning we got to each breakfast at Nat’s grandma’s café and see her house. [Enter precious old lady #1]. It was cool to see a real Thai house and see Nat’s family- she has done so much for us and it was really neat to see her family and some of her history.
We went to Pathong Beach- the most famous beach in Phuket and it was unfortunately disgusting. Trash in the water, completely overdeveloped, and some nassssty tourists. Not to be judgey, but you really don’t need to wear a speedo that tiny. I don’t care who you are.
In typical me fashion, I planted myself face-down on my towel on the beach and conked out for a few hours. Beach might be nasty, but the sun was fantastic :)
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| Phuket FantaSea: Not for those on drugs |
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| Phuket FantaSea: Cheesy performance capitol of Thailand |
Later that night we went to Phuket FantaSea- a “cultural amusement park.” Right. Basically it was the first ¼ of Cedar Point (all of the shops and games), plus a massive buffet, a mini-zoo, and a cultural show. The shops made me pretty sad, because they pretty much tell people that culture is just something you can fit into a souvenir. Buffet was nice- nice to have a filling meal that wasn’t 80% rice. The cultural show was awesome though! It was kind of like a Cirque de Soleil wannabe and wasn’t anything mind-blowing, but it was fun to be treated to nice evening and enjoy a show because everything we have been doing is so campy. There were cool trapeze artists and cute elephants holding each others tails and these double-dutch-esque dances, which I totally plan on learning.
Afterwards we sent Francis home and had a night on the town which was… interesting. We were in the town of crappy Pathong beach the nighttime crowd was about as sketch as the water quality.
This pretty much sums it up:
"Sarah where did you get that sucker?"
"I don't know, they were selling them in the bathroom."
What was nice was that we were finally in a town with lots of young people- all of the hotspots that we found in BKK are filled with creepy old dudes with young Thai girlfriends. It was nice to get away form that.
Day 5, Thursday March 3
Wednesday was more of the educational variety :) We visited a handicraft center where women make awesome bags and other misc weavable things. Also got to tap a rubber tree and visit a rubber processing plant. It was interesting because on these trips they have been taking us to the nicer organic farms and clean plants, and this one was straight up grody. Location of a murder movie, I am sure of it. Was cool to see rubber in action I suppose.
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| Gross rubber in dirty water |
Afterwards we went to a hot springs pool that was burning hot. I’m sure it was upwards of 120, and seeing that it was at least 90 outside, I was confused as to the desire of swimming in it. We just dunked our feet in for 15 minutes and they were red for a half hour later. We watched astounded as Thais just hopped in like it was no deal. Aside from the pain, it was a beautiful spot to enjoy… how hot we were.
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| At the hot spring! (Yudy and Nat are on the right) |
We spent that night in a home stay of one of the women who works at the handicraft center. [Enter precious old lady #2]. The grandma, who was 96 and still incredibly energetic, was in charge of the whole operation and her three daughters did all of the behind the scenes work. We found a puzzle of “The Christian Church” (random for Thailand) and spent a large part of the night hovered over that.
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| Can we keep her? |
Day 6, Friday March 4
We jump in a longtail for a morning river cruise around the local neighborhood. I don’t know I felt like I was in Rambo or Apocalypse Now or just Indiana Jones, but it was probably one of the cooler experiences I’ve had in my life. The rivers were so narrow and the palms bent over our heads and our spunky guide sat up front with a megaphone pointing out various flora and fauna.
We jumped out at an organic operation and had no idea that we were in for meeting the happiest, most excited, women with the smallest personal bubbles ever! [Enter precious old ladies 3-30]. We were their first farang visitors, and they couldn’t get enough of us. Literally. I got my shoulder patted, side squeezed, and butt touched on various occasions…
After giving us a tour of their farm (which the ladies are completely in charge of, awesome) we were given an unlimited supply of sweet-salties- a favorite Thai dessert that Torey named very literally- and were shown one of their line dances that looked like a mix between the chicken dance and the stanky leg. We showed them the Macarena. Then they whipped out the weighted hula hoops and we had a competition. Turns out they do all of this stuff to keep the older women healthy, and I loved it. I hope I can get away with dancing like a crazy when I’m that old.
After one told Jordan that she loved him, it was time to go. She had a hard time letting him out of her grip, but he broke free and we boated away. Lunch back at the home stay and a gentle afternoon on the porch. After dusk we were taken back out on the river and got to watch the fireflies over the river. It looked like natural Christmas trees were lining the banks- literally thousands of fireflies light up the night and it was magical. Loved it.
Day 7 (last day :( ), Saturday March 5
We took about 100 pictures with our new adopted grammy and hit the road for Chumpon to drop Ben back off at his internship. That was a big mistake, because we fell completely in love with the resort that he works at. It was such a perfect beach that taunted us while Ben gave us a tour of his resort. It is a cool set-up – they make their own soaps and detergents and shampoos and even biodiesel. They had a “plearning garden” (play + learn = plearn). We thought that was pretty funny. We took a dip in the water, said our goodbyes to Benny boy and set off for Bangkok once again.
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| Ben's Cabana |
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| Chelsea with "Ben Son"- I think they meant Ben Jr. :) |
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Paradise- found again!
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We talked about movies the whole way home.
All in all, it was a fantastic trip. Have to say I’m glad to be back sleeping in a bed every night and not living out of a backpack (KIND OF). Also nice to know that at AIT, the only thing likely to fall on my face while sleeping are flesh geckos and maybe some asbestos.
That couldn't last for long though, because...
Here’s how Monday at work went:
Work: “Are you ready for tomorrow?”
Us: “What’s tomorrow”
Work: “Weeklong fieldtrip.”
So that’s where I am now. In Yasothon, one of the most north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Needless to say, Monday really stressed us out and both Sarah and I had semi-breakdowns in the office, but we have recovered. We are really trying to make the best of our internship, but many factors including the language barrier and general poor communication are making it extremely difficult. We are conducting 7 days worth of interviews, which would be a lot for any experienced journalist, and we were given one day essentially to prep for them. We just keep saying that we are glad we have each other to share in the… struggle. (and that’s a nice word for what it has felt like.)
I have loved all of the support I’ve received from back home, especially recently when things have been pretty tough. Keep it coming. Hard to believe we have exactly one month left of the program- just trying to absorb it all and live as lightheartedly as possible.
Love to America,
Rosie
