UPDATE: WE HAVE NAMES!: Our teachers have given us thai nicknames. All Thai people have a nickname not related to their regular name that they go by. Many of my students pick American words for their nicknames. Mine is Bua (pronounded Boo-ah) which means Lotus. And Felix is Chok which means lucky!
So last weekend we decided to stay in Inburi to take a breather. And our friend Rich decided to visit as well! Our teachers had a big trip planned for us to go to an ANCIENT market in Suphanburi though on Saturday..and I think we definitely underestimated just how much we would be doing on this day.
We started out the day around noon and all piled into our teacher PiTu's truck to head to Suphanburi. This made 8 of us riding in the tiny truck with Rich and Felix in the bed. After about an hour of driving due to PiTu's insane speed and passing and honking at anything near her, we arrived at our first stop which was the Ancient Market! We think the market was about 200 years old but it was a refreshing difference from the many many other markets we have seen. The stuff everyone was selling was a little different, much more hand goods, and the setting definitely looked different as it winded through old alleyways, instead of just being on a big dirt open area like the others. Everything is "ancient", ancient coffee, ancient dessert, and while they did taste a little different we were unsure exactly what ancient meant because they used it for everything. We went to a "shop" (which is really just a cart with an attached stove to cook food and then some plastic chairs and tables) by the river and sat down for lunch. The way Thai people eat is amazing. They order about 8-10 dishes and then everyone gets their own rice and plate and you take what you want from each dish. Apparantly this was a famous "shop" that had been there since ancient times and specilized in Mami Geeyo which was a soup with ramen like noodles, all kinds of pork, and a lot of other stuff I'm not sure of but it was veryy DELICIOUS! They also gave us a kind of fried rice with sausage that is wrapped in lotus leaves that is famous amoung a few other things. After the ladies treated us (and we found out as the day went on that they would insist on treating us to EVERYTHING) to the great lunch we went down to the river to take a boat ride! On the way we saw turtles in a bucket and while we originally thought they were using them for food, our teachers told us that they are there to "buy the life" of. It is good luck to buy their life and put them back in the river, so despite the irony of it all, we bought some turtles to free in the river! Down here too there were giant fish everywhere that you throw food too so we entertained ourselves with that for awhile before hopping on our boat.
On the boat ride we passed a lot of things that I would have assumed were just shacks and had no significance but the ladies told us there were many ancient businesses, and cemetaries etc. all up and down the river. We pulled into a very serene bank and stepped off to see and ancient temple. The land here was so peaceful and quiet. We went up to the temple and kneeled while they prayed. There were many golden statues of buddhas at the temple. PiTi, one of the teachers who speaks the best english, gave me a gold fleck and told me to go up to one of the buddhas and place the fleck on a part of it's body. She said if you put it on the heart it is for happiness, the head for thinking, or if you have pain anywhere else in your body that you want to get better you should put the fleck there. I chose the heart. After this we went to a little "ancient" museum with different artifacts, as well as look at some very beautiful and old temples on the land. There were many women monks here with shaved heads and dressed in white which was interesting because I have only seen men monks.
After this we jumped back on the boat and headed back to to market to walk around for awhile. I unfortunatly didn't get to buy anything, we had a lot to see so this part was kind of rushed. We got back in the car and drove for another 45 minutes to see a BIG BUDDHA. This was exactaly what it sounds like.. a giant buddha in a temple! We got some more ancient coffees after seeing the buddha and headed to a little gazebo to sit in and enjoy the peaceful scenery. There was a traditional Thai style house here that you could walk into which I liked. The houses are really large they explained because you are no only living with your immediatly family but EVERYONE in the family. The ceilings are high and go into peakes so the hot air can rise there and keep it cool below. The area in the middle is open and without a roof, with all the rooms in a square on the outside to give the many members of the family some privacy. The houses are always on stilts too, which besides the fact that it is made to protect the house from floods, this is the area where little kids are able to play since so many adults live in the top level of the house and this area is to be respected. There was a monk in the house who insisted we kneel and he tied a piece of string around our wrists for good luck. We relaxed here for awhile before heading on to yet another (!) stop.
We drove for awhile again and ended up at a "fish sanctuary"! We thought the fish we saw before were big but these were MASSIVE and very hungry. You buy food to throw to them and they almost come out of the water to eat it. The actually resemebled sharks more than fish. We walked around here for awhile and soon found tons of cages with animals. There was a large section with crazy monkeys, another with giant lizzards, and then there were huge peacocks and other birds. We didn't have long to stay here because we were set to see a show of a floating nun. There was a small but really deep pool of water and the very old nun climbed in and floated while she spoke very very fast in thai and did different meditation poses. I thought floating was easy but she did it with no trouble at all and stayed almost completely out of the water. After this she strung a rope through our whole groups hands and said a long prayer which is yet another way of getting good luck (we were on a roll with the luck today). They translated some of it to us after and I think she also said that if you were born on a Friday you should not purchase any lottery tickets..hmmm. Anyways this was the last stop on the agenda for the day any by this time it was about 5 so we piled back into the truck to head home.
We stopped in Singburi (about 20 minutes from Inburi) on the way back for yet another suprise meal. They once again bought about 8 delicious dishes for all of us to share. On the way back in the car I asked our teacher PiTim what the pancakes that Felix and I always eat are called because we love them and before I know it we were pulled over on the road and she was pulling me to what she said is the best pancake (loti) stand in our area! She bought us all extra fancy ones with bananas which we had never had. I love these things they are crispy dough that they fry with an egg inside and then add a sweet cream and sugar. The bananas made it amazing. Finally after the looong day (it was about 8 by this time) they dropped us off at home.
Another reason to confirm that we have the sweetest english department friends we could have hoped for in Thailand. They treated us all day and took us around to so many places we are positive we would have never saw on our own. That pretty much wrapped up the weekend. We went to the Singburi pool on Sunday which is alawys a treat, and then motorbiked Rich back to the bus station.
This week is the one before exam week and we have kind of decided that the kids just deserve to watch movies since the other teachers work them so hard (some kids go to school EVERY day of the week with no breaks). We originally wanted a christmas movie, but we don't have Thai subtitles on what we have so after showing my 7th grade kids A Muppets Christmas and them being insanly confused.. we have just settled on Monsters, Inc. now. Easy for everyone to understand! We have all of next week off, and this Friday as this is the start of exams. Felix and I will be heading to Mae Hong Son on Friday night with our housemother and a small group. This is veery far North which is a part of Thailand we have yet to venture to yet! It is supposed to be very beautiful..the guidebook quotes it as "stuff dreams are made of" haha. PiTuk will stay with us until Sunday and then we will stay and head to Chaing Mai!! Yayyy! This is a place most toursits make sure to visit and supposed to be great as well. This is where it is best to go Elephant Trekking and do the awesome outdoor jungle activities. After this we will head to Laos for New Years.. another yayyyy!! We are meeting a group of about 20 friends there. This is supposed to be a Disneyland for adults we will be tubing down the river for 3 days. There are slides, rope swings, ziplines, and an assortment of crazy bars all along the river as you tube. It should be an awesome holiday. Will update you all after we return!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to everyone! Even though we will make the best of it, being here is certainly not the same as the U.S and I wish I could be home to celebrate. I miss you all.
Love,
Brienne
So last weekend we decided to stay in Inburi to take a breather. And our friend Rich decided to visit as well! Our teachers had a big trip planned for us to go to an ANCIENT market in Suphanburi though on Saturday..and I think we definitely underestimated just how much we would be doing on this day.
We started out the day around noon and all piled into our teacher PiTu's truck to head to Suphanburi. This made 8 of us riding in the tiny truck with Rich and Felix in the bed. After about an hour of driving due to PiTu's insane speed and passing and honking at anything near her, we arrived at our first stop which was the Ancient Market! We think the market was about 200 years old but it was a refreshing difference from the many many other markets we have seen. The stuff everyone was selling was a little different, much more hand goods, and the setting definitely looked different as it winded through old alleyways, instead of just being on a big dirt open area like the others. Everything is "ancient", ancient coffee, ancient dessert, and while they did taste a little different we were unsure exactly what ancient meant because they used it for everything. We went to a "shop" (which is really just a cart with an attached stove to cook food and then some plastic chairs and tables) by the river and sat down for lunch. The way Thai people eat is amazing. They order about 8-10 dishes and then everyone gets their own rice and plate and you take what you want from each dish. Apparantly this was a famous "shop" that had been there since ancient times and specilized in Mami Geeyo which was a soup with ramen like noodles, all kinds of pork, and a lot of other stuff I'm not sure of but it was veryy DELICIOUS! They also gave us a kind of fried rice with sausage that is wrapped in lotus leaves that is famous amoung a few other things. After the ladies treated us (and we found out as the day went on that they would insist on treating us to EVERYTHING) to the great lunch we went down to the river to take a boat ride! On the way we saw turtles in a bucket and while we originally thought they were using them for food, our teachers told us that they are there to "buy the life" of. It is good luck to buy their life and put them back in the river, so despite the irony of it all, we bought some turtles to free in the river! Down here too there were giant fish everywhere that you throw food too so we entertained ourselves with that for awhile before hopping on our boat.
On the boat ride we passed a lot of things that I would have assumed were just shacks and had no significance but the ladies told us there were many ancient businesses, and cemetaries etc. all up and down the river. We pulled into a very serene bank and stepped off to see and ancient temple. The land here was so peaceful and quiet. We went up to the temple and kneeled while they prayed. There were many golden statues of buddhas at the temple. PiTi, one of the teachers who speaks the best english, gave me a gold fleck and told me to go up to one of the buddhas and place the fleck on a part of it's body. She said if you put it on the heart it is for happiness, the head for thinking, or if you have pain anywhere else in your body that you want to get better you should put the fleck there. I chose the heart. After this we went to a little "ancient" museum with different artifacts, as well as look at some very beautiful and old temples on the land. There were many women monks here with shaved heads and dressed in white which was interesting because I have only seen men monks.
After this we jumped back on the boat and headed back to to market to walk around for awhile. I unfortunatly didn't get to buy anything, we had a lot to see so this part was kind of rushed. We got back in the car and drove for another 45 minutes to see a BIG BUDDHA. This was exactaly what it sounds like.. a giant buddha in a temple! We got some more ancient coffees after seeing the buddha and headed to a little gazebo to sit in and enjoy the peaceful scenery. There was a traditional Thai style house here that you could walk into which I liked. The houses are really large they explained because you are no only living with your immediatly family but EVERYONE in the family. The ceilings are high and go into peakes so the hot air can rise there and keep it cool below. The area in the middle is open and without a roof, with all the rooms in a square on the outside to give the many members of the family some privacy. The houses are always on stilts too, which besides the fact that it is made to protect the house from floods, this is the area where little kids are able to play since so many adults live in the top level of the house and this area is to be respected. There was a monk in the house who insisted we kneel and he tied a piece of string around our wrists for good luck. We relaxed here for awhile before heading on to yet another (!) stop.
We drove for awhile again and ended up at a "fish sanctuary"! We thought the fish we saw before were big but these were MASSIVE and very hungry. You buy food to throw to them and they almost come out of the water to eat it. The actually resemebled sharks more than fish. We walked around here for awhile and soon found tons of cages with animals. There was a large section with crazy monkeys, another with giant lizzards, and then there were huge peacocks and other birds. We didn't have long to stay here because we were set to see a show of a floating nun. There was a small but really deep pool of water and the very old nun climbed in and floated while she spoke very very fast in thai and did different meditation poses. I thought floating was easy but she did it with no trouble at all and stayed almost completely out of the water. After this she strung a rope through our whole groups hands and said a long prayer which is yet another way of getting good luck (we were on a roll with the luck today). They translated some of it to us after and I think she also said that if you were born on a Friday you should not purchase any lottery tickets..hmmm. Anyways this was the last stop on the agenda for the day any by this time it was about 5 so we piled back into the truck to head home.
We stopped in Singburi (about 20 minutes from Inburi) on the way back for yet another suprise meal. They once again bought about 8 delicious dishes for all of us to share. On the way back in the car I asked our teacher PiTim what the pancakes that Felix and I always eat are called because we love them and before I know it we were pulled over on the road and she was pulling me to what she said is the best pancake (loti) stand in our area! She bought us all extra fancy ones with bananas which we had never had. I love these things they are crispy dough that they fry with an egg inside and then add a sweet cream and sugar. The bananas made it amazing. Finally after the looong day (it was about 8 by this time) they dropped us off at home.
Another reason to confirm that we have the sweetest english department friends we could have hoped for in Thailand. They treated us all day and took us around to so many places we are positive we would have never saw on our own. That pretty much wrapped up the weekend. We went to the Singburi pool on Sunday which is alawys a treat, and then motorbiked Rich back to the bus station.
This week is the one before exam week and we have kind of decided that the kids just deserve to watch movies since the other teachers work them so hard (some kids go to school EVERY day of the week with no breaks). We originally wanted a christmas movie, but we don't have Thai subtitles on what we have so after showing my 7th grade kids A Muppets Christmas and them being insanly confused.. we have just settled on Monsters, Inc. now. Easy for everyone to understand! We have all of next week off, and this Friday as this is the start of exams. Felix and I will be heading to Mae Hong Son on Friday night with our housemother and a small group. This is veery far North which is a part of Thailand we have yet to venture to yet! It is supposed to be very beautiful..the guidebook quotes it as "stuff dreams are made of" haha. PiTuk will stay with us until Sunday and then we will stay and head to Chaing Mai!! Yayyy! This is a place most toursits make sure to visit and supposed to be great as well. This is where it is best to go Elephant Trekking and do the awesome outdoor jungle activities. After this we will head to Laos for New Years.. another yayyyy!! We are meeting a group of about 20 friends there. This is supposed to be a Disneyland for adults we will be tubing down the river for 3 days. There are slides, rope swings, ziplines, and an assortment of crazy bars all along the river as you tube. It should be an awesome holiday. Will update you all after we return!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to everyone! Even though we will make the best of it, being here is certainly not the same as the U.S and I wish I could be home to celebrate. I miss you all.
Love,
Brienne
Looks like your heading to the mountains. Mao Hong Son remind me odf Asheville. Also it looks like it is going to be a long trip. Have a great time and we sure miss you. We wish our merriest Christmas and New Year for Felix and yourself. Have a great time.
ReplyDeleteLove, Dad
I love your blog entry, and it sounds like an amazing time, but very sad that this is our very first Christmas ever without you, it won't be the same this year. I hope you get your package today. Love you, Mom.
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