On the Train

On the train last week:

A little girl peeking at me and a man sleeping.  Two normal occurrences.

So cute!

This isn't a great picture, but this guy had bad, bad hair.  Shaved on one side, but grown out slightly.  Dyed orangish.  So many Thai people want light/blonde hair, but since their hair is so dark it just looks orange any time they lighten it.  They have such gorgeous dark hair--I wish they would just embrace it!

Lone train car

Cute little cart on display by the train tracks at one of the stops.

Sunday Train

The train is the best way for us to travel to Phitsanulok (that's where church is, where the English movie theater is and where we can buy cheese and tortilla chips).   The train we take on Sundays leaves at 6:50am.  It isn't air conditioned.  Sometimes we get seats and sometimes we stand.  A ticket is 9 baht (about 30 cents).  It takes 45 minutes to an hour. 

Last Sunday there was a crazy drunk guy at the station.  He really wanted to talk to us.  We ended up all moving away and Tanner dealt with him.  The floral wearing drunk got really close to Tanner and even went so far as to rub his arm and lift up his pants to see his socks!  A HUGE thanks to Tanner for putting up with that guy so we didn't have to!

The downsides to taking the train:

1) Crazy people at the station [see above].

2) It doesn't run very often so sometimes you have to leave earlier or later than desired.

3) It's really uncomfortable.

4) It's dirty, hot and not good for long legs

The upsides:

1) The VIEW!  I love looking out the window and just taking everything in.  This particular stretch passes a whole lot of rice fields and I love it!  There are these tiny little huts in the middle of the fields that are charming (and incredibly uncomfortable I am sure).  There are also these fantastic while birds that hang out in the fields.  My students told me that the farmers hate those birds becasue they eat the rice, but I can't help but love them.  I've been here more than a year but I still can't get over how green everything is.  As an Arizona native I just expect things to be dry and brown but that is not the case here at all.  I snapped a few pictures and took a video from last week's ride.  As a side note--it's quite difficult to take pictures on a moving train...

2) The price!  $.30 is a great deal in my book!

3) It's a really authentic Thai experience and provides good people watching opportunities.

December and January

Catch up time!

I'm going to shoot for mostly pictures with a few words:

We went to a few waterfalls and rafting with the volunteers.  The rafting had a few rapids, but it was mostly a lot of paddling. 

One of the waterfalls had tubes you could rent further down the river.  We did that and had a lot of fun.  I got bumped off my tube one of the times and that wasn't too fun.  I got a couple bruises, but it was worth it.  I would do it all over again.

 One of the trees by a waterfall had these really big leaves!  

Games in class.

Mhew, FeiFei, Yindee

 Yada, Ongry and Phuvit

 Connect 4 with Bonus, Praewa and Max

Cinnamon rolls. They weren't as fluffy as I would have like, but I didn't have my Bosch :)

Phuvit and Tiger invited us over.  They have a banana boat and let us ride.  Most of us weren't aware we'd be getting in so we just got in in out clothes... It was a lot of fun but I could have done without all the pond water in my sinuses.

We went to dinner with Tang, Ake and Flynn.  There was a bit of a wait.  While we were outside waiting to be seated we met a baby elephant!  Her name was Lah Nah.  We bought some cucumbers to feed her.

And a little video of feeding the baby elephant.

We went up to Chiang Mai with Kim and Jesse for a 3 day weekend.  We took the class 3 train.  No A/C + hard seats + 10 hours + only cost $5.

Bringing pillows ended up being a good move. 

 Dinner at The Dukes.  FANTASTIC burgers!

Tanner ordered a salad and a plate of steamed broccoli  The waitress looked at him weird, but he was in heave.  That boy loves veggies!

Chiang Mai Zoo

We got to touch the hippos.  Kind of cool, kind of freaked me out.  They could really use a trip to the dentist.

 By the mouth of some sort of tiger, gorilla beast.

More from around Chiang Mai.  I sure love that city!

And a few more.

Practicing the guitar

This is how I felt when Tanner refused to take a picture with Santa and me. 

Also, this is the shortest Santa I have ever met! 

 They had a really huge Christmas tree at Central Plaza that I just really loved!

Praying mantis 

This and That

My computer is full.  It's been such a pain and have made it hard to get to my pictures.  I got an external hard drive and I an getting things sorted out.  Here are some random pictures.  Enjoy!

There are fruit markets everywhere here.  Cheap and tasty and I love it! 

I've seen this "Give 100% to live 100%" sign quite a few places.  I like it. 

Random water fountain in front of a little shop.  So detailed and intricate, yet stuff like this is everywhere.  I feel like these kinds of things were so fascinating to me when I first got here.  Now that I've been here half a year I'm getting used to it all and I forget just how amazing it is.  I don't want to forget to enjoy this kind of stuff.

I was amused by this brand.

On the train.  See that gigantic bag?  All chilis.  I have been told that Thailand is not the place since I don't like spicy food.  Haha. I have been able to make it work just fine though.

Rice, rice, rice!  They sure do love their rice here.  

 Lotus flowers at an open market.

We were short on bikes one day so Joj took me to the train station in his little motor cart. 

Maybe this is weird, but I love when bathroom signs are different.

This little piggy went to the market...

Mart at the open market.  His family has a food stand and they sell saw-tay.  It's pork on a BBQ stick in a lemon grass marinade served with a slightly spicy peanut sauce for dipping.