Jan 29
The Klong Kheaw Waterfall was nothing like I had expected. Although I’m not too sure what I really had expected, it was so much more. Walking along the trail at first everything appeared the same as any park or hiking trail in America, but when you took a closer look you could see it was much different. The vegetation was so lush as well as beautiful and interesting to see. I think my favorite thing in the woods were the intertwining tree roots all over the ground. Some of them stretched as far as the eye could see. It was so beautiful walking through the paths and looking at all the bamboo trees and exotic plants.
I really loved the part in the vegetation when the path was full of tree limbs and plants over your head like a covered bridge. It looked like something you would see in a romantic movie. The actual waterfalls were amazing. The water felt so refreshing and cooling. At first we walked down into the water and tried to navigate our way through the rocks and water.It was not such a good idea!!
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Dec 11
Our trip to Laos was a trip I will never forget. I wasn’t sure what to expect for just a simple Visa run but it was much more interesting then I had expected. First off, I had never been on a train before and I wasn’t sure how happy I felt about a five hour bus ride followed by a twelve hour train ride. Surprisingly it all went really well, although it could have been nice simply because I was excited to be traveling somewhere new.
The train was really interesting. There was a restaurant and a bar in one of the train cabs which I thought was very exciting. Of course we found ourselves sitting in the bar to waste time before trying to sleep on the upper bunk in the train cabin. The bar was small and had limited seating so we were sitting next to complete strangers from all around the world. By the end of the night we had found ourselves getting our palms read by a Korean documentary film maker, and telling stories with a man from Holland. It was so much fun to encounter many different people. Once we headed to our beds we tried to catch some sleep on the bumpy train ride. For me it was difficult to sleep but not impossible. I am lucky to not have motion sickness or feel nauseated easily. I am sure there were lots of people feeling quite sick, because I literally was rolling around in my top bunk all night.
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Dec 05
In Thailand, Trat is considered one of the smaller cities. It is not considered a tourist destination, which most westerner’s would assume meant that it was lacking in culture and significant experiences. But in my eyes, Trat is the very essence of Thai culture. One of the most rewarding experiences on my journey so far has been the local market.
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Nov 28
Sometimes, I like not knowing the language here in Thailand. I enjoy being able to be invisible in the sense that I don’t hear people’s conversations, I don’t have to get involved in their daily dramas, and I am free to think my own thoughts and be left to them. At other times though, when out with friends or when trying to communicate with a student at school, I desperately wish I could speak Thai.
Luckily, we have been provided with an excellent language instructor here in Thailand. Meaw speaks about four languages in total, and is excellent at all of them. So when I ask her a question about the Thai language, or an English translation, I know she is an incredibly good resource (one which I utilize a little more often than necessary).
The lessons in Thai that we have been given are incredibly useful. I am using the words I learned daily, and knowing them have made life here much easier. Truthfully, I disliked the idea of the class at first, since I wasn’t here to learn, I was here to teach myself. But that arrogant attitude didn’t last long, and now I try to soak up as much Thai as I can, and I am practicing daily. It doesn’t come easily to me, but the most rewarding skills usually don’t. Overall, I have changed my attitude and am now anticipating the lessons rather than dreading them.
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Nov 24
Having had to sit on the train for 18 hours, I thought I wouldn’t have enjoyed Chiangmai that much, but I am now falling in love with its beauty and I don’t want to leave. Though there are many tourists here, I still can feel a lot of cultural and spiritual energy all over the place.
I got here a few days ago and am still enjoying Khum Meuang (the Thai Northern Language), going shopping, and the hospitality and history of Chiangmai. The main reason I am in Chiangmai is the Loy Khathong Festival which is coming up in a few days time. It is one of the must see festival in Thailand, after Sukhothai, Chiangmai is the most beautiful Loy Khathong festival.
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Oct 17
Almost 270 people have been reported dead from the major floods in Thailand, while 3.4 million acres of agricultural area is now covered by water. It is one the worst disaster in Thailand in the last 50 years. More than 30 out of 77 provinces are now under water. More than 700,000 families have lost their home and their family members. Some area has been under water over a month, and some areas have flooded twice this year. These floods in Thailand have badly affected the Thai economy.
The has been a lot of rain in Trat, where our volunteer dorm is based, but because Trat is located near the sea water can be drained to the sea and we have not been had experiencing any floods in the central Trat area. There are a few areas outside Trat that were flooded for a few hours.
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Oct 17
Since I had never been to a retirement party before, I didn’t know what to expect from the Wat Aw Yai School retirement party which I was invited to. On Thursday 29th September, I was picked up by P’ Wiseht at 4pm. When I arrived at the party, some teachers and students were already there. The students were going to do the dance show and thus they were getting dressed up and started to put their make up on. I was helping them and talked to the director of the school. “I am very sad to see p’ Nid leaving”, the director said to me. P’ Nid has been the only English teacher and was working at the Wat Aw Yai school for 30 years and 13 days.
There were more than a hundred people from other schools at the party, including the Aw Yai community. A lot of typical food and drinks from Trat were served at the party, and of course there was karaoke. It was amazing to see how relaxed and joyful the teachers and directors were during the celebrations. They were singing karaoke and telling jokes. It was such a different experience to see them like this, as opposed to when I encountered them during school times. The crowd insisted that I should sing a song as a uVolunteer representative, and so I did.
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