PFLTF

Today we had our schools department fair. Each department set up a booth and presented what they are teaching to the parents, other schools, and the higher ups that walked around. All the other departments were grouped together in one central area, but the foreign teachers were segregated in the front of the school all alone. As expected, no one really came over to us and it was pretty boring and uneventful, despite the fact that we had a couple students get really into the karaoke we had going. They just can't get enough of Celine Dion.

My banner at our booth

My other foreign English co-teachers: Anna, Alip, and Willem

One of my favorite students, Upper

By the way, PFLTF stands for: The Project of Foreign Language Teaching by the Foreigners. Only Thailand would have such a ridiculous title for the department. Everywhere else in the wold it would just be the Foreign Language Department. Am I right, or am I right?

Attention music lovers: Los Campesinos!'s new CD, "Romance is Boring," has come out and it's pretty great. I think you all should go get it right now.

Run, Fatboy, Run

I've finally committed to doing something I've been meaning to do for as long as I can remember. Hit the gym. I realized that instead of coming home from school and sitting in my apartment for the next 8 hours, not doing anything, I could be making good use of my time and exercise. So, I started going last week, and I've been four times now. I'm going to try and go at least three times a week, for about an hour and a half a time. My workout so far has consisted of running 5k on the treadmill, biking 10k on the bike, and 100 stomach crunches. Then when I get back to my apartment, I run up and down the three flights of stairs five times. I don't know if that's a good workout or not, but it wears me out and I feel pretty good after I've finished. So I'm pretty happy about it. I'm trying a whole new healthy lifestyle here, and I know I've said that a million times before, but this time I'm actually doing it. Eating healthier, snacking less, and generally taking better care of myself. Sometimes I can't resist a cold beer and a couple Oreo cookies at the end of the night though...

On a rather humorous note, I was giving a lesson on trip preparations, and I asked my students what they'd buy first before going on vacation.

A student screamed out, "CONDOMS!"

The Future

Three of my best students who I specially chose to help me with a project for the Foreign Language Department at school...

Grade 7

Grade 8

Grade 9

Sleepyhead

Sometimes bad things happen in order for good things to come. Case in point- a bunch of my friends were going to my favorite place in Thailand this weekend, Ko Samet, and I couldn’t go. I’ve been aching for a chance to get back to the wondrous tropical getaway ever since I left almost 2 months ago. Wow, has it been that long? However, school duties prevented me from returning and instead I had to hand out prizes at my schools fair. Maybe I was just sour and in a bad mood, but I felt extremely unneeded there. They had about ten other teachers working, and I mainly just stood around as a human trophy so my school could show off that they have a Westerner teaching at their school. About an hour or so in, I decided I had enough and slowly crept out the back of the booth and escaped into the night.

My school all lit up for the fair

I hurried back to my apartment, broke out my Thailand Lonely Planet guide book, anxiously looking for a place to go so I could salvage my weekend. After much debate and research, I decided on a sleepy town in Western Thailand next to the Burmese border called Sangkhlaburi. It was a bit of a trek to get there, but my golly was it worth every micro second. I woke up bright and early Saturday morning, and with perfect timing I caught the hour-long bus to Kanchanaburi where I would need to get off and take another 5 hour-long bus ride. When I arrived in Kanchanaburi, a man approached me and asked where I was going. I told him and he ushered me over to a van station, telling me it would get me to Sangkhlaburi much faster. It was about the same price as the bus, and I figured I’d be more comfortable. It turned out to be a great decision, because instead of taking 5 hours, it only took 3 1/2, but I’m getting ahead of myself. The ride took me through the beautiful Kanchanaburi mountain range, full of massive limestone giants covered in thick greenery with their complex peaks shaping the sky. I looked around the van and noticed that most of the other passengers were asleep, and I wondered how anyone could pass up a time to look at these amazing natural wonders. I stayed awake the whole time, listening to my iPod, just staring out my window and watching the mountains get more and more impressive as we went further west.

Mountains on the way up to Sangkhlaburi

I arrived in Sangkhlaburi at about one o’clock, and was immediately impressed with what I saw. It was a very small town, with only about 47,000 residents who live there. Most of them aren’t even Thai- they are mainly Burmese refugees from the Mon and Karen tribes who escaped to Thailand because of oppression in Burma. They now live in a village in this town that is connected by the longest wooden bridge in Thailand called the Mon Bridge. The bridge crosses the Khao Laem reservoir on which the town overlooks, and many people live in houses on the water. I checked into a small home stay, put down my bag, grabbed my camera and hit the town. After a quick lunch of Burmese Curry, I crossed the Mon Bridge, and explored the village. I hired a motorbike taxi and the driver took me around to all the hot spots. He did his best to communicate to me what the significance of each place was, but I only picked up a little of what he was trying to say. Afterwards, he dropped me off a local restaurant and the woman who ran it invited me in for some Burmese coffee. I gladly accepted, sat down, and pushed around a small racecar with her four-year old son, all while enjoying the most delicious cup of coffee I have ever had in my life. I spent the next couple of hours walking around on the bridge, checking out the market in town, taking pictures, and meeting people. I have never met so many friendly people in my entire life. Every person smiled, waved and said “Hello” to me as I walked by them. They didn’t stare at me like everywhere else in Thailand though, and I felt very comfortable strolling around.

Burmese woman and her son who invited me in for coffee

I walked around until it was almost 5:00, and that means only one thing: sunset. I headed back onto the bridge and spent the next hour and a half people watching, enjoying my surroundings and taking pictures of the sunset. And I have to say, it might have been on my list of top five all time sunsets. As the sun went down, and darkness took over the town, I heard sounds of thunder, and saw streaks of lightning. On the cusp of an electric storm, the air feels magnetic. The hairs on your arms stand up, and you can just feel something is about to happen. I left the bridge and found a little restaurant on the lake to have dinner. It was there that I met a fellow traveler named Helen. She was an older woman, probably in her later 50’s or so, but age doesn’t matter in the face of travel. She was from Australia, and we talked up a storm about anything and everything for a couple hours as the lightning lit up the sky. I was exhausted from the day though and went to bed around 8:30. I wanted to get a lot of sleep for the next day, but unfortunately this didn’t happen. I slept until around 1 a.m. or so, when I woke up and just couldn’t fall back asleep. I tossed and turned, hoping to fall back asleep until it was 6:00 a.m. when I woke up, got dressed and headed back down to the lake. I was tired but I didn’t care, I had a goal: early morning misty boat ride on the lake. I had heard that the mornings were magical here, and that boat rides were a must. I went to the dock, hired a boat and we set off. The lake was covered in fog, and I couldn’t see much, but I loved just being out there on the water. The sounds of nature, the cool air and the wind in my face all combined for a wonderful experience that I didn’t want to end. It’s surprising how fast an hour can go by when you are truly enjoying yourself.

On my misty morning boat ride

When daylight settled on the town, I made my way to the bus station and took a sorng-tau (a pickup truck with seats in the back) to Three Pagodas Pass, the border between Thailand and Burma. The ride took about a half hour, and I had my feet dangling off the back of the truck, watching blurs of green whiz by me. I was listening to my iPod and was having fun choosing different songs to play as we drove along. I decided that listening to “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynard Skynard was the most fun, and Rogue Wave’s “Lake Michigan” fit the mood best. The real treasure though, was listening to Sigur Ros, and as I zoomed by the mountains and looked out at the vast landscapes, I decided that listening to them in these surroundings was the defining moment of my life, and I couldn’t help but let a smile creep up my face. There isn’t much to see at Three Pagodas Pass, the pagodas themselves are pretty unimpressive. I spent most of my time here wondering around, looking out at the mountains and meeting some of the local people, some of whom took a picture with me. The most exciting part of being there was when I walked to the small town next to Three Pagodas Pass and explored the narrow streets and colorful faces of the people that live there. I also accidentally walked into Burma, which resulted in army men with guns yelling at me to get out. A little scary but pretty amusing and funny I think. In my defense, it was not clearly marked where Thailand ends and Burma begins. I was just walking along a street and all of a sudden I was in Burma. At least I can say that I have been there now, can’t I?

The only picture I took when I accidentally walked into Burma

A short while later, I headed back to Sangkhlaburi and had lunch. It was still early and I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself until the end of the day. I saw some people swimming in the reservoir outside the restaurant, so right away I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I didn’t have a bathing suit so I just went right in with my shorts. The water was clean and warm and it felt great to go swimming during the hot day. There was even a raft out in the reservoir. It wasn’t as great as my raft at Ko Samet, but hey, what is? It was made of bamboo, and was much smaller, but it swayed with the water and that’s all I needed. I swam out to it and relaxed and got some sun while I took a quick nap. When I woke up a short while later, I swam back to shore, gathered my things and headed back to my home stay where I showered and changed my clothes. I still had some time before the sunset so I walked around the town, trying to find places that I hadn’t been yet. I wandered around for who knows how long, and the longer I strolled the dustier my feet got from the dirt road. Eventually, I went back to the restaurant to have a beer and watch the sunset over the bridge. It was nice to see it from a different angle, but I was slightly disappointed because it wasn’t as great of a sunset as the previous night. I did get to see my friend Helen again, and after a quick catch up recalling our days events, we parted ways. I was completely and utterly beat from the day’s activities so I went back to my home stay where I just crashed. A solid 10 hours later, I woke up and packed up my things and left. I said goodbye to the family that lent me their home for the weekend and I made my way back down to the reservoir for one last look. It was misty again and the air was blue and I could see the sun trying to peak out from the clouds. I just stood there admiring this amazing place, wishing I didn’t have to go. So, with one last look, I turned around and walked up to the street where I took a motorbike into town.

My last look of town in the early morning

I caught a van to Kanchanaburi pretty quickly and I began my descent back into reality as the van took me back down through the mountains. The views going back down were just as incredible, if not better than any view before. Mist and early morning fog still covered the mountains and the sun rose in the distance silhouetting them. All was good until about halfway through the ride something terrible happened. A smelly old man got into the van and sat right next to me. He smelled like rotten curry and B.O., and made himself comfortable by sprawling out all over the seat. He was completely invading my personal space with his arms and legs touching mine and I tried to stay clear as I squished myself against the window. He then started to cough almost right in my face and made sounds that made me think he had a cockroach in his throat. Then, to top it all off, he decided that right now was the best time to pick his ear hair and proceeded to wipe them on his pants. I had to deal with this for about two hours, and I’ve never wanted to get out of a car so bad in my entire life. However, it couldn’t possibly taint my weekend, as I really believe it was my best yet.

Sunrise behind the mountains on my way back down

Never have I connected with a place I’ve traveled to as much as I did with Sangkhlaburi. And I would consider myself a very lucky person if I ever get to return to this hidden gem tucked away deep in the mountains.

Status Report II

Well, we've done it. Itinerary for the Asian Adventure is complete. We don't know know all the specific places we will be in besides India so far, but we've got some solid ideas. A lot of time, and lots of planning went into putting this sucker together. So, without further ado, I give you our itinerary:

March 2- Josh arrives in Bangkok at 11:45 pm
March 3- Bangkok

March 4: Fly to India- Depart Bangkok: 6:05 pm, Arrive Delhi: 9:05 pm

March 5: Delhi
March 6: Agra and Sunset at Taj Mahal
March 7: Sunrise at Taj Mahal and afternoon Fatehpur Sikri. Late afternoon bus to Jaipur
March 8: Jaipur. Overnight train to Udaipur- Departs 10:25 pm
March 9: Udaipur. Overnight bus to Jodphur (6 hours)
March 10: Jodhpur
March 11: Jodhpur. Overnight bus to Jaisalmer (5.5 hours) Train also available
March 12: Jaisalmer
March 13: Desert Tour
March 14: Desert Tour. Overnight train to Delhi- Departs 4:00 pm
March 15: Delhi (Arrive 11.05 am), Flight to Bangkok at 1 am

March 16: Fly back to Bangkok- Depart Delhi 1:00 am, Arrive Bangkok: 6:55 am

March 16: Bangkok
March 16: Go to Cambodia- Overnight Bus
March 17- 21: Cambodia
March 22: Go To Vietnam- Bus
March 22-April 3: Vietnam

April 3: Fly to Bangkok- Depart Hanoi at 9:15 am, Arrive Bangkok at 11:05 am-
April 3: Fly to Chiang Rai- Depart Bangkok at 8:10 pm, Arrive Chiang Rai at 9:30 pm

April 3-15: Northern Thailand and Laos
April 13, 14, 15: Chiang Mai

April 16: Fly to Phuket- Depart Chiang Mai at 1:30 pm, Arrive Phuket at 3:50 pm

April 16-30: Thai Islands

April 27, 28, 29: Koh Phangan
April 30: Fly to Bangkok- Depart Surat Thani at 1:30 pm, Arrive Bangkok at 2:40 pm
March 1: Josh leaves, flight out of Bangkok at 1:20 am

I would also like to let you all know that I have some new roommates moving in. I'm not sure when they will get here, but they will be living on the balcony. Here is a picture of what they look like right now:

Yes, they are pigeon eggs on my balcony. And as much as I hate these birds, I can't wait to see what little baby pigeons look like. I'll keep you all updated on the progress of the birth.

Collision Course

So as I said before, I was involved in an accident a few days ago. I was not driving a car, or a motorbike... I was on my bicycle. I was not hurt, and neither was the other cyclist, but it was still unbelievably hilarious. I was on my way to do private tutoring, and I'm minding my own business biking down the road. All of a sudden this Thai girl on another bicycle pops out of nowhere from a side street, and ends up right in my path. Before I was able to change course, we collided. It happened so fast, food went flying, drinks spilled, she screamed. She screamed so loud, it actually sounded like she was being murdered. My immediate reaction, of course, was to ask her if she was OK, and I was seriously concerned that I had really hurt her. Due to her screams, I'd say a good 20-30 Thai passerby's gathered around us to see what all the commotion was about. They probably all thought it was the stupid American's fault, but they would be wrong. When I realized the girl was fine, I helped her pick up all her things that spilled. As I repeatedly asked her, "OK? OK?" she started laughing at me. Then everyone else who was watching us started laughing at me. And then finally, I started laughing. It was just such a bizarre situation, and the crash itself was funny enough. I mean, how often do you hear about bicycle accidents? I picked up my bike and rode off, and continued to laugh to myself as I felt all the eyes watching me, everyone making fun of me in Thai. I would have loved to have been a witness to this accident, as I'm sure it was very amusing. I guess I'll just have to settle as being the one involved. Valuable lesson learned though... always be ready for small Thai girls to pop out of nowhere when you are riding your bicycle.

And Over Here We Have...

Oh, hello there. Let me tell you about my weekend, as I do so very often. Friday night I stayed in my town, Kamphaeng Saen. I realized that I had seen very little of the gigantic campus that I live on so I decided to go for a nice long bicycle ride and do some exploring. I biked to the far ends of campus and was actually really impressed with what I saw. Since it is an agricultural campus, there are tons and tons of huge green fields, ponds, bird sanctuaries, and flower gardens. I can't believe I never took the time to see it all before, but I sure am glad I did. I feel like I was rediscovering my surroundings for the first time all over again, and it was a great feeling and a great way to spend the evening.

I woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning, because I had a huge day planned in Bangkok. I was meeting my sister Talis friends Steph and Chelsea who were in Thailand for a school program. I met up with them around 9:30, and we set out for a day of sightseeing and fun. I had a whole list written down of places to go, and we actually accomplished pretty much everything I wanted to. We went to Wats, took tuk-tuk rides, went to the market, basically covered the whole city, in about 7 hours. As I played tour guide, I was actually surprised at how much I knew about Bangkok, facts and information about places, and other little tidbits here and there. After our day of fun, we went back to their awesome 5 star Sheraton Hotel right on the Chao Phraya River, and relaxed for a bit. I met most of their other friends that were also from the program and actually saw some familiar faces that I knew from my days at good old University of Maryland. One of them even taught me how to meditate! And while I thought it was hilarious at first, I got into it as time went on and actually felt very relaxed by the end. We got a quick dinner at a restaurant on the river and then went out for the night. Where do you think 20 underage college students would want to go in Thailand. If you guessed Khaosan Road, give yourself a pat on the back. I've been there so many times this month, if I never went again, I think I'd be totally fine with that. But still, they had fun and it's definitely a place to see while you are here.

I slept at their hotel Saturday night, in probably the most comfortable bed I've slept in since I have been here. They were gone on a school trip by the time I woke up, so I just went downstairs and had myself a delicious and filling breakfast full of pancakes, french toast, eggs, bread, donuts, and coffee. It was pretty wonderful. I then set off for what was the most stressful and confusing couple of hours of my life. I was trying to find an Air Asia store where I could book some flights for the upcoming adventure, but every place I went to where someone told me there was a shop, told me to go somewhere else. I went from place to place, failing every time. I bounced all over the city, taking taxis, tuk-tuks and even a motorcycle ride through the city which was one of the most terrifying things I have ever done. Alas, no success was had and I couldn't bear the thought of another taxi ride to another unsuccessful destination. So, I just went back to my town, spent the day relaxing and watching movies, catching up on some work. All in all though, a pretty solid weekend, but I think it will be the last time I go to Bangkok for quite some time.

The Chao Phraya River in Bangkok

PS- I was in a collision with another bicyclist last night and it was probably the funniest moment of my entire life. Details to come tomorrow, stay tuned.

PPS- An Elton John singalong session just broke out in my office. I think I might join in, Almost Famous style.

Status Report

INDIA: FLIGHT BOOKED

Josh and I have taken the first few steps in planning our Asian Adventure. We have an itinerary, and we have booked our flight to India. We will be there March 4th-16th. It's. Going. To. Be. Crazy.

Korean Dance Party

In my last class of the day today, only about 6 students showed up. At first I thought maybe the class was planning a surprise for me like the other class did, but that was not the case. I was actually kind of relieved so few students showed up because Thursdays are my busiest day and I'm always totally beat by the end. So after doing a quick lesson on time prepositions (in, on, at, by, until), I let the students take the floor. They started asking me what kind of music I like and after trying to play them some Phoenix and Passion Pit, I could see they did not share my same taste in music. I asked them what they listen to and then they got all excited and each one of them pulled out their little USB drives and asked to plug them into my laptop. What followed was a half hour lesson on Korean pop music taught my 13 year old Thai students. They told me all about their two favorite Korean pop groups, Girl Generation and Kara. They showed me tons of videos of these groups in concerts and also some of their music videos. I have to say, it was one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen. Not only were the music videos funny, but all the students started singing and dancing to the songs. They knew every word, and every dance move. I was trying my hardest not to laugh but it got to a point where I just couldn't take it anymore and I let it all out. I should mention that the boy students were just as into these pop groups as the girls, and also knew all the words and dance moves. It was definitely an interesting and amusing way to end the day.

On a very exciting note, the package my family sent me finally came today! It was full of delicious tasty treats and other wonderful things, and I was very happy to get it after a month of waiting. Now I just need to control myself and try not to eat it all at once.

Same, Same

This past weekend was more of the same (same) as usual. Not only am I trying to save money for the big adventure coming up with Josh, but also, no one was really doing anything too exciting this weekend. So it was back to Bangkok for me. I got there Saturday morning and met up with my friends Lauren and Kaitlyn and we spent some time exploring Bangkok's famous Chatuchak weekend market. I mostly took pictures and the girls shopped for whatever girls shop for, but it was a good time and really cool to finally see.

A shop owner catches me taking his picture in Chatuchak Market

After becoming increasingly hot and sweaty due to the 80 degree humid weather Thailand has in the middle of "winter," we left to meet up with our other friend Katie and get down to business. The business I am referring to is planning our India trip. Our hostels internet wasn't working so we had to go to a Starbucks down the road and we had an intense 4 hour long trip planning session. I really felt like I was back in college in a study group or something. We had laptops out, books were all over the table, people were getting stressed. But you know, in the end, it all worked out and I think we have an awesome 2 week long trip planned in India. There are a few kinks that need to be worked out here and there but nothing that's not fixable. After the planning session, we got dinner and then went out for the night. I might of had a few too many Hong Thong whiskey and cokes, and rum buckets as I was not feeling too good the next morning...

After an awesome breakfast of french toast and a cheese omelet, I went to the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. I've been meaning to go there for a while, but hadn't had a chance until then. It was an awesome place full of little galleries, shops, classrooms, and installation pieces. It was interesting to see what Asian art is like, as I don't know too much about it, and I was

definitely impressed by a lot of what I saw. Lots of cool photographs, crazy murals painted on walls, unbelievably bizarre video projects and a room full of neon blue lit up numbers were some of the highlights. Afterwards I popped into McDonald's to get a chocolate sundae which I have now become obsessed with. I love 'em, what can I say? Don't judge me. Then I just took the van back to school and had a lazy Sunday afternoon hanging around. I felt like such an American this weekend, weird.

The Bangkok Art and Culture Center

I'm aching to go somewhere new now. I've been to Bangkok a lot lately, and I'm ready for a different adventure. I'll definitely be there at least Saturday next weekend, then who knows for Sunday. I'll just have to wait and see where Thailand takes me the weekend after...

Party Like it's 2010

The class that surprised me with a Happy New Year sign has done it again. In fact- this time they stepped up their game. My 3rd Matayum 3 class, which is the equivalent to 9th grade in America is quickly becoming my favorite class. It's strange though, because my worst student (the one who unsuccessfully tried to get me in trouble) is in that class. Oh well, you've got to have some rotten apples. Anyway, yesterday in class they surprised me yet again with a belated New Years party. All the students brought in lots of different Thai dishes and snacks to munch on and I just went to town. The students told me what each dish was called in Thai and then laughed at me when I totally butchered the word when I tried to say it. One student, goes by the name of Ice (Arrested Development reference for those who caught that) followed me around the whole party asking if I was OK, and trying to feed me more things and give me more drinks. He was asking me all sorts of funny questions and I'm pretty sure he thinks we are best friends. That's OK though, he's a good kid and a good student, and is actually one of my favorites. His name really is Ice too, or at least his nickname is. All the Thai kids have nicknames, some of them are quite hilarious. A few funny ones: Poo, Pee, PP, Looksmile, Jew, Martha. Martha is my favorite nickname. I mean, what kind of person picks Martha as their nickname??? Oh, Thailand.

Laying Down the Law

I'm standing with my back towards the class, writing on the chalkboard. I suddenly hear a loud commotion and people screaming behind me. I turn around to see one student holding a knife to another students neck. I don't know what happened that led to this conclusion, but I don't believe crime control was in my job description... Nevertheless, I grabbed the students arm who had the knife, took the knife away, pushed him out of the class and called over a Thai teacher to do their dirty work. And the whole time the student is looking at me like I am the crazy one. Kids, huh?

PS- It seems I have another new mysterious follower. Who are you, Mary Elizabeth Adams?

My Life as a Drifter

After getting some “are you crazy?” looks from other teachers at my school when I told them I was going to try to catch a bus to Phuket for New Years, Bangkok seemed to be calling my name. I got there around 7 Wednesday night, checked into a nice little hotel and met up with some friends for a quick dinner. Not a very exciting night, and we parted early as we had a big day the next day. On Thursday, I met my friends at the mall and we went to see Sherlock Holmes and then spent a couple hours in Thailand’s largest English language bookstore. There, I looked at dozens of books on photography, traveling, and my favorite, The Guinness Book of World Records 2010. After, we went our separate ways to go back and shower and change and prepare for the nights festivities. Around 8pm, we met up at my hotel, broke out a bottle of champagne and toasted to the New Year. We even joined a mini dance party hostel by some local Thais that was downstairs in my hotel.

We grabbed some dinner and I got a nice big bowl of spaghetti and a couple of bloody mary’s to wash it down. Then, unsuccessfully we tried to find a bar to hang out in until we went to Central World for the New Years countdown, which is basically the Times Square of Bangkok. After not finding a good bar to go to, we just went to Central World early, and holy cow was that a fiasco. This place was packed. I couldn’t even move. Shoulder to shoulder, covered in sweat, most of it not mine. We quickly decided we couldn’t last much longer here and got on the sky train and headed to an Irish Pub down the way called Robin Hood. It was there that we rung in the New Year, and it was very exciting to count down to midnight in Thai. Neung, sawng, saam, see, hah, hok, jet, baat, gau, sib! I had never counted down in another language before, but I sure hope I get to do it again, as it was a completely different experience than using those boring old English numbers. I ended the night very hungry and while walking back to my hotel I loaded up on 2 slices of pizza and a delicious kebab. The night ended for me in my hotel room, slightly tipsy, eating a kebab and watching Baby Mama on TV, laughing hysterically.

The next morning is when my New Years adventure began. I caught a bus to Khao Yai National Park where I was going to go camping and hiking for a couple days. Once I arrived at the entrance to the park, I realized I had no way of actually getting into the park, as it was 14km from the entrance to the park itself. I got lucky when a bunch of Thais picked me up and I sat in the back of their pick up truck (the first of many from this trip) and they hauled me the 14km up the mountain and through the curvy roads. We passed beautiful scenic views, monkeys, and tons of greenery along the way until we came to the campsite. My new Thai friends invited me to have dinner with them and I experienced Thai hospitality first hand as they stuffed me silly with some yummy grilled treats.

They also gave me lots and lots of whiskey. I was having a great time with them, we communicated the best we could despite the language barriers and they were very excited to be spending time with a farang (westerner). I went to bed early, because I wanted to wake up at the crack of dawn. My tent was tiny and the morning mist made my tent very wet so I woke up with wet socks. But I didn’t let that stop me from having a great day, as I grabbed a quick breakfast, put on my hiking boots, my shades and my trusty bandana and hitchhiked again in the back of a pickup truck.

Campsite at dawn

I was heading off to a hike that would lead me to the parks most famous waterfall, which was also in the movie “The Beach.” It was a fun, but exhausting 2 hour hike over rocks, fallen trees and I passed signs that said “beware of crocodile” along the way which made me slightly nervous. Once I got there, it was a sight to see. The waterfall was beautiful and looked just like I had imagined. I took some pictures and thought I should probably get a picture of me too. I realized that Thai people cannot take a good picture

with a fancy camera. I tried asking a bunch and they either declined or would take a blurry picture of just my face. After many unsuccessful tries I just decided to do the self-timer and that worked out much better for me. A family picked me up on my way back to the visitor’s center where I grabbed a quick bite, walked around for a little and then headed out of the park. I’d say I walked about 5 km or so before someone picked me up on the side of the road. I was tired, hot, sweaty, dirty and smelly, but that didn’t stop 2 Thai ladies from letting me sit in the back of their truck as we drove the 40 km back to town where I was to catch a bus to Bangkok.

The bus back to Bangkok was long and boring, we hit bad traffic and the 2-hour bus ride turned into a 4.5-hour bus ride. But the weekend was so much fun, I wasn’t going to let a silly thing like traffic bring me down. I felt like such a drifter this weekend, and it was really great to just spend some time alone out in the jungle. I’ve been meaning to take a solo trip since I got here and this was perfect, exactly what I wanted and needed.

That my friends, is the Thai Jungle

Haew Suwat Falls, the waterfall from "The Beach"

I took this picture while I was in the pack of a pickup truck zipping down the road. Still beautiful, no?