Koh Mak: Worth It

Like many of the amazing vacation destinations in Thailand, getting to Koh Mak was quite the journey. After an overnight bus trip that concluded with a roadside drop-off at 4:30am, an hour-long songtow ride, a 5 hour wait that involved sleeping on cement benches on a pier, and an hour long boat ride over choppy waters that rearranged some of my internal organs, we finally arrived to our colorful bungalows at Monkey Island. As soon as we got there and saw the hammocks blowing in the wind and the clear blue ocean waters not 10 feet from the front door, we knew immediately it was well worth the trip.

I was joined by my friends and fellow teachers Nell, Shea, Clare and Ciana on the weekend away. It was a great group and everyone was psyched for a weekend with nothing to do but laze on the beach, swing in the hammocks and eat delicious Thai curry and lots of fresh pineapple. The bungalows were simple with a bed, a fan, and a mosquito net - but they were also only 75 Baht per person! (That would be about $2.50). It was quite the steal and since we were pretty much the only people staying at the resort (it's low-season in Thailand right now due to the frequent rain) we had the run of the place and didn't have to share the hammocks with anyone. We did get to hang out with a pretty chill rasta man who worked there and played us Thai reggae every night, bonus! We got lucky with the weather and besides a few afternoon storms which helped to cool things down, I escaped with a pretty decent tan.

Koh Mak is definitely a bit of a trek from Suphan but so worth it and so beautiful.  I love how many gorgeous islands Thailand offers - I've hit up a few but there are still many to explore - what a lucky country!  The way home was not nearly as stressful, except maybe for the poor puppy and box full of chickens that had to tough out the boat ride with us, and we made it back to Bangkok in time for a 3-D screening of the new Transformers movie before we hoofed it back to Suphan. The countdown to the next long weekend is already on!

It's All Coming Back to Me Now

Lately I've been struggling to get out of bed to get to school and I take an extra deep breath before I walk into each classroom to face a room full of rowdy students. I find myself daydreaming for the summer days when I was globetrotting across Asia and exploring new places. Thank goodness this weekend we have our first break in the semester - a four day weekend - holler! Nell and I are off to the island of Koh Mak, a very small island in the Trat province near Koh Chang. If the Google Images of the island weren't enough to convince me, I discovered that every beach bungalow for rent seems to feature its own hammock outside - sign me up!

To reminisce a bit on my summer of freedom, I put together a video of all of my trips in the Tour de Asia - Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam - it's all coming back to me now! Check it out below...

Summer Vacation, Asia Style

Starring: Nell Riccio, Meghan Hart, Emily Rall, Amy Wallace, and heaps of cool locals. 

Song: "Go Do" by Jonsi

Summer Vacation: Asia Style from Sarah Rall on Vimeo.

Back to Kanch

This semester seems to be flying by - I just started my 6th week of teaching - which is terrifying considering there are only 18 weeks of teaching this semester.  I'm already 1/3 of the way through my final semester here!

This weekend I wanted to take a little trip to get the heck out of dodge... I mean Suphan.  Since islands tend to be too far for the weekend and Bangkok can get old, it was back to my stomping grounds in Kanchanaburi, just a short, hot, crowded bus ride away.  I've probably been to this small hangout 5 or 6 times since my arrival in Thailand, but there's good reasons I keep coming back - namely pizza, massage treatments and hammocks. In 24 hours I managed to satisfy all of those cravings and was able to hang out with some of my fellow teachers here and some friends from orientation way back when.  I had some amazing pizza at a restaurant owned by a Swiss man, which implies delicious imported cheese.  I was also able to enjoy an oil massage followed by a Thai herbal compress and hot stone massage - which basically involved a Thai woman sitting on me while simultaneously beating my back with a small bag of rocks.  It still somehow felt pretty good, and although I was a little sore the next day, it was a sufficiently relaxing experience. Since I was feeling particularly indulgent this weekend, I managed to go back to the shop the next morning before I left town for an hour long facial that involved a scrub, a mask and a massage - it was heavenly and at one point I'm pretty sure I melted into the chair in a state of pure bliss. After a little more time lounging in the hammocks on the riverfront at the Jolly Frog hostel it was back to life, back to reality.

Why I love Kanchanaburi... in photos:

Hammock time: booyeah!

Delicious Pizza! 

Relaxing Aroma Oil Massage - 'nuff said!

Peace and Quiet with friends. 

Masia: Towers, Cliffs, Sunsets and Burqas

The final leg of my 2 months of free-wheeling across Asia was a stop in Malaysia.  We had a hard time leaving Bali, especially since we got picked up from our homestay at 5am, yikes, and I fell down a pretty steep and rain-soaked staircase that left me with a very sore and very purple back - awesome!

The first stop was a long layover in Kuala Lumpur that allowed us just enough time to head into the city, take a photo with the famous Petronas Twin Towers, eat some delicious roti canai (a curry crepe concoction), stroll through the market, and check out the architecture on some of the city's large mosques.

Petronas Towers in KL

After that it was back to the airport where we hopped on a flight bound for the island of Langkawi. Langkawi is actually so close to Thailand that if you look across the ocean from certain points on the island you can see it. In terms of landscape it closely resembles much of the islands in Thailand with its large limestone cliffs, bright blue water and beautiful sunsets - but the culture was definitely very different.

Langkawi is kind of an exception in Malaysia because the government granted it tax-free status in an attempt to lure tourists, and it's clearly in the early days of figuring out what type of tourists it wants to attract and how to entertain them, but we had a good few days on the beach.  It was really interesting to be in a Muslim country and see women on the beach in a full burqa - swimming, strolling, and even parasailing! Definitely easy to feel under dressed in a bathing suit when most of the locals are completely covered. Nell and I spent one day on a private beach when we unintentionally took a cab up to explore the island's northern beaches and got dropped off at the most exclusive hotel, the Tanjung Rhu Resort.  Luckily, it was low season so the resort was pretty much deserted and the staff were nice enough to not kick us out of their private beach.

On our last night in Langkawi we sampled the nightlife scene, met some locals at a cool reggae bar and ended up randomly meeting some fellow Bostonians- one a '10 BC grad and the other a Southie resident (of course we talked about our beloved and dearly missed Snickerdoodle Iced Coffee from Sidewalk!) It was one of those small world moments, and it was the perfect way to celebrate the end of our summer travels. It's been a fantastic two months on the road, in the air, on the sea - and it's been really hard to readjust and get back into teacher mode. Thank goodness I have some really cute, intelligent, funny and entertaining students!

Malaysia! Country #5

Paradise Found: Bali & Gili Trawangan

I'm back in Suphan now, currently getting ready to teach my first class which is about to take place, so it's slightly painful to write this blog post about my most recent trip to Indonesia that covered Bali and Gili Trawangan.  Simply put, these two places are paradise.  Bali was everything I had heard about and more, and Gili T (as it is lovingly called) was the most beautiful, relaxing, perfect piece of earth I've ever set foot on.

Nell and I decided early on that we wanted to spend our last two weeks of summer break on a beach doing nothing, and I would have to say our trip was a total success in that regard! I spent 3 of the 7 days in Indonesia in Bali - one night in Kuta, which is really all you need there, and 2 nights in Ubud.  Ubud is definitely the heart of Bali; it's full of culture, its residents wear traditional Balinese dress, the grounds and temples are covered in spirit offerings full of rice, flowers, candy, etc. and the rice terraces are perfectly carved into the hills. We stayed in a homestay there that was really nice and in our budget and spent most of our time walking around the city and soaking it in.  Nell and I attempted to hire a taxi to take us around for the day to see the volcano, the islands famous temples, and the rice terraces - but we only made it to the terrace and a very foggy volcano viewpoint before the rain set in and ended our tourist expedition.  I definitely didn't see all there was to see in Bali, which means I guess I'll have to make a return trip at some point in my lifetime! I think I've found the perfect honeymoon destination...now all I need is a groom : )

In the middle of our time in Bali we took off on a 2 hour speedboat ride to another island in Indonesia, Gili Trawangan.  Gili T is one of three Gili islands off the coast of Lombok.  Gili T was small enough that we could walk around (tip to others: don't go at sunset or you'll wind up feeling your way around the barren part of the island at night using your cell phone as a flashlight and avoiding weird animals - not that I know from experience or anything...) and it was surrounded by water that is of the crystal clear turquoise/teal/blue variety.  There are no cars, no motorbikes, and no dogs allowed on Gili T - the only way to get around is to walk or take a horse and buggy - this only adds to the islands cuteness factor. While on Gili T we spent most of our time on the beach, drinking banana shakes, eating pizza at one of the bean-bag beachside restaurants, watching movies at night projected onto big screens on the sand, and attempting to snorkel (unfortunately we picked a windy day to do this and the water wasn't clear enough to see any of the island's famous sea turtles that live offshore.) I would go back to Gili T in a heartbeat, and I easily could have spent more time there, it was really hard to get back on the boat, but luckily we couldn't be too sad about "going back to Bali."

The only downside about Bali and Gili T is that they are not as cheap as Thailand, actually Thailand is cheaper than any of the other countries I've visited, so by the end of my week my funds were in a bit of a dire situation (I'm living a cash-only existence these days since I don't have a Thai bank account and my school pays in cash) so Nell and I instituted a serious budget.  Of course, the budget made room for some luxuries - like a 2 hour Balinese body scrub and massage - while we sacrificed things like "lunch".  Every Rupiah spent in Bali was well worth it though and I would do it all again if I had the chance to go back- which I hopefully will! Up next: off to Malaysia!

Hong Kong & Macau: We love SARs!

The last stop on the Tour De Asia with Nell and Meghan brought us to Hong Kong and Macau, officially two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China.  As we were paging through the guidebook on the plane, our seat mate from Hong Kong could not stop raving about how efficient we would find Hong Kong, and he was most definitely right on the mark.  I suppose that sometimes compared to Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia almost anything would seem efficient, but Hong Kong really knows how to keep things running smoothly.  It's hard to compare Hong Kong with the rest of the stops on the tour because it was so clean, big and modern - but it was one of my favorite stops along the way.

The first night our plane didn't get in until 9pm and by the time we got to our hostel it was almost 11 so we walked down the street to try and find some food and stumbled upon a restaurant called "Black & White" full of toothless waiters and a giant tank of fish that you could choose to eat for dinner if you'd like.  I played it safe with a bowl of noodles that the chef cut up with scissors, it was salty and had a strong taste of shrimp/seafood which I do not like at all so it ended up being my only disappointing meal during the 3 weeks - but from there all of our culinary experiences in Hong Kong would only go up.

We spent most of our time in Hong Kong walking around, taking the MRT (subway), eating dim sum, hanging out by the waterfront, shopping at all the markets (ladies, goldfish, bird, Temple Street, etc.), riding up the world's longest outdoor covered escalator, and dancing in the streets of Lan Kwai Fong. The first full day we also took the tram up to Victoria's Peak where we spent a few hours checking out the incredible views of the city's skyline by day, sunset and night.  We camped out with a few photographers who told us they were waiting for "the magic moment" just after the sunsets and before it gets too dark out - it definitely made for some beautiful photos!

We also took a day trip to Macau, another SAR, that is heavily influenced by its history as a colony of Portugal.  We checked out some of the architecture, the casinos that dominate much of Macau's economy, and had an amazing Portuguese feast at Fernando's Restaurant on Hac Sa or Black Sand Beach. Due to a long ferry ride and a really slow process at immigration, Macau was definitely not my favorite place, but I did get to add some passport stamps from my stopover there.

We finished off our time in Hong Kong with 3 of the most amazing meals I've eaten since leaving America.  The first stop was 208 Duecento Otto where a friend of a friend was the head chef, he took care of us all night and brought out some truly amazing Italian dishes that you cannot find in Thailand - bruschetta, fresh mozzarella, salami pizza, New York style cheesecake - it was heavenly! Our last day we decided we had to follow the New York Times recommendation and check out Tim Ho Wan for its dumplings.  Apparently, Tim Ho Wan is the world's cheapest Michelin Starred restaurant- in order to get a seat we had to come by the restaurant at 10 am to pick up a ticket that told us we would have a table in 2.5 hours, we then came back at the designated time and waited another hour to be seated, but it was well worth the wait.  The bbq pork buns and spinach dumplings were sooooo delicious! I want more. That night, we checked out the light show from the Kowloon side of Hong Kong before heading back to the island to meet up with one of Meghan's family friends for dinner at the "American Club" up on the 48th floor of a building on the Harbor.  With amazing views once again, we were treated to a meal of steak, Caesar salad, red wine and apple pie - once again all things you won't find in Thailand.  It was an amazing ending to a whirlwind trip through Asia, I'm so glad I'm about to hit the road again to explore the islands and Angkor Wat in Cambodia - traveling is truly an addiction!

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Two Motorbikes, Two Girlfriends

The next morning we were on the move once again, this time via bus from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.  Thankfully, this border crossing was much easier and because we had secured our Visas in advance all we had to do was walk across the border and get back on the bus.  As soon as we entered the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City we were swamped by motorbikes.  I had heard that Vietnam was full of them, but HCMC has entire lanes dedicated to motorbikes.  Also, the amount of stuff that people can carry on their motorbikes will blow your mind, I saw people riding along with: a refrigerator, 10 large car tires, 3 small children and a dog, it's amazing that these bikes can stay upright.  We were also told by our guide that motorbikes are a good sign of status in HCMC, if you have a good motorbike, you have a beautiful girlfriend.  And...if you have 2 motorbikes, you have 2 girlfriends! : )

I won a Twitter contest the day before we left for our trip thanks to Art of Backpacking for a $200 hotel voucher that goes very far in Vietnam, so we got to stay in a nice hotel in perfect location in HCMC. While in HCMC we sampled all of the local delicacies (well, not dog meat or fried baby birds) including fresh pastries and baguettes, Pho noodle soup, crushed rice dishes, and lots of iced coffee. One of my favorite things about the city was the process involved in crossing the street, there are no stoplights so cars, food carts, cyclos, and motorbikes are coming at you from all angles.  The best strategy is just to start walking and assume that people will swerve to avoid you, and if you're feeling local just put out your hand up and bat the cars away.  We also relied on the locals to escort us across the street, we would wait until someone came up and then just kind of stalk them across the street - it worked out great! We also took a cyclo tour and had fun sitting back and watching the bikes zoom by while we checked out the Post Office, the Opera House, and Notre Dame Cathedral.

One day we took a trip to the War Remnants Museum - an extremely interesting experience to see the Vietnam War presented from the Vietnam perspective.  As an American, you can't walk through this museum and not feel a tremendous amount of guilt.  Reading about the atrocities that occurred in Vietnam during the war and seeing it presented through such gruesome photographs and personal stories was a very difficult thing.  It was especially hard to walk through the section dedicated to the victims of the Agent Orange chemical attacks by the American forces, and to learn that people are still being born with birth defects and disabilities because of the chemicals spread over 30 years ago.

On our last day in Vietnam we signed up for a tour of the Mekong Delta.  For $10 we took a boat ride along the Mekong, checked out a coconut candy plant, took bike rides around a local village, had locals take us down the Mekong canals by canoe, and got to pose for a photo with a boa constrictor - or some version of a very large snake. It was really interesting to see how people live in the Delta region and to be able to see what life is like in the Vietnam countryside. Up next: off to explore some SARs!

Phnom Penh: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

The next stop on the tour was Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  It is kind of a hard stop to blog about because it is a very dynamic city full of highs and lows.  While our stay there was short, only 2 nights, we managed to see and eat our way through much of the city. Luckily, a friend of a friend helped us to track down an apartment to rent for the 2 nights we were there.  Since we were a little nervous about safety, we paid extra and definitely got our money's worth in a 3 story fully furnished apartment right on the busy Street 240.  We kicked off our PP experience by meeting our friends for happy hour at Raffles Hotel Le Royal, where Jackie O. once stayed and many reporters set up camp during the Cambodian Genocide. That night we also walked along the riverfront, hit up the night market where you could buy almost anything for $1, and then checked out some live music and a rooftop bar at the Foreign Correspondents Club before we called it a night.

The next day we decided to rent a tuk-tuk since it would be our only full day in PP and we had a huge list of things to see/do.  Our friend hired a driver outside her apartment and for $15 he took Nell, Meghan and our friend Alex around for the whole day.  We began the day at the Russian Market by sampling what is known on Facebook as the "Best Iced Coffee in Phnom Penh."  The coffee definitely lived up to its billing and the taste was as good as the presentation.  We did a little shopping in the market before hopping back in the tuk-tuk where our day took a turn from the light and fun to the dark and heavy.

Our next stop was the S-21 Museum, or the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, right in the center of PP. During the years of Cambodia's Genocide (1974-1979), in which more than 20% of Cambodia's population was killed, this former school was used as a prison, interrogation, and extermination center by the Khmer Rouge regime.  Walking through the halls of this former school was an extremely difficult experience.  Metal bed frames, torture equipment, and hand-shaped blood stains can still be found in the classrooms turned torture chambers.  Before I came to Cambodia, I read up on the Genocide by reading Loung Ung's memoir of the events titled "First They Killed My Father," it was a moving and inspiring book and if you're interested in learning more about the Genocide, I encourage you to read it.

From the S-21 museum our tuk-tuk driver drove us about 15 kms outside of PP to Choeung Ek, better known as "The Killing Fields."  In these fields, the Khmer Rouge executed about 17,000 people, many from S-21, including women and children.  Today, Choeung Ek is the home to a museum and memorial stupa that contains around 5,000 skulls dug up from the mass graves on site.  After walking around the fields for around an hour I couldn't help but feel physically ill.  After visiting these sites, I was amazed and inspired by the will of the Cambodian people to survive and move towards peace after such a tremendous national tragedy.  That night we kept it low-key and went to Friends Restaurant/Shop/Nail Salon.  Friends is an NGO that helps to reintegrate street children into society by giving them training and education in the restaurant, hospitality and beauty industries, among other things.  The meal was amazing and an excellent end to our time in PP.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia: The original Snooki

Before MTV introduced this Snooki into the world, another one was well known among backpacker circles on the "Banana Pancake Trail" through Southeast Asia. That would be Sihanoukville, Cambodia.  I first heard of Snooki from some backpacking travel bloggers that I follow on Twitter, and after it kept coming up as a place to see, I knew we had to add it to our itinerary.

Snooki was pretty much exactly as advertised: lots of hostels, lots of bars, lots of beaches, and lots of cute children on the beach who try to sell you manicures, bracelets, hair braiding, anything you want! Of course, if you follow all the warning signs around town (which we did) you aren't supposed to buy anything from these children as it would only perpetuate their exploitation. (Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clx1ZlmYu2I).  It was hard to say no to these children, but luckily there are a multitude of NGOs working on their behalf that you can support by visiting stores, restaurants and even hostels/hotels.

We stayed on Serendipity Beach which seems to be the main spot for backpackers and is bustling with hostels and beachside bars and clubs.  The first day we did a little market shopping before heeding the advice of our hotel manager, Damien, who told us that the nicest beach was about an hour and a half's walk on Otres Beach, and apparently it was the place to watch the sunset.  Since I'm a sucker for beautiful sunsets on the beach we decided to head that way, it was a nice walk there but unfortunately started to rain just as the sun was about to set, so instead of a great sunset we huddled under a metal bungalow to wait out the thunderstorm.  Once it was over, it was already dark and we were quite a ways away from our hostel so we hopped in a tuk-tuk for the return trip.  The tuk-tuk ride ended up being one of the more terrifying rides of my life as it was on a red-dirt road that had just been soaked by the rains, so our poor driver had to drive in figure eights the whole way home to avoid potholes and puddles.  At one point I said to the other girls, "this is one of those moments where if our parents could see us - with no idea where we are in the middle of a field in Cambodia, driving next to yaks, through a shantytown and with no lights in sight - they would probably freak out." Luckily, our driver was an expert and we made it back to the hostel safe and dry, ready for another night out on the town where we found ourselves in the middle of a "white party" that required florescent body paint that will apparently never come out of clothes. The next day we packed our bags once again and hit the Cambodian highways for the journey to Phnom Penh.

What time is it? Summertime! It's our vacation...

Summer has arrived! (Yes, the title of this post does reference a song from High School Musical, mai pen rai.)  Although the 90+ daily temperatures that seem to stay in Suphanburi year-round might lead one to think otherwise, there is an actual summer in Thailand, school is out and vacation is on!

I've had a most excellent adventure living in Thailand the past 5 months, (I can't believe it's been that long), and now the time has come for the real travels to get started.  After 2 weeks of teaching summer classes to a few of the students, I'm packing up my big backpack and hitting the road.  Here's a quick glance at my itinerary over the next 5 weeks:

Starting this Friday: Megh gets here (so, so excited)! Checking out Suphan, a day in Bangkok, and then on to one of Thailand's many islands, Koh Chang. From there we head to Sihanoukville and Penom Penh in Cambodia before crossing another border and heading back to Vietnam to explore Ho Chi Minh City.  The final destination on our tour is Hong Kong.  Nell and I get back to Thailand on April 5th and on April 7th my sister Emily arrives (again, so, so excited!) and we're off to Southern Thailand to dive in Khao Lak and camp on Maya Bay before heading North to Chiang Mai for Songkran and then back to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat before returning to Suphan for more summer classes.

CRAZINESS! 


I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to see all of these amazing places.  I'm super excited to see more of Asia, take on this continent with my two favorite redheads, hang out with my sister, eat new food, do some serious snorkeling, and check out night markets around Asia.   While I'm gone I'll try to post updates when possible, and prayers for safe travel would be much appreciated.

Until then, I've put together a video of some of the sights and sounds of Thailand from my first 5 months.  This is my first attempt with iMovie, so don't expect too much, but enjoy!


Sanuk in Thailand from Sarah Rall on Vimeo.

Vietnam: Thai Tour Group Style

Last week I was living the dream. I was part of an Asian tour group, to an Asian country, complete with matching bucket hats and luggage tags and a 20 hour bus ride bursting with karaoke.  Although the tour guide only spoke Vietnamese and Thai and I could not understand (mai kow jai) a lot of what was being said, I still immensely enjoyed my experience in Vietnam.  As soon as we drove into Vietnam from Laos I was blown away by how beautiful it was, and also, how different it was from Thailand.  I guess I was expecting it to be "same same but different" since it is a fellow Southeast Asian country, but right from the start I realized it was no place like home.  The people, the language, the food, the currency, the music - it was all new. We stuck around central Vietnam, and I'm already itching to go back and see the Northern and Southern parts of the country, but here's some of the highs and lows from the trip to Hue, Da Nang and Ha Noi:

Highs:

• Hoi An: I am obsessed with this town.  From the Ancient City (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) to the amazing markets and streets flooded with custom design clothing shops to the French bakery that sold chocolate croissants, a-ma-zing.  This was definitely my favorite stop, the market was full of people and bursting with color (delicious fruit! silk lanterns! fresh flowers!) and I definitely dropped some serious Baht/Dong/Dollars there (Vietnam accepts all three currencies).  
• Dipping my toes in the South China Sea: Growing up in landlocked Missouri (unless you count the Muddy Mississippi) I've always had a deep love for oceans, and one of my favorite things is to get my feet wet and watch the waves.  We arrived at our hotel in Da Nang pretty late, but the moon was the perfect light for a little adventure to the beach.  After spending a few minutes trying to figure out exactly which body of water we were in, I was happy to enjoy the moment and listen to the waves as they rushed ashore. 
• Motorcycle city: I had heard that Vietnam was full of bikes and motorcycles, but I didn't expect to be that impressed because Thailand has a ton as well, little did I know the number of bikes in Thailand pales in comparison to Vietnam, the streets were teeming with two-wheeled forms of transportation, even the Vietnam version of a tuk-tuk looks like a bike with a wheelchair seat strapped on the front. It made for some scary moments in the market where I thought I might lose a foot or two while trying to purchase a conical rice-paddy hat, but luckily, I survived. 
• Shopping spree: Traveling with 80 Thai teachers from school only added to the greatness of this trip, it was so fun to interact with all of them outside of school when they often seem so intense.  They really let loose on this trip, and I quickly learned that Thai tours are all about three things: eating, shopping, and bathroom breaks.  Our bus made stops every hour or so to fulfill one of these needs.  I wasn't exactly planning on going wild at the markets, but what can I say? I was inspired by my fellow teachers and their excellent bargaining skills.  My apartment floor is currently covered with gifts I picked up for my family and friends (and myself, let's be honest) and I don't even know how to begin to distribute them. 

The Lows:

Apparently Vietnam imports bananas from Laos.

• Bus time: there was a lot (a lot, a lot) of time spent on the bus. I could barely walk straight when I finally arrived back in Suphan at 4am on Sunday.  While the roadside scenery in Laos and Vietnam was beautiful, captivating and so vastly different than anything I'd seen before, it was hard to appreciate after 20 hours of full blast Thai tunes and the tour guide yelling dirty jokes in Thai into the microphone.
• America's history in Vietnam: When we first entered Vietnam and the sprawling hills, everything I'd learned in my history classes about the tough battle fields of Vietnam was suddenly so realistic- huge hills, dense forest, winding roads, etc.  Our tour guide pointed out as we were rounding one curve that there were no tall trees in the area because they had been destroyed by America's bombs during the war.  It was hard not to feel guilty.  We also had the opportunity to check out the Vinh Moc tunnels in Hue, a village created 30 meters underground to shelter people from the bombs.  Amazingly, 60 families lived in these tunnels and 17 women gave birth there!  Luckily, the underground villages were never hit by America's bombs.

Striking a pose at the Vietnam/Laos Border

Sa-nguan Ying Teachers!

Field Trip!

Life in the Soup has settled into a fairly regular routine these days, teach M-F 8-4, tutor or teach a prep course until 6:15 or 7, hope there's a good movie on the lone English TV channel, and then hit the hay.  I've entered serious money saving mode recently since I've started planning my "summer break" (March-May) trips.  So far I've booked flights to Bali (Indonesia), Langkawi (Malaysia) and a school trip to Vietnam.  Hoping to hit up Cambodia, Laos and possibly Hong Kong as well - I need to have pages added to my passport for all of these stamps/visas!  With all these big trips on the horizon, I'll likely be sticking close to home for the next few weeks.  Although, keeping myself entertained in Suphanburi for a whole weekend has proved to be very tough - there's just not that much going on in what we farang lovingly call the "Detroit of Thailand".  

This week I was able to enjoy a midweek reprieve when we took a field trip to Ayutthaya with the M.2 class (8th graders).  They have been studying the city and its history/ruins in their social studies class so they were split into groups and assigned a teacher to show around.  I was so impressed that they memorized everything and their English was so good. It was really nice to have someone explain what I was seeing since last time I was there I relied on the Lonely Planet guidebook for the low down. I also had my third opportunity to ride an elephant (not your average field trip!), although I felt bad for these elephants because Ayutthaya is a flat/hot/dusty city and I think the elephants probably enjoy themselves a little more when they are in their natural element in the forest or by the water.   

It's hard to believe but the first semester is already coming to a close, I'll spend the next few weeks writing exams, filling out behavior reports, and finalizing student grades - which should be an interesting process because although some students have many missing grades, I'm not allowed to fail anyone. I'll have to come up with some sort of crazy way to scale the grades.  It doesn't seem like a very effective practice to let everyone pass, but I guess it's just one of those things I'll never understand about the Thai education system.