Holiday in Chiang Mai

Ok, get ready for a super long post because it's been a while since I've last visited here. My family would joke that it's because we've been playing too hard! Haha. And it's true. During the middle of July, we hit the middle of the semester so we had a week off while our students took their midterms. And that week was preceded by a 4-day weekend due to the Buddhist Lent holidays. So we almost had 2 full weeks to ourselves and we chose to travel around Thailand!

If you're looking for the typical mountainous, green parts of Thailand, full of lush forests and rich with tribal culture, look no further! Chiang Mai is the place. I have to say that if for some reason we decided to live in Thailand for a long period of time (and I'm not saying anything by this hah), I would probably pick Chiang Mai. For me, it was the perfect blend of city life and mountain country. It is pretty international-friendly with diverse food options and many more people speaking English than where we live in Saraburi. But you can still find places tucked away from the old city that are less-touristy. We loved it and have already planned another trip to go back!

From Bangkok, we took the 12-hour train nearly all the way up to the northern tip of Thailand. I didn't actually think that I would enjoy being on a train all day, as much as I did. We had A/C, there was frequent complimentary beverage service and the seats did recline a little. We just spent the whole day munching on our snacks and watching the scenery transform from the plains and fields of the Central Region to the elevated rice fields and jungles of the North. We got into Chiang Mai around 9:00 pm, found the nearest hostel, battled the cockroach awaiting in our bathroom, and passed out for the night.

You can't stay in Chiang Mai without having at least one day of temple-seeing. And the wats (temples) in Chiang Mai are the coolest in all of Thailand! (We at least think so). I think we were used to seeing the Central Region architectural styles so having a change was very refreshing. Up there, they use a lot of different building materials, other than gold, and they have the 5-headed dragon serpent, Naga, incorporated on many of their wats. Here's a picture of Naga below. Our whole first day was spent exploring the Old City and running into as many temples as possible. And there were A LOT. Here are a couple of our favorites.

Wat Chedi Luang. Super big and super ornate. Gorgeous inside. This is where the Emerald Buddha was originally held before getting moved to the Grand Palace grounds in Bangkok.

Wat Pan Tao. This one is of special note because it is made entirely out of teak wood. After a while, all the temples kind of start to look the same... but not this one! 

And Wat Sri Suphan. The one and only temple in all of Thailand made out of silver (instead of the usual gold)! This one took us a bit of time driving in circles to find. It's a little more off the beaten path, at least for tourists. It was well worth the trouble though.

We just happened to miss the celebration of Wan Asana Bucha which was the night before we arrived in Chiang Mai. This holiday commemorates the Buddha's first sermon, outlining the 4 noble truths, and is also basically the birth of Buddhist sangha (monkhood). Buddhists celebrate by trekking back to the temples of their ancestors, listening to sermons and bringing offerings to monks. I didn't take this picture, but we saw the aftermath of all the candles the next day. So unfortunate that we missed it by only one day :/

We had an early morning the next day as we got picked up and taken to Baan Chang Elephant Park. Spent the better part of the day feeding, bathing, and riding elephants! We picked this particular park because we heard good reviews on how they treat these majestic animals. Apparently many of their elephants are from other camps where they were mistreated or their level of care was too low. I'm not going to judge or start a big thing here, but from what I saw, the mahouts at this camp seemed to really care for their elephants and we had a very positive experience.

This "Mahout Training," was fun to do because I felt like we got a lot more time and intimacy with the elephants. We got to be really close to them and I even stuck some bananas directly into an elephant's mouth! Ha! We were taught the commands to have the elephant briefly sit down (so you can get on and off) and the directions for go straight, turn, and stop. Basically we got elephant driving lessons! It was pretty awesome.

After a couple of pretty thorough showers, we headed back out to the city in the evening and spent a few hours (and a couple thousand baht) at the Sunday Walking Street. Basically a huge section of the Old City which is blocked off and lined with markets and vendors of fabrics, snacks, and home décor. We bought our first souvenirs since being in Thailand and it was oh so good.

On day 3 of our Chiang Mai trip, we took our rented motorbike up the mountain, Doi Suthep (west of the Old City) and had the most pleasant drive we've EVER had in Thailand! (And that's saying something because we've done a lot of driving and traveling). As we ascended the mountain, the air got crisp and was incredibly refreshing. That is the first time I've ever felt chilly outside! It was delightful! Halfway up, we were rewarded with a fantastic view of Chiang Mai city and then we headed up to the temple on the mountain, Wat Phra Doi Suthep.

Out of all the temples we've been to in Thailand, this one is our FAVORITE. Maybe it's because the drive up to it was so fantastic, or maybe it's because of this gorgeous 306-step Naga staircase. Whatever the reason, it was the highlight of our trip. The story behind this temple is that a monk strapped a Buddhist relic on a white elephant's back and let it loose to wander and 'choose' a spot for the temple to be built. The elephant continued to wander through the forests and ended up dying on this spot on the mountain, so that's where they built it. The temple mount itself is beautiful, of course, and if you walk around the grounds there is a breathtaking view of the city.

We spent a good amount of time walking around the grounds, in and out of little shrine rooms. As I walked into one of them there was a group of farang (foreigners) gathered and sitting in front of a monk. I knelt down by myself in the corner but then the monk called out to me and wanted me to join them. I've seen Thai people kneel before monks as they make merit and are in turn blessed, but I was not expecting to experience it myself! So I scooted over there while spotting Jonathan and urging him to go over there too. We got sprinkled with water by a lotus flower as this super outgoing monk blessed us in Thai and then ended it with the little English he knew, "happy, happy, happy, good, good, happy!" Happiness and goodness; that's all you need I guess!

Before leaving, we got to sign our names on a roll of golden fabric that was to be wrapped around the pagoda the next day! We have officially left our marks on Thailand. Oh and we stopped on our way back down the staircase for a photo-op with this little girl from one of the many hill tribes who inhabit Doi Suthep.

After driving further up the mountain (trying to find the summit, we were unsuccessful), we headed back down and had a late lunch at the best Mexican place EVER. It's the first and only time we'll probably get Mexican food in Thailand. It's called Salsa Kitchen, for anyone who wants to know. It was so good that we ate there multiple times during our trip haha. Anyways, we went back into the Old City and stopped by Wat Chedi Luang (to see if they were doing anything else for the continuing holiday) where we witnessed something unique. We came upon a huge meeting of all these monks. This day was Wan Khao Pansa, which I believe commemorates the beginning of the "Rains Retreat" which many people have dubbed 'Buddhist Lent.' It is historically when the Buddha urged monks to stay in one temple to prevent them from wandering the countryside and accidentally stepping on the rice fields during the few months of rain. Some Buddhists observe this holiday by giving up or withholding something from themselves for the duration of rainy season (July-Oct), hence the 'lent' reference. Anyways, I think this gathering had something to do with this holiday. But if not, it was still pretty cool.

Oh, I forgot like the coolest place we went to! I don't remember what day we went to it, it's all kind of a blur now, but it was a pleasant surprise! The Royal Flora Ratchaphruek. As part of celebrating His Majesty the King's 60th anniversary of reign (in 2006), a huge flower festival was put together as a 3-month long expo. Afterwards, it opened up to the public (it's been revamped a few times) and now you can easily spend 2-3 hours walking through 200 acres worth of various gardens, nature displays and flower pavilions. Jonathan and I happened to get there about 2 hours before it closed and we were almost the only ones there! (One of the benefits of traveling during off season). Basically had the whole park to ourselves.

We walked through the gates and had this view. Breathtaking! They also had music piped through a speaker system that was set up throughout the whole park playing a combination of piano instrumentals and elevator music. It was very relaxing.

SO many temples!

And another time during our trip (don't remember when), we stopped at Wiang Kum Kam which is the archaeological site of an ancient city. It's not too far from the old city of Chiang Mai, but it is much, much older. Neighborhoods have been built on top of it, so we drove around through the maze of sois (little streets) trying to find random ruins sprinkled here and there. We had no idea where we were going and even got chased out of someone's backyard by a super aggressive dog, hah! But we eventually found our way to the most beautiful and notable temple, Wat Chedi Liam.

There was almost NO photo editing done on this one. It really was a fantastically beautiful day! I've decided that Thailand has the best clouds.

Our final day in Chiang Mai definitely came too soon. I was already making a list of all the things I wanted to do and see next time! We made our way out to the forest wat, Wat U-Mong which, you guessed it - is out in the middle of the forest. What made this wat cool is that this was a popular temple for monks to retreat from the city and practice meditating and such. Beneath the temple they made a series of tunnels, I guess to really retreat and be one with the Earth. It was interesting and pretty. 
(Can you see me below?!)

Chiang Mai really does love its Naga staircases...

After one more stop to our favorite Mexican restaurant, we caught the overnight train back down to Bangkok and drove in the public van to Saraburi, just in time for proctoring our students' midterms for one day. Then back on the road we were, for a quick trip to Elephant Island! Here's the ferry boat that took us from the mainland to Koh Chang (it's real name in Thai).

The vacation itself wasn't ideal, but it was a vacation nonetheless. I'll give it to you in a 2-sentence recap: We were there for 3 days, two of which rained all day and all of which Jonathan was sick with a fever. However we did have one beautiful day on the beach and we spent the whole trip doing two of my favorite things - eating and relaxing. It was essentially a vacation from our (other busier) vacations!

This is how a lot of our time was spent. Jonathan sick in bed while I read a book or watched the waves outside our window. Poor guy.

One of the days, we slept in and went to this little hang out spot for brunch - called the Magic Garden. We took our sweet time there and then as soon as we were about to leave, a huge storm poured on us so we were stuck. We curled up with our books and waited it out. Next thing we know, we are hungry again for lunch! How convenient that we were already sitting in a restaurant haha. So basically we spent almost a whole day in this one spot. The ultimate definition of a lazy day.

Hammock reading in front of the ocean. Life doesn't get much better than this!

After nearly 2 weeks of straight traveling, we got a stinging slap back to reality. We headed back to school, to lesson planning, and back to grading stacks and stacks of midterms. I guess vacations do come with a price.

Anniversary in Kanchanaburi

I can honestly claim that I have the best husband of the year.

A week and a half ago, June 23, was our 2nd year anniversary. [I cannot believe it's already been that long!] We've really been trying to save money as we are taking some trips soon. So Jonathan and I talked about it and decided that we'd just do a short weekend trip to Bangkok to celebrate - which is still really awesome. I mean, we're in Thailand!

So after school on Friday, we went home to pack for our one night stay in Bangkok. I pull out my backpack and Jonathan says matter-of-factly, "you should probably pack for 3 days." What?! Ok, he didn't have to tell me twice! And then he adds, "I am bringing my tennis shoes and swimming suit, you should too." My mind was turning... where are we going? What will I need sneakers and a swimming suit for? Rainy season is in full swing now and I knew that all the beaches in Thailand were having horrible weather all week. I tried not to pry, but as we got onto the vans to take us down to Bangkok I couldn't stop asking Jonathan what we would be doing! I'm just one of those people who HAS to know. But I gotta give credit to him, he kept it a tight secret. Although he did indulge me and say that we were going to Bangkok, but that it wasn't our final destination.

We got off the van at Victory Monument and I proceeded to find the entrance to the BTS station so we could go to our usual little bed and breakfast near Siam Square. But then Jonathan flagged down a motortaxi and asked him to take us to the Amari Watergate Hotel. WHAT?! We had been to that hotel once before - for the LDS Church District Conference - and let me tell you, that place was nice. Jonathan slyly mentioned to the reception desk that we were celebrating our anniversary and they bumped us up to an Executive Room on the top floor of the building! It pays to travel during the low season :) I think that was the nicest room I've ever and probably will ever stay in. The hotel also dropped off some gourmet chocolates and macaroons for our enjoyment. Hah! I definitely could get used to traveling in luxury.

Here's the view of Bangkok from the 34th floor.

After we dropped off our bags, jumped on the bed for joy, and thoroughly investigated all the complimentary items in our room, we caught a taxi and went to this DELICIOUS Italian place. Well, it did take forever to get there (infamous Bangkok traffic), but it was well worth the wait. Legitimate Italian-style tomato, basil, and fresh mozzarella pizza, home-made pasta, grilled salmon, and crème Brule and coconut icecream for dessert. It was phenomenal! Ah! Food just makes me so happy. And we were delightfully fat the rest of the evening.

The next morning, Jonathan still wouldn't tell me where we were going! Super frustrating. We headed back to the vans at Victory Monument and Jonathan finally divulged our destination - Kanchanaburi. YES! We went there for like one day during our orientation, but we have wanted to go back so bad. It is so green and beautiful and so much to see! I did not see that one coming. I was thrilled! And I had the 2.5 hour van ride to let it all soak in.

 Our first day in Kanchanburi, we did only what crazy tourists do..... and that is to rent a motorbike. Well, it wasn't that crazy, only because Jonathan was getting a lot of practice driving around everywhere in Saraburi, so we felt pretty comfortable that he could get us around safely. We also saved a TON of money that way. Anyways, we got an early start and drove up to Erawan National Park. A whole 65 kilometers - about an hour and a half drive. Man, after that, my behind hurt in places that it never has before. Before heading to the famous Erawan Waterfall, we wanted to check out one of the many caves in Kanchanaburi - Phra Tat Cave. There was a little bit of a hike to it and we could tell that a storm was coming (it's rainy season, so of course there was a storm). Anyways, the wind was blowing and it made the whole bamboo forest creak... it was such a cool noise! And kind of creepy too.

Here it is! Phra Tat Cave. Jonathan wasn't able to take too many pictures inside because we happened to be with a group of people that rushed all the way through. But it was a gigantic cave! You kind of have to crouch down to get inside, but after that, it was the largest open-roomed cave I have ever been in! It was gorgeous.

Then we had to race down the mountain to the nearest little vendor with a roof because it started to downpour. We got stuck there for a while because the mountain was very steep and our rented motorbike basically didn't have any brakes. That would just be asking for a disaster. But as it always does, the rain cleared up and we went down to see the Erawan Waterfall. The reason why it's so well-known is because it is so beautiful and so big! It should actually be called the Erawan WaterfallS - seeing as there are seven tiers. And it's like a 2 mile hike from the first tier to the seventh. We didn't realize that the park closed at 3:30 and because of the mid-day downpour, we were already a little behind schedule. We so badly wanted to get all the way to the top so we basically ran up the mountain. Stopped at each tier for a second, took a picture and continued upward... until we were halted by the closing ranger guy at the fifth tier. I was so disappointed. We were SO close! I begged him, we only want to take a picture, but no dice. And then we were really depressed because we realized that we now didn't even have time to swim in any of the waterfalls. And we were GROSS. Jonathan turned right back around and raced down the mountain to try and get ahead of the guy closing up all the waterfalls so he could take a dip. I was so mad that I didn't even try haha. But as it turns out, we made it to the second tier and did have time to jump in. We actually had time for a super nice swim! At least 20 minutes. It was perfect, with the exception of the jumbo-sized fish that wouldn't just "nibble," but would vacuum-suck to your ankles. Ulgh! I couldn't stand that feeling. So I had Jonathan give me a piggy-back ride out of the pool haha. One of the many perks of having a husband.

(P.S. Isn't Jonathan such a great photographer?! He snagged this picture after everyone got out of the water).

On our second (and last) day in Kanchanaburi, we took the motorbike up towards the Sai Yok area and went to see part of the WWII historical railroad. We had already seen the actual "Bridge of the River Kwae" but there is this beautiful part of the railway that bends and curves into the side of a little mountain. It took us a while to find this place, but it was very rewarding. You can even walk on the train tracks themselves, and that almost gave me a heart attack. Number one because parts of it are being held up only by wooden stilts, and number two, it's still an operating railroad. If a train came by, we'd have to jump off the tracks, and in some places that meant down...very very far down. Not to worry though, they assured us the train goes very slow. And lucky for us we made it out with life and limb.

Then finally our last stop and the highlight of our trip, the Tiger Temple. What to say? We got to see tigers, pet tigers, and even walk a tiger on a leash! It was awesome. You basically take some pictures with the tigers, walk to another area, take some more pictures, and then go to the last canyon area and take more pictures. Sounds mundane, but I mean, they are TIGERS. Haha. Just look at them, they are so beautiful and majestic. Especially in person, it was surreal.

(See the link on our facebook for more pictures of tigers and bears on Jonathan's flickr).

As we were waiting in line for pictures at the last area, Jonathan saw a sign for playing with bear cubs. And my heart stopped. Jonathan was JUST asking me earlier that morning if there was anywhere in the world where you could play with baby bears! (Bears are his favorite animal) And here it was. Destiny. He asked if we should do it even though it wasn't in our budget. And I was like, "if we don't do this, you will regret it for the rest of your life." He definitely agreed so we ran out to the entrance of the temple, withdrew some money from the ATM and raced back just in time for the last time slot. Usually the time slots are only for 15 minutes, but I guess because we were the last ones, we got to feed and play with them for like a half an hour! AH!!! I can't even describe it. They were almost like little humans, just sitting there taking a bottle, crawling up onto our laps and cuddling. They even started sucking our arms! It didn't hurt, it just felt weird. (Well, it kinda hurt when they would yank down your arm with their claws haha) But it was SO cute.

What better way to spend our anniversary than exploring the mountains of Thailand, swimming in a world-famous waterfall, petting tigers, and playing with bear cubs?! But more important than just doing cool things, is that we are doing them with each other. Some people say as the years pass, you naturally celebrate more and more... I think it will be hard to top this anniversary haha. But there is no need! If I am with my husband, I am a happy girl. No matter what we are doing.

Here's to our first two years of marriage - and many, many more to come!

Short stories of our "firsts"

Things have seemed to settle down here. We have now been in Saraburi for over a month, and it is starting to feel super comfortable! It's weird when we come back from little weekend trips and as we pull into our neighborhood, it feels like we are back home. :)

But that's not how our first few weeks were... it did take a bit of adjusting. Here are a few stories of our adjustments to life in Thailand. The good and the not-so-good. But all of them were adventures!

Our first moped and first monsoon. (With our luck, these just happened to coincide). After crunching the numbers, we realized that it would actually be cheaper for us to rent a motorbike each month rather than taking two motortaxis everywhere we go. So here it is! (along with it's amazing driver...)

After a mini driving lesson (and let me tell you, it was very brief), we picked up the motorbike from one of the teachers at our school who rents them out. We wanted to grab some dinner before meeting up with our friends to see a movie, so Jonathan precariously drove us to this little restaurant on a corner not too far away from our house. However as we started eating, the first big downpour of rainy season hit us. Haha that would be a great way to break in the bike - driving/sliding in monsoon rains amidst chaotic Thai traffic. The rainy season in Thailand doesn't mean that it's constantly raining, it just downpours for like an hour or two every day, usually in the afternoon. But when it pours, it is violent! So we figured it would be best to wait it out. We ended up waiting in the restaurant for about an hour and a half after we finished our meal haha. But the Thais always take forever to eat, so it wasn't a big deal. The first break in the rain we saw, we booked it home! Didn't really want to spend the night there if we could help it. Now THAT would have been a story.

First movie theater experience. Since we don't live in a touristy town, there is only one movie theater in Saraburi that plays movies in English. And it doesn't even always do that. But when it does, the movie is only in the theater for a couple of weeks. So we had to get on it! Our first movie in Thailand was X-Men: Days of Future Past. But the tickets were even more expensive than in the States! Like $12 a ticket. I think it's because it's a luxury here. And we had to pay for our 3-D glasses (it was only being shown in 3-D). Anyways, we bought some popcorn, (I feel like I should note our choices were cheese, sweet, or original, not butter) and went into the theater. Before every single showing, everybody stands up and they play an anthem to the King while clips of people crying and showing their love for the King play on the big screen. After which, we enjoyed our movie! It was very entertaining. Unfortunately though, this may have lead into the next experience...

My first (and hopefully only) bout of gastroenteritis. Ugh, I will spare you the details, but I have NEVER been sick like that before. Where I've been physically constrained to my bed and the toilet. For 4 days. Once figuring out that it probably wasn't just mild Traveler's diarrhea, we took a quick trip to the hospital down the road and got some antibiotics from the doctor. You know how I said how cheap healthcare is here? Well get this - a doctor's visit, plus a full round of antibiotics, plus pain relievers, plus a pain relief IM injection, plus rehydration packets - all for under $15, without insurance. Couldn't believe it. After a week on the medications, I felt like a new woman. I have never missed food that badly before! The only thing we could trace it back to was the popcorn that I ate at the theater. Jonathan and I have the same food every day, all day. Except I had that popcorn and he didn't. The doctor laughed when I told him that, but that's the only thing we could think of! Haha. Either that or I just had super bad luck.

Our first day of church. We knew there was an LDS Branch located semi-close to us, we looked it up online before flying into Thailand, but we had no idea of how to get there. Yeah, there kind of was an address on the website, but that's not how transportation runs here. Even if there were taxis out here (which there aren't), they don't know any addresses. Luckily, one of my friends from BYU study abroad served his two year mission in Thailand so he was very helpful! (S/O to Robert!) The branch is located in Lopburi, which is the neighboring province and about an hour away. We went to the van station down the street and kept on saying, "Lopburi?" until we got to the right van. Lucky for me, I am Thai-sized, but poor Jonathan was crammed in the back of that van with 4 other people and under-operating AC. We then realized about halfway through the drive that we didn't really know where/when to get off. We were assuming it would go to the station in Lopburi and then we would pick up a motortaxi from there. But the van made multiple stops...whenever the passengers asked him to. My friend had sent me a little message in Thai that explained where it is we were trying to go (thank you!!!), so we showed this to the lady sitting next to us on the van and she pointed behind us. We had passed it - great. So we yelled, "yut kha" which is 'stop, please' and clamored off the van. Then we proceeded to walk down the road, showing that message to a few people and they just continued to point downward. We had no idea how far away we were, so we kept on walking, but then we finally saw a policeman on his motorbike. We figured he'd help us out. After reading the message, he flagged down a motorbike taxi and gave verbal directions to the driver. Jonathan and I squished onto the motorbike (I think this was the first time we tripled hah) and we took off. The guy took us a few minutes off of the main road and we were getting worried because we thought the church was on the main road. We figured he was given wrong directions, so we asked him to stop and then showed him the message. Just like we thought, we had to turn right back around and make our way back. Right as we entered onto the main road again, we saw the same policeman drive up from right behind us! Haha, I guess he realized he gave the driver the wrong directions and he chased after us. How sweet :) Then we finally made it to the meetinghouse - well, it is more like a couple of rooms inside a building shared with a pet store - like 30 minutes late.
The meetings were all in Thai, but there were a couple of missionaries that translated for us during Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School. As I went to Relief Society, a cute little sister came up to me and introduced herself. She said she was learning English and wanted to be my facebook friend :) She couldn't translate, but she pointed out where we were in the lesson and I tried to follow along with the English version on my phone. Hardly anyone speaks English in the branch, but they were all welcoming and friendly, just the same. Once all the meetings were over, the members put out these long tables and brought out a bunch of food. Apparently that's the thing here! A linger-longer every Sunday (except for fast Sunday of course). It is always so delicious and so authentic. We love it! I think we will try to bring rice cooker-macaroni and cheese to the next one, and share our American goodness :)

First time teaching school on a Saturday. So apparently our English Program students go to school on Saturdays as well. I guess its a very normal thing for all students in Thailand. Even shopping malls have extra classrooms and group study rooms for self-teaching and English instruction on the weekends. We were asked by our school if we would teach Saturday morning classes. We wouldn't turn down extra money, so we said yes. It's only for 3.5 hours and we only do it every other week (so that we can travel on our off-weekends). But the students don't really want to be there, and the teachers don't really want to be there either, so what do we do? Watch movies, of course! To help with their listening skills..... :) You know I have seen Tangled now about four times now and I am still not sick of it haha. And Megamind is up next! It's weird how much I love movies.

First Wai Khru Day. Wai Khru is a day where all the students in the school pay respect towards their teachers. Wai - is the greeting of respect (where you put your hands together and bow) and Khru - means teacher. Each class spends the whole previous day arranging bouquets of flowers and then they present them to their teachers during a ceremony. We all got up on stage sitting above the students (a little awkward) and each of the class representatives took their turn walking up to the stage and bowing at our feet while giving us flowers. I couldn't believe how respectful these kids are! I mean, they are still kids so they still act up sometimes, but each one is so genuinely sweet. Even students I didn't even know would stop and 'wai' to me on campus. It was incredible. I don't think "teacher appreciation day" in the States even comes close to this.

Unfortunately we couldn't keep the bouquets, they are just for show and they were actually part of a little competition. But all throughout the day, students had little flower bracelet things that they bought and would hand out to teachers of their choice. Needless to say I was super touched and appreciative that I was lucky to receive a few :)

First Thai massage. If you've heard anything about the famous Thai massages, you know that they are amazing, but horrible at the same time. Well, I never had a professional massage before, like in my whole life so I knew that I was going to be pretty tight everywhere. It also didn't help that I did a bunch of squats for the first time in several months the day before and I couldn't even walk. We went to this place down the street from our house and a full-on Thai massage is only 200 baht ($6) for one hour! My first time, I was so tight and in so much pain that two ladies worked on me almost the whole hour. They just giggled and kept on saying, "broken lady, very broken lady." And don't I know it! Haha. They also would laugh and say "baby, same, same" when they would get to my feet and hands. Who knew that I would still be considered tiny among all these Thai ladies :) It was actually very helpful that their little granddaughter was running around and putting toys in our faces while she sang songs in Thai. She is so adorable and it helped keep my mind off of all the pain. Her grandmother has her practice her ABCs and other English vocabulary when we come in for massages. It's a fun break and a great way to de-stress. Hopefully getting regular massages will help my migraines too! I think it will become a weekly occurrence for us.

And LASTLY...

First District-turned-Stake Conference. Just this last Sunday, we went down to Bangkok to attend District Conference, for the Bangkok North District. After we taught Saturday morning classes, we hopped in a van and took the 1.5 hour trek down there. Once we got into the city, we found a little bed a breakfast, and had 5 minutes to change before heading out to the hotel where the Saturday evening session was going to be. We were told that it was only a 10 minute walk...but of course it took almost 30 because we kept on having to stop and ask people for directions. We finally got there all sweaty and gross and walked right into a high school prom. Hahaha, turns out the Saturday evening session was at a DIFFERENT location. After deciding we weren't dressed for the "Great Gatsby" theme, we cut our losses and grabbed dinner and a movie. Sunday morning though, we made it to the right spot. And at the beginning of the meeting, they announced the formation of the new Bangkok North Stake! Meaning that now we are members of the Lopburi Ward. For those of you readers who aren't LDS, you probably don't understand the significance of this. (All it means is that membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is growing in Thailand). And it is incredibly exciting! After the announcement you could just see all of the members' faces light up with huge smiles :) I didn't know this, but apparently Thailand has the fastest growing membership in the church in all of Asia! This new formation makes now 2 stakes in Thailand. Once we get a few more stakes formed, there will be serious talk about building a temple here. All of the members can't wait! It will still be a while, but it has been amazing to witness the growth here :)

Impromptu Weekend Getaway: Ayuthaya

It was a normal Friday morning, Jonathan and I woke up and got ready for school. Then I get the thought to look at my phone. There awaited two texts from fellow teachers at our school saying that all the universities and schools were closed that day because of the declared coupe. Cool, long weekend! However we sat there wishing we could see into the future so we could have put together some sort of trip. Dang.

But then Jonathan turned to me and said, "Why don't we just go somewhere? Like maybe that Ayuthaya place." Although he didn't really say Ayuthaya, it was more like uh-you-tayama, haha close. But I got the gist. We pulled out our Thailand travel book, read a little bit about the area, packed up our backpacks and headed toward the train station! Can I just say how awesome this felt?! I am the kind of person that has to have all the details worked out in my planner before we take a trip. I need to know where we are going to stay, how we are going to get there, and what we are going to do once we get there. But this was so exciting! Just dropping everything, grabbing a toothbrush, toothpaste and some cash and heading out the door. 

The train schedule said that the next train heading towards Ayuthaya would be getting in at 11:51, so naturally, we Americans made sure to get there a few minutes early so we could buy our tickets. Haha, silly Farang. We forgot that Thailand runs on "Thai time." Turns out the train would be an hour delayed, coming in at 12:51. So we walked around, grabbed some lunch and went back to wait at the station around 12:30. Time came and went and then the train finally showed up at 1:22. An hour and a half late - mai pen rai! We were shocked that the tickets were only 9 baht each, that's about 28 cents for an hour train ride, but it made a little more sense when we boarded. There were at least some benches, but it was pretty crowded, super hot, and vendors were walking up and down the aisles selling dried squid on sticks....ulgh.

Ayuthaya is somewhat known to be the "Venice of Thailand." The central part of the city is completely surrounded by a river so you have to ride a ferry to get across. Once getting to the 'island' we found the soi (street) where most of the guest houses are and found a place to stay. It was very interesting because as we were walking down the street, people would be running out to us and asking us if they could show their place. It is the low season for tourism, so for once, we Farang actually had a bit of say in the price! Found a little room (with AC - that is non-negotiable), dropped off our stuff and went back out to see the sights. 

So when you see pictures of ancient ruin temples in Thailand, almost all of them are in Ayuthaya. This city was the ancient capital of the Siam Kingdom from 1350-1767. It was a major trading port between Asia, Southeast Asia, India and even Europe. It was a pretty big deal back in the day. Because it was the central capital there are temple ruins everywhere! Apparently at one time, there was a total of 400 temples standing within the city. Modern Ayuthaya has been built up around it, so you'll just be driving down the street and then a huge ruin pops up on your right. Here are some pictures of the Wats (temples) that we ran into on our first night out:

Wat Phra Mahathat. Throughout all the temples, most of the Buddha heads are cut off, I'm not sure why. I think they were stolen by thieves after the Burmese ransacked the city. But looks like they left one behind! Some people say the head was too heavy to steal so it was left and trees protectively grew around it. 

Wat Ratburana. At night, they turn on a bunch of floodlights towards the temples. It was gorgeous. Too bad they were doing construction... pardon the scaffolding.

The next day, Saturday, we wanted to spend hitting up all the most famous wats in the area. One of the ways to get around the city is by tuk tuk - those 3-wheeled kind of car things. But they are pretty expensive...they try to charge 'farang price' which we couldn't afford paying all day. So we chose instead to rent a couple of bicycles! Turned out to only be 30 baht each for the whole day (that's under $1). It was a blast!!! Riding our bikes around, pulling the map out, getting lost (once), and discovering everything on our own. We started the day off by stopping at this little vendor on the side of the road. This really sweet lady made each of us a rockin omelet with some toasted garlic bread and orange juice. Perfect way to start out the day. It was so funny that she really wanted to get a picture with us - we are just such an oddity out here I guess.

Our first stop on Saturday was Wat Phra Si Sanphet. Well, actually we went into this building which is right next to the wat. This building, Wihan Mongkhon Bophit, houses a 17-meter tall Buddha statue so those people who come to see the once-great temple can pray and pay homage.

Here, you can see a picture of what the Buddhist monks look like. We see them everywhere here, just walking down the street, riding the train, some even using their cell phones haha. But of course you see them most frequently in the temples. I also wanted to show that little Buddha statue on the right - it's covered in little paper gold leaves. As part of 'paying tribute,' people will either buy a lotus flower and kind of shake it while praying, or you can buy a little gold leaf to press onto one of the many statues located around the inside of temple. As you press it on, you make a wish for good fortune. It's also a good way to keep all the Buddhas looking golden!

Now here's Wat Phra Si Sanpet. The largest (and most iconic) of all the temples in Ayuthaya. Love it!

Wat Lokayasutharam. Has the largest reclining Buddha in all of Ayuthaya at 37 meters long.

After a morning of biking around, we grabbed a couple of smoothies and spent part of the afternoon in the Chao Sam Phraya National Museum where they house all of the images and Buddha relics found in the temple ruins. It wasn't really air-conditioned but it was nice to get out of the sun for a bit.

Then we were back out on the road. This was our last and probably our favorite temple. It took quite a while to get to it considering it's 'off the island.' Wat Chaiwatthanaram. SO massive, pretty well put-together still, and there weren't hardly any people around! I did get my first Thai sunburn that day so I spent most of the time hiding in the shade while Jonathan walked around some more. (Can't believe that we forgot sunscreen!) But yeah, I could have sat in this spot for hours just taking it all in. Beautiful.

Sunday morning, we were able to find the Ayutthaya LDS Branch and go to church. Again, everyone was so incredibly sweet and inviting. We enjoyed a very Thai lunch afterwards and then walked over to the last few neighboring temples.

Here is Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon. One of the few temples that you could actually walk up the stairs and see inside one of the chedis/prangs (those cone-shaped things).

Wat Phanan Choeng. And here is the largest Buddha in all of Thailand! Just kidding, it's not. Stands at 19 meters tall. I just did my research and this one doesn't even come close to the largest in Thailand... which is 92 meters tall, but that one is outside. This one was pretty big for being indoors. By the way this picture does NOT do it justice, so you will just have to take our word for it. It was huge.

Then before heading back to the train station, we spent an hour walking through the Ayuthaya floating market. That was a perfect way to end our weekend. Found some good spots to get souvenirs and bought some fresh coconut ice cream topped with peanuts and sweetened condensed milk - the Thais drizzle that stuff on top of every dessert. It was delectable! And was served in a little clay pot, which we got to keep.

There are still SO many things that we didn't see! We will definitely be taking another trip back down here to hit up that market and see more of the sites. The city itself is not that big, but there is just too much to see in only 2 days. Our trip back to Saraburi was much better on the train (I think we may have inadvertently bought seats in a nicer car), but still 2 hours behind schedule haha.

Mai pen rai!