On the beach in the pouring rain

Well we finished our finals, calculated our semester grades and wrapped up everything at school. Now it's time for vay-cay-tion! We have a whole month off so it's going to be packed. Even with all of our traveling within the semester, we hadn't gone at all to Thailand's southern region. So we decided to take one week and hit the highlights - Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, and Krabi areas.

Railay Beach, Krabi

We knew that we were going to hit the end of the rainy season, but hoped that it would phase out early... but it didn't. By the time we got to Phuket, it was on its like 6th consecutive day of straight downpour ALL day long. We flew in Sunday morning and made it in time to attend the small LDS Branch for church. It was very quaint and it was in Thai, but the Spirit was so strong there and you could tell the members (all 5 of them) were so dedicated and faithful. The Branch president called us up first and asked us to bear our testimonies - in our shorts and flip flops haha. Luckily we had a translator who was very sweet, so I was able to apologize for our haphazard and sweaty appearance. Every member then got up and bore their testimony... it was a very memorable Sacrament Meeting.

We thought that the rain would let up the next day, so we figured it would be best to travel during the bad weather, leaving us to enjoy the good weather. We headed out on the 2 hour ferry to Koh Phi Phi right after church. Which maybe wasn't the best decision because, well, it was bad weather. At first I thought the rocking would put me to sleep, but then I ended up intermittently waking up with intense waves of nausea. It was a rough ride. During my brief moments of consciousness all I could see was the raging dark gray of the ocean and hear the white caps crashing onto those tiny circular windows. I just kept on thinking about the brother of Jared and how they crossed the ocean in those tiny barges. We were really at the mercy of the sea. But we made it to solid ground! Apparently tons of people on our boat were throwing up, but we survived.

Of course once we got to Koh Phi Phi, we were caught in another downpour. There are no streets on this island, only cobblestone pathways where you can travel by foot or bicycle. And because of the crazy amount of rain, they were constantly flooded. Hooray for rainy season.

 

Jonathan trying to push me off the rock...

There was a brief amount of sunlight that next morning where we were able to hike up to the viewpoint. You can see both sides of the island at once. It was gorgeous! Then we hiked down to the other side of the island, about an hour through the jungle, sliding down the rocks and mud (thanks to the 7-day monsoon prior) and finally made it to this beautiful, secluded beach. These were our first sunny moments of our trip. Check out those striking clouds! [They were not photoshopped or touched.]

We got about an hour of good beach time until yes, another storm. We did NOT want to go hiking back through that jungle, so once the rain let up a bit, we caught a ride with a couple of locals who were transporting barrels of oil back to the pier by long-tail boat. Now that was a cool experience. On a little wooden boat crossing through ocean during a rainstorm.

 

These are what long-tail boats look like.

Funny story: Jonathan and I aren't the drinking and partying type (which is ever so present on Koh Phi Phi) so we instead went to the minimart and splurged on some American candy! [Doesn't that sound so much better? hah] I got a medium-sized bag of peanut M&Ms, so the first night I only ate a few and placed the bag in my purse on the nightstand to save for later. I was so excited the whole next day, thinking of when we were going to come back to our room and I had them waiting for me! (I'm obsessed about food, clearly). That evening, I ate a couple and then found one that had some of the candy coating missing. I showed Jonathan, "Hah! Look at this one... machine malfunction. It looks like something took a bite out of it." About 5 minutes and 4 M&Ms later, I stick my hand in the bag to retrieve yet another one when I suddenly feel something jump out and squirm up my arm. It was a GECKO! I yelped and waved my arm so the gecko flew off, and ran under our bed. Ok, I know geckos aren't scary, but I hate being surprised, especially by animals. I was eating M&Ms out of that bag for like 10 minutes with a little gecko hiding frozen-still in there!!! Ah! I couldn't believe it. Of course I look at the remaining M&Ms and about half of them had parts of the candy-coating licked off. Haha, oh well. At least the little gecko was able to experience a little piece of America.

Oh and here's another story. Jonathan went walking out across the low-tide sands to take some pictures while I stayed behind with all our stuff on the beach. Rain was threatening all day so I was a bit worried that we would get poured on again, but there didn't really seem to be a way to tell when it would happen. I just enjoyed sitting there for a while and then glanced to my left. (Look at picture below). It was like mists of fog were rolling over the mountain and racing towards us on the beach. It was beautiful and kind of mesmerizing until I realized they were thick sheets of rain. In my brief moment of hesitation, a local Thai, who I was talking to earlier, laughed and shouted at me, "What are you waiting for?!" He ran over, we wrapped up my things in our bamboo mat as the rain started to pour, and we found some nearby shelter. That thing only gave us like a 8-10 second warning! It was crazy. That was one of my shining moments, looking like a dumb Farang (foreigner) hah.

Here's the best picture we could get. This was right before it hit us. It looked way more daunting in real life...

Deciding that we had enough time on Koh Phi Phi and yet again wanting to travel during the bad weather, we took another ferry over to Krabi. (We didn't learn from our first lesson apparently). This trip wasn't as bad, but I thought the ferry was going to be ripped apart! The creaking was almost deafening. I could see the wooden slab right next to my seat actually pulling apart from the wall! Just listen to this video I recorded on my phone.

 

We made it to Krabi and decided to stay in the Ao Nang area. It was my favorite part of the trip! Which I guess isn't fair to Phuket or Koh Phi Phi because they had worse weather. Regardless, we have already planned another trip back to Krabi/Railay. We were wanting to do some rock climbing/deep water soloing (which this area is famous for) but because it was low season, we didn't reach the minimum number of people to be taken out in a boat. We spent our first morning though, kayaking around sea cliffs and through the mangrove forests of Ao Thalane, where you guessed it - got caught in a rain storm! However this time the rain made it an awesome experience. The best way to describe it is the heavens opened and a waterfall fell on us from the sky. It was that intense. But it was beautiful! We obviously couldn't get any pictures of the downpour, but it was like a movie. Looking up and the rain washing our faces, it felt like we were in the Amazon jungle.

One of the brief moments when it wasn't raining in the mangroves.

The next day we spent in Railay and had the best beach time I've had in my life! Unfortunately, the water wasn't as clear because of the storms churning up the water, but this beach has the best backdrop I've ever seen.

We spent the afternoon on a little snorkel cruise where we got to travel around to different islands, had a sunset dinner on the beach, and short fire show. On the way back, they took us to an alcove where they have glow-in-the-dark plankton. We couldn't get any pictures of it because they only light up for a second, but it was so cool! They are activated by movement, so you hop in, stick your snorkel mask into the water and wave your arms around - they light up like Christmas lights all around you!

Sand bar (during low-tide) between the Tup Islands and Chicken Island

Our last day, we took a bus on our way back to the Phuket airport and stopped in Phang Nga Bay. Because it is low season, Jonathan and I got a whole long-tail boat tour to ourselves around the bay! It was awesome... reminded me of being on the lake back home. :) We saw some ancient cave paintings, walked around a Muslim fishing village built on stilts and of course stopped at the famous James Bond island.

Fishing village in the middle of Phang Nga Bay.

Island that was in the James Bond film - The Man with the Golden Gun

All in all, it was a great trip. First couple of days weren't ideal, but it ended up being beautiful weather later on and it was very memorable. Right now, we are doing some laundry and packing up our bags again to head out to China tonight. We'll be there for 3 weeks, so be expecting a big post about that when we get back. Wish us luck!

How teaching has changed me

Our first semester is pretty much finished. Last day of classes was Friday and this week we are administering finals. Time has flown by so fast! We are close to our halfway mark... hmm...weird. It doesn't really feel like it. Well, our school gives us a month-long break between semesters so we are currently planning huge trips for October. We are heading to the southern region of Thailand (the Phuket area) for a week and then exploring China for 3 weeks! It's a lot to plan for but it's exciting!

So I thought I'd take this moment to wrap up how our first semester went. If you haven't read our previous post, you can read it HERE - it's all about what teaching in Thailand is like on a day to day basis. But on a more personal note, our first semester here was pretty special. At the start, it was definitely overwhelming and rough. We were given a list of 4 bullet points as our assigned curriculum to teach for the full year. We were thrown for a loop when we were assigned to teach different subjects than what we were originally told. We had to pull lesson plans out of nowhere with next-to-nothing materials. We had no idea what was going on from one day to the next (and still do!) and after I got over the original shock of it all, it started to become frustrating and hard. However I do need to say that I have learned so much about myself and hopefully have changed for the better in the process.

 

For those of you who personally know me, I'm naturally an up-tight character who always has to know what is going on, when and where, and it usually has been written down on my calendar for weeks. Because I like to be on top of things and ultra-organized, this has historically made me very effective in school and at work. [I don't want to sound too proud, but I do have a point.] I have usually excelled in these areas of my life and I relished that. I like to be busy and I like to get things done in the most effective way possible. You might say that is my strong suit. So although I had never done formal teaching in a school before, I wasn't too nervous about this Thailand experience. I thought I would be able to handle it well. Boy, was I wrong!

If there is one thing I've learned from this experience, it is humility. This is definitely a 'fly by the seat of your pants' kind of job experience and I failed at it, at first.  All of my natural qualities that had made me effective and successful in the past were really my downfall. I had to plan for 3 different subjects, at 3 different grade levels, with literally nothing to go off of, and no materials at my disposal. I tried to over-do it. Making powerpoints for each lesson, putting together quizzes and projects, and trying to teach the kids as much as I could. However that led to some frustrating days. Classes would get canceled, half of my students would be absent for some reason, or they were all too tired or preoccupied with the next school activity to really listen to my lessons. I became not only frustrated, but angry at the system, and disappointed with myself that I wasn't good at this.

Then around midterms, I realized I just had to let it go. (And no, this is not a Frozen reference). A bunch of my students weren't performing well and I knew that a big part of the problem was me. I was trying too hard to teach them too much. I was trying to instill in them what education is like in America - it's rigorous, requires self-motivation, you can't turn in work 3 weeks late and get full credit, and no matter what anyone says, you can't just keep re-taking your final until you get above a 50%! (A 50% is passing here... and the school system makes everyone pass). However, me trying to be too over-productive was coming at the expense of my students' learning experience.

So what if Thailand is academically ranked the lowest in Asia? That's not something I can control or something I can single-handedly change in a meager 11 months. What really mattered were my students here and now. I want them to enjoy my classes. I want them to want to learn. So I had to change myself. I had to take it down a notch and learn to not care about how ineffective I thought Thailand's school system was. I needed to give my students not the most education possible, but the best education possible - which (I had to accept) would be different than education given in the States. I focused on less amounts of material, but incorporated more games and activities (they LOVE games, almost too much haha) and I tried harder to get to know them personally. I have to say that it is working! For my students and for me. I'm actually enjoying teaching, it seems like my students are more eager to learn, and therefore are actually learning more. I hope so. If not, at least they are having fun.

I am so happy that we decided to extend to a second semester. Although we really do miss our families, I feel like I've just gotten settled and things figured out. We still have so much to see and do, and I don't want to leave our students yet. They really are a BLAST and I have come to truly love so many of my students.

The Thais love extracurriculars. Like to the point where they surpass academics in importance. Don't get me wrong - I am all for supporting the fine arts and sports. I participated heavily in orchestra, choir, dance, and the tennis team when I was in school. I think it is very important not only physically, but mentally to receive a balanced education. However, you would not believe the extent to which the schools here take it. They literally shortened the school day by almost 2 hours, every day, for a month in preparation for something they call 'Sports Day.' And even though the students were given extra time at the end of the day, they would still miss class and ask for free time. School was basically a joke for a month and a half. But they committed to this ... and it showed! The Sports Day activity took place over 2 days and it was more like a mini-Olympics. The student body was divided into 4 teams: blue, green, pink, and yellow. You would not believe the banners, billboards, t-shirts, cheers/chants, dances, costumes, and parade coordination that went into this! And it was all done by the students. It was legitimate and I was impressed. Here are a few pictures of what the students put together.

 

The first day they spent the whole morning doing a parade, more like opening ceremonies. They even had a torch which was run around the field and set flame to a fuse which lit up the Bowl of Fire (whatever it's officially called in the Olympics) which then set off an impressive amount of fireworks. Haha, it was awesome. Then, they turned the football field into a track and started the actual sports. They had competitions in sprints, relays, tug-of-war, and basketball, among others.

I felt like we were back in medieval times. (I'm referring to both the historical time period and the popular dinner & tournament experience.) We teachers got to sit in a fan-cooled booth on the sidelines and eat free school lunches while we were entertained by the students competing in the hot sun for two days. Ha, I kind of felt like royalty. Here we are in the 'president's box!'

The next day, the games continued! Here is my personal favorite: the 15-legged race. This was hands-down the most entertaining event to watch. I think there was only one team that actually made it to the end in one piece. Hahaha!

One of the most highly-anticipated and most-practiced event was the cheer competition. Which actually turned out to be more of a 'let's sing, chant, and clap' competition. It was a bit anti-climatic, but still entertaining. Plus, it was fun to see what 2+ months of dedicated work from the students yielded. (I can't help but wonder if they were this dedicated to actual school work! Oh well...)

To finish off the craziness that was Sports Day, they put together a football match (soccer for us, Americans) between the teachers and Jonathan was asked last minute to join! He rocked it even though like none of his teammates spoke English. [See awesome shot of Jonathan below] It was super fun seeing all these older teachers, running around and having a ball while their students cheer for them on the sidelines. Best 2 days of school!

 

So I guess that is what happens when you let go. You embrace everything about the culture, even the things that you don't necessarily agree with, but you end up having an incredibly fun experience and fond memories to keep with you forever.

What is it like to teach in Thailand?

I've noticed that lately, my posts have been about our travels, our time off. Even though it doesn't sound like it, we do actually work here too! (Even though sometimes it feels like we spend more time vacationing than teaching). So let me delve a little bit into what it is like being a teacher in Thailand. [Disclaimer: Each person will have a different experience and it largely depends on which school you are placed.] But here's been our experience...

Your students call you by your first name. Of course, they add the "teacher" out of respect, but it's just easier for them to say our first names. And sometimes they even shorten 'teacher' to plain "-cher." Oh and they actually don't pronounce the "r" very well. So what I'm hearing all day is, "Teacha, teacha! Hello, Chah Nataly!" It's very endearing after a while :)

Just because your students take off their shoes outside the classroom doesn't mean you need to. I learned this one the embarrassing way. School, just like people's homes, are to be respected, so all the students remove their shoes before entering a classroom or office. I saw my students do this and not wanting to make a cultural faux pas, I did as well. For like the first 2 weeks! Haha. Then I finally had the sense to ask another foreign teacher if we needed to do so and I was responded with a chuckle. You live and learn I guess. Although I do have to say that it was kind of freeing walking around the classroom barefoot.

Don't try to learn the Thai alphabet and then show it off to your students in class. Considering 4 out of the first 6 letters are dreadfully close to obscenities, it's best to not even go there. I also learned this one the embarrassing way.

They love the fact that two of their teachers are married to each other. Seriously, they eat it up! My students will ask me what I did over the weekend, and I'll say something like, "Oh, we went to Bangkok and saw a movie." And then they'll get a little smile creeping on their faces, "Did you go with Teacher Jon?..." to which I reply, "Of course! We do everything together." Man, all the oohs, ahs, and nervous giggles I get... you would think that we were back in middle school! Which I guess we are technically. Jonathan let our students in on his secret trip for our anniversary and they couldn't stop talking about it! "Teacha Nataly! I know something that you don't! But I can't tell you! It has to do with Teacha Jon..." accompanied with giggles, smiles and shifty eyes. The novelty hasn't worn off yet!

 

Because you are a foreign English teacher, you are qualified to teach ANY subject in English...and more. We signed up to teach English, but then we showed up and found out that we are teaching English, Science, Health, and Computer Science. Mmhm, ok! Oh, you want us to teach for 3 hours on Saturdays too? No problem. Adding on Basketball class once a week, love it! Co-directing a skit for the provincial English Program Competition (including daily rehearsals)... all part of the job. I will tell you this: you will be utilized until there is almost nothing left of you.

You will at first feel guilty, but then relish when you cut students in line in the Cafeteria (or Canteen as they call it here). But it's totally kosher! And in fact, needed. I mean, you gotta get to class on time, right? Haha, maybe I take too much joy in it. Is it bad that I like the authority and privilege it gives me over my students who are mostly taller than me? Nah. It's normal. But seriously... I'm not the only one who does it.

This is basically what I have every day for lunch. It's awesome. And all for under $1!

You will literally be the LAST person to know anything. I cannot tell you how many times students have run into the classroom telling me that no one is coming because of this activity or meeting or what-have-you. We'll be told last-minute, there isn't going to be school tomorrow, oh and next Wednesday too. Or we'll walk into the office and be greeted with a "Good morning! We aren't having first or second period today." And you know, at first it was a bit frustrating, but now we just expect it. It's not that people keep information from you on purpose, I think it's just the Thai culture. I've noticed that disseminating information and communication in general are not high on their priority lists. Sometimes I'll try to be proactive and ask around, but most of the time the teachers don't know what's going on. Your best bet is to ask the students. They know what's up.

This is their daily morning meeting. And it always goes way over time :)

Students (who aren't yours) will be so excited to show you their English! Even if (and it usually is) minimal. I'll be walking around campus and groups of students will walk past me saying, "Hello, Teacha! How are you?" I'll say, "I'm fine, how are you?" And then after they look at me dumbfounded, they giggle and run away. There is a specific group of boys who sit outside, next to the Cafeteria and we pass by them on our way to lunch. And every day without fail they yell at Jonathan, "What's up?!" It's actually more like, whaaz ahp! It's hilarious. They are clearly too cool for school.

 

Don't be surprised when a student starts poking your belly or plops down on your lap. The Thais are certainly a touchy-feely bunch. If they start to like you, they will hold your hand, wrap their arms around your waist, or stroke your arm as you walk past their desks and tell you that you are soft (I had this happen my very first day). They also like to tell it how it is. There isn't any regard for sensitivity about your body here in Thailand. Every teacher has been poked in the stomach at one point and been told, "you have fat!" Almost every day, some student points to the bags under my eyes and asks me, "Teacha, why are your eyes like that?!" I just have to laugh and tell them, that's how I was born! Or I tell them that they make me tired :) They aren't trying to make fun or anything, that's just how it is here! Weight and appearance are nothing to be ashamed of. 

Even though your student is speaking English, you aren't always speaking the same language. Now that we've been here for 4 months, I feel like I've gotten pretty good at deciphering the Thai accent and substituting simple words in my instructions. (I've learned to say my directions 3 times, use charades, write them on the whiteboard and also walk around to make sure they are doing it right. You gotta make sure all the bases are covered.) But there are still many times that I have to ask a student to repeat their answer like 3 times before shamefully asking them to spell it out for me. One of the countless experiences of when things get lost in translation.

When in doubt, give them balloons! Ok, not really. But here's the point: Hands-on activities are the best way to shake things up and to help get over a language barrier. What better way to teach static electricity than to have 30 students rubbing balloons on each other's heads?! Never mind that 6 balloons were sacrificed in the process. It definitely made for some great pictures.

There is no greater feeling than seeing that one struggling student, who tries SO hard, get an answer right. Gosh, I never realized how tough the English language is until I started teaching it! I have to teach myself every day before walking into class! English grammar is no fun and many times makes no sense. And these poor students just want to know why. How are they supposed to learn and understand the 'loose' grammar rules when all the exercises in their books give them the exceptions? Gah! It's frustrating because most of the time I can't give them a reason. I just say, "English is hard. I don't know why. But that's what it is." They really try. But when that moment comes, when it finally clicks, you can see it on their faces. Their eyes light up, they break into a huge smile and I just want to squeeze them with all my might, jump up and down and say, "You did it!!!" Ah! There really is no better feeling. It makes all the frustration worth it. By far.

To sum it up, teaching in Thailand has been humbling, entertaining, frustrating, loads of fun, but most of all, rewarding. It's been awesome experience and if anyone is thinking about it, you should go for it!

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.