Thailand Week 2

Hello friends, family, acquaintances, peers, strangers and creeps:

When I left you last I had just returned from my weekend trip to the wondrous Erawan National Park (I included pictures from the trip in this entry). Since then a few interesting developments have happened; however, perhaps none more unique/unforgettable than the overnight trip to the Buddhist temple. We (the group) arrived at the temple on Tuesday evening after eating dinner at the neighboring 7-11, which was lovely, and followed the monks in chanting and meditation for three hours or so. Then, the guys and girls were separated for the sleeping portion of the trip; the guys stayed on the floor of the temple while the girls unwound in some luxurious suite fixed with beds and air conditioning (at least we think).

Five hours later (at about 4:30am), we were awoken to one of the monks ringing a bell as he circled around our lifeless bodies, only stopping once we were on our feet. After meeting up with the girls in the temple, we did about an hour of chanting and meditation before walking with the monks through the town to gather food that the locals would donate to them (a pretty eye opening experience.. pun very much intended). About two hours later, we all made our way back to the temple where the monks got to have their breakfast and the rest of us got two hours of downtime (sleep). We then had lunch with the monks (they eat a lot early in the day because they're not allowed to have solid food after 12:00pm), said a few parting words and were on our way back to the eco-house. All in all an incredible experience but due to the lack of sleep and sore nature of my body (both from sleeping on the floor and strangely uncomfortable meditation positions), I'm not sure if its one that I'm eager to repeat.

Today we spent the majority of the day volunteering at an orphanage in a nearby town. At first glance, it appeared to be quite similar to the school we volunteered at last week (classrooms for different age groups, playgrounds, the works). That is however until we saw the sleeping quarters for the kids (roughly 180 in total) which were basically large rooms with rows upon rows of bunk beds. Despite their seemingly short straw, the kids were awesome/energetic and appeared to enjoy our company for the day.

Tomorrow I leave for Bangkok with some of the people from the group. From the stories I've heard, it should be a relaxing getaway similar to that of a hill top resort (sarcasm). But it should be exciting and hopefully I'll have some wild stories for the upcoming entry.

Tune in next time.

H

Welcome to Thailand

Hello (insert name), or should I say "Sa-wat-dee". It's strange to think that just over a week ago I was preparing myself for the thirty-some hours of travel I had later that day. The flights turned out to be relatively painless and Nick and I were able to meet our ride and board a bus north to Singburi province with little difficulty. Apart from the deep sadness I felt when reading about the Buckeye loss (I don't know if thats something we're allowed to talk about but sorry to bring it up for those of you who've already moved on) in the Bangkok airport, I'd say the trip went better than expected.

I am currently residing in whats referred to as an "eco-house" (I'm not exactly sure how it differs from a hostel?) about 5 or 6 miles outside the city of Singburi with about 20 other backpackers representing a variety of Western European countries. We all get along swimmingly and share the same schedule for the first two weeks, meaning that we do the same daily activities/trips during this time before parting ways. Nick and I share a room with an Irish fellow named Chris (one of 4 Chris's in the group) who is traveling with his wife, but not allowed to stay in the same room as her (something which both Nick and I are silently happy about because he could legitimately be the nicest person on the planet).

Days here are long and action packed. We wrapped up our first week (intro week) which consisted mostly of visiting various temples and looking at some of the ancient ruins around the area. We also got to visit and practice teaching English in a Thai classroom. This past weekend, a few of us from the group traveled to Erawan National Park and hiked around for a day before returning to our 'home' on Sunday. Be sure to look at the pictures from the first week (assuming I uploaded them properly).

The trips been a huge success thus far but I do miss all of you. I'll try and make ensuing posts a little more frequent and a little more interesting too... I'm new to the whole blogging thing if you can't tell.

Best for now,

H