Bai Krabi Tiger Temple

24 hours was just enough time to experience the most memorable activities, sites, and experiences today. It started with a quick one hour bus ride to a natural hot spring waterfall. The slippery rocks and pools created by the pouring water were rejuvenating. There was also a natural swing you could climb on making a great photo-opportunity. Khem is learning how to use her new SLR so she took some great shots of our group playing in the water.

After enjoying myself and feeling revived and naturally refreshed I stepped in a some mud on my way to take off my bathing suit and clumsily hit my head on a concrete overhang. My first thought was, “If I get a concussion I won’t be able to climb the tiger temple!” Luckily sitting down, sipping on water, and taking Advil helped me somewhat recover.

From the hot springs we drove another 40 minutes or so to have lunch in a restaurant at a mall. We were in Krabi now, the town I was originally going to volunteer in. What I saw, which wasn’t very much, made me pleased I had decided to volunteer further south in a more remote city not affected as much by tourism. I had a bit of a culture shock being in a consumer-centric place again. The malls here are the same as back home. Lunch was however different and delicious: Tom Ka Gai and Pad Thai. They also had perhaps 100 different kinds of coffee so I ordered an oreo frappocino concoction as a sweet after-lunch treat.

From there Rupal, Jack, Khem, Mama T, and I wondered the mall hitting up a small arcade that featured a karaoke game. 99% of the games only had thai songs, but I found a song and rocked out for a bit with Jack as my dancer. I have a hilarious video of him dancing like no one is watching.

The next activity involved a 1,123 step climb up one of the many limestone cliffs found in Krabi. This was a site worth the sweat. But, before taking our first step up to the Tiger Temple we had to bypass many free-running monkeys who sat in small groups planning their next snatch from passing tourists. They’re sneaky creatures and will even take your sunglasses from your head if they feel the urge. I guess they assume you don’t want them yourself and would rather rock them out themselves. While there were many tourists around, I could tell they lived there naturally and that they enjoyed monkeying around with visitors. The babies who couldn’t have been more than a week old were adorable as well.

It was not the best decision to have eaten such a large lunch of mainly carbs and coconut milk before this sort of trek. Nor was it helpful having recently bumped my head as hard as I did, but with a few much-needed breaks, I made it to the top of 1,123 steep stairs. Sweating and panting as much as I did was worth it for the view your presented with. It was easier sharing the suffering of the climb with other travelers; I met a few rather stinky French tourists, an Irish dad with his son, and a handful of young monks.

Surrounding Krabi are numerous steep mountains that jut out and rise into the clouds similar to the ones I saw in Halong Bay, Vietnam. I felt a little like a bird sitting atop the temple looking out onto them all and I wondered how on earth monks created the several hundred foot high golden buddha that looks out over the land. We rested on top of the world for perhaps 30 minutes before making our way back down the 1,123 stairs. The wind in my hair and the monks that walked around us made it feel like a dream. It was all peaceful.

Time to bake a cake

Today was Rupal’s last day at Wat Nikomprateep which was really sad. Last night David, her, and I stayed up late making our teachers a chocolate, orange cake. I had originally wanted to make the same lemon layer cake I made for Betty’s birthday a few months ago, but the grocery store only had limes and I couldn’t find baking powder. So we decided to doctor up a boxed chocolate cake with homemade, orange flavored frosting and homemade orange curd. We had a lot of fun messing around in the kitchen. We were a little concerned our small oven and lack of western cooking supplies would prohibit our cake making abilities, but the final product turned out perfectly tasty and beautifully decorated.

It was really hard watching Rupal say goodbye to all the kids and teachers. I realized I would have to do that in a matter of time and got emotional as well. I’m really getting attached to everyone here and absolutely love Thailand. Coming back to teach again has already crossed my mind. Life is so good here.

Getting to Know You

Today’s cultural activities were very relaxing and memorable. We went to a local, natural hot springs and got foot massages. After taking a quick walk around the grounds where Jack pointed out some tree leaves you can eat, we all swam for 15 minutes in two of the hot springs, and then moved onto a long foot massage each. Jack got one with us all too.

I need to remember Jack. He is one-of-a-kind. All of the staff members are truly wonderful; each of them with their own strong, individual personality, but I want to take the time now to document Jack. It’s hard to put into words how much I like him really. His smile and energy is absolutely infectious. I find myself always happy when around him, no matter what the circumstance.

He is 26 and about 5 foot 6 with dark skin that looks almost Indian. His hair is styled slightly differently from day to day. His facial expressions are hilarious. He is both warm and silly. He once played around with my Chinese fan like a ladyboy and let me archive it by taking his picture. His cellphone’s ring tone is Sean Kingston’s, “Fire Burning,” but the only words he knows from the song are “Somebody call 911...” He is a GREAT dancer and loves to sing. He likes to learn new words in English and use them whenever he can. For example, I taught him ‘unanimous’ and he made sure to figure out a way to put that the word to use within the next day or so. When it rains he drives his moped wearing a silver moon suit. He is wealth of knowledge. He dies his hair black and helps Cha, our driver, with his hair dying needs as well. He shares everything without any expectations for something in return. He is the type of person that would be there for you in times of need and someone you’d want to be friends with for life. I feel lucky to know him.

It was wonderful hanging out getting massages together as a group and getting to just talk. After we finished we made our way back to the van in a downpour of rain and returned home in time to leave for a special dinner out with our school’s teachers. They wanted to take Rupal out since this week is her last one at the school. All the staff were there: the director, my kindergarten teacher Jin Tana, the male 3rd grade teacher, the 4th grade teacher, 5th/6th grade teacher, and more who help on an interim basis. It was a very full table.

Our teachers love to feed us. I brought Mama T made lunch to school the first few days, but now I eat with the teachers who all share with us. Rupal, David, and I have had delicious curry, duck, soups, noodles, salty fish, thai omelettes, aromatic salads, strange cookies with eggs, dragonfruit, pomello, and much more. I’ve loved it all except for the salty fish... it’s REALLY salty. Our dinner tonight was also delicious. We went to a restaurant enclosed by a beautiful garden and dined for a few hours. We took a lot of pictures and were kindly given special batik shirts in our favorite colors. In taking many pictures one of the teachers accidentally said “one, two, saam” instead of “one, two, three” which made for a boat load of laughs for the rest of the evening. I’m sure we’ll use that line again throughout my time here. I can’t believe how kind and generous the Thai people are.

Festival!

Another memorable day at Wat Nikomprateep. I had planned an exciting lesson but we ended up participating in a ceremony for a festival parade that was going on throughout the afternoon. All the classes went across the ground to the temple where many men were working vigorously to move a massive float out of storage for the 5 kilometer walk to the stadium. The festival celebrates the end of the rainy season when the monks come out from the temples for religious meetings and local visits.

Our float was absolutely breathtaking: the size of a large boat and painted bright gold with red and green accents. The front of it had 5 immense dragon heads and decorated around the sides were jasmine garlands and sticky rice that we had offered as gifts to the Gods.

It took hundreds of people to move the float out from under the blue canopy protecting it from the rain. The best part about this event was that everyone pitched in to help turn it out of storage onto the main street ready to be walked to the stadium. There was a long rope, perhaps a a few hundred feet, that we all took a piece of to pull the dragons out. Someone led the group together as we all tugged together as a team. This was the perfect representation of collaboration. After the float was positioned correctly on the street a very sacred monk came out to bless us all with holy water and pray to the Gods. He took a special wand, dipped it in the holy water, and shook it over the crowd as we ‘wai’ed him. This was a very special moment for me as I felt like I particularly needed something positive and religious watching over me today. It was sacred being a part of it all and not feeling like I was out of place. We were teachers at our school, just like the other teachers. We were neighbors, just like everyone else.

After the monk made his way to the top of the float everyone grabbed a piece of the rope and pulled him into town. Rupal and David went the whole way, but I stayed behind with my class as they are too young to walk the whole way. I loved playing with all the kids as part of the event as well. We took tons of pictures and had fun playing around being their friends.

Tonight we went to the stadium to see all the floats from other temples, schools, and businesses in town. Each float was guarded by a monk that you could request a blessing from. I went up to one young monk, donated a few baht, and then received a special blessing and bracelet. They tie the bracelet around your wrist very carefully as monks aren’t supposed to touch women. I also saw our school’s float and our monk from earlier in the afternoon. He was particularly busy passing out blessings as he’s more sacred than other monks. We also tried some great food; others experienced the insects I had tried in Bangkok while I tasted corn waffles, candies, and sticky rice from bamboo, similar to the business I saw in Battambang. What a great day.

Massage with a Purpose

Today was a relaxed day. Rupal and Laurel were interested in getting a second massage from a school for the blind they had visited before we arrived. I would never pass up a Thai massage and especially one with a bigger purpose. I have so much appreciation for the people we met. They must struggle not being able to see, but it was obvious they had the strength and devotion to move past the hardship and see the positive. The school is run by a blind man whose warmth you could tell was purely genuine. I was told that he started it to help others in his situation build a career in massage therapy and prove that being blind shouldn’t be an obstacle to achieving your dreams.

The massage itself was very relaxing. It was the best thai massage I’ve had thus far. Not only was my masseuse talented, he was kind and patient. We definitely had a language barrier as he only speaks Thai and I only know English. Several times he had to tell me to move in another position and without him being able to see and point me in the direction he wanted, we had to work together to understand each other. I also enjoyed the fact that I was outside and could just let nature surround me. It was particularly wonderful when it started to pour with rain and I could listen to the water crash down on the metal roof above me. I tried to keep my eyes closed the majority of the time to somewhat grasp what it would feel like to be blind.

A chill day in Trang

Because there was a tsunami warning on Ko Phi Phi we decided it would be best to stay in Trang this weekend. Khem and Jack graciously took us all out for Dim Sum which was absolutely divine. I once went for Dim Sum with Robert, my former roommate, and wasn’t really a fan, but oh my buddah. This was incredible. We had tons of food and delicious coffee/tea. Trang is known for it’s coffee so everywhere I’ve had a chance to have some, I’ve taken it.

After Dim Sum we ventured off to watch a local dance show. Cha and Jack took us. The performance had a mix of traditional movements infused with modern humor. There was one particular actor who played a woman and dressed up in ridiculous clothing and accessories. She had a penis drawn on her face, adorned purple and bright blue eye-shadow, and spoke with a high-pitched, annoying tone. One other particularly amusing aspect to the event was that we were the only ‘farangs’ there. Immediately after sitting down, the performers started to kindly poke fun at me for being so white. I could tell something was up before Jack turned to me for confirmation. While we didn’t understand a word spoke during the whole performance, we could easily understand what was going on.

At one point during the show a woman with a small baby came up behind me and handed me her child. It was a slightly strange circumstance, but nonetheless wonderful. He was probably less than a year old, but could stand on my knees and play. He wasn’t wearing any bottoms and had the cutest shaved head. We bounced around for perhaps 15 minutes before his mom came back to take him again. Closely thereafter we had some side entertainment of a group of older children playing in bubbles being blown by a friend. I got some great photographs of them laughing and having a ball.

The group of us decided to have a chill evening at home post dance show. We picked out a movie to watch and curled up on our rather cold, hard living room floor with lots of pillows and popcorn. The flick of choice was Blood Diamond which I had never seen before. It was a magnificent film start to finish.

More on Teaching

It was a short week teaching as we started on Tuesday and ended in the afternoon on Thursday. I didn’t know until we arrived that we don’t teach on Fridays so we have a three day weekend each week... how spoiled! But oh, how so much can happen in just three days. The days were filled with the Itsy Bitsy Spider, Mary had a Little Lamb, Red Light Green Light, the alphabet, numbers, and so much more. I already feel so close with my students and teachers. They are wonderful people, all with different personalities and energy. My kids each learn in different ways but are all eager to take it in. Some of them have to work a little harder than others to fully understand the topic, but I can see each of them progressing with just the three or four hours that I’m with them. They crave attention, encouragement, and confirmation. They are very precise. They love to laugh and play. They are absolutely adorable.

There’s Pim who is the oldest at 6 years old. She is so bright and smiles all day long. She helps keep the younger children in line and completes her work very quickly. After a few days she has learned how to communicate with me better by acting things out, pointing, and using facial expressions. She knows I don’t speak Thai where the other kids I think are confused at times when I don’t know how to answer their questions.

Pleah is 4 years old and needs the most physical affection out of all the children. She hangs all over me and loves to be picked up and hugged. The other day she started crying because she and someone else bumped heads and she just ran into my legs and after about 2 minutes of me rocking her she fell asleep on my shoulder. It was precious.

Gun, a 3 year hold must be half Thai half Chinese. He is so tiny! I’m also thinking he may be learning some English at home because he has a superb accent. When we play “my name is” with a ball he responds right away with, “My name is Gun.” I just can’t help but smile when I’m teaching.