Katie and Amanda Go Back to School (And, Consequently, Thailand)!!!

Hello once again! As previously mentioned, we are attempting to catch our blog up to real life time, so we thought now was as good a time as any to tell you all about Melissa's village!

For those who do not know, Melissa is our friend who is a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. She works as a teacher in a rural village, Ban Kadad, located in the northeastern providence of Surin.

Say hello, Melissa!

Melissa is living with a family that consists of her Yaai Lee (grandma)

The sweetest woman you will ever meet.

and Melissa's "brother and sister", both teenagers. However, the whole community is so tight knit that they all consider Melissa part of their family. After living in Thailand for about a year, Melissa speaks fluent Thai, as well as some Khmer (a Cambodian dialect), and is well integrated into ebb and flow of the entire village. We are so proud of her!

We arrived in Ban Kadad late at night and had two full days to spend with Melissa. On our first day, she took us to one of the two schools at which she regularly teaches. As this part of the country is much more traditional, we wore conservative clothing to cover our legs and shoulders. Just like American schools, Thai school starts with morning announcements and a pledge of allegiance.

Despite the uniforms and the initial morning lineup, Thai schools are actually fairly casual, something that Melissa must battle on a regular basis. Very rarely do the teachers prepare lesson plans, and the students are not graded on their performance. There are days when a few of the teachers won't even bother to show up! The particular day that we visited was right before a community wide festival, so that school day was even more casual than normal! Some of the students skipped lessons to rehearse their dance performances for the following day.

There was also plenty of physical activity. Can you find Katie?

However, the students were fascinated to meet us and practice their English! Some even followed us into multiple classrooms. For most of them, Melissa is the only farang (westerner) that they get to interact with on a regular basis. We basically stood at the front of the room and let them interview us.

Thai Press Conference

A captive audience

 They asked hard hitting questions, such as "What is your nickname?" and "What is your favorite fruit?" We had a few faux pas while being interviewed. Katie told them red was her favorite color, which is a political color in Thailand. And Amanda, while trying to speak in Thai, told them her favorite Thai food was green poop soup (instead of green curry). The kids LOVED that and repeated it the rest of the morning.

Not pictured: Feces

Afterward, we went around to the students in small groups and spoke with them in English. It was helpful to have pictures to point to, as sometimes things were lost in translation. The students were very shy, as most of us tend to be while learning a new language, but we tried our best to encourage them, as speaking English is a huge advantage in these countries.

Just add "teacher" to our long list of credentials!

 In our last class of the day, the students performed an adorable song and dance for us in Thai. The lyrics are about grilling a dead chicken and it was just so much fun to watch. These kids were fantastic!

Spot the camera hams!

Amanda's mini doppelganger

That night, some of Melissa's coworkers at her other school invited us out to a big dinner celebration, complete with karaoke and dancing!

Lots of arroy (delicious) fish in this part of the country.

Law-aw (beautiful) ladies

The whole gang.

This woman would not let us sit down!

We had a blast! It was so much fun to experience a night out with young locals rather than the usual array of western backpackers. The best part is we were able to turn in at the very reasonable hour of 10pm. Don't judge us, we had to rest up for the next day!

Because, you see, we have the most amazing timing. Without planning it, we were in Melissa's village for a huge cultural celebration that only takes place once each year! Villages and communities from all around Surin come to perform cultural dances and sell their wares.

Famous Thai Silk

A loom for making the silk

Every single one of these things were made of plastic straws.

It's hard to tell, but we are eating crickets. Yum!

While wandering around the grounds, we found a station that demonstrated making kanome tian, one of our favorite coconut desserts, literally meaning "candle treat. The girls were nice enough to show us how to make them.

Pre-steaming

They found us trying to fold the treats just hilarious!

It is kind of surreal being a farang in this particular part of Thailand. You are constantly being stared at and everyone wants to take a picture with you. It is really like being a celebrity. However, it made us feel a lot more comfortable taking pictures of them as well.

It was a nice long day of being exposed to plenty of Thai culture. We learned many things that we were not privy to during our previous three weeks in Thailand. It was a nice way to close out our time in that amazing country. Thank you so much Melissa!

Thank you for reading! Soon we will be able to update you on our Cambodian adventures!

To Laos and Back

Sah Bah Dee everyone! Much time has passed due to our time constraints, but we wanted to fit in a quick recap of our time in Laos, even though we are now in Cambodia. We are a little behind in our blogging timeline, but promise to catch up this week. Let's start, shall we?

The Mighty Mekong


Our journey into Laos began with a slow boat ride down the Mekong, a river that extends through the countries of Burma, China, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

We traveled along the river from Chiang Khong, Thailand to Luang Prabang, a northern Laos city. Traveling by slow boat takes around three days and two nights, but it is a much safer option than the speedboat, where they offer helmets and grant death wishes upon boarding. While the speedboat mimics those found in the lakes of the U.S., the slow boat is more reminiscent of American houseboats.

In addition to being a safer option, the slow boat offers a vast array of benefits, including:
 

 

 

 

Beautiful Scenery

An Eclectic Mix of Weary Travelers

And Us!

Lovely Luang Prabang

We had a blast meeting new faces which we saw continuously throughout our Laos journey. It was like one big backpacking family! In fact, many of our new friends also chose to stay at Spicy Laos, a backpacker haven in Luang Prabang. It has a cafe/bar that stays open all night, as well as a campfire, a pool table, beer pong, and lots of lounging.

As most bars and restaurants in Laos close at 11pm, we found Spicy Laos to be kind of the partying headquarters, first to our delight and then to our sleepy dismay. However, we added to the mayhem as much as possible. We especially bonded with a young British couple, Che and Alec, who are on a year long backpacking endeavor. We enjoyed drinks and dinner with them practically every night.

Notice Che's awesome monkey hat!

Per usual, we were very active during the day. We made quite an American impression on the other Westerners by cycling 60km (roughly 38 miles) to get to a well known waterfall spot, usually only reached by car or motorcycle.

Our long and winding bike road

We forgot to take pictures of ourselves, but here is the beautiful landscape!

The ride to the waterfalls was tough, considering our rented bikes were practically scrap metal and it was mostly uphill. However, once we got there, it was well worth the trek.

Per usual, we went Wat hunting. And, as always, it was astounding. We found one Wat in particular that had amazing views of the entire city.

When visiting the Wats, monks are everywhere! And a good deal of them are young boys. In many southeast Asian countries, the boys are encouraged and/or required to do a stint as a monk. It is considered an rite of passage and something not to be taken lightly. The period of time varies from country to country, but it is always a treat to see these little guys, who are usually very stoic, cut loose and laugh. These young monks found an abandoned cannon to play with.

Another amazing Wat. You can see why we Wat hunt all day.

Laos Munchies

Of course we have to tell you about the food! Laos and Thailand have many things in common when it comes to cuisine, including noodle soup, street carts, and curry. What makes Laos unique is the strong influence of Western food, thanks to the former French occupation. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we found the elusive sandwich!

Nom nom nom

 

 

 

Sandwich, Laos style.

Laos is also known for its delicious national dish: Laap. It is a sort of spicy meat salad, made with lots of spices and served with large lettuce leaves and sticky rice.

Food Nirvana

Tubing In Vang Vieng

After Luang Prabang, we took a wild mini bus ride down to Vang Vieng. Please, do not make this same mistake. Take a boat over the bus. ALWAYS.

Luckily, we survived and were able to participate in the permanent spring break that is Vang Vieng. We stayed at Spicy Laos once again, as they have several locations and we had so much fun at the first one. We were treated to a treehouse-esque bedroom, complete with mosquito net:

And a Laos style steam room, located within a raised tent:

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Vang Vieng, the main attraction is renting a tube and floating down a 3km portion of the river all day. Unfortunately, we were unable to bring along a camera, as there was an elevated risk of water damage, but we did take a pre-tubing picture:

Before. Note that we are spray paint free.

Of course, progress is impeded as the river is lined with an assortment of bars hoping to lure in customers with promises of free drinks, spray painted tattoos, and snake whiskey. The bartenders literally reel you in with rope tied to an empty water bottle. Nobody ever makes it to the end... But we did!!! Thanks to determination, careful planning, everyone telling us it couldn't be done, and a British friend with strong swimming arms, we covered all 3km AND hit up a fair amount of bars, all within the time restraint of 6pm (if you tube past 6pm, the rental place charges you an extra $10)!

The aftermath, complete with spray paint and partners in crime.

 Many people stay in this town for weeks, just partying along the river every day and night. But for us, one day was MORE than enough. It was time to head back to Thailand.


Kayaking to Thailand

You know what the worst part of backpacking is? The travel days. After the nightmare of a bus ride from Luang Prabang, we decided to try a new way of traveling: by kayak!

Unfortunately it was only for a few hours of the journey, not the whole trip. But it was nice to get some activity and fresh air!

We are so athletic.

Note the spray paint left over from tubing.

They encouraged us to jump off of rocks on our lunch break, which is always a lot of fun. Don't worry, it was deep enough to avoid serious injury.

Extra points for unique technique!

Although our visit to Laos was brief, we loved every second of it and highly recommend it to other travelers. The sunsets alone are worth a visit:

Khap Jai La Li for reading and we will continue soon with our stories from Melissa's Thai village...

The end. :)