This past weekend I enjoyed a two-night homestay with a kind and generous Thai family (pictured above with Berta). The father cooked a delicious spicy seafood meal for the first night, which I enjoyed with the mother (a Thai teacher), the daughter (who had great English, phew!), and the grandmother. The next morning, we (sans grandma) loaded into a van with a few other teachers, a 16-year old son, and a German exchange student, Berta.
The weekend of traveling began! We went to many wats (Buddhist temples), several markets (a couple were floating- see below), a garden, a museum, and a bed and breakfast. When we arrived at the bed and breakfast, two beautiful rainbows (ruung) stretched over the canal. We then crowded into a long boat and took a tour of the canal. Once night fell, the fireflies and the stars came out, and it was so breathtaking and magical! Yet, when I tried to pronounce firefly (hing hoi), I used the wrong tone and wound up saying something a bit dirty. Apparently, hoi can also mean shell, which is slang for... maybe somethings are best left unsaid.
We also ate. And ate. And ate. I tried seaworms (which really just looked like worms), duck with liver, fish with the head still attached, and lots more! I've tried about three times as many different kinds of fruits as I've had in my entire life. We also stopped at the birthplace of the original Siamese twins. I never made the connection Siamese=Siam=Thailand. At one wat, monk tied a sacred bracelet around my wrist and handed me a coin made out of sacred wood. I presented him with an orange robe that was blessed with chanting before the altar. I enjoyed being able to experience Buddhist customs like placing incense before a shrine, affixing bits of gold leaf to statues, and lifting a heavy metal elephant with my right ring finger for good luck and a fulfilled wish. All in all, it was an awesome weekend!
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