Explanation of pics is below...
Huay Kaew Waterfall
The temple with white memorials to Thai royalty
Doi Suthep field trip
These last three are actually from my birthday/Valentine's Day.
This past Saturday I taught one young student in the morning and then I chaperoned a field trip in the afternoon. The field trip was actually very nice, although young kids, young being below 8 years old, wear me out! Three teachers and nine students went on this trip to have a picnic at a waterfall, Huay Kaew Waterfall, and visit Doi Suthep, a Buddhist temple on the top of the nearest mountain to Chiang Mai. The waterfall was free and much more open to the public than the one Joey and I ventured to the weekend before. So it is a popular spot on a nice weekend around lunchtime. The school packed us lunches, ham and cheese croissant sandwiches (the French had some influence here), strawberries, tuna fish sandwiches, and some chips. The kids also brought food; one student’s family has a bakery so he brought some delicious cake.
But before, during and after lunch the students all had to play in the water. At least four students got wet, with several slipping into the water “accidentally” more than a few times. However, the students were all boys, so this wasn’t unexpected.
After playing in the water and eating, we packed up to continue up the mountain to Doi Suthep. Most of the students on the field trip were Korean, and they had never been to the temple. Korean students come to Thailand during their school breaks to learn English because English lessons are cheaper in Thailand than in Korea. So the temple was an eye opening experience for most of the students. And the 300 step up to the top wore them out briefly, which was nice. After the steps, the students were rewarded with ice cream bought up top. The people here love ice cream!
On Sunday, Joey and I had a bagel at a new breakfast spot. Mine was spinach with cream cheese. I haven’t had a bagel since the States, so it was a nice change from yogurt, cereal and fruit. After breakfast, we headed to two new temples outside the walled city. One temple had stark white memorials to past kings and queens of Thailand. The other temple was in the middle of a wooded area. The temple complex also had a few reservoirs on its borders. Both of these created several nice walks. The alters for the temple were underground, so we went through the tunnels to see the alters. This is atypical. The Thais are short, small people, so Joey and I had to be very careful about our heads. It was very easy to bump your noggin.
On our way from the wooded wat back to the main street we went by a few restaurants we would like to try at some point. One of them is a Mediterranean restaurant on a small soi. Once on the main road we headed to the city’s main university to cut through to another street. The campus is rather large, about the size of an average college campus in the States, and has some very nice looking academic and sports facilities. One of the unique things about the campus is its clock tower, which is located in the middle of a rotund.
Once on the other main road, we headed up the mountain to Huay Kaew waterfall. I went to this waterfall the day before, but I didn’t really get a chance to see it and Joey did not visit it at all. It was much more enjoyable to just be there with Joey instead of 11 other people. We scrambled up the waterfall with some cut fruit we bought from a vendor and enjoyed our snack while watching the water run over the cliffs above us. I had pineapple and Joey had watermelon. In the States I won’t eat pineapple, but I love the fresh pineapple here. I am not sure why, but the pineapple here just tastes better. I still won’t touch watermelon.
For a late lunch, we tried a new, wonderful place called Smoothie Blues just outside the walled city. There we had two different Mexican dishes (mine was a spinach enchilada that was great), a blue cheese green salad, a mixed fruit shake, and an ice cream milkshake. I think the meal was about $15 and it was delicious after a day of biking around the city.
In the evening, we ate our way through the Sunday Night Market and browsed through all the goods lining the streets. One of the more unique things we tried was a waffle in the shape of a fish, and the fish was stuffed with a chocolate mixture. It was delicious.
This week was full of work and preparations for our trip to Cambodia. I bought malaria pills, mosquito repellant and travel snacks. We even made brownies for the road. We leave on Monday for Cambodia, but first we travel to Bangkok to pick up Joey’s aunt, Gail. We fly down tomorrow to Bangkok.
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