Everything up till now

Ok so I haven't been blogging lately, which means I have a lot to catch up on. Singapore was the last time I bogged after there we went to Thailand. I said goodbye to Naisa, a friend that had been living just outside of Bangkok in the province of Nonthaburi. She left Thailand to go to South Africa where her parents are currently living. Luke and I stayed with her all week until she left, then we hopped on the train and headed up to Chiang Mai (possibly our favorite city in Thailand).

Sightseeing was not our only reason for travelling to Chiang Mai; we had also decided to get married. We chose Chiang Mai because it is the Bahai community I am closest with and they could help us prepare a Bahai wedding quickly. So within 2 weeks we planned a wedding and hitched the knot as they say. We stayed in a beautiful guest house for 3 nights before moving onto Luang Prabang, Laos. Laos is very beautiful but a little more pricey than Thailand. Oh man the coffee and the bread (Luke also really liked Laos beer)! I suppose those aspects make up for the extra cost. The handy crafts in Laos are much more rich in colour and less vibrant than Thai stuff. The people are friendly but unfortunately there is alot more in your face poverty than in Thailand. After 4 days we were ready to leave and returned to Thailand with fresh 30 day visas.

2 days after our return we participated in a Thai Bahai youth camp hosted by the Chiang Mai community at a retreat outside of Chiang Mai. The
grounds were beautiful and the rooms were like little cabins: very cool! We ate well and studied a lot. Luke got the opportunity to study a little more about the Bahai Faith and I got the opportunity to drive an enormous van with a four speed column shifter into Chiang Mai one afternoon.

After the 3 day camp we moseyed on back the Chiang Mai and met up with some people we had seen at the camp who happened to be hanging around Chiang Mai for a while. We went to a wat in Doi Suthep just a little west and into the mountains. We climbed 300 steps to get to the wat and it was beautiful despite the tourist infestation. The next day we and 2 of the visiting friends Sandra and Omid, went on a package tour (Luke and I would never do this kind of thing alone, but we really enjoyed the company of Sandra and Omid) to an elephant show, Karen village, snake show, orchid farm, and a monkey school. The elephant show was quite enjoyable. The elephants looked well taken care of and fairly happy. The Karen village was the best part of the tour for Luke and I. I was able to speak to some of the women and as a result made a few friends among the community. One lady even let me hold her baby and another fed us lunch. The village is actually a safe place for refugees from the Myanmar border, and in return for free food from the government of Thailand they have to look after the village as a tourist destination. From the outside it seems like a fair exchange. The snake farm was disgusting, the snakes were poorly cared for and obviously in distress. The show involved the snakes being provoked for the excitement of the crowd of 6 people. I immediately wanted to leave the moment we got there but I endured for the others, although, non of us enjoyed it. The orchid farm was a pit stop really just to eat lunch, an expensive endeavour even just to eat lunch. A little rattled from the snake show we were not sure whether or not to go to the monkey school, but we decided to give it a shot. With luck it was a nice place where the animals were not only taken care of, but trained to pick coconuts for the Thai government. All of the monkeys were orphaned by poachers. After the monkey school we all went back to town had a coffee and said goodbye to Sandra and Omid who took the train to Ayutthaya.

We hung out in Chiang Mai with Erfan, Ben, and Maya for a few days until unplanned by us we all left on the same day. Luke and I finally got to go up to Om Koi on the old blue bus. On the bus ride up I felt a sense of comfort that only can be described as going home. The scenery is beautiful all the way up into the mountains. Luke felt good and couldn't stop looking out the windows at the horizon he was very excited to see the town that I had fallen in love with. Our first few days were uneventful we did little more than crawl out of bed everyday to drink coffee and eat. I took Luke to the restaurant in town and we ate my favorite dish phad-see-eyou (broad rice noodles fried in brown sauce with meat and green vegetables). We continued to eat at that restaurant everyday trying various meals. Also we often ate at a street side food vendor which was more like a woman in front of her home with a dozen big pots of nearly fresh food consisting of various curries, fried meats, and the ever present khao neow (sticky rice). We found ourselves going almost daily to JT the one corner store in all of Om Koi, just to note it is not on a corner. On friday the 3rd Luke and I went to the highschool where I introduced him to O, the teacher I worked with. We ate kway teow (noodle soup) at the school canteen with O and made plans to see her again later the next week. At this time in Thailand there is a big festival called Loy Gratohng (a grathong is a floating ornamental latern that they send down the river with all of the bad luck they have had in the year with the hopes of obtaining good luck for the year to come), held during the first full moon in November. Chiang Mai celebrated on the weekend of the 3,4,5 while Om koi celebrated on the 5,6,7. Luke and I did not go to Chiang Mai because we were afforded the opportunity to join 2 of my closest friends from the dorm to their village. Those of you who have read the rest of my blog know Yung Geow already as I have been there twice before. Taking Luke there was something I had planned to do because I had promised Wilaiwan's grandmother that I would bring him the next time I came to visit. Just to refresh, the journey to Yung Geow is a 11 km bus ride paired with a 4 km hike through the sparse but beautiful woods. 4 km might sound long to some but it really is only 1 hours walk. The scenery along the way is enough to take your mind off of walking and the company is always enjoyable (even if you don't speak Karen). I had told Luke the night before we left that it was going to be a once in a lifetime experience and that he should be excited. When we ascended the last uphill km and finally reached Yung Geow all Luke could say was how beautiful it was. Coming up the path to Wilaiwan and Satit's home we were greeted by their father and 2 sisters (one of whom is pregnant). I am so fortunate to have so many families in the world that almost everywhere I go feels like going home. It felt good to see my family again we greeted each other with such warm and friendly smiles that others would have thought years of friendship had existed between us. When you are a guest in the village there is little you are allowed to do for yourself. The first night we ate a delicious pumpkin stew with rice (Luke's first time eating with his hands, he had a good time). After dinner we walked over to their grandparents house where I saw my favorite lady Pai Igan (Wilaiwan's Grandmother) she was elated to see Luke but saddened when I told her that this would be my last visit because I could not get a Thai visa (the regulations changed in october making it very difficult for volunteers who aren't associated with companies to stay in Thailand for more than 3 months) Wilaiwan had to translate for me because Pai Igan doesn't understand Thai let alone english. Satit took Luke to see their grandfather in the other room and it looked like he had a good time. Fortunately we visited the village at rice picking time, so the next day we went with the family to the field where we helped thresh and pick the rice. They cut the rice and bundle it then after 3 days of drying in the sun they return to the field to thresh it. This is the part we saw, we helped but really we just tried for the experience, because they wouldn't let us help. Luke and I actually spent most of the day lying around in the shack for resting behind the field. The field is 2 km from Yung Geow down hill on the way but uphill all the way back, wooh wee! Our final night in the village we went to the grandparents house again to say our final goodbyes. It was very sad for me and I think for them too. I will not see any of them again for about 2 years or so, if I can make it back to Thailand again by then. In the morning we left feeling ready to get back to a better bed and a good nights sleep. We reached the salat (bus stop) with only 40 minutes to wait for the next car, when the car appeared it was full to the brim already with 16 people 2 on the roof. So like any good Thai citizen we added 6 to the pile, I got to sit inside and Luke got to ride on the back. We arrived to Om Koi with thoughts of lying down and maybe even a nap.

Sunday the 5, the day we got back and also the first day of Loy Grathong. Sometimes being the obvious white people in town you have to participate even when you don't feel like it. The neighbors invited us to come and see the finished archway that they had been working on all week in preparation for Loy Grathong. So we sauntered on up to see what the fuss was about. It was beautifully decorated made up of bamboo, dried leaves, some christmas lights and other shiny stuff. In Thailand they have paper lanterns that work like hot air balloons and resemble a garbage bag shape without the corners. At the bottom there is a wheel that is soaked in kerosene that you light on fire to send your lantern aloft. On this night and the nights to come people all over the town sent many of these lanterns in the air, which looks very beautiful. When we reached the archway 3 people were in the process of lighting one such lantern. This lantern, however, had fireworks attached to the wheel (which we have since seen done safely) which were lit prematurely, before the air in the lantern was hot enough to carry it into the air. As you might suppose the aforementioned bamboo and dried leaves were directly in the path of the slowly rising, fire spewing, lantern of carnage. We all watched with concern as the drops of fire rained down on the dry palm fronds that covered the archway. It looked for a moment as though the archway had withstood the aerial assault unscathed. That moment soon passed. The fire began slowly at first, as did the reaction of the crowd below, but began to spread quickly which resulted in buckets of water being hastily thrown into the air in the general direction of the fire. A bamboo ladder was erected onto the archway and a brave soul clambered up to remove flammable materials from the path of the blaze. Bowls, glasses, and any receptacle of any size were passed up the latter and fruitlessly emptied onto the fire, regardless of its proximity to the now burning power and phone lines. It was at that moment of despair that our heroine in a blue apron scurried down the hill, a large fire extinguisher in each hand. She passed one up the ladder and the first guy to get his hands on it promptly let 'er rip, blasting the fire and the poor fellow above him on the archway. Thus the day was saved, though the phone line was cut and the power briefly flickered out. I like the foreigner that I am took a short video of the fire, but not the heroic rescue. From this Luke and I learned that in Thailand it is always safety first. Needless to say we went directly home and went to bed. The next night Satit took us down to look at the place where they float the grathongs, after which we walked through town to look at the decorations. We slowly made our way to the field in town where the festivities were to be held. There were food stalls, some shopping stalls, balloons, muay thai and performance stage. Luke and I hadn't eaten because we were waiting for the food stalls, so we ate hot dogs, sausages, and tiny spring rolls before going to watch 2 kids beat the crap out of each other. After satisfying our need for violence we decided to grab some khanom ban (sweet bread) and then some roti from our friend only to head back to the Bahai center to chill out. The final night of Loy Grathong Luke and I got a surprise, the kids at the center had made us grathongs of our own. So we went down to the river again with 20 kids to send our bad luck down the river. We headed up to the main street to watch the parade that was far to long for a town the size of Om Koi. Many of the students from the Bahai center were in the parade, some dressed in traditional hill tribe clothing and others just dressed up. 45 minutes later the parade had finished and Luke's arm was tired from taping the whole thing. We scampered back down the hill to the Bahai center where we rested for a little while, until we felt ready to brave the crowd again. When we arrived at the field fireworks and flaming lanterns by the hundreds were being shot into the air (really quite beautiful). Luke and I were hungry and so snacked on hot dogs and such. We decided not to stay very long and went back to the Bahai center to get a good night's sleep.

Loy Grathong now over things seem back to normal even the morning after. It is now wednesday and we await Yai's arrival, but don't know what time she will come home. Luke and I spend most of the day chillin', we check our e-mail at the high school and eat lunch at the restaurant. Later in the evening Ginny asks us to teach english so we come up with a plan, mostly games and songs. When class is finished it is time for prayer. Yai is back so prayer is especially beautiful; Ginny lets the kids get away with a lot more than Yai does. Luke and I stay up way too late talking, so it is hard to wake up in the morning for prayer. I unexpectedly became very sad about this being my last day for a long long time in Om Koi. I cried a few times and tried to go back to sleep and ended up waking up later than I planned which again upset me. I had a plan to go to the elementary school where I taught to see Lek, the teacher there that I really like. Then I wanted to go to the high school to have lunch with O and I thought I wouldn't be able to do either but I pulled myself together and we managed to do both with no difficulty. All in all the day was mostly good with patches of sadness.

Back in Chiang Mai next post pictures I promise.