It was great to see the Thai countryside and get to compare life there to life in the city a bit. We set off in these vans and I swear they were going 120 mph! Then I realized the fastest I've gone due to traffic in the city has been on motorbike and still probably only about 30 mph, haha. Even so, it took us about 3 hours to get there so we arrived late. We stood on this street corner like, "What now guys?" but Goi called one of her friends who drove her scooter over and we all spent the night at her house off campus.
Houses here almost make living feel like camping, you basically have the basic structure of a house (beautiful and Thai of course) with tile floors, a bedroom, and a bathroom. The kitchen is always outdoors and you ALWAYS remove shoes before entering. Near this persons house in particular is a bunch of chicken farms, her family and all the neighbors work as chicken pluckers/meat cutters etc. It was a little shocking to wake up and see 20 people massacreing chickens in the backyard, not gonna lie, haha. Oddly enough two of the comforts I hardly realized I'd missed so much were found at this place, I got my first hot shower in 2.5 months (WOW...just WOW) and I got to hold this kitten for about an hour solid. This kitten this family had ran over on accident. They're Buddhist and I think because they DIRECTLY contributed to harming this creature and it had done nothing to bother them before they felt like they should care for it. (Completely different than in the city, animal rights activists would have a heart-attack if they saw Bangkok) They broke its back legs and tail so it was just pathetic to watch. Apparently they've been taking it to a vet though and it should be able to fully recover. I slept like a rock because it was about 10 degrees cooler up there, there were no city noises and it was just so PEACEFUL.
The next day Goi took us to the campus church and after we went to her Sponsor family's house for lunch. After some great Thai food we went to nature parks nearby...one was basically mini-Niagra Falls. There were tons of these water falls and people could just swim around in them and slide off the edges because they were low enough. We braved walking across some of the bigger ones even though we had no swimsuits and made it across relatively dry. I was a little freaked out because before we started crossing about 3 girls told me they didn't know how to swim (not uncommon here, only about 50% of women swim) and if they fell I'd have to rescue them O.O. Being the queen of dog-paddle I was seriously concerned! After that park we went to this giant white buddha in the mountains that you had to seriously hike to. I'm still sore but it was totally worth the effort for the view.
That night we went out to the town by scooters and got food and came home around 10pm. I think I need a weekend to rejuvinate after my weekend, haha.
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