Road Trippin'

"It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark...and we're wearing sunglasses." - The Blues Brothers

Last weekend I was invited to go on a road trip with some other teachers from my school. One teacher's daughter was a medical student in Hat Yai, a town way in the south of Thailand. She was picking her car up in Nakhon Pathom and bringing it back down to school. The plan was to drive down over three days and then we would fly back. We picked up another teacher and the four of us hit the road.

As I've mentioned several times before, Thais are very laid-back when it comes to time and deadlines. This seems to apply to road trips as well. Our first day was very relaxed. We left late morning and stopped every hour or two. Sometimes for food, sometimes for coffee, sometimes at temples, sometimes for the bathroom. No rush getting to where we needed to go.

Big Buddha

We stopped for the night in Kuiburi, a rural fishing town. A few things I learned about fishing:.

-         Shrimp are grown on farms. Isn't that fun?

-         Squid are attracted to green light. The fisherman will wait till dark, then shine green light from their boats. The squid rise to the surface and are then caught. Kind of reminded me of this .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Esh4W3dfI.

The teachers had family friends who owned a resort there. They were gracious enough to let us stay there for the night and took us on a boat tour at a nearby national park. Pretty cool.

The next day the trip was more of the same with frequent stops along the way. In the afternoon we stopped at a Buddhist monastery. I didn't take any photos (thought it might be a little rude) but it was one of the coolest places I've seen here. The monastery was tucked away on this mountain and there were monks and nuns meditating throughout. Middway up the mountain was a giant boat. Just a giant boat on the side of the mountain. It's a serene space to help the monks meditate, with boat acting as a giant metaphor. I'm not quite sure what the metaphor is but it's a metaphor.

I learned that it is very common for Thais to stop at temples while traveling long distances. They pay their respect to Buddha and pray for a safe journey. I like that.

We stopped later that day at Pattalung. This is another small town that borders a large lake. What's unique about it is that the lake is filled with lotus flowers. We walked around the pier at night but most of the lotuses were already closed because it was so late.

The next morning we awoke at 6:00 AM for a boat tour of the lake. With the sun up for hardly up for an hour, the lotuses were in full bloom. We cruised around the lake soaking in the scenery. I'd love to start every morning like this.

We grabbed some quick coffee and breakfast and were on the road for the last stretch. By the time we arrived in Hat Yai, we had only two hours before our flight. Since we hardly had any time, we just got food and headed to the airport.

Hat Yai is a big shopping destination for Sourthern Thais and Malaysians. It has lost popularity recently because of some violence from the combating tribes in the southern provinces. The daughter deadpanned, "Yeah, instead of it being a tourist destination it's more of a terrorist destination." Gotcha..

This was my first time flying domestically in Thailand. So I was slightly anxious that our plane left in 50 minutes when we got in line for security. But five minutes later we got through security, so I really should stop worrying about these things. I was surprised that the airport was packed with Muslims. Even though Thailand is a Buddhist country, the south is very unique with Islam being the dominant religion. The place was full of Muslim families and friends sending off their loved ones.

Anyway, our plane was boarding and we still had to go through another security checkpoint (Still don't know why we had to go through security again. It was literally the exact same check as the first one). We hurried to our gate only to see that the plane had just landed. Like I said, I've still got to stop worrying about this stuff.

Short hour and half flight and we were back! Good weekend.

Movember

Most Thai men do not have facial hair. Socially in Thailand, not shaving makes you look lazy and unkempt. Normally I shave every day when school is in session. But I'm on break, I'm gonna let the beard shine for a bit.

Anyway, the kid I tutor one day realized that I had a small stuble. Quite honestly, it may be the first scruff he's ever seen. He broke into a grin and touched my facial hair. He burst out laughing and quickly both hands were massaging my chin. After this happened in two subsequent lessons, I'm resigning myself to shaving daily. It's just becoming too distracting in a lesson. We'll be going over shapes and he'll look up at me, start giggling, and start scratching my cheeks. Awful disruption.

April 11th is a very special day. My oldest homeboy Jon touches down in Thailand! We'll have a week of travel up north to Chiang Mai for Songkran (Thai new year) and then down to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. The blog might have to collect some dust until then.

That day also marks my 6-month Thaiversary. Time's flying!

Mark