San Kamphaeng

The last weekend in January Fang and I went to San Kamphaeng, a royal hot springs site about 20km outside of Chiang Mai. The whole area around San Kamphaeng is full of little private hot spring spas, and San Kamphaeng is like a public park that uses them as well. People camp there and picnic and the like.

There are two little geysers that are constantly going, and apparently they're 105 degrees. Wasn't clear but I'm pretty sure they're using Celsius. What's really cool is that they pipe the water from the ground into little tubs where the locals have put hooks along the sides to cook eggs. They have a little stand that sells both regular and quail eggs (the latter of which are crazy popular and very tasty), and there's a sign right near that tells you both in Thai and English how long to cook your eggs. Then there's a little man-made stream that runs through this park that people sit along the edge in and dangle their feet. The farther away from the source, the more it cools off so it's like there are tiers of hotness to sit along. It's quite cozy to sit there and laze away an afternoon with your feet in spa-like warm mineral water. 

It wasn't a very long, or a very eventful day but it was really pleasant to just get away and soak my feet for a while.

90 days to Georgia

Officially have bought my ticket home! My visa is up in Thailand as of march 28, and I have seven days after that to leave the country. So I'm officially flying out of Bangkok on April 2. 

Our last week with the students is either the last week of February or the first week of March (as always, we are getting conflicting reports). Armed with that knowledge, I arranged for my friend Deanne to come visit me at the end of my stay in Thailand. My last day at Chakkham Khanathon school will be March 14 (there's grading and other preparations after finals), and I'll be meeting Deanne in Chiang Mai on March 15. We don't really have a bunch of plans set yet, but there are a couple of places I've wanted to see. We'll spend a couple of days in Chiang Mai, and then hopefully we'll be going to Sukothai (cool ruins), Ayutthaya (more cool ruins), Kanchanaburi (neat scenery), and finally we'll spend a couple of days in Bangkok before we fly out. 

Thankfully I was able to arrange my trip home with a stop in Osaka for a couple of days. I'll land there early on the morning of April 3, and fly out mid afternoon on April 6. I'll land in Georgia early April 7. I can't wait!

Doi Inthanon

It took me the better part of two hours to figure out where we were headed. Because, you know, it's easier to puzzle it out than just ask... 

The trip started at a quarter to 8 and we changed from the light blue to the yellow songtaew after the usual obligatory stop at a Wat. Not sure what yellow means but there we were.

Anyhow, we wound our way up the mountain. Alli and char were going to come but bowed out, so it's just me and 12 thai teenagers. As scary as it seemed at first, I had a blast and even though I was tired I was glad I agreed to go. I got only about 4 hours of sleep Sunday night so that made the rest of the day interesting...

We stopped first at a sort of garden halfway up the mountain. The views were beautiful but I noticed that even in the country/mountains there was a brown haze over everything. The flowers, though, were enough to distract me. There were cherry blossoms and chrysanthemums and orchids and all kinds of things I don't know the name for, but they were beautiful. We walked around and took about a hundred pictures (because that's what you do when you visit anywhere, the Thai people are firm believers in pics or it didn't happen!) and then got back in the songtaew. We stopped next at a nursery of sorts. It looked OTOP sponsored, with special areas for things like growth and demonstration of vanilla and Chinese tea and barley and other plants. Cue more photos. There was a little rose garden by a pavilion where we ate lunch. The roses were huge and smelled great. The kids had made some fried noodles and bought some chicken sausage. It was delicious and filling, and as usual, lacking in vegetables. 

I forgot to mention that on the way to the nursery, part of the road was absolutely terrifying. There were a couple of areas where there were huge holes (think car-sized) on one part of the road because the road had literally fallen off the side of the mountain. And there were humongous potholes that the songtaew had to slowly wind around.

After that visit, we went about 15 minutes back down the road and stopped again at some sort of orchid park. It was overlooking a cute pond. There were a bunch of fake large concrete orchids that were built as markers for the real orchids that were scattered among huge boulders. Cue about a thousand more photos. I went and found a large comfy looking boulder and sat for a while as the kids wandered around, and after about 20 minutes they pulled me down to join them in a different area. 

We left there and went to a place called Small Farm. It was what it sounded like, with a kind of attraction-parkish vibe. They had ostriches and horses and angus steer and sheep. There were babies! A baby sheep you could feed with a milk bottle, a couple of foals that were very shy, and 

Iittle piglets that were striped and adorable. And very smart, they kept trying to sneak out of the pen every time the door was opened. After about 180 more photos, that was it. We climbed back in the songtaew and made our way back down the mountain and came home. 

All in all, even though I was sleep deprived and felt sick at times on the way due to humongous potholes and curvy mountain roads, I had a great day. I'm glad the kids invited me. 

T minus 83 and counting

This Christmas was possibly one of the best Christmases ever. I'm not talking gifts, and I'm not really talking amazing experiences because not a whole lot happened. Part of the awesomeness may have been fueled by my homesickness and my loneliness here in Thailand. Whatever the reason, it was a fantastic Christmas spent with some of my favorite people (because I am a complete sap and also because I think y'all are the only ones who read this...), my family.

I flew 20 hours from Chiang Mai to Seoul to New York City to surprise my parents at my sister's apartment, and boy was it a surprise, despite my tired brain's efforts to give it away. I spent the week of Christmas there, and even through slight jet lag it was a relaxing and fun time with the family. It was so great to see dad, who I haven't really spoken to (since video chats aren't an option, and emails are only slightly effective). Even though Kathryn and mom and I speak every week, seeing them in person is definitely better. And Alex, who I also rarely speak to, was also a joy and a treasure as usual. We mostly wandered around the city shopping or relaxed in Kat and Alex's apartment. We went to the Nutcracker on Christmas Eve. We had our traditional fondue that night. Gift giving Christmas Day was fantastic, because I could actually contribute this year! And then we watched our traditional family Buffy marathon. A great nerdy Christmas, who could ask for more?

After the arduous 20 hour flight back, just as I was getting used to the new time zone, I spent the next three days (which included New Year's) sick in bed. Lack of sleep and dry air and sinus/cold stuff apparently don't mix. I got better, though just in time to start work yesterday. Yay?

So now there are 8 weeks left of school. Half of my classes have gotten impromptu tests as review (and so I can get a jump on my end of year grades), and the other half have gotten free time today so I could enter last semester's grades. Already I am prepared for holidays in the near future. There will be no classes next Friday (the 10th) because Chakkham hosts a yearly half-marathon, that I have been encouraged to but will not be running in. There is also a New Year's party. The 16th is a school holiday (I am not yet sure of the reason), and the next day I may or may not have classes. I'm not sure if all of my students will be at some camp or if only half of them will be. So that's three days in just the next two weeks alone. Valentine's day will undoubtedly come with fewer classes, and who knows what other fun holidays or events will pop up. 

March 12 is my tentative outta-here date. Deanne is coming to see me (YAAAAAAAAY) and we'll spend the next 2 weeks or so bumming around Thailand. I may or may not be able to afford a stopover in Japan on the way home, and I estimate being back in Macon around April 10. I guess we'll see...