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Published: November 18th 2008
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Me and Morgan
Here we are in front of the Chinese-style temple in Sri Racha I met Morgan when we lived in Ban Phe since she was in the TEFL group before us that overlapped at Condochain for a couple weeks. Morgan is teaching in Sri Racha, which is about half an hour from Chonburi by bus. It was decided that I would meet up with her for dinner and to see the Loy Krathong festivities in Sri Racha because there is a pretty harbor there. I got to Sri Racha and was amazed at the difference in our cities. Sri Racha has a proper (clean!) downtown area, with actual restaurants and bars, a green park with pathways, and a harbor. I was immediately jealous! I was also glad to know that there was an escape from Chonburi not too far away.
After dinner, we walked toward the pier. There were people everywhere!! We went to one of the myriad stands selling krathongs of various shapes, sizes, and levels of intricacy, and picked out a pretty one with a big sprig of white and fuschia orchids coming out of it. The sky was lit up with fireworks and big white paper lanterns that are launched from the beach. The full moon was clear in the
sky and there was excitement in the air.
We made our way toward the end of the pier, past the carnival rides, food vendors, and large krathongs that were being judged in a contest. There is some type of large Chinese-looking shrine at the edge of the pier and we stopped there for a photo with our krathong before we let it go.
Morgan and I were perhaps the biggest Loy Krathong klutzes ever. We were trying to get down a rocky embankment, much to the concern (and possible consternation) of an official-looking man. The rocks were very slippery and I saw someone else take off their flip flops, so I decided that I would do the same. Well there were all these little clam shells jutting out from the rock, unbeknownst to me, and I sliced a good slit across the bottom of my big toe. It didn’t hurt that much at first, but it was a bleeder and it was difficult to give my full attention to the krathong wish-making process when I saw a good quantity of my blood pooling up in the rocks. We had trouble lighting the candle and incense due to the
wind, and we had to call in someone to help (see picture). I told Morgan to go ahead and set the krathong afloat while I snapped a picture. As she was making her way out to the edge of the rocks, a shell sliced her toe, too! We were barely suppressing profanities as Thai people were praying and making their wishes over their krathongs.
Because the celebration went a little late into the night, I stayed over at Morgan’s and got up really early to make it back to Chonburi. Thursday is my day to be at school to greet and have “small talk” with the children as they arrive, from 7:30 to 8:30 AM. This seems to be something new that was instituted this term for foreign teachers and the farangs that have been at the school for a while have been more than a little resistant to the idea. For that very reason I wanted to make sure to be there right on time for duty. I don’t think it’s such a big deal to do once a week, the only bummer about it is that my day is Thursday, when I also teach every period, so
it is a very long day. But other than that, it’s nice to greet the kids and parents when they get to school.
Anyway, Morgan flagged a motorbike taxi for me and I was off to the bus stop. I got on the bus no problem and told them several times that I wanted to get off at Chonburi Hospital and they said yes, yes, yes. I promptly fell asleep and when I awoke I was perplexed to see a semi-rural area out the window. I looked carefully for signs in English but nothing seemed familiar until I saw a sign for the airport in Bangkok!!!! Not a good sign. I hustled up to the front of the bus, where the driver and money collector looked at me and looked at each other, said “Chonburi!” and began to laugh, though not unkindly. They dropped me off in the middle of the superhighway and gestured for me to cross the highway and catch a bus going in the other direction. Easier said than done! No bus was going to stop on that highway- the speed was so fast. I almost cried because by that point there was no shot of
me making it back in time for duty (it was already 7:30) and I despaired of being able to even make it back in time for first period (8:50), not knowing how far from Chonburi I actually was. Eventually a van of workers picked me up and dropped me off at a legitimate bus stop and I got on the bus back to Chonburi, which I found out I had overshot by 20 kilometers. Not too bad, but not too good! When I arrived at school, it was about 8:40 or so and the morning assembly was still going on since they were announcing winners of a Loy Krathong coloring contest. I hid behind a mini-van until the assembly was over and then snuck in. I apologized profusely to the liaison teachers, Nuan and Joseph, but I don’t know for sure if the message got to the director or not. I hope so!
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vinny
non-member comment
boats and bikes
looks like a pretty harbor. more motorbiking, i love it.