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Hey guys! It's been a while since I updated this thing. Quite a bit has happened... hopefully I can remember it all.
Since most of Thailand used to be part of Cambodia, there are many ruins scattered all over the countryside (in the wierdest of places, trust me). These ruins are made mostly of sandstone, and they are all over 1000 years old. Coming from Canada, where the oldest structure is less than 200 yrs old, this was quite difficult to comprehend.
Last weekend my family, and Ikue (the Japanese volunteer teacher) and some students took the school van and made the 300 km trek across two Thai provinces to visit "Phanom Rung". This ruin is the largest and most popular of all Khmer ruins in Thailand. I have been told it resembles Angkor Wat, but it smaller and better preserved. I will post lots of pictures for you all to look at, but trust me, it is more beautiful in real life than in the photos. It was simply breathtaking to walk through the ruins and think that the king of Khmer (Cambodia) lived there 1000 yrs ago. Everywhere you looked the scenery was picture perfect.
After
walking through Phanom Rung Ikue and I stumbled upon a temple where we offered flowers to the Buddah, got blessed by the monks, decorated a statue with gold foil and got our fortune told. A monk blessed us by sprinkling us with water from a broom while we were bowed down in front of him. He then gave us a piece of branded yellow string which you tie on your wrist - a symbol of someone giving you goodluck in Thai culture. And of course, but fortune fortold that I will have good luck in the future, but I will have to wait a bit for it. Haha I'm fine with that!
At a smaller ruin that we visited after the temple and Phanom Rung, Pa Song found a turtle in the ruins somewhere. We all got babypowder and wrote our initials on its shells and he let it go in the lake nearby. Turtles are believed to have long lives, and if you find one and do the same as Pa Song, it is believed that you will have a long life too. There are many good luck omens like that in Isan and Thai culture. Today a
Phanom Rung: Doorways
On May 7 or 8th each year the sun sets and illuminates this series of doorways. Pretty amazing for being 1000 years old and everything big long snake slithered across Ikue and I's path in the middle of school, so maybe I am really lucky!
But anyways, on Sunday my family and my uncle and my cousins (Dee and Ec) took me to a temple made of a million bottles in Surin province. It is actually more like 6 temples and there was definitely more than 1 000 000 bottles. I only took one picture b/c I don't think it is repectful to take pictures of relgious ceremonies and stuff like that. I don't think the monks need another "Farang" taking photos of them!
We also happened to go to the Cambodian border. I didn't know we were going beforehand so I didn't bring my passport (yeah yeah yeah I know you're supposed to carry your passport with you at all times, blah blah blah). So I got about 200 m into the country and then I had to stay at the immigration point with Mama Tu. I didn't mind b/c if I did have my passport I wouldn't have went anyways b/c they would have made me buy a visa, and I would have lost my 60 day tourist visa for Thailand.
I got cool pic with the boarder guard though.
School is going great... I've finally found my "groove" with this teaching thing... but I still can't imagine making a career out of it! I have so much respect for teachers now!
My family is doing really great. Mama Tu is as lovely as ever, and Pa Song is really very kind. Every morning him and I share eggs - he eats the whites b/c he is diabetic, and I eat the yellows b/c I hate the whites. It's quite sweet actually. He also told me that he is happy that I eat dinner with him, b/c usually he "eats single" - Mama Tu is on a diet (she really doesn't need to be!) and Pi-Kok eats earlier. I am really going to miss my Thai family here! They really worry about me traveling to BKK alone (I know, ANOTHER set of parents worrying about me!!!) but I will be fine. I promised them already I will come and stay a weekend here before I head up to Laos in July.
I have a train ticket booked for June 2nd, so I will get in to BKK around
midnight. I will then have two days to spend in BKK before Jeremy gets in at Don Maung airport on July 4th around 9pm. I'm planning on seeing a movie, getting a haircut, getting fake eyelashes (oooh yeah), getting a massage and having a Starbucks coffee. I'm over my sugar cravings now, and I really think I'm going to miss Isan (NE Thailand) food. I love all the food they eat here, and I have only had an upset stomach once! I am going to miss going to the market everyday, buying fresh fish, fruit and vegetables, and learning how to cook Thai food. I'm especially going to miss drinking warm soy milk and eating fresh fruit in the morning for breakfast. The longer I stay here the more I realize that this is paradise. This is the type of lifestyle I want to live, so it's no wonder I want to stay here longer and longer and longer. I am very happy here. I can't think of any other place in the world I would want to be right now.
Other news: I am learning lots of Thai, I can sing a Thai song (Chang Chang Chang...) and
Phanom Rung: Monks
Even though this is a Hindu temple, there were many monks there. am learning some Thai dancing. Pi-kok has offered to teach me how to drive a motorbike, and Pa-Song said if I stay longer I can drive the car, but I know my limits!!! I almost forgot how to drive a bicycle in the yard, nevermind drive a motorized vehicle on the wrong side of the street!
This Friday the school is going to throw a party for the volunteers, so I am looking forward to that. On Saturday I will go with my family to Ubon Ratchithani (sp?) and then to Laos.... I'll bring my passport this time but hopefully I won't lose my visa. I think Thais have a better relationship with Laos than Cambodia, so maybe they can pull some strings. It should be a good weekend... a sad one b/c it is my last one here, but good nonetheless.
OH... and tonight Pi- Kok and I went for a Korean BBQ (there is a picture of one in my earlier blogs) and she told me that not only am I her first forgeiner friend, but I am the first forgiener she has ever talked to! And she even lives in Bangkok! The same goes for
her parents! I then realized that most people here have never seen a female "farang" (forgiener)... male forgieners are more common b/c they like to marry Thai women, but females never come here. I guess that makes the stares and whispers a little easier to take. I'll explain more about it when I get home, but it really is something to be stared at WHEREVER you go, have people come up to me and touch my skin, and ask to have pictures with me. Looking at my photos, I haven't really tanned too much, but I didn't expect the kind of attention I am getting. Although it is in good spirit, it is a bit difficult to get used to feeling like a three headed dog when you do ANYTHING in the village.
So all in all, I am very happy here. I'm not breaking as many cultural rules as I used to, and the culture-shock of living in a small village has definitely wore off a bit. When I first got here I really had a hard time adjusting - I felt like a lobster that was thrown in to a pot o boiling water. But now I
Cambodia Border
I could have ran across in to Cambodia... the gaurds didn't even have guns or anything learned about the lifestyle, and I'm loving it. It is really great here and I wish you all had the opportunity to see it first hand. I am very lucky.
Stay tuned! I love you all lots! Take care,
Raylene
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Brock
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Awesome...
Awesome Raylene...sounds like a very cool place. I'll give you some news from home that is crucial/important...the Oilers are on the verge of going to the Stanley Cup Finals (lead the series against the Ducks 3-0). Alrighty...enough of this western corporate sports-ism. Have a good one. Cheers. Brock