To the Grand Canyon of Thailand

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My Balat (boss) asked me if I would like to take a trip with her and her family and not one to say no to my Balat I gave a resounding yes to this adventure. I didn’t know what it was going to be like to travel with her and her family but her being one of my favorite people in the village I was sure it was going to be interesting.



Now when she said we were going with her family I didn’t realize it meant her ENTIRE family. Bright and early she picked me up and brought me to her house (she doesn’t live in KuKaSing) and we loaded up her truck. Her mother and brother were driving seperately so it was just me, her sister, her sister’s daughter and Balat for the start of this journey.



Off we went in the direction of Ubon Ratchasima. Now spending hours and hours with a 9 year old may be my hell, but as luck would have it this particular 9 year old really wasn’t that bad at all, in fact she was almost cute. After a few hours of driving we stopped off at Lan Hin Taek National Park. It was beautiful and after eating a quick lunch we decided to take a hike through the park. This surprised me a bit, seeing as most people in this country are not the biggest fan of hiking around in the middle of the day, but I was excited. The hike was quite pretty, there was even an area that had a bunch of bats zooming all over the place. On top of the mountain we had been climbing we have a beautiful view of Laos.



We hit up a second national park which was even more beautiful than the first. It had huge stone boulder “sculptures” that were labeled mushrooms because that is exactly what they looked like. They were very similar to the ones I had seen in Khon Kaen but even grander. I wondered how exactly they had gotten here and were formed as they were formed, glaciers? Ice age?



Our last destination before meeting up with the rest of her family was the Grand Canyon of Thailand. Sam Phan Bok apparently resembles America’s Grand Canyon but since I’ve never been to America’s version I can’t honestly claim one way or the other. Either way it really was amazing with a beautiful view. We hopped from one boulder to the next as the wind whipped at us. While we were doing this we ran into more of my balat’s family. Her family was highly confused by my presence, not because they didn’t know she was bringing someone but because they all thought she was bringing a boyfriend not a white girl that works for her. We all had a good laugh at this, which continued into the night as the story was repeated a bunch of times to anyone and everyone, including when they all introduced me.



That evening at the resort we all had a grand dinner with the entire family… and me. It was really a great time, her family was so welcoming and kind. I did my best to speak Thai with everyone and as always when I meet new Thai people they always think my Thai is so grand so I can’t deny the fact that it was nice to hear how great my Thai was.



After a delicious dinner naturally the karaoke was brought out and with it came dancing. It was someone’s birthday and being the token white person I was instructed to lead the Happy Birthday song which I did with gusto. Cake and more dancing followed and eventually it was time to go to bed. The next morning in true Thai vacation style we headed back the way we came and five hours later I was once more back at my village.

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