The First Few Weeks Back in Thailand

Weekend 1 – Back in Thailand! – Kho Samet Island

On our first weekend back to Thailand (a 3 day one at that), 18 teachers (some new, some returning, some over 50, most under 30) headed off to good old Kho Samet Island. We stayed in bungalows on the beach, body surfed in the waves, played ultimate Frisbee, and ate a lot of good seafood at the ocean-side restaurants.
...good old buckets on the beach!

The first night we all went out dancing and doing chin-ups for free drinks. The second night we played guitars on the beach and sang/mumbled along. The third night we were so tired everyone went to bed by 8:00!


Weekend 2 – ANOTHER 3 day weekend! – Surfing in Phuket

Saturday morning, Spencer and I hopped a short flight to Phuket for 3 days of fabulous surfing!
...suprise gekko on my breakfast cracker!

...geez, Pete, does this look familiar?

Mind you, Thai surfing is no Hawaii (or S. Africa, or Chile) but the rain kept us cool, the waves were predictable, and the guy didn’t even charge us for the longboard Spencer broke in half. He just laughed – “big falong!” Over some delicous Indian food (the green stuff with the cheese bits) we decided wherever we end up next needs to have surf.


Weekend 3 – “oo-ay-porn wun gert” to me!

On the 25th of August, Spencer, Norman, Dao, and I took a little motorbike trip to a temple by the Chao Phraya River for a little Birthday Blessing. I threw a bucket of fish into the river and made a wish. I lit some incense at a shrine and stuck gold leafs to gold-leaf-covered statues of various monks famous to Bangkok. I jiggled a can of sticks until 1 fell out with my lucky number (23) which corresponded to a fortune (which Dao translated as “everything’s good!”). We sat cross-legged before two orange-robed monks reciting prayers while we offered them a bucket of supplies, money, and water for the trees.

Thus blessed, we drove the bikes onto a very small “ferry” and took them across the river. Norman showed us a magical little floating market where we had lunch (not the chicken neck or the intestine, but the noodle soup).

Later that night more friends joined us downtown - we're on the skytrain here.


We feasted on sushi, Japanese beer, and delicate cakes (not the butter-frosting kind that are so popular for Thais, but the fancy chocolate/mango/cheese cake kind – ohhh so good!).

...(Paula, Tyler,Spencer, Danile, Emily, Jenny, my new birthday scarf)

We stopped by a concert at a black-lit tennis court inside of a giant blow-up dome…pretty random!…and had beers.

Then, the next day, we went wakeboarding! Surrounding the apartment and the school are many small fish/shrimp farms. One of these was cleaned out and turned into a wakeboarding lake. A cable runs around the lake in a rectangle suspended above the water by 20 feet. You stand on your wakeboard on the dock with a tow-rope in your hand and wait for the rope to catch on the cable and pull you, very abruptly, into the water. ¾ of the battle was surviving takeoff. Then you had to deal with making the corner without your arms getting ripped out of their sockets. If you failed to make the corner, you had to swim back, pushing your board. It was great fun! A few Thai adolescents obviously spent many a Sunday overcoming these challenges, and could use the power from the cable/corners to propel themselves 12 feet in the air and do amazing acrobatics.

What a weekend! My forearms were sore for days.


Weekend 4 – Moving and the old capitol

At long last, Spencer and I moved into a new apartment at Thana City. Thana is a big condominium complex rising quite oddly above the surrounding lakes with Bangkok and the new airport off in the distance. It’s a great spot, a 15 minute bicycle ride from school, 30 minutes from downtown, with little pollution and lots of pools, fields, and klongs to explore. The apartment feels like a real home – 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a nice kitchen, three big decks, and a good view. Now we need plants!

On Saturday, Norman, Dao, her friend Sarah, Jessica, Spencer, and I put our bicycles on the train and headed up to Ayutthaya.
Normal shares a seat on the train with his bike...


Ayutthaya was Thailand’s royal capital from 1350 to 1776. It was one of the most prosperous, beautiful cities in Asia until the Burmese took over and destroyed it. There are still many crumbling ruins left, about 100 wats (temples). We biked around the city, explored the ruins, and ate noodles.

...loading onto a ferry
...crossing over to Ayutthaya, which is an island surrounded by rivers.

...many old Buddha statues lined the walls of the ruins - all of the heads were cut off long ago and sold to art dealers and museums.

...much exposed brick now, but it used to be covered by gold and bright colors

We had a bit of a time getting our bikes back on the train to go home. We kind of had to stack them in the 3rd class seats with us. The train only stops for about 2 minutes at each station, so we had to pile our bikes on and off with lightning speed (shoveling them through an open window to someone waiting outside). Once we got back to Bangkok we were temporarily stranded at the train station after the guards told us we couldn’t bring the bikes on the subway and the taxis avoided us. We made it home, though…a new home sweet home.