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| Foreign teachers of Nakhon! |
Fifty farang teachers piled in a double-decker bus to head to Ratchaprapa Dam for a much deserved three-day weekend of fun! The time on the four-hour bus ride was passed with early morning karaoke, chats about life and staring out the huge window at the sights of Thailand. We realize the journey is well worth is once we arrived at the dam. We piled in four long tail boats and after an hour-long wet/scenic ride we arrived at the bungalows at last! Thus began our two day adventure at Ratchaprapa Dam.
Andrew and I decided to book the cheap hut rooms that provide the most character. After throwing our bags in the bungalow and changing we jump off our deck into the warm, clean, lake for a swim. Soon the floaties come out and everyone jumps in to start the floating party! Those without floaties find a place to rest in the 42-meter deep water on a floating log submerged at the perfect level once everyone was sitting on it. The boys found a way to make the party active by jumping off kayaks to catch a frisbee. Yes, Andrew participated and he was quite successful. He made the crowd cheer with a few back flops into the water just to catch the frisbee.
I nearly forgot it was raining during this floating party. The water was so warm and we were so excited to be there that the rain didn’t matter. In fact swimming made the rain more bearable than not swimming. The lake was warmer than the air.
When the sun went down we headed to the dinning hut to play games and wait for dinner. Our meals were included in our price so we weren’t expecting much but once dinner came we were pleasantly surprised. They brought out more food than we could even imagine eating and it was absolutely delicious. After dinner we played even more games. Andrew dominated at chess and I had a successful first try at Apples to Apples. I enjoyed learning new games as well as teaching new ones.
The bungalows are run on a generator so at eleven the power was turned off. That was my cue for sleeping. It was nice to have a reason to go to sleep because the next day I was up early and ready to explore the beautiful National Park. Just after breakfast I grabbed a free kayak from the resort and Andrew and headed out to explore. After a while of enjoying the beauty and staring up a huge limestone mountains our group turned back and we were left alone to explore the coves and take pictures of the beauty. The water there was so still and dark blue and clear that the sky, the mountains and everything above the water was perfectly mirrored in the water. It was stunning. We just sat there for a while to admire where we were and to keep the water still to enjoy the reflection of the beauty multiplying the awe factor by two. Kayaking in this beautiful national park makes it to the top of my list as favorite activity in Thailand. Check out the pictures and you’ll understand. I was immersed in this beauty. Not once did I forget how lucky I am to be here.
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The next day before heading back to Nakhon we took the kayaks out again but stuck in a group. We stopped to jump off trees in the water. I did not jump but Andrew did flips off the branches into the water. I decided I don’t like jumping off things in New Zealand when I did not like bungee jumping. Then we explored more coves. Some of the coves reminded me of horror films such as Anaconda and other lost in the jungle movies. I mentioned this and we joked about being in a horror film for the rest of the time. Like if we were in a horror film we would think going down that dodgy narrow tree filled creek would be a good idea. If we were in a horror film the most scared girl would die first and so on. This continued until we quieted down to watch wild monkeys swing in the trees. See why I like kayaking?
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| See why I love kayaking? |
I didn’t even mention my amazing afternoon nap on the porch after lunch our first day. I took the pillow from our bed and passed out on the wooden porch overlooking the water while everyone swam or napped also. In fact one girl emerged from a swim and commented on how much she loved the fact that four cabins in a row had people relaxing on the porch. It was the perfect weekend, a mix of fun, adventure, and relaxation.
Tomorrow is already Friday and right after work, Andrew and I will head to the famous island of Koh Panagn for yet another three-day weekend (well for me now Andrew has a whole month off lucky duck). We’ll see if this place can top Ratchaprapa Dam, I really don’t think so. Not much can beat that beauty and the ability to jump off the deck of where you sleep into the fresh beautiful water and the use of free kayaks! But we shall see!
Monday:
And before I could edit and post this on Thursday evening Andrew came home and stole my computer for some important reason I am sure and then I went to bed. But since I worked so hard to write this I am posting it days later, after our second three-day weekend exploring Thailand. This one did not top last weekend in beauty but it was pretty awesome and relaxing.
Due to storms on the east coast of Thailand we decided against making the scary trip across the ocean to the before mentioned Koh Panagn which is too bad because someday I’d like to go there. Instead we headed to the west coast toward the less stormy side and went to Koh Lanta. For those who don’t know, Koh means island. So we traded one island for another.
This weekend Andrew and I both had coughs so we did a lot of hammock reading and some motorbike exploring. The rental of the motorbike lead us to a story that again shows how awesome Thai locals are. We were driving along looking for “Lanta Old Town”. I suggested a couple times to stop for gas but the driver, aka Andrew, after peering at the gas gage said we’d be ok. But as you may guess we were not. We ran out of gas at probably the most empty part of the island. Andrew remembering my suggestions to stop for gas asked if I was mad that we did not fill up. I said “no”, it was a pretty funny sight to see the two of us walking with our helmets on while Andrew pushed the bike and I could just feel a cool experience happening.
A few foreigners drove by on motorbikes with out saying a thing for a kilometer (1/2 mile) of walking. Then finally a guy driving by sees us and turns around. In a few words he tells us to get on the bike and turn the wheel. We do so and I see him put his foot near mine on the foot pegs. He speeds up his bike and somehow with his foot and the power from his bike he pushes us another kilo to gas. He casually sees the gas station and says bye sends us gliding perfectly into the station and rides off after hopefully hearing our kawp khun mak kah/krap’s (thank you very much’s). He so nicely helped us and didn’t expect a thing in return, barely even a thank you. While Koh Lanta was beautiful, relaxing and interesting at times (like a pet monkey jumping on my lap at dinner, seeing a lunar eclipse, and taking a cooking class) running out of gas was my favorite part of the weekend. I wish more people could be a helpful and cool as the guy who helped us. I strive to do that.
With that story I head to bed, tomorrow is another day with my cute students then moving into our new house. We found a great house that I will tell you about later! I have to get my sleep to have energy to ready my students for our Christmas show! We have two weeks of Christmas themed teaching before Andrew and I fly to Chaing Mai (Northern Thailand) for Christmas and New Year. Andrew’s mom will get a lovely taste of Thailand when she joins us for New Year plus a couple of weeks! Good night all!
