MY LAST DAY

Today was my last day of teaching. I had never taught before I came to Thailand, and I think I did a pretty good job. A couple of kids cried today when I told them I was leaving and not coming back, that made me feel good about things, you know, not because I made them cry, but because I think that they might miss me. It's nice to feel liked and appreciated. I've learned a lot of things over the last four months, it's been a wonderful experience.

But now I will travel, and I've got a whole slew of traveling companions coming out to join me over the next few months. My friend Charlie is already here, and my friend Nick will be arriving in a few days. There are many more adventures to come, but for now here is a video that I made when I got back from school today...

MY SOCCER TEAM

I've been playing soccer after school three or four days a week, it's one of my favorite things to do here.  Most of the guys I play with teach at my school, and some just live in the neighborhood.
On Sunday we all met up at the school, hopped into a small van, and drove to a nearby field to challenge another team.  The pitch was great, it was full sized and well maintained, a nice change from the small concrete courtyard we play on.  The game started at 3 o'clock and it was piping hot out.  We played two 30 minute halves and ended in a draw, 3 to 3.  I scored the second goal for my team off of a nice cross from my friend Oh, a side volley that bounced off the near post and into the back of the net!  What a fun game it was!  I was exhausted afterwards, and a little red too from forgetting to wear sunblock, oops.  A few of us went out for beers afterwards and I went to bed Sunday night feeling tired and happy.

Both teams posed for a picture before the game.  My favorite guys on the team are Oh and Lec.  Oh is standing to my left, and Lec is number 22, sitting in the front.  They are both excellent soccer players and also really nice guys.  Soccer is probably the best way to make friends in a foreign land...

PROMMITR FILM STUDIO

We thought we'd head out and find some waterfalls after lunch, apparently there are a lot in Kanchanaburi Province, but on the way we stopped to ask for directions and were told about the Prommitr Film Studio, so we decided to go there instead.  The studio is located on a massive military base and was built for the filming of an historical trilogy called The Legend of King Naresuan, an epic story about the rise of one of Thailand's most revered kings who ruled Siam around the turn of the 15th century and defended and protected the old capital of Ayutthaya from the Burmese.  I think they've actually only made two out of the three films so far.  The set was opened up to the public a few years ago and has turned into quite a big attraction for the people of Thailand, I was definitely the only white person there.  The set is gigantic and at the center of it is a massive fortress with a huge palace inside.  Every day they put on a show, a sort of historical reenactment and procession that starts outside the fortress and makes it's way up to the palace.  After exploring for a while we found a spot along the main walkway to watch the show.  Large speakers played a narration and soundtrack to the story as men acted out battle scenes and canons were fired off from the walls of the fortress.  The actors wore elaborate costumes and some rode in on horses and elephants.  At the end of the show the entire cast assembled in front of the palace as the spectators gathered around to snap photos and pose with the actors.  It was a patriotic show, my friends told me that it made them proud to be Thai.  We all went home after that, what a great weekend.

THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI

After the floating market we jumped in the car and took off for Kanchanaburi Province.  We stopped for our second lunch of the day at a restaurant overlooking the famous Bridge over the River Kwai.  I can't say I remembered much of the history behind the bridge before we got there, the only thing that really came to mind was the whistled theme song from the old movie.

The Japanese forced the construction of the Burma Railway during WWII using Allied POWs and Asian laborers.  Thousands of people suffered and died as a result.  The part that spans the Kwai River is one of the most famous sections of the railway because of the many attempts by the Allies to bomb and destroy the bridge, and also obviously because there was a book written about it, and then a hugely successful movie based off of the book.  It was a nice little history lesson.

DUMNOEN SADUAK FLOATING MARKET

On Sunday morning Kate, Eee, Cartoon and I took a off for Ratchaburi Province to visit the Dumnoen Saduak Floating Market.  Back in June I visited a floating market on the outskirts of Bangkok with my friend Dana (you can see my blog post about it), it was a fun exploration of life on the canals, but the floating market itself was rather dead.  Dumnoen Saduak Floating Market, on the other hand, was active and bustling, and very much alive.  The four of us hopped into a small long-tail boat once we arrived and set out to explore the waterways.  The market was packed!  We had to be careful to keep our hands off the sides of the boat so our fingers wouldn't get pinched as we squeezed by other boats.  People strolled along the sides of the canals and waved over the paddling vendors to make an exchange.  And some sections of the canal were lined with small shops that were only accessible by boat.  My favorite boats were the ones selling fruit, I think it's because they were so vibrant.  We grabbed lunch on the canal and ate as we floated along.  I had a tasty bowl of noodles and an extremely delicious plate of mango and sticky rice drizzled in coconut milk.  And to cool things off we had some homemade coconut ice cream which we ate out of the coconut shell.  I think it may have been one of my favorite lunches in Thailand so far.  Good times.

WAT PHRA MAHATHAT

Do they know where all the Buddha heads were taken? And how? That must have been some heavy loot to carry around. This temple is full of headless Buddha statues. One of the few Buddha heads left is wrapped up in the trunk of a banyan tree, it's quite a famed image in Thailand.

This was our last stop of the day in Ayutthaya, what an awesome city. And we only saw a few of the hundreds of temples and ruins in the area, this is the kind of place I could go back to over and over again.

THE ANCIENT ROYAL PALACE

This place was great, I can barely image what it must have been like in its heyday. I guess it got wrecked pretty bad during the Burmese invasions. The Burmese never really conquered Ayutthaya, they just rolled in, broke a bunch of stuff, and looted the hell out of it. They melted down anything with gold on it and decapitated every stone Buddha statue they could get their hands on. How unfortunate.

BIG GOLDEN BUDDHA

I don't remember the name of this temple, but it was a great stop on our tour of Ayutthaya. And like the last temple we visited, I was invited again to pray.

At this temple people offered clothes to the Buddha, a golden-orange robe which they presented on a little tray. The room was packed, and everyone was kneeling on the floor in front of the giant statue. The prayer was led by a charismatic monk who chanted into a microphone. He and his young assistant walked around the crowd and gathered the robes, and then blindly tossed them one by one over their shoulders to a handful of men who were standing up high above on the Buddha's lap. After the prayer was finished, and the robes where all collected and offered up to the Buddha, the guys up on the Buddha's lap threw the long robes back down over the crowd, covering everyone in the golden-orange cloth, and then pulled them back up onto the Buddha's lap. I thought the whole process was actually kind of entertaining.

A RECLINING BUDDHA

There's a big reclining Buddha at Wat Yai Chaya Mongkol. For good luck people stick coins to the bottom of his feet. I'm not quite sure how they stay, I stuck one up there myself, I think it's magic. But then this old man came along and brushed them all off, I think it tickled the big Buddha, and when he chuckled it rumbled the earth.

WAT YAI CHAYA MONGKOL

I really enjoyed visiting Ayutthaya with my Thai friends, for me it was sight seeing, but for them it was time to pray to Buddha. When we got to this temple they handed me a lotus flower, a candle, and some incense, and invited me pray with them. It was nice. Unlike some of the other temples that we visited later in the day, this one appeared to have done pretty well against the Burmese invasions - it's name means "The Great Temple of Auspicious Victory".

AYUTTHAYA

Just down the street from my apartment, next to my friend Oot's laundry shop, is a comic book store that is owned and operated by my friend Eee. Eee's daughter Cartoon is one of my students, and everyday after school she goes to her mother's shop and hangs out until they close down and go home for the night. Eee's niece Kate lives close by. Kate is around my age and speaks very good English. She stops by the shop a lot, sometimes to give Eee and Cartoon a ride home, sometimes just to hang out. Last weekend Kate, Eee and Cartoon took me on a little tour around central Thailand.

On Saturday we went to Ayutthaya, Thailand's ancient capital. It's a charming little city, full of old temples and ruins, and rich in Thai culture and history. Ayutthaya was the capital for over 400 hundred years until it was invaded by the Burmese in the mid 1700's, the city's treasures were looted, and the temples were left to crumble. Today, Ayutthaya's population is only a tenth of what it used to be during it's ancient pinnacle.

Our first stop was the Bang Pa-In Palace, which is actually a little ways outside of Ayutthaya. This massive compound has been maintained by the royal family for centuries and is now occasionally used for royal banquets and receptions. Most of the compound is open to the public and is full of ponds, fountains and gardens. We took a little stroll around here before heading into the heart of Ayutthaya. In the picture on the left is Kate, Cartoon, and Eee.