WHALE SHARK!!!

So my trip to Ko Tao for my birthday was a raging success!  Not only did I spend an amazing 23rd birthday on a beautiful tropical island in Thailand and get scuba certified, but I saw a WHALE SHARK AND A SEA TURTLE (and lots of amazing coral and fish)!!!!!!

 

Alana, Katherine and I with our amazing scuba instructor Riccardo minutes after our whale-shark sighting!

For those of you who are unaware of the amazingness that is the whale shark, let me enlighten you!

The whale shark is the LARGEST LIVING FISH SPECIES!  Although its name may imply that it is some cross-bread marine mutant, the whale shark is actually a shark, but not a scary one. 

The whale shark shown above resides in the Atlanta aquarium and is not in fact the whale shark I saw in the Gulf of Thailand (although I have seen it in Atlanta).

All I wanted for my birthday was to see a whale shark.  I was told I had only a 5% chance of seeing one!  Looks like birthday wishes do come true!!!!

Happy 2011!  My all your wishes for the new year come true!

-Hannah

Barbies, Buddhas, and a Birthday Bash

Last weekend I stayed in Prapradaeng to take it easy in preparation for my New Years/Birthday extravaganza.  Turns out, a bicycle adventure early Friday evening would set the wheels in motion for a wonderful weekend adventure that epitomizes Thailand and Thai culture.

After school on Friday, Alana and I decided to go on a bike ride headed towards a national park about 3 miles from Prapradaeng called Bang Krachao, a.k.a. "the lungs of Bangkok."  There are lots of beautiful neighborhoods that literally sit in the jungle with raised paths to bike along.  It is beautiful.

On this particular adventure, we found a few new temples (surprise, surprise) and were invited into a crazy pink home!

On our way back we stopped at a stand by the side of the road for a cup of coffee.  We sat down to take a break and started talking, in broken Thai and English, to the owner, Pi Goi (Pi is the title added to the beginning of the name of anyone older than you), who was incredibly warm and friendly.  We talked about her family and her life in Thailand.  She has four children, two boys and two girls.  Her oldest daughter is grown and lives in Bangkok and her younger daughter, Kwan, is 18.  Her two sons are monks and live at a Buddhist temple.

Pi Goi asked us if we had ever been to a Buddhist temple service and we said no.  Her face lit up and she said, "you go with me Sunday meet Buddha at temple 8:00! I call see if Buddha speak English there!"  Excited at the prospect of accompanying Pi Goi to the temple we smiled and nodded but I was not sure this adventure would pan out given the language barrier.

Well, 8:00 am Sunday morning rolls around and Pi Goi calls us up and tells us to meet her at her house and we would go to the temple together.  Alana and I roll out of bed, put on clothes, and within twenty minutes are on our bikes en route to Pi Goi's house completely unaware of the lengthy but amazing adventure the day would become.

We arrived at Pi Goi's home which is quaint and sparse, except for the most immense barbie collection I have ever seen.  In any other country, the magnitude of this collection would garner someone freak status, but in Thailand it's charming.

 Traditional Thai Barbies

After the grand tour of her home, Pi Goi, her daugter Kwan, Alana and I packed into a cab and headed to the temple.

30 minutes later we arrived at a huge temple complex in the outskirts of Bangkok.  After walking around a bit, Pi Goi directed us to a bundle of lotuses and a pile of incense and candles.  She instructed us to take one of each and we headed to the temple's main shrine.  After circumnavigating the central shrine three times while chanting something in Thai (with Pi Goi's direction of course) we lit our candles and incense, offered it to a Buddha statue, and knelt in front of it.  After the traditional three wai's (seated on you knees, place your hands together at forehead level and then bow deeply place your forehead on the floor) we headed into the temple with a similar offering, this time of the lotus, to offer to another, larger Buddha statue.  After giving our offerings we were directed to a second story room where the head monk of the temple was reading Thai and were instructed to sit with our feet facing behind us while the service went on.  The monks read and chanted and we followed the crowd as they bowed and wai'd at various times throughout the service.  Aside from the pain in my lower back and legs from sitting in this contorted position on a hard wood floor (Thai people must be built to sit like this because they don't have any trouble sitting like this for hours) the service was beautiful and incredibly peaceful, almost meditative.

After the service was over, Pi Goi brought us over to meet the head monk, who lived in America for a while and speaks English.  We introduced ourselves and spoke to him for a while.  Then we went downstairs for what would be the first of many meals we would consume that day.


Pi Goi kept saying something about it being her friend's birthday but we didn't understand her until we went downstairs and saw an assembly line of noodle makers setting up hundreds of bowls of noodles.  It was Pi Goi's friend's (her Buddhist teacher and the owner of noodle shops around Bangkok) 53rd birthday and for his birthday he decided to come to the temple and serve noodles to everyone.  It is amazing to me that Thai culture is so rooted in giving things to others that birthdays are for giving to others not about receiving.

We at lunch with Pi Goi's daughter while she helped her friend hand out noodles.  The whole time I was watching the food preparation and having women feed me and then feed me some more I was reminded of one of the many parallels I see between Thai and Jewish culture.  Thai women love to feed you and they won't let you stop until they are sure you are uncomfortably full.

After eating lunch, we were directed into a room where the monk's were eating and people were kneeling in front of them.  We knelt down in front of the monk and he welcomed us, two American teachers, in front of the whole congregation.  He thanked us profusely for coming to the temple and extended us a warm welcome to return anytime.  He offered us fruit from his plate as an offering given to temple-goers for good luck and we accepted our "good-luck" fruit gladly.  It was so nice coming into this temple as complete outsiders, looking and acting completely out of place, and being welcomed so wholeheartedly.

Pi Goi introduced us to one of her monk-sons.  The younger, rebellious one, didn't go to services that morning because he was playing computer games.  That's a funny mental image: a rebellious robe-clad monk battling aliens on a computer in some back room of the temple.

After meeting her son, Pi Goi told us she had to help out at the temple so Alana and I went exploring with Kwan, Pi Goi's 18 year-old daughter.

This is Kwuan

I'm in denial about my paleness until I am faced with photos such as this! But hey pale is beautiful in Thailand!!!

Although I am sometimes a bit unsure about my exact whereabouts from time to time, this was my first experience in Thailand where I had no idea where I was at all.  We had blindly gotten into a cab with Pi Goi and her daughter and had ended up in some part of Bangkok we had never seen and we couldn't communicate well enough to ask, so we just went with it.  Kwuan took us to some amazing temples in the same area as the her temple.  We walked around for almost two hours taken in this wholly new and unknown area of the city.  My favorite thing we saw on this adventure was a crazy Chinese Buddhist temple with insane sculptures of Buddhas.

Each day of the week is represented in Thai Buddhist ideology by an image of the Buddha with a different mudra (hand position).  This big seated Buddha happens to be the Buddha for Thursday which happens to be the day of the week I was born!  Yay for my Buddha!!!

We returned to our original temple to meet Pi Goi.  When we arrived she informed us that we had been invited to her friend's birthday party that evening and asked if we were free.  With no plans and nothing else to do, Alana and I decided to take this generous family up on their offer and attend the birthday party of our new noodle friend.  We were told it was a surprise party and we shouldn't say anything to the birthday boy.  We got into the car and headed out of the temple totally unsure of our next destination.  Looking back on that afternoon I wonder what our new Thai friend thought we were doing riding around with his family, but he never asked and welcomed us with open arms. 

We drove for almost two hours all the while thinking we were headed to a birthday party.  Because it was a surprise, and because the birthday boy happened to be driving the car, we couldn't ask any questions about the party or its whereabouts.  Alana and I were just about to "thai" up our party-pants when we arrived at a strange strip mall.  We had no idea where we were or what we were doing there and our limited language abilities prevented any questions. 

Everyone got out of the car and walked into what turns out to be a "food-court" (just a row of Thai food stalls) in this strange strip mall. Turns out, the birthday party wouldn't happen until much, much, much later.  We came to this mall to hang out while the birthday boy and his family finished working at their noodle shop.  So we sat and talked and were fed constantly for about four hours. 

Lunch #2

No one was in any rush to get anywhere and everyone just sat around the table relaxing and catching up.  It was actually amazing this group of family and friends interacting.  They immediately took us under their wing and told us we were part of their family.  They were so unbelievably kind!

FINALLY, at about 8:00 we leave the mall and head, to what Alana and I hope, will finally be the birthday party.  We drive for another 45 minutes and finally pull up at this huge brewery.   We walk inside and find ourselves in what looks like a huge hollowed-out train station with rows and rows of tables.  At the back of the building, a crazy Thai Elvis sang and danced as his image was projected on the various jumbo-trons around the room. 

We got to our table and the birthday boy insisted that Alana and I sit right across from him.  We ate, again (I didn't think I would be able to force anymore food into my already filled-to-capacity stomach but of course I did), talked and watched him open his adorable presents.  It was one of the most beautiful series of exchanges I have ever seen.

His daughters made him go to the bathroom to open his present and he came out wearing this.

Alana and I with Pi Goi and her daughter Kwuan

After dinner we all danced until almost 1:00 am and then the group finally tired out. We had been with this bunch, adventuring around the city, since 8:00 am and I was exhausted.  We all left the restaurant an finally went home.

It was one of the most special days I have had in Thailand and I will never forget it!

This past weekend was Christmas and I spent it in Chinatown, just like a good Jewish girl should and then attended a Christmas party at a Jew's house with only Jews and Buddhists!  It was wonderful.  I am off to Ko Tao tomorrow for some good old 23rd birthday/new years fun, and some scuba diving adventures!

Although I have been having an amazing time, the holidays do remind me how much I miss my friends and family.  Wishing you all a wonderful and fulfilling 2011, may it be all you hope for!

-Hannah

Festivals of Light

The past few weeks have been an adventure-packed series of festivals and celebrations, both Thai and Western, that have taken me around the country on a sort of party pilgrimage.  I am continually amazed by the passion and enthusiasm Thai people possess for their cultural and religious identity and it has really made this "holiday" season very special.

The first stop on my journey brought me to the beautiful ancient city of Sukhothai, located six hours north of Bangkok for the Loi Krathong Festival.  The Loi Krathong Festival is celebrated in bodies of water across Thailand on the full moon in November to celebrate the official end of the rainy season and to worship the river goddess.  Sukhothai, however, was the site of the first celebration of the Loi Krathong festival and so I headed there.

To celebrate the Loi Krathong festival, intricate water-lanterns, called Krathongs, are built from banana leaves, covered with flowers, filled with candles and incense, and released into bodies of water as an act of absolution.

Home-made krathong (water-lantern) courtesy of our guesthouse

Unfortunately I didn't get the memo in time to collect mine, but Thai people collect their fingernail clippings and/or hair clippings to sprinkle on their krathongs, as a tangible remnant of the past, before lighting them and releasing them into the water as a symbolic act of renewal.

 Lighting my krathong

Loi Krathong seems to me to be the Thai version of Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur; a shedding of the past and a fresh start for the new year.

The festival itself was held in the ancient city of Sukhothai amidst ancient temples with incredible stone Buddha statues.  The krathongs, complete with glowing candles and burning incense were released into the central lake of the ancient city and soon the water was filled with light.

 The central lake in the ancient city of Sukhothai

Vendors sold huge lanterns to light and release into the sky which was soon speckled with light as well.

 Releasing our lantern

The whole night glowed!  This ancient city was packed with excited and passionate people celebrating together.  Street vendors had gathered from all the surrounding areas and set up in the park selling food and other goods.  As I wandered through the crowds, weaving in and out of rows of vendors, I was mesmerized by the glowing ruins.

Never before have I been in such a crowded place and felt so at ease.  The passion Thai people possess for their traditions is contagious and it is hard not to get caught up in the spirit of an event like that. 

The festival continued late into the night and concluded with a beautiful performance in boats on the lake, complete with a fireworks battle scene.  The entire show was in Thai, but it was so beautiful and powerful that I knew exactly what was going on.   I have never felt so connected to something so unfamiliar in my life and it was absolutely incredible.

My days in Sukhothai were spent exploring the city by bike.  The ancient city was incredibly beautiful and it was amazing to see so many surviving structures.

OOPS!!!!

My last day in Sukhothai I took an amazing bike ride to find a small, secluded temple called Wat Taweh.  The trail to the temple followed a meandering river, weaving in and out of beautiful neighborhoods and passing small hidden temples along the way.

 weeeeeee!!!

As we biked past homes and small shops locals came out to wave and giggle at the strange "farang" passing by.

At the end of our amazing bicycle journey, which would have been incredible on its own, we reached the amazing and bizarre complex that is Wat Taweh.  Unlike the beautiful decoration of other temples, depicting scenes of serenity, the sculptures and architectural details depicted a darker side of Buddhist ideology.  A crowd of emaciated figures kneel in front of an ornately painted Buddha while others are clenched between the jaws of an alligator.  Despite the obvious darkness of the imagery, there was a kind of playfulness at Wat Taweh I have not encountered in the seriosness of other temples I have visited.  It was a refreshing departure from the monotony of the ordinary Thai Buddhist temple.  Wat Taweh was like nothing I have ever seen before.  It was the perfect end to my adventure in Sukhothai.

gettin' friskay!!!

The following week was Thanksgiving and I was afraid being so far away from anything familiar would make me miss home, but my anti-American Thanksgiving ended up being amazing!  Alana and I were invited to a friend's house, another English teacher living in our province, and we adventured around her neighborhood looking for the perfect Thanksgiving meal.  Since we couldn't find any traditional Thanksgiving treats we decided to go totally Thai.  After a wonderful game of street-car roulette we ended up with a Thanksgiving feast consisting of som tam (spicy papaya salad), chicken and rice, que-tiou (Thai noodle soup), some strange meat-filled puff dumplings, 4 gummy bears, some questionable wine, and Hong Thong whiskey (a Thai version of whiskey tastes more like a combination of rum and whiskey).  We set up our feast on a mat on the floor of the car park and sat on the ground wining and dining the night away.

Counterclockwise from left to right: the lovely and amazing Alana Miller, Dalia, and last but not lease our gracious host Katherine!

The next stop on my festival seeking adventure brought me to the small and, aside from said festival, otherwise unremarkable city of Lopburi for the annual monkey festival.  To understand the annual monkey festival you need some background on the town of Lopburi and its relationship to monkeys.  Lopburi has what you could call a monkey infestation.  Monkeys are absolutely EVERYWHERE and they wreak havoc on the town and its citizens.  They walk in and out of shops at will, they threaten local citizens, and they steal whatever they want--food, drink, shiny objects--directly from your hands.  Local citizens are forced to walk around with large sticks to scare the monkeys away from their homes, food, even their babies.  Basically, monkeys rule the school!!!

In any western country, the obvious answer to these monkey woes would be mass assassination, a.k.a. animal control.  In the Buddhist country of Thailand however, killing, especially killing monkeys which are seen as semi-divine figures in Buddhist ideology, is out of the question and so the monkey infestation persists.  The most logical alternative to eliminating the monkey "problem" is clearly then to throw an annual feast, known as the Monkey Breakfast, for all the local monkeys to eat to their hearts' desire.

The Monkey Breakfast is exactly what it sounds like, a feast arranged for the monkeys of Lopburi.  Locals donate fruit, vegetables, rice, pastries, and drinks--anything the monkeys will eat--and it is arranged in a huge buffet in the central temple of Lopburi.

Fruit pyramid with monkeys

Food art (so the monkeys can delight their eyes before they delight their bellies)

 Drinking milk straight from the bottle!

Baby monkeys licking ice! 

When I asked a a resident of Lopburi to explain the rationale of this little shindig he told me that this annual breakfast was to show appreciation for the monkey's protection of Lopburi as well as an attempt to appease the animals and avoid monkey run-ins for the rest of the year.  GOOD LUCK WITH THAT ONE!!!

Although my time in Lopburi was short I am glad I got to see the insanity that is the annual monkey breakfast.  

After the monkey festival in Lopburi I returned home to celebrate the most familiar holiday of lights, Hanukah.  I tried explaining Hanukah to one of my co-teachers and you would have thought I was speaking in tongues.  Most Thai people living in Prapradaeng don't even know what a Jew is.  When Alana tried explaining Judaism to a Thai teacher she was met with blank stares.  The closest association they could make with Judaism was Palestine.  Alana just smiled and nodded.

It was strange celebrating a holiday in a country that doesn't even know what Judaism is.  Thankfully, Alana and I have made a Jewish friend living in Bangkok who graciously invited us to his house for a Hanukah party.  A night making latkas, eating kugel, and lighting a menorah with friends was exactly what I needed to make Thailand feel like home during the holidays.

And the festivities just kept coming.  December 5th was the king's 83rd birthday and considering the intensity of Thai devotion to their king, school was closed and celebrations ensued across the country.  In honor of our three-day weekend, Alana and I headed south to the beautiful and amazing island of Ko Chang.  Ko Chang (which means literally "island of elephants") is Thailand's second largest island, after Phuket, and is located about 6 hours south of Bangkok in the Gulf of Thailand.

Ko Chang is one of the most amazing places I have ever seen; there are even elephants on the island, although I'm still unclear as to how they got there.  Half of the island's coastline is jagged and rocky while the other half is white sand beaches.  The island's beautiful coastline is made all the more amazing by the dense mountainous jungle interior complete with 6 beautiful waterfalls.  It was heaven!

The one road running around the island

Our guest house, called Magic Garden, was just that, magical.  Our quaint straw hut was calm and peaceful and came complete with a hammock out front.  We really were living in the jungle.

Our lovely bungalow, complete with hammock, mosquito netting, and Dalia!

Our first day on the island was spent relaxing in the sun until sunset when we kayaked out to sea.  I have never felt at once so lucky to be alive and so incredibly humbled as I did watching the sun set into the deep blue ocean from a tiny boat floating in the immense ocean.  Looking back at the orange-lit island was absolutely breath-taking.

Mother nature, you done good!!!!
 

The rest of my time on Ko Chang was spent hiking to a beautiful waterfall in the jungle, exploring the rocky beaches, and adventuring around the island.  It was an absolutely incredible place, but a weekend just wasn't enough to see it all. 

Beautiful sunset from our ferry as we left the island

After the amazing weekend, I returned home to Prapradaeng to make lesson plans and prepare for classes.  Life as usual has resumed and my time these days is spent handing out worksheets, playing hangman, and trying to get blue dry-erase marker off everything I own.


Time is flying!  The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of adventures and I have so much more planned for the upcoming weeks.  I'm looking forward to ending 2010 and starting 2011 with a New Years/ 23rd birthday bash down south.

Missing everyone immensely and wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

More updates to come!!!