Loi Krathong. Part II. & Chiang Mai.

So there are a series of things I need to talk about before I return to finish my lovely semester's lesson plans (8 units, 4-5 lessons per unit--you c ansee why I feel like taking a break...)

Loi Krathong. Part II.

I watched several lift-offs of these giant lanterns. What most people do is write their wishes on these paper lanterns and watch them fly out into the sky. When we went on the day the krathongs were being released into the river (just a reminder: there are two types of krathongs--ones you float in the sky, and ones you float on the water), there was a sky full of those lanterns. It was like Tangled except a little less romantic because S wasn't there, but it was fun, regardless.

We joined the Thai people by releasing our coconut krathongs into the river:

So pretty :)

There are a couple of pictures that I do not have and will have to wait for N or L to send to me before I can post them, but my krathong burned brightly down the river, and for a moment, I felt like crying. Ah, well, there goes me and my poor sentimental writer's heart!

I went by the river today, now that the festival is over, and it was such a depressing sight. Litter everywhere, and a few of the rides still lit up, but all of the people are gone. It was dirty and has inspired me to create a unit plan for my M3 students (maybe even my M6 students) to take a field trip outside of the school to clean up their community. They'll learn to be honest, hard-working, public-minded--ALL WHICH ARE SUPPOSED TO BE INCLUDED IN OUR SEMESTER LESSON PLANS, and are currently impossible with the unit themes that Phi-Som wants to concentrate on. =_=;; (Also, here's to hoping that C and I can get a couple of interested students to start a penpal system with a couple of my students and her kids. My biggest obstacle: Phi-Som and Phi-Dang. Wish me luck.) The view of the dirty, empty park with remnants of the festival is definitely turning up in my new story. Creepy, abandoned, easily forgotten--my type of story. :)

Chiang Mai


The bus station was hectic--not knowing Thai is difficult in a town that doesn't know English. Fortunately for us, Teacher Ma (he's in the English department with me) was at the bus station as well, also headed to Chiang Mai, and he helped us out a lot. When we got to Chiang Mai, the Loi Krathong festival was full-blown. We went around our area a little to eat and wander, and then headed back to the guesthouse to sleep ro re-energize for the Flight of the Gibbon.

We were at the same hostel as SaH and SarH, so in the morning, we met up with them and our driver, Tor, came to pick us up, as well as a couple: Charles and Douglas. We drove an hour up to the forest, geared up, and headed out to go ziplining. I've done it once before in China off of the Great Wall, but this was going to be a whole day event with hiking and a traditional Thai meal! Our leader was named Don, and his helper was Chai. I felt so safe on this trip that it was impossible for me to freak out when we started off at the 800 meter zipline. There were variations throughout the ziplining experience, and it was amazing. I really can't find the words to describe how lovely Chiang Mai is, or how cute the gibbons are, or how thrilling it is to sail through the canopy of the forest. (More pictures and videos will be up on either my youtube account or facebook account!)

The lovely people of our Flight of the Gibbon trip!

Chiang Mai is lovely. I didn't want to come back to Tak. Good thing we're heading back to Chiang Mai for the King's birthday (December 5th). That weekend will be full of eating delicious vegetarian foods with L, traveling around with L and N, and lots of souvenir/gift shopping! <3