This is my favorite kind of weekend, a three day weekend! Yeah! We had Friday off from school this week. While I have plenty of homework to do and a lesson plan to finish developing, I made sure to schedule some fun activities in my free time.
Friday I went to Doi Suthep with two of my classmates. After a winding road in the cramped up in the back of a săwngthăew (also know as red taxis amongst the English speakers, basically it is the back of a small pick up truck complete with canopy and benches) we were looking forward to hiking up 300 hundred steps (I also heard 200, and I didn’t count) to get to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. Once you enter the Wat, the golden Chedi dominates your view. It is gilded and is about 80 feet tall.
The Wat also has a view of Chiang Mai, but by the time we got up there the haze had settled in over the city making it hard to discern any particular landmarks. Despite how many people were there, it was very peaceful there, I think just being away from the city traffic made it more relaxing. We sat for awhile and just enjoyed being in the fresh air, watching children ringing the bells, Thai’s and tourists alike snapping pictures, dogs running around. I noticed the vegetation, and a few strange birds; however, much to my mother’s disapproval I am sure, I have failed to identify them.
The rest of the weekend I really focused on my school work. I did go out to lunch with a lady who is staying at my guest house, her name is Claudia and she is going to Thai massage school. After lunch, we went for a walk around our neighborhood, and visited our local Wat. Unfortunately, I still haven’t been able to figure out the name of it, it doesn’t get a lot of visits from tourists. The novices outside were excited to practice their English and we obliged them for a little while.
On Sunday evening, I went to the walking street market with one of the girls from the guesthouse. She is from England is attending Thai massage school as well. We had a fabulous time watching street performers, and most importantly trying all kinds of food. I love the street vendors, because you can just get a little taste of something and don’t have to eat a huge meal. On one of our side trips to a Wat to check out what food vendors were there, I saw some words on a T-shirt on a man standing near me that were all too familiar. He was wearing a shirt for a Seward music festival. Now I have seen the backpacker seen wear shirts saying things about Alaska, but they all seem to be clothes they picked up here or there. There was something different about this couple, so I did a 180 turn, and abruptly asked if they were from Alaska. Sure enough they were, and to make things funnier, they were friends with some parents of two girls going to Thai massage school. I had remembered Claudia talking about two girls from Alaska in one of her classes, and sure enough they ended up being the same girls. Too funny.
All I all it was a very relaxing and peaceful weekend. A much needed break. I am over half way through the course!
