Wednesday, 25 July 2012

Ayutthaya.....and food poisoning....

Two weekends ago, July 14th, Shari, Martine, Mary, and I planned a nice mini-vacation a little north of Bangkok to Ayutthaya, an ancient Siamese (Thai) city.  I really hadn't been feeling well the last couple of days before we left, but decided last minute to go anyway.  It was only a little over an hour away so I knew I could easily make it back home if I needed to.


Turns out, I needed to.


We got there at around 10, and I ended up leaving Ayutthaya at 5 instead of staying overnight with the other girls. It was enough time to find a guest house, eat lunch, and take a 4 hour tour.  I think I was holding it together pretty well on our tour, which was tough since it was in the hot sun and we were walking around a lot, but I knew that I didn't want to stay overnight (and that I should probably get checked out by a doctor.)  I had a massive headache, one like I have never had before, and stabbing pains in my stomach, among, um,.....  other symptoms.


So when we got back to the new city I found the first bus to Bangkok, made it home alright, and went to the doctor's that night.  It turns out I had salmonella poisoning.  Yikes.  It was good timing though, as the next week at school was exam week, so aside from the exam my students were writing for my class later in the week I really didn't have to be at school, and was able to mark and prep at home.


In any case, here are some pictures I managed to take of beautiful ancient Ayutthaya. 



Me trying to hold it together













Last leg of the trip, and.....I'm completely finished.

Home time.


After a couple of days of rest at home (and lots of medicine) I felt pretty much back to normal.  

Lesson learned: Next time I am feeling like that before a trip, I'm probably staying home. :)

Love you all!
Kelsey

Thursday, 19 July 2012

Last......Kanch......

"Is that crazy girls still making updates about a trip that happened over a month ago?"

"Why, yes, it appears to be so! What a crazy girl!"

----------------------

This is, finally, the last Kanch update.  And I really hope to not take this long with future trips!  Things here have been crazy hectic.  Who would have thought that being a full time teacher, a full time student, and a part-time tourist would keep you so busy?

Anyway, without further ado, here are some pictures of Erawan waterfall, and Death Railway.

Erawan falls was absolutely breathtaking.  It is a seven-tired water fall named after the three-headed white elephant of Hindu mythology.  We had four hours at the water fall, which was enough time to hike to the top then go swimming.

Some sites along the way:



Including some wild monkeys!  



There were three different levels that you could swim in as well.  Unfortunately...well.....remember those little fish that I let nibble on my feet?   The waterfalls had them too.

Only they were bigger at the waterfall....



Much bigger!!




Do you see how we are all crowded on that rock in this picture?  That's not because we thought it was a nice photo-op.  We are all trying to go swimming, but those huge-ass fish you see in the background keep chewing on us every time we get in the water.  I don't think any of the four of us went in the water at this tier, the fish were just too big, and too aggressive.  Look closely.  There is fear and apprehension in our eyes.

I mean really, full-grown fish as long as my forearm.  

This part of the waterfall was pretty neat.  You could slide down that place where the water is coming off of. To get up you had to climb up the left-hand side, which was difficult as it was slippery, but the slide down was a lot of fun.



Finally, we made it to the top tier, and had a lot of fun playing around on the rocks and in the water.  There was even a little cave that went behind the waterfall which you could swim into.

The fish at this tier still nibbled, but they were much, much smaller (and their nibbles were mostly shocking, and only sometimes hurt.)  (Click to enlarge any of the photos)









     

       

P.s., it is very hard hiking uphill in flip flops and a bikini. 

We also went to Death Railway, a track where thousands of Allied POWs died.  A beautiful site filled with so much history:





 And that's it for Kanch!!

Hugs,
Kelsey



Monday, 2 July 2012

Here's one for the 'rents!

Today Lertlah celebrated Canada Day for us Canadian teachers.  Most of the teachers and students dawned red or white tops for our nation's birthday, and our anthem was sung in the gymnasium by the student choir. Seeing red and white all day made me feel very patriotic!



The Canada umbrella hat my parents sent me in the mail was also put to good use.  Behold:



Some M1 (grade 7) students:



Kim, Jedi




Maylin, Tamtam



Joh, San



Ohm, Bon


Some M2 (grade 8) students:


Chin-jung



Arm, Kitty


Some M3 (grade 9) students:



Great



Eve, Raiwin




Honey, Grin




Prince, Matthew




Pong, Chappy