Wat Phra Ram [I saw this one from across the pond while I was riding an elephant.. it's a decent picture for balancing on an elephant I think]
Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon [Wat with a GIANT reclining Buddha]
Wat Lokaya Sutharam [Another Reclining Buddha]
Wat Chai Watthanaram [Old Wat ruined from the war. You cannot go in but you can look at it, and it's beautiful!]
Wat Phanom Choeng [Home of the largest Buddha in Thailand, I couldn't get a good picture of it because it is black and they were doing construction around it]
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I also got to ride an ELEPHANT!
It was the queerest feeling ever. I had to attempt to balance on the thing without a seatbelt or place to put my feet except on the thing's back.. but then of course I felt too bad to do that, so I tried to hang them to the side but then I had to sit in the middle of the elephant's chair thing and that was right in front of the umbrella overhead and so it kept smacking me in the back of the head. Then while all of this was happening I had to pose for my aunt's pictures and try to take my own. I don't think I need to say that half of my pictures were slanted or blurry from the elephant movement but I did happen to get a bunch of nice ones too!
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Dining
I know a lot of people have been asking about what we eat here so I thought I would write a bunch about how we eat and what we eat here :) [I use we.. because I feel quite Thai now]
To start Thai food is wonderful. Everything is either sweet, spicy, nutty or sour. Nothing is bland and everything is filling. Unlike in Canada there is really no such thing as "breakfast, lunch and dinner". Thai people are eating all the time. In my host sister's word "My people eat when we are happy, sad, celebrating, nervous, hungry, full... always always eating". And I couldn't better any other way. Every moment my host parents are asking me if I am hungry and it seems that at all times of the day I see people sitting at restaurants or in the food court at the mall. Not just a select few either, they are always full. Sometimes we use chopsticks and little spoon things. But a lot of the time we use forks and spoons. You don't eat using the fork.. you use the fork to pick things up and put them on the spoon and then you eat off the spoon. Knives are barely needed because most things are cut up small enough already. And if you do need to cut something you just use the side of your spoon.
Now, for what they eat. You can buy classic hamburgers and chips and hotdogs and all that jazz at 7eleven but as for restaurants.. except for very tourist filled cities you won't find any international food. My city especially is very old and authentic so there are few 7elevens, lots of markets and lots of classic Thai food. Thai food is a mix of everything and anything.. you can have dishes that are all vegetables [there are many fruits and vegetables in Thailand that you wouldn't find in Canada], then there are dishes that have the biggest staple ever: rice. There are dishes with noodles, with pork, chicken, shrimp, squid and fish. Last week we were served an entire fish covered in sauce and vegetables with a bowl of soup you can pour over top.
In Thailand, the person who invites the others out to dinner usually pays. There is really no such thing as "going dutch" in Thailand. Also when food is ordered it is ordered for the whole table and served in the center like it would at home. Then everyone takes turns pulling what they would like out and putting it on the plate in front of them. Also rice is often served by itself and you can just pick out stuff you want and you pour it on top or eat it with rice.
I haven't really seen "candy" here yet, but I have definetely seen desserts. Cookies of all sorts: some with nuts, some made of soy beans, some made of coconut, some sweet, some tart, all different colours. Then there are these cracker/cookie things made of rice all stuck together. Those are really yummy. I have also come to liking fish skin which is deep fried. It's actually quite yummy. You can dip it in chili sauce or just eat it by itself. Then there are mushroom type chips that are really yummy and all sorts of other goodies.
Then there are the fruit and vegetables. I am sure you probably have read all about them in my "Marketplace" post. But if you haven't there are so many types of tropical fruits here. For dessert the other day I was served a whole coconut which I drank the milk from and then scraped the sides of. It isn't nearly as sweet as artificial coconut you usually find in Canada, but it was delicious. There is dragonfruit [which I haven't tried yet but I hear is wonderful], Rambutan, Durien, Bananas of all shapes and sizes [you'd be surprised how different they all taste from each other], and tons of others that I forget the names of.. and even if I remembered I wouldn't know how to type them in English as they are Thai names.
I would love to type more.. there is so much more to say.. but as I have been sitting in this chair for a while now my back is beginning to be quite uncomfortable. I will write some more tomorrow while I am home alone.
Peace and Love
"Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black And the dark street winds and bends. Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow, And watch where the chalk-white arrows go To the place where the sidewalk ends."
xoxox.
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