Farang = Celebrity

This weekend I set off on an adventure with Noi. As communication has been difficult for us at times, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. We left the house at 11pm on Friday. I questioned Noi's ability to drive so late at night, but she assured me it was fine. To my understanding, we were headed to a city 4-5 hours away, so I was concerned for our safety. As we left the house, we headed north toward Ayutthaya, when our destination was south. Man was I confused. Maybe we were going to take a train from Ayutthaya?

After weaving around some of the old temple ruins, we stopped. "OK, take your bag I will park," Noi said. When I exited the truck I was greated by looks of confusion and a very large coach bus. So we were taking the bus!

We slept the night through in cushioned comfort. We reached our destination at 5:30 am, and were allowed into our hotel rooms to get some more sleep. I never did learn if we paid for one night or two...

We had arrived at Chanthaburi, a province on the Gulf of Thailand. Our resort was right on the sea. Meals were served on a porch just up from the beach. It was lovely. After a traditional breakfast we headed to sight see in the area. I could have stayed at the beach all day and been content, but I do like to see the sights was well. This picture is actually of breakfast on day two, which was more English and less Thai like.



1. First, we visited a huge temple on top of a hill/mountain. It took at least 300-400 stairs to get to the top. I climbed them all, but I opted for the trolley ride down.



This is where word got out that I like bananas. Before I knew it, I had a fresh one in my hand and some green ones for when I returned home. Yum.



2. The next stop was visible long before we arrived. I pointed at a mountain and asked if the white streaking was really a waterfall. It was and it was our next destination. We hiked into the park to the base of the waterfall. The water was very clear with a blue green tint.

Noi and I at the base of the waterfall.

3. Lunch was nothing special. Just beef and noodles.

4. It was down pouring and we were headed to Oasis Sea World!?!? Something about an aquarium and a dolphin show. The rain made me a little nervous for this one. Nothing like walking around in the rain at a large zoo.
It was pretty rundown, and there was no aquarium. Only a cement pool with dark water and five or six dolphins. Here's the shocker... even the dolphins are different in Thailand. The bottlenosed ones were a different color- Pink! The other ones, the Irrawaddy dolphin, had rounded faces- no long nose. It was strange. They did some great tricks and seemed well cared for; so no reason to send in animal rights activists.



5. Turns out we were all gathered for a retirement celebration. Back to the hotel for dinner and Karaoke. There were speeches and a ceremony where we poured 'holy water' over the hands of the retiree.


It was good fun for the Thai people to watch me dance. They say I am good, I have my doubts. Well being the celebrity I was, I did dance all night. I learned some new moves and I was quite a bit better than most. They played mostly Thai oldies, and a few american goodies. I was conned into leading a conga line around the room. Like I said I was a celebrity!