Last Few Days Before Moving

We have had a busy last couple of days filled with all kinds of fun!! 

Wednesday was our last day of teacher training for orientation! We were free to do whatever we wanted after 4pm...  A group of us decided to chill for a few hours, take naps and then reconvene around 7 to figure out plans for the evening. 

We decided on going to Central World (which is the LARGEST mall in Thailand, and the 6th largest in the world). 

The mall has 8 levels, a million stores, an ice skating rink, a cinema, etc. We were there for over three hours and I feel like I didn't even see a whole level of the mall! We called it a pretty early night because we had to be up and ready by 7am on Thursday for our next adventure!!!

So, Thursday we were checking out of our hotels and getting on the road to Kanchanaburi for our last group outing! The bus ride was about 3 hours getting us to Kanchanaburi around 11:30, just in time for lunch. Lunch was outside over looking the River Kwai.

During lunch they told us that we'd be split into our orientation groups and that we would be rotating between the 3 activities. Those three activities included an elephant show, riding an elephant, and bamboo rafting! :) yes please! 

My first stop was the elephant show! They had 3 elephants that did things like play the harmonica, hula hoop, give massages, throw darts, pick people up, etc. It definitely made for a great laugh and some wonderful pictures! 

(I am trying to upload the videos of the elephants but not sure if they are working?!) 

Elephants playing the harmonica! 

Elephants hula hooping! 

Slam Dunk!

Elephant giving butt massage! 

This wasn't playing when I tried it but I figured I would leave it on here just in case...

Soooo, how about some pictures instead! :) 

Cutest Little Munchkin!!! Look at that smiling face! 

Elephant picking people up! 

Smiley!

Elephant Butt Massage

I want him!!! :) 

So after our elephant show we got to ride the elephants!! :) Riding the elephants was such a fun experience!! Something I never thought I would actually get a chance to do! :) The ride was about 20 minutes long and was so awesome! You could buy bananas prior to the ride and feed them to the elephant as you were riding! Unfortunately I left all of my money on the bus so I was not able to participate in that! 

Mary Kate and I on our elephant

Our elephant driver casually eating his lunch

Anddd a few videos....

After our elephant ride we got to go bamboo rafting! Wasn't sure what to expect when I heard this but it ended up being exactly what it sounds like...a bamboo raft, floating down the River Kwai! 

They put 6 of us on each raft...they probably put 8/12 Thais on them since we are so much "bigger" :)

After we finished with all of the activities at the elephant camp we were supposed to go to the Pavilion hotel and get checked in...but of course with a group of 100+, we were running late! So instead of going back to the hotel to check in and get showered, we had to move along to the next activity....which was checking out the Bridge on the River Kwai. Some of you may recognize this name because there is an older movie titled this. 

This bridge is pretty phenomenal...it is a huge tourist attraction...Tourist (and locals) are constantly checking out this site and walking on the steel bridge...no big deal, right?

Except that this is still an active railroad track! So while hundreds of tourist are walking around on the bridge, a train can come down the track and you have to run off to one of the side nooks to wait until the train goes by! No trains came by while I was on the bridge...but about 15 minutes after I got off a train came piling through! Sooo crazy! 

Total tourist! 

Floating Restaurant

So again, we were supposed to get back to the hotel to check in and shower.....but didn't have time....so on to the next item on the agenda...dinner! The staff from OEG was big on surprising us over these two days....so we really didn't know much about dinner or where we were going.

We get to where we are going and everyone unloads off the bus...we start walking and realize we are having a sunset river dinner.... There were four barges hooked together and set with enough seating for 250 people to have dinner on the boat! Thais are big on doing family style meals, so each table (set for 8) had multiple Thai dishes on the table for us! Ahhh, the food here is sooooo delicious! :) 

The boat that was pulling our barge

Alanna and I
(keep in mind, we still haven't showered at this point!)

After most people were done with dinner the servers started to clear off the tables and the DJ turned up the music.... Lets just say the barges turned into a HUGE dance party! 

Oh, I forgot to mention....it started POURING while we were on the barge!!! So much fun!!

After the boat docked we finally headed to the hotel to get checked in and shower!! YAYYY! It was dark when we got there so we were unable to see what the outside areas looked like...so when I woke up the next morning I was completely amazed! :) 

View from my hotel balcony!

One of the pools

We hung out at the hotel for a little while on Friday before heading back to Bangkok. When we got back to Bangkok our school coordinators would be there to pick us up and take us to our new towns/cities! 

The lady that picked Ashley and I up from our hotel was not our school coordinator, but one of the Thai teachers at the school...turns out, she will be my Thai co-teacher for my P1 class! This was comforting knowing that I will have a Thai teacher with me for any translations that I or the students may need! And on top of it, she is Extremely sweet! 

She drove us to our new house...it took about 2+ hours to get there because of the traffic...We are actually only 1 1/2 hours away from Bangkok but it took about 2+ hours to get there because of the traffic... 

Our coordinator, Kru O (how we call her), was at the house waiting for us when we got there...We will be renting out her house for the year. She is extremely nice and the house is BEAUTIFUL!!!! Wow! So much more than what we expected... 

The downstairs has a huge living room and open area, a bathroom with a shower, and a great size kitchen with a refrigerator, microwave, rice cooker, toaster and much more... we also have a nice size patio in the back! Upstairs we have a bathroom with a shower and then both of our bedrooms. One bedroom is "bigger"...the bed and dresser are bigger and the room also has a little balcony off of it! The second bedroom has a smaller bed and dresser! 

Big open area...Kitchen table...Bar w/2 bar stools...Kitchen

Our living room...Still need to clean it and make it our own! 

Downstairs bathroom...yes, there is a toilet AND a urinal.... and the shower is on the wall (to the left)

Upstairs bathroom and shower

My room (sitting on my bed in this picture)

Ashley's bedroom!

Of course we had to figure out who got which bedroom and neither one of us really cared! We decided we would switch if we wanted to in 6 months but still had to figure out who was starting where! I told Ashley that she could start with the bigger room and she of course said I could start with it! :) We were fighting over not taking it first :) so we decided to flip for it! 

It literally took us 20+ minutes to decide how we were going to decide which room we got, because we really didn't care! :) 

We aren't in Bangkok anymore!!! Menu is only in Thai!
First meal on our own in our town...

Turned out okay! Fried egg over rice with chicken and basil leaves!

Oh, I forgot to mention...We walked in and the server looked at us like a deer in the headlights...I'm sure we were looking at her with the same expression...After staring at the menu for a few minutes, a really sweet Thai woman (who was just there eating lunch) came over to help us. She spoke a little English and told us a few good things on the menu and then asked us what we wanted...she then ordered for us so that we would be able to eat! :) The people here really are amazing! 

Scooting around town, running errands! 

One of our shopping trips for household items...only spent an equivalent to $25!

Sunday morning our coordinator, Kru O, called us and told us to be ready for dinner at 6:30. We kind of just figured this would be a dinner to discuss school, expectations, and a time for us to ask questions. When she arrived at the house to pick us up the car was full...with her whole family. Wow! What an awesome experience! She invited us out with her whole family (and we just met her Friday night)...which is a big deal in the Thai culture...to be included in family gatherings or events. The group was made up of Kru O, her husband, their 2 sons, and Ashley and myself. We got to the restaurant and this was essentially our first "REAL, Authentic" Thai style meal! They order soup, rice, a whole fried fish, fish and chips, veggies, cashew chicken, squid, fried veggies... and I'm sure there was more that I just can't remember! Oh and I forgot to mention that Kru O's husbands sister and family came also! Turns out we were celebrating his birthday!! :) They brought a cake to the restaurant and we all sang happy birthday and indulged in a delicious piece of cake! 

That pretty much wraps up the last few days here!!!! :) 

Oh, and Kru O is bringing over a motorbike for Ashley and I today... She is going to "teach" us how to ride it! Should be interesting! :) 

Happy Monday!!! 

-LD-