Departing to Pai

Wednesday, March 16, 12:00 PM

Both Molly and I felt very sad leaving Tak on Saturday morning. On Friday afternoon we went out to an early dinner with the foreign language department and said a lot of goodbyes. Then we went to “milkshake bar” and had some drinks with a few teachers for the last time. It was crazy to think that we were taking the bus from Tak to Chiang Mai for the last time. The first stop on our journey was Pai. In retrospect, we could not have picked somewhere that was more of a contrast to Tak.

The last look out from our apartment building

Everyone at HotPot

Our landlord said swaggy "will think of you" as we left. Hit right in the feelings.

The town of Pai itself, in my opinion, is not that great of a travel destination. This post sums up my thoughts perfectly. It is filled with backpackers from Europe on holiday. There is more western food there than Thai food: you have to look for a while around town if you want to eat Thai food. It almost felt like we weren’t even in Thailand anymore when we were in the town area. However, Pai is situated in a beautiful valley, surrounded by mountains. My favorite part of Pai was taking a motorbike around the countryside.

The first morning in Pai we rented a brand new 125cc Honda Click (above) to drive around the nearby mountains. It had a lot more power than our motorbike in Tak and we needed it to drive on those windy, mountain roads. That day we drove just over an hour away to Lod cave. The drive was wonderful, and I enjoyed many hairpin turns up and down the mountainside. It was easily the most beautiful motorbike experience I have had here or back home in the states. The cave we saw was equally as stunning. The cavern was massive and contained three separate areas that we got to explore. A river ran through the whole cave that we got to raft down. There were even tons of fish to feed in the river; it reminded me of the time we fed fish at the temple in Sukhothai. The roof of the cave was covered in bats. In the final part of the cave there were remnants of coffins from a few thousand years ago. The whole experience of travelling through the cave was amazing. It was more than worth the trip. 

The cave entrance

Rafting in the cave

 The next day we spent the afternoon lounging in our villa. I read in the hammock and took in the view from our little porch. It was nice to have a little downtime to just enjoy where we were. We paid 200 baht a night for a place just outside the main town. For anyone visiting Pai, I highly recommend Phu View Guesthouse (tel. 08-7983-8716). We made a short trip to Pai Canyon for sunset. We watched the beautiful sunset on 3/14, pi day, at Pai Canyon, isn’t that cool?! The one let down was that we were looking forward to a bit of a hike there, but there wasn’t much to hike around. This has been a pretty common theme here in Thailand. It seems you have to go a bit more of the beaten path if you want to fend a solid place to hike.

The next day we visited a giant Buddha statue just outside the town. It was beautiful, but is definitely a work in progress. I am sure in a few years the whole temple there will be much more ornate. The view was spectacular though and it was a good way to start off the day. After lunch we travelled back to Chiang Mai where we are now. Grace, a friend from OSU, will be joining us tonight and we head down south to island hop on Friday. The weather has really heated up in the past two weeks; Molly and I are looking forward to getting down to the beaches. I should have another post up about Koh Tao by the middle of next week. Also, I finally started an Instagram. You can follow me here if you want to see more pictures I take throughout my travels. Thanks so much for reading!

Leaving Tak

Friday, March 11, 11:00am

All of our bags are packed; tomorrow morning Molly and I will leave the life we created for ourselves here behind. I will be living out of a hiking backpack and a daypack while traversing through 12 countries over the next 10 weeks. The thought of embarking on this adventure together is exhilarating, but it is sad to leave behind a place we have enjoyed so much over the past five months.

There are things large and small that I will really miss about this place. It has been so much fun exploring the city and becoming regulars at our favorite local restaurants and bars. The food is outstanding here: I will never forget getting “pad Thai by the river”, eating with friends at “the steakhouse”, going for a night out at “milkshake bar” or going to “the purple place by Big C” after a workout. Each place got its own special English name from us American teachers. I have probably ran the loop at the local sport complex over a hundred times since I have been here. This is the first, and maybe only, experience I will ever have in assimilating into a completely foreign place. When I consider that first day here in Thailand, when I had anxiety over ordering food from a street stall in Bangkok, it is crazy how much more comfortable I am here in only half a year.

Hot Pot by the river: one of our last meals together in Tak

Graduation ceremony for MEP 3/3 class

Teaching at Takpittayakhom School is another experience that I am sure will be unmatched for the rest of my life. Learning to communicate mathematical concepts to students that don’t speak the same language was an exercise in patience and creativity. It was so satisfying when I could get my point across, but it definitely has made me a more patient person. It has been so fun getting to know the other teachers at the school; it is sad to leave them behind: there have been a lot of goodbyes over the past few weeks. I am so thankful I had the opportunity to meet and get to know so many great people in Tak and through OEG. Over the past semester we have even grown close with the dogs that live outside our apartment. One of them who was just a puppy when we got here is fully grown now. It has been such a joy to have them come running to say hello when we depart and arrive at home every day. I am happy to say that I feel like a part of the community here; but it does make it harder to leave. Molly and I have also grown a lot closer through building a life together here, and I am very happy about that.

With all of that said, I am glad that these feelings of nostalgia are mixed with feelings of excitement and anticipation of what is to come. After the next two and a half months Molly and I will have traveled a complete loop around the globe. The map below shows where we have traveled so far and where we will be headed. Corners represent stops along our trip, dashed lines lead to/from layovers while solid lines lead to/from places that we have stayed/will stay at.

First we will go to Pai, a town in the northern mountains of Thailand, before meeting up with our friend, Grace, in Chiang Mai and heading down south to island hop for a couple weeks. Then Molly and I will go on to explore many others countries in Southeastern Asia. After that we will visit my family in India and see the Taj Mahal. Lastly we will stop in a few European cities before heading home at the end of May. I have never lived as a nomad for such a long stretch and I am looking forward to adventuring all across the world. I will continue to update this blog with stories from our trip; I am sure I will have a lot to share. As always, thanks so much for reading!

Thi Lor Su

Thursday, February 25th, 5:00 PM

At orientation we decided to play sharks and minnows at the hotel pool. A version of tag that people usually stop playing at a much younger age. We all had a blast but I sustained a minor toe injury: a bruise at the base of my big toe nail. Now, months later, the bruise has almost completely grown out of the nail. I suspect that it will do so at about the same time that we leave Tak and head out to explore the world on our way back to the United States. I thought that was a pretty funny coincidence.

This past weekend we finally made it to a destination that we have wanted to visit since we heard that we would be placed in Tak: Thi Lor Su, Thailand’s biggest waterfall. It is located in Umphang, a district in the south of Tak province. Despite the short distance, it is quite hard to get to. We had to take a van to Mae Sot (a 90 minute drive) and then get a song taew to Umphang, a 5 hour endeavor. 

The view from the bottom of the falls

We also celebrated Molly's bday at our favorite Western restaurant in Tak last week

On Friday night Clay, Melanie, Nadia, Molly and I headed to Mae Sot right after school ended. That night we met up with some friends there and had an awesome dinner at a Canadian restaurant. We then went to grab some drinks at a nearby bar. We took it relatively easy since we had to get up at 5 am to catch the first ride to Umphang. We got to the bus stating around 5:45 and ended up getting on a song taew around 6:30. The ride was a rough one. A song taew is a pick up truck with a bed that has been converted into a passenger area. They are designed to hold about 12 people. For much of our 5 hour journey through mountainous, windy roads the vehicle was packed with over 20 people. I spent about two hours hanging on the back ledge of the truck. Despite all that the views were spectacular and I got to see even more from my vantage point as I was able to look out over the truck. The weekend we had was well worth the travel.

Nadia made all of the arrangements for the weekend, and the rest of us are so grateful that she did. When we got to our cabins, they had lunch waiting for us. The food they provided was delicious all weekend. We got a package deal that included meals, lodging, and all of our activities around Umphang. The first activity was a river rafting adventure. We all expected to get some exercise paddling after sitting on the song taew all morning, but when we got there we realized we would have two people join us to do all the paddling. This was great as it allowed us to take in the breathtaking sites, and jump in the river at will. It was truly amazing to float down a river with the Thai jungle on one side and a cliff face over a hundred feet high on the other. We got to stop and soak in a hot spring that was just off the river, and even tried some Thai moonshine.

The hot spring

Once Sunday morning arrived it was finally time to get to why we were there in the first place: visiting Thi Lor Su waterfall. Again we woke up early and got to the national park before the crowd rolled in. After braving another bumpy road all that separated us from the waterfall was a short hike. Even outlaying pools on the hike were stunning. The multiple tiers of blue-green water rushing through the Thai jungle made me think of an Indiana Jones movie. It was truly stunning. We had a blast climbing up and down the different levels and swimming in the pools below the falls. 

On the walk to the falls

The pools before the falls

At the middle tier of the falls

Monday morning we woke up to catch the sunrise atop a local peak. After that we went to a small temple had some downtime before making the long journey back to Tak.

Visiting Thi Lor Su was the last major trip we will do while living in Tak. One of the first places we visited was Phu Chi Fa. This trip reminded me a lot of that one. Both sites were pretty difficult to get to, not listed on most travel sites, and were extremely beautiful. I am so glad I got to bookend this experience with so much natural beauty. If you happen to go to Thailand time spent getting to and exploring those two places will be time well spent. 

Over the next few weeks we will proctor exams, do a small amount of grading, say goodbye to our students, pack our bags and move on to the rest of our travel plans. This weekend we are getting together with a lot of friends from orientation which somehow seems like it was long ago and just yesterday at the same time. It sometimes feels like I just got here, but when I look back on everything it seems crazy just how much we have done in the five months or so that we have been living in Tak. I am excited to literally make my way around the globe, but it will be sad to say goodbye to the little life we have built here in Thailand.

P.S. 

If anyone is thinking about going to Thi Lor Su you should consider staying where we did. The food was excellent, the activities were great, the people were friendly, and they even had karaoke. 

Camp Suksathean
phone: 055-809-104, 081-281-5323, or 092-545-1533
email: suksathean@hotmail.com

Chiang Mai and Lampang (again)

Thursday, February 10th, 11:00 am

21 classes. That’s all I have left to teach before final exams start. After that we will proctor exams, grade, and our time at Takpittayakhom school will come to a close. The next phase of our adventure will begin. I am excited to start journeying the rest of the way around the globe, but I will miss the life Molly and I have created here in Tak. Living in Thailand has been full of surprises, mostly good, but occasionally we find ourselves in frustrating situations where the lack of communication becomes a real hindrance. Trying to catch a bus to Lampang this past weekend was one of those times.

The roots of the frustration both Molly and I felt were planted the weekend before. We made it a point to get to the bus station early on Friday so we could get to Chiang Mai at a reasonable time. We bought a bus ticket for a bus departing at 4:30 but it left early and we were forced to wait for the next bus through the company we bought our ticket with. This was the first time we bought a bus ticket before getting to the bus station and it totally backfired. We were forced to wait a long time while other buses to Chiang Mai came and went due to an “accident” with the bus from the company we had already bought a ticket from. Then on the way back from Chiang Mai our bus took 2 hours longer than normal. This time we did not pre buy a ticket, but the same company said they had a bus that would be leaving within 30 minutes. Again this company had a mysterious bussing accident that caused the two of us to spend two and a half hours waiting at the bus station. We were both fuming but eventually we caught a bus and got where we needed to go. Part of the frustration came from not being able to talk with the staff to say something like “look the same thing happened last time, is a bus really coming or not?” Safe to say we will not be using that company again. Despite all the bus frustration we had great weekends both times.

From reading this blog it may seem like we go to Chiang Mai a lot. This is because it is one of the closest places that has western food, craft beer, and there is just so much to see and do there. Every time we have gone we have done something different. It also is a fairly central place for all of our friends to meet. This time we all booked a hostel together and had 8 people in one dorm. We had drinks and dinner when we finally go there Friday night and went to bed so we could get up early on Saturday. We woke up to catch the sunrise on the mountain by Doi Suthep, the temple we visited during orientation and again with my parents. We headed up there to check out some gardens in the morning. The cherry trees blossom around this time of year. Unfortunately, we were a bit late and most of the blossoms had already come and gone, but it was still a beautiful place to visit.

The other spot we decided to check out on Saturday is called the “Grand Canyon”, a quarry that has been filled with water to swim in and jump into. My friend Willie and I jumped off of a ledge that was about 55-60 feet tall. It seems a lot taller when you are standing there waiting to jump. It is one of the only times in my life that I had enough time in the air to think, “ok, yea I am still falling”. It was an awesome sensation. The Grand Canyon was a beautiful place to relax in the water and spend a few hours. That night about 20 of us all went out together and we had a great time. I knew I would do a lot of amazing activities here, but I truly underestimated how many great people I would meet through this program.

Check out this video of Willie jumping

That night in Chiang Mai was also mine and Molly’s three year anniversary of when we started dating. It blows my mind that we have been together for three years already. We went out to dinner just the two of us for Greek food. The meal was great and it was nice to spend time reflecting on our relationship. I can’t imagine what this experience would be like without her here. Having someone who I am so close to and knows me so well is such a blessing. She is such an amazing part of my life.

The next weekend in Lampang we spent Friday night catching up with friends and grabbing dinner. Then on Saturday we visited Chalermprakiat Temple and Chae Son National Park. The temple had the feeling of Doi Suthep’s hipster cousin. It featured breathtaking views, a giant gong you could ring, and caps built on nearby peaks that gave the temple a more sprawling feel. It was a truly beautiful place.

The gong sound was much louder in person. You could feel the vibrations

On the way from the temple to the national park, Thailand delivered one of its delightful surprises. We passed a field littered with flowers and blossoming trees. We had to stop to take in the sights and explore the little park. The pictures below do this hidden gem more justice than any description I could come up with.

We had a great hike in Chae Son, the water was freezing but it felt great to be out in the wilderness. Hiking through the jungle in Thailand always makes me think “wow I’m hiking in the jungle in Thailand right now”. Two years ago it would have been hard for me to imagine that this is where my life would take me, but I am so glad that I ended up stepping so far outside my comfort zone for this adventure. It is moments like these that make the frustrations from the lingual and cultural barriers seem like a small price to pay for the overall experience I have had here.

There was a hot spring you could boil eggs in!

That night in Lampang instead of going out to bars, we all grabbed pizza and beers. Long Jim’s pizza is undoubtedly the best pizza in Thailand. The owner is from Oregon; it is the only place I have been where the pizza measures up to the pizza back home. They also have ranch sauce, a rarity here in the kingdom of smiles. After pizza we grabbed some Changs and gathered around my computer to watch the Cavs vs. Celtics game from earlier that day. Willie is a Celtics fan and Sean has ties to the greater Boston area so there was definitely rooting interest in the game. I didn’t realize how much I missed watching a game with friends. It was a night that reminded me a lot of home.

Speaking of home, this week something a little crazy happened. My sister, Katie, has left to study abroad in Ecuador. My dad is on a business trip to England. My mom is at home. So right now each member of my immediate family is in a different continent. Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. I think that is pretty cool.

We have some great stuff planned for the next two weekends. Melanie, Molly, Clay, Chanida and I will be headed to Thi Lo Su next weekend. It is the largest waterfall in Thailand, and quite difficult to get to. We have been trying to arrange a trip there since we arrived in Tak. We will also be done teaching when we leave for that trip. It is the premier site in Tak province and I am so excited to see it. This weekend I am headed to a neighboring town called Phitsanulok. I will fill all of you in on how that goes, thanks so much for reading!

Bonus pic of me and "Swaggy" for reading all the way through!