Kayaking down the river

While we were in Kanchanaburi, we also did some kayaking.  Decisions had to be made. Should we do the 4km, 7km, or 12km ride? We decided on the 7km so we could take our time and enjoy our trip a bit and not have to rush. We told our driver and off we went. I was anticipating the view along the river and just enjoying the outdoors. In my past life, I was always too busy to get out and soak up the outdoors as much as I would have wanted. My sister commented that she was thought this adventure would be good for me in the respect that I will actually get to slow down and enjoy my life and be able to reflect on it....instead of buzzing around like a crazy bee all the time! Well, I truly got to relax and ingest my surroundings going roughly 2 miles an hour!

Some scenery pictures....

I am off looking for something...I'm not really sure what!

Before I snapped this next picture, I almost fell out of my kayak because I was startled by a noise and I was sure it was some creature in the water that I did not want to encounter! It ended up being a couple boys that had big spears and goggles and were doing some under water fishing!

I'm not sure what the structure of this house is being constructed from (bamboo possibly??), but I know that it is like nothing I've seen being built back home!

The first few kilometers of our paddling were as I expected, with the scenery being very satisfying. After a while though, the river banks were chuck full and lined up with resort after resort after resort! I knew this was a tourist trap location of sorts, but it was just the same thing, one after another. The buildings and landscape was pretty, but it wasn't the natural look I was antcipating. There were also hundreds of floating restaurants and restaurants overlooking the river. The river water was clear as day. The whole trek, minus when it was too deep, you could always see straight to the bottom, which was rare compared to most of the bodies of water I've encountered thus far in Thailand.

It was a crazy sight to see these gigantic palm trees sticking out amongst the regular trees.

After what seemed like forever of paddling and coming around numerous forks and bends in the river and seeing nothing....we started to wonder if somehow we missed a turn! We were all a bit exhausted. A little angle was sent to us in the form of a floating restaurant being pulled by a tug boat....where we got up next to it and held on for a while...totally fulfilling the term "free-loader!" Unfortunately I didn't last very long because the front of my boat caught and I got dragged away and couldn't paddle fast enough to catch back up! Cailin became a pro very quickly though! 

 

FINALLY we reached our final destination! It was then that our suspicions came to rest and we found out that we in fact did 12 km not 7km! No wonder we were pooped! We treated ourselves with some tastebud popping Indian food! It was quite pleasurable! I also tried to cool off a bit with smoothie that hit the spot!

 

It was at this Indian restaurant that I discovered these amazing paintings on the wall and the guy Steve who was with us said that he knew the artist. Later that night I inquired about how much one of the paintings was and he said that he had sold one to someone in Europe so his price was 26,000 baht. I'm sure he saw my mouth drop! That is over $800! I told him that was almost 2 months salary for me! Later that evening we got a ride in a sort of taxi I hadn't seen before. Our driver's name....Mr. Duck. I liked it!

The next day Cailin and I headed to Bangkok to MBK, this ridiculously humongous shopping mall. I told her I didn't like malls, but because I liked her I'd come in with her! Before I moved to Thailand I looked into buying Rosetta Stone to help me learn Thai. I'm glad I saved $300 and just bought it at this place for roughly $6! There are hardly any DVD's or CD's that you can buy in Thailand that are real deal.

This past week I had a plethora of encounters of stares. It really is an interesting feeling to be stared at in such a way. I can't help but think, "WHAT ARE THEY THINKING??" Are they judging and stereotyping me like I have possibly done to them without being able to help it? Or do they also have thoughts like me of, "I wish I could speak their language so I could truly get to know them and see if we have things in common!" 

The other morning at school at an early morning assembly (which of course I couldn't understand!), I saw a student that had a shaved head minus 2 really long braids. I asked the MEP coordinator how that could be because I thought kids had to have short hair. She said that he had been sick for a really long time and that Thais believe that braids like that will help you get better. I would like to learn more about the reasoning behind this belief.

In light of trying to get all these lesson plans finished, I've been working through lunch! Here is a picture of one of my top 2 favorite things to eat...papaya salad (som tum). It's not only delicious, but very healthy. It consists of crushed garlic, crushed red pepper (I have to say nit noi ped, a little spicy!), lime juice, soy sauce, tomatos, green beans, sugar, dried shrimps, carrots, shredded papaya (not ripe), and some peanuts and cabbage to garnish. Som tum makes me a happy lady!