January 20, 2010

Pa Pui's brother in law, "Mr. Satay" (the name of his restaurant), came to pick us up today to go bikeriding. The five of us (the 5 other girls teaching children and I) hopped in the back of his rickety red pick up truck (literally in the back part of the truck....that's how it works in Thailand). I sat on a bamboo bench with my knees up, facing the side of the street, holding onto the metal poles/rails?, letting the breeze touch my face (yes, there is plenty of "breeze" here!). "They" led us biking through a palm tree forest/plantation on a bumpy dirt path, which was very difficult/entertaining. They did give us helmets though! We arrived at this unreal place that I will attempt to explain. We walked over a little bamboo bridge into a secret little area that was essentially a square pond. Underneath the water is sand, and when you make noise or clap the sand and water bubble up and get bigger. When you are quiet, the sand and water are still. It's like the earth responds when you speak to it. And when you put your hand in the sand holes, it vibrates strongly and bubbles against your skin. They showed us this place as if it was nothing special, and had no explanation for the phenomenon. I got the impression that we were the first foreigners to ever see that particular patch of Thailand. We then followed our crew to the most gorgeous cave that had a massive golden Buddha statue. One of the Thai men shined his flashlight down a dark tunnel in the cave to show us the HUNDREDS of bats flapping around and sqealing! Straight out of a horror film.......After biking back to Pa Pui's we were immediately served refreshing honeydew juice followed by another amazing meal of different authentic Thai dishes that I can't pronounce. It's crazy how they treat us like princesses yet act like it's effortless. "Mai pen rai"....means don't worry, no problem...the way of life here :)