Changs and Khoa Chamao

 June 17, 2012

This weekend we stayed in town yet it was filled with adventure and excitement. Friday after school I came home, read, and entertained myself for a couple hours. I get off early on Friday and am allowed to go home or do as I please, gives me flexibility to travel which is pretty nice. At 4 pm I met with the other two English teachers, Jessica and Danielle, and we decided to go to the market. By the market I mean the outdoor market. It is basically a giant flea market that happens three days a week. Tuesday and Thursday the small one goes on, Friday the really big one happens.

The market is walking distance from the school (everything in town is pretty much walking distance), but one of the teachers wanted to take us. We got in the car with her and drove to the market. When we got there we were walking and Jessica yelled “elephant!”, I was slightly confused and asked what? Huh? And was completely caught off guard when I almost run straight into a momma elephant and a baby elephant! I was so excited! I haven’t seen elephants since I got here and was incredibly excited  to finally see some.

Being the typical tourist I decided to pay 20 Baht to feed them. These animals are greedy!!! They kept using their trunks to try to steal my food, and to fight each other for it. I have no idea what I was feeding them but they seemed to love it.

Im not a very big fan of the market, I am not trying to shop until I leave and I don’t particularly like the market food… But that day I was in luck! The first stall we saw was my favorite dish, Lab Moo… and I have to say it was my favorite so far. The pork was freshly BBQed. It then was chopped and mixed with onions, cilantro, spicy stuff, lime juice, ground sesame, and some sort of other magical stuff. It was delicious. I ended the night by coming home working out and relaxing.

Saturday was a pretty awesome day as well. I got up very early to meet the girls and Keng at 7 am. We met and got a ride to Koa Chamao, a national park that is located about 20 km from our town. Keng gave us a ride and dropped us off. From then on it was a 5 hour or so hike up the last virgin evergreen forest in the world! Super cool! It consists of an 8 stage or however you call it waterfall. Each higher level gets prettier and prettier… but also more dangerous and crazier of a hike. It was beautiful.

The first couple of levels were relatively easy. From then on it got progressively harder. When we got to level 4 or something like that there was a big pond or body of water where we could swim. It was full of fish (big crazy looking fish), which made me kind of nervous… but I was not going to get that far and not jump in. Danielle sat out but Jessica decided to go in. Crazy little monkey me climbed up some rocks and decided to jump in. Danielle was in charge of taking the picture… but I was a little hesitant and jumped without warning. The water was cool and refreshing.

One of the park guards saw us jumping and decided to talk to us. He decided to show us the rest of the way up. The rest of the trek was complicated. There were places with crazy cliffs to the side, and places where there were ropes so that we could make it through. It was incredible. I didn’t think I was going to make it. I was exhausted… but I kept going and made it to end. Level 8 was the most beautiful level. To our surprise our guide took his uniform off and decided to go swimming. Having seen that I had jumped he made me climb with him and slide down the moss covered rocks from the waterfall… like a natural slip and slide! It was awesome!!! The best part was trying to get up there, slipping falling and the hilarious pictures that ensued… ENJOY! (Cause you probably will never see me in these awkward positions again hahaha)!