some of us before going down
posted by Lauren @ 5:26 AM
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From the Land of Smiles...
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Paige asking the deer for the frisbee back (in the background is where we ate everyday)
posted by Lauren @ 5:05 AM
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Monday, December 12, 2005
Ko Chang
Hey Everybody,
I just got back yesterday from a trip to Ko Chang (elephant island) with a bunch of my exchange student friends. 10 actually. It was so amazing, I had such a great time! It was so exciting to go to an island and actually spend some time on it...and I finally went swimming in the Gulf of Thailand! Yay! And, of course, it was really great to get to spend more time with my friends.
I left Rayong on Friday, and a few of my friends from a neighbouring city came and met me here and we took a bus on to the next city where we met 3 more peolpe. Then we rented a song taew (mini-bus, which is basically a truck with seats on the back) to take us right to the peir where we caught the ferry. The ferry ride was nice, and we got to see the beginning of the sunset, which was beautiful. Once we got to the island we didn't want to pay the ridiculous prices of the song taew drivers so we started walking up the road, and then got offered a ride by a really nice guy in the back of his truck. It was going really well until a song taew driver made the guy stop and then made us get out. It was ridiculous. I guess they have a complete monopoly on the island. We were sooo mad, so clearly we weren't going to give us our business, so we started walking again. Eventually we got tired, and it started to get dangerous to be walking because it was a winding road in the mountains without any lights, so we got into the next song taew that passed and got off at the beach. Then we walked along the beach looking for a place to stay.
We had gotten pretty far along the beach and were all just about to walk up this set of stairs when siddenly a huge wave came and soaked us....including some of our bags and everything in our pockets...That included Hugo's new cell phone, and Aspi realized that he had lost his too. At that point we were tired and wet, so a bunch of us just sat down there and a few people went on to look at the next place, which luckily had a few rooms open and for a good price, so we stayed there. That night we all decided to go for our first swim in the Gulf of Thailand, which was nice and warm. And then when we swam down the beach a bit we saw a guy who was doing Poi, which is basically a fire show. He had 2 chains with fire on the ends, and then did it with a stick with both ends on fire. It was sooo cool. And then my friend Kyle walked over and did it, and then Aspi, and then Nicklas went up and did it with the stick. It was crazy! They were all really good too, although we were soo worried that they were going to light themselves on fire.
The next morning Chris and I ended up waking up way earlier than everyone else so we decided to walk down the beach and find breakfast. I ended up getting French Toast and he got a banana pancake and we both of banana shakes. It was really good except that they gave us honey instead of maple syrup! It was quite dissapointing, and tasted really different, but wasn't bad, i just was looking forward to maple syrup, being the canadian that i am...When we got back we found out that we had to change where we were staying because we didn't confirm for the next night, and it was booked...so we packed up and ended up getting rooms at the place we wanted originally, which is basically where all rotary students stay when they go to Ko Chang. The people there are great..and they even have some rotary banners up from exchange students...
That day a couple of us got henna tatoos and when we were walking down the main street we found out about a reef at a beach about halfway down the island. We decided to check it out. ugo and Aspi had rented motorbikes for the day, so they shuttled us down to the beach, and I got to chek out the view from the mountains too, which was beautiful... The reef turned out to be pretty small, and not that great comparing to what else I know you can find in thailand, but it was still pretty cool. And it was really cool watching all the other people who had never seen anything like that before. They're going to absolutely love our southern tour in April.
That night when we got back we decided to go for a cheap dinner...meaning food from the 711 (where we went countless times over the few days) and then went back to the rooms and rested a bit before getting up again. It was still early so we just hung out...played some games, like "I never" which is an awsome get to know you game... Then a few of us decided that we wanted to go dancing, because there was a place down the beach, so we headed down there. It was alot of fun, and it was so funny, because when we were there I saw Brittany and Robin, my friends from Bankhai, who happened to be there at the same time. I sat and talked with them and some of the people they were with for a bit...people from Switzerland and Sweden (we met sooo many people from sweden that weekend) and a bunch of other countries. It was really cool.
The next day we all slept in lae and decided to just have a really laid back day of laying on the beach and swimming...It was really good, but we couldn't lay on the beach for long, beacuse it was just too hot, so we layed around in the water instead. Around lunch time we got hungry so we went and walked along the main road to find something. While we were walking I started to feel really sick...My stomach felt a bit weird, but I had just figured i was really really hungry, and then i started to feel weak, and just not good...so I bought some water and drank that, but still was not feeling good, so I went back to the rooms, and Chris was nice enough to walk me back. On the way y stomach got really bad and i ended up throwing up into the plastic bag that i luckily was carrying (sorry for the detail, although i could give more..but i won't)...When I got back to the room and layed down for a while and drank alot more water I felt much better...I'm guessing that it was mild heatstroke, since I had been out on the beach and in the water all day and hadn't really drank any water all day, but I'm really not sure...it was so weird...
Later that night we played a game of volleyball against some swedish people and while we were waiting to go to dinner some of the guys had made some practice poi chains. They had used rope and water bottles and ripped up a towel for the handles. It was really cool, because then a bunch of us got to learn. It's really fun, and I really wanted to try it with fire, but ran out of time. We went out to an Italian restaurant. It was good, but didn't meet our really high expectations. I guess they have to make it with Thai ingredients, but still...It was really nice to get to have cheese though. I miss cheese... After that we heard a band start up at the place next door so we went and watched that for a bit. The guitarists were really good. The one guy was playing a left handed guitar, but playing the way you'd play a right handed guitar. It was crazy, and was so weird if you listened and watched his hands. After that we hung out at the bungalows a bit and went dancing again, but it wasn't as good this time. They kept playing slowish songs, and there was a creepy guy watching us..but luckily we had boys with us... It was a good last night though.
The next morning we got up early and packed up, got breakfast at 711 and caught a song taew to the peir. Unfortunately it took us so long to catch one that we just barely missed the ferry. A few of the Korat girls had to get back before dark, so they ended up taking a speedboat back (which was more expensive) and we waited for the next one. Brittany and Robin ended up coming back with us too. When we got to the other side we took a song taew to the bus station and then Brittany and Robin and I got a bus right away back to Rayong. It was a crappy bus, but we just slept the whole way anyway...and it was nice because it was an hour shorter than it had been to get there. Once we got back to Rayong we had a very early dinner and then headed home...It was kind of weird though, because my family was still in Bangkok for the next few hours, so I had the house all to myself...
Anyways, sorry that was sooo long...and i'll try to get pictures up soon. I didn't take that many this weekend because other people were carrying their cameras, but i'm planning on getting ahold of those...I'm also goign to attempt to post the pictures tonight of the last trip, so wish me luck with the new computer...
I hope everythings going really well back home and that you're all enjoying Christmas preparations...
And good luck on your exams everybody! Yay, you're almost halfway finished first year university!
I miss you all!
-Lauren
posted by Lauren @ 11:27 PM
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new address
Hey Everybody,A bunch of you have asked for my new address so here it is:
Lauren Crickmore
4 Sukhumwit Rd., Choengnoen district,
Muang Rayong 21000
Thailand
posted by Lauren @ 9:38 PM
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Thursday, December 08, 2005
changing host families
Hey Everybody,I just want to let you know that I have now successfully changed host families. I changed last night.
My new host family seems really nice, but it was so weird being in the new house. I mean, I've lived with my last host family for 4 months, so they're my family here...and all of a sudden...i'm in a completely different place...
And somehow all of my stuff seems to have doubled or tripled...I'm not really sure how that happened, but it's made things difficult since my new room is alot smaller, and already has stuff in it. I'm sure i'll get it all sorted out tonight though...
Ohhh, and they have a piano, which i'm really excited about. I'll finally get to practice. Yay!
Anyways, I'm going to an island this weekend, so i'll post again when I get back and let you all know how it went...
I hope that everything's going well back home!
Oh, and Mrs. Andrews, its so great to hear from you! Can you send me your email address so I can email you?
-Lauren
posted by Lauren @ 12:58 AM
1 comments
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Phukradung
Hey Everybody,Sorry this has taken me so long to post, but I just changed host families last night, so its been a pretty crazy week.
Oh, and I'll post some pictures after i've gotten the whole computer situation at my new host family's house figured out...
The whole trip was so much fun. I met so many amazing people, and had such a great time. It's weird because after meeting them all, my whole outlook on this exchange is suddenly soo much better. Its funny how that can happen.
Alright, so, on Saturday morning my host mother, host sister and a friend of my host mother drove me to Chonburi. When I got there I met the three guys that I had met at orientation; Hugo, Chris and Nicklas. We all drove up to Korat together. It was really good to see them again. Then we got to Korat and checked into the hotel. We went a day early because the bus was leaving early the next morning. When we were at the hotel we met a bunch of other people. I'm not going to write out all of their names, but there ended up being 11 of us staying at the hotel, and then 2 girls from Korat came and hung out with us too. We had so much fun that night, and it was really cool to meet all of those new people, and of course, it being the first time that alot of us had met, we had ridiculous amounts of things to talk about.
The next morning we all got up early and had breakfast before going to the Korat bus station. Then we all got onto a bus (not our own bus, there was other thai people on it too...i felt sorry for them). Then I met all the Korat people too...and there's alot of them. Oh, and that morning at the hotel I saw my friend Katrina, who's from the same district as me. I barely recognised her! Her hair's short and red and it makes her look completely different. It was so good to see her though. Then we embarked on the very long bus ride up to Phukradung, well, the bottom of it. We stayed in little cabin-like houses that night, and many more people came. You have no idea how much trouble I had trying to remember people's names over this trip. Oh, and I got to see Bailey, who's also from the same district back in Canada. She dyed her hair blond, so she looked really different too.
That night was alot of fun too, since we met even more new people...I don't think we could have ever run out of things to talk about...One thing that I did realize after talking to people is that i've been sooooo lucky to get my host family. Some of them hava had alot of problems with their families. I've been so lucky to get such a wonderful one.
The next morning we all got up early and took nice, cold bucket showers. That was fun, lol... Well, everyone didn't have to have bucket showers, but our shower was broken... Then we all got into a bus and drove to the base of Phukradung. We had a big breakfast there, which, let me tell you, was not the best idea before the climb. The whole thing took me about just over 3 hours, which i'm pretty happy with. I beat alotof people up, even with my knees killing me the whole time. That's definetly all thanks to some of my new friends though, who were nice enough to walk up with me, and even come back down and walk with me. That was so awsome of them...
When we got to the top we had to walk another 4 km to get to the camp. Once we got there we had some lunch...which i wasn't hungry for, but decided to eat since i was really dizzy...and then after a bit we went for a walk to check out one of the cliffs... Later that afternoon I also got the pleasure of having an ice cold shower...honestly, it seemed too cold to still be a liquid, and it seemed to get colder over the days that we were there...We had a pretty good dinner that night and just spent alot of time hanging out and recovering from the climb...and preparing for the next day...Oh, and you have no idea what the stars looked like there. The night was perfectly clear and I don't think ive ever seen the stars so clearly, or seen so many of them. And I saw 3 shooting stars, so I was pretty happy about that...
The next morning we all (well, not everyone) got up and met at 5 am to go and see the sunset. We had to walk to the cliff that we had gone to the day before. The annoying thing was, that after getting up that early and waiting for the sun to rise, it seemed to rise over to the right of where we were, and there was alot of clouds...So we decided to go and find it, and ended up following what seemed to be an animal path, complete with lots of deer prints, and we thought we saw paw prints, but it was probably our imagination. We thought we were goign to get completely lost, but miraculously ended up at a road, where we walked back to camp. It was an adventure, even though we didn't find a better view of the sunrise. That day, after breakfast, we headed off on a 20 km hike, that turned out not to take us to see all that much. We saw the buddha statue on the platau (i dont know how to spell that), and saw a waterfall, but only from the top, and we also saw a big cliff, where we stopped for lunch...Then we had to walk all the way back. My feet and legs were killing me, especially since I hadn't recovered from the climb up yet...I did get to see a bit of a sunset on the way back though, although it was blocked mostly by the clouds...
That night we had barbecue for dinner, which we cooked ourselves on lots of little pots with fires in them...ohhh, and I also found out that one of the guys knows deep tissue massage, and he cracked my back for me. It felt so good...especially since i haven't gotten it cracked in 4 months, since there aren't any chiropractors in Thailand. Then that night, we were all hanging out in one of the cabins and 17 of us ended up falling asleep in there. I still am not really sure how we did it, I ended up sleeping on the floor in front of the door...but it was a fun night...
The next day we luckily had free time, so after getting up and having breakfast, a bunch of us went back to our cabin and had a nice nap. The only thing scheduled for the day was a soccer game, which most of us didnt participate in, which is understandable after all the walking we'd done..and my lack of soccer abilities... After the soccer game we decided to go and swim in the waterfall that was close to the camp. It was good, but didn't have all that much swimming room, so a bunch of us went and walked until we found the next one where there was room to swim. It was soo awsome. There was a point where I was just standing there looking out and It all just seemed soo surreal. I mean, I was swimming in a waterfall, on top of a mountain, in Thailand...it can't get too much better than that...
That was definetly a cold night though, because we stayed too long and ended up getting back to camp (after a long walk) soaking wet in the dark...and it definetly was not above 10 degrees....
That night we had another barbecue, and discovered that if a bunch of people sat around it and had blankets wrapped around the outside of all of us, it keeps the heat in really well..so we spent alot of time sitting like that, still trying to get warm from the walk back.
The next morning we packed up and walked down the mountain, which took me almost as long as it had to walk up...then after lunch the first group of us left for korat. It was kind of sad, but then we realized that we're goign to see everyone again in 2 weeks for our next trip, so we were just really excited... That bus ride was, for some reason, alot longer than the one to get there, but I slept alot, so it was okay with me.
That night the group of us stayed in Korat again, and we went out for mexican food for dinner, which was really good, and lebanese food for breakfast the next morning, before we were picked up to go home...
-Lauren
posted by Lauren @ 9:42 PM
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Friday, December 02, 2005
i'm back!
Hey everybody,I just want to let you know that i'm home from my first Rotary Trip to Pukradung...and I had an amazing time. I have lots and lots to tell you all, and lots of pictures to post, but today i'm working on emails, so i'll try to post it all tomorrow.
-Lauren
posted by Lauren @ 9:36 PM
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Previous Posts
- catching up
- a mermaid puppet...it wasn't used in the show
- at the puppet show
- a puppet and i
- the garden on the island
- peep and I
- pook and peep in the garden
- a really old kiln
- ...doing the detailed work...
- a guy doing pottery on the island
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