Christmas in Thailand: Take Two

Merry Christmas from Thailand!!!

I have been lacking in the realm of blogging for two reasons:

1. I'm having too much fun touring around Thailand with Andy and some of his family- his brother, two aunties, uncle, and cousin

2. The internet connection is not great in the hotels we have been staying in

I will update in the new year. Have a very, very merry and safe Christmas everyone! A special shout-out to my family. I miss you all and can't wait to spend Christmas with you next year! xoxo

Dancing Taste Buds

This week has been based around awesome food. On December 4th, Andy and I attended a Christmas feast hosted by the Thai Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

 

Empty stomaches, ready to go.
In the background is a picture of the King. It was his 85th birthday on Wednesday. For that reason, we did not have to go to work! Millions of people celebrated all day and night, and wore yellow (the royal colour).



There was wood fired pizza at the Christmas feast. One of my most favourite foods.
There was also salmon, roast beef (nearly non-existent here), plenty of bacon, and TURKEY. To be honest, I ate so much I had to undo my belt a couple of notches.

A table of Canadian teachers- represent!

Lovely music and a lovely date.

One of the cheapest types of flowers you can buy in Thailand.
$3 for a couple stems of fresh orchids. Purchased on the street.

Last night I went to a restaurant called Seven Spoons, where I celebrated two of my friend's birthdays. The restaurant is a hidden gem on some random side street, wedged between a motorcycle repair shop and a hardware store. The entire dining room was about the size of my bedroom.
I ate one of my top 5 meals of my life there - absolutely mouthwatering.

We tried almost all of the appetizers on the unique menu. TO DIE FOR.
The menu was all about healthy food- locally produced and organic ingredients.



Best seat in the house- between the birthday girls!

The drinks were also delectable. Each drink featured a very flavourful fruit or vegetable- like galangal, fresh passionfruit, and sugar cane. 

My main course. Bacon wrapped pork filet with apple mango chutney and blue cheese potatoes.
I'm drooling.

A Nose-Plugging Day

This week, I had the pleasure of going to one of Bangkok's garbage dumps, and waste water treatment plant with the grade 6 and 7 students. Even though the entire day was led in Thai, I still learned a lot.

I learned where all the garbage from the garbage trucks gets dumped. Right here.
All of the garbage dumps in the city are privately owned. An entire community is created right in the dump. All of the people are educated up until grade 6. After that, no one goes to school because they can not afford the fees.

When the garbage gets dumped, every single square inch of it gets sorted by hand. After the items are sorted into plastics, metals, cardboard, etc. it goes to sorting places like this one (which is basically a small garage in someone's backyard). Here, the items are sorted again, weighed, and sold for a profit.
Next to nothing is actually left in the landfill.

Before selling plastic, they must know exactly what kind it is. To figure it out, they put small pieces of the plastic into a variety of buckets of salt and water (each with a different ratio of salt and water). If it sinks or floats in certain buckets, they can tell what it is. Simple but very effective.

At the waste water treatment plant, we saw a lot of this kind of stuff.

And this.

To be honest, I was pretty lost the whole time...couldn't tell you much about the place. All I know in Thai is the word for water, "nam". That's it.

Loy Krathong

Happy first day of Advent! Hard to believe it is already December. Where did November go?

In honour of our American friends, we celebrated American Thanksgiving (or as we like to call it: Canadian Thanksgiving Part Deux). This time my friend Heidi hosted it at her place.

Andy, a new friend, and Andy's brother! Brian arrived just over a week ago, and will be hanging out with us for the next six months.

We had another delicious Thanksgiving meal, complete with homemade pies.

And a cake that survived the night untouched.
Nothing could compare to the pies.

The view from Heidi's balcony. Giant floats (boats) have been preparing for upcoming Thai holidays, by doing test runs up and down the river, blasting music and fireworks.

On Wednesday, all of Thailand celebrated Loy Krathong. We did activities all day at school, and then I celebrated some more in the evening in our apartment complex. Loy Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lundar calendar. Thais make decorative floats (krathongs) made of banana leaves or bread, covered in flowers. Incense and candles are lit in the middle, and they are set off to float on rivers. The candles venerate the Buddha with light, and the krathong is to symbolize letting go of all one's hatred and anger. Sometimes people cut their fingernails or hair and put the clipping on the Krathong as a symbol of letting go of negative thoughts. A small coin is occasionally included as an offering to the river spirits. People also use the krathongs to thank the Goddess of Water.

Wearing a traditional dress for the special occasion. 

The students spent the morning at school playing traditional Thai games. 

Teachers played too!

Some very inventive games indeed.

Like sitting on a heap of shoes while children try to grab them.

We learned how to make boats with banana leaves.

And krathongs with lotuses.

The start of my krathong.

At the end of the day, we all took turns releasing our krathongs in the school pond.

Many of the students wore elaborate gowns.

Rather than trying to battle the crazy downtown traffic, Andy, Brian, and myself opted to celebrate in our apartment complex instead.

We saw clowns.

Carnival inspired games.

And a ferris wheel.

The boys had coconut ice cream in a bun.

There were even some performances.
Not as big as the free Gangnam Style concert downtown that night though (yes, we opted out on that one).

If you didn't have time to make a krathong, you could buy one.

We each released one in the Metro Park lake.

I would have loved to be in Chiang Mai during Loy Krathong, where the people release floating lanterns.
(Image taken from http://benjiinteriors.wordpress.com)