Sawatdee Pee Mai!

Richard and I have had five days off for the New Year holiday, and it has been wonderful. After having to work on Christmas, it was a needed break. There have been lots of fun festivities in Hua Hin for the new year as well, so we've been enjoying ourselves. On Tuesday, at my school, we started the day with a donation of food to the monks. Monks from the nearest temple came to our school, and everyone gave them bags and baskets of food to take back to the Wat. Then we spent the rest of the day deep-frying various food items in the classrooms, stuffing ourselves, and exchanging presents. Pretty fun, in all.

For New Years Eve, Richard and I went to the celebration at Sip Gao Rai, a park in our neighborhood. There was a huge carnival, with rides, games, lots of food, and a band. We failed to win any prizes at the dart and slingshot games, but we gave it our best shot. After the countdown, there were fireworks, and monks spraying water at the crowds. I'm pretty sure that I got sprinkled with holy water, so that has to bode well for the new year.

On New Years day, Richard and I went to the Kaeng Krachan National Park. Our coordinator's sister runs a resort there, so we were given a free stay. We got really excited about staying at a resort and hiking in the park, so we packed our laptops, swim suits, and hiking shoes. When we got there, we realized that "resort" actually meant "camp ground." We were staying in a little bungalow with hard mattresses and nothing resembling internet access. And then we learned that we couldn't actually access any hiking trails or sights in the park without a car or motorbike. Our national park vacation was looking a little less exciting. But we had lots of fun! Ally, or coordinator's sister, let us ride the staff motorbike around the camp grounds. At first she was going to let us ride it to the park, but then she saw our shaky motorbike skills, and changed her mind. "My staff can give you a ride to the park, I think...." But we totally got better! Pretty soon we will be motorbike champions.

The next day, we went to the park and walked around its outskirts. There's a large dam at the entrance to the park, which has created a huge lake with mountains rising out of it. Tons of Thai families were camping around the lake. We were able to get an hour-long boat-ride around the lake. It was beautiful. Then we crossed a swinging bridge to a little island and walked around it. So, we got some hiking in. Maybe a whole half-mile! Maybe. We also saw monkeys.

Back in Hua Hin, there have been outdoor concerts at the same park. Two nights ago we saw a band called Sweet Mullet. Which is definitely a sweet name. Before the show, they brought audience members onstage and had a death-metal-scream contest. I was very worried about the music we were about to witness. But the show turned out to be great. The death-metal -screams were not overused, and the music was fun. Last night we saw another band called Black Vanilla, which is a totally teeny-bopper, hipster-pop group. They were also awesome. The coolest thing about the show was that Richard and I walked up to the stage when the band came on, and were easily able to get within ten feet of the stage. And these were free concerts featuring some of the most popular bands in Thailand! Their videos are all over the music-video station. Had I been just a little more aggressive, I could have been amongst the throngs of teenage girls screaming and trying to touch the band members. Maybe next time. Here's our favorite Black Vanilla video.

There was also a takraw game going on at the concert. Takraw is awesome. It is like a combination of volleyball, soccer, and acrobatics. More on that later. Happy New Year!