Christmas in Thailand.

Christmas morning presents!

This morning I woke up to my roommate cooking me and my other roommate scrambled eggs and toast.  I wake up to "Sonya open your present now!"  I say ok ok let me get dressed first.  She says no I need it now.  I open it and its a toaster.  I have been talking about getting a toaster for a few months now but just never did.  Now I can have toast in the mornings!  And she needed it opened right then so she could use it to finish making us breakfast.  The three of us also enjoyed oreo chocolate donuts from a place called Mister Donut which is a lot like Dounkin Donuts.  After breakfast we all opened the rest of our presents.  My other roommate gave me my favorite candy in the world, watermelon slices, popcorn and coke dressed as a cute reindeer.  This was all before 7:30am when we were due to report at school.

All dressed up for Christmas

          At school the morning was reserved for a Christmas assembly.  Each grade level had a presentation of a song, dance, or skit of some sort.  First the whole school sang a few Christmas carols and gave a few speeches about Christmas.  K1 performed first.  The kids were getting very antsy so it was good we were first.  They did a song and dance to the classic jingle bells songs.  It was super cute but they mostly didn't sing and there dance was a bit off too.  But no worries as they are 4 years old.  All they needed to do was be cute and that's exactly what they were.  After our performance we went back to the classroom
with all the parents and took tons of photos.

The whole class

Jingle Bells Performance

Clapping that it didn't collapse!

                                                                          The kids changed and we were ready to have school.  They were so distracted and excited it was impossible to teach anything.  But today our "craft" was going to be making gingerbread houses.  Unfortunately we did not have royal icing so I did the best I could with regular frosting.  Only 2 houses collapsed!  The kids really loved it.  They assisted me in squeezing the icing, they placed the graham crackers, and they got to stick on the candies.  (This is when two of the houses collapsed.)  It was a lot of fun and I'm really glad my teachers listened to my idea and got me the supplies.  I didn't know we would be doing this today.  I kinda thought they weren't going to do it.  It was a great surprise to walk into school and see the supplies sitting on my desk.

The gingerbread making process

The 6 gingerbread houses (2 of which collapsed)

After school all the teachers got together at a western restaurant called the "Farang Connection".  We pre paid to all come and have a Christmas dinner there.  It was really good.  We had turkey, potatoes, vegetables, stuffing and sausage wrapped in bacon.  That was my favorite part.  I even somehow convinced the restaurant to give me two more for free! 

The sausage wrapped bacon that I was obsessed with!

Christmas Dinner

The end of the evening I got to skype with my family.  I watched them as they finished opening up their presents.  My mom received the game monopoly deal from my sister.  It is my favorite card game.  Naturally they wanted to play the game right away so I watched on skype.  We had discussed dealing me in and letting me play but that would have been too complicated and taken way too much time.  My uncle Tom came and surprised my grandparents and was also there.  It was a wonderful skype session almost making me feel like I was actually home.  

Although last Christmas I was on the amazing island of Zanzibar, this Christmas turned out to be really great also!  I am headed to the island of Koh Chang here in Thailand for New Years! It's about 15 hours away, taking 2 different buses, its the closest island to my city.  About 40 teachers from Anubarn Surin and other schools in the area will be there. 
Merry Christmas Everyone and Happy New Year!!

Cambodia Trip- Angkor Wat Temples

Last weekend was a four day weekend for me.  My friend Kira and I traveled to the close border of Cambodia to the town of Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat, the largest Hindu temple complex and the largest religious monument in the world.  The word Angkor Wat, means city of temples.  It is an UNESCO world heritage site (since 1992) and considered on the of most important archaeological sites in South-East Asia.  The national park is over 400 km squared (including forested areas).  The temples are very symbolic to the Hindu religion.  The temples represent a mythical mountain (Mount Meru).  Temples were also built for the King to show power over their Kingdom.  The temples have become a major tourist site bringing over 670,000 foreign visitors per year.The city is only about 4.5 hours away from the town where I live.  It was a easy trip and we spent 4 nights there, and three days at the temples.   
Within Angkor Wat (meaning city of temples) there are over a dozen temples.
We arrived in Siem Reap on Thursday night and explored the temples on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  












Prasat Angkor Wat
On our first day, Friday, we visited this temple.  This is the capital city of the Khmer Empire. It is the closest temple to Siem Reap and the first one you see when riding to Angkor Wat.  The temple was built in the early 12th century. It lies 6 km north of the city we were staying, Siem Reap.  We rented bikes to travel as it was the cheapest and healthiest form of transportation.  These temples are considered to be the classic Khmer style architecture.  The temples are surrounded by a moat which has helped to protect it and preserve it.  There are tons of stone carving lining the interior of the temple.  One of the walls shows a battle others show culture and lifestyle of the times.  We spent 4-5 hours at this temple alone.  It is huge, one of the biggest of the Angkor Wat temples.  After spending that long in the hot, blazing sun we were exhausted and went home for naps.    

Buddha's on the bridge to Angkor Thom 
We visited Angkor Thom on our second day, Saturday.  The word "Thom" means "big".  We only saw parts of this as it was spread out and is very large.  On the road to this temple there is a bridge with Buddha head lining each side of the road.  There are at least 20 faces on each side of the bridge.  Some where obviously reconstructed while others where less vivid and some missing but a stunning sight into our second temple of the trip. 

 

Angkor Thom- Bayon

Can you imagine 216 of these?

Just amazing

It's famous for its giant stone faces on the towers which I thought were the faces of Buddha but apparently there is lots of speculation and no one know the real identity of the faces, it is more likely to be the King (of that times) face.  There are 37 standing towers, most have four carved faces on each of its four sides, giving a total of 216 faces.  This is the youngest temple in the Angkor cluster.  After visiting this temple we were exhausted and done for the day.  We spent the rest of the evening shopping in all of Siem Reaps famous night markets.  

    

  

Bat Chum (i think?)

On our third day we travelled the farthest by bicycle.  I think we rode over 30 km on Sunday.  We were heading to the famous "tree temple" as we refer to it and stopped a few places on the way.  First was this simple little temple.  I am not sure this is actually the name of it.  This was a cluster of three brick towers.  Bat Chum is a historically unique early Buddhist temple built during a time when Hinduism dominated. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preah Khan 

Relaxing in the windows

This was originally a Buddhist monastery and school, serving over 1000 monks.   This temple originally had Buddha images which were later vandalized during the resurgence of Hinduism.  The period it was built is unknown but it is one of the only temples with round columns, therefore is likely built later in time.

Bring in tomb raider...

    

 

 

 

Ta Prohm

The famous tree around the temple

We have finally made it to the "tree temple" or as we now know its real ame Ta Prohm,  This is the most famous as its was the location for the film Tomb Raider starring Angelino Jolee.  We actually did not know this before arriving when a guard checking tickets said "time rider" to us over and over and we finally made the connection that is was Tomb Raider.  The most distinctive part of this temple is there are trees growing out of the ruins.  Unlike many of the other temples constantly having construction to upkeep the temples, this temple has been left the way it was found.  

 

 

 

   

Having a Cambodia in Cambodia.

$1 /night hostel "dorm style"

Where we spent 4 nights and somehow survived.

Loy Krathong (Floating Lantern) Festival Nov 28th 2012

The floating lanterns in the sky

On the 28th of November Thailand had its most beautiful, fascinating and romantic festivals of the year.  Its called the Loy Krathong Festival.  It happens in every city around the country.  It's always happens on the full moon of the 12th lunar month according to the Thai calendar making this usually happen during the month of November.  The purpose of the festival is to pay respect to the water Goddess and to send bad spirits off with the krathong, ensuring good fortune for the coming year.  It is not a school or government holiday and it starts in the evening at dusk after school and work are finished.  

A Krathong

Krathongs for sale

The word "Loy" means float and "Krathong" is a handmade floating arrangement made of banana leaves and flowers.  There are two main things each individual does during the festival.  One they float these krathongs on some sort of body of water.  They light the candle and incense in the arrangement say a prayer to the water Goddess and float the "krathong."  The second thing done is to light a floating lantern into the sky.  The lanterns are made out of rice paper and bamboo.  The bamboo is dipped in kerosine and that is the part of the lantern you light.  The lantern has to be held while lit for a few minutes to get hot and full of smoke to float into the sky.  In Surin the even is held at a man-made left over moat from centuries ago. 

 

Me holding my unlit lantern

Me ready to send off my lantern.

Surin Elephant Round-Up and Elephant Buffet in Nov 2012

Me in front of a neighboring schools float

Tug of War- One elephant, One hundred people

The town of Surin is famous in Thailand for elephants.  Everyday you see elephants walking the streets with their owners trying to get people to buy food to feed the elephant.  Its an extra way for these families to earn money.  Normally they living in the elephant village and get money from performing shows there. Beginning in the 1960's elephants were captured in Cambodia and trained as working elephants in Thailand.  With civil war and decreasing economic value the elephant owners needed to train the elephants for entertainment.  They do things like play soccer and have tug of war contests with humans, and always win, even against 100 people. 

 Once a year, Since the 60's all 200 elephants from the elephant village journey into Surin, 60 kilometers.  

This is beautifully carved watermelons and pumpkins.

More elephant food elegantly made

The event was Nov 17th and 18th.  It started on Thursday with the first display of all the floats on the main road in Surin.  There was a float making competition in which local businesses and schools compete for who can make the best, most beautiful float.  The floats also feature food for the elephants, elegantly carved into flowers or other beautiful designs.  The floats also featured traditional Thai dancers and music as well.  All day Thursday the floats are placed around Surin to be viewed and judged.   

Our school's float which won 1st place

Carved fruits and vegetable

Me and the white elephant

On Friday was the official opening of the elephant round-up and the world's largest elephant Buffet or sometimes called elephant breakfast.  The floats are all lined up for the elephant precession at the train station round about in Surin.  There is a high school band playing and lots and lots of elephants as well as elegantly dressed school children as Thai dancers. 
 There was even a white elephant (though I was later told that elephant was painted).  The parade goes through town celebrating elephants.  Many different Thai dancers are involved in the parade as well as Thai traditionally dressed men riding the elephants.  There are baby elephants also.  After the parade the food from the floats is feed to the elephants.  Unfortunately I was at work and did not get to witness this.   

On Saturday and Sunday there is an elephant show at the stadium.  Hundreds of people attended the show.  It is like an elephant circus.  I went to the show on Sunday.  The elephants hula hooped on their trunks.  One was able to paint a picture of a tree.  They played a soccer match with on even getting injured and the other red carded for the injury.  It was all part of the show. 
Volunteers were taken from the audience to lay down while the elephant walked over them.  The end was an epic battle scene with men sword fighting and elephant (slowly) charging.  There were even fake cannons shot off.  It was a cool show to see.  Just like being at the circus.  There were a ton of foreign and Thai tourists brought to the sleepy quite town of Surin.  It was quite an exciting and busy weekend.  

Elephant walking over tourists

The beginning of the elephant battle

 Stadium show

Elephant battle scene

Elephant painting a picture with his trunk

The completed tree painting done completely alone by the elephant

Elephants charging for battle (very slowly)

Elephants with their owners doing tricks

These are carrots