Thailand: The Land of Smiles: 2014

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha… Rock it everywhere! =)

Ayutthaya

I am approximately two months behind on this blog at this point, but not to fear, I have not given up. Turns out teaching is quite time consuming, but it has still been a lot of fun. During the New Years vacation Jill and I ventured to Ayutthaya, the original Thai capitol. The temples of Ayutthaya date back to the 14th century. Ayutthaya was seized in 1767 by Burma and the ruins of the destroyed and burnt temples that remain are truly beautiful. Ayyuthaya was one of my favorite places in Thailand so far. We were only in Ayutthaya for two days, but I plan to go back a time or two before I head home. Hope you like it as much as we did.

Ayutthaya by night:

The first day we got to Ayutthaya around 7pm and after checking in to the hotel we decided to go see the temples that are lit up at night. The temples were really cool at night, but even more amazing in the light of day. Pictures are the only way to explain the beauty of this city, so lets get to it. =)

Pretty talented graffiti artist

Ayutthaya by day:

The next day we spent the entire day walking around Ayutthaya in awe. There are temples and ruins all around you in this city and Jill and I loved exploring them all. As you can imagine we took a billion photos, but I will share with you all the favorites. =)

Temple 1: Wat Yai Chai Mongkhol

This temple was probably my most favorite, but they are all incredible so it is tough to choose one.

The large resting Buddha

The gold you see is placed on the Buddha by people who come to worship. The temples here sell specks of gold and worshipers pay merit by placing the gold on the Buddha.

Tradition says that if you can get a coin to stick to the Buddha's feet you will have good luck!

I tried it.....

and mine stuck, after many attempts, but hey it's there! =)

It really was so beautiful!

Next the main part of the temple, which I am in front of here.

Jill and I in front of the temple

Little closer up

The outer edges of the entire temple is lined with Buddhas and it was magical to see

Chilling with one of the Buddhas

I really loved this temple!

The back of the temple has this awesome shrine that depicts monks praying to Buddha

We were even able to climb a billion stairs to go inside the main chedi (dome).

Inside it looks like this

The people are attempting to make a coin all the way down and into the tiny square. I didn't make this one!

Temple 2: Wat Phanan Choeng

Home of the biggest indoor Buddha I have ever se

This Buddha was huge and completely Gold. As you can see here we were elbow to elbow packed in here, but I managed to snap a couple more pictures.

I wish you could understand how big it was with a picture.

Really enjoyed this Buddha.

Temple 3: Wat Mahathat

This was temple had the most unique Buddha by far and the coolest ruins.

I like to say Ma-hat-hat =)

We like cool, calm, and collected in this photo, but we were terrified of the bats we could smell were clearly inside here.

We are far less terrified here.

Like the 1st temple this temple is also lined with Buddhas, but due to the attacks very little of the Buddhas remain.

Some still have heads. YAY!

But most of the Buddhas here look like this one.

Now get ready for the coolest part about this temple. Look closely and you will see what was found years after the attack growing in one of the trees.

Yup, a Buddha head tangled in the roots of the tree.

So very incredible!

It even blends in

Temple 4: Wat Lokayasutharam

This is another resting Bddha, but it is even bigger and dates back to the 17th century.

This Buddha was amazing in size and placed right in the middle of an empty field.

I am not even half as tall as Buddha's feet!

Last and kind of least, but still pretty:
Temple 5: Wat Chai wat thana ram
We went to this temple to watch the sunset, because the guide books all said it was the place to be. The sunset was pretty and the ruins are cool too, but it wasn't as awesome as the others for me.

All in all I loved Ayutthaya and I hope you can all see it one day! =)

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Happy Birthday to the King.... and Dustin!

Phuket: Trip Advisor says yay, I vote nay.
Here in Thailand the King's birthday is a holiday and we were lucky enough to get a three day weekend out of it. It just so happens that our friend Dustin was born the day after the king, so we went to Phuket, Thailand to celebrate the births of these two fellas.

We had read a lot of great things about Phuket's beaches, sites, and night life, but to our surprise, it wasn't our favorite place. Although Phuket had pretty beaches, they were packed with tourists and if you didn't know better you would think your plane landed somewhere in California. In addition to the hundreds of foreigners, like ourselves, Phuket also had a McDonald's or KFC on every corner and the few Thai people you could find only spoke English. It was of course nice to have some American food and to see our American friends, but Patong beach didn't feel at all like Thailand to me.

That being said, we had a great time celebrating Dustin's birthday. We even were upgraded free of charge to the 2 person room that could really sleep 4. Ha Ha

The first night we had a yummy Italian dinner and then went out to make Dustin dance.

The next day we had an American breakfast and this cute little girl suckered us in to buying her leis. She gave us each a kiss on the cheek and it made it worth every penny, or baht.

That day we also decided to try the famous fish pedicures. I found out during this experience that my feet are not a little bit ticklish, but a LOT ticklish. I squirmed, giggled, and gripped Jill's hand the entire time. I didn't feel too bad about the scene I was making because Jill was right there giggling and squirming with me. I can't explain what it felt like except that it was so weird and crazy ticklish. I would stick my feet in for a few seconds and then half to pull them out again. When you dunked your legs down in they all swarmed your feet and legs. It was absolutely crazy and I think I am ok to just keep my dead skin. Ha Ha Also the lady who gave me my pedicure repainted my big toe at least 7 times and kept saying, "Not beautiful enough for you teacher". After the seventh repaint and blow dry I had to tell her, "it looks amazing, please let me go". I know patience is a virtue, but I was in that chair for at least two hours. Here are some pictures from the hilarious event.


Julia, Jill, and I ready to go!


Yikes!!!

Don't kick the fish! Don't kick the fish!

Ahhhh it tickles!

Ha Ha Ha

After surviving the fish pedicures we had dinner and then went to check out the night life a little more. Look at what we found.

What in the world is right!

It didn't take long to decide to go play pool instead.

The following day we decided to get away from all the tourist and adventure out to a nearby island for the day. We hired a long boat that took us about 30 minutes away to a nearby island. The island still had a ton of tourists, but the boat ride was beautiful and the island was a more peaceful. We spent the day playing volleyball, snorkeling, and laying on the beach.

Our boat!

The ride to the island

Almost there


We made it!

The boat ride home at sunset was the best!

We had an early flight to catch the next day so we called it a night early. We came home to go to school on Monday and then had another day off for Constitution day on Tuesday. Constitution day was a ton of fun. We spent the day by the beach with the other teachers that are our friends at the seafood festival in Ban Phe. We had a great day exploring the beach town and then spent the night eating, playing carnival games, drinking, and listening to live music by the beach.