waterfall, part 1

this weekend was interesting to say the least. steinar and i went with some of the other teachers from our school on a trip to what was only described to us as "the waterfall." we were told to meet at the 7/11 by our school at 6 am on saturday with 700 baht. as we were walking in the dark to meet, we got a call saying that it would be a little later. turns out, we didnt end up leaving until almost 8. such is life in thailand.

so we drove about two hours to get to this waterfall, nang rong. the place we were at was actually a bit of a distance from the waterfall, so we dropped our stuff off and changed before heading out. im not really sure what the point of changing was though, since thais swim in their clothing. i put on my bathing suit underneath anyway though.

at the bottom of the waterfall.

all of the pictures from actually being in the water were taken by the others from our group. i went right into the water and didnt want to ruin my camera so i ended up not taking it out. i was so excited to be able to get water for the first time since leaving phuket, and it was actually really clean too, if a little chilly. but the humidity made the water feel amazing, and we stayed there climbing and relaxing for a few hours before we were toldto pack up because we were heading to raft.

most of the group at the top of the dam, after rafting.

so we arrived at a river just past a huge dam, as it happened to start drizzling. by the time we got all of our gear on and were piling into the two rafts, it was a full out thunderstorm with lightning and thunder, which im sure was not the safest thing. still, as we made our way down the river, in the raft with the group who really didnt speak english, we had a blast battling the rain, rapids and language barriers. at one point, we bumped into a raft in front of us, causing ours to tip, and everyone got dumped out. i have to say, except for the coldness following the rain stopping, it was a fantastic experience. once we got to the bottom of the river, we piled into the back of a pickup truck, standing, and rode back to the start. it was a truly thai experience.

me with bai thong, the daughter of ms. tuk ta, another teacher at the school.

once back at the house, we were fed. actually, we were fed constantly. it seems as if the thais eat every half hour, which is why, steinar decided, they are so tiny, because their metabolism never stops. perhaps. but we had a thai barbaque, steaming meats and vegetables for literally hours. following food, or rather during food since it never really stopped, one of the other teachers broke out his guitar and started to play some thai songs, followed by steinar playing some songs from the us. it continued on like that for hours, back and forth between thai and american songs, and sitting outside that night listening to everything, both cultures coming together, and surrounded by thais doing what they normally would whether or not i was here, it hit me that i am actually in thailand.