Kelly Talk Thai: Adventure!

August 12th was the Queen's Birthday which meant Mother's Day for Thailand. There was a special ceremony at school on Tuesday and then we got the day off of school on Wednesday.

One of the Thai teachers, Ju, invited us to go to her village for the day. She is one of our favorite people at school. She is just a thoughtful, energetic, happy person who has really reached out to us. She loves to practice her english so she talks to us all the time and we love it!

Of course we didn't know what "going to her village" entailed but we knew it would be an experience. She drove us about 30 km outside of Lampang where we had the opportunity to meet her friends, see where she grew up, visit her school, and go on a hike. Afterwards we spent the afternoon with her back in Lampang and then she treated us dinner. Here are some pics of the day. . .

We started off the morning by accidently getting our favorite iced coffee drinks called Birdy. It feels like drinking about 8 Red Bulls. The three of us used to drink one every morning before school. . .which turned into drinking 3 every morning before school so we officially cut ourselves off about 2 months ago. And for some reason decided to buy one that morning. Whoops.

A few kilometers before we got to the center of the village Ju pulled the car over to show us the rice fields around the area. It was a beautiful day.
The area behind Ju and me is the rice field that belongs to her. Her family takes care of it for her and sends her two bags of rice per year.
When Ju realized that J and Georgie didn't bring hats for the trek she was very concerned. Her friend was nice enough to loan them these Marlboro hats. Lookin good girls.

We stopped by to visit Ju's aunt and cousin. Her aunt is in her late 80's and J put it perfectly when she said "I bet that woman's got a lot of wisdom in her."
This is Ju and her childhood friend in the back of the truck we rode in. They were neighbors and did everything together as kids. She doesn't speak any english but even without the common language we sensed her kind heart immediately. We made a stop at Ju's school. Because of the holiday all 28 of the school's students and their mothers came to school for a ceremony. They asked Ju to say a few words and without hesitation she got up and spoke for about 10 minutes. We have no idea what she was saying but she spoke as if she had been practicing the speech for weeks. Of course they called us up to the mic immediately after and told us to speak about "The students, their mothers, and love". Again we have no idea what was said but I'm pretty sure we didn't sound like we'd practiced for weeks. We did however round it out with a couple versus of "You Are My Sunshine" and the crowd seemed to enjoy that!

Before the hike we all took a rest to enjoy the picnic Ju brought. Thank goodness for that. Between our coffees and the heat we were in no shape to go hiking just yet. We felt like we were about to pass out. Ju's friend and husband poured us glasses of coconut water straight from the coconuts they brought from their house. Delicious!

Ju went above and beyond in preparing our picnic. It was full of noodles (that come wrapped up in banana leaves), tons of fruit and yummy banana treats.

At 58 year old, Ju and her two friends just about topped the three of us in toughness. We were in awe of their strength! Ju just kept repeating "Adventure!" as we marched through the jungle. On the way back down the hike we had a Thai lesson which ended up being pure entertainment. The language has 5 different tones so a word said in a high tone can mean one thing while the exact same word said in a lower tone means something completely different. I've learned a little over the past few months but it is just about the most confusing thing to pick up on. Here we are. ..the three amigos! Officially Thai with our peace signs in our pictures now.

We stopped by to visit another friend of Ju's who owns a few cows. . .they apparently weren't too happy with us passing through. The one in the picture gave us a hard core stare down and there were three on the other side as well, all huffing and puffing at us. Ju's friend was nice enough to guide J through.

After swinging by a temple and a market on the drive home, Ju said she would take us to her house back in Lampang and then out to dinner. We were exhausted and it must have shown because Ju mentioned resting at her house. Right when we got there I headed off to rinse off my feet and when I came back into her living room area I see Georgie on the floor with a bunch of blankets and pillows spread out. I give her a look like "What's going on?" and she just says "We're having nap time" with a slight grin on her face. Apparently Ju insisted that we stay in this room and take a nap. Next thing I know Ju's comes in with mugs of water and sweet rolls, says "You take nap," and leaves, closing the door behind her. The three of us crack up and began making jokes that we're 5 year olds who need their nap time before Aunt Ju can take us out to dinner, otherwise we might throw a tantrum.

After our little rest Ju took us to the most famous temple in Lampang called Wat Phra That Lampang Luang. We felt really lucky to have Ju show us around and tell us all about each building, the various customs, how she prays to the Buddha and what everything on the grounds represents.

We each got to bang the huge gong!

There are many things in Thailand that revolve around luck and superstition. If you walk under the elephant then it brings you good luck!

If you ring the bells with this stick, more good luck!

Ju wanted to take us to another Wat down the road to show us where she does her aerobics class. She does it a few times a week and loves staying in shape. And this is what we found to be her aerobics instructor.