khorat

spent yesterday and today (monday and tuesday) in the mountains northeast of bangkok.

see pictures here.

it was quite nice. we drove up through khao yai national park, visted thap lan national park to see a waterfall with no water, saw some cultural sites. i went with sataporn (the head biology teacher, my de facto boss), her husband and her mother. we visited her husband's family, who run a grocery store in wang nam keow. it was all very green. there is a lot of agriculture on the flatter parts of the mountians. papaya, mango, rubber, corn, sugar cane, some rice here and there, banana, jackfruit, watermellon, grapes, all kinds of things. not just corn and soybeans.

i was on the lookout for a rogue elephant raiding a field, but i didn't see anything. i caught a toad at once place. it was just sitting there, waiting to be photographed and caught for closer inspection. it was very obliging. sataporn told me to go show it to her husband because he doesn't like animals, so i took it over and as soon as he looked at it the toad went and peed all over! it was pretty funny! then later we saw a snake swimming in a pond along the road. sataporn's mom said it was a king cobra because they can swim along the surface like that. she knew this because she grew up around a lot of rice paddies and there were a lot of king cobras. i will just assume that is true and not personally verify it, although i may look it up somewhere. (certainly other snakes in the US swim, so maybe other thai snakes do?)

for dinner on monday, various members of the family cooked things and then we took all the food to a family friend's house out on the edge of a mountain. he owns a lot of land out there, grows mango, papaya, and banana. it was very nice, we could see really far off into the distance to the east, south and west. after dark, we could watch the lightening in the rain clouds. it was quite beautiful. when we were getting ready for bed, we heard a tokay gecko. too bad it didn't show itself! then maybe around midnight, after we had gone to bed out there, it started pouring.

today we just visited some cultural sites. a statue of a herine of khorat, thao suranaree. she saved the city by getting the invaders drunk, or something along those lines. now people leave flowers and other offerings for her so that their wishes will come true. we also stopped at The Mall, where there was a display of carved (or molded, not sure) wax floats that were made for asanha puja day and the start of buddhist lent (today). they were huge, like any parade float. they show scenes that are important to buddhists, but i don't know the stories surrounding them. they also, of course, feature some tribute to the king. the floats were very intricately done, it was quite impressive. during the buddhist lent, the monks can't travel and most stay in their wat (temple) so they don't ruin the crops.

after that, we went to a huge wat that is still under construction. it is the largest wat and/or houses the largest statue of a monk. i'm not clear what the correct superlative is, or if its both. the whole thing is funded by a famous thai movie star. they feed whoever shows up for free, but of course its always nice to make a donation. and if you can throw your coin in a cup at the top of a fountain, you'll have good luck.

after that, we went to a dairy farm. they had excellent ice cream. didn't get to taste the cheese. :( we didn't actually see the cows or anything, just had ice cream and looked at the western-themed gift shop. i was so tempted by the large belt buckle featuring texas, let me tell you. there is a good thai souvenier for you.