A Brief Get-away (3-16)

Last week was the last week of the term at school. Students finished their final exams, and teachers finished grading them. I also finished calculating final grades and recording them in the official record books. Students had a field trip one day.

On Friday, there were special ceremonies for the graduating 6^th and 9^th grade students. I learned about this by chance when I was walking around for a bit of exercise. Typical. Since I wasn’t really doing much and I did teach one 6^th grade class, I decided to attend their ceremony. One of the teachers was the lay leader who did the chanting/praying. The other teachers there were seated around the center with him. Students sat in a circle around us. A ball of string was passed around and everyone held onto a piece of string during the ceremony. Afterwards, Sister Viphaporn and Sister Oranut came in and talked to the students. Then there was string tying. I was surprised that the Sisters participated in this. They both tied a string on me before they left to go to the other ceremony. I was also surprised when I was given a bunch of strings and students lined up for me to tie one on their wrists. When they were finished getting strings/blessings from the teachers, the students got together with their friends, and many cried. This was their last day together.

The graduation ceremony for kindergarten and 9^th grade was on Saturday. I missed that, since I didn’t know about it until I’d made plans to leave for the weekend. I didn’t feel bad about missing it because I didn’t teach those classes. Pim asked if I would be there, and I would have gone if I’d been in town.

I decided to leave for the weekend and two extra days to have a short break between the term and the summer course. (I didn’t have official permission to take two days off, but I was good and texted on Monday and Tuesday that I would not be at school that day.) It was also the last weekend for a while in which Tom would be available for a visit. Friday night I took a bus to Bangkok. My first stop on Saturday morning was the used book store where I trade books. I was able to get 11 books, only two of which I paid for. Then I met Tom and we went for brunch and a long chat. It was good to connect with him again. He’s my only American friend in the country now, and we do get along well. After he left, I stopped at the Thai Crafts show, not realizing that they closed at 3:00, which was when I arrived. However, a few stalls were still packing up and I was able to pick up a few items that I wanted to get.

Sunday I left Bangkok for Kao Yai National Park, which is between Bangkok and here. I’d arranged to stay at a guest house that offers tours and free pick up in town if you book a tour. The first tour was Sunday afternoon. I joined three young French men, a French woman, and a Spanish man. It was me and the 20-somethings, but everyone was friendly and we all chatted. Our guide was great. 

Our first stop was a natural spring where people can swim. When we got out of the truck, there was a mustached/blue crested lizard on a nearby tree branch. The pool was crowded with Thais enjoying the afternoon out; so the group decided to move on and return to swim later—after dark when it wouldn’t be crowded. This turned out to be a good decision, as it gave us more time in the cave so we weren’t rushed.

Next we went to the bat cave at Wat Sarnamai. It’s quite large and is home to several hundred insect bats. Manit knew just where to shine his flashlight for us to see them, as they come home to the same place every day. Since it was late afternoon, some were starting to fly around, getting ready to go out for the night. Manit said they don’t take tourists into the cave in the morning because it would disturb the bats’ sleep. Manit was able to pick up one bat and spread its wings for us to see. It didn’t seem to be disturbed by this. Maybe it’s the same bat he always displays; so it’s used to him. The bats migrate in the cold season, since it’s not cold enough for them to hibernate. They just returned to the cave a couple weeks ago.

The bats, of course, produce guana. Every two weeks people go to the cave to collect it. They can sell what they collect for about 24,000 bahts (about $800). It’s high in potassium and makes good fertilizer. It can also be used to make gunpowder and powder for fireworks when sulfur and something else are added.

The cave is also home to other forms of life. Manit pointed out two tarantula nests. They were holes in the cave walls that were covered with webbing so we could hardly see the tarantula inside, which was OK with us. He also picked up a scorpion spider. It really doesn’t look like either, but it is a variety of spider. Since it was still and didn’t move around, most of us also held it. The Spanish man let Manit put it on his neck. On my hand was good enough for me. Next he found a variety of centipede. It was pretty active, so I wasn’t about to handle it.

The cave is a special place; so there were a number of Buddhas and altars. Manit told us that one place is used by monks for meditation.

After we exited the cave, we were given chips and a banana and had a brief rest before moving on. I walked up to the wat. There is a nice view of the area from there.

The next stop was the evening bat cave where we waited to see the bats flying out. The cave is high on a hill. These are wrinkled lip bats. About two million of them live in the cave and fly out every evening. They looked like a long stream of smoke or a black jet stream.

On the way back we stopped again at the natural spring. A few of the people swam. I sat with my feet in the water, which was relaxing. No one else was there; so the quiet was nice.

Monday I joined the French woman and Spanish man again, a Polish couple, and three young American women who are doing a semester at Khon Kaen University. The latter were interesting to talk to. This was our day in the national park, which is a World Heritage site and is known as a refuge for wild elephants and hornbills. Again, we had an excellent guide who loves the wildlife and loves taking photos. He often took our cameras to get close up shots.

At the first stop, we looked for and saw a hornbill. We heard birds and gibbons but didn’t see them. Just listening to all the sounds was amazing. We saw a hornbill in a distant tree and two flying. Then there was a movement in the trees. Our guide was excited, as this meant an elephant was there eating. After a bit, we saw the elephant’s back. The guide ran up the road and motioned us to follow, which we, of course, did. From there we could see the elephant move toward the road. Then it turned and went another direction. That elephant lives in that territory and is often, but not daily, seen. So we were lucky.

A little farther down the road another elephant emerged from the forest and crossed the road. So we now had seen two wild elephants. We were happy.

As we drove on the next section, there were monkeys along the road. Some of them ran along the road after us. 

Then we got out of the vehicle and walked for a bit, looking for gibbons. There are a couple that live in that area, but they were not visible that day. So, back to the truck and on we went.

Next was our first long walk in the forest—about an hour and a half. The tour provided leech socks for this walk, but I wore the ones Jackie gave me. They were recommended on the website; so I had them with me, not knowing they would be provided. Besides, it gave me an opportunity to finally use mine. Some of the trail was wet, and the leeches live on the wet ground. We also walked through water and mud in some places. We saw leeches, and the guide picked a couple up to show them to us. It was interesting to see how they move with their front and back ends down and the middle in an arch above the ground. When they move, they elongate and become thin. The guide carried a big telescope so we could look at the animals he located. We saw a blue and yellow bird and an orange bird. 

There was a viper (poisonous) on a fern. It was very close to the trail, and the guide put our cameras under the leaves so he could get close up shots of the viper’s head. We saw gibbons swinging high in the trees. When we went back to the road, there was a barking deer lying beside the road.

We ate lunch on a log along the road. Then we went to the trail for our next walk—another hour and a half. When the guide said we were going to go looking for crocodiles, I thought he was joking. But when we came to a river, there was a crocodile sunning on a log. As we walked on, there were several signs warning people in Thai and English to beware of crocodiles. 

At one place there were a lot of butterflies gathered drinking. The guide said they are drinking the minerals in the water there. Some of them were very attracted to one woman’s shoe. The guide took our cameras again and took close up shots of the butterflies. It was a lovely place to relax for a while. After relaxing there, we headed up the hill to the road and our truck.

Next we went to Haew Suwat Waterfall. This is famous because it is the waterfall that was jumped off of in the movie The Beach. So, I’ve now seen the beach and the waterfall featured in that movie but haven’t seen the movie. Unfortunately, the pool beneath the waterfall was closed for swimming. Apparently, the water is not clean now. So we relaxed for a while and then moved on.

We headed up the road in search of the evening elephants, but they were not out that night. We saw a number of droppings along the road but no elephants. So, we turned around to go back to return to town. Then we turned off the road and stopped along with a couple other trucks. The gathering of tourist vehicles reminded me of such gatherings in Africa. The guides communicate and let each other know when something has been sited. There were also a few serious photographers with huge telescopes with cameras attached to the lenses. 

They were viewing the hornbills in the trees. 

The other tourists were also viewing a bearcat in a nearby tree. Our guide was very excited to have both animals there. We watched one and then the other. He took my camera to take photos for me. I got some good ones on my own, too, even though the birds were quite far away. The photographers were waiting for the moment when the hornbills would fly out of the trees. They apparently knew that that would happen, and it eventually did.

In one place on the way out of the park, there were a number of monkeys sitting along the side of the road. It reminded me of people in villages and in Ninh Binh sitting outside their homes in the evening. It was a great day. I was really glad to have taken the tour and to have given myself this small getaway.

Monday I spent the whole day coming home. When we arrived in Pak Chong, I was lucky and got on a bus to Korat immediately. There I had an hour and a half wait till the bus to Ubon left. When I got on the bus, I knew it was not going to be a great trip and would probably be a long one. The bus had been there for a while, and I had thought it was a bus before mine. When I finally figured out that it was my bus and got on, there were no available seats. I got off and told the man that, and he got on and found a place for me on the bench at the back. It was right beside the toilet, which is not a good place to sit, and there was a slight odor already. But, as the bus filled up even more, I was happy to have a seat. When we left, there were about twelve people standing. They stood for the first two hours when the bus stopped and some people got out. New people got on and stood, and the two men in front of me were still standing. Fortunately the toilet was not being used; it may have been out of order. I realized after a while that the odor was from the dog in a box near where I was sitting. At the first stop, a huge package was loaded and put in that place and the dog and its odor were moved. We arrived at the first stop in good time, but after that the bus went off the direct route and arrived at the second stop an hour later than usual. After that, we went on a tour of small towns, dropping people off. When we arrived in Ubon after nine hours (A direct trip takes five and a half.), there were only ten of us on the bus. But I was home.

At school Wednesday I learned that I hadn’t missed anything. Most of the time we’re just hanging out and doing our own thing. Thai teachers have their records to do, but we are finished. There was a little work to do entering grades into the official computer and computing the 20% to give to the class teachers. The fact that we foreigners teach 50% of students’ English classes and it counts for only 20% of students’ grades still irritates me. Why should the students care what they do for me/us when they know they will most likely pass the Thai teacher’s part of the class and it is most of their grade? Our work is not valued or considered to be important. (I don’t care about the science and math, as I don’t think the part taught in English should be part of students’ grades in the subjects. In fact, I don’t think they should be studying those subjects in English.)

Friday I suggested to Kate and Lovely (Tony took Thursday and Friday off. We old native speakers are bad.) that we go out for pizza. We were lucky, as the restaurant was having a buy one, get one free promotion. The pizza was really good.

The summer course schedule was made, but they had to wait for Sister Viphaporn to approve it before distributing it. After lunch Friday, we learned what classes we will teach. I will teach 5^th and 6^th grades, sharing with Kru Irene. I tried to see her to talk about this, but she was not in her room. So I’m being very loose and not planning anything until I talk with her to see what she wants me to do. We had our assignments but no daily schedule. After school, the class schedules were posted on the bulletin board. 

I learned that summer hours are 8:00 to 4:00 (instead of 7:30 to 5:00). It is nice to go in later and get home earlier.