Fell Asleep in Bangkok and Awoke in Tha Wang Pha!

The excuse: As it turns out, cell phones work better in Thailand than they do in the States, but as for internet, not so much....at least not out here in the boonies. Wireless is pretty much non-existent and the one internet cafe in town just randomly closes for days at a time. However, I am still dedicated, so don't give up on me! We got into Tha Wang Pha almost two weeks ago now. We pretty much left immediately after getting back from Katchanaburi. A small group of us that were heading to the Far North were dropped at the bus station with notes pinned to our shirts that read, "Please take care of our white friends". Okay, not really, but it's not that far off either. I think that being at the bus station was my first I'm-living-in-Thailand reality check. We were truly the only white people in the entire place and, let's just say, folks were staring and have been ever since. Marianne, Shaleas, and I took an 11-hour overnight trip to Tha Wang Pha on a VIP bus that played Thai music videos when they wanted you to wake up. Fortunately, everyone was very friendly and they even made sure that we got off the bus when we were supposed to. Granted, it happened to be the side of a two-lane highway in the middle of nowhere, but I think they were looking out for us. It was quite amazing to fall asleep in dirty ol' Bangkok and to wake up as the sun is coming up in such a beautiful place. Everything is so green and lush and the mountains and misty clouds make it look like something from a calendar. Our coordinators; Cru (means teacher) Noi and Cru Rin were amazing to us that first week we were here before school started. Because our apartments weren't quite ready for move-in, they put us up at a guest house in town (see photo). To put things into perspective, Tha Wang Pha is a small town located in an already very rural part of Thailand. The closest "city" is Nan, which is about 40 kilometers away and has a population of about 30,000. If I had to guess, Tha Wang Pha might have about 5000 people if you include some of the surrounding smaller villages and the stray dogs. Needless to say, we are the ONLY white people in this town, and by the way they stare at us I wouldn't be surprised if we are the first white people to come to this town, which I think is pretty awesome.

Our first day here was the last day of the longboat races in Nan. As best as I can tell, these races are what Nan is known for and they are a pretty big deal. Our coordinators took us into Nan to see the festivities and although we ended up barely missing the final race, we were still able to capture the winning team in their celebration. There was a lot of really great energy and was a fabulous introduction to Nan Province!

After the races we met up with Cru Rin's husband and some of his buddies at this very delicious restaurant. We proceeded to drink some beer and talk about the things that people who don't speak each other's languages talk about.....how to count to 10 in Thai and English and what the names of the foods on the table are. It was quite hilarious once we realized what we must have sounded like! One, two, three.....neung, seung, saam! We finished off the night with a ride back to Tha Wang Pha in the back of the pick up truck, looking up at the stars, and getting rained on...priceless!