Now that school has let out for a few weeks, I am able to catch my breath and get to some things on my personal task list. Crazy how fast this last semester flew by. Of course, learning a new job makes time go fast but it's also learning and adjusting to my new living environment that keeps things interesting most days. All in all, I would say it was a great semester at school but I am glad for this Christmas break.
Early in December, Dean and Uan asked if I wanted to go with them to
Hyuay Par Pok Resort (translated means "stream forest cover"), a resort in the mountains owned by friends of theirs. Any chance to get out of the city is welcome on my part, not that I dislike city life but at times I sure miss living in open spaces with surrounding nature. So five of us rented a house at the resort and took the 3.5 hour drive northwest from Bangkok to district of Baan Rai in Thailand.
On the way, I noticed this part of Thailand is sugar cane country as we passed field after field of sugar cane and a seemingly endless parade of trucks delivering the product to the local processing plant. I had no idea that 5% of Thailand's agriculture was sugar cane after rice, fruit and cassava (shrubby tropical plants widely grown for its large, tuberous, starchy roots).
In addition to the sugar cane trucks, we passed numerous road-side stands offering snacks of fried rat and king cobra. Too bad I had lunch before leaving and didn't have room to try. Ya, as if. I'm OK eating a lot of different foods, including octopus and pigeon, but I have to draw the line somewhere...
Upon arrival, I immediately noticed the quiet around me -- not even air conditioners were running because of the cooler temps! You notice what is missing from your typical living environment when encountering it again, like the fresh mountain air and especially the flowering trees called
Dok Beep. I would have to say the aroma from this flower comes in a close second to the Lilac.
Nature in this area reminded me of both the cottage in Ontario and my years of hiking in Colorado. Seemed like every time I turned around there was another sight, sound, or smell to enjoy. Our walk at sunset provided some great photo opps as well.
It isn't often a person can open their window in Bangkok because the temperatures remain on the high-side year-round. Even at this time of year our average high is 33 C (90 F) with a low of 22 C (72 F) so my trip to the mountains was the second time in Thailand when I welcomed a jacket in the morning! We slept with the windows and balcony doors open all night to enjoy the cool temps and listen to nature calls. The music that woke us in the morning was not nature sounds I am familiar with in NA but tropical insects and creatures like the
Tookae, the largest of Thailand's lizards.
During the day, we ventured to some local areas of interest including what I call
Oasis d'Serenity, the
Bat Cave, lunch in the town of Baan Rai and then further into the mountains to visit a Burmese village (see next posts for details).
