Crystal Temple

Yo, it's your girl.

This weekend we went to the Crystal Temple about 2 hours from where we live. We took a private van and left early Saturday morning. On our way there we stopped at a different temple to walk around and take pictures. I don't know where it was or the name of it but there was a giant gold Buddha inside and lots of worship going on.

    

A doorway.

Yet another set of Buddhas.

After 20 minutes there, we got back in the van and headed to the Crystal Temple. I actually didn't know where we were going so when we got there I was really surprised. To get there, we had to drive up the only hill I've seen in Thailand. Some may consider it a mountain but I'm from Utah. Anyways, at the top of the hill, we got out of the van and I saw the temple and the famous white Buddhas statue. 

It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. After taking five steps toward the temple, a group of Asians asked to take a photo with us. A first of many that day. We were the only white people I saw that day. I love this photo above because I love that it is such a huge statue on top of a mountain and surrounded by jungle. I love all the green here. 

We went to tour the temple first and instantly started taking a million pictures. It was insanely beautiful. The whole place is covered in glass mosaics. The detail was memorizing. When they built the temple they had people donate their stuff to build it so are pot lids, pottery pieces, jewelry, watch faces and all sorts of stuff in the mosaics. 

This is a pic of my feet. Very cool.

On the stairs. You can't wear shoes anywhere in Thailand.

Photo taken by Katie. Cute lil countryside on the side.

Another photo taken by Katie.

Every corner we turned we had people asking to take pictures with us. The I decided that I wanted to ask people to get in my goPro selfies. 

They were really nice and happy to be in this picture. 

Then, we met a monk named Spite. I guess his parents named him that out of spite. Ha ha just kidding, that's not funny. But that really is his name. Anyways, Spite told us a bunch of cool stories about the temple and its history! It was legit. Then he asked us if we wanted a private tour. It was awesome! We got to go to a bunch of restricted areas where only monks were allowed! It was so cool! This monk seemed to be a little rebellious. He took us to go inside the statue of the five Buddhas while its under construction. Ha ha everyone was staring because we were the only people let in and we already stuck out in that crowd. 

He then took us underneath the statue where the monks meditate. That room was pretty boring but had an amazing view of the jungle. He also took us to the monk library and he showed us a huge Buddha that was made from a solid piece of emerald. It was awesome! 

Spite told us that there are only five monks at this temple because the master monk looked into the other monks mind and saw that they didn't want to take care of the temple.

Another beautiful mosaic in front of the five Buddhas.

Photo of me taken by me.

The Crystal Temple (photo by Katie)

We left the temple and got food at a Thai restaurant where we had a hard time ordering because we could not speak to them. We were supposed to go floating down a river but didn't end up doing it because I guess the river was too high and dangerous. Or so they said. So we went home instead and got smoothies and roti and watched Vampire Diaries till we fell asleep. Basically the perfect day. 

Also I got sunburned on my neck, but that's beside the point.

XOXO, 

Susy

First Weekend!

Well I just wanted to post these pics from last week. We went to explore the small town of Phichit. We found some ruins about 45 minutes away by bike and they were really cool! The bike ride wasn't that fun because I am a tall person on a midget's bike but whenever we go out in public, everyone yells "HELLO!!!" at us because there aren't many white people in this town. Whenever people say hello to us they always laugh really hard when we say hello back because I guess it's really funny or something. We think they laugh because either we are stupid Americans or because their hello is so formal accompanied with a bow and our hello is very casual with a wave. 

We brought a Pad Thai picnic with us to the ruins and it was the best thing I have tasted in this country. It's a dollar for a plate and it is amazing.

I forget what else happened because it was a week ago. Ha ha sorry. 

A temple. There are a million in this country. Brace yourself for pictures to come. This one is in the outskirts of Phichit.

Biking through the Phichit Ruins.

Another temple.

A Buddha. Also very common.

After I took this, a monk tried to get us to leave but we didn't know what he was saying.

Oh! P.S. Speaking of not knowing what people were saying, when we were at the ruins, a Thai man came up to us and was going on and on and we had now idea what he was saying and we tried to show him that we were stupid Americans but he kept talking to us for like 8.5 minutes.

Also, whenever we go in public, we try to talk to people but we only speak English and they only speak Thai so each person just talks really loud and slow in their own language and both people act confused. Its especially frustrating when we are trying to buy something or ask for help.

XOXO,

Susy

First Week!

Hi, I have no idea how to "blog" so enjoy.

I left my house for the airport around 3:50 am to catch my flight to Thailand. We finally made it to Phichit, Thailand about 40 hours later. We got to our hotel at like 7 am and we we all exhausted. We went over to the school at that point to meet the old teachers and watch them teach. The second we walked in the school, all the little Thai kids came up to us and gave us hugs. It was the cutest thing in the whole world!

Monday was our first day of teaching. It was rough. It was a struggle to control my kids and I had too much time for my lessons. Every day teaching has gotten better and the kids get cuter every day. One of my favorites is a little girl named Nellie and she is in pre-k. She is the cutest thing you have ever seen and it's so funny because her grandparents drop her off at the classroom everyday and they take a million pictures. Haha so far they have done that every day and I guess they do that all the time. They are in love with her. But it's okay because she really is that cute.

There are so many other cute kids! I'm in love with most of them when they are actually tame and sweet. There is one boy, Jose, and he is from Spain so no one really knows what he is doing in Thailand, but he doesn't speak Thai or English so he never really talks but he is the most adorable little handful. He is a struggle to control in class but he has a look that helps him get away with most things. He's pretty adorable. 

Today I did an activity where my class made bees out of paper from the Winnie the Pooh book and it was so fun because they loved it! Here is a picture of my last class of the day. In this pic we have Ma Prang, Gow, Note and Day-Wan and another girl and I forgot her name.

Also here is a pic of me at the bag drink stand a bike ride away and we have gone there almost everyday. It's only 25 baht for a giant delicious drink! 

XOXO,

Susy