Korat

Wow, what a fun weekend! Before I start I should warn you, this is a long post!

We got into Korat late on Thursday night owing to the fact that the bus driver was a hundred years old and would not drive above 20 k/h. When we did finally get into town Ging's friend Daw picked us up, took us to dinner before dropping us off at Ging's apartment she shares with her roommate Rada. Rada is a super funny, 20 year old whos English is off the charts.

On Friday Ging and I went to the mall where we consumed copious amounts of sushi.

Then we went to the Amazon cafe to see one of her best friends, Dew. She made us coffee. If you are ever in Thailand, go to a coffee shop and get a cold green tea. They are delicious and you will not be sorry. 

Dew and I 

On Saturday we went back for MORE sushi in this really nifty restaurant. It was a soup place, kind of like the Melting Pot (for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, the Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant in America). On each table was a hot plate and pot of soup. Next to the booth was a rotating conveyorbelt that had saucer sized plates of food going around and around (the conveyor belt went in a big circle that looped around the whole restaurant.). You simply plucked off the plate that you wanted, added the contents to the boiling water and put in mouth. 

Then we went to the zoo. 

Ging and I tried out a tandem, surprisingly we did not crash and burn 

Toto is not in Kansas!!! Ging and her best friend Toto

Thai zoos are so much cooler then American zoos. I mean really. I got to feed a giraffe! 

This hippo was close enough to touch.. 

And eat you. 

After the zoo Ging, Toto and I went to the mall to have dinner. 

Can you say som tom?! 

and fried rice

Not sure what I was trying to accomplish here, but I think I nailed it. 

After diner came the general paroozing of the mall like a group of teenage mall rats. 

Toto, the bodyguard 

Then it was time for a movie. 

I'll give you three guess as to which movie we saw... 

Too bad it had no subtitles :( But Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr look good, even in Thai. 

A pre movie game that we rocked. 

Sunday brought the most enjoyable church service I've had since coming to Thailand. The pastor and his wife were so incredibly sweet and the wife offered to translate the sermon into English for me (something the other 2 Churches that I've been to did not. Incidental the other two Churches also have English speaking pastors). 

Are you still with me? So much happened and I wasnt able to post about it day by day. Get up, stretch your legs, have another cup of coffee and we'll get started on the high light of the trip. 

Ready? 

After church on Sunday we picked up a car load of people and went to Jim Tompson's silk farm, or as Ging called it the 'pumpkin farm'. To her credit they did have pumpkins. 

Rada and I 

 Gop and Ging 

Rut 

A map of the farm

In the back, Ging, me, Rada. In the front, Gop and Am 

Sunflowers!

First stop the pumpkin patch...

... and a beautiful river...

... then some fun walking through the sunflower fields 

Then it was back on the bus

and onto the next stop.

With music,

and kites, 

and crazy stilts, 

and a teeter totter that we had no shame in playing on,

and silk worms. 

In case you are wondering, they make a cocoon, 

 and yellow stuff (silk) grows around the cocoon and has to be boiled off, 

and then spun into silk. In the bottom left corner of this picture is a basket with a silver pan in it. Those are boiled silk worms and they are delicious. 

We husked some rice,

found some veggies,

'rode' a water buffalo, 

and took more pictures of the flowers. 

The gang from left to right: Rut, Gop, Daw, me, Rada, and Am. Ging is taking the picture 

You thought I was done, didnt you? Not yet, nearly though! 

After the farm we went to have dinner at a soup place off the highway. 

A chang showed up and I had to go say hi. 

I'd like to introduce you to the photographer: Daw. 

95 % of the pictures from the farm  are his doing. He's an amazing photographer.  

This trip was incredible and I want to thank Ging, Toto, Dew, Gop, Am, Rut, Rada, and Daw from the bottom of my heart. You are fantastic human beings and I'm thrilled that I was able to hang out with you all. I will keep fond memories of this weekend in my mind for the rest of my life. 

I learned a few important things over the last few days which are listed below in no particular order. 

1.) Thai's are very, very photogenic. Seriously. In over 1,000 pictures there is no bad picture of any one of them. (I however look like a space cadet in half of them.)

2.) Boys are the same in every country.

3.) It doesnt matter what language you speak, for when you are around kind and compassionate human beings, friendship is its own language that is designed to include all. 

Rut hardly had two English words to rub together. That did stop him from talking to me. 

Ok, now I'm done!