Bus ride to Chaiyaphum

I had planned to get up at 5:45 to get ready, but I was already awake at 5am! Fortunately I went to bed around 7:30 last night, so I got quite a bit of sleep. I had a chance to catch up on some emails and skype with Tomas, before I packed up, grabbed some breakfast, and checked out of the hostel at 6:30am. I walked a couple blocks and caught the Bangkok skytrain, which took me, with one transfer to near the northeastern bus terminal in Bangkok in about 20 minutes.  Riding the skytrain was very pleasant, it is very high up so you get a great view of the city. Then I had about a 10 minute taxi ride to get to the station. There seem to be two main taxi companies, one with green and yellow cars, and another with hot pink cars, so they are very easy to spot! I picked up my ticket at the terminal, and then sat down to wait and eat my breakfast. Around 7:45, we started loading onto the bus. It was quite a nice bus, with an attendant in a bright lavender suit who showed you to your seat, and another one in a white suit who loaded the luggage. Promptly at 8:01 am, we pulled out of the terminal. It was fun to see Thailand go by for the next 5 hours! The sprawl of Bangkok went on for quite awhile and it was very flat. Then about 1.5 hours into the ride we started climbing up into some mountains covered by lush greenery. At one point I saw an enormous white Buddha statue on the side of a mountain. When we were getting close I started asking the woman next to me “Chaiyaphum?” at every stop. Actually, Chaiyaphum was the last stop for the bus and most people got out of the bus there. The bus actually arrived half an hour early, so I had to call Oom, the Volunthai coordinator to say I was there. She showed up about 5 minutes later, and my host and her friend also got there then, so after some quick introductions I went with my host.

            My host, Bu, is also 29, and seems very nice. She knows a reasonable amount of English, certainly enough to communicate basic ideas, which is nice. First they took me to Tesco Lotus, which is a big Thai supermarket chain, and we had lunch at the food court. I had a rice dish with chopped chicken and chili sauce, and a dish for dessert which was quite strange: it consisted of corn, bright green noodles, chunks of melon, coconut milk, and ice. Then we did a big shopping trip at the supermarket. Interestingly, everything is labeled in both Thai and English, even though I don’t think there are many people in this province using the English translation (I saw only two other foreigners during the entire afternoon in Chaiyaphum). Then there were a number of other errands, and then we finally started the drive to the homestay. It was quite beautiful, with green rice fields and mountains in the background. However, I was getting pretty tired at this point so it was hard to stay awake!

            We arrived at Bu’s house, and I met her family—mom, dad, brother, her husband, and her two year old daughter Piano. In Thailand, people have really long names, so everyone has a nickname, which sometimes has a funny meaning—later in the evening I met another teacher called Nu, which means rat. There were also a number of other kids and adults around, I wasn’t really sure if they also live here or are just visiting.  The house is quite large, and it was not totally separated from the outside. The kitchen was open to the outdoors, which makes sense in this climate, but the room I stayed in had windows that closed with an air conditioner.

            Next I went to an outdoor market, which was a few minutes walk from the house, with Bu to buy some more food. I got to try my first Thai tropical fruit—mangosteens and rambuchian. We also got some pineapple and a lot of other things. Then back to the house and I helped Baeng cook dinner which was fried rice and fruits for dessert. We sat outside near the street to eat, and various people kept stopping by. Besides Bu, most people had very minimal English, so I will definitely be learning some Thai. I already learned several new words today! Finally, off to bed for some well deserved rest!