Being on Thai TV at a Wedding Extravaganza

Just arrived back from a huge weekend down south.

I caught up with my country manager and some friends in Bangkok, living it up in a very swanky apartment of a boss of a friend, then on to some nearby towns to the north to witness the traditional Thai wedding of a fellow volunteer (in the process, appearing on Thai TV), and to do the tourist thing again amongst ruins, elephants and monkeys in Ayuthaya and Lop Buri with volunteer buddy Liz. Busy!

Danielle was planning her wedding from the very start of our assignments, so it was great to see her big day. It was the first wedding held at this particular Elephant Kraal, the community living at the park went all out and everyone had a part to play in the traditional activities. Colourful and Elaborate, I'm inclined to say, and there was a strong media contingent to capture the day.

The ceremony: monk chanting, water blessings, wrist strings, dowry gifts....
.....a village procession, & lotsa, lotsa elephants (including a day-old one)

Probably the craziest tale to tell would be about the phenomenal number of monkeys at a temple in Lop Buri, and being chased by one beady little rat-like one we named Clefty. The stuff of nightmares. There were some pretty mangy looking gremlins making mischief.

After all that touring around, we relaxed back at the central Bangkok digs - poor volunteers love freebies, and boy I loved that pool.

More from Chiang Mai

Here are some more pics of Chiang Mai that I took when my friend Quynh was in town this week:

Ruins of the first site of the city (was flooded out)

the colours of the flower & fruit market at night

party time at english teaching

Here's a pic of some of the cheeky teenagers I teach english to twice a week.

Lotsa mud and a Motorbike

It's been raining all week! Getting cooler - at night enough to need a bed sheet, even.
I spent a pleasant day today back at the Mae Taeng river (for my last adventure there see "Lots of Planting and Going with the Flow" July post). I was there with some Bangkok teachers, planning a school camp for January.
Check out these muddy pics - quintessentially Thai.

negotiating elephant tracks; local rafters enjoying the view on the slip&slide road

returning to the scene of drama - the Mae Taeng in it's white water splender

Yes well the other news is that I joined the motorbiking community this week - I'm the only person in Chiang Mai (and probably all of Thailand) sporting a retro white aussie postie helmet. It's not a good look but is much safer than the $20 local helmet varieties. A little scary day #1, but now at one week in I've got my confidence & am loving the freedom.

reflections at halfway

Well the first six months of my travels have passed pretty quickly.
Thanks for your encouragements over this time - I really appreciate it. I have posted some halfway prayer points in the green column on the right, towards the bottom.
Jen

Fun time with the folks

My folks are travelling in Thailand for 2.5 weeks, and I've spent the last few days with them, catching tuk tuks and sampling local foods. We saw our fill of waterfalls up Doi Inthanon (largest mountain - my 2nd trip), and headed to my local church and english teaching gigs. It's been fun (a necessary comment, seeing my folks are reading these regularly ;) Here are some pics.