Field Trip for One

Before we moved here, we started following these vloggers who were living in Chiang Rai at the time. One of their videos in particular made an impression on me, about this temple called Wat Phasorn Kaew, and I promised myself I’d find a way to visit this place. 

I finally went! Since it was such a long drive, I thought I’d fit in a visit to Sukhothai as well. Sukhothai is basically a complex of ancient temples and palaces (13th-14th centuries) that used to be the capitol of Thailand.

Sukhothai's Giant Buddha. Picture by twotravelholics.com; not my picture. I'll explain why later.

I really wanted to see these places, and the girls would have made this trip hell (a seven-hour drive to see temples? nope), and we couldn’t go without them, so I went alone. The entire trip—two days of driving, two hotels, and three days of restaurant eating-- cost about the same as a date night back home.

Below is a video of my trip. I haven’t made a video in a long time, and I’m so excited that I am finally learning how to edit my pictures so that they look a little closer to how they do in person with the vivid colors and great lighting. One of the last pictures in the video is of Sukhothai’s giant Buddha statue, one of its most famous landmarks (pictured above). I had saved it for last and was excited to see it. When I turned down the road, it was full of construction and trinket stands. Having just spent several hours on a bike with mellow Zero 7 and Alexi Murdoch on my headphones, discovering these magical ruins quietly tucked away in lush forests and fields (it’s the low season and I had the place mostly to myself), this was a buzzkill. When I found out it cost an additional $3 to enter, I said screw it. I saw it from the dusty, clanking road and snapped a picture. Good enough. At that point, there was a heat index of 99F and I was drenched with sweat anyway.

Speaking of sweat, here's our latest challenge: laundry. Our washing machine doesn't get hot water, only cold, and it doesn't have an agitator. It doesn't do a great job. I work out in 80-90 degree weather, heavy on the humidity. My shirts get completely soaked through. When I put my workout shirts through the regular wash, they come out smelling... unrecognizable. Like a chemical reaction turned the smell into something beyond human. It's shockingly bad. And it's not like we're using some mild, ineffective, environmentally friendly detergent; there are no Whole Foods products in developing countries. So I have to boil water from the electric kettle and soak my workout shirts in a bucket overnight. It's very primitive, and a complete pain. But the smell of those shirts leaves me no option. The boiling soapy soak works, but man. It's work.

We go back to school for teacher prep days next Wednesday, and our students start on the 15^th. I’ve hit the point that I’m over summer. The kids are bored and fighting. We’re all ready for some structure.