Just go, C!
I'm Charity, a proud auntie, wine lover, semi-nerd, and dreamer who can't stay in one place for too long.
Thailand and I recently celebrated our three-month anniversary. To honor this milestone, I took a lovely weekend trip to Laos. Sorry, Thailand. I'll make it up to you. Savannakhet, Laos I had to go to Savannakhet to obtain a Non-B Immigrant visa so I can legally work in Thailand. The process is complicated, but fortunately I work with agents who handle most of the paperwork process so I didn't have to. The timing kind of sucked, though, since I had just finished my first week of school, but hey, call it a forced vacation. There is a double-decker bus that runs from Tak directly to Mukdahan, which is the Thai town on the border of Laos. (Mukdahan and Savannakhet are divided by the Mekong River.) I had no idea what to expect from the bus, since I've heard all kinds of weird and wonderful things about buses in Southeast Asia, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually fairly comfortable and uneventful, despite the fact that it was 12 hours long. (Sincerest apologies to my bum.) Even though Savannakhet is much like a typical Thai town in several aspects, the first thing that screamed at me was the architecture. Laos was colonized by the French between the late 19th and early-mid 20th century. The French Colonial architecture is a trademark of the city, even though it's been (understandably) slow to be embraced by the locals as a tourist attraction. Savannakhet also has a large Chinese population, as well as Vietnamese. The number of Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants (and temples) is indicative of the diverse population of the city. There are also several restaurants featuring French-inspired cuisine. I was able to visit a few of the temples, the most memorable being Wat Xayaphoum. This temple was built in 1542, making it one of the oldest (if not THE oldest) temple in the Savannakhet province. The picture at the top of this blog post and the one below are from the "gate of temples" surrounding the actual temple. Some of them look pretty rough, but I actually appreciate being able to see the age. It's rainy season in Southeast Asia, which is great when it means you are the only person in a 4-bed dorm in a cute hostel. It's not so great, however, when a huge storm rolls in and knocks out the power for a couple hours and turns said hostel into a sauna. Good for the pores, I guess? Overall, I had a lot of fun in Savannakhet and best of all, I was able to get my visa without a hitch. Mae Sot, Thailand Just yesterday, one of my fellow English teacher friends and I went to Mae Sot, which is on the border next to Myanmar. The trip from Tak to Mae Sot takes about 1.5 hours through beautiful mountains and forests. It was a winding road with a lot of construction and virtually no guardrails which can make things even more interesting. The town was bigger than I expected, and despite it raining all morning, was buzzing with activity. The best part of the town are the markets. They seem to sort of blend into each other, and sell pretty much everything you could ever imagine, from flowers to frogs. Yeah, you read that right. There's another market along the river called Rim Moei which sells cheap cigarettes, whiskey, gin, and even knock-off Viagra. We walked through there and Rebecca (my teacher friend) got some booze. I managed to stay away from the Viagra. The eels, frogs, tortoises, insects, etc. were not on my personal menu for the day, but we did sample some delicious curries from a local while we were in the area.
We visited the Wat Don Chai temple, because you can never get enough of temples! (Let's see if I'm still saying that a year from now.) We relaxed in a cute coffee shop, did plenty of walking around, and were exhausted when we left. Not a bad day trip, if I do say. The great thing about Tak is that it's a hub for buses, and it's within a few hours of some really fun and amazing towns. I can't wait to explore them all! Until next time, I leave you with some photos of Wat Don Chai:
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I'd been thinking lately that it was time to update my blog, and initially thought, why? Nothing has really "happened" in the past few weeks, so why bother when I don't have any entertaining stories to share?
But actually, that's not true at all - a lot has happened in the past few weeks that I've been in Tak. But maybe I believe that in order for me to get people interested in reading my blog, I have to have some kind of daring adventure story to share. I don't have a daring adventure story to share, so if you want to stop reading and get back to scrolling through Facebook, I totally understand. Otherwise, allow me to tell you what I have been learning and experiencing these past few weeks. I'm learning that I really, REALLY enjoy teaching. I haven't actually started at my school yet (Monday the 15th is my first big day), but I've had the opportunity to do a weekend camp where we just played games all day, and also did some side teaching with some 18-year-old students who have a decent amount of English proficiency, and I've absolutely loved all of it. I've designed my own lesson plans, chosen my own topics, created a few of my own worksheets, all of which has given me a nice creative outlet that I think I've needed for a long time. I'm also learning that I was right about one thing about me - I'm definitely more of a minimalist. I'm not saying I'm extreme by any means and I certainly still have American consumer tendencies, but I have really enjoyed my little studio apartment and having only what I use regularly in the apartment. It's tidy, not cluttered, easy to clean, and just enough space for me. I'm grateful that I had the experience of owning a home, but it just never really felt "right" to me. It was just too much space for one person. Having too much space meant having too much "stuff" and I think that was taking its toll on my psychological well-being. I subscribe to the whole "cluttered space, cluttered mind" philosophy, I think. I don't judge anyone who owns a big home with a lot of things, but I think it's a better suited lifestyle for some than for others. It's just not for me. I'm learning that all of the things that have brought me the most joy are the simplest things. I think we all understand that is true in theory, but I don't think it really ever clicked for me until I got here to Thailand. Every day, something very special happens. A couple of days ago, a man just down the alley from my apartment saw me walking by and he came out and said hello to me and spoke a few English words. He was smiling so big and he shook my hand, which is not customary here, but he knew that it was where I come from so he made the effort. It just warmed my heart. The little kids in my neighborhood say HELLO! and GOODBYE!! every time they see me riding by on my bicycle. They will usually run after me for a short distance. I love the sound of them playing outside. It's apparent that their families don't have much money, but you would never think that they were missing out on anything. There is a tuk-tuk driver that all the Western teachers call on when they need transport. His name is Lung. (pronounced "Loong") I call him the Silver Fox and he just eats it up. He is a handsome gentleman in his early 60s who dresses nicely and takes pride in his appearance. He knows some English so he likes to talk to me in English and teach me a few Thai words when he picks me up and drops me off. I saw him just today at the market, and he came over and said, "You look happy. When you are happy, I am happy!" He's still learning how to say my name, bless his heart. Before my classes this week, one of the young Thai teachers would pick me up and take me to the school I was teaching at. Every time I got into the car, one of the first things she would say to me is, "Teacher! Did you eat?" That is probably one of the first things any Thai person will ask you when you first meet them, by the way. I love it. Nearly every evening, I make a point to look out the window or go out and see the sunset. The sunsets here are incredible. The sun goes down at the perfect point behind the mountains and creates this beautiful shadowy effect. It's especially lovely down by the river with the reflections. These are just a few of the moments I've cherished during the past few weeks. I think I'm just in a general phase of self-discovery and re-learning. I've spent over 30 years of my life trying to be someone else's idea of a perfect person. The perfect daughter, the perfect friend, the perfect girlfriend, the perfect employee, etc. Of course, I was never perfect, but I allowed that pursuit to completely own my sense of self-worth. Now, I'm figuring out what is really important to me, and what kind of person I'm really interested in becoming. I believe that these simple, beautiful moments are teaching me something powerful. I want to cherish them and I want to be completely changed by them. |
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AuthorHi! I'm Charity. I'm from Omaha, Nebraska, USA. I quit my job in October 2016 to travel the world. Archives
June 2022
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