Buddha Day and More!

Khun Well with the candle-tea-ramen package for the monks. Note how the gold cellophane matches their robes!

Hello, all! Just wanted to do a quick post to fill you in on our week. Friday was Buddha Day, where everyone goes to the temple to pray and donate (food items, candles, etc.) to the monks. Apparently, the monks have to stay at the temple for three months following Buddha Day. Back in the olden days, monks would trample rice paddies while walking to their temples. So, they decided they must stay in the temples to allow the rice to grow properly. At least that's part of the holiday, anyways! We went to our neighborhood temple with everyone from the office, and donated two giant candles and a food package (since the monks only live off of donations during this period). The head monk at the temple was very sweet, but he had this crazy chihuahua that kept yapping at us every few seconds. She was really quite irritating, and wouldn't stop prancing about with her little pink bell jingling the entire time. The worst part was, though, was she ran up onto a cushy pillow that was situated atop a Buddhist alter during the monk's prayer. I just about died I was laughing so hard! It looked as if everyone in the temple was praying to that stupid chihuahua, which I'm convinced was posing for her adoring fans. Meanwhile, the monk was still chanting away with Charlotte and I just about rolling around on the floor in silent laughter in the back of the temple. We also found this really cool (and humungous) stag beetle at the temple. Check out those pincers!

All hail stag god!

Last night, we went to see the new Harry Potter movie with Michelle and Khun Tin from the office and Sean from Muay Thai. Charlotte and I were of course very excited, and enjoyed checking out the Thai movie theater. It was quite civilized, since we could pick our seats when we purchased the tickets. That meant no waiting for hours in line just to get into the movie! In many other ways, it was pretty similar to any other movie theater, except that they played the national anthem at the start and  everyone had to stand up respectfully. (On a side note, it truly is incredible how respected and well-loved the king is. Pictures of him are everywhere, including on giant billboards and in all of the classrooms at the school. The students all bow to him whenever they leave the room.) Strangely enough, the theater wasn't even crowded even though it was opening night! And I only saw two or so people dressed up in Harry Potter regalia. Incredible!

Oooh, and we have some exciting news! We found a new favorite restaurant!! We've known about it for quite some time now, since we always see it on our way to the restaurant that has the world's best Thai iced tea and kow soi. It's where all of the Muay Thai people go after practice, but Charlotte and I just tried it for the first time today. And what a find! There's only one table there, but the lady who runs it is super cute, very friendly, and can't get over how much we eat. (This seems like a common reaction among Thais that we've met.) We went there for both lunch and dinner today, and pigged out both times. At first, she laughed when we ordered our third entrée but then seemed somewhat appalled when we ordered our fourth. I had a batch of yummy squid fried rice, while Charlotte had squid stir fried with Thai basil. Yumm! For dessert, we had the world's best banana pancake. It must've been at least 1.5 inches thick, and we drenched it in golden honey. I do believe this will be a new addition to our Thai diets. :)

Hooray for tasty food!

Yummy squid fried rice!

Aside from our restraunt discovery, we had a pretty lazy day today. We lounged about in between our Muay Thai lessons, playing pictionary and generally just relaxing. I managed to take some pics of Chay Yai gym though! Hooray! I felt bad that I haven't taken any more, since we go there just about every day, so I made an effort today and have some to share with you. Hopfully, there'll be more to come, as I only managed to get A in the picture. I'll try to get some with everyone next time! For now, you can see what the homey gym and super-intense-but-really-sweet A look like. Oh, and here's a picture of the roosters, too! The Muay Thai guys LOVE their roosters, and are always cleaning them and brushing their feathers after lessons. They use them for cock fights, which I don't really agree with. I haven't actually seen them fighting, but everyone always says they fight in the afternoons. I would feel bad for the roosters, but they get paid more than the Muay Thai fighters do, and they are treated like royalty. Well, except when A picks his rooster up by the tail....Haha! Some of the old Thai guys even talk about the roosters having "good form" and suchlike. It's quite funny!

Our stinky but beloved gym.

Me and A!

Until next time!