After our first day on the scooter, I was a little bent out of shape. My back and my hip hurt (I am seriously turning into an old lady), and we both wanted to escape from the smog and smoke in the city, which is getting worse as the weather gets hotter and muggier and the farmers in the surrounding hills start burning their fields to get ready for the next planting season. So we decided to go to Huay Tung Tao, a lake/reservoir about 15 minutes away. It was WONDERFUL!!!
First off, it’s about 10-15 degrees cooler up there, since it’s closer to the mountains. We also went up in the morning, before anyone else had arrived, so it was blissfully quiet. All around the lake are these huts that sit just out from the bank in the water, and you can kind of just occupy one for the day. There’s a restaurant for each group of huts, so through the day you can order lunch and drinks and just… be.
If you ever tired of sitting in your hut, there’s a bunch of stuff to do around the lake. You can get a massage (and they will actually come to your hut, so I guess that doesn’t count), go on the ziplines that cross the lake, rent an inner tube and float around or a paddle boat, or hike up to a waterfall further in the mountains (we didn’t do it this time around, but it’s at the top of the list for next time). I’m sure when we have a scooter of our own we’ll be making frequent trips up to the lake!
I also finally remembered to take my camera to Thai Freedom House, and got some pictures of our classroom!
TFH spirit houses! I just learned thebackstory to these – they honor the spirits of the people who originally inhabited the land (not the family of whoever lives there now), and they’re kind of a relic from the animist roots of Thai culture. They’re outside every house/building in Thailand, and people pray at them to ask for everything: luck, a good day for their business, the health of their family, you name it. They stay with the house, and you aren’t allowed to ever move them.
Sooooo many donations! They get divided up between the thrift shop in the cafe downstairs, the kids and families we work with, and shipments to refugee/IDP camps.
The Uprooted Path 