 |
| Sisters Murphy+ do Thailand |
Here are some of the photos, just from my camera. There are tons more!
Okay, okay, quit your bellyaching, here I am. A long overdue and apparently longed-for blog awaits you.
This past weekend my colleagues, 80 wannabe English-speakers, and I went to “where dreams come true” for English Camp. No, not Disney World, Rai Fun Ben Jing, or literally the place where dreams are real. In traditional Thai style, the buses stopped every forty minutes to refuel…the chips and meatballs on a stick, I mean. Also in traditional Thai style, we wasted absurd amounts of paper, plastic bags, water bottles, electricity and gas in a not surprising but still hypocritical slap in the face to our theme: let’s go green. No joke, one morning all 100 of us piled on two buses to ride what was probably a quarter mile, if that. We did, though, honor the theme with group names that included green fairy, green queen, green oil and green head. Moreover, yours truly graced the stage in the teachers’ skit as Snow Green. Besides the environmental destruction, camp was super fun. My time was spent secretly gambling with my colleagues (I came out of the weekend +11 baht or 35-ish cents), not-so-secretly posing for photos on every apparatus, in front of every tree, and in every pose you can imagine and then some, and running a game station at which the students attempted to match information to a particular country. For example, Doraemon (cat-like robot cartoon) belongs with sushi, Tokyo, and other things Japanese. No one missed that one, but Nelson Mandela certainly threw a couple kids for a loop. Perhaps the most fun was the karaoke…watching it, of course. Singing in public is not my bag, baby, but if I am ever asked why I live in Thailand, my video footage of the karaoke extravaganza should stifle all curiosity.
Now, what you have all been waiting for: the blog about my sisters’ visit. I sort of wish I had juicy stories of hair-pulling and head-turning, ear-bursting screaming matches in public places, but actually we got along shockingly well. Who knew it was the addition of parental figures that made the sibling combo volatile? Or maybe we are a few years older, a little wiser, and were definitely happy to be reunited in this wonderful place.
The adventure began in Bangkok. I scooped the girls from the airport, shocked them with my Thai language abilities (I have the vocabulary of an 18 month old now, and no grammatical structure to back it), and brought them back to our funky little hostel in Nana, the part of Bangkok that comes alive at night, if you know what I mean. We celebrated the start of the journey with the drink at this point in the journey known as Thai Whiskey. Caitlin loved it and continued to drink it for the remainder of the trip until she found out that it is actually rum, at which time she refused to drink it again because she does not like rum. (…?)
Days 2, 3, and 4 were spent in Chiang Mai. We toured Wat Suan Dok, braved the gut-wrenching songtaew ride up the mountain to Wat Doi Sutep, cooked 21 Thai meals at a wonderful cooking class, did more than some shopping at the night market, and made friends with elephants at Elephant Nature Park, which is one of the only humane elephant parks in Thailand. Side note, if you ever find yourself in this country, please don’t ride an elephant. I will educate you all on the issue at another time. At the park we got to feed the elephants and bathe them in the stream.
Pai was next on the agenda. On a really un-Christmassy Christmas morning, we made the windy journey. Even though Pai was much more crowded than when I was there in September, it still retained its charm and I think it won over the hearts of Sha, Cait and Jessica. After a hotel mess-up probably caused by my faulty Thai, we ended up staying in no-fuss straw huts on the river and we could not have been happier. In town, we were regulars at All About Coffee and the shops full of creative merchandise never seemed to get old. One day we biked to Pai Hotsprings where Shannon prepared us some boiled eggs in the 80 degree Celsius water. The next day we went around Pai on motorbikes seeing sights like Coffee in Love (a coffee shop made famous by a Thai movie and now probably the most visited place in Pai for Thai tourists), some cool waterfalls, the WWII memorial bridge and the Pai (reverse) Canyon. And in what will probably become as infamous as the Peter’s Family “Mokawk Reunion”, a major hair change occurred on the trip. Yes, Shannon has officially moved ahead of Caitlin in the ranks of coolest sister. Shannon Catherine Formerly Straight Edge Murphy has dreadlocks.
After a harrowing return journey to Chiang Mai, a flight to Phuket, a really shisty airport cab situation, a big boat ride, a long-tail boat ride and a fairly good hike with our luggage, we arrived at our next hotel in Ton Sai. I just made the journey sound much worse than it was, and trust me, most people would walk across hot coals to be in a place like this. Ton Sai is a beach a short but rather treacherous walk (especially done after dark with flip flops on, right Sha?) from the slightly more famous Rai Leh. Ton Sai is known as the more low-key, backpacker- and rockclimber-friendly side of the stunning peninsula. This is when you google image “Rai Leh” or “Railay.” I do have some photos and when combined with the ones Jessica took, we have a great collection for your viewing pleasure. Most of the camera was devoted to Shannon’s lover, Ben, a monkey that Shannon probably still misses. I think they were soulmates. Ton Sai was a wonderful, laid back place and our afternoon spent kayaking was one of the trip’s highlights.
To be candid, New Years Eve day deserves a blog entry of its own. I know your eyes are getting tired by now, so I will try to condense it. Basically we had plans to go to Koh Phi Phi to check out what all the fuss is about. Upon arrival, the hotel people tried to put us in this sketchy alleyway that was managed by the same company and we were not having it. After walking around the entire island, unsuccessfully begging hotels to remove their compulsory 1700 baht New Year’s Eve dinner, and discovering that there wasn’t anywhere else, we thought our problems were solved when we saw an advertisement for a camping trip to Maya beach (made famous in the Leonardo DiCaprio film, The Beach.) Well, that fell through, and the spring-breaky-ness of the place was overwhelming anyways. We wanted out, which was good because we did not have much choice but to board the ferry back to where we came from (for the same 450 baht! Ouch!) and settle for a wasted day.
We could not go back to Ton Sai so we set up shop on the not as glamorous marsh side of Rai Leh (the East) which is a short walk to the more spectacular west side. Happy to be back, we got some great drinks on the beach, almost got hit by crazy fireworks and brought in 2010 trying to avoid creepy Scandinavian men. A good low-key ending to a rather hectic day that almost sent me over the edge.
Back in Rai Leh, we went rock climbing one day and Shannon scampered up the cliffs like it was no big deal. I was fine at first, even got to the top on my first two attempts… until my limbs gave out like a weak old granny and I could not lift my own body weight to save my life. I had to beg the man belaying me to let me come down. Jess was certainly much more graceful than I was. There was no flailing about on her part. We have about 293,903,655 photos thanks to Caitlin who did not climb but showed up to be the photographer. You could probably line all the photos up like a flipbook if you are interested.
On our last day in paradise, sisters Murphy left our less-inclined pseudo-sister for a crazy adventure. On what was supposed to be a hike, we found ourselves using ropes to navigate our way up and over a steep mountain and down the other side, working our way through narrow crevices of a gorge. The trek was really fun and the end result was spectacular: a lagoon of crystal blue water surrounded 360 degrees by cliffs (hence the rope trail, the only way in). Definitely a highlight.
I parted ways with my sisters in Krabi town, headed back to Khon Kaen to teach for four days while the other three scuba dove, jumped off rocks into the ocean, played with dogs named Julian, continued to eat delicious Thai cuisine, and had an all around relaxing time on Koh Tao.
I joined them again for the weekend in Bangkok. They had already seen the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha by the time I arrived, so we did some normal Bangkoky stuff like a boat ride on the Choa Praya, Wat Arun, and, obviously, a cabaret show. The ladyboys were enthusiastic, talented, and beautiful and we have the photos to prove it.
After a day of intense shopping at Chatuchak market where Neuki came to meet us (it was so wonderful to introduce my sisters to my best Thai pal) and a parting meal, we sent Shannon and Jess on their merry way. Not a dry eye in the house… I mean not on Shannon’s face at least. I just hope she was sad to leave me and Thailand and not just Ben the monkey.
Sunday, Caitlin and I came back to Khon Kaen and she lived my life with me for the week. She came to class with me, we saw a movie, we ate delicious food, she watched me try to learn Thai, met my friends, etc. Perhaps Cait can provide more details about this part, but my fingers hurt and its bed time. Thank you for reading.
Oh, by the way, as of right now I am 90% sure I am coming back for round 2 of teaching in Khon Kaen next year. Some things are still up in the air, but if the plan sticks, I should be landing in America for 6-ish weeks in April and May and I hope all of you will get on my social calendar. Love and miss you all!
