[A DAY IN THE LIFE...]

Today was by far my favorite day of the trip, I think I had a smile plastered on my face the entire day. At breakfast this morning I finally caved and had something “American” to eat. They had mini pancakes at the river camp but they definitely were not like the pancakes you get in the states. There was a Chinese father and son looking at the pancakes and (this is what I am assuming because I obviously couldn’t understand their conversation) the son asked the Dad what the pancakes were and all he said back was “American.” I laughed to myself because apparently us Americans are so predictable. I love Thai food don’t get me wrong but the there is no variety in the food here. They eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Rice, noodles, eggs, is all part of a typical breakfast to them.  

 Anyways, after breakfast we took a boat down the River Kwai to a local market. Sad note: my camera died on the boat ride because I forgot to charge the battery so we had to take pictures on my mom’s camera today. I got a few pictures along the river before it died though! Along the boat ride we saw tons of homes and a few other hotels. The contrast between the hotels and the local’s homes is so fascinating. They are like night and day yet they are right next to each other. Once we arrived at the market we were handed a slip of paper with the name of an item we needed for lunch and some Thai Baht (their currency). The item would be used for our lunch that we were going to make and the name was in Thai so we had to go ask the woman at the market if they carried the item since we had no idea what it was. My mom and I got “small fish sauce.” We started out in the vegetable section because we had no idea but the ladies were really helpful and pointed us in the direction of the fish sauce. They eat rat here. Yummy huh? We were allowed to try a piece but I wasn't feeling very brave.

After the market we hopped back onto the bus and drove to the school that the local children in this village attend. This was the most touching and eye-opening thing that I have ever done. The second we pulled up all the kids came running to us. Once we walked off the bus they came up grabbed our hand and brought us to the grassy field to watch the older students perform a dance for us. My little girls name was Tida and she was in the 4th grade. She was the sweetest little girl and introduced herself to me in English. 

The older girls in the school danced while the boys played the drums, at the end of the dance they came and got us to go up and dance with them. The kids spent tons of time preparing for our arrival because they don’t get visitors very often. One of the teachers was giving her class a math lesson so we got to watch the kids learn multiplication. They use the same numbers that we use but they also have Thai numbers that correlate. She was writing the letters that we would recognize on the board but speaking to the children in Thai. 

Tida then took me to her classroom and showed me her desk and books. She is in the 4th grade at the Ba Paoung School in Kanchanaburi. She pulled out her English book and her and I went over some of the English words that she knew. She would pronounce the word in English and then look at me to see if she said it correctly. She did such a great job, we went over things like animals and occupations (like mailman, nurse, policeman) and then she told me how to say them in Thai. It was such a special moment I almost started crying! We were learning from each other it was really awesome! The children were all so sweet and they are so thankful for what they have. American children would have seen this classroom and been less than thankful. Our trip leader told us it is very important for these children to learn at a young age the importance of knowing English. In Thailand if you know English you can get a much better paying job than someone who doesn’t.

We walked with the students to see the fish that they take care of and the mushrooms that they grow. We couldn’t really see the fish through the water but they keep them in a huge concrete tank and feed them and help clean the tank. They showed us where they grow mushrooms that eat during lunchtime. They also use these mushrooms to sell at the local market to raise money for their school. 

The kids were all so cute and respectful. We had to take our shoes off to enter the classrooms and they would hold our hand and walk us from place to place. It really was a touching experience and it made me very grateful for the education that I have. Most of these kids never make it to high school and even fewer to college. The setting that they learn in is also so different from the classrooms that we were used to. Once we were done touring their school they walked us to where we were going to be served lunch. We went to a local villagers home and had a meal that was prepared by his wife. 

My moms camera died right about here so now we didn’t get any pictures of the mans home. Bad day for cameras apparently?

We took all of the ingredients that we bought at the market and each prepared ourselves a green papaya salad. We put the chili’s and coconut sugar into the mortar and pestle and then also ground up peanuts and garlic. We then added tomatoes, apples, string beans, cucumbers, fish sauce (our contribution!) and of course the green papaya. The daughter-in-law showed us all how to make the green papaya salad and then we all got to try ourselves. They also brought out some vegetables, sticky rice, and pork. All of the dishes were wrapped in beautiful green panda leaves. The lunch was finished with bananas in some sort of coconut milk mixture. The whole meal was so delicious! After lunch we got to go inside their home, which was made entirely of bamboo. The house was so sturdy and we were surprised to find more photos of the King inside than photos of their family. I know I have already written this but the people here seriously love their King, he has been serving Thailand for over 60 years. The current King was actually born in Boston but he was next in line to the throne when his older brother died (at a really young age) so he flew back from the United States and became the King of Thailand.

After lunch we went to the museum for the Prisoners of War (the same from the cemetery the day before) and learned more about the hardships they endured during the war. Most of them died of malnutrition, disease, and malaria. We then walked down Hell Fire Pass, which was part of the railway these prisoners built during the war. The railway is no longer there but was built to transport goods from Burma (now Myanmar) into Siam (now Thailand). I remembered that I had my phone with me so I snapped a few pictures. The jungle that was overlooked was so lush and green but SO MANY MOSQUITOS! I think I got at least 30 bites and it started to rain halfway through the walk but it was still so beautiful.

The last thing we did today was go to dinner at a tiny local restaurant. Like usual they brought us about 5 different entrees and we got to sample a little bit of everything My favorite was a chicken with cashews, onions, and chili. It was probably my second favorite meal (behind the red curry) that I’ve had here in Thailand. The next morning we are off to Phitsanulok for one night but it’s about a 7 ½ hour drive tomorrow.