Photo Friday: Thai Nights

By Alexis

We’ve been in Sanur, Bali for about a week and a half now and today’s the day we get back on the move! We’re heading over to a new place in Balangan, Bali where we’ll be stressed about my unemployment relax in the sun for a couple weeks. We’ll be staying in a pretty sweet looking bungalow that’s walking distance to the beach and even has a pool! Perfect for shark-a-phobes like me 🙂 But first, the question is how we’re physically getting over there…I can’t seem to figure out the bus system here and I feel like the hour long cab ride is going to be super expensive since (I’m pretty sure) we got ripped off on our first taxi ride from the airport despite our best efforts to wait for a good offer. Oh well. We’re headed out to find transport in about an hour. Wish us luck! I’m excited to start sharing all my Bali photos, but for now…

Here’s just one of my many Thailand temple pictures for today’s Photo Friday post. It’s a snapshot of Wat Inthakin in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Situated right on a main vein of the Sunday night market in the Old City, this small but often photographed temple is particularly impressive long after the sun has gone down. It literally sparkles in the night.

I didn’t always enjoy my time in Thailand, but one thing I really never tired of was wandering around all the pretty Buddhist temples that are sprinkled about the Old City, a place that I once heard has the highest density of Buddhist temples in the world. Wonder if that’s true! I’d believe it because they seriously are everywhere.

Find Wat Inthakin (sometimes spelled Wat Inthakhin) here…

Photo Friday: Chiang Mai Shadows

By Alexis

In the week before we left Chiang Mai, I was finished teaching, so I spent most of my time planning and preparing for our upcoming trips, but one day I was able to just take a walk around town and leisurely (well, as leisurely as you can get when it’s 100 degrees out) snap some photos. I saw these shadows on the moat road that goes around Chiang Mai’s Old City and waited till the perfect moment when a motorcycle would drive through.

I just thought the shadows were so pretty! 🙂

Just after I took this photo, I was feeling artsy and saw an older woman sitting in her street cart, selling fruit. She happened to be placed directly across the street from a pretty golden temple, and I thought it would make a great portrait. At first, I walked past her, too scared to ask her if I could take her photo. But then I stopped, gave myself a lightning speed pep talk, turned around, and asked (in Thai), “Hello. Excuse me. May I, please?” and gestured to my camera. She looked at me and just wordlessly waved me away like a pest. Ouch.

She confirmed why street photography always makes me nervous. I know people obviously have the right to say no to a having their picture taken (that’s why I asked), but I can’t help feeling that she thought I was just another dumb tourist and didn’t want to humor me. It was a small experience, yes, but it gave me a concrete example of why I just never fell in love with Thailand…in general, strangers weren’t friendly or approachable. Over the 10 months of living there, I became really insecure about interracting with strangers, and this small experience certainly didn’t help things.

But whatever… I’ve left Thailand behind and will just have to try street photography another day.

 

Photo Friday: Views From Our Apartment

By David

Yes, you read that right… By David. I’m stepping in this week with a Photo Friday guest post (don’t all let out a sigh of disappoint at once).

Because I’m so obviously not as talented as my amazing wife, I didn’t want to throw one picture up here touting its quality and have you all be supremely underwhelmed. So I thought I would share a small collection of photos — photos that provide a glimpse into our daily lives.

If you’ll excuse the poor quality, the photos below show one of our favorite things about living in Thailand: the amazing sunrises, sunsets, and general sky-scapes. And the best part? We take in these sights without ever leaving out apartment.

Cotton candy sunrise.

Rainbow over Doi Suthep.

Alexis loves the puffy Thai clouds.

Birds flying over.

The daily multi-colored sunsets are incredible.

The colors only get better as the sky purples.

I just got back from Kuala Lumpur (more on this soon), so I guess I’m feeling glad to be home 🙂

“I Want to Play With Fire!”

By Alexis

One of the biggest things I’ve had to learn as a ESL teacher in Thailand is flexibility. Here, plans change by the minute and you’re expected to just go with the flow, being perpetually ready at a moment’s notice (traits that don’t come naturally to a Type-A overthinker like me).

One day this week, I had just handed out worksheets to a 2nd grade class and was having them write their names up top, when the classroom’s Thai teacher says, “Teacher, the students go outside now.”

Umm, okay?

“Pass back your papers!” I announced and gathered up the worksheets as the students ran outside. When I finished cleaning things up, I wandered around trying to find my class. After a few minutes of searching, I found them watching a presentation from the fire department.

Instead of miming what you should do during a fire (e.g. stop, drop, and roll), the firemen stayed true to the craziness that is Thailand and lit a real fire then let the kids come up and put it out with an extinguisher.

Somehow, I got chosen to go up first and put one out, which was actually quite terrifying. The kids loved my overdramatic screaming, haha.

This student wasn’t scared at all! Judging from her head bandage, she’s no stranger to battle wounds.

After that, the kids went wild as they got to try on all the uniforms (so cute) and even ride a makeshift zipline that had been set up between two trees nearby.

There was some kind of gas mask that shot freezing cold air at the kids faces, and they made a long line to try it out one-by-one.

And of course they got to play around with a fire hose.

I’m not sure how much safety the lesson really taught because, at the end of it all, one of my second graders ran up to me and breathlessly exclaimed, “Teacher! I want to play with fire!”

Just your average Tuesday in Thailand…

“I Want to Play With Fire!”

By Alexis

One of the biggest things I’ve had to learn as a ESL teacher in Thailand is flexibility. Here, plans change by the minute and you’re expected to just go with the flow, being perpetually ready at a moment’s notice (traits that don’t come naturally to a Type-A overthinker like me).

One day this week, I had just handed out worksheets to a 2nd grade class and was having them write their names up top, when the classroom’s Thai teacher says, “Teacher, the students go outside now.”

Umm, okay?

“Pass back your papers!” I announced and gathered up the worksheets as the students ran outside. When I finished cleaning things up, I wandered around trying to find my class. After a few minutes of searching, I found them watching a presentation from the fire department.

Click below to check out more photos…