Cause we could all use a little change...

The past few weeks have offered some quite novel experiences! By far the most empowering and liberating thing that I have done is learn to ride a motorcycle!! I ride it to school everyday and pick up coconuts on the way home for a snack. Considering I haven't ridden anything with manual gears since my ten-speed bike in second grade, I think I'm pretty cool!

The motorbike is just part of my cultural immersion. I have unexpectedly found myself attending a funeral, market visits, meditation camps, relatives' houses, king's festivals, pot-luck dinners and pineapple farms. I really never know what is going to happen until I am already amidst its presence.

However I have managed to plan a few ventures where the experiences are anticipated. This weekend I went to the floating markets. Here canals are packed with long boats that are piled with various spices, tropical fruits, and of course a million tourists. It is a crazy hybrid of street market meets Venice canals. It used to be quite legit about 20 years ago, but now it is mainly geared towards tourists. Never-the-less, I was quite amused as were they when they figured out could speak Thai ( a rarity amongst the rotund western tourists who pay little attention to Thai culture and/or language. Thus they are mainly treated as cash cows). After the floating market I headed over to Bangkok, my first time really in this huge city. I have to say....I like Bangkok better than New York...BY FAR!!
Bangkok is a crazy fusion of the very old and the very new. I visited the ever so popular Wat Pho and The King's Palace. But my favorite adventure had to be to the Siam Mall. I had Pizza, now a coveted delicacy, and saw a movie in the extremely plush movie theater. The movies here are definitely an experience. They have velvet reclining seats, couches with blankets, and VIP sections (some with beds). It was awesome! The ferries, motorcycles, sky trains, taxis, and tuk tuks all added to the ease of getting around a highly congested area. And the extremely low cost of everything allows you to see a ton ( AKA I can sufficiently nurse my boba-holic addiction and buy pirated DVD's on a shoe-string budget).
But for now I am back in my small village, teaching kids who bring me pineapples form their parents' farms, biking through monsoonal forests, and trying to learn as much conversational Thai as their tonal acrobatics let me.