It's been a busy couple of weeks. Becky Tilson was here to visit Lauren and me, so we spent the first weekend on Koh Samet, the second weekend on Koh Samui, and a few days exploring Bangkok in the middle. We went to Wat Pho (which I LOVE, even though supposedly only old people go there), saw some of the Grand Palace, had drinks at the top of the Baiyoke Tower... sightseeing stuff like that. The weekends on the beach were especially nice. I'm still not sick of the beautiful beaches! It was really great to hang out with Becky here. Who would have thought that the three of us girls who met when we all started working at Rotary within 6 weeks of each other would be hanging out in Thailand a few years later? We met lots of random people, especially in Samui when Lauren's other friends Lindsey & Katie met us there, and had a couple of unpredictable, slightly ridiculous nights. It was a great visit!
At the top of Baiyoke Tower with Becky & Lauren
Then, upon the realization that I had a week off work before I begin proctoring finals, I spent a few days in Khao Yai National Park with Jenn, Heidi and Kate. It was so beautiful and peaceful there. The jungle was filled with beautiful trees and flowers, and we spotted lots of gibbons, great hornbills, and bearcats high up in the trees. We also explored a couple of bat caves that were formerly used by Buddhist monks to meditate. And on dusk of the first day we watched as literally millions of bats rushed in a steady, noisy stream out of a cave on a small mountain. It was kind of a surreal experience. Overall a great trip and I would happily go back there again.
Now I'm spending some time in Bangkok before I begin proctoring on Friday. Shari, Amy and Konda from Rotary are here on a site visit for a future convention, so we took an impromptu tour of the city yesterday and had dinner, and have plans to meet up again tonight. We might check out a night market, which I'm looking forward to.
Aside from all that, my only other news is that I'm getting ready for my big 2.5 month summer break. I have travel plans to Koh Tao for scuba certification, then traveling to a bunch of other countries in SE Asia. I'm getting really excited about the "break" from my already pretty awesome life here!
