Geckos sound like birds.

And their poop looks like mouse poop. And since they crawl everywhere, they poop everywhere—that’s the main reason we sleep under a mosquito net. There you go: more than you ever wanted to know about geckos.

So what’s it like living in the jungle house? It’s like camping—cabin camping, and it’s a good thing I love camping.

The Jungle House

A couple of representatives from my school headed down to Bangkok to pick up Jack and me. As soon as I met Pii Pan and Lung Janevit (Uncle Jane), they gave me big hugs and told me that they were going to be my Thai aunt and uncle while I’m here. How sweet! Since it was already late in the day and would take about 8-10 hours to drive to Hang Chat, they decided we should leave the next day. They told me we can stay at the Louis Tavern hotel another night. OK!

The next morning Pii Pan would call me and we would head home. Oops, Uncle Jane was getting the car inspected so it would be later. After a few more setbacks (mai ben rai!), we started our long journey at 4pm.

We stopped for dinner in Sing Buri at a cute little place on the river. The sun was setting and the view was beautiful.

Kanchanaburi (Part 2): Elephants!

This morning was amazing! We went to Taweechai Elephant Camp to meet some pachyderms. Shot this on the way (I think I’m going to like this place!):

Kanchanaburi! (Part 1)

We finished orientation and now it’s time for some fun! Three hours on a bus and we are in Kanchanaburi, west of Bangkok and home of the River Khwae. The orientation crew made a stop at the famous bridge over the River Khwae, as seen in the 1957 film “The Bridge over the River Kwai.” (It is called the River Khwae here as kwai means water buffalo and is also an insult.) The film is about the Japanese forcing  prisoners of war to construct this bridge as part of the Burma Railway during WWII. I haven’t seen it yet, but I will now!

Aksra Theater

We had quite an evening! After spending the morning at the Grand Palace, we loaded up in the buses for another little field trip. This time we headed to Aksra Theater/Ramayana restaurant for a fantastic buffet and puppet show. I know what you’re thinking…puppets, how great…but you better rinse that sarcasm out of your mouth. The puppets were incredibly detailed and required 3 puppeteers each! The crew performed traditional Thai dances and battle dances and walked around the room pretending to kiss members of the audience. So cuuuuute!