[ENG] 08.03.2014 Chiang Mai Part

Finally the weekend came! This weekend was our one and only weekend with the exchange students in Chiang Mai. On Saturday (today) we planned to oversleep until 11 o'clock because the Germans were very tired of jet lag and all the programs.

In the afternoon we were at Pim's house in order to go to swim! I was very excited and the Germans too. I did not swim for a year maybe. The Thais prepared the dolphin balloon and other stuff for playing in the pool like plastic balls. It was so fun and relaxed all the stress out. The Germans enjoyed the sun and sunbathed. Mascha and Lavi discovered the fitness studio nearby and did workouts.

We swam until 5 pm and went back home with fresh body and mind. We ate pizzas and watched the Thai horror movie "Pee Nak" comfortably on the sofas. I just knew that watching horror movies with Lavi was very funny because she got scared very easy. haha

Jinny slept at my house too tonight. We took many selfie photos at my house and continued watching the movies.

[ENG] 07.03.2014 Chiang Mai Part

Today was one of the funniest days with the Germans. We went to the Sufficiency Economy Centre at Mae Rim which is located not so far from my home. In the morning we learned about the Sufficiency Economy Theory which was discovered by the King Rama IX of Thailand. Also the Germans interviewed the guide about the theory more. In the main hall we saw the exhibition and models about this theory such as for lands, agriculture, plants, water and daily life.

What is more, is we observed how they raised the frogs in frogs apartments (see the pictures). I felt sorry for them somehow because it was too narrow for them to live in those wheels or water gallons. We also listened to the teacher how they planted the mushrooms. It was not so interesting because it was a bit complicated with many technical words or names.

After lunch we went to watch the dog show which was performed by the military students and the military dogs. There were not just us but also the students from Mae Jo University who had camp during the day. They seemed to be quite excited to see the German students. After the dog show was the buffalo's turn. We could even ride the buffalos, so we did. All Germans managed to get on the buffalo by jumping. The Mae Jo students cheered the Germans up by shouting which the Germans seemed to be surprised and a bit confused about their actions. lol

After all the shows, we went to the rice field and learned how to set the baby rice into the field. It was funny with cold dirts under our feet. But the best part of the day was not the baby rice, we had to use the large wood to make the land soft and we stumbled all the time in the dirt. So we were all dirty and needed to be washed. We washed ourselves and someone began the water war, so we played a lot of water with water pipes and had a lot of fun. We had to let the sun dried our clothes afterwards.

[ENG] 06.03.2014 Chiang Mai Part

This morning all of us woke up at 5:30 am and we had to speed ourselves to be ready for bicycle tour at 6 o'clock. It was extremely cold this morning. Even the Germans said it was really cold for them too. When we were all ready, we set off from the house with Mr. Crazy Man. It was difficult for my hands and it hurt a bit.

We rode along the rice fields. The land fields were marvellous and extremely beautiful with morning sun. Our destination was the Mae Guang Dam which was around 3 kilometres far away from the house. There was also a mountain and it took a lot of energy. But then when we saw the sceneries of the dam, we all felt like we were in paradise hahaha I breathed the fresh air all through my two lungs. We walked around and enjoyed the moment.

When we rode back to the house, we had breakfast which was the rice soup. Then we prepared to take our handicraft things (the flowers) to the temple in order to respect and make merits. We rode the bicycles again to the temple named "พระธาตุเจดีย์นพีสีพิศาลมงคล". We gave things that we had prepared to the monks. The Germans asked a lot about Buddhism because this religion is relatively new for them. They were amazed by the north Thai arts inside the temple.

Then we took off to the Mo Nueng Ghost which was the local traditional doctor in the village. The grandma has received this from her ancestors. The pot would say the reason of your illness. Mostly it helps you when the people are sick because they are unpolite to the ghosts or angels. The Germans asked about their health problems (such as pains) and also for their family members. But all of them was just normal pains and not because they did something wrong to the ghosts.

After the Mo Nueng Ghost we continued riding to the house where the rice crackers are produced. We learned how to make it and then tried to grill the crackers by ourselves. And the last place we visited was the wood stuff shop. I was impressed by this shop very much because they made all the products by hands and the products are so cute.

Then we came back home. It's time to say goodbye to all the members at the Baan Bai Boon. We made a short review about all the programs here and said thank you to them. It was a sad farewell because we were quite close to the aunties and teachers.