So last Friday (Feb 19) marked my return as Pele or Ronaldo or Ronaldhino or whomever you support, to the great arena of Football-or soccer depending where you are :)
There was an impromptu tournament established for 2pm on the field of Satit Bagna. Ryan C and I decided we'd show these guys what we had to offer (aka we decided it was either both of us or neither of us cuz we were gonna make fools of ourselves) We played 8 v 8 (Ryan and I were on the green team with some of our fellow teachers) and played 2 games against teams comprised of Matayum (high school) boys. There was a team for M4, M5 and M6 (sophomore-sr. year)
Game 1: I actually thought I was going to die. First, it's been a while since I've played soccer and I remembered how exhausting it can be. Second, clearly I'm out of shape. Third, I may as well have been playing in the middle of the Sahara it was so hot. I was sweating walking from our office to the field...imagine what it was like after the game. We played 25 minute halves and with only 1 sub, I played the whole time. Ouch! I almost scored a goal which was sweet, however I wasn't happy that we were playing on a half dirt/half grass field (aka reallllly dry) and ball took a bad bounce toward the goalie at the last second. It probably didn't help either that I didn't have cleats so I was skating around like Brian Boitano across the dirt. Ryan got one goal and I assisted the 2nd and we won, so that's pretty successful I'd say.
Break time: I sat around feeling like I was going to pass out. I mean really how do they stand this heat. Some of the Matayum guys weren't even sweating and here Ryan and I were looking like an advertisement for M Sports Drink (Thai gatorade) with sweat, the green color of the drink, rolling off our faces. We were enjoying watching the other game and then found out we were playing another...take a deep breath. This game we only had 8 players, so no subs. Well, if I can handle 1 I can handle 2 right?
Game 2: I got to play my favorite position this game-defense. I only got one penalty; I realized that I was a lot bigger than one of the kids I was defending and found myself helping him up off his rump after he put up less of a fight than I was anticipating when I went at him for the ball. It was pretty hysterical though as there was a Thai announcer who was giving play-by-plays over the loudspeaker. Every minute or so I would hear 'Teacher Natan asfs asodisgoj alkjtoih' (that's my attempt at typing Thai)--even if the ball was at the other goal and I was waiting for a play I would hear my name called. I can only imagine what he was saying..."Teacher Natan looks great today in his green uniform. He's really putting in some great effort on the field. Look! Everyone direct your attention to him standing there by himself! What a player" One time I looked over at him when he said my name and kinda smirked at him and he goes "Eeet's okay teacha! No problem!" :) We ended up tying the 2nd game...hopefully next time we can win them both.
Anyway, it felt good to get back out there after not playing for so long and I'm looking forward to kicking the ball around some more with the other teachers I live with this coming semester. So I guess maybe it wasn't that much like Friday Night Lights, but it got you interested to read right?!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Some Great Reads
My apologies for the lack of anecdotes as of late-we're kind of saving up for the adventures to come over break and thus haven't spent a whole lot of time away from the willage, which is kinda nice sometimes. I've been on a bit of a reading kick and thought I'd plug the three books I've read in the last couple weeks.
1. Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane--I think that this movie just came out in America (maybe here too, I'll have to check) but the book is awesome. It's sort of dark, but offers up some great suspense and twists. Even the last page had a final twist that made it all the better. It's a pretty quick read or at least it was for me cuz I kept wanting to turn the page.
2. The Shack--I was skeptical about this book as it was sort of vibed as a stereotypical book about religious goings on-which can be interesting, but I also feel that this genre of books can be preachy and provides less of a story than it is a soap box. This book proved me way wrong. I sort of resisted it at first as I was reading and found it a little slow to get into, but as I kept reading I let myself (for lack of a better description) give into it and found it to be shockingly powerful. It offered some amazing insights to living life and being I guess, spiritual, without having to follow the cookie cutter image of said ideal. I may or may not have had some misty eyes at the end too if that says anything about how effective it is! Not sure if its the place I'm in or it was just the day, but I'd say it's been a good while since a book has laid into me like that. It's not like a self help book or anything and offers a pretty awesome (true!) story that seemed unbelievable to me at first and which I grew to believe and respect at the end. Really good-- makes you sort of sit back and think and wonder and believe in things maybe you thought you'd forgotten.
1. The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch-- I actually started and finished this book today. It's not incredibly long, but packs a lot of punch. It's a true story of a professor/lecturer diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and his outlook on life as he plans/gives his last lecture. I guess you can tell I liked it considering I finished it during the time I was at school today. Its short chapters and views on living life are truly amazing. It essentially inspires you to chase your dreams and know that , even if you don't reach your ultimate goal, that in the process you are gaining something more than you had. A favorite quote was "Experience is something you get when you didn't get what you wanted." Makes you think about all the times you're like, 'oh well it was a good experience' right?
Anyway, none of these books are exceptionally long, so if you're looking for some good and fulfilling entertainment...check these out. I tell ya these are 3 books that give you some good Bang for your Baht!
1. Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane--I think that this movie just came out in America (maybe here too, I'll have to check) but the book is awesome. It's sort of dark, but offers up some great suspense and twists. Even the last page had a final twist that made it all the better. It's a pretty quick read or at least it was for me cuz I kept wanting to turn the page.
2. The Shack--I was skeptical about this book as it was sort of vibed as a stereotypical book about religious goings on-which can be interesting, but I also feel that this genre of books can be preachy and provides less of a story than it is a soap box. This book proved me way wrong. I sort of resisted it at first as I was reading and found it a little slow to get into, but as I kept reading I let myself (for lack of a better description) give into it and found it to be shockingly powerful. It offered some amazing insights to living life and being I guess, spiritual, without having to follow the cookie cutter image of said ideal. I may or may not have had some misty eyes at the end too if that says anything about how effective it is! Not sure if its the place I'm in or it was just the day, but I'd say it's been a good while since a book has laid into me like that. It's not like a self help book or anything and offers a pretty awesome (true!) story that seemed unbelievable to me at first and which I grew to believe and respect at the end. Really good-- makes you sort of sit back and think and wonder and believe in things maybe you thought you'd forgotten.
1. The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch-- I actually started and finished this book today. It's not incredibly long, but packs a lot of punch. It's a true story of a professor/lecturer diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and his outlook on life as he plans/gives his last lecture. I guess you can tell I liked it considering I finished it during the time I was at school today. Its short chapters and views on living life are truly amazing. It essentially inspires you to chase your dreams and know that , even if you don't reach your ultimate goal, that in the process you are gaining something more than you had. A favorite quote was "Experience is something you get when you didn't get what you wanted." Makes you think about all the times you're like, 'oh well it was a good experience' right?
Anyway, none of these books are exceptionally long, so if you're looking for some good and fulfilling entertainment...check these out. I tell ya these are 3 books that give you some good Bang for your Baht!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Happy Walentine's Day, Rots of Rove Natan
Feb 8-14
The Thais don't celebrate Walentine's Day (as they call it) because they associate Feb 14 with the Chinese New Year, but I still took full advantage of the holiday in my classes. Kids got a kick out of the Pokemon and Power Puff Girl valentines I had printed off for them and it was pretty funny seeing/hearing their reactions when we talked about Love :) I would tell them to write a message on the back and then ask if they were gonna write it to their girlfriend or boyfriend and they would all get really giggly and blush and say "teacha! i no have" and then other kids in the class would be like "ohhhh Palm rikes Mew" or "Piang is rove wit Nut" You know the typical reactions to the topic at that age. It was awesome.
Last weekend we decided to hang in Bangplee on Friday which turned out to be a great time. We were out on the porch most of the night playing cards and unwinding from the week. After midnight some of the locals (we call them the Soi 34 guys cuz they hang out at a mini-store on that street) came over to Soi 18 and we hung out with them. Then they took me and Ryan F. on a trek to Soi 48 as there is apparently a house there where people play cards and dice. It sounded like a mix between shady and amazing, but unfortunately when we got there it was closed. Rather than call it quits we headed back to 34 and hung out until about 4 am. These guys are a riot and I'm looking forward to having some more Thai connections while we're here!
Saturday we headed into BKK for the night. We stayed in a hotel off Sukhumvit which is a really interesting part of town. For a few blocks it literally feels like you are in Saudi Arabia and the side street where our hotel was it was actually reminiscent of a small African village. It's totally bizarre being in such an Asian world and then all of sudden being transported to a completely different environment within a few streets. Our hotel was alright--a/c, big bed and cheap enough for 3 of us to share...the only odd part was when we looked at the rate sheet and we could pay for the night or by the hour. Hmmm.
Anyway we met up with some friends and headed to China Town as the Chinese New Year's was
on Sunday. Unfortunately the celebration didn't take place til Sunday, but we still got to see a lot of the are being set up. It was exactly how I pictured it with streets covered in red hanging paper lanterns and golden dragons all over the place. It would have been really cool to see what it's like on the actual day, but alas, we have to teach. We ate a really good Lebanese restaurant for dinner (Chicken Shwarma!) and, after pregaming with some CIEE crew
, made our way to RCA. We went back to Route 66 which is one of our favorite clubs and closed the place down. It's fun to go there because it's kind of out of the way so it's really not touristy--in fact I think we were some of the few non-Thais there. The next morning we woke up and caught some of the highlights from the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics and have to stay we were kind of unimpressed. It was really wierd and seemed really Canadian as opposed to world-inclusive. We were happy we saw any of it though as Thailand isn't really known for their cold weather athletics and therefore doesn't pay much mind to the Winter games :) Man the weekends go fast.
The Thais don't celebrate Walentine's Day (as they call it) because they associate Feb 14 with the Chinese New Year, but I still took full advantage of the holiday in my classes. Kids got a kick out of the Pokemon and Power Puff Girl valentines I had printed off for them and it was pretty funny seeing/hearing their reactions when we talked about Love :) I would tell them to write a message on the back and then ask if they were gonna write it to their girlfriend or boyfriend and they would all get really giggly and blush and say "teacha! i no have" and then other kids in the class would be like "ohhhh Palm rikes Mew" or "Piang is rove wit Nut" You know the typical reactions to the topic at that age. It was awesome.
Last weekend we decided to hang in Bangplee on Friday which turned out to be a great time. We were out on the porch most of the night playing cards and unwinding from the week. After midnight some of the locals (we call them the Soi 34 guys cuz they hang out at a mini-store on that street) came over to Soi 18 and we hung out with them. Then they took me and Ryan F. on a trek to Soi 48 as there is apparently a house there where people play cards and dice. It sounded like a mix between shady and amazing, but unfortunately when we got there it was closed. Rather than call it quits we headed back to 34 and hung out until about 4 am. These guys are a riot and I'm looking forward to having some more Thai connections while we're here!
Saturday we headed into BKK for the night. We stayed in a hotel off Sukhumvit which is a really interesting part of town. For a few blocks it literally feels like you are in Saudi Arabia and the side street where our hotel was it was actually reminiscent of a small African village. It's totally bizarre being in such an Asian world and then all of sudden being transported to a completely different environment within a few streets. Our hotel was alright--a/c, big bed and cheap enough for 3 of us to share...the only odd part was when we looked at the rate sheet and we could pay for the night or by the hour. Hmmm.
Anyway we met up with some friends and headed to China Town as the Chinese New Year's was
on Sunday. Unfortunately the celebration didn't take place til Sunday, but we still got to see a lot of the are being set up. It was exactly how I pictured it with streets covered in red hanging paper lanterns and golden dragons all over the place. It would have been really cool to see what it's like on the actual day, but alas, we have to teach. We ate a really good Lebanese restaurant for dinner (Chicken Shwarma!) and, after pregaming with some CIEE crew
, made our way to RCA. We went back to Route 66 which is one of our favorite clubs and closed the place down. It's fun to go there because it's kind of out of the way so it's really not touristy--in fact I think we were some of the few non-Thais there. The next morning we woke up and caught some of the highlights from the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics and have to stay we were kind of unimpressed. It was really wierd and seemed really Canadian as opposed to world-inclusive. We were happy we saw any of it though as Thailand isn't really known for their cold weather athletics and therefore doesn't pay much mind to the Winter games :) Man the weekends go fast.Thursday, February 11, 2010
'Kanch' ya just wait to read this!
Feb 5-7
Friday we stayed in and watched Inglorious Basterds (which is a great movie if you haven't seen) so that we could get up bright and early to head to Kanchanaburi. Emily, Josie and I took a bus to the province about 3 hrs East of BKK for a 2 day excursion. We got off the bus and had Sowng Lorbs (song lohbs)--basically bicycles with a rickshaw-esque
carriage on the back take us the guesthouse area for 10 baht (30 cents) each. It's pretty crazy riding in a bike and buggy on the main road next to zooming cars and motorbikes! We decided to stay at River Guesthouse which literally floats on the River Kwae; to get to the Front desk and to your room you have to walk on a series of docks= so cool! We ate lunch at our place and found a Song tao to take us to the Tiger Temple. This is a 1000 acre monastery where the monks raise/breed tigers and where tourists (both Thai and Foreign) come to lay, pet and play with the big cats. It was an amazing experience to be that close to tigers, let alone get to touch them. Some of them are HUGE and they are all beautiful. It's sort of a bizarre place, but definitely worth visiting.
We headed back to town and walked around for a little bit (it's a pretty nice city with some cool memorial cemeteries and monuments) before hiring a tuk tuk that took us to Khoa Poon Cave which is a temple located in a series of 9 caves. The highlights of the excursion were our two 6-year old, non-english
speaking 'guides' who basically just ninja fought and jumped around through the entire cave. The lowlight was definitely almost being mauled by a bat that emerged from some unforseen crevice right for my head--after ducking it came back at me and we decided soon after that we should probably not be down there without our rabies shots! There is something really eerie about seeing shadows flying around in the depths of a cave... After the cave, the driver took us to a brief stop at the Monkey School where I got to hold hands with Gigi, a gibbon who didn't like girls (therefore Emily and Josie just got to watch/take pictures of me)
Back at the guesthouse we sat on our porch/ in our hammocks and watched the sunset right before us over the River. It was really beautiful and peaceful. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant (run by an Italian ex-pat) that made incredible pizza before making our way to the Night Market for some shopping, bargaining and food sampling. We found some good treats including one of our favorite desserts: kernels of hot corn, butter, sugar and condensed milk! Stuffed to the brim we went back to one of the worst night sleeps we've had in Thailand...rock hard beds and a few roaches. No big deal (I only woke up once in the night to hear the roaches 'talking' to eachother aka hissing).
Thailand.
The next morning we 'got up' early (as we were already pretty much awake) and went to the bus stop. After a delicious breakfast of Thai cup-o-noodles from the 7/11 our bus headed off to Erawan National Park. It was a really scenic ride through the countryside and up the side of a mountain to the park where we began our 2200m trek. The park's main attraction is
Erawan Waterfalls which is a 7-tiered waterfall nestled in the mountainous jungle of the park. Wanting to ensure we made it to all 7 tiers we turbo-trekked it to the top (over a mile in 90 degree weather and some insane amount of humidity mind you) not to be let down by what we saw. The hike consists of dirt paths, some stone stairs, climbing over rocks/fallen logs and breathtaking scenery. The entire climb you are walking beside the epitome of crystal blue streams flowing into fish-filled pools flush against a backdrop of forest green. Sinking into the pool at tier 7 you snap back to reality as the chilly mountain water hits your chest and the little suction of tiny fish tickle your feet: a really odd and slightly uncomfortable sensation. 
We spent the next couple hours making our descent down the trail stopping for photo-ops along the way. At tier 5 Emily and I joined some locals for a slide down the face of one of the rocks into the water below while onlookers cheered and laughed. After said excursion we hopped on a bus back to Kanch (as we've thoughtfully dubbed it) and hopped on another bus back to BKK. Man, looking back, we did a lot in 2 days!
Friday we stayed in and watched Inglorious Basterds (which is a great movie if you haven't seen) so that we could get up bright and early to head to Kanchanaburi. Emily, Josie and I took a bus to the province about 3 hrs East of BKK for a 2 day excursion. We got off the bus and had Sowng Lorbs (song lohbs)--basically bicycles with a rickshaw-esque
carriage on the back take us the guesthouse area for 10 baht (30 cents) each. It's pretty crazy riding in a bike and buggy on the main road next to zooming cars and motorbikes! We decided to stay at River Guesthouse which literally floats on the River Kwae; to get to the Front desk and to your room you have to walk on a series of docks= so cool! We ate lunch at our place and found a Song tao to take us to the Tiger Temple. This is a 1000 acre monastery where the monks raise/breed tigers and where tourists (both Thai and Foreign) come to lay, pet and play with the big cats. It was an amazing experience to be that close to tigers, let alone get to touch them. Some of them are HUGE and they are all beautiful. It's sort of a bizarre place, but definitely worth visiting.We headed back to town and walked around for a little bit (it's a pretty nice city with some cool memorial cemeteries and monuments) before hiring a tuk tuk that took us to Khoa Poon Cave which is a temple located in a series of 9 caves. The highlights of the excursion were our two 6-year old, non-english
speaking 'guides' who basically just ninja fought and jumped around through the entire cave. The lowlight was definitely almost being mauled by a bat that emerged from some unforseen crevice right for my head--after ducking it came back at me and we decided soon after that we should probably not be down there without our rabies shots! There is something really eerie about seeing shadows flying around in the depths of a cave... After the cave, the driver took us to a brief stop at the Monkey School where I got to hold hands with Gigi, a gibbon who didn't like girls (therefore Emily and Josie just got to watch/take pictures of me)Back at the guesthouse we sat on our porch/ in our hammocks and watched the sunset right before us over the River. It was really beautiful and peaceful. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant (run by an Italian ex-pat) that made incredible pizza before making our way to the Night Market for some shopping, bargaining and food sampling. We found some good treats including one of our favorite desserts: kernels of hot corn, butter, sugar and condensed milk! Stuffed to the brim we went back to one of the worst night sleeps we've had in Thailand...rock hard beds and a few roaches. No big deal (I only woke up once in the night to hear the roaches 'talking' to eachother aka hissing).Thailand.
The next morning we 'got up' early (as we were already pretty much awake) and went to the bus stop. After a delicious breakfast of Thai cup-o-noodles from the 7/11 our bus headed off to Erawan National Park. It was a really scenic ride through the countryside and up the side of a mountain to the park where we began our 2200m trek. The park's main attraction is
Erawan Waterfalls which is a 7-tiered waterfall nestled in the mountainous jungle of the park. Wanting to ensure we made it to all 7 tiers we turbo-trekked it to the top (over a mile in 90 degree weather and some insane amount of humidity mind you) not to be let down by what we saw. The hike consists of dirt paths, some stone stairs, climbing over rocks/fallen logs and breathtaking scenery. The entire climb you are walking beside the epitome of crystal blue streams flowing into fish-filled pools flush against a backdrop of forest green. Sinking into the pool at tier 7 you snap back to reality as the chilly mountain water hits your chest and the little suction of tiny fish tickle your feet: a really odd and slightly uncomfortable sensation. 
We spent the next couple hours making our descent down the trail stopping for photo-ops along the way. At tier 5 Emily and I joined some locals for a slide down the face of one of the rocks into the water below while onlookers cheered and laughed. After said excursion we hopped on a bus back to Kanch (as we've thoughtfully dubbed it) and hopped on another bus back to BKK. Man, looking back, we did a lot in 2 days!
Josie turns 23
I apologize for the lack of writing in the month of February (not that anyone has been sitting around waiting for this post) but the end of January was pretty relaxing with not a whole lot of excitement. We decided to take the weekend after Koh Samet off and just hung out in Bang Plee. We did make a trip back to our favorite buffet: Moogato--not to be confused with Mugatu of Zoolander fame. Our waitress remembered us from the time before which was really cool and even remembered that Ryan does not like ice in his San Miguel! She earned a worthy tip. After some good food we ventured down Teparak to a place called Mello which turned out to be a great find (referred to us by the other Ryan and Michelle). It's a low-key place with a/c and a live band inside and a bunch of couches/hammocks and a pool table outside. We had a couple drink and some hookah and just enjoyed being able to hang out after a long week of teaching!
Thurs. Feb 4:
Today is Josie's birthday and we decided to head out to one of our favorite restaurants, Satani Bai Mai (Leaf Station), to celebrate. All 7 of the Americans went which was really fun and made for some funny stories/good food choices. We ate everything from Pineapple fried rice, Tom Kah Gai (coconut/curry/chicken soup), Venison stir fry, Sweet and Sour Chicken and deep fried frog (not just frog legs, but the whole frog--actually pretty tasty although the little bones are kind of annoying!) We tried a new beer that is breaking into the Thai market called Fedebrau which was pretty good: they called it bronde (which I think means Blonde). We closed off dinner with the Thai version of the Birthday song from the band and a birthday B-52 for Josie. It's a layered shot that they light on fire and you suck through a straw which we ordered to all take together in honor of the birthday girl yet, because they light them on fire, they brought them out one by one so we all got to awkwardly stare at eachother and watch eachother take them solo. Pretty funny though seeing everyone's face...oh and I accidentally swallowed fire! We made our way back to Mello since we were already out and hung out there shooting some pool and talking. Some Thai guys approached us playing pool and wondered if we could tutor them in English so we exchanged information. I started laughing as the guy introduced himself as KERWIN but when he wrote down his name he spelled it KELVIN...I think we might start with learning his name at the first lesson :)
Thurs. Feb 4:
Today is Josie's birthday and we decided to head out to one of our favorite restaurants, Satani Bai Mai (Leaf Station), to celebrate. All 7 of the Americans went which was really fun and made for some funny stories/good food choices. We ate everything from Pineapple fried rice, Tom Kah Gai (coconut/curry/chicken soup), Venison stir fry, Sweet and Sour Chicken and deep fried frog (not just frog legs, but the whole frog--actually pretty tasty although the little bones are kind of annoying!) We tried a new beer that is breaking into the Thai market called Fedebrau which was pretty good: they called it bronde (which I think means Blonde). We closed off dinner with the Thai version of the Birthday song from the band and a birthday B-52 for Josie. It's a layered shot that they light on fire and you suck through a straw which we ordered to all take together in honor of the birthday girl yet, because they light them on fire, they brought them out one by one so we all got to awkwardly stare at eachother and watch eachother take them solo. Pretty funny though seeing everyone's face...oh and I accidentally swallowed fire! We made our way back to Mello since we were already out and hung out there shooting some pool and talking. Some Thai guys approached us playing pool and wondered if we could tutor them in English so we exchanged information. I started laughing as the guy introduced himself as KERWIN but when he wrote down his name he spelled it KELVIN...I think we might start with learning his name at the first lesson :)
Monday, February 1, 2010
To 'Samet' all up
Jan 22-24: Koh Samet, Thailand
I don't know what I'm gonna do when I get back home and have to wait until summer before I can head to the beach. I guess the best thing is to not think about it and keep the islands coming. The weekend in question we made our way to Koh Samet which is about a 3-4 hr bus ride from Bangkok and worth every minute. We arrived pretty late to Ban Phe (the port where you catch a boat to the island) and got some Pad Thai while we waited for the rest of our friends. On our way to the pier we made a stop at the hut of a very friendly woman who kept yelling Seep Baht Seep Baht (which means 10 baht)--clearly we had to see what she was selling for that price. Turned out it was homemade Thai moonshine...naturally we agreed, but avoided the chasers of corn and some weird olive looking thing and made our way to the boat (praying we wouldn't go blind...She seemed friendly enough!) We bartered a bit for a speed boat as the ferries were no longer running after dark and made like James Bond in a fast paced getaway for the island. In order to avoid paying the Nat'l Park entrance fee, the boat literally pulls up a little bit away for a beach and drops you off in knee deep water with your bags as you wade your way to shore. Pretty hysterical as the people on the beach are watching these Swamp monsters arise out of the water.
We sent Ryan and Jenny to book us a room and working some magic we got a 4 person room (for 7 of us!) The night was filled with exploring the island and some buckets and dancing at Naga: really cool place overlooking the beach/water. We all snuggled in safe and sound in bed and woke up on Saturday ready for some amazing free breakfast at Jep's (the place we stayed at) and some relaxing on the beach. We ended up meeting some more friends and switched our location to Sai Keaw bungalows for a little more space and a little less cost!
The day was spent lounging on beautiful Ao Phai (a seemingly endless white sand beach). I think it's safe to say that Koh Samet is my favorite island that I've been to. Ko Phi Phi I would say is more beautiful, but it's pretty touristy. Samet is bigger, so everything is spread out and even when the beach is crowded you can still find space to relax. Plus the energy on the island is awesome. For lunch we trekked (over rocks and through tiny pathways) to Ao Pudsa which is a really nice beach nestled in a cove. There we relaxed and ate good food while some of people banana-boated. For dinner we all showered and headed to Ploy's, a restaurant ON the beach where you sit on pillows at low tables and enjoy barbecue and the like. 
They also have an incredible fire show (emcee'd by a hysterical thai announcer with an Aussie accent who referred to the performers as Thai Chocolate Toy Boys) with choreographed routines and stunts which ended in a fire works display erupting from the fire sticks the performers were holding (we had front row seats for the action). After the fire show we partook in some over the top beach games. We did fire limbo (a Thai beach favorite) and a rousing match of Thai vs. Farang tug-o-war ( the farang won) and we played Balloon Stomp: a game which involves rubberbanding a
balloon around your ankle and running around a ring on the beach trying to stomp and pop other peoples' balloons. It was hysterical hopping around and dodging all these people trying to step on your feet. I made it to the final cut and it was between me and this Monstrous Thai man. They made us link cross
ed hands so that we stayed close to eachother and after 5+ minutes of tackling and jumping and throwing, etc they called it a draw. I would have preferred the solo win, but this man was actually huge, so I was happy with a tie and my life. Plus I won a hot pink whale stuffed animal, so who wouldn't be okay with that?! Reuven won his round and came out victorious with a neon yellow Minnie Mouse doll. Everyone's a winner. The rest of the night was spent back at Naga where we even fashioned a Pong table for some rousing 2 vs. 2 games on the beach. All in all a pretty successful night.
Rambutan on Ao Phai
The next day was spent mostly hanging out on the beach, reading, relaxing and eating fresh fruit from the vendors walking up and down. I got some of my favorite, Rambutan, which is this awesome bright pink/red ball with green spikey things on it. Inside is a whitish/clear ball that you munch on. Nothing gets much better than staring out into the Gulf of Thailand surrounded by white sands, eating some tropical fruit. Don't worry for all of you jealous people out there---reality snaps back rather quickly when the alarm goes off for school on Monday :)
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