Day 2: Monkeyin' around.

My sleep (or lack of) has been rough but I think as I type this, I feel adjusted to the time change and plan on getting a great night's sleep tonight.

After 4 hours of solid (buh) sleep, we watched some riveting tennis on the television - if it's a sport, the Thai's love it. It's genuinely funny to see them "OOOWWWAAAAY" at just about anything with a ball, haha. After a quick breakfast, the camp packed up, Mama (Pii A's mother - greatest cook in all the land) and another woman (whom I'm not quite sure who she is yet...) packed up some food and cooking supplies, all the farang in one van and the rest of the Thai's in another and we made our way out for the day.

First stop was to Wat Tum Seu. Truly a beautiful site - this one started off with a hundred+ step staircase. I honestly don't know how many steps there were but there were enough that they had an automated cart that would bring you to the top incase you weren't up for the challenge. Right away all the nak muays and a few of the foreigners went for a full sprint up the stairs, instant butt-burner. A giant 60 ft Buddha, humongous gongs and various other religious statues awaited us at the top (once I figure out how to add pictures, this blog is sure to be littered with them).

The average age of the nak muays is on the younger side, Pornsaneh being the oldest at 30, the twins 23 years old, their cousin just a little bit younger (20-21?), Muu who is 19 and a few others who can't be any older than 15 at the most. Once the guys caught site of the gongs, they immediately made their presence known! Plenty o' gong banging and laughs to be had. While taking a stroll, I came upon a building that had a tree growing into it from the ground, surrounded by a small pool of water with a giant 4 ft ladle in it and next to the tree was a sign written in Thai. A few of the nak muays came in, wai'd to the sign, said a prayer and began scooping water out with the ladle. I kind of just stood there, probably with my mouth open, as the nak muays began taking handfuls of water out and patting their faces and necks down with it. I would assume the prayer was a thank you for the water one would use to cool yourself down with ala holy water in a church back at home.

After the Wat, we all packed back in and made our way to our next destination -- Erawan National Park. Before the park we did hit a food stand and chowed briefly. Alex, our South African friend at the camp who teaches English in Kanchanburi, stays at the camp and trains every Saturday and Sunday, attempted to teach me a little bit about Thai script and how to read Thai. He managed to stop just before my head exploded as I still struggle with mastering my own language.

Upon entering the park, we noticed the huge amount of other farangs here as well which gave us a good read on how popular the park was for tourists. The farang managed to find a booth that gave everyone their coffee fix and we were soon on our way. After a short 5 minute walk, we came upon some signage warning us of "ferocious monkeys" and their thieving ways. Almost like clockwork, a little monkey swung down from the trees and snagged this woman's purse right out from her hands and began digging through it, slamming anything down that didn't interest him. Not only was going to the park and seeing the waterfalls on the list of stuff to do, but seeing a monkey doing mischevious monkey things was just the icing on the cake and the day had just begun.

Soon we came upon the first of 7 waterfalls. Mama and her friend set up a picnic blanket and immediately got to preparing food while we all got ready to swim. Pii A had made a 100bt bet with one of the Norwegians - if Chris could catch a fish with his hands before they left he would get his 100bt, if not - the Norwegian would owe him 200bt.

At the edge of the water were 20+ fish (carp?) all looking for some chow, be it dead skin off your foot, crumbs or anything else. While none of them posed a threat, it was a little unnerving at first but if anything it gave you a little push to swim just that much faster to get to of the water. The water was pretty cloudy so you were sure where the ground was, if there were any rocks sticking up...eh, whatever. We all jumped in and swam to the little cave under the waterfall where we would hang out and swim back. We visited the 2nd, 3rd and 4th waterfall before heading back to eat. The 4th waterfall had two natural rock slides which we went down every which way we could, stomach down, facing backwards, in groups...I managed to slip and barrel ass down the slide in the least graceful way possible. Sounds about on par for the Jakeman.

Once back to the picnic area, Mama had prepared the biggest feast yet complete with little gluay (banana, new word!) treats that could quite possibly be the greatest thing known to mankind in the form of fruit desserts. There were like little 2-bite sized mashed banana cups (that had become gelatinous but I'm not sure how) wrapped in a leaf like a cupcake and sprinkled with coconut shavings. After eating a boatload of spicy pork, chicken, somtam (spicy papaya salad), rice (sticky and non-sticky), boiled eggs and water, Brendan, Wyatt, Alex and myself attempted to make our way up to the 7 waterfall only to be stopped by the Park Rangers (and by stopped I mean they blew a whistle at us). Meanwhile some of the Norwegians and one of the twins were in the water at the first waterfall slapping fish out of the water and attempted to trap them on dry land. Pii A offered some excellent advice by way of charades - 'puke in the water and let the fish eat it and try catching them when they are all bunched up' sure makes for some funny hand motions. Chris would go on the snag a fish at the very end using the ol' 'slap outta the water and jump on it once it hits dry land' and not Pii A's plan of attack.

We made our way back right as the sun really started to shine and the temperature rose. I have to thank New England's weather prior to leaving because Thailand's weather has been bareable, even nicer at times in comparison. Having great AC in the room at the camp helps too haha.

Upon our return to the camp, we showered and prepared to relax when Pii A knocked on the door and asked if we were hungry. We, no doubt, had just eaten our biggest meal yet and were still very much full but we told Pii A "kinda hungry, not too bad" expecting him to let us have at some of the leftovers with everyone else. Mama ended up cooking TONS of pad thai, pork, greens, you name it. Of course I managed to eat my body weight yet again in food but you would too if you had this stuff in front of your. Don't judge me.

sidenote: The last camp I stayed at in the summer of '08 and from what I've read, heard and seen on the internet (wicked reliable source, huh?), most camps only cook breakfast and dinner 7 days a week. If you've been keeping track - we had 3 square meals cooked for us on a Sunday...well, probably the equivalent of 5 meals but no one's complaining. Another A+ for Sitmonchai...

Two new guys from England came to the camp while we were gone, Jake and Ian. Interestingly enough, their stay at Sitmonchai would be their first foray into the world of Muay Thai. Talk about a hell of a way to get started! Both of them seem very interested and super easy to get along with. I've got to say meeting people is always a plus when staying at a camp. While this is only my second stay in Thailand - I met some great people the first time around and I can tell this trip will follow suit.