Heads up! This is a longggggg post
Happy fourth of July everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful day filled American esque activites.
For our 4th of July weekend, Shelby, Becky and I had planned on spending the night a this national park about 1 hour and 45 minutes east of Kalasin. Some of the other teachers in our town had already been there and it sounded amazing. They slept in bungalows on this huge lake and frolicked in waterfalls, so we said heck yes, lets go. We rose at 7 on Saturday morning, packed and headed to bus station. The park is on the way to the town of Sakon Nakhon, and we were told to just get on that bust and indicate that we wanted to be dropped off at the park. This seems like a simple request right? Apparently not. Becky had a screen shot of where the parks website, we repeated multiple times Phu Pan national park, and it appeared they understood us.
The bus ride was really beautiful! It is much more mountainous to the East of Kalasin and we took this windy road through the jungle. At one point, I looked out the window and saw some creature off to the side and it turns out it was a monkey! In fact there was a whole troop of them, with weeeee little babies hanging off their mamas, one was running around with half a watermelon. I was not aware that there were monkeys in this part of Thailand so I was pleasantly surprised.
Eventually the bus driver indicates that we are at the stop for Phu Pan and we got off. Within seconds of emerging we realize that there is a town called Phu Pan and that is where we actually got off. There was a police station across the way, so we walked over hoping they might have some information. We repeated Phu Pan National Park about a million different times trying all the tones, along with the words lake, waterfall, etc. After much confusion, they seemed to half understand and pointed down the road to a bigger police station indicating we should walk that way. With no other option we did just that, and walked into the parking lot of the larger police station which was about 200 meters down the road. Clearly the people working here had never had any farangs set foot on the premise because everyone and their mother came out to observe our blatant whiteness. We asked a few people "English?" and they all shook their heads. Finally one man attempted to find out what we needed, and he said the park entrance was still about 7 kilometers down the road. It was walkable but we didn't have that much water. We mimed the act of driving and said "tao rai ka?" which means how much. I guess the man took pity on us and said "oh alright" (in Thai of course). We all hopped into his pickup truck, and savored the 7 minutes of air conditioned silence.
He pulled into the park entrance and we thanked him profusely, and offered payment which he did not take. So we had made it to the park! Easy peasy lemon squeasy right? NO. We enter the ranger station and say hello to the man and woman working there. Just outside the door was a MASSIVE sign with all the various accommodations at the park- cabins in the woods, elevated huts along the lake, camping in tents, etc. We pointed to the lake bungalows and mimed the act of sleeping hoping to convey that is where we wanted to sleep. The woman seemed to understand and had us follow her away from the station. We wandered through the jungle expecting to reach the bungalows but instead were led to the camping area. She and another man kept saying "tent" and we were like no we do not have a tent, we want to go the lake and the waterfall, and tried miming this and that and using the word "nam" for water. They sort of understood and shook their head about the lake, and said the waterfalls had dried up because there had not been enough rain recently (it is supposed to be rainy season right now, where it rains every single day, yet it has been dry as a bone, very disconcerting). So we said hmmmm okay well, is there hiking, and they nodded and led us to a map of a hike. We decided that if we couldn't do anything else at least we could take a walk in the jungle. So we thanked them and they walked away. We then proceed to look for the trailhead and it is NOWHERE TO BE FOUND...... We traipsed about for a bit, hoping it might reveal itself and finally conclude that this park is a lot larger than we thought, the various sights are scattered too far apart and would need a car of some sort, and we don't actually know where anything is. So we say heck this isn't working, time for plan B.
We get back on the road and start walking towards the bus stop 7 kilometers down the way. It is very hot, and there is absolutely no shoulder on the road, so every two seconds, large vehicles rush by us at high speeds. It was extremely unpleasant!!! We all had it in our minds that we should hitchhike, so we turn around and within a few moments this man had pulled over and let us get in. He drove us right back to the bus stop we had been at about an hour before. Being that Thailand operates on Thai time, there was no set bus schedule, we just trusted that a bus would eventually show up. We sleepily lounged at that bus station for a good hour, drifting in and out of a hot, hazy sleep. Finally a mini van rolled around with 2 seats available. So I sat awkwardly on this half seat thing near the front, for the ride back to Kalasin.
I suppose I'm just being a negative nancy but I feel like the questions we were asking the park staff was sooooooo basic. Like where is the lake, where is the waterfall, where are the huts that we can sleep in. We were not asking deep philosophical questions here. These are questions that pretty much every park goer will be asking.
So we made the journey back to Kalasin, arrived at aboutt 3:13 and hopped into another mini van bound for Kon Khaen at 3:20 heading west. Kon Khaen is about an hour away and is the largest town in this region. It boasts an airport, western restaurants AND a movie theater that plays films IN ENGLISH. Wow, luxury.
We arrived in Kon Khaen at about 4:30 had a coffee, had a shower and soon discovered there was a fourth of july celebration with an unlimited buffet at Didines, one of the farang restaurants starting at 6! Oh universe you funny lil thing you. and Oh the foods we ate- ribs, pulled pork, mac n cheese, grilled veggies, deviled eggs, rolls, ranch, home fries. It was pretty glorious!! They were also serving Thai craft beers, which are illegal in Thailand, which I find so bizarre. There are only two breweries in all of Thailand, Chang, and Leo, which also produces Singha. So yea, we partook in some illegal activities haha. It was a nice evening, and the event brought out all the farangs from the region. We ran into friends from orientation and some girls I had met when I was in Phetchabun a few weeks back. Such a small world but then again it's really not a coincidence at all.
The next day, Shelby, Becky and I sought air conditioned solace at the quadruple storied mega mall of Kon Khaen. I had a donut at Daddy Dough (the brand names are hilarious), and then we all saw Terminator in English. It is so interesting, whenever you see a film at the cinema, you must stand for a few minutes while they play film clips to honor the king. Such a foreign concept to me. The movie was actually rather entertaining and we all appreciated spending a few hours in a dark cold place.
We wanted to get back to Kalasin at a reasonable hour so after lunch at delicious vegetarian restaurant, we headed to the bus station. Turned out the next bus was coming in an hour so we took a walk and eventually made our way to a 7/11 near the station where we again sought out the sweet relief of air conditioning (It is extraordinarily hot, and even the locals are mentioning how it has never been this hot, some have even resorted to buying aircons for their homes, climate changeeeeee). We still had about 40 minutes when the woman who sold us the ticket entered and indicated that the van was here now and that we needed to go! HOW the woman new we were in the 7 was beyond us. We realized that there is simply no way to blend in, and hypothesized that people were saying "word on the street is that the farangs are in 7." What is life. Anyways we were very grateful, and jumped into a van for the fourth time this weekend and made our way back to Kalasin.
All in all the weekend worked out extraordinarily well, and rather then getting bummed about certain situations, we sought out new ones, with positive results! I'm telling you, to live in Thailand, you must adopt the "mai pen rai" attitude, or the "it's all good" attitude. The sooner you do that, the sooner you realize that wow, it is in fact, all good.
A few cellphone pics
Happy fourth of July everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful day filled American esque activites.
For our 4th of July weekend, Shelby, Becky and I had planned on spending the night a this national park about 1 hour and 45 minutes east of Kalasin. Some of the other teachers in our town had already been there and it sounded amazing. They slept in bungalows on this huge lake and frolicked in waterfalls, so we said heck yes, lets go. We rose at 7 on Saturday morning, packed and headed to bus station. The park is on the way to the town of Sakon Nakhon, and we were told to just get on that bust and indicate that we wanted to be dropped off at the park. This seems like a simple request right? Apparently not. Becky had a screen shot of where the parks website, we repeated multiple times Phu Pan national park, and it appeared they understood us.
The bus ride was really beautiful! It is much more mountainous to the East of Kalasin and we took this windy road through the jungle. At one point, I looked out the window and saw some creature off to the side and it turns out it was a monkey! In fact there was a whole troop of them, with weeeee little babies hanging off their mamas, one was running around with half a watermelon. I was not aware that there were monkeys in this part of Thailand so I was pleasantly surprised.
Eventually the bus driver indicates that we are at the stop for Phu Pan and we got off. Within seconds of emerging we realize that there is a town called Phu Pan and that is where we actually got off. There was a police station across the way, so we walked over hoping they might have some information. We repeated Phu Pan National Park about a million different times trying all the tones, along with the words lake, waterfall, etc. After much confusion, they seemed to half understand and pointed down the road to a bigger police station indicating we should walk that way. With no other option we did just that, and walked into the parking lot of the larger police station which was about 200 meters down the road. Clearly the people working here had never had any farangs set foot on the premise because everyone and their mother came out to observe our blatant whiteness. We asked a few people "English?" and they all shook their heads. Finally one man attempted to find out what we needed, and he said the park entrance was still about 7 kilometers down the road. It was walkable but we didn't have that much water. We mimed the act of driving and said "tao rai ka?" which means how much. I guess the man took pity on us and said "oh alright" (in Thai of course). We all hopped into his pickup truck, and savored the 7 minutes of air conditioned silence.
He pulled into the park entrance and we thanked him profusely, and offered payment which he did not take. So we had made it to the park! Easy peasy lemon squeasy right? NO. We enter the ranger station and say hello to the man and woman working there. Just outside the door was a MASSIVE sign with all the various accommodations at the park- cabins in the woods, elevated huts along the lake, camping in tents, etc. We pointed to the lake bungalows and mimed the act of sleeping hoping to convey that is where we wanted to sleep. The woman seemed to understand and had us follow her away from the station. We wandered through the jungle expecting to reach the bungalows but instead were led to the camping area. She and another man kept saying "tent" and we were like no we do not have a tent, we want to go the lake and the waterfall, and tried miming this and that and using the word "nam" for water. They sort of understood and shook their head about the lake, and said the waterfalls had dried up because there had not been enough rain recently (it is supposed to be rainy season right now, where it rains every single day, yet it has been dry as a bone, very disconcerting). So we said hmmmm okay well, is there hiking, and they nodded and led us to a map of a hike. We decided that if we couldn't do anything else at least we could take a walk in the jungle. So we thanked them and they walked away. We then proceed to look for the trailhead and it is NOWHERE TO BE FOUND...... We traipsed about for a bit, hoping it might reveal itself and finally conclude that this park is a lot larger than we thought, the various sights are scattered too far apart and would need a car of some sort, and we don't actually know where anything is. So we say heck this isn't working, time for plan B.
We get back on the road and start walking towards the bus stop 7 kilometers down the way. It is very hot, and there is absolutely no shoulder on the road, so every two seconds, large vehicles rush by us at high speeds. It was extremely unpleasant!!! We all had it in our minds that we should hitchhike, so we turn around and within a few moments this man had pulled over and let us get in. He drove us right back to the bus stop we had been at about an hour before. Being that Thailand operates on Thai time, there was no set bus schedule, we just trusted that a bus would eventually show up. We sleepily lounged at that bus station for a good hour, drifting in and out of a hot, hazy sleep. Finally a mini van rolled around with 2 seats available. So I sat awkwardly on this half seat thing near the front, for the ride back to Kalasin.
I suppose I'm just being a negative nancy but I feel like the questions we were asking the park staff was sooooooo basic. Like where is the lake, where is the waterfall, where are the huts that we can sleep in. We were not asking deep philosophical questions here. These are questions that pretty much every park goer will be asking.
So we made the journey back to Kalasin, arrived at aboutt 3:13 and hopped into another mini van bound for Kon Khaen at 3:20 heading west. Kon Khaen is about an hour away and is the largest town in this region. It boasts an airport, western restaurants AND a movie theater that plays films IN ENGLISH. Wow, luxury.
We arrived in Kon Khaen at about 4:30 had a coffee, had a shower and soon discovered there was a fourth of july celebration with an unlimited buffet at Didines, one of the farang restaurants starting at 6! Oh universe you funny lil thing you. and Oh the foods we ate- ribs, pulled pork, mac n cheese, grilled veggies, deviled eggs, rolls, ranch, home fries. It was pretty glorious!! They were also serving Thai craft beers, which are illegal in Thailand, which I find so bizarre. There are only two breweries in all of Thailand, Chang, and Leo, which also produces Singha. So yea, we partook in some illegal activities haha. It was a nice evening, and the event brought out all the farangs from the region. We ran into friends from orientation and some girls I had met when I was in Phetchabun a few weeks back. Such a small world but then again it's really not a coincidence at all.
The next day, Shelby, Becky and I sought air conditioned solace at the quadruple storied mega mall of Kon Khaen. I had a donut at Daddy Dough (the brand names are hilarious), and then we all saw Terminator in English. It is so interesting, whenever you see a film at the cinema, you must stand for a few minutes while they play film clips to honor the king. Such a foreign concept to me. The movie was actually rather entertaining and we all appreciated spending a few hours in a dark cold place.
We wanted to get back to Kalasin at a reasonable hour so after lunch at delicious vegetarian restaurant, we headed to the bus station. Turned out the next bus was coming in an hour so we took a walk and eventually made our way to a 7/11 near the station where we again sought out the sweet relief of air conditioning (It is extraordinarily hot, and even the locals are mentioning how it has never been this hot, some have even resorted to buying aircons for their homes, climate changeeeeee). We still had about 40 minutes when the woman who sold us the ticket entered and indicated that the van was here now and that we needed to go! HOW the woman new we were in the 7 was beyond us. We realized that there is simply no way to blend in, and hypothesized that people were saying "word on the street is that the farangs are in 7." What is life. Anyways we were very grateful, and jumped into a van for the fourth time this weekend and made our way back to Kalasin.
All in all the weekend worked out extraordinarily well, and rather then getting bummed about certain situations, we sought out new ones, with positive results! I'm telling you, to live in Thailand, you must adopt the "mai pen rai" attitude, or the "it's all good" attitude. The sooner you do that, the sooner you realize that wow, it is in fact, all good.
A few cellphone pics
Roadside walkin
Brewskies
feast
Happy
Me and daddy dough!
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