WIANG SA and NAN

We met Megan in the McDonalds on the Kao San Road around 7am after our 14hour bus ride to Bangkok. I was lucky enough to be the only person on the bus with two seats to themselves! I got a decent sleep but bus sleeps don't exactly leave you refreshed and ready for the day. We decided to get a $5 ghetto room close by so that we could shower, nap, and have a place to leave our bags. We had a million things to do in Bangkok before our bus left for Wiang Sa at 4pm. We decided to take a public bus to the largest outdoor market in the world, about 20mins from Bangkok. It was sooo overwhelming and so hot and none of us really had room in our backpacks for any of it so we left practically empty handed. We picked up some school supplies for the kids at Lauras school as well as lots of candy to bribe them with at a Thai supermarket. I mangaged to get about 20mins of nap time after all of our errands were done. We attempted to take a public bus to the main bus station since our experience to the market worked out but this time around was a different story! We watied for about 30mins for a bus and when we got on nobody spoke english so we had no idea if we were on the right bus but it bared the number of the bus we'd been told to get on. After we'd been standing with our backpacks laughing and falling all over the place in the middle of the bus for about 15mins (basically putting on a show for all the conservative Thai people on the bus) our bus stopped and the ticket lady on the bus (all buses have ticket ladies) threw our bags out of the door and practically pushed Christine down the stairs. We knew we weren't anywhere near the bus station so we took a taxi the rest of the way. Bangkok is nuts. Thailand is nuts.

Our bus ended up pulling into Wiang Sa about 2hrs late--around 4am. We had no way to contact Laura so she and Uncle Jai (her homestay owner guy) had been waiting there for that long. We took a bus to Nan and rented bikes. Checked out a few Wats and museums and a very sad zoo. We had dinner at Uncle Jai's--chickens from their backyard and rice. We biked down to Wiang Sa night market for something to do then we watched "Walk The Line" at Lauras place and planned our lessons for the next day. We were to teach grades 5, 1, and 2. After a short sleep on Laura's rock hard bed, she lent me a long skirt that was way too big and a huge purple polo shirt--teacher attire in Wiang Sa. I should mention that Laura and her housemate are the only two white people in Wiang Sa and the province of Nan, where Wiang Sa is located, only has 15 white people living there. We were celebrities. The kids were so intrigued by us, when they saw us walking the halls they would laugh or stare or want to touch us, it was like being a celebrity. The kids at Sriwiang Sa didn't speak much english so it was difficult trying to teach them the language when none of us speak Thai. They loved the clay, crayons, etc, and the candy that we brought them. I would like to think that they learned something from us--we taught them about Canada for the most part. It was an amazing day but I don't envy Laura--its an exhausting job.

Next stop, Chiang Mai! (More of Northern Thailand)