Con Thai Jai Dee means Thai people have good hearts.

Lom Sak is a very nice small city. After we arrived, we took a stroll around Tang’s neighborhood and visited the nearby Buddhist temple. In Thailand there is always a Buddhist temple nearby and they are all very beautiful in their own way. Here is a picture of three young monks cleaning up the leaves around the temple. We spent an enjoyable evening chatting with To, Tang and Tang’s father.

Saturday, January 20th we met up with Due and his parents. We went with them to Phitsanulok to take part in a festival there. The drive between Lom Sak and Phitsanulok is very scenic. The mountains are beautiful and in some ways reminded Karl and I of the Rocky Mountains from our home town in Utah. The banana trees growing on the mountainside ended that comparison but it was nice to see mountains after being in flat Florida for so long. This area also boasts many waterfalls, but we were on an express trip and had to get to Phitsanulok and back to Lom Sak in a single afternoon. We will make plans to come back for the waterfalls. We spent a lot of time on this express trip to Phitsanulok chatting with Due. It was good to see him!


In Phitsanulok, we visited the temple Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat which contains the Chinnarat Buddha. According to our handy tourist guide to Thailand this is the second most important Buddha in Thailand. Because of the Festival the temple was very crowded with vendors set up all around the temple walls. There was only one area of the temple that visitors were being allowed. This temple is actually quite old and we were a bit disappointed that we couldn’t see more of it. This second picture is of Due and his mom inside the temple. We also stopped by a lesser known temple across the street Wat Nang Phaya. This temple had a much more peaceful atmosphere and it was also a good place to rest before the drive back to Lom Sak. We did stop at a restaurant in the mountains for dinner. It was a beautiful location, but Karl and I were not prepared for how chilly it gets in the mountains. Fortunately, the food kept us warm. It wasn’t too spicy for us and had wonderful flavors. We also had some enjoyable company as we got to know Due’s parents a bit better.

On the lot next to Tang’s parent’s house is her aunt’s house and since her aunt was going to Bangkok on Saturday, Due and his parents were invited to stay at the aunt’s house. It is an example of how generous the Thai people are. We stayed up watching Thai soap operas (they are quite amusing when you can’t understand what the characters are saying) and helping Tang set up a blog of her own. Before the drive back to Wangpikun on Sunday we got pictures of us, Due and his parents and then us, To, Tang and her parents.



On the way back home, we stopped at To’s parent’s house and met his grandmother, mother and older sister. To’s house is built after traditional Thai architecture and everything is solid wood. We had lunch with To’s family and the finished our trip to Wangpikun. Upon arriving at our house, we realized that we were locked out. We didn’t have a key to the padlock on the front door. Fortunately, Tang and To seem to have been in this fix before because they quickly broke the lock and let us in. We just had to buy a new padlock.

This week at school was a scouting camp Thursday and Friday. We were invited to join the kids and go camping but Karl and I aren’t much for really roughing it. We taught at Wangpikun School Monday through Wednesday and then taught at a nearby school Thursday and Friday. Karl took this picture of some boys at Wangpikun while they were preparing for the camping trip. This week we taught a lesson on ordering food from a restaurant and for fun we had a matching game the kids could play at the end of class. Karl really doesn’t have too many problems explaining the game to the kids because he can explain it in Thai. I’m learning to rely heavily on pantomime techniques. “Hey, kids! Do what I’m doing!” Once they understand how the game works, they really enjoy playing and learning at the same time. Here are some pictures of Karl and me teaching.



All week I’d been having some pain in my shoulder. It’s an occasional thing for me and usually a trip to my chiropractor will fix me up. With my chiropractor half a world away, I asked about getting a Thai massage. Wednesday afternoon, one of the teachers at the school took us to see an old lady who does a traditional Thai massage. She is a sweet grandmother with really strong hands! After Karl explained the problem, she went to work on my shoulder and soon it didn’t hurt any more. After my shoulder she massaged my legs, feet, arms and hands and really left me feeling good. For over an hour she only charged 200 baht (about $6)! Sorry Dr. McVay … you’ve got some serious competition here in Thailand! Here is a picture with me and my new best friend!

Thursday morning we were introduced to the English students at Srimongkhol Wittayakom School. This is a very small school, only about 150 students in all the grades. They were very happy to have us teach if only for two days. Karl taught the younger students on Thursday and I taught the older students. On Friday we switched. Thursday during a break in classes, the principal of this school and the English teacher took us to see a watermelon farm. We also stopped by the watermelon market where the farmer’s brought their watermelons to sell. We got to do a bit of taste testing which is always fun. We had a lot of fun teaching at this school as the children were very enthusiastic and helpful. The first picture is of us at the watermelon farm with the principal and his friend. The next picture is Karl with a group of students from his class and the last picture is nearly the entire Srimongkhol school body with the principal, English teacher and me. I’m holding a certificate the school gave Karl and me with pictures of us at the school. The principal of Srimongkhol school would really like to have volunteers to teach english at his school. Anybody interested? It's a great experience!




Thursday and Friday evenings we were invited to have dinner with the family of the lady who did my massage. Thursday’s invitation wasn’t planned. Karl likes to go to the market to take pictures and he stopped by the house to say hi. Before he knew it we had been invited to dinner and one of the daughters brought him by our house to pick me up. We had a student staying at our house for the weekend (to make sure we didn’t get lost) and we left the student a note about where we were going. Unfortunately, he didn’t see the note and called the school principal when we didn’t come home before dark. Everyone was concerned that we had been “stolen”. Well the thieves couldn’t be a nicer group of ladies who fed us well and invited us back for Thai-style spaghetti. The confusion about what happened to us was cleared up and in Thailand a misunderstanding is always forgiven with “Mai Ben Lie” which means never mind, don’t worry about it, forget about it or all of the above depending on the situation. We did return on Friday for the Thai-style spaghetti. It was really good! It didn’t taste like ketchup and it had a bit of kick to it. Turns out one of the ladies used to be a cook in Chiang Mai and fed westerners all the time. The picture is of our new friends and the baby in the picture is only about two weeks old … so cute!

Saturday morning, we had a bit of drama at our house. We had planned to go to the “super market” and we were running a bit late. In our hurry we turned the lock on the door knob and shut the door. The reason a padlock is used on this door is because no one has a key to the door itself, so we were locked out again. Only this time, we couldn’t use the trick we had learned earlier in the week. We did find a weakness and pried open one of the shutters on the windows. These houses don’t have glass in their windows so prying open a shutter was all that was necessary. After gaining entry into the house we unlocked the door, ensured that we wouldn’t get locked out again and then locked the padlock in place. The “super market” here is just a larger version of the nightly market. There are more vendors and a larger variety of products. There is even some entertainment. There were two baby elephants wondering through the market with their handlers. The handlers sell you a bag of elephant food for 20 baht and you have the good fortune of feeding it to the baby elephant. These not so little guys can be quite demanding and will help you take the food out of the bag if you are not fast enough. So here is a picture of me doing my best to keep up with the elephant.

Sunday we went to church! There is a small Christian church just down the road from the school and one of Karl’s students invited us to go. It is a small congregation of about 20 to 30 people and they were very welcoming. I’m not familiar with this particular denomination but I would classify them as Charismatic Christian. It was a bit different than what we are used to but different is what we came to Thailand for and it was an enjoyable service. After the service, everyone stayed around for lunch and we chatted with a couple who were visiting for the day. The lady is originally from Wangpikun and attended the school about 20 years ago. The picture is of us with Aranya (Karl’s student) and her parents. There are only about three students at Wangpikun who are Christian.

Also on Saturday and Sunday, I spent a little time trying to take pictures of some puppies. The house that we live in came with a dog. Her name is Dang which means red. Dang has three puppies that are quite shy. We have been feeding Dang and she is always happy to see us. So, this Saturday and Sunday I took Dang some food and stayed around. Soon her puppies would emerge and if I was lucky they would follow Dang as she came over to sit with me. I think the picture below is the best one I was able to get. The photo isn’t great but it was fun to sit and watch the puppies.

This last picture is for my dad and brothers. You guys need to get one of these tractors!