Road Trip to Utaradit

The past few weeks, the differences between the collectivist culture in Thailand and the individualistic culture in the United States have became increasingly apparent.  This Monday, for example, the entire Chiang Saen Wittayakhom Foreign Language Department piled into the school van to escort a teacher to the school they are transferring to next term.  This endeavor meant that 12 people, including some who were over the age of 40, some with children at home, some not in the best shape, piled into a car at 5 in the morning for a 12-hour round trip adventure!  And no one complained.  Even the four teachers who were stuck in the way back, sharing a bench that was designed for three people, did not complain.  In fact, everyone in the van was extremely chipper, laughing and joking the entire way down and back - even at 5 AM!

The school van. Our home for 12 hours on Monday!

Everyone was, however, sad to say goodbye to Daniel, the teacher who is leaving our school.  Daniel is one of the Thai English teachers, and has been a huge help to us since we first arrived - for example, he was the one who thought to order us crates of water so we didn't go thirsty during our first weekend here.  He's also one of the better English speakers, making communication with him far easier than it is with most of the other Thai teachers.  However, Daniel's wife and son live in  Utaradit, a province that is south of Chiang Rai province where Chiang Saen is located.  Utaradit is an 8 hour bus ride away from Chiang Saen, so Daniel has been trying to get a transfer to a government school in Utaradit for quite some time now.  Needless to say, although we were sad to say goodbye to him, we were also extremely excited for his family to be reunited.

Daniel and his son

Five of the Chiang Saen English teachers plus Daniel's wife and son.

Daniel and son, showing off the ridiculous amount of fruit purchased in Utaradit

Utaradit also proved to be an interesting place for us to visit, particularly as we probably would not have visited this city otherwise.  It's apparently famous for growing fruit, particularly the durian, which is a fruit we are not very familiar with but everyone tells us has quite the rank smell.  We also visited some of the other tourist attractions in Utaradit - a statue of a famous soldier, who fought until his sword broke; the river, where Carolyn made wishes while setting fish free into the water;  and a temple, where Jon made wishes while lifting Buddha statues over his head.

Purchasing fish/eels to set free in the river for good luck

Daniel and his wife, praying before setting their fish free

Setting my fish free - although as cynical Jon had to point out: "won't they just get caught to be sold again to someone else making a wish?"

Daniel's father at the temple

We never really learned what this truck was about, but we did teach Peter a new English word: "photobomb"

Inside of the temple was a row of five different Buddhas.  As Daniel told Jon, tradition states that you make a wish at each Buddha and then attempt to lift the Buddha.  If you can lift the Buddha, your wish will come true.  Apparently, not all Thai people are as strong as Jon, as he was able to lift every Buddha leading him to the conclusion that his life would now be basically perfect as all of those wishes were going to come true.

As these pictures should make clear, you never know what to expect when you are in Thailand - you might just end up on a 12-hour road trip, holding a Buddha statue over your head and releasing fish into a river.