Tourist Day #2!

Today was the second day we were hosted by the international medicine coordinator and taken around to see various things. Three of the Khon Kaen University medical students joined us, as well as another international medicine coordinator. We had a little caravan driving all around northeast Thailand!

They wouldn't tell us where they were taking us, as it was a "surprise" (mmm hmm), but we drove for about 45 minutes out of the city.

We finally got to this:

That is a sign for a King Cobra show.

There were ladies dancing with pythons and then many men who agitated and then dodged some very angry king cobras.

Dear Trainer, Please don't get bitten and die. Thanks, The Doctors in the Audience.

That snake's mouth is wide open!

The show was amazing in the exploitative way you would expect it to be and although I know the snakes are trained, they certainly put on a good show with their lunges. Sometimes...ahem...they were a little too convincing and lunged right off the stage toward us:

SNAKE!

I always have mixed feelings about shows like this. Yes, they are fun for tourists, but are the animals being well cared for? Are the people doing the shows making enough money to survive? I was later told that the snakes are very valued and cared for, because they sell for 10,000 bhat to the Chinese, who use their parts for traditional medicine. So, I guess they were OK? I gave twice the recommended donation to ease my guilty American conscience.

Afterward, we were peer pressured into holding the snakes (and of course they take pictures that you pay for). I pulled the girl card and happily took pictures of the boys, while politely declining myself. Listen, if no one is going to acknowledge that I, too, am "sexy, sexy woman," I'm not putting the snake around my neck.

After the snake show, we walked around the property, which had more snakes in cages, some crocodiles in this water, and a small zoo.

Crocodiles, are you in there?

Baby goats!

More snakes. 

Monkey.

I also had my first experience using a squat toilet:

The picture actually looks worse than it was. I was pretty surprised at how clean it was and my goals of using it were:

1. Don't fall/lose my balance while squatting.

2. Don't pee on myself.

3. Don't pee on my clothes.

You'll be happy to know that all three goals were accomplished, but you'll also notice that there's no toilet paper. There is, however, a bucket with water and a cup in it. You use the little cup to splash yourself clean and I think just air dry. I'm not sure. But, if you're an American tourist, you pull the pocket pack of tissues and Purell out of your purse and clean up the Western way.

After the farm/cobra show, we went to a wat that is named after Khon Kaen. 

It was quite possibly the hottest day it's been so far, but you can't just roll up on a wat looking indecent. I didn't realize this yesterday, because I was wearing long pants, but BEHOLD:

They have cotton wrap skirts provided to cover yourself, so the other ladies and I (all of whom were wearing skirts or shorts above the knee) clothed ourselves before proceeding:

There was also a small pond/lake. The monks don't eat the fish in the lake, because it's at the wat, which is holy. You can, however, buy food to feed the fish.

Let's just say that the fish are happy to accept your food offering:

After the wat, it was time for lunch. We went to SF, a Thai chain that is famous for its grilled chicken. This is its mascot and a sweaty American tourist posing:

The food is served family style, as is the norm for most restaurants. We had individual sticky rice containers (the little baskets) as well as grilled chicken, papaya salad, grilled fish, an egg omelet made with ANT EGGS (yes, this happened), and a hot and sour soup.

Ant egg omelette! It tasted like...a regular omelette.

I've never had a soup that was both distinctly sour and hot, but this was.

Passion fruit sorbet for dessert because...have you met the author of this blog?

On the way back to the university, we made a quick stop to see Khon Kaen train station:

You can actually take the train for free from Khon Kaen to Bangkok, but it's 8-12 hours in a non-air-conditioned car. The missionaries told me that sometimes they take the train overnight and pay 1000 bhat for first class (air conditioned with a bed). Honestly, though, you can find cheap plane tickets for about 1000 bhat and a flight to Bangkok is 50 minutes. Just saying.

And finally, we stopped across from the train station to buy fruit. I have been starving for fresh vegetables, since I'm used to eating at least one salad a day. Plus, it's 100 degrees all day and everything is super spicy. I find myself unable to eat three real meals a day, because I just can't stomach anything that heavy. So far, fruit or a smoothie for dinner has been more than enough.

Fruit stands beyond!

Once I was back home, I had to attend to the usual weekend kind of stuff. I have a laundry service at this apartment for 500 bhat a month (about $15) where my clothes are picked up, washed, ironed or folded, and returned to me that evening. However, in Thai culture it's improper to send your undergarments to be laundered. This was one of those things for which I was grateful to have the missionaries to ask. Are there laundromats nearby? Is one supposed to hand wash and air dry their undergarments?

It turns out that it's the latter, but my patio has an outdoor sink area as well as generously wide wall-mounted bars for hanging clothes in this exact manner. Last week, the missionaries helped me buy laundry detergent and I bought a basin and hangers on my own.

When in Thailand, right?

Judging from the outside temperature, I bet those clothes dry in under two hours.