Amarin Nakorn Hotel Phitsanulok

... as quickly as possible and had a morning wash in the toilets of the near by cafe. Booking ourselves into a much nicer hostel, we made our way around the town to find the local bus station. There wasn't really much to see here, as many people come here as a stop over to visit Sukhothai, a famous ruins site. This was also our first experience of a town that wasn't really geared up for tourism and therefore had no ...

... Korea, but Thailand is their favorite place by far. Ericka arrived a few days after I did and she's from Connecticut and just graduated as well, and she's here teaching through another program.

When I think about my placement, in comparison to others in my program I definitely think that I got it made, I have other native English speakers with which I can talk to and my house is all in all not so bad, so I can't really complain about it!

... Nax im Gang vorm Klo und ich in d** offenen Zugtu** (imm**hin wars luftig). Da d** Zug nach und nach imm** le**** wurde, konnten wir dann irgendwann endlich sitzen und auch uns**e Taschen auf dir Gepaeckablage wuchten. Bei den Leuten die nun unt** staendi** Lebennsbedrohung unt** den Rucksaecken sassen kam das auch sehr gut an. Nach 7 Stunden ruckelig** Fahrt hatten wir es dann ab ...

... guy poked his head around the door and we made small talk about where we had been and were going. It seemed he was a Laos enthusiast and wanted to meet for a drink to discuss great places to visit. After agreeing to catch up later that day we walked a long way in the heat to the bus station. We only had a few hours but we decided to try and cram as much of the Sukhothai national park in as possible. When we arrived at the bus station we had to catch a ...

... of time, so this course allowed me to go even deeper into myself and exploring my mind and its habits, patterns, etc. So much stuff came up for me. So much pain one accumulates over the course of a life, and I'm only 26! So much pain, particularly surrounding my divorce four years ago, as well as dealing with the ego. In the time since my divorce, I have been in suffering. Outwardly, it may not have been apparent, but just below the surface I've ...

... self-purification by self-observation. Vipassana means seeing things as they really are. So, beginning on the 9th, I will spend 10-days in meditation. It's meant to be really intense, as there are strict guidelines, rules, and schedules you must follow. Wakeup call is at 4am and then you literally meditate all day. There is no talking for the duration of your stay, no music, no reading, no yoga, no exercise- nothing that could distract from ...

... of sight seeing. The ruins will be there, and it is not really my volition to sight see on this trip anyway, despite what I have heard about Sukothai's beauty. So yesterday I walked around a little bit, found Metamucil with the help of my friend, and watched more Mtv (hahaha). I went to sit in a Buddhist temple, but the atmosphere was pretty touristy. I almost bought the most awesome t ...

Onwards! In our accidental quest to take a different kind of transportation every day, we decided to take the train to our next stop on the map. We had lots o fun whilst the sun was still out, congratulating ourselves for saving money by getting fan seats instead of air-con. "It's so NICE with these huge windows! What a cross-breeze! And we brought snacks too!" And then the snacks ran out and THEN the sun went ...

... fish and keep smiling.... Also the guy paid for everyone so I smiled a bit wider.... Also while in the 'kok' we saw the Emrald budda (thailand's most sacred budda) and enjoyed a nice river boat cruise and a massage to boot afterwards.... massage is nice when your travellinh.... From bangkok we made our way to Sukothai getting the bus and a motorbike ride during which i made my peace with god as my driver decided to 'undertake' a number of ...

... impossible for me to remember - I have yet to meet anyone with an easy one or two syllable name! "What's that?" is a fun question to ask and on very rare occasions I can pick out some part of the answer like "plaa" (fish) or "khao" (rice), so I usually just nod and smile a lot. Since most foreign visitors here don't learn much beyond hello and thank you, I've received lots of looks of delight and astonishment, which they immediately follow by asking if I speak Thai, to ...