Travelling in Thailand...

So the past few weekends I have finally started to take advantage and travel around Thailand. One weekend I decided to travel up to Phitsanoluk for a night to see some of the other volunteers. It was warden training that weekend so there were about 15 volunteers already up there, and apparently it was also the weekend for the annual bowling tournament, so clearly I had to go :) I left early Saturday morning and took a 6.5 hour bus ride, changing buses two times to get to this province, but it was definitely worth it.
When I got there I met up with everyone and we went straight to the nearby 7/11 and bought our supply of "fun" for the night (alcohol). Working at the site where I live means that I can't drink or do anything that is not completely well-behaved. I am basically on my best behavior 24/7, so it's weekends like these where I finally get to let loose and relax. After spliting up into the two competing teams, argyles vs. stripes, we headed off to the bowling ally in tuk tuks. A tuk tuk is somewhat like a taxi but usually is on three wheels and you are sitting in the back truck part (more like a wheelbarrow than a truck), which is conveniently made for people about 4 ft. tall. Being that we are volunteers and cheap as hell, we somehow crammed about 8 people in this and endured a very uncomfortable (but hilarious) ride to the nearby tesco. We took over the bowling ally and had a crazy night of bowling and dancing while in between turns. It was blast! The volunteers really know how to relax and have a good time, it doesn't hurt that many of them are crazy and super outgoing. I just stayed there for one night but it was so worth it!
The following weekend was Kim's birthday, another volunteer that I have become good friends with here. We decided that it was finally time to visit the beach since we are in Thailand after all. So we planned a girl's weekend at the beach in Hua Hin, about 3.5 hours south of Bangkok. We all got in on Friday night, some later than others, and went out for a great time starting with dinner at an Italian restaurant. After hitting up many of the bars in Hua Hin, we found ourselves at one playing pool and taking in our surroundings. This was the first time that I had finally encountered the whole prostitute situation in Thailand and boy was it running rampant in Hua Hin. We were surrounded with 50+ year old male tourists and Thai women under 30. It was rather disgusting but I suppose interesting to see. I have always heard about this aspect of Thailand but this time I actually got to experience it. Not only were there prostitutes everywhere at this street of bars, but there were also a handful of kids around the age of 10 as well. These kids were walking around with bouquets of flowers trying to sell them to the tourists. Some of them were even smart enough to trick you into buying them. One girl came up and kept yawning and acting miserably tired but said she had to sell them before she could go home. We got so close to buying all of her flowers until she got tired of trying and walked off with her friends and was mysteriously energetic all of the sudden. The rest of the night we just played pool at one of the bars for a bit and met some cool tourists from England. We also decided to invite some of the kids to play pool with us, it was either that or they could converse with the prosititutes. The kids were adorable and we had a really good time.
The next day, Saturday, we got up bright and early around 7am (early being the opperative word here since we went to bed around 5 am the previous night). We were going to stay at a nicer hotel that night to celebrate Kim's birthday. After changing hotels, we took a van up to a vineyard about an hour away. I was a little skeptical about this vineyard since the prices were so cheap and the van ride was free, but I thought we should give it a try since we were there. It turned out to be amazing! We rode elephants. drank a few bottles of wine and had a delicious lunch consisting of a fabulous cheese plate, ceaser salads and chicken sandwhiches. We did all of this for under $30! Once we got back to our hotel around 4ish, I passed out and took a nap while the girls went to lay by the pool, which was conveniently located right next to the beach. That night we took a relaxing stroll through the night market, which spanned about 3 or 4 blocks. We looked at all of the cool artwork and crafts and then went back to the hotel around midnight.
The following morning was our last day and we sadly had to return to our sites. Before leaving we all laid out by the pool and two of the girls took horse rides on the beach. They looked more like donkies but the girls loved it! Overall, it was a fabulous weekend and I can't wait to see what's in store when I actually take a vacation and go somewhere for an extended amount of time.
I have started to form a solid group of girlfriends here who are pretty amazing and so much fun to be around. I never thought I would meet such a cool group of volunteers. I have really learned to appreciate them, especially when things get rough at site, they are a great outlet to have because they usually know exactly what I am going through. These past few weekends have made me really curious as to what's in store for these next two years...