ps. I officially met and hung out with Joren Van Der Sloot tonight. There were 2 birthdays tonight so everyone ended up at the local bar... sort of unavoidable. I felt overwhelmingly uncomfortable until I decided to leave. He was nice, though? (and if you don't know who he is, Google it and you'll find out instantly).

More photos from Kanchanaburi.

The Bridge Over River Kwai, also known as The Death Bridge. Built in the first several decades of the 1900s, over 160,000 workers died during it's construction. They were all prisoners of war, forced to work under horrific conditions.


There was a lot of touristy stuff around the bridge, including the opportunity to play with this little leopard cub (who was cleared being exploited for all the wrong reasons). This is my friend Novo from Mexico, he's on my program.



We also went to 2 caves that were filled with Buddhas and little worshipping areas.


The Erawan Waterfall at Erawan National Park. The water was perfectly clear, it was beautiful.



This sign is at the entrance of the trail to the waterfall. So funny! Unfortunately we didn't see any monkeys though...

Photos from Kanchanaburi

We had lunch on a floating pavilion that was pulled along by this little boat. As you can see, the scenery around us was beautiful! This is the River Kwai, by the way.


The next day, we rafter down the Riber Kwai on bamboo rafts.


The Taweechai Elephant Camp is located in the midst of the Pang Chang community, and there were several families living in huts like this. We rode through their neighborhood on the elephants!


You were supposed to pay 20 Baht to take a photo of this elephant, but I took this when the guy wasn't looking (obviously). Oops! But I don't feel bad... they'll do anything to suck the money out of foreigner's wallets.


The elephants that we rode! As you can see, each one has a guide/trainer and a bench for 2 people to sit on.

Today is the first day I've ever felt uncomfortable while walking around the town or campus. For some reason, I've noticed everyone staring more today, or saying things about us (quite obviously) then laughing with each other. I don't know why... it's really strange.

By the way, I'm going to interrupt myself for a second. Have I mentioned how unbearable it is to be in a classroom with Thai students? Believe it or not, their level of respect is so far below the standards we have at Goucher, it's a joke. Students talk with each other the entire time in class, refuse to talk when the teacher asks them a question, and barely take notes or pay attention. It drives me crazy! You could NEVER get away with that behavior in the United States, yet they preach about how respectful their culture is, how to be proper to those older and wise than you. If that was the case, I wouldn't have to shoot them the evil eye every time they distract me from taking notes.

For example, my friend Colin and I are in a computer lab on campus to check e-mail and whatnot, and there's several Thai students in here, doing some survey for an English class... or pretending to do the survey, rather, because all they're doing is watching movies and music videos until the teacher walks in, then they close those webpages and pull the survey back up like they've been working the whole time. Aren't they supposed to be in college? Isn't that something a high school student would do...?

It's just strange, and seems very hypocritical, that Thai students can get away with acting the way they do in an educational setting. I'm very grateful that two of my classes are all foreigners, all exchange students or people on my program, because I can actually hear everything the professor is saying without being distracted every 5 minutes.

a) I found my favorite dish, I think. All it says on the menu is "egg noodle in spicy sauce with chicken/pork/seafood". I get it with chicken, and the so-called 'egg noodles' are actually Top Ramen noodles, tossed in some amazing generic spicy sauce with sliced chilis and cut up green beans. It is sooo good.

b) Whenever you see the word "lemon" in Thailand, they actually mean "lime". I'm not sure why, but everyone here thinks limes are called lemons. My favorite smoothie is made of watermelon, ice, and lime juice, but of course, on the menu it says "watermelon and lemon". There's also a restaurant called "The Lemon Green Room"... I'm assuming they also mean 'lime'.

c) I might have already mentioned this, but every Thai person has an American nickname. I don't really know why, I haven't asked yet... but EVERY person I've met that's Thai has a strange nickname. For your reading pleasure, I'll list the people I've met so far: Nut, Ice, Jom, Jul, Rabbit, Fern, another Fern, Balls, Poom... and that's all I can remember. And yes, you read correctly: I met a guy named Balls.