monkey see monkey doo doo

first of all, when a monkey pees on you, that's good luck for, like, a decade. according to lucy. corey was not so enthused when it actually happened to her, but she could use some good luck, so hey. pee away, monkey.

we left khaolak in a blaze of sadness, cause we made such good friends there and it was so beautiful. the bus to petchaburi (pronounced petburi) was ten hours of fun. the buses in thailand have stewardesses and the bustops feature good thai food and clean bathrooms. what? mari and tara slept, lucy and corey shared headphones and danced in our spacious seats to juice newton and kenny rodgers. yes. the gambler. it was very appropriate. then we took some codiene and fell asleep for about ten minutes before the stewardesses woke us up and ordered us off the bus. no time to pack up, just get off and stand on this dark, abandoned highway. in petchanburi, thailand. okay!

two motorbike taxis came to our rescue and took us to the wong-something hotel, a favorite with chinese salesmen (according to lonely planet). we were greeted by grumpy teenagers at the front desk and a giant gajillipede insect-type-animal in our squat toilet. for all we know, it could have been 20 feet long. we couldn't tell. it was fascinating. we flushed it promptly.

we were all unsure what petchaburi would bring. it brought linda. linda (her thai name is sasiphorn) found us reading a map, taking pictures of cats.
maybe you didn't notice, but we like cats and puppies. turns out linda is an english 'cru' (thai for teacher) and had lived in maine!!!!!!! corey peed her pants when she found out. luckily there are many cheap tailors in thailand. also, it was linda's birthday. what? how does this happen to us? we go to THAILAND. we meet someone on the street in a totally un-touristy town (people in khaolak asked us why on earth we were going there) and she's lived in MAINE. and it's her BIRTHDAY. okay.

linda took us to the pet store. we bought dog food, which we took to wat yai (big temple) to feed the giant large catfish in the pond. then she taught us how to pay respect to the buddha in the temple and how to make a wish.

then linda took us to lunch. this was not just any lunch. this was the best food in thailand. for real (according to tara and corey. lucy liked the dinner we had later better. mari's asleep right now, so she can't talk). we ate koay teow. that means noodles in a delicious broth of spices and pork (in this case, it can vary). we also had koay teow hang, which is the dry version of this dish. it was sooooooo good. help us. we are ruined for other food.

after lunch, we trekked on over to khao luong or 'loyal mountain'. this is a gigantic cave that has been used as a buddhist temple for over 300 years. it also sheltered thousands of thai people during the wars with burma. it was a challenge to get to the actual cave due to the monkeys. a word about thai monkeys: we don't know what kind of monkeys you have been hanging out with, but these ones are scary. they look like little cute macaques? but they are ready to steal your bag for food. like smart squirrels with personality. tara had a big stick to fend them off. our guide at the temple said he shoots them with a slingshot all the time. he was pretty psyched about it. khao luang has examples of thai, chinese and indian buddhas. it was cool and creepy in there. our legs felt weird. there were stalagtites AND stalagmites.

then we walked through a market and felt the loss of our friends meaw, nong and sit. we had to resort to super-remedial thai and sign language while we tried to communicate with a tattooed old-timer who sold us coconuts. we had a rest at our gorgeous hotel and headed to linda's learning center. she runs an afterschool english program for children and teenagers. we were the special guests from new york. they are the coolest kids.
all aspiring to become engineers, docters, nurses and pilots. one likes to meditate for fun. so different from american kids who all want to be beyonce and jay-z when they grow up. thay asked us questions. we asked them questions. they taught us how to dance thai traditional dance. it was fun.

dinner with linda featured the special fish soup of petchaburi and many delicious salads. we declared ourselves full, then went to a market and got dessert. actually, four different types of dessert. the signature petchaburi dessert is a flan-like custard that melts in your mouth. we also enjoyed the sticky rice with coconut and this bean-custard thing in a banana leaf. dessert rules. yum. after a million mosquito bites, we went back to our hotel, watched some really good thai television (fat kids dancing with long fingernails) and crashed.

the next day was 'children's day' in thailand. we woke up to live teen rock bands playing that song by the cranberries. it's the most popular song in thailand. venturing out, we hiked up the mountain in the town to visit the palace and temples of king rama v of siam. three peaks of beautiful, handcrafted wats and colonial palace architecture connected through winding brick paths. on the way up, we were asked to speak to the children in thailand in english. there were tv cameras. it was hilarious. we explored, hiked around and took the old trolley down the mountain. found some cute kids that made themselves their own tuk-tuk out of a bmx bike and a cardboard box.

walking through the park back to our hotel, we encountered some of the bands that were rocking our world. thai teenagers have the best haircuts and are the toughest. just look at the photos. amazing. our favorite band was "nying baht" (that means one baht, or "one dollar"). they were maybe 13 years old.

lucy loves thailand. can't you tell?

a short busride later, we arrived in bangkok, land of crusty hippie farong, having their hair braided and buying those stupid wooden frogs that you can buy in new york or probably even witchita, kansas. we are staying in the gross gross hotel. but we booked a fancy place on priceline for tomorrow night. yeah. we need a real bath.

tomorrow we check out the famous bangkok weekend market and a muy thai match. we'll let you know. it might take a week, but we'll let you know. still lovin you. corey and lucy for matacodotcom.