"The End of the World"

A teacher is standing between us and the Monks because women cannot touch them

Monday (6/18/12) one of Monique’s schools took us on a field trip. In the beginning I wasn't planning on going, but ended up skipping school (of course after asking permission) after one of her teachers demanded that I come. Our first stop was of course Seven for a quick snack and drink. About an hour later we were going down a driveway lined with beautiful trees brining us to a Buddhist temple. The director of Monique’s school preformed a ceremony with the “top” monk after all the students had arrived (7^th and 10^th  grade). The students would be spending the next three days at the temple learning and practicing how the monks live. After the ceremony all the teachers who were at the temple went down into the bamboo forest to harvest bamboo shoots with the “top” monk, who spoke English and who actually has students in San Francisco. To finish our visit, we had an all-vegetarian lunch at the temple (the monks do not eat meat), which was actually quite a nice break from the continuous pork.

       Pet (the nickname for Monique’s school) still had more activities planned and after the temple we continued on to Pahin-ngam National Park. The park is known for its views, beautiful flowers and the “Thai Stonehenge”. The park has an overlook / cliffs that they call the end of the world, which overlook a valley and are the border of the Chaiyaphum Province. The Krajaew (kra-g-ow) flowers, which are only out during three months of the year are known for their pink beauty and unique shape. For example if you step off the path while walking through the park where the flowers are you are charge 500 bhat. The last stop in the park was what the teachers call the “ Thai Stonehenge”, which is a group of rocks that are in interesting formations. The Thai people think one looks like the world cup and another one like a chicken. They explained to us that some scientists believe based on the rock formations that this part of Thailand used to be under the sea. After taking tons of pictures and buying fresh mangos we headed back home.

 Monks at "the end of the world"                                     Monique at the "Thai Stonehenge"