The first day of the first weekend

Yesterday was just a day of relaxing by the local pool in Singburi. It was nice to get to just be still, take it easy and enjoy the sun after a week of constantly moving about. Me and one of the Norwegian girls in our group went for a little stroll around the neighbourhood when we got bored, and once again it struck me that this is some people's everyday life. It's mental! 

When we took a turn and went down a street we suddenly found ourselves in an are that was obviously a lot richer than the one we had come from. It was obvious from the looks of the houses, the large gates, and the massive cars. 

After a whole day chilling by the pool we all got in the truck which took us back to Twin house. I was sitting so far back on the truck (and this one didn't have the semi-wall at the back, which kept us from falling out) that i felt like I would definitely fall out the back if I didn't hold on. I mean, look how scared I look haha! 

When we got back to Twin House we all had dinner and then got ready for the carnival/festival that started last night. It's supposed to carry on all week to celebrate the battle between the Siam and the Burmese (I think). All I know is they rode bulls and fought each other with machetes and that fight is a big reason that Thailand is Thailand today. 

So we got in a few taxis and went to the festival. On the way there, our taxi came across a green viper, which is Thailand's most poisonous snakes! The driver had to get out of the car (he couldn't just run it over because of the Buddhist belief that you shouldn't kill any living thing - circle of life thingy) to try and scare it away, which he succeeded with eventually. 

When we got to the festival, all we could see was light everywhere and there were all kinds of noices and smells. We started off by going to watch a performance where they re-enacted what happened in his battle. It was cool in the beginning but since we didn't understand Thai, it got boring pretty quickly. So we moved on to the market.

This market had so many crazy things that it was breathtaking! As long as the eye could reach you could see stalls selling everything from Thai pancakes, to skewers with tofu in the shape of angry birds, to powerpuff girls chocolate, to insects, to weird desserts. It was absolutely mental! I mean, I saw nothing I recognised anywhere (apart from fresh fruit)! What was also really cool was that we were the ONLY non-Thai people there! 

This whole week we've been going to places that Thai people go to "tourist", which meant that we got to experience the Siam Culture in its purest form. This festival was like the perfect way to wrap it up and we were so lucky that we were here at this time! All in all this week has been a fantastic experience well above my expectations! 

This morning me, Elise (one of the Norwegian girls) and Hannah (my Canadian roommate) went for a walk into town to buy some stuff before breakfast. We've give for morning walks a few times this week – it's lovely to get out before it gets too hot outside! 

Soon we're off into Singburi for a few hours to do some shopping, and to have lunch. Then we'll chill for a few hours and get ready for the loooong bus ride to Uhmpang for Elephant Week.