5 December
Today I took local transfer from Pakse (Laos) to the border which took 1 hour with a car. When I arrived at the border I had to walk to Thailand and got a 14 day tourist visum. When I was on the other side of the border I walked to the bus station to go to Zai in Ubon Ratchathani by minivan. Ubon Ratchathani is not really a big city, but has itsown airport, trainstation and universities.
When I arrived at the bus station Zai was already waiting there for me with her mother. I didnt really know what to expect and was a bit nervous. But I was really excited to finally meet them and I noticed that Zai''s English has improved. Her parents don't speak English at all. It was a 15 min drive to her home were I met her father, 3 dogs and a lot of chickens. Her father is into chicken fighting! This is not allowed in Thailand, but a lot of people do it. Zai told me that her mom once got arrested for it and had to spend 1 day in jail😂
Zai showed me around in the house and I was pretty surprised. It was nice and I got the new room with a big bed!

In the evening we went to the city market to buy some springrolls, fish and pork for dinner. Last year we lighted fireworks in Phuket and we wanted to do it again so I bought some😀
When we came back I met Yuwi and Ung, 2 brothers of Zai. There also were some friends of them. No one but speaks English. They only speak the Isaan language, which is spoken alot in the eastern part of Thailand.
I learned a few words and quickly had some laughs with Zai's mom. She likespork, so Zai said in Isaan : Meh Mak Phoh. And i said No! Meh Mak Phoh = Mother likes father 😂

We were eating outside and I heard really loud music nearby. They said there was a party because someone died, sometimes they do that. For me that was completely weird. Anyway, we went there and it became even weirder. There were dancers on a stage and a singer. Zai said they sing alot about sex stuff. Everyone thinks its funny and normal, and I thought the Thai people were shy??? Uhu.
The dance act wasn't to special and we decided to leave the funeral party😂

After buying 2 bottles of whisky for the friends, we went to go to a club, including Zai's parents. It was a club with tables and seats everywhere, so not much dancing. There was live Thai music with dancers which was really weird and unknown to me. It was fun anyway and had to pay around 1600 Baht (€50) for our table when we left. Zai paid for everyone! She said no one really has money. She told me that they don't make a lot of money and the curtain business is not to good, sometimes they have no customers for 1 month!! She saved some money so she pays more often..

Words learned:
Ka phun khap / khap = thanks
Sa wa dee khap = hello
Wa dee khap = hello shortcut
Meh = Mother
Phoh = Father
Mhoh = Pork
Meh mak mhoh = Mom likes pork

6 December
I woke up pretty hung over from the whisky yesterday😅 We went to town by scooter and had some local food as breakfast. We then headed off to cliff view point 100km away by scooter. It was a long ride and my ass felt pretty bad. We didn't knew the last 13km was uphill and offroad, oh men it took forever! We finally reached the view point which was nice. After chilling there for a while we headed back. I didn't see one tourist the whole way!

When we went for ice coffee at a gas station I needed to go to the toilet, but I saw there was no toilet paper. Only a water hose. I asked Zai how they clean their self after going to the toilet. She says they use water and their hand. What!?! I said I can not do that 😂 So I went to buy toilet paper and finally got to go to the toilet. When I was reading stuff about Thailand before, I read that alot of times the Thai people don't like to shake hands, because of hygiene. But how can toilet without toiletpapier and a sink without soap be hygienic? I can live with alot of things in foreign countries, like sleeping on hard beds, eat almost everything, take cold showers.. But going to the toilet with toilet paper is really something I appreciate in the western world. We ate some rice with mixed vegetables and I went to bed early. Tomorrow we are going to the "grand canyon" of Thailand.

Words learned:
Bhoa = No
Men = Yes
Mau = Drunk
1 = Nhung
2 = Song
3 = Sam

7 December
We started the day by eating some Thom Yam Soup. This is a popular soup in Thailand. It's okay, but I like noodle soup better. We firstly visited a temple where we did some praying and then headed to the Canyon, which was around 125km by scooter. The canyon was made out of nice rock formations were the Mekong River runs through. I had a swim in one of the holes filled with water, which were created throughout the years. There were only a handful of Thai tourist there.

We got back around 16:00 and the friends of Zai's father were already drunk. They finished the bottle of whisky from yesterday already.. at this time of the day. Zai said its normal here. I think people are a bit lazy here and should do something useful instead of drinking.
In the late afternoon I went for a jog in Ubon with Zai. There is this park where a lot of people do sports. I saw a group of elderly people doing exercises, a group of dancers and a lot of joggers. There was also a outdoor gym there. I really liked the place, it's so nice to see people investing in their own health 😊

In the evening we went to Zai's grandparents. Her family was there and when I came there everyone stared a lot at me. They are not used to see foreign people here. Her uncle said I look handsome.. Okay😅 I already heard it before and people here like blue eyes, since it's not common here.
The family prepared some chickens the traditional way and Zai's uncle made green curry and salat. The food was really delicious and everyone said that I eat alot 😳

Words learned:
Kai = Chicken
Kgai = Egg
Grandmother = Mehjai
Grandfather = Phohjai
Fish = Pla

Saturday 10 december
It was time to say goodbye to Zai's parents. I had a awesome week staying with them. Today I headed off to Koh Samui, to meet my friends: Poly, Justus and their uncle. At least I thought.. Koh Samui is overflowed due to heavy rainfall. The guys are staying in Phuket they said. Ahhh I was in Bangkok and my flight was leaving in 90 minutes. I decided that I really wanted to meet them and went to Bangkok Airways's ticket office. Surprised as I was I could change my flight to Phuket and I got on the flight within a hour, just perfect! I'm so excited to meet the guys again😎

Geschreven door FrankArends