Ayuthaya

After our COS Conference, Kerry and I went to Ayuthaya. Ayuthaya was one of the previous capitals of Thailand, but fell to the Burmese in 1767. The historic temples left behind are now a Unesco World Heritage site.

The ruins were amazing...

My favorite was the Buddha head engulfed by a tree.

Some more photos:

(FYI, we actually climbed up those stairs!) We didn't have much time there, but we made sure to do a boat trip around the city & it was amazing...gave you a view that you normally wouldn't get. The contrast between the wealthy & poor homes was drastic!

Then we had just enough time to grab a beer (with ice & a straw of course) before we had to get on the train.

Sawadee Bee Mai Ka

I hope everyone had a Happy New Year...or as they say in Thailand "Sawadee Bee Mai Ka!" This year was really quite. We decided (mainly due to lack of $$$) to celebrate the New Year at Tara's house (she lives about 30k from me). The original plan was to go the the party that her counterpart's family was having, but they changed it to the 1st instead of New Year's Eve (the celebration last many days here). So instead, we spent the evening at Tara's house. I brought the sake that Akiko gave me when she came to visit & we had a grand time!

Sarah & I had never had "Sake Bombers" & Tara really wanted us to try them...one problem though - no shot glasses. Tara fixed that by cutting up pill bottles.

For those of you unfamiliar with the "Sake Bomber," you take a shot of sake & drop it in a glass of beer then chug it all down.

Sarah wasn't a big fan of the "Sake Bomber," but I think that was due more to the beer than the sake...I wasn't a fan either, but then I don't like Thai beer.

The sake was great though! And it was nice to drink something (alcoholic) other than beer or whiskey!

When I got home, I got to listen to all-night karaoke parties. You see, the Thais had a 5 day holiday...and it was torture! Let me tell you...there are a million things I would rather be doing than listen to drunk people sing karaoke at 2:00 in the morning!

Jumping Shrimp Salad

There's this salad that the Thais eat that I call the "Jumping Shrimp Salad" because, well, the shrimp are alive & literally jump around. It comes served in these clay pots & you have to shake it to kill the shrimp (but most of them don't die right away) & when you lift the lid to check on them, you usually have 1 or 2 hop out of the bowl. The 1st was my counterpart's birthday & she invited me to dinner with them & we had this salad...and yes, I tried it.

Here they are shaking the bowl

And the salad itself. They're baby shrimp, so they're clear.

The shrimp had no taste because the salad itself was so flavorful & spicy. The only reason I knew I was eating shrimp was the crunchy shell.

COS

After our Thanksgiving celebration, our group had our Close of Service Conference (COS). It was a good conference...my favorite so far, but that could be because they were a lot more relaxed with us. They talked to us about our options after Peace Corps & brought in some excellent guest speakers. My favorite though was our "Lack of Talent Show" & dinner on our last night.

And the talent show:

It's tradition for each group to present Peace Corps staff with a gift. I was in charge of putting ours together. Here I am working on it. Luckily, I had a lot of help...or it wouldn't have gotten done. We presented it to Dr. John at dinner.

After dinner, we got together in a couple of rooms for a last get-together (this will be the last time we're all together). And some random pics from the conference:

Sarah & EJ posin

Cale awed by the hat that Scott won at the talent show. Ben made it out of plastic bags!Maria & Guy fighting...as usual!A group of us went out to dinner one night. We were sitting in this open-air restaurant when this elephant comes up...here we are feeding it at the dinner table!

And the last Group 119 shot!