The Black Temple and Hospital Craft Time

Getting back from the homestay was divine. We had an hour at Mirror before we had to take off for our elephant ride. Then we headed straight to town. Being in town after the homestay experience was about as big a contrast as it gets. Sleeping on a real mattress was divinity. Anyway, we ate at McDonald's--and boy, it was delicious!

My leg after homestay

Fries, a McChicken sandwich, and Ovaltine. NO RICE. Best part about it lol. I also didn't eat local weeds with this meal. Nella, Steph, and I were in heaven there. Right after, we decided to go to....

YUM

...You guessed it! Swensen's lol. Malteser's Sundae with Rock at Heart and Peanut Butter Chocolate ice cream scoops. So good.

McDonald's and then straight to Swensen's!

After that very fulfilling food experience, we headed to the walking market. We got off the tuk-tuk at the clock tower, and it just so happened to strike 7 right then. That's the one time the clock tower changes colors and plays a song, so our timing was perfect. The tower changes to about 20 colors. Really cool. I felt like I was at Disneyland or something.

The Walking Market only happens on Saturdays, and it was really big! We walked for ages. I got some cool stuff there, I think. All my souvenirs kind of mix together now, but I think I got a couple shirts (49 baht!) among other things. I do remember that we got a foot massage. 120 baht for an hour. And they massaged our neck, shoulders, and back, as well. $4 massages are only available in Thailand lol.

The Saturday Walking Market

It rained partway through our market experience, but our massages outlasted the rain, so we walked around a bit more before heading back to Boon Bun Dan. The whole group was there, drinking. I stayed up til about 5 am, and I got to see everybody come back wasted. It was really embarrassing, actually. Made me embarrassed to be human.
Anyway, in the morning we went to Ti Amo Cafe for breakfast around 10:15. I got eggs, toast, and French toast. Oh, and a passion fruit/strawberry smoothie. So good. This was the toilet sign there...

hahaha Joe after we had him try French Toast--he didn't like it

Ice! A rarity here in Thailand

I believe we took a nap after that--eating is tiring. Then we went to the Pizza Company for dinner. So not worth it--atleast for me. I got a small pizza with pineapple. What came to me was a deep dish frozen pizza with pepperoni. I told the woman I'd asked for pineapple. She brought the same pizza back with about 4 more pieces of pineapple on top of the pepperoni. Nice.

Clock tower at 7 o'clock--it lights up and music plays

After dinner, we went to the Night Bazaar. More souvenirs. Ridiculous. Everything's so cheap, it's hard to turn down.

Tiniest little puppy at the Night Bazaar

Monday morning we ate at Ti Amo again. I got Pad Tai...really good stuff. 40 baht :)

Chicken and pork steak come with a French Friend! Ti Amo Cafe

My Pad Tai at Ti Amo

After that we went to the Black Temple. Or atleast we tried. I flagged down a songtaew driver. I told him we wanted to go to the Black Temple. "White Temple?" he says. "No, BLACK," I say. "How much?" I say. "400 baht," says he. "Uhhh 350 baht?" I thought it worth a try. His response: "300 baht." I wasn't about to argue with that! lol Anyway, he takes us...to the White Temple. Annoying lol. It was in the complete opposite direction as the Black Temple. But once we did get to our destination, it was incredible! So glad we went. It's a sequence of a bunch of temples or houses. They're all black with dark brown and black woodwork. Apparently one man designed them all. We met him afterward. But all these houses are full of animal skulls and skeletons, and other creepy stuff. It was pretty stunning and unique! The scenery is incredible, too. Beautiful trees of all sorts. It was just a really striking scene. We spent quite some time walking around, looking at things.

Black Temple

The horse that bit me

After that experience, (we ended up paying the driver 400baht for going further than he should have anyway lol), we went to Central Plaza. Steph's last day :( We got Swensen's and then mango sticky rice. Delish. When we got back to Boon Bun Dan, Steph had to leave for the airport. I was way sad saying goodbye--we three have been together nonstop for 2 weeks lol. Nella and I stuck around awhile after that, went to Ti Amo AGAIN, and then headed back to Mirror. When we got back, our dorm was disgusting. Apparently noone knows how to clean here. Infestation of ants and bugs--even more than the normal amount lol. It was pretty gross.

This morning, back to Mirror Food. I feel like I'm hungry 24/7 here. Anyway, at 11, Pear and I taught the eBannok ladies. We taught them colors, animals, numbers, math. They were so cute. I learned to count to ten in Thai. Hooray. Thai is so dang hard. After lunch, we went to teach the kids at Chiang Rai Hospital. Pear, Joe, and I went with Wendy and taught about 6 kids who are terminally ill. They were darling. And when I say "taught," I really mean we did crafts for 2 hours. Pear drew and painted a big landscape with a tree, a river, and mountains. The kids decorated and colored leaves, fish, and flowers to glue on. It was really fun...I spent a lot of time with one little boy. He was having a great time with the glitter. I'll have glitter on me for many a day to come. 

Teaching at the hospital--these kids are terminal

My little buddy

The lady who flirted hardcore with Joe lol

Muffin

Anyway, Nella and I booked our flight from Chiang Rai to Bangkok. Then we'll take a bus down to Krabi. We've booked a few nights in Krabi--BEACH time! I can't wait. It'll be great, and hopefully the weather will cooperate.

We just had dinner, and apart from the fact that the meat was sketchy, the cat was eating a mole next to the table all throughout the meal. Ew.