Previous blogposts of waterfalls and generally pretty things paint an illusion that we volunteers live in luxury. You could say we live 'la viva loca' or that we 'viva la viva' or celebrate 'la vie boheme' because my memories here are wonderful. But most of us are living 'on a shoestring' so we stay in the cheapest hostels avaliable (as long as it's clean I don't care) but yesterday the sink fell off the wall in the bathroom when I put down a toothbrush. It ain't luxury!
Today's hostel has the benefits of sinks securely attached to the wall (I checked) but the water comes out black so I'm washing and brushing using bottled water. It's gross and it's grim but there's about 30 of us staying here so it's kinda great.
This reminds me of the Muses from Hercules, Thai style!
This is my favourite photo from today. It was so hot and we'd been walking some time. So Ash and Karan found some shade and lay down. This is their high five in relief of the cool breeze.
Obligatory hipster photo
Yesterday everyone went to different restaurants and cafes. I've been here 3 weeks now and had never eaten street food, which is embarrassing considering Thailand has world class food for, like 30p on it's streets. So I walked around and got a pancake, some fried rice (funny how as soon as I leave the foundation I crave rice) and another dragon fruit smoothie. It was one of the coolest things because yesterday was the first day of Buddhist lent so I could taste the incense in the air, gongs were sounding and the drone of chants in unison carried over the yells of vendors and hustle. I kept walking until I found a more secluded area- which was full of locals- always a good sign. I sat (cross legged on the floor of a marquee, thai style) eating my food while a group of novice monks (teenagers) sat about a metre away from me, laughing with each other and passers by and switching their face and posture to reverent and melancholy whenever the older monk accompanying them turned around.
I also didn't bring my camera, it was nice to just experience something without looking at it through a lens.
On a completely separate note: Thank you to the over 700 people who have viewed this blog- friends, family, strangers and fellow travellers. My sister, Nikita, is currently in Washington DC, America doing an internship in a Naval museum. For any readers here interested in culture and travel here's the link http://nikitagoestotheothersideofthepond.blogspot.com/
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