First Weekend in Pluak Daeng

So my first weekend in Pluak Daeng wasn't actually in Pluak Daeng.

On Friday Jaime and I (with the other teachers) went to a teacher only day at a school in Rayong centre. Here we experienced half a day of pure Thai not understanding a thing. It felt like an end of year award ceremony at high school where all the teachers get an award. Well remember how hard it is to stay awake during those award ceremonies... change it into a language you don't understand mixed in with heat and boom instant sleep!!

Teachers at teachers only day

Well that's what I found anyway so when we got a chance to sneak away for lunch we jumped at it. I can now say that I've been to one teacher only day ever, it just happened to be in Thai, though their performance they did at the start of the day was really good it's just a pity I didn't understand a word.

The beach with Koh Somed on horizon

After the teacher only day concluded for us Jaime and I were taken to drop Rudi and Lorraine off at the pier to head to Koh Somed, this gave us a chance to see what to expect next weekend. After that we got picked up by our director and taken to a local beach. The beach was absolutely stunning and we were able to take so many lovely photos. I was surprised with how hot the water was though. I cannot wait for next weekend when we all go to Koh Somed and swim in the warm white sand beaches.

Seats and umbrellas ready for people at the beach

Once the sun started setting on the beach our director took us out for steak which was so good to have as it was my first time since leaving NZ to have red meat, the comfort of seeing food you know and recognize is needed sometimes.

Lanterns where we met our friends

It was really good being in Rayong as we were able to meet up with our friends that came over from NZ with us, sadly two people are in Chonburi and couldn't be there but having 10 of us back together was a lot of fun. We went to another beach, sat down on the sand, had a few drinks, some guys went swimming, took lots of photos (others did as my phone had died by this time), talked and laughed all night. It was such a good way to end an interesting weekend and showed Jaime and I just how much we had actually missed everyone.

Saturday came around and Jaime and I got to have such a nice sleep in and then was let loose on a shopping mall. Honestly first thing in the morning I was dreading shopping as I know from experience how much Jaime loves to shop but it seemed like the roles were reversed as I did more shopping than Jaime and she seemed not too interested in shopping that day. 

P'Ice and P'Chan praying to the Buddha

We were picked up from Rayong by two really nice teachers from our school who had driven out just to pick us up. They are so accommodating here it's amazing, I just don't want them to feel like I'm taking advantage of it. On the way home P'Ice and P'Chan took us to a local temple which is apparently famous, the reason for it's fame is still unknown to Jaime and I one of the many 'lost in translation' situations.  The temple was so pretty and there was this absolutely massive Buddha statue.

The massive Buddha statue

Waiting for the wedding to start

Sunday morning was a 5am wake up, getting ready for what we thought would be a long day at a Traditional Thai Wedding. We got there (there being the middle of nowhere amongst so many trees) and stood around waiting for a while with a whole lot of food just on the ground, I started to think that this wedding was going to be a picnic when people started picking up the food and lining up. Jaime and I were given a plate of Thai Deserts to hold and line up with. It turned out that we were in the grooms party. I figured out that instead of the woman walking down the aisle in Thailand the male does (well did in this situation), and

The band playing at the wedding

instead of just groomsmen with him he has a band in front of him playing as we walk down, him and his groomsmen and then a whole lot of friends and family walking down carrying food. We weren't allowed to enter the gates to the actual wedding venue until 8.30 as that is a sacred/good luck time. Once in the gates the groom comes across the bridesmaids who stand opposite each other with flowers tied to each other, blocking his path. I think it symbolises if the groom wants his bride he needs to get through the bridesmaids, so one by one he unties the flowers so he can walk through.

He then, with his bride, walk into a little room and sit down. Here is where Jaime and I come into the picture as the line following the groom walk into the room, kneel down in front of bride and groom and give them their plate as an offering and then walk out with some Thai candy.

P'Chan and P'Ice with their candy

Bride and Groom with their string on wrists

That is pretty much all that is involved in a Thai wedding. We then went and had a buffet breakfast/lunch and then came another time to line up and wait. In this line though all the guests one by one take 2 pieces of string and tie it on the bride and grooms wrists while saying something that will benefit their marriage in one way or another, me not knowing what to say just said how beautiful the bride is and thank you for having me. After tying the string I was then given what looked like a sea shell filled with holly water to pour a little bit over each the bride and grooms hands (all I was thinking during this step was how wet their hands would be by the end of the day) and then walk back to my seat. What surprised me was that after I'd done this process I was given a gift. That's the biggest difference between Thai and NZ weddings, the guests get more gifts than they give the bride and groom.

Jaime, P'Chan, P'Ice, myself and others at the wedding

What I thought was going to be a long day turned out to be rather short. Though we got to the venue at 8am we were up at 5am, leaving Pluak Daeng at 6.30am and then home by 12pm. The early morning affected Jaime and I so a couple hours nap was then a necessity followed by an afternoon walk to the market, where Jaime dropped her phone but it survived luckily (I believe the market is the reason for us dropping our phones as each time we go to it one of us drops our phones.)

I think this weekend was amazing, though it was busy we still had enough free time to reflect on how we are nearly half way through this trip and have been here for 2 weeks now. It's a scary thought but these last few weeks have been amazing and so full on I think the catch up on sleep was defiantly needed.

See you next time

Anna.