Roi-Et

All six member of my team piled into one of our students car (eight in all) and headed to her hometown province, Roi-Et. Her home is in the town of Roi-Et and she brought us all to meet her family and take us sight-seeing. We got to visit the tallest Buddha in Asia. It stood 67.5 meters tall overall. As emotional as you could imagine this was for us, it was a good reminder of why we are here. That night, her mother took us all out to dinner for yet more foods we had never seen before. It was so generous and we appreciated her bringing us for the day more than she will ever know.

The next weekend (this past weekend), Hannah and I had the opportunity to go back to Ro-Et for three days and two nights with her and her family. We jumped on the invitation and were even more excited to hear about the places our friend would take us. She brought us to Wat Pha Nam Yoi which is very famous in Thailand. We parked and then had a small hike up to the top of a hill where we were in awe. It was a massive temple six huge stories high. The gardens and water fountains inside the quad were gorgeous along with the immaculate designs with such precise detail. The way back to our car was even more fun walking down a brick wall-like walkway overlooking the mountains and hundreds of rice fields. I took dozens of pictures and sadly half of them were of the peacock I saw on the way down. We got to eat in a hut near the temple and it was such an extraordinary experience. Every meal on this trip, the previous, was provided for me and Hannah and we were able to try even more Thai dishes that were new to us. The next day we got to go to Roi-Et’s aquarium and have an awesome, conversation-filled, ride home. Besides being completely spoiled with real air conditioning, amazing food, and a soft bed, the generosity and quality time we shared was priceless.