Views of Thailand

- October 05, 2014

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Jungle Palm

So on Sabbath, we went to the waterfalls again, and I finally took pictures.
The next day, some students, some teachers, and some visitors went hiking in the jungle to visit a pagoda. The pictures are all mixed up, though.

Hiking through the jungle

The bigger waterfall of the two we went to

I am so glad they put a sign there...I might not have known that was a waterfall!

The road there was unbelievable. Some of the hairpin turns you couldn't take at more than five miles per hour.

Sun over the jungle

A view from one of the mountain tops

Mountains and rice fields

The river that divides Burma from Thailand. Burma is on the right side of it.

The river and the mountains

Another one of those turns

Down in the valley, just past Mae Salid


Burmese refugee camp

Yesterday, we took a long trek through the jungle to visit an ancient pagoda. The trail was very faint at times, and mostly it was all steeply uphill, over a few mountains. It took about an hour or so to get there, but it was a very taxing hour! If you stopped to take a break, it was only that much harder to keep going. I can honestly say that I got up only by sheer willpower; it felt like I couldn't possibly keep going, but I did it anyway. It was the physically hardest thing I've ever done, but it was worth it to reach the top!

The natives like to put pagodas on the highest mountain tops. Apparently they must get better
god reception up there. I'm so glad my God is closer and easier to talk to!

We reached the top of the hill, ate lunch in a cave system beneath the pagoda, and went back down the mountain to see some other caves. We found a sheer rock face, on top of another hill and had climbed about twenty-five feet up it, when it started to rain. I wanted to go all the way up to the top (about forty or fifty more feet), but the wind picked up and the rain suddenly poured down on us. We came down as quickly as we could, but all of us ended up soaking wet, and cold.
It was awesome! Hannah and I found a dry face of the rock, and huddled there to wait out the storm. I took off my glasses, which were foggy and full of rain, and we smiled at each other. She remarked, "I'm glad I have a mission partner that likes this kind of adventure!"
I'm glad for her, too. There's not many other people that could climb several successive mountains while sweating profusely, get soaked, muddy, blistered, and poked by thorns and think it was fun.
The rest of our group was pretty game too, though. The natives hiked in their flip-flops, hiked up the mountains, and ran/slid all the way back down, some shrieking like monkeys. They had a blast.
There was one fellow from Australia, who has been here for a few weeks, and two from Sweden, who just came about a week ago. Those two had come straight from touring colder countries, so they had quite the climate change to accommodate to. Jonalyn, the little teacher from the Philippines lead the way most of the time, or told me where to continue hiking when I didn't want to stop and rest. She's pretty tough!

I wish you could have been there! I think you would have had a lot of fun.
(I'm referring to those of you who like hiking/exploring in the forest, and don't mind getting tired and muddy.
You know who you are : D )