On Tuesday we left Sam’s mother’s house to visit a temple and donate some food to the monks and receive a prayer for her father (Sam’s father passed from cancer a few years ago). They told me it was okay to take pictures during the ceremony.
After the temple we went to eat lunch at the same roadside restaurant we’d been to a few days before with Sam’s mother, aunt and uncle.
Our next stop was Sam’s aunt’s house before being off on our journey to western Thailand. Our first stop was Phliu waterfall.
To get to the waterfall you have to walk up a rocky stream teeming with fish.
I was told that these fish are plentiful here because they eat something poisonous so humans can’t catch and eat them.
this fellow was wearing a curious fashion choice:
We first tried the scenic trail – but deemed it too dangerous due to the rain and mosquitoes.
Check out the funny things at this drink stand:
Okay, so the milk is cold, but does it have doodoo in it? Yes it does…
There were a few iguanas on our path as well:
There were also several other interesting things to see before reaching the waterfall.
There was an old pyramid (I don’t know the significance).
I don’t remember who this is (probably a king, Thai people love their kings), but he was presiding over a sign that implored us not to take photographs with him if we had swimming clothes on.
There was also a cool moss covered stupa.
There were also lots of butterflies flying around us, we were in a rain-forest after all.
We stopped at a roadside fruit stand on our way to Pattaya. There, I tried salacca for the first time. It’s good, but not as good as mangosteen. It has a thicker, dryer yellow fruit inside which tastes slightly tart. The really interesting thing, if you can see in the photo below, is that it is covered with prickly spines that are actually tough enough to break human skin if not careful. Experienced eaters have a way of snapping off the tip with their fingers and peeling off the rest. People like me just wait for those people to do it.
On the freeway we kept seeing these trucks that had one phrase in English: “Business Design by Ohio University Alumni 1996”
After a few more hours we stopped at a restaurant on the beach in Pattaya called Glass House.
