Phu Kradeung

November was a really busy month.  At the beginning of the month we travelled to the province of Loei to climb Phu Kradeung and celebrate the Loy Krathong festival.  The festival entails floating krathongs, small boats made from banana leaf with candles and flowers and incense, on some kind of body of water.  Also, lanterns are lighted and floated into the sky.  Picture that Tangled scene, but with fireworks.  If anyone's wondering what happens to the lanterns: the flame eventually goes out and the paper thing falls back down, slowly enough that one can dodge though.  Some of the lanterns didn't quite make it into the sky and there were people there who would catch them and try to push them back up, so they didn't light anything (or anyone) on fire.  One lighted lantern didn't make it up, but it fell down over water, so no one could push it back up.  The fountain destroyed that thing (which sadly means a lot of bad luck for the lantern owners).  On some of the lanterns they attached fireworks to the bottom and when the lantern was full of hot air, they lit the fireworks and then let go of the lantern.  If no one has ever done that before, the lantern doesn't rise as fast as one generally runs away when one lights fireworks.  So, needless to say, I did not feel safe when those were sent off.   

We celebrated Loy Krathong at ground level and the next day we headed up the mountain, Phu Kradeung.  It took about 5 hours to get all the way to the top and the last 2km or so was literally climbing up large amounts of steep, rocky terrain.  We stayed at the top for a few days, it cost 50 baht for a warm shower, so I had cold showers.  Due to the altitude the temperature was cooler, more like a Canadian autumn but with more sun.  The cool mountain air was refreshing.  We watched the sunrise one morning and then walked 30km to the other side of the mountain to see the sunset. My friend and I almost got lost once.  We decided to explore (and we did tell one of the adults) and see some more of the waterfalls before heading back for dinner.  We saw a sign that said to be out of the forest by 3pm because that's when the wild elephants come out, it was 2:30, so we headed back.  This friend of mine kept wondering how the elephants got up the mountain in the first place, its not an easy climb.  

One drawback of the mountain was the sheer amount of leeches.  The leeches here are different then they are in Canada.  They are smaller, faster and live in grassy areas.  The first night we were there my friends and I spent an hour on the porch picking leeches off of each other and each others’ shoes.  I had eight in my shoes and two on my socks and I picked four off of one person’s foot and applied first aid to another’s.  Classic times.  Through the night on occasion you would hear some of the kids coming back from their friend's cabins and then you hear screams as they discovered the leeches all over their feet.  I invested in a pair of leech socks, which you put on over your socks and pants and they keep the leeches on the sock and off your skin.  They'll make a good souvenir.    

Counter-intuitively, going down the mountain was both harder and more dangerous.  Either because we were tired from our week of hiking, or because gravity thought we were spiting it, I don't know.  But everyone made it back safe, with only a few minor injuries and very sore appendages. 

Hard to get a good picture because I would jump every time a firework went off :)

Krathong

Lantern

          

       After we got back to Chanthaburi; which meant a 5 hour bus ride, a night in a hotel, a three hour van ride and then a 2 hour truck ride; we had a few days rest before we were headed off to Pattaya for a conference, some fundraising and some fun at the beach.  The Rotary kids walked in a parade to raise money for the flood victims, with the exchange students holding the donation boxes and walking down the sidewalks beside the parade.  The parade marched to the central mall, where a show was then held to raise more money.  People preformed dances, sang and two of the Mexicans put on a magic show.  At the end the Exchange Students all went up together and sang Imagine by John Lennon.