Actual School trip and others.

So I think that after my day of (sort of) rest, I should be able to write coherently and without excessive detail, which I think bogs down any writer from time to time.

There has not been a whole lot happening in my world apart from the usual routine since my July 4 post. I am getting to the point where I would like to come home, now, though, please. I miss my family and friends, and temperatures that drop below 75.

Friday was the beginning of Buddhist Lent, so we had the day off. This meant that we were able to leave nice and early for our school trip to Lampang, Sukhothai and Phitsanulok.
The first stop was Lampang and a temple that had been standing there for around 700 years. It was left alone by the Burmese when they sacked numerous places because it was off the beaten track for those invasions. It was a very pretty temple, with a very pretty stupa. We had an overly long history lesson in a hot, stuffy, temple museum, and wandered a bit more before boarding the bus to go to Sukhothai.

The problem was that our driver had little to no idea where he was going. We took a route that we should not have been on. It was two-lane jungle roads that were under construction (which meant no bridges at some points. It was really sketchy.) that we should not have been on.

However, we eventually made it to Sukhothai, but we were in the wrong place. That meant that we did Saturday's activity of riding bikes around Sukhothai on Friday after traveling all day. I was tired and cranky, but I did the best I could. I've started to understand that particular phrase is a very useful one. You do the best you can with what you have. Life gave me 90 degree heat and humidity and a bicycle, so I made sweat. Lots and lots of sweat. It was really disgusting actually. It was like when a really fat person eats. It was just pouring off me. We eventually made it to a nice hotel, where we swam and went to bed.

There were lots of ruins and pretty pictures, far too many to post on here, so you'll just have to wait to see them until I return.

It seems that every trip to a foreign country has at least one trip where you see too many of one thing to really care any more. This was that trip and the things were ruins, temples, and ruined temples.

Saturday dawned cloudy (thankfully, it keeps the heat down) and we had breakfast at the hotel before boarding the buss and going to a World Heritage site. More ruins, more temples. It was interesting, but boring at the same time. We tromped around for a bit and got back on the bus to go to Phitsanulok.

At Phitsanulok, we saw another temple (surprise!) This one had a really pretty Buddha in it. We had some time after that to wander around before boarding the bus to go to our hotel. We messed around until it was time for bed, then went to sleep.

Sunday was a museum of Thai folk art followed by bus until we got back to Chiang Mai. Since then, I have been doing homework, posting photos and trying to rest from the whirlwind trip.

This morning I started my essays for my application to the Fulbright Scholarship. I figure I'm a pretty strong contender, so I might as well apply. If I get it, great! If not, that's fine, too.

I realized that I titled this post "and others" when what I want to write about is something that I can't say here in Thailand. We'll just have to see how things shake out tomorrow.