Thai Funeral

One of our co-workers, Ms Somjit, lost her father this past week. I tried to find out how he died but all I could understand was that he went outside to the garden and collapsed. I'm thinking he had a heart attack, he was 74.

Ms Somjit is one of the Resident Advisers here at the school. She holds a bachelor and masters degree and she's been here for over 10 years. She is a wonderful person and the boarding students love her. She's firm but fair. 

Pat and I went to the funeral today. It was about 1 1/2 hour drive. Pat decided he wanted to ride his motorbike and I decided not too but it was 34 C, which is 93 F. One of the Thai staff is going as well and we are riding with a students parents who is good friends with Ms Somjit. I didn't realize that I would be "white knuckling" the seat the way ride there. The gentleman, from Norway, was going between 120-150km, 75-93, the whole way. I really think he thought he was in one of the James Bond movies. 

There were probably between 100-200 people at the funeral and of course, it was outside. They did feed us lunch and we proceeded to the crematory building. The casket was put into a beautiful gold temple. 

The casket is inside the golden temple. This will be pushed/moved to the crematory where the ceremony will be.                                

 This is the crematory. I was a bit worried that they were going to light it up right there while we were watching.

As you can see we are under a covering and there are about 16 monks lined up against the wall.  

What an experience. I'm glad Pat and I were able to support Ms. Somjit. She's a beautiful lady who gives so much to the students here at APIS. 

Riding an Elephant

Before I left for summer break, Jessie, a co-worker,  wanted to go on an elephant ride. She asked if I would go with her and I told her sure. I really didn't expect her to follow through as we had so much to do and little time left. The week before we headed home she asked again and I couldn't back out.





I've been fortunate enough to travel some and everywhere I've been the elephants seem to be one of my favorites, they are beautiful and majestic in so many ways. Before going on this ride I wondered if the company we went with treated their elephants humanely. You hear so many stories about abuse of animals and the thought of riding elephants that were being mistreated isn't a fun thought. The elephants in the photos below are from my trip to Kenya on our safari. They roam free on a refuse and live comfortably. They aren't used for entertainment, they live among the other animals, and live freely.

When we came to Thailand a couple years ago we toured a monkey camp. All the monkeys were chained to posts in the ground and were very aggressive. I'd be mad too if I only had 3 feet in diameter to run around. There were signs asking not to feed the monkeys and it was just a sad sight. I was bothered and ashamed to have paid money to be a part of it.

After investigating more about the treatment of the elephants here in Thailand, I know the signs to look for. Does it mean all programs here are good, definitely not. If you ever come to Thailand, please research ahead of time what you want to do and make sure they are above board.

Enjoy the photo's below ... it was a fun but scary ride! Hugs