A couple of very busy days!

Friday was a very full and very fun day. We started with our Thai class - Alex is doing really well now! I myself am finding it super hard to retain. Hopefully Vietnamese is a little easier for me!! We then did a Thai cooking class and made papaya salad and pad Thai - was delicious!

After cooking we went in the songthaew to visit a Buddhist temple and we sat down with a monk who spoke to us (in Thai with a translator) about meditation and his way of life. It was very interesting. We’re going to give meditation a try! Just a few minutes a day concentrating on breathing - a bit like in yoga. We also visited Rescue Paws which is a non profit centred around looking after Thai street dogs through catching, sterilising and releasing packs of dogs. We took some of them down to the beach for walks which was really lovely. Had some lovely cuddles with the puppies!

From the temple we walked up a mountain type thing to some beautiful views with a huge Buddhist statue. Was a lovely experience.

Next we headed to the beach for a little bbq and some drinks that the company put on for us. We did a little ceremony where we all threw a piece of wood into a fire pit with our barriers of happiness on them. All very spiritual, things that perhaps back home we wouldn’t do. But here it feels pretty wholesome! We went in sea after this which was lovely! Our first proper swim.

We all then went out to some bars, drank too many Changs and had a boogie! Saturday was therefore a little bit of a write off - carbs, naps and Netflix! We ventured out for dinner at a cook your own Thai place which was really cool. They provide the broth and you choose the veg, meats, noodles etc. It was delicious!

Tomorrow we are visiting a temple in a cave and doing a hike.