Roadtripping Weekend

So because of the massive floods in Northern Thailand I did not go to Suhkothai over the school break, like I had originally planned. Instead I stayed in Surat for most of the break. But, everything happens for a reason and because I stayed here I was able to meet Suzanne and go on a couple day trips with her over the long weekend. She was given use of her comapany's car for the weekend so the rain didn't stop us from exploring. With the help of the car and Suzanne's GPS (that mostly worked) we were able to have a very active weekend before the semester started up again.

The car!

Suzanne driving!

Driving out of town :)

The highway!

We started on Saturday with a day trip down to Khanom. We wanted to go to the beach...that plan was thwarted by the wind, rain, and nasty riptides. We walked on the beach for a bit, between rain showers, and then decided to try exploring a bit. First we stopped at a little temple which was slightly run down (I don't remember the name of it).

The beach :)

Temple number 1!

Then we decided to head to the nearby city Nakhon Si Thammarat. Once we got there we navigated through the awful traffic to Wat Phra Mahathat, which is one of the oldest temples in Southern Thailand. The temple was huge, compared to most of the temples in Southern Thailand. The main chedi, which we didn't get to walk around, was built year 12 and is on the back of the 1/4 baht coin (25 satang). The the actual temple was built in 1628 and houses a huge seated Buddha.

The Chedi

The temple

The stair railings for the temple

The Buddha

After walking around the temple grounds we discovered that we hadn't turned the headlights off...so the car was dead :( Luckily, the first person who stopped was able to give us a jump so we were quickly on our way home. On the way home we spotted a temple that was all lit up and seemed to be having a carnival of some sort. We did a U-turn and meandered through the stalls for a while.

The temple all lit up!

Strings on money in front of the temple

Cute kids on the carnival rides

Making some snack foods!

On Sunday, we had another adventure. We went to Ao Nang beach, Krabi for an overnight trip. We arrived right around dinner time, since we took off in the afternoon. We chowed down on some pizza, which was super cheap because it's low season for tourist in Krabi. Then we walked around and shopped for awhile before heading back to our room.

The Beach :)

Yummy Pizza!

Sunset from the pizza shop

Sunset on the left, rain clouds on the right!

On Monday, we spent most of the day relaxing in the shade at the beach and playing in the water. Before we left we had a fantastic lunch of amazing Indian food, again super discounted. On the way home we stopped at a reclining Buddha tucked away on the side of the highway and almost got lost in Krabi cause the GPS couldn't pick up a signal for a while.

And Jump!!!
(Thank god my camera has auto-shutter! We watched one girl
jump about 8 times before her boyfriend got the right shot)

Buddha on the side of the road

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