Thai Journal ‘23 - #5

 

On Thursday, we continued weeding the chili pepper field, while Auntie Nang reaped the peppers. The lack of rain (unlike last year) made it easy to work the ground. Lots more food was given to us, including jackfruit and a Thai version of what we call in Jamaica, “blue draws.” In the afternoon the college team members took Mitchel to climb the White Buddha (since she missed the first climb). Keziah is back to normal; and she was the first to reach the top in less than 30 minutes.

Today, Dr. Pornpan and her School of Nursing faculty colleagues (from the Bangkok campus)

accompanied us on a tour of the local Muak Lek hospital. Fascinating. The hospital honored us greatly with a warm welcome and introduction to their organization. Marvelous how they combine Thai traditional medicine (including acupuncture and massage) with modern medicine. As always, Dr. Pornpan gave us durian; and the team came to my room for the annual “durian tasting party.” They disappointed me: No one gagged over it! Some even loved it… like I do!

After that we all went to the farm to put in an hour’s worth of weeding. However, a heavy rain downpour prevented that. It was replaced with helping Uncle Prasarn fix his wheel chair, and drinking coconut water (and eating the jelly). We then went to the Premium Outlet mall for a little shopping and a visit to a unique Starbucks for souvenirs. We took home Pizza for dinner. The day ended with Vespers with the university students.