Life in Thailand Starts to Take Shape

Last week (ok, two weeks ago but it feels like just last week), we went to Malaysia and to IBC's southern campus. The founder of IBC, Venerable Wei Wu, is from Malaysia and his main (very impressive 6 story temple) is in Penang. IBC's convocation/graduation was held at the southern campus, and since all the professors would be down south for that, an academic seminar was organized at the temple in Penang, which is about a 3 hour drive from the southern campus. At Genla's request and by the school's generosity, Kyle and I were included, and so we joined the professors and all flew from Bangkok to Penang, and then a couple days later we drove from Pengang to Songkhla, Thailand. 

The Than Hisang Temple is extraordinary because it encompasses a vegetarian canteen which feeds hundreds of local IT factory workers daily, a free clinic, a kindergarden with 300 children, a nursing home, dorms, seminar rooms, and a two temples. It was very inspiring to see so many people being helped. And I love the idea of having a kindergarten and a nursing home in the same building. 

Penang itself is a nice island, although you can't swim in the water due to pollution. It was occupied by the British at one point, and so parts of it have a distinctly colonial feel (and I'm a total sucker for colonial in the tropics). We got out and about one night and went to Little India, which was a lot like real India, and lots of fun. 

It's worth mentioning that the drive from Malaysia to Thailand was indeed beautiful, with mountains in the distance, and road that cuts through palm tree plantations and wide open fields. 

While very nice, IBC's southern campus is truly in the middle of no-where, and we are very happy to be here (even if we are very far away from any beaches). 

All in all, the he trip was nice (and it was good to see a bit of the country), but what's better is being back here with some time to settle into a rhythm.  As soon as school started, I had one class that met  Monday - Friday from 5-8pm.  No sooner had that class ended than we jumped on a plane for Malaysia.  So this really is the first time things are quieting down here. 

That being said, we've started Thai language classes and are doing some English tutoring by request, so my personal schedule is a bit fuller than I'd like, but it's still manageable. 

Here's some fun pictures, and now that things have settled a bit, I'll try to be more consistent with the blog posts.

From Malyasia:

Remember how I said Kyle went native? Well, I wasn't kidding... Check out the fried crickets that both he and Genla claim are delicious (yet I've noticed they haven't bought any since . . .) 

Me  - Sa Bai, Sa Bai  (Thai for "taking it easy"), doing my morning yoga.