My Weekend in Uthai Thani!

I finally made the trip 3 hours from Bangkok to go visit Mary in her school town of Uthai Thani. I hurried after school on Friday to grab the van knowing the longer drive was ahead of me and the Friday traffic. The van ride was the same as all the others. Long, crowded and bumpy. These van drivers are so pedal heavy and going from gas, break, gas, break can make for a long nauseous ride. I finally arrived around 9 to Mary with her bike. She was going to try and ride with me standing on the back... yea that didn't work lol, so it was around a 20 min walk from the bus station to her bungalow. She lives in the cutest little complex filled with bungalows that are occupied by other English teachers. The town is small and there is not much to do, not even taxis are in this city, but I loved it. They looked like mini cottages! I met her two friends Hayden and Nick. They were so much fun!!!! We started with drinks in their complex then the boys wanted to do some karaoke!!! Mary wanted to catch up on some sleep and isn't the biggest fan of karaoke so she passed but um yea I LOVE KARAOKE!!!! So we walked over to the karaoke bar and got some drinks. This place was interesting... girls dressed in next to nothing dancing on the stage, then some girls who were not girls. We were the only white people in this bar and of course had to start the night off by singing some Taylor Swift... duh! Thai people were singing Thai songs which sounded beautiful! We probably looked like a bunch of white drunk people singing and dancing horribly but it was really fun! Hayden and Nick were rocking the stage with some Celine and Madonna and killing it!! Then Hayden was getting a little too drunk so we walked him back to his place and then on our way back a Thai family invited us to come have some drinks with them! They were so nice and telling us about their family and how close they are and every friday they get together to have drinks and dinner and just celebrate being together. They were so much fun and kept feeding us whiskey until the early hours of the morning. Nick and I dragged ourselves back to the complex to then wake up with horrible hangovers, but it was definitely worth it! The next day we started our adventures by getting breakfast and coffee and one of Mary's favourite coffee shops. We rode bikes everywhere we went, which wasn't too bad because things were only about a couple of km away, but then again I hadn't been biking in forever so it still killed me! We stopped at the bus station and parked our bikes to rent a songtao to takes us to Wat Tha Sung, also known as the glass temple. This place was magical. My breath was taken away as soon as we stepped in the place. All the beams throughout the temple (and there were hundreds) were covered in glass. Everything reflected the light and the chandeliers were huge and extravagant. It did not feel real. I thought if someone wanted to have a magical princess wedding you would want it to look like this! I was amazed. We sat there for an hour no one really talking just observing and taking in one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. I will never forget how extremely wonderful it was. Then since we were in the area we went to a couple of other temples and then came the catfish. These things were huge!!!!!! You could buy food and feed them while standing on the dock. The whole time I just kept thinking, what if this bridge breaks and we fall in. These catfish would eat me alive! It would be a nightmare! It was cool to experience though! Then we headed back to town got on our bikes and headed for Wat Bat Manorom which had beautiful murals painted inside of the temples. It always amazes me how much hard work must have gone into all of these beautiful places I have had the chance visit. After this temple we quickly biked over to Khao Sakae Krang mountain. On top of this mountain is a temple and famous bell that travellers from all over the world ring when they come, but to get there you have to walk up some stairs..... and by some stairs I mean 450 stairs. Yes Mary counted them as I took my sweet ass time getting this ass up there. Holy Hannah it just about killed me! We made it though and the view and sunset was amazing! Some of my favourite pictures I have taken in Thailand were from this day and I am so blessed that Mary showed me around. The next day we took it easy and rode the bikes around and went to another one of Mary's cafes. Then on my way I went to the bus station to make the trip back to Bangkok. Another great weekend with great people. I love my life!