Sri Sangwan Waterfall, Pong Ang Hot Spring, and Chiang Dow Cave
We loaded up the cars at 8:50 AM and were ready to depart from the school at 9:00 AM. Today’s trip was to three different places, which is a way for the children to see more of the surrounding area near the school. We arrived at Sri Sangwan Waterfall after an hour and a half car drive; when we finished unloading the food from the cars that we picked up from a market along the way, I was ready to do some swimming. The waterfall was amazing because after getting in the water, I was able to climb my way up the different tiers of the waterfall (about 4 tiers). The water was warm enough that the children did not have a problem swimming in the water either though many of them did not want to put their heads under the waterfall; they all had a laugh when they saw my head disappear under the water. I took only one child to climb the waterfall with me, Ahtit who was also the only boy on the trip because the other boys had behaved badly during the week and were not allowed to go on the trip. I knew Ahtit was going to make sure the other children knew what they had missed because he was so excited to reach the last tier. After getting out of the water and drying off, the mat that was laid out for lunch was able to fit all of us for a nice picnic by the water. The meal, for the most part, was good, but I’m starting to get this feeling that the staff likes to see what kinds of food I will be willing to try, so they handed me deep fried chicken foot on a stick. I would say that there really is no taste difference from the legs and breast that I’m used to eating, but the chicken foot only had a few bites of meat that were edible (or if you were more daring you could eat the whole thing). After filling up with chicken and sticky rice, we made our way back to the cars to take a short drive of about 20 minutes to the Pong Ang Hot Spring. The hot spring had two pools that were for swimming and putting your feet in. I decided that putting my feet in the water was enough for me this time. The children had a different idea about swimming because they all decided that they would get in after one child, Praw, slipped and fell into the water. Since her clothes were wet and needed drying, she stripped down to her birthday suit. The other children thought that if she was in her birthday suit, why not all the other girls too (Ahtit had his clothes on). In less than one minute the Pong Ang Hot Spring had turned into the garden of Adam and Eve! The children were having lots of laughs and good times swimming, but unfortunately, all good times need to end. Everyone put their clothes on and made it back to the cars to drive a little further down the road back towards Starfish to visit the Chiang Dow cave. I enjoyed this place the most because I have never seen or imagined a place like this. The Chiang Dow cave was home to the Chiang Dow wat (surprisingly enough), and inside there were places where people were meditating. We walked about 200 meters through the cave to the Buddha that was lying down on its back. Inside, the cave was damp and cold, and there was water crystallizing down from the ceiling. The floor had rock in some areas and damp sand in others, so when we made it to the end I showed the children that they could write their names in the sand. After exploring inside the cave for about twenty minutes we walked back out to daylight and hung out by the fishpond near the entrance. I was able to see some of the largest (or most overfed) fish that I have seen so far in Thailand. I could not believe how many of these fish were well over 40-50 lbs, and imagine that even after being fed by five people, they were all ready to eat again seconds later when another group came to feed the fish. While watching the fish, one child, Tam, who thought that hanging her foot over the fence was a good idea, managed to have her sandal fall off into the water. If it were not for the quick reactions of the staff, I was sure that the fish were going to eat the sandal, but after two attempts the sandal was rescued from the fishpond. I knew this would be the end of fish watching for fear of losing more sandals, so I took my pictures and we headed back to the car.