Charlotte's Web: Prince's Birthday

This weekend we went back to Prince's cabin about an hour's drive outside of Chiang Mai to celebrate his 22nd birthday. Seven of us crammed into the back of a songthaew for the curvy drive there. Upon arrival we were met by Prince's very generous parents: an adorable Thai mother, his American ex-schoolteacher stepfather, and their British friend David. Prince's Thai friends from Payap drove separately and arrived shortly after us just in time for a barbecue dinner. We enjoyed some American hors d'oeuvres of Pringles and Ritz crackers with hummus, pepperoni and cheddar cheese. I never thought I'd say this but I probably miss cheese the most out of all the food back home. I've probably had cheese less than five times in the two months that I've been abroad. After dinner we sat around the fire telling stories and laughing over 'smores. I spent the night in my hammock and woke up early to the lovely sounds of birds chirping.

Saturday morning a group effort was made to cook a large breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, the works. Prince's dad picked us up and we loaded into the bed of his truck to drive to the strawberry festival in Samoeng, which hosts the largest strawberry festival in Thailand. It was nice that the attendees were mainly Thai and we enjoyed our day in the hot sun eating street food and checking out hundreds of vendors selling different goods and showing off their best berries. After the festival we loaded back into the truck and went to a nearby farm to pick our own strawberries. I tried my best to get the strawberries from the plant into my basket but often they were intercepted by my mouth. Despite that, we left with plenty of strawberries that were enjoyed for the rest of the weekend. Our next stop was a manmade reservoir where we were able to swim in the refreshing water. Times like these really make me miss the crystal clear waters of Lake George.

We returned to the cabin and sang Happy Birthday to Prince and enjoyed a delicious chocolate cake. Then we got our donation prepared of several hundred bhat and a large cooler that were to be given to the village temple. The village was celebrating a temple festival today so we brought the donation and presented it to a Buddhist monk at the temple. We ate a free dinner there before joining the festivities. In a nearby field there was a large stage set up with a band and many different carnival games. We played a few games before getting up on the raised dance floor and making new friends while dancing the night away. We all had a blast dancing with all sorts of people to Thai music. We spent another night laughing around the campfire and packed up to head back to Payap Sunday morning. We stopped for a quick swim at the waterfall we had visited before.