A fun Sunday!!! Time with Bam's dad and sister!

Today was a really fun day!  Bam's dad and sister live near the college and I've met them before today.  Her dad is an agriculture teacher at a secondary school near Ban Kam Pia and, since Bam doesn't get to see him too often when she is in Bangkok, he stops by the school frequently in the evening to visit her.  

So, this morning Bam's dad and sister picked us up at the college at 8:30 and we started off towards Sakhonnakhom, another nearby city.

Our first stop was at a Wat famous for the peacock on their property!  The temple grounds were beautiful!!!

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Our second stop was to the King's palace and grounds in Sakhonnakhon.  While parking, there was only one other car in the lot.  When the people got out of the car, it turned out to be  Thaiprofessor who   has spent over 20 years at the University of Illinois and she is only in Thailand visiting family... what a crazy coincidence!  R  It also turned out that, when I was describing how I ended up in the area, that she knew who Dr. Tony is (Bam later told me that wasn't a surprise to her because Dr. Tony is kind of famous in Thailand).  She was accompanied by an American man.  So, the six of us explored the area together-- it was lovely!

The next stop was for lunch at an American Cowboy themed restaurant-- which was a hoot and a half.  There were a few touches that we would now consider slightly racist in the US, but trying to explain why in Thailand was very confusing.  However, it was the first beef I've had since arriving in Thailand and it was delicious!  Apparently the province is very well known for it's kakon (type of beef).

After eating an enormous amount of food, we went for a wake around a beautiful lake near the city.  Although it was raining and there were not a lot of people out and about, it was easy to see how the park would be very popular with students in nice weather.  The sign below reads "Health Garden."

Our next stop was another Wat, which was new and amazingly beautiful.  Unfortunately, I received a bad fortune at the Wat, which I left there because I don't want that to follow me home!  When I was told that I could hit the gong as hard as I wanted, I took that as a challenge and swung away-- I think I made a few people giggle at the loud noise :)

Next, we went to a market where Bam's dad bought me some shoes fora souvenir and we head over to the Big C, a large supermarket, for a few snacks/drinks to bring back to the college.

Finally, we ate (again).  We had a delicious dinner of all our favorite foods!  Mine is the tom yom soup.

     

A huge thank you for Bam's family for allowing me to become an older sister!