Thai Girl Miki: Location, Location, Location~

Ay! Sorry about not updating for a bit. Funny how as soon as I decide to take pictures of my surroundings, my family decides not to go anywhere. LOL But yesterday we went to plenty of places, so I figure I'll talk about where I am now.

Thailand Surroundings

For those of you who haven't read yet, I am currently residing in the mid-southern province of Thailand called Ratchaburi. The name roughly translates to "Land of the King", and this is advertised everywhere around the area with statues and signs praising the king of Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. If you look on a map, you will notice Ratchaburi is surrounded by water. This results in unique cultures apart from the usual Thai culture. For one, the diet of the residents here is mostly fish as well as other aquatic animals like frogs and squid.

Dogs can be found everywhere around the country. Most of them are strays however. Before coming to Thailand, I had seen a documentary about how the dogs were being mistreated and sold for food in markets. At first, I thought this was horrible, but with the amount of dogs in the country, I figure the people have to do something with the animals before they overpopulate. Certainly a lesson learned for me~ When you are in a residential area though. It becomes quite difficult to tell what dogs are pets and what dogs are pests. Our own dog, Boom, is not the only one who hangs around our yard after all. We have this other female mutt of sort that goes into our neighbor's yard when we go to have dinner with them. I think she belongs to the neighbor across from us. There is also this dark colored male dog that follows her sometimes. I don't think anyone owns him though because we always yell at him to go away more so than the female mutt.

Overall, the area's is more country life than anything. A big change from the busy city of Bangkok I had been staying at a week before I arrived with my family. There are random stores on the side of the road where cars will stop and pick up stuff. Makes a good road trip snack! LOL There are also many farms of plants I cannot seem to identify, unless it's a rice plant. I see them everywhere, so I have gotten good at picking out the rice fields. There are a lot more plants growing than rice however. In speaking of plants, the variety of food in my diet has gotten higher in the fruit and vegetable category. My favorite fruits are the gooseberries and this prickly skinned fruit that on the inside has sweet, white grape-like flesh that is edible. I forget what it's called unfortunately. LOL

Ratchaburi does have its areas of city,but they are quite small. We go to these areas to shop and also to to Chinese music practice. There's also little stands that sell different Thai foods and desserts. My favorite sells ice-cream made from coconut milk~

Okay, I think that's enough of my typing. You probably want to see some pictures. So here you go~ I will just leave the viewing up to you. I'll only put captions if I feel it's needed.

Buddhist Temple by our House