My school's Kruyai (literally "Big Teacher", but basically the principal) speaks a little bit of English, and a couple of the older teachers have tried to talk to me... But most of the teachers at my school are under 25, don't speak much more English than I do Thai, and are mostly caught up the school's fairly clique-y teacher scene. I thought, if nothing else, I would end up talking to someone in the course of a two-day trip.

After getting up at 3:30, we rolled into Surat late Thursday morning, parked, and I still didn't know what was going on. It turns out we were at a huge school expo. Sixty schools from all over south Thailand had endless rows of booths displaying all kinds of projects their students have been working on. There were books, origami, beadwork, string art, paper and cloth flowers, ceramics, mini ecosystems, melons carved into flowers, paintings, etched glass, fossil replicas, and much more - all made by students. Big display boards in each booth gave extensive information (in Thai) so that other interested teachers could find out more about the projects.

By 2:00 we'd all had enough of the heat and the crowds. That's when they told me where we were headed next: "Teacher, go Koh Samui." Koh Samui is a big tourist island with lovely sandy beaches. "OK." Unfortunately, after driving the hour to the ferry, we found the boats were full. So we eventually found a place along the shore with a perfectly nice beach. After a full day of having little to no idea what was going on, where I was going, or what was being said, it was nice to just sit on the sand for a while. There were a few minutes there when I was wondering what on earth I'd been thinking to agree to this little outing. I'd spent the day mostly hanging out with Kruyai, and the other teachers still didn't seem overly friendly (maybe because I was hanging out with the boss like some kind of pet poodle?). But before dinner folks started warming up. It turns out the older 6th grade teacher actually does speak some English, she's just really shy. And her friend - the older kindergarten teacher - offset that by not knowing much but being very willing to try. Between that and my really basic Thai, I started to feel more a part of the proceedings. And as dinner and the evening went on, even some of the younger teachers seemed more friendly.

In the morning we tried for the ferry again, with no luck, so went to plan B: "Teacher, go temple." "OK." We went into the town of Nakhorn Si Thammerat, to Wat Phramahathat. Then we continued south into Phattalung province, and Wat Khao Hor, which has a nifty cave and a small shrine on top of a limestone karst.

We were all starving when we left the second temple, and the principal assured me that our lunch destination was only ten minutes away. With a name like "Ban Thale noi" (translation: small lake sea, or something like that) I was thinking seafood, so was pretty surprised when it was only mediocre vendor food along the lake shore. But after lunch I found out why we were really there: "Teacher, go boat. Birds." Definitely "OK." Thale Noi is a large freshwater marsh, with endless stretches of lillies, lotus, and water grasses - and tons of water birds. (I didn't have my camera with me, but someone's put up a very nice article and photo gallery on AsiaExplorers here.) We spent an hour and a half in a red-white-and-blue painted wooden boat, gliding amongst the blooming lotus, getting up close and personal with purple swamphens, pygmy geese, purple herons, little cormorants, brahminy kites, egrets, and little grebes. Fantastic birds. The big excitement for the principal and teachers that came with (only six of us) was snapping off the lotus flowers and seed pods as we went, but they seemed impressed by the birdlife as well. Not a bad way to end a very interesting two days.