The other day I had my first adventure with some of the local kids. It was a grey rainy day and I had decided that venturing out of the house would take a whole lot of convincing. I decided to go to the SAO office and type some emails and along the way I was soon accompanied by my two new friends. While I used the internet they made the most of the time by seeing who could ride my bike the best. Given that they were small twelve year olds, my quite large bike was somewhat of a challenge for them. Soon they had overcome the difficulties and were inside urging me to go outside and watch them ride my bike. I went and watched for a little while and then went back to my emailing. Soon they were in the office asking if I wanted to go on a “by-teeow,” in other words a little adventure (literally translated as “taking a trip”). I told them to wait a few minutes and would go with them.
We set out down the road and they suddenly veered off into a meadow. They asked me if I had ever been out there and then asked if I wanted to go. They were very conscience of my well being and comfort and I would here those two phrases multiple times before our trip was done. We rode our bicycles, me on mine and the two of them on one, through paths that wound through rice patties and forests. Soon we reached a point where our bikes would do us no good given that we were going to head off through newly planted rice patties. We followed a path for a while and soon they saw a tree and told me that the giant bean pod looking things hanging from the very top were great to eat. They took off through the brush and soon were at the base of the tree. One boy hurriedly scaled the tree and about three quarters of the way up he stopped and began shaking the tree violently. Soon the bean pods had been flung off and the boys were collecting them and stuffing them away in their bags. The adventure continued.
We got to more rice patties and had to cross them on the ledges that held the water back from the higher patty. After a few minutes of sloshing through the patties we arrived at another tree. This time the tree was substantially bigger but was full of fruit. The same boy scurried up the tree with seemingly no effort at all. He chopped off one of the lower branches and soon we were tasting the red, yellow and green fruit. It seemed that the fruit was either not ripe or over ripe. The only fruit that I tasted was very bitter but they assured me that normally they are “a-roy mak” or “very delicious.” By the time we were done with this tree it had begun to rain fairly hard. They were asking me if I wanted to climb the mountain that loomed in front of us. I stated the obvious, that it was raining. They responded with “mai bpen rai” translated as “it doesn’t matter” or “don’t worry” among others. I convinced them that maybe it would be better if we climbed the mountain another day when it wasn’t pouring rain. They readily agreed.
We set out down the road and they suddenly veered off into a meadow. They asked me if I had ever been out there and then asked if I wanted to go. They were very conscience of my well being and comfort and I would here those two phrases multiple times before our trip was done. We rode our bicycles, me on mine and the two of them on one, through paths that wound through rice patties and forests. Soon we reached a point where our bikes would do us no good given that we were going to head off through newly planted rice patties. We followed a path for a while and soon they saw a tree and told me that the giant bean pod looking things hanging from the very top were great to eat. They took off through the brush and soon were at the base of the tree. One boy hurriedly scaled the tree and about three quarters of the way up he stopped and began shaking the tree violently. Soon the bean pods had been flung off and the boys were collecting them and stuffing them away in their bags. The adventure continued.
We got to more rice patties and had to cross them on the ledges that held the water back from the higher patty. After a few minutes of sloshing through the patties we arrived at another tree. This time the tree was substantially bigger but was full of fruit. The same boy scurried up the tree with seemingly no effort at all. He chopped off one of the lower branches and soon we were tasting the red, yellow and green fruit. It seemed that the fruit was either not ripe or over ripe. The only fruit that I tasted was very bitter but they assured me that normally they are “a-roy mak” or “very delicious.” By the time we were done with this tree it had begun to rain fairly hard. They were asking me if I wanted to climb the mountain that loomed in front of us. I stated the obvious, that it was raining. They responded with “mai bpen rai” translated as “it doesn’t matter” or “don’t worry” among others. I convinced them that maybe it would be better if we climbed the mountain another day when it wasn’t pouring rain. They readily agreed.
On the way back we passed a grove of bamboo and I heard them chattering in Karen, but obviously didn’t understand what they were saying. They raced toward one of the shoots and exclaimed in Thai, “There are two of them!” Soon they had two gigantic beetles in their possession. I asked them if they bite and they told me, “Of course they don’t!” This held true for about five minutes until when the one holding them let out a little yelp. They quickly revised their statement saying that their long proboscis could suck and hurt. At this point in time we were trudging through the rice patties again and I was saying to myself 
how nice it was to have my Keen sandals on. It didn’t matter if they got wet and they were protecting my feet from at least some of the animals that were living in the rice patties. My thought was rudely interrupted by a slight pain in my foot. I look down and I had several leeches stuck to my feet. I pulled them off while I cussed myself for wearing Keen sandals. We made our way back to my house and I promised them that I would go “by-teeow” with them again another day.
how nice it was to have my Keen sandals on. It didn’t matter if they got wet and they were protecting my feet from at least some of the animals that were living in the rice patties. My thought was rudely interrupted by a slight pain in my foot. I look down and I had several leeches stuck to my feet. I pulled them off while I cussed myself for wearing Keen sandals. We made our way back to my house and I promised them that I would go “by-teeow” with them again another day. 
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