We began the day by meeting with the staff of KU-KPS. The Ajan who spoke to us had the most incredible English. I actually questioned if he was actually Thai and not American -- of course he was really Thai which amazed me! He had virtually no accent, and gave me hope that one day I will be able to learn another language well.
The staff showed us a recruitment video which was really well put together. I'd love to see a video like that for LSU (one that focuses on acedemics and student resources rather than sports). It made me want to go to the university!
After we said our farewells, we drove a way out to an orchid farm. It was completely amazing! I've never been surrounded by so many beautiful orchids before. We so desperately wanted to bring all of them home with us. Our tour guide and the owner was this fabulous man who clearly loved his orchids and his job. All of us loved him. He was so passionate!
Much of the tour covered tissue culture -- a process used to breed most orchids. They repurpose whiskey bottles by sanitizing them and placing individual tiny orchid specimens in a sterile environment. Then orchids then grow in there and are taken out later to grow larger and bloom. The tour guide also demonstrated how the flowers "make love" and how they pollinate by choosing desirable traits.
After our tour we ate a traditional Thai lunch at the Wat Don Wai Floating Market and enjoyed an hour long boat ride up and down the river. It was so relaxing listening to the guide speak Thai, and just chatting with the girls taking in the views.
After the boat ride we traveled to Wat Phra Pathom Chedi and Sanam Chandra Palace. This temple was absolutely gorgeous as always. This one had a Sanskrit hymn playing loudly on repeat which really set the mood. It was very relaxing. We gave merit, and did a little something extra this time. I'm not sure what it's called but after you give merit, you go back and kneel before Buddha. You take this deep cup with is full of numbered wooden sticks. You make a wish, and then shake the cup until a single stick falls out. Then you retrieve the cooresponding paper which holds your fortune. Mine was quite interesting. Not good nor bad, but it did seem quite accurate. All of us really enjoyed it and kept reading ours. Courtney and Katie left their fortunes at the feet of Buddha because they weren't exactly good fortunes. I kept mine.
Afterwards we wandered around the temple for a bit. Then headed back to the hotel with some pizza and had another relaxing night.