Monday, February 23, 2009

Sanuk sanuk while scouring the markets!

The weekend that we arrived in Khon Kaen they were having an agriculture fair which meant lots of booths filled with interesting and delicious things. We went to check it out and I was shocked when we came across a school bus filled with Thai children. How is Thailand different from Korea? Well I think the biggest difference has to do with education. In Korea things are serious and strict. Students study hard and for long hours at numerous schools and academies. To say things are more laid-back here would be a huge understatement. In the picture you can see a school bus filled with typical Thai students. When we came by they were banging drums and dancing up a storm. They have a term here, sanuk sanuk, which translates to mean "fun fun or have fun" and this is the principle upon which Thai schools operate. It's certainly a startling change coming from Korea.

We walked around the market and then came back again in the evening. There were so many interesting things to look at. We ate some "ancient ice cream" which didn't seem too old at all and admired the many remote controls, pets and foods that you could buy.

Thailand is full of dogs and there were lots of adorable puppies for sale at the fair. I'll make a more detailed dog post later to document what happens to these poor animals once their owners get tired of them because they are no longer sweet little puppies. It was fun to look at them and pet them though. However, right now having a husky is getting popular here which is the most ridiculous and cruel thing I've ever heard of. Those kinds of dogs are not able to live in this sort of climate! It's a crime!

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