Mangroves

We left Bangkok today and headed southwest along the coastline to Samut Songkram, where there is a mangrove conservation area.  In our fall class, the students learned about mangrove ecology and conservation; today we wanted the students to experience mangroves.  We had two activities by which I think they now have an indelible concept about this important ecosystem.

Everyone is loaded into the shallow-draft boat to head out to the mangrove area.

Our first activity was to load into two-person kayaks and spend two hours kayaking through the mangroves.

Here go Carley and Anna.

Olivia and Jess.

My instructions were to not simply paddle through the channel, but to get into the 'weeds' so you can really experience the mangroves and see what lives there.  Kelly and Gabi took this to heart.

Olivia and Jess.

After the kayaking, we traveled to a different part of the mangrove so the students could plant mangrove saplings in an area in which the mangroves had been wiped out.

The mud was soft and we sunk deeper than was planned.

Dana planting one of her mangrove saplings.

Jake is in deep while Sara and Alysa struggle.

Jake and Alysa.

Becca went down and Olivia is on her way down.

Alysa.

Down again.

Sara called for extraction.

Becca getting deep.

Alysa looking for the river so she can clean up.

A troupe of long-tailed macaques kept their distance from us.

Evidently, we walked around this ngu-ba, a non-venomous fish-eating snake.

Some students thought swimming in the channel was a more effective way to clean the mud off.

Alysa never did quite get all the mud off, but she and the others all had a great experience, which was exactly the plan.  Now they will always retain some level of understanding and appreciation for mangroves.

Some of the shelters for the clam farmers.

We had a fantastic lunch of various types of seafood.

We split up between two tables.

A nice bowl of tentacle soup :-)

For dessert we had sweet rice cakes wrapped inside banana leaves.

Cooking Class

After lunch we got back on the skytrain and took it to our cooking class.  The class ran from 1:15 to 4:45.  During this class we learned to choose vegetables at the produce market and prepare 5 Thai dishes, including massaman curry, phad Thai, sticky rice with mango, and papaya salad.

The skytrain is pulling into the station for our 30 minute ride followed by 15 minute walk to the cooking class.

Chef Khung shows us how to differentiate between various types of produce.  She's holding one type of ginger.

Back at the kitchen, Carley and Anna are showing off their aprons.

Ajarn Mark watches while Carley, Anna, and Dana prepare the onions.

Becca, Kelly, and Sara work to devein the shrimp.

That's me with Maggie as we squeeze water out of the shredded coconut to make coconut milk.

Jess and Jake making coconut milk.

Maggie, Alysa, Jess, Kyler, Jake, Carlie, Hally, and me cooking our phad Thai.

Sara, Dana, Anna, Carley, Ajarn Mark, Becca, Kelly, Sara, and Jess (L-R).

This is my plate of Phad Thai.

Here is half the group posing for a group picture.

Scavenger Hunt

We had two activities planned for today.  In the morning we had a scavenger hunt in the vicinity of the hotel.  The ground rules were that the students could not use any kind of transportation, could not cross the streets except for the pedestrian overpasses, and they had to be respectful as they interacted with the Thais.  I gave the students a page of things they had to search for and photograph, and a few things for which they had to talk to Thai people who had limited or no English skills.

Hally and Carley wondering what the heck this thing is.

Dana, Maggie, and Becca wondering why pink eggs were not on the list of things to find.

Becca talking with a couple Thai women in the market.

Maggie and Becca asking this woman where they can find fried insects.

Dana, Olivia, Carley, and Becca watch in horror as this woman cuts up live catfish.

We couldn't find three of the groups while they were out on the scavenger hunt.  On our walk back to the hotel, there they were enjoying the sunshine and a frosty beverage.

This is Ajarn Akekawat, Ajarn Aea, and their 2 yr old son Alpha.  Akekawat and Aea are Mizzou alumni and now faculty members at Kasetsart University in Bangkok.  They help me put together the logistics for the northern part of our study abroad program.

After the scavenger hunt, we had a group lunch of fried rice with choice of protein in it (shrimp, chicken, or pork).

Mmmm from the left.

Mmmm from the right.

Snakes!

After our morning visit to the temples, we then visited the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute Red Cross Snake Farm.  At this facility, they produce the snake antivenom for all of Southeast Asia and give public presentations.  We arrived at 1:30, exactly one hour before the presentation started.  They bring out some of the most noteworthy snakes of Thailand, and it was worth the wait to sit in the front row.

I'm not sure how to spell heebie-jeebies ...

The first snake they brought out was a 12 foot king cobra.  The handler set it loose in front of the crowd.  The screen that you see separating the front row from the fangs was not there two years ago; they must have had an incident in the interim.

The king cobra eats other snakes and is common throughout Thailand.  It can deliver enough venom to take down an elephant.  Other snakes like Siamese cobra, banded krait, and others were also brought out.  But what got the most interest was the Burmese python, which everyone got a chance to hold.

Maggie holding the albino Burmese python.

Becca

Kyler

Carlie

Jake

Dana

Jess

Anna

Kelly and Gabi

Carley

Olivia

Sara

Alysa

All of us!

And here's our wonderful larb dinner at the Hai restaurant.