Beach Day - Day 15

After finishing up the kitchen yesterday and a full day of engaging with the school kids, our team decided to take an excursion today. We found out earlier this week that the nearest beach was 4 and a half hours away, and we immediately began to formulate the idea of a beach excursion and proposed the idea to our NGO. Fortunately, our NGO was very accommodating and helped organize the logistics to make it happen.

Today, we visited the Suan Son Pradiphat beach. It's not your typical beach name and it was not a typical beach either. The water was extremely warm and calm which made for some relaxing swimming. It was also a "local favorite" beach and therefore more isolated and quieter. Reese found this beach with some googling after the first beach we arrived at, the Hua Hin beach, was touristy and frankly not much better than some of the Texas beaches we are used to. We were not sure if this beach actually existed and/or would be had to find, but we were able to map it for our driver and find it. It was a great call as it was amazing and made the long drive worth it. Overall, it was a great way for our team to celebrate the hard work we have put in throughout the school year and the near completion of our project! As we mentioned yesterday, all that is left is the opening ceremony on Monday at the school where we will formally introduce the kitchen to the school community as well as help the cook move her supplies in from the old kitchen.

The beach was located right on the Gulf of Thailand which explains it being warm and calm.

Since there is not too much else to talk about today, I want to end with sharing some of the Thai fruits we have tried in the couple weeks we have been here. The fruit aisle in Thailand looks very different than it does back in the states, as there are no berries to be found anywhere here.

These are called rambutans. They are very prevalent in Southeast Asia and is probably the most popular fruit here. Admittedly, they look pretty scary and like they belong on an alien planet. However, it tastes great (very similar to a lychee) and apparently has amazing health benefits. We all have been eating this one daily at our NGO.

These are jackfruits. The first thing you will notice about them is their pungent smell. Fortunately, they taste better than their smell would suggest. Jackfruit has been very decisive amongst our team. I like it, saying it taste like a diluted banana but others of us dislike it for the same reason.

This is a pomelo. It is a giant cousin of the grapefruit and taste very similar. It is supposed to be less sour and bitter than its counterpart, but I personally have found it to be the opposite. Our team was offered this fruit throughout the day by the various schools we scouted on Wednesday.

These are shampoo fruits. We would describe there taste as a very sweet cross between an apple and a pear. It is the team's favorite Thai fruit!

Lastly, here are the other fruits our team has tried:

Dragonfruit

Mangosteen

Longan

Logan

Jujube

Persimmon