Valentine's day and overheated gyms!

I had a great weekend! I went up to Chonburri (about 2 hours north) to visit my friend, Laurie. Our friend Courtney came up from Trat to spend the weekend as well!
Getting there was somewhat of an adventure. Chonburri has no bus station, so I had to guess where to get off. I kept asking the driver "Chonburri, Chonburri?" Finally he said YES! SO I hopped off. I had Laurie's address written in Thai, so I got a motorcycle taxi to take me there. The man takes me to a dark shady alley, and then tells me "100 Baht"! The ride should have been about 20, but at this point I was so scared I just hopped off, and handed him the money (granted it's only about 3 US dollars, but he literally just took me about 1 mile. Luckily a nice Thai lady came by on a motorbike and rescued me from the dark alley. She took me right to Laurie's door. It was an adventure to say the least!
Courtney arrived a short time after, and we all caught up and exchanged Valentine's gifts, then went to bed pretty late.
The next day, we woke up and headed to Bang Suan beach. There was a cute little boardwalk where people rented 3 and 4 persn bicycles. We tried to rent one, but couldn't find where you do it, so we walked up and down the path for a while. I also got the best Som Tum (papaya salad) I have had in Thailand yet!
AFter the beach, we walked to the movie theater. ON our way, Thai people kept walking by with little Valentine treats! It was so cute, they take the holiday seriously here. We saw a movie called "Before Valentine". It was completely in Thai, with English subtitles. It was adorable, a really cute romantic comedy, even though we were the only white people watching it!! Afterwards, we went out to dinner and got PIZZA! It was spectacular! Then we decided to go bowling. I actually WON (with the outstanding score of 85)! I don't think I have ever won a game of bowling.
We decided to go out for ice cream and had a coupon for this ice cream fondue thing, so we all shared it. It was SO YUMMY, and really pretty (we took pictures which I will post later). We headed back to Laurie's where we relaxed and hung out. Sunday, we woke up and decided to go swim inn her local pool. We walked there (pretty far in the HEAT) then climbed 4 flights of stairs, only to find the pool was under construction. At that point, we were by the bus station, so I decided to head home. I managed to get on the correct bus back to Ban Phe, and arrived in the evening. It was great to see the girls, and to get out of Ban Phe for a bit!

This morning, I decided to go to the local gym in Ban Phe to work out. The boys go a lot, but I hadn't been yet. This place is pretty average, except that there is NO air conditioning. It is about 100 degrees outside, and humid so you can imagine what the inside felt like full of people working out! I got there about 8:45 in the morning, and it was SO HOT!! Needless to say I lasted about 45 minutes before I felt like I would pass out. My clothes were soaked through with sweat when I left (hey I guess I can do half the workout and sweat twice as much).
I am teaching today, and then tonight I will probably meet Rachel for the best Tom Yum (noodle soup) in Ban Phe. A woman sells it off of a cart, and it has some strange mixture of everythign you can imagine, in a large pot. It's incredible and costs about 50 cents for a huge bowl!!!
Ok thats all for now! Pictures to come soon! Hope everyone's valentine's day was full of love!