Home Sweet Home

For the last few days I have been trying to write my final post. Its hard for me to put into words what I feel about my experience and how I feel about being home. It is great to be home. I can’t wait to catch up with my family and friends but I know its going to be an adjustment. I felt a little bit of culture shock just trying to get through the airport in San Francisco. There are so many things I am going to miss about Thailand and SE Asia.  Being back in America feels so different already.

Where are all the motorbikes?

What do you mean I can’t get a meal for a dollar?

Everyone here speaks English! People can actually understand me!

I no longer have to carry around toilet paper and hand sanitizer everywhere I go.

There are other tall people… with blonde hair!

What happened to all the fresh produce markets?

I am no longer a sweaty mess ALL the time! 

Things I won’t miss about Thailand

-squat toilets

-bugs!

-not being about to speak the language

-the weather. It’s too hot!

-the dogs

-not being able to buy clothes that fit!

-being stared at constantly

Things I will miss about Thailand

-the people

-the food!!

-U-Thong

-public transportation

-coconut ice cream

-drinking a 5 baht soda out of a plastic bag

-7-11

-hearing the word “farang”

-the friends I made

-beautiful beaches

-fresh fruit

-mai pen rai attitude

-simplicity of life 

My journey was absolutely amazing and I wouldn’t have changed anything about it. I am so grateful that I was able to have this experience. It is going to take a while to adjust back to life in America but for now I am happy for some clean clothes, a nice western meal, and my own bed to sleep in! J

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged the find the ways in which you yourself have altered"
-Nelson Mandela


Thanks to all of you who followed my blog!  Stay tuned for my next adventure!

Hong Kong

Hong Kong was great. One of my favorite “big cities”.   I was particular impressed with how clean the city is and how efficiently it runs. They have an amazing subway system that made traveling around the city convenient and easy. I was pretty lucky to be traveling with Olivia, who had lived in Hong Kong for a few months and is also fluent in Cantonese. She was able to show me around and introduce me to the Hong Kong hot spots

My time in Hong Kong was spent eating, attempting to shop (of course nothing in my size) and enjoying all the wonderful things Hong Kong has to offer.

Some highlights included a trip to the 55^th floor of the IFC building (the tallest in HK) to see a gorgeous view of the city, riding the star ferry across the bay, taking a day trip to see the “Big Buddha”, and seeing the beautiful skyline at night. It was also great just to sit and people watch and observe  the hustle and bustle of daily life go by.  

 Hong Kong in a way was a nice transition home. It is more modern and definitely more expensive then the other place we have been so it won’t be such a shock when I get back. I fell in love with the city and hope to have the opportunity to go back someday. 

Reflection

I can’t believe that I only have a week left in SE Asia. Time went by way too fast. I don’t think it has really set in that I am LEAVING. Two weeks in Vietnam flew by and now I am back in U-Thong attempting to pack up everything from the last 8 months. I keep thinking back to my first week in Thailand and how far I have come and how many amazing things I have done and seen. It doesn’t seem possible that it is finally coming to an end.

I have really mixed feelings about coming home. Of course I am very excited to see my family and friends. It will be nice to stay put somewhere for an extended period of time. I am pretty tired of wearing the same 7 shirts every week and smelling like sweat and dirty feet. It will be nice to be able to unpack everything and not have to live out of a backpack for the first time in almost 3 months. There are a lot of things I miss from the States that I am excited to go home to.

On the other hand I am very sad to leave. I have gotten used to Thailand. I have learned a bit of the language, made some great friends, and feel very comfortable here. It’s going to be a big change.

Olivia and I spent one final day in Bangkok. We met up with a friend and had a delicious meal, got a final Thai massage, and went shopping at JJ (chatachak) market for last minute gifts and souvenirs. It was a really great day but I got really sad when I thought about how it was the last time I would be in Bangkok. Hopefully I will be back one day.   

 Time to say my good-byes to U-Thong and finish packing. L   

Vietnam Part IV- Halong Bay and Tom Coc

Halong Bay was kind of a disappointment. We signed up for a two day, one night tour of the bay where we would actually get to sleep on the boat. I was super excited about the tour and it was one of the main reasons why we came to northern Vietnam. Unfortunately the tour did not go as planned

 It took us half the day to get to the Bay. Halong city is about 4 hours from Hanoi. Once we got to the pier there were hundreds of foreigners all trying to stay together with their guides and board the correct boat. Organized chaos. We finally got on our boat, which was really nice, and enjoyed a lovely Vietnamese lunch. After lunch we were informed that there was a storm moving in and that we wouldn’t be able to sleep on the boat. Bummer. I was really looking forward to waking up on the boat and maybe even watching the sunrise over the bay. So we sailed around the bay for about an hour, enjoying the nice sunny weather before the storm was expected to come in. The bay is actually pretty amazing.  The huge limestone cliffs look like a mountain range coming out of the water. Unfortunately we had to cut our tour short because we needed to dock on Catba Island where we were going to stay the night at a hotel. From the dock it was an hour bus ride around to the other side of the island. Catba island was OK. There was tons of construction going on, and not much to do in the town itself. It was kind of a let down as I was really hoping to enjoy a night on the boat.

The next morning we woke up early, only to find out that it was still cloudy and rainy and that we may not even be able to get back on the boat. Luckily after about an hour it cleared up just enough so we could board the boat and sail back to Halong city before it started down pouring. We were on the boat for about an hour but you couldn’t really see much due to the weather. We arrived back in Halong City and then immediately got back on the bus back to Hanoi. For a two day tour we spent maybe two hours on the boat. We didn’t get to see much of the bay which was pretty disappointing. Oh well. Mai Pen Rai. Can’t control the weather! 

The next day we decided to do another day trip to Hoa Lu temple and Tom Coc. The day started off with a two hour bus ride. We got off and toured the Hoa Lu temple which used to be an ancient capital of Vietnam. After seeing the temple we took an hour long bike ride through the countryside. It was beautiful. The weather was cloudy and foggy but it was actually quite a nice ride. Tom Coc is known as the “Halong Bay on Land”.  The landscape looks similar to that of Halong Bay, with the enormous cliffs, minus the water. We arrived in Tom Coc, had lunch then our group was spilt up and we each boarded a tiny row boat. Our guide took us on a two hour trip down the nearby river which was really beautiful. The guides actually row with their feet! It was crazy. The scenery was gorgeous and overall it was a really nice day trip. It definitely made up our disappointing Halong Bay trip. Glad that we were able to get out of Hanoi for a bit and enjoy the countryside of Vietnam.

Vietnam Part III- Hanoi

The bus ride to Hanoi was pretty miserable. Due to a booking error and a Vietnamese holiday we were unable to get seats on the overnight “sleeper” bus and instead ended up on the “sitting” bus. We were the only foreigners on the bus, they blasted Vietnamese karaoke music all through the night, and I was sitting next to an old lady who had no sense of personal space and had no problem making herself completely comfortable (at my expense). Let’s just say I didn’t get much sleep. The icing on the cake? When we arrived in Hanoi and retrieved our bags from underneath the bus we discovered that our bags were covered in….you guessed it... SHRIMP PASTE. If you don’t know what shrimp paste smells like, consider yourself lucky. It is the most god-awful stench you will ever smell. How our bags got covered in shrimp paste remains a mystery. Luckily after some serious scrubbing we were able to get the majority of the smell out. 555.

Hanoi, much like Saigon, is a crazy city. The traffic here is the worst I have seen. There are thousands of motorbikes everywhere. There are no traffic lights or real cross walks. Traffic is really just a free for all. Constant beeping of horns. Crossing the street is even more terrifying than Saigon. At least in Saigon they would slow down or stop for you. In Hanoi, they just honk at you and expect you to get out of their way. Insane.

Hanoi is actually a pretty interesting city. Each street in the city has a “specialty”. If you need shoes you can go to one street and you will find 30 different vendors all selling shoes. Need sunglasses? Go to another street and you will find an equal number of shops that only sell sunglasses. There are also no real “markets” in the city. If you want fruit or fresh produce, just wait for a Vietnamese woman wearing a conical hat to ride by on her bike carrying pineapple, bananas, fresh flowers, etc.   Quite convenient actually.

I didn’t really enjoy my time in Hanoi. I found the city to be dirty, crowded and noisy. The city is small enough to walk around but you can’t really walk anywhere because there are no sidewalks. I got pretty tired of trying to dodge motorbikes, cars and other obstacles along the street while trying to explore and enjoy the city.

Luckily we were able to get out of the city for a few days on a couple of day trips.

   

Eating Like A Local

One of the main reasons I wanted to come to Vietnam was for the food. I have heard that real Vietnemese food is amazing. All I really know about Vietnemese food is from the little hole in the wall place my family and I go to. I was excited to try out the real thing!

Like Thailand, some of the best food can be found at street food stalls. Unfortunately it can be quite intimidating for a foriegner to eat at a food stall. For one, food stalls don't look that appealing from the outside and are usually located in alleys or small streets away from the main action. Second, they usually don't have menus. You kind of have to figure out what they have to offer (usually you can tell by the ingredients placed in the window of their cart). Ordering usually involves a lot of pointing and gesturing and you hope they understand what you want.

The food stalls in Vietnam are a little different. For starters, they have minature sized tables and those bright red plastic kiddie chairs to sit on. You know the kind that are meant for 4-5 year olds. Not exactly meant for a giant like me. Usually you are ushered to sit at a table that is already crowded with locals who stare at you awkwardly as you try to squeeze in and sit down. I tend to get a lot of stares as I eat and it can be pretty uncomfortable to be sitting across from random strangers as you attempt to eat your food. I get a few nods of approval as I add the right ingredients to my bowl of Pho. A little fish sauce, some fresh lime, a few greens, maybe a little sugar or red pepper flakes. I guess I must be doing something right.  I have not yet mastered the art of chopsticks, so I get a few giggles as I dribble soup all over myself. Hey, its not my fault. I blame the super tiny furniture. It wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't so far away from my food.

Although it can be intimidating to eat like a local, sometimes you just have to suck it up and get over your fear of looking like a fool (and maybe having an upset tummy). If you do you will be rewarded with some of the best and cheapest food you will ever eat.

Vietnam Part II- Nha Trang and Hoi An

Nha Trang, a small beach town on the coast, was not high on our list of cities to visit in Vietnam. However, there was no direct bus to Hoi An. Well there is but it takes a full 24 hours to get there! So, we decided to stay overnight in Nha Trang to break up the journey. The town of Nha Trang was pretty unremarkable. The beach however was quite nice, scattered with more locals than foriegners. A nice change. Overall an OK pit stop.

Hoi An is great. It is one of the only cities in Vietnam to have escaped any damage during the war. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to all of the buildings having the original French architecture. It was such a cute town. You can definitely feel the French influence. Lots of really cute cafes and resturants along the river. A great town to just wander. I enjoyed being in a quieter city for a few days.

Time for overnight bus number 3. Ugh.  Vietnam is a huge country! Off to the experience the craziness of Hanoi!!

Vietnam Part I -HCMC

Motorbikes, motorbikes everywhere! Ho Chi Minh City is craazzyyy.  Also know as Saigon, Ho Chi Minh was our first stop on our whirlwind 2 week tour of Vietnam.

After a grueling 15 hours bus ride from Cambodia we finally arrived in the heart of the city. I was immediately overwelmed. The traffic here is worse than Bangkok, and I never thought I would say that. I have never seen so many motorbikes in my life. Its a constant stream of thousands of bikes, all of them beeping their horns and weaving their way down the crowded streets.

Crossing the street here is quite terrifying. As there are no real stop lights or cross walks you just have to take a deep breath, step off the sidewalk, and make your way slowly across, praying you don't get hit.

Who knew that motorbike helmets could be such a fasion statement??

The food so far in Vietnam is amazing. I have had delcious steaming hot bowls of Pho, fresh spring rolls, tons of fresh fruit and some of the best ice coffee. Yum!

While in Saigon we decided to take a day trip to see the Cu Chi Tunnels. Again, I know nothing about the history of Vietnam and know very little about the war so I was looking foward to learning a little bit while I am here. The tunnels were pretty fascinating.

Cu Chi is a network of tunnels that runs about 250km long. It consists of 3 levels, the third being 10m below the surface. The tunnels were all hand dug. 16,000 Vietnemese lived in the tunnels for almost 20 years to avoid being killed by the American soilders. Only 3,000 survived.

We were able to go into a small section of the tunnels. I could not believe how small the tunnels were! . The tunnels were built in clay soil which protected them from water and flooding, bombs and even American tanks. The entrance to the tunnels were very also very well hidden. Even if the tunnels were discovered the Americans would have a really hard time fitting through the small openings. We also got to see some of the weapons that they used against the American soliders. Visiting the tunnels was really interesting and I am so glad that I was able to learn a little bit about the war.

I have honstely had enough of the hustle and bustle of the big city and ready to try something smaller. Off to the beach town of Nha Trang.!

Cambodia Part II- Siem Reap and Angkor Wat

Siem Reap is great. A really cute city. I especially  liked "Pub Street", a great little walking street with lots of restaurants, pubs, cafes and shops. Siem Reap also has a really great night market, and lots of good shopping!

Cambodia is really cheap. Everything is paid for in US Dollars. It is weird for me to think about everything in dollars again instead of Baht. I am in real trouble here because everything seems so cheap. Nice meals are $2-3, a tuk-tuk into town $2, scarves and souvenirs $1. Its crazy. I'm in real trouble when I go back home to the States because everything will be so expensive!

We hired a tuk-tuk driver for three days to tour Angkor Wat. Our driver, Mr. Na, was awesome. The first day we toured a lot of the smaller temples and ended the day with sunset at the top of the mountain of Phnam Bakhen temple. Day two we woke up super early to see sunrise over Angkor Wat. Unfortunately it was cloudy as it had rained the night before. Bummer. Angkor Wat was stunning nonetheless. We hit the major temples including Bayon temple which is famous for the faces carved into the rock and Ta Prahm temple famous for the ruins that look like they are being swallowed by tree roots. Both were amazing.  I really can't get over how ornate and detailed everything is. On the third day we went to a few of the older temples. We went to Banteray Srey and a few others located about an hour outside the city. It was really interesting to see how the architecture evolved from the older temples to the more "modern" ones. It was wonderful to be able to spend three days touring ruins!

As much as I loved Siem Reap and Angkor, there were a few downsides. I had a really hard time with the kids at Angkor. As soon as I arrived at a temple I was bombarded with little kids trying to sell trinkets and sourveniors and begging for money and candy. These kids were little too. "Just one dolla ladyyy" they would repeat as they followed us around. It made me feel a bit uncomfortable because I could actually very much afford to give this kid a dollar in exchange for a scarf, but I know that it would just encourage the kids to keep begging and perpetuate the problem. The kids were so cute and it was really hard to say no. Breaks my heart.

As friendly as the people here seem, it feels like it all comes down to money. Even our driver would stop at his "friends restaurant" even though we weren't hungry or stop at touristy places along the way and tell us we should buy something. They seemed very offended when we said no we didn't want to buy anything. I got really sick of the vendors yelling at me "Please ladyyyy, buy something".  I understand that Cambodia is still incredibly poor and trying to rebuild, but I got pretty frustrated with so many people asking me for money.

My overall experience in Cambodia was great. I am so glad that I was able to learn so much about the country and its history and visit one of the most incredible places on earth. I feel so lucky to have been able to visit Cambodia on this trip and I learned a lot from my time here. A week in Cambodia went by so fast and I can't believe its already time to head off to Vietnam!

I took SO many pictures at Angkor Wat. I posted a few randoms until I get a chance to really look through them.

Cambodia Part I: Phnom Penh

Wow, what a difference a couple of hours can make.

When I left Thailand the Songkran water festival was still raging. A few hours later I arrived in Phnom Penh. Cambodia is also celebrating its New Year but upon arrival I never would have guessed. The city looked pretty deserted. All the shops were closed and other than a small gathering of people at the park near our guesthouse, I never would have guessed it was New Year's. The celebration was nothing like Thailand, which turned out to be a good thing. After three days of getting soaked every time I set foot out of our hotel, I was ready to dry out.

The spiritual rituals for the New Year are similar to Thailand. The people go to the temples to pay respect to their ancestors and also to wash the Buddha statues with holy water. In Thailand and Cambodia water is supposed to symbolize the washing away of all the evil things from the previous year. Cambodia apparently has not caught on to the awesomeness of a 3 day water fight in the streets.

I have to admit that I know nothing about Cambodia and its history. Its not something I ever learned about in history class. I decided that while in Phnom Penh I had to go see the "Killing Fields" in order to better understand the country.

The killing fields of Choeng Ek is the place were thousands of prisoners of the Khmer Rouge were taken and executed. There was a lot of information about what happened at these fields and we were able to walk around and see the mass graves that were discovered. Pretty intense stuff.

After that we went to the Tuol Seing Musuem, also known as the S-21 prison. S-21, which used to be a high school, was converted into a prison and torture chamber for those who disagreed with Pol-Pot, one of the leaders of the Rouge.  On display at the museum were some pretty haunting photographs of all of the victims of the prison. You could also walk through and see the cells and chambers where they held the prisoners.

Even though it was a pretty depressing day I am so glad that I went to those places. Going to the museum really shaped my outlook on Cambodia and the people. Although Phnom Penh is still very much a developing city, they have come a long way in a very short amount of time. It was not that long ago that the city (and the entire country) was in ruins.

Songkran

Happy Thai New Year!

If you wish to celebrate the Thai New Year please read the following instructions:

Step 1- Go out and buy a water gun. The bigger the better. If you wish to be really mean buy a bucket or water hose
Step 2- Fill up your weapon with ICE cold water.
Step 3- Begin squirting random strangers in the face. (Its really fun to dump a whole bucket on an unsuspecting victim.)
Step 4- Mix baby powder with water and smear it all over people as they pass by.
Step 5- Continue for three days

Warning: Results may vary. This probably won't be well received in the States.  :)

Enjoy!

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

In case you didn’t know, Thailand is hot. Very hot. Even during the “winter” season it was hot. Now I have approached summer in Thailand. April is supposed to be the hottest month and boy am I feeling it.

You know it’s hot when…..

-I find myself drenched in sweat before 10 am. (And I never sweat at home!)

-I’ve gotten accustomed to taking about 4 showers a day, just to cool off. Not having hot water? Not really a problem. Now I look forward to taking icy cold showers.

-I find myself drinking what seems like a gallon of water a day, just to stay hydrated. It is soon seeping out of my pores

-Putting on layers and layers of sunscreen is a normal daily routine. The sun is way more intense. Carrying a backpack with sunburned shoulders is not fun. Trust me.

-I can now understand why Thai people don’t walk. Anywhere. It’s too darn hot. After a 5 minute walk I am soaking wet and wishing I had a motorbike to drive me up the street.

-I can also see why Thai people, usually shop owners, are often seen napping in the middle of the day. I have found myself in a similar routine simply because it is too hot to do anything other than nap.

-I used to think that it was odd that the locals avoid the sun like the plague. Now I find myself walking out of my way to seek solace in the shade.

-One of my favorite things I have seen in Thailand was a family of four on a motorbike carrying umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun. I used to think people were ridiculous for carrying umbrellas. Its not raining. Now it seems like a pretty brilliant idea. You will know I have been in Thailand too long when I start carrying an umbrella for shade.

Well, it’s time to go take my 3^rd shower of the day. I am sweating profusely just writing this blog.

Weirded Out in Railay

Last stop in Southern Thailand was Railay Island

From the moment I got to Tonsai beach I started having weird feelings about the island. I felt like I had been transported to a whole different planet. The scenery was so dramatic with the huge lime stone cliffs jutting out of the water. It felt very Jurassic Park-esque. After getting off the boat we found a cute little bungalow set back from the beach on a small jungle road. Our accommodations were a bit more “rustic” then I had been anticipating (man, I got spoiled in Bali J ). Electricity was only available between 6pm and 6am, and even then it was prone to random bumps and outages. The people on the island were friendly but a bit odd. Kind of like they had been stranded on a remote island for too long (maybe that’s the case?)

When we checked in to our hotel we were warned about the ferocious monkeys. Oh great. More monkeys. What we weren’t warned about were the GIGANTIC bugs on the island. Seriously. These bugs were about 10 times the size a normal bug should be. Even the mosquitoes were giant sized.

After getting settled we wandered in search of food. The place seemed deserted. There were lots of little restaurants and bars but nobody was around. I know Thailand is headed into the low tourist season but it was a little spooky. Kind of like we were the only ones dumb enough to come to this island and stay here. We finally found a restaurant that was crowded with people and we watched the locals playing volleyball on the beach and watched some rock climbers scaling the enormous cliffs.

That night there was a charity concert at the “Chill Out Bar” to help raise money for the victims of the tsunami in Japan and for the flood victims in Southern Thailand.  During the concert I felt like I had been transported to a whole different time and place. I have never seen so many Thai hippies in my life. And these were serious hippies too. I felt like I had gone back in time to 60’s or 70’s. All the local Thai men had dreads, afros or really long hair. They were dressed in serious bell bottoms, tie-dye shirts and even vests with flowers on them. The air was permeated with the smell of…ahem…a certain substance.

Where am I??

 The concert started and the band played one of the strangest collections of songs I have ever heard. They played Thai and English songs, followed by what sounded like Irish step music, something Middle Eastern, and then a polka melody.  I am still in Thailand right?

In the middle of the concert the power went off. Mai Pen Rai. No worries. The band kept playing like it was an everyday occurrence (which it probably is) and out came the fire dancers to keep the crowd entertained. When the lights came back they started a Thai puppet show which was pretty awesome. Finally about 1am, after sitting through hours of weird music (and getting a little sick of the...ahem…smell…coming from the bar), the band we had come to see finally came on. Job 2 Do is a famous Thai “reggae band”. So we listened and sang along to the songs we had come to recognize living in Thailand.  The concert was fun but I have never seen such an odd gathering of people.  

Walking back to our bungalow after the concert was also quite spooky. Walking down the beach in the pitch black and looking up to see the ominous looking cliffs above. That’s the stuff nightmares are made of. As we started up the jungle path leading to our place, my mind was running through all the various creatures that would emerge from the jungle and attack us. Monkeys? Giant Lizards? Snakes? More of those gigantic bugs? Luckily we survived the walk and did not get attacked by any wild jungle animals. We quickly shut and locked the door praying none of the monster size mosquitoes got in. 

Needless to say the next morning Olivia and I weren’t feeling the need to spend another night here. That morning we rented kayaks and paddled out to see the clliffs up close and personal. We came back, packed our bags and decided it was time to get the heck off this strange, strange island.  

On the way to the boat we did indeed see a giant lizard/komodo dragon type thing in the middle of the road. The locals just carried about like it was the most normal thing in the world. 

Tone Fa Sue Mak Mak

Koh Lanta was just what I was looking for. A beautiful, less expensive, and less touristy island.

I met back up with Olivia and we stayed at a really cute hotel right on the beach. The beach was gorgeous white sand and the water was so clear and so blue. 

We made a Thai friend at our hotel who volunteered to show us around the island. He took us to a great view point, drove us through old town and we were able to explore Saladen, the port city. The island of Koh Lanta is very large but it does not feel like it, and it is not quite on the tourist radar yet. It was great.

I learned a new Thai phrase while in Koh Lanta. ‘Tone fa sue mak mak’  which means ‘the sky is very beautiful’. Koh Lanta had the most amazing sunsets. Thailand has had some pretty incredible sunsets so far but I think Koh Lanta takes the cake. 

Island Life

Coming back to Thailand from Bali was a bit of a downer. Apparently it had been raining in the south for about a week straight and there was lots of flooding. So bad that many people got stranded on Koh Tao and Koh Samui. Kind of put a damper on my plans as I was supposed to be heading back to the islands. Not wanting to go back to rainy weather in the islands, I attempted to hop on a flight to Singapore with two of my friends. Unfortunately I was unable to change my ticket on such short notice (AirAsia could possibly be the most frustrating thing ever). So I ended up on my scheduled flight to Phuket. My plan had been to go back to Phi Phi but due to the rain and rough seas, I had no such luck. My friend Rachel and I decided to hang out in Phuket (which seemed to have avoided any signs of flooding) for a few days until the weather cleared.

Patong beach was a little better this time. Not nearly as many people, probably due to the rain. We indulged in a few western comforts and enjoyed two days of being completely lazy. Finally the weather showed signs of clearing. Feeling a bit restless in Phuket I jumped on the ferry hoping Phi Phi would be nice and sunny.

I got my wish and spent two glorious days on the beautiful (and clean) beach. Soaking up the sun, exploring the island and drinking lots of delicious tropical fruit shakes. Life is good.

As much as I loved Phi Phi and honestly think it is one of the must beautiful places I have ever been, its expensive and touristy. So after two days on the island by myself, it was time to move on to a less popular, and hopefully less expensive island.

Enter Koh Lanta

Bali Spirit Festival

The Bali Spirit Festival was awesome. Three days of yoga and dance classes and three nights of concerts. The festival took place in Ubud which is a really cute little city. Doing yoga felt so good. The classes I took were really fun and I felt so refreshed after. I took a few fun dance classes including African dance and Balinese dance!!  The concerts were great as well and included a ton of international music and bands. Definitely a highlight of my trip to Bali. I might just come back for next years Bali Spirit Festival   ;)

Beautiful Bali

Start up a converstation with any Balinese person and they could talk to you for hours about how wonderful Bali is. And they are right. Bali is amazing. The culture is so rich, the people are so friendly, and the scenary is absolutely stunning. I can see why they are so proud of their island.

When I first arrived in Bali the man who stamped my passport asked how long I was staying in Bali. When I told him one week he just shook his head and said "not enough time". He was right. A week in Bali definitely was not enough time. There is so much to see and explore and there is no way to pack it all in. But we did our best to get a good taste of the island. We hired a driver to take us around the island (definitely the best way to travel as there is no real public transportation). Our driver Yeoman was awesome and we hit up some great spots!

Here are a few highlights:

-Tanah Lot temple. A temple built on a small island in the ocean. Set against huge cliffs and a raging surf. Truely stunning
-Sunset at Uluwatu temple, another temple built on top of an enormous cliff. So dramatic. The monkeys here were not so nice and one tried to steal my flip flop!
-Local market is Despensar. Totally crazy but a unique cultural experience
-A trip up to Mt Batur, a huge volcano crator and beautiful lake. It was pouring rain but sitting at lunch and watching the clouds disappear and the crator emerge was pretty amazing.
-Ubud, such a cute town!
-Lush green rice terraces and all the beautiful scenary along the way
-The food! Turns out I love Balinese food!
-Bali Spirit Festival

I really hope to come back to Bali in the near future to explore more of the culture and places on this beautiful island

Paradise

Trying desperately to escape the madness of Phuket we decided to head to Phi Phi. Truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I had been anxious about getting to Phi Phi since I arrived in Thailand and it didn't disappoint.  It seriously looks like a postcard. I am having a really hard time coming up with the words to describe just how wonderful the island is. How white the sand on the beach is, what a beautiful color turquoise the water is, just how high the limestone cliffs jut out of the water. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to upload photos so if you are curious, do a google search of Maya Beach.

Amazing right? Look familiar? Its actually the beach featured in the movie "The Beach" starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Yeah, awesome, I know.

We spent a short two days in Phi Phi, which included a boat trip around the islands. We snorkeled in the clear blue water, saw monkeys on "monkey beach", got caught in a kayak during an epic rainstorm and overall enjoyed the beautiful scenery surrounding the island    Two days was not nearly enough and I hope to make it back! For now its on to Bali!! Can't believe I am going to two of the most beautiful places on earth in the same week! :)

I'm working hard on trying to post pictures!

Culture Shock

I never thought I would experience culture shock coming back into Thailand, but after spending almost a month in Northern Thailand and Laos it was such a shock when I finally made it to the south. After two LONG days of traveling, I arrived in Phuket. I definitely underestimated how long it would take to get from Laos to the Southern Beaches. Poor planning on my part. I arrived in Phuket utterly exhausted and I was dropped off in the middle of the craziest beach in Phuket, Patong Beach. The only way I can really describe it is like Bangkok only next to the beach. It was busy, noisy, crowded and really overwhelming. The streets were crawling with farang and I counted about 6 McDonalds on my hour long walk trying to find my hostel. Is this really Thailand? I was not liking Phuket so far. I decided to give it a chance and after a good night sleep and my first real meal in two days (does McDonalds count as a real meal?) I woke up refreshed hoping my view of the city would change. Unfortunately it didn't. It had absolutely no appeal to me at all. My friend Katherine and I decided it was time to get the heck out of Phuket and find a quieter island. Its amazing to me that Phuket is so hyped up. It doesn't even feel like Thailand.

Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang. What a pleasant surprise! I didn't really know what to expect when going into Laos. Even though we had done a lot of research I still didn't really know what we were going to find. The city of Luang Prabang is actually a World Heritage Site due to its 30 something temples (a lot of temples for a pretty small city). The city has a lot of French/European influence and we discovered lots of cute little sidewalk cafes and restaurants. I really felt like I was in Europe....with a Thailand flair. It was a very interesting, and at times, confusing city. Laos is an extremely poor country. The Laos Kip is not worth anything yet everything seemed to be really expensive when converted to Thai Baht or US dollars. It was not at all what I was expecting. The city was clean, the people were extremely friendly and there were a ton of foreigners around. I had no idea that Laos was such a popular tourist destination.

We spent five days in Luang Prabang. We went on a tour of the Pak Ou caves which is an ancient temple built into a cliff that now houses thousands of Buddha statues. We also took a trip to the waterfall nearby which, despite the rain, was amazing! The rest of the time we simply wandered the streets, hung out at cafes and bookstores and spent way too much Kip at the awesome night market! :)  It was such a fun city to just hang out and relax. A nice surprise!  It was a good change to get out of Thailand for a bit but now its back to Thailand and the beautiful beaches!

Crazy/Beautiful

Getting to Laos was, well, an intereting process. A process I hope I don't soon have to repeat. Malewaan, the super friendly owner of the guest house, drove us to the dock where we had to stand in line to get stamped out of Thailand. Then we had to load onto a long-tail boat for the short 1 minute ride to the other side. We made it to Laos! Along with about 100 other farang. Seriously, where did all these people come from?!? They definitely were not in Chiang Khong....We got to Huay Xai in Laos and had to make our way through a mad crowd of people all waiting to get their visa on arrival. I have never seen such a disorganized system. There was no line or any direction whatsoever ( I guess I should be used to this coming from Thailand).   I had to fight my way through the crowd in order to shove my passport and paperwork through the window. Then we had to wait for them to return our passport with our Laos visa. The process took forever and it was serious chaos. Everyone was crowding the tiny office waiting for their picture to be shown in the window. Finally we got our passports and headed up the hill to catch a tuk-tuk to collect our ticket for the slow boat. We got on the boat and found the boat was filled with seats that you find in a mini-van. Interesting choice for a boat. We grabbed seats and watched as the huge crowd of people we had seen at the imigration office were all getting on the boat. I had a moment of panic as they continued to load people and luggage. Is everyone going to fit? Is this boat even going to float?  Finally we left, 2 hours after the boat was supposed to leave. Lukily the boat did not sink and I enjoyed a beautiful, but a little cramped, boat ride. We stopped for the night in a little town called Pak Beng and then got up super early to ensure we got better seats for the second half of the boat ride to Luang Prabang. They had two boats this time so it was a much more comfortable ride, until we hit a patch of rapids and a big wave hit the side of the boat and we got soaked! We made it to Luang Prabang!

 Although the boat ride and the entire process was a bit chaotic the scenary along the river was absolutely amazing. My favorite part was seeing some of the local people swimming in the river. They jumped up and down and waved to us as we passed by in the boat. :)

Off The Beaten Path

After spending a couple days in Chiang Rai it was off to Chiang Khong, a small town on the border of Thailand. We found an awesome guest house that was right on the Mekong river. You could see Laos on the other side. It was beautiful! We met a peace corps voluteer, Josh, who lives in Chiang Khong and happens to frequent the guest house (to use the free wi-fi). We decided to rent bikes and ride to the waterfall that was nearby. The bike ride was pretty intense. Very hilly for someone who is not in shape and has done nothing but eat, and lay around for the past 2 weeks ;) The bike ride, although difficult was beautiful and took us through a couple of Hmong villages. Luckily Josh could speak Thai because there were no signs for the waterfall and we probably would have gotten lost. We had to hike for about an hour in order to reach the actual waterfall. I kinda got the feeling that this wasn't something very many tourists do. The hike was difficult but absolultey gorgeous. I felt really out of shape when we stopped for a rest along the way and we saw a group of Thais running up the trail like it was nothing...in flip flops! The actual waterfall was nothing special (it is the dry season after all), but sometimes its more about the journey then the destination. Chiang Khong was great and I am glad we were able to get an insider perspective.

The past couple of weeks spent in Northern Thailand has been amazing. A great start to my 2 month traveling extravaganza. I can't believe how different northern Thailand is from central Thailand. I saw some amazing ruins, beautiful scenary and met some awesome people.

Crossing the river into Laos! So excited!

Chaing Rai

Arrived in Chiang Rai, a short 3 hour bus ride from Chiang Mai. We had a few issues finding our hotel from the bus station but alas made it and wandered out to check out the night bazaar. Chiang Rai so far is a lot like Chiang Mai only a lot smaller. We discovered a cute place to stay, Baan Bua guest house. On Saturday we walked around exploring the city. Lots of little coffee shops and cafes. On Saturday we went to the Saturday night market which was similar to the Sunday walking street in Chiang Mai. So many vendors selling everything you could possibly imagine. It was super crowded and I wondered where all the people were coming from as Chiang Rai does not seem that big. 

On Sunday we signed up for a siteseeing tour. First stop on the tour was the "White Temple". This temple was built (and is still being finished) about 13 years ago by a famous artist in Thailand. It is white because it is supposed to depict his vision of heaven. It was very interesting because as you first enter the temple there are stautes and things that are supposed to depict hell and represents how you have to walk through hell to get to heaven. Inside the temple was a mural that had a similar theme. Things that were corrupt or evil on the bottom and more heavenly as you move to the top. The artist painted things like guns, knives, missles, and various American sci-fi and fantasy characters...superman, avatar, keenu reeves from the matrix.... interesting. Things I would not think would be painted in a temple.

Next stop was the "Black House" which is pretty much the exact opposite of the White Temple. The house was supposed to depict hell. It was built by another famous artist but I have to say I did not understand it. The house itself was beautiful but it was filled with dead animal skulls and the skeleton of an elephant.... Didn't quite like that as much as the white temple.

From here we took a GORGEOUS drive through the mountains up to the top of Mae Salong. The top itself was a big tourist trap attempting to get you to buy stuff made by the hilltribe villagers. The drive up was pretty stunning and we got to get a glimpse of the village life. We stopped a few times along the way to take pictures of the panaramic views and check out the tea plantations. A great tour! One more day in Chiang Rai and then we are headed to Chiang Khong on the Thailand/Laos border!!

Try to post pictures soon!

Chiang Mai Part II

The last few days in Chaing Mai were spent exploring the city and relaxing. I signed up for another cooking class and learned how to make more of my favorite dishes including chicken with cashew, mango sticky rice and my new favorite dish paneng curry. So yummy. I really hope I can recreate these dishes at home! We also went on a night safarai which was basically a tour of the zoo at night. It was cool to see some of the animals that usually only come out at night.   
I also spent my time in Chiang Mai eating. A lot. Breakfasts were pankcakes and fresh fruit shakes, lunch consisted of sandwhiches and another new favorite dish, khao soi (noodles and curry). We discovered a really great vegetarian resturant with our hostel mate Jesse and had a delicious meal. We came back the next morning for breakfast. They had the best vegan cookies and soy ice cream. So much good food in Thailand! I feel like all I do is eat.  :)

Chiang Mai was a great city and I really enjoyed it. So many cute cafes and coffee shops. The people were so friendly and spoke amazing English. 

Next stop Chiang Rai!

Chiang Mai Part I

We arrived in Chiang Mai after about a 5 hours bus ride. We dropped our stuff off at the Little Bird Hostel and went to go check out the "Sunday Walking Street" a gigantic night market in the heart of the "old city". We got there a little early and were able to see all of the vendors setting up for the night. The market was huge and went on for blocks and blocks. They had so many neat souvenirs and things to buy and was it was really fun to wander and check out all the new and different knick-knacks. Luckily traveling with only a backpack really deters you from buying too much stuff  :) We also ate some great street food snacks along the way. I love Chiang Mai already.

On Monday we got up and decided to do our own walking tour of the temples in the "Old City" (Chiang Mai is also divided). We went and saw four of the famous temples (as suggested by lonely planet) and it was really interesting to see how the temples differed in architecture from everywhere else I have been in Thailand. It was a fun morning spent temple spotting (there are A LOT of temples!). After lunch we headed to the women's prison for a massage. I know its sounds weird but its actually part of a rehabilitation program. It was the best massage I have had so far in Thailand, and really cheap too! After a relaxing massage we jumped on a song-tau up to Doi Suthep, the highest mountain in Thailand to check out the temple ( I had been on my previous trip to Chiang Mai with the school).   

Chiang Mai is such a great city and I am falling in love with it already. We had planned to stay about 4-5 days but we may end up staying longer. There is so much to do and see here and the city has such a great atmosphere. Chiang Mai part II coming soon!

Sukhothai

The first stop on my two month traveling journey was Sukhothai, and what a perfect place to start. Sukhothai is a cute little city that was once the old capital of Thailand. Sukhothai is divided into two parts, the old city where the historic park and ruins are, and the new city where we stayed. We stayed at a really cute little guest house run by a friendly couple.  The first day we took a trolley/song-tau thing into the old city where we rented bikes to tour the ruins. Unlike Ayuttaya, all of the ruins are located in one park area. The ruins were amazing and much more well preserved. The park was also way less crowded and touristy. My favorite part of the ruins was the "Big Buddha" at Wat Sri Chum. So amazing. Although it was hotter than hot, it was a great day biking around the ruins. The next day was spent exploring the "new city" and lounging at our hostel. We had allowed ourselves two days to tour the ruins but we really only needed one. I am definitely glad we stopped in Sukhothai. I think it is a place that tends to get overlooked by tourists but has some of the most amazing ruins I have seen and definitely worth a stop. Next stop Chiang Mai!

P.S. Unfortunately I was unable to  pack my laptop in my backpack so I may not be able to upload photos for a while. I will try to post pictures as soon as I find a place that allows me to do it!

The Good, The Bad and The Just Darn Cute

The semester is quickly coming to an end and I only have two more days of teaching. I thought I would take a moment and reflect on my teaching experience.

The Good

-This semester I had 2 or 3 classes that I absolutely loved. The students were always energetic and enthusiastic about class, no matter what I was teaching. They were generally engaged in the lesson and I always had fun teaching them. I looked forward to seeing them every week. I was also able to bond with a few of the students which is extremely difficult to do when you have such large classes. If all of my classes were like that, I would have no problem continuing to teach in Thailand

-Being able to build relationships with some of the teachers at my school was huge. All of the teachers were extremely nice to me and made sure that I adjusted to life in U-Thong. So many of the teachers would go out of their way to do anything for me and I really appreciate all of the nice things they did for me

-What I like to call the “aha” moment. It is difficult to teach a language to students who have spent the last few years learning English from a Thai teacher. Sometimes it was really difficult to get my point across because they just didn’t understand me. I felt so good when I could tell that a student finally understood what I was talking about and had that “aha moment” Sometimes it happened to me when a Thai student tried desperately to communicate something to me in Thai. Finally after lots of repeating and gesturing I would have that “aha” moment and understand what the student was trying to say.  Getting past the language barrier always felt good. 

The Bad

-Having 55 students in each class was crazy. It was impossible to find lesson plans that kept the kids engaged. I would say about 90% of the students could care less about learning English and that made it hard for me to get excited about teaching them.

-Having so many classes was also difficult. I would plan one lesson per week but it I would have to tweak it -for different classes. A lesson would go over so well with one class but then completely fail in another class.

-My M5 classes pretty much stopped showing up by the end of the semester. I probably saw my Friday afternoon classes about 3 times the entire semester. It was frustrating that I still had to go to class and wait around to see if they would show up. It was always amazing to me that an ENTIRE class would agree to ditch class

-The lack of resources was very frustrating. I had to plan my own lessons, which was difficult, especially with an unreliable internet connection. I was unable to do a lot of the lessons I wanted to do either because of lack of resources or because there were just too many students to make it work.

 -The kids were constantly talking, copying and working on other homework, playing on their cell phones and listening to their Ipods. By the end of the semester I had pretty much given up the battle. 

The Just Darn Cute

-I am kind of going to miss hearing “helllooo teecha” about a thousand times a day

-I am really going to miss my students laughing at me when I butcher the Thai language. They always thought it was so funny when I tried to pronounce anything in Thai.

-I thought it was funny when my students got frustrated with English and they would ask me to “speak Thailand”.

-I am going to miss students calling me beautiful and random boys saying “I love yooouuu”

-I am also going to miss groups of students running up to me and saying random things in English and then running away giggling.

-Some of the students were just so darn cute. They always sat in the front row and smiled and nodded at me the whole time I was teaching. Definitely going to miss those smiling faces.

There were many times that I got extremely frustrated with the school and with teaching, but overall I am so glad that I had this experience. It really gave me insight into the life and culture of the Thai people and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. There were days when I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face, but as always in life, there were bad days too. I am both excited and sad to be leaving U-Thong and the school. There are a few things I will miss about teaching and I will miss the connections that I made here.

Now it is time to pack everything up and begin my travel adventure. First stop Sukhothai. Can’t wait!  

Western Weekend

Where do you go if you want to see old white men in speedos? Hua Hin. Well, any beach in Thailand really, but specifically Hua Hin. I have never seen so many oversized European men wearing undersized swim wear. I understand it’s a cultural thing but I really wish they would cover up. Especially when you look around and see that the local Thai's swim fully clothed and wear long sleeves and long pants to the beach.  

Hua Hin is a popular beach destination for both local Thais and farang due to its close proximity to Bangkok. It definitely caters to the westerners and is crawling with older white couples and ex-pats. Despite being a little grossed out by the lack of coverage on the beach, Hua Hin was a pretty neat town. I spent some time on the beach, celebrated a good friend’s birthday and ate a lot of western food. Food this weekend included Italian, really good Mexican and even bagels with real cream cheese!!

Best part of the weekend? Waking up really early to watch the sunrise on the beach. Amazing. 

Im Mak

I think I gained about 10 pounds in 2 days. No joke.  I don’t think I have ever eaten so much good food in my life.

The semester is coming to an end and it will soon be time for me to leave U-thong. Olivia, Elana and I decided we wanted to take our teacher friends out to dinner as a thank you for everything they have done for us this semester. We invited our coordinators Nu, and Jeab, and our friends Tu, Wonchai and Bua to dinner at Tu’s family restaurant. We have become quite close with these teachers over the past few months and they have been so wonderful to us; driving us to Tesco, taking us on random adventures, and treating us to so many lunches and dinners I can’t even keep track. They are all such wonderful people and I can’t imagine my experience in Thailand without them.  

Dinner was “aroi mak” (very delicious) and I absolutely stuffed myself on fried fish, tom yum soup, gang leang(sp?) soup, and a salty fruit salad. Soooo good. The conversation at dinner may have seemed a little odd to an outsider. The farang were attempting to talk in Thai and the Thai teachers were practicing their broken English, yet somehow it worked and there was laughter and smiles all around. The teachers tried to teach us some new Thai words, none of which I can remember (dang, I need to be better about writing these things down). The one phrase I do remember: “Im mak” meaning very full.  

The next night Olivia and I were invited out for dinner by two teachers P Meow (I love her name!) and Petah (?). We went to this amazing restaurant that I didn’t even know existed (funny how we find all these new places right before we leave). The teachers speak pretty rough English, but I could tell they were so excited to be out with the foreign teachers so they could practice. As soon as we sat down a big clay pot with burning hot coals was set down in front of us. Along with a bowl of raw pork, some veggies, noodles, and a few spices. Everything we needed to begin our “hot pot” dinner. The teachers started by adding the broth and various ingredients into the bowl that was warming over the coals and we began to cook our meat. Seriously one of the best meals I have ever had. I could not stop eating. The teachers got a kick out of me saying “Im mak” every time they tried to put more food on my plate.       

Two great meals spent with great company. I’m a pretty happy (and full) girl. J

Chinese New Year

For Chinese New Year Olivia and I headed to Bangkok to check out China Town. We took a stroll down Yarawat road which was decked out in red and gold and covered with lanterns, banners and other festive decorations. We wandered through a giant, never-ending, market filled with every cheesy souvenir you could possibly think of. It was awesome.  

On Thursday we went with our school to a New Years celebration in Suphanburi at the Chinese Dragon Decedents museum, which is literally a gigantic dragon sculpture. Here we were able to see some traditional Chinese dances and performances. Of course there were fireworks (this country puts our 4^th of July to shame) and a concert by a pretty famous Thai pop band (judging by the screams of  my M2 girls).

Here are a few things I learned about Chinese New Year

-Chinese people spend the days before the New Year cleaning the entire house. This is meant to symbolize sweeping away all the ill-fortunes from the previous year and making room for all of the good fortunes that are to come in the new year.

-In China Town I saw many people burning big bonfires. I found out the people make offerings to the dead by burning items (such as fake money, fake houses etc.) to send to the afterlife. They also set out big feasts for the spirits of their ancestors.

-You are not allowed to cut your hair right before or after the New Year. You are also not allowed to wash your hair because you will be washing away your good luck. 

-2011 is the year of the Rabbit, which apparently means it will be a much calmer year than 2010 (the year of the Tiger).

Channeling My Inner Thai Chef

Wednesday I had the day off due to Chinese New Year. Olivia and I decided to head to Bangkok to take a cooking class and check out China Town.

The cooking class was so much fun. The class started with a field trip to a local market where we were able to pick up all of the fresh produce that we needed to make our dishes. On the menu: spring rolls, pad thai, som tom (papaya salad), masaman curry and fried banana with coconut ice cream These are some of my favorite dishes here in Thailand so I was really excited to learn how to cook them!

As some of you may know, I am not the best cook in the world. I was a little worried about trying to learn how to cook Thai food. There are so many ingredients that I am not familiar with and it all seems so complicated. Luckily, a friend recommended a great cooking school. Our instructor was awesome. Not only was he absolutely hilarious, he was knowledgeable and helpful.  I learned a lot about different spices and different chilies used in Thai cooking and learned the proper techniques for making som tom and curry paste. We got to eat all of the dishes we cooked and I have to say they all turned out really well. We got to keep the recipes so I am excited to try to re-create the dishes at home for my friends and family!

True Beauty

Saturday I met up with some people from OEG and it was off to hike the Erawan waterfalls. After an uncomfortable two hour bus ride (I was standing up in the aisle the whole way) we arrived at the park. Erawan is a seven tiered waterfall and we couldn’t wait to get started on the hike.  All of the levels of the waterfall were incredibly beautiful and it was a really enjoyable hike. I couldn’t get over how pretty the falls were. Some of my pictures seriously look fake. After climbing all the way to the 7^th tier (yay!) we headed back down to find a suitable place to swim. We stopped at the 5^th tier and jumped in the icy cold water. It felt so refreshing after about 2 hours of hiking. I got a little freaked out about the fish though, not going to lie. There were lots of fish that would literally come up and nibble on your feet. I can’t believe you can actually pay to get a fish pedicure (you stick your feet in a big tank of these fish and they supposedly eat all the dead skin off you feet). No thank you. So after a few minutes of frantically keeping our limbs moving to avoid the fish, we climbed up onto a waterfall for a photo-op. After that we hiked down to the 4^th tier where you can actually slide down the waterfall. I was hesitant at first because it looked a little scary, but I decided to do it (when in Thailand right?). I climbed up the huge rock and slid down. It was exhilarating. We continued our decent and caught the bus back to Kanchanburi (a much more comfortable ride). Such a fun day. Between the Erawan falls and Sangklaburi I would say this was one of my favorite weekends so far. Life is good.   

Oh yeah, there were also monkeys. Luckily they stuck to the tree tops and didn't come steal our stuff! 

The Time I Got Three Steps Into Burma

I had a four day weekend this week due to a boy scout/girl scout field trip. Olivia and I decided to head to Sangklaburi and then to the Erawan waterfalls in Kanchanaburi.

Our journey began at the crack of dawn. We decided to get up super early to ensure that we would have at least two half days to spend in Sangklaburi. The journey there was surprisingly uneventful. We were warned by some friends who had recently gone that the van ride was a bit terrifying. So I went prepared with some dramamine in my pocket and a car sick bag just in case. Luckily I didn’t need it. The last hour was a bit windy but our driver took it slow so it wasn’t so bad. 

We arrived in Sanklaburi at the wonderful P Guest House, a really cute place that overlooks a huge beautiful lake. The scenery was unbelievable. After checking in we decided to rent a canoe for the afternoon and explore a bit of the lake. This turned out to be a lot more work than we thought, but it was beautiful nonetheless and definitely worth the work out. We passed by a ton of floating houses.  Most of the locals there live on these houseboats that are literally built on bamboo rafts. So cool. We paddled all the way to the mysterious “underwater temple”. We were initially confused as we came up on what looked like the ruins of an ancient temple but it was not “underwater”. We came to the conclusion that since it is currently the dry season, the water level of the lake was probably low and perhaps in the rainy season, when the lake water is higher, the temple would indeed be underwater. We also paddled to check out the Saphan Mon bridge which is the longest wooden bridge in Thailand. Apparently you can walk across it but we weren’t feeling quite adventurous enough to try it as it looked a little rickety.

The next day we decided to go check out the Three Pagoda Pass, a monument on the Thai/Burma border. On the way there, I swear our driver was playing "how many people can you fit in a song-tau”. At one point I counted 21 people, including a kid riding on top of the car. A very interesting, and cramped, ride. We got to the Three Pagoda Pass, snapped some pictures and then walked over towards the Burma border. We saw tons of people walking back and forth what looked like the border. There was no one stopping them to check passports and no real signs, so Olivia and walked cautiously a little forward. We got about three steps in, what apparently was the “border”, before a young man wagged a finger at us and pointed back the other way. Ah well, guess i'll have to stay in Thailand. 

Sangklaburi was amazing and I was really sad to leave. It was so peaceful and the scenery was incredible. It was time to go to Kanchanburi to meet up with some fellow OEGers and hike the Erawan falls.      

Reflection

I have one month of teaching left. I can’t believe it. Is it really almost February? Wasn't it just Christmas? The semester has gone by extremely fast, but when I think back to my first few days of orientation in Bangkok, it feels like a lifetime ago. My trip has been incredible and I have seen so many amazing places and been able to do so many amazing things.  I am so grateful for that. I feel like I have really gotten used to living here. Now that I really only have a month left of “living” in Thailand, it is time to answer the dreaded question. “What’s next?” I can’t picture myself signing up for another semester. I absolutely LOVE living in Thailand; unfortunately, I am not in love with teaching. So the question is, where do I go from here?  I know that I want to travel for a while and I guess that is all I need to focus on for now.  I just need to push back the thoughts of “what am I doing with my life?” and focus on enjoying the rest of my time here in Thailand and exploring more of Southeast Asia. More amazing places and incredible adventures to come!   

Floating Market

Saturday I went to the Ampawa floating market. I know I said I was over the whole school field trip thing, but when the school announced they were taking a trip to the floating market, I couldn't pass it up. I have wanted to go to the market since I got here, but it is surprisingly difficult to get to from Bangkok.  I decided it would be easier to have a bus drive me directly there, even if it meant suffering through another bus ride with the students.

On the way to the market we stopped at the “Siam Cultural Park”. It was actually a really pretty park with lots of trees and vegetation. They had a museum, Buddha statues from various time periods, and a few old Thai style houses that you could walk through. We had a tour guide, but of course it was in Thai and I couldn’t understand anything they were saying. At one point in the museum they had these wax statues depicting the life of a man who was apparently famous and important to the history of Thailand. I asked one of my teachers to translate what the tour guide was saying. The translation went something like this:

“This man had many wife”

“He ask Buddha for help”

“Buddha give him the last children”

“He eat too much”

“Stomach blow up”

Needless to say, I have no idea who this man was, why he was famous, or even why his stomach blew up. Bad Karma? 

The floating market was pretty cool but not what I was expecting. I have seen so many colorful pictures of the floating markets but it didn’t really look anything like those pictures. The coolest part about the market is the food vendors. They actually cook the food on the boat and you sit on the steps at the edge of the water to eat. Other than that, I found it to be crowded and touristy. I did find a few neat souvenirs that I haven’t seen anywhere else.  Overall I am glad that I went.

Neung, Song, Saam...Cha Cha Cha

Salsa Dancing. One thing I definitely did not expect to do in Thailand.  Yet somehow I found myself learning the Cha Cha and various other Latin inspired dances from my Thai teachers at a two week late New Years party. Thailand continues to surprise me.

Our teacher friend Tu invited us to a party at her family restaurant to celebrate “New Year”. (I hope she realizes she was a little late!)  Tu had told us that there would be “dancing” and “singing”, which, if you have been reading my posts, could mean any number of things. So again, I went to the party not really knowing what I was getting myself into.

The evening started off with a delicious six course meal. There were a few teachers from U-Thong school and a bunch of Tu’s friends from Suphanburi and surrounding areas. Dinner was fun and there was of course a lot of karaoke.  

After dinner Tu dragged me to the dance floor as they started playing Thai music with a definite Latin flare. Suddenly I found myself attempting to learn how to salsa dance. I was seriously shocked to see how good the teachers were at dancing. My jaw literally dropped as I watched them cha cha cha their way around the dance floor. The teachers were trying to teach me how to dance and I could not help but smile and laugh when they started counting out the steps in Thai. “Neung, song, saam…cha cha cha..”   The night was a lot of fun and not at all what I was expecting. Definitely a unique experience.  

Happy Teacher Day!

Yesterday was “Teacher Day”, a day to recognize all the wonderful teachers in Thailand. We were told there was going to be a party for the teachers of U-Thong. I didn’t really know what to expect because, as always, I never know what is going on.

Turns out it was a huge banquet type dinner for all the teachers in U-Thong and surrounding areas. The banquet started off with a lot of speeches by people high up in the education system. Apparently the prime minister of education for central Thailand was present. This was followed by an eight course meal, music, dancing, a raffle and of course fireworks.

Dinner was a variety of dishes including fish, fried rice, chicken, tom yum with seafood etc. I even tried pig stomach (at least I think that was what they said it was….).  I will definitely never go hungry in Thailand. They are always trying to feed us as if we are starving. They just kept bringing out plates and plates of food.

The dancing was…umm… interesting. Kind of “Vegas show girl”. The costumes were very sparkly and flashy and they even wore those gigantic feather headdresses. One of the singers of the band wore a very promiscuous outfit, including a very short mini-skirt and a shirt that showed off her mid-driff. We were shocked that this was acceptable in a culture that is considerably conservative in the way that they dress. When we tried to ask the teachers about why this was ok and they explained that the woman was actually a man. Umm… could have fooled me.

Now I don’t know if any of you know anything about the “lady boy” culture in Thailand, but it is kind of fascinating. There are a lot of men who dress like women and act like women. Honestly, I have a hard time distinguishing them sometimes because they look so much like women. I was very surprised when I came to Thailand that the “lady boy” is so culturally accepted. I found out it has a lot to do with the Buddhist culture.  The Thai’s believe that a “lady boy” is someone who was a woman in a past life but was reincarnated as a man. They still have the “female spirit” however it represents itself in male form. Quite interesting.

(sorry for the random tangent) 

The dancing was followed by a raffle with prizes including rice cookers, toasters, irons, fans and other small home appliances.   Overall, a pretty interesting night.

 Happy Teacher day to all my follow teachers in Thailand! 

Only in Thailand

Things I have gotten used to:

-The unbelievable generosity of the Thai people.

-The familiar call of the geckos in my room in the middle of the night

-Laid back attitude. Even though the school can be extremely disorganized, (and I often find out 10 minutes before that my class is canceled for a random reason), I have discovered that you just have to roll with it sometimes.  Shrug it off. “Mai pen rai”

-Being stopped in the middle of the street and being asked “where you come from?” I always reply with “America”.  The stranger then nods or smiles and continues on with their day.

-My students shouting “hello teacher!” from across the way.

-My students calling me “beautiful teacher”

-Hearing the word “farang”

-Thai music. I have actually grown to like the music here. Although I am pretty tired of hearing the pop love songs. (Except for "1,2,3,4,5 I love you". That ones my favorite. 555)

-coconut milk on everything!

-The ants. I have made my peace with them

-Mosquitos. They seem to be leaving me alone. For now….

-Having a 7-11 on every corner. I don’t know what I would do without it!

-Random people yelling “hello” or “yoooo” as they whiz by on their motorcycle

-Our “regular” food stalls that we visit. We now have a “lunch lady”, a “coffee lady”, a “som tom lady” and a “fruit lady”. None of them speak English but are absolutely thrilled to see us on a regular basis. The highlight of my day is getting a huge smile as I pull up on my bike to order a cha yin.

Things I am still getting used to

-Squat toilets. I don’t think I will ever get used to them. I am thrilled when I find a restroom that has both a western toilet and offers toilet paper. A rare commodity!

-Being stared at. All the time.

-Being in a constant state of confusion. I never seem to know what is going on. Oh, another random festival? Ok, cool.  

-Motorbikes. Seriously. I can’t get over it when I see little babies perched on their parents lap as they drive through town.

-Lack of hand soap

-Lack of paper products. Using toilet paper as a napkin doesn’t really cut it

-Weird spicy sugar stuff they put on their fruit (and the weird stares I get when I don’t use it). 

-Stray dogs

-Communication barrier. It can still be really frustrating when you can’t get your point across no matter how much you gesture and how many different ways you try to say it (in English and Thai).

-The fact that Thai people wear sweaters and jackets when its 90 degrees. I am sweating in a tank top and shorts and they are wearing coats and scarves?

-My kids horse playing in class. They hit each other really hard!

True story: My coordinator's friend ran out of gas on the side of the road so we went to go help her. We pull up to a gas station but they didn't have any gas cans. So, they decided to give us a plastic bag full of gas and cut a water bottle in half to use as a funnel (no joke). My coordinator causally handed the bag of gasoline to Olivia who was lucky enough to be sitting in the front seat. She held the bag out the window as we drove because the fumes were so bad. I could not stop laughing in the backseat. Only in Thailand. 

Field Trip!

Saturday it was off to Kanchanaburi on a school field trip, “English on Tour”.  A group of my M2 students were selected to go on this field trip in order to practice their English skills. The bus ride started off with me and Olivia asking questions in English and students reading the history of the sites we were going to see. The students were supposed to complete an assignment at each of the stops on the trip.  First stop was the WWII cemetery containing soldiers and prisoners of war involved in building the “death railway”. After that it was on to the “Bridge over the River Kwae” (apparently pronounced kway not kwai.  Kwai means buffalo in Thai which the Thai teachers and students thought was hilarious) The bridge was part of the “death railway” built by the Japanese. The railway was intended to link Thailand and Burma and was used to transport labor and supplies to the Japanese army. After a morning filled with history it was off to the Soi Yok waterfall. The students had to complete an assignment where they had to have a conversation with a foreigner and ask them questions in English. The waterfall was pretty but it was very crowded and touristy. As for the kids, I don’t know if any of them completed this part of the assignment. I kept asking my kids if they needed help, but they just said “No teacher. Later”. I think they were too nervous about approaching a stranger and attempting to talk to them in English. Overall, a pretty interesting field trip.

Sunday it was time for another “field trip”. Although, I wouldn’t necessarily call a trip to the Chatachack weekend market in Bangkok a “field trip”. Doesn’t seem to me there is much educational value there….Nonetheless, 7 buses were loaded with probably about a thousand kids (all grade levels). And guess what?  The kids were literally dropped off and told to meet back at the buses. I was shocked as the M1 students (11-12 year olds) were simply let loose into the largest market in the world. I thought for sure someone was going to get lost. Heck, there have been a few times where I have felt the onset of a small panic attack because I could not find my out. But low and behold, after an afternoon of shopping, all the students seemed to have made it out alive. Whew.

It was a pretty fun weekend, however I think I am done with the school field trips for a while. I don’t know how many more bus rides filled with loud techno music and bad karaoke I can handle.     

Happy 2011!

Happy 2011!

Can I just say how incredibly lucky I am? I am getting PAID to LIVE in this BEAUTIFUL country. I seriously can’t get over it.

I also  have to say that I was a bit spoiled this weekend. I decided to go back to the island of Koh Chang. I met up with some friends and we stayed at the most amazing hotel. It was right on the beach and even had a roof top pool!!

On Friday, after spending the majority of the day lounging on the beach and swimming in the ocean, we decided to splurge on dinner. It’s New Years right? We found a Mexican restaurant and absolutely gorged ourselves on fajitas, burritos, nachos etc. It tasted SO good.  After dinner it was off to Lonely Beach for a gigantic New Years beach party. It was so much fun!

The next two days were spent being completely lazy. Lying on the beach and eating delicious food. Saturday night was Italian. I never knew pasta and pizza could taste so good.  On Sunday we went to Bang Bao which is a tiny fishing village at the southern tip of the island. It was such a cute town. We walked around, had lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool.

Best. New Years. Ever.

If the first few days of the new year are any indication of how the rest of the year will go, I’d say its going to be a great year.  J   

Happy Very Much in New Year

On Thursday we did not have classes due to the school having a New Years party. (I only taught 1.5 days this week!) I was excited but I had no idea what the New Years party entailed. All I knew was that there was some sort of marathon and that each class would have its own classroom party. I had also heard that there would be dancing. I had no idea what a big deal it was going to be.

On Thursday I woke up and went out to join the rest of our school to run a “marathon”. The whole school, including teachers, lined up behind a big start gate. The race was to the temple and back. Olivia and I walked the race with a few of the other teachers. It was actually a lot of fun. After the race there was a big award ceremony where they gave out trophies to the winners (they had several different age categories).  This was followed by a gigantic raffle of gifts. All of the students had put their names into a drawing. They had so many prizes! Fans, rice cookers, DVD players, TV’s, and one lucky student won a motorbike! (It still freaks me out that 15 year olds (and even younger!) can drive those motorbikes….) It was a lot of fun and the students really enjoyed getting presents!

After the school wide raffle, the students all went to their “homeroom” for their own New Years Party.  I went to have lunch with our teacher friends in the commercial department. After a really delicious meal, there was another raffle for the commercial students where even more prizes were given out. I got to help draw names and hand out the gifts. It was really fun!

After all of the gifts were gone, we were told it was time for “dancing”. I was thinking “dancing” meant some sort of Thai traditional dancing with the students in costumes etc. Boy was I wrong. Turns out the school hired a pretty famous Thai pop/rock band to come give a concert at the school. Just imagine over 3,000 students, a sea of yellow and red uniforms, going crazy to their favorite pop songs. I am sad to say that I actually recognized a few of the songs and enjoyed dancing with my students. It was great to see the kids in a totally different context, dancing and having fun. What a crazy day!

After the concert was over I wished the Thai teachers a Happy New Year and headed off to Koh Chang for my own New Years celebration.