Nancy Chandler's Chaing Mai Map is a really cool map. I wish there was one of DC and Baltimore.
It's a work of art, and it's super useful and has lots of "local secrets" - super fun to explore with.
I only got it yesterday, but I have big plans now, including but not limited to:
-so many sweet and super cheap vegetarian restaurants
-what looks like the best yoga studio
-Cat Sanctuary/Wat!
- and hopefully and good place for Mom and Dad to stay when they come. :)
http://www.nancychandler.net/product.asp?pId=12
Monday, January 28, 2013
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Ban Tham Lod/Pai
Greetings!
So a bunch of friends from the program went to the beach this past week because we had so many days off school. It was last minute planning, and I wanted to hang with Kim so we thought about going back to Pai. I'm glad I looked in Stephanie's Lonely Planet book for something else because I read about this awesome place only about an hour from Pai called Ban Tham Lod.
Same as the last post- everyone who is coming, you should go here.
Here is a nice article in NYTimes that I just found. I had a similar experience as the author, so you can read this in addition to my take on the place. click!
Some History
This guy John from Australia is known as the 'unofficial expert' on caves in the area, according to my guidebook- and that is right! He started backpacking in SE Asia in the late seventies, planning to stay for two months and has now lived in Thailand for 30 years. I already read his whole book - so many incredible/crazy/scary stories! I bought it to share, so you can read it too, or buy one when you go!
John lived with Lisu people in the hills, learned Thai, and married a Thai woman. He and his wife started leading trekking tours out of Chiang Mai in the beginning, and then he started getting into caving. What I like most about John is that he is not exploiting the community by squatting and making money off tourists that come to his (awesomely sustainably built bamboo and teak) lodge. He has become part of the community and educates people on cave conservation. Local guides lead bamboo rafting trips though the area's largest and very impressive cave, Tham Lod, which the area is named after. The money that we pay goes directly to the community, so the people don't have to rely on selling opium.
The local people had not ventured into the caves very much before John because of bad spirits that reside there, so John was the first to discover a lot of ancient artifacts, and even a fascinating species of fish that has been featured in Planet Earth. He told me about when the crew came and spent 3 days filming for 15 seconds of footage in caves with extremely bad air (he was not a fan). Check it out N3rdz! And he said 15 seconds, it's actually 49. Cool.
In his memoirs, John chronicles some events that led up to and occurred during his 30 year stay near the Thai border. Murder mysteries, scary caving accidents, drugs, fires, floods, and tales of the local culture fill the book for a quick and intense read. I read most of it on one of the last days I stayed there... but on to what we did...
Kim and I arrived at night, had some yummy dinner and hung out in the common room. We signed up for a trip the next day where we hiked around the area and went in 3 caves with a local guide Wat, John's ex wife's brother. It was just Kim, a french guy, me and the guide, so it made for a really relaxing day in nature. Except for the parts where we were squeezing through dark holes in the water. Fun stuff. It was gorgeous outside and we had a nice time hiking. We only saw one other person, a local Lisu woman doing some farming. I thought maybe we would see a dinosaur. Wat climbed up a tree and picked papaya for us. We had fried rice and banana muffins for lunch in a little shack somewhere along the trail and rested in the shade. We had another rest in a shack a little later and I actually fell asleep.
Oh the caves were really cool too! I have pictures because John Michelle (?) was some kind of a photographer. He set up his tripod, we lit up the place with our 'torches', and he had the shutter open for 15 seconds or so for these shots. I was standing behind the big column. We also saw snakes, spiders, worms, and fungi!
The next day Kim and I got up at 5am to watch the sunrise on top of the mountain. We hung out a chatted for a long time with a 27 year old girl from NY who quit her job in fashion and has been traveling around.
Kim left that afternoon and I was sad to see her go! She took a lot of great pictures- look out for them.
That evening I went to Tham Lod- the biggest cave with some other folks. IT'S HUGE. Definitely one of the most voluminous caves in the world if not the voluminousEST. Haha. We rafted through part of it with the local guides lighting the way with gas lanterns. Big fish swam along our bamboo rafts and we got out a few times to explore other areas of the cave. We also saw ancient coffins that were found there. This cave anyone can do. They have stairs and railings and informational signs posted around. You just need to pay 300Baht for a raft and 150 for a guide and lantern.
Oh and afterwards at sunset at the exit to the cave you can watch 300,000 birds fly in! Crazyyy!!
So many cool things here. www.cavelodge.com
Look at more amazing photos!
Pai is cool- but I'm really glad we came to Pang Mapha.
The next day I actually did stop in Pai for a day/night and hung out with Kwan, a Thai student that we met last week, and her friend. Kwan is sooo nice. It was fun to actually hang out with a Thai person in Pai, instead of other backpackers, even though that can be fun too. We climbed around on a waterfall, then we rode back to town on her friend's rented motorbike (3 of us!). We stopped at a random Chinese village where there weren't many white people, and for the first time people asked to take pictures with me. They said I was pretty. I said they were pretty. I also rode on this weird wooden swing ride thing. I'll post a picture after Kwan tags me on facebook! (They are obsessed with facebook here and take sooo many pictures).
We walked around the market street, ate a lot of street food (mini pancakes with eggs, fried potato on a stick, a noodle dish at a sit down place, ROTI, mango sticky rice, black sticky rice with sesame) and then had mojitos at a kindalame bar. I learned some more Thai and it was good. I stayed in a bungalow that we previously stayed in. You had to walk across a neat bamboo bridge, past some garlic fields and up a hill to a beautiful mountain view of Pai. It was also very frigid at night! 39 F at night, and probably high 80's during the day, so a big range. The bamboo bungalow was cute, but there was also a cacophony of dogs howling and roosters crowing all. night. long. It sounded like a war zone. But I kind of liked it because I've stayed there twice.
That's all for now! E-mail me and update me on your life!
So a bunch of friends from the program went to the beach this past week because we had so many days off school. It was last minute planning, and I wanted to hang with Kim so we thought about going back to Pai. I'm glad I looked in Stephanie's Lonely Planet book for something else because I read about this awesome place only about an hour from Pai called Ban Tham Lod.
Same as the last post- everyone who is coming, you should go here.
Here is a nice article in NYTimes that I just found. I had a similar experience as the author, so you can read this in addition to my take on the place. click!
 |
| Not much in the main street of Soppong/Pang Mapha- the town we bussed in to. Gotta get into the country. |
Some History
This guy John from Australia is known as the 'unofficial expert' on caves in the area, according to my guidebook- and that is right! He started backpacking in SE Asia in the late seventies, planning to stay for two months and has now lived in Thailand for 30 years. I already read his whole book - so many incredible/crazy/scary stories! I bought it to share, so you can read it too, or buy one when you go!
John lived with Lisu people in the hills, learned Thai, and married a Thai woman. He and his wife started leading trekking tours out of Chiang Mai in the beginning, and then he started getting into caving. What I like most about John is that he is not exploiting the community by squatting and making money off tourists that come to his (awesomely sustainably built bamboo and teak) lodge. He has become part of the community and educates people on cave conservation. Local guides lead bamboo rafting trips though the area's largest and very impressive cave, Tham Lod, which the area is named after. The money that we pay goes directly to the community, so the people don't have to rely on selling opium.
The local people had not ventured into the caves very much before John because of bad spirits that reside there, so John was the first to discover a lot of ancient artifacts, and even a fascinating species of fish that has been featured in Planet Earth. He told me about when the crew came and spent 3 days filming for 15 seconds of footage in caves with extremely bad air (he was not a fan). Check it out N3rdz! And he said 15 seconds, it's actually 49. Cool.
In his memoirs, John chronicles some events that led up to and occurred during his 30 year stay near the Thai border. Murder mysteries, scary caving accidents, drugs, fires, floods, and tales of the local culture fill the book for a quick and intense read. I read most of it on one of the last days I stayed there... but on to what we did...
Kim and I arrived at night, had some yummy dinner and hung out in the common room. We signed up for a trip the next day where we hiked around the area and went in 3 caves with a local guide Wat, John's ex wife's brother. It was just Kim, a french guy, me and the guide, so it made for a really relaxing day in nature. Except for the parts where we were squeezing through dark holes in the water. Fun stuff. It was gorgeous outside and we had a nice time hiking. We only saw one other person, a local Lisu woman doing some farming. I thought maybe we would see a dinosaur. Wat climbed up a tree and picked papaya for us. We had fried rice and banana muffins for lunch in a little shack somewhere along the trail and rested in the shade. We had another rest in a shack a little later and I actually fell asleep.
 |
| Cage Lodge main room |
 |
| Photos from JM |
 |
| Photos from JM |
 |
| It stood up like 1.5 feet on its belly! |
The next day Kim and I got up at 5am to watch the sunrise on top of the mountain. We hung out a chatted for a long time with a 27 year old girl from NY who quit her job in fashion and has been traveling around.
 |
| Cave Lodge - super cool |
 |
| On the trek/hike |
 |
| Love it. Main room at Cave Lodge |
Kim left that afternoon and I was sad to see her go! She took a lot of great pictures- look out for them.
That evening I went to Tham Lod- the biggest cave with some other folks. IT'S HUGE. Definitely one of the most voluminous caves in the world if not the voluminousEST. Haha. We rafted through part of it with the local guides lighting the way with gas lanterns. Big fish swam along our bamboo rafts and we got out a few times to explore other areas of the cave. We also saw ancient coffins that were found there. This cave anyone can do. They have stairs and railings and informational signs posted around. You just need to pay 300Baht for a raft and 150 for a guide and lantern.
Oh and afterwards at sunset at the exit to the cave you can watch 300,000 birds fly in! Crazyyy!!
So many cool things here. www.cavelodge.com
Look at more amazing photos!
Pai is cool- but I'm really glad we came to Pang Mapha.
...
We walked around the market street, ate a lot of street food (mini pancakes with eggs, fried potato on a stick, a noodle dish at a sit down place, ROTI, mango sticky rice, black sticky rice with sesame) and then had mojitos at a kindalame bar. I learned some more Thai and it was good. I stayed in a bungalow that we previously stayed in. You had to walk across a neat bamboo bridge, past some garlic fields and up a hill to a beautiful mountain view of Pai. It was also very frigid at night! 39 F at night, and probably high 80's during the day, so a big range. The bamboo bungalow was cute, but there was also a cacophony of dogs howling and roosters crowing all. night. long. It sounded like a war zone. But I kind of liked it because I've stayed there twice.
That's all for now! E-mail me and update me on your life!
Elephant Nature Camp
This week has been an adventure! Class was cancelled Wednesday and Thursday due to graduation ceremony (apparently at CMU seniors graduate in March, and then have the ceremony in Jan). Also I scheduled so I don't have class Tuesdays or Fridays! I think in my last post I talked about how excited I was for all my classes, but this week was great because I had basically none. I actually did learn a lot this past week though.
On Tuesday Kim and I made arrangements to go to an elephant sanctuary called Elephant Nature Park. Mom, Dad, Scott, Darryl, Elliot - you will go with me or on your own.
There are many places where you can see/touch/ride(?)/watch elephants in Thailand. You may even come across elephant beggars in Chiang Mai or Bangkok.
The Thai woman that started this sanctuary rescues abused elephants like this one and takes care of them at a beautiful and natural location about an hour outside of Chiang Mai. Lek, the amazing Thai woman that started this place grew up in a small mountain community outside of Chiang Mai and worked/lived with elephants as a child. Hill tribe people have lived among elephants forever, and until 1990 when logging was banned, they worked for people. Now all these elephants are "out of work." There are many other elephant camps in Thailand where you can ride one through the jungle. I think some of them are okay, and others are not as humane. Basically there are wild elephants, and other elephants that are legally treated as livestock (as they have been for thousands of years). Unfortunately there is little penalty for abusing the elephants that are considered livestock, even though the Asian Elephant has been an endangered species since 1986. We watched a video that showed us how cruel mahouts can be to their elephants. (But not all of them are cruel! -- Also during the video there were a few times when a dog was on the screen. The dog in the room ran and jumped at the screen every time (just like Zoey!))
On Tuesday Kim and I made arrangements to go to an elephant sanctuary called Elephant Nature Park. Mom, Dad, Scott, Darryl, Elliot - you will go with me or on your own.
There are many places where you can see/touch/ride(?)/watch elephants in Thailand. You may even come across elephant beggars in Chiang Mai or Bangkok.
 |
| Not cool. |
Anyway, more information can be found on the website.
Besides being educational, it was also a really fun day! This place can afford to feed 30 elephants 300 pounds of food a day by visitors who come for the day, or volunteer for 1-? weeks. So we got to feed the elephants when we got there. We just took turns placing banana bunches, (smaller) watermelon halves, squash, and banana flowers on the end of their trunks and the elephants grabbed the food and put it in their mouths. We went on a walk through the property and got to pet and take pictures with the elephants and our guide told us each elephants story as we met them. They really are cool creatures, I'm sure you have heard. We watched that documentary, had an amazing vegetarian buffet for lunch, and got to know the people in our small group. Then we went to the river and bathed the elephants and just waded in the river. Such a lovely day :)
We really liked the people in our group and decided to meet up for dinner later that night at another amazing vegetarian restaurant near the University. Kim and I walked there and joined a young couple that was on break from teaching english in Korea, and the cutest couple traveling around Thailand and Burma (aged 65, married for 38 years). One of the teachers also studied abroad at CMU and gave me some great tips. He also inspired me to learn more Thai with his flash cards. The couple was the friendliest cutest couple everrr. The woman, Bobbi was obsessed with cats (and all animals) and gave me a tip about a cat sanctuary in Myanar (apparently there was a time where there were no more Burmese cats Burma). Maybe I'll go there. They were going back to Myanmar after meeting some great people there 2 years ago- they said since then prices have doubled and the country doesn't have the infrastructure to support the tourism after the country has opened up. More on this later if I decide to go...
Anyway- go to elephant nature camp. It was great! Book in advance and they pick you up at your place.
Oh also I would totally post pictures because I decided to put more effort into my blog, but my camera was not cooperating this day, so you'll have to see Kim's pictures, or I'll update later.
These are the only ones I have...
These are the only ones I have...
Love you allll xoxoxo
Friday, January 18, 2013
Interesting article on Bangkok and income inequality.
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/15/
- The gap between the wealthy and the poor in this country perceived as developing is not so different from that in major US cities. Good read.
sloppy blog post
Okay so I deleted like 60 pictures from my album so it is more manageable to view. You're welcome Mom and Dad.
Also I'm planning on joining the Ultimate (Frisbee) team here :) Nope- it's not CMU students on the team, looks like mostly expats, plus I don't want to ruin my knees again.
Trying to meet more Thai friends... Yay! If I didn't say this already, the Thai students are SUPER friendly! Not just saying that; they really are.
... The last few days...
I'm thirsty to learn more! Before I came here I was not thinking too much about the classes I was going to take, and more about "the experience" -whatever that means. Maybe I didn't think too much about it at all.... But wow- college is almost over and I feel like I don't know anything!!! It's so easy to just get by..
But anyways.. being in a place where you can barely have a conversation with most people obviously makes you want to learn that language a lot more than how much I wanted to learn a language in high school.
And the language, despite being soo different, isn't ridiculously hard. There aren't any tenses! But the 5 tones are hard. (okay it's really hard). It's fun to just learn about something you knew nothing about before. This is why I like the language class, and Hill Tribes studies. Gender studies is kind of getting old... I might switch it for Sustainable Development.
Anyway... I want to learn as much as I can while I'm here and not act like I'm on a 5 month vacation, because honestly is wouldn't be that hard for some people to do that.
There is such a huge expat community here, and a ton of backpackers. This is all good, but it makes me thankful that I am still a student, and I live where the other Thai students live and go to school with them! We went out to dinner in a more touristy part of town, and I paid 3 dollars for a bland meal, instead of like 75 cents for yummy Thai street food. Big Mistake.
Trying to meet more Thai friends... Yay! If I didn't say this already, the Thai students are SUPER friendly! Not just saying that; they really are.
We went for a run the other day on campus and talked to a bunch of students in other departments (the art students were such hipsters! They were so funny! I think they were just trying to make us say taboo words to laugh at us) Okay, besides that they are friendly. Also it felt fantastic to finally go for a run. I felt more like myself, and I'm finally getting into the swing of things. I was so tired all the time for a long time!
Today was lovely. Ajan Christopher took us to a Buddhist temple and University in the city and some of the monks showed us around and talked with us for a few hours. They were from Thailand, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and they humbled me so much. One of the monks who I talked to for a while can speak 6 languages and knows way more about the bible than I do. He said something like, I can read the Bible in a month and be done, but I can always be reading more about Buddhism...
I can see myself getting more into Buddhism and meditation. We are planning on going back on multiple occasions for single or multi-day meditation retreats at this place. I really dig what I've been reading about Buddhism so far (The Four Noble Truths)
I don't know if anyone will actually look at this, but my professor's website has a lot of good pdf links to readings on it. https://sites.google.com/site/drcafisher/home
Most nights when I do a blog post I'm so tired and I never proofread, and in my mind my audience is really only a few people and my future self.... sooo sorry I'm not trying that hard at writing.
Also tonight I met a Thai kid who studies in Australia so he has a Thai/Australian accent - so cool.
AND - tonight we spontaneously decided to go to Pai tomorrow morning for a Reggae/Ska music festival! Woohooo! So I'm going there Sat-Sunday and then going back Wed-Fri(or Sun)...
Don't have too many plans so I'm just gonna play it by ear.
Stay tuned
Love you allll :)
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Doi Intanon National Park
Woo! I just had an adventure. This is why I came here- for stuff like this.
Yesterday in between classes I decided to leave my new American friends (from my program) and sit by myself and practice the language - hoping to meet some Thai people. It worked! In about 20 minutes, a short Thai guy named K-K and I started chatting. I asked him to help me say 'vegetarian food.' And it turns out he and his students wanted to practice their English as well. He is a visiting economics professor (young) from another University in North East Thailand, and he was with 2 of his students. We talked for a bit, and then they invited me to go camping at Doi Intanon National Park that night! I was definitely a little hesitant, so I asked if I could bring a friend. Luckily our class was cancelled so I had time to go pack and find someone to come with me.
We drove about two hours, out of Chiang Mai, out of the sub-urbs, into the fields, and up into the mountains. On the way I discovered that their English wasn't even as good as I thought. We talked as much as we could, and I used my phrase book (thanks Mom.) I was thankful to have Emily with me to share the experience and just to talk with and get to know.
We were luckily able to rent sleeping bags/pads/pillows at the campground. It was SO COLD! I didn't think I would ever be that cold in Thailand. We set up camp, and KK was so nice to make a meal for us (vegetarian for me!) I had sticky rice and mushrooms, they had sticky rice and pork with spicy sauce. At one point I accidentally ate some kind of chili and started crying. They laughed.
Then we played games! For a long time. We practiced numbers and made a game out of it and now Emily and I can count to 100! We are also know (don't test me) days of the week and a few other phrases. KK made a drink with Whiskey in it even though that is not allowed in the park... Don't worry, Emily and I didn't have very much... We didn't get the dynamic between these people. The students slept in the same tent, but weren't dating or anything... their professor was a goofball and they were drinking together... I don't know.
Anyway, today was great. This whole trip we could only guess what was going to happen next because again, language barrier. Most times when I said something they didn't understand, but if I said it again they could get there. So surprise! We woke up when it was still dark and drove higher up the mountain to watch the sunrise! It was so beautiful and so cold. The clouds made it look heavenly. I took a lot of pictures so look out for them on facebook.
Then we did a 2.5ish hour "trek" on the mountain. Not too strenuous with beautiful panoramic view of the mountains. Apparently we were at the very end of the Himalayas! Also we had a guide who looked like he was a Hill Tribe person that lead us on the hike for free. He didn't speak English, so sometimes KK would translate what he said. Mostly it was bullshit, but I guess it was funny. Pretty much he just pointed out random things on the trail and related whatever we saw to something sexual. "These trees are married" "This is the woman tree" (has whole that looks like a vagina) "...something something something for making love" Or he would point out patches of grass and say a tiger sat there, or a imprint on a tree was a bear footprint. So false. I just read the translated signs with nature facts on them. Cool stuff.
So the hike was beautiful and entertaining! Then we had lunch (I had pizza... sometimes I don't feel like eating spicy meat, I don't care). I did try the chicken and spicy papaya salad. Next we walked to two beautiful pagodas.I took pictures, but haven't uploaded them.
All Thai people on this trip too by the way. Some people were worshiping, but the had English translations around the inside of the pagodas that explained the artwork inside about Buddha and his mother and aunt.
It was pretty magnificent up there on the mountain. Then we drove home and stopped at another Wat because there are certain wats that Thais should visit for good luck depending on what year they are born (learned this on the USAC city tour!) KK is year of the rat, so we stopped at this place and he did his thing and then we left! It's hot again in the city!
That's all for now!
Yesterday in between classes I decided to leave my new American friends (from my program) and sit by myself and practice the language - hoping to meet some Thai people. It worked! In about 20 minutes, a short Thai guy named K-K and I started chatting. I asked him to help me say 'vegetarian food.' And it turns out he and his students wanted to practice their English as well. He is a visiting economics professor (young) from another University in North East Thailand, and he was with 2 of his students. We talked for a bit, and then they invited me to go camping at Doi Intanon National Park that night! I was definitely a little hesitant, so I asked if I could bring a friend. Luckily our class was cancelled so I had time to go pack and find someone to come with me.
We drove about two hours, out of Chiang Mai, out of the sub-urbs, into the fields, and up into the mountains. On the way I discovered that their English wasn't even as good as I thought. We talked as much as we could, and I used my phrase book (thanks Mom.) I was thankful to have Emily with me to share the experience and just to talk with and get to know.
 |
| Rando Thai people I met and went camping with + Emily |
 |
| Emily and Pik |
Then we played games! For a long time. We practiced numbers and made a game out of it and now Emily and I can count to 100! We are also know (don't test me) days of the week and a few other phrases. KK made a drink with Whiskey in it even though that is not allowed in the park... Don't worry, Emily and I didn't have very much... We didn't get the dynamic between these people. The students slept in the same tent, but weren't dating or anything... their professor was a goofball and they were drinking together... I don't know.
Anyway, today was great. This whole trip we could only guess what was going to happen next because again, language barrier. Most times when I said something they didn't understand, but if I said it again they could get there. So surprise! We woke up when it was still dark and drove higher up the mountain to watch the sunrise! It was so beautiful and so cold. The clouds made it look heavenly. I took a lot of pictures so look out for them on facebook.
 |
| Sunrise on top of a mountain at Doi Intanon |
 |
| in the Himilayas! |
So the hike was beautiful and entertaining! Then we had lunch (I had pizza... sometimes I don't feel like eating spicy meat, I don't care). I did try the chicken and spicy papaya salad. Next we walked to two beautiful pagodas.
All Thai people on this trip too by the way. Some people were worshiping, but the had English translations around the inside of the pagodas that explained the artwork inside about Buddha and his mother and aunt.
 |
| Pagodas |
That's all for now!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
The last two days were great.
Yesterday I woke up after finally getting a full night's sleep. I worked out at the gym for an hour or so and then Kim came over and we walked down Suthep Road, got some fruit shakes and I showed her around campus. We went back to Uniloft to book a bike tour, but then we ran into a bunch of friends that said they were gonna try to hike to a waterfall near by, so we cancelled the bike tour (felt really bad because we had booked it last minute). Then we tried to find a close place to eat lunch. Basically all the places we tried to eat this day had no english on the menus. We just guessed for some things.. Left one street place, found another place and acted like idiots until we got what we wanted. Noodles. I gave Kim my "meatballs." She asked meat or pork and I tried to say "no meat" but then the vendor looked at me like I was an alien. lol. The noodles were good! Bur for some reason Kim decided to douse hers with the chili powder on the table, so hers was way too spicy. Good meal though. This was the first day that we went to some places that just had no Americans and no English on the menu. This is good.
Then we went back to out apartment and met up with the people I like and we started to plan a trip to the islands!!! WOOO. All of us seem to be on the same page with planning this. We are thinking Ko Phi Phi and Railay.
Then we went on a hike to find this waterfall from our apartment. We ended up finding a trail and hiking straight up it for a while. After 25 minutes or so we realized it was definitely a mountain biking trail. We did some yoga (everyone is like me- they like to paint too!) And then we walked back down (awful on the knees). It was a workout.
We did dinner on the street close to us this night. So much street food! I just walked around and got some Thai girls to help me. I got this one dish with noodles, and what I thought for a second was brown tofu (lol). but it was definitely liver (ew). I gave it away after a while. I feel like I'm not being as adventurous, but I just don't really like a lot of meat no matter what country I'm in.
Then today we woke up for out Chiang Mai city tour with USAC. Ajan Jia Jia planned a great day. I took a lot of pictures so check them out. We had vans and we went to Doi Suthep (a large temple on the top of a mountain). A Thai buddy (Thai students that help us out) explained the whole life of Bhudda to us, narrating all the pictures around the temple. I remembered the story of Siddartha that we read in Czarnecki's class Jr. year. Win (Thai buddy) actually converted to Christianity...
Then we drove the the King's winter palace. We had a tour guide and she showed us where the royal family stays when they visit Chiang Mai. So many flowers!!! ( lots of pictures).
Then we went to the best buffet ever. This was also the best food I've had here to far. (I took no pictures). Good Thai food, good sushi, soup, chicken, pizza, pasta, dessert....
Next we went to the old city to a museum about Chiang Mai and took an hour long tour. Our guide was a Kathoey (lady boy). A Japanese woman whispered in my ear, "is the guide a boy or a girl?" She said "kha" after some sentences, so we know she identified as a woman. She was also a great tour guide, and we learned a lot about the history of Chiang Mai.
Then we went home and tried to unclog our toilet.... (yeah i haven't talked about that and I'm not going to). Basically our toilet was clogged and is was so bad and overflowed, so we are moving to a different apartment across the hall.
We went to an Italian restaraunt with a "wine buffet" tonight and had pizza. It was so good and not Thai and there were 16 girls and we were obnoxious.
Thankfully, Julia (my roommate) and I, went to a different bar afterwards where we were the only white people and tried to talk/dance with Thai people the rest of the night. It was fun. :) We left the first Thai students we met, but then they found us again and gave us a free ride back to our street at the end of the night and we got yummy street food and just hung out.
COOL. Good weekend so far. No plans for tomorrow. Maybe a run by myself.
Thanks for reading. This is not going to be an organized blog, and more of a free writing journal, so if it doesn't keep your interest, that is okay.I'm just gonna keep doing it. I'll make it better and add more pictures.
Yesterday I woke up after finally getting a full night's sleep. I worked out at the gym for an hour or so and then Kim came over and we walked down Suthep Road, got some fruit shakes and I showed her around campus. We went back to Uniloft to book a bike tour, but then we ran into a bunch of friends that said they were gonna try to hike to a waterfall near by, so we cancelled the bike tour (felt really bad because we had booked it last minute). Then we tried to find a close place to eat lunch. Basically all the places we tried to eat this day had no english on the menus. We just guessed for some things.. Left one street place, found another place and acted like idiots until we got what we wanted. Noodles. I gave Kim my "meatballs." She asked meat or pork and I tried to say "no meat" but then the vendor looked at me like I was an alien. lol. The noodles were good! Bur for some reason Kim decided to douse hers with the chili powder on the table, so hers was way too spicy. Good meal though. This was the first day that we went to some places that just had no Americans and no English on the menu. This is good.
Then we went back to out apartment and met up with the people I like and we started to plan a trip to the islands!!! WOOO. All of us seem to be on the same page with planning this. We are thinking Ko Phi Phi and Railay.
Then we went on a hike to find this waterfall from our apartment. We ended up finding a trail and hiking straight up it for a while. After 25 minutes or so we realized it was definitely a mountain biking trail. We did some yoga (everyone is like me- they like to paint too!) And then we walked back down (awful on the knees). It was a workout.
We did dinner on the street close to us this night. So much street food! I just walked around and got some Thai girls to help me. I got this one dish with noodles, and what I thought for a second was brown tofu (lol). but it was definitely liver (ew). I gave it away after a while. I feel like I'm not being as adventurous, but I just don't really like a lot of meat no matter what country I'm in.
Then today we woke up for out Chiang Mai city tour with USAC. Ajan Jia Jia planned a great day. I took a lot of pictures so check them out. We had vans and we went to Doi Suthep (a large temple on the top of a mountain). A Thai buddy (Thai students that help us out) explained the whole life of Bhudda to us, narrating all the pictures around the temple. I remembered the story of Siddartha that we read in Czarnecki's class Jr. year. Win (Thai buddy) actually converted to Christianity...
Then we drove the the King's winter palace. We had a tour guide and she showed us where the royal family stays when they visit Chiang Mai. So many flowers!!! ( lots of pictures).
Then we went to the best buffet ever. This was also the best food I've had here to far. (I took no pictures). Good Thai food, good sushi, soup, chicken, pizza, pasta, dessert....
Next we went to the old city to a museum about Chiang Mai and took an hour long tour. Our guide was a Kathoey (lady boy). A Japanese woman whispered in my ear, "is the guide a boy or a girl?" She said "kha" after some sentences, so we know she identified as a woman. She was also a great tour guide, and we learned a lot about the history of Chiang Mai.
Then we went home and tried to unclog our toilet.... (yeah i haven't talked about that and I'm not going to). Basically our toilet was clogged and is was so bad and overflowed, so we are moving to a different apartment across the hall.
We went to an Italian restaraunt with a "wine buffet" tonight and had pizza. It was so good and not Thai and there were 16 girls and we were obnoxious.
Thankfully, Julia (my roommate) and I, went to a different bar afterwards where we were the only white people and tried to talk/dance with Thai people the rest of the night. It was fun. :) We left the first Thai students we met, but then they found us again and gave us a free ride back to our street at the end of the night and we got yummy street food and just hung out.
COOL. Good weekend so far. No plans for tomorrow. Maybe a run by myself.
Thanks for reading. This is not going to be an organized blog, and more of a free writing journal, so if it doesn't keep your interest, that is okay.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Feelin Good
Finally was able to sleep a full night last night after skyping with Scooter :) Woke up to the rooster at 7:30 and worked out at the little gym near our apartment.
Last night a smaller group of us rode a songthaw to this huge buffet for dinner. There was a ton of food, raw and cooked. You made little plates and brought them back to your table to cook (kind of like shabu-shabu) There was a ton of strange stuff I've never seen before, and I tried some of it. I think the fruits and veggies were my favorite part. Big surprise. I feel like I'm not being as adventurous by not eating a lot of meat, but I don't like to eat a lot of meat in the first place. Had my first street food yesterday though. (Pork) It was okay, but again, I don't like pork that much... I'll stick with seafood and veggies.... etc. This is turning into a food blog.
(Trying to upload a picture of food, but some of this page is in Thai and I can't change it. Just look on my facebook for pictures....)
Then again I haven't even been to any temples or hikes yet, so I can't write about that. We did go to a night market last night. It was cool because it wasn't a touristy one. Another group of people went to that one and came back with a lot of cute stuff. I liked this one, but didn't buy much because all the clothes that the Thais want to wear are pretty American, and the clothes at the touristy market are more "Thai".
It's nice that Thais really like Americans. They are very friendly and want to please you. Apparently, maybe too much. They like Disney a lot here, and other American stuff.
Class was great yesterday! I had three. Gender studies, Thai Language 1, and Hill Tribes Studies.
Gender studies was a basic introduction, but the readings the rest of the class is based off of seem pretty interesting. One thing I've learned so far is that it wasn't until Thailand was westernized/modernized in 1939 that the gender binary system was introduced and women had to wear skirts and Wai (putting your hands together to greet someone) lower than the men.... We're going to talk about Kathoey's (lady boys) and a lot of gender in relation to language as one of the teachers in a linguist. (There are a few for this class).
I'm so excited for the language class! I feel like a dope not knowing much, and it's fun/ridiculously hard to try to speak Thai. I can now count to ten, introduce myself, and ask where the bathroom is. (I might have to practice that one more though). Also a stray dog came into our classroom and hung out the whole time. Also there are a few people who have been year for a semester, and one kid who lived here for a year in high school, plus Thai buddies to help us practice. Even random people at shops and restaurants have helped us with the language when we try.
Hill Tribes studies is going to be cool because of all the field trips we take. The Hill Tribe people aren't really liked and Thais don't know much about them. They are not native Thai people, they came from Burma, China, Laos... etc to flee the government and have only been here for 100 years or so. Also the tourism aspect of it is pretty controversial I suppose. They grow a lot of opium... (some) Some people think they cause a lot of environmental damage, or they are dirty. Out professor did a lot of work with a specific tribe and he said this is not true... Our Buddhist Philosophy teacher was so openly negative about them. It will be interesting to hear both perspectives. I'll write more once I learn more.
Not sure what we are going to do for the rest of the day. We want to go on outdoor adventures, but we need to figure some things out. Also there is a Tiger Kindom and places to see elephants here, but I've heard that they break the tigers jaw, declaw them, and dope them up on drugs so I (and a lot of other people) aren't sure about going to that. There is a nice elephant sanctuary that you can volunteer at for a day, but that requires more prior planning.
That's all for now. Miss you all!
Last night a smaller group of us rode a songthaw to this huge buffet for dinner. There was a ton of food, raw and cooked. You made little plates and brought them back to your table to cook (kind of like shabu-shabu) There was a ton of strange stuff I've never seen before, and I tried some of it. I think the fruits and veggies were my favorite part. Big surprise. I feel like I'm not being as adventurous by not eating a lot of meat, but I don't like to eat a lot of meat in the first place. Had my first street food yesterday though. (Pork) It was okay, but again, I don't like pork that much... I'll stick with seafood and veggies.... etc. This is turning into a food blog.
Then again I haven't even been to any temples or hikes yet, so I can't write about that. We did go to a night market last night. It was cool because it wasn't a touristy one. Another group of people went to that one and came back with a lot of cute stuff. I liked this one, but didn't buy much because all the clothes that the Thais want to wear are pretty American, and the clothes at the touristy market are more "Thai".
It's nice that Thais really like Americans. They are very friendly and want to please you. Apparently, maybe too much. They like Disney a lot here, and other American stuff.
Class was great yesterday! I had three. Gender studies, Thai Language 1, and Hill Tribes Studies.
Gender studies was a basic introduction, but the readings the rest of the class is based off of seem pretty interesting. One thing I've learned so far is that it wasn't until Thailand was westernized/modernized in 1939 that the gender binary system was introduced and women had to wear skirts and Wai (putting your hands together to greet someone) lower than the men.... We're going to talk about Kathoey's (lady boys) and a lot of gender in relation to language as one of the teachers in a linguist. (There are a few for this class).
I'm so excited for the language class! I feel like a dope not knowing much, and it's fun/ridiculously hard to try to speak Thai. I can now count to ten, introduce myself, and ask where the bathroom is. (I might have to practice that one more though). Also a stray dog came into our classroom and hung out the whole time. Also there are a few people who have been year for a semester, and one kid who lived here for a year in high school, plus Thai buddies to help us practice. Even random people at shops and restaurants have helped us with the language when we try.
Hill Tribes studies is going to be cool because of all the field trips we take. The Hill Tribe people aren't really liked and Thais don't know much about them. They are not native Thai people, they came from Burma, China, Laos... etc to flee the government and have only been here for 100 years or so. Also the tourism aspect of it is pretty controversial I suppose. They grow a lot of opium... (some) Some people think they cause a lot of environmental damage, or they are dirty. Out professor did a lot of work with a specific tribe and he said this is not true... Our Buddhist Philosophy teacher was so openly negative about them. It will be interesting to hear both perspectives. I'll write more once I learn more.
Not sure what we are going to do for the rest of the day. We want to go on outdoor adventures, but we need to figure some things out. Also there is a Tiger Kindom and places to see elephants here, but I've heard that they break the tigers jaw, declaw them, and dope them up on drugs so I (and a lot of other people) aren't sure about going to that. There is a nice elephant sanctuary that you can volunteer at for a day, but that requires more prior planning.
That's all for now. Miss you all!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Greetings friends and family!
I've been in Chiang Mai for about 3 days now and I haven't been writing. There's a lot going on. I am also exhausted so forgive me if this post is unorganized. The rest will be better than this. I'll post pictures and links and make cute lists and fun facts. But not today. Just want to give you an update and write so i don't forget!
I'm so tired right now. We were out late last night dancing (so much fun) but I am a tad hungover today.
I don't know where to start.... Free write :
It's been pretty overwhelming, but I know everything is going to be okay and I'll figure things out in time. It's only been a few days and we've already done a lot. We've gone out to dinner as a big group (20+) the last two nights. I'm ready to stop going out in such a large group. We are loud and unapproachable. It is easy to meet people in a small group and Thais are really friendly. There are some Thai English majors that we have hung out with a little bit. I'm excited to get to know them better and to remember their names (first step). Their english is very impressive. The language is crazy! Tonal. 5 tones, 8 vowels, 44 grapheme consonants, but like 20 phonetic ones. I'm excited to take the language class and eager to learn more. I know to say hello, thank you, chill out, (mantra here) don't worry about it/your welcome/nevermind and I can count to 5. nong, song, som, ... I forget 4, and ha is five.
We got our uniforms the other day and they are super cute and comfortable. We are free to accessorize too! I'm excited to go to the market to get some more clothes and decor for the apartment. The apartment is cute- tiny, but I have my own bedroom. No kitchen.
The food has been good! The cafeteria food is cheap, but kind of comparable to cafeteria food at home - except totally different because it's Thai food. Same same but different. The first lunch at the cafeteria I had green curry fish and rice. The fish wasn't very good actually. Reminded me of a McDonalds chicken nugget. For dinner I had chicken and galangal coconut milk soup. It was pretty good - spicy, but I don't know if Thais would even consider it spicy. I didn't know what galangal is but I just looked it up: "Galangal is a rhizome with a hot, ginger-peppery taste. In texture it is a bit firmer than fresh ginger and it's a bit less fibrous with a finer skin. Galangal is often used as a substitute for ginger. Galangal has a mildly resinous aroma, reminiscent of pine and can be found in Asian groceries stores."
Also the chicken looked like squid and was still on the bone. I didn't eat it. Another night we went to a restaurant by the river (beautiful) This place catered to Westerners and the food wasn't great. Today at lunch Tom Yum Koong soup was sooo yummy! I'm liking the spicy, but again I don't know where my food has been on the spicy spectrum.
So much to write about. Getting around the city is fun. We ride on these red trucks with an open back and my favorite thing is to stand on the back so I can feel the wind and see everything. Kim will post a picture of me on the back of one. You have to bargain with them. I'll get better at it once I learn more Thai. Apparantly is a cultural thing that Thais are very eager to please, so if you ask a question they may give you an answer even if the don't know. We got a red truck the other day and they driver (such a cute friendly little old man) said okay! and then after a few minutes pulled over and asked a woman at a shop where our destination was.
After the first night at dinner, some people went out but Kim and I were pooped so we rode a Songthaew (red truck) to her hostel and I spent the next day with her. We ate at the cutest little cafe. (Everything is open air) It was called the funky dog and there was a funky looking dog hanging out. There was also a caged bird that could say "How are youuuu!?" and Sa wa di Ka (hello) The man who worked there was so cute and friendly with his long scraggly beard and bohmian pants and bare feet. You take your shoes off in places like that. I had a yummy pumpkin dish and some homemade yogurt. Then we got a 3 hour massage! It was awesome. I need another one though.
I can't do this right now, I'm so tired. I'll update later and talk about the people I've met and some other adventures we've had and my classes! Stay tuned.
I've been in Chiang Mai for about 3 days now and I haven't been writing. There's a lot going on. I am also exhausted so forgive me if this post is unorganized. The rest will be better than this. I'll post pictures and links and make cute lists and fun facts. But not today. Just want to give you an update and write so i don't forget!
I'm so tired right now. We were out late last night dancing (so much fun) but I am a tad hungover today.
I don't know where to start.... Free write :
It's been pretty overwhelming, but I know everything is going to be okay and I'll figure things out in time. It's only been a few days and we've already done a lot. We've gone out to dinner as a big group (20+) the last two nights. I'm ready to stop going out in such a large group. We are loud and unapproachable. It is easy to meet people in a small group and Thais are really friendly. There are some Thai English majors that we have hung out with a little bit. I'm excited to get to know them better and to remember their names (first step). Their english is very impressive. The language is crazy! Tonal. 5 tones, 8 vowels, 44 grapheme consonants, but like 20 phonetic ones. I'm excited to take the language class and eager to learn more. I know to say hello, thank you, chill out, (mantra here) don't worry about it/your welcome/nevermind and I can count to 5. nong, song, som, ... I forget 4, and ha is five.
We got our uniforms the other day and they are super cute and comfortable. We are free to accessorize too! I'm excited to go to the market to get some more clothes and decor for the apartment. The apartment is cute- tiny, but I have my own bedroom. No kitchen.
The food has been good! The cafeteria food is cheap, but kind of comparable to cafeteria food at home - except totally different because it's Thai food. Same same but different. The first lunch at the cafeteria I had green curry fish and rice. The fish wasn't very good actually. Reminded me of a McDonalds chicken nugget. For dinner I had chicken and galangal coconut milk soup. It was pretty good - spicy, but I don't know if Thais would even consider it spicy. I didn't know what galangal is but I just looked it up: "Galangal is a rhizome with a hot, ginger-peppery taste. In texture it is a bit firmer than fresh ginger and it's a bit less fibrous with a finer skin. Galangal is often used as a substitute for ginger. Galangal has a mildly resinous aroma, reminiscent of pine and can be found in Asian groceries stores."
Also the chicken looked like squid and was still on the bone. I didn't eat it. Another night we went to a restaurant by the river (beautiful) This place catered to Westerners and the food wasn't great. Today at lunch Tom Yum Koong soup was sooo yummy! I'm liking the spicy, but again I don't know where my food has been on the spicy spectrum.
So much to write about. Getting around the city is fun. We ride on these red trucks with an open back and my favorite thing is to stand on the back so I can feel the wind and see everything. Kim will post a picture of me on the back of one. You have to bargain with them. I'll get better at it once I learn more Thai. Apparantly is a cultural thing that Thais are very eager to please, so if you ask a question they may give you an answer even if the don't know. We got a red truck the other day and they driver (such a cute friendly little old man) said okay! and then after a few minutes pulled over and asked a woman at a shop where our destination was.
After the first night at dinner, some people went out but Kim and I were pooped so we rode a Songthaew (red truck) to her hostel and I spent the next day with her. We ate at the cutest little cafe. (Everything is open air) It was called the funky dog and there was a funky looking dog hanging out. There was also a caged bird that could say "How are youuuu!?" and Sa wa di Ka (hello) The man who worked there was so cute and friendly with his long scraggly beard and bohmian pants and bare feet. You take your shoes off in places like that. I had a yummy pumpkin dish and some homemade yogurt. Then we got a 3 hour massage! It was awesome. I need another one though.
I can't do this right now, I'm so tired. I'll update later and talk about the people I've met and some other adventures we've had and my classes! Stay tuned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)