Monday, March 5, 2012
Hello from Vietnam!
I hope the weather's holding up at home and getting a little warmer - I'm going through a weather exchange myself. We got to Vietnam two days ago in the evening and it is wonderfully cool here compared to Chiang Mai (65-75 degrees versus the uppers 90's). It's also drizzled and sprinkled while we've been here, something almost foreign to Thailand during the 'winter' season. We also had a fantabulous greeting from Ha, a teacher from ULIS (our university here), at the airport along with her mom to take us to our hotel. They were very hospitable, and he's coming to take us out tonight as well! When we first arrived at the hotel we also had volunteers waiting who had already checked us into our rooms! They gave us a full schedule of the next few weeks and are super sweet - and their English is fantastic!
Just a short update for now, and more to come later!
~Abby
P.S. Facebook is blocked here! D: Not cool!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
So! Onward and Outward
Continuing from my last post~
The Novice Camp:
So the novices, or naane as they're called in Thai, were wonderful. They taught us how to make two different kinds of mud bricks, and we helped to add a layer to the house they are in the process of constructing.
It's amazing to see a house come together from mud and sand! And they last for a long time, too. The huts we stayed in were over six years old and holding together well.
We also had a short, two or three hour English language session with the boys. They were very inquisitive, and they also wrote out the Shan alphabet for me~
This is my name in Shan! I showed my students at the school, and they were very surprised.
We were fed delicious food at the camp, too. They grow everything they eat themselves, and it's all organic. We also absorbed a lot of information on the practices and philosophy behind Buddhism. They had a great sign posted with one of my favorite quotes:
This is a common idea in Christianity, and it also explains the idea of how karma works.
We were also lucky enough to participate in a purification/longevity ritual with some people that came up from Bangkok.
The idea behind the ritual is that the naane (novices) all hold the end of a string as they chant.
The strings are attached to a network that then dangles down around our heads, so their prayers flow in to us.
The coolest thing, though, was that we got to see a traditional Shan costumed-dance.
The creature the costume is supposed to represent is a mythical creature from the Himalayas. Aren't they awesome? These boys competed in a cultural festival and won!
February 10-13: Trip to Luang Prabang, Laos
So we went to Laos two weekends ago. Part of the reason was because we needed to re-up our Visas for Thailand, and you have to do that coming into Thailand. The other part was because we could. Honestly, I didn't have the best time. I wasn't feeling very well - that's what I get for drinking ice coffee on and empty stomach right before the flight! Epic fail.
The highlights of the trip were probably getting to eat some pretty good American food, getting to do some English conversation, and going to a gorgeous waterfall.
Four lovely ladies: myself, Gina, Cassie, and Millie.
The water fall was so beautiful. And we also got to swim in the pools near the bottom! It was cold, but wonderful.
The other cool thing was that we actually took a prop plane to get there and back, since the flight was less than an hour. It was a much smoother ride than expected.
I was so happy to get back to Chiang Mai, though. It's a little sad to think that, now that we finally feel like Chiang Mai is our home base, we'll be leaving for Vietnam on March 3rd. I can't believe how the time has flown. I honestly don't know if I would have noticed the time passing like this unless I wasn't almost finished with my text book and didn't have several pages of poetry to show for it. It will be sad to leave this place, but I'm really looking forward to Vietnam, and I think that helps. Moving from Thai to Vietnamese will be a welcome break from Thai, and we get to stay with host families whose children are English students at the university. I've always wanted to be in a host family situation, even just for a week, so I'm so looking forward to it. I've also accepted the fact that I can always come back to these countries in the future, so it's okay to part with them for now. The future is wide open, after all.
Well, I think I'll leave off here for tonight. I shouldn't upload many more pictures to this post, and I'll probably have more time in the next week to do another post or two. Hope you're all having a great day, and here's to a good night's sleep for me!
~แอปี้ (Abby)
The Novice Camp:
So the novices, or naane as they're called in Thai, were wonderful. They taught us how to make two different kinds of mud bricks, and we helped to add a layer to the house they are in the process of constructing.
It's amazing to see a house come together from mud and sand! And they last for a long time, too. The huts we stayed in were over six years old and holding together well.
We also had a short, two or three hour English language session with the boys. They were very inquisitive, and they also wrote out the Shan alphabet for me~
We were fed delicious food at the camp, too. They grow everything they eat themselves, and it's all organic. We also absorbed a lot of information on the practices and philosophy behind Buddhism. They had a great sign posted with one of my favorite quotes:
We were also lucky enough to participate in a purification/longevity ritual with some people that came up from Bangkok.
The idea behind the ritual is that the naane (novices) all hold the end of a string as they chant.
The strings are attached to a network that then dangles down around our heads, so their prayers flow in to us.
The coolest thing, though, was that we got to see a traditional Shan costumed-dance.
The creature the costume is supposed to represent is a mythical creature from the Himalayas. Aren't they awesome? These boys competed in a cultural festival and won!
February 10-13: Trip to Luang Prabang, Laos
So we went to Laos two weekends ago. Part of the reason was because we needed to re-up our Visas for Thailand, and you have to do that coming into Thailand. The other part was because we could. Honestly, I didn't have the best time. I wasn't feeling very well - that's what I get for drinking ice coffee on and empty stomach right before the flight! Epic fail.
The highlights of the trip were probably getting to eat some pretty good American food, getting to do some English conversation, and going to a gorgeous waterfall.
I was so happy to get back to Chiang Mai, though. It's a little sad to think that, now that we finally feel like Chiang Mai is our home base, we'll be leaving for Vietnam on March 3rd. I can't believe how the time has flown. I honestly don't know if I would have noticed the time passing like this unless I wasn't almost finished with my text book and didn't have several pages of poetry to show for it. It will be sad to leave this place, but I'm really looking forward to Vietnam, and I think that helps. Moving from Thai to Vietnamese will be a welcome break from Thai, and we get to stay with host families whose children are English students at the university. I've always wanted to be in a host family situation, even just for a week, so I'm so looking forward to it. I've also accepted the fact that I can always come back to these countries in the future, so it's okay to part with them for now. The future is wide open, after all.
Well, I think I'll leave off here for tonight. I shouldn't upload many more pictures to this post, and I'll probably have more time in the next week to do another post or two. Hope you're all having a great day, and here's to a good night's sleep for me!
~แอปี้ (Abby)
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Happy Valentine's Day~
Hey guys! I know it's been forever since I've posted anything, so while I was in Laos I had time to write up everything I wanted to tell you about. Here is super-duper catch up!
So my life has been ridiculously crazy over the last few weeks (I just realized I haven't posted since January - epic fail). Here is a timeline of what I've been up to~
Jan. 31: I started volunteer teaching in English at a school for migrant workers - which I love! Most of the students came over to Thailand from Burma - which is a disastrous mess right now - to find work in Thailand and be able to support their families. There are many ethnic groups in Burma that are being attacked by the Burmese in Burma (not all people in Burma are Burmese - if you'd like to know more about this, click here). Most of 'my students', for lack of a better term, are from the Shan state in Burma. While the Shan state is being attacked and hundreds of thousands of people are being internally displaced within Burma itself, Thailand does not consider them refugees because it would have to fault trade with Burma, from which Thailand imports teak, jade, and other resources. Thailand will take in a certain number of Shan, but they do not have any paperwork and may be shipped back to Burma at any point. It's a tough, confusing issue.
Anyway, my students are wonderful! I teach every weeknight when we're in town from 6-8pm, and I'm really enjoying helping them with their English. They're also teaching me a lot in the process. I've learned that making a fool of yourself is a must if you expect your students to put themselves on the line when they're not sure how to say something, and because of this class has been a lot of fun! I'm hoping to really get close to these guys and girls and help them as much as I can while I'm here. I knew I liked helping people learn before, but now I know that I can handle it too. (And by handle, I mean that I can at least think of something to do on the fly!) The students range from around 14 years old to older than myself, so it's a good mix of ages, personalities, and abilities. I plan to get a group photo before my time is up there, and when I do I'll upload it ASAP!
Feb. 3-5: Novice Camp Weekend
For anyone who's seen my Facebook photos, you've probably noticed a lot of pictures of young boys in really bright robes. Like these!
These guys are Buddhist novices. The idea would be that they're training to become Buddhist monks, but they can disrobe at any time and are not eligible to become monks until they are 20 years old.
This is an amazing group of kids. The youngest is around 14, and the oldest was 21 and deciding whether or not to become a monk. (Monks live under much stricter rules than novices do.) Several of these boys are from the IDP camp near the Novice camp (IDP stands for Internally Displaced People, which is what I've been calling it since the Shan are not technically refugees). Some of them have lost loved ones in the fighting in the Shan state, and one of them is now an orphan. But you would never guess the hardships they have been through because of how happy they are.
Sorry, I've got to get going. It's Nick's birthday today - he's a Valentine's Day baby! - and we're taking him out to dinner. I'll try and finish up after we get back.
~Abby
So my life has been ridiculously crazy over the last few weeks (I just realized I haven't posted since January - epic fail). Here is a timeline of what I've been up to~
Jan. 31: I started volunteer teaching in English at a school for migrant workers - which I love! Most of the students came over to Thailand from Burma - which is a disastrous mess right now - to find work in Thailand and be able to support their families. There are many ethnic groups in Burma that are being attacked by the Burmese in Burma (not all people in Burma are Burmese - if you'd like to know more about this, click here). Most of 'my students', for lack of a better term, are from the Shan state in Burma. While the Shan state is being attacked and hundreds of thousands of people are being internally displaced within Burma itself, Thailand does not consider them refugees because it would have to fault trade with Burma, from which Thailand imports teak, jade, and other resources. Thailand will take in a certain number of Shan, but they do not have any paperwork and may be shipped back to Burma at any point. It's a tough, confusing issue.
Anyway, my students are wonderful! I teach every weeknight when we're in town from 6-8pm, and I'm really enjoying helping them with their English. They're also teaching me a lot in the process. I've learned that making a fool of yourself is a must if you expect your students to put themselves on the line when they're not sure how to say something, and because of this class has been a lot of fun! I'm hoping to really get close to these guys and girls and help them as much as I can while I'm here. I knew I liked helping people learn before, but now I know that I can handle it too. (And by handle, I mean that I can at least think of something to do on the fly!) The students range from around 14 years old to older than myself, so it's a good mix of ages, personalities, and abilities. I plan to get a group photo before my time is up there, and when I do I'll upload it ASAP!
Feb. 3-5: Novice Camp Weekend
For anyone who's seen my Facebook photos, you've probably noticed a lot of pictures of young boys in really bright robes. Like these!
These guys are Buddhist novices. The idea would be that they're training to become Buddhist monks, but they can disrobe at any time and are not eligible to become monks until they are 20 years old.
This is an amazing group of kids. The youngest is around 14, and the oldest was 21 and deciding whether or not to become a monk. (Monks live under much stricter rules than novices do.) Several of these boys are from the IDP camp near the Novice camp (IDP stands for Internally Displaced People, which is what I've been calling it since the Shan are not technically refugees). Some of them have lost loved ones in the fighting in the Shan state, and one of them is now an orphan. But you would never guess the hardships they have been through because of how happy they are.
Sorry, I've got to get going. It's Nick's birthday today - he's a Valentine's Day baby! - and we're taking him out to dinner. I'll try and finish up after we get back.
~Abby
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Catch Up! Part 2
Hey guys! I have some good news - I feel better! :D Yay!
Okay, time for some serious catching-up.
My first "real" day of school was on Friday, Jan. 20th. We had our first language lesson with the teacher, which was slightly overwhelming - but in a good way. We dived right into the few things we knew in Thai and got the hang of greetings and introductions pretty quickly. It was a little intense, but we actually finished the lesson early and convinced the teacher - while Prof. Bob was out of the room - to teach us the elephant song! Bob had been promising to teach us on the train from Bangkok but kept pushing it off, and we were rather impatient. When he walked back in while we were learning the lyrics he just laughed. I can proudly say that I have since mastered this song! If you would like to see a video of me singing the elephant song, you should click here.
Or you can just watch the video right here!
I hope you liked it!
We also wore our awesome school uniforms for the first time.
Myself and Gina (my roommate): we look awesome!
Anyway, last Saturday we went to a few temples. Most of us weren't feeling the best, however, so we cut out early and I was a hermit for the rest of the day.
The next day was the best day ever: Elephant Day! I posted a picture of myself with one of the elephants in the last post, so here is one of my friend Ned getting a lot of elephant love!
So many elephants! The camp that we went to is called Maesa Elephant Camp, and it is a place where elephants are trained to do tricks and tasks - but NOT like in a circus. Most of the elephants have been rescued or rehabilitated, and are fed and treated very well - and seem to love their jobs, too. If you would like to see some videos of the elephants, I have several short videos up on my youtube account - which you can view here.
Monday through Friday we had regular classes that started around 9 a.m. We've really learned a lot language-wise in the past week. We can order food at a restaurant, define foods, say things that we like, and go a few places in song taos. I would say pronunciation is harder than actual grammar, since Thai doesn't have to modify its verbs at all and its sentences are simple and straight forward. Bob has been telling us we're doing really well, which is great!
We got to meet Bob's "daughter", who also happens to be our favorite language teacher! He calls her his daughter because she lived next door when he and his family lived in Thailand and would come over every night to play cards with his kids. She's super awesome, and also ended up giving us a mini-lecture on Lady Gaga music videos during our break!
I also settled on my independent study - which is translating Thai into English - and have been working on memorizing the alphabet, which is going better than I expected. I can read most of the consonants, of which there are 44, and have started to works on the different vowels and vowel combinations.
Well, I think I'm off to the Sunday market. That's pretty much all for now, so I'll talk to you guys later!
~Abby
Okay, time for some serious catching-up.
My first "real" day of school was on Friday, Jan. 20th. We had our first language lesson with the teacher, which was slightly overwhelming - but in a good way. We dived right into the few things we knew in Thai and got the hang of greetings and introductions pretty quickly. It was a little intense, but we actually finished the lesson early and convinced the teacher - while Prof. Bob was out of the room - to teach us the elephant song! Bob had been promising to teach us on the train from Bangkok but kept pushing it off, and we were rather impatient. When he walked back in while we were learning the lyrics he just laughed. I can proudly say that I have since mastered this song! If you would like to see a video of me singing the elephant song, you should click here.
Or you can just watch the video right here!
I hope you liked it!
We also wore our awesome school uniforms for the first time.
Anyway, last Saturday we went to a few temples. Most of us weren't feeling the best, however, so we cut out early and I was a hermit for the rest of the day.
The next day was the best day ever: Elephant Day! I posted a picture of myself with one of the elephants in the last post, so here is one of my friend Ned getting a lot of elephant love!
So many elephants! The camp that we went to is called Maesa Elephant Camp, and it is a place where elephants are trained to do tricks and tasks - but NOT like in a circus. Most of the elephants have been rescued or rehabilitated, and are fed and treated very well - and seem to love their jobs, too. If you would like to see some videos of the elephants, I have several short videos up on my youtube account - which you can view here.
Monday through Friday we had regular classes that started around 9 a.m. We've really learned a lot language-wise in the past week. We can order food at a restaurant, define foods, say things that we like, and go a few places in song taos. I would say pronunciation is harder than actual grammar, since Thai doesn't have to modify its verbs at all and its sentences are simple and straight forward. Bob has been telling us we're doing really well, which is great!
We got to meet Bob's "daughter", who also happens to be our favorite language teacher! He calls her his daughter because she lived next door when he and his family lived in Thailand and would come over every night to play cards with his kids. She's super awesome, and also ended up giving us a mini-lecture on Lady Gaga music videos during our break!
I also settled on my independent study - which is translating Thai into English - and have been working on memorizing the alphabet, which is going better than I expected. I can read most of the consonants, of which there are 44, and have started to works on the different vowels and vowel combinations.
Well, I think I'm off to the Sunday market. That's pretty much all for now, so I'll talk to you guys later!
~Abby
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Update
I am once again amongst the living, yay! Sorry for not posting for awhile - I have been feeling horrible. Most of the group has been down and out in some way or another - two of the girls have coughs, one of the guys had a "running stomach", and we're all pretty tired from getting used to everything here.
I haven't felt so great for the past few days and finally went the the clinic. Yay amoebic dysentery D: not fun! But the doctor was like magic and I got some medicine and already feel human again [insert Disney song here].
So, once I play catch up with my school lessons I should hopefully be able to finish my last catch-up post and start catching you up on everything else...
~Abby
P.S. For those non-Facebookers, I leave you with this picture!
I haven't felt so great for the past few days and finally went the the clinic. Yay amoebic dysentery D: not fun! But the doctor was like magic and I got some medicine and already feel human again [insert Disney song here].
So, once I play catch up with my school lessons I should hopefully be able to finish my last catch-up post and start catching you up on everything else...
~Abby
P.S. For those non-Facebookers, I leave you with this picture!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Catch Up!
So, yeah, about updating my blog...
We have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off, to a certain extent. At the same time, our schedule has been lax. I've gone to update this blog a few times only to be drawn away by new and exciting things, but I'm finally sitting down and updating (which is funny since the internet just died and I'm writing this in word to be uploaded later).
We spend about three days in Bangkok and left on the evening of the 16th for Chiang Mai - by night train! The train was pretty cool because we had full food and beverage service (though the food was okay at best), and the seats folded down and a sleeping mat was put over them for a bed. There were curtains and night-lights and everything, and another bunk folded down from above. I slept pretty well, and when I woke up in the night I read on my Kindle for a while and fell back asleep (Kindle = <3). We arrived in Chiang Mai in the early afternoon on Tuesday the 17th, and Kun Krit - one of the International Studies heads - met us and rode with us to Mountain View Guest House, where we will stay our whole time in Chiang Mai. The guesthouse is gorgeous - the tables set up for eating are all outside under canopies and there are plants and trees everywhere. We have seen and heard some interesting wildlife so far, including the coppersmith barbet (if you can look up the sound it makes you should - I think that's where catchphrase got the sound for its timer), pinkish colored geckos, and lots of cats that are apparently in heat because they yowl like banshees all night. There are a mix of foreigners and Thais staying at the guesthouse, which has been pretty pleasant so far. The staff here is pretty good, there are tons of eateries all over the neighborhood, and everything is decently inexpensive. The day we arrived was a free day from school as there are graduation ceremonies going on and the campus was buzzing with activity. Bob let us settle in for a bit, and then took us on a bit of a tour around the area and to a few used book shops so people could get the books for out Asian Lit. class if they hadn't already. We also went to a new book store so I could get a Thai-English dictionary that I'll need for my independent study. Those of us that had gone to the new bookstore hung out at a cool coffee place for awhile before heading back and meeting everyone for dinner. We had our introduction to Thai language the next day, and met several of the professors and some students studying English. They all seem very nice, and our introduction was interesting. They taught us some phonetic symbols made to stand for sounds - which I assume is because otherwise we would get them confused if they used all English letters. I didn't think it would be terribly useful at first, but now I'm starting to see the benefits of it. During our lunch break, Bob took us to a uniform shop to get uniforms for school.
After that, we went out to lunch. (This blog is going to have a lot of eating moments).
Thursday we were off school again for the actual graduation (it's a many-day affair), so we went up Doi Suthep to see the temple, view the wares of the hill tribes, visit the Orchid Jade Factory, and get very close to being car sick.
Before I go into Doi Suthep, I need to explain a few things. The mass transportation in Chiang Mai are called Song Tao. They are basically pick up trucks with awnings over the truck bed and two long benches in the back facing inward.
We went up the very twisty mountain road in this at a decent speed. Ugh.
Doi Suthep was beautiful, though.
Well, my laptop's about out of battery and I need to take pictures of more things I want to show you, so I'll finish catching up next time!
~Abby
We have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off, to a certain extent. At the same time, our schedule has been lax. I've gone to update this blog a few times only to be drawn away by new and exciting things, but I'm finally sitting down and updating (which is funny since the internet just died and I'm writing this in word to be uploaded later).
We spend about three days in Bangkok and left on the evening of the 16th for Chiang Mai - by night train! The train was pretty cool because we had full food and beverage service (though the food was okay at best), and the seats folded down and a sleeping mat was put over them for a bed. There were curtains and night-lights and everything, and another bunk folded down from above. I slept pretty well, and when I woke up in the night I read on my Kindle for a while and fell back asleep (Kindle = <3). We arrived in Chiang Mai in the early afternoon on Tuesday the 17th, and Kun Krit - one of the International Studies heads - met us and rode with us to Mountain View Guest House, where we will stay our whole time in Chiang Mai. The guesthouse is gorgeous - the tables set up for eating are all outside under canopies and there are plants and trees everywhere. We have seen and heard some interesting wildlife so far, including the coppersmith barbet (if you can look up the sound it makes you should - I think that's where catchphrase got the sound for its timer), pinkish colored geckos, and lots of cats that are apparently in heat because they yowl like banshees all night. There are a mix of foreigners and Thais staying at the guesthouse, which has been pretty pleasant so far. The staff here is pretty good, there are tons of eateries all over the neighborhood, and everything is decently inexpensive. The day we arrived was a free day from school as there are graduation ceremonies going on and the campus was buzzing with activity. Bob let us settle in for a bit, and then took us on a bit of a tour around the area and to a few used book shops so people could get the books for out Asian Lit. class if they hadn't already. We also went to a new book store so I could get a Thai-English dictionary that I'll need for my independent study. Those of us that had gone to the new bookstore hung out at a cool coffee place for awhile before heading back and meeting everyone for dinner. We had our introduction to Thai language the next day, and met several of the professors and some students studying English. They all seem very nice, and our introduction was interesting. They taught us some phonetic symbols made to stand for sounds - which I assume is because otherwise we would get them confused if they used all English letters. I didn't think it would be terribly useful at first, but now I'm starting to see the benefits of it. During our lunch break, Bob took us to a uniform shop to get uniforms for school.
After that, we went out to lunch. (This blog is going to have a lot of eating moments).
Thursday we were off school again for the actual graduation (it's a many-day affair), so we went up Doi Suthep to see the temple, view the wares of the hill tribes, visit the Orchid Jade Factory, and get very close to being car sick.
Before I go into Doi Suthep, I need to explain a few things. The mass transportation in Chiang Mai are called Song Tao. They are basically pick up trucks with awnings over the truck bed and two long benches in the back facing inward.
We went up the very twisty mountain road in this at a decent speed. Ugh.
Doi Suthep was beautiful, though.
Well, my laptop's about out of battery and I need to take pictures of more things I want to show you, so I'll finish catching up next time!
~Abby
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Boat Day and Market Day
I am fighting off sleep as I write this, so bear with me. Spent most of the day walking around in the heat, but I'll get to that later.
I think most everyone has gotten a chance to check out the pictures I posted on Facebook, and for those that haven't you can check them out here.
The first day in Bangkok was full of excitement and exploring. Millie, Cassie, Gina and I explored a local park on our own and walked the 2.5k track that went through and around it. Then we met up with the group and took taxis to a dock and got on a surprisingly rickety boat that took us on a tour of the waterfront. Bangkok has many river channels leading from the Lord River that people live on and use to get around or sell you things. We got off the boat to visit the snake farm where they milked a cobra right in front of me and I got to feed adorable Thai deer by hand - it tickles! Then we were off to Wat Aran: the Temple of the Dawn, where I think I climbed some of the steepest stairs known to man kind. It was a really cool place, and when we got back down to the bottom I treated by self to the best drink ever:
A chilled, freshly opened green coconut (oh my gosh, I'm so dead I was about to write pineapple). When coconuts are still green, they hold coconut water, which is sooo much better than coconut milk. They are ridiculously refreshing, too. I might have to order another one at dinner tonight...
After the temple we headed back to the Guest House, which has a website! Check it out here. We then hung out until 6:30 when we went to dinner at this awesome restaurant down the soi (street). I had some really good prawns, but the best part was desert: fresh Thai mango with sticky rice and coconut cream. Next time I have it I will definitely take a picture - it is nothing if not drool-worthy.
At the end of the day, I was happily exhausted and counted the three blisters on my feet as badges of honor.
On to today, we met around 11 a.m. and got on the Sky Train to go to a huge outdoor market. There were a lot of interesting sights to see that you can't catch in America (I totally saw a cart of roasted and fried bugs for consumption). My group got totally and completely lost and finally found our way to meet back with everyone at the local police station where the very friendly Thai policeman asked us about our trip and told us about himself. He was from Chicago - go figure! Super nice guy, and I found a map of Bangkok and a map of Chiang Mai there for free, so that worked out rather well.
I'm super sore from the long, hot walk around the market, and most of us were so out we were pretty much falling asleep during dinner (myself included). Tomorrow evening we leave for Chiang Mai on the night train. The trip is around 14 hours BUT I get to sleep horizontally! Wohoo! We should get to Chiang Mai Tuesday morning, so I will update you when I get settled.
~Abby
I think most everyone has gotten a chance to check out the pictures I posted on Facebook, and for those that haven't you can check them out here.
The first day in Bangkok was full of excitement and exploring. Millie, Cassie, Gina and I explored a local park on our own and walked the 2.5k track that went through and around it. Then we met up with the group and took taxis to a dock and got on a surprisingly rickety boat that took us on a tour of the waterfront. Bangkok has many river channels leading from the Lord River that people live on and use to get around or sell you things. We got off the boat to visit the snake farm where they milked a cobra right in front of me and I got to feed adorable Thai deer by hand - it tickles! Then we were off to Wat Aran: the Temple of the Dawn, where I think I climbed some of the steepest stairs known to man kind. It was a really cool place, and when we got back down to the bottom I treated by self to the best drink ever:
A chilled, freshly opened green coconut (oh my gosh, I'm so dead I was about to write pineapple). When coconuts are still green, they hold coconut water, which is sooo much better than coconut milk. They are ridiculously refreshing, too. I might have to order another one at dinner tonight...
After the temple we headed back to the Guest House, which has a website! Check it out here. We then hung out until 6:30 when we went to dinner at this awesome restaurant down the soi (street). I had some really good prawns, but the best part was desert: fresh Thai mango with sticky rice and coconut cream. Next time I have it I will definitely take a picture - it is nothing if not drool-worthy.
At the end of the day, I was happily exhausted and counted the three blisters on my feet as badges of honor.
On to today, we met around 11 a.m. and got on the Sky Train to go to a huge outdoor market. There were a lot of interesting sights to see that you can't catch in America (I totally saw a cart of roasted and fried bugs for consumption). My group got totally and completely lost and finally found our way to meet back with everyone at the local police station where the very friendly Thai policeman asked us about our trip and told us about himself. He was from Chicago - go figure! Super nice guy, and I found a map of Bangkok and a map of Chiang Mai there for free, so that worked out rather well.
I'm super sore from the long, hot walk around the market, and most of us were so out we were pretty much falling asleep during dinner (myself included). Tomorrow evening we leave for Chiang Mai on the night train. The trip is around 14 hours BUT I get to sleep horizontally! Wohoo! We should get to Chiang Mai Tuesday morning, so I will update you when I get settled.
~Abby
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