Jake and I didn't even know where Qatar was until this morning, when on our way to the Dayton, Ohio airport I looked up where out layover would be. We had for some reason thought we would have a layover in Geneva. Boy! were we surprised when we ended up in the Middle East.
Lots of interesting people-watching: men in white robes, women in black burkhas. Some of the women have their faces covered, too, and some even their hands. Others leave their faces exposed and carry designer handbags or wear glitzy jewelry. The female children dress, for the most part, like American children.
We have a six-hour-long layover, about four hours of which is over now. Jake and I wanted to take a cab from the airport to find some local food or, at the suggestion of the flight attendants, smoke some shuka (?), but I was told I wouldn't be allowed into the country with an Israeli stamp in my passport. Thus, we are killing time in the airport, watching the people and playing Rummy.
Next stop Korea!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Back Again!
The pictures never materialized, I do realize that. But good news! There will be more to come, because I just got my ticket back to Thailand, this time with a stop in South Korea and India, too.
We'll be visiting Charity, who was the inspiration for the trip, as she currently works there as a teacher (also my occupation - how much has changed in two years!); Meris, who I'm pretty sure still gets the free flights of her choosing; Jake (!) who now lives in Philly also as a teacher... and I'm trying to convince my Korean-born cousin, Audrey, to join the affair.
Sewatdeeka Asia!!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Seewatdeeka Thailand, My Loves (Pictures coming soon)
Oi, leaving has been one big emotional wreck. I now write to you from Haifa, Israel, but I'll start from the beginning.
Exams went... smoothly. Remember how in my last entry all the libraries were closed during finals? Well, as it turns out, to give Thammasat credit that was a national holiday. That didn't end the strangeness of finals week for me, though. The day I took my three-hour long accounting final (which was, by the way, absurdly difficult) a marching band held practice outside the classroom... the whole time. I think it was orientation week for at least the BE program, and the school was more packed than I had ever seen it. All I have to say is thank goodness I'm not taking these classes for a grade.
For the last week everyone was really good about hanging out as a group, the way things started in the beginning. Wednesday night we had a "Christmas in Thailand" party (which I can't wait to add photos for you to see) as one last official goodbye before people started trickling off. The theme was inspired by Brian, Bruno and Dylan's apartment, which came with a fake Christmas tree. We've joked about it all semester, and for the party we brought it up to the penthouse (more space there) to decorate it with rambuttan fruits and other Thai ornaments. Jake even bought lights to make the tree really look right. We played Christmas music and beer pong (although I didn't because the event was unfortunately scheduled the night before I had a 9 a.m. final) and in all reality the night felt like a very warm Christmas.
The best part of the event was white elephant gift-giving. For those who don't know what white elephant is, it's a game kind of like Secret Santa, in which each person buys a gag gift, usually with a price limit (ours was 200 baht, or $6), and then draws numbers. The lowest number gets to choose a wrapped gift, and the second person gets to choose whether he or she wants to steal that gift or grab a new one. If #2 steals #1's gift then #1 is allowed to draw again, and the whole process continues with the rule that one gift can only be stolen twice. Gifts included:
- a wooden Khao San frog in psychedelic colors (mine)
- a scale
- an ab toner
- a Same Same But Different shirt
- a yellow Rama IX shirt
- a bucket kit
- a stolen Rattanakosin poster
- a Vietnamese boat hat
- fisherman pants
- a back scratcher
...and best of all... a picture of the king!!! I've been telling my friends that this is the one item I had left to buy, and I drew it! It was really the best surprise. I even kind of held it out of sight hoping that no one would steal it.
The night illustrated how cohesive our group of friends is. Though we are a hodge podge of Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Australians and Thais, we get along so well, especially that night when we were all so merry.
After that the goodbyes just got hard. I said goodbye to Jake first, since even though he's staying the summer, he and Brian left for Laos and Cambodia Friday afternoon. I felt like a mess when he left, and was so thankful to get back to my apartment only to immediately receive a call from Brad, who wanted to know if I was okay. He and Jon came up to comfort me and we just hung out, all bummed and unable to think about anything except leaving.
I left last night, and had a really touching goodbye. I spent the day consuming all the street food I knew I would miss, then topping everything off by going to Chote Chitr for dinner. Eleven of us went, and everyone kept calling it the last supper, as we gorged on family-style curries, soups, and fish, then ended our meal in the street with the famous buttered-bread-with-bananas-and-chocolate dessert I love so much.
Everyone came over to the apartment while I finished packing, since I was the first of the night to go, and we watched Charity's wonderful dvd. She's been taking short movies on her camera all semester, and put a ton of time into making a 20-minute long compilation of the videos mixed in with pictures of us, all edited in iMovie. It's an awesome video, because it captures so much of what I've already forgotten. It's also amazing what video can do to capture our interactions that still film just can't. My plan is to show it to everyone back at home to brag to them about the friends I made in Thailand.
Just before I left I gave everyone printed pictures I've taken with them or of them all semester, and tried to decorate the frames according to each person's personality. I'm going to miss everyone so much. :)
Then off to the airport, everyone walked me downstairs. Jon and Brad gave me a gag gift just before the cab came, which of course made me start crying. This made Meris, Charity, Sophie, even Bee and Brad cry, too. We're all messes! Brad, in his loyal fashion, drove with me to the airport, which is no small feat since it's a 45-minute drive. I was really thankful that he offered to do that, because it would have been a lonely drive otherwise. He's been such a good friend to me this semester.
Once I was off to Israel I started sobbing, which made the man sitting next to me pretty uncomfortable. Soon enough, though, I fell asleep, only to wake up every so often to a meal placed on the tray in front of me.
Even though my flight was 45 minutes late, Elana was waiting for me at the Tel Aviv airport, and I found her with no trouble. What a comforting face to see! I missed her so much. I've had no trouble with luggage or customs thus far, and I'm now in Haifa, in the northern region of the country. The only thing that has popped out at me has been the hoards of soldiers, the most conspicuous of which to me are the females. Elana pointed out their giant guns (which I was somehow oblivious to) but told me they're not loaded. (Then why...?) Now I'm just settling in and eating falafel and a wonderful chocolate with Pop Rocks in it, and we're going to visit the Ba'hai Gardens this afternoon. Her boyfriend came over to meet me and brought along with him olives and cheese for snacks. He's a very bubbly person, and tomorrow he's going to spend the day with me and Elana (he's in the army and only gets one day off a week). He tells me he's going to lecture me with all sorts of information about the country.
I already miss Thailand, and more than that I miss the people I became friends with there. It's cool to have friends all over the country and the world now, and I'm looking forward to Andy's birthday, four weeks from now in Las Vegas. This won't be the end of my blog, but Seewatdeeka Thailand!
Love,
Abby
p.s. I got my hair cut really short. Think Carrie from Season five of Sex and the City.
Exams went... smoothly. Remember how in my last entry all the libraries were closed during finals? Well, as it turns out, to give Thammasat credit that was a national holiday. That didn't end the strangeness of finals week for me, though. The day I took my three-hour long accounting final (which was, by the way, absurdly difficult) a marching band held practice outside the classroom... the whole time. I think it was orientation week for at least the BE program, and the school was more packed than I had ever seen it. All I have to say is thank goodness I'm not taking these classes for a grade.
For the last week everyone was really good about hanging out as a group, the way things started in the beginning. Wednesday night we had a "Christmas in Thailand" party (which I can't wait to add photos for you to see) as one last official goodbye before people started trickling off. The theme was inspired by Brian, Bruno and Dylan's apartment, which came with a fake Christmas tree. We've joked about it all semester, and for the party we brought it up to the penthouse (more space there) to decorate it with rambuttan fruits and other Thai ornaments. Jake even bought lights to make the tree really look right. We played Christmas music and beer pong (although I didn't because the event was unfortunately scheduled the night before I had a 9 a.m. final) and in all reality the night felt like a very warm Christmas.
The best part of the event was white elephant gift-giving. For those who don't know what white elephant is, it's a game kind of like Secret Santa, in which each person buys a gag gift, usually with a price limit (ours was 200 baht, or $6), and then draws numbers. The lowest number gets to choose a wrapped gift, and the second person gets to choose whether he or she wants to steal that gift or grab a new one. If #2 steals #1's gift then #1 is allowed to draw again, and the whole process continues with the rule that one gift can only be stolen twice. Gifts included:
- a wooden Khao San frog in psychedelic colors (mine)
- a scale
- an ab toner
- a Same Same But Different shirt
- a yellow Rama IX shirt
- a bucket kit
- a stolen Rattanakosin poster
- a Vietnamese boat hat
- fisherman pants
- a back scratcher
...and best of all... a picture of the king!!! I've been telling my friends that this is the one item I had left to buy, and I drew it! It was really the best surprise. I even kind of held it out of sight hoping that no one would steal it.
The night illustrated how cohesive our group of friends is. Though we are a hodge podge of Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Australians and Thais, we get along so well, especially that night when we were all so merry.
After that the goodbyes just got hard. I said goodbye to Jake first, since even though he's staying the summer, he and Brian left for Laos and Cambodia Friday afternoon. I felt like a mess when he left, and was so thankful to get back to my apartment only to immediately receive a call from Brad, who wanted to know if I was okay. He and Jon came up to comfort me and we just hung out, all bummed and unable to think about anything except leaving.
I left last night, and had a really touching goodbye. I spent the day consuming all the street food I knew I would miss, then topping everything off by going to Chote Chitr for dinner. Eleven of us went, and everyone kept calling it the last supper, as we gorged on family-style curries, soups, and fish, then ended our meal in the street with the famous buttered-bread-with-bananas-and-chocolate dessert I love so much.
Everyone came over to the apartment while I finished packing, since I was the first of the night to go, and we watched Charity's wonderful dvd. She's been taking short movies on her camera all semester, and put a ton of time into making a 20-minute long compilation of the videos mixed in with pictures of us, all edited in iMovie. It's an awesome video, because it captures so much of what I've already forgotten. It's also amazing what video can do to capture our interactions that still film just can't. My plan is to show it to everyone back at home to brag to them about the friends I made in Thailand.
Just before I left I gave everyone printed pictures I've taken with them or of them all semester, and tried to decorate the frames according to each person's personality. I'm going to miss everyone so much. :)
Then off to the airport, everyone walked me downstairs. Jon and Brad gave me a gag gift just before the cab came, which of course made me start crying. This made Meris, Charity, Sophie, even Bee and Brad cry, too. We're all messes! Brad, in his loyal fashion, drove with me to the airport, which is no small feat since it's a 45-minute drive. I was really thankful that he offered to do that, because it would have been a lonely drive otherwise. He's been such a good friend to me this semester.
Once I was off to Israel I started sobbing, which made the man sitting next to me pretty uncomfortable. Soon enough, though, I fell asleep, only to wake up every so often to a meal placed on the tray in front of me.
Even though my flight was 45 minutes late, Elana was waiting for me at the Tel Aviv airport, and I found her with no trouble. What a comforting face to see! I missed her so much. I've had no trouble with luggage or customs thus far, and I'm now in Haifa, in the northern region of the country. The only thing that has popped out at me has been the hoards of soldiers, the most conspicuous of which to me are the females. Elana pointed out their giant guns (which I was somehow oblivious to) but told me they're not loaded. (Then why...?) Now I'm just settling in and eating falafel and a wonderful chocolate with Pop Rocks in it, and we're going to visit the Ba'hai Gardens this afternoon. Her boyfriend came over to meet me and brought along with him olives and cheese for snacks. He's a very bubbly person, and tomorrow he's going to spend the day with me and Elana (he's in the army and only gets one day off a week). He tells me he's going to lecture me with all sorts of information about the country.
I already miss Thailand, and more than that I miss the people I became friends with there. It's cool to have friends all over the country and the world now, and I'm looking forward to Andy's birthday, four weeks from now in Las Vegas. This won't be the end of my blog, but Seewatdeeka Thailand!
Love,
Abby
p.s. I got my hair cut really short. Think Carrie from Season five of Sex and the City.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Finals in Thailand
I love Thailand, and more than that, I love Thammasat. We have finals this week. Back at home this means cramped libraries, 24-hour coffee houses, and a sense of panic erupting from every bleary-eyed student who discovers the school printers are malfunctioning.
I didn't expect the same from Thammasat. That's fair to say. But when Jon and I headed to school today to photocopy our accounting course packs, what I really did not expect was for the campus to be empty. Cafeteria closed. Libraries locked. Lights off. It was a ghost town.
We were in such disbelief we just roamed the dark hallways, laughing to ourselves at the absurdity, and appreciating possibly the greatest cultural difference - at least the most surprising - we've encountered in this country.
I'm close to being done with school. I've finished with two classes and have two more to go. The last one will be the worst - three hours of grueling management essays - but it's the one class I have a very good shot at getting an A in. I got an 82 on the midterm, not great by UT standards, but that was the highest grade in the class! Must be some massive curving going on. In my other classes, since we don't get grades back, I honestly have no idea how I'm doing. That took me a long time to get used to, it really did. Thailand is no place for someone who likes to calculate grades.
With the wrap-up of school also comes the wrap-up of everyone's time here. Alex already left, and Lilly is effectively leaving tonight. (She's actually staying the summer, but tonight was the last time most of us will get to see her, since she's visiting Cambodia in the morning.) I, like Meris and most of us, am getting pretty depressed about leaving. It doesn't help to count down our time, either, which I can't seem to stop myself from doing. "But we only have x amount of days left," seems to be the phrase of the week. I wake up sad and don't know why, and then I think about going back and I remember. It just sucks.
Mai pben rai, I know I'll be back, and hopefully soon enough to experience the same Thailand I did while I was here. In the meantime I should get excited about fusion sushi, Tex-mex, and finally getting to hug my little brother.
I didn't expect the same from Thammasat. That's fair to say. But when Jon and I headed to school today to photocopy our accounting course packs, what I really did not expect was for the campus to be empty. Cafeteria closed. Libraries locked. Lights off. It was a ghost town.
We were in such disbelief we just roamed the dark hallways, laughing to ourselves at the absurdity, and appreciating possibly the greatest cultural difference - at least the most surprising - we've encountered in this country.
I'm close to being done with school. I've finished with two classes and have two more to go. The last one will be the worst - three hours of grueling management essays - but it's the one class I have a very good shot at getting an A in. I got an 82 on the midterm, not great by UT standards, but that was the highest grade in the class! Must be some massive curving going on. In my other classes, since we don't get grades back, I honestly have no idea how I'm doing. That took me a long time to get used to, it really did. Thailand is no place for someone who likes to calculate grades.
With the wrap-up of school also comes the wrap-up of everyone's time here. Alex already left, and Lilly is effectively leaving tonight. (She's actually staying the summer, but tonight was the last time most of us will get to see her, since she's visiting Cambodia in the morning.) I, like Meris and most of us, am getting pretty depressed about leaving. It doesn't help to count down our time, either, which I can't seem to stop myself from doing. "But we only have x amount of days left," seems to be the phrase of the week. I wake up sad and don't know why, and then I think about going back and I remember. It just sucks.
Mai pben rai, I know I'll be back, and hopefully soon enough to experience the same Thailand I did while I was here. In the meantime I should get excited about fusion sushi, Tex-mex, and finally getting to hug my little brother.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Out of Country
I've spent the most amazingly idle two days, and I feel wonderful for it. After almost three weeks away from Bangkok, I was aching for the city and its smells of Thai food.
Now, after a lazy day of computer-ing myself to death, I'm wide awake because Daddy is coming! He's never been to Asia before, and I hope he likes it. My landlord Justin said Daddy could stay in an unused condo and pay by the night, that way he'll be just a few floors away from me and have an entire apartment to himself for 700 baht a night. I had a lot of fun shopping for it today and preparing the condo with fruit, water, cereal, milk, and most importantly instant coffee... I'm determined that he stay awake tomorrow. I at least want him to make it through dinner at Chotr Chitl. Mmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about the eggplant salad, beef and pumpkin curry, and crispy noodles we'll eat. Not to mention my favorite dessert stand of thick, buttered bread topped with chocolate and coconut cream.
Friday we're registered for a cooking class at Mai Kaidee, a famous vegetarian restaurant in Bangkok. I've been waiting for Daddy to come to take the class with me, that way he can make me all the recipes when I'm in Houston. :) Saturday we're off to Phi Phi Island, sight of Leonardo Dicaprio's The Beach. We don't have return tickets so we'll stay however long we want before heading back to Bangkok, where I may make him do the floating market and tiger temple one day. We were supposed to go to Chiang Mai as well, but I was there twice in the past three weeks and went on one of the famous treks, but am too unimpressed to subject my dad to another flight and hotel.
Speaking of trekking, I'll move backwards through time. I just got back from Chiang Mai to celebrate Songkran, or the new year. (By the way, happy 2551!) I stayed for three days, one of which I did an all-day trek in the countryside packed with activities:
1. We visited a butterfly museum and orchid farm. I really like the orchid farm, but all the butterflies had torn wings. I wondered what little kids had been grabbing at them.
2. I finally rode an elephant. That part was fun, because Jake (who I went with) and I got the biggest elephant, and he kept venturing off the trail to grab huge piles of bushes to eat. A highlight of my whole time in Thailand was when I dropped my lens cap. I figured it was a lost cause trying to get it, seeing as I was about 10 feet up on this giant animal, but the elephant at my back actually stopped, picked the lens cap up, and handed it over.
For that I will always have respect for Thailand's national animal.
As good and fun as that was, though, I was uncomfortable on the elephants. Our guide used a tool shaped like a curved pick to get the elephant to cooperate, and though I admit I'm not elephant expert, none of them looked very healthy. (Big has got to be good, though, and my elephant was big.)
3. My least favorite part of being a tourist in Thailand was visiting the Karen tribes. They're famous for their long necks, which you may have seen in National Geographic-esque pictures. I almost felt sick while walking through the "village" set up for us. Yes, the Karen tribe may actually live there, but our guide explained to us that these are not Thai people, and they are given almost no status by the Thai government. The Karen tribe is native to Burma, where they were persecuted and forced to leave. They are refugees in Thailand, and the only reason the Thai government lets them stay is to attract tourists like me, willing to pay 1,000 baht to see them as part of a day's adventure. It's gross.
The worst part was that, as tourists, we were expected to take pictures of them and with them, like a zoo. I couldn't do that, but I did buy some of the beautiful scarves they made, with two in mind to give Stephanie and Elana. The first (and possibly only) souvenirs I've bought or will buy here.
When I bought them, the Karen tribe members and I spoke broken Thai to each other. (Most rural villagers, even native Thais, speak dialects of Thai.) They didn't seem particularly unhappy, but as I was in contact with them for less than an hour, I'm in no position to assess their happiness. (Or their misery, for that matter.)
4. The best part of the day was white-water rafting, if you can call it that. Thailand is now in its dry season, and because of that we spent most of the time bouncing around in the raft, throwing all our weight to one side or another, and with the help of our guide making it over the rocks. When we came to white-water actually deep enough for us to get over easily, though, what a trip! I loved that part, and it inspired me to try to make a rafting trip when I get home.
The Songkran holiday turned the banks of the river into a celebration reminiscent of the 4th of July, complete with picnics on the bank, Thai barbecuing, and plenty of Thais in and around the water. The original tradition during Songkran was to sprinkle water on people as a blessing. This tradition has now developed into a crazy mass of people pouring, dumping, splashing and squirting water - often cooled with ice - on anyone and everyone. Chiang Mai was a positive war zone, and the river was no different. As we made it down, our comical raft and the fact that we were a bunch of farang in it (the Thais must have been thinking how silly the things are that farang pay for) made us the targets of plenty of splashing, and even the subject of pictures. I swear, more Thais have pictures of me from that day than I do.
5. We ended the day with a slow bamboo raft down the smooth part of the river. Nondescript.
Like I said, Chiang Mai was a war zone for the entire holiday, which lasted from Saturday, when we got there, to today, Wednesday. No one was really sure when the actual change of year took place. Like I said, I stayed for three days, one of which was spent trekking, and by the end of the third day I was more than ready to leave. Splashing people and getting soaked in your clothes (inappropriate to wear just a bathing suit around town) is fun for while the sun is at its height, but around 4 p.m. the sun loses its strength and I begin to feel like I'm coming down with pneumonia. I'm also pretty sure everyone got diarrhea from swimming, splashing and peeing in the canal surrounding the "old city" of Chiang Mai, where most of the action took place. I definitely drank more water than I cared to.
View of Songkran at the end of the day (when it had died down a lot) from inside a car:
Backing up a little more, I had exactly one night between Chiang Mai and Hong Kong. Hong Kong was... intense. To preface my impression of it, I'll say that I lost my passport on the first night and got a bad stomach bug (that lasted) by the second night. I know. I've dealt with it.
The two things that stand out to me the most about Hong Kong are the subways, which I feel like I spent most of my trip riding, and which I actually really liked for ease of use, and the go! go! go! atmosphere. I really didn't like that. I'm sure it was because of my stomach bug, and also my life in Thailand, which is so opposite of go-go-go (Thai people are infamous for walking very... slowly...), I just wasn't used to it at all. I was literally pushed around every day, and told to stand up when I sat down on the steps of my hostel. The security guards where I was staying liked it better if I at least looked like I was going somewhere soon.
Marney on the subway:
It is beautiful, though, in a very different way than Thailand. The buildings go on forever, and they're all tall. They're also set against the harbor, very reminiscent of Vancouver.
Victoria Peak overlooking the city:
Still atop Victoria Peak. This picture reminds me of paintings of Mt. Fuji:
It's embarrassing how little I remember from my trip. When I talked to Mommy on Skype the other day she asked me about it, and all I could say was that I shopped a lot and threw up at Ocean Park, one of HK's theme parks. (I threw up because of my stomach virus right off one of the roller coasters. I turned around to see the stricken faces of the impending ride-goers.) I'll have to consult Meris's blog to figure out exactly what we did. And for the record, HK police found my passport. Phew!
To back up one last time, I had a day in Bangkok between the Gibbons Experience and Hong Kong. Now, the Gibbons Experience was just that, a true experience. I started my trip with a solo journey to Chiang Mai (which scared the pants off my mother). There I visited Wat Doi Suthep, a temple that overlooks the city. It was fine, and I got blessed by a monk, so all was well:
I also had a very solitary dinner:
I was thankful when Andy joined me. I think traveling alone is very emotionally rocky, and I was only alone for a day.
Laos is possibly the only country in the world slower and happier than Thailand. Everyone I met there was very friendly, and spoke so quietly I had to resign to pretending to be able to hear them. (Damn American ears, only attuned to loudness.)
The Bokeo National Reserve, where we spent three days hiking through the jungle, was breathtaking. (I should have trekked through Chiang Mai first, because going through Bokeo dwarfs the natural beauty of most other places.) We spent most of the time hiking the steep ups and downs of the forest, and about every 45 minutes we would get to zip line 200 meters high, and sometimes for as long as 700 meters, from treetop to treetop. I didn't take any pictures that could capture how amazing it was.
The best part was getting to know the other members of our group. We were eight in total, a melting pot of travelers from all over the world. Four of us were venturing solo, and as usual I enjoyed hearing those stories the most, fantasizing that I, too, would be in their shoes soon. (I need to get some money and some guts first.)
On the last morning we woke up early and zipped out of our treehouse into the darkness. It was 5 a.m.; the sounds were the best. We hiked through the reserve to where we could hear the gibbons sing, and as we went I noticed that the forest was much more alive in the early morning. In the heat of the day nothing stirs, but before 6 a.m. there's a general rustling and singing throughout. We made it just in time to hear the gibbons, and no more than 10 minutes after we arrived (around 6 a.m.), they stopped singing.
We didn't make it unscathed, either. Garth, Amanda and Rotem all got leeches. I'm very happy to say that I didn't, although on the first night I awoke to a rat crawling on me. Who knew that rats could climb so high?
So sigh, I'm back in Bangkok now, and very happy for it. I'm settled in with my air-con (gee whiz, the Europeans are rubbing off on me) and my wireless, and at 4:30 a.m., it's time to sleep.
Now, after a lazy day of computer-ing myself to death, I'm wide awake because Daddy is coming! He's never been to Asia before, and I hope he likes it. My landlord Justin said Daddy could stay in an unused condo and pay by the night, that way he'll be just a few floors away from me and have an entire apartment to himself for 700 baht a night. I had a lot of fun shopping for it today and preparing the condo with fruit, water, cereal, milk, and most importantly instant coffee... I'm determined that he stay awake tomorrow. I at least want him to make it through dinner at Chotr Chitl. Mmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about the eggplant salad, beef and pumpkin curry, and crispy noodles we'll eat. Not to mention my favorite dessert stand of thick, buttered bread topped with chocolate and coconut cream.
Friday we're registered for a cooking class at Mai Kaidee, a famous vegetarian restaurant in Bangkok. I've been waiting for Daddy to come to take the class with me, that way he can make me all the recipes when I'm in Houston. :) Saturday we're off to Phi Phi Island, sight of Leonardo Dicaprio's The Beach. We don't have return tickets so we'll stay however long we want before heading back to Bangkok, where I may make him do the floating market and tiger temple one day. We were supposed to go to Chiang Mai as well, but I was there twice in the past three weeks and went on one of the famous treks, but am too unimpressed to subject my dad to another flight and hotel.
Speaking of trekking, I'll move backwards through time. I just got back from Chiang Mai to celebrate Songkran, or the new year. (By the way, happy 2551!) I stayed for three days, one of which I did an all-day trek in the countryside packed with activities:
1. We visited a butterfly museum and orchid farm. I really like the orchid farm, but all the butterflies had torn wings. I wondered what little kids had been grabbing at them.
2. I finally rode an elephant. That part was fun, because Jake (who I went with) and I got the biggest elephant, and he kept venturing off the trail to grab huge piles of bushes to eat. A highlight of my whole time in Thailand was when I dropped my lens cap. I figured it was a lost cause trying to get it, seeing as I was about 10 feet up on this giant animal, but the elephant at my back actually stopped, picked the lens cap up, and handed it over.
For that I will always have respect for Thailand's national animal.
As good and fun as that was, though, I was uncomfortable on the elephants. Our guide used a tool shaped like a curved pick to get the elephant to cooperate, and though I admit I'm not elephant expert, none of them looked very healthy. (Big has got to be good, though, and my elephant was big.)
3. My least favorite part of being a tourist in Thailand was visiting the Karen tribes. They're famous for their long necks, which you may have seen in National Geographic-esque pictures. I almost felt sick while walking through the "village" set up for us. Yes, the Karen tribe may actually live there, but our guide explained to us that these are not Thai people, and they are given almost no status by the Thai government. The Karen tribe is native to Burma, where they were persecuted and forced to leave. They are refugees in Thailand, and the only reason the Thai government lets them stay is to attract tourists like me, willing to pay 1,000 baht to see them as part of a day's adventure. It's gross.
The worst part was that, as tourists, we were expected to take pictures of them and with them, like a zoo. I couldn't do that, but I did buy some of the beautiful scarves they made, with two in mind to give Stephanie and Elana. The first (and possibly only) souvenirs I've bought or will buy here.
When I bought them, the Karen tribe members and I spoke broken Thai to each other. (Most rural villagers, even native Thais, speak dialects of Thai.) They didn't seem particularly unhappy, but as I was in contact with them for less than an hour, I'm in no position to assess their happiness. (Or their misery, for that matter.)
4. The best part of the day was white-water rafting, if you can call it that. Thailand is now in its dry season, and because of that we spent most of the time bouncing around in the raft, throwing all our weight to one side or another, and with the help of our guide making it over the rocks. When we came to white-water actually deep enough for us to get over easily, though, what a trip! I loved that part, and it inspired me to try to make a rafting trip when I get home.
The Songkran holiday turned the banks of the river into a celebration reminiscent of the 4th of July, complete with picnics on the bank, Thai barbecuing, and plenty of Thais in and around the water. The original tradition during Songkran was to sprinkle water on people as a blessing. This tradition has now developed into a crazy mass of people pouring, dumping, splashing and squirting water - often cooled with ice - on anyone and everyone. Chiang Mai was a positive war zone, and the river was no different. As we made it down, our comical raft and the fact that we were a bunch of farang in it (the Thais must have been thinking how silly the things are that farang pay for) made us the targets of plenty of splashing, and even the subject of pictures. I swear, more Thais have pictures of me from that day than I do.
5. We ended the day with a slow bamboo raft down the smooth part of the river. Nondescript.
Like I said, Chiang Mai was a war zone for the entire holiday, which lasted from Saturday, when we got there, to today, Wednesday. No one was really sure when the actual change of year took place. Like I said, I stayed for three days, one of which was spent trekking, and by the end of the third day I was more than ready to leave. Splashing people and getting soaked in your clothes (inappropriate to wear just a bathing suit around town) is fun for while the sun is at its height, but around 4 p.m. the sun loses its strength and I begin to feel like I'm coming down with pneumonia. I'm also pretty sure everyone got diarrhea from swimming, splashing and peeing in the canal surrounding the "old city" of Chiang Mai, where most of the action took place. I definitely drank more water than I cared to.
View of Songkran at the end of the day (when it had died down a lot) from inside a car:
Backing up a little more, I had exactly one night between Chiang Mai and Hong Kong. Hong Kong was... intense. To preface my impression of it, I'll say that I lost my passport on the first night and got a bad stomach bug (that lasted) by the second night. I know. I've dealt with it.
The two things that stand out to me the most about Hong Kong are the subways, which I feel like I spent most of my trip riding, and which I actually really liked for ease of use, and the go! go! go! atmosphere. I really didn't like that. I'm sure it was because of my stomach bug, and also my life in Thailand, which is so opposite of go-go-go (Thai people are infamous for walking very... slowly...), I just wasn't used to it at all. I was literally pushed around every day, and told to stand up when I sat down on the steps of my hostel. The security guards where I was staying liked it better if I at least looked like I was going somewhere soon.
Marney on the subway:
It is beautiful, though, in a very different way than Thailand. The buildings go on forever, and they're all tall. They're also set against the harbor, very reminiscent of Vancouver.
Victoria Peak overlooking the city:
Still atop Victoria Peak. This picture reminds me of paintings of Mt. Fuji:
It's embarrassing how little I remember from my trip. When I talked to Mommy on Skype the other day she asked me about it, and all I could say was that I shopped a lot and threw up at Ocean Park, one of HK's theme parks. (I threw up because of my stomach virus right off one of the roller coasters. I turned around to see the stricken faces of the impending ride-goers.) I'll have to consult Meris's blog to figure out exactly what we did. And for the record, HK police found my passport. Phew!
To back up one last time, I had a day in Bangkok between the Gibbons Experience and Hong Kong. Now, the Gibbons Experience was just that, a true experience. I started my trip with a solo journey to Chiang Mai (which scared the pants off my mother). There I visited Wat Doi Suthep, a temple that overlooks the city. It was fine, and I got blessed by a monk, so all was well:
I also had a very solitary dinner:
I was thankful when Andy joined me. I think traveling alone is very emotionally rocky, and I was only alone for a day.
Laos is possibly the only country in the world slower and happier than Thailand. Everyone I met there was very friendly, and spoke so quietly I had to resign to pretending to be able to hear them. (Damn American ears, only attuned to loudness.)
The Bokeo National Reserve, where we spent three days hiking through the jungle, was breathtaking. (I should have trekked through Chiang Mai first, because going through Bokeo dwarfs the natural beauty of most other places.) We spent most of the time hiking the steep ups and downs of the forest, and about every 45 minutes we would get to zip line 200 meters high, and sometimes for as long as 700 meters, from treetop to treetop. I didn't take any pictures that could capture how amazing it was.
The best part was getting to know the other members of our group. We were eight in total, a melting pot of travelers from all over the world. Four of us were venturing solo, and as usual I enjoyed hearing those stories the most, fantasizing that I, too, would be in their shoes soon. (I need to get some money and some guts first.)
On the last morning we woke up early and zipped out of our treehouse into the darkness. It was 5 a.m.; the sounds were the best. We hiked through the reserve to where we could hear the gibbons sing, and as we went I noticed that the forest was much more alive in the early morning. In the heat of the day nothing stirs, but before 6 a.m. there's a general rustling and singing throughout. We made it just in time to hear the gibbons, and no more than 10 minutes after we arrived (around 6 a.m.), they stopped singing.
We didn't make it unscathed, either. Garth, Amanda and Rotem all got leeches. I'm very happy to say that I didn't, although on the first night I awoke to a rat crawling on me. Who knew that rats could climb so high?
So sigh, I'm back in Bangkok now, and very happy for it. I'm settled in with my air-con (gee whiz, the Europeans are rubbing off on me) and my wireless, and at 4:30 a.m., it's time to sleep.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Full Moon, Ayutthaya Stories
I have one Thai friend named Warren (his English nickname) who took me and a few others to his house in Ayutthaya a few weeks ago, and it was one of my best experiences here. We got to see what his house was really like, which is VERY different from American homes. All the "stuff," like tons of clothes and just the general knickknacks and everything that accumulates in a house is on the bottom floor, which is separated into a large dining/living room, a family room, and a kitchen. Even though they're separate rooms, the doorways to the other rooms are large and do not have doors, so the whole thing is pretty open. There's also a bathroom downstairs that we used to wash our feet (not hands) before dinner.
Upstairs is more remarkable. When you land at the top you land in a small, completely wooden room off of the main room. The main room is an exact square with no furniture in it. Instead, there are glass cases displaying family heirlooms, the same way a US house might display nice dishes or something. Hard wood floors and hard wood paneled walls, in which there are doors, but because they're the same panels as the rest of the walls, the doors are only distinguishable by very small handles. Usually the doors are all kept shut, too, so by just standing in the room and looking around, you can't tell where to go. Off of that room are the bedrooms, which have a little more to them than the main room, but are still very spare.
When we stayed there we got to eat Warren's mom's cooking, by far the best Thai food I've had so far, and in the morning we woke up early to feed, or pay alms, to the monks in the town. The least touristy thing I've done yet and it was amazing.
Lilly giving breakfast to the monks at around 7 a.m.:
This afternoon I'm heading out of Bangkok to do my "Visa run," which means I have to leave and come back before I've been here for 90 days. (I can't believe I've been here that long.) I'm traveling alone by train to Chiang Mai, where I'll spend a day exploring the city before I'll meet my friend Andy. From there we'll travel together to Laos to do the "Gibbons Experience," this program in which we're going to have a guided, three-day tour of the Laos jungle, zip-lining through it and sleeping in tree houses, then hiking during the day. It sounds amazing! I'm so excited.
Now, about last weekend.
I finally made it to a full moon party, this time with Ray, who visited me over spring break. WELL, the night before the full moon party we were all down on Haad Rin, the beach where the action takes place, and my friend Jake and I got separated from everyone. That really sucked, because our hostel was way up in the jungle, and the least the song teow drivers would charge us was 200 baht each to drive us there. By this time, though, it was 3 a.m. anyway and we were tired, so we sucked it up. Unfortunately, however, our driver only told us he knew where our hostel was; he actually didn't. We didn't know this, though, until we were driving in circles deep in the jungle. After 45 minutes of trying to figure out with the driver where we were, and having no resources except baht (I didn't have my phone with me, Jake's was dead, and the driver had no baht on his) we decided we weren't getting anywhere and we just wanted to go back to Haad Rin. But he wouldn't take us there. He wanted to find J. Seaview, even if it took all night.
We had seen a 7/11 about a half a mile back on the rode we were driving on, so we hopped out the back while the song teow was going slowly and started walking. The driver drove off not having noticed, but turned around and headed back when he did. He started yelling at us, demanding that we pay him 400 baht. It was a terrible situation for all of us. He had wasted his gas trying to get us to the hostel (but had lied about knowing where it was), and we were stuck in the jungle. He kept yelling, "You pay! You pay! 400 baht! 400 baht!" And we kept saying, "No, no, we're in the jungle, we don't know where we are." We tried giving him 100 baht but he kept demanding all of it. The problem was, we didn't have that much cash on us, and if we were going to have to pay another driver and/or for a guesthouse (provided we could find one), we couldn't pay him 400 baht. But he just kept yelling, which terrified me, because it's so uncharacteristic of Thais to yell.
At one point he got out of the truck. When he did that, even though he was a little guy, I was scared. I thought he might have a weapon, like a knife. I frantically pulled another 100 baht out of Jake's pockets and walked up to him. This time I was the one yelling, "Here! Here's another 100 baht, because you're scaring us! You get this money because you dropped us off in the middle of the jungle and you're frightening me!!" I was furious, and grabbed Jake's hand to walk away. We walked kind of quickly and the driver got back into his car to drive away. When he did that, though, he had to pass us, and I was genuinely afraid he would hit us, so Jake and I stepped off the road and into the jungle a bit.
He didn't hit us, though, and we walked slowly through the darkness back to the always trusty 7/11. There we tried to ask the workers where we were, but it was obvious they both didn't know and couldn't speak English to tell us. By this time is was at least 4 a.m., and I was desperately tired. There were two Brazilians in the 7/11 who could speak English and knew where we were, but it turned out to still be very far from J. Seaview. They were very nice, though, grabbing munchies from the 7/11, and in my desperate state I asked them where they were staying and whether there were any bungalows left. They drove us on their motorbikes to their bungalows on the beach, (the whole time me telling my driver to go slowly, 34 people died on this island during full moon two months ago), and Jake and I grabbed a bungalow and finally got the sleep we each needed so badly. We paid in the morning and it was only 200 baht!
Don't let this story scare you, although I'm sure if you're my parents it will. I want to relate my real experiences here. The Thailand I've seen is a very safe place, but it gets a little rough when all the tourists gather together like at the full moon party. And I'm not going back to Koh Phangan.
Upstairs is more remarkable. When you land at the top you land in a small, completely wooden room off of the main room. The main room is an exact square with no furniture in it. Instead, there are glass cases displaying family heirlooms, the same way a US house might display nice dishes or something. Hard wood floors and hard wood paneled walls, in which there are doors, but because they're the same panels as the rest of the walls, the doors are only distinguishable by very small handles. Usually the doors are all kept shut, too, so by just standing in the room and looking around, you can't tell where to go. Off of that room are the bedrooms, which have a little more to them than the main room, but are still very spare.
When we stayed there we got to eat Warren's mom's cooking, by far the best Thai food I've had so far, and in the morning we woke up early to feed, or pay alms, to the monks in the town. The least touristy thing I've done yet and it was amazing.
Lilly giving breakfast to the monks at around 7 a.m.:
This afternoon I'm heading out of Bangkok to do my "Visa run," which means I have to leave and come back before I've been here for 90 days. (I can't believe I've been here that long.) I'm traveling alone by train to Chiang Mai, where I'll spend a day exploring the city before I'll meet my friend Andy. From there we'll travel together to Laos to do the "Gibbons Experience," this program in which we're going to have a guided, three-day tour of the Laos jungle, zip-lining through it and sleeping in tree houses, then hiking during the day. It sounds amazing! I'm so excited.
Now, about last weekend.
I finally made it to a full moon party, this time with Ray, who visited me over spring break. WELL, the night before the full moon party we were all down on Haad Rin, the beach where the action takes place, and my friend Jake and I got separated from everyone. That really sucked, because our hostel was way up in the jungle, and the least the song teow drivers would charge us was 200 baht each to drive us there. By this time, though, it was 3 a.m. anyway and we were tired, so we sucked it up. Unfortunately, however, our driver only told us he knew where our hostel was; he actually didn't. We didn't know this, though, until we were driving in circles deep in the jungle. After 45 minutes of trying to figure out with the driver where we were, and having no resources except baht (I didn't have my phone with me, Jake's was dead, and the driver had no baht on his) we decided we weren't getting anywhere and we just wanted to go back to Haad Rin. But he wouldn't take us there. He wanted to find J. Seaview, even if it took all night.
We had seen a 7/11 about a half a mile back on the rode we were driving on, so we hopped out the back while the song teow was going slowly and started walking. The driver drove off not having noticed, but turned around and headed back when he did. He started yelling at us, demanding that we pay him 400 baht. It was a terrible situation for all of us. He had wasted his gas trying to get us to the hostel (but had lied about knowing where it was), and we were stuck in the jungle. He kept yelling, "You pay! You pay! 400 baht! 400 baht!" And we kept saying, "No, no, we're in the jungle, we don't know where we are." We tried giving him 100 baht but he kept demanding all of it. The problem was, we didn't have that much cash on us, and if we were going to have to pay another driver and/or for a guesthouse (provided we could find one), we couldn't pay him 400 baht. But he just kept yelling, which terrified me, because it's so uncharacteristic of Thais to yell.
At one point he got out of the truck. When he did that, even though he was a little guy, I was scared. I thought he might have a weapon, like a knife. I frantically pulled another 100 baht out of Jake's pockets and walked up to him. This time I was the one yelling, "Here! Here's another 100 baht, because you're scaring us! You get this money because you dropped us off in the middle of the jungle and you're frightening me!!" I was furious, and grabbed Jake's hand to walk away. We walked kind of quickly and the driver got back into his car to drive away. When he did that, though, he had to pass us, and I was genuinely afraid he would hit us, so Jake and I stepped off the road and into the jungle a bit.
He didn't hit us, though, and we walked slowly through the darkness back to the always trusty 7/11. There we tried to ask the workers where we were, but it was obvious they both didn't know and couldn't speak English to tell us. By this time is was at least 4 a.m., and I was desperately tired. There were two Brazilians in the 7/11 who could speak English and knew where we were, but it turned out to still be very far from J. Seaview. They were very nice, though, grabbing munchies from the 7/11, and in my desperate state I asked them where they were staying and whether there were any bungalows left. They drove us on their motorbikes to their bungalows on the beach, (the whole time me telling my driver to go slowly, 34 people died on this island during full moon two months ago), and Jake and I grabbed a bungalow and finally got the sleep we each needed so badly. We paid in the morning and it was only 200 baht!
Don't let this story scare you, although I'm sure if you're my parents it will. I want to relate my real experiences here. The Thailand I've seen is a very safe place, but it gets a little rough when all the tourists gather together like at the full moon party. And I'm not going back to Koh Phangan.
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