Headed North

After a long week of university classes from 9 am - 3 pm everyday, it was finally the weekend! The fourth kicked it off perfectly. Even though there were no parades or fireworks, we got to go on a night safari! Zebras were literally putting their heads on my lap while giraffes were shoving their neck through the car and hyenas were staring at us like food. The next morning (friday) we woke up early and headed off to the North to visit the Hill tribes! We arrived in the village Mae Kum Pong. It was very small filled with the sweetest and most caring people I've ever met. Shortly after arriving, some of the students went zip lining while the others went on a hike through the forest. The hike was beautiful! We meandered through coffee trees, pineapple bushes, and tea leaves and half way through found a small waterfall! Five of us went swimming in it and even though it was dirty and I promised my mama that would be the one thing I didn't do (so I wouldn't get a parasite)... I just couldn't help myself! And I was very glad I went in. 

After we hiked more we ended up at a coffee shop in the middle of the jungle! It was the cutest little wooden store with a breathtakingly beautiful view! 

After showering we joined the village for a welcome prayer where we sat in a circle and were intertwined with string with our hands in prayer and while the priest chanted a beautiful prayer in balinese we were supposed to make a wish. 

After the prayer was over he tied the string to our wrists, symbolizing the bond of our wish and in three days we are supposed to cut it off in order for it to come true and good luck will accompany it. We then ate an amazing dinner prepared by all of our homestay moms while the teenage girls did a traditional dance for us. 

In the morning we all woke up at 6:30 to feed the monks. I wish I knew more of what was going on and the symbolism of everything, but we sat cross legged while a prayer was chanted and we put flowers with incents in one bowl and food for the monks in another bowl. (Monks aren't allowed to purchase anything for themselves or take anything; it all must be given to them) Then the monks came out and there was a lot of wai-ing and other prayers going on. 

Then after a delicious breakfast made from grandma and grandpa (Inne and Pa Dong; our family we stayed with) we left to go visit another hill tribe: the Karen. The Karen are known to be the friendliness and happiest people in the world. In order to get there, we had to hike two hours. I thought yesterdays hike was amazing but oh my good golly, I have never been so drop dead in shock and amazed in my life. 

We started at the highest peak in Thailand (Doi Inthanon) and for the first hour we were following a stream that turned into this magnificent five tiered waterfall. 

Of course when we got to the bottom of it, we jumped right in. This time if people were strong enough swimmers (such a strong waterfall and the water was moving fast) we were able to actually swim behind the waterfall and look out. After a long time and seeing Kelsey come out with the biggest smile on her face, I mustered up the balls to get under it. It was such an adrenaline rush and unfortunately I swallowed basically a gallon of water... after I got out Grayson found a dead pig in the water.... cool... giardia get ready. We carried on with our hike and it was like I was in a Thai fairy tale. We turned a corner and all of a sudden there were rice patties that went on for miles. It was like the napa valley of Thailand. 

I have seen so many amazing photographs of rice patties in China and have always wished to be in the middle of it, and there it was! Right in front of me! The Karen people lived at the very bottom and this was their amazing view! Sourrounded by mountains, rice patties, and waterfalls! No wonder these people are the happiest in the world! The hut we stayed in was unreal... I was expecting to sleep on the ground under a tiny mosquito net and be perfectly okay with it. We had a hut that fit twelve and all us girls claimed it and it was like we were having a huge slumber party. We had a balcony that looked down on a river and a huge grass field. 

 (photo on balcony)

It felt more like paradise than Hawaii or the coast of Cinque Terre ever has. We were so out there, away from everything, in a brand new culture, eating delicious fresh home made dinner (probably from the chicken I saw running around earlier); it was complete bliss. I wish we were staying there for a month. That night the Karen version of John Mayer sang for us while we ate dinner. There was a bonfire set up for us, but unfortunately it being the rainy season, started down pouring rain. But that didn't stop us, we all still had a really fun night staying up late and laughing for hours. We left early the next morning, unable to really integrate ourself with the culture or even talk to most of the people, which I was pretty disappointed with, but oh well. I will be back. On to the next adventure! We went bamboo rafting! It was so much fun. It was as if a huge stand up paddle board made out of bamboo went white water rafting but in dirty water with water snakes. I was put on the raft with three of the boys and we were supposed to sit down the whole time, but we were standing up and surfing down the rapids and once it ended the boys so lovingly wrestled me into the snake infested water. After that we went to ride elephants through the jungle! 

It was beautiful and an amazing ride, we went through the forest then trekked through the river. Afterwards Rachelle, Jeni and I saw baby elephants and ran towards them. After feeding them, petting them, and taking really cute pictures with them thinking they are the cutest things in the world, I all of a sudden get knocked ten feet back because his trunk whacked me in the face. After gathering myself together and realizing what just happened, I started crying and blood was running out of my nose. Do not be fooled by their cuteness. Today my nose is still swollen and I can't even sniff it hurts so much. This weekend was a rush of emotions and an overwhelming feeling of such complete happiness that I can't wipe this smile off my face. <3 

The Weekend

So after Fridays shenanigans, its easy to say that we were all pretty wiped the next morning.. that didn't keep us from adventuring however. The plan was to visit Obkhan National Park, in the middle of the Thai Rainforest, a beautiful river, and cliff jumping can be found! After a delectable hangover breakfast consisting of fried chicken and bacon burgers at G-Longs, 20 of us hopped in the red taxi trucks to head to Obkhan. We rented the trucks for the whole day, and after a long 40 minute drive through the gorgeous green jungle, we arrived.

For those who do not already know, I get motion sickness EXTREMELY easily and the winding narrow roads to our destination proved no different for my stomach. Laura had the same problem, so while the group went to the bathroom, we snuck away behind a tree and threw up (ew sorry). What happened next was unbelievable. We had been in the forest for only 5 minutes when it started to rain cats and dogs. It was the most refreshing warm rain, and it seemed to cleanse away our car sickness instantly. Soaking wet from the pouring summer rain we ran into the river and swam around as the rest of the crew joined us. It was so incredibly breath taking and fun! We hiked around for a bit and came to a place where a few brave souls could jump off the highest cliff-like part of the river bank into the clear warm water.

The day completely drained us, so we headed home hours later and got ready for delicious dinners consisting of persian food for myself and street food for Sami. We decided to call it an early night and watch 21 jump street in the lounge of the 4th floor of Uniserv (our univeristy-run hotel) and go to sleep.
On Sunday, we got up and planned to go to the Women's prison for one of our school assignments. We ate at Dude, Cafe! and had delicious heart-shaped waffles with chocolate and sweet milk sauce... nom.

We headed to the prison to find that they were all booked for the day and decided to walk around the city of Chiang Mai. We wound up at some cool little temples with large Buddha statues and decided to sit in peace for a while.. very calming. We then inserted 5 baht into a machine to get our fortunes.. apparently, Sami is slow but sure in love, and going to have a baby boy if she gets married. and I need to be patient and not think about the lover.. hmmm.. haha

After getting some pad thai and a much needed kit kat bar from 711, me, Sami, Lucia, and Danny were in great need of a foot massage. for 250 baht (about 8 bucks) we got hour foot massages that were to die for. We had never been so relaxed. After that, a group of us headed to the Sunday night market where we got amazing indian food (chicken masala, butter chicken, daahl.. the works) and spent a bunch of money bargaining with vendors for their one of a kind products.

-Kels

Day Seven

Good thing we woke up bright and early to head to class today just to get into the class room to find out it's canceled, but we had to stay near campus for the next four hours.... Oh well, we did what we do best, explore! We headed to the edge of campus and decided to buy the uniforms all the other thai students wear to school. Girls bought black skirts while boys bought nice button up collared shirts with black slacks. Wandering around, we ended up at a cute cafe owned by a gay retired thai man who shared with us that "it was his dream to open this shop" and it was the cutest thing in the world. He gave us samples of his delicious hazelnut cookies while we played with his furry little puppy.

Finally it was time for Thai language that seemed to go on forever and never end... Learning the language is definitely helping and very interesting, however it's sooo frustrating because one word can mean five different things and it all depends on the tone you say it. After class Natalie, Lo and I went to get our nails done down the street for only $5! Then we headed back to meet up with everyone that was already at the night bizarre. The market was hugee with such cute stuff for so cheap! They were selling real North Face backpacks for $15 bucks! (Usually $100+ in the States!) Lo and I came across this food stand selling "Rotee's" (also seen it spelled rotii) and we were mesmerized with the process of how they were making this delicious dough balls fried and filled to mimic a crepe; we ordered one. Then it was so good we ordered two more. The first one was cooked like a normal crepe then cut into bite sized pieces and doused in sweetened condensed milk. The second one was cooked and filled with nutella and bananas... nom nom nom !

(I'm craving one right now just thinking about it!) Afterwards we met the whole gang at the ragae bar and zoe's bar for the night!

It was quite a night. Meeting people and making friends from everywhere around the world, peeing in alleyways, blue hawaiians and changs, dancing until 4 am, and getting burritos from "tacos bell".

It was a damn good night.

Girls Night

On our first thursday in Chiang Mai, we had a long day of class that consisted of our fav professor, Stacy Rucas doing an intro to Behavioral Ecology. We then had an hour of Thai Family Class followed by an hour lunch break and two hours of Thai Language. My Thai Lang teacher was super cute and sweet and she loved to ask us questions about our culture and lifestyle as much as we liked to ask her about hers. After class, I was sufficiently exhausted but about 10 of us girls decided to ditch the boys and get some yummy Italian food. The restaurant is called "Why Not" and it is is owned by an Italian ex-pat. pretty cool. the food was delicious and Natalie and I shared an entire large pizza (i know, quite impressive) and we all enjoyed a glass of wine and getting to know each other better. After dinner we wanted to meet up with the boys at the famous Roots Rock Reggae bar in the area of Chiang Mai that is known as the backpackers party/hang out scene.

It was super cool!! The Reggae band was so good, considering they ended up not speaking English, only memorizing the songs word for word (Jamaican accent and all). Us girls had a ball! We ordered mango mojitos and after dancing to Buffalo Soldier decided to head over to the next bar called Zoe Yellow. This bar was a little more up scale than the reggae bar and is where we met some really fun Irish guys! when they found out that we were from California, they actually asked me if I had ever been to San Luis Obispo.... UHM YES WE LIVE WORK AND GO TO SCHOOL IN SLO!!! Haha we couldn't believe it, but the boys said that SLO was their favorite city and recommended it to all of their friends back in the UK.. unreal! needless to say, we hung out with them the next night too! After meeting people from places far and wide, we decided to head home early because we had class at 10 the next morning.

-Kels

Train to Chiang Mai

Today was a very lazy, much needed relaxing day. Packed our bags because tonight we were headed North to Chiang Mai! Arrived at the train station at 6:00 pm and had some time to kill before we took off. Grayson and I wanted to grab some food before we took off because the food offered was very over priced. After searching and searching, we settled for this corner food booth that looked a little questionable and ordered some Pad Thai. Now, I’ve had my fair share of Pad Thai all over California and now in Thailand and there are not enough words to describe to you how amazing and unreal this Pad Thai was. It looked like any regular glass noodles fried with eggs, vegetables, tofu, and topped with peanuts and shoved into a styrofoam box. But every bite we had… we were moaning more and more. It was bursting with so much unknown flavor and had a subtle sense of sweetness from the lime we squeezed on top of it. I almost cried when it was done. Still have yet to find a Pad Thai dish that was even close to this. It was 7:15 pm and off onto the train we went! We had a whole cart to ourselves, except for poor 10 other random people who had to deal with our craziness. All night we played games and deemed it the Chang Train. (The picture says it all).

We all actually slept pretty good on our tiny little sleeper beds, except for the fact it was freezing cold because the AC was blasting all night and all they gave us were towels for blankets… Thankfully, Kels and I woke up at the same time and were so cold we climbed into bed together and cuddled till we warmed up. When we finally got out of bed and looked out the window, we were mesmerized. We were in the middle of the Thai jungle. People who were awake before us said they saw water buffalo and were on the lookout for tigers. We headed over to the open air café/bar cart and ordered toast with eggs. (Side note: I’ve noticed in Thailand everyone leaves their eggs out… like out on the shelf or on the counter. Never in the refrigerator… odd. Us Americans must be doing it wrong.) We were in a daze sitting at the table with the windows wide open and the warm, tropical air blowing on our face as we starred out into the jungle. 

Every once in a while we came upon a small village with skinny cows, a crumbling house frame, but the people had the biggest smile on their face and waved vigorously at us. After a long 13 hour train ride, we finally made it! Chiang Mai! Our new home for the next four weeks! To all of us it was much better than Bangkok because it literally feels like a thai SLO. It’s a cute college town surrounded with mountains and happy people. We took a tour of Chiang Mai University where we were shocked! It’s such a nice and pretty campus! And it’s huge, 60,000 thai people attend! There are grass fields, a huge pond, different departments scattered, and football fields, volleyball courts, and other recreational fields everywhere. For dinner a group of us headed down the street and fell even more in love with Chiang Mai. It was block after block with cute clothing stores, hipster cafes, and the best part was we didn’t feel dirty like we did in Bangkok! We ate at a rooftop restaurant where we shared all the dishes family style and the food was delicious! 

Afterwards we finally found a place that sold mango sticky rice and all ordered a plate. The mangoes were perfectly ripe and people who never had it before were shocked as to how good it was and were hooked. 

Day Four

Was definitely hoping on sleeping in this morning… but Jake and Grayson had another plan. Jumping on our bed waking us up and telling us to get ready because we are going to the medical museum. After a long walk without breakfast or water, we finally made it. And man, was this museum eye opening. It’s known as the death museum and some of the items showcased, we had to skip some because it was so disturbing and sad. The most shocking exhibit was when they preserved infants, new borns, and even fetuses in these glass cases where you could view everything. Most of them were either still births or had some kind of birth defect where they died soon after. There were also other preserved body parts such as an actual head of a person with their hair, eyes, and everything in place- however their head was chopped in half so we could see what it looks like on the inside…. So amazing and complex! Afterwards we headed home and stopped at a street food cart where we ordered fried rice and oh man… the street food here is unreal. It’s better than restaurant food, cheaper too, and uses the freshest ingredients you can actually watch them make and create into a masterpiece.

Later that night we went on a dinner cruise down the Chao Praya! This was so much fun… it was buffet style dinner on the bottom floor with any delicious Thai food you could be craving with an endless amount. It finally stopped raining and our group (remember there’s 28 of us) headed to the top of the boat where we saw the beautiful Bangkok skyline and saw the night lights sparkle.

The Philippino cover artists singing brought their set up outside and started playing those catchy American pop songs. I’m not exaggerating when I say this, but we literally started a night club on top of this fancy dinner cruise. The other Chinese tourist who were also eating came up top to join us because we were having so much fun. It was absolutely hilarious and so much fun to be dancing and singing on top of a boat with an amazing view. Afterwards we stopped at La Bua hotel to try to get into the Sky Bar (where Hangover II was filmed) on the 64^th floor. Since our group was so big, they did not let us go up. A smaller group of girls were so smart and returned twenty minutes later and were let up… this is my biggest regret of the trip so far. Their pictures of the view and of the bar were outstanding! Oh well, we headed over to Khosan road for our final night in Bangkok. 

Day Three

One jam packed day after another, why not? Today we met with our adorable tour guide, Woody, and explored the more touristy side of Bangkok. Considering that the temple and Wats have respectful dress codes (covered toes, long pants or skirt, collared shirts that covered the shoulders) Kelsey and I looked like complete matching schoolgirl dorks while sweating balls. We visited the beautiful Grand Palace. It started pouring rain while we were there and continued the rest of the day. 

Then Wat Po which contained the first Thai massage school with all the original pressure point diagrams used in Thai massages. 

Afterwards we went on a longtail boat on the Chao Phraya river which was so much fun. The water market is no longer popular here, as it used to be because it now has moved more North, but there was still a couple boats trying to keep it up selling their fruit. We then embarked on a boat to eat a buffet lunch with all the other Asian tourist. It was absolutely delicious! Our favorite part was the coconut pancakes for dessert. They were warm little balls that oozed in your mouth as you bit into it, tasting close to a tropical flan but not as sweet. As it was melting in our mouth, we were unable to control our moans as we rushed back to get more. 

After lunch we went to visit Wat Arun. If daring enough, people can get to the top after climbing literally vertical stairs. Woody warned us to not climb if we are not strong because the rain made it very slippery. But hey, YOBO. (You only Bangkok once). All of us took on the challenge and climbed to the top. Thankfully, no one died, but Charlie took a pretty gnarly slip and almost fell all the way down, but instead ended up with some bloody knuckles and all shaken up. 

The next Wat close by, Wat Traimit, contains the largest golden Buddha ever. It’s about 120 feet long and reclining on its side. It was overwhelming and magnificent at the same time. We then headed over to have dinner while watching a traditional Thai dance. Their dances are not at all what we were expecting. They were very elegant and beautifully dressed women who moved very miniscule while their fingers were the main show. These fingers bent all the way back to their wrists and at times they had extremely long fingernails. After their show they went into the dinner floor and pulled up people to come learn their dance on the stage. Kelsey was chosen and I couldn’t stop laughing the whole time she was mimicking them. As for the night mayhem, we visited Kohsan road… back packers paradise… buckets and towers heaven. No cars or motorcycles drove down this street it was packed with street vendors selling their clothes, bars blasting music and overflowing out into the street, carts filled with fried bugs, and crazy drunk backpackers having the time of their lives. There was a huge group of us that split up and eventually all met up later at the club. We started the night with ordering a tower of beer (3 liters) and hanging out with our new friend Max from Germany. Shortly after Kelsey, Lucia, and Nicole were eating fried scorpions and insisted they didn’t taste bad at all.

Hahaha, liars. Jeni and I tried them afterwards and painfully chewed them. Ours were not as charred and crispy as theirs. Instead we got to eat just the most delicious fat, juicy, and gutty ones whose legs stayed in our teeth and taste that wouldn’t leave our mouth. Kelsey and Lucia continued to be daring and ate a fried frog. Watching from afar, an inebriated 40-year-old British man was intrigued by Kelsey and bought her a 4 inch hissing cock roach to chomp on. Kelsey refused and asked him to eat it instead, so he took it but only licked the whole thing and gave it back to her…Kelsey said YOBO and ate it… taking a huge bite and ferociously tearing the head off of the sucker, chewed it like a boss. We bar hopped down the road and Kelsey got pulled in and wrapped up with an Indian guy who only had one dance move…. The no-no-no shake of the finger, with sassy duck faced lips, sunglasses hanging off the bridge of his nose, while he slowly dropped in to the floor. Late into the night we finally found the other part of our group! We turned and found this sketch door with a flickering blue neon sign above it that said “The Club” and danced our way inside. After last night and not thinking it could get any better or crazier, Bangkok surprised us once again and gave us a rachet night.

Day Two:

Kids, It is hard to accurately describe the events of our second day in Bangkok. It really was our first full day but putting it in words isn’t going to do it justice. Not to mention I am writing this on the bed of an overnight train with a view of the Thai jungle.. but that’s another story. So here we go: the day started with us girls waking up early and eating breakfast at the hotel. It consisted of a shmorgushborg of Thai fruit (teeny tiny bananas, rose apples, dragon fruit, etc) and a ton of pastries and toast, hot rice porridge, and hot tea. We then were so very excited to finally see the beautiful faces of Grayson and Jake. The boys were ready to explore and we couldn’t wait. Stacy told us of a tourist spot called Siam Square so we headed to the Sky Train right next to our hotel. The public transportation was hard to navigate at first, but map in hand and for only 42 baht we jumped on board the air-conditioned train and headed to the Square. We were shocked when we got to the square and saw that it was as modern and metropolitan as Time Square in New York City. So after roaming around and seeing the shops, we stopped in on a small restaurant on a side street. The Thai waiters were so patient and tried their best to accommodate us with our only speaking English. However, we were finally getting the hang of Thai phrases like hello and thank you. Sa Wa Dee Ka!! Khap Khun Ka!! Jake took a liking to my pocket Thai phrase book, especially the section on love and pick up lines, and struggling with his pronunciation, decided to ask one of the workers at the restaurant if he was saying his favorite phrase correctly. “Easy Tiger” was the phrase and the Thai men were laughing a storm at Jake when he spoke guns hot with “Jai yen yen na.” At the restaurant I had super yummy Hot and Sour Noodle salad with thick clear noodles and octopus on top. Yum yum yum! Sami had spring rolls and the rest of the gang sipped authentic Thai iced tea.

After roaming the streets in Siam Square, and experiencing our first of many days in the hot wet streets, we hopped back on the Sky Train and headed home to the hotel where we could jump in the cold swimming pool. After swimming for a while and cooling off, Sami and I were ready to enjoy our first Thai Massage, provided by some cute little Thai women in the hotel. 300 baht for 1 hour. Ten bucks. Unbelievable. And it was an experience like none other. Those little ladies beat the crap out of Sami and I. They jumped on our backs, dug their elbows in our shoulders, cracked our necks and spines, bent us in every which way, all the while Sami and I were trying our very hardest not to make eye contact because we knew that if we looked at each other we would bust up laughing. Not the most relaxing massage I have ever had, but the experience was worth every penny. After a much needed shower, it was time to get dinner and explore the Bangkok nightlife. Charlie lead us to a super cool bar called the Saxophone Bar where we ate food and ordered drinks sitting cross-legged and barefoot on little cushions. So asian. So awesome. The live music was great too! A Thai man was playing guitar and singing some great American tunes including artists like Neil Young. He was an incredible singer and musician. 

Two beers deep and we were off to the infamous red light district. Now let me tell you, no one could have warned us of the things we were to encounter that night. My life will never be the same. “MA MA (or however you spell the sound of lips smacking) PING PONG SHOW!! PUSSY SHOW!! YOU LIKE LADY BOY!!” is a phrase and a sound that will forever ring in my ears. Neon signs, loud music, and hundreds of groups of prostitutes gave the streets a life that will never be paralleled in America. The prostitutes were probably some of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. They were in clusters on the street sides, with their little old lady pimps in front holding laminated signs with pictures of girls and prices of various sexual acts. Probably not too expensive. There were also many men chasing our group of naïve tourists selling pussy shows at the various strip clubs around every corner. We had to see it. Sami got a great picture of one of the cards the men had that listed the crazy things that the women could do with their lady parts.

 We followed him and for 300 baht we could see the show of a lifetime and get one free beer. We were sold. The rest is burned into my memory. We will never forget the things that we saw that night. The women were dancing on stage when we entered the dark black lit club, not very lively mind you, and we were seated and ready for the pussy show to start. There were only three women who partook in the show, and they were old. Like probably late forties or early fifties. Wowza. And they could do some crazy things with their hoo-has. The show started with one the youngest looking of the performers sticking a dart gun up her vagina and shooting darts to pop balloons. We couldn’t believe our eyes and I never laughed so hard in my life. Our big group of Americans were laughing and yelling. We were having a ball and were in complete shock. The women continued to do incredible things with their vaginas and I know that my writing abilities are not good enough to paint the picture of the things we saw. You would have to see it to believe it. The short list of pussy trick we saw included: blowing candles out on a birthday cake with her vagina, honking a horn inside her vagina, shooting a banana at boy Sam and out of her vagina (and nailing him right in the chest), pulling a string of needles out of her vagina, pulling a string of razor blades out of her vagina and making paper doll cut outs (Grayson and I and refer to it as “pussy-gami”), pulling a 10+ foot ribbon out of her vagina and slowly dancing around with it to a weird cover of Don’t Dream its Over by Crowded House… that song will forever have a new meaning, shooting ping pong balls out into the slightly scared audience who were equipped with the provided ping pong paddles. I was lucky enough to light the cigarettes in the woman’s vagina that proceeded to smoke them… cervical cancer much? Might sound crazy, but when in Bangkok light pussy cigarettes… that’s the saying right? Hehe. The experience was something I will tell my children about (when they are old enough) and it will forever be in special place in my heart. The night was over and we headed back to the hotel for a peaceful night of sleep and weird dreams (my anti malarial drug called malarone has the common side effect of intense dreams).

-Kelsey