something i saw today.

noah in his blue smurf, extra-large rain poncho! bright and chipper at 7am [we were rather early, and eagerly waiting for class to begin]

The clear, plastic window is intended for draping over the front of a motorbike in an attempt to keep the rain off, while still being able to see what you're doing.  While Noah didn't exactly utilize this function, any possible way to keep the rain off and remain somewhat dry is highly valued here!
It has been freeeeeeezing cold in Vietnam lately, and the rain just doesn't seem to want to stop.
We're all hanging in there though, in high spirits and looking forward to sunny days ahead. :]

some things i saw today.

St. Joseph's Cathedral in Hanoi, Vietnam.

on the streets of Hanoi.

confetti!

LOTS of traffic, as well as LOTS of women wearing high heels while operating/riding motorbikes!

doorway at the Hoa Lo prison, or the "Hanoi Hilton."

also at the Hoa Lo prison.

chips, anyone?

yum.

These are the available flavors of Pringles on sale now at Chiang Mai Airport.
we have:
*Original
*Street Food: Bangkok Grilled Chicken Wing
*Seaweed
*Fruit & Nut: Blueberry & Hazelnut
*Grilled Shrimp

sunscreen in february? yes, please.

Major happenings since my last post:

*Luang Prabang, Laos

On the weekend of February 11^th – 13^th we traveled to the country of Laos.

Laos Airlines, there's no better way to fly!

A few things about Laos: they drive on the right side of the road in Laos! (I definitely was not expecting that), you can also pay using the Lao kip (which amazingly is 8,000 kip to a single US dollar) USD’s or Baht, Laos was colonized by the French and evidence of this is still very evident – a vast majority of the architecture, the fact that there are a ton of French tourists in Luang Prabang not to mention BREAD!

There was so much bread in Laos (croissants, bagels, baguettes, muffins, and other pastries), it was wonderful and definitely not what we are used so far in Southeast Asia.

some of the beautiful architecture found throughout Luang Prabang.

the view from our guesthouse balcony.

our beds at the Vanvisa guesthouse.

On our first day in Luang Prabang, Friday, we settled into our guesthouse and were off to watch the Royal Ballet at what used to be the Royal Palace.

It was a fantastic show, and lots and lots of tourists filled the seats to watch.

the Royal Ballet at the old Royal Palace.

Afterward, we ate dinner together as a group at a lovely, little restaurant called the Coconut Restaurant, which serves a fusion of Lao, Thai and Western food.

That evening I indulged in the Lao take on pizza, which was fairly good.

After dinner, a bunch of us walked through the night market lining on of the main streets running through Luang Prabang, which also led to our guesthouse.

The market was amazing – definitely my favorite market since arriving in Southeast Asia, and we have been to a few so far!

Everything at this market was beautiful and unique; definitely a very dangerous place when trying not to spend a ton of money.  Although another thing I really liked about this market was just how much the sellers were willing to barter with you; it was wonderful.  Not only were we able to pay in kip, baht or USD, but we definitely got our fair share of math practice through all of the various conversions we kept having to figure out in our heads.  It was also fun (and weird) paying in dollars again.

On Saturday, we started our day with a delicious breakfast at n adorable café called Joma.

Joma is by far my new favorite place; the food and the people there are wonderful.  Apparently there is a location in Hanoi, and my fingers are crossed we will be able to find it!

After breakfast, we haggled and haggled until we finally were able to get a ride to and from the Kouang Si waterfall.

the beautiful Kouang Si waterfall.

a glimpse of the BIG waterfall.

There were many different areas to this waterfall for playing, swimming, and simply marveling at the beauty.  I had never before been to a waterfall, so this was definitely a treat.

most of us took a turn on the rope swing! this was aaron's first try.

We spent most of our time here swimming and jumping off of a rope swing into the freezing water below.  A couple of us (myself included ;] ) were even brave enough to jump off of the waterfall itself, which was slightly scary at first but a ton of fun.

one brave kid. he was frolicking in the "do not swimming" area :]

That evening, after a refreshing shower and some down time, we ventured out for another delicious dinner and some more shopping at the night market.  These adorable elephant slippers and “SAME SAME, BUT DIFFERENT” t-shirts seemed to be the staple of souvenirs of Laos.

Sunday morning meant another breakfast at our precious Joma.  That day I had one of their sandwiches paired with a pineapple smoothie and it was delicious.

After breakfast we went and signed up for a tubing tour for later that same day, and stopped by a Wat across the street from our guesthouse.

one of the many buildings comprising the Wat across the street from our guesthouse.

After purchasing a hat for the tubing which lied ahead and checking out one of Lao’s many Wats, it was time for our tubing adventure to begin.

It ended up being Erin, Aaron, myself and our tour guide all in round, black inner tubes floating down what I believe is called the Ma Khan river, which feeds into the massive and well known Ma Kong.

I had never been tubing before either, and this river actually ended up being rather shallow at parts.

I never knew how much paddling was necessary for tubing either!  My arms definitely got a good workout that day.

Our tubing adventure ended up lasting a total of 3 ½ hours which was about an hour too long, but still fun nonetheless.  We were extremely worn-out and tired of being in water by the time we had finally floated to our stopping point.

the river we went tubing down!

We saw so many different Lao natives while floating down the river, all enjoying just another Sunday afternoon in their country and many of them were very eager to say hello and wave to us – especially the children.  We witnesses children playing in the water, families picnicking by the river, boys and men fishing with nothing more than goggles and a spear, and women bathing their children and washing laundry.  The scenery of lush mountains and tress was simply beautiful.

That evening we had a very nice group dinner at a restaurant called 3 Nagas; the food was wonderful.

Later on, a few of us attempted to find some fun Lao-nightlife but failed miserably.

Oh well, at least we tried, right?  :]

Monday was Valentine’s Day and Barbara, Drexler’s wife (AKA the sweetest woman in the world), gave us all Valentine cards with tasty candy inside!

That morning, Erin, Aaron and I visited Wat Xieng Thong because we missed seeing it the day before due to tubing.

Wat Xieng Thong.

The Wat was very pretty, and there were even a bunch of Buddhist novices (young boys not quite old enough to become monks yet) who were out at round tables studying and practicing their English.  I was busy taking pictures when I heard a little voice behind me say, Sa-Bi-Dee (hello in Lao).  It was a novice named Sivone, who quickly switched over to English and was very eager for me to sit and chat with him.

Initially, the situation took me by surprise, but Sivone could not have been nicer; it is amazing to think about how one’s life would be like at 15 years old, already a novice living at a Wat in Laos, on the way to becoming a monk.

more Wat Xieng Thong, and some beautiful flowers.

Later this morning we ate our last breakfast at (the Laos location :] ) of Joma, a total of three visits in all, all of which outdid the prior.

After breakfast, it was off to the Luang Prabang airport and back to Chiang Mai.

the view from up above - somewhere between Laos and Thailand.

Overall, our trip to Laos was a “great success” and I wish we could’ve had more time to just wander the city, although, perhaps I will return to Laos one day and do just that.

More to come soon on our visit to the ancient city of Sukhothai, Thailand.

just another day in chiang mai [paradise].

Wow, so I have really been slacking on this whole blogging thing.

A lot has happened too.

I will attempt to go over everything major that has occurred without being too incredibly wordy so as to not bore everyone to death.  :]

Happenings in Chiang Mai over the last ten days:

Two Saturdays ago, January 29^th, we went as a group up to Doi Suthep, which is a pretty big tourist destination, especially within Chiang Mai.

Doi Suthep houses Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, which from what I hear, is one of the “Big Four” Buddhist Wats visit in Thailand.

doi suthep.

 Before we arrived at the Wat (or temple), we stopped at a Hmong village.

At the Hmong village, we walked around and looked at all of their little shops.  They were nicely arranged along these windy roads, and thankfully were not as packed as some of the markets we have visited thus far.

There were little kids running around everywhere, and they were all so adorable.

A couple of kids were sitting together outside of their parents shop underneath a table; contently playing.

A lot of the people we encountered in this village were dressed in the traditional Hmong dress which was very pretty and decorative.

 After the village, it was on to the Wat at Doi Suthep.

For anyone considering a trip to this temple, be aware it is a slightly steep walk up to the entrance of the Wat; 300 steps to be exact.

all three hundred glorious steps.

I was slightly out of breath by the time we trudged to the top, but it was definitely worth it; especially looking back down and seeing all of the steps I had just conquered.

Overall, the Wat was beautiful, and it provided a magnificent view of the city of Chiang Mai.

Thankfully, it was a nice and clear day, so we were able to look out and marvel at the city in which we are currently taking up residence.

The best part about our visit to this temple would have to be the experience of “making merit” by walking around the chedi.

making merit.

 A chedi, is defined by Wikipedia as, “A stupa (from Sanskrit: m., स्तूप, stūpa, Pāli: थुप "thūpa", literally meaning "heap") is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, once thought to be places of Buddhist worship, typically contain the remains of a Buddha or saint.”

“Making merit” is simply the act of reducing one’s bad karmic load.  From my understanding, Buddhists believe that every act either produces good or bad karma, and obviously one would want to possess a karmic load greater in the side of good karma.

There are many ways to “make merit,” and for us, we walked around the chedi holding a single lotus flower, two candles, and three sticks of incense.

lotus flower and incense [the candles were hiding].

 Another way to “make merit,” which we also participated in that day, is through the act of ringing bells.

So hopefully my karmic load is more heavily weighted in the “good” side!

it was a beautiful day for ringing bells!

 On our way back down from the Wat, all of us invested in chocolate waffles; which is basically a waffle with chocolate syrup drizzled in the middle and then folded in half.

My waffle was pretty good, but for some reason I couldn’t really taste the chocolate (weird, I know..).

After our visit to the Wat, we stopped at a large jade factory located on the mountain of Doi Suthep.

The jade factory was very nice (they even served us complimentary drinks! Haha) and we were able to see a ton of different jade pieces, as well as people actually in the process of carving jade.

The next day, Sunday, we went “temple hopping.”

We visited three Wats in all; first was Wat Gu Dao, then Wat Jet Yot, and finally Wat Umong.

1: Wat Gu Dao is a Burmese and Shan temple, and the monks we saw there wore maroon robes to signify they are from Burma.

2: Wat Jet Yot is supposed to be known for having 7 yots, or spires, which represent the 7 weeks Buddha spent in Bodhgaya after Enlightenment.  This temple is also modeled after the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India; although apparently the two differ quite a lot.

 3: Wat Umong houses an emaciated Buddha statue, which represents the Buddha before he found “the middle way.”  There are also a lot of really neat tunnels to explore below the chedi.

After a day full of temples, Erin and I decided to attend a talk about refugees from Shan state in Burma; we learned about this talk from the school where we help teach English.

The talk ended up being a book talk (but thankfully it was in English!) and it was held in a really cool art gallery in a rather trendy side of town we did not even know existed before that night.

We were able to hear Bernice Koehler Johnson talk about her experience as an English teacher in and around the Thai/Burma border, which mostly Shan people.  Bernice was a very warm presence and good speaker; Erin and I decided to invest in a copy of her book and even got it signed!

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all typical days here in Chiang Mai: classes at CMU, delicious Thai dinners, iced Milo’s, and teaching at the school for Burmese migrant workers.  :]

On Wednesday night, Erin and I made a late night 7/11 run and stocked up on some junk good and Big Gulps in the hopes of catching a movie on TV.

We don’t have TV’s in our rooms so we had to use the one located in the “Conference Room” of our guesthouse, which is really just a large gathering area.

Unfortunately, the only movie we could really find was the hit, Dr. T and the Women, starring Richard Gere.

If you have yet to see this classic, don’t waste your time.  Sorry, Mr. Gere.   :]

Thursday was supposed to be like another day, but right before we departed for school, Drexler received a call from the program director at CMU saying we should stop in the park and watch a puppet show instead.  The puppet show was being put on by a teacher (and her theater troupe) who had previously given us a lecture on traditional Thai dance and puppetry.  It was held at the Chiang Mai University Cultural Center, outside in a park-like area.

The show was pretty good; it was fun seeing all of the little school kids enjoying themselves, clearly excited to be out of school early.

There were also a lot of tables and vendors set up throughout the park, so that was neat.

As we were all walking around and exploring the different tables set up, three young Thai school girls came up to a few of us and asked if they could get a picture..  It was rather adorable.

Of course we agreed, and the girls got their picture taken with a couple of smiling “farangs,” or foreigners.  :D

Since we were already “cutting class” so to speak, we decided to check out the museum section of the CMU Cultural Center.  This was a lot of fun; they had so many cool sculptures, even the architecture of the building and trees were interesting.  I took a lot of pictures here.

this tree outside the CMU cultural center had the craziest roots!

Thursday night our group took a song-taw down to a section of town roughly known as Chinatown.  It was the Chinese New Year and we were curious to see if there would be any celebrations going on.

Where we were ended up being a long main street full of vendors, selling the usual – lots of food and clothing/accessories.  There were a lot of people out and about that night, but unfortunately, no real festivities.

Towards the end of the night I couldn’t help but purchase some food (it all looked so good) and ended up trying pork pot stickers.  They were pretty good.

The next day, Friday, started our weekend long adventure to a “monk camp,” better known as the Wianghaeng Pariyatsuksa School and Meditation Center in Wianghaeng, which is roughly a three-hour drive from where we are staying in Chiang Mai.

The camp where we were going to stay is only 10 km from the Thai/Burma border.

The drive to Wianghaeng is absolutely beautiful; straight up into the mountains, completely with incredibly windy/twisty roads for a large portion of the trip.  Not something I would want to drive myself.

And surprisingly, the driver of our van didn’t seem to be phased at all by the conditions of the road; I actually think he may have been a Thai Nascar driver in a past life.

Although thankfully, we all arrived in one piece.

monk camp.

 The monks at this camp were actually novices, young boys ranging in ages from 9-19; who are “monks in training” so to speak since they are not quite old enough to become monks.

From my understanding, the age at which one is eligible to become a monk is 20 years-old.

 We arrived at the camp Friday afternoon and explored a little bit, ending up hanging out in their Wat for a while, which is modest compared to all of the ancient Wats we’ve been visiting but was nice all the same; it was very open too, surrounded by the outdoors, which was also a treat.

Later on that evening, we were fed a delicious dinner and attended our first Buddhist religious ceremony.

It was incredible to hear the Monks all chant together in rhythm, almost sounding like song.

I don’t have any idea how all of the Monks/novices manage to sit propped up on their legs/feet for the entire ceremony though; I had to constantly readjust, trying to keep the blood flow to my legs going  :]

We all slept in these “mud brick houses” which were pretty bare, with only mats on the floor for sleeping.  Oh and a lovely family portrait of Thailand’s royal family framed on the wall.  The King is everywhere here!

Surprisingly, the mats weren’t too uncomfortable, and felt awfully similar to the beds we are used to sleeping on at our guesthouse in Chiang Mai.  It did, however, get pretty chilly where we were in the evenings as well as in the mornings, so thankfully the Monks were sure to supply us each with multiple blankets.

our beds.

To our amazement, we awoke the next day to the sound of Monks chanting right outside our mud brick house.

It was roughly 5:30 in the morning; I don’t know how Monks do it.

I remember waking up to the sound of their chanting, and again to the screaming rooster, but continued to doze in and out of sleep until our alarm went off at 7am.

I will have to admit, it was pretty incredible to be awoken in the morning to the sound of Monks doing their 5:30am chants.

After breakfast, we were off to teach English.

We taught at a nearby school which is attended by both novices and “lay” boys, who are those without robes.

This was a rather interesting experience as we were given absolutely no direction, textbook, or lesson plan upon being thrown into the classroom.

We all split up, two to a classroom, and in my room (the Advanced English class) as all of the students stood up and said “Good Morning Teacher,” Aaron and I looked at each other as if to say, “What the heck do we now?!”

This task was made even more difficult due to the fact that we weren’t even sure how much English they already knew.

The most anyone would tell us is to simply, “Talk to them.”

So that is precisely what we did.

Towards the end we were finally catching our stride, having them compile lists of various vocabulary words and writing them on the board.

We weren’t even sure how long the class was supposed to last, but thankfully we survived the 2 ½ hours until lunch, which was at 11:30.

After lunch, we taught again for an hour in the afternoon and then went back to the camp.

my "students for a day"  :]

This is when the fun began – so in exchange for teaching English, the novices wanted to teach us all something.  So we were educated in the art of making organic fertilizer and mud bricks!

making mud bricks!

 We were able to stomp around in this big mud pit area where they prepare for brick making, and actually make bricks.  We were even able to lay a couple of bricks (which had already been dried in the sun) onto another house they were building at the camp!

Later that evening, we ate dinner and attended another Buddhist religious ceremony.

This time, I didn’t even doze off during the meditation portion…which trust me, is easy to do!

On Sunday, we ate breakfast and were off to see a couple of places before we had to depart back to Chiang Mai.

We were fortunate enough to be able to visit an “unofficial” Burmese refugee camp, and the leader of the camp was even there; he sat down and talked to us for a while, over some tea.

We were told there were roughly 600 Burmese currently living in the camp, and that it had been in existence since 2003 (if I remember correctly).

Another amazing thing we learned was that even though the camp has been there since 2003, they are only allowed to have and build "temporary" structures; nothing permanent with cement or bricks or anything.

the unofficial refugee camp.

 We weren’t able to stay for very long, but it was amazing actually being able to visit.

After the refugee camp, we were shown a local Wat which actually lies right on the Thai/Burma border.

You can literally see the border and make-shift fence put up on the Burma side, complete with a Burmese soldier stationed there, keeping watch.

a deserted house along the thai/burma border.

 There was a couple of deserted houses in the slight dip between where we were and “the Burma side,” all of which had been bombarded with shells and bullets, the many holes in the roof a living testament.

We were also told that this Wat supposedly contains one of the Buddha’s teeth!

After the visit to the Wat, we were whisked back to the camp just in time for another religious ceremony.

This ceremony was special however, complete with decorations and flowers and the like.

We learned afterwards that it was supposed to be a ceremony for longevity, as there were also some people from Bangkok also staying at the camp with us, one of whom we believe may be sick and came there for a couple of days to assist in healing.

I feel it’s safe to say, everyone’s favorite part of this ceremony was the point in which we were all asked to come up the front and knell before the Abbott in which he presented us with two bracelets, a white string one and a wooden beaded bracelet, along with words of advice or prophecy for our futures.

I was told that I would “get a lot of money when I went back to America.”  But we shall see.  :]

After this special gathering, we were all fed a delicious feast of steak and vegetables, along with rice (of course :] ), pear-like fruit, and a couple of random french fries.  The meal was wonderful.

After our bellies were full, it was time to head back to Chiang Mai.

We were sad to have to say goodbye to the novices, but we needed to get back.  

group photo.  :]

 That evening Drexler took us all out for a delicious meal at a local Italian restaurant, which is one of his favorites.  We all enjoyed caprisi for an appetizer, and I had the mushroom ravioli, which was wonderful.

Oh and fresh strawberries and whipped cream, along with some powdered sugar, for dessert.  Next time, I will be trying the Tiramisu.

food, food, and more food.

Since the last time I blogged, not a whole lot has happened, but I shall attempt to fill in the more important details.

So after an amazing day at the elephant camp on Saturday, we attended a Thai cooking class on Sunday.

our kitchen at the Thai cooking school.

another beautiful kitchen at the Thai cooking school.

chef courtney  :]  wolfgang puck, look out!

The cooking class was held at an organic farm called Thai Farms and was in a local village removed from the city.  The set-up of the whole location of the cooking class was very nice; there were lots of windows in the big room where we were all cooking on individual gas stoves.  The stoves and individual countertop spaces were arranged in a big square so we could look at each other and make funny faces while we were learning to cook.

my self-made meal of Thai vegetable soup, chicken and basil, and red curry.

We were given a list of various choices beforehand, and I picked red curry, Thai vegetable soup, chicken and basil, pad thai, as well as mangos and sticky rice for dessert.  We cooked all day and stopped for lunch in the middle of the day eating our curry, soup, and chicken dish; we all ate outside at a long, wooden table; it was great.   

After more cooking, we took the pad thai with us to eat later, and finished off the day at Thai Farms indulging in our fresh mango and sticky rice – delicious.

I never even knew I liked mangos before I went on this trip!

my pad thai!

my pad thai in a "Thai to-go" bag!

After a long day of cooking and eating, we arrived back at our guesthouse and all crashed!  The nap was well deserved though and felt great.

When we woke up, a couple of us decided to go and check out the “walking market,” which apparently comes to Chiang Mai every Sunday evening.  I could not believe how many streets were blocked off for this market to take place, it was incredible.  You would make it to the end of one street and have three possibilities for other streets to embark down – should I continue walking forward, go left, or turn right?!

As the night went on, the market really filled up too; the streets were overflowing with people.

I was extremely glad we were visiting this market in the cool of night though; walking through the uncovered market with the sun beating down on us wouldn’t have been half as fun.

Seeing as we were all still stuffed from our day of eating homemade (by US!) Thai food, we opted for dessert rather than another meal.  Noah enjoyed a chocolate waffle, and Erin, Aaron, and I opted for fruit smoothies.  There are so many fruit smoothies here – I love it.

(Author’s note: In case I haven’t already mentioned, there are two Erin’s and one Aaron on this trip; three in all.  We are still working on finding an appropriate way to discern between the two female Erin’s.  :] )

Walking home from the “Walking Market,” we stopped at a little side shop and purchased post cards.

I’ve already mailed two of them!  Oh and in case anyone was wondering, it only costs 15 baht to mail a postcard from here to the United States.  That’s roughly 50 cents; quite a bargain, I know!

I just hope my postcards actually make it to their destination :] ..we shall see.

On Monday, the school were we are attending classes while we are here, CMU or Chiang Mai University, was holding their Graduation ceremony so school was cancelled!

Not much happened on Monday; I read a lot for the Asia Literature class we are taking with the professor who brought us to Thailand, and completed our first reading assignment.

Monday evening a group of us went over to visit a school where Burmese students who are mostly migrant workers go for two hours in the mornings or evenings to learn English.  We aren’t quite sure what the exact name of the school is, but the sign outside reads, “Thinking Classroom Foundation.”

There are three different classrooms for each level of English the students are at – Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.

Mr. Sai who runs the school seemed pretty excited to have us there, and Coe students have volunteered there in the past as well.

the entrance to the Burmese English school.

After visiting the school, Drexler was nice enough to take us “cool dudes” out for a lovely Thai dinner.  A few brave souls at the table tried frog legs, although unfortunately I didn’t hear one positive response on those; mostly I heard that they were kind of crunchy due to “bones”…  Sort of glad I didn’t branch out for those.  The barbequed chicken we all shared was quite delicious though.

On Tuesday, we went to school and learned more Thai language, as well as having a class dedicated to informing us about the ongoing conflict in Burma.  It’s crazy to think that living in northern Thailand, the Burma-Thai border really is not that far off.

Before that class, I had heard some about the conflict there, but my knowledge was rather limited.

It was amazing (and incredibly sad) to hear about how bad the Burmese really have it, and the fact that this conflict and oppression has been taking place since 1962 – yet the government who put themselves in power continues to stay there, and the outlook for when things might change seems uncertain at this point.

Coincidentally, the very same day of our class on the struggle in Burma, was our first night teaching English to Burmese migrant workers at the MLC.  Going into it, I was sort of unsure of how well I would do with teaching English, but it went much better than expected.  I, along with two others, were placed in the “Advanced” class and pretty much served as people other than the teacher for students to converse with and practice their English.  It felt so nice to use a skill, speaking English, which I feel I probably take for granted a lot of time and to be utilizing it to truly help other people.

Most of the students there were in their teens and 20’s; I don’t know what I was expecting exactly, but I guess I wouldn’t have guessed they would be that young.  It probably works to our benefit that we are all about the same age as most of the students; it gives them the opportunity to practice with native English speakers who are close to them in age and can relate to them on a certain level.  The students in the classroom we worked in all seemed to have pretty upbeat attitudes about life and even learning English which was refreshing and touching; especially considering the circumstances most of these people come from.  

This ended up being a very powerful and enjoyable experience.  Erin and I agreed that our faces hurt from smiling so much.

The night was made even sweeter when on the way home we were finally able to indulge in ROTEES!

We were walking along passing a bunch of people and street vendors cooking up all sorts of food.

We were chatting about how we were all still pretty full from dinner, and I commented, “About the only thing I could possibly eat right now is a rotee..”  And what do you know?!

The very next vendor we pass is a woman who happens to specialize in rotees!  It was fate.

For those who’ve never been introduced to the deliciousness that is a rotee, it’s a Thai desert, basically like a crepe.  You can get a rotee with just about any topping: sugar, condensed milk and powdered sugar, condensed milk and chocolate, strawberries, chocolate and bananas, etc.

There is actually a “rotee man” who sets up shop right outside of 7/11 (they have a TON of 7/11’s here) on the corner of the street market full of food and right across the street from our guesthouse, but sadly he has been MIA since our second day in Chiang Mai.

I’m hoping he’s just on vacation or something, but we’ll see.  No one quite knows where he up and left to, but it’s probably a good thing we aren’t tempted by his delicious fried dessert every, single evening.

Although before finding rotees elsewhere, a few of us would literally go and check every single night to see if he was back yet; we were dying to try rotees!

It was worth the wait.

I tried the rotee with chocolate syrup, condensed milk and sugar; it was soo good.

I am quickly finding all of the food to be incredibly delicious here… this could be rather dangerous.

On Wednesday, we had more classes at the university.  We even learned about the legend of the Thai Rice Goddess.

After a full day of classes (aka two, with a two hour break), we came back to the guesthouse for an early (Iowa) dinner, and it was off to teaching.

We had another rewarding and powerful night; especially as the teacher had to explain to the students what the word “refugee” meant.  There were two new volunteers in our “Advanced” class that evening and in telling a story about schools they had visited in another Thai town mentioned the word “refugee.”  A Burmese student named Shamela, who’s rather lively and isn’t afraid to speak up (even in English), quickly raised her hand and asked the teacher, “What is ‘refugee’?”

Towards the end of class, we were also invited to yoga in the park by Shamela, and we are planning on trying that out this Sunday – more to come on how that goes.

Later on that evening, a bunch of us sat on the rooftop (they have a nice little patio-like area up there) and enjoyed beverages.  I discovered 7/11 to have the quintessential “Big Gulp” that night!  Coke never tasted so good.

The next day, Thursday, was just another day in Chiang Mai.

We went to school and attempted to learn more Thai – we’ve moved on to food and ordering and all of that fun stuff!

That evening Drexler took us all out to dinner at a noodle shop so that we could practice the wonderful Thai we had mastered earlier in the day :]

I ordered large, flat rice noodles without soup and with pork.  They were quite delicious.

It was fun being able to practice our Thai on actual Thai speakers in real-life situations, especially granted Drexler was right there should we mess it up completely and need back-up.

After the yummy noodles, we took a group field trip to a now-infamous bakery among our group.  A couple of students stumbled upon the bakery on one of our first days in Chiang Mai, and the rest is history.

That night was my first trip to this bakery, and wow, was it worth it!

We typically don’t get a ton of bread here, unless you specifically seek it out - like when ordering American breakfast food at our guesthouse, so seeing such a wide-assortment of yeast-based products was quite a treat.

I indulged in the chocolate croissant; needless to say, it quickly became a new favorite.

Today is Friday, which means the weekend and more exciting sights and trips…

Soon to come.

the land of smiles.

Monday was our first full day in Chiang Mai and after getting all settled into our guesthouse, our professor took us out and about to see some of the city.

The first place we went is a nice, little bookshop run by an Irishman named George.  After that, Drexler let us loose to explore some of the city and assured us we would be able to find our way back to the guesthouse if we just followed the mote.  It is amazing just how many tourists you see here in Chiang Mai; that and the number of little shops and restaurants lining the streets – it seems like they never end.

Some of us departed from the bookshop on a quest for food.  We ended up at Daret’s House which is in the apparent backpacker’s district of Chiang Mai and which is also supposed to be the “original” backpacker’s restaurant.  I thought the food was very good and reasonably priced.

Later on that night we went out as a group for our first official meal from the street vendors, in the night market across the street.  It is overwhelming at first with figuring out what all the vendors are selling and how to order it, seeing as practically everything is in Thai.  Having someone with you who actually knows what’s going on (as well as who speaks the language) and who is able to sort of show you the ropes is definitely an invaluable resource though.

The meal we ate was sort of plain, but for the price, not bad at all.

The front gate at Chiang Mai University

Tuesday was our formal introduction to CMU, or Chiang Mai University.  We had our official little “orientation” in the morning, complete with coffee, tea, and light snacks.  Everyone at the university is extremely friendly and hospitable; we are so very lucky to have them welcoming us as guests and students in their school.

After orientation, we walked over to the uniform shop.  About half the trip was already prepared and brought uniform-appropriate clothing with them, and the other half still needed to purchase this.  I, of course, was part of the second half mentioned.  Haha.

But it was a lot of fun uniform shopping, trying on the different styles of skirts they offer, and finding out that when it comes to Thai school uniforms, I wear a size XXL in my button-up shirt!  :]

That night a couple of us decided to eat on a budget and returned to the night market.  We found a street vendor whose menu had an English translation portion and decided that was good enough for us.
The food was really good until I heard my friend sort of gasp and point, “STREET RAT!”  My initial reaction was to say, “Aladdin... where?!” but unfortunately we weren’t that lucky.

Rather, it was an actual rat – three to be exact.  We watched in slight horror as one of the rats jumped on this little strainer-like bucket thing and tipped it over.  There were a couple of lettuce pieces still in the bottom and that rat had his eye on them.  We also were able to witness the rats as they climbed back down into the gutter which runs right through the market, passing all of the vendors.

I mean I guess we should have expected such things with an outside street vendor market, but it was still rather surprising, and an unfortunate discovery which will most likely stay with us for every future meal we eat there.

The next day, Wednesday, we started our classes at Chiang Mai University.

We either have morning class, which is from 9-11am, or afternoon class, which is from 1-3pm.  And on some days we have both morning and afternoon classes.

Erin and I in our snappy school uniforms!

Our first day of class was spent learning some fundamental basics when it comes to learning Thai; the various tones, some of the phonetics and consonants used, etc.  Not the easiest stuff to learn or master, but definitely helpful when it comes to immersing oneself in a foreign language.

After school, Erin and I ventured out for some lunch and ended up back at Daret’s House.  I definitely was not disappointed; it may be a “backpacker hangout,” but the food is good.  We both had beef with garlic and pepper accompanied by rice…so delicious.  The pineapple and orange smoothies were amazing as well!  Not to mention, you can’t beat outside dining in this wonderful weather; it’s so nice.

On our walk back to the guesthouse after lunch we saw a nice old man with a cart near the mote selling food to feed the fish with.  It was only 10 baht for a bag of fish food, so we decided to indulge ourselves!

Feeding the fish was actually a lot of fun; the fish are crazy.

The fishy food seller.

You throw in some food and they all splash and jump about, fighting for the little nuggets of food.

No matter how far you threw the food out in the water, as soon as it hit, the fish went crazy.

That evening we all went out to dinner as a group to a very nice Thai restaurant which I currently cannot remember the name of; I do remember Drexler telling us Elizabeth Taylor ate there once though, so I guess now it’s slightly famous.

For our evening entertainment, a few brave souls decided to throw down 400 baht (rather than 600 baht for ringside seating) and see what Muay Thai boxing was all about.  The multitude of fliers lining the streets of Chiang Mai promised “8 WORLD CLASS FIGHTS” with a special “international” fight as the big finale between a Thai fighter and an American.  When in Rome, right?!

Well, needless to say, the Muay Thai boxing wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be.

Even the special “international” fight at the end actually ended up being between a boxer from Spain and a Thai; pretty sure there was never an American boxer lined up for that night to begin with.

From a handful of similar experiences, a couple of us have decided that this trip’s saying so far is without a doubt, “Well now we know..” (Laugh and shrug shoulders)

Thursday morning was nice; we were able to sleep in for one of the first times post jetlag due to the fact that school wasn’t until 1pm that afternoon.

Thursday’s class was our first true introduction to basic Thai.  I thought the teacher did a great job, and she was very understanding as well as encouraging; we all definitely need to practice some though.

That evening we all ventured over to Watchediluang Varaviharn for what is referred to as “Monk Chat.”

Monk chat brings out all sorts of people (and surprisingly lots of dogs too) :]

“Monk Chat” is when anyone can visit the Wat (temple) and ask Monks various questions they are in need of answering; anything from what Monk life is like, to Buddhism, to Thai culture and more.

Drexler told us it helps the Monks practice their English, so that’s good.

A bunch of us chatted with a very nice younger monk whose English was a little rough and difficult to understand at times, but he was definitely trying.

It was pretty interesting to find out that “Monk Chats” even exist; what an awesome avenue for people to utilize in conversing with Monks and potentially finding explanations to questions they themselves cannot answer.

My favorite part about this Wat was a portion of it towards the back that is in ruin.  It was missing a huge chunk from the top, and it looked as though other portions had either just fallen off or withered away due to the elements or something.  It was soo beautiful though!  I took a ton of pictures.

After our adventures at the Monk Chat, a group of us walked over to El Diablo’s for a fine Mexican dinner. They served us free chips and salsa, so that was a nice perk, and the chips were an interesting interpretation!  As Noah pointed out, they kind of tasted like large Fritos.

I had a chicken burrito, which was rather delicious, especially considering that it was a Thai-Mexican burrito!

From there we walked over to a night market where vendors were selling souvenirs and other goodies.  The two boys bought some things, but Erin and I were conserving our money; not to mention, anything we buy now would have to be toted around with us to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

As we were walking back to our guesthouse from the night market we saw a pretty large outdoor soccer field/complex thing and stopped so Aaron (who plays soccer for Coe) could check it out.

He ended up being able to buy some shorts from their little shop and play in a pick-up game right then and there, so we sat outside in the nice evening weather and watched some Thai soccer.

On Friday morning we had a 9am class on Buddhism taught by an 84-year-old (yes, and EIGHTY FOUR YEAR OLD) Oxford-educated professor, who apparently is Thailand’s most premier expert on Buddhism.

His lecture was pretty interesting, especially taking into consideration the source.

Listening to him speak was a treat.  After class, Erin and I ventured to the Fern Forest Café for a couple of “Iced Milos,” which is a nice chocolaty drink similar to Ovaltine (“More Ovaltine, please!" :] ).

After discovering the deliciousness of an “Iced Milo,” I just may have to reconsider my dislike for chocolate milk…

While at the Fern Forest Café, which happens to be rather beautiful, we were able to start on our first reading assignment for Asia Term, the first ten chapters in A Child of the Northeast.

After doing some reading, a couple of us ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant nearby.  Unfortunately the food wasn’t that great, but I haven’t had to say that many times so far on this trip.  Aaron dined on DUCK FEET at the Chinese restaurant!  Rather brave, I must say.

Later on that evening, Erin, Noah, and I checked out the North Gate Jazz Co-Op, which ended up being a lot of fun.  I can’t say I had ever heard live jazz music before then, and it was pretty awesome.

We also grabbed a late night bite at Thailand’s own, “Mike’s Hamburgers,” which I learned has been “Converting Vegetarians Since 1976.”  The seating was on red stools up to the bar, and the food was pretty delicious.  OH, how much I love French fries!  Even Thai French fries  :]  Oh and for anyone who was wondering, Mike’s serves breakfast starting at 8am, and continues to stay open until 3am in the morning for anyone desperately craving some greasy, American food.

After our bellies were full, we ventured back to our guesthouse and called it a night.

Saturday, which is today, has been without a doubt my favorite day on this trip so far!

Today we all embarked on a journey to the Maesa Elephant Camp, which also happens to be in Chiang Mai.

WOW.  This place was amazing.  I cannot begin to express how much I loved it.

Everyone was so friendly and accommodating, taking our pictures, having the elephants pose with us, etc.  We were able to feed the elephants bananas and sugarcane – it was so much fun!  They took the food right from our hands too, and did not hesitate to try and reach for more, possibly even steal the entire bunch of bananas or sugarcane right out of your hand if their trunk could reach that far!

You would be SURPRISED at how much these guys can eat!

Grass? Banana? Grass? Banana? How about BOTH?!

I kept laughing!

It was truly awe-inspiring to be so close and personal with these gentle giants; including actually interacting and witnessing their intelligence and humor right in front of your very eyes.

SUCH a little cutie!

There were also BABY ELEPHANTS!  The youngest was about a month old we were told; oh my, he was simply precious, standing right next to Mom the entire time we were around him.  I can’t get over how cute he was.  The other elephants were beautiful as well, each in their own individual way.

Some of them were old and wrinkly with saggy elephant skin and tattered ears, and yet still adorable.

There was also an elephant show!  We witnessed soo many various tricks and talents I was left wondering, what can’t elephants do?!  Haha.

You should've SEEN him dunk!

There were elephants playing soccer, painting pictures, playing harmonicas (yes, they made music!), hamming it up for the crowd, beating an audience member at balloon darts, and even scoring baskets in elephant basketball!  Unbelievable sounding, I know, but you just had to be there.

The very best part of the day though, hands down, was our elephant ride!!!!!

Erin and I threw down the collective 800 baht and we were off.  It was incredible.  Sadly, I cannot remember the name of our elephant…  I do remember that he was 48-years-old though!  And fit as a fiddle, i might add.

The mahout, or elephant trainer, of the particular elephant we rode was very nice.  At one point he even hopped down and took pictures of Erin and I atop his elephant as we slowly moseyed along.

THANKFULLY my camera lasted the entire day, and did not die until we were just about to depart the camp.

Overall, everyone at the elephant camp seemed very nice, I just truly hope that they act the same way to the animals when we aren't around and actually treat them well.

Before we departed to go back to the guesthouse, I invested in a tasty raspberry smoothie and it ended up being the perfect ending to a wonderful day.