Friday, May 30, 2014

Thailand & catching up.

"Traveling; it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller."
Kelly, Brittany and I took off for 6 days in Chiang Mai and Bangkok in Thailand mid-March.
Every trip I learn more lessons about traveling, in the Philippines I learned to check the weather beforehand and make plans! Don't just show up. In Hong Kong I learned first Don't forget your passport, traveling in even numbers is beneficial, and taking the time to plan out a trip makes it 10 times better. Now on our way to Thailand we learned another important lesson, don't book a flight so early in a city 2+ hours away and then depend on a 24 hour bus to get you to it the day of without tickets purchased beforehand. Needless to say we had to spend a bit extra to have a taxi take us to the Taipei airport. 

At arrival we grabbed a Tuk Tuk taxi and headed to our adorable hostel. The man who runs it was so helpful. We immediately planned out our next couple days, made the reservations and headed out to explore Chiang Mai.  We went to dinner at John's Place and had our first intake of  Thailands famous curry, I had spicy red curry. 
We then hopped around to many different places trying to get a feel for everything. We were pulled into one bar by a whacked out 42 year old woman, saw many lady boys, tried a roof top bar, and checked out a go-go dance club.
Early the next morning we were picked up by Boey the Elephant Safari tour guide, and put in to the back of a truck with 3 other French girls. When we arrived, we each had to take a photo with the baby elephant for our certificate. When I went up to the calf, he seemed to have a curiosity for Kalee. He kept smelling me and grabbing my hair. Eventually pulling out quite a chunk. With the adult elephants we learned their language, how to get on and off of them from their legs and their head, and how to feed them. Kelly and I rode TongDee bareback through the entire camp. We all ended in a large pond where we bathed all the elephants and took some pictures. This is the only part where I was scared. Standing in waist deep water that you cannot see through with six elephants who are sitting on their knees, I was very worried they'd decide to stand up and that would be the end of my feet.
Afterwards we had more curry for lunch, tried the Thailand beer Chang, bought a souvenir photo, fed a small monkey, and then took the truck to Tiger Kingdom. The package we had included a session and picture with an adult tiger. There were also teenage and baby tigers to take photos with. The cubs were so playful and adorable. There is quite a lot of tigers, even the white ones, but it's sad they sit in jail like cages all day while groups of people come to photograph them all day. There was one lion in the complex, but he was not for pictures.
Our Tiger was Sylum.
Sylum making funny faces with Brittany.
More funny faces.
Photo of the Day!

That night we had green curry at one of the many restaurants/bars along the streets of Chiang Mai. We had a regular foot massage (40 Bhat), then a fish sucking foot massage, and an hour body oil massage for 200 Bhat, aka $6.
Thursday morning we went Ziplining through the forest of Thailand. There were 18 lines, 3 free fall drops, 2 hilarious instructors, 1 free t-shirt, and to top it all off, a buffet of Thai food I'd started to have an obsession with.

Girls and I ready to take on a day of zip lining and free falling.
Our tour guide was excellent at making sure
we had shots of all the action! 
. 
Always a happy ending in Thailand ;-)
Free falling!
Just one stand of fresh veggies in the market. 
We came back and got ready for our Thai Cooking class. We took it in the evening, which ended up being a great idea because we had the class to ourselves. We were also lucky to have another great instuctor. He took us to Thai food markets, where we learned about the ingredients we'd be using later. I of course had some fresh mango as well.  
Gathering spices and herbs for the soup!
At the class, he took us through the garden and we got to pick out some of the fresh garden greens to use. We made a 5-course meal. We all made a Thai omelet, a veggie meat mix, and a banana wrap. Then I chose to make spicy soup and pumpkin chicken curry.  The food was delicious, but the best part was learning some tricks to cooking and getting a free Thai cookbook.
Picking out my own ingredients in the Thai garden.



That night we went to the largest, never-ending, market I've been to in Asia. Night Bazaar Market had music, art, and a culture overload. The streets went on further than we could go. The variety of things to purchase was endless.


Friday was Kelly's birthday and we took off for Bangkok. Our hostel had a few inconveniences, but their slogan, "Everyone leaves a friend," was a nice tough to forget the 4 flights of stairs and no water or ceiling lights in the room.












We had been advices to go to Khao San Road. Let's just say it wasn't great advice. We did eventually find a place with live music on the roof.
Saturday day we explored the Bangkok street life a bit and had more green curry! At night we went to another recommended place, RCA. It was just the place we were looking for. Danced the night away with an amazing DJ and hundreds of people. It was a great atmosphere to be in on our last night! There was even a pianist and singer in the ladies room for bathroom entertainment.



Sunday we haggled with some more taxi and Tuk Tuk drivers to get down to the river and take a long boat to the Grand Palace. The Grand Palace is the most sacred temple in Thailand. Unfortunately we arrived at 1:10 and they closed it at 1:00 for the King to come and pray. 
The King of Thailand. 

Thailand fun facts I learned:
-Current King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej, has ruled since 1946. Longest reigning monarch. 
-Population, 64 million 
- "Land of the Free" only SE Asia country not colonized by British. 
- Worlds largest golden Buddha found here.
-94% Buddhism
- 1/10 of all animal species live in Thailand.
- Over 11 million tourist a year.
-Worst child sex-trafficking record. 
- Co PunKa - Thank you










Update of Taiwan life;
After Thailand I got pretty sick and went to the doctors for the first time. Taiwan has amazing health care for its people. You pay a flat rate of 340 NT or $10 USD for the doctor visit and any medications you need. For bigger surgeries the patient pays 10% and the government pays the rest. Doctors are not as well paid as in the states, but the healthcare is remarkable. They do over prescribe. I was given 5 prescriptions for whatever it was I had. Nonetheless, in the future, back in America, I will wish I was getting treated in Taiwan.
Over a month ago now there were hundreds to thousands of student protestors trying to stop a trade pact agreement with China. The agreement,not my understanding, would be to open further trade between China and Taiwan. Some think it will hurt Taiwans economy and open political doors. The rally's went on for many weeks, however I never witnessed anything more than in the news. 
We had a day off for Tomb Sweeping Day/ Children's Day early in April. Tomb Sweeping is a day for honoring ones ancestors. Filial Piety, virtue of respect for one's parents and ancestors. It is held in early April because that is when "frost first retreats and spring returns bringing renewal to living things."  April 4th, Children's Day, has been a day to honor children globally since 1931, becoming a public holiday in 2011. 
To welcome Spring, the first weekend in April thousands flock to the beaches of Kenting. The weekend is famous, enough so that people from other SE Asian countries join in on the festivities. The following weekend I enjoyed another trip to Kaohsiung with a few of the girls where we took a short ferry ride from the harbor to a black sand island. To be honest the black sand made it look incredibly filthy. 
April 15th and 16th my third grade Stars and Evening Stars put on their Annual Class Performance! The ACP is a 30 minute performance by the students to show their parents what they've learned throughout the year, basically to have fun and show off their English skills. I have 5 students in Evening Stars and their theme was "Be Your Own Hero!" My Stars have 15 students and their theme was, "Everyday Should Be Earth Day!" They performed an assortment of skits, poems, a game show, and songs. As little practice as I felt we had, they all did an amazing job for their show. I was especially impressed with my Stars class. They spoke loudly, remembered their lines, corporate so well together, had fun, and made everyone laugh! 
Their is less than two months with my students, time is flying by and I still feel like I have so much to teach them. Seeing them only twice a week has been one of the bigger challenges I've faced with teaching this year. Next year, I should be teaching 1st and 3rd! 
I finally attended my first HASH run in Taiwan with a large group of the girls. Three times a month this group of young and old, Taiwanese and foreigners, get together for a run. A run that is never duplicated and made by someone new each week. The one we did was 8k, afterwards there is a ritual ceremony of songs and naming that goes on until everyone decides it's dinner time. 
For Easter I enjoyed a bike ride around town and a park day with the girls. I've been spending as much time as I can with the girls that wont be staying another year. There are a few I will really miss, they too came on this life changing journey, it will be hard to say goodbye.
Teacher Sabrina and the girls of Stars!
The boys of Stars and I 
Thanks for the love! -K

Hello May!!😍