Traveling next door to Laos

I talked to my dad recently for the first time in way too long. I don't have a phone and he doesn't do Facebook so our communication is limited to email and Skype. He asked me what the link was to my blog. Wait, I have a blog? I'd almost forgotten with all the traveling, classes, volunteering and socializing I've been doing. Without even doing so he gave me the little nudge I needed to get on here and tell everyone about my adventures.

Picture thanks to Kunthara Kunna

Here in Chiang Mai we just got done celebrating Songkran (the water festival). This meant a break from classes and a chance to get out and travel. My three weeks off from classes began with a group trip down south to Sukhothai, Phitsanulok and Ayutthaya. We traveled in style for a week having a whole charter bus to ourselves visiting the ruins and temples of old Thailand.

view from slow boat

The real adventure began the following week when a three of my close friends and I ventured out of Chiang Mai and over the boarder to Laos. We opted for a five hour van ride to the Thai-Lao boarder where we took a ferry across the river into Laos. 


Then after two hours of immigration we headed to our two day slow boat. In no way will anything I say or any picture I show do Laos justice. It was beautiful. The two days on the boat were a nice time to relax, make friends and look at the view.


The boat took us to Luang Prabang, a decently sized, charming little tourist town filled with guest houses, little shops, and plenty of places to eat. 

Volleyball at Utopia. Picture from Kara McDonell

The first night there we were pointed towards a rather interesting restaurant called Utopia. This is the only restaurant that I've been to that has it's own sand volleyball court which I took part in and received a small battle wound on my shin. The food was delicious and the company was great. That's the nice thing about backpackers, they're really friendly.


The next morning we took a hybrid tuk tuk to the Kouang Si Waterfall. Our driver dropped us off in the small market just next to the start of the path where I spotted a small fresh fruit with yellow mango. Not long after that I headed with my friends, fresh mango in hand, towards the waterfall.  I voted for the more scenic route that took us past a bear sanctuary. The path took us to the bottom most part of the waterfall where we got our first look at the opaque blue water. 


Further up the path we came across a tree that perfectly shot out over the water complete with a rope swing. Another group vote sent us up further to the main part of the waterfall. People from all over were here there and everywhere taking pictures. To our right we saw a more precarious path up to the top. On the steep climb up, mid-gasp I realized that I' wasn't in as good of shape as I had thought. Never the less we a;; made it to the top, took in the beautiful view and spotted some smaller but vacant waterfalls down below. 


We remembered a small path further down that was blocked off. Our curiosity sent us to that path where we ended up finding a breath taking piece of the waterfall complete with a place to swim. Now I'm pretty positive we weren't supposed to go swimming there but we all plugged our noses and jumped in anyways. 

Picture thanks to Kara McDonell 

One of my friends discovered that if we swam parallel to the waterfall really close to the rocks we could actually shimmy our way underneath the waterfall where there was a small pocket in the rocks to stand. I, however, only did this once. As I swam closer to the pocket the more water was pouring down on me which made me feel as though I couldn't breath and was suffocating. 


My friend decided to swim straight out of the waterfall right under where the water was pounding down the hardest, obviously a bad decision. The pressure forced her under where she lost her sense of direction and began to drown. She decided to stop fighting and go limp. The pressure from the water threw her against some rocks underwater but then pushed her out and up in front of the waterfall where we all were, unknowing of what just happened. No worries, she's alive and well with only a few small scratches. 

Picture thanks to Kara McDonell

Picture thanks to Kara McDonell

Not long after we decided to head down to the rope swing and see what that was all about. Piece of advice: it's a lot harder than it looks so hold on tight. I, however, did not know this so with a very loose grip I threw myself out over the water only to loose my grip entirely and fall. Accepting the rope's challenge I went again and again trying to hold on tighter each time. I successfully had a better swing each time. After I grew tired of the rope I decided to try jumping off the waterfall which was equally as exhilarating. My crew had grown tired so we left our little paradise and headed back into town. 


The next morning we continued on to Vang Vieng. I was expecting it to be packed with backpackers but when we got there there were only a few people wandering about. Where was everyone? It didn't take long to find out that everyone was partying down by the river. Everyone spent the day down there and then at night everyone moved to the bars in town. 


The next day we headed to the river to see what it was all about. Here we discovered a spring breaker's dream. Bars lined both sides of the river and every bar had its own rope swing or slide.

Picture thanks to Kara McDonell

These rope swings were 100 times better than the measly little rope in Luang Prabang. I couldn't get enough of them. After the first swing I decided I would have to go off of every swing. I spent two days making friends, swimming and having an all around amazing time.


While Vang Vieng is amazing it has become many people's last adventure and for few, their coffin. When you combine alcohol, gigantic swings, water and rocks you can only expect injuries.  I met a guy who's friend had just broken his neck the day before. Thankfully, he lived but it was pretty terrifying to think about. As for myself I got a little banged up from landing on the water wrong but I left with everything still intact.


While in Vang Vieng we went to the lagoon and Tham Phu Kham cave. I didn't swim but I did explore the cave with one friend. I had left my shoes at the hotel that day so I headed into the cave barefoot with only a head lamp. We chose to go guide-less and to explore it by ourselves. 


We found huge disgusting spiders, nasty bugs and dangerously deep holes. Creepy huh? Personally, I can't help but to think of "The Decent" every time I go into a cave. So with that in mind we went deep into the cave where the air was thick and the light was non-existent. On our way back out we got a little turned around and couldn't decide which way was the way out. Staying calm but also growing claustrophobic we fumbled our way around and soon we found the path and in no time at all we were out.


The next day we left Vang Vieng and headed to Vientiane, the capital. There isn't a whole lot that I have to say about the capital other than I really, really didn't like it and I've heard the same remark from more than one person. So, if you're going to travel to Laos skip Vientiane. 


After spending two awful days in Vientiane we finally got on our bus back to Chiang Mai. Crossing the boarder into Thailand was easier than crossing into Laos. Unfortunately, our bus was a pile of junk and what should have been a 14 hour bus ride became a 20 hour bus ride. It broke down more than ten times, each time requiring at least a half an hour before we could get back on the road. The bus ride was a disaster and when I finally arrived in Chiang Mai I was tired, on edge and my feet were swollen to a painful degree. 

My poor swollen feet

Despite the fact that the end of the trip wasn't so great the majority of it made up for it. I loved Laos and I would recommend that everyone who travels to South East Asia goes. I have one month left in Thailand, starting today, and I still have so many things to do.

My first visit to a Thai hospital

During the first week of Payap orientation they took us to McCormick Hospital to show us what to do if we got sick and needed to see a doctor. At the time I didn't think I'd ever end up in the hospital. For the most part I'm a fairly healthy person. Guess not.

I woke up around 3 AM this morning and proceeded to throw up every thing in my stomach. I couldn't hold anything down. So after around six hours of the worst stomach pain ever accompanied by throwing up everything I decided to pay the school nurse a visit.

Without even having me sit down she quizzed me about my symptoms and in no time at all I was on my way to McCormick Hospital. After about ten minutes of waiting I was called up to the front of the waiting room where they weighed me, took my blood pressure and temperature. This was in front of the entire waiting room which I found rather interesting. I was asked if I could speak Thai and I replied "nid noi" which means "a little". The nurse smiled at me thinking that was the greatest thing.

After that I was sent over the the waiting area to see a doctor. Another ten minutes and I was shuffled into a little room with a doctor with a surgical mask covering his face. Without really looking at me he asked me what my problem was. I told him really bad stomach pain and had been throwing up non-stop all morning. Out of no where he reaches over and begins to push really hard (almost punching) my stomach asking "DOES THIS HURT. DOES THAT HURT!" Of course it hurts you idiot that's why I am here.

After a few more questions he mumbles something about spicy food and a stomach ulcer and sends me off the waiting area for the Pharmacy. Another ten minutes and I was called up to receive my prescription. Once again I was asked if I could speak Thai and again I said "nid noi". Another smile and laugh and I was sent down to window "siib gawh" (19) to get my medicine. I received my pills: one for abdominal pain, another for anti acid and the final for nausea and vomiting.

I now needed to find a phone to call Payap's sung tow driver, Pi Jew. I had a nice conversation with a guy originally from Texas who had been in Chiang Mai for three years. He was nice enough to lend me his phone to get a ride back to my dorm.

The good news is that I'm feeling slightly better. The bad news is that I wasn't well enough to go to the Doi Laan village home stay today with the rest of my group. Oh Thailand, please take a break on my poor little stomach.

An eventful Valentine's Day in Chiang Mai

I'd like to start by saying I've never had such an eventful Valentine's Day and I doubt I will ever again have one comparable to today.

A few friends and I have planned a trip to Pai, Thailand and to get there we need to take a bus. This is where the adventure began. We had to bike to the bus station to buy our tickets.

We didn't quite know where the bus station was other than where the map said. Keeping that in mind we arrived at a HUGE white building located next to a lot full of buses. It "looked" enough like a bus station so we parked and locked up our bikes.

After climbing quite a few steps I began to notice that this "bus station" looked really fancy. It even had it's own security guards. However, the security guard took one look at the three of us and said "No, no ,no" pointing at our shorts. Hmm, I didn't think we needed pants to buy tickets. I was confused and it wasn't until we asked if it was the bus station that we realized that it most certainly wasn't the bus station.

He led us back down all those steps and pointed in the direction we assumed was the "real" bus station. I pulled out my map once we were back to our bikes to figure out what building we had just tried to walk into. The super fancy bus station that we were shooed away from ended up being the Juvenile Courthouse.

Thankfully, now knowing where we were we headed off in the right direction and soon after found the real bus station, not quite as fancy as the Juvenile Courthouse. We parked our bikes once again and headed to find the counter for buses going from Chiang Mai to Pai and in no time at all we had bought our tickets. We opted to spend a few extra baht for a van to Pai.

After the success of buying our tickets all by ourselves we were quite pumped and in a good move. A three-way high five later and we were on our way back to Payap. Little did we know our adventure was far from over.

Once back out to the main street we had to cross over four lanes of traffic in order to head in the right direction. At the time it seemed impossible because the traffic was heavy and we only had our bikes. While waiting we noticed that right across from us was a beautiful looking park like place. Since we had to cross all the lanes anyways we decided to go all the way across and check it out.

Finally, a break in the traffic coming from our right and a bunch of song-taos coming from the left stopped waiting to turn. Here was our chance to get across. I went for it and once I got past the song-toas I was going to look once again to my left to check for oncoming cars. I made it past the song-toa but by then it was too late.

A gray car came zooming out of no where. My brain stopped as well as my bike and I just stared at him with what I could only imagine resembled a "deer in the head lights" look on my face. With no time to react on my part he thankfully had enough reaction time to slam on his brakes. Even though he reacted it wasn't enough and he hit me on my left side sending me and my bike roughly to the pavement.

My reaction to this was to jump out and get out of the road before I caused another accident. I think my two friends were more shocked than I was. They thought that from the way I landed on my leg that I had broken it and so they were freaking out slightly.

The guy that hit me pulled over and after about a minute got out and came over with the most terrified look on his face. Of course he didn't speak any English and I felt terrible so I just kept saying "kah tohd kah, kah tohd kah" which means sorry in Thai. I tried to explain to him that I was trying to get across the street and that when I looked to check that there were no cars coming behind the sung-toas it was too late. He didn't ever say anything and eventually left.

After a quick check that all my body parts were still attached we started to mentally process what had just happened. I just started laughing slash crying. "Guys!" I said, "I just got hit by a freaking car!" They couldn't understand how I was taking it so well.

My battle wounds include a bruised and scraped up right knee, a cut and bruise on my left leg and a decent cut on the middle finger of my left hand. I still don't understand how I made it out with just these few minuscule injuries. I should have a broken leg, broken arm and cracked open head.

I have thankfully learned my lesson:
    -I'm not invincible
    -I shouldn't have so much confidence on a bike because cars will ALWAYS trump bikes
    -I shouldn't try to cross over four lanes of traffic. Go to an intersection with lights instead.

Hopefully this experience can be a warning to not only myself but to everyone else. Be careful out there!

After re-cooping from this I and my slightly bent bike along with my two friends made our way back to Payap, with great caution. A decent meal and celebratory drink was in order after all of that. We had found the bus station, bought our tickets, recovered from me almost dying and made it back to Payap all before noon.  

My with my bike, banged up knee and Kleenex covered finger.

Running my first 10k

I'd first like to say that I haven't ran any kind of "organized" run/race since my junior year of high school. Not to mention I haven't ran much at all since then.

However, I heard of a 10k race being hosted by Payap University and I thought "why not?" After a few days of going back and forth I finally decided to do it. But when my alarm went off at 4 A.M. this morning I started second guessing my self and found myself contemplating how I could get out of my verbal commitment to a few friends I told I would run it. Six minutes later I had talked myself into it and got out of bed.

Registration was an interesting experience. Since I was a student I could run for free. I went to the main registration table and tried to hand them my student ID. They shook their head and pointed to another table. The only thing I could read was the "19" on the sign. I assumed I was at the right table but when I handed them my ID they laughed at pointed me to another table. "I'm 19" I tried telling them, "siib gawh". This brought about more laughter until they finally explained that I was at the 19 year old MALE table. Slightly embarrassed, I walked away to the table they had pointed to. Finally, the right table. I registered and got my number.

Not long after that I was behind the starting line packed between a few hundred people. I knew I wasn't running to win or anything impressive like that, I just wanted to finish alive. A few words from the President of Payap, of which I only understood "wing" (run). Then a soft buzzer sounded and we were off. Those who were "in it to win it" flew from the start and it wasn't long until they were out of my view. I let all the "fast" runners pass me and I set a fairly slow but progressive pace for myself.

I had no idea what pace to run at. I hadn't ran anything over twenty minutes. I let all the "fast" runners pass me and I set a fairly slow but progressive pace for myself.

About five minutes into the run I passed this adorable elderly man, who had to be at least seventy, slightly hunched, shuffling along and thought "good for him". Not twenty minutes later and that "adorable" seventy year old was passing me. I had a good mental laugh and a skeptical moment of "why the heck am I doing this". However, I kept jogging, determined to finish.

Forty-five minutes in I was beginning to lose hope. I had no idea how far I had ran or how far I had to go. My butt hurt, my legs were cramping and the people around me were "stop and go" running (meaning they would run pass me, slow down to a walk, I'd pass them and soon they would pass me again). I kept passing them and then being passed which was pretty frustrating. Why couldn't they just keep a steady pace?

My legs killed but I thought I was doing fairly decent from the waist up. My lungs were handling the run just fine, most likely thanks to me biking everywhere the past two weeks. It wasn't until I took out one of my headphones that I realized I was breathing like a woman giving birth. You know the "he-he whoo he-he whooo" breathing women do during labor. Another mental laugh but still I pushed on.

I had taken two thirty second breaks so far. One to drink the cup of water handed to me and the other because I thought my butt was going to fall off. Probably around a mile away from the finish I was getting anxious. I had no idea how much longer I was going to have to run and my butt and legs were all cramped up. Soon after this I finally spotted Payap and picked up the pace a little. I was beyond ready to be done running.

I turned into the Payap entrance and the security guard smiled, laughed and cheered me on. The final 100 meters felt so good. I could see the finish, I had done it!

I can now say I ran my first 10k, in Chiang Mai, with absolutely no training. It did take me around an hour and seven minutes but I finished. Finishing was my only goal and I accomplished it. Not long after my finish I thought "I could do this again, I could do it better! I'll be looking for more runs in the future. Who knows, maybe one day I'll even get competitive.

Chiang Mai Flower Festival 2011

The Flower Festival is a place where a young female farang are just as exciting as the beautifully decorated floats to some photographers.

I've definitely never seen a parade like this one. The procession was a slow one that stopped frequently and people rushed out in front of the floats to snap a few pictures. It wasn't a problem to walk right up to someone in the parade and get your picture next to them. I saw person after person weaving in and out of the parade taking pictures with different people in the parade.

Now, I thought this difference was a bit odd compared to all the parades I'd seen growing up. Then I started to notice something else. Just like the parade was a big attraction so were the group of white females I was in. I began to realize that people were taking pictures of us! They weren't shy or sneaky either. One guy even walked right up to us and told us to group together so he could get a picture.

That was all when we were sitting on the curb watching the parade. When I stood up to stretch and catch the breeze blowing across the bridge I realized I was attracting much more attention then when I was sitting down. You can't do anything except pretend you didn't notice the stares and picture taking.

I've been her for three weeks and I'm still not used to the stares and snickers. All of which I'm very surprised is even happening. I've seen so many foreigners that you wouldn't think it wasn't a rare occasion to see someone with pale skin. I guess I must be wrong.

And now, some pictures from the festival!

A Typical Float

The guy was always holding the umbrella for the girl.

A girl dancing 

There were quite a few bands

They looked like cute little pumpkins

Thailand's Flag

Backpackers who looked like the hadn't had a shower in awhile

All these guys were pulling the float

Another band dressed up with cowboy hats and flannel 

Markets

I've made it to quite a few markets so far, which isn't hard here because they're everywhere. 

It's always interesting to see what they have. My favorite is when they have things in English. Most of them don't know what it means which makes it even funnier. 

"Make Out With My Butt 5 cents"

Even better than the funny shirts is the food. We stopped at this little stand to get a crepe sort of thing. It was arroy mak (very delicious)

This guy was super nice and we made him run out of bananas.

The bananas are definitely smaller in Thailand but they taste amazing! So after he spread out the batter for  shell part he chopped up the banana.

Then he placed the banana slice by slice on the shell

I chose banana, sweetened condensed milk....

...and chocolate! It was too die for. I think the people thought I was a crazy farang because I was literally moaning it was so good. 

Another thing I saw was little adorable puppies for sale. Then there were seperate stands that sold shirts and sweaters for the little dogs. There was a man who was pretty tall and he had the tiniest dog. But the hilarious thing was that their shirts matched. They were both wearing red and white stripped shirts, kind of like sailors. Sadly, I was laughing too hard to snap a picture. 

There's so many markets here and I know I'll write again about them so keep an eye out!

The bathroom situation here

So the bathrooms here in Thailand are a little bit different than those in the U.S. So I'm going to share what a more modern bathroom has and doesn't have. Hopefully later on in my trip I'll share about the infamous "squat pot", which I have encountered quite a few times already.

But back to the "modern" Thai bathroom. At Payap University I'd say all the bathrooms that I've used have been decent but there have been a few surprises.

These are all pictures from my bathroom in my dorm.

Here we have the "flush" button. First off it's on the top of the toilet rather than on the side.

Rule of thumb is the small button is for "small" amount in toilet (number ones) and the larger button is for "large" trips to the toilet (number twos). Hope you all can understand what i'm saying.

Toilet paper....

This is a rare luxury for an American like me.

I've only seen toilet paper in my dorm bathroom and that's only because my roommate and me put it there. However, the other bathrooms on campus have no toilet paper.

This brings me to the "squirt gun" as I like to call it.

So, most people here don't wipe and instead they squirt. Apparently, it's more sanitary but for someone like me it's a bit intimidating.

I've been in Thailand for a week and I still have yet use it. Hopefully, I can work up the courage soon to try it. It is part of their culture and that is my goal to become as much a part of Thai culture as I can.

If you want toilet paper, like me, you have to carry a roll around with you. I have this little guy wrapped up in a plastic bag and I carry it in my school bag for when I'm over in another building that has the squirt gun instead of toilet paper.

So, if you ever come to Thailand and you're a fan of toilet paper remember to carry a roll around with you at all times.