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.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
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.
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.
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| My with my bike, banged up knee and Kleenex covered finger. |
Saturday, February 12, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
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!
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!
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| A Typical Float |
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| The guy was always holding the umbrella for the girl. |
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| A girl dancing |
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| There were quite a few bands |
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| They looked like cute little pumpkins |
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| Thailand's Flag |
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| Backpackers who looked like the hadn't had a shower in awhile |
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| All these guys were pulling the float |
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| Another band dressed up with cowboy hats and flannel |
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