Fruit and Magnum Bars

      I would just like to start off by saying that I had the most amazing pineapple today. It was lovely and I don't think I will ever be able to eat America pineapple again. People always say how fruit tastes completely different in tropical countries...and it really does. I can already tell giving up young coconuts, perfect watermelon, and Thai pineapple is going to be tough. Anyways now that I got that out of my system, today in Developmental Psychology 2 we were talking about how many Thai men have mia nois or minor wives. This would be a second, third, or fourth wife taken on while they are still married to their first wife. Although they are not legally married (since it is illegal) they are still financially responsible for them and start families together. Relatively recently the government expressed concern about the presence of this practice within Thai parliament. Some members thought that officials should not have minor wives because it sets a bad example for the country. However this concern came to no consequence since literally every member of parliament had a mia noi. Even the crowned prince has several mia nois, although it is frowned upon it is socially accepted. If a husband wants a mia noi there really isn't much the wife can do to stop it. For example the man who is neighbors with my professor recently took a mia noi in a provence far away. He is no longer with his previous wife and daughter (who is 14). The wife is never home because she is off spending as much of her husbands money as possible. That leaves the daughter without any parental supervision. As a result she has latched onto my professor and his wife as sort of surrogate parents. I think its pretty said and speaks a lot to the progress that needs to be made as far as gender equality is concerned. We need to move into the modern era of women having little husbands! Haha that would be pretty cute if they were actually miniature. No really though isn't one spouse enough guys?

      After dinner today I really wanted some chocolate. So I stopped by the 7/11 and got a chocolate truffle magnum ice cream bar. I don't think that magnum is very popular in America but it is legit. Anyways I was just walking down the street back to the apartment, minding my own business, and eating my ice cream  when Shannon pointed out to me that the Thai people were staring a lot more than usual. I was suddenly very self-concious of my ice cream licking technique, but in 95 degree weather waiting until you get home to enjoy it isn't really an option. Sooo I kept eating it. Looking back I do remember seeing a few very sexual ice cream bar commercials while here. I tried to find a link of this particular one to reference...but it wasn't on youtube. Its okay though I'm sure my description is better. There is this shirtless guy tied to a chair and blindfolded. There is also a girl in a slinky dress with a magnum ice cream bar. She is being all weird and eating the ice cream very sexually. Then she like rubs it on him and licks it off and they end up making out. There is this weird bow chick wow wow music playing in the background too. Anyways it is pretty raunchy and I've seen it at least 5 times (as you can tell from my vivid description) during my limited exposure to Thai television. I'm pretty sure that sort of thing wouldn't fly in America. Now that I think of it I've never seen a Thai person eat ice cream in public. Opppps. Oh well at least I learned something new. If this  whole college thing doesn't pan out I'm pretty sure I could make a solid living standing on the street in Thailand and charging people 10 baht to watch me eat ice cream. They would have to provide the ice cream too. Just because I like free ice cream. Except not really because that would be profiting from the objectification of women which is bad.

Also they have lobster hot plate Lays potato chips here.

Thai Cooking School

I woke up early this morning and lounged around the hotel. It was so peaceful to lay in a hammock on the river front, eating amazing fruit salad, while reading Ellen's new book. Hey I gotta get my Ellen fix somewhere! Alex and Kelly decided to rent bikes and try to find a temple cave. While this sounded awesome it felt like it was 115 degrees outside and I just wasn't feeling the whole pedaling miles up a mountain thing. Sooo I went to an amazing vegetarian restaurant that I had been to a few nights ago and signed up for a Thai cooking class. I took it with this super cute German couple. We each picked three dishes plus one desert. So at the end of the two hour session I had learned how to make ten Thai dishes. The food was great, I can't wait to make it for you guys when I get back to America!



Miss Ohn showing me how to chop banana flower.






Both Miss Ohn and the Germans agreed that spatula was an absurd English word. Apparently in Germany it means something the gynecologist uses as a brush. I'm not sure what they are using a brush for but I decided I was about to cross the line of appropriate cooking school conversation and decided not to ask.



Tadaaa I made my first solo dish!



Miss Ohn decided to feed me....in case you can't tell I was not expecting this!

Erawan national park

Today we woke up early and started the day off with a hearty breakfast of fruit salad and banana pancakes! I had been missing pancakes quite a lot recently so it was a great way to kick off the morning! We weren't sure if there was food where we were headed. I guess I should go ahead and say where we were going. Erawan national park featuring a seven tier water fall! Yea we were pretty pumped. In the two pictures below you can see the pimptastic bus that we took.





The picture below was a sign that we saw posted at the entrance of the park. It was pretty much requesting that the white people keep their clothes on.


When Thai people see a spirit somewhere they make offerings to it. That is what is going on with this wrapped up tree. Not only was is a park with a seven tiered waterfall, but apparently it was also quite haunted because we saw at least five of these trees if not more. Maybe it's the spirits of all the tourists who tried to do stupid stuff on it. That would be a good way to keep people in line on the trail. They should really consider spreading that story.


Below are some of the pictures of the waterfalls. They were awesome! In the pools beneath them were fish that liked to nibble at your feet. Some of them had more snap to their bite than you would expect!








This is me on top of the seventh tier of the waterfall. Funny thing about taking a picture on top of a waterfall, nobody can really tell you're on it. Oh well it was cool! The trail to get there was intense. Lots of rock climbing, tree crossing, and slippery stepping was involved. But hey that's all part of the adventure right?

Kanchanaburi day one

Saturday morning Alex, Kelly, and I woke up bright and early to catch the train the kanchanaburi. The windows were large and stayed open the whole time, but it was a nice day so the breeze was welcome. The last car of the train had a sign saying it was reserved for the monks, elderly, and disabled. However we didn't notice this until a good half hour. The rest of the train didn't have seats together so we sat in the last car. Oops. Luckily the Thai people were nice enough to let it go and the confused Americans sit in the special car.
It took about three hours to get to Kanchanaburi, once we arrived we got a taxi, aka back of a truck, to take us to our hotel, The Jolly Frog. It is known for being affordable and a nice place for backpackers. The four person room we stayed in cost 400 baht per night. Which is the equivalent of us paying $4 each in America.
Once we had gotten settled in we walked down to the death railway museum. Perhaps some of you have heard of it but the death railway took place during World War Two. The Japanese used prisoners of war as slave laborers to construct a railway and bridge connecting Thailand to Burma. The conditions were quite brutal and thousands of people died during this process. The bridge and railway are still used today although it has been debated whether or not it is ethical. After crossing the bridge we found this beautiful temple which you can see in the three pictures below.








The picture below is the view of the river when looking down from the death railway bridge.


We saw this leopard lying on a table, on the sidewalk, just chilling. Yes he is alive.


Alex and Kelly on the roof of one of the exhibits.



A mural inside the museum depicting Thai life during ancient times.


After exploring the town we went back to the hotel and relaxed in the hammock before getting Thai massages. The massage was amazing! I believe the phrase "who needs men when you have a Thai masseuse" could sum up my experience there. All for only 150 baht per hour (the equivalent of $5 in America, not to rub it in). We got dinner at this amazing vegetarian Thai place and worked on a plan for the next day when we were going to the Erawan waterfalls!

Bow vs Sup

   I don't understand why Thai people aren't fat. I guess it's genetics or something. Living in America, watching how Americans eat and behave, I understand why some Americans are fat. Thai people are so tiny, and they eat a lot! It's not like they really eat all that healthy. I know that I eat healthier in America because here the healthier version of food just isn't available. Most meals include lots of simple starches, a deep fried meat, and a VERY sugary drink. They eat pretty frequently too. Now I understand that on a college campus I have a skewed perception and this is not how all Thai people eat. But they are still super skinny....and most of them eat like they are getting ready for hibernation. They don't really exercise that much either. Every Thai person I have talked to think it is ridiculous that I walk 1.5 miles to get to the hospital. I think part of it is that they don't want to get dark from being in the sun. In general they eat comparably to Americans and are active about as much as Americans, so why are Americans so much more fat? Beats me. 

      While in Thailand I have also experienced a pleasant increase in self confidence. You would think I would have been more self conscious being surrounded by super thin asians. However the whole stick figure thing quickly lost appeal in my eye and I have found myself more fully embracing my own body.  Now I can not take full credit for this increase in self acceptance. A fair amount of it could be due to the fact that many people here treat me like a small scale celebrity. It is kind of nice when people that you don't know are overtly friendly and polite. That doesn't really happen a lot to me in America. Here if a guy you don't know wants to get your attention he will wave, bow, tell you you're beautiful and move on. Occasionally they will ask for your name or where you are from, but they are still polite about it Note that I am not talking about college aged guys who pretty much never try to interact with me. This behavior is a pretty stark contrast from the "sups," head nods, winks, and cheap pick up lines that I have gotten used to America. I think that some people take strangers opinions of them more seriously than those of family and friends. Of course those who love you are going to love you and say you're pretty. What can I say when strangers treat you like a classy and pretty lady you start to feel that way. Boys back home need to take note. Bowing is the new "sup."

This was in the post office. I thought it was interesting how America was on the right side.

There are parking attendants like these in every parking lot to help people park their cars.
I don't think it would hurt America too much to invest in a few of these.

Sheep placenta anyone? 

My dinner with our Thai Language class

Midterms Are Over

     Hello everybody, thanks for sticking around through my midterm induced blog break! Hooraahh they are over! Now I can get back to exploring Thailand! I have been having a nice time at the hospital although the communication barrier is more glaring than ever now that I am almost exclusively in the pediatric OT department. Thai children don't speak any English and the people who work with the Thai children have no need for English so it has been a bit of a struggle. I do however have some pictures of the sensory room. All of the lights are on in the pictures so you can't get the full effect of the disco lights, fiber optic spray, color wheel, magic carpet, star projector, and firework simulator, but maybe if you stick around I will take a few pictures with the lights off one day. Ooooo something to look forward to!

So far I have had two sets of OT students want to take pictures with me in this castle.

more of the sensory room

      I don't know about you but I always feel incredibly awkward around couples where one or more members of the coupling looks like they would rather be trying to swallow a spider. The lobster hand is a tell tale sign of the "I would rather be trying to eat a live spider phenomenon."Although it is an elusive site in Thailand where PDA is extremely rare I managed to capture it for you guys. In the picture below you will see that the girls fingers are completely straight avoiding as much contact with the guy's hand as possible. I had the pleasure of walking behind these two for a block during which she attempted two to three escape attempts. Also the man purse is totally normal here and should not be considered a factor in the lady's satisfaction.

Lobster hand alert!!

A visual of my earlier comment about selling condoms and other weird stuff with candy at the checkout counter

Pretty cool tree on campus.

     Not too much else has happened since I last wrote. Last Friday we had a girls night and saw the new movie "Safe Haven" before going to eat at a Japanese restaurant. They had all of these really cool flavors of popcorn at the theater including cheddar cheese!!! Also kids only got kids tickets if they were under a certain height. So all the tall ones had to pay full price which I found very prejudiced of them! Poor tall kids having to pay full price! They already have to put up with too many jokes about the weather, they should at least get into movies on the cheap. Anyways that is my stance for the evening, I am about to go to a traditional Thai dinner with my Thai language and culture class. It should be yummy! I hope that you are about to eat some delicious food as well :)
 

Midterms

     It is midterm week here in Thailand. This is a much bigger deal than in America where I often don't have midterms. At MUIC the midterm exam is 40% of my grade! So the pressure is on! It doesn't really help that it is super hard to focus over here. All of the exchange students agree that it is much harder to get school work done here than at our home institutions. That being said I probably will not update the blog much for the next week since I will mostly be attempting to do research and studying. On a different note I am loving working with the kids at the hospital! Here are some pictures of the OT room I am in most of the time.






     There is even a sensory room just like the one at the camp I work at in America! I wasn't able to get any pictures of it yet because there were always patients in it. Although hospitals in Thailand do not have any rules regarding patient confidentiality the way America does it still seems wrong to post pictures of patients. The lack of regulation over here may be a disadvantage for the patients but it has helped to make this an amazing internship for me. I would not be able to do half of the stuff that I do in Thailand back home.
     Over a month into my stay here and there are still a few things that I have not gotten used to. Crossings guards for example confuse me. I always seen to do the opposite of what they want me to do, which is a pretty bad thing when crossing the street. They are rather intense and I don't understand their motions so I get stressed out and panic. One would think that the motion to come and go would be universal, it's not. Most of the time when they want me to come it looks like they are shooing me away.
     Everything I heard about Asian food in America made it out to be very different from the way it really is. Before coming here I was under the impression that Asians (Chinese, Japanese, and Thai) ate very healthy food. Meaning not a lot of sugar/fried food, and eating meat only a few times a week. From what I have seen so far that could not be less true. Ninety percent of food has meat, is fried, and is loaded with sugar. I have been to a few authentic Chinese restaurants and this has also been the case there. Another major cultural difference is the acceptance of gay people and cross dressers. One of my teachers said that Bangkok is so gay it makes San Francisco look like rural Texas. After spending some time here I would definitely agree with that statement. Cross dressing is the norm and "lady boys" are everywhere. I am just now learning to recognize them and am astonished to see how many of them I didn't notice previously. I am really interested in what dating culture is like here. The guys are so much more coy here than in America. There are no crude shout outs, "sup girls," or whistles to be spoken of. The most you might get is a car honk. Older guys (30's and up) sometimes try to start up a conversation or make comments about your beauty, but it never comes off as sleezy or creepy. There is also no PDA to be spoken of, with the exception of the occasional scandalous couple holding hands. Despite the fact that Thai college guys seem so shy and socially awkward compared to Americans Thailand has the second highest teen pregnancy rate in the world. There is obviously more going on than meets the eye.
    I thought that with Thailand being an agricultural country it would be easy to find whole fresh food here. Wrong again, everything is chalked full of additives and preservatives. Even if I could read the Thai labels on food it is not required that manufacturers list their ingredients on the products, so most of them don't. Today I learned how to tell people in restaurants not to add MSG to my food (which is also in everything) so hopefully that will help with the negative reactions to much of the food.

Location:บรมราชชนนี,Phutthamonthon,Thailand

Chiang Rai

On the last day of our trip to northern Thailand we headed up to the golden triangle. This is a spot where the borders of Laos, Burma, and Thailand meet. The picture below is a statue of Buddha see on the Thai side of the river. Our group piled onto a sleek boat and glided down the river past the border of Laos. When we docked many little Laos children ran up to us repeating, "hello, five baht." This was their not so subtle way of asking for money. I might have given then some if they weren't so demanding! After shopping and exploring for a little bit we reloaded the boat and headed back to Thailand.



Below is a map of the golden triangle.


With the remainder of our time that day we visited the white temple. It was constructed by a famous artist and is unique from any other temple that I have ever seen. When a few of us were walking around the grounds and older man excitedly ran up to us proclaiming many greetings. He was the artist who designed and constructed the temple. I couldn't believe we were lucky enough to meet him! He took a few of us aside individually put us in certain poses and took several photos. He said that he was going to paint us inside the temple. I know this sounds hard to believe but the inside of the temple is very modern. It is filled with paintings of Spider-Man, angry birds, the twin towers, and other Hollywood scenes. So if you go to the white temple within the next year there is a chance you will see me on the wall pointing at something amazing!








I am having a great week here in Thailand! Everybody is so friendly! Although I still have trouble with a few things I am really happy here. I will leave you today with this lovely picture below. It is the latest find of my crocodile hunter adventures. I hope everybody has a delightful weekend!

Location:บรมราชชนนี,Phutthamonthon,Thailand

Elephant Park

Elephant park, elephant park, today we went to the elephant park! After another decadent breakfast at the hotel we headed up north of Chiang Mai until we were deep in the misty mountains. When we arrived at the park we climbed onto a bamboo raft and two natives floated us down the river. It was so peaceful and serene, I could have stayed on it all day! The river is usually crystal clear but the storm last night stirred up the river, so it is kind of murky in the pictures.






For the first part of the elephant ride a guy was sitting where I am in the picture below and steering the way. He is called a mahoot and known as an elephant caretaker. While on the elephant we were given sugar cane and banana to feed him. The elephant was so smart and understood the mahoot's directions when he spoke to him. Part way through the trip our mahoot gestured to me, said "switch driver," and hopped off. I was a little confused at first but eventually realized he wanted me to climb off the bench on our elephant's back and onto his head. It was an amazing experience to steer the elephant while riding through the land. He was so big that he swayed side to side while walking. This made it rather difficult to balance. I had nothing to hold onto so I squeezed my legs around him very hard to stay put.





Initially I was concerned for the elephants well being at the park. Are they happy, overworked, or neglected? However a picture that I found on my camera that the mahoot took put to ease my concerns. I know this might be inappropriate but I thought it was interesting. While looking through the pictures the mahoot took while I was steering the elephant I came across five rather strange ones. At first I wasn't sure what the pictures were of. Upon further examination (and consultation of our guide) I found out that what I was looking at was an erect elephant penis or shivaling. Apparently it only happens when they are really happy and is an extremely rare site in the wild. So my elephant, it would appear, was quite happy with his life. I don't think that it would be appropriate to post on my blog, but if you really want to see the picture just message me and I will send it to you.


In order to get to the elephants we had to cross the rickety bridge see below. On the way over I felt just like donkey from the movie Shrek when they were on a mission to rescue princess Fiona. Riding the elephant was my princess Fiona. Just like Shrek and donkey I was able to skip quickly across the bridge without fear once I had won my prize.


After eating lunch at the park we packed into the vans and headed for our next destination, the northern province of Chiang Rai.


Upon arriving at our hotel we explore the Royal Project in Chiang Rai. It consisted of many beautiful gardens and local shops. We finished the day with a yummy dinner before tucking in and preparing for a big day tomorrow.

Location:Thailand

Chiang Mai day 2

On Saturday our group woke up early and went down to the hotel cafe where we were treated to a grand American breakfast. It was my first real breakfast since I have been here! It felt like Christmas morning! We feasted on French toast, eggs, fruit salad, and toast. Normally Thai people eat some sort of rice dish for breakfast, which the hotel also served. I'll give America this much they sure know how to do breakfast right!

Once I was sufficiently stuffed it was time to go to a national park north of Chiang Mai. Our guide said that the trail we were going on provided the best views in Thailand! It took us a bit over three hours to make the steep trek up to the top but it was well worth it!


Above is the view from the top of the mountain and below is a rhododendron that was growing in the side of the cliff. While climbing to the top out guide calmly told us, "if you trip no trip to right, steep cliff, you will die." Luckily none of us tripped.



The mountain was so tall that we were surrounded by clouds at the top.






Below is a view of what the forest looked like on the inside, which is what we were walking through for most of our trek.


We even made a special trip to see this giant waterfall. Unfortunately I think it might have been a bad omen of what was to come later that evening.


While at the night market in Chiang Mai we were walking around, shopping for souvenirs, and eating yummy food. Out of nowhere the clouds opened up and it started raining buckets! We were soaked in now time and had to wait almost an hour for our group to get together so we could all leave. Even though the streets were flooding it was a lot of fun running through the rain and just goofing off. There was no drainage system on any of the streets that we encountered. The water was six inches up my calf and a Thai man joked with us that we could probably get there faster if we swam!

Location:Thailand