Coyote

     Over the past week or so I found myself to be rather sick of Thai food. This could be a slight problem since I still have three weeks here. However I am hoping that it is just a phase and I will return to fully embracing it by Monday...or Tuesday at the latest. As a temporary solution Quin, Cashana, and I went into Bangkok last night to get some Mexican food at a place called Coyote. According to trip advisor it is the best Mexican food in the city. Although we arrived five minutes after happy hour which was mildly disappointing the yummy food more than made up for it. It definitely wasn't the same as Mexican food in America but it wasn't bad. It's hard to explain but the sauces had more of a meaty/savory quality. After eating we spent some time exploring the city. While walking around we passed a Dairy Queen that was serving both mango sticky rice and mango pudding blizzards. I'm not sure how exactly they make it, but I would say that it would be a safe assumption that it has sweetened condensed milk in it, because it is in everything here. One of my friends classes is having some sort of pot luck. She lives with us so of course we do not have a kitchen or real access to food besides the 7/11. So she was struggling with what food she should bring. We all agreed that sweetened condensed milk shots would be a perfect appetizer for this crowd.

     In the pictures below you can see the symbols for bathroom that the district we were in seemed to be rather fond of. We kept seeing the silhouettes on the walls in different building and weren't quite sure what they meant. After stumbling past these life sized ones at the real bathroom it became ver clear. I thought that they were pretty funny.

       During our adventures that evening we also found the Magnum Cafe. Where chocolate was a main ingredient in most of the entrees and you could make your own Magnum bar. Cashana stopped to take advantage of this decadent opportunity, having still been slightly scarred from my last Magnum experience I decided to hold off.

      Not too much else has been going on in my world the past few days. Finals are coming up in two short weeks so I have been starting to get my information organized for that. The educational system here is a lot different. I'm not a huge fan of it and from what I have heard from my American classmates they aren't either. The relationship students have with professors is a lot different. Overall I would describe it as less trusting, more critical, and unclear expectations that are none the less expected to be met. I was sick earlier this week and told some students to let the teacher know I wouldn't be in class for the quiz (because she did not give us her e-mail). She told them to message me and let me know that if I did not come to her next period class to make up the quiz that she was going to fail me. This was rather distressing and I can not imagine any of my professors in America doing something like this. In the end I went to the hospital, got a doctors note, and convinced her to let me make it up next week. In general teachers here are also much more dependent on powerpoint. There is also a chance that they will be thrown off if you ask questions. Thai students as a whole don't really ask questions...ever. It has something to do with saving face and not looking silly, apparently it is a big deal here. Of course I didn't really get that memo and found that sometimes professors react slightly negatively to some questions. Especially if it is a question they don't know the answer to. Don't get me wrong I really do like most of the professors I have met here I am just trying to compare it to my experience in America. Thai people are aware that education is better in America. I have had several people baffled at why I left America to come to school here. It simply blows their mind. I always try to explain it but the language and perhaps cultural barrier proves too much. Most people here do not travel to much, it is not something that is valued the way it is in America. So it is hard for them to comprehend the benefits that I would get from going to school here for a semester. Well that is about all for now. I hope that everybody has a nice day!

My latest crocodile hunter find. Isn't she a beaut!

Koh Samet

   Early Friday morning we woke up and left for the beautiful island of Koh Samet. We took a mini van over which had a nice built in t.v. It would have been a lot nicer if we hadn't been watching a mash up of 80s/90s love song music videos. In fact at this point I am pretty sure that song "Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be riiiight here waiting for you" is Thailand's second national anthem. Not only have I heard it here more than I did in America, I am also pretty sure that I have heard it more than I hear the national anthem. I don't know if I have mentioned this but they broadcast the national anthem on the loud speakers at 8 am, 6 pm, and every movie theater. Anyways yea 90s love songs are big here, moving forward. 

Laughing gas, never try, never know....
for clarification I still don't know.

 After the van ride we got on a speed boat (which was super fun) to get to the island. Where we stayed in these really cute bungalows right near the ocean. That night we had a traditional Thai dinner complete with pillow cushions on the floor and a fire show. It was really cool but I can't imagine how they do it. They were amazing! It's a good thing Thailand hasn't gotten around to starting a winterguard, we definitely wouldn't have won worlds against these beasts!

Fire show, that kid on the right was about 6

Koh Samet at Sunset

       The next day we woke up early to watch the sunrise and go swimming before everybody else was out and about. After that we hopped on a speed boat which took us to go snorkeling in the top three coral reefs in the area. I had never seen coral reefs, so many kinds of tropical fish, or been snorkeling before. It was a lot for one morning, the perfect amount of a lot though. The coral reefs were so cool but I could tell that some of them had seen better days. Global warming strikes again. All in all it was just the relaxing weekend that I needed! There were even Thai people playing ping pong on the beach. I thought it was an interesting contrast to the traditional American football on the beach. In all reality ping pong is a lot more challenging on a breezy beach than football. Maybe the Thai guys are more masculine...

Beautiful Koh Samet

Watching the sunrise on the rocks of the ocean.

These kids were making interesting sand castles on their dad.

Men like this walk around the beach selling lots of food and yummy coconuts.

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