Greater Northeastern and Northern Tour [PART 1]

I guess I should start from the beginning, but it has been a long trip - full of excitement, craziness and 50 teenage falangs. It was amazing, I wish I could do it over and over again. So, those who are reading are in for a bumpy, long and exhausting ride.

Day 1 - Suzanne and I left Nakhon Phanom at 7:30 am for Korat. Khun Pornchai [he will be referred to as "Papa Pornchai" or "Papa P" for the rest of my trip] picked us up at the Korat bus station after our 8 hour drive and I knew he liked us immediately. We had a nice talk with him about what we wanted to do in the future etc. etc. as we drove towards the Sripattana Hotel. When we arrived I saw some familiar faces - Clayton, Micheal, Tati. But there were also a bunch of unfamiliar faces that I could only recognize from Facebook pictures. I felt really awkward at first, as the “new girl”, but everyone was super welcoming and I made friends right away. After everyone had arrived, after I had introduced myself to everyone and we had moved our things into a hotel room with Emily [a girl from Michigan USA] we went on a 7 Eleven run. The first night set the ball rolling for the rest of the trip – everyone hung out together, I made a bunch of new friends and we went to 7 Eleven at least 4 times.

Phanom Rung Historical Park
Day 2 – We were up bright and early for breakfast, onto the buses [the boys were split up from the girls and had a completely different bus – the tour guides said it was because of “Thai culture” however I didn’t think that sitting next to a boy on the bus was such a big deal; oh well] and headed towards Ubon Ratchathani. On the way we visited Phanom Rung Historical Park which had the most beautiful architecture I’ve seen. It is an old Hindu religious site turned Buddhist site built over an extinct volcano. Apparently it’s over a thousand years old. We spent quite a while wandering the historical park, had lunch and shopped at some vendors and then continued to the resort. It was gorgeous! Every room had comfortable beds with canopies, a nice shower [I’ve missed one of those] and the rooms were set in a jungle of trees, tiki huts and flowers with a view of Laos and the Mekong River. The pool was massive, the dining patio sat looking over the river and everything was decorated with lights, gongs and tradition Thai fabric. A bunch of girls and I got all dressed up in our fanciest outfits to go and have Banana Flambé and Deep Fried Ice cream on the patio. It was heaven. That night I got stung by a hornet the size of my fist and my arm swelled up for the first week. It was very painful, very itchy and very annoying. I hate bugs in Thailand. Then, that night I hopped over Kalie’s balcony into her bedroom and sprained my toe – it was a good start to the trip I think.

Sao Chaliang

Day 3 – We woke up early, had a buffet breakfast of the most delicious food and left for Pha Taem National Park. First we visited Sao Chaliang, stone towers and a hilltop with a giant crack down the center. We all ran around taking pictures, resting on the rocks looking over the cliff and climbing down the crack. When it came to the group picture with THE BANNER [oh the horror] we were not interested in taking pictures. There were probably 25 cameras, and no one understood why one person couldn’t just take the picture, put it on the internet and send it to everyone – instead we had to endure the mass photo taking experience [it reminded me of dancing at Phra That Phanom] and about halfway through most of us just gave up and walked away from the scene. Then we went to the giant cliff where there were signs telling you to “Be careful of bees,” “Danger, No poke,” [??] and the tour guides ran around telling you to be careful. I think we realized we needed to be careful – we’re not THAT dense. I injured myself even more by walking full on into a hanging tree branch when I wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking. I joked that by the end of the trip I would be in the hospital at the rate this was going. Before returning to the resort we visited two waterfalls. The first one had zero water and the pool at the bottom was just a bunch of rocks we jumped around on. However, the second one had a nice little pond that we went swimming in and a waterfall that we could stand under. We got back to the hotel early so a bunch of us decided to get a spa package for only $30 after we ate grilled cheese sandwiches. They were probably the most expensive sandwiches we have ever paid for, but they were delicious. The spa treatment was great. We had “time for tea” and then we had a nice bubble bath [I shared a bath with Kalie – funniest experience of my life], a body scrub, shower and then aromatherapy with coconut butter. That night everyone brought their instruments out and we played. My friend Friederike taught me to play “Twinkly Twinkle Little Stars” on the violin.

Day 4 – We left the resort and headed to Nakhon Phanom – my host city. This day was mostly driving but we did stop at a tower in Mukdahan to overlook the city and the river. We stopped again at Phra That Phanom, but since I’ve been there about 6 times before it wasn’t anything exciting for me. At dinner Khun Prapart [referred to as “Peter” or “P Dog” (except not to his face) for the rest of the trip] pulled me out of our hacky sack circle and made me read the Thai names for all the buffet food to show his Rotarian friends. He was really proud that I could read them, but it was really embarrassing and frusterating since my friends were standing right there. Dinner was good; Papa P serenaded us with his karaoke talents and a bunch of people got up and sang Abba and CCR. After dinner Suzanne and I took everyone to Meurang, our favourite coffee place for dessert. We fit 16 of us into a sam law normally suitable for 8 and the rest followed in the trunk of a pick up truck. I feel horrible for the people at Meurang – we took up almost all their tables and moved them around – I don’t think they’ve ever had that many people in there at one time. But they probably made a bunch of money from us that night so I don’t feel too bad. We walked back to the hotel and then a bunch of the Korat girls and I enjoyed a nice adventure on the elevator and touring the hotel. We found a deserted floor where there were no lights on and so everyone piled up there to hang out. It was pretty creepy – there was only one blue light on and there was a big set of double doors at the end of the long corridor that were locked. We told ghost stories and jokes before running back to our rooms for curfew.

Day 5 – After checking out we visited Ban Chiang National Museum where they had lots of artifacts dug out from archeological sites. Most of them were pots, but they also had skeletons and tools. After looking around we shopped at some vendors on the side of the road and then went for lunch in Udon Thani. We had Vietnamese food – I was in heaven. On our way to Loei we stopped at an Orchid Farm which wasn’t good at all – there weren’t any flowers. I bought some Orchid tea thoughJ. I really lucked out at the Resort in Loei - 6 of us girls got an entire house to ourselves. We had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a porch. It was awesome. Before dinner we went on a walk to this convenient store where we sat and hung out with some of the Rotarians and the convenient store owners. They were really cool. At dinner a bunch of people came around handing out pins and business cards from their home countries – I’m excited to see what my jacket turns out like at the end of the year when I have it covered in pins and trinkets. Kat gave me a free foot massage while we watched a Thai TV show and drank tea. She has been taking a massage class and after getting 150 hours of massage work on other people she gets certified – I was her guinea pig for the week. That evening we sat around the resort talking, contacting spirits using a Ouiji board, playing soccer, laying on the hammock and watching TV.

Suan Hin Pha Ngam Park
Day 6 – We left the hotel and drove to Suan Hin Pha Ngam Park where we went up the mountain in groups of 10 and walked through the rocks and tunnels to reach the summit. It was lots of fun – I was with Clayton, Kat, Colin, Chris, Adrian, JP, Lena and Veronica as well as Papa P. It was one of the most enjoyable things we did the whole trip. When we reached the bottom we got in a song taew attached to a tractor and tried to race the other group to the bottom. Even though we were eating lunch soon we all went out and got sticky rice, grilled chicken and som tam for a snack. For some reason Exchange Students really love sticky rice. We were supposed to visit a temple on the way to our hotel in Phrae but we were running behind so we skipped over it. That night we took a song taew to the night market and wandered around. Kalie and I bought pomegranates for a snack and had a real mission opening them without a knife. When we returned to the hotel we went out to a Gay Disco Tech. The singers let us jump up on the stage and dance and they played a bunch of songs that I recognized! We danced all night, screamed and sang along to the parts of the songs that we knew and all piled into a song taew when we returned to the hotel. It was the best night of the trip.

The White Temple
Day 7 – The 4 am bedtime the night before really bit me in the ass the next day. We had to be up at 6 am and we left for Chiang Rai where we saw the “White Temple” [Wat Rong Khun]. This temple was the most amazing I had ever seen. It was all white, covered in mirrors and silver. Around the base were ponds full of pure white fish and the bridges and architecture were all white as well. Even the trees planted in the lot were white. Some of the statues were very odd – they had two red statues right at the gate, both made of skulls and demons; one was holding cigarettes and the other was holding a bottle of whisky. The temple was covered in the most grotesque and fantastical creatures I’ve ever seen. There were sea demons coming out of the ponds and spraying water from their mouths, little gremlins at the base of the stairway and underneath one of the bridges were hundreds of stone hands reaching up, some of them holding skulls and others holding coins people had thrown in. The inside of the temple itself was the most amazing. Along one wall was a mural combining all of the most popular fictional characters with demons, smoke, and death. On the mural were characters from Superman, The Matrix, Star Wars and War of the Worlds. There were images of cell phones, sumo wrestlers, the Twin Towers, planes, taxis and alcohol. All of these were intertwined with long fingers, the faces of demons, teeth, blood and fire. It was intriguing, yet unsettling. After lunch we went to the Golden Triangle – the place where the Mekong River splits between Laos, Myanmar and Thailand forming a triangle. It was cool to see, but shopping there was more fun. Everyone ran around looking for presents for their Secret Santas while I sat down and had a long conversation with a street vendor selling tea. She gave me and Audrey some free tea for sitting and talking to her and her husband, but the coolest part was the way she made the tea and then made us roll this ceramic tube along our necks, our hands and our fingers. It was very queer, I didn’t quite understand it, but it was really interesting all the same. After we checked into our hotel at Mae Sai I went shopping with Kat and Kaitlin as well as some others. We got separated and so we decided to walk up a giant staircase [probably 200 of the largest stairs ever] to the top of a hill overlooking the city. Before the climb I saw some Thai girls playing badminton and asked to play with them. I wasn’t very good, but it was still fun. When we reached the top of the staircase we made our merit at the temple and then wandered. I found a tree around the perimeter of the temple with a pile of Buddha and monk images that must have been discarded. It was the weirdest mixture of images at one time – a beautiful blooming tree, under which there laid colourless and broken images. We went to the Disco Tech that night too, but it wasn’t very good so when we returned we pulled our mattresses into another room and had a sleepover on the floor.

I will write another blog entry tomorrow about PART 2 because there is just SO much to write, and this blog entry is already much longer than it should be.

"Don't Worry, Be Happy" - Bob Marley

Deang Dua

Wednesday was the day of Nakhon Phanom's parade. Both my school "Piyamaharachalai" and Suzanne's school "Nakhonphanomwittayakhom" have been working for weeks at all hours of the day preparing for this parade. After the parade there was to be a soccer match, so all the classes were cancelled so that the soccer team could play, the students could practice their cheers and everyone else could help prepare the floats and signs. My job was to help paint things, pour sparkles on them and cover letters in tinfoil.

On Wednesday morning I was up and at the school for 6 am to get dressed in a Traditional Thai costume called "Daeng Dua". My hair was teased up into a beehive [this is normal for every fancy occasion in Thailand] and then my makeup was done - dark eyebrows and pink lipstick included. I don't mind getting all dressed up and painted like a doll, but the eyebrows that are a completely different colour from my hair and the bright pink lipstick is pushing it a little. I look like a transvestite, though all the Thai people say I look like a doll. They must have some scary looking dolls.

After we sat around for a long time eating, playing with Rubix cubes [the new fad in Thailand] and talking we got changed. Every single person had to get personally dressed by this one man. First you had to wear a corset [which by the way was the most uncomfortable thing ever taking into account that it was made to fit a THAI person's chest, not a foreigner's] and then over top of that they had a sash that wrapped around and went over your shoulder. Then you had a traditional Thai long skirt, a crown, and lots of gold jewellery including an armband and a belt. They decided since I have blue eyes they should cover me completely in blue. I even had blue flowers in my hair which made my eyes stick out like a sore thumb - they looked very creepy.

At 11 o'clock we piled into a van and set off for the parade marshalling area, and then at noon we were off. I was sitting on the back of a float with two other girls at the front and two boys sitting in the middle. Sitting politely in a skirt is uncomfortable and you start to lost feeling in your legs - it only took me a few minutes. The parade was great despite the fact that I had to smile the whole time and my face started to hurt. It was great to see how excited all the townspeople were about a falang wearing Traditional Thai Dress. One woman picked up her daughter, set her on the edge of my float and ran behind us taking pictures. Whenever the float stopped for the slightest second swarms of people ran up yelling "Look at this camera! Over here!" The whole time, everyone was yelling "Oh, FALANG!" Two boys even sat on a bike and rode beside the float the whole parade route yelling "FALANG! FALANG! FALANG!" It was great. Some boys from my school were handing out water at one point and they yelled into the microphone "ARE YOU THIRSTY?" I nodded. They proceeded to yell into the microphone "She's thirsty, get her some water, beautiful, very beautiful, she's thirsty." They brought me some water as I was in tears of laughter - Thai people are crazy.

When we finally finished the parade the floats turned into the soccer stadium to one side of the stands full of students from both schools, and the other side full of spectators. It seemed like everyone from the whole town was there! The students were performing perfectly insync and choreographed cheers - they had signs with different colours that would spell out sentences when they all held them up at the same time. The other school had colour coded their shirts to spell out their school initials. It was great, so much school spirit! I wish schools in Canada had this much spirit, it makes going to school events much more fun. After many speeches we left the stadium while I heard them making a speech about me over the microphone. My host mother waved to me from the crowd and I made funny faces for her which made all the teachers laugh at me.

Tomorrow I am off on my first Rotary trip of the year. I won't be updating this blog until after I get back on the 26th, with lots to talk about. So, I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, a great new year and safe and happy holidays. I'll be thinking of everyone from the Land of Smiles.

"The greatest gift of all is to love, and be loved in return"

Falang

Sometimes on the very rare occasion, Thailand frustrates me. It isn't even that Thailand frustrates me, but being a falang in Thailand does. No matter how well you speak Thai, how good your accent is or how similar to Thai people you are, you will always be a falang; you will always be treated differently.

For the most part, Thai people are delighted to hear that you can speak Thai. As soon as you say "Hello" in Thai they start giggling and get excited that your accent is no longer Canadian, but verging on Thai. In Bangkok, all of this is different. Bangkok is where all the flights come in, where the streets are infested with falangs who cannot speak a word of Thai, whose accents are still Canadian and who verge away from certain food so they don't get traveller's diarrhea. I don't mind, they are tourists, they are travelling - they don't have to know the language, they don't have to have a Thai accent and they don't have to eat everything. But for me, I have to learn Thai, I have to lose my Canadian accent and I am subject to try EVERYTHING on a menu [and trust me, I have tried some things anyone sensible would steer clear of]. But because of the falangs who are tourists, the Thai people in Bangkok do not expect you to speak Thai. No matter how many times you tell them "I can speak Thai, I understand" IN Thai, they will always reply to you in English. This frustrates me more than anything. In Nakhon Phanom I am the falang who speaks great Thai, who has lost her Canadian accent and can have conversations with the shopkeepers. In Bangkok I am just another falang who needs the shopkeeper to say the price in English.

On top of the language frustrations there are the eating habits. I was never one to eat breakfast and though I have broken that habit now that I am in Thailand, I still am not one to be craving a big meal in the morning. I will have toast, or some fruit, or leftover vegetables from dinner the night before. This weekend I have been in Bangkok and the relatives of my host family pester me constantly to eat more food. I tell them I am not hungry, that I am full and they still bother me to try something, to eat more. On Friday they took me to the mall for KFC - I am never one to turn down deepfried chicken so I ordered something small. They didn't eat with me. Right after I finished eating they took me to a fancy hotel for Dim Sum. I didn't understand why they had taken me for take out when 15 minutes later they would be taking me to a big fancy lunch at a hotel restaurant. They thought I wanted falang food. At lunch we ate with chopsticks and I have always been confident with my chopstick skills - they improved immensely since I arrived in Thailand. These chopsticks were weighted down with lead on the end, not the throw away wooden type you use at food stalls in Nakhon Phanom. It wasn't a problem until I tried to dip my roll into soya sauce, then I couldn't pick it up again because it was so covered in sauce! I used my spoon to put it on my plate and then I continued eating. However, because of this small clumsy moment one of the women at the table asked the waiter to bring me a fork and spoon. AS IF I NEEDED A FORK AND SPOON. I am a clumsy person - I walk into things, I drop things, I stub my toe - I can't even eat with a fork and spoon without dropping rice on the tablecloth. I told them "I don't want a fork and spoon". They didn't bring me one, and the rest of the lunch I ate perfectly with my heavier-than-normal chopsticks.
For the rest of the lunch the women at the table kept pushing food at me, telling me to eat more. I was full, I had just eaten KFC and then they took me out to lunch which I had eaten my share of. I could not eat anymore, and yet they kept telling me "Just try this one, you'll like it." When I didn't eat it, they made comments that I didn't like it, that I wanted to eat falang food.

Sometimes, being a foreigner drives me insane - you are never accepted as a Thai person, your natural habits are always judged as a "falang thing".

At other times, however, the shopkeepers at the floating market give you discounts on merchandise because you sound just like a Thai. (:

"It is not how we are the same, but how we are different"

My Eye is Twitching

And it's driving me crazy. Today is day 2 of the twitching. It stopped for a while, but now it's back - I'm pretty sure it's mostly from my lack of sleep.
Yesterday I woke up and was so exhausted that I told my little sister I had a headache and wasn't going to school. I went back to bed and when I FINALLY got myself out of bed and started sweeping the house I really DID have a headache, for the rest of the day. Oh Karma.

I have now officially moved houses - the change happened on Sunday after a wonderful "Farewell Emma" party thrown by my first host parents at my favourite restaurant "Meurang". In my first house my host parents didn't make dinner often, I usually bought myself something to eat when I was out with friends and would snack the rest of the night while I was at home, I had forgotten just how much Thai people eat. Two huge plates of Nam Nueng, two plates of Popia Tot, Beef Salad, Icecream and Lattes later my parents helped me pack all my bags into the car with the help of a Sam Law carrying two of my suitcases. I have WAY too much crap. I realised that I came to Thailand with two suitcases and two carry on bags. I now have two suitcases, two carry on bags, a backpack, a book bag and a big laundry basket full of clothes that wouldn't fit in my suitcase. This would be the proof of two things.
1. I have bought way too many things
2. Things in Thailand are too cheap.
Suzanne and I have switched wallets for the time being so that neither of us spend any more money before the trip.

We arrived at my new house with a car packed full of my stuff and my host father coming behind us in the Sam Law with my two suitcases. My Rotary jacket even takes up quite a bit of space - I have attached a Vietnamese rice hat to the back.

My new house is beautiful. Everyone knows it as "The big house by the hospital". I can tell my friends I live in the house by the hospital and they know exactly which one I am talking about. I now have four dogs - Loo Loo and La La the chihuahuas [La La is slightly overweight], Khao Pun [a small dog that looks like a poodle cross] and Sai Yo [a golden retriever]. I love having dogs again, they greet me when I come home from school and chase me around the front yard. Mae Suk is a nurse at the hospital just down the street. I am now in perfect hands - a nurse as a mother and I live a 3 minute walk from the hospital [my house is even directly across from the morgue]. Paw Doh is a bank manager. They are both fairly young [they were both students of my first host mother's] and they have two daughters - Nong Mean and Nong Nurse. Nong Nurse is 15 and is currently studying in Bangkok so she doesn't live at the house, but we are going to visit her this weekend and she's coming home for a month in a few weeks. Nong Mean is 14 and she's really cute. On my first night at my new house she asked me to watch a ghost movie with her. We watched Ghost Ship; both of us cuddled under blankets on the couch and shrieked together when scary things popped out.

The past few days have followed a nice routine. I wake up [much earlier than before] and I am ready to leave the house at 7:30 am with Mean sitting on the back of the bike. We bike to school together, I put my bike in the garage so I am not tempted to leave school early [I'm such a good kid (:] and then I go to class. After school I bike home alone, pick up some chinese doughnuts on the way and then watch TV for a bit before dinner.

Monday night after school I helped Kate and Klao translate a presentation their older sister was making into English, then they took me out for Suki with their family. I was actually COLD for the first time since I've been here. I wore a sweater, my leather jacket and a scarf. We sat in the tail of the truck on the way to the restaurant and with the wind and river so close I was desperately wishing for a hat.
Tuesday night Suzanne changed host families. I was planning on going to bed and watching movies as soon as I got home but she showed up and her family invited me to a "Farewell Suzanne" party. So many Farewell parties in the last 5 days. Suzanne has much less crap than I do, and after packing two suitcases and two small bags into the truck we went out with her family and her new family to Korean Barbecue. It was a nice dinner, her host brothers were very shy and when I asked them if they wanted to get bubble tea with us the next day they started talking to each other in mumbles; discussing it I presume.

I love my new host family, though there are giant black ants that live in my room. It feels great to have a sister again, I was getting lonely being an only child.

On my second day in my new house, Jupiter, Venus and the Crescent Moon smiled.

"We're crossing a giant island on the crappiest road in the world!"

It's been a while, and I do have my reasons. This past week Suzanne and I went travelling in the Central part of Thailand with Peter, the coolest man I have met in my life. He's a Rotarian friend of Suzanne's from her city in Oregon and he has a Thai wife and two Thai kids who live in Bangkok/Pak Chong. We set off last Saturday in the morning to Korat, got picked up by Peter, his wife Julie and the kids Poy [19 year old girl] and Spy [14 year old boy - PSYCHO! (translation to Thai: ba jing jing)]. We spent the rest of the evening buying movies for 3 dollars to watch for the rest of the week and going out for dinner.

The whole week, Spy, Poy, Suzanne and I sat in the trunk of the pickup truck while it whizzed down the highway at 110 km an hour. Completely exhilarating. On Sunday we went to Kao Yai National Park - one of the few reserved parks left in Thailand. We spent the day swimming in waterfalls [that Suzanne got kicked out of], trying to take pictures of monkeys sitting on the side of the road as Peter flew up the side of the mountain, abrubtly stopping so that a giant lizard could pass in front of the truck and standing up in the trunk, leaning over the cab so the wind blew threw our hair and we could see the sunlight gleaming through the trees. It was absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to go back. Sunday night we went on a mad hunt around Tesco Lotus while Peter and Julie picked up some things for the house in Pak Chong. Poy even bought some crazy jelly popsicle things, Thai things never cease to amaze me. We returned home that night with a trunk full of boxes and groceries and four teenagers perched on top, singing while we offroaded through the dirt trails to the house.

Monday was horseback riding day. I've never ridden a horse in my life, but I think I did pretty well. By the end of the day I could trot, canter and gallop all on my own :) We went on a walk with our horses around the dirt roads in the area at the end and my horse "Snow" FINALLY decided to not be lazy and quite stopping randomly. I took everyone out to Swensens that night and got Starbucks, before another adventure at Tesco Lotus - this time with Suzanne, Poy and I searching the aisles for makeup and nailpolish for a "girl's night" while Spy and his friend ran around with shopping carts.

On Tuesday after accidentally backing into a ditch and going through a quite extensive process of getting the truck OUT of the ditch, we were on our way to Bangkok, stopping at Chok Chai farm on the way. Chok Chai farm is like heaven on earth - the best icecream I have ever had. When we arrived in Bangkok 3 hours later Suzanne's Dad's friend Steve picked us up to take us out for dinner at an Indian restaurant. I've never had Indian food before, and it was DELICIOUS! I ate much more than I should have and had a great time talking with him and his cousin who has relatives who live in Burlington! I can't believe someone else has actually been to Burlington, it's quiet exciting.

Wednesday we went shopping in Bangkok and 18 discs of Sex and the City and a lot of wandering later we went out for Japanese food.

Thursday we were up bright and early at 5:30 am [I didn't sleep at all, I stayed up and watched my Japanese drama and Sex and the City - I have horrible sleeping habits in Thailand] to head to Ko Samed, a beautiful island in the gulf of Thailand, just off the coast of Rayong. It was a 2 hour drive there so we packed and were on the road right away. I had to act as the map person [for the first time in my life - Thailand has a lot of firsts] and we actually got to the right spot without getting lost! YAY EMMA! We arrived in Rayong at a fishing dock, payed for a motorboat to the island and set off. The motorboat ride itself was amazing, and the water that sprayed up over the sides was not ice cold like it is in Canada - it was warm!
The boat pulled up into a little bay with crystal blue waters, white sand and beautiful beach bungalows rising up in the hills. The trees were as green as ever, the water was as warm as a pool and there was a breakfast buffet waiting for us at the resort.

For the rest of the day we lounged on the beach, played chicken in the water with Poy and Spy, went snorkelling over a coral reef so full of life that I couldn't pick a single fish to watch and sat in the rocky tide looking over the bay. It was a day to remember. To finish it off, I got an hour long foot massage and I talked to the masseust for the whole time - in Thai. It was just one of those "feel good" days.
Unfortunately at one point in the morning I had fallen asleep on the beach with my back and legs exposed to the scalding sun - I now have a horribly painful sunburn. We took an offroading truck to the other side of the island - backpacker paradise; this is the Thailand I like the best.

We bustled across the dirt roads [occasionally getting hit in the face with tree branches, and nearly falling off the truck] looking at the "not - so - posh" side of the island [ie. it didn't cost $200 dollars a night]. Restaurants, bars and the beach were alive with people, quite unlike the peacefully quiet resort we had just left. But I liked this side better. A ferry ride across the gulf at sunset and a 2 hour drive back to Bangkok later we went out for dinner with Peter's friend, and an Emma so sunburnt she couldn't walk. They took me to get some cream for the burn [the skin had risen by then], which added another hospital trip to my adventure in Thailand. I wonder what will bring me there next.

Friday morning Suzanne and I were up bright and early for a very uncomfortable 13 hour busride home, on a supposed "VIP" bus that picked up illegal passengers while the driver and stewardess pocketed the money. By the time we arrived home at 9:30, I hadn't eaten anything all day except for a donut at 7 that morning and half of a sour mango. On our way out for food we biked by the end of Tony's birthday party at a small bar by the 7 Eleven. Our plan for fried rice and nam nueng ended up with a buffet of party food, punch, socializing with Thai friends of Tony's and wishing him a Happy Birthday.

Beaver Tales

So it has come to that dreaded Beaver Tale time. Not that writing my Beaver Tale was at all dreaded, but that it meant that a third of my trip was already over. It makes me quite sad to think that I am that much closer to going home - I don't want to leave Thailand... ever.

So here is my Beaver Tale and the URL to the website with all the Beaver Tales from the exchange students in Rotary District 7080. Enjoy :)

http://www.clubrunner.ca/dprg/dxprogramhome/_programhome.aspx?did=7080&pageid=625

To say I am following my dreams would be a lie; never have I dreamed of trees such a crisp green, of blood red sunsets that take my breath away, or of mountains so stirring and full of life. I have never dreamed of this moment. For at this instant everything I ever thought impossible, everything I ever thought was a dream, is certain. Reality in Thailand is flawless, which is why this country has been named “The Land of Smiles.” In Thailand, the smells are more potent; the aroma of sticky rice wafts through the house and there is no need to lean down to smell the flowers, for their perfume grabs you as you walk by. The taste of Thai food intoxicates you; apples are juicier, rice is softer and desserts are sweeter than you could have possibly imagined. But the landscape takes the prize for the most indescribable. Every rock and every blade of grass puts me in awe, as if every small detail of the country was planned to form the most stunning of all landscapes. Taking a picture of the rice fields or the river view of the mountains of Laos is impossible. A photograph of such beauty is unattainable.

I have not let the passing time catch up with me or take me off guard, but it is fleeting past me by the second. I try to create photographic images of everything I see and do in my head, so that at the end of the most amazing year of my life, I will remember all of it.

All stories have a beginning, and mine launched at the start of August; a time so near in proximity, but was over 3 months ago, when I left my family, my country and my language behind. My first moments in Thailand set my adoration for my new home; I could not love anything as much as I love Thailand. Everyone I met was so friendly and curious; a group of strangers sitting next to my host family at dinner asked me what country I was from. I told them I lived in Thailand – it just felt right. My first day at school was just as filled with curiosity and excitement; I was introduced to every teacher and then I was placed at a podium in front of the school to give a speech. I gave my “I’m from Canada” speech in Thai which impressed both myself and my host mother – I couldn’t help but grin that I had spoken in Thai, and they had understood me. The students seemed so eager to speak with me, take my picture and teach me languages. Today, they are just as eager, curious and as friendly as ever; I find myself making new friends and going out to eat with new people everyday.

When I signed up for Rotary Youth Exchange I really didn’t know what I was getting into. Sure, I knew that I would be going on a year long exchange, acquiring a new language, a new family and a new view of life, but I didn’t realise just how much of an impact this year would have on the rest of my life. Not only have I changed as a person, but my outlook on life has changed; I guess you could say that I am becoming Thai. I have forgotten all my wants and needs, now I focus on enjoying life and savouring every second as it passes. It was only until the end of my second month here that the culture shock started to wear off; everything here is so remarkably different that I can’t drag my eyes and mind away from how special it is. However, now that I consider myself a Thai person, I feel more comfortable than ever; the familiarity of my life here is astonishing, but settling. I consider my host family an essential part of my life and not just the people I will stay with for the next month, my friends are more than just people to go out with and passing a temple without a wai seems strange and inappropriate. Nothing throws me anymore; seeing stray dogs wandering the streets is as normal as a squirrel running up a tree, eating sticky rice for breakfast everyday is as simple as a bowl of cereal and I can no longer imagine using a bathroom without a “bum squirter”. Existence in Thailand is anything but mundane, I fear the time I waste with dreams that aren’t filled with the smell of the Mekong River, or the sound of birds and traffic in the early hours of the morning. But most importantly, I dread the day when I will leave this fantasy world.

There are no more words to depict just how refreshing this experience is. I could write for days about my adventures and my passion for this country, but the only thing I have left to say is thank you to Rotary district 7080 and district 3340. My utmost gratitude goes out to you for providing me with what is surely to be the most stimulating year of my life.

Peace and Love always,
Emma

"There's no telling where we'll be in a day or in a week, and there's no promises of peace or of happiness." - Patrick Park

"1 Litre of Tears"

Today was a bonding day with my host father.

Over lunch we chatted about a bunch of random things - including the fact that I want to study Chemistry and Psychology in University. He found this very interesting and proceeded to say "NaCl - what is it?" I would answer, he would say "GOOD GOOD!" and give me another one. At one point he pulled salt out of the cabinet and asked me for the formula for that.

My host mother brought home a TV series that one of her students lent her. I decided to watch an episode with them and it turns out that it is a Japanese drama based on a book. Japanese language + Thai subtitles = No English. It was quite odd, but I could understand most of it just from the body language and tones of their voices. It's a great show, probably my favourite so far.

Plus, I am now in love with the main male character <3

HE'S SO GORGEOUS - and now I want to marry a Japanese boy, quite similar to this one :)

The Mountain

I am sore again, but this time not from running a race; from climbing a mountain. This was not just any mountain, but a 4km hike up the steep side of a thickly forested cliff - lots of climbing from rock to rock, lots of falling and lots of sweat. It took us 2 hours to get to the destination and by the time we got there I had said numerous times how I was "never going to climb this damned mountain again." But once we did get to the destination, and I saw what the 2 hour drive to the mountain and the 2 hour climb was for, I immediatley took my comments back and vowed to come back to this spot many more times before my exchange was over.

At the top was a cavern, dressed as a home for some monks. We spent the rest of the morning talking with the monks in their cavern home about righteousness and the path of life. I can't say much more, it was too much of an incredible experience to put in words - plus the whole experience feels very personal to me; it was me and the cavern. What happens on the mountain, stays on the mountain.

So I will leave this post at that, and if you want to see what put me in awe of life itself, you'll just have to come to Thailand.

"Come roll in all the riches all around you, and for once never wonder what they're worth"
- Pochahontas

See Muang

I am sore, and I feel as if I should be covered with black bruises though my skin is as white as ever.

Thursday was Colour Sport Day - day 3. The day of my big race, the day of the final competitions and the day that the results of the three day competitions were announced. I woke up at 8, biked the 4 km from Suzanne's house to the school and crossed the large field to the bleachers overflowing with colourful students. My cheerleader friends were there all dressed up - the boys in jeans and white flannel shirts with cowboy hats, and the girls in black tight pants, tank tops and big black hats covered in fishnet. My other friends were there in their school gym pants, and their purple shirts, all of them wearing matching painted Vietnamese straw hats. They had big tents set up with CD's hanging from them, and our display was set up at the back of the bleachers. Everyone was excited and full of energy. The other colours were also set up similarly to ours along the same side of the field, on the other was the marshalling area for the runners, in the centre of the field was a painted track and a tug of war rope.

Ai told me that instead of just running the relay race with her and our other two friends, I also had to run a 200m sprint by myself. My first race was in the morning and the relay was in the afternoon - lots of time to recooperate between races. I haven't run a race since grade 8 so I wasn't feeling particularly confident, but my legs are longer than the other girls' so I was hoping that would give me an advantage. I was taken to the marshalling area and we sat around for a while as we watched the younger students take turns racing around the field. Apparently in Thailand, you don't wear shoes while you race, you go barefoot. I decided to go against my natural instinct to wear running shoes and ran the first race barefoot. The race didn't go quite as spectacularly as I had hoped, running on grass really isn't my preference and neither is starting at the sound of a gun. Guns scare me, even in elementary school I had to run last for relays because I can't start when they use guns. I did end up in second, only a metre or so behind see luang [yellow], but it was a little disheartening, my team had been counting on my long legs to get first. Oh well, I tried.

Some boys in the shade called me over to sit with them and for a while we sat and made small talk in Thai while watching the races. I wanted to buy them icecream but they wouldn't let me - it was seriously no problem for me to buy them icecream, it isn't expensive at all but they kept saying no. We lost the tug of war - 15 girls from see muang [purple] vs. 15 girls from see luang. We really didn't have a strategy - "JUST PULL!" was what we said, but a strategy is probably the best idea for tug of war. Our boys won however, so that was exciting. We had lunch in the shade of the tents, I finally persuaded my friend Wut to let me buy him icecream and we cheered on the cheerleaders as they performed. The girls were now wearing green flowerprinted dresses with big sunflowers in their hair.

In the afternoon, Ai came to get me to go for our relay race. Unfortunately during the race one of the girls rolled over her ankle and I had to try to catch up to a 60m gap between us and the colour in 4th. We ended up in 5th, but we were still happy that the other purple team got 2nd. By then, I had run too much in one day, I was feeling faint and my legs were sore. But 10 minutes later as I was lying on the ground, a few girls from purple came up to tell me that a girl on their relay team had a stomach ache and couldn't run. They wanted me to run with them, in the next race. So I was off again, running 100m this time and our team got 2nd. YAY! :)

To finish off the day all the colours gathered on the field with flags and signs and the director called out all the winners for every event. The big one was last - the winners of the cheering [cheerleaders, clapping students etc.] And the winner is.... SEE MUANG!!!!

It was utter pandemonium, the ladyboys next to me screamed at the top of their lungs - shrieking. Everyone was throwing their Vietnamese hats, waving flags, screaming and P'Four was in tears that his cheerleading team had won. Hugging broke out, kissing [?!!!!!!!!!!] and high fives all around. Then the entire school formed groups of circles and swayed back and forth as we sang - the circles broke out into the konga.

That evening the M5 and M6 students from see muang all went out for Japanese suki. We sat at the restaurant eating buffet for hours, drinking slushies and eating seafood. Afterwards we went to the karaoke shop next door and 30 of us crammed into a tiny room where they blared Thai rock, pop and rap while dancing and singing along. It was the most fun I've ever had singing karaoke - even though I didn't know the words.

"We will, we will rock you"

No, we don't have the "Pom Pom Dance!"

I never thought I would be, but I am now a cheerleader; or was as I finished yesterday.

Before I start, you must not be mistaken with the notion that cheerleading in Thailand is remotely close to cheerleading in Canada. In fact, nothing is - and from reading my blog you should all know that by now. When my host mother thinks something is "cute" and that you would be very "na rak" [cute] if you do it - that is pretty much an order. My host mother thought that cheerleading was "na rak" - so, naturally, I was dubbed into the cheerleading cult almost instantly - a long three weeks of practices both during every one of my lunch periods, as well as gang meetings at the dark school, every single night.

Instead of having sports throughout the year, Thai people have "Colour Sport Day" - a three day track & field day where every sport is played by the students in the school. The school is split up into four colours - yellow, pink, blue and purple and the colours compete through each sport [including cheerleading]. I am on the purple team, and our cheerleading practices are very different during lunch time than they are at night. During lunch we meet outside of the English department on the lawn and they teach me a new cheer every day. Apparently I am learning fast - but as Thai cheerleading requires only the movement of your arms, I don't feel remotely proud of this accomplishment. The practices usually last 30 minutes in which there are frequent breaks, most of which involve me running away to play volleyball with the boys, or talk with my friends. The students who are not involved in a sport or cheerleading sit on the lawn and learn cheers! Just imagine, 100 students all chanting and clapping together, run by a 17 year old equipped with a megaphone and her band of troops. They call themselves "Staff" and wear nametags; some of the cheers they teach are rendered from English cheers ie. "We Will Rock You", "I Feel Good", and a Thai cheer to the tune of "When The Saints Go Marching In". Our choreographers is a boy in M6 named P'Four, a ladyboy who has better style than me and also has a twin brother - another ladyboy choreographer for "see chompoo" [pink].

At night time however, when there are no teachers and the hundred students cheering are at home studying [or sleeping] we gather on the patio at the school. Practice is much more intense; there are less frequent breaks, more yelling from P'Four and more boys show up. Some of the boys are cute, and most of them are considered "gangsters" - according to Suzanne's host father. They drive in with their truck, blaring Thaitanium [Thai rap] and on the back of their motorbikes. Then they dance on top of their truck for a good 15 minutes before coming to join the practice. I had the pleasure of joining them once with a few other girls on my team and they were more than surprised to see the falang's version of dancing to rap. The girls on the cheerleading team don't talk to me very often, so I usually talk to the boys. They are very nice - I always find the ladyboys the most entertaining though, they also dance the best.

Yesterday was our performance and it was slightly bitter-sweet. After going through the long process of makeup and hair for Lai Rua Fai I was less than ecstatic to have to go through the whole thing again. This time I had to be up for 4am, so again I stayed up all night, one of the boys picked me up at my houst 45 minutes late in the blackness of the early morning and I arrived in my school uniform [like the told me] and they were all still wearing jeans and sweaters. It is now cold here, so wearing a skirt and t-shirt was much colder than I had thought - but I should have guessed, Thai people never tell you exactly what is going on, they tend to leave bits of information out. They put my hair in a mullet [trendy in Thailand] and 4 pounds of makeup later, donned with different coloured [and different sized] earrings we were ready to go. As Thailand is a country where anything is possible, even the boys had loads of makeup on - glitter on their lips and everything. I told them they looked pretty and giggled at their purple eyeshadow and sparkly lips - they told me they would rather be handsome :) One of the girls had bought purple sashes but forgot that I was on the team with them and so I didn't wear one. They also forgot to buy me matching black stiletto shoes - so I wore gold ones.

We walked out in front of the student body - which was split up into colours with everyone wearing matching shirts and pants in their colour - and danced. It was exhilarating, the students sang the cheers faster than we had practiced so I found my arms flying at an alarming pace, and watching my friends in the front row cheering the loudest. It was quite amusing, but after we finished performing and cheered at the endless line of basketball games for hours on end, I was exhausted and the lack of sleep was catching up on me. We were the only cheerleading team that cheered throughout the entire day; the other colour teams got tired and left. I left for a few hours and took haven in the nurse's office where I slept for a few hours [with the nurse coming in every once in a while and putting her hand on my side] before returning to my team still smiling as wide as ever [except that two of the boys had left].

I have made very good friends with some of the boys on the team - one of them even took me out on a date. After practice one night he drove up beside me and my bike on his motorcycle and asked me if I had eaten yet. I had, but told him I could go eat if he hadn't yet. He wanted me to go out for icecream with him, so we dropped off my bike and I hopped on the back of his motorcycle. This was quite a sight for Thai people, as a girl usually only sits on the back of a boy's motorbike if they are dating. We had icecream, and then went to visit his cousin at her music performance where I ran into Suzanne. Then we went on a ride around the city, stopping off at the markets and then ending up at Suzanne's school where their cheerleading team was practicing. Cheerleading at N.P.W is much different than at Piya, it is much closer to Canadian cheerleading. Suzanne was there as well, and after attempting to take part in their practice [and almost dropping one of their cheerleaders] we tried to get them to play Red Rover with us. They didn't understand and instead shunned us while they continued practicing.

Tomorrow, I will be running in a 200m relay race with three of my friends from M5/1. They liked the fact that I have long [compared to Thai people's] legs so I was inducted into their team.

When my host mother enquired about cheerleading in Canada she asked
"Do you have Pom Pom dance?"
"No, we don't use Pom Poms"
"You don't have the Pom Pom dance?"
"Nope, that's only in movies"
"Really? But I see in movies..."
"Yep, in movies, but not in real life - school's don't have cheerleading teams"
"NO POM POM DANCE?!"

"Music's the reason why I know time still exists"
- Elisa

The Magician Monk

Quite spontaneously, my friends invited me to go to the Wat in Ban Paeng this weekend. I've wanted to go to Ban Paeng since I got here because it's less than 2 hours away and it has waterfalls, so when they invited me I immediately packed my bags before even asking if it was okay - it was though :)

Before I left yesterday afternoon I came down the stairs to find my host father sitting at his desk smiling at me wearing a rice harvesting straw hat. Seriously, I don't understand all his crazy costumes but he makes me kill myself laughing, so he's a pretty cool man.
Klao and Kate are my twin friends, and I set off with them, their Khun Yai / Khun Ta [grandmother/grandfather], Khun Loong [Uncle] and Khun Mae [Mom] to Ban Paeng. The entire way there, Khun Mae and Khun Yai marvelled at my ear piercings. It was a very funny conversation. Khun Yai also tried to speak to me in Laos [which I can't understand] which ended up with the weekend being devoted to teaching me Laos. I shall be quite fluent with languages by the end of the year. We picked up Khun Na [Aunt] and their two cousins [one of which is the smallest and most adorable 13 month old I've ever seen] and headed to the Wat.

I love Thai countryside. Not only are there cows and buffalos wandering everywhere, but it was amazing to watch all the people harvesting the rice in the big fields. There were so many streams, ponds and mountains that were breathtaking. I didn't have to speak with anyone, I just stared out the window in awe for almost the whole drive.

When we arrived at the Wat there was a party going on. It was dark by then and there were lights strung up everywhere with tents set up with food. Free food. We wandered around the temple grounds, eating deep fried sticky rice and I was introduced to many people who ALL happen to be Kate/Klao's cousins; even the head monk who built the temple is their cousin. But more about him later. We then went to Khun Yai/Khun Ta's house and Klao and I went to the market to buy some food. We got roti and mangoes. They refused to eat my mangoes though, because they weren't sour like the unripe ones. That's right, Thai people eat sour, unripe mangoes and dip them in fish sauce. Khun Mae set to work making Chai yen and Iced Coffee to give out to people at the Wat the next day. Kate and I slept in a small room and she seriously increased my Laos vocabulary.
The interesting thing about this house was that it was completely open. Half of the walls were chain link fences that were attached to the roof and the walls didn't fit together, so there were foot wide cracks between the rooms. It was really interesting to spend a night in a village house, where the kitchen is classicly Isaan [outside with none of the luxuries, like a fridge], there's no air condtioning, the TV is black and white and gets no reception and to shower you need to pour buckets of water over yourself. Needless to say, I now have a lot of misquito bites, but it was an experience.

This morning we woke up at 5am to get ready to go to the Wat. We packed the truck with all the drink supplies and Kate/Klao's Khun Paw [Dad] and little sister arrived in their truck, equipped with their dog that hates me. The dog stayed at the house and we sat on the tail of the pick-up truck to get ice. More cows wandered by, oh how I love the cows.
Once we arrived at the Wat, we set up our drink station and bought Chinese doughnuts. I have now found something MORE fattening than toast with butter, condensed milk and sugar - doughnuts covered in condensed milk. But it's delicious, so I don't even care. The iced coffee was also delicious; it's ancient Thai coffee mixed with condensed milk, and then evaporated milk poured on top. SOOOOOOO yummy, especially when you dip condensed milk covered doughnuts in it - I'm going to get fat.

We organized our merit bowls and then got in the line to give our food to the monks, and there were a lot of them! Klao and I shared a bowl of creme puff desserts and sticky rice - apparently since we were sharing we will meet each other in our next life. After giving the monks our food we handed out free drinks to everyone [and ate a lot too] until there was none left - then we went to the service. We prayed for a long time, we donated money and then all the money that the Wat had recieved was counted. The monks live at the temple and have nothing except for what they are given; they don't eat anything unless they are given food. So, there was a big table with mats and buckets and gifts for the monks as well as the people walking around collecting money and food.

After praying some more we went to feed the fish in the river nearby. The river was home to the cutest turtles ever [if turtles can be considered cute] and fish the size of a human. I would be lying to say I wasn't a little scared, but I had a massive urge to go swimming with them. There are so many animals at the temple! It turns out, that lots of people get "bored" of their animals and so they give them to the temple. The Wat is now home to two monkeys, three birds, a bunch of chickens [I'm assuming those just wandered in on their own accord], many cats, a golden retriever puppy named "Cornai" and another litter of puppies that were born just a few days ago in a garbage can in one of the monk's houses. It made me sad to see the birds and monkeys locked up, and frusterated me that their owners just didn't want them anymore.

We returned to the Wat after wandering the grounds and Ruang Paw [the head monk] was throwing money wrapped in ribbons around the room. Everyone was scrambling to catch them, but he HANDED me a handful of them... HANDED THEM STRAIGHT TO ME!!!! [For everyone who doesn't understand this significance - that is something monks DON'T do. They are not allowed to touch women and they NEVER hand anything to a woman, they put it on a surface nearby and you pick it up. So that, my friends, is the coolest thing since sliced bread]. Meanwhile everyone was running around taking things that were tied to the poles in the hall - coconuts, sugar cane, banana bunches, decorations etc. We ended up with two coconuts and I got hummingbirds made out of palm leaves.

Then we were off to the waterfalls in Ban Paeng, and they were beautiful. Again, even just the ride up the mountain pass and through the fields and villages was enough to confirm my adoration for Thailand - but the waterfalls were beautiful! Neither had very much water because it is now the dry season, but there was enough for them to still make me fall in love with them. I definetely will be going back, even if I have to take the bus all the way out into the villages. The first waterfall was short but opened up into a giant pool where I went swimming [in my jeans and tshirt]. The pool is usually much bigger in the rainy season so the land area was covered with giant tree roots and rocks - it was gorgeous. The second waterfall was much bigger, it was set on the side of the mountain face with huge rocks along the bottom and a small stream. We climbed up through the forest on the mountain to the top and it was just as beautiful at the top as it was at the bottom. The view was spectacular.

When we returned to the Wat we went to go see Ruang Paw and pay our respects. Instead, we saw a bunch of Thai celebrities who came to the Wat for the special ceremony, as well as visiting Ruang Paw, who the Thai people believe has Cosmic Power and can perform magic. I also happened to see the most gorgeous Thai man I've seen yet. He smiled at me a lot, it made me happy - to think, a Thai celebrity SMILED at me. OOOOOOOH it was a good day. We got to watch him have this really special ceremony with Ruang Paw and his girlfriend [oh yes, I was very sad when I found out]. This is how it went step by step:

1. Ruang Paw wrote on his scalp, rubbed oil over top and blew on it
2. Ruang Paw wrote on his chest, rubbed oil over top and blew on it
3. Ruang Paw put gold on his chest and forehead, put oil over top and rubbed it until the gold went into his skin - they believe that by doing this, Ruang Paw is putting gold into your body and giving you good luck.
4. Ruang Paw sprayed special perfume on his scalp, put his hand on it and blew on it.
5. Then, his girlfriend came over and he put gold on her forehead, rubbed it in and Ruang Paw blew on it [He had to help out Ruang Paw because monks can't touch women].
6. Ruang Paw put gold on his palms and rubbed it in.
7. He put gold on her palms and rubbed it in.
8. Ruang Paw wrote on her arms [not touching her] and then the boy rubbed in the oil to wash away writing].

I believe the girl had more done to her, but then we were distracted because the boy was getting something else done by the other monks - getting silver inserted into his arm. It was quite disturbing, but mesmerizing at the same time. Kate/Klao's mother has silver in her arm, Buddhists believe that it will make them rich. They pulled the skin from around his biceps and pushed a pin through it, then inserted a ball of silver. They asked me if I would like to do that too, and I did, but not today - I will do it before I leave though, I am determined. Then, we had to go because the rest of the celebrities needed to hurry back to Bangkok - Ruang Paw gave me special stones to protect myself and handed them straight to me AGAIN! All I can say is, wow.

To top off the amazing weekend, when I returned home I found my host mother singing Kareoke VERY loudly by herself. My host family is hilarious - I love them.

"Love, I need somebody"

Fatty Fruit Platter

Another random, fun-filled blogpost. Because my life lately is so random and fun-filled. WOOT.

1. On Saturday after our horrible attempt at a bike ride, my host mom took Suzanne and I to get our hair cut. My hair was getting super long, and to the point where I could no longer spike it up and make it look all "punk-rocker" like [or like a duck's ass... thank you mother :)] so it needed some trimming. Plus it is still super hot and humid here, so hair that is long enough to stick to your neck but not long enough to put in a ponytail is a real pain. Anyways we arrived at my host mother's hairdresser [it turns out that my host mom gets her hair washed and set every week and then doesn't wash it in the shower until the next week]. Odd. At least I thought it was, I've never heard of that before. I was a little scared about how my hair would turn out because the trend for female hairstyles tends to be mullets of all shapes and sizes. I did not want a mullet, so my host mom and I searched some magazines for celebrities with nice hair and we FINALLY found one. I was the first to get my hair done; no luxurious washing of the hair - just an attack from a spray bottle. They also didn't use scissors, just the little razor thing to make the ends all razor like. They used that on Suzanne's hair too, which is LONG, so it did not make sense at all. Then came the process of blowdrying my hair into the perfect Thai school girl bob and curling it in; not quite as "punk-rocker" as I had hoped, but I fixed it when I got home. My host mother thought it was adorable though, and whatever she thinks is cute... goes. As a bonus, it only cost me 50 baht! ie. $1.75 for a haircut that would cost $35 in Canada. Oh, I love Thailand.

2. My host mother enquired about my eyebrow/eyelash colour the other day. She wondered why my eyelashes were brown when my hair was blonde, same for my eyebrows. I explained to her that my eyelashes and eyebrows are just that colour. She seemed confused that they weren't "same, same". She proceeded to tell me that if I coloured my eyebrows darker they would be much more beautiful. So much for my self esteem :)

3. We went to a Rotary meeting yesterday and I had my two guy friends drive us on their motorbikes. You have no idea how exciting it is to sit on the back of a motorbike [unless you've tried]. Driving one is even more exciting. When I get back to Canada I am buying one because they are just SO awesome. It was nice riding on the back of a boy's motorbike, it felt like I had good guy friends - usually they don't offer me rides because I have my sexy, pink "Hello Kitty Turbo Racer" bike [with a bell and basket.. all the works.. oh my ego]. At the Rotary meeting we showed everyone our pictures from dancing at That Phanom and Suzanne and I devoured an entire fruit plate to ourselves. Next meeting I need to video tape our eating - the other fruit plate [shared by 15 people] was over half full by the end of the meeting - ours was completely empty along with the plate of fried durien and toffees. The night ended with two Rotarians driving us home while I mimicked the voices of Prison Break characters and broke into fits of hyena laughter. Suzanne couldn't help but laugh at my obnxious laugh and then I laughed even harder - we scared the Rotarians.

4. We now have a new door to the house! *ADDITION* I came home from school to find my host dad sitting in the garage wearing a blue hard hat, watching 4 men rip apart the door. He's such an interesting, little, man. If that wasn't enough he put a block in front of the door so "no maeo!"[cat] While I was watching TV my dad wandered into the TV room, still wearing the hard hat. I love him, he completes my life. *ADDITION END* So my parents decided that getting out of the car to unlock the padlock on the garage door and then getting back INTO the car to drive in the garage was too much energy [and I agree] so they put in an electrical door with a button and made a small door on the side for me to come through when they aren't home. I now have to unlock the padlock on the gate, pull my bike through into the tiny alley between the gate and the side of the house, then lock the gate and walk my bike through [occasionally lifting it up through places the handlebars won't fit] to the door where there is ANOTHER padlock. I still don't understand why the gate that comes up to my waist and anyone could easily hop over needs a padlock, but I don't ask questions. Like I said, "It's Thailand, enough said". It's crazy how many padlocks there are on doors here and how stressed out all the Thai people are about thiefs. The other day I left my purse in the kitchen when I went to the bathroom and when I came back out my host mom freaked out about me leaving it lying around. I said "But we're in the house" and she continued to tell me that a burgaler would walk in the house and steal my purse. As if the burgaler wouldn't go after the TV or the DVD player in plain sight first.. he'd go after my purse that has a total of 100 baht in it [3 dollars]. Leaving a bike outside the house and not in the garage is also unacceptable. It's crazy to think that in Canada people leave their cars and doors unlocked at their house and how people leave things on their porches all the time. Here, that is not an option.

5. My computer is fixed [HOORAH] and I have hooked up my webcam and registered on Skype. I bet you're happy, aren't you mom? :)

6. Christmas is coming soon [not in Thailand of course, but back home] and I have been very busy writing letters and getting gifts together. It's a lot of work when you have to do everything so far in advance. My family already got their giant box of presents that I sent in September so now I just have to send some for a few more people. I've been to the post office 3 times this week, I've spent more money on letters than I have on food. But that's okay because my goal to not buy anything else until December is holding up beautifully.

7. I am the English teachers' slave. It is quite frusterating sometimes. They pull me out of class to check their grammar on things, they fight with me about how to properly spell words like "neighbour". They insist that I am spelling it wrong because I don't use American spelling. Why would I? I type up their tests, their lesson plans and help them teach their students. I should start asking for money :)

"I wish that all my life I'd be without a care and flying free" - Don Besig

"It's Thailand, enough said"

I never thought that I would be writing one of those blogs where I just ramble about a bunch of different things that are hardly related. But I feel very talkative today, and I have lots to say about a lot of different things so I am going to astound myself and write a random blog post. Be prepared.

1. Suzanne and I have started this joke that whenever something happens that is super messed up or weird we just say "It's Thailand, enough said" - because NOTHING is the same in Thailand. If you gave me anything to talk about I could tell you how it is different in Thailand, and I mean everything. So, humour me if you will - give me ANY topic and I will tell you the difference, I am sure I could give you at least one.

2. I swear that the bugs [particularly the ants] are on steroids. Either that or there is some form of toxic waste in the air that has transformed them into super bugs that can fly and crawl so fast that you can't even tell if it is an ant or a spider. The misquitoes are black, not brown like in Canada; and misquito bites hurt, they don't itch. The ants haunt my nightmares. I have become so "Thai" that when there are ants on my food I just shake them off and keep eating, but that doesn't change how much they creep me out. The most disgusting thing is to walk into the kitchen to make scrambled eggs and find hundreds of ants crawling all over the stove, the pan, the utensils and the counter. They also like to crawl along the edges of the kitchen table until someone puts food on top. I have stopped eating sticky rice at my house because hoards of ants keep appearing in the jar. Nothing is safe from them. My mom sent me a giant package of food from Canada and the ants had gotten through the giant cardboard box, then into the smaller graham cracker box, then through the PLASTIC! How, I don't know, I told you they were on steroids. I saved the crackers, but it was still gross and made my stomach churn. They find food EVERYWHERE and no matter how much ant poison you spray, they find their way through it. I swear if I die from anything here, it will be ant poison; I have to spray down the sides of my bed so I don't get attacked in my sleep. Though I don't eat in my bedroom, they're curious little buggers and like to run around my bed.... nasty.

3. In Thailand, a funeral lasts a minimum of three days and increases in time depending on how important the person was. For the first two of the three days the family of the deceased holds celebrations and ceremonies at their house, and then on the last day they have a ceremony at a temple where the body is cremated and half of the ashes are let out into the river. It turns out that the Princess of Thailand [The King's sister] died in January and they have had celebrations for her everyday since. They have yet to cremate the body but I believe that the time will come soon.

4. There is a dog following me. He does not have rabies and won't bite me, but he follows me. The first time I saw him he was at my school and I played with him and he followed me around that day. Over the school break I saw him another three times: twice at the market and once outside a restaurant. He just wandered right up to me and jumped up wagging his tail. Now that I am back in school he comes to see me everyday in the English Department - wagging his tail and letting me play with him. He usually follows me around all day, only leaving when the teachers get really mad and push him out the door. He has fleas and strongly needs a bath, I think I will sneak him into the girls' washroom and give him a shower. The teachers don't like dogs, most Thai people don't, so I get yelled at for playing with him.
"HE'S DIRTY! DON'T TOUCH HIM!"
There are some teachers that are nice about it, they feed him fish and sticky rice and put food outside of the English Department door for him to eat. Everyday when I come to school he is waiting for me, asleep on the ground in the Department and as soon as he hears me come in, or as soon is I pet him he is up and following me around. His name is Rusty :)

5. Suzanne and I have been attempting to make No-Bake Cookies because we don't have ovens here. Both times they turned out very well; the only problem is that we keep eating them. I think I must have gained some weight, my legs are much more muscular from biking everywhere, and I have gained a bit of a tummy. It needs to go. I have been slacking on exercising lately because of the school break, and now I am not allowed to go to yoga for a few more weeks because I have cheerleading practice at the same time [that will be explained in my next blog post, I can assure you]. So, for now, I am eating a load of candy, icecream and cake and exercising by watching tv and "cheerleading" [if you could call it that]. I might start running or something in the mornings before I go to school but I can barely get up on time as it is so I think that is HIGHLY unlikely.

6. On Saturday Suzanne and I wanted to be healthy and go on a long bike ride. We were planning on biking to Wat Phra That Phanom which is 50 km away, roughly an hour long drive. We figured it would take us 2 1/2 hours there, we could stop for food and to walk around and then 2 1/2 hours back. Not too bad. We got about halfway there [20 km] and we stopped at the side of the country road for water. As we had biked by people we knew they said "Where are you going?" "Wat Phra That Phanom" we replied. Then there was a gasp, a lot of giggling and we carried on our way. While we were stopped it started to rain. Slowly at first and then harder as the time went by. We didn't know whether we should keep going or not, we were both pretty tired and it was raining, but at the same time we would still have to bike back in the rain when we were tired either way. While we were sitting there pondering a truck drove by us and stopped at the side of the road. We figured it was some person offering us a ride, but we didn't want to socialize with strangers [who were probably old men] so we waved them to go away. They ignored us and got out - it was a boy from my Gym/Guitar class. We took the ride and he laughed at the fact we were going so far away in the rain. Maybe next time we should aim a bit lower than a 100 km bike ride. Today when I came to school, my entire Gym/Guitar class made jokes about my excursion - of course he had told them. Oh well, maybe we can find some other Thai people to join us on our bike ride next time.

"I feel good, na na na na na na na"

Hakuna Matata

These past two weeks have been long and eventful. My computer was magically broken when I got home on Sunday so I delayed writing this blog post until I could upload pictures. I just talked to my host dad and he's going to Bangkok until Tuesday and will fix my computer when he gets back. I wasn't going to leave you all hanging until then, so I will upload pictures in a seperate blog post later... and now, for the good stuff.

Two days after the Lai Rua Fai festival I was off on a VIP airconditioned bus to Korat where I would meet Bam, her twin sister Bell and her parents. I lucked out and got the very front seat of the double decker bus, which meant lots of legroom, the best view and the easiest spot to sleep in. So for most of the 8 hour bus ride I did just that - and looked out the window. It was a jungle out there, literally. Down the side of the windy forest road were slopes the plummeted deeper and deeper until you couldn't see the bottom. And yet, the trees that grew out from the bottom of the ravines were taller than any tree I've ever seen in Canada. Completely bare trunks without a twig or blemish until the top quarter that is covered in branches and long leaves. Then there were the mountains, not a single stone mountain in sight. Every mountain, every hill, every rock is covered in grass, or trees, or bushes. The world is green and blue in Thailand. The blue of the water, the green of the foliage. It was breathtaking and I couldn't help but start to see tigers running around in the thick jungle, monkeys climbing on the vines and every species of bird taking flight into the sky. There was a thick jungle, there were vines and the sky was as clear as crystal - but the animals were a figment of my imagination.

After the seemingly short busride [I don't even notice long rides anymore, I can stare out the window for hours and never get bored with the trees] I arrived in Korate where Bam and Bell were waiting for me under and umbrella to protect themselves from the sunrays. Classicly Thai. That night we went out shopping, went to the market and ate dinner on their floor [some more classic Thai].

On Friday we set out in their mom's car to Bangkok which was only a 3 hour drive away. But of course you need to take into account that Thai people LOVE buying food, even if they aren't going to eat it and they're giving it to someone else. So you need to add roughly two more hours on top of that to cover stopping time. On our journey we stopped at the side of the to get peanuts from a can [why some woman decided the best way to sell her peanuts was on the side of the highway.. I will never know], corn juice [delicious], 8 cobs of corn, gas station/chocolate and finally.. heaven. The best icecream I have ever had is made at a small fresh milk farm with a ow in the window and everything. They also have amazing milk candies, that I ate too many of. Anyways, I will never look at icecream the same again, that short pitstop inspired me to make icecream for the rest of my life. We'll see how that goes.
We arrived in Bangkok and proceeded to go to 3 DIFFERENT MALLS. At one of said malls there was a giant crowd of overly rambunctious girls screaming at some Korean pop band that was playing in the foodcourt.

I also became aware of just how many foreigners there are in Bangkok. It disgusts me a little, not that there are foreigners, but just how "un-Thai" that city is. I felt like I was in Toronto, except that all the shopkeepers were Thai. The worst part was that everyone just assumed I was another foreigner who doesn't know how to say anything in Thai and so they spoke English with me. Even when I explained IN THAI that I could speak Thai and understand them, they still struggled over speaking English. Oh well, I was a traveller in Bangkok, I could deal with being a traveller in Thailand for a week.

Bam and Bell wanted to take me to JJ market, the biggest market in the country that is roughly the size of three football fields and sells items from all over the country. You can pretty much buy anything there and according to my fellow exchange student Micheal "If you can't find it, you weren't looking hard enough". JJ is a weekend market that opens up very late on Friday night and closes on Sunday night. They decided we should go right when it opened at 3am and try to get a bargain on stuff. So at 3 am on a Friday night their older sister came with us to the market and we walked through the mazelike corriders of stall upon stall of clothing until 7 am when we figured we should get some sleep before Bam and Bell had to go to their class. We were woken up at noon to drop off Bam and Bell and then their older sister Beem took me to JJ again, to look through all the stalls that hadn't been open the night before. It was a completely different place during the day.
First of all, there were a billion foreigners [which was to be expected seeing as we were in BANGKOK], you could barely move through the corridors it was so crowded, and all of the amazing things were now for sale. I spent most of the 5 hours that afternoon looking through the hundreds of stalls with artifacts, jewellery, leather and silk from chiang mai, and another big chunk looking at all the pets! I have to tell you, saying there were pets there does not do justice to just how much of this market was isolated for dogs, cats, squirrels, turtles, tarantulas, gerbils, hamsters, snakes and bunnies. They were adorable, I wanted to take home almost every animal, especially the squirrels who had to be sedated and looked really upsetting.
It was the most amazing place I have ever been, everything seemed so magical and colourful. You really could buy anything you were looking for. If it weren't for the mass amount of foreigners I would camp out and sleep there for the rest of my trip. I ended up spending WAY too much money [for a Thai person to spend that is] but I bought all of my Christmas presents and even a bunch of stuff for myself. I have now made myself a deal that I will not buy anything else until my trip with the exchange students in December.

The next day we went to this pottery village on a boat tour of the river. We had to cross the river to the small temple at the other side first, and to get to the river crossing we had to walk through ANOTHER temple. That night it had rained a lot so the streets were flooded. We had to walk across sandbags and planks of wood so we didn't trudge through the foot deep water, and then we had to sit in the back of this small carriage while a Thai man pulled us with his bike. It was an interesting experience, that's all I can say. The boat tour falls into the same guidelines as a car ride - you must stop a billion times for food before you get to the destination. They pulled the boat over at 4 different dessert shops for people to get out and buy food. The only stop I enjoyed was the stop that was next to a wat. I made my merit with incense, candles and gold and then we got to write our names on tiles that they were going to use to redo the roof. I guess now I will officially be a part of that temple; that's pretty cool if I do say so myself.

The rest of the week went by slowly, I wanted to go to the English bookstore so two seperate days they took me to malls and finally I found the Twilight Series and have read almost all four books since I bought them - one week ago. That proves to you just how much time I have on my hands. On Wednesday I went with Bam and her friend to see Eagle Eye [IN ENGLISH!]. It was a pretty fattening and foreign day - we had icecream from Swensens, I had KFC and popcorn, and we watched Shia LaBoeuf running around in an English film with Thai subtitles. It was unsettling being so "non-Thai".

On Thursday we headed back for Korat on a bus with a crying baby sitting in front of me. It wasn't quite as pleasant as the car ride to Bangkok. Then on Friday we went to Khon Kaen so that Bam and Bell could take part in their orientation meeting for Rebounds and Outbounds.
I ended up meeting up with 18 other exchange students who came in from the villages around Khon Kaen and we spent the weekend hanging out together. I can't exactly say what we did all weekend, some people might not appreciate how rambunctious we are, but we did get to know each other really well and I can't wait to see them again. My favourite moment had to be when Clayton put on his ipod to "Hakuna Matata" [in Portuguese] and we all sang the lyrics in our own language while jumping up and down on the beds. Having Hakuna Matata sung in 5 different languages really brings people together, and Hakuna Matata is the best way to reflect the Thai lifestyle - it means no worries for the rest of your days.

October 24th -26th had to be the best weekend I've had since I've been here, one of the best in my life. It sounds silly to say that when I just met the exchange students on Friday, but I consider them all amazing friends and I know that leaving them at the end of the year will be extremely difficult. We have so many memories just from this one weekend, and I can't wait to make more with everyone in our future trips.

I came home on Sunday night at 7 pm to find Nakhon Phanom just as I left it: full of misquitoes, humid as anything and with my host mother ecstatic to see me. I really did miss her, when I have to leave families it will be tough to live my first home behind. I walked in the door to a package from my mom, a Halloween card that sings the Ghostbuster theme song from my sister, and one of my favourite foods waiting for me on the table.

"We are the world"

Angels

I didn't think I was going to cry - when I got the phone call last night I didn't even feel sad like I thought I would, and I had no problem going to sleep. It must have been the fact that I knew it was coming. She had been in the hospice for months now and my parents kept me updated on how she was doing, she wasn't doing well. I knew it would be sometime this week that we would lose her, so when my parents called me yesterday I knew before I even answered the phone what kind of news they had for me.

My nana died peacefully on Sunday morning with my parents, aunt and uncle there. "She's with Poppa now" my dad said. However that is hardly a silver lining to how I feel at the moment. I was surprisingly fine yesterday, I didn't cry at all - I even managed to still laugh and smile at things and I didn't really think about it much. That's the only silver lining of being here during this; I am extremely sheltered from my emotions, and the real world. I didn't have to watch her suffer the last two months, I didn't see her declining day by day and I didn't have to wonder when the last time I saw her would be. I already knew when that was - it was the afternoon of Saturday, August 2nd 2008. The day before I left for Thailand. I think that maybe I couldn't cry yesterday because I have cried so much already that when her time finally came to an end, I was relieved that all her pain was over.

I talked to my sisters and my parents again this morning, the funeral is on Wednesday and the visitation is on Tuesday. But I won't be there. Heather was telling me about the last time she talked to my nana, and after Ashley and her told her how much they loved her, she asked for me. "She's in Thailand, but she loves you" my mom said. At that, I started crying. I know I'm not to blame and I shouldn't feel guilty, but I can't help but feel horrible for not being there with her during these last two months. I feel horrible that I'm not there for them, for my family. It's rediculous to feel bad, but I do, and I can't help but keep thinking back to the last time I saw her; two months ago in the hospice when we both knew that when I came home she wouldn't be there. That was the hardest day of my life.

I remember in my grandparents' house there was a big map in the basement, with coloured tacks in all the countries they had travelled to. I like to think that their love for travelling is what inspired me, and I know now that it has. I always looked at that map and thought of how wonderful it would be go to those countries, to see the things my grandparents had seen, to travel all over the world. She was always so brave, so strong and the healthiest woman I had even known. I honestly never thought she would pass away; it seemed impossible. She inspired me to be determined, cheerful and adventurous. It's because of her that I'm here in Thailand, and I could not thank her enough.

I love you nana, rest in peace.
<3

Lai Rua Fai - Floating Lit Boats

Lai Rua Fai - Floating Lit Boats

Okay so last night after I got back from the Thai dance performance, Suzanne and I had a two hour nap on my bed and took showers to get all the hairspray out of our hair [it was hilarious, Suzanne's looked like she was wearing a sombrero, and I had a whole bunch of hair I didn't know I had]. We went to buy a ticket for me to go to Bangkok tomorrow [I will explain later] and then we went to Kate and Klao's house to go with their family to see the fire boats. We all piled into one pickup truck becuase there were so many cars on the road and there would be no where to park. It reminded me a lot of the Sound of Music, but just imagine all of Burlington being packed full of cars and people walking everywhere, not just downtown. I have never fit that many people in one vehicle before:

Kate & Klao plus their mom, dad and three sisters
Mi Jung and her little brother [these are Kate & Klao's nephew and niece]
Kate & Klao's two aunts and their uncles
Their grandparents
Suzanne & Emma
Another woman and her two children [I forget how they are related]

Kate and I sat on the edge of the hatchback and dangled our feet over the side of the truck. It was nice driving through the city; there was so much to look at and so many people to say hi to [I find that every time I go out now, I see someone I know]. We drove as close to the river as we could before their dad had to pull over and let us hop out while he looked for somewhere to park. We went on the ferris wheel [it's super small and rickety, but it has a nice view of the temple grounds] and apparently there was a dead cow that had two heads somewhere but I was too lazy to go see it. It felt really different being in a fair that is inside the temple grounds, it felt like we were sinning against Buddha. They were selling icecream, paintings, beebee guns and food all right beside a temple; there was also the cow, a merry-go-round, a giant blow up slide, the ferris wheel and a few smaller games there too. I always thought of temples as a very sacred place where I need to be extremely holy and polite, but everyone was just wandering around visiting stalls, buying guns and playing games. It was definetely weird.

We found a spot to sit where they pulled out a small checkered tarp to lay on the ground and we sat and watched one of the boats being lit. There are so many lights on each one, and watching it being lit [it took about an hour] was nuts! I can't believe how much work they put into it, not only to build the bamboo boat, but to place all the lights in such beautiful designs and then light them was crazy.

After the first boat was lit it started to float down the river and more boats came by afterwards. Some of them had electronics and sections of light would move, and the dragon on one of them sprayed fireworks from its mouth. Others shot fireworks off behind them and the crowd "Oohed" and "Awed". There were some that didn't have electronics or fireworks but were so beautiful I couldn't help staring at them even as they floated farther and farther away.

We didn't get to see all the boats because it was getting late and we started to get bored of sitting and waiting for the boats to come so we went and got some food at a vendor as well as some icecream and headed home.

This morning I was woken up at 8am by the phone in my room ringing - my host mother was calling me from downstairs. Apparently Suzanne's father was going to pick me up at 8:40 so that Suzanne and I could go get interviewed with Ronald McDonald about RMHC who were making a presentation at Suzanne's school. I also had to wear my school uniform. Another unwanted surprise, I had been planning on sleeping in.

Suzanne's father came at 9:15 [only slightly late] and we went to Suzanne's school to find the hall full of people. We sat around and listened to Thai people talking for about an hour [which we couldn't understand] and then they had us come and take pictures with them as they gave free glasses to a bunch of kids. I still wonder why they need us in pictures when we have NOTHING to do with RMHC. Then we were told we needed to help herd students from station to station to get their eyes checked. They didn't really need our help, Suzanne and I just sat by a station for an hour and a half and watched them test the student's eyes. They were giving out free glasses to everyone and we watched some younger kids burst into tears when they couldn't read some of the letters on the poster. We also saw an Albino Thai child, which was really odd but really cool at the same time. I will feel bad if the kid grows up and the Thai people treat them like they treat us - it gets VERY annoying.

We finally got fed up with doing nothing, we hadn't even been interviewed yet, so we found Suzanne's dad and told him we wanted to do the interview and leave. We found the woman who was doing the interview and after I got my eyes checked [they were going to give me free glasses if I needed them - which I don't] we each did a seperate interview with Ronald McDonald himself. I got to speak a bit of Thai and then they invited us to tour with the Ronald McDonald mobile in April when they come around during our next break. We'll see how that works out.

So tomorrow I am off to Bangkok to stay with Bam [a Thai student who was on exchange in Canada last year] and she is going to take me to Dream World, JJ market and a bunch of other places in Bangkok. I am super excited :) I am taking the bus tomorrow morning at 7:30 am to meet her in Korat and then we will go to Bangkok together tomorrow night. I will probably come home around the 26th of October so that I only miss one week of school [it starts again on Monday]. Until then, Peace and Love.

"There are many ways of moving forward, but only one of standing still"