Chiang Mai: A Week’s Adventure

It’s been over three years since I was in Thailand. How time flies. I wrote about my weekend in Bangkok and the short trip to Indonesia. I hadn’t gotten around to writing about the last part of my time in Thailand. Until now.

It’ll be nice to try and remember and relive that week’s adventure with my wonderful friend and Asia travel partner, Jenneke! One of the wonderful things about traveling in Thailand, at least in my experience, is that you don’t need too much planning in advance. Jenneke and I had agreed on a few key things we absolutely wanted to do during our time in Chiang Mai: zip-lining, spend time with elephants (Jenneke adores them!), possibly go to Pai (a nearby-ish town) and, of course, explore the city of Chiang Mai. Nothing was booked and we had a very loose itinerary when we headed north.

After getting back to Bangkok from Jakarta, we took an overnight bus up to Northern Thailand: Chiang Mai. Overnight buses are the best for two main reasons:

1. A day is not wasted traveling north. According to Google it’s over a 10 hour drive, though I don’t remember it being that long but I guess Google never lies. Another option is to fly (a little over an hour), but the bus is cheaper and personally, flying is also very time consuming. Another option is taking a train. Those are great too, because they have sleeper trains with full on beds, but I found the bus pretty comfortable too since it does recline.

2. Taking an overnight bus means paying for one less night at a hotel (or if you’re like me, a hostel)!

We took an overnight to Chiang Mai and arrived at the crack of dawn. There were tons of tuk tuk drivers waiting at the bus terminal asking passengers if they needed transportation to their accommodation. Always try and haggle for a cheaper price to whatever they first quote you. Ask around, they are all very competitive. After a bit of that, we finally agreed to be driven to our hostel (which we had booked a few days prior).  Many drivers are familiar with the accommodation that is around the city, but since our hostel was out of the city center, it was helpful to have the address at hand. Wish I had a picture of the bus and the tuk tuk drivers, but I was not a seasoned traveller yet. 😦

Upon our arrival at the hostel, we quickly asked the man at the front desk for suggestions on what to do and what ziplining companies he recommended and places to spend time with elephants.  He gave us a few options and suggestions and helped us book our ziplining adventure. He also told us about an elephant sanctuary where people can wash and feed the elephants. He promised us this wasn’t a tourist trap where they mistreat and torture the gentle giants. We booked that too, for later in the week. He suggested we attend a dinner in the city where they serve traditional Northern Thai food while being entertained my traditional Northern Thai dances. Dinner was set for our first evening in Chiang Mai! Just like that, the itinerary for the next few days was being finalized, leaving us with a few ‘free’ days to just go with the flow and take them as they come.

Day 1: We took a nap the moment we entered our room. Even though the bus wasn’t bad. We were tired. We spend the rest of the day taking a tuk tuk into the city center and just walking around and exploring. We saw temples, had a lot of food and drinks–lots of coffee and tea! Did a bit of shopping during the day. Got pedicures and Thai massages, because why not. In the evening we had our traditional Northern Thai dinner experience. After dinner, we thought it was a good idea to check out a night market. But which one? There are so many! We didn’t really know that at that point, so we ended up getting dropped off at a market where locals shopped. This meant there weren’t any opportunities for souvenir shopping, which is what we were look for. So we sort of failed at exploring night markets that day. On our tuk tuk ride back to the hostel, we encountered what we were looking for!

Day 2: Ziplining

We booked our ziplining adventure with a company called “Skyline Adventure”. They claim to have the longest zipline,  the last zipline extending 900 meters long. My experience was a pleasant one. They picked us up from a central location within Chiang Mai and dropped us off at the end of the day. We had a gear and safety talk before heading out to the ziplines.  Apart from the mild fear of heights, I never felt like I was in danger. Our guide didn’t speak much English, which could have been a challenge since he couldn’t give us instructions but I don’t remember that being a huge problem.

I wish I remembered more logistical details from this day. The big takeaway, however, is that I had a lot of fun. It was my first experience ziplining and I remember it with pleasure and joy. Ziplining through the luscious green Thai jungle is an experience I will never forget.

Day 3: Elephant Sanctuary

For the part of the trip where we wanted to meet some elephants, we wanted a place that was ethical in their treatment of the gentle giants. We asked about such a place when looking into where to book a place to spend a day with elephants. Our hostel told us that this particular place was a ‘sanctuary’ for elephants where elephants who were previously mistreated were being rehabilitated and cared for. Due to our lack of research, we took the hostel’s word and recommendation.

Whether or not this place was actually a sanctuary, I am still not sure. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of the company we booked this with and can’t seem to find it in any of my records. Our day with elephants went like this:

 

When we arrived, we changed into clothes they let us borrow. Little did we know we were going to get real wet and dirty. The first part of our day we spent feeding the elephants. They had watermelon and sugar cane for them. After getting to know the animals, and getting lots of really wet ‘kisses’, we were taught how to mount and unmount from the elephants. This was questionable. I knew that using elephants to give tourists rides was a big no no. The people at this ‘sanctuary’ told us that this was the safe way to ride elephants. Using the animal’s knees to help yourself up onto their back wouldn’t hurt them. They also didn’t have chairs strapped to their backs, so having a human adult on their back wasn’t actually hurting the elephants. Whether or not all this is true, I cannot tell you. I was hesitant to ride the gentle giants and I was terrified of climbing on them. I blame karma, and my nerves, for falling and scraping the hell out of my knees as I tried to come off the elephant.

After lunch, which was provided by the ‘sanctuary’, we bathed the elephants. This was perhaps my favorite part. The elephants seemed so free, happy and playful. I was glad to be sharing the space with them. Ironically, after the bath, we ended the day in the mud. The elephants where alllll over it! It was great.

This day I learned just how important it is to do your research before booking anything with elephants, if you care about the ethical treatment of the animals (which you should!). Although I didn’t necessarily see any of the guides ‘mistreat’ the elephants, I don’t actually know what goes on in this ‘sanctuary’. These animals should be out in the wild, running free, not being climbed on for human amusement. It is really important to know what you are getting yourself into. For me, it was definitely a learning experience. From what I have heard, there are real sanctuaries out there that really do care for the elephants, it is just a matter of doing your research.

Day 4: Pai

We originally wanted to spend a night in Pai. I had heard so much about this magical place, I couldn’t not visit. From what I had heard, Pai was a lowkey, hippie town. After making it there, I was ok with only making it into a day trip.

Jenneke and I took a tuk tuk from our hostel to the Chiang Mai bus central to make the trip over to Pai. And yes, it was clear the moment we stepped off the bus what people had said about Pai. It has small town vibes and it was crawling with white people in dreads and loose colorful clothing.

We had a fun day out in Pai. We paid a guy to drive us around to various “tourist” spots, mostly for pictures and on to the next one. Most people opt for renting motorbikes and doing the travel thing that way, but I had seen and heard of way too many freak accidents on motorbikes to feel comfortable on one.

Pai’s “Grand Canyon”

Day 5: Chiang Mai day

This Chiang Mai day was super chill. We just walked around the city center, shopped, ate, drank lots of tea and got massages. I am sure you have heard, but massages in Thailand are incredibly inexpensive! I wish I would have taken advantage of that and gotten them more often. Here I am in front of the Tha Phae Gate. At night, this entire transforms into a huge night market.

Day 6: Chiang Rai

We are nearing the end of our Northern Thailand adventure. The last thing we had heard that was worth doing was seeing the White Temple in Chiang Rai. We took a bus from Chiang MAI to Chiang RAI. We hired a tuk tuk driver to drive us to the tourist places for the day, well more like half a day. The tourist places were just the White Temple (self explanatory) and the Black House, which was filled with art. The rest of the day we spent it in the city. We have the cheapest dinner in this trip, spending ~30 baht (about $1 USD) for a huge plate of pad thai. It was delicious and we did not get sick 😛

The Chiang Rai night market was just opening up when it was nearing the time to take the bus back to Chiang Mai

Black House

In the black house

Day 7: Tubing

By this point, we had pretty much crossed everything off our ‘must do’ list. SO what to do on out very last day in Chiang Mai? Jenneke found we could go tubing for the day! It was honestly the very best way to end this Thailand trip before heading back to Bangkok and flying back to San Francisco after living in Thailand for 4 and a half months.

We booked our day with Chiang Mai Tubing and Beach Club. They picked us up from the Chiang Mai city center and took care of us for the day. I believe we were the only ones in the group that day, which was awesome! Below are some pictures of how we spent the day:

Day 8: Home

After an entire week’s worth of travel in the Northern Part of Thailand, we headed back to Bangkok so I could catch my flight back to San Francisco while Jenneke stayed for one more night. After traveling for what felt like an eternity (got stranded in Abu Dhabi for an extra 10 hours or so), I got home to this:

What an amazing time it was! 🙂

A Weekend in Bangkok

During my four-month stay in Thailand I can’t say I visited Bangkok often even though I lived only an hour away by bus. It was only when I was nearing the end of my stay that I did the touristy things one does in Bangkok. My good friend Jenneke was flying in from California and we were to embark on a two week journey travel adventure. This post is about what happened the weekend she arrived.

It was a Friday afternoon in Chonburi, the city I was teaching at, when I said my goodbyes to my fellow teachers both Thai and foreign. I was going to miss them. I hurried back home to finish packing my things and clean my small studio apartment before my landlords came by to inspect and return my deposit. I had one suitcase and a backpack and I was ready to leave Chonburi and head on to Bangkok. I was on the next bus out. My friend Nick, who was also a teacher working at a different school in Chonburi, wanted to spend the weekend in Bangkok so we took the bus together. I had already booked our hostel for the weekend so we asked the bus driver to drop us off near a BTS station–Bangkok’s skytrain. Jenneke was suppose to arrive that evening but due to a massive delay she wasn’t going to land in Bangkok ’till the following evening 😦 I was glad Nick came along this way I wasn’t alone that first day. He knew someone staying in Bangkok so he Facebooked her and he found that she was actually staying just a few blocks from my hostel! Awesome. We walked to her hotel and planned out our first night out in Bangkok.

View from hotel (not mine) balcony. Oh Bangkok 🙂

Turned out she was actually expecting a friend of hers to arrive that night so she was going to go to the airport to pick her up. We decided to go with her. But before we headed to the airport we made a quick stop at a nearby 711–they are literally in every corner–to buy Hong Thong and coke. This had been our go-to drink doing my entire time in Thailand. It was cheap and arguably digestible. So after our booze run we took the BTS to the airport then took a taxi back. We greeted the poor girl with cheap whiskey and coke 😛  She dropped off her stuff at the hotel and we all took a taxi to a street where it was supposed to be ‘the place to be’. Can’t remember where this was though as we were not there for long. After a few minutes, a guy came up to us and told us he would take us to a club for something like 5 Baht per person in his tuk tuk. So we went. There were 4 of us so the ride came out to be around 20 Baht, which is less than a $1. Not bad. He dropped us off in front of a club, paid the cover charge of about 300 Baht–less than $10–and got a free drink with our ticket. Worth it. We danced a little then decided it was time to go. On our way back to our respective accommodations Nick and I realized in all the excitement, we never had dinner. We were starving. A small supermarket was open near us so we went there and bought whatever we could find. I think only bought a snickers bar. Not very smart, I know. But that pretty much concludes our night.

The following day Nick and I met the girls again to get food and decide what to do for the day before Jenneke landed. After brunch, the girls were off to do touristy things and Nick and I decided to go in search of a small brewery we had heard about that was in a tiny island, Koh Kret, just outside of the city. All we had were blog posts and word of mouth that

Entrance to the brewery.

this place actually existed. After stopping a few taxi’s and getting rejected, because no one knew what we were talking about, we finally found one that called the place and found out where to take us. We were in the taxi for a little over an hour and we just sat there not really knowing if he actually knew were he was taking us or if we were going in the right direction. Finally we arrived, well sort of. The taxi driver motioned us to get off and pointed in the general direction in which we were supposed to walk. We pay him and started walking. I knew we had to take a small boat to the island but we weren’t sure where to find the dock. We saw people boarding a boat so we did too. The boat ride was about a minute long. When we arrive there were tons of vendors selling food, trinkets and things. I don’t remember seeing many tourists, as I don’t believe it was a touristy area. We started walking only to quickly find that we were most likely not going the right way. We went back to were we started and took a different walkway. There was really no way of getting lost after that. It was one walkway that took us directly to the brewery, though it did feel like we were lost at times because we didn’t know how long we were supposed to walk for. The brewery was nothing fancy, just a small shop overlooking the water. I think they only had two kinds of beer that day so we tried them both and Nick and I both agreed they were delicious. Or maybe after only drinking Chang for 4 months, any change was good =P We sat there talking about our experiences in Thailand thus far and reminiscing on all that we had done and seen. We also got to see beer being bottled and sealed by hand. It was a neat little day trip.

For our way back into town we decided to skip the taxi and find a public bus to take us. The blog I had read described how to find the bus and which one to take. So thanks to my internet enabled phone we were able to find it and we saved the higher taxi fare. If you want to learn more about the beer and how to find it I have linked the blogs here and here. Apparently home brewing in Thailand is not necessarily legal which is why it’s not easy to find them.  But there you have it, if I can find it so can you!

Mo Chit BTS station

On our way back into town, we stopped at a restaurant near a BTS station before making our way to the airport to pick up Jenneke! SO. MUCH. EXCITEMENT. I had been waiting for this day for 4 months and the flight delay only made the anticipation that much more exciting. Off we went, with Hong Thong and coke to give Jenneke a proper welcome to Thailand. I was secretly hoping she was up for a night out the moment she arrived.

When we arrived at the airport I told Nick to look for the blondest woman he had ever seen and that that would be her haha Funny thing is he was actually the one who spotted her and he had no idea what she looked like. I guess there aren’t that many blondes arriving in Bangkok airport. Once we were finally reunited, Nick got us a taxi and back into town we went. AND Jenneke was definitely down for a night out!!! Turns out, because of the delay, she stayed overnight in Tokyo and got to sleep in a real bed for the night so she was well rested. She was ready to dive into the Bangkok nightlife fresh off the plane 🙂 Quickly, she dropped off her things, Nick called up the girls from the previous night and we all took a taxi to where we were supposed to meet some friends of the girls. Unfortunately, we only had the name of the club and due to our lack of Thai skills–and the taxi driver’s lack of English–he really didn’t have a clue where we wanted to go. Instead he took us to another club, which, according to him, was good. Without knowing what else to do, and to make the most out of the night, we went in. Similar to the one from the night before, there was a cover charge but you get a free drink. I wish I remembered the names of these places but honestly I can’t. Bangkok is so huge and there are sooooo many clubs that I just couldn’t keep up. But anyhow, we went in, got our drink and enjoyed ourselves for a short while. The girl was determined to find her friends so she suggested we leave and try another taxi to try and have them take us to the right club. Somehow, we managed to do that. At that point, however, Jenneke and I were hungry and frankly kind of tired so we decided to get food at the restaurant next to the club. Very convenient indeed. We ate and laughed and called it a night.

 

Chatuchak

The following morning I found out that everyone got kicked out the club where Nick was in. From my understanding, in Thailand it is illegal to keep establishments, such as bars and clubs, open past 2 am but due to high tourism or if sales are going well, some stay open later. Apparently this club was having a good night until the cops showed up and kicked everyone out. Kinda wish I had experienced that haha. The plans for Jenneke’s first day were to shop. She needed to buy some things and I still hadn’t visited any of the famous Bangkok malls so thats what we did. After brunch, we went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. This is one of the largest markets in the world where you can find pretty much anything from food, clothing and flowers to pets. Seriously, anything. I’d been there only twice before. Once during midday where me and the friends I was with walked around for hours and the second time was in the evening where most shops where closing and didn’t really get to experience it. I was excited to show Jenneke around because I knew she would love it as much as I did. Finding joy in the little things we found and wanting to buy EVERYTHING as souvenirs for our loved ones back home. This place is so huge getting lost can be fun but also frightening because you never know when you will actually find your way out. I’d say this is definitely a must if you are ever in Bangkok. The best part is, it is walkable from a BTS station!  Jenneke and I walked around, bought stuff, and returned to our hostel to get ready for our second–my third–night out in Bangkok. The plan for the night: food, sky bars and more food.

Our first stop was food. We googled some places and found a place called the Iron Fairies that was a short taxi ride away. Our taxi driver understood which street the place was in but he didn’t really know where exactly he was taking us. When he stopped to ask some food vendors for directions–which they too hadn’t a clue–Jenneke and I saw it. It was just across the road. Perfect timing. We got out of the car, motioned to the driver that it was there, paid him and walked to the restaurant. This place was really cool but it was also quite expensive, I think I paid over $20. We sat upstairs where it was lit up by only a few candles. It was not easy to take photos but it didn’t matter, we were there to enjoy ourselves. I had a burger and a margarita. I know, not Thai at all but I had been eating nothing but Thai food for four months so I was allowed a little western food 🙂

Cloud 47

The first bar on our list was Cloud 47. If you google, ‘best rooftop bars in Bangkok’, you get a ton of results. I don’t really know how we decided on this particular one—perhaps proximity?—but that’s the one we were headed to. I showed our taxi driver a map and hoped he knew what I meant. He dropped us off in what seemed like an alley, but just around the corner was a huge main street. Where was the bar?! Google maps indicated it was where we were standing but we still couldn’t see the entrance or any sign pointing to it. We got lost for a few minutes because the entrance was not easy to find. After asking someone for directions, and getting lost for a while longer, we finally found it. It was in what looked like a random building. We walked in and asked the security guard, he said it was there and to take the elevator to the 47th floor. Awesome, we were on our way. I had read that rooftop bars get packed so I was expecting to see a full house. Pleasantly, though, it wasn’t. There were an ample number of seats and we got to sit near the balcony overlooking the city. Not too close, though, because in this trip I learned Jenneke is actually terribly scared of heights =P What a champion though! Going to a rooftop bar is not for the faint-hearted. By the time we arrived at Cloud 47 it was nighttime so the view of the city was just many twinkling lights lighting up the many Bangkok skyscrapers. We sat, took photos, had a few drinks and talked about the exciting adventures we still had ahead. Then, on to the next one.

The dome at Lebua

I could have sworn we went to three rooftop bars but my memory is failing me and there are no photos of a third one so we might have had three on our list but decided to only go to two. So after Cloud 47 we took a taxi to the Lebua Skybar, the famous skybar from the film The Hangover 2. We were in Bangkok so we felt we had to see it! We arrived and it was not difficult to find. We were dropped off at the entrance to the tower and we—along with a ton of other people—were escorted to the elevator. This is one of the fanciest places I have ever been to! Again, I was afraid this place was going to be packed and that we wouldn’t be able to see the city skyline. Surprisingly, it was free to walk around. There is a restaurant and a bar, we were asked if we were going to dine or just drink. We were just going to drink so they let us out onto the balcony and we were free to roam around and take it all in. Also, because it was already nighttime, the skyline was a sea of twinkling lights so photos don’t do this place justice. We didn’t have a high quality camera to capture the beauty. We walked around, took photos and went up to the bar. After looking at the menu Jenneke and I both decided we were done drinking. Not only where the drinks way more that I would have spend on a few drinks elsewhere, there would be a long wait for the drink. Thankfully the experience was free! So it was definitely worth it. On our way out we decided to use the restroom. Normally I wouldn’t include when I do or don’t use the restroom haha BUT I had to include my restroom experience. Like I mentioned earlier, this is one of the fanciest places I have ever been to. The bathroom was more beautiful than those in magazines. There were people who opened and closed the door for you and when you wash your hands they give you a warm fresh hand towel. Not a paper towel, a REAL TOWEL. What the heck. Ok maybe it’s not ecofriendly—can you imagine how many they have to wash a day?!—but it was kinda cool. So that was our experience at Lebua Skybar. I definitely would like to go back to the two rooftop bars we went to in the daytime to get a different view of the city 🙂

What I was able to capture of the city skyline from Lebua

Mango sticky rice

Before calling it a night, we stopped at a restaurant across the street from the Lebua tower for some mango sticky rice. Upon my arrival in Thailand this quickly became one of my favorite desserts. It’s literally slices of mango with a side of sweet sticky rice. So simple but so delicious. Because the restaurant was across the street from the most famous rooftop bar in Bangkok, it was on the pricier side. After devouring our pricey dessert it was time to make it back to our hostel. Since it was our last official night in Bangkok–we were off to Jakarta the following day–Jenneke wanted to experience a tuk tuk ride around the city. We ditched the taxi, though it is generally cheaper, and headed over to where tuk tuk drivers were parked waiting for customers. I tried my best to haggle but Jenneke was so excited and agreed way too soon haha I had been in Thailand long enough to see others in action and get good deals. So after a bit of negotiation we were on the tuk tuk speeding through the streets of Bangkok.

Tuk Tuk

The following day was a busy day. We had a lot we wanted to see before our flight to Jakarta that was scheduled to depart in the early evening. We woke up early and took a taxi to the Grand Palace. We first went to Wat Phra Kaew, also known as the Emerald Buddha Temple, which is next to the Grand Palace. It was so crowed. The entire place is pretty big so it was relatively easy to walk around and take it all in. During my stay in Thailand I visited many temples and they were all uniquely beautiful and this one

Wat Phra Kaew

was no different. Since this was not a tour, you just walk around, and since I am not Buddhist I can’t tell you about what I saw because honestly I don’t really know. I did manage to take a few photos, which I will share here. After the temple I took a few shots of the Grand Palace and headed out. In the frenzy of deciding what to do next, a man approached us and convinced Jenneke to get tickets to go on a boat tour. I say Jenneke because, as usual, I was panicking about time and making it to our flight. She assured me we would be fine so we went on this ‘tour’, well more like a ride because our ‘guide’ didn’t speak English. We were dropped off in a different part of town next to a small food market where we grabbed lunch and headed back to our hostel to grab out things and head for the airport.

 

Grand Palace

Our boat ride.

If you managed to read through this post you might have noticed that I talked a lot about taking taxis to get from place to place. Bangkok is such an enormous city that the thought of getting around can be daunting. This is actually one of the reasons why I rarely visited when I was living in Thailand. There is a skytrain, the BTS, BUT the BTS is kind of like BART. Anyone who is from or has spent some time in the Bay Area knows that BART is great but not very useful when trying to get around San Francisco. The BTS has a similar problem. Many of the malls are accessible via BTS, as is Chatuchak, but if you want to get to popular backpackers destination of Khao San Road–which we didn’t visit this particular weekend but eventually did–or to see the famous temples the BTS is ineffective. Like all other cities in the world there are other forms of public transportation, like the local buses. I had no idea how to use them and the alternative, aka taxis, are relatively inexpensive if you know how to haggle and/or get the driver to use a meter. It’s especially convenient when there are a few people so you can split the costs. Though taxis are a fast and convenient way to get around, there is one downside. Most taxi drivers have very limited or essentially no understanding of English, which if you can imagine can make things difficult. In the time I had been in Thailand I had picked up close to no Thai words. I knew the very basic of ‘hello’, ‘thank you’, ‘yes’ and ‘no’ but I struggled with the numbers and everything else. I did, however, become very good at using my hands to express what I was saying. When I would get a taxi I would either tell them where I wanted to go, or show them a map on my phone–making sure the address was in Thai. Then I would ask how much, either in Thai or English, but English worked best because if I asked in Thai they would respond in Thai and I wouldn’t understand what they said haha. If I asked in English, normally they would either try and tell me in English or use their hands to sign the numbers. It was easy to negotiate. Either I would say, ‘meter?’ and or point to it and they would shake their head or nod. If they didn’t want to use the meter, I would always request for half the amount they would originally ask for. Sometimes they wouldn’t budge, but I was proudest when I would end up paying what I wanted 🙂 It’s a process that can seem intimidating but it’s part of the experience and it became a sort of game to see how low I can get the driver to go. One of the funniest moments in a taxi was when I spoke an entire sentence to the driver in Thai. Not because I automatically knew, but the hostel we were staying at had provided us with a phonetic pronunciation of the address. I guess I spoke to the driver in good enough Thai that the driver turns around with a huge smile and says, “Ohhhhh, you speak Thai!” He looked so excited hahaha. I started to laugh and say, ‘mai, may’ (no). I was proud of myself that day 🙂

I often heard foreigners talk bad about the taxi drivers’ lack of English skills and I thought, well this is their country shouldn’t we be the ones trying to understand and communicate with them in their terms?  If the taxi drivers had excellent English, or even good enough to hold a small conversation, my experience would have been completely different. I really enjoyed pushing myself and getting out of my comfort zone to try and communicate with them in a new language and learning a little of the said language. This was an experience I will never forget.

 

 

 

Its not you Thailand, it’s me Part 2: Feelings of Uncertainty

Four months later, here I am. In one of the first posts since my moving to Thailand I wrote about how miserable I was feeling but vowed to stay until my teaching contract ended. One week left in my teaching contract and I can proudly say, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Bittersweet doesn’t even begin to describe how I’ve been feeling recently.  I can honestly say that I am so glad I somehow mustered the courage and strength to stay and stick it through. The first couple of months were hard but it definitely got easier as time went on. Meeting people and having people to have conversations with and hang out I think definitely helped. And when tragedy struck back home and I was feeling down, I had friends to cheer me up and keep my mind off of what was happening. For the first couple of months all I couldn’t think about was getting through the day only to be one day closer to the day of my departure. I have to say, I am still counting down the days but I am actually sad that I will be leaving. Instead of just getting through each day, I savour every moment I have left here. I will miss waking up every morning and walking to school. I will miss waving hello to students as I go to and from school. And of course I will miss my students dearly.

The thought of leaving is both sad and frightening. Sad for the reasons mentioned above and frightening because leaving only means having to start over yet again. I am heading back to California with out a job and all the uncertainty in the world!

The first couple paragraphs of this post were written before I ventured out to Northern Thailand and flew back to California. I am now writing from the comfort of the room I grew up in. I’m back in California, the poorest I have ever been, jobless and back with my parents. To say the least, its been quite a ride. The changes that I underwent in those four months in Thailand are still emotions and experiences that I am still trying to process. I went from literally crossing each day off my calendar to a deep sadness on the day of my departure. How is that possible? And now that I am back, even though this is what I wanted most in the world back in November, it all feels too familiar. I miss meeting new people, making new friends, learning about a different culture and language. Undoubtedly, I miss Thailand. Don’t get me wrong, I love being back with my family, reuniting with old friends and telling friends and family all about my time abroad. But if I am being really honest, now that I am here, I wish I wasn’t. I don’t know if its simply the place I am living or that I really need to go abroad again. I am in the same city, neighbourhood, house and room that I grew up in. I hadn’t lived here in nearly a year and a half and now that I am back it just feels wrong. It’s like everything I saw and experienced was just a dream because I am back where I started.

I fully understand and realise that what I am about to say makes me sound like an entitled privileged person. I have this wonderful family who is providing me with housing, food and money and yet I feel unhappy with my situation. I keep telling myself that this is temporary and that once I become employed, I can really begin my own life. The thing is, I no longer know anything about anything. I am tired of sending job application after job application to no avail. At this rate it looks like I will be stuck here for a long time, and that terrifies me. I think I just have way too much time at hand to think about these things. I don’t know what the future holds (who does?), but what I can do now is find comfort in my wonderful friends and family and occupying myself with things I might not have time for otherwise (like blogging! :)).  To quote Hannah Montana: ‘Life’s what you make it!’ (yeah that just happened, but seriously, she knew what she was talking about).

On a different note: I am so behind on the remaining Europe travel posts (stuff on Paris and Iceland to name a few) but I hope to get to them sooner rather than later. And of course Thailand and Jakarta posts are on their way as well.

Meanwhile, don’t forget to check out some of my photos on Instagram: rosa.abigail   🙂

My sisters and parents made me the airplane when I returned from London. After coming back from Thailand they had retouched it and made the ‘Welcome Home’ sign and included flags in the letter ‘H’ of all the places I visited 🙂

English Camp in Dream World

                 Entrance to the park

Last week I was part of an English camp that the school I work for put together. That included a trip to Dream world. Dream world happens to be a theme park on the outskirts of Bangkok. I love theme parks. I was so excited.

First let me just say that Thai schools really know how to do field trips. First off, the buses are not regular buses. Oh no, they are essentially party buses. Double decker buses where most, if not all, the students sit on the top deck. The bus I happened to be seated in (I was on the top deck) had a T.V. where they showed music videos while Thai pop music blasted from that speakers. When I say blasted, I mean it really was loud. It was not easy to sustain a conversation. It wasn’t just Thai music, they would also play American pop music like Taylor Swift and Katy Perry songs. Mind you, this was an all boys field trip. I was sitting towards the front so I couldn’t really see what was happening in the

                Party buses

back but I am sure there was some dancing involved as they students are allowed to roam around the bus freely. During our two hour bus ride we also got snacks. First a muffin then some kind of Thai food complete with sticky rice. No starving allowed. After two hours of music, food and a bus full of 13 year old boys, we finally arrived at Dream world.

We arrived before the park opened which meant we were going to have the ‘English camp’ just outside the park. There were 5 foreign teachers and each teacher had one activity to facilitate. In total there were about 150 students so the students were divided into 5 groups. Then each group was to go around and complete each activity. I did a game called ‘draw the teacher’ (I would say, ‘draw the teacher’s nose’, ‘draw the teacher’s hair’ and so on until they have a complete body). I think they liked it. Some were very literal and would stare at me to get the drawing just right, while others got creative and created creatures out of this world! This ‘English camp’ went on for no more than 45 minutes. So after all groups had completed all activities, it was time for lunch. They gave us Thai food and a bottle of water. It was delicious. During this time the Thai teachers distributed our tickets to enter the park along with other tickets we needed for special rides. Once we received our tickets we were free to go into the park on our own. Only condition? We had to meet back at 3:30 p.m.

A group of students in my section

I have to say, I was impressed with Dream world. As you walk in, you get a similar feeling to when you walk into Disneyland. Its kind of magical 🙂 Its colourful and bright and happy. I joined the other foreign teachers for most of our time in the park. It’s always way more enjoyable to be around people. We stopped for some some photo before our first ride.

               ticket with all the rides

When we arrived at a ride we saw a sign that said it was 50 Baht. I am not really sure how this works since we got our park tickets through the school, so maybe you can buy a ticket to enter the park and not get on any rides? Anyhow, we had a special ticket where it had the name of all the rides so when you get on a ride the attendant rips of the piece of that particular ride. I guess you can only go on each ride once (or pay of it). Im not sure, we didn’t try to go on any ride more than once. Note: not all rides cost the same.

If you want a wet ride 🙂

Inside the birdhouse

Sky coaster

Dream world is not very big. There is one roller coaster, that is not included in the ticket we had which means it costs extra, and its not great. There is no drop, which in my opinion, defeats the purpose or a roller coaster. The other ride the costs extra is tornado. Fortunately, we ran into some Thai teachers who had extra tickets and we all got on the ride. My favorite ride was perhaps one called ‘raptor’. It’s a ride where you sit and everyone straps on the huge circular thing. It spins and goes up and down as obnoxiously loud music blasts through the speakers. It was so much fun. Being at a theme park where the lines to get on a ride weren’t ridiculously long made the trip so much more enjoyable. The Thai heat didn’t even faze me, although I feel I did got about another shade darker. Although the lines were not long, we didn’t even get through half the rides. I guess our 3:30 p.m. was too early, but I still had a lot of fun. Before departing I had some time to visit the section where they have miniature versions of famous landmarks around the world. I go to see the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, leaning tower of Pisa and stonehenge, among other things. I thought it was pretty cool.

Food and game stalls

Inside the ‘Giant’s house’

On our way back to school, it was more of the same. Two hours of loud music and snacks on the bus ride. All in all, I’d say it was a great day. I think Dream world is perfect if you are visiting Thailand with children. Not overwhelming but a good time for the kids 🙂

A Teacher, Not A Celebrity

Working at a Thai high school English teacher is a little bit like being like a celebrity, or so I imagine so since, you know, I’m not a celebrity.
I am greeted by countless smiling faces some who say ‘hello teacher!’ and others simply smile and wai, as I walk past the huge campus (have I mentioned it has over 4 thousand students?) When I am walking to my next class, students make way for me to walk on through. It’s even comical sometimes because they could all be facing away from me and one student notices that I am trying to get through and the one student starts pushing everyone out of the way. And without fail, the students smile and wai when they see me walking down the corridor. At first I thought it was my students who said hello and/or smiled and wai and I just did not recognize them. But as the semester goes on I see that it is not just my students but pretty much any student I come across. In class, when all students are finally in the classroom, one student yells out ‘stand up please’ and the entire class stands up and says ‘good morning/afternoon teacher’. This took me by surprise more than the first few times. Imagine this happening with about 50 students per class. I responded with a good morning/afternoon and they were all still standing. The first time, I thought “uhhhh how do I make them sit down?” haha of course all I had to do was ask. So after our little greeting I let them know they may be seated, and voila! They all sat down. Similar situation when class is over. The same student yells ‘stand up please’ and they all stand. They proceed by saying ‘thank you teacher, see you again next time!’ so I thank them and let them know they can leave.

Foreign teachers and a teacher from our department on the King’s Birthday celebrations 2014

During school events, such as the celebration we had for the king’s birthday and Christmas, it is a full on show. Everyone wants pictures with the foreigners. I had my first taste on the King’s Birthday. It all started quite normal, the foreign language department took a group photo (foreign and Thai teachers). But after that, everyone wanted a photo with us, and I am not talking about just students, even teachers we had never even met wanted in. We were dragged around from picture to picture until I just couldn’t smile anymore. Students sometimes also ask me for pictures right after class. I was unsure how appropriate it was to take photos with students but it seems to be normal. I’ve definitely seen Thai teachers take picture with their students and have pictures of their students on social media. So why not, I let my students get their selfies with me when they ask. So I am sure I am in a few Facebook pages or Instagram posts out there hopefully with a cool caption ☺
Feeling like a celebrity is quite flattering because of the recognition and acknowledgement. I think being said hello to around campus is nice and shows just how respectful and friendly Thai people can be (and even teenagers as you can see). I assume it is just part of being a teacher. Teachers are held in high regard and students must be very respectful. For us, however, being a foreigner adds a different level of admiration and respect. And lets not forget curiosity. Though they have had their fair share of foreign teachers throughout their lifetime, I am sure they are still curious about who we are and where we came from.

A Year Come True

Yes, this is one of those start of the year posts. I hope not only to recap on what happened in 2014 but to reflect and, most importantly, to be thankful for the opportunities I have been presented with.

Merry Christmas from Chonchai!

For the second year in a row I spent the Christmas holidays and New Years celebrations in a different country, in a different continent than my beloved family. I have to say, it was so much harder the second time around. Maybe because I actually had one of my sisters by my side last year or because I really thought that in 2014 I’d finally be home. As the days to Christmas Day approached I became sadder and almost angry with myself for allowing myself to be away during my favorite time of the year. I was in a foreign country and with people I hardly knew. It just wasn’t Christmas. Christmas Day came around and I actually had a nice time. Yeah it was unconventional but it was a pleasant experience spending it at a Thai high school and playing Christmas themed hang man with all my students, watching Christmas routines and dance competitions, singing Christmas songs with the Thai teachers among other festivities. It is definitely an experience I will never forget. For New Years, a few people and I headed south to 3 Thai islands to soak up some sun and party on the beach.

As we headed south I began to realize how lucky I was to be here. Though I’d been having trouble adjusting to life in Thailand, I couldn’t help but feel so happy and thankful for the chance to enjoy other cultures, meeting and making new friends. Our little group spent 4 days in Koh Samui, one night in Koh Phangan and our last night in

First night, party on Koh Samui!

Koh Tao. Koh Phangan, known for the full moon parties, was our destination to spend New Years Eve and we planned to party hard on the beach. Koh Phangan did not disappoint. It was a lot of fun and I really let myself let go that night and even woke up the next morning feeling out of character. ‘Who am I?‘ I thought.(No i was not drunk or on drugs, it was more like a momentarily existential crisis =P) Although I entered 2015 feeling and behaving a little out of character, I couldn’t help but feel happy and began to reflect on the year I had and how all those things that happened had led to that moment, that strike of midnight that signaled a new beginning.

Beach time before New Years Eve party

I will call 2014 a year come true. In 2014 I did, saw and experienced so much, perhaps more than I had ever before. I won’t say it was the best year ever, for I have had many years and there are, hopefully, many more to come. But it sure marks a huge milestone in my life. I was already living in England when 2014 rolled around but this was the year that I did most of my traveling. While being a full-time masters student I managed to travel to Germany (Berlin), Ireland, Greece (Island of Crete), Italy, France (Paris), Iceland and Wales (for a day, but still). I also completed a master’s thesis–which nearly broke my spirit for good but that’s a different story. I also saw my family after a year of being away, only to move again, this time to Thailand and begin a job as an English teacher. 2014 was a year come true because it was the year that I somehow gathered the courage to do the things I’d been wanting to do for a long time. I ceased every opportunity to travel while I was in Europe even if it meant going at it alone. I also completed graduate school! It was something that always seemed unreachable, like I wasn’t capable of achieving. And as for moving to Thailand, I had traveled a bit around Europe and I had been dying to travel to anywhere in Asia and here I am! I am living in this great country and learning so much about Thai people and culture. Seriously, who would have thought that little ol’ Mexican-American me, whose parents emigrated from Mexico over 25 years ago, would be traveling the world? Ok, maybe not the world, but that is something I want to do. The more I see only exposes me to more I have yet to see and the world is a rich and diverse place, I have so much more to uncover.

Nang Yuan: Smaller island off of Koh Tao

Sadly 2014 is gone and apparently I left my sense of self in the past, but it is thrilling to think about the opportunities that 2015 will bring. I hope 2014 was the gateway to many more years come true in the future not only for me for all of you out there reading 🙂 I won’t promise 2015 to be the best year ever or that it will be smooth sailing, but 2015 will be amazing if you let it!

Temple in Koh Samui

Waterfall on Koh Samui

Beach time before New Years Eve party

Happy New Year to all! ❤

Cars, Motorbikes, Heat and Humidity

This is a quick account on what I see and feel on my way to school: from my condo to the school in Chonburi, Thailand where I am currently teaching at.

I get up and get ready like any person would for any reason on any given day. Since I don’t have a car (because why would I buy/rent a car?),would never rent a motorbike (unless I want to die), no songthaews pass on my street and I haven’t gathered the courage to take motorbike taxis, I simply walk to school. Its not a far walk and I enjoy walking. It takes me between 20-25 minutes from the moment I walk out of my room (on the 7th floor) to the time I get to where I need to sign-in at school. Its a very doable walk and frankly, thats how I get my exercise for the day 🙂

 

What do I see on my journey to and from school? As I walk out of my condo I am normally greeted with friendly smiles and a sawadee kha (‘hello’ in Thai) from the cleaning ladies and guards. Motorbike taxis line the streets waiting for passengers. As I walk on the main road I start to see it and feel it. I see many cars stuck traffic jams while countless motorbikes weave their way around the cars where they can. On the motorbikes I see men, women and children of all ages. On some there is only one passenger, others two and three and I once saw four. That’s four people on ONE motorbike! Thai people make it work. I walk on the sidewalk (cuz where else would I walk?) but sometimes its not much of a sidewalk at all. I usually also encounter people on motorbikes on the sidewalk going against traffic–hence why they are on the sidewalk. I also come across the same couple stray dogs on my walk every morning. Some are just taking a stroll while others are taking a nap under a strip of shade. I hardly see any other fellow pedestrians. I gather if Thai people don’t have their own car or motorbike, they make use of the motorbike taxis to get around. I mean seriously, who is crazy enough to walk in this heat? Oh yeah…I am. Crossing the final road before arriving at my school feels like death every time. It is a huge intersection with cars, buses, motorbikes and any other modes of transportation you can think of going in every direction. OK, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration given that there are traffic lights. BUT there are no traffic lights for pedestrians. That means I have to simultaneously look at every direction where cars could be possibly coming from. I think there are about 3 lanes in each direction (they aren’t really clearly marked and people just seem to drive anywhere anyhow).

Nearly every morning I have the same thought process. I walk out of my bulding and think, ‘oh its nice and fresh today,maybe today I wont get to school all sweaty and disgusting”. Unforuntely, it never fails to be only wishful thinking. As I make my journey to school I start to feel the hot Thai weather. I think its a combination of the wallking and humidity that makes it feel so–for a lack of a better word–nasty. The sun doesnt feel like its burning but somehow I still manage to get to school more than a little sweaty. At this point, however, I think Ive gotten used to it, or its gotten colder? Whatever the reason, it needs to stay like this 😛

On my way back to home from school its quite similar. I have to cross the death road and I encounter more motorbikes on the sidewalk driving towards me. As I turn the corner to get onto the street where my condo is located, I feel some relief. The day is over and I finally get to take off my school clothes and just relax in some shorts and a t-shirt and watch something while eating ice cream 🙂

 

 

It’s not you Thailand, it’s me: Feelings of inadequacy

Just the other day I was face timing with my sister and I mentioned that I felt inadequate, I don’t remember what I was referring to but she laughed and said that that was my favourite word. Earlier this year my sister and I did a bit of traveling around Europe and I seemed to refer to myself as ‘inadequate’ in many situations. Feeling inadequate has indeed been a re-occuring theme this past year and, just like the adventures, it seems to not let go.  In my previous post I mentioned that, thus far, living in Thailand has been hard. This is an expansion on that note. This post is a combination of facts about living in Thailand in addition to personal information that has made this transition particularly difficult. Mind you, it is quite long so continue reading at your own risk!

Living in Thailand has been hard for the obvious reasons. First off, the language. I came here speaking NO Thai. Seriously, like I didn’t even know how to say ‘hello’ or ‘thank you’. The decision to move here was so sudden I didn’t prepare at all. Right off the bat, I was feeling completely inadequate for Thailand. Not understanding the language is a hinderance to pretty much everything. And the fact that in the Thai language they don’t use roman letters makes everything all that much more difficult. I can’t even pretend to know what I’m reading or try and pronounce things. That means that searching for food is an everyday struggle. There are many little shops and restaurants around my condo where, in theory, I should easily be able to get food from. However, a huge language barrier exists. Getting around? I have managed to get myself from my condo to the mall and back, which is straight on the main road. I have no idea how to go anywhere else or what I would even find if I stray from the main road. Chonburi is a huge city and quite overwhelming. I won’t compare Chonburi to London because that would be unfair, however, the overwhelming feeling is similar.

Living in Thailand has also been very difficult for a few other, more personal, reasons. As mentioned in my previous post, I had been back home in California for a total of about 4 weeks before I took the job here in Thailand. I thought I wasn’t ready to go back to California, but being here now without my friends and family and essentially starting over again has been rough. My decision to come to Thailand came from a place of longing adventure and new experiences in a new place. I wasn’t nearly as afraid to leave again as I first was when I moved to London. I’m moving to Thailand for 4 months? Piece of cake, I lived in London for 12…As I made my decision I immediately regretted it, something just didn’t feel right. I suppressed that feeling as hard as I could because there was no turning back. I had agreed to the job and my flight was booked. I tried to pump my self up for the big move. There was still a feeling of uneasiness as the day of my departure approached. One day, my dad joked at the fact that it was ironic that I was moving halfway across the world to teach English when my own mother doesn’t even speak it. This hit me hard. That had never even crossed my mind…I laughed and tried not to think about it, after all, there was no turning back. My flight was scheduled to leave Tuesday at about 1am, which meant I was due to be at the airport Monday night. Monday morning I am awoken by my sister who is on the phone with my dad who is giving her the news that mom had an accident at work. My first thought was something between ‘is she alright?’ and ‘what the hell happened?’. My second thought was, ‘am I still going to Thailand?’. Turns out my mom caught her finger in a machine and her finger pretty much got destroyed. The accident was not life threatening and she was going to be OK. She was at the hospital all day so I only got to see my mom for a couple of hours before I left for the airport. It broke my heart to have to leave her in that state. It might not seem like a big deal given that it was not a major accident. But again this fact came to mind, the irony that my mother doesn’t speak that language that I am flying half way across the world to teach. It just didn’t seem right. The whole thing felt like a joke. It was stupid for me to take this job. Once again, feelings of inadequacy overcame me the more I dwelled on the thought of being here instead of with my mom.

I took this mentality with me across the pacific and into Thailand. The first week felt like one of the longest and most miserable weeks ever. All I could think about was my mom and how stupid it was that she was sitting at home, all alone while I was here, teaching kids the language I should be teaching my own mother. To make matters worse, I was completely alone. I knew no one and didn’t speak the language. I couldn’t understand anything and everything felt wrong, everything sucked! I really psyched myself out. I even considered leaving. Screw the money I already spent on airfare, rent, etc. I just wanted to be home. BUT, I have never been a quitter and I wasn’t going to start now. After all, it was only going to be 4 months. To say that I’ve started feeling better would be an overstatement, but guess I am getting used to living in Thailand and I am mentally preparing myself for the next few months that lay ahead. All I have to do is change the way I view my time here. Yes, it was pretty ridiculous that I was here and not there. Yes it is hard to get around, communicate and even find food. But I’m here, in freaking THAILAND. It isn’t Thailand’s fault I was miserable. I was making myself miserable. Thailand is, in fact, welcoming–because it is true, it is the land of smiles! I should take advantage of this and enjoy it for what it is.  I hate to admit that the thought of leaving still crosses my mind every single day.  I’ve been here for just over a month now and I don’t feel 100%, and I probably never will, but I do work on my mentality every single day. I only have 3 months left and at the end of the term one of my best friends is coming over travel around the country with me, this means I have something to look forward to! Truthfully, 3 months seem like an eternity but I’ve made it this far and I will survive! I think its about time to stop being a hermit and be more outgoing and socialise. It’s always better when you have friends around to share good times 🙂

I hope to finally starting writing about my everyday life in Chonburi as well as my life as an English teacher. Also, if you read through this entire post, thank you! Writing keeps me sane ❤

LHR>>SFO>>BKK

Just earlier this year I was living in London working on my masters degree. During my time there, I tried do explore a bit of Europe and the United Kingdom as well. I have been really bad at writing about what I did, saw and experienced. As of a month ago I have been living in Thailand working as an English teacher. This post is a not-so-brief update on how I went from London to Thailand, in the hopes that it rekindles my love for writing. Now that I have more time in my hands, I hope to recount my experiences in Europe as well as write about my thoughts and experiences while in Thailand.

I left London mid-September, went to Iceland for a week then arrived back in California towards the end of September. At the beginning, London was overwhelming, foreign and difficult. By the time it was time to leave, I has fallen deeply in love with the crazy city and was not ready to let go of the place that had been my home for the past 12 months. Due to a lack of funds and being jobless and homeless I saw no other option but to return. I was so afraid I would fall into a depression, as was every other time I’d traveled. I felt that I was returning to nothing. I was poor and with no job. Essentially, I was not ready to settle down and find a 9-5 job, I still felt adventurous and wanted to travel and explore foreign lands. What I was missing, however, was that I was going back to everything. In California I had loving a family and friends whom I hadn’t seen in a year. I had a roof over my head and FREE food! So when I returned instead of feeling sad, I felt happy and excited. Yeah I was broke and jobless, but who cared?! I had a place to live, food to eat and amazing family and friends. I was excited to reconnect with everyone and see how people and things had changed over the course of the year. Though the fact that I most definitely had to find a job was frightening, it was also invigorating. It was time for a new chapter in my life and I was ready to take it on. I had come to terms with the fact that I would ‘settle’ down, if only for a while, and make some money to begin paying off my massive student loan with the hopes of also saving some money for future travel plans.

I think all this is what made what happened next so hard. Within the first few days of my return I felt as if I had never left. I was full on back in the swing of things. Two weeks after my return I get an email that a school in Chonburi, Thailand as offering a job and if I wanted it was mine. Uhhhhh….Months before I had heard from a friend about opportunities to teach in Thailand so I had sent in my resume and necessary paperwork to see what would come of it. By this point, I had forgotten about it. The morning I received the email, my heart sank. This was it right?! The opportunity I wanted…a job AND a new adventure in a foreign land? I HAD to do it right?! I knew the moment I saw the email that I would end up taking the job. But I had to be rational first. Did I have the money to get there? Was this really a worthwhile opportunity? I had to run it through close friends and family first…As expected, by parents did not what me to leave. “But you just got back!” they said. And of course, they were worried about my safety. My sisters and friends where incredibly excited for me. If I had any doubt in my mind, their excitement pushed me towards my decision. So now I am here, in Chonburi, Thailand teaching English at a massive school of 4k+ students!

It’s crazy to think that I’ve managed to live in 3 different continents within this one year. 2014 has been crazy, in a good way (staying positive :)) It has been filled with countless experiences and adventures and it looks like this will spill over to 2015! Thus far, living in Thailand has been hard, to say the least. But I will leave this on hold ’til my next post!