laos and nong khai

The past weekend i went into Laos with everyone from cal poly in to Vienetiene for 1.5 days then onto Vieneveng for 2 more.
The capital was colonized by the french and they have a replica of the Arc DE triumph in France. Baguettes everywhere and lots of french food. We ate at an italian restaurant with some guy name Gino cooking (stereotype much). Excellent change of pace and the thin crust pizza with olives was excellent.

The I got on the local bus to VV it is a tourist town that is about 3 hours from the capital and nestles under some gorgeous mountains along the river. Everyone either goes kayaking or tubing down the river. There are all these bars along the river that you stop by and swing off rope swings or slides.

We went on a 1/2 day kayaking trip down some of the same stretch of the river and down to a sleeping cave that some of the Laos army used as a base back in the day. At night we mixed in with all the other kids from all over the world. mostly from isreal, europe, and austraili. It seemed to be a destination for rock climbers, outdoorspeople, and young people haha. So many interesting stories to be heard.

Last week, I stayed with an Isaan (thai) family for one week in Ban suka. It is about 30 mins away from NOng Khai and i toook the bus to class every morning and back every night.

They live really simply, but still are happy. I got to play with the band tonight in preparation for the rocket festival (kinda like 4th of july). They shoot off rockets to start off the rainy season and have a parade and party too. All the men like to bet on which rocket will stay up the longest.
These rockets were huge and there were not many safety gates or anything.

The family was similar to ours. Mom, Dad's a mechanic, son (17) and daughter (18)
They spoke almost no english and i worked on my thai alot.

We learned traditional dancing to be part of the parade. The parade was so beautiful with all the traditional dress and floats. The only downside was that the temperature was 101 with full sun. I was sweating so much and had to wear all this white make up from 9am till about 5pm.

Wednesday night Some of the students participated in a fashion show with traditional Thai Dress. We were pared up with a thai person and had to walk in front of about 400 people on a giant stage in the village. A beauty pageant was going on at the same time and people were enjoying live music all night.


The campus I am on now is more like a community college. it is nice and there is an english camp for thai going on at the same time so we hang out with them often. they show us all the cool spots in nong khai while we help them practice english.

Last Day in Chiang Mai

Well, it's my last day in Chiang Mai.
Tomorrow I leave for sukothai which was the first capital of the northern thai people also known as the Lanna people.

Bus ride for 3 hours to an elephant preserve where elephants will paint and do other things like that. Then onto some ruins that are thousands of years old. I'm look forward to it, but it is supposed to be the hottest day of the year when we are supposed to wander around during the day of this ancient city :-(

Tonight I went to a lovely little organic restaurant named blue diamond and had a tofu and avocado sandwich on home made bread. It was my last chance to get some western food before Nong khai. The i bought some dried tamarind that tasted like a cross between a date, fig, and an orange. SO Yummy. It is also used in mexican cooking so luckily it can be found in cali.

Nong Khai is about 60000 people and very influence by laos and vietnam. The is a famous vietnamese restaurant there that people from all of thailand come to. They even have boxed meals at the airport from the same restaurant.

We are right across from laos and i plan to take a 3 day trip into it. They were colonized by the french and prices are in american dollars. The only bummer is that to go into the country costs $35 each time. They are still not quite as modern as thailand, but cambodia is way worse.

I love the comparative societies class that i am enrolled in while im here. We are focusing on south east asia. i get to see the history and the history in the making. Thailand has a history of using such great diplomacy when it comes to dealing with other nations. we could learn a few things from them. For example, Thailand makes most of all the automobiles and motorcycles in south east asia. They told all the manufacturers from outside the country that if they wanted to import vehicles there would be a high tariff. The other option was to do a joint venture with thai's owning 51% and they would get incentives to build in thailand.

Thailand gets jobs and long lasting companies to stimulate their economy. Automakers get slightly cheaper labor,employee acceptance, and security. This amongst other things has helped thailand go from having close to 50% in poverty about 60 years ago to less than 2% today. Thailand's people are some of the bets off in southeast asia if not the entire east.

2 nights ago, all the girls on the trip went on a dinner cruise along the Ping river here. We all got dressed up and it was so fun. All the lights at night made for a memorable last nights here in this city. The cutest part was that all these thai couples were sitting by the river and just talking. Since they are not really in PDA here; most of the time they just sit, talk, and hold hands which is so wholesome compared to back home.

Last Weekend in Chiang Mai

Cooking school

I can now cook 5 Thai dishes. Yellow Curry, cashew chicken, vegetable soup, spring rolls, and mango sticky rice.

4 friends and I attended a cooking class at a Thai Organic Farm from 9-4 yesterday. We learned why they farm in the way they do, plant uses, and of course how to cook. We picked our fruits and vegetables our out of the farm then proceeded to cook with them the rest of the day. That’s what you call fresh.

Everything was loaded with flavor and with so many yummy vegetables. I even made curry paste from scratch. We made 3 dishes then ate them under a beautiful patio surrounded by banana trees. I think I ate the most food out of the whole trip yesterday. After lunch and a 1 hour break we started to make spring rolls and my personal new addiction of mango with sticky rice.

The mangos put the ones we get to shame. The dish consists of fresh mangos over sticky rice and coconut milk. I was so happy to finally learn a little about the real Thai way of cooking.

It is our last week in Chiang Mai. I will miss this place because it has such great northern Thai culture, but I am ready for a sleepy river town consisting of bikes and relaxing. The place we are staying at is famous for its laid back attitude and beautiful scenery.

I am lucky.

The north

First of all, I am FAR away form the riots in Bangkok. They are almost over/ending and pretty much only involve Thai People.

This past weekend, I took a 4 day loop in northern Thailand.

Bus to Chiang Rai

A nice air con bus that took about 4 hours to get to chiang rai. It was a double decker and cost 175 baht each (about $5). I sat next to a thai man that told me all about his two “children” aged 27 and 29. In Thailand, parents stay close to their children through their whole lives even through adulthood. Parents and children will often live in the same house much longer and sometimes for life. Maybe that’s why so many generations live in one house. A violent but good movie starring the thai version of jackie chan was on.

The funniest part was that we got on the bus and drove for about 5 mins until we pulled over on the middle of the road to a random stand. All of a sudden people from the bus company jump on with water and snacks. MUCH more efficient then trying to sort all of this out on the bus on at the bus terminal.

Chiang rai

A lot like Chiang Mai, but smaller about the size of Davis, California. VERY relaxing atmosphere, beautiful market.

Boat ride Favorite part

A five hour long boat ride upriver to Tah Ton. Stunning, right out of movie. I was one of ten people (5 in our group) that was able to ride on this motorized boat 6 inches from the water. I could see water buffalo, fish, the countryside, and scenery. This brought me so close to the land and relaxed me. In some parts we wouldn’t see human life for about an hour then come upon a nameless little village nestled in the middle of some rice paddies. I felt as if I was climbing up a snake because of all the curves in the river.

Chang dao

Super hot and finally got to the caves. We explored the underground caves that we quite open. There were many Buddha’s in the cave. Luckily we had lights to venture off the lighted section further into the caves. An older polish man led us to a underground lake that was crystal clear and magnificent. Reminded me of the moaning caverns in northern California.

Chiang mai

As we returned to Chiang Mai, we could see more and more people celebrating Songkran. Songkran is the celebration of new year in Thailand. Chiang Mai is the center of this whole week long celebration. Basically everyone pours water on everyone else. It comes from pouring holy water to cleanse you for the new year, but it has turned into a city/region wide all out water war. People arm themselves with buckets/ squirt guns, and water cannons. People ride on pick-up trucks and splash the people flooding the streets. It was chaos and so wet all day. No one is safe and everyone is good natured. There are a few stages with people dancing and blasting music. Great fun!

I'm on a boat

Songkran

Caving

Studying at Chiang Mai University

This morning I came early (10am haha) to the computer lab on the fourth floor of 8 at Chaing Mai University.

The lure of free internet, access at the hotel costs 25 baht an hour, and air con basically forced me to come in early. Also that means i can update this more often.

We are becoming a regular site around CMU. We still stick out quite a bit. Not only are we taller and broader than most, we wear colors. Let me explain the scene. Almost all the students wear black bottoms (guy in pants gals in skirts) and starched white collared shirts. They look so professional and i wish our university would adopt this dress code in leiu of flip flops and sweatpants.

My thai in improving each day. I am the best at numbers and food. I am trying to take it seriously because i get so frustrated with myself not knowing much Thai. I can't just strike up a convo and this time the error is on my side since i am in their country.

A few nights ago, we met two thai friends out by the front of tesco and they invited us to meet the rest of their friends at a club called warm-up.

Now this club by the sheer set up is much like the US, but what goes on is entirely different. The thai's tend to stick in single gender groups around tables rather than mixing together on an open dance floor. The range of motion of their dancing is about 1/3 of ours.

There is more focus on the music rather than the grinding which is quite refresing.

I got a small glimpse of insight into the lives of the thais my age because one of our new friends studied in Australian for a year and his English was excellent. He was able to discuss the differences between American/Australian vs Thai behavior.
This weekend marks the start of Songkran festival. The new year celebration the involves a city wide water fight. People roam the streets on foot, bike, or pick up truck in search of the next target. it lasts for about 6 days with the highest point around Wednesday.

A group of 6 of us will be heading north for a few days to chiang rai then down to chiang dao for a few days. We take a bus north to spend a night in the lower part of the golden triangle then journey by bamboo raft down the river to teton(spelling?) to spend a night in this charming little town and finally end up in a haven for caving in chiang dao..

Swimming under a waterfall

New thai friends

Rafting down the river (im standing up in white)

Playing impromtu with a hill tribesman

Open air market

Me in front of the king and queen

Riding an elephant

playing my new drum on the roof

Drinking at our favorite bar across the street (chang beer)

Coffee one Afternoon

Hey guys i put new pictures up here

http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu355/dvigent/

sorry to keep linking you

Thrown into the land of thai

One week has passed in this oasis of beauty interlaced with Choas

Chiang Mai is a city of opposites.

Wats (Buddhist temples) are nearly every block, but so are 7-11's.
The opposites are so striking and the people seem to not notice the thousands of years difference in architecture and design.

Motorbikes, cycles, taxis, tuk-tuks, people, cars, and buses all intermingling and weaving.
NO collisions but inches separate cars and motorbikes each day.

Everything is teetering upon chaos, yet nothing has fallen/broken. the people accept the way things are and the efficiency that this country has in almost every aspect is rather remarkable

So far we have done a whole lot -
- open air markets day an night brimming with food and goods to buy

- Hike up a mountain to a Wat on the hill
(it was about 11km with a killer grade than another 306 steps to the top)

- Muay Thai fighting match was loud and we bet with other locals and farangs
these guys and girls really put them selves into the match

- Factory tours of pottery/jewlery/woodworking/silverware

- Just mixing in with the people, going to class and eating alot
street vendors have the best food around and everywhere is littered with restaurants

People of all different classes and races are all mixed together here
a shack will be right next to a huge modern shopping mall
some people walk and others drive suv's

It makes me more grateful for everything that i have here and all the luxuries i can afford

the other thing that i regret to inform everyone stateside is that we are loud, materialistic, and often plagued by our lust as compared to the people here.

no place is perfect, but I can argue that some aspects of Thailand are better than in our own society

I'll never disown America and it's ways, but i will surely add some elements of Thai culture into my own everyday life once back



(more pictures to come when my internet is a little faster )