House and Roommate

Many have requested pics of where I'm living!!! We have a great set up. There are four students living in the same place; Our Maa and Pa own a Preschool and are quite well off, so they have five different buildings. Jenessa (my roommate sipping coconut with me below), David, and Daniel are all in the same place. As you can see, our room is HUGE. The bathroom is typical Thai style...sink, toilet, and show just above. Quite the experience. We use the bucket when there's no water pressure. And luckily, we have toilet paper. halelujiah. (most places just have sprayers? A weird concept, I find).

The Thailand adventures continue! This past week was Buddha's birthday, deathday, and enlightenment day all rolled into one, which equaled a Thai celebration like no other. In honor of Buddha, we joined 10s of thousands of Thais in walking up Doi Suthep, a wat (temple) on top of a mountain. It was crazy! We left at 7:30 pm and walked for three hours until we made it to the top! The whole mountain road was lined with food stands and we enjoyed waffles stuffed with cream and shaped like fish and a banana waffle on a stick. There were so many people at the top, and the view was incredible. And we were tired. It took us just as long to get home; the whole mountain was blocked up by people and rot dangs (red trucks-the bus system we take), but we finally made it to home sweet sankamphaeng...at 3:30 in the morning :). Happy Birthday, Buddha!

Monks atop Doi Suthep

Mariah and I...tired of walking up mountains at night

To pamper our feet, we went to a Fish Spa on Saturday.

For $3 you can have fish eat the dead skin off your feet.

It tickles like mad.

Fish Therapy Directions (it really said this): "The first time you insert the foot, you will feel amused by the "invasion" of this fish...This small fish is happy to eat dead skin cells."

"It will not be dangerous and hurt your feet. Instead, you will feel as sense of amusement as smoked fish."

Just crazy.

So this guy put the snake head in his mouth. The same snakes I was in the cage with. Oh sweet payback.

The inside view of the snake cage. Notice the snakes lining the cement, in the corner, and not viewed are three on my right side and two curled up in a corner behind me. It was like Indiana Jones! But I didn't get any treasure. Only a mean poke by a stick.

This little bugger (the kid, not the snake) hid behind a tree and jumped out at me with this 8 foot long snake when we got to the magical snake farm. He then proceeded to pull me into the snake cage. His dad shut the door and then said, "don move, dey bite."

This was part of the snake show we saw. Yes, these cobras are real and venomous. They also did the same thing with rat snakes (the lightning quick ones I was in a cage with) but put their faces right up close. It was crazy!

Me. And a Boa Constricter. And a Thai content on feeding it to me.

Bear-backin' a water buffalo

Plowing the Rice Fields in nasty, glorious knee-deep mud

Hello Kitty + Gummies in my Ice Cream = Joy



Another fantastic week in Chiang Mai! Fortunately, things have calmed down a lot and even my municipality internship looks possible. It's been a wild ride so far. This weekend was awesome. Saturday we jumped on and rode water buffalo, we plowed a rice field, planted rice, went to a snake farm, swam in waterfalls, and drank milkshakes. pics and video forthcoming :). I also visited the largest Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai on Sunday. It's incredible to span across the world and feel the same spirit and see the same principles. Anyways, I better sign off, but know that I'm safe and doing well!

House Arrest of Sorts...

I'm sure a lot of you have seen the international news concerning the riots and attacks in Bangkok and across the northeast. We spent a very tense Wednesday night and Thursday watching what would happen. Yesterday (Thursday) we couldn't go into the city at all so we had a gathering of sorts at our host family's house in Sankamphaeng. No one was allowed to go to their internships, either. My internship with the municipality isn't looking too promising. It's under siege with bonfires and firecrackers. Still, there aren't too many people who can tell BYU that they can't go to their internship because it's on fire. Literally.

Sound grim? Things are looking much better! Though the underlying problems are far from over, the surface violence and differences seem to be under control. Today has been much calmer, the riots have stopped, and we went to our internships. They have an enforced curfew from 9 pm to 5 am until Friday. Lingering effects of what could have been a very bad situation for all of Thailand; it could have been much worse. So I'm safe and still loving Thailand, thinking that, after all of that, I'm still here to stay!

At the zoo with Emily

Monks' Robes

The Night Safari!!!

Wat U-Mong

Attending an agricultural conference

Sweet Sankamphaeng

I'm starting my first full week here in Thailand! 100 degree weather, high humidity, no makeup, delicious (and I mean DELICIOUS) food...this is the life. I love it here!

Highlights from the first week:

• Arriving
• Sikh Temple
• Night Safari: the best zoo EVER. and at night.
• Sticky Rice and Mangoes
  
• Sticky Rice and Sweet Pork
• Rice and Lemongrass Curry
• Rice and Curry
• Rice and Really spicy Curry
• Rice and Fish
• Rice and Chicken
• Rice
• Rice and Mushrooms
• Missing a turn riding our bikes home and biking 40 km.
• I have never biked farther on a more uncomfortable bike in my life.
• Buying incredible and unpronounce-able fruit at the market.
• And eating them.
  

Home Sweet Chiang Mai

After 30+ hours, 5 airports, 3 portioned meals, and 7 journal page entries, I arrived safe and travel worn in Chiang Mai Thailand. And what a place it is! 100 degree weather, humidity to match it, and all the most delicious fruit you could ever want. I love it here! Pics forthcoming, just letting you know I'm here and I'm happy to stay!

One Week Away...

Sawadeekaah!

As many of you know, in a week I will be leaving for Southeast Asia for the summer, to continue my passion for travelling and all things amazing. I'm so excited to be sharing it with you and am ohso grateful for all of you who have helped me get here :).

I'll be in Chiang Mai Thailand for the summer, interning at the municipality and doing research on the King's projects. During that time, I'll be having all sorts of adventures too, and so thought I could just create this blogspot so those of you who want to know what's going on can experience the Thailand awesomeness with me. NOTE: I've never blogged before, so apologies in advance. See you in 3 months!