The up coming week

I will be in Laos for the next week starting tonight! I'll see you in a week when I get back to electricity and internet!

Shopping... On Crack

It seems like Thailand has been able to take (most) things I love and make them 10000 times better. It was love at first sight when I first laid eyes on Future Park.

5 floors of pure bliss

 Food, weather, prices, and people's general attitude have seemed to follow suit. As much as I love shopping and searching for bargains, Thailand has made clothes shopping difficult and borderline depressing. The people here are so petite I like to call them "Miniature Humans" because that's what they really are. Women walk around wearing "dresses" that I can barely consider a shirt. A lot of their sizes are called "free size" which is a huge joke because there is nothing convenient about it. Since our luck had been running out at Future Park; Rosie, Sarah, and I headed into the city to visit a mall called Platinum to see what they had to offer us. Platinum has 6 floors with 3 different "zones". Huge. Probably bigger than the city of Beaverton.

On the right is a small section of Platinum

Platinum ended up being another stab at our self-esteem. It was cool because it was wholesale so if you bought 3 or more of something it was cheaper but once again sizing was an issue. Making matters worse the stores wouldn't allow you to try anything on. It was the most bizarre and frustrating experience in a mall ever. On the off-chance that something might have fit I couldn't be sure, so I didn't bother purchasing it. Luckily there was one shop owner that helped us out a lot complete with a make-shift "dressing room". The 3 of us girls took turns holding up a blanket while 1 of us changed behind it. We all ended up finding a pair of shorts that fit (size Large) so it was a success for both parties. After Platinum we headed to 2 other huge malls and just poked around. Out of boredom we hit up their movie theater; which of course, is also movie theater on crack. The place was ginormous and state-of-the-art. You had to pick out where you wanted to sit before you got into the show. When you got to sit down the seats were basically leather recliners. They were big and fluffy leather seats that reclined. It was the most comfortable movie theater experience of my life. NCG Cinemas take notes. A huge bonus to the theater was the bathrooms, you never realize how amazing toilet paper and paper towels are until they're gone. 

I'd also like to take a moment to recognize just a few of the entertaining signs that sprinkle the roads of Bangkok everyday.

WE DO NOT CHECK ID CARD

Good to know

Emperor's New Groove?

Pink nipple cream--FINALLY! Been looking all over for that stuff.

Leo... Even Thai's can appreciate a beautiful man

Good Combination

Thailand just looking out for personal safety!

Buddhist Funeral

On Monday we got to experience a different part of the Buddhist religion. Unfortunately, one of our coordinators, Dr. Soparth's husband died of cancer last week. As a result we went to the funeral to show our support and see the differences between our funerals and theirs. The first thing we had to do when we got there was take our shoes off and walk over to an alter-thing, kneel down, and bow 3 times. After that you could walk over to the casket area which wasn't open but propped up and closed. Before all the services Dr. Soparth invited us to have dinner which was huge and delicious for the most part. When dinner was finished we sat and waited for the funeral to start. With the extreme heat it felt like forever. Once it started Monks sang prayers which we couldn't understand. It was really quick after that though. Our group was afraid that the funeral would be awkward since we didn't actually know the man, but there was no mourning. I didn't see one tear shed. It seems like Thai's celebrate death instead of fear it.

P'Nai's B-day/Cha Am

Just like Mom used to make!

Tube o' Beer anyone?

       BIRTHDAY!
This weekend was a very eventful one! Friday we had P'Nai's  birthday to celebrate! He turned 27. Our group; Sarah, Rosie, Chelsea, Jordan, Chad, Ben, Nai, and Bao (actually spelled Pao) and myself went to dinner and a bar. Our restaurant was a local place not far from AIT but the food was wonderful! My stomach was still a little queezy from the day before so I tried to take it easy, but it was hard. We had pig leg (which I know, might sound gross.), fried bread (genius), little riblets, and a couple other dishes. Then we headed off to the "Monkey Show Beer Garden". This place was so awesome. It was a huge bar with this huge stage that constantly had acts going on. It varied from popular Thai music, traditional Monkey Show (The tale of the evil Demon king and his monkey army), all the way to a Thai girl lip-syncing to Katy Perry's "California Girls". Of course I also can't forget everyone's favorite; the lady-boy show!

Another cool part of this bar was the way they served beer. Serving beer individually in mugs has already been done, so they serve it out of a 5-liter tube! We were dancing and having fun when we see a little girl trying to get her uncooperative little brother to dance with her. Naturally Rosie came to the rescue and danced with the little girl. Cutest. Thing. Ever.
My stomach didn't allow me to partake in as much fun as everyone else was having, but it was very entertaining to sit back and watch. A 3-liter tube came around after the 5-liter was quickly emptied and P'Nai started to get a little more loud than usual. P'Pao also surprised him with a birthday cake!

Make A Wish!

CHA AM!

Happy because we just got a $20 hotel room

Early on Saturday morning after a long Friday night we decided to take a little weekend trip to Cha-Am, a beach about 3 hours south of AIT. Unfortunately a member of our group, Chelsea couldn't go because she had to do something for her internship. After a couple mis-communication because of our language barrier it was 10:30am and we were on the sunny beach! We went to the first hotel we saw and got a room for about 800 baht, so we said we'll take it. We laid out on the beach for hours soaking up as much sunshine as we could. Of course with my luck I somehow managed to get a bug bite on my bottom lip and had it swell up a little and itch. At least it wasn't food poisoning this time!

Oh, Hi Sarah!

Sugar at our breakfast. "For the good time"

After a couple hours of that, Sarah, Rosie, Jordan and I went to the spa and got an hour-long Thai massage for a whopping 199baht or roughly $6. It was a very successful day. That night we went across the street to the Happy Bar and walked around town but the early morning wake up and all-day sun exposure took most of our energy and we were out pretty early. The most memorable part of our walk down the strip was that it was basically all bars but they followed a pattern "(Insert Noun Here) Bar". For example we saw: "Happy Bar", "Butterfly Bar", "Silver Bar", "Funny Bar" "Unknown Bar", "Biker Bar" etc. It was actually really funny. The next morning (Sunday) we got up and went to the beach for a little bit again. This time the boys and girls parted ways more or less, and us girls went back to the spa and got an hour long facial/head massage for about $10. I guess you could say we spoiled ourselves this weekend, but now I know how these Thai women age so gracefully! If we had spa treatments that easily available we might be a little less stressed! For lunch we finally had something we were familiar with--PIZZA! I can't remember the last time I was so excited to see a pizza! For a weekend at the beach in Thailand including meals, massages, and transportation I spent about $40... I think I can get used to this.

Sarah, Chad, Rosie, and Ben.

The ridiculous glass my drink got served in at the Happy Bar

The Week So far...

This past week was very long and exciting. As mentioned before on Monday we went to the old capital of Ayutthaya. On Tuesday we had class and then had a delicious dinner with the assistant dean of AIT and other important faculty members at the golf club restaurant on campus. It seriously like something out of a movie. We ate out on the pier with soft lighting, a table full of food, and big mugs of Singha (the local beer). After our large meal consisting of a lot of unknown ingredients we ended with fruit and delicious coconut ice cream. 

So cute!

So much trash. So sad.

Wednesday we took an all-day field trip to Duang Prateep Foundation and the slums. This is a foundation that cares for children living in the slums and gives them education and keeps them out of trouble. They were a big help with the tsunami victims too. We got to see some of the children. They were so nice and adorable and one little girl kept going up to each of us saying "Sah-wah-tee-kah!" ("Hello!") and then "waiing" or folding your hands together and bowing. 

After getting done visiting there, one of our resource people P'Nai took us to the ancient city where we rode bikes around and visited the floating market which was amazing and beautiful much like everything else here. 

P' Nai leading the way!

Rosie and Sarah ready to ride bikes!

Then we climbed up an old monument on a cliff consisting of about 1945857474 steps! It was a long and hot walk but the view was well worth it. After the bike ride we were all exhausted from the sun and travel we decided to head back to AIT for a "short nap" that turned into 2 hours (3 for some of the other people in the group). That night we decided to just chill out on campus and ate at the cafeteria which has bad food. And that is where my trouble started. I got something called garlic chicken. It wasn't very good, but I was hungry so I ate it. All the rest of the night up through the wee hours of the morning I was hugging the toilet and throwing up. It was incredibly miserable. I couldn't get to sleep until around 5. We had a field trip that same morning at 8am that I was really looking forward to. Unfortunately I felt too sick to go, so I stayed on campus while everyone else went. :( I'm sad that I missed the trip because it sounded like they had fun, but I'm happy I stayed back because now I feel 100% better. It's Friday afternoon now, and we might be going to the beach this weekend. 

Old Capital

Beautiful! Looks like a postcard, but I was really there!

Proof that money grows on trees

Buddha

So cute!!

Yesterday was fantastic. After a 2 hour lecture our professor took us on an excursion to the old capital of Thailand, Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya was very important in Thai history because it was the capital and a major port city. We then went to ancient ruins, a museum, and ended it all with an elephant ride! Today has been less adventurous. Our 2-hour class in the middle of the day conveniently got canceled so it turned into a pool day. Something I'm definitely not complaining about considering it's 20 degrees at home. Tomorrow and Thursday we have all-day field trips that should make for a more exciting entry!

View from our entrance way

The nice pool

Our group waiting for the bus

Conference center

AIT/Bangkok First Week

I'm a little late in starting this blog, but I've been so incredibly busy with so many things that it's hard to find time to sit down and write this. My first week at AIT has been incredible. I've seen, ate, heard, and experienced so many different things it's hard to put it all into words. Bangkok is everything I imagined plus much more. It hard to put a whole week into one blog post, so I'll break down everything as a whole to get a better picture of it all.

Weather

Jordan and I waiting for the rest of our group- OUTSIDE!

Of course I must start with the weather. Going from 14 degrees to 80 has been one of the easiest transitions of my entire life. The sun is literally always shining. On our most overcast day you can see rays of sun poking out from the clouds. Since it's winter here the humidity is not bad at all and the sun is going down around 6 something at night. Since our classes started it's a little unfortunate we don't have time to enjoy it as much because we have three 2-hour blocks of classes everyday.  Starting at 10am and going until 6 with breaks in between. Once summer starts in mid-February the humidity, heat, and daylight time will all increase drastically. I can't say that I'm not excited.

Food

Another important aspect of Thai life is the food. The meals are unlike anything else in the U.S. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all the same type of food. There is no cereal or pancakes or burgers around here. I think I may have eaten more rice in the past week than I have in my entire life. I really love most of the food though. It's very spicy by my standards but in a good way! Food is literally sold everywhere too. Street vendors are all around selling everything from "meat on a stick" to Pad Thai, and even fried insects (taste like sunflower seeds). They're way of holding a fork and a spoon to eat everything is different too! My favorite part of it all is that a standard meal will be about 40-60 baht, so roughly $1-$2. Our adviser, P'Bao says that she eats out everyday and doesn't even have a kitchen. I have been missing the occasional American meal, but the food is fantastic here.

Campus

Our campus is about 20 miles north of Bangkok which is almost an hour with the horrible traffic that is here. It's certainly a lot smaller than Michigan State's campus. Our rooms are nice in the sense that they're big, have semi-comfortable beds, air-conditioning, and a balcony but it ends there. We DO NOT have HOT WATER! You can only take cold showers. It's one of the most miserable things ever. Even with it being warm out, it's so hard have ice cold water splashing on you. Our internet is really bad here in the rooms too and kicks you off a lot. There's a lot of stagnant water all over which produces a ton of mosquitoes. I have so many bug bites on my legs that it looks like chicken pox. Aside from that it's really cool. We have a huge pool that is a lot of fun. There is also stray dogs and cats all over that are cute. They don't bother you at all. There are huge monitor lizards too. They kind of look like kimodo dragons, but aren't dangerous. I really like the campus and it's very beautiful.

People

I can say that 99.9% of all the people we meet here are some of the nicest I've ever met. Everyone loves to help you, and they thinks the "fa-rong" (foreigners) are so cute. If you have trouble understanding each other they'll apologize for having bad English as if my Thai is even existent. It's so cute. They're a very touchy culture as well. They grab your arms or hands a lot when they talk to you. They're always quick to try to teach you different Thai words and phrases. It's very refreshing to be around people like that. The only people that have been hit and miss with us are taxi drivers. We've had some that are so nice and cute, but then we've also had some that have scammed us. It's very annoying and the language barrier can be difficult sometimes. Luckily our adviser/helper P'Bao and some of her friends help us all the time as much as they can. We would probably be lost in Bangkok right now without them.

I'll be trying to post more frequently as much as I can.