Chiang Mai Round 2

My second trip to Chiang Mai was equally as great as when I went for Loy Krathong. On our first day in the city my mom and I got the chance to go ziplining at the national park! It was so much fun to be jumping and flying through the rain forest. On Sunday we went to Baan Chang Elephant Park and helped take care of their rescued elephants for the day. It was so much fun!! The rest of the time in Chiang Mai we checked out night markets, visited wats, and went on a river boat dinner cruise.

Getting ready for ziplining at The Flight of the Gibbon.

At the end they lowered you down on a rope next to a huge 90 foot tall tree. 

We saw monks chanting at Wat Phra Singh,

There were so many awesome night markets!

Me and my girls getting excited for our day at the elephant park.

One of the baby elephants could give kisses. I had NO idea what was going on at first and even tried to stop this cutie from doing her thing!

We did a 1 hour trek on the back of our elephant through the countryside. 

Dinner at The Riverside Bar and Restaurant. 

River boat dinner cruise celebrating our completed algae research project! Woo!

Mom in BKK!

My mom arrived in Thailand on December 4th and we spent 4 days in Bangkok before heading up north to Chiang Mai (I loved it so much that I wanted my mom to be able to see it too!). While she was in Bangkok we went to the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun, did a canal tour, and a cooking class. It was packed full

of activities, but we had a lot of fun. 

Mom at the Grand Palace..

We had a wonderful tour guide at the palace and I learned a lot about Thai culture from the perspective of the older generation. 

Outside the Grand Palace Throne Hall that incorporates the architecture styles of both traditional Buddhist wats and French colonial buildings.

Me in front of the reclining Buddha at Wat Pho. There is a massage school on site and we were both treated to the best Thai massages in town.

The next day we did a canal tour with the best tour guide in Bangkok, Sunny.

Mom and Sunny.

Mk, my mom, Emily, and I all took a Thai cooking class and made so many delicious dishes! YUMMM

Tom yum soup with shrimp.

Chicken and cashew nut sir fry.

Green curry with chicken!

Mango with sticky rice...most delicious dessert in Thailand!

Loy Krathong

A few weeks ago I went on an amazing trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand with 9 other UNC students and our TA Tom! One of Tom's old friends from high school lives there and she took us under her wing for the week. The main reason we went up to Chiang Mai was because Tom told us the Loy Krathong festival is very big there. The poing of the festival is to pay homage to the river goddess and make floats out of banana leaves and flowers and float them in rivers as an offering and to "say sorry" for using and polluting the water all year. We did some site seeing while we were there, made our own krathongs, and participated in the lantern festival. It was an unforgettable week and I'm so glad I got to go with all my friends here.

On the first day we all went to Wat Prathat on Doi Suthep, a very famous mountain temple.

Group picture at Wat Prathat!

The air was about 15 degrees cooler than in Bangkok and it felt amazing.

Group picture at the highest point in Thailand.

After that we made our krathongs with help from Tom and Sugar!

I was very proud of mine :)

First night of the lantern festival.

Sparklers, fireworks, and lanterns...what more could you ask for?

Getting ready to set our lantern free! You make a wish before letting it go and hope your wish will come true in the next year.

There were so many lanterns and fireworks! It was one of the most magical  things I've ever seen.

My friends and I around a lantern!

Thanksgiving in Thailand

Despite being out of the country on this American holiday, we had an amazing time celebrating Thanksgiving here in Bangkok. On Thursday I woke up and had a delicious lunch of noodles and fried pork. While this is not a traditional Thanksgiving meal, I was thankful to have such tasty food. I decided that since I have had the same foods on Thanksgiving for 19 years, I might as well eat Thai food because this year I am thankful for being able to spend time in this amazing country.

A not-so-American Thanksgiving meal.

For dinner on Thursday, all of the UNC study abroad kids went to a nearby "meat buffet" where you get as much meat you want and grill it at your table. The buffet also includes rice, curry, carrots, zucchini, french fries, and other tasty side dishes. It was quite an eclectic Thanksgiving meal, but we were all happy to be celebrating Thai-style, with our family here. We have all grown close and we depend on each other, so I don't think anyone was upset with having to spend this family-oriented day together. I sat at the table watching my friend Keith cook the meat, eating french fries with chopsticks, chowing down on massaman curry, and smiled because at that moment, life was really good. I am thankful for so much in my life and I know I'll never forget the Thanksgiving I spent in Bangkok with my study abroad family.

Mk and I at the meat buffet eating french fries with chopsticks!

On Friday morning, right after waking up, I received a beautiful photo of my family back home and I knew that they were all happy for me and I for them. While we missed each other on this special day, we all know that we have so much to be thankful for.

Cutest family I ever did see.

The festivities didn't end on Thursday for me though! One of our Thai friends organized a pot luck on Saturday night and we all had a blast. The 15 UNC students, 5 American teachers living in the area, a few exchange students from Europe, and some of our closest Thai friends all got together to have a more traditional Thanksgiving meal. There was still lots of rice and Thai curries, but the spread also included pie, apple crisp, mashed potatoes, and chicken! Those are sort of American, right?? I was very excited to make the apple crisp because we are the only apartment with a microwave. MK found a recipe online and I headed to the "Big Tesco" to get ingredients. I don't bake or cook much at home and felt pretty grown up going to the grocery store, getting all the ingredients, and figuring out how to make enough apple crisp for 25 people with just 4 medium size ceramic bowls and a microwave. Oh, and I didn't have any form of measuring cup! After many Google searches on "how many grams are in a cup of (insert ingredient)" I resigned myself to the fact that anything tastes good if enough butter and sugar are added. And boy, was I right. I guesstimated all of the ingredients and the apple crisp turned out delicious! I was so proud of myself.

My friend Christian and I also embarked on a journey involving "no-bake" cheesecake mix. We ended up with two delicious pies: one pumpkin cheesecake and one peanut-butter chocolate cheesecake. We were the hit of the party!

Now, you might be wondering why I'm going into such great detail on the preparation of these desserts. For me, they were kind of symbolic of my growth here in Thailand. Last Thanksgiving I stressed about how much sugar went into the apple pie, exactly what dish to use, and how it would turn out. Since living on my own in a foreign country I have become much more relaxed about everything and realized that it is SO not worth it to sweat the small things in life. So, yes, I just made a few desserts on my own, big whoop!? But for me, it's more than that. I now know that I can survive on my own, if absolutely necessary, and that I am a capable adult that can totally cook microwavable apple crisp for 25 of my closest friends.

Bangkok Standard Chartered 10K

Most people that are reading this blog know that running is not my favorite thing. But I have come to like it in Thailand for a few reasons. One is that my close friend here, Emily, ran cross country in high school and has completed many half marathons and one full marathon. She likes running and made it her goal in the beginning of the semester to get me to like it as well. She has persuaded me to go running with her most days and eventually I began to look forward to our nightly jogs. Another reason is that there is a great park next to our apartments that has a nice 1k loop. It is always "bumpin'" (as I like to say) in the evenings with lots of Thai people running, walking, chatting, playing badminton, and even playing ping pong. 

Photo I snapped of the sunset while running one evening. 

Exercise is an important part of modern Thai culture and people-watching at the park is a fun way for me to see what's going on with the rest of my community. At the park, we always try to run at 5pm or a little bit after 6pm because every single night at 6 the "King's Anthem" comes over a loud speaker and everyone stops and listens respectfully to the song dedicated to the beloved King. This song plays in most every public place in Thailand at 6pm and before all movie showings. But it really messes up your flow if you're in the middle of a run and must come to a halting stop! But anyway, I've started to enjoy running here and thought there was no better way to show my love for running and Bangkok than to participate in the 2013 Standard Chartered 10k race downtown.

Emily and I at the starting line!

If you look closely you can see the huge mass of people running in the race. 

Running over a bridge downtown was one of the coolest things I've done in Thailand. The roads were shut down and it was very surreal to be jogging across the river while the sun came up with thousands of other people. 

We did it! (Emily and I after the race)

R is for Research!

Hello everybody!! It's been a while since I last blogged, but do not fret, I have not been up to anything interesting that you have missed. The past month has been filled with long hours devoted to researching, studying, and compiling data for school projects. One project for my class in Life Cycle Assessments is a term paper on the production and use of diesel as a transportation fuel in Thailand. This class has been very interesting and very applicable to my future career goals. Ajarn Shabbir teaches us to not just look at the object you just bought, but to think about everything that went into the production of that object. How did it get to you? Is it made of plastic? Where did that plastic come from? How many liters of crude oil went into the making of that product? Where was that crude oil extracted? I think you get the point. I now have a different outlook in regards to sustainability and know that there is a lot more to a product that meets the eye. The other project I'm doing is to assess the feasibility of producing biofuels derived from algae in Bangkok. Dang, just typing those, I sound smart! But really I have had a lot of help from other classmates and teachers and this has been a huge learning process. I'd say 70% of the past 2 months has been spent banging my head against the table, crippled by frustration, only to realize I was over thinking the task at hand and that the answer was right in front of me. I've learned a lot about the research process and it's an invaluable skill to learn. After many exclamations proclaiming none of us will "ever go to graduate school" after seeing what actually goes into publishing an article, I am very glad that I have had this opportunity to develop as a student and member of the scientific community while still an undergraduate.


So far I've completed one final exam and turned in my term project on diesel in Thailand today! Tomorrow I have a big presentation on our findings so far with biofuels from algae in Bangkok and then I have finals on Friday and Monday. After that I'm going to travel to the north of Thailand for a week and be back in Bangkok just in time for my Mom to come and visit me! The first week she is here I am going to show her all the rad spots downtown and then we are headed to Chiang Mai for a zip-line adventure and a day at an elephant conservation park. After four days full of adventure in Chiang Mai, we fly down south to the beautiful island of Railay for the remainder of her stay in the land of smiles. She'll head home the 17th of December and I'll have five days to pack up my life in Bangkok and head home. It's kind of weird to even think about not living here, but I've missed my family, friends, and probably most of all (no offense Mom and Dad) my dog. I have made a life for myself here and I love it, but Chapel Hill will always be my home.

Say Wat?

Andrew and I had a quick flight from Bangkok to Siem Reap Monday night and were graciously welcomed at the Golden Takeo Guesthouse. We had an early start Tuesday morning and were driven to 7 temples by our awesome tuk-tuk driver, Titi.

Andrew and I about to start our first day of exploring in Cambodia.

First, we rode about 15km out to Kbal Spean Waterfall where there were beautiful carvings in the rushing river. The hike up to the waterfall was a pleasant 2km and we enjoyed the scenery along the way and welcomed the challenge of the hike.

The ride out to the waterfall was one of our favorite parts of the trip. We rode through rural towns and the scenery was amazing.

Carvings in the water. 

 After that we went around to a bunch of temples along the "outer loop" of Angkor Wat. I didn't realize before going, but there are hundreds of temples at Angkor. You could spend weeks exploring them all but we just had a few days, so we saw about 15 in our 3 days.

It was a beautiful day. This is one of my favorite pictures from that day!

On Wednesday, we were joined by Mary-Katherine and Emily! We went to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, and then watched the sunset on the top of Phnom Bakheng hill.

The gang in front of Angkor Wat.

The faces at Bayon.

View of Bayon from the back entrance.

 After visiting the main temples of Angkor we then headed to Phnom Bakheng hill to watch the sunset. We rode elephants up the mountain and it was so fun! I've always wanted to ride an elephant and we were all giddy with excitement.

Hitching a ride up the mountain :)

It was a beautiful sunset and a great way to end the day.

On Thursday, our last day in Siem Reap, we all woke up at 4:30am so we could watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat. It was very peaceful and definitely worth waking up for.

Andrew and I after we watched the sunrise.

 

After the sunrise we headed to see a floating village and forest. They were both so awesome! It was about an hour tuk-tuk ride to the river where we got in longboats and went out to the floating village. We then had the opportunity to get in a small canoe-like boat and go through the floating forest and along the canals of the village. The forest was breathtaking and the village was interesting to see. 

Andrew and I in the floating forest.

A glimpse of a home in the floating village.

  

We got a picture of the four of us with the best tuk-tuk driver in the world, Titi!

 After a long day, Andrew and I took a taxi to Phnom Penh because our flights back were the next day. I don't have any pictures from our day of exploring in Phnom Penh Friday because we went to the Killing Fields and S-21. Both of these landmarks are places where people were tortured and killed during the Khmer Rouge regime. It was depressing to learn all about the atrocious actions of the Khmer Rouge during that time but Andrew and I were both glad we went because the exhibits were very well done and we learned a lot. I got on a plane that afternoon and headed back to Bangkok, a little sad. I was sorry to say goodbye to my big brother and also subdued from the long day of hearing about the millions of innocent Cambodians that were killed in the genocide that took place in the 1970s. 

All in all though, Andrew's visit was amazing and we both couldn't believe how much fun we had together. We will always remember our week together in Southeast Asia.