Ancient Capitals

This week we went on an excursion with our school group to visit two ancient capitals of Thailand: Sukothai and Ayutthaya. Both places were absolutely beautiful! Temples were scattered everywhere, some that had been restored and some that lied crumbled after attacks from Burma hundreds of years ago. Today we are in Ayutthaya and a few of us are parting from the group and are taking a train to Khao Yai National Park where we will be spending the weekend.

Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle

This past weekend we visited Chiang Rai, which is about a three hour bus ride from Chiang Mai. We spent most of Saturday at the White Temple on the outskirts of Chiang Rai. The temple is a very modern Buddhist temple, whose construction began in 1996 and its estimated completion isn't until 2070. The artist who designed the temple is named Chalermchai Kositpipat, and is an amazing artist whose work shows the evils of the world, including war and environmental issues among many other topics. At the entrance of the temple there are the evils of the world, and as you move back towards the Buddha, the images become more and more peaceful, symbolizing the cessation of suffering. Inside the temple were pictures of the world's bad temptations, including many modern and recognizable figures like batman, George Bush and Harry Potter. This temple was very unique and was very different than any temple that I've visited so far. We spent a few hours there admiring the work in progress and viewing the artist's gallery. 

Later we returned to Chiang Rai where we ate out for dinner before going to a place with live music and playing pool for a few hours. I was rusty at first and had an embarrassing game against  an older Thai man who was quite the billiards pro, but later got back into the swing of things and Jack and I played pretty well against an Australian and Indian pair.

Sunday morning we woke early and headed to the bus station to board for Chiang Saen, which is a town alongside the Mekong River. From there we hopped into a long wooden boat and were driven up the river for half an hour to the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos and Burma (Myanmar) meet at the conjunction of the Mekong and Ruak Rivers. It was great to be back on the water enjoying the warm sun and nice breeze, floating between three countries. At the Golden Triangle we visited the Hall of Opium museum, which was a very impressive museum about the history of Opium in southeast Asia. It was interesting to learn about the role Opium played in history. 

boats on the Mekong

Caroline and me

our Captain

map of the Golden Triangle

house boats in Lao

the new clock tower in Chiang Rai, designed by the same artist as the White Temple

the White Temple

entrance to the temple

inside the temple

artists at work

Jack at the fanciest bathroom I've ever seen

Jack and I at the White Temple (they gave me a wrap skirt to wear, the dress I wore didn't cover my knees)

An Evening Out with Lat

Last weekend we had the pleasure of accompanying our Buddhist monk friend, Lat, on his first night after leaving the monastic life. Lat had been a monk for about 10 years, and had decided to disrobe after graduating from the Buddhist University in Chiang Mai. We met him in the Old City of Chiang Mai, where he pulled up on a motorbike that he had rented for the weekend. He wore a grey oxford and tight blue jeans. He was very stylish for someone who had worn robes for the past decade. Tammy, Emily, Jack and I joined him for his first dinner in quite some time. Monks eat two meals a day, both before noon, and aren't allowed to eat for the rest of the day. We went to restaurant that served all types of food, including Mexican, Italian, American, and Thai. Lat seemed to have difficulty choosing and finally settled on ordering nachos. We had a great time chatting with him over dinner about how it felt to be leaving monkhood. He sounded excited, yet a little scared. He plans to return to his home country of Laos where he hopes to work as a tour guide and to continue using his English. After dinner we went to the North Gate Jazz Co-Op, one of my favorite spots in Chiang Mai. Lat and I rode on his motorbike and we had a great time buzzing around the city trying to find the place. We met up with the rest of the group about 30 minutes late and enjoyed the rest of the night listening to good music. It has been so great to build a relationship with a monk and it was also a really unique experience to be able to spend time with him after he disrobed. I never thought I'd say that I'm close friends with a monk!

Burning Season

I have been dealing with a cough for a month or so and for the longest time I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. Usually I don't get sick much (knock on wood) but I was a little worried so visited the health center on campus where I was quickly handed different medicines to help with the cough. These didn't seem to help. After talking with some professors here I found out the problem, and unfortunately there's nothing I can do about it.

During the dry season in Thailand, farmers practice slash-and-burn techniques where they burn their fields in order to replenish the nutrients and encourage regrowth. From February to April the burning occurs, and you can definitely feel it in your lungs and see a dramatic increase in the haze. The air quality is by far my least favorite thing about Thailand.

The air quality can be measured by particulate matter (PM) and the main components of PM are "sulfate, nitrates, ammonia, sodium chloride, carbon, mineral dust and water," according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO set guidelines in 2005 for a 24-hour mean, and this value was set at 50. 

After looking at a picture of the sky today would you like to take a guess at today's PM value? I would have guessed somewhere around 100. The real value.....210.

In case you don't believe me here is a link to a website that lists the daily PM values of different places in Thailand. Chiang Mai is very easy to find, it's the one highlighted in red since the value is so high. 

Also, here's a link to the WHO page on air quality and health if you're interested in reading some more about it.

this photo shows the outside of our dorm in February (top) and today (bottom)

Chiang Dao

This past weekend we visited Chiang Dao, a small town about 1 1/2 hours north of Chiang Mai. We left early Saturday morning and arrived at the Chiang Dao Elephant Training Center by 8am. There we started off by riding elephants, followed by bamboo rafting, and finally watching the elephants getting washed. Even though I had already had the chance to ride elephants in Nepal, it was just as exciting to be with elephants again. After we left the elephants we headed to the Chiang Dao cave, where we had a quick lunch before exploring the caves. It was great to cool off in the cave and explore around, looking at beautiful rock formations and Buddha relics. Half of our group headed back to Chiang Mai after the caves, and 5 of us found a hotel and for $9 a person we rented out a two bedroom house. The house had 2 porches, 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, a huge living room and a kitchen. We felt very spoiled to be in such a nice house with beautiful scenery outside. We spent the afternoon relaxing on the porch and playing frisbee. We went to an early dinner and enjoyed some delicious food before coming back and having an early night in. Sunday we returned to Chiang Mai in the early afternoon. 

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Tammy and Jack

Caroline and me

our bamboo raft guide

headed for a bath

bathtime!

Jack feeding bananas to an elephant

Chiang Dao cave

relaxing on the back porch

living room

Jack making new friends

the local swimming hole

500 miles

Last night was a very fun and very farang-filled night. Farang is the Thai word for a white person. Although Thais don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day, it seemed that every farang in Chiang Mai was out celebrating, and most could be found at the Irish pub, called U.N. Irish. We spent the night there chatting with other foreigners and dancing to the live Irish band. The band was great and they played the longest version of "I Would Walk 500 Miles" that I've ever heard. Everyone was singing along and a great time was had by all.

Kimberly, Tara, Caroline, Emily and me

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I had quite the weekend in Chiang Dao, and will be posting more about the trip soon. Right now a group of us are heading out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with dinner and then to an Irish pub in Chiang Mai. Hope everyone has a great day filled with rainbows and leprechauns!

Last Few Days

Last Friday for our Thai language class we were brought into the city and had to walk around and find several different places, all by asking directions from people on the street. We spoke to them in Thai and recorded our conversations that were later submitted to our professors. It was a fun experience to talk to some locals. Our little scavenger hunt ended at Wat Chedi Luang, that contains a temple originally built in the 14th century.

Saturday afternoon a few other students and I joined out Thai friend Prince to his home on the outskirts of Chiang Mai. It was so nice to relax in his house for a while before heading out for the nightly activities. I hadn't realized how much I missed sitting on a couch until I got to his house. The town his house was located in was celebrating the construction of a new temple, and so each house in the town had a party. We spent the night hopping from house to house and were offered a great deal of delicious food at each stop. Most houses had karaoke set up, and we sang a few songs at almost every house. It was so fun to talk with the locals who were so friendly and happy to see us. One person nicknamed me "cha-yen," which means iced tea in English, since it sounds like Charlotte. 

We returned to Prince's house pretty late and enjoyed a nice sleep. Sunday morning we got up and made a huge breakfast of scrambled eggs with ham, cheese, onions and peppers along with toast and yogurt. We spent the day relaxing around the house and Jack and I did some exploring in the back yard. There was a small stream in the backyard that we walked through and even did some arts and crafts. We were surrounded by beautiful green flora and rice fields. For lunch we made salmon, pasta and garlic bread. For dinner we had chicken and haddock. I left his house feeling very full and satisfied with American-style homemade meals. 

Buddhist prayer on a tree at Wat Chedi Luang

Wat Chedi Luang

Wat Chedi Luang

Wat Chedi Luang

Buddha statue at Wat Chedi Luang

Tammy and me sharing a mango smoothie....it's mango season in Thailand!

baby bananas!

rice fields

Jack having fun in the stream

flower petal elephant: made by Jack and me!

the temple at night