Doi Khun Tan National Park

This weekend Tammy, Andrew, Jack, Prince and myself visited Khun Tan National Park, an hour and a half train ride southeast of Chiang Mai. We took a 5:45am train on Saturday morning, which was definitely on "Thai time" since it didn't leave until about 7. We arrived at the station near the park entrance and enjoyed a hot breakfast of rice and eggs before hitting the trail. The cool morning was very welcoming for a full day of hiking. The first part of the hike was on the access road, where people could choose to be driven up to their campsite. There were nature trails serving as short cuts which we followed as much as we could. The hike was beautiful, filled with many new plants and not too many animals (mainly bees). We hid our bags in the woods while we took a 3km detour to visit a nearby waterfall and ate lunch there. Then we continued to hike to our final destination, the top! The summit was at 1,373m (4,505 feet). The summit served as a viewpoint for the Thai military during WWII. We spent a while at the top enjoying the hot sun and a nice view. Unfortunately the haze didn't allow us to see very far in the distance, but it was still a great view. We hiked back a few hundred meters and set up camp at one of the highest points in the park. We were surrounded by huge pine trees and had a nice breeze that lasted the entire night. It definitely felt like I was back in the Adirondacks. After dinner we made a fire and feasted American-style on some 'smores. We had searched the grocery store back in Chiang Mai and had finally found all the ingredients! The only thing we couldn't find was graham crackers, but sugar crackers were a nice substitute. It was fun to teach our Thai friend, Prince, how to roast marshmallows since he had never done it before. We stayed up late (we could only make it to 9pm) and had a nice rest before hiking down to catch our train (costing only 50 cents!!!) back to the city. We guesstimate that we hiked about 21km (13ish miles) total for the weekend. Definitely a successful weekend in the woods!

on the train

at the entrance to the park

park entrance next to the tracks

biggest potato I've ever seen

Dat Muey Waterfall

a snake eating a frog

our campsite

Tammy 

view from the summit

SLU at the summit

celebrating with a good sandwich

our campsite near the summit...the mountain divides the provinces of Lamphun and Lampang 

Tammy and Prince cutting fruit for dinner

Tammy showing off her marshmallow-roasting technique

Fun Fact Friday

Today I learned some very valuable vocabulary in my Thai language class. We went over some food items and practiced ordering food as if we were in a restaurant. By far my favorite food name I've learned so far is the Thai word for a fried egg.

ไข่ดาว

(pronounced 'khai-daaw,' meaning 'fried egg')

The reason I like this so much is because the second part of the word, 'daaw,' means star, and they call a fried egg an 'egg-star' since it looks like a star. I don't completely agree that a fried egg looks like a star, but I like the creativity in the name and who doesn't like stars? 

This weekend a few of us will be taking off early Saturday morning for Doi Khun Tan National Park where we will be camping out and doing some hiking. We will be returning to campus sometime Sunday afternoon, hopefully in time for some dinner and/or a Thai massage to loosen us up after some hiking. 

You've Got Mail

A big thanks to Emily for sending me my first piece of mail! It was so nice to receive a letter from my friend and it definitely brightened my day. Here is my address for anyone looking to send me anything through snail mail:

Charlotte C. Caldwell

Paradornparp International House

60/3 Moo.1 Tambon Sanklang Aumpur Sankamphaeng

Chiang Mai 50130 Thailand

I really like chocolate, except it's hot here so don't send that. I also really miss snow, but I guess that won't work either for the same reason. Letters are great. Those may be the best idea. I promise to send you a cheesy postcard in return. I check my email frequently, so if you'd like to get in touch with me you can reach me at: cccald11@stlawu.edu 

Monk Chat

Today we went on a field trip with our Buddhism & Southeast Asian Society class to visit a temple. Our professor walked us around the grounds, explaining what some of the structures were built for and the history behind them. We then enjoyed a delicious vegetarian lunch at a popular restaurant at the monastery. After lunch we split into groups and spoke with monks. Emily, Tammy and I were paired with three monks from Cambodia, Burma, and Laos. They were all in their twenties and were studying English. It was very interesting to hear about their lifestyle and they were also eager to ask us questions. Of the three monks, two had become monks since it is tradition for males to be ordinated as a monk temporarily or for their entire life. The last monk came from a poor Cambodian family and had become a monk in order to receive a higher education.

Their daily schedule involved "lots of free time" according to them, however to me it seemed pretty busy, especially keeping up with their studies. Their day includes chanting, meditation, collecting food offerings, attending class, and studying. There is also some free time where they enjoy reading the news, watching American movies and TV shows, and chatting with friends. The Burmese monk told us that his weakness if football (soccer) and that his favorite team is Manchester United. He seemed a bit ashamed that he loved the sport/team so much, especially since monks are supposed to live their lives without attachment to material things.

I was very surprised when we asked the monks about what they thought of America. Their response was that Americans are "great, brave, clever, and adapt well to different cultures." They spoke quite highly of the US and were excited to see photos I showed them of Lake George and of the St. Lawrence campus covered with snow. The one negative thing they said about the US was that it seemed like there was a lot of crime and killings. I wasn't too surprised to hear this, especially with the many tragic events that have occurred recently.

On a happier note, the three monks I spoke with were some of the most humble and content people I have ever spoken with. The two from Burma and Laos were especially friendly, always wearing a big smile and laughing a lot. I felt that they were passionate about the different aspects of Buddhism and living their lives as monks. When we left they asked for our names to look us up on Facebook. I never thought I'd say this but I am now thrilled to be Facebook friends with "Buddhist Monk." (That is what the Lao monk's name on Facebook says) Unfortunately the language barrier makes it very difficult to remember/write names, so I wasn't able to get any of the monk's names. However, the Lao monk spoke to me on Facebook and we are going to try to meet up next week to talk more about our lives. Also I will be able to ask him more questions that I have about Buddhism and I can help him practice his English at the same time.

These white structures contain relics of Northern Thai Royalty 

Happy Birthday Dad!

Wishing my old man a very happy birthday! If only I could be in two places at once.

Thinking of you and the lake always. 

Weekend in Pai

On Friday Andrew, Jack, Tammy (all from SLU) and myself joined our Thai friends Prince and Kunthara for a weekend trip to Pai. We drove there in the back of Prince's aunt's truck, with four people and a lot of camping gear in the truck bed. The drive there was through the mountains and 762 turns later we arrived at our campsite. This video wasn't taken by me, but gives you a good idea of what the drive was like. We set up two tents, but I chose to sleep underneath the stars in my hammock. It was a bit chilly so I bundled up in my comforter and wrapped myself in the hammock like a cocoon, making for a very cozy night's sleep. Waking up to the sun was wonderful and I enjoyed some alone time while sipping on coffee.

Once everyone was awake we walked into town for a good American breakfast before exploring the area. We  visited a little Chinese village a few miles outside of Pai where we got to test out a human-powered ferris wheel. Although the highest point wasn't too high, it was still a thrilling experience seeing as the four of us were screaming and laughing the whole time. Right as we left the Chinese village, it began to rain, so we went back to the campsite to rescue our tents and gear. We ended up renting a cabin for our second night in case it continued to rain, which of course it didn't. An hour or so later the weather had cleared up and the sun was back out. We found some unused trash cans and set up a game of kan jam, a game that involves throwing a frisbee to your partner about ten yards away in attempt to hit the can or get the frisbee to land inside the can. We played this for a while before heading into town for a hot pot dinner, where we ate A LOT of meat that we cooked ourselves on a tabletop grill/boiling apparatus (see picture below). Later we returned to the campground where we made many new Thai friends by joining a group around the fire and spent the night playing games. Despite the language barrier we still ended up laughing the night away with them.

We spent the night inside our cabin, but woke early to the sounds of Thai music played by the campsite owners. Then we returned to town for another hearty breakfast before packing and loading back into the truck to head back towards Chiang Mai. The beautiful weather at the beginning of the day disappeared as we drove into the mountains, and the four of us in the truck bed huddled together underneath towels in attempt to stay somewhat warm and dry. Luckily we were driving right by a hot spring so we stopped there and enjoyed a nice hot bath for a while before hitting the road. The rain had stopped by the time we left the hot spring so the ride back to Chiang Mai was quite enjoyable as we all laid in the back of the truck bed with comforters and pillows. We got to see a great lightening show as we drove back at dusk. We stopped at Prince's house for a great home-cooked meal and got to talk to his stepfather who is American. Just after we returned to campus it began to downpour, so we made it just in time to avoid getting wet once again. It was quite a successful weekend trip!

Our campsite setup

Hotpot dinner

Prince

Kunthara

Enjoying a morning coffee in my hammock

feasting on an American breakfast

Jack and Andrew testing out the human-powered ferris wheel

taking a ride (a lot scarier than it looks!...we went both forward and backwards!)

our cabin

natural hot spring

hot spring bath

geyser

group shot at the geyser

vegetation

hot spring

Super Bowl Sunday

Hello and Happy Super Bowl Sunday to all my favorite football fans. I have returned from my weekend trip to the mountains, but am pretty tired so I don't think I will be sticking to my original plan of waking up at 6 am to watch the game live. My weekend was spent in Pai, with some great friends and lots of fun. More details and pictures will be posted post-Super Bowl! (Go Ravens!)