Thailand Travel Log, Part 1

January 20 (Bangkok),

Traveling the world is, at some times, highly overrated. Like right now. We left UB early this morning for a short (four and a half hours) flight to Seoul, South Korea. The Incheon airport is really nice. Aside from looking suspiciously like a western mall, it also has traditional Korean culture centers throughout. Our layover there was too short to do all the things that we would have liked to. We did get to see a traditional music presentation and make parchment/ink pictures all for free.

 

We had a great five hour flight to Bangkok and arrived there around 10 pm last night.  We are still here. (Insert glumness and extreme fatigue)  The Bangkok airport is okay but not for setting around all night… I think I just fell asleep for a second because there’s a small wet spot on my paper.  Thankfully the flight to Chiang Mai is just over an hour, and it is leaving shortly.

January 20 (Chiang Mai),

What a beautiful morning it was! It was also great to finally get here. We feel like we just traveled to the States, but we are still in Asia. The sunshine and feeling of completion gave us a short boost of energy. We took a cab to our hotel, the place we stayed last year during pre-conference, and got checked in quickly even though it was before 9 am. This is our vacation time. Once classes start next week, I (Joshua) at least will be busy practically till conference is over.  Our vacation time is about to begin with sleep.  After a valiant attempt to read our books (that didn’t work so well), we ordered room service and watched TV.  The bed feels great, so we are going to get some much needed rest.

January 22,

Since we are spending all of our time during vacation here in Chiang Mai, we have decided to do some of the more touristy things this year that we skipped out on last year. Yesterday, we stayed pretty close and just relaxed, that is, until mid afternoon. Then we took a Scorpion Tail riverboat cruise along the Mae Ping River.

 

It wasn’t long or fancy, but we practically had the boat to ourselves.  The hour and a half ride included us, a friendly couple from Nebraska, and the comedic tour guide.  The tour included a brief history of Chiang Mai (a city whose name means “New City” but is over 700 years old, older even than Bangkok), a description of certain riverside sites, and a brief stop ashore for some mango and sticky rice which is a local delicacy.  We laughed and talked and had a great time cruising through the city.

 

Today was our big event.  After eating our delicious Thai style breakfast, we were picked up by a tour van and taken to a local elephant camp.  Elephants are a big part of Thailand (no pun intended) and its history and something that we gravely missed out on last year.  We determined to not do so again this year.  The first leg of our day long excursion was a float through the jungle on a bamboo raft.  A bamboo raft is nothing more than two layers of bamboo tied together.

It was a little disheartening to see water coming up between the bamboo poles, but we also knew that if it sank we could just stand up (the water was only about knee deep).  Once we got to smooth water, I was asked to help pole the boat.  Though style was perhaps lacking, I at least did not overturn the boat.

 Perhaps the coolest part of this trip, besides the knowledge that Rambo 4 was filmed in those jungles, was the constant sight of elephants wandering along the river bank and up along the hills.

After we set back aground, we ate a delicious albeit hurried lunch in order to make it to our Ox Cart ride.  Exciting as it was, I am pretty sure I wouldn’t want to ride that thing for a long distance.  Again, I was asked to take the reign though quite literally this time.  The driver, after introducing his oxen Moe and How, asked me to cross over the railing and take his seat while he took my camera.  The oxen were well trained, so I didn’t really have to do anything.  But, it felt pretty cool.  I mean, how many other people can say they have “driven” an ox cart in Thailand?

The third leg of our journey was the much anticipated elephant ride.  Thankfully, there was a high platform from which we were able to mount our steed.

Again, the road was a bit “unstable” and certainly not for the faint of stomach, but all this we could overlook from the sheer AWESOMNESS of riding an elephant through the Thai jungle.  As our ride came to the river, the mahout dismounted taking with him my camera.  It was perhaps a bit more unnerving to sit atop an elephant with no “driver” than to “take the wheel” of the ox cart; however, we got some great pictures out of the deal!

After an awesome elephant show where elephants danced, played soccer, and even painted, we greeted a mother and her young calf.

 Our time at the camp now over, we stopped at a hill tribe village.  This was not part of our trip, so we sat and waited patiently for the rest of our group.  What a strange group it was!  We hit it off with a young couple from Munich, Germany who had also been at our hotel.  We also talked a bit with a young man from Australia.  Also in our group, but whom we didn’t speak with much, were a group from Chili, two men from Italy, and one man from Japan.  We were quite the “party” group, but the diversity also made it rather interesting.

Our last stop was at an Orchid farm.  The Orchid is Thailand’s national flower and symbol as well as Jennifer’s favorite flower.

 There were more varieties in one place than I even knew existed, so our thirty minute stay was anything but long enough.  However, our day was quite exhausting, so it is nice to be back in our room.

Now I have to face the fact that “vacation” time is nearly over.  We move tomorrow to the YMCA where I will be occupied with classes for the next two weeks.  Work in Thailand just doesn’t seem right!      

A Little Bit of Life

Since the last two posts were mostly text, we decided to throw a bunch a pictures your way this time!  They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and if you are like us, you probably enjoy the pictures more anyway!!  With that said, feast your eyes on a plethora of pictures from our life and a few bits of text as well ( I was an English major, I have to write something!)

These were taken before it became Winter and are just a few views of the area near where we live.

These are in the west side of town near the home of some teammates.  We thought they looked like sand sculptures, but they were actually made of concrete.  Kind of neat none-the-less!

Here sits the fearless attendence keeper with an eye out for late comers; and trust me, we have them every week!

This murial is painted on the back wall of one of the classrooms we have used.  It seemed very unique and colorful!  We later learned that that classroom is a music room among other things, so the piano keys kind of make sense now!

 Huge green beans, home made bread bowls with clam chowder, and home made hamburger buns OH MY!!!!  Man cannot live on mutton alone (actually we don't live on it much anyway)!

Ah! Let it snow, let it snow!!  Sadly, we haven't gotten much more than this, but we had snow on the ground for Christmas! 

 Our neighboring ger covered in snow.  Check out the wooden slats standing upright next to the fence.  You guessed it!!  The bathroom!!  We just think about that and we get cold!!!  PTL for an indoor toilet and running water; its the little things in life!!

The next picture is of our least favorite mode of transportation, a microbus.  It is little more than a souped up minivan with a crazy Mongolian driver and about 20 people (or more) squashed in it!!  You can probably understand why we prefer to take the bus!

Here is proof that I do help around the house!  This may be all I do, but its better than nothing!!

Right Dear?!

See the napkins next to the sink, the white stack.  Would you believe that they have an expiration date?

Well they do!  We are good though, they don't expire for another two years!!  Nothing like a napkin past it's prime!!

You may be wondering what this is all about.  This is the light in our half bath.  We had it on one day when it went out.  We thought it might just be the bulb but found that the wire had burnt in two!!  When our landlord's son came to fix it, we learned that the original electrician skimped on his work.  PTL our apartment didn't burn down!!  The building wouldn't have gone up because it is concrete, but our apartment could have been toast!!

The Mongolian rule for crossing a road, get in a large group and then walk across regardless of what is coming.  There is a crosswalk right there too, but those mean little here.  Road crossings test a person's true metal, guts, or stupidity!!

Maybe not quite a plethora by definition, but this post is going to have to last you.  We are leaving for Thailand on January 19th and won't be back until February 17th.  We will get another one out for you to read after we get back!  By the way, THANKS FOR READING OUR BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!