Pictures to come soon, I promise! I just need to upload them. Until then....here are more stories.
My return from Chiang Mai was greeted by a wall of work. I had a presentation on Monday that I worked all day for. It ended up being postponed until the next week, and I now know I firmly believe it's not better to get things done way in advance. Tuesday I had a test on SPSS, the computer program used in my Market Research 2 class. We basically had to learn the program in two days. The test went okay, but it was intensely stressful.
A few things that did brighten my work-filled week were the purchase of my ukulele and Molly Martens, my sorority sister, visiting. I'm in love with my ukulele and have already learned how to play All My Loving by The Beatles. I got my ukulele, named Lily, the day Molly arrived. Her visit may have interrupted my constant ukulele playing, but she did force me to do several touristy things I'd been meaning to do. We went to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which is by far the coolest temple I've been to. The Emerald Buddha is exactly that, a buddha made entirely from emerald, and is housed in the most beautiful setting. Every building shines with gems and is unbelievably lavish. The Grand Palace is pretty sweet too. I definitely wouldn't mind living there. It was so hot out, that by the time we got to Wat Arun, I wouldn't even climb all the way to the top.
Molly also wanted to visit JJ market, so we went Saturday morning. For those of you who don't remember, I've described JJ market as the largest, most overwhelming market ever, and it has everything you could ever possibly want to purchase. I got a purse, a backpack, placemats, 2 pillowcases, 3 necklaces, 4 bracelets, a ring, a belt, 4 pairs of fishermen pants, a tank top, and a new iPhone cover for so, so little. I was very happy with my bargaining skills.
Once Molly left, I spent the rest of the weekend comatose. The final week of classes began and I was greeted with two presentations and two research papers. As many Americans know, there's no rest for the weary! This week we have a farewell dinner at a rooftop restaurant in downtown and this weekend I go back to Chiang Mai to ride elephants! It's the coolest thing ever, check the link: http://www.pataraelephantfarm.com/
Then, there's finals and my travels to the Southern Islands, Bali, and then I fly home. And I've obviously already decided what my first meal back in the States is going to be: In N' Out.
Finally, for those of you who have missed my uber-obnoxious facebook posts, my genius baby brother is a Trojan and will be joining me at USC next year! Just thought I'd make sure everyone knows.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Songkran
How do I describe Songkran to you all? As I've said many times, words simply cannot do it justice, but I'm going to try my best.
I want you to imagine the neighborhood you live in. Cities in Thailand are large and spread out, and the rest is countryside, so isolate your neighborhood. Now imagine, people and vendors lining the street holding and selling buckets and every kind of squirt gun ever to exist. Your neighbors have buckets of water ready to throw on you, some of it melted ice, and some of it from the nearby moat that surrounds your city (just go with it). Every pickup truck in your neighborhood is crowding the street, with kids ready to throw ice cold water on your in the blazing heat.
That is what greeted us in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is known as the cultural hub of northern Thailand. It's a cool city that has the corners of the old walls that used to surround the inner city still standing. The moat is still in tact with a couple of bridges to make it more car friendly. Adorable (and good) western restaurants are everywhere, including a very good Mexican place called Miguel's. I ate there 3 times, NBD.
We arrived in Chiang Mai at night on Monday. It was a looonnnngggggg journey from Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai and we were definitely ready for bed time by the end of it. Tuesday proved to be a pre-Songkran day. Little did we know that Thais don't hold to the Wednesday-Friday dates of Songkran. They drench passersby for a full week.
A fellow exchange student and I rented bikes to see the whole city. We were sopping wet the entire day, but got to see all of the inner city and a lot of the boundary areas too. Bicycles are a great way to see the city. Definitely my favorite mode of explorative transportation.
Wednesday was way too chilly to throw water on people, so instead I had time to get some much needed homework done. Who knew my last three weeks in Bangkok were going to be so busy?!
Thursday proved my only full day of Songkran-ing. After throwing water on people for 3 hours (and having water thrown on me) I called it a day and hid in our guesthouse until 8:30/9 pm when the splashing ended. This happened every day by the way, staying inside until 8:30 or 9 to avoid the downpour.
Friday a few of us took a cooking class. This was very cool. I got to learn how to make two of my favorite Thai dishes: Tom Yum Kung--a soup--and Pad See Ew--a rice noodle dish. Our instructor was very funny and able to spice up the class, literally, Thai food is spicy. In his words, "No pain, no gain."
I also learned a lot of cool things about food. Apparently when you turn a pineapple upside down and attempt to twist the stem it's ready to go if it turns easily. Also, in order to make coconut cream, you have to grind up that white part and squeeze the grinds. Cool.
We left early Saturday morning and came back to Bangkok solely to do schoolwork. It'll be an intense two weeks of classes packed with two presentations, an in-class test, and two large research papers. One of my ADPi sorority sisters will be visiting this Thursday and at the end of the month a fellow USC exchange student and I will be going back to Chiang Mai to play with elephants for a full day!
My last three weeks in Bangkok are jam packed and I can't believe I'm coming to the end. I have five weeks left abroad but two of those I'll be traveling, so really, my time in Bangkok is almost over. When I talked to exchange students from last semester they said they would love to go home for a few weeks and then come right back. I now know exactly what they meant.
I want you to imagine the neighborhood you live in. Cities in Thailand are large and spread out, and the rest is countryside, so isolate your neighborhood. Now imagine, people and vendors lining the street holding and selling buckets and every kind of squirt gun ever to exist. Your neighbors have buckets of water ready to throw on you, some of it melted ice, and some of it from the nearby moat that surrounds your city (just go with it). Every pickup truck in your neighborhood is crowding the street, with kids ready to throw ice cold water on your in the blazing heat.
That is what greeted us in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is known as the cultural hub of northern Thailand. It's a cool city that has the corners of the old walls that used to surround the inner city still standing. The moat is still in tact with a couple of bridges to make it more car friendly. Adorable (and good) western restaurants are everywhere, including a very good Mexican place called Miguel's. I ate there 3 times, NBD.
We arrived in Chiang Mai at night on Monday. It was a looonnnngggggg journey from Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai and we were definitely ready for bed time by the end of it. Tuesday proved to be a pre-Songkran day. Little did we know that Thais don't hold to the Wednesday-Friday dates of Songkran. They drench passersby for a full week.
A fellow exchange student and I rented bikes to see the whole city. We were sopping wet the entire day, but got to see all of the inner city and a lot of the boundary areas too. Bicycles are a great way to see the city. Definitely my favorite mode of explorative transportation.
Wednesday was way too chilly to throw water on people, so instead I had time to get some much needed homework done. Who knew my last three weeks in Bangkok were going to be so busy?!
Thursday proved my only full day of Songkran-ing. After throwing water on people for 3 hours (and having water thrown on me) I called it a day and hid in our guesthouse until 8:30/9 pm when the splashing ended. This happened every day by the way, staying inside until 8:30 or 9 to avoid the downpour.
Friday a few of us took a cooking class. This was very cool. I got to learn how to make two of my favorite Thai dishes: Tom Yum Kung--a soup--and Pad See Ew--a rice noodle dish. Our instructor was very funny and able to spice up the class, literally, Thai food is spicy. In his words, "No pain, no gain."
I also learned a lot of cool things about food. Apparently when you turn a pineapple upside down and attempt to twist the stem it's ready to go if it turns easily. Also, in order to make coconut cream, you have to grind up that white part and squeeze the grinds. Cool.
We left early Saturday morning and came back to Bangkok solely to do schoolwork. It'll be an intense two weeks of classes packed with two presentations, an in-class test, and two large research papers. One of my ADPi sorority sisters will be visiting this Thursday and at the end of the month a fellow USC exchange student and I will be going back to Chiang Mai to play with elephants for a full day!
My last three weeks in Bangkok are jam packed and I can't believe I'm coming to the end. I have five weeks left abroad but two of those I'll be traveling, so really, my time in Bangkok is almost over. When I talked to exchange students from last semester they said they would love to go home for a few weeks and then come right back. I now know exactly what they meant.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
If the world were run by teenagers, it'd look something like Vang Vieng, Laos.
Off on another Southeast Asia adventure.
Tuesday night we left for Vientianne, the capitol of Laos. We only stayed there a few hours before heading up to Vang Vieng, our final desitnation for the day. We saw a pretty sweet archway though that looked very European. Another "France was here" emblem, similar to the Hotel de Ville in Ho Chi Minh.
After a few harrowing hours trying to find transportation, we made it up to Vang Vieng. This is a magical place where you can sit and eat and watch Friends for hours and then head over to the Mekong and go "tubing" whilst looking at beautiful limestone formations. There are bars along the liver and you can either just go to those, or tube along the river as well. Our group tubed the first day but got way too late a start and had to get out I don't know how far down the river because it got dark and cold.
The next day almost our entire travel group left for Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Culture Heritage Site. I stayed with two others and met up with other Thammasat kids who had just arrived. We just hit up the bars the second day, which was also a ton of fun.
Vang Veng is a very cool city. I get that it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's so laid back and relaxed that you could totally get stuck there for awhile and not notice the days pass you by. I've never seen more backpacks and dreadlocks in my life, or watched as much Friends. I am now a huge fan of the show.
Saturday morning we all headed up to Luang Prabang. That was the absolute worst bus ride of my life. We got on the jankiest bus without AC, only windows, for 7 hours of the windiest, bumpiest road I have ever taken. Then it started raining and we had to close the windows and it got SO stuffy.
Once in the city I was so relieved to see everyone. I was only there for 24 hours but still fit in the most beautiful waterfall in the world. We had to climb up the steepest hill in the world to get to this "secret spot." It also involved climbing up a waterfall. Yes, I, Lindsay Jean Orr, climbed up a mountain and a waterfall. Just call me Mother Nature.
We're now in Chiang Mai and the trip here was intense: 13 hour bus to the border, sketchy boat ride across the river, and a 7 hour bus to Chiang Mai. Traveling in Laos is difficult to say the least, but I loved my time there.
Now we're just preparing for Songkran: the Thai new year which turns into a nationwide water fight. Chiang Mai is supposed to be the cultural hub of Thailand and from what I can see it's living up to it's name.
Pictures to come once I get home and upload them to my computer. Happy New Year!
Tuesday night we left for Vientianne, the capitol of Laos. We only stayed there a few hours before heading up to Vang Vieng, our final desitnation for the day. We saw a pretty sweet archway though that looked very European. Another "France was here" emblem, similar to the Hotel de Ville in Ho Chi Minh.
After a few harrowing hours trying to find transportation, we made it up to Vang Vieng. This is a magical place where you can sit and eat and watch Friends for hours and then head over to the Mekong and go "tubing" whilst looking at beautiful limestone formations. There are bars along the liver and you can either just go to those, or tube along the river as well. Our group tubed the first day but got way too late a start and had to get out I don't know how far down the river because it got dark and cold.
The next day almost our entire travel group left for Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Culture Heritage Site. I stayed with two others and met up with other Thammasat kids who had just arrived. We just hit up the bars the second day, which was also a ton of fun.
Vang Veng is a very cool city. I get that it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's so laid back and relaxed that you could totally get stuck there for awhile and not notice the days pass you by. I've never seen more backpacks and dreadlocks in my life, or watched as much Friends. I am now a huge fan of the show.
Saturday morning we all headed up to Luang Prabang. That was the absolute worst bus ride of my life. We got on the jankiest bus without AC, only windows, for 7 hours of the windiest, bumpiest road I have ever taken. Then it started raining and we had to close the windows and it got SO stuffy.
Once in the city I was so relieved to see everyone. I was only there for 24 hours but still fit in the most beautiful waterfall in the world. We had to climb up the steepest hill in the world to get to this "secret spot." It also involved climbing up a waterfall. Yes, I, Lindsay Jean Orr, climbed up a mountain and a waterfall. Just call me Mother Nature.
We're now in Chiang Mai and the trip here was intense: 13 hour bus to the border, sketchy boat ride across the river, and a 7 hour bus to Chiang Mai. Traveling in Laos is difficult to say the least, but I loved my time there.
Now we're just preparing for Songkran: the Thai new year which turns into a nationwide water fight. Chiang Mai is supposed to be the cultural hub of Thailand and from what I can see it's living up to it's name.
Pictures to come once I get home and upload them to my computer. Happy New Year!
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