One thing I have noticed while in  Thailand  is there is a noticeable difference between the behaviors of people from northern  Thailand versus people in  Bangkok.  While in the north, people were so nice!  Everyone always seemed very friendly.  We were greeted everywhere we went.  The people working at the market or at the stores were so grateful  and appreciative of  our  business.  The price of taxis were reasonable.  At the hotels,  the employees always tried to help  me  carry my luggage even if I said,  no it’s too heavy. Everyone just seemed happy!

 In  Bangkok,  people did not act as nice.  When walking through stores and markets, I felt like everyone was staring at me and judging me. I  never received a warm or friendly greeting.  No one really said anything to me. I  heard stories from the other students about taxi drivers scamming  them out of their money.

 It’s very interesting to see the difference in culture and behavior of one part of the country compared to another.  Perhaps  Bangkok’s  industrialization has a negative influence on the people living there.  Personally, I  would choose the warm and inviting hospitality of the north.

January 9- On Thursday we went to Rajabpat University and were paired up with a student. I was paired with a girl named Maytinee. She didn’t speak much English so it was hard to communicate with her. We showed pictures of our family members and pets. It was easier to communicate when we used a picture. She kept saying “sorry” because she didn’t understand my questions. It was frustrating at times but we made it work! We spent the whole day there with our new friend and they took us around their campus. Maytinee even took me on her scooter! It was so much fun! I really want one now, but I don’t think it would work to well in the snow! The students took us to the black temple, it was nothing like I expected. It had a lot of dead animals displayed and had a very dark feeling. It was interesting to experience! My favorite thing that we did together was visit the white temple. It is gorgeous. Pictures don’t do justice. I was in awe just trying to take everything in. I can’t even imagine the amount of time that went into creating it. I was only there for an hour and that wasn’t enough time to really take everything in. This was a really long day but I really learned a lot and made a new friend! 🙂

Chiang Rai and the visit to the University was a great part of the trip for me. My buddy, J, spoke fairly good English and was a great time to hang out with. The White Temple was incredibly beautiful, definitely among the most beautiful pieces of architecture I have been able to see with my own eyes. The appreciation the students had for our visit was humbling and made me realize the privilege we have being from the U.S..

Heading back to Bangkok on the 11 hour bus trip gave me a little preparation for the impending flights back home. The very cold air conditioning that the bus company felt necessary to blast was a wake up call for the weather that awaits me back home. Upon arriving, I was reminded of what a massive city Bangkok truely is, with a half a dozen sky cranes in just one city block in some areas. It reinforced my appreciation for mid sized cities like Chiang Mai over the massive sprawling metropolises like Bangkok. The Bangkok weekend market was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Most shocking to me was the insane number of animals that were available to purchase, from sharks to massive pythons.

 Day one in Pattaya was incredible. Swimming in the ocean and tasting the salty water brought back memories of my years living in Bermuda. A slight sunburn has me a bit worried about the long flights home, but a bit of aloe should fix it up quickly. I can’t believe how few days I have left here and am not looking forward to returning to the real world. Regardless, I know this experience has changed me forever and I will never forget my time here.

The home stay was one of my favorite things we did on this trip.  It really made me appreciate all the things I have back home.  Even though it was hard to communicate with our home stay mother it was still a really cool experience. I enjoyed going on the tour through the rain forest and learning how they use all their natural resources to make coffee and tea.  I never knew how coffee was made, so that was really interesting.

Getting to listen to the leader of the village was very cool also.  It’s inspiring how much he loves and cares about his village.  The fact that they are making moves to make their village totally eco-friendly is awesome. It was cool to see that they are working hard to keep their culture, but also are aware that times are changing.  It will be interesting so see where they are in the next five years.

Another one of my favorite parts was getting to interact with the babies and the little girl that lived in our home.  We were able to give her gifts and she was so grateful. The respect a five year old shows told her Elders is nothing like I’ve seen back home.

I’m so thankful for the opportunity to have gotten to spend the night and day with that family.  I only wish we could have communicated better.

After being in Thailand for two weeks and going to many different types of markets I thought the weekend market in Bangkok would be the same as the others I had been to. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The weekend market in Bangkok is huge! As I walked around the market I felt like it would never end. There was shop after shop after shop, and if you didn’t like the price at one shop you could go to the same shop right next door and try again.
The first shop I went into was a purse shop, which was probably not a good idea from the start since I am a girl and I already have a ton of purses, but this thought did not cross my mind, so I looked around and I found a purse I really liked. I knew it was going to be expensive but I decided to ask the lady working there anyway just to get an idea of how much it would be. She typed in a ridiculously high number into her calculator, which made me realize I needed to get more money. I proceeded to tell her I couldn’t buy it because I didn’t have enough money, but she insisted that I type in an amount. So I typed in 1200, which was the total amount of money I had in my purse. She of course said no but after more talking she finally said ok and accepted my offer! This seemed to happen at almost every shop. They didn’t even give you a chance to say no; instead they continued to lower the price until you said ok. I left the market with a great deal of gifts, and I probably didn’t even see a fourth of the market. I would love to go back and see what other good deals I can find.

     Thailand is a place where escape from your world is inevitable.  You enter a place where big name, world wide stores are not very prevalent.  Sure there is an occasional fast food restaurant or clothing brand I recognize, but these have not been seen nearly as much as I expected.  Instead, people get many of their household goods, food, clothing, along with most anything else you can think of at markets.  These are held, it seems, every day and evening throughout the cities that I have visited thus far in Thailand. There is a market open at nearly all hours of the day in Chiang Mai and Bangkok.  Although I can’t say for certain, I would bet Chiang Rai is the same way.  Fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, freshly packaged meat, and freshly prepared entrees are a huge part of these daily markets.
     Since so many people visit these markets nearly daily and eat such healthy, fresh and never frozen or preserved foods, weight does not seem to be much of an issue for Thai people.  The portions given out at restaurants and food stands at the markets seem to be half of the size that I am used to in the United States.  However, when I finish the meal and wait five minutes, I am pleasantly satisfied with how full I am and that I did not over eat, per usual for me in the United States.  I have heard that seventy to eighty percent of weight loss and weight stability starts with a healthy balanced diet with the other part consisting of good exercise.  I also learned from the chef in our cooking class that people who live in apartments, which is a lot of people in the cities of Thailand, are not allowed to cook in their buildings due to the smell it will produce.  This makes markets a necessity for many people who don’t have much money and it allows them to have the most important thing in life,their  health.

Yesterday we went to visit the hill tribe village of one of the Lahu tribes.  It was quite eye opening to go into the village and see how they didn’t have a running water system.  This was very different from the village that we stayed in when we were at our home stay.  We met with the leader of the village and he spoke about how his community was apart of the home stay and many of them were farmers to earn their income.  It felt so good to see how happy the kids were and to have them coming from all directions to come and play with us.  There was one little boy that was playing with Tom and was using the Frisbee in his own way to hit the football back to Tom.  He also lost the football in the little tube under the roadway and ran over to get a stick and get the football out.  It was just amazing to me how creative and smart this little boy was, it really seemed to me that he was able to think on his own and wasn’t sheltered by his parents.  It makes me compare that to how my sister sometimes raises her boys, how she is sometimes just hovering and I watch them get frustrated with her.  They even have tempers with her when she does it, but these little ones just seemed so care free and I don’t always see that in my nephews.  I mean my sister is a great mother but sometimes boys just need to be boys.

When we were walking around the village, I was wondering what the leader was doing about the garbage that was just laying around.  Above are pigs that were just walking and picking through the garbage.  There were chickens that were picking at the Styrofoam and that was just normal for the village leader and people to see.  When I asked the leader about garbage, it just wasn’t on top of his priority of things to address.  It was just so different how differently the village leaders thought about their villages and what they made priorities.