Assimilated?

Here's a random pic of the girls, posing like pretty much everyone does here for pictures.  Guess this means we're fully assimilated? ha...

Ratchaburi Province + Amphawa Floating Market

    
Friday we had our first class "field trip!"  We took three vans (apparently we require a lot of teacher/TA supervision) to the Ratchaburi province, which was about a 3 hour van ride.  We first went to a nature education center that was founded by the current crown princess of Thailand to emphasize the importance of nature and its resources to us.  Everything had to be translated to us so it was a little difficult to understand exactly what was going on, but regardless was good to see a conservation effort in a more rural part of Thailand.  Along with the center is a solar powered banana-drying building that produces dried bananas for sale (which are delicious!)...we got to sample the banana in different parts of the process.  The picture to the side is a huge pot of hot banana "mush" being stirred.



      After this we went to KMUTT's (the university I'm attending while here) new campus in the Ratchaburi province.  It is definitely a lot smaller than our campus with only a few buildings and some still in construction, but Dr. Savitri (a professor at KMUTT) showed us a cool part of the building about 8 flights up with an amazing view.  I took a few pictures of the view, and the panorama is courtesy of MK and the Panorama App on  her iPhone!  I tried to capture the flat farmland in contrast with sudden, rolling hills.

   After another stop for clean energy "demonstrations" nearby, we went to the Amphawa Floating Market, which isn't as big as other floating markets in Thailand, but this one specifically is known for the "Firefly Cruises," where you take a motorboat along the canals to the mouth of the Mekong River and back around.  There are certain trees along the canal which attract male fireflies because a specific enzyme they contain, and the male fireflies flock to these trees and light it up like Christmas lights!  I couldn't get a good picture because it was so dark but the one I linked doesn't even give it justice!  It was truly beautiful to the point it looked fake. Here's a few pictures of the actual floating market (vendors have their food on the boat with them and you tell them from the canal what you want).



 

RCA Nightlife

                                                 

    On Saturday a group of us decided to check out RCA (Royal City Avenue) downtown.  It ended up being one of the most hectic nights we've had here.  Because there are so many of us, it required catching three taxis outside our apartments.  When we finally found a cab driver that agreed to take us there, we showed him the address (in Thai) and he proceeded to tell two other cab drivers where we were headed- nice right? Not so much.  Each cab was dropped off in a different place, all side alleys.  We obviously had no idea where we were or how to get there.  My cab was luckily taken to a 7-11 (they are literally everywhere here) and we asked a woman who spoke some English where the club we were trying to find was (Route 66), and she flagged down multiple taxis to take us there; one of the nicest things anyone has done here but shows how friendly and understanding the Thai people are to foreigners.  We then were dropped off at the entrance of RCA (which we later realized if we'd just said "RCA" to a cab driver they would have taken us to the right place...) and still no one was to be found.  After making what seemed like 500 phone calls to the other taxis and around an hour later, we were all reunited!  It seemed like a miracle at the time, but after later looking at a map we realized we were all just dropped off at random different alleys off two different entrances to RCA.  But enough of the fiasco drama.
     I want to take a moment to describe the atmosphere in general.  Standing at the entrance of RCA was like the final silent and peaceful moments before a battle scene (I've been reading/watching a lot of Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones lately..excuse my analogy).  You could hear all different types of club-ish music bumping, and people were constantly streaming in (in some very interesting and revealing clothing compared to the rest of Thailand).  Even just standing at the entrance peering in made me anxious-we had no idea what to expect!
     Getting into the club was also a little difficult.  We have been ushered into any other club we've been to so far because we're usually the only white people there- but this time they required an ID card with your birth date (you have to be 20 to get into clubs).  Three people didn't bring ID's (one of them being 19!), but after much debate and conflict, someone decided to try to bribe the bouncer by paying 500 baht....and it worked!  Definitely a funny story looking back on it.
     Regardless, it was a little different than normal bars/clubs in the US- there was a huge outside patio with tables and chairs and inside a huge dance floor and live DJ (with "international" AKA English music)- with almost no one dancing.  After pushing our way through to the front (near the DJ) we began dancing, which was pretty limited considering how crowded it was.  Regardless, everyone around us (probably) found us jumping up and down amusing and some even danced with us!  Some did just laugh and point- which is understandable and normal for us even just walking to class.  Here's a few pics I took of some really cool lasers and the DJ (taken with my phone- excuse the poor quality).  I consider it an overall successful adventure.

 

 

 

   

Dusit Park and surrounding area

     Yesterday we decided to go to Dusit Park, which is kind of like a big center in downtown Bangkok for memorials, etc. (it reminded me a lot of DC).  There is the zoo, which we didn't go in because it's apparently sad and the animals live in bad conditions.  My favorite place was the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, which has a two story exhibit on different thrones and gifts basically made for the King and Queen.  A majority of the things were made with beetle wings, nothing I can say will put how beautiful everything was to justice.  Sadly, you can't take pictures inside (and I can't really find any online), but there were multiple thrones, "saddles" for riding elephants, and models of barges.  Everything was plated with gold, the barge I linked even has diamonds as it's eyes and dangling out of its mouth.  One strange part about this wonderful museum is the exterior and multiple frescoes inside.  It felt like being inside a Thai Sistine Chapel!  We were all definitely in sensory overload, the entire time.  They did give us headphones for an audio tour which was really cool and helped remind us why all of the pieces were made and why they were important.  At the end of each explanation it said how many artists worked on the piece and how long it took- which was one of the most surprising parts about each piece!  They usually took about 60-100 workers and anywhere between 300ish days to 6 months to over a year!

  

  














 After the memorial we pretty much just wandered around outside the park.  It was about 1 PM at this point and we knew all the museums closed at 3, so we had to hurry and find another museum to go to.  There are 5-6 different museums/attractions on the maps at Dusit Park, none of which we could get into or find for that matter.  We ended up at the National Library (which was closed) but re-grouped ourselves at the coffee shop attached.  In the Lonely Planet guidebook we found a restaurant and immediately headed over there- which turned out to be our best decision of the day!  After walking through a random alley, we crossed some planks into what seemed to be a dock, but was actually the restaurant (called Kaloang Home Kitchen).  We were the only people there for most of the time, and it was the most peaceful I've felt the entire trip.  It was right on the water and had an amazing view with an awesome breeze.  The menu was also in English, and one of the workers spoke English so we ended up getting one of the best meals I've had in Bangkok (which is saying a lot).  Everything is pretty much family style here, so we got: fried frog legs, "spicy" stir fried fish, a green curry, a chicken pineapple dish, crispy kale, and obviously rice.  It was amazing!
 

 


     After eating an amazing meal, we wandered around and stumbled upon a gorgeous temple.  We didn't go inside because we weren't sure what the protocol was and there wasn't really anyone around, but I took some cool pictures of the outside!

  

















  And some random pictures I took while wandering around downtown...

Yes those are fish, in a "TV"

Tuk-tuks! Without harassing drivers

Sun-drying fish, on the back of a bike

To an awesome mom.....

Shoutout to my mom...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! She is an awesome mom and I so wish I could celebrate w the fam (aka go to the pool and a nice dinner at Cafe Luna ;) ). I can never thank her (or my dad) enough for allowing me to come on this trip. Have a wonderful birthday Mom, and expect something in the mail hopefully sometime soon :) love you!

Rooftop Sunset

   Monday evening we decided it would be awesome to watch the sunset on the roof of our school building.  So, quickly grabbing dinner to go (an omelet on rice with chili sauce), we headed to school and made it just in time for a beautiful sunset. Seeing the view of Bangkok from a roof was surreal, and seeing the smog loom over the city was even more surprising and disappointing at the same time.

 

Chatuchak Market Round 2 + Bangkok FC

 
   This weekend a few of us went to the Chatuchak Market for a second time, which was a much different experience than the last.  Being prepared for the chaos of crowds, thousands upon thousands of stalls, and the overwhelming feeling you need to buy almost everything you see was definitely a plus! Luckily when one person saw something they wanted another would get something similar from the same stall, making it much easier to bargain.  We also ventured into the art section which had some amazing pieces that I definitely want to go back and look at again (along with about everything else!) Here's a few pics I took at the market.
 

                                               


    When we were leaving the market we wandered into Chatuchak Park (which is right next to the market) and sat by a pond in the center of the park to rest after a five hour shopping day.  An older Thai woman was selling fish food so we bought a bag and went up to the pond to throw the feed, and to our disgust the fish were as big as seals! They were the biggest, laziest fish I have ever seen in my life.  I felt a strange sense of pity for them for some reason. They must be fed so much bread and fish food everyday that they don't have to work for anything- the moved so slow and just swam on the surface with their mouths open scooping up food.  I took a picture with my phone so you can't see that well, but hopefully you get the idea.




     On Sunday we went to the Bangkok FC game, which is hosted right across from our school (so only a few minutes walk from our apartments).  I still have no idea who they were playing, but the energy from the crowd alone was so fun!  I enjoy watching soccer anyways, and they weren't great but it was cool to see how Thais watch and play soccer, they even had a cheer that went something like, "Ole, ole, ole, ole..." you get the picture.  Weird to hear a Spanish cheer at a Thai game, but everyone was really excited we (white kids) were at the game.  We had multiple people come up and shake our hands, wave, stare (like everywhere else we go), and one of the girls even had a man come up and blow her a kiss right next to her face!  Here's a few pictures I took at the game- they won 3-0!







     

Independence Day

Yesterday was the Fourth of July, and as the only Americans in the area we all decided it would only be appropriate if we celebrated!  W, MK, and I all decorated tanks in American flag-like fashion to prepare (luckily MK is extremely crafty and could guide us the whole way through it).  I think they ended up cute, considering all we used was spray paint and scissors. We even "tie-dyed" the back by twirling the shirt up and spray painting the entire area showing.  A few of my favorite pics from our festivities--

Wilton, MK, and I in our shirts!

The girls and our TA, P-Wit

RiceCream?

  Just wanted to share with you guys my newest discovery in Thai desserts.  Ice cream, with sticky rice in it.  I know it sounds gross, but it's actually not bad at all.  There's an ice cream stand outside our apartments that is there for a few hours in the evening, and we decided to try it after seeing a ton of people getting it.  It's homemade vanilla ice cream, and choices of tons of non-conventional toppings!  To give you a few examples, there is sun-dried bananas, dried pineapple, strawberry jelly, coconut jello-like cubes, jelly balls, sticky rice, and corn.  Today I got sticky rice, strawberry jelly, and dried pineapple.  The sticky rice looks like it's tinted blue because he dyed it with butterfly pea.  Pretty cool, right? I know it sounds really weird and potentially gross, but it was seriously amazing!  We wondered if when we get home we'll want rice on our ice cream? 

Bangkok nightlife + Bang Saen Beach

Photo cred to MK

     This is going to a be a long blog post, just to warn you.  So on Saturday we decided to see how the nightlife is in downtown Bangkok.  After coordinating cabs with a huge group of us (Thailand field site + SEAS friends) we went to Khao San Road, which is an area known for lots of Europeans and touristy clubs.  We randomly stumbled into a place called "The Club," which had some cool dubstep-y music we could hear from the outside.  We walked in and the atmosphere was overwhelming in every sense imaginable.  There were TONS of people, Thais, Americans, and Europeans, dancing to a live DJ, straight out of a rave movie.  It reminded me of concerts S, C, & R would go to at home, hopefully they appreciated the video I took.  After dancing for a bit we left drenched in sweat and exhausted.  It was definitely a successful un-planned trip (as always) downtown, and it was a nice change to not be the only Americans around. 
  

   Sunday, just a couple hours later, we woke up to head to Bang Saen beach, a few hours away from our school.  After getting some delicious grilled bananas to go, we took a bus (or two) to a van station, to then go to the beach.  Three hours later we arrived at our "bungalows" to put it nicely, and quickly changed to walk only a few minutes to be on the beach! The beach was definitely different than the ones we are all used to (pristine, clear-ish water).  Rich (our professor) told us all of the food prepared on the beach used to be wrapped in banana leaves, so everyone could throw the leaves in the sand when they finished eating.  But as food progressed, they began wrapping food in plastic, but old habits die hard.  There was a significant amount of trash lining the beach (and in the water), but there was a large group of people walking around picking it up, and even a bulldozer scooping up trash.  A very eye-opening experience, and I will be sure not to take the freezing (but clean) waters of the NC coast for granted again.  At night the guys cooked some fresh seafood and rice for us, which was delicious!  I got to try tons of seafood I probably wouldn't have tried otherwise, and it was all amazing.  If I was better worded in seafood I would describe what I ate, but I'll post a pic instead of a few dishes I could capture before everyone ate.

Before

After

   Today we went to an awesome Chinese temple near the beach.  The ornate detail was so overwhelming, we were there for at least an hour and I probably could have spent all day if time allowed.  There were multiple buildings/pagodas outside and each had a few floors.  The detailing that went into both the inside and outside was incredible, but sadly you weren't allowed to take pictures inside the temple.  Unfortunately, all of the labels for the statues and paintings were in Thai and Chinese, so a lot of the time I felt like I couldn't fully appreciate what I was looking at even though I could admire the artistic work.  I did notice there were elements of both Buddhism and Hinduism in the temple, which I was aware was prevalent in Thai Buddhism but am not sure about regarding the Chinese-Thai.  Thanks to AP Art History, I recognized Hindu brahma and and shiva, alongside images of Buddha which was unique and pretty cool.  Here are a couple pictures that really don't do the temple justice at all- but you can get the picture.

 
  We also tried a new snack today (like every other day here), which was delicious!  It is sticky rice cooked in an emptied bamboo stalk with coconut milk, coming in different varieties like sweet red bean for example.  It looked kinda gross at first but everyone decided that it tasted way better than it looked.



 











 


 
    After the temple we went to (according to Google) Monkey Mountain.   I also could have spent all day watching the monkeys and taking an obscene amount of pictures of them doin their thang.  There were a bunch of babies that just hung out with their moms, and a few fat ones that seemed like the King of the clan (I'm thinking of Madagascar right now) just sitting in a tree.  I have heard many stories of angry, mean monkeys stealing all sorts of things, but nothing too crazy happened, potentially because we didn't have any food.  One did attempt to launch onto MK and open her satchel but I think she jumped away in time.  Vicious or not, they were adorable!