Karen Hill Tribe Trip

These past three days have been incredible! I went on a trekking tour through the mountains and the Karen Hill Tribes. We left Saturday morning and immediately went to a beautiful waterfall. Of course we got in and swam in the water, although it was freezing! Then we hiked for about 4 hours and it was no joke.  We went straight up hill for the first hour, and then up and down for a bit. By the last half, me and two other girls had broken off into our own “fast paced for girls” group. We ended running full force down the mountain for at least 45 minutes. It was so steep and it was better if we just did not stop. We got to the village and a lot of the group was already there. We were so confused, because they had definitely not passed us.  Little did we know we had run straight pass the short cut! But it was so much fun anyways and the views were amazing!
 

Hiking day 1!

We stayed with a Karen Hill Tribe village in a hut with mosquito nets. There is no electricity in the village so we had a campfire! We started the next day with another hike, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as the day before. When we got to the next village we had the chance to ride on elephants! It was so exciting to sit on the back of an elephant for nearly an hour and a half. The elephant I was riding was clearly hungry and uprooted a banana tree and countless other branches along the way for a snack.  Later we made bamboo rafts that we rode on the last day. Again we had a bonfire and roasted rice inside bamboo.  The children from the village performed songs for us and then taught them to us. One of my favorites is one they sing about skewering a chicken up the butt and roasting it!

the first village we stayed at

making dinner

Elephant riding

On the last day we got up early and took the bamboo rafts we made (although the guides may have had to redo some parts we messed up) and rafted down the river. We went through gorgeous scenery and stopped at other villages along the way. After about three hours of rafting the trip was over! This weekend was one of the best experiences I have had in a long time. It was so rewarding to see how happy the Karen people were even with the circumstances they live in. They truly make the best of what they have. Also, this was a great bonding experience for the group that went! We ran down mountains, stepped ankle deep in water buffalo poop and ate bark off trees together!

Bamboo rafting!

Muay Thai Boxing

The past couple days have been relaxing here in Chiang Mai. I have been spending my mornings at school, some afternoons at the pool and my nights at different markets. There are huge markets all over town and even if you go to the same one twice or more, you will never have the same experience.

Yummy fish waffles at a market!

Girls night out!

On Wednesday night we went to Muay Thai boxing, which is huge in Thailand. It was down in a sketchy part of the city, but I was with a lot of friends so I felt safe. It was cool to watch and the boxers are really tough. The Thai people there were getting really into it!

Muay Thai Boxing

Meditation Retreat

I made it! I am finally back from the six days of meditation. This has been one of the hardest weeks of my life! I went on the meditation retreat as part of a class. Being that I am still getting adjusted to life in Thailand, this was a big jump. The center was not at all like I imagined, but it was still very neat. We slept in the nun quarters, which were individual cabins. We only got a wooden board to sleep on with blankets and a bathroom. It took me three days to figure out how to use my toilet! It got extremely cold there at night and was very uncomfortable. 

View from near where we ate

The first day we were given one pair of white clothes each, which we wore the whole time.  The nun helping us lost my clothes afterwards and there was a large language barrier in communicating with her. We also didn’t shower for 6 days… gross! At 4:30 am we woke up to gongs and drums, then breakfast, meditation, lunch and more meditation. We were not allowed to eat after noon, just meditating and no talking! A monk who spoke English taught us, he was extremely nice and helpful. 

Me and the monk who taught us on day six!

The rules and the environment was the easiest thing to get used to, it was the meditation that was hard. We did vipassana meditation, which unlike tranquility meditation. In vipassana meditation you try to be mindful and not happy or concentrated. You basically narrate to yourself everything going on to you at that moment. It’s more complicated but I won’t go into the details. We meditated for 3 hours at a time. This was hard to sit and do, but also was painful. Legs falling asleep and back pain took a toll on me. But I am happy that I got through it and can say this is something I have experienced. Never again will I have the chance to live amongst monks and nuns! 

View of the lake nearby

Wats, Waterfalls and Elephants!

It’s starting to feel more like home here since I bought a cell phone and blanket! On Thursday I did not have class so I went exploring for some lunch with some other girls and we got some really spicy food! After we got back I went to another waterfall that had a natural slide where you can go down it. That was so much fun! It was a ways up from the first waterfall and hard to get to but well worth it when we did!            

Me at the top of the waterfall

Later that night we went the Bazaar, which is in the “old city” of Chiang Mai.

This place was really crowded but awesome! There are shops everywhere and lots of food stands. I tried a cricket! It was salty and I could feel the legs, but it wasn’t so bad. I also had pig intestine, an entire squid, coconut milk and rice in bamboo. It was so much fun to try new things and to watch the others try things like crickets and what not. 

Some of the food selection at the market

 

The next day we had a full day of classes and then after we went to a Mexican restaurant because a lot of the kids from the southwest were missing the food! We also went to a local Thai spot after and celebrated one of the girl’s birthdays! Saturday we explored “the old city”, which is apart of the city enclosed in the original stonewalls, and surrounded by a moat. We ended up walking around for almost 5 hours and saw so much! About every block or so there is a wat, or temple.  We went to about 5 that day. The biggest one we went to had hundreds of people there, and about a 30 foot Buddha statue!  It was very cool to see the awesome detail that is put into these temples and to see the monks still using them today.  We also stopped at a market and I bought a painting for 300 baht, which I bartered down form 490! I also bought a pair of “Aladdin” pants for 150 baht, which I bartered down from 290!  Shopping is fun but also stressful here because it is really hard to think in baht.

Inside the temple with the huge Buddha in the back

On Sunday we visited an elephant park where we were able to feed and play with the elephants! That was so much fun even though I got a good bit of elephant snot on my shirt.  We also went to a really famous temple, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. It was up a very steep and curvy road, which we took a double-decker bus up. Almost everything at the wat was painted gold and reflective, so on a sunny day like today it was hard to look around! Also there was a bird’s eye view of the city from the temple! Later that night we went to the Sunday night market for food and shopping! Tomorrow we leave for a 6-day meditation retreat at a temple up north. We will be waking up at 4:30 every morning, only eating breakfast and lunch, and meditating for 11 hours of the day. Needless to say I will not be updating or contacting anyone until after the 6 days! 

Me with Elephants!!

At Doi Suthep

Doi Suthep

Starting Classes!

Lake on campus

We started classes Tuesday and my first class was Buddhism Philosophy, and later on I had Thai language class. They both went well and I think I will really enjoy them! In between classes I had a few hours to chill, so me and a couple of friends went on a walk around a lake on campus, which of course was beautiful! Once we all got out of class we went to a waterfall up a mountain 10 minutes from campus. We were all still in our uniforms for climbing up the waterfall but we made it work! This was really cool and it was a fun journey just getting there. There is temple at the top of the mountain and there are lots of monks and Buddha statues on the way up.   Later that night we went towards the center in the city to check out the nightlife. We all (16 people) crammed into one red taxi… and belted out a wonderful rendition of bohemian rhapsody. It was a lot of fun and we ended up at a place with a lot of westerners, but hopefully soon we can go somewhere local! 

Some snacks on the way to the waterfall. Yum!!

Waterfall

Those of us who made it to the top! The guy who took it asked us if we were in a band because we were still in our school uniforms haha

Traditional Thai dancing

Wednesday I started my day off with Pad Thai which was delicious and only cost $1.3 for a big plate. There is no difference between meals here so I eat Pad Thai for breakfast! My classes were Money and Banking and International Business Management, which weren’t as fun as my other ones but still good!  I took a second trip to the waterfall and it was such a blast! However my feet are killing me and are covered in blisters! That night we had a traditional Thai dinner with everyone in our group.  We tried tons of spicy dishes and watched a traditional Thai performance.  So far I haven’t had anything that was too spicy for me, but I’m sure that will change!

On Monday we had orientation, which was a campus tour and a small presentation about our program. It was great to meet the rest of the student in the program, there are about thirty of us in total.  The campus is really pretty! There is a huge lake with trees surrounding it nearby and of course there are mountains in the background wherever you look. I was able to get my uniform later in the afternoon and now I am all set to go to class tomorrow.  I have to wear a white short sleeve blouse and black skirt everyday to class. But it’s nice to have to wear it because only students can wear the outfit, its illegal for people who aren’t students to do so. So when I wear it people know I’m a student and not just a tourist. Once back at the apartment a group of us went to rooftop pool to soak up some sunshine. Did I mention it’s 88 degrees and sunny?  

Entrance to Chiang Mai University

Then later that night my roommate Heather and I went to “Big C” which is kind of like a mall within a Walmart.  To get there we took a red taxi, which is basically a red pick up truck with seats in the back. What we weren’t expecting was it to go on the highway with us in back, but it did! That was slightly frightening but exciting. We got sheets and other things there, however they only sell fitted sheets and comforters, no actual sheets to go over you, I looked I promise! Also we had to buy toilet paper. First for at our apartment and second to carry with us because they do not have toilet paper in their bathrooms. There is a lot to get used too! On the way home we tried to bargain down the price of our ride, but only managed to get it down 10 baht. (30 baht = 1 dollar approx. ) We got home and went out to eat at the market near campus, I got a noodle dish with some fish balls… not digging the fish balls yet. I’m still trying to work on adjusting to the time difference (I’m 12 hours ahead) so after that it was lights out!

 

 

 

Heather and I in the Red Truck 

 

Riding in the red truck on the highway .. and on the left side of the road!

Heather looking out the Red Truck window

And I’m off!

I left for Chiang Mai from Cincinnati at 8 pm Friday night. I was nervous, anxious, and most of all excited for what the new adventures studying abroad in Thailand will bring. From Cincinnati I flew to Chicago, which only took about an hour. But it was exciting non-the less because that was my first flight, since I was 2 years old. From Chicago I flew to Seoul, South Korea. This flight was 15 hours, but thankfully I had a window seat to lean on, and by this point it was 1 am back home and I was tired.  Next I traveled on to Bangkok, Thailand, which took around 6 hours.  And finally I had to run to catch my flight to Chiang Mai and landed an hour later! I took a taxi to my apartment and got settled in! Tomorrow is orientation and school is starting later this week... so much to look forward too!