Ting Tong in Thailand

So we're back now from our 3 day trek and this will be a short recap of what happened. We started out an hour after the "hardcore"group and packed two vans for Northern Thailand. On the first day, we were to visit 5 villages and spend the night in the last one. After driving 1.5 hours (appx), we piled out by the side of the road and started in towards the first village through the jungle of northern Thailand. The landscape was absolutely phenomenal, and we came to our first village where we saw people working on slash and burn crop growing. We were told that the first village also wasn't very friendly, but that we had others to go. At the foot of this huge hill/mountain, the guide informs us that we should climb to the top of the mountain to take a group photo. It took us like, 15 minutes or 20 minutes to get the the top; it was ridiculous. Come to find out later that it was necessary to climb up it because it was part of our 20 kilometer hike that day (which was more than the "hardcore" group hiked in total from what I hear). The hike was quite possibly one of the hardest thing I've ever done, but I feel so proud of knowing that I was part of a group and we did it together. It was really sad to see the poverty in the villages and strange to see the contrast between the huts and handbuilt parts of the village as compared to the satellites and other government enhanced parts of the village. We also rode elephants for an hour and our s kept going off road to pull up trees and eat them. We (Elidh and I) had named the elephant Edgar after edgar the editor on our train ride. We also managed to serenade him while riding :D I got to ride on the lephants neck, which was sooo fun, but scary. We ended up in a Palaung village where we stayed the night. Our amazing guides cooked dinner and it may be the best meal I've had this trip. Our leader, Tun Myint, also somehow managed tho organize the town to talk to us that evening in the village's temple, which was a really powerful experience. After sleeping in the mosquito net on a bamboo platform outside and having the village women set up a little market for us, we set out for Pai. On the way, we stopped at a beautiful waterfall and decided to skip the hotsprings. We stayed at a "resort" which was pretty but the rooms were basic. In Pai, we wandered around and went to this bar where Bass and I learned how to spin fire sticks, which was really scary and amazing and definitely a once of a lifetime event. The next morning we went back to Chiang Mai, stopping at a bat cave where we floated through on bamboo rafts and hiked to a monk's village of 3, and we also stopped at a whiskey brewery, orchid farm, butterfly farm, and tea plantation. Last night, we did the night market in Chiang Mai and went out with Tun Myint too. He commented that nobody takes him to the Cow in NOrthfield, so we'll probably do that this fall as a reunion. Other people need the computer, so I should probably end this now. We're leaving for Burma later today, which will definltely be itneresting. HOpefully we aren't arested by the junta and everyone will stay safe the on flight to mandalay!

Markets, Sleep Deprivation, and Rats: Oh My!

So I don't have my journal in front of me, making this a recap by memory, which we all know could be iffy even without sleep deprivation. I'll start at the beginning and work up to now.
We left at the crack of dawn from Northfield and went to MSP, where we flew to Chicago O'hare and waited for our Tokyo flight. After boarding, I realized that I did the right thing picking the seat behind the mysterious line because it ended up that there wasn't a row ahead of me and I got ample leg room to completely stretch out :D I felt a bit guilty about it though...not really. We watched tons of movies on the flight and had 1 semi okay meal and another really crappy meal. My favorite food was the instant ramen we got as a snack though. I have a feeling there will be lots of that this trip. After landing in Tokyo, we got out and wandered the airport, which wasn't that bad at all. I think the worst airport we had was actually MSP or O'Hare. We had a short layover and then flew to Bangkok where Roy and the rest of the professors were waiting for us with our tour guide and bus. We loaded up and then went to the hotel for the night to have a short meeting and rooms. I stayed with Molly, who is super nice and I'm glad that I met her. We were 2 per room, which was also a change from the 4 person debate hotel stays in high school. Our room was on the third floor and a lot nicer than I expected.
The next day, we went to the Royal Palace and the Temple to see the Emerald Buddah. The architecture was fantastic and so intricate. I felt a little werid taking pictures and being touristy in a place of worship, but they fund the repairs through our fees, so it works out in the end I guess. After coming back for lunch in the hotel, Shilpa, Emily, Liv, Brooke, and I set out on our dinner adventure. Roy had us using a bus, sky train, and express boats to get to the river where we met for our dinner cruise. The ship was a little cheesy with the disco ball table on the end, but we got to eat on the top level and floated up and down the river, taking in the sights and enjoying being in Thailand.
On the second day in Thailand, I woke up at 430 am (I think I'm still on the 6 hour Carleton schedule and not actually sleep deprived though) and decided to take Barry's advice, a Carl alum leading on the treks, to make the most of it, so I went out walking with my camera, ipod for a watch, and some baht (thai currency). I ended up at this huge local markety around 10 minutes down the street from our hotel. It was such a different experience to take in local Thai markets without having someone shove stuff in my face. There was a ton of fruit and meat stands with hundreds of people and cats/dogs roaming about. I'm kind of getting leery of meat already after seeing it laying out in buckets with no ice in the sun or hanging on hooks. I also saw a few more shrines that people create and have all over Bangkok. I was on my way back and also saw a rat run across the sidewalk. I thought of following it and taking a picture and then realized that was kind of gross. We headed out as a group that morning to go to the Jim Thompson house after our group meeting/lesson. We wandered around the garden, did the tour, looked at silk for sale, and I had an incredible lime soda drink concoction on the veranda. We had free time at the hotel then to wander around after lunch and packing. Molly and I took a tuk tuk (this 3 wheeled taxi thing) back to the hotel after wandering off.
Later, we had a bus tour and went to the train station for our overnight ride to Chiang Mai. It was uncomfortable and I was scared I was going to fall off of my bed where the only safety was two seatbelt straps hooked from the bed to the ceiling. I also made use of the eye mask thing Anh gave me because the curtain did not keep the light out of the bed which was on ALL NIGHT.
Today, we got to our hotel, the Yaang Come Village. It is even better than our first hotel and absolutely what I imagine when I think of Thailand. Liv and I are staying in hut 6 in a fantastic room that I want to come back and stay in later. We did walking tours too today with a guide and university student where we went to the day market and a senior citizen home. Tonight we're going to the night market and supper, so I probably should end this now (and you're probably bored of reading this now). We head out tomorrow for our treks. It will be fantastic. Elephant riding, cave spelunking, hot springs, villages. I'm excited. It will be fantastic. Miss you all and will be thinking of you when I'm on the elephant.

Bangkok

Hi everyone,

Today is our first full day and we're in Bangkok. Still safe. Went on a boat ride, bus, sky train. Saw the Royal Palace and Emerald Buddah. It was fantastic and I will write more later.

T-4

Hey all,
I'm still up, trying to buy my ticket (for korea this summer! don't worry!) But anyway, it's given me time to meet with most of you to say goodbye, ponder the amount of packing I did today/yesterday/day before, and get ready mentally for this new adventure. It's going to be hard, I realize that, but I think it's something I need to do for myself and especially as preparation for traveling in Korea. I will miss all of you dearly and hope that you have fantastic times that you will email me about, as well as regale me with when I return. Once I get this ticket bought, I'm going to bed.

Much Love, Catherine

Getting Ready

I am incapable of packing lightly. There are clothes strung across my room, some of which I don't remember even wearing since I got here. I have no idea how I'm going to pack for this trip (where we'll be going to Thailand, Burma, Vietnam, and China in that order), Korea, the basement of Musser, and home in the next 24 hours. I also feel really bad for my mom because I could have been neater. Hypothetically.

So this is probably the fourth blog I've tried in my lifetime, and I don't think I've ever made it past 3 posts before. I'll try very hard to do better this time. I know you all want to learn about the (mis)adventures I'm going to get into between Wednesday (since we don't land until then) and June 3rd when I return. Oh, and as far as returning plans go, I'll be at Carleton for a couple of days to say goodbye to all of my lovely seniors and then I will be going home until I go to Korea (yay!)

This will be a sporadically posted blog. I actually don't even know how often we'll have internet access or if I'll be able to access this in Asia. That would be disappointing because I've just wasted the past ten minutes making this. Oh well.

I'm going to end this now and say I will stay safe and not drink the water. And I will miss all of you a lot, but reflecting now on the size of my suitcase, I can't take any of you with me that I had previously promised. Sorry. We'll go when we're rich and famous, k?