Adventure!

Today had that slow day feel to it. We spent a lot of time inside talking about concepts and I saddled off into daydreaming (whoops). When it was time to break free I was supposed to go out at 1 pm but Thai people are nearly impossible to move. We didn't leave until about 3pm which literally meant two hours of sitting around and doing nothing.

It was painfully boring and I got pretty aggrivated. When we did finally leave we went to a temple which was absolutely gorgeous and met with a monk. For those of you who don't know, meeting with a monk is stressful because there are so many weird cultural traditions that you have to follow. For example you cannot, under any circumstance, touch a monk. You also can never put your feet in his direction. Then there is the whole issu of wai--ing (pronounced Y) which is the bow you do in Thailand. You bow all the time except for monks there is this whole special routine for wai-ing which includes bowing to the floor... The monk kept laughing at Julie and I who got the routine horribly wrong.

He was very good at his English and therefore talked with us, which the Thai girls we were with later told us was "very impolite." He gave us sa-sei which are blessed bracelets and threw water at us.

Today is Chiang Mai's 713 anniversary...talk about an old city...

Last night we went shopping and I worked on my bargaining skills. I got 5 outfits for about $30 USD. What I like is I'm not getting the clothes because they are "Thai" I'm getting them because really, it's what I would pick out at home. They have good style over here (haha).

Dinner took forever because they cook one meal at a time (this is true virtually wherever you go) and there were 11 of us.

Sorry this is so scattered, I'm writting on my lunch break and want to go get some delicious Thai food before I have to head back.

<3

Wow. Today was breathtakingly awesome. So many good memories were made in so little time. Sometimes its hard to believe how long a day really is. I woke up early to prepare myself for a full day of adventuring. By 8:40 we were out the door and on our way. I couldn't have been happier. We were loaded in to two different tuk-tuks and our first stop was a botanical garden that had a special butterfly unit.

Walking around amongst the Thai horticulture was absolutely stunning. The orchids were amazing though most of them were not at all fragant. I don't know if that's typical of orchids or not but they were beautiful in themselves. The butterflies that were flitting around the gardens were simply stunning. There was even one larger than my entire face. The colors were stunning and it was as if it were snowing in technicolor. We wandered around the garden for about a half hour before climbing back on our busses.

The next stop was the village of the karen or long-neck people. This was without a doubt the strangest experience I have ever had as we were going to look at people. Something about it felt terribly wrong and yet I also found myself fascinated by these long-necked women who sat dutifully at their looms weaving the most beautiful scarves I have ever seen. Although these tribes were originally from Burma, the fighting there has caused many of them to flee to Thailand where they make most of their money by opening up their villages to tourists and by weaving. Even though we were expected visitors, I couldn't help but feel like an intrudor. Plus, it was the one place in Thailand were no one smiled. An overwhelming sadness hung in the air like some thick sort of fog choking everyone into an awkward state of not knowing what to do.

In the end, we decided it would be best to buy a few trinkets from them hoping that they got to keep all the money we eagerly wanted to give. The encounter still sits awkwardly with my heart...

After that we went to a place went to an elephant camp and rode elephants. I thought it was going to be a weird-touristy thing (and it definitely was) but there was still something unbelievably cool about it. Not only that but the elephants seemed to really be enjoying themselves. Before our trip began we fed them bananas which they eagerly grabbed from our hands with their trunks. I never would have guessed how strong an appendage a trunk is until that moment. It was just so cool!

Riding the elephant was also a bizarre experience. While I thought I would have been able to compare it to a horse, the experience was not at all similar. It was rickety and bump and just plain hilarious. It's clear that the elephant is in charge doing what it wants to do and the fact that it is taking you from point Y to point Z is all well and good provided it can do what it wants in between. (mainly eat). I was also surprsied as how coarse elephant skin is; some weird combination of sandpaper and stone. Looking back, I feel like I should have expected them to have rough and tough skin but it really never occured to me.

When we got off our elephants we then walked a short bit (we didn't ride in a loop, rather we rode in a line) and arrived at a river where we entered a cage on a zip line and then used it to cross the river. It was awesome.

Then we went for a hike. Thank goodness we went for a hike. I have missed being outside so much that this was simply heaven. You know all those scenes in Jurassic Park where they are simply running around through the forest? Imagine that except with cows spotted about here and there. Thailand is fantastically beautiful. Like something out of a Tolkein novel. You can't explain how gorgeous it is with words and pictures, no matter how crafty the photographer, fail to capture the unending depth of the gorgousness.

My favorite part (besides the cows) was the bamboo forests that burst up out of the forest floor like living fireworks. The greenery is simply overwhelming. Along most of our hike were lechee trees and my classmates picked and ate their fruit but I am not allowed to eat fruit for the next few days. (bummer).

I wish I could capture how in love with this country I am but every time I go to try and express myself I feel that words are simply lacking. Everything about this place is amazing. The wildlife is amazing. The people are happy, eager to please, and always full of smiles. The kindness people show one another is simply overwhelming. ...

But back to my story. Our hike stopped briefly at a village where we eat pad-thai out of bamboo leaves and then continued further up the mountain until we arrived at about a 50 foot waterfall. I wish we could say we went swimming but in truth all we did was stand under the water fall but it was still pretty epic. Surprsingly, this was a lot of people's first hike so they found it difficult. Even having been in the hospital yesterday I found it easy and our Thai tour guide asked me why I was so good at scrambling over rocks, crossing rivers, and that sort of thing and simply told him that I love hiking. He smiled and said some sort of Thai expression that I don't remember...

The hike back was quick and we got to see the cows again. I love Thai cows. I'm not really sure why. Maybe its simply because they are everywhere or maybe its because they have this weird sort of beauty to them in the way they slowly carry themselves across the mountain or the rice paddy. I guess their dull expression makes them look strangely at peace. I don't know. I just really like them -- but I guess I've always had a thing for livestock. (weird, i know)

After that we did some "whitewater" rafting except there wasnt really any whitewater and was kind of lame but still a good time. The bamboo rafts we went on were hysterical as they sort of sunk under the water a little bit. You also had to sit perfectly still or else you risked tipping them completely over. I got to steer our boat (awesome!) which basically consisted of using a giant stick and poking it into the ground.

When all is said and done I'd say today was pretty amazing. To top it off we went out to dinner and then a couple of the girls went out to get massages. (nice treat!) Anyways I'd write more but I'm dreadfully tired after such a full day of adventuring.

Happy days!

Oh and on a sidenote sorry if I don't respond to emails / comments i love getting & reading them but I have limited time on the computer. Everything you send / post means a lot and I am so happy I have so many followers. Also sorry my gram mar isn't up to par -- I am pretty much free-writing my day down and don't have time to proof read : ( I wish I was better at grammar so I could get it right on the first go-round but..... ?

<3

I woke up Sunday morning clearly not well. After tossing and turning all night I realized that I was not a little bit sick but a lot a bit sick. I went through my first aid kit, found my thermometer and realized I had a really high fever. I waited til a normal hour, found my professor and then we went to Chiang Mai Ram Hospital where I was soon admitted and told I would have to stay overnight...

While I probably should have been freaking out at the idea of staying in a foreign hospital, I was more interested in seeing what my experience would be like. All-in-all I would say that it was good.

After being told I would have to stay (after no wait, literally no wait) I went up to my new room which was NICER than my HOTEL ROOM. I had a full kitchen, bath, coach, lounge, a karoke machine, and a great view of the city because I was on the tenth floor.

I spent the day pretty much passed out as they pumped antibiotics into me via IV. I also got to have american food again which, surprsingly, I realized I had really missed. Club sandwhiches are delicious even when they are made with a fried egg. ( you should try it out).

The best part was all the people who came to visit and the overwhelming kindness from both my friends, the nursing staff, and my professor/translator Carol. She brought me a stuffed animal dog so that I wouldn't be alone. I named him "Sou! Sou!" after a Thai expression which means "Lets go / You can do it! / We will perservere!"

Then a group of American students came to visit. They didn't stay very long but were in awe of my kickin accomadations and very jealous of my dinner (chicken breast with a mashroom glaze -- fancy, right?). After that my Thai friend Nat came to see me and told me about my group's progress during the day and said some sort of Thai goodluck / get well thing to me. Then Julie and Ally came to visit.

After, I went to bed. When I woke up in the morning I still had a fever so I had to stay later and therefore missed our class fieldtrip to see the historic temples in Chiang Mai. Nat said she would take me some day instead of going to class (haha). I stayed in the hospital until about 7:00 this evening and was really ready to go by the time I got discharged.

After getting discharged, I went out to dinner with some friends to celebrate my recovery and had a hearty meal of noodle soup. After that, we went to the Shang-ri-la (?) hotel/bar which was incredibly ritzy for drinks and to say goodbye to Carol. I was particularlly sad to see her go after all she had done for me.

That pretty brings me right up to this moment. Tomorrow I am going on a very touristy excursion but that's ok. I didn't have the energy to plan anything for myself. I am going to visit to a village where woman have the long-necks, to swim in a waterfall, to ride an elephant, and to whitewater raft. I may skip the rafting depending on how I am feeling but probably not I hear its a pretty low-key rapid and I love rafting!

ok well goodnight / goodmorning / don't worry I am better now!