It has been over a month since my last post, which is a
testament to how busy these past 6 weeks or so have been.Luckily, they have been busy in the best ways
possible.I have had the opportunity to
relax in the south of Thailand, see one of the most important and beautiful
Thai festivals in Chiang Mai, and explore a nearly untouched culture in Myanmar
among other things.While life abroad
still has its inevitable frustrations, I am really beginning to feel like I’ve
hit my stride.Travelling is starting to
feel quite natural.My daily routine in
Chiang Mai feels balanced and satisfying.And even on the more mundane days here, I find myself having moments of
overwhelming gratitude to be having this experience.
Since more recent ventures are of course easier to recall, I
will briefly summarize the past month and a half in reverse chronological
order.Please enjoy the pictures and
feel free to ask any questions!!!
A couple of days ago, I celebrated my 22nd
birthday!A few friends and I relaxed in
a lakeside hut during the day and I had a fun dinner with a great group of
people in my program at my favorite pizza and craft beer restaurant.The beer (Trappist) was actually brewed by
monks!I am considering my consumption
of alcohol that night as merit-making action.
awesome thai chocolate cake
chillin lakeside on with pals
Last week, I had the amazing opportunity to visit my friend
Charissa in the mysterious and infinitely fascinating country of Myanmar.Charissa has an internship with the Ministry
of Hotels & Tourism there and I was so lucky to have a knowledgeable
companion to help navigate my way around.It was amazing to be in a foreign place that wasn’t specially catered to
me as a foreigner.Unlike Thailand,
almost nothing was in English and in most of the areas we were, Charissa and I
were the only foreigners in sight.I
felt like somewhat of a spectacle – more than a couple times I saw people turn
around on their motorbikes to take a second look at the strange white folk.
Given that I only had about 5 days and a couple of those
were dedicated to travelling on buses, I mostly just got to see the city of
Taunggyi – where they were celebrating their annual balloon festival – and Inle
Lake, which is much more of a tourist hub.Both places were amazing in their own ways.Taunggyi felt like an authentic
representation of city life in Myanmar and Inle had beautiful natural
landscapes in every direction.Because
of unfortunate weather conditions, the balloon festival we saw wasn’t quite as
impressive as it might have been.Instead of the usual 300 hot air balloons, they only released
three.Still, it was awesome to see the
other pieces of the festival and to dance with this jolly man:
Yangon airport
tour of Inle lake
bird feeding off boat
balloon festival
monks
famous Taunggyi market
balloon festival scene
Charissa and Tay-Zar at dinner
sunset over pagoda in Inle
My trip to Myanmar really was unforgettable.Hearing insights from Myanmar citizens themselves
about their country’s issues was enlightening, spending time with a like-minded
and hilarious gal like Charissa was refreshing, and sitting for 14 hours in a
crammed bus while enduring strange and loud Burmese music videos blasting was…
an experience.I am infinitely glad that
I chose to go!
The weekend preluding my trip to Myanmar, my study abroad
program USAC took us all to Mae Hong Son, which is a northern province in
Thailand.Mae Hong Son borders Shan
State, the area in Myanmar that I was in, so it was cool to learn a bit about
how Myanmar’s culture has leaked into Thailand before I actually went over
there.One example was a village of
Karen people, or the “Longneck Village” as the sign so kindly identified them
as.Karen women wear rings around their
necks to make them longer and more beautiful.Most of us felt quite awkward visiting; showcasing their culture in that
way seems so exploitative.The worst and
most comical part was that on the boat ride to their village we wore life vests
that said “Neckerman Services” on them.Dear god.Other highlights of the
trip included visiting a gorgeous national park, seeing Mexican sunflower
fields, and buying carrots at a market on the way home.
Honestly, a lot of our trip was spent in the vans.The drive to Mae Hong Son is famous around
Thais, who put a sticker on their car after making the 6+ hour drive with 1864
curves.Luckily, neither any of my van-mates
nor I got sick and our drive was a perfect balance between looking out the
window plugged into our own music and making ridiculous stories where each
person says one word.(Our best story
stars Young Sarah, a blind mouse who created a museum about space basketball
and joined a band that changed the world for the worst 5 days ever.)Here are a couple of shots from the Mexican
sunflower field.
Not long before our trip to Mae Hong Son, a few other fellow
USAC-ers and I got to enjoy the intimate local celebration of Yi Peng in Chiang
Mai.During Yi Peng, everyone lights
huge paper lanterns and releases them into the night sky among thousands of
others.Nothing can replace the majesty
of experiencing this first hand, but my friend Anna got a great shot of some of
our friends releasing their lantern:
The morning before the amazing lantern festival, we were
returning to Chiang Mai from Krabi, Thailand which is in the south of the
country.A few friends and I stayed on
Ao Nang beach for 4 magnificent days.The first day Anna and I relaxed on the beach, got coconut oil massages,
and made friends with an awesome girl named Alex who is teaching English in Tak
for the year.The second day the three
of us went rock climbing on Raileigh beach, which was one of the best things I
have done.Rock climbing indoors is
fun, but actually having to grip small crevices on a natural rock was
challenging and rewarding.The third day
Anna, our friends Lexi, Lexis, and I rented scooters and explored a national
park with an amazing waterfall and the final day we went on a four island boat
tour.The full day trip cost us about
$12.We swam under breath-taking rock
caves, snorkeled (my first time! ‘twas awesome!), and got just sunburnt enough
to be okay with ending our trip and heading back to Chiang Mai.
Finally, a long, long time ago I went to Bangkok with my
friend Amy.Bangkok is a fascinating
city to me – exemplifying nearly perfectly how old films imagined cities in the
future.There were huge screens downtown
that constantly played advertisements, millions of people bustling around,
skyscrapers going on for miles and more traffic than I’ve seen in my life.All that was missing was the flying cars, I
swear.We got to see some famous sights
such as The Grand Palace, Wat Arun, and Wat Pho as well as the legendary
backpacker’s street Khao San Road.These
sights really were very impressive but I found myself more mesmerized by the
hundreds of other tourists buzzing around with their cameras.For whatever reason, the scene is so interesting:
so many languages, cultures, and ideas all in one huge and chaotic city.
houses along river in bangkok
incredible detail of wat arun
city view from wat arun
khao san road
tuk tuk ride
bangkok = future
We also got to take a train to Ayutthaya, one of Thailand’s
first capitals.The ruins were very neat
but I must admit I have limited knowledge of the actual history of
Ayutthaya.Also I am much too tired to
write anymore, enjoy pictures:
I am having a fantastic time. I feel safe. Thai food is delicious. Life is good. Thank you for reading, have a wonderful day!
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