Well, I'm done with the official part of my trip, so I'm now on vacation at the beach! You may think I'm crazy for saying I need a vacation, but trust me when I say that I do. I only have one more day to go before I'm on my way back home! (I won't actually get home until April 3.)
I'm at Karon Beach now and we're going to Koh Phi Phi Island tomorrow. It's so gorgeous here! It's great to have a little relaxation time before I get home.
I've had such an amazing time here, but I'm so excited to be coming home soon! I miss everyone and I miss normal, wonderful, American life.
10. Fried cockroaches & grasshoppers
9. Unaccompanied young children (5 yrs +/-) begging in the streets
8. A remote waterfall
7. Chaos in Myanmar
6. The Golden Triangle (Borders of Laos, Myanmar & Thailand)
5. The Hall of Opium (a museum)
4. More westerners than I've seen since I've been here (mostly European)
3. Squiddy Burgers at 7-Eleven
2. More bad karaoke
1. A Thai Elvis impersonator
You would not believe how popular karaoke is here. It's totally out of control! Everyone, everywhere loves it! I can't tell you how many parties I've been to where karaoke is involved. People have it in their homes, in the restaurants, and even in their cars. Once someone gets a mic, they can't sing just one - there is always an encore lined up. We are SO sick of it! We live in constant fear of an impromptu karaoke party. If I hear one more version of John Denver's "Country Road" I'm gonna die.
I've been negligent in updating my blog because my internet access is not always good. Someone here told me the internet is slow here because Thailand is so far from America, as if the internet is actually located in America.
I'm still having a great time. Some days are more stressful than others, but the good times outweigh the bad. Even though we've been blessed to be around many fluent English speakers, the language barrier is an issue sometimes, so me and my team live in confusion. I've gotten to where I quit asking what's going on - I just get in the car when everyone else does. That method seems to be working so far.
There is a lot of delicious food here. When they say "spicy" they are not kidding. Almost all of the food is spicy, but I've gotten used to it and if it's too bad, I can always just eat rice. Our favorite thing to eat is mangoes with sticky rice and coconut milk. The mango here is out-of-this-world. We also eat a lot of fish, pork and vegetables. I have tons of pictures of food. They're big on serving the whole fish - almost every meal there is a fish - scales, head, everything - on the table.
Unfortunately, I don't really have a way to upload pictures since I'm using random computers. I wish I could post them now because we have done some incredible things. Yesterday, for example, we visited paradise - palm trees, beautiful river, lush grass, kayaking...so fun. I'm sure I'll be posting lots of pictures when I get back home.
I'm now in Uttaradit, but I'm leaving tomorrow for Phayoa. We move towns about every 3 days, so I've seen a lot of places and still have 5 more to go in the next two weeks. I have my moments of being homesick, but this has been such a good experience that I'm looking forward to what the next half of the trip holds. I have two phrases I say all the time: "It's always something" and "Don't ask questions. This is Thailand. The rules don't apply."
Everyday here is an adventure. You never know what the next moment will be like, much less the next day. Every meal, every conversation and every car ride (and every bathroom) is a new experience.
One minute, we're living in a third world country and the next, we're swimming at a "resort" or getting a head massage. I have seen some crazy things here and I have a whole new understanding of the phrase "made in Thailand".
We have had a little (MUCH needed) downtime yesterday and this morning and I have no idea what adventure is in store for us today, but I'm sure it will be interesting whatever it is.
This has been such a fun and bizarre trip so far. We are in the city of Lampang right now (leaving later for Thoen). So far in Lampang, I have ridden an elephant, gotten a Thai massage (kind of like "involuntary yoga"), visted a ceramic factory and a power plant, toured an interesting (yet disgusting) hospital and crashed a funeral. Yes, after leaving the hospital, we're standing by this building with a bunch of people in it, when I realize there is a dead body laying on the table with an arm hanging out. I'll have to tell more about it later.
Here are a few other interesting tidbits:
*This morning, I asked a little 7 year old boy what a dog says. his reply: "Hung! Hung!" (so cute!)
*Thai's like to use toilet paper for napkins and paper towels
*They use kitchen sprayers for toilet paper
*They're not necessarily in to hot running water - makes for a quick shower
*It takes about 6 days to get over jet lag (13 hour time zone difference)
Funniest moment of the week:
After spending 30 minutes trying to tell our hostess that our cameras were in the trunk of the car we were in and we wanted to get them out to take pictures, one of my teammates says in exasperation: We have got to get a new phrasebook! This thing has "knappy rash" but not "trunk".
I have written so many pages in my journal. I'm looking forward to sharing more stories when I have time. I hope everyone is well!
Just a quick note to let everyone know that I am alive and well. It is lovely here - very hot, too. I've gotten very little sleep since I left Louisiana, but I'm trying to stay awake and force myself into a normal schedule tonight. (There's a 13 hour time difference. It's tomorrow here.)
We are staying in a gorgeous house here. It is one of the owner's second homes. I can't wait to upload pictures (I don't know when that will be).
Communications are spotty - my cell doesn't work, nor does my calling card (but I think I might know how to use it now, thanks to one of my friends calling AT&T). I feel so out of touch not having much internet access.
I have to go because everyone else is waiting to use the computer. I'll post again soon. I am journalling this whole trip, so I can post some strories and details next time I have internet access.