[THAILAND WEEK 5.]

It has been another exciting week at the volunteer house. As usual I have much more to write than I have time for but I will try and get a good update in :) The week started out with a cooking demonstration from one of the cooks, Jiew, that works in our volunteer home. We could pick what dishes we wanted to be taught so I picked green curry and Phad Thai. They were both deliiiciiousss! I have the recipe for both so I am going to give them a try when I get home. Of course after I get my pizza and Mexican food haha. I think I may have to get some of the ingredients at the Asian market. I am way excited to go home and be able to try and cook it all on my own. I have ordered it/seen it made enough times here I am sure I can figure it out. On Monday we also had a Thai massage lesson. The woman who came to give us the lesson has been doing it for 7 years! She taught us about pressure points and gave us a little demonstration. Then we got to try on each other and it definitely wasn't the same as her doing it! They actually kind of hurt but afterwards it feels really good, not relaxing like a regular massage though.

On Tuesday we had a Buddhist Nun come to the house and give a talk about her life. She moved to Thailand 26 years ago after leaving her family in Austria. She has given up a lot to be here in Thailand but she loves being a Buddhist nun. She talked to us about meditation and Buddhism and answered the bajillion questions we had for her. She came from such a modern life and it is so interesting to hear how happy she is living the simple life that she does now. Wednesday was a quiet night. I went into the city and got a foot massage and some ice cream (really what more could you need? ;)

On Thursday we had another lecture from Phra (means monk or nobleman) Dr. Anil at his temple, Wat Bovorn. He came to Thailand from Nepal and has been living here since he was 14. He has been a monk for 34 years and has become well known throughout Thailand. I was very surprised with how modern he was. He has a radio show, a television show, and gives lectures all around the world. He let us just ask him questions about his past, becoming a monk, Buddhas teaching, rituals, you name it we asked it. We ended up talking to him for almost 3 hours! Every aspect of his talk was incredible but I was very taken back by his responses when we started to talk about all the rituals in Thailand. The Thai's bow down to Buddhas when they see them, light candles and incenses, bring flowers, do chants, and the list goes on. I have become accustomed to seeing this pretty much everywhere I go. Dr. Anil told us that he doesn't do much of this "ritualistic" stuff. He doesn't light the candles or incenses, wear the blessing strings, etc. So of course we were very taken back by this and asked him why. He told us that some of Thai people need this to help remind them to pay respect to Buddha but he doesn't need it and he thinks its kind of silly. It is not part of their 'life philosophy' to do these sorts of things. This is why the rituals are different from country to country. This is a man with A PhD in Buddhism?! His points were so contradicting to what I have learned the entire time I have been here! It was so interesting to hear a different view point and learn that some people (even the monks!) don't think the rituals are as important as others. 

Friday was an adventurous day and I got to see the Grand Palace, The Temple of the Emerald Buddha, and Wat Po (the reclining Buddha). I had already been to each of these places earlier in my trip but they were definitely worth a second visit. The Grand Palace's grounds are magnificent and all of the buildings are so extravagant.

These are my two roommates and I in the grounds of the Grand Palace. After the tour with the group we headed to an Amulet Market right near the Grand Palace. I found a few cute Buddha amulets to put on some cord when I get home. (Kelli Williams get excited I got you something cool here! :) After the market we headed to the National Museum. I don't think I read more than like 3 signs in here but the pictures were beautiful and so were the grounds. They had these amazing chariots that the King and Queen used to (or maybe still do?) use for ceremonies that were in the back of the museum. We also got to see some of the costumes that they would wear for celebrations. The museum was definitely worth visiting but a bit run down. It probably could have used a modern update! After the museum we were supppppposed to head to a dinner show in Silom Village but when we got there the place was deserted. We figured out how to take the water taxi to the sky train and then walk to the village (very proud! hahah). Everything was going great til we got to the village and no one was there. Plans changed and we had dinner at a fantastic restaurant (Mom if you are reading we got Mango Tree again!) and then headed home for the evening.

Saturday was my last day in Thailand with my two roommates that I started the program with. We woke up early and headed to Ja Tu Jak weekend market. This is one of the largest markets in Bangkok! (or maybe even Thailand?) It has 15,000 stalls and is only open on Saturday and Sunday. We got some cool gifts and had a fantastic (and cheap!) lunch at the market. I am going to miss eating a delicious meal for a buck twenty five! Can we adopt this in the United States please? After the market we came home and freshened up and then headed into the city for one last hoorah (aka a foot massage). I couldn't have asked for better roommates on this trip. They were both fantastic and we all got along so well. I will definitely miss them! I got a new roommate last night who will be here for 4 weeks. She seems very sweet so I am sure that we will have a great time together as well. 

This morning I woke up and headed back to Ja Tu Jak market to pick up a few things. I wanted to get a plant for my hospital mentor Pi-Toy. I found a cactus at the market and decided to get that because it reminded me of Arizona. I have 4 more days left with her so I will bring it to her on my last day. She has been so fantastic! I will get another hospital update after this! Its now 3 in the afternoon and I am about to head to the health food store to get a snack (delicious rice crackers with plum sauce and sesame seeds) and some lemon grass tea. I don't have plans for later on but 3 new girls are in the house so I am sure we will come up with something fun....until next time:)

[WAT-TED OUT?]

Week #1 is done of my volunteer program and I cannot believe how quickly it went! I spent 3 days at the hospital this week and the rest of my time was spent exploring Bangkok and all that this amazing city has to offer. On Monday we went to Wat Arun, which I had already been to but this time not in the rain so I actually got a few pictures! We took a water taxi to the temple and then learned how to take the Sky Train and Subway home. I have to take these home from work everyday so I have started to become a pro at this! ;) You can't really tell but these steps are super steep! It was definitely a teeny bit scary on the way down but I survived!

Every day after our volunteer work we go and do a fun group activity. Tuesday was Muay Thai boxing at a real Muay Thai training camp. Our trainer was a big time champ in Thailand (of course now I can't remember his name?)! He showed us a lot of the punches and kicks and let us practice with the bags that the actual boxers get to use. Andd...the smelly gloves that they use. There was a much needed shower after this activity. 

The next day we explored a Wat (temple) in China Town. I had actually been to this temple with my first tour company as well but it was still really interesting to see. This temple holds a 5 ton pure gold Buddha. There is a museum in the bottom few floors of the temple that explain the history behind the Chinese settling in Thailand.

The rain clouds were coming in so we had to tour the top floor (where the Golden Buddha is located) pretty quick so we didn't get caught in it. We headed to a seafood restuarant for dinner located right in China Town. I'm sure if you like sea food the meal was great but I stuck to the veggies so I can't say much about the food at this place! Everybody else seemed to be oohing and ahhing about it though!

The next night we headed to a "lady boys" show. I had never been to a drag show before so I really wasn't sure to expect but I loved it!

These actors/dancers used to be men (or still are) and now they are women. Most of them have had multiple surgeries to switch their genders. I did not know this before I spoke to a surgeon in the hospital the other day but Thailand is famous for male to female gender surgery. The surgeons in this country are very recognzed for this surgery but not the reverse, female to male. The country is also very accepting of transgender people. I couldn't believe how beautiful some of these "men" were. If you saw them on the street I really don't think you would ever know they were men if they didn't talk to you. They lip-sync the words but the few times someone talked into the microphone you instantly knew they really were men. The show had tons of acts with the most extravagant costumes! It was definitely worth seeing :)

 We don't go to our worksites on Fridays so we have 3 days of weekend to explore Thailand.This weekend we are heading to Amphawa and Ayuddhya! More posts to come :)

[BACK BACK TO BANGKOK.]

This morning we took a quick 1 hour flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. I will now be in Bangkok for the remainder of my time in Thailand. The flight was really easy, we were up and down in no time. After we got back to the hotel and freshened up we headed out to see the Jim Thompson house museum. 

 Jim Thompson was an American who fell in love with Thailand and decided to live here permanently He loved silk and decided to recreate the industry in Thailand. He is world famous now for his silk and we got to visit the home that he used to live in. The house was gorgeous and full of Teak wood and other things you would see in a traditional Thai home. He disappeared one summer on vacation in Malaysia and no one has ever seen him since. They have a House Museum, Store, and Outlet in Bangkok of Jim Thompson's silks. 

Later this evening I headed to Lumphinee Boxing Stadium to watch a Muay Thai boxing match. My mom decided she didn't want to go and got a massage instead (I think they count is around 7...hahah love you Mom!) I got seats ring side with two other people who were in our tour group. There were 7 matches that had 5 rounds each. Before each match started the boxers had to pray and do a few chants with dancing which helped bring good luck to them during their match. These boxers fight people in the same weight class as them. I tried so hard to get pictures but they didn't turn out so well. 

The locals sit up in the "cheap seats" (aka where I would sit if I were at a Diamondbacks game or something) but I was warned to not sit up there. They are all standing up all the time and they are continually betting on who is going to win. At the end of every match I would guess who I thought was going to win and I was wrong 6 out of 7 times. One guy would look like they were dominating and then they other guy would win. So I stayed farrr away from the betting locals. I learned later that the points system they are scored on depends on how hard they kick, etc. I was also told before I went not to put my hands up and wave at all because this means you are trying to bet.

There was live music for the entire boxing match and it would speed up and slow down depending on the pace of the match. It was awesome to see a real Muay Thai boxing match in Thailand!

[DO YOU SPEAK THAILAND?]

I could probably write a novel with all of the things that I have experienced since the last time that I updated my blog. Sorry its been so long my days are soo packed and once I get home and eat dinner and shower I am so exhausted and I gotta head to bed. Anyways today is Sunday and it is the first day this entire time in Thailand I have not had a single plan so I am going to play catch up. I am sitting at the kitchen table eating delicious pomelo and dragon fruit and lovin' that I have nothing else to do today! (okay lets be real I'll probably head to the market later on) 

Okay anyways...I have 1 more blog post about my trip with our travel company but that will come later. For now I am going to update about my volunteer program...

I have been in the volunteer guest house since last Saturday and I have been having the time of my life. My work site placement is at Charoenkrung Pracharak Hospital right outside of Bangkok. My mentor/coordinator is a nurse named Pi-Toy that has been working at this hospital for 33 years. She is one of the sweetest women I have ever met in my entire life. She really makes sure I am taken care of and that I feel comfortable. Being thrown into this hospital in a developing country is such an eye opening experience. Health care in Thailand is nothing like health care in the United States and it is so interesting to be able to compare the two.

I walked into the 15th floor female surgical ward (which is where I will be for my 3 weeks) and it took me a moment to take it all in realize I was at a hospital. Now that I look back I am really not sure what I was expecting but I was taken back by the entire appearance of the ward.

 When you walk in the first thing that you see is 30 beds in about 5 rows all in one huge room. I am not really supposed to bring my camera to work but I am going to try and snap a few pictures before I leave. Absolutely no privacy at all in here. I do have to mention that this is a government run hospital so I think it is a little less nice than the others but still a lot of people in this country get health care this way. The beds are probably about 3 feet apart and there are 30 of them in this one room. Could you imagine this every flying in the United States? I don't think so. We are way too concerned about our privacy and space. It also makes me worry about contamination though. Everyone is so close to one another I don't know how they don't have more people getting sick.

There are some private rooms upstairs but they are not really affordable for the Thai people who use this hospital. The rooms run about $30 a day and include the doctors fees and supplies. With a yearly average income of about $8000 this makes a private room like this very unaffordable. I got to see inside of one of these rooms and it looked much more like a hospital room at home but still not up to what we would expect to see.

On my second day I got to follow around an orthopedic surgeon who was working in the outpatient clinic at the hospital. He sees each of his patients for about 5 minutes because there are so many people he has to see every day. They come in tell him what is wrong and he either gives them a prescription, refers them to Physical Therapy, recommends surgery, or many other things. While I was observing him he would interact with his patient and then explain to me in English what they had said and what he was going to do for him. His English was a broken but enough for us to be able to communicate. All of his patients bring him fruit from the market, food, drinks, etc. He eventually told me that they bring him gifts because he provides them surgery for free. The government covers all surgeries and medical care for these people so they bring him gifts to thank him. As a surgeon at a government hospital in Thailand he makes $1000 a month! I think some surgeons in the States make that in a day! Everything is hand written and charted here in this hospital. They do not enter anything into computers at all. I don't think I have actually even seen one yet?

Seeing this made me so appreciative of what we have in the United States! It would be interesting to see what a private hospital was like here and compare it to what we have. I think that the private hospital may be a lot nicer than this government run hospital. I enjoy seeing this hospital though because this is how a lot of the country receives medical care. Just being in this country makes me wonder if everything we have is so excessive? These are some of the happiest people and they really don't have much of anything.

I met the Director of the hospital on my first day of work and it was quite embarrassing! Well stupid me being from the United States went to shake his hand to say nice to meet you. He in return bowed (like they do to everyone here) and so I ended up looking dumb and he realized what I was doing and shook my hand. He didn't say anything and was really nice about it but I was kinda embarrassed.

Anyways I still have two more weeks left at the hospital and I am hoping to get to observe a surgery or two while I am here! Now that I am a little caught up I will try and update more about my job placement!

[A DAY FULL OF MONKS.]

This morning we woke up at 5AM to make it to the morning Alm. This is where the Thai people go out and bring the monks food on their morning walk. The monks walk about 3 kilometers just to get some exercise and go out and recieve their breakfast. They do not cook for themselves and only eat what the people offer to them. They eat breakfast very early because they have to get lunch in before noon. There are 227 rules that monks must follow including not eating after noon.

You buy food from local vendors selling it on the streets or you can bring your own food you have prepared in your home. This is something that (some of) the Thai people come and do on a daily basis and is even more important to do if there is a special event going on in the family. It could be a death, a birthday, or any other sort of celebration. As they are walking by you ask them "can I give you food?" in Thai of course. The monks approach you are you place the food you are offering to them into their basket. You can see the baskets they are carrying in the picture above! Boys that are under 20 years old are called "novices." There are a lot of novices during the rainy season. Most boys/men are monks at least for a short period of time in their life. I thought monkhood was for life but you can do it for as short as 1 week.

After you put the food in their baskets you kneel down so they can bow over you and chant. They chant in Pali language so even our trip leader didn't understand what they were saying. He was even a monk for 2 weeks but he said he doesn't really remember the chants! Hahah. After they are done chanting you bow to them and then they continue on their morning walk. They may get a lot of food or none at all so they wait til they get back to the temple and share with all of the other monks.

I was kind of speechless after they chanted to us. It was really spiritual even though I had no idea what they were saying. I am so glad we got to participate in the Alm's giving! It was something we wouldn't have known how to do if we hadn't traveled with a group. After the Alm's giving we went and heard a monk lecture from Phra Saneh at the Wat Suandok (the name of the temple).

  Phra Saneh gave an amazing lecture about Buddha's teachings, Monkhood, and answered any questions we had! He has been a monk for 34 years and still enjoys doing it! I used to think that monks were really serious people but they enjoy joking and laughing just as much as the rest of us. Right before we were leaving he tied a string around our wrist while chating which is for good luck. I still have it on!

After the Monk lecture we visited another temple called Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. It was a temple high up on the mountain overlooking the city of Chiang Mai. It took us 306 steps to get up there! I definitely didn't feel bad when I ate ice cream tonight haha. 

The afternoon was pretty uneventful but I did get American food for the first time in 2 weeks. And to be honest it really wasn't even that good! I got Subway but its a lot different from what we get at home. You can still chose the bread, toppings, etc. but it just didn't taste the same! Also they only had one kind of cheese? Cheese is very expensive to get here because it comes all the way from New Zeland. Most Thai's don't even like it and can't keep it at home because lack of refrigeration. Haha lesson learned, I am just sticking to Thai food from now on!

Tonight we had our last home hosted dinner at a lovely home in the outskirts of Chiang Mai. The family had the most adorable 6 and 8 year old who practiced their English with us. They even both played songs on their Kim, a local Lanna instrument, kind of like a xylophone.

The mother and father prepared the most delicious meal for us! They spoke really good English so it was so nice getting to talk to them and learn about their culture. They live in the Northern part of Thailand in a compound with 12 other family members. They speak Thai but use the Lanna dialect when communicating with family members. It didn't sound any different to me but I'm sure if you knew Thai you could hear the difference. The little girls went to a public school in town where they learn all of the same subjects we do in the States and English. The parents were so good about teaching these children the importance of English. We really enjoyed seeing their home, talking with them, and of course the food!

Tomorrow we fly back to Bangkok from Chiang Mai and I will be here for the next 3 1/2 weeks! My days probably won't be as eventful anymore but I will still keep updating :) Until next time!

[EXCUSE ME, MR. ELEPHANT.]

 Today was one of my favorite days so far in Thailand. We are currently in a town called Chiang Mai, which is another big city in the Northern part of Thailand. We left the hotel early to make it to a Mae Taeng Elephant Camp outside of the city! We had an hour long ride on an elephant named Woonme.

First you buy your elephant bananas and sugar cane. We didn’t buy any from this woman but she was kind enough to let me take her picture. We ended up buying along the ride for cheaper, about 60 cents for a huge bunch of bananas and some sugar cane.

We weren’t really warned about how bumpy the ride was going to be! And our elephant even started to run when a water buffalo growled at him. It was really scary and I asked our mahout (elephant man in Thai) to tell the elephant he was way bigger than the water buffalo hahaha. We stopped along the way to get our elephant some bananas. 

Our mahout, Tuk, has been working with the elephants at this camp for 12 years. During our ride we passed through many small villages along the road and we even rode right by his home. He was a really nice Thai man who spoke a good amount of English. He is feeding Woonme some sugar cane that we bought along the walk! 

These elephants can live to be about 100 years old and they are really well taken care of at this camp! There were elephants of all ages that we went to from babies to 80 years old. We saw a family that was 3 generations. A 1 year old elephant, the mother, and the grandmother. The baby was following around the mother and grandmother, it was really sweet. 

After the ride some of the elephants at the camp before in a show for the visitors! The elephants did things like play soccer, play basketball, paint, dance, and bow. It was so cool to see how they can teach these elephants how to do things like that. After a few tries the ball went in!

After the show we walked over to the other side of the camp where they had water buffalo. They preformed another show which described how they make rice. It starts out with the water buffalo plowing the irrigated field. They then plant the rice seeds and once they start to grow they pick them out and re-plant them spaced further apart. Once the plant is ready it gets picked and then set out to dry.

Once the plant is dry it gets placed into a HUGE bowl so they can separate the grain from the stem. It was very interesting to see all of this done. Next they take the grains and squish them with this foot operated thing that sort of resembles a mortar and pestle. There are a few more steps but I don't want to bore you any longer. The rice ends up looking like this!

Oh & I got to ride a water buffalo! Sawasdee kah!

[A STEP BACK IN TIME.]- MOMS CONTRIBUTION TO THE BLOG

This post is a bit overdue but better late than never right? A few days ago we were in a town called Phrae (I keep saying it like "pray" but I am told that's not the correct pronunciation). While we were on our way to Phrae we stopped in a town called Sukhothai to explore ancient ruins. These ruins were from the 13th century. We got to see pictures of what they looked like before and you could barely recognize the place.

Behind me there are 3 pillars. One pillar is for  Brahma and I can't remember the names of who the other two pillars belong to. The largest one in the middle is for Brahma because the Hindu's believe that he created the entire world. These temples had a very strong Hindu influence.

We rented bikes and rode around the beautiful grounds of the ruins. It was a great way to get some exercise (which I have been seriously lacking on) and see all of the ancient temples.

Continuing our journey to Phrae we stopped at a bamboo workshop on the side of the road. These men were cutting the bamboo into tiny pieces to make things like chop sticks and tooth picks. The man underneath this photo was cutting the whole pieces of bamboo into smaller pieces, then they had people cutting them even smaller, all the way down to chop stick size.

Finished product! These men make about $28 a day to work from 8AM to 5PM. This is considered to be a good paying job in Thailand and even more specifically the village that these men live in.

Then we stopped really quick at this hugee reclining Buddha. Many scholars believe that the reclining Buddha sculptures depict that the Buddha is dying and simultaneously reaching Nirvana. There are a few other stories that people believe may also be correct about why the Buddha is lying down. I thought I'd recline too :) haha.

Last stop for the day was a woman's home business in the town of Phrae. This woman makes Indigo which is very popular in the Northern part of the country. She showed us the steps she goes through to turn simple white cloth into beautiful indigo purses, shirts, rugs, scarves, and much more. First you take the white cloth and stamp it with wax in a specific pattern.

After the wax has time to dry you dip it in the homemade indigo. It has been about a week so I don't exactly remember the process but I do remember that she starts with the Indigo root. She takes the root and soaks it in a special kind of water and it bleeds out the blue color. It was a very long and drawn out process that I am struggling badly to remember but it was very interesting to listen to the effort that goes into making the dye.

The Thai's work so hard and do not expect anything to come from it. They work hard because that is all they have ever known. The woman is showing us how they dye the fabrics. She is also wearing a piece that she made. It was all soo beautiful! My mom got a scarf and a few makeup bags and I got a little makeup bag too! Emily Clarke I got you a gift here :) Anyways sorry this post is so short and not very detailed I need to start keeping up so I remember everything!