Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Stories from Phnom Penh: Part 1

After hanging out in Siem Reap for the two full days and three nights, we took a very crowded bus to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. We arrived pretty late in the evening, but were able to check into our hotel in the Riverfront district and go eat some tapas at a Spanish restaurant. We kept the itinerary for the next day pretty relaxed, as we were in walking distance of the National Museum and the Royal Palace. In the late morning we hit up the National Museum, which offered an extensive collection of sandstone pieces, among other things, and more insight into Khmer history.


The halls of the museum opened up onto a beautiful garden and didn't take that long to completely walk through. Then, in the afternoon, we visited the beautiful Royal Palace. Using a visitor's brochure borrowed from our hotel, I acted as tour guide, reading out the brief descriptions of each building from a map of the grounds. It featured the throne room and other more public buildings used by the royal family. 


This pavilion above hosts banquets and other large events, and faces the street on the opposite side with a huge picture of the king displayed so that it can be seen from the park plaza along the riverbank.


The palace grounds are also home to the Silver Pagoda (above), as it is colloquially known, so called because of the silver tiles that comprise the floor of the temple. It is also known for the emerald Buddha image within (sadly, no pictures allowed).


Stupas like this surrounding the temple held the remains of the famous former kings and queens (and a princess) of Cambodia. Once we were finished with the palace we wandered over to the riverside to enjoy some Dairy Queen Blizzards in the afternoon heat and walk along this pleasant path at sunset.


We had made late evening dinner reservations at Friends, another training restaurant for young people looking to gain the job skills needed to secure employment. We were glad to have made the reservation ahead of time, as with Haven, it was extremely busy. The food was incredible, though, as we each ordered different kinds of fruit smoothies (mango and passion fruit lassi for me) and four tapas dishes to share. My favorite was the zucchini and cheddar fritters.


Friends is part of a larger, Cambodian-run organization with several restaurants in Southeast Asia. Our program director must have mentioned it to most of the students looking to travel to Cambodia, as we actually ran into some of our classmates in the restaurant who were also passing through Phnom Penh!

We knew that the next day would be solemn, as we planned to tour a killing field and an interrogation prison from the days of the Khmer Rouge, a political movement responsible for a massive Cambodian genocide in the 1970s that eliminated one quarter of the population. It's not the happiest subject to blog about, but extremely important to understanding Cambodia as a country and the global implications of the events. Just a head's up, that's going to be the focus of tomorrow's post. 

Monday, October 28, 2013

Stories from Siem Reap: Part 2

As promised, here is my post on my visit to Angkor Wat. It's mostly going to be pictures since I literally took photos until my camera battery died, and I feel like this is one of those places that words just can't describe. Likewise, these pictures don't even come close to doing these temples justice, so I really encourage each and every one of you to make the trek to Cambodia yourselves. Despite the heat and the crowds, it simply blew away all my expectations.

So a little background on Angkor Wat: it is a world heritage site and the largest religious monument in the world. My program director assured me that you could spend a year in the area and still not be able to see everything. It's enormous. It was built in the 12th century during a period in Khmer history known as the Angkorian period (small wonder). It used to be a Hindu temple in honor of the god Vishnu (with tributes to the other main gods Shiva and Brahma), but it was converted to a Buddhist temple when Theravada Buddhism became popular in Southeast Asia.

Our tuk tuk driver picked us up at 8 o'clock and drove us the short distance out of town to Angkor Wat (the main temple) first. After getting our temple day passes we arrived at the outer entrance, the bridge across the water already swarming with tourists. I was amazed by the long outer wall and iconic three-towered silhouette, then realized this was just the entry to the main temple grounds. We took our time walking through, which made getting to the other side and seeing the temple itself all the more special.


We didn't have our own tour guide, which was OK because we could take in the temples at our own pace, but occasionally eavesdropped on the other tours. One guide recommended coming off the main walkway onto a side path to take a reflection picture, which turned out to be a great suggestion.


We had to take several flights of stairs to get up into the actual temple, some of which were so steep that they put up wooden stairs with handrails instead. It was a little scary but amazing how complex the architecture of the place is. It felt like you could keep going up, into niches, and down corridors forever. 


All set against the lush, green Cambodian landscape? Amazing. Once we felt like we had hit the highlights of Angkor Wat, our tuk tuk driver took us over to Bayon Temple, which actually turned out to be my favorite of all we saw that day.


I just loved how the old stones were colored by the years of weather, moss, and lichens. It was like walking into another world.


It also felt like there was as much to see as at Angkor Wat, just spread over a much smaller area so the sensation of wandering through an ancient labyrinth was amplified.


Bayon is home to the iconic faces peering out of every tower. It is not quite known whether they are supposed to be one of the Hindu gods, Buddha, or maybe one of the Khmer kings. I just thought they were mesmerizing with their idealized features and eternal smiles. Next up was Angkor Thom, just a short walk across the road.


Like Angkor Wat, we had to take a long walkway to get to the actual temple, then climb up several flights of steep stairs to get to the upper galleries.


We couldn't quite get to the tippy top (blocked off for safety), but what we did see was pretty stunning. Also, it wasn't nearly as crowded as the other temples, so it was nice to have some space to ourselves.


They had posted a few tourist traffic flow maps around the area, a route that took us through the jungle trees and then back out to the road where we could wander through another smaller ruin filled with rows and rows of statues. I thought they were just the coolest and took my time walking along the path between the narrow walls.


After a bit of a rest, a cold soda, and a hearty lunch, we felt up to one more temple before calling it a day. Ta Phrom is known for the trees growing in and around the temple and for its extensive, on-going restoration projects.


Ta Phrom was my second-favorite temple after Bayon. Everything is so beautiful, though, that picking favorites really isn't fair. 


The combination of the shady trees and a few afternoon clouds in anticipation of a little rain made walking through Ta Phrom a really nice experience.


Magnificent. Leaving Ta Phrom was a bit of an adventure, as our tuk tuk driver agreed to meet us "on the other side of the temple." Turns out he had dropped us off at the west gate and intended to meet us as the east gate, but we got a little turned around and ended up exiting via the south gate. Which turned out to be temporarily closed off with a rope strung between two trees and a sign apologizing for the inconvenience. 

Wanting to get our bearings, we ducked under the rope and wandered out to the road where we were approached by an Angkor Wat official. "Are you lost? Can I help you find somewhere?" he asked really politely. Once we sorted out where we needed to go, he actually sent us back the way we came through the roped off area. Whereas I imagine a park ranger in the US would have scolded us for going somewhere we weren't supposed to, I smile at the memory of his friendly conversation and patience with us silly American tourists.

We were pretty worn out by that time and so headed back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. We ate on the famous "Pub Street" of Siem Reap, which catered to the night-life needs of the tourist town, but opted for a Cambodian barbecue restaurant that we noticed was recommended by Trip Advisor and Lonely Planet. Turns out Cambodian barbecue is a do-it-yourself culinary adventure, where you are served a variety (and I do mean a variety) of raw meats and get to cook it right at your table on a round grill with a pot of coals underneath and a trough around the edge to hold a tasty vegetable and broth soup. 

I let my friends take care of the beef and chicken, but relied my pescetarianism (vegetarianism with the exception of fish and other seafood) to feed myself that night. The bar fish and shrimp were yummy enough, and it turns out that barracuda tastes pretty good too. I challenged myself to partake in the squid, even slurping up a few tentacles just for the heck of it, and got to sample crocodile for the second time in my life. The first time was at a Cajun restaurant in New Orleans and I still don't know where reptiles fall on the pescetarian spectrum. In case you were curious, it tastes kind of like chicken but a bit tougher.

Our final culinary experience of Siem Reap happened on the last day we were there, right before our afternoon bus to Phnom Penh. Our program director recommended Haven to us, as with the concern of marginalized youth in Cambodia there's a trend of social consciousness to address the issue. Haven is a training restaurant that educates and employs orphaned people that have aged out of the orphanage system and are looking to get job skills to be able to support themselves. It's funded by a Swiss organization called Dragonfly and offers Khmer, Asian, Western, and Swiss specialties. I opted for traditional Khmer Amok, a vegetarian version of a delectable curry, with a Swiss apple tart for dessert. Wish I could have eaten every meal there, it was so good. But it was so busy that we had made the lunch reservation two days beforehand.


It was the perfect end to our Siem Reap experience, and we were excited for what Phnom Penh would have in store!

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Stories from Siem Reap: Part 1

Hi everyone! I'm back from my meditation retreat on Doi Suthep and ready to tell you about Cambodia. Okay, so on Wednesday the 16th we took a bus to the airport in Hong Kong, then flew to Bangkok, took a taxi from the airport to the bus station, took a bus to the border, crossed the border on foot after procuring our visas, took a taxi to Siem Reap, and then a tuk tuk to our hotel. Phew! It was a long day but we survived. And we can say we've been in three different countries in one day! Also, I don't know if I've explained what a tuk tuk is before but it is basically a motorbike with a sort of open-air carriage attached. In Cambodia, it can seat up to four people comfortably, in Thailand, maybe more around three. This is comfortably, mind you, as most forms of public transportation in SE Asia have been known to "economize" and cram as many willing passengers on as physically possible. Here's a picture of the roundabout near our hotel, surprisingly busy for a town on the smaller side.


Okay, so we took it easy our first day in Siem Reap, relying on a Cambodian friend of ours to recommend the non-temple-centered itinerary via Facebook. Siem Reap is such a popular tourist destination because it is so close to the famed temple complex known collectively as Angkor Wat. However, we knew that seeing Angkor Wat would be an all-day affair and we wanted to rest up before attempting it. We headed instead to the Angkor National Museum, which housed countless sandstone statues from the temples and gave some great background into ancient Cambodian history so we could appreciate the temples in context. It was a beautiful but hot day, and we were glad to bask in the air-conditioning of the really nice museum.


Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the museum, so here is snapshot of the road median we passed walking to and from the main part of town. Walking from place to place was a bit of an adventure, as the sidewalks are more often than not used as parking lost for motorbikes, venues for food carts, or are simply non-existent. Also, the tuk tuk drivers are very in-tune with the needs of the tourists and had a tendency to hound us for business. A polite "no, thank you" usually did the trick, but you had to hand it to some of them for their persistence. 

After the museum we went to the Old Market to check out the wares in the maze-like shade of many stalls up against one another. It was a bit overwhelming with all the shopkeepers urging us to buy something, but a good experience nonetheless. After a break back at the hotel and some dinner in our bellies, we ventured over to the Angkor Night Market. There were several night markets on the map of Siem Reap, but this was supposed to be the original and the best.


I found it to be really pleasant, wandering down the gravel paths admiring the colorful wares and stumbling on the occasional outdoor bar or Khmer massage business. Khmer is the main ethnic group of Cambodia, by the way. It wasn't so big that we couldn't cover just about all of it in an hour or so. We turned in on the early side because our pre-arranged tuk tuk driver was going to pick us up at eight o'clock the next morning. He originally proposed five o'clock, which we quickly declined. Many tourists like to see the temples at sunrise, but we were confident they would be splendid enough without us having to wake up quite that early. That's a story for the next post, though - stay tuned!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Stories from Hong Kong: Part 2

Hello again! So on the second full day in Hong Kong we took it a little easier, enjoying a leisurely breakfast of pancakes that my cousin made and made plans to go to the Peak in the afternoon. The Peak is basically a tram ride up to a look-out point with a wonderful view of the city and lots of shopping and dining. Shopping is the main hobby in Hong Kong, despite limited living space, and of course the food is amazing. My cousin recommended we stay until after dusk so we could see the view by daytime and by night.

We took the train to the tram stop, enjoying the buildings of the cityscape along the way. The tram has been around since the colonization days (Hong Kong was colonized by the British) and has been a popular tourist attraction ever since, and a lot more appealing to most than trying to hike up the steep hillside. Maybe if we were in a serious hiker mood, but we wanted to take it easy and enjoy being tourists.


There was only standing room by the time we got onto the tram, but I didn't mind, I could actually see out the windows better that way. The journey to the top was well worth it, but it ended in the middle of a multi-story mall in which the exit wasn't easy to find. We eventually made it out, though, and wandered over to the great look-out spot to see what the hullabaloo was all about.


As you can see, it was stunning. Pictures really couldn't do it justice. It was a little hazy, but my cousin told me that's pretty typical of Hong Kong due to the pollution, and that some days it could get so foggy you couldn't see the buildings across the street. We were also lucky on the timing of our visit, as we were told October is the perfect time - not smoldering hot and just after the major rainy season.


The city by night was just as incredible. I could have stayed up there forever, but alas, we needed to get our rest that night because we had a very full next day. We got up early to make our way over to a different island to visit the Big Buddha. It's exactly what it sounds like: an enormous bronze Buddha run by a monastery. The novelty of getting there was in the form of a long cable car ride. 


Made for some more great views of the islands, skyscrapers, and surrounding water. After we got off the cars it was a bit of walk up to the Buddha, past many tourist-oriented souvenir shops and restaurants. One cool thing we passed was a series of statues depicting the great military generals, each representing a different animal of the Chinese zodiac. I took a picture of my year of the rooster.


It was a long flight of stairs up to the base of the Buddha, but we made it! Seeing a statue so massive up close and the views of countryside beyond were well worth it. It was mostly tour groups up there, but we did see a couple walking around the Buddha in prayer. Buddhism is so different in Hong Kong (a different sect than Theravada), it was interesting to compare and contrast with what I'd observed in Thailand.


We returned to the main island via cable car and train, looking back one more time to snap a picture of the Buddha from far away to give you a sense of scale.


Then we made our way to the other side of Hong Kong, taking a train and a bus to the village of Shek O to see a beach there. Our new friends told us that the Hong Kong is as much about the beautiful surrounding nature, where mountains meet water, as it is about the urban scene. I was so glad to be able to see that side of the area, again, we were there right at sunset and never wanted to leave.


Hong Kong was amazing and three days is no where near enough time to truly appreciate the city, but again, that just gives me all the more reason to come back! My cousin assured us we hit the "must-sees" and I really loved reconnecting with her and sharing stories about our mutual relatives. The next day was a very long day of travel by bus, plane, and taxi, but we ended up in Siem Reap - more stories to come!


Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Stories from Hong Kong: Part 1

Hello everyone! I am on a vacation from my vacation of sorts, as I am back from my international travels for a little less than 48 hours before heading up the mountain for my meditation retreat on Thursday. I will try to cram in as many of my new stories as possible (to be continued after fall break, of course), so let's get started!

On Saturday the 12th (gosh, that seems so long ago!) we had a leisurely day to finish packing and then two of my friends and I hopped on a plane to Hong Kong! A surprisingly short flight of only 2 hours and 45 minutes. We got in a little on the late side, but luckily the cousin we were staying with was willing to come meet us at the airport and help us navigate the underground trains back to her apartment. Technically, she is my second cousin once removed on my mom's side, because her grandmother was my great-grandfather's sister (riddle that out!). It's very much like my family to call upon distant relatives (even those I haven't seen since I was four years old), but the way we figured it, it would be a shame for kin not to meet up when they happen to be in the same area halfway across the world.

My cousin had a friend staying with her as well, so that made for 5 people, 1 dog, and 1 cat all in a 2-bedroom apartment on Hong Kong Island but we made it work! Actually pretty roomy for Asia. There was so much to do and see in Hong Kong that we really used it as more of a home base. It was a bit late to do anything on Saturday night (although Hong Kong is big on the night culture) so we headed to bed. Luckily, night culture also means quiet mornings, so we didn't have to get going until noon or so the next day (Sunday). We took a quick turn around the neighborhood before going to lunch to admire my cousin's neighborhood, North Point.


The first order of business was dim sum, which is basically Cantonese brunch. We went to a very local, vegetarian place and stuffed ourselves on spring rolls, rice rolls, Chinese cabbage, "pork" buns, noodles, and dumplings, washing it all down with tea. Dim sum is available in the U.S., but according to my cousin it simply isn't the same as the authentic experience. 


My cousin teaches English classes on Sunday afternoons, so two of her friends plus us three checked out the various markets on the other side of the harbor. First up was the bird market, which you could hear from a block away. It was a side street just lined with stalls selling all sorts of exotic birds, cages, and everything you would need for a feathered friend. Too bad customs would frown upon me bringing a bird back to the U.S., because some of them were really beautiful!


Next up was the flower market, which I thought would be more cut flowers and arrangements but was actually a lot of potted flowers for balconies and such so people could have gardens in the big city. As you can imagine, it was even more colorful than the bird market. We also got a quick snack of egg tarts, which are super popular in Hong Kong. My cousin's friend recommended one flavored with coconut milk, and it was a scrumptious suggestion. I need to find the recipe to make them at home!


Then we wandered over to the fish market, which I was surprised to find did not sell fish to eat for dinner, but rather fish to keep as pets. I guess if you live in the city and don't have a sprawling apartment like my cousin, fish and birds are your only options. There were other types of small pets scattered throughout the market as well, such as tiny turtles and guinea pigs.


After all that market-ing we needed a quick pick-me-up at a local mall, so we headed in for the air conditioning and the bathroom. After meeting back up with my cousin, we went over to the Ladies' Market, which reminded me much of the walking street markets in Chiang Mai, selling mostly souvenirs.


The sun set as we wandered the Ladies' Market, and our tummies were starting to rumble so we caught a couple taxis to Temple Street Market for dinner. Much of Eastern dining is done family-style, so we ordered spring rolls, broccoli, noodles, curry rice, and scallops at a street restaurant on the edge of the market. After dinner we checked out the wares at Temple Street, just to round out our very market-filled day. 


Our final stop before crossing back over to the island was the Avenue of Stars right near the Hong Kong Cultural Center. This was one of the best places to see the island skyline, and what a sight it was. I almost couldn't stop taking pictures.


We crossed the water via ferry and then headed to a bar for a taste of the Hong Kong nightlife. Got to have a well-rounded experience, right? It was nice being with friends because we definitely had each others' backs and all made it back to the apartment safe and sound. 

That was all just day one in Hong Kong! Stay tuned for Part 2 (covering days two and three). Many, many more stories to come.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Birthday Adventures and Beyond

Hello everyone! Right now is a crazy busy time but I am taking a minute to give you an update because I have a lot to report!

First things first: Happy day after your birthday to my lovely roommate! She is just an adventure-loving, passionate spirit and I was more than happy to accompany her on her birthday activities. Our friend's birthday was on Monday so we have basically been celebrating all week. She opted for a low-key dinner out at a Middle Eastern restaurant called Sahara. I ate an obscene amount of hummus and it was wonderful. Then we planned a birthday surprise Tuesday night, which is to say we bought a whole bunch of ice cream from 7/11 and ate it at one of the tables in the Uniloft parking lot. It was actually quite the hoot and a half. My job was to get my roommate downstairs, which went a little something like this:

Me: I'm going to 7/11 for snacks. Want to come with me?
My roommate: No, but thank you. I just got back from teaching my English class.
Me (with a horrible poker face): Are you sure?  You should come with me, I'm . . . scared of the dark.

Anyway, the next morning the festivities continued with a real American breakfast at a place on Suthep Road, the main road where the Soi (lane) leading up to Uniloft is. I ate French toast and it was awesome (reasonably priced too, especially for Western food - definitely warrants going back!). Then my roommate wanted to go swimming at this old rock quarry (now filled with water) about half and hour outside of town.


Most people come to this quarry to jump off the man-made cliffs into the extremely deep water - a little on the wild side but very fun. My roommate did the big cliff twice but that was a little too high for my first time. I opted to take baby steps and do some of the mini-cliffs first - about a typical house-story up. 


That splash is from me jumping off the mini-cliff on the right. The water was so warm, like a bath, but still refreshing on a hot, hot day. The quarry was huge, and I feel like a got a decent workout just swimming across and back.


I really didn't feel like I needed to jump off the big cliff that day, but I know a lot of our friends wanted to come but couldn't (everyone's schedules makes it hard to coordinate) so there is definitely potential to go back! I did not let the whole day go by without being brave though, because the final birthday activity was karaoke at the Loco Elvis bar and restaurant. After a large veggie burrito and a pina colada margarita (hey, it was Happy Hour) I felt I had to do my birthday-friend duty and give in to my roommate's plea to sing a song. She and another friend sang first, plus the only other people there were a Spanish-speaking family, a handful of disinterested European backpackers, and the two elderly chaps who were trading off singing country songs. Inspired by the events of the day, I channeled my Deep Blue Something and busted out some Breakfast at Tiffany's.

In other news, I am leaving the day after tomorrow for my fall break trip to Hong Kong and Cambodia! Two of my friends and I will be staying with a cousin on my mom's side in Hong Kong for three full days before flying into Bangkok to take a bus to Siem Reap for a couple days and then venturing down to the capital of Phnom Penh for a couple more days. Cambodia is experiencing some pretty heavy flooding due to rainy season, so keep your fingers crossed that our travel plans aren't too affected. Finally, we split ways as my friends move on to Vietnam while I head back to Chiang Mai for a three day meditation retreat at Wat Phrathet Doi Suthep.

It's quite the exciting itinerary, if I do say so myself, and I will be sure to come back with some fabulous new tales for you (though not all technically from Thailand). I get some downtime in Chiang Mai in about a week and a half so I will probably do a new post then. For now, sawat dii kha and enjoy your weekend!

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Z is for Zip-lining

Maybe I should do some sort of "Thailand A to Z" list because between Saturday's activity and the ZOO a few weeks ago I definitely have Z on lock (idea credit goes to my mom). I don't know what A would be, though . . . maybe Angkor Wat when I visit Cambodia next week (!). Although technically that's not in Thailand. Oh well. I'll be thinking on it.

Anyway, my roommate has been the mover and shaker as far as planning awesome activities in Thailand. A group of us had been planning on doing some zip-lining for about a month now because we could get a discount for reserving it early. Saturday was the big day - we got up to meet our 9 am van to take us up into the mountainous jungle area for some exciting times. I had never been zip-lining before but I thought it would be something I would totally enjoy - I love roller coasters, white water rafting, high ropes courses, and other extreme-ish activities. Basically anything that requires signing a waiver. With all the beautiful forest and natural areas, Thailand was definitely a cool place to check this off my bucket list.

We went with a company called Eagle Track, and it seemed well-frequented by tourists. We put on our harnesses and safety helmets, and we each given a hooked bamboo stick that turned out to be simple but effective braking system. A short truck ride brought us to the zip-lining course, a series of zip-lines and other features - all situated at the tops of enormous trees and hills.

Some of the lines were solo rides, but it was also fun to do one with a partner because we got up to a higher zipping speed but had twice the braking power.


Sometimes we had to cross bridges through the tree-tops or got to cross from platform to platform, which was made more, um, exciting, when one of the group member would shake the bridge on purpose (we were strapped in whole time, of course!). I thought I would be more nervous about zooming around way high up of the ground, but we were talking and laughing so much I didn't have time to be scared and just went for every new challenge! The guide told me this skateboard ride would be more fun doing "no hands," and he was right!


Sometimes we had to change heights to get to a new feature, but there aren't an elevators in the jungle. No elevators that are operated by electricity, that is! This is a photo of me up from below (maybe not one of my better angles) as I got dropped down on a pulley to the lower platform.


Anyway, I had a blast and the day went by too quickly. We got to eat a tasty Thai lunch before heading back to Chiang Mai with some new memories as well as a certificate of completion and a trendy new t-shirt. Can't believe it took me 20 years to try our zip-lining. My first time was definitely not the last!



Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Golden Triangle Excursion: Part 4

Welcome to the fourth and final installment of my Golden Triangle adventure! This is the part of the story where I get to set foot in all three countries that make up the Golden Triangle within 24 hours. I couldn't be in all three countries at once, sadly, because of a little thing called the Mekong river. Anyway, after we checked in at our hotel on Friday afternoon we rendezvoused to take a river boat across to an island on the Laos side. We didn't get our passports stamped or anything, as some of the group members only had single-entry Thai visas, and so our actually presence in the country of Laos is debatable. I'm counting it, though!

Anyway, we hoped aboard basically a giant covered canoe with a motor and took a little tour of the river before docking on the island. Although the water of the Mekong is far from clean, the scenery was still beautiful in the late afternoon sun. I think my camera was glued to my hand for a little while there.


That gold-domed building you see is a casino on the Laos side since gambling is illegal in Thailand. We eventually docked on the other side of the river and had an hour to enjoy the Laotian marketplace on the island. It was much of the same fare as I'd seen in Thailand, but the prices were less expensive than in Thailand because Laos isn't as much of a tourist destination. The one recommendation I kept hearing was to try some of the Laotian beer, which came in regular and dark. When in Laos! The beer was cold and refreshing and pretty tasty. They also featured the delicacy of whiskey with a snake in the bottle, which I wasn't quite brave enough to try. I think I have a friend or two who bought some, so maybe it's not too late to muster up my courage. 


An hour was just about the right time to see all there was to see, so we took the boat back to Thailand and set off in search for some dinner. But first we all wanted to take pictures of the giant Buddha along the shoreline. In case you haven't noticed, Southeast Asian culture is absolutely saturated in region. The neat thing is that every sacred place I visit is unique and so it keeps it interesting. This Buddha was seriously huge, I was standing right at the base when I took this picture.


We spent our last night playing cards and the group game Mafia in the hotel lobby before turning in for a good night's sleep before visiting Burma. We had the choice to visit Burma or not, depending on our visas and personal preference. There was a fee to get in, and we only had two hours or so to wander the market and the small border town on the other side of the river. Twelve of us decided to go and crossed on foot as a big group. Upon leaving the immigration office, we were immediately accosted by people offering to take us to the see the local sights, all holding laminated pictures of golden temples. There was a crowded market just off to the right, but it was more of a local market selling household items than oriented towards tourists. The two items that people kept trying to sell us were cigarettes and sunglasses.


Me and two other friends wandered away from the market to see other sights (to get to the major temples you had to take a tuk tuk, a sort of open-air taxi). We came across this interesting memorial to an important Shaun figure. Burma, like other countries, is divided into different provinces, but what's special about it is that the border provinces are considered ethnic states. From reading For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question by journalist Mac McClelland I knew then most about the Karen, but we were in Shaun state. There were several important leaders from each of these ethnic groups, especially Shaun because it is the largest state by far. However, when the military-government took over most of these leaders lost power. Actually, I learned that a former Shaun princess (being originally from Austria and having married a Shaun prince) had escaped Burma and was now living in none other than my home state of Colorado.


Eventually we stumbled upon yet another beautiful temple, and I ventured in when I saw other laypeople inside, mostly because I was drawn in by flashing lights. I had never seen the Buddha images surrounding by strings of Christmas-style lights that blinked different colors (although the use of sparkly cloth was nothing out of the ordinary to me). It was a nice find in an otherwise overwhelming place where people called to us in the only English phrases they knew, usually "Hello!" and "I love you!" When I first came to Asia I thought I would experience more of that from other people's accounts of studying abroad. However, I was pleased to find that this did not usually happen in Thailand. The only thing that I can come up with is that Burma is still really new to tourism, having only been "open" to the international community for a few years. Being American, the people saw me as a way to make money, since the reality is that I am more wealthy than a lot of people will ever be.


Overall, it was an important life lesson to learn. Burma was very different from Thailand, and I intentionally crossed over with few expectations. Of course, being in one town for just a couple hours is absolutely nothing to judge a whole country by. Imagine visiting just one place in the U.S. and thinking the whole country is like that! I wish I had the time and resources to really explore all of these places and get a better idea of the culture and the atmosphere. My mantra for this semester has been, "I have a reason to come back!" There are so many places I want to go in the world that I'm not sure if or when that will be, but I consider myself so lucky to be able to have these experiences so early in my life that I can set the precedent of always wanting to go to new places and see new things.

Thanks for reading this saga! I have plenty more adventures to come, two and a half more months of them, so keep checking back! Less than two weeks until my fall break that includes two more new countries. Too dang exciting.