17 Days Exploring Southeast Asia: Bangkok, Thailand

The Grand Palace!

Hi everyone! This is my third post about my winter vacation travels throughout Southeast Asia. My first entry was about Hong Kong, and my previous entry was about Chiang Mai, Thailand! Welcome back to my adventures.

The most delicious thing I've ever tasted

After spending nearly a week in Chiang Mai, Emily, Zoe, and I headed off for Bangkok. Rather than riding a bumpy, stomach-churning bus ride for an entire day, we booked a 45-minute flight across the country. Chiang Mai is in northern Thailand, whereas Bangkok is located in southern Thailand. These two cities are SO different from each other! While Chiang Mai was a relaxing, beachy, low key city, Bangkok is a hustle-and-bustle, crowded city. We spent three days in Bangkok which was plentiful time for us to explore on the last leg of our trip.

On day one in Bangkok, we settled into our hostel, and had a difficult time finding some food (surprisingly in such a big city!). We ended up going to a local restaurant where the manager spoke no English and the menu wasn't much help either. Luckily the guy just gave us whatever he recommended, which was absolutely delicious! After lunch, we wandered around and we discovered this magical dessert restaurant called Milk Plus. In Milk Plus, everything is dairy-related (as you can imagine). There are machines mixing all different flavors of milk, such as Kiwi, Cantaloupe, Blueberry, Pomegranate, and more flavored types of milk. OH MY GOD. I have never tasted dairy products that were as delicious as Milk Plus. They also sell amazing buttery goodness toast and different consistencies of milkshakes and regular milk. We made the trip to Milk Plus every single day that we were in Bangkok. I've checked online, and Milk Plus only seems to exist in Thailand.

The best motto I've ever read

Reclining Buddha

While in Bangkok, we mostly traveled to large temples and palaces. One day we saw this HUGE Buddha called "Reclining Buddha". He is literally stretched out across the entire room and reclining (laying down). It claims to be made of gold, but I am not sure if this is entirely true. We also visited the Grand Palace, which has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam (and later Thailand) since 1782. The king, his court and his royal government were based on the grounds of the palace until 1925. The present monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), currently resides at Chitralada Palace, but the Grand Palace is still used for official events. It was an AMAZING palace. We could have stayed there all day because it was so humungous. It was so interesting for me to learn about the Buddhist culture in Thailand, as I become more knowledgable about Buddhism in general and how it differs between countries in Southeast Asia.

A local person's home

Floating Market

On our last day in Bangkok, we traveled to a traditional floating market - where people sell their products from their boats along a river. In order to purchase the products, the buyer must also ride in a boat. Any time you wish to stop and buy something, you just row on over and make a trade! It was a very interesting experience - super cool and unique. Our tour guide also took us on a speed boat where we got to ride along the river and see the local people's homes, who are built on the water (but built upon higher ledges to support them). After we visited the floating market, we went to a huge shopping mall, binged on too much delicious food, and then crashed. To be honest, we were pretty worn out by the time we made it to Bangkok, so this stop was a good resting destination before we hit the road again.

Unfortunately, this post is a bit short. But like my exhaustion from the trip, I am also feeling some exhaustion of writing a bunch lately. Stayed tuned for my next post - I will be updating about my mom and dad's visit to Korea! Until next time! :)

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17 days exploring Southeast Asia: Chiang Mai, Thailand

Thai food... so amazing

Hi everyone! This is the second entry related to my winter vacation trip, my 17-day journey throughout Southeast Asia. This week's post will focus on Chiang Mai, Thailand. Chiang Mai is located in northern Thailand, and the name Chiang Mai means "new city". It is named "new city" because it became the capital of the Lanna kingdom when it was founded in 1296, taking over the former capital, named Chiang Rai.

My cooking creation!

Chiang Mai was my absolute favorite destination on my vacation. The weather was perfect: mid 80s, no humidity, sunny. The scenery and surrounding environment were so relaxing, and Emily and I's experience with our hostel was 1,000x better than our hostel in Hong Kong. You would be surprised how much where you are lodging impacts your opinions about a city.

My cooking creation!

We stayed in Chiang Mai for nearly one week! On day one, we mostly got settled into our hostel, enjoyed some delicious Thai food, had a drink, and crashed early. Did I mention massages? No? OH YEAH. Massages were less than ten dollars... So you know I ended up getting a massage nearly every single day of my trip. I tried so many different types of massages. The first day, I tried a traditional Thai massage - similar to a full body massage, no oil. It felt absolutely amazing. I had no idea how tense my body had been until I came here and received massages every day.

"Please give me the sweetheart"

Day two was quite exciting - Emily and I decided to take a trip to the Tiger Kingdom, where we were able to get face-to-face with the tigers, touch them, and watch them wrestle around with each other (without getting ourselves killed!). It was a little scary at first, but after watching the tigers interacting with other people, I was excited to get close for this once in a lifetime opportunity. Supposedly, the larger tigers are not drugged, but I am not so sure... the little tigers we saw were definitely not drugged - they were very active and playful with the other tigers and with the humans as well. Most of the larger tigers laid around and slept - occasionally they would wake up for a snack provided by the trainers, making for a perfect photo shoot.

Our zip lining crew!

After meeting the tigers, Emily and I headed to a cooking class!! The class lasted nearly four hours - but it was well worth it. We cooked a four-course meal. We were able to choose the dishes we wanted to cook, so my meal was entirely different than what Emily decided to make! I chose to make a cashew peanut stir fry with rice, a fish curry dish, and a delicious spicy soup. I never imagined that I would be able to cook Thai food, but we had an awesome instructor. I was thoroughly impressed with my meal, and the best part is, we received a cook book at the end of our lesson! So now I can go back to America and attempt to replicate this masterpiece. However, the ingredients are very specific and difficult to find in America... so it might be a bit of a challenge. At the end of day two, Emily and I went back to our favorite massage ladies and tried the foot massage, which wasn't anything short of amazing.

The Frenchmen and our tour guides!

A much-needed pedicure

On day three, another Fulbrighter met up with Emily and I for the remainder of our time in Thailand! We woke up early because we booked a trip for zip lining through the mountains of Chiang Mai, which was an absolute blast. Perhaps the best part was the company's motto, "Flying Higher than the Hawk"... but on many of the tour's t-shirts, there was a huge typo that read "Flying Higher than the HANK". My friends and I couldn't stop laughing and nobody around us knew why (we were the only native English speakers on that trip). Our tour guide was hilarious; at one point, we stopped to rest and he found a leaf that had a cut-out shape of a heart. "Please give me the sweetheart," he said, as he made us pose for pictures. Haha! After zip lining, we ventured back to our hostel for beer and more delicious Thai food, and crashed. Emily and I had scheduled a full tour for the next day, which proved to be loads of fun.

Visiting a Buddhist temple

My new tiger friend

Day four was another busy day - white water rafting, bamboo rafting, and elephant riding! Oh my! We had a long tuk-tuk ride to our destination (a tuk-tuk is like a run-down buggy/taxi... very cheap!). In our group we met three French men, who at first were quite charming, but would soon turn into boyish animals (they were really fun, though!). We started with elephant training, feeding, and bathing. It was soooo neat! We learned some of the commands to feed the elephants, and how to turn in different directions when we ride them. Elephants typically spend around 12-18 hours a day just eating! We fed them grass and bananas. One of the elephants even stole some of the bananas from the secret hiding area. Riding the elephants really hurt my butt - they have surprisingly bony backs for such large animals. My favorite part was bathing the elephants - we told them to roll around in the water and we covered them with sand to scrub. Then they rolled around again. We even taught them how to squirt us with their trunks. They are so strong that they are able to lift us and carry us with only their trunk! I learned so much about these creatures that I had never known before. It was an awesome experience.

Elephant riding with Emily

That trunk has some insane muscle power!

After spending time with the elephants, we drove to white water rafting and bamboo rafting. The white water rafting was absolutely hilarious - the Frenchmen didn't know their right from their left, causing us to get caught on rocks and boulders the majority of our trip. However, I couldn't contain myself from chuckling because so many other groups kept passing us, and even the locals came over to watch us try and escape. We finally made it through the white water rafting and finished our river trip on an awesome bamboo raft. It would have been more relaxing if the French guys weren't splashing everyone with the freezing cold water the entire time... but that's okay! We ended our trip with a short hike to a waterfall - you could actually slide down the waterfall and go swimming! It was a relaxing finish to a long tour. To top it off, we went to our massage place and I chose an oil aroma therapy massage. Man, was it amazing. I wish I could hire my masseuse and keep her with me everywhere I go. Haha!

Hiking trip with Zoe!

Our last day in Chiang Mai, Zoe (my other Fulbright friend) and I planned a day trek. I hadn't been exercising while on vacation, so this felt really good to be active and moving for an extended period of time. We walked through forests, mountains, and learned about some traditional villages. We had a great time, and ended up chatting away with two ladies who were from the UK. It is so nice to meet people from around the world and build connections. By the end of our hiking trip, I was thoroughly exhausted, but we managed to head to the night market to go souvenir shopping before heading to Bangkok.

Chiang Mai was such an amazing, relaxing, beautiful city to visit, and I can't wait to visit again in the future! This post is already too long, but I didn't capture all of the wonderful experiences I gained while here. Next up, Bangkok!

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17 days exploring Southeast Asia: Hong Kong

I hopped off the plane at HKG...

I think my title is a bit deceiving. I DID travel in Southeast Asia, but how extensively, I am not so sure. Southeast Asia is such a vast and varied area, so I want to take my time with discovering all its beauty. For the next couple entries or so, I will be taking the time to talk about my journey through Hong Kong, Thailand, and Cambodia. I don't want to cram all of them into one entry, or else it would be entirely too long. So, for just little more than two weeks, my friend Emily and I shoved some stuff into our backpacks and were on our way to our first destination: Hong Kong (well... we did quite a bit of planning beforehand, too)!

Our tiny hostel room

At first glance, Hong Kong is a dirty, polluted, and crowded city. After four days, my opinion changed. I had little knowledge of Hong Kong before Emily and I decided to travel there, but there is no better way to learn than to immerse yourself in the culture, language, and the people, right? Unfortunately, we had a bit of a scary experience upon our arrival to the hostel. I will leave out some details, but Emily and I can say that we had never before ridden an elevator more likely to break down at any moment. Our hostel might have been the worst hostel I have ever stayed at. Our room was absolutely tiny (although not surprising for China), we had one tiny, minuscule blanket to share, and the bed harder than a rock. I'll try not to complain because I got what I paid for (super cheap).

View of Hong Kong from Victoria's Peak

Besides the accommodation, Hong Kong surprised me in many ways - luckily, these surprises were more positive experiences. On our first full day, Emily and I decided to walk around the city and see where we ended up. Hong Kong is separated in multiple islands, so transportation can get a bit confusing. Luckily, transportation was fairly cheap, so we ended up not having to spend a fortune on that. Anyway, Emily and I traveled to the main island, where we went to Victoria's Peak, a tower where you can see a panoramic view of Hong Kong. Unfortunately, the pollution causes fogginess, so it wasn't the best sight to see (but that's reality). I often take for granted the fresh, crisp, cool air that I breathe everyday in Gwangyang as well as the beautiful sights I wake up to. Being at the top of Victoria's Peak just reinforced my decision to never permanently live in a large city if I can help it.

Jumbo Floating Restaurant

For lunch, we decided to check out a "Jumbo Floating Restaurant" on the water. We took a ferry to the floating restaurant, which was extravagantly decorated and famous for seafood. Unfortunately, the menu was extremely expensive for backpackers on a budget, so we only bought some appetizers and a yummy dessert and left. The inside was quite intricate, though, and very interesting to see Chinese architecture at its finest.

After lunch, we wandered around and stumbled upon a beautiful park. We relaxed there for awhile and as it was getting dark, many street markets were coming alive. We had dinner at a restaurant nearby. I ate rice and beef wrapped in a leaf-like structure, which was absolutely delicious. For dessert, we ate "Blueberry Bubbies", which Emily and I will never actually know what it consisted of. We walked around a street market near our hostel before calling it a night.

Cable Car adventures

Day two was my favorite day in Hong Kong. After a sleepless night, I was feeling a bit groggy, but not enough to contain my excitement for exploring another day. We hit the road to head out to the "countryside" of Hong Kong for the day. First, we took a cable car into the mountains as we traveled to see the Tian Tan Buddha, also known as Big Buddha. Big Buddha is made of bronze and was constructed in 1993 to symbolize the harmonious relationship between man and nature, people and religion. I had never seen a Buddha so big. But my, I was in for a surprise during this vacation about the various Buddhas that exist in Southeast Asia! We trekked all the way up numerous flights of stairs to see Big Buddha up close. Luckily, my home stay father equipped me with a "selfie stick" for my vacation, which certainly came in handy. I decided that taking a selfie with Big Buddha would be a perfect moment to use it (although you aren't supposed to turn your back to Buddha... forgive me!!).

  

After seeing Big Buddha, we stayed in the mountains and went to a Chinese Monastery named Po Lin, also known as "The Big Hut". Chinese temples seem subtly different than temples in Korea. The colors and designs are fairly similar, but different in shapes and shades. I noticed that Chinese temples seem to have more dragon representations as well. Either way, they are intricate and beautiful. We walked around and saw the temple of 50,000 Buddhas (unfortunately I didn't have time to count them all... -sigh-). After our sight-seeing was done, we took the cable car back down, ate some pizza, then took a bus to the countryside of Hong Kong.

When we arrived one hour later, it was as if we stepped onto a deserted island (in a good way, not Castaway). This area is known for having a waterfall and a cave, so we trekked our way in search. We walked around for 40 minutes before we stumbled upon the waterfall and the cave. Unfortunately, the waterfall had very little water flowing, and you couldn't step past 300 meters inside of the cave. BUMMER. But still awesome to see the less-populated area of Hong Kong. Being in that part of Hong Kong reminded me a lot of Central America because of the scenery surrounding me. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Rural Hong Kong

After another sleepless night, and on our last full day in Hong Kong, Emily and I had already gotten almost everything checked off our "to-do" list, so we used this day for adventure and food exploration. We stumbled upon some famous cartoon characters that are based from Hong Kong, so naturally we had to stop and take silly pictures with the statues. We also made it our mission to eat at a restaurant where you order cheap dishes a-la-carte - aka the fastest way to become obese. It was entirely too delicious, and the best food we had eaten in Hong Kong thus far. My favorite was a red-bean soup-like thing with rice balls in it. I think Korea has molded my taste preferences.

We also took a ferry to the beach/touristy area of Hong Kong called Stanley. When we stepped off the ferry, we were surrounded by tourist shops, bar strips along the shore, and delicious pub food. We bought some souvenirs then sat down for a beer while gazing at what I believed to be the South China Sea. After hanging out for awhile, we traveled back to the mainland and saw the lights show along the city skyline before heading back to our hostel, packing up, and getting ready for an early flight to Thailand in the morning!

Overall, Hong Kong was an interesting city, but to be honest, I probably won't make an effort to go back in the future (there's plenty of other unexplored places to see in the world!). However, I had never been to China before and I certainly had a curiosity to see it. I think I would like to see Beijing if I do return to China! The food was delicious, that is for certain.

Stay tuned for my adventures in Chiang Mai - my favorite stop during my 17-day trip!

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Winter vacation begins

After the New Year, I finally had some time to relax back in Gwangyang - but not for long! The first full week of January, I held a four-day English Camp at my school. Students in both the first and second grades were able to participate.

Bowling with the students

Snack time

The English Camp was phenomenal, to say the least. It was so nice to have small class sizes (12 students in each class), so I could work individually with the students and focus on their needs more specifically. The English Camp ran Monday through Thursday, from 2:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. From two to five p.m. we held our specific English classes. I recruited two other ETAs from the Fulbright Program to help me this week. So, there were a total of 36 students and were split into three different classes. Every hour they would rotate classes between the teachers. We worked on story telling, persuasive essays, speaking skills, and presentational tips in the English language. I was so impressed with the effort and determination my students put into this camp! I learned so much about each student than I would normally be able to do in class sizes of 30+ students.

After the three hours of class, we ate dinner together at the school cafeteria. From there, we got to do sports club activities!! The students could choose between bowling or ice skating. I chose to do bowling for my activity, and I was able to play with all of the boys who also chose bowling. It was so much fun being able to interact with them outside of class and see their personalities shine through. The students really improved their English skills as well as their bowling skills.

Our group

After the sports club activity each night, we had snack time! I loved snack time, especially hanging out with the other teachers and interacting with the students. We had chicken, pizza, and sandwiches for our snacks (yum!!). My favorite part of English camp, however, was AFTER snack time. After snack time, students could choose to go home for the evening or to stay and talk/hang out with the teachers for awhile. Many of the first grade students wanted to stay and hang out with us. We decided to play a game called Mafia. At first I was worried that the students wouldn't be able to play this game because it requires a lot of debate and English-speaking skills that they might not have developed. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The boys were so good at explaining themselves and debating back and forth between one another. Their critical thinking skills were impressive. It was also fun for me because I could show them a more relaxed side of me that they don't always see in the classroom. I bonded with the students a lot during winter camp, and I will always remember how much fun we had together!

At the top of Baegunsan

Aside from Winter Camp, my home stay family took me hiking at the mountain here in Gwangyang, named Baegunsan. It was a cold and challenging hike, but it was a lot of fun going with my home stay parents. We left early in the morning, and the hike to the peak took about two hours. When we got to the top, we ate lunch together. It was so windy and snowy! After we came down from the mountain, we decided to go to the spa to relax and feel super clean. This jimjilbang did not have multiple hot and cold baths like other spas do, but it did have multiple saunas. I relaxed for a couple hours with my home stay parents and passed out for awhile too. After the spa, we came home and crashed. I was sore the next day from climbing so much.

With my host parents

My most favorite form of mountain activity is skiing! I was finally able to go skiing this season with a friend and her husband, who have season passes to a ski resort nearby. Yesterday, we left early in the morning to make the two hour drive to the resort. I was able to ski all day and we even did night skiing, which I haven't done before, so that was super exciting for me. I only crashed one time, and that was because a Korean woman didn't know how to stop and was going straight down the mountain and top speed. She crashed right into me. Luckily I had been paying attention to what was going on behind me, but I couldn't manage to turn in time to avoid her.

A view of the ski slopes

Skiing is so different in Korea than in the United States and Europe. People are certainly not as cautious here as they are elsewhere. I am convinced some of these people don't even take lessons before they try skiing or snowboarding. My friend and I saw one guy crash into four people and knocked them all over at the end of a run because he didn't know how to slow down. Another guy was wobbling all over the place and going way too fast down a black diamond course. He crashed two or three times but every time he got up he always passed me and crashed again. I don't know why he was on that course. I am just glad that I wasn't severely injured... haha! Even though it was dangerous, I definitely want to hit the slopes again before the season ends.

Hitting the slopes in my ugly outfit

This upcoming weekend I will begin my two-week traveling with my orientation roommate. We are traveling to Hong Kong and Thailand and I couldn't be more excited! This week I will be prepping for the trip and making sure I have everything I need. I will just be carrying my hiking pack on my back, so I have to be smart about packing light. Luckily the weather will be warmer where we are traveling, so I won't need my winter coat. I am very excited, but also a bit nervous (I always get anxious before I travel abroad)! My next post will likely be in February after my journey concludes. Stay warm, everybody!

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From Fall to Winter in a Jiffy!

Wow, the weather sure has chilled since my last post. In fact, Gwangyang experienced its first snowfall of the season yesterday - on the first day of December. None of it stuck, but it was fascinating to see all of my boys react and stare longingly out the windows of their classrooms.

My walk to school

With the weather cooling down, leaves falling on the ground, and the holiday season rolling around, I admit that I am feeling a bit homesick. Last week I taught my boys about Thanksgiving, which they were all eyes and ears (probably because of all the food pictures). Here in Korea they don't celebrate Thanksgiving (obviously), but it was nice being able to Skype with my parents and family before heading off to school on Thanksgiving day. Luckily, I was able to get a taste from home when we had our foreigner Thanksgiving dinner in Gwangyang this past Friday evening. We even had a turkey!! I was so happy to eat some dark meat, alongside some pastas, casseroles, and homemade desserts. The dinner rolls were clutch (always my favorite part of Thanksgiving meal).

Enjoying some new Korean cuisine

Many of my friends will be traveling back home for two weeks, and a part of me is envious. However, I know that I will enjoy my first Christmas holiday away from home because other foreigners, some coworkers, and I will be celebrating together (without all the gift-giving). Plus, my parents are coming to visit me in February, so I count that as my Christmas gift! I am very excited to show them around Korea and what my life is like here.

Pig skin and pig intestines

Aside from Thanksgiving celebrations and the first snowfall, I have been staying busy with my teaching and new responsibilities as the web editor for Fulbright's Infusion Magazine, as well as getting the ball rolling on creating an Alumni Newsletter for Fulbright Korea. My host family is great, and last week we celebrated our 100 days of being together! Last night they took me to eat 곱창, which is cow or pork intestines, along with 돼지 껍데기, otherwise known as pig skin! I know, I know, it sounds absolutely disgusting as first, and I thought so too. But, I gave it a go and it is so tender and so delicious! It is considered a delicacy to eat this in Korea, and it is quite expensive. My host family said that we should celebrate the first snowfall by going out to eat, and I am certainly glad they introduced me to one of my new favorite foods of Korea.

Pretty fall colors on the walk to school

My boys and I have been having a lot of fun in class. A couple weeks ago, we took a couple class periods to learn how to play rugby, and then attempted to start our own game (no tackling, of course). I tried to do two-hand touch, but it ended up getting pretty physical anyway. Luckily, no one was hurt. But the boys loved it! I also did a trial run-through of making the chicken pot pie. I will be making a massive amount of that stuff during finals, so I wanted to make sure I had the proper ingredients here in Korea to do so. All went well, and the boys are ready! It makes for a hearty winter meal, too.

Rowdy boys playing rugby

My winter break begins on Christmas Eve, so I am plugging away until then. I am feeling a bit worn out, but my boys have final exams next week, and I get to cook chicken pot pie for them, and that makes me happy! They have worked so hard this semester, and I am very proud of them. It is hard to believe I have already been teaching them for four months, so I consider this a nice celebration and end of the year party for us.

Chicken pot pie!

I will be gearing up for some winter break traveling, too! I am planning to visit Hong Kong, Thailand, and Cambodia with one of my Fulbright friends during January. Then, my parents will be here shortly afterward in February! I will go back to teach a new semester come March. Until then, enjoy the winter months everybody - Gwangyang is much warmer than what I am used to (although today it dropped into the low 20s).

Happy December!

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