Blogs from Chiang Mai, North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 11

Another beautiful day in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The view of the large rolling mountains gets me every time. The weather was cool, but not cold like it had been a few days ago. For breakfast I had bunny bunny (the stuff that tastes like funnel cake), a banana, some rice, and cabbage stir-fry. The first place everyone visited today was the community clinic hospital. I was expecting the hospital to be run down and look similar to Nakonping hospital, but i was so wrong. This community hospital was beautiful! The atmosphere was peaceful and the people were friendly. The layout of the hospital was open and it incorporated a lot of nature. This hospital is a primary care facility, meaning if people need to see a doctor or get a check up, they come here. People ... read more

Well, today was a day like no other. I don’t know if I can put into words the beauty of today. The morning began at 5 am. Today Linnapat (Thai) and Joshua (American) are getting married in Linnapat’s hometown of Nan. This is a northern Thai city that follows Lanna tradition. The wedding rituals was to begin at 7 am so we were told that we needed to leave our room by 6 am. The traditional Thai wedding colors are pink, blue and gold so we made sure that we were wearing those colors. Traditionally in Nan the bride asks the groom for his hand in marriage. Apparently, this is opposite of all other provinces. The wedding was held at a resort since Joshua did not have a home in Thailand. The resort had a 2 ... read more

Today was a day filled with adventures and new experiences. We woke up around 6:30am to get ready for the elephant camp. On the ride to the camp I had Melissa braid my hair. That was a funny experience because the roads were so bumpy and my seat was broken in the laying down position. When we arrived at the elephant camp we watched some elephants get washed in the river and then watched an elephant show. The elephants did a variety of tricks. Some painted pictures, another kicked a soccer ball, and others posed in cute positions. One trick a few elephants did really hurt my heart though. An elephant would be chained up to a wooden log and it would drag the log to a location on the ground. Then two other elephants would ... read more

Today started off with an amazing Thai cooking class. We met a lady who took us to the local market to buy ingredients to make Pad Thai, green curry, mango sticky rice, and papaya salad. The market was very interesting as there was a lot of raw meats that looked like they had just been killed. Gross! Then we went to the woman’s house and she had a complete cooking class set up. We each had our own cutting board station where we minced garlic and chopped veggies. We each had our own electric burner with woks that we cooked most of the food on. She went through each step of the process to make the different foods and then we shared the food together! It was absolutely delicious, and it was so fun to be ... read more

Although it’s the weekend, there’s no time to rest! Our day was yet again jammed packed with things to do. The weather was cool and in the low 60’s like yesterday. Thank goodness i brought my jacket along! For breakfast I tried fried frog leg! That was a first for me… It kind of tasted like chicken. The first thing we did today was go to a food market and buy fresh ingredients for our Thai cooking class. We then traveled to a Thai cooking establishment and were instructed on how to make some traditional Thai dishes. We made Pad Thai, green chicken curry, papaya salad, and sticky rice with coconut sauce and mango. The green curry and papaya salad were both spicy so i couldn’t eat them. I did however enjoy the Pad Thai and ... read more