Blogs from Chiang Mai, North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 341

I think I forgot to mention that we were headed to Chiang Mai in my last entry. We took an overnight train last night. What an experience. It was cold; the thai seem to think we need to be refrigerated! Brookes and I had top bunks and under us was a Thai couple. The bunks were surprisingly comforable and with earplugs sleep was attainable. Not great quality sleep, but sleep. Anyway, we have arrived and are relieved to be out of the smog. It is beautiful here as Chiang Mai is in the hills of Northern Thailand. It is very green and moderate temperatures without the humidity. After finally arriving at the hostel- we seemed to have gotten a tuk tuk driver who did not know the city- we got a bite to eat and a ... read more

Hi - just a quck update. Travelled on the overnight bus to Chaing Mai last night & slept for what feels like about 2 minutes in the 11 hours. We stopped one time for a toilet break and the "toilet" was just a tiled room with a hole and a wall tap in it...delightful. Just like one of those trendy "wet rooms" that Westerners have now, but not as attractive. There are 3 of us departing shortly for the jungle where will trek and stay in a local village tonight During today and tomorrow I should get to ride an elephant and do river rafting. A completely different vibe to Bangkok! Bangkok was giving me a permanently sore throat and cough so it's nice to be out of the smog. As you can probably tell I'm ... read more

Sometimes in life an accident or unplanned event can lead to an unexpected gain or adventure, we found this after heading north to Chang Mai fill a week whilst waiting for a replacement passport. Chang Mai is a lovely city in the north of Thailand. From here you can trek, learn thai cooking or thai massage, or learn more about budhism through staying at one of the many teaching centres in the area. There are 300 beautiful temples to explore and some good shopping in the markets, in particular the sunday night market in the old city which was full of bohemian arts and crafts, not your usual tourist junk. The highlight of our trip was our Trek to the hills in the north. Our guide Tom was super friendly and the trekkers were all good ... read more

The business students visited a garment factory while in Bangkok. Here we were given a tour of the factory and were walked through all the steps in making a knit shirt. It was amazing to see all the details of this process. We were able to see everything from the machines that sewed the thread into fabric, coloring the thread and fabric, and the assembly line for putting the shirt together, where each person specializes in one task (such as sewing on the collar, tag, sleeve, etc.) then passes it on to the next person and task, all the way until the shirt was neatly ironed, folded and placed into a box for shipping. So next time you’re shirt shopping, before you take that shirt off the shelf and unfold it, just take a second to ... read more

Our last night in Bangkok, we had two guest speakers. Both are alumni of Whitworth College. Dr. Saisuree Chatikul ('56), a politician and advocate for women's and children's rights, spoke to us about the current status of these rights and the programs that deal with these issues in Thailand. She has worked with UNICEF, UN, has been a senator and in her retirement is on 19 committees. It was very inspiring to hear her speak as a woman in a position of power. It was evident that she was very passionate about the work that she does for the betterment of women and children in Thailand. Tap was our other speaker. He is a tsunami relief worker with PDA (Population and Community Development Association) in Krabi. He spoke to us about the aid PDA is giving ... read more