Blogs from North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 6

Jan 9th TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES. Something that I haven’t mentioned yet in one of my posts is the importance of removing your shoes before entering a house, certain restaurants, and most indoor rooms. In Thailand, the head is considered sacred and the feet are looked at as unclean. Removing your shoes is a sign of respect. So if you plan on booking a trip to Thailand anytime soon, I suggest packing shoes without laces, or ones that slip on easily. Another tip: pack granola bars. I love rice, but rice and chicken for breakfast for the fifth day in a row can get old. I wasn’t feeling it this morning, so I opted for a granola bar and some applesauce that I packed in my suitcase. After breakfast, we went to the classroom to learn ... read more

Jan 7th Three days in to the trip, we finally had our formal welcoming ceremony! We were introduced to all of the teachers and coordinators of the program, and then proceeded to introduce ourselves in Thai. My Thai name is Sir Rii Pohn, which means blessed. During the ceremony, we witnessed a traditional Thai dance that was absolutely beautiful. We also received more gifts from our Thai buddies! Afterwards, we visited Donkaew Health Center, which we will be spending some time at during the trip. We listened to a presentation at the community health center and learned that the focus of nursing in Thailand is very similar to ours in America: physical health, mental health, social wellbeing, and wisdom health. They served us fried bananas with a milk/sugar dip, along with a fancy purple drink during ... read more

January 5th Today was our first full day in Thailand, and boy was it FULL. The day began by meeting up with our Thai buddies after breakfast. My Thai buddies are named Thanchanok Boonjanta and Dajchanee Laomoo, but to my benefit they go by the English names Kate and Meow. They are the sweetest girls who are so loving and thoughtful. Gift-giving is a big thing in Thai culture, and Kate and Meow have been sure to remind me of that cultural tradition. They buy me little things everywhere we go and make sure to pay attention to things that I almost bought or said I liked. After breakfast, we headed to a market full of people, shopping, and plenty of questionable smells. I bought a pair of elephant pants for 120 baht, which comes out ... read more

I headed back to Chiang Mai for the annual Loy Krathong & Yee Peng Lantern Festivals, which were definitely trip highlight. Loy Krathong is celebrated across Thailand and involves releasing krathong - decorated rafts with candles - into the river. In Chiang Mai, Yee Ping is at the same time and involves a variety of lanterns, including releasing paper lanterns into the sky...there are so many on the main nights that they look like stars (and Chiang Mai has to cancel flights on these nights to prevent issues with aircraft). It's one big celebration for several days, with fireworks, parades, etc. in addition to the lanterns and floating candles - it was beautiful, colorful, a bit chaotic and absolutely fantastic. I also did a day trip to Wat Phabatpuphadang (one of its several names) - a ... read more

I have made it to Thailand, although I will only be here for an overnight stay. I don’t have any pictures to share because I essentially took all day to travel here. The flight is five and half hours from Beijing and it left in the early afternoon, so there wasn’t time before or after for sightseeing. Reflecting on my Chinese visit, I am glad to have seen the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. They were not high on my Bucket List, but they are places I have read about and wanted to see for myself. I liked the fact that I was able to navigate on my own, using the subway exclusively (and my own two feet). On balance, the things I liked outweighed the things I disliked (crowds, smog, constant security presence) and ... read more