Leopard Sharks and Seahorses

So I just returned from what was the best trip I've had in my life. The Similan Islands are one of the top ten dive sites in the entire world, and I spent last week diving there while living on the boat the West Coast Explorer.

The Similan Islands are in the Andaman Sea, north of Phuket, and are gorgeous even above water. I took a 12 hour bus to Khao Lak, spent a day drinking on the beach and getting a massage before setting sail on my liveaboard scubadiving trip. My friend Charlie Waters was my dive partner all week and we saw more marine life than I could have ever expected. I kept a log of all the species I could identify during the dives, from blue sea stars to a banded sea snake to a frimulated moray eel. We saw two pretty large leopard sharks and a little seahorse that just tugged on my heart strings. I've never had so much fun.

This was our daily schedule:

6:30-7:00 wake up

7:00 snack

7:30 dive 1

8:30 breakfast

10:30 dive 2

11:30 lunch

3:30 dive 3

4:30 snack

5:30 dive 4

6:30 dinner

7:30 chatting and drinking

We did four dives a day (14 dives total) and we even did 1 night dive (my first) which was pretty awesome. Everyone was older than me, and mostly European men, but they gave me such a hard time for never wearing a wetsuit until the last day. Come on, we're in the tropics, you aren't going to get that cold! Every dive was 30 meters for about 50 minutes. Pretty fabulous considering I'm only an Open Water Diver.
After the trip we all stayed a night in Patong Beach in Phuket which was pretty raunchy, good fun. One of our divemasters owned a bar on Soi Gonzo named Magic Bar and we had quite an evening there. Old European men on a stripper pole can only happen in Thailand.

I'm hoping to get some underwater pictures emailed from some friends on the trip, but until now these must suffice. I will be heading home in several days and I can't believe my trip is ending! Not yet! The fun is just beginning!

P.S. check out my new obsessions: Lady GaGa (american) and Tata Young (thai)

Stranded in Paradise

As I'm sure you all have heard, protestors of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in Thailand have taken over the domestic and international airports in Bangkok. At first it didn't sound so bad, but there have been no flights in and out of Don Muang or Suvarnabhumi in several days. Tourists stuck here, businessmen stuck elsewhere, Thailand is losing an absurd amount of money such that many Thais that were sympathetic of the PAD party now are ashamed at the reputation Thailand has for political unrest.
Despite all this unrest and the small bombings we hear reported, some of us took off for a nice weekend at the beach :o). Back to Koh Samet in the Gulf of Thailand, Dan, Ruby, Pai, Steph and myself got a nice bungalow and played in the water while the chaos persists in Bangkok. Steph is Ruby's friend from the University of Connecticut who was visiting her here and is now STILL visiting her because she cannot leave the country and may not be back in time to take her final exams. "Chaos" is a tough word to use for this situation though. I go to aerobics in the morning, we go to movies and shopping in town... nothing is changed except international travel which doesn't apply to me... yet. We have heard that this should blow over by the King's birthday on December 5 which is plenty of time before my flight back to the US.

Back from the beach, we celebrated Thanksgiving! I was expecting rice and more rice, but our friends spent all afternoon cooking the most incredible Thanksgiving dinner at our friend Amber's apartment downtown from the cranberry sauce to the stuffing to the corn cobs to the sweet potatoes. It was the most delicious meal and it was so fun to be with so many friends in a fancy western-style apartment with a sofa for the evening.

On Saturday I went to Cambodia! My student visa expired November 30 because that's when my official study abroad program ended at KMUTT, so I had to go to Cambodia to get a tourist visa. I called the Immigration Burreau to see if I could get a new visa there, but they told me to drive to the border. Very funny. Either way, the Kingdom of Cambodia was great for the 30 minutes I spent there before taking my van back. Thanks ThaiVisaRun.Com!

I bought tons of Christmas presents for my family at the Chatuchak Weekend Market on Sunday... very successful indeed. This upcoming week I'm going on a pretty wild adventure: scuba diving in one of the top ten dive sites in the entire world... stay tuned!

Note: Our friend and advisor P. Mee called Angela Friday night after the airports were closed--

P. Mee: Angera? I think perhaps you should not go into Bangkok tonight.

Angela: What? We're actually already in town, why?

P. Mee: I think perhaps there is going to be a revolution.

Angela: ...okay?

Shape Up or Ship Out

So as it turns out, I've gotten myself into a pretty fun workout schedule. I'm back going to aerobics in the park every morning, and to top it off I've started to get into running. I have made it a personal goal to get into ship shape. Around June of next year there will be a memorial run in honor of my Uncle Peter, an avid runner, who passed away several months ago, so hopefully I'll be able to run the entire thing. I've been running several kilometers in the park in the morning and being back at the house by 8:15am to start my day. Although I'd only been training for over one week, I ended up registering to a "Quarter Marathon" in the Bangkok Marathon! I found it to be quite a personal accomplishment.
Hok Duean: 6 months. I've been living here for exactly 6 months and it's the kind of time frame that you realize that you could absolutely stay here if it ended up that way. I have my park I work out in, a school campus, new friends, a movie theater I like, a great apartment, my own furniture, a good Kareoke place, good study habits, a perfect coffee shop, I know the bus routes, etc. You know how sometimes you wake up and you're a little hungover and the last thing you want in Asian food? That's one of the things I've had a hard time getting used to. Don't get me wrong, it will be very exciting to come home, but it's great to know that I'm so comfortable here.

I thought I would include this image of a note we received from a neighbor. We had been tying our clothes line to a little pipe between our townhouses but I guess its a pipe for their air conditioner? Whatever, at least they have one!

I'm very series.

The Morning in Mourning

I just went on a little trip in eastern Thailand to do surveys for the past 5 days.

We did over 500 surveys in the Bangkok area, then we did 125 surveys in each of the following provinces: Chonburi, Rayong, Chanthaburi, and Trat. We ended up getting everything done ahead of schedule so we were able to spend the night on the island of Koh Chang and spend a day in the sun and swimming in the Gulf of Thailand.

What are these surveys you ask? Well since my semester ended, I have working on my Nuclear Feasibility for Thailand research project. A huge part of our work is public opinion, so we have been gathering just that. As a group we have no surveyed over 1000 Thai people and now we have to start tallying and analyzing the results.

The phrase from this title sounds like: "dichan pen naksusa techno bahngmod chuay grough ka moon di mi ka?" or, for my English speaking friends, "I am a student at KMUTT, will you please help me by filling out this survey?" Although we surveyed 1000 people, we probably asked at least 2000 people who were too busy, confused, angry at the subject, or illiterate.

Now, back to analyzing all this data!

Oh yeah! The reference of the title "the morning in mourning" is due to that I went to aerobics and ran laps this morning but I wore all black. Everyone in Thailand is wearing black today because the King's sister died one year ago today, and today will be her cremation. It's half mourning half celebration of life.

Pride

Obama wins!!! I celebrated at the Roadhouse BBQ and Bar from 9am-11am to watch the results as the polls were closing back home. Friends were buying rounds of beer early in the morning to celebrate and I couldn't have asked for a better place to enjoy the company of fellow Americans in Thailand. I wore my "Bangkok for Barack" shirt with glee.

I am proud of:

p1. North Carolina votes for a democrat president for the first time in 32 years with Jimmy Carter. Yay Barack Obama!

2. North Carolina has a female governor for the first time in history. Yay Bev Perdue!

3. North Carolina has a democrat senator for the first time in at least 30 years. I'm sorry madam dolie. Yay Kay Hagan!

Times they are a-changing. I'm so sorry Uncle Rick! I love you!

Nicholas Family Fun Tour 2551!

October 17: my parents, my brother Andrew, and his girlfriend Jenn arrived sleepily from 18 hours of airplane fun and I met them with sign in hand "Nicholas Family Fun Tour 2551" with matching t-shirt on. We walked around the Nana area and had dinner at the India Hut before getting some much-needed sleep at the Manohra Hotel which was quite nice with a rooftop garden.

October 18: bus ride to Kanchanaburi. We booked two rooms at the Noble Night Guesthouse in town after much ado with bungalows we found that were too crappy or too luxurious. We ate some good Thai food (ahan thai) and walked around a Chinese cemetary for World War II casualities in Thailand that was in utter disrepair. We poked around a weird spirit house garbage pile.

October 19: met up with a tour guide and now good friend Anngee that took us to a geothermal hot spring next to a cooling river that was nothing like I'd ever seen or swam in before. We visited a huge waterfall, rode on a old train, visited the Bridge on the River Kwai, crept in a Buddha Cave, and walked through Hellfire Pass that was park of the slave-labored railway construction of World War II.

October 20: back to Bangkok, we stayed in a huge family room at the Grand China Princess in the heart of Chinatown. Immaculate room, amazing view, and revolving restaurant on the roof. We ate a late lunch at the Shangrila where we ate a very delicious Chinese meal and where we accidentally devoured and paid for a $125 King Lobster. Don't be fooled by the dainty words 'by weight' when you don't know what you're getting yourself into. Delicious little fella though. Happy Birthday to Phillip on this day!

October 21: we spent the morning on a ferry boat on the Chao Praya River past Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn) to the Grand Palace and Wat Prakao. I got in free with my student idea and a lot of smiling. We flew to Chiang Mai in the far north of Thailand and booked a room at Penon Peng Guesthouse that was family-run, adorable, and very quaint. We ate dinner at The Zest where my father realized his love of any food served in a pineapple. The band at the Zest was two men, one with guitar and one with banjo. I told the man I loved his banjo and that I have one of my own to which he responded by dedicating the ballad of Old Susanna to me next.

October 22: a taxi driver gave us a tour of some of the major temples in Chiang Mai's "old town" inside the moat area that was once used as defense against neighboring armies. I released several birds from a cage at a temple for good luck. We ended up at Doi Sutep, a temple on the top of a mountain that made for some amazing views and incense-fueled spirituality. Dinner at El Diablo's Heavenly Burritos was exactly what the doctor ordered.

October 23: Outside of town we went to an elephant camp where we rode on the backs of elephants, travelled by oxcart, watching an elephant trick show, and took a bamboo raft down the river. My first time on an elephant! One elephant was trained to lift people up with its nose between their legs and my dad just walked right up to it and did it! I was too chicken at first, but I couldn't let him show me up. Went to the Night Bazaar to explore the trinkets and excitement.
October 24: back to Bangkok, we booked a room at the Zenith Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 3 and went to Siam Ocean World in the center of town. The huge aquarium was one of the highlights of the trip with more undersea life than I could have imagined existed. I will have to go back! Afterwards it turned out, much to the happiness of my brother and his girlfriend who are both graphic designers in New York, that we accidentally ran into the Bangkok Design Festival! Very cool artwork at the Bangkok Center for Cultural Arts. I also ended up showing the family around my campus a little bit at KMUTT and having a mediocre lunch at The Frog.
October 25: Andrew and Jenn flew back to New York while my parents and I grabbed a flight to Phuket, the largest island in Thailand in the Andaman Sea. A lazy afternoon of eating food on the beach, shopping, and relaxing around the Sugar Palm Resort. Note: every towel on the grounds is printed "SUGAR PLAM".

October 26: a boat cruise in the Andaman Sea of the most gorgeous karst landscape I'd ever seen. We visited the James Bond Island where "The Man with the Golden Gun" was filmed. We canoed through several bat caves and grottoes that were perfect. At one point we jumped off the boat and swam to an island where two monkeys were sitting on the sand and we fed them oranges. On the cruise back to Phuket, two of the boat's crew members ended up dressing up as Ladyboys and performing a quite strange sexy dance on board. I met a very nice girl from Israel on the boat and I hope to stay in touch with her. Apparently Israelites travel to Thailand all the time, as one Israeli guy on the boat said "If I wanted to see this many Jews I would have just gone to Tel Aviv." Happy Birthday to Zena on this day!

October 27: sunning ourselves on the Haad Kata and Haad Karon, I ended up going parasailing as part of my birthday present. Very exciting to see the island and water from so far up! We bought some nice sarongs and went to the FantaSea cultural and lights and dance show. Pretty gaudy and much like Disney World on the outside, it was a nice experience but a bit too much going on.

October 28: flew back to Bangkok then took a chartered car from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Ayutthaya. We stayed one night at Baan Lotus where I stayed months ago with my friend Greg. Very quaint, great teak homestead with very kind family owners. We took a tuk tuk tour of many temples at sunset and saw them lit up at night in an eerie beauty. We ended up at the Night Market for dinner and smoothies along the canal before turning in for the night.

October 29: after sleeping in and nursing my mom's cold, we took the public bus back to Bangkok and a taxi to my apartment. I gave my parents a tour of campus and we ate Mama Tom Yum at Ann's noodle shop at the Girl's Dorm. My father and I bought matching windbreakers with the name of my school in Thai on the back. We stayed at the Grand Mercure Park Avenue on Sukhumvit Soi 22.

October 30: spent the afternoon at Muang Boran just southeast of Bangkok where we rented a goftcart and travelled through mini-Thailand in park-form. It was a ton of fun and my parents realled loved it. It was very comfortable outside although we ended up getting caught in the rain and instantly soaked. Bought lots of nifty gifties. That evening we ate dinner at the Andaman Restaurant on Thanon Henri Donut and bought some beautiful scarves at Jim Thompson's Thai Silk store.

October 31: we toured Baan Jim Thompson and admired his gorgeous teak home from the 50s and 60s. He opened the international market for Thai silk decades ago and at the height of his fame, mysteriously disappeared in Malaysia. I gave my parents a tour of the park near my apartment and took them to the roof of my graduate school building for a nice sunset view. I sent them back to their hotel so I could prep for a sweet Halloween/Birthday Party. I dressed as a Zebra (in Thai: Ma-lai) and was absolutely proud of how it turned out. We had a bunch of friends over and then went out to Kao Sahn Road (mini-Franklin Street for Halloween as it turned out) and had a really great time. I didn't pay for anything all night and we met these really funny Thai students at one bar and danced with them all night. At midnight I was screaming "WON GERB CHAAAAAN" which was "ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!!" and fun was had by all.
November 1: My official birthday, my parents flew back home in the morning and I relaxed with my friends all afternoon. Nothing's more fun than celebrating your twenty first birthday in Thailand dressed as a zebra. We will celebrate my birthday again on the second so we've got bookends of happiness around my bday.

Hello Juvenile Thornback Cowfish!

I took the photo above from the front page of the Bangkok Post. Seems pretty intense! Two were killed in police/protestor riots earlier this month, one from a car bomb he set off himself, and one girl killed by impact of a police shotgun fired canister of tear gas. Her Majesty the Queen attended the girl’s public funeral.

I spent the past 7 days in Koh Tao, an island in the Gulf of Thailand. This island is directly north of the island I previously visited in June, Koh Phangan. The week was very eventful because I took full advantage of my Open Water Diving certification for the first time since I received it in May in the Florida Keys. I went on a total of 6 dives which was about all I could afford, but I went to the following dive sites around the island: Aow Leuk North, Aow Leuk South, Chompon Pinnacle, Twin Peaks, Shark Island, and Southwest Pinnacle. Underwater visibility was variable and the currents weren’t bad except at Twin. My favorite dive was at Southwest Pinnacle though, a series of underwater rock formations that look like mountains but don’t even break the water’s surface.
To list a few of the species I was able to identify: Queenfish, Blue-ringed Angelfish, Black-and-white Clownfish, Scorpionfish, Jan’s Pipefish, Elegant Sea Slug, Scribbled Filefish, and Remora. Let me tell you a little story about a Remora that I came to hate with a dreadful passion. The Remora fish are known as “suckerfish” because they find something interesting and nibbled on it. Yes, it’s true, apparently I’m interesting. There was one Remora that wouldn’t leave me alone and even when I would bat it away underwater it would come back from more tastes of my thigh. Eventually I moved along and he stayed back, but lord knows I’ve had enough of that little guy.

My dive master Mel from Big Bubble Divers was a load of fun and we hope to keep in touch through email. Our whole trip, with Kevin, Angela, Elizabeth, and myself: our accommodation was a little bungalow 10 feet from the water for 6 nights for a total of about $35 per person. Mind you, that’s the total for all 6 nights and we got to go snorkeling with the Big Bubble boat for free if we didn’t want to dive. Controlling my buoyancy underwater was a lot of fun and we even watched Mel cut some fish net off of the reef and save a trapped crab.

We took one day off during the week from diving when Angela finished her certification dives and we rented 2 motorcycles to check out the rest of the island. Elizabeth hastily jumped off the back of Angela’s at one point and burned her leg on the spinning tire, but aside from that, it was easy going. I absolutely love driving the motorcycle. This was probably my last time though, don’t worry momma. We closed our trip with some healthy drinking at Bubbalo Bar on the beach with some friends we made from Austria. We smoked some shisha (we call it hookah in the US), and ate many an American-style breakfast for sure.

I will not update my blog for the next 2 weeks because: Nicholas Family Fun Tour 2551! My parents, brother, and his girlfriend are arriving in Thailand this very evening. My parents will be here 2 full weeks and my brother and his girlfriend just the first week, but I’ve got a lot of fun trips and adventures planned. I’ve done some vigorous planning so I’m very excited about going to places I’ve never been yet! This is the longer time frame in my entire life that I’ve gone without seeing my parents! I can’t wait to see their shining faces and get some jetlagged hugs and kisses. I can’t help but wish Philly Cream Cheese was hopping off the plane too…Enjoy the rest of the pictures from Koh Tao! Once my family leaves I will be off break and back into hardcore research. I have just under 2 months left in the Land of Smiles and I hope it doesn’t go by too quickly!

Obama, McCain or Numer Five???

This past Sunday, elections were held for the Governor of Bangkok, and the position went to the one and only: Number Five! Above is a campaign power of Number 8, all of which lined the streets of Bangkok wherever you went. Number Eight (former brothel owner) was the funniest and craziest, but also punched a reporter in the face last week for insulting his manliness.

These are my parents! They will be arriving in about a week for our adventure through the country. This coming week I will be going scuba diving in the Gulf of Thailand on the island Koh Tao. It will be my first dive since I was certified in the Florida Keys this past May; is there a better place I could have my first dive?
Wtih classes over, this past week was devoted to the visit of Dr. David McNelis from UNC who serves as my advisor for my big research project over here. He's the Director of the Sustainable Energy Department at UNC, and adjunct professor in Nuclear Engineering and NC State, and got his masters in Nuclear Physics. McNelis is one of the authorities on Nuclear Power in the United States and was involved in a lot of the nuclear bomb tests in Nevada in the 1960s. After working with us last week he is off to Japan to visit their nuclear reactors and give advice. Regardless, he's amazing and he is working with us on our final project here: Nuclear Power Feasibility for Thailand. He sat in on the meeting held by the Thai government this weekend on their current Nuclear plans, and reported back to us the official findings. When our report is completed mid-November we will be presenting our findings to the Nuclear Power Program Development Office of Thailand who is in charge of the official plans under the Ministry of Energy. Very legit. Let the work begin!

Also, this past week I went to Roadhouse Barbeque in central Bangkok to watch the Vice Presidential Debate. To quote my father, "Joe kicked ass", and I agree. Palin just isn't ready to be that close to such an important position. Everyone in the bar toasted and drank whenever she said "maverick", it was hilarious. After the debate I hit the town with my friend Rick who I met in the airport in Kunming, China. We went to a bar where the Thai waitresses were dressed as belly dancers and the bar was literally made of ice. Chilly!

Also, I've been reading Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire aloud at night to my roommates. They enjoy the story and I enjoy storytelling so we're all winners. Because I saw the musical a few years ago, I'm glad to finally have time to enjoy the book.

This is my brother Clay.

Park that baby in Neutral!

This entry is full of anecdotes and factoids that you will likely find amusing and informative!

1. As it turns out, every single person in Thailand parks in neutral. Parking lots are mobile. You see a lot of double parking and people blocking each other in down cul-de-sacs, but it doesn't matter because everyone parks in neutral so you can roll your neighbor's car out of the way and put it back once you've pulled out!

2. When it rains, it pours. No, it floods. Our neighborhood sometimes has a foot of water in the street if its been a horrible all day and night rainstorm. There are gutters but the water table is so high that they cannot sustain the floodwaters. It's monsoon season so it rains almost every night after 7pm until 4am or so, and because its so hot, evaporation takes care of most of the water before I'm out of bed.

3. Bed is a loose term. We all sleep on squishy mats on the floor. They were only like 12 dollars so they're pretty crappy, but its not bad because with our fans on the floor, we get the straight shot of air.

4. My advisor from UNC arrived last night and he will be intensely helping us with our research project. Professor McNelis is an authority on Nuclear power in the US and will be helping us with our Nuclear Feasibility report on Thailand that we will be working on until Christmas.

5. There are 5 Thai children in our house right now. They are all under the age of 8. The kids are always running around the neighborhood and now they've started to just walk right into our house. The Farang Fortress needs a moat. These kids are fun because their English is on par with our Thai. We covered our walls with paper and the children draw and paint on them when they come over. They like to listen to our music and dance around and giggle and learn words. Some of the parents want us to legitimately give them English lessons but its more fun to goof around. The ham of the group, Ken, is 8 years old and a total showboat. He puts on our high heels and dances around with hands over his head and moving his hips like an absolute stripper. He's hilarious and oblivious to the world. It's all fun and games until you try to convince them that they have to go home. Pai Baan dai mai ca? Can you please go home? Response: closing themselves into our bathroom. I wonder where they're parents are.

6. Korean influence is really popular right now in music and style. All of the Thai boys have these kind of metro mullets and spikey hair and very girly bangs. It's fun to see so many styles and whatnot especially because the undergrads where uniforms so their hair is a great way to stand out.

7. I will be going to Koh Tao in 2 weeks to go on my first legit scuba dive adventure in Thailand. I got certified right before I came on this program in May so I can't wait to check out the Gulf of Thailand's coral reef situation. YAY!

8. I am making my best friend Phillip register me for my classes in 2 weeks because I am so unfortunately going to be on a tropical island. My schedule will ideally involve:
-Political Economy of Southeast Asia
-Playwriting
-Electromagentics: Physics 117
-Statistics
-Groundwater Geology

9. Went to a really cool Iranian dinner last week and smoked Hookah for our Iranian friend Ali's birthday. He is studying with us at JGSEE and a really fun guy. He told us a lot about Iran and Persian culture. Turns out that you can still be arrested for dancing in public if you're a woman. They will take you to the police station and tell you parents are stuff but usually you won't go to jail... wild.

Bitch is the New Black

And Black is the New President! This title has been inspired by my discovery of the capability of downloading Saturday Night Live sketches online. Here's what I'm talking about: "Bitch is the New Black." The rebuttle to Tina Fey explaining that yes, Hillary Clinton is a bitch, but you have to deal with that because "bitch is the new black." Tracy Morgan responds in a later sketch that "bitch may be the new black, but black is the new president." Loves it.

This past week I had a very international dinner at a restauarant where you cook all of your own food at your table with a mini-charcoal hotpot. Aside from some UNC friends, we had Ali from Iran, Yurga from Ethiopia, and Rajesh from Bangladesh.

This picture is a painting that Ruby, Dan, and I created on this wall of our apartment. It is all of our friends in the house with cockroach bodies. I am the cockroach with the martinis and the computer mouse, duh!

Friday night proved quite the adventure as well. Democrats Abroad in Thailand as well as Americans Abroad for Obama aired Barack Obama's nomination speech over a great American dinner and cocktails at the Roadhouse BBQ Restaurant in Bangkok. Let's just say it had been awhile since my mouth had feasted upon a thick juicy BLT sandwich.

This picture is of a table I found in a garbage pile in our neighborhood. It was nasty rusted plastic, but I painted it neon pink and orange. Free hot bedside table!

It has also come to my attention that I never posted decent pictures of the Farang Fortress! The images are of my house! This one is of the wall above where I sleep. I have a map of Koh Phangan, a map of Thailand, and many pictures of people I like.

I also ended up letting my friend Angela put a mohawk on my head. We were both pleased with the results.

What the Karst! Wasn't Hitler a Naxi?

Ladies and germs, I am back after an 11 day travelling expedition in the People’s Republic of China. The best way to wrap my blog around the trip is to give you a day-by-day play-by-play!
It all started with my good friend Andrew Tate studying Chinese in Beijing this summer, and with his program ending, we decided to travel around Southern China together before he went back to UNC. Although I didn’t have a break from classes or anything, I packed a bookbag and hopped a flight from Bangkok to Guilin. **Note: every single shop/restaurant/bus station had a tv with the Olympics on every channel. Loves it!**

August 11: After going to the Chinese Embassy (sa-thaan toot jinn) three times in one week, I got my Chinese visa (wee-sa) so I could fly. I arrived late to Guilin, and Andrew, having arrived an hour before by train, picked me up at the airport. We checked in at the Guilin Flowers International Youth Hostel and went exploring around town. We found an underground dance club and waltzed right in. We were the only foreigners and we ordered Coronas off the menu, to which we received a strange barely-alcoholic beverage: the Purple Godsend. Great way to start my stay in the Guangxi Province.

August 12: Early in the morning, Casey Yancey, our other travelling companion arrived and we seized the day. We spent the day at the Seven Star Park (Qixing Gongyuan) where we explored a mineral museum of the region, marveled at exotic plants, and spelunked the Seven Star Cave (Qixing Yan) which would prove to be one of my favorite experiences. We were entirely alone in the deep dank cavern, and it was the first time I fell in love with limestone. We also visited the matching Sun and Moon Pagodas in a lake that could only be traversed via underwater tunnel.

August 13: This is the day we climbed a Karst, and I began to love Southern China. A Karst looks like a mountain in a landscape, but rather than being form by tectonic uplift, it the result of limestone dissolution. The land is worn down by waters, and with subterranean drainage leading to magnificent caves in association, the karst is the limestone bedrock that has persisted while all else has dissolved around it. They reminded me of more massive, tree-covered hoodoos like I saw at Bryce Canyon in Utah. We climbed the karst (Fubo Shan), took in the exquisite views, then went below it to the Returned Pearl Cave (Huanzhu Dong) and the Thousand Buddha Cave (Qianfo Yan). These caves were more touristy and tampered with. The karst landscape and defines southern China is right out of a fairy tale. That evening we travelled by bus to Yangshou where we booked a room at Monkey Jane’s Guest House.

August 14: Yangshou is the most beautiful place on Earth. Bold to say? Yes. The karsts in around Yangshou were impressive and we had to explore. We woke up early and went on an excursion with the bartender Sally that we met the night before. We rented bicycles and travelled through rice paddies and dirt roads between karsts to arrive at Yulong River where we rode bamboo rafts for a few hours south. The day was an idyllic sunny one, and after the raft ride, we climbed Moon Hill (Yueling Shan). This karst was a showcase to the work of water on limestone with a giant moon-shaped crescent carved out near the top. We climbed to the top and the view was killer. Hilarious little Chinese women followed us the entire way up trying to get us to buy their water and juice, but for some reason they won’t take no (boo yao) for an answer! We followed up our sweaty adventure upwards, with a tour downwards to the Moon Water Cave. Hardhats and flashlights to boot, we explored this saturated cave and ended up covered in mud from head to toe before coming back out on the other side to discover a gorgeous rice paddy valley.

August 15: After a night of beer pong on Monkey Jane’s Rooftop Bar whereupon we met Monkey Jane herself, we got a late start. **Note: Monkey Jane is about 24, owns the hostel and bar, is scantily clad, a bitch, and always sloshed and belligerent**. With Casey worn out, Andrew and I rented bicycles and ventured to the north to a nearby village Xing Ping. Firecrackers abounded due to a holiday involving spirits, and we tried to order the local specialty of Rat, but we saw a rat in a cage the size of a medium-sized dog with price tag to boot and changed our minds.

August 16: Bus back to Guilin. Let it be known that Guilin is the 11th most populated city in China at 46 million people. 46 million yelling, spitting, wild people. We stayed another night to Guilin.

August 17: Just your average 19 hour train ride to Kunming! Welp, there goes August 17!

August 18: A 9 hour sleeper bus to Lijiang was less than pleasant. The train had bunk beds and room to move around, bathroom included. The bus was a cramped situation where I couldn’t even lay my arms by my sides without overflowing onto my neighboring passengers who were inevitably very Chinese, very grumpy, and a little smelly. Everyone smokes, even on the bus.


August 19: A 5am arrival in Lijiang, we found a very quaint almost Staunton, Virginia-esque cobblestone village. Not yet bustling in the early mist, we finally found the Pan Ba Hostel. Sleep-deprived but running on adrenaline after escaping the bus, Casey slept while Andrew and I planned to conquer a mountain. The area of Lijiang, the next province over from Tibet, is considered the foothills of the Himalayas. We took a bus to the glacier-encrusted Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. We rented heavy jackets that came with baby-sized oxygen tanks and went exploring to the 4700 meter-high peak. The Spruce Meadow that we went to near the mountain was one of my favorite experiences. While we could not see the glacial peaks clearly through the thick, low clouds, the meadow itself had a mycological diversity that I have never seen. I’ve always loved mushrooms, but the fungus in the area made me scream! The oxygen tanks were an absolute joke so Andrew and I just sucked on them taking a cable car down the slope.

August 20: We experimented with the local indigenous foods of the Naxi culture (pronounced nahk-see, not like Nazi, which I had too much fun with at the time), and we were very pleased. **Note: Tibetan Dumplings are the best food ever, but avoid the Yak Butter Tea like the plague** We also visited the Black Dragon Pool which was an adorable park with a karst of its own, ripe for the climbing. Andrew and I scaled Elephant Hill and took in the circle of mountains around us. The foothills of the Himalayas I tell you! That night, I took a sleeper bus back to Kunming for my flight back to Thailand.

August 21: The day of my return to Bangkok. NOT!! I got to the airport bright and early and discovered that my flight did not exist. Andrew and Casey continued travelling to Dali in the Yunnan Province so I was alone with no Chinese speaking ability. Apparently Orbitz didn’t think a 24 hour change in my flight plans was worth notifying me about. Fuck you, Orbitz. I ended up getting a hotel, making friends with a cute Chinese girl in a coffee shop and buying a pretty dress, but I also was in the process of developing a pretty nasty allergic reaction to MSG.

August 22: Waiting the airport during what would have been my Climate Change Midterm Exam back in Bangkok, I ended up making it home. Met a really killer guy from Connecticut too on that flight who teaches English to Chinese kids. Either way, I made it home, found out I didn’t miss anything important in Thailand, and much fun was had by all.

Stranded in China

The lack of posts for the past 2 weeks is due to a trip to China. I decided to fly to southern China to travel with one of my best friends Andrew Tate, who had been studying in Beijing. I will give a more adequate update in a few days, but currently, I am stranded in China.
Andrew was with me until yesterday when I took an overnight bus to Kunming and a taxi to the airport to go home to Bangkok whereupon Andrew went to Dali to continue travelling. This lead to that and I discovered that my flight did not exist. Apparently Thai Airways rescheduled for tomorrow so I am missing a midterm exam and staying an extra night in a place where suddenly without Andrew, I am absolutely alone and cannot speak Chinese. My kingdom for an English speaker! Even Thai would be nice. Either way, I get back to Thailand tomorrow and things will be back to normal.

Sri Lanka... meet Guacamole

This past week involved 3 wonderful food parties. Also, the picture above is of my neighborhood!

Saturday night, we christened our house (The Farang Fortress) with a housewarming party. Our American friends came, as well as our Thai friends. Chang was drank, cards were played, even our screen doors were assembled! It was a fun mash-up of people, and now the house is modestly furnished and amazing. I wonder if our Thai neighbors see us walking through their street and go "uh oh, there goes the neighborhood".

Tuesday night, our Thai friend Jeum put together a big potluck feast in her office on campus near the soccer field. Several of her Thai colleages, 1 girl from Sri Lanka, 1 boy from Nepal, 1 boy from Vietnam, and several of us from America all cooked traditional dishes for this cultural event. From our group, Alana and Lauren made maccaroni and cheese, Sarah and I made pasta salad, Elizabeth Ruby and Angela made apple pies, and I also served up some of my (now world-famous) guacamole (copyright jenn richey). It was a big hit because Thai people love spicy foods. The night was filled with eating and silliness that was only topped off by several hours of kareoke. We taught the Thais the Electric Slide, the Macarena, the Soulja Boy and they taught us several fun dances and songs that I would be hard pressed to repeat the names of. Very fun though!

***Note to mom: huge wad of cilantro at the fresh market for 3 baht. that's less than 1 cent)***

Wednesday night, our Thai Language instructer "Pam" invited us over to her apartment and taught us how to cook traditional Thai dishes instead of giving us an exam (Thank you Pam!). Now I can say that I know how to properly cook: Kai Jeow (omelette), Laab Moo and Gai (an Issan dish of pork or chicken), Tom Ka (spicy soup with coconut milk). Apparently Thai cooking is absolutely reliant on THE FIVE:

1-oyster sauce
2-squid brand fish sauce
3-pepper
4-sugar
5-soybean oil

This picture here is the Winnie the Pooh stickers above my mattress on the floor that were so thoughtfully left on the walls by the last people to live in our house.

"Hello? หน้าของ ประเทศไทย... "

One of the funny things about Thailand: everyone answers their cellphone with "Hello?" then they proceed to carry on the conversation in Thai. It can be very misleading because I think everyone speaks English all of the sudden, but they certainly don't.

This weekend has been a huge celebration of the Tenth Anniversary for the Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment at KMUTT. For the festivities on Thursday, ten monks came and sang while we sat on the floor and bowed to them. It was a beautiful but long ceremony, and afterwards I asked Pai what they were saying, but it turns out that Thai Buddhist Monks sing in Sanskrit, so he had no idea what they were saying. Just a blessing for more success for our graduate school.

Thursday evening we had a JGSEE dinner party at a restaurant near Central Plaza Rama II called "The Park". Our professors talked about the history of the grad school, there was a video, and to our surprise, Kareoke is a part of a semi-formal event in Thailand. Par for the course, we got up there too and sang "A Whole New World". The lyrics on the screen were in Thai, but luckily we've seen Aladdin enough to get through it. The highlight of the evening for us as well as the program, was a traditional Thai dance performance by myself and the six other girls from UNC. A team of Thai women and 1 fabulous Thai man took almost 2 hours to get all of us in the proper hair, makeup, outfits, and ready to go. We'd been practicing the dance for 3 weeks and it was a lot of fun! Our colleages were surprised how beautiful we looked in the traditional Thai garb (considering we're usually running around playing frisbee like good girls should not).

Saturday evening was another adventure with a four course dinner and speakers from around the world. One sip of your drink and they replace it! The menu of courses was as follows:

-Smoked salmon rose with green leaves, citrus vinaigrette peppered cold tuna carpaccio with balsamic syrup, tandoori chicken on salad raita dip

-Classic lobster bisque, crab ravioli and vegetable pearls

-Raspberry sherbet

-Baked snapper and salmon steak combination with a green asparagus salsa, served with a peppered sweet and sour sauce and glazed onions

-Chocolate iced souffle with apricot and spicy mango sauce

-Freshly brewed coffee or tea

News flash: I have a house in Bangkok. It's this little townhouse to the left here, 3 stories. There are six of us that just moved in and I will have more pictures later once we get more furniture and get everything ready for our housewarming party.

Regrettibly, I have learned that another one of my relatives has passed away back in America. My Uncle Peter was an amazing doctor who ate organic food, loved cars and photography, ran in marathons across the world, and has 3 beautiful daughters that I love more than anything. My sympathy goes out to my family and I am absolutely heartbroken that I cannot be there with you all.