Ruins, Monkeys and MUIC

This weekend, I (along with 13 others) took a train to Ayuthaya, the old capital of Bangkok, and Lompuri, a small town that is "run by a renegade of wild monkeys." We biked from ruin to ruin in Aythaya and through the parks. It was a cute town and not that touristy. On the second night, 2 other girls and I decided to head to Lompuri so we wouldn't have to travel the next morning. We didn't arrive until nearly 11pm and the streets were quiet and empty; it's so small that my guide book wasn't all that helpful. We literally just started walking and hoped to find a place to stay. We finally found a cute little guest house and decided to venture into the town. After quite a bit of wondering, we came upon a lit up, noisy bar with a hundred or so motorbikes lined up outside. It was somewhat of a mix between an old western saloon and sports bar. We grabbed a table in the corner; although we were the only white people in the entire place and the music was in Thai, it was really neat seeing people of all ages enjoying themselves. Everybody knew the words and seemed to be having so much fun. The next day, we visited a ruin from sometime BC. We were the only ones there and climbed all over. Later, half of the group from Ayuthaya joined us to go find the monkeys. It did not take us long at at all! They were everywhere...and it didn't take long for us to realize they weren't the nicest creatures. We were definitely not upset when we had to rush to catch the afternoon train back to Bangkok.

The Ruins in Ayuthaya...where I definitely put some gymnastics skills to work.

















MUIC: Mahidol University International College (There are Mahidols all over Thailand and I go to the international one)

Just getting to school is an adventure: after walking to the bus stop, I stand in the road and have to flag down a bus (as I am only the ever person at the bus stop), or rather the dump truck with 2 benches and a canopy. On Monday and Wednesday, I don't have class till 2:00 and on Tuesday and Thursday, not till noon! I am taking Intro to Thai Language and Culture, Tropical Ecology, Women in Southeast Asia, and Morality and Ethical Studies. I have learned enough Thai to convince the touristy places that I am a student so I don't have to pay the "foreigner" price and I get to go on really cool snorkeling field trips for Tropical Ecology. I haven't had an environment class since 10th grade though, so we will have to see how good I actually do in the class. (I am totally in it for the trips!!) The school is pretty small and I stay in the same big building all day. It kind of reminds me of high school, especially since all of us international kids congregate in the lunchroom during our free time. (And oh yeah, studying and homework have gone back to being not that important.) The uniforms are an entirely different story. It is kind of humerous to see how much the girls can express their "individuality." I've never seen so many short skirts, scarves and high heels in one place in my life! I tried heels for a day but I've decided to resort to crazy tennis shoes instead (Sorry Dad, but I'm bringing back 3 new pairs already). Of course I did put a little pink in my hair which has definitely earned me some strange looks and my personal favorite, "oh my gosh, what happened to your hair?"

Let me know what is going on back at home and Happy 17th Birthday Shale! (Take care of my car, please!)

The neighborhood where my apartment is:
















A friend and me in our oh-so-fashionable uniforms (despite her rebelling and not wearing the right shirt):
















Crazy, crazy Bangkok:












Walking into school:















*Click on the images for larger ones

Sightseeing

Before I get too behind, I wanted to run through the places I've visited so far...

New Years Day:
*Wat Pho- the oldest and largest temple in Bangkok; has the largest reclining Buddha (15 m high and 46 m long)
*Grand Palace

1/1-1/3: Kanchanaburi and nearby

*Kwau River Bridge (Death Railway Bridge)- It was built by prisoners of war in WWII. It was estimated that construction would take 5 years, but pows were forced to complete it in 16 months. Of the 200,000 POWs, over 100,000 died from exhaustion, starvation and disease. The bridge was destroyed by allied planes in 1945, but it has since been restored and is used for traveling to Burma today. (We had to "scoot over" when a train came).

*World War II and Jeath War Museum (The picture was taken from the Museum's dock. The platform and cart in the foreground are just models.)


*We drove moterbikes to Saiyok Noi Watefall (it took about an hour and the scenery was amazing!!)









*We stayed in "river-raft rooms." Although paying $4.5o per person for both nights may give you an idea of the quality of the rooms, the view from our room was worth way more!!




*Tiger Temple-monastary/wildlife reserve place.

















*Erawin National Park/Falls- amazing!! I want to go back! There are 7 tiers of waterfwalls and fish-filled pools.





Jan 11th

*Field trip to Damnedsaduak Floating Market, the only all white temple in Thailand, and Siam Cultural Park/Wax Museum

































January 12th

Jatuchak (JJ) Market and lots of getting around by bus and skytrain--
JJ is a weekend market with about 15,000 stalls and an estimated 200,000 visitors each day. It is huge and sells just about everything!! (animals, furniture, clothing, kitchenware, 8 feet tall scrap metal Star Wars figures...you name it and it's theres.) I got myself lost for a couple hours; of course, I didn't really consider myself lost until my arms were full with bags and I was ready to return to the group.

A Little Catching Up

I've decided sending e-mails gets too complicated. I'll update y'all on the past week when I get a chance.

Where I'm Living:

I guess you could call where I live an apartment. It's in a quiet neighborhood outside of Bangkok. There are about 60 of us all living all together. There are 3 floors with different sections that each have 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. In each of the "units" there are large living/dining spaces with outdoor patio areas. There are people from all over, including Thailand which makes getting around a lot easier. I have had so much fun getting to know people; I feel like I've known some people for years!!

E-mail from January 3rd:

Sawsatdee ka (Hello...duh!),

I was going to wait and send this e-mail until after school started, but after receiving so many e-mails to make sure I'm okay, I decided to go ahead and let y'all know what's up. (I wasn't at the club that burned down and didn't have internet service for a few days. Sorry for not letting anybody know where I was.) So far, I've done pretty much everything I was told not to do (eat ice chips, ride--well, drive rather--a moterbike, eat fresh fruit, and walk through the jungle barefoot) but I'm still alive!!

On the 1st, 15 of us left for Kanchanaburi, about 3 hours west of Bangkok. We stayed in guest houses on the water; despite sharing a small room with 4 other girls, the place was amazing!! The next day/yesterday, we rented motorbikes and did some site seeing. We all paired up and I was just going to ride, but after one guy fell and couldn't get the hang of it, I volunteered to drive. We drove in light traffic through a mix of country side and mountains. We drove to a waterfall that was an hour away at about 100km/hr. All the guys were really impressed that I could drive so well. Score! (Don't worry Mom and Dad, I don't want a motorcycle anymore, but I am adding a dirtbike to my Christmas list.) After dinner, some of us took the bikes out again and pretty much drove all over downtown Kanchanaburi (it's a pretty small town, but driving on the left made it a little awkward). For dinner, I ordered fried fish, but when a whole fish was brought out, I totally freaked out. It turned out to be really tasty though. Today, we drove (in a car) to a tiger temple and another waterfall. It was sooo pretty! A fish started to nibble at my leg and I freaked out and jumped to another rock, all without falling in! I'm disgustingly dirty and covered with mosquito bites and a few cuts (I was chilling on my bike and someone accidentally ran their bike into me from a few feet away), but it's been absolutely amazing so far. I can't believe I've only been here 4 days.

I'm totally exhausted. I've yet to have a free night and settle in. I've met quite a few people so far--and everybody is really cool. There are quite a few that are already familiar with the area; I don't think I will ever get bored. Even when we're not going somewhere we all chill outside our "house." I'm going school shopping tomorrow and then I start class on Monday. Hope everything is great at home!!