สุขสันต์วันเกิด (Sooksunwonkerd) to me!

As most of my readers know, yesterday - or today for most of you - is/was my birthday! I turned 25 here in the depths of the Northern Thai mountains. I cannot believe I have hit the quarter century milestone. How time flies!

I am SO touched by the number of emails/facebook messages that I've gotten from friends from all walks of my life. I woke up yesterday and made pact with myself to have zero expectations on my birthday. After all, I am isolated and far from my family and my best friends. However, I couldn't have been happier and more pleasantly surprised by it. I do have some very good friends in Chiang Rai, I knew, but sometimes it becomes more clear on days like your birthday. One of my closest friends is actually in Thailand and made it up here in time for my birthday dinner. Prior to her arrival, I was having a drink with my fellow teacher friends Kirsten, Alicia, Jen, some exchange students from Mexico and Germany, and my dear friend Bertrand - the only boy :) I've also recently become closer to the French teacher here at Damrong High School, a very well educated old-fashioned Northern Thai man, who has in some ways become my surrogate father here. He interrupted my class yesterday to give me a present. Some of my students also remembered and sang Happy birthday Thai-style.

Speaking of Thai style birthdays, I wasn't really sure what this was all about myself. I ran into a fellow farang teacher friend yesterday who told me "I hope you celebrate your birthday American style and not Thai style." He then explained to me that for Thai people, birthdays don't really mean much. They go to the temple and give offerings.

I was talking to my friend Liz last night about it being my birthday and being so far away from everything on such a big day. She simply said, "You'll look back at this birthday and remember how momentous this time in your life was." So yes life is flying by, but I'm definitely living it to the fullest here. Everyday is a challenge, but with it comes a reward and I know I will be back stronger to see all you lovely people.

I would like to reiterate how absolutely touched I am from everyone's birthdays wishes, some people I would have never expected to hear from have written. I feel so warm and fuzzy inside :) I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again in not so long now. I have another month up here in Chiang Rai , in which my classes are slowly dwindling down to finals. In March I'm taking off to travel through Laos, Cambodia, and potentially Vietnam time permitting. In April, I am heading down to the islands where some good friends are meeting up.

And one more note, I have finally gotten my skype account back up and running! My username is julcarper - my father set it up, so I guess the combination of my first, middle, and last names was the first thing that came to mind. So add me and we'll skype!

Sending lots of love!

Bo Pen Yang - update of the last two weeks!

I've become really terrible at updating this thing. I just get caught up with life and forget to report. The last few weeks have been incredible though and I should probably write a post about them.

A couple weekends ago I was supposed to go to Pai with my friend Ben, but a few last minute things popped up preventing him to come. I had been looking forward to that weekend, so I was disappointed on the last minute cancellation. However, my friend Marianne spontaneously got onto a bus from Nan and met me in Chiang Mai. We met up with her two friends from London who are traveling and the next day our friends Lisa and Kim arrived, also very spontaneously. We simply enjoyed each other's company and partied the nights away. I am starting to really love Chiang Mai. The more I go, the more I love it. I've started to befriend a few expats down there as well which makes my trips down there all the more exciting.

Last week wound up being extremely short as on Thursday and Friday our students all went on a school camping trip. Although I did not teach, I was still expected to scan in on both mornings. This worked out well, because on Wednesday night, I met up with my friend Bertrand and had one of my first incredible nights out in the Rai. I wasn't expecting to be out til 3 in the morning, but some nights are just too good to end early. We met as always at the Night Bazaar - the central meeting point - and had a few beers. Later after a few hours of wood carving and more beers, we ended up at the Rasta house where a huge crew of Frenchies showed up. Something clicked in the bar, everyone met each other and no one wanted to call it a night. I woke up the next morning exhausted but with a smile on my face.

Last Friday, I took the bus to Chiang Mai where I met Liz who is traveling with her friend Tali. It was so incredible to see a friend from my life previous to Thailand with whom I feel utterly at ease. We took off on Saturday morning for Pai where there was a huge reggae festival. I can't say enough about last weekend. First of all, we got off the bus in Pai and I was already feeling high on life. Add a reggae festival and amazing company and you just can't go wrong! Pai was busy because of the festival, and the first few bungalow guest houses we checked out were full, including an out-of-the-way chilled out spot run by an Italian expat with huge dreadsl. His friend took pity on us and offered us a spare room in the back of his fantastic Italian restaurant. It was simple, but better than we were expecting. We had a roof, a mattress, a bathroom, and in a perfect location, what more could we ask for? After enjoying an incredible Italian meal - it has been at least 4 months since I'd had real pasta! - we made our way to the festival with some friends who joined us from Chiang Mai. There I ran into Bertrand and other friends. We also met some hilarious rasta Thai guys. The next night, we never made it back to the concert, but we wound up kicking back in a few bars listening to some jazz with our new friends. Somehow, we ended up staying out til 3 AM -again! I took Monday off and spent the day traveling back from Pai to Chiang Rai in the excellent company of my new adorable Dutch friend Yara.

This is my last real week. My older classes have exams starting next week. Just this afternoon was my last lesson with one of my better classes. I ended my lesson early so we had a few minutes to talk. I suddenly felt an overwhelming sensation of sadness as I told them what a lovely class they had been, and how they should keep practicing their English. We took pictures, and the students said : "I love you Juliet." So cute! Although I wasn't able to get to know my students on a personal level, I will miss their smiling faces every morning...

Lately, I've been seriously starting to feel the full effects of my experience here. As I've mentioned in a previous post a while back, I have been truly confronting solitude, and although it was extremely challenging at first, I am realizing now how badly I needed it and how much I continue to grow from it. As they say, "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." Now, with less than a month left, I know now how far I've come and am excited for what the next two months of travel will bring.

This weekend, a few friends are coming up for my birthday and we are going camping in Puchifa, also known as fog mountain. Should be fun, I'll post!

Bangkok - the Venice of the Orient or just a big dirty city?

A couple weekends ago, Olivier and I spent 3 days in Bangkok before his return to New York. We chose to stay in Bangkok for practicality reasons, not because we particularly wanted to be there. But hey, a weekend on the parents in the big city is not a bad thing, right? We had gotten the fair warning from our parents to make the best of the three days, by that they meant, go DO things, do not sit and watch TV! Now, I am definitely more of a doer than a sit-at-home-and-watch-TV kind of person, but after 2 and half months of hard beds and no TV, I didn't mind the latter!

Nevertheless, my brother and I found the happy medium, and I must say I was very pleased with our three days. I couldn't have found the better transition from a comfortable family vacation to my life in Chiang Rai.

One of the first things, Olivier and I did was take a long tail boat through the canals of Bangkok. Yes, were completely ripped off, but it was well worth it. These canals really do bring out the charm of what Bangkok must have been like before it became such a massive city.

What I really wanted to write about was a 4 hour bike tour we did on our second day. I had read about this tour in a travel magazine, it was advertised as seeing the backstreets of Bangkok and taking you back to the Bangkok of 30 years ago. Indeed, this tour proved to be well worth it. Firstly, the tour attracted an interesting array of travelers, some who also actually lived in Thailand - this always bodes well. We biked through back alleys of rich neighborhoods, slums, and markets. We then took the long tail boat across the river and peddled in a neighborhood just outside the city, which has been preserved. We essentially found ourselves in a jungle biking on narrow passage ways above canals. You would never know you were just minutes away from Bangkok!

So Olivier and I were thrilled to see the charming side of this city, which is not really known for it's "charm." However, we also saw the m0re unpleasant side that the city has to offer to foreigners like us. I've been living in Thailand for 3 months now and you would think I would know better than to be scammed, but in Bangkok it is so difficult to escape. I follow the basic rules (i.e. always take a metered taxi), but still Olivier and I had the constant uncomfortable feeling of being ripped off. There were times when I wanted to scream and thank God he was there to calm me down!

Here are a few pictures from our bike tour...

A typical Thai house on the river in Bangkok.

Olivier and I in the long tail boat.

After being ripped off by a taxi driver who claimed to have misunderstood us after we pointed on the map to one of the most famous tourist destinations, then taking us across town (we had a suspicion we were not going in the right direction, but how could we know for sure?) and finally taking us back (charging us double of course) and then laughing at us when we found out our destination was closed (!), Olivier and I posed angrily in front of the parliament in protest.

The utter frustration of not being understood and constantly fearing being jacked was not fun, but ultimately I was wonderful to spend an extra 3 days with my brother :)

Having dinner on the river.

So I'm a teacher by the way...

I realize I haven't written all that much about teaching in this blog. After all, teaching is the official reason why I am here and it does take up most of my time!

Today, my roommate and I had to be go to Maesai, the border down between Thailand and Burma to get our work permits sorted out and our visas extended. Please do not ask me the details of this process, I get a headache trying to understand this myself.

Jen and I were excited to have the day off. Although it was not about to be one of the most exciting of days, a day off of teaching is always welcome. However, we returned to school just in time for my last two periods. As I walked to my class, the Thai teacher didn't realize I was back and had just begun her lesson. When she and the kids saw me, we had an awkward exchange about how I was going to take over my class since I had returned. The teacher told my students I would teach, and they all cheered. At that moment, I realized how much the teaching really is affecting my experience here. I had been viewing the teaching more as a means to being here than the reason. Ultimately, I am not here simply to teach , but mostly to experience and travel. But teaching is playing a huge role in my daily life.

At times, I find it extremely trying. The children can be very noisy, the classes are huge (nearly 50 a class), and the English level is often times desperately low. At times, I wonder if I am having any impact on them at all? But then, they cheer and all is well... Seriously though, I'm not sure how much they will have officially learned from me. All I can hope is that I have encouraged some of them to be want to learn more and to open their minds to the world outside Thailand. I hope that their weekly interactions with me will have led some to be less shy with the "farang," and better yet, I hope that some are inspired to travel.

These are all aspirations, but I can't tell you how heart-warming it feels when I walk from one class to the other, perhaps slightly down about something else, and an excited student of mine squeals, "Hello Julieeess!!" They have a very hard time pronouncing Ts :)

Yellow is symbolic of the King who is revered here in Thailand. He was born on a Monday, thus every Monday I wear these yellow King's shirts to show my respect. On Tuesdays, I wear pink ones (the other royal color) !

Some of my students cheesing.

Elephants and Tigers and ... Ok, no bears in Thailand, still, oh my!

Once again, I messed up the chronological order, but mai pen rai (never mind in Thai). I was a little uneasy seeing these beautiful wild creatures stuck in rather small cages for tourists to come pet. It felt extremely unnatural to me. I can say that I pet a tiger now, though it was a bit anticlimactic...

Now for the elephants. I think they just may be my new favorite animal. We all went to the elephant show thinking it wouldn't be anything special - I was expecting a classic tourist trap. I had also heard some controversy about these shows. We were more than pleasantly surprised by them.

Until 1989, elephants in Thailand had long careers on farms, jungles, and in the army before the advent of modern technology. Elephants were a most powerful symbol in Thai society. Today, it is illegal to employ these elephants for these activities, and although they are still revered by Thais, they are suffering the consequences of being unemployed. Many are illegally pumped with amphetamines and logging around the clock on the Burmese border. Others are being walked in cities where their trainers or mahouts sell bananas to tourists to make some money. These are terrible environments for them. So quite honestly, I would rather see them in shows where at least they are in their natural habitat. Perhaps I am not aware of the full story, but I still thought I should mention how adorable they were. I have a little video clip of the elephants bathing before the show, but wasn't able to upload it. If God forbid I find a faster connection, I'll upload it immediately.

An elephant about to beat a human in darts!

An elephant giving a massage!

An elephant hard at work, painting flowers!

An elephant playing goalie!

An elephant and his mahout thanking everyone for clapping.

These elephants now classify as endangered species...

And now for northern pictures...

Oh happy reunion...!

The beautiful garden of Doi Tung. Doi means mountain Thai. The King's mother built a beautiful mansion here in a combination of Swiss and Thai style. The Queen Mother spent considerable amount of time in Switzerland while her children were being educated, so I guess she felt particularly attached to Alpine scenery, which is why she chose to build her palace in northern Thailand.

Thai people worship the royal family. When my parents were here, my mother asked the tour guide what he thought of various members of the family. After being here for nearly 3 months, I knew immediately this was going to create an awkward response from our guide. As expected, he embarrassingly responded that he liked the Royal family and that unlike the countries of the West, in Thailand, it is very wrong to say anything about their royal family. Even I felt uncomfortable! So when we visited her palace, one thing that we found rather sinister was that everything was left as it was the last day she was alive, which was something like 10 years ago. Her clothes, her sowing project, everything... intact... just as it were.

One more thing about Doi Tung. The Queen Mother seemed like a really wonderful person who lived her life to the fullest to the last of her days. One of her important projects at Doi Tung was planting trees and a beautiful garden so as to relaunch natural life as it had been.

With Olivier above Mae Salong.

We spent Christmas Eve with my good friends Alicia, Kirsten, and Paige. As I said in an earlier post, it was an atypical Christmas, but having the family come made it really special nonetheless. I think my friends were really happy to have some family to celebrate with! Here is a picture of us having a Christmas drink at the Cat Bar with the owner. This is one of two of my regular bars in Chiang Rai and since I'm probably there about 4 times a week (ok maybe 3), I wanted to make sure the family saw it! Atypical indeed...

Here we are enjoying a spontaneous street massage in Chiang mai. Street and spontaneous is how it's done here.

Krabi Images!

Because I am not the smartest at managing this blogger website, and also because the internet is painfully slow, I am uploading my images (and have been doing this for each post by the way) in reverse order. So firstly, take a look at some pictures from Krabi, which happened after the tour around the north ;)

This is Chicken Island. On New Year's Eve, we had a picnic on a sand bar that connected to this island.

They said that there were no tourists due to the closing of the airports in early December, but we certainely did not feel this way... ha. This picture was taken in Maya beach where The Beach was filmed. Doesn't look so paradisiac with all these people right?

At Maya beach, it really is just as beautiful as in the movie, I promise....

Koh Pi Pi...

New Year's Eve - all three of us at the club (the boys thought Victoria and I were the same age!)

Sawat Dee Pi Mai! - quick update of last few weeks

Happy New Year in Thai! It's been a few weeks since I've written here, and there is so much to update everyone on!

After my last post about my day trip with my coordinator to Mae Salong, I spent the next 2 weekends in Chiang Rai feeling rather isolated from life. I had an unfortunate accident where I hit my head and had a concussion, which forced me in bed for nearly a week! Luckily for me, the family was arriving shortly only a week later, so I knew I had a few exciting weeks to look forward to. And exciting they were.

First of all, after a week of feeling like an utter recluse with a concussion, it was an amazing reward to see the family and be taken care of. They were here for about 10 days and it flew by much too quickly. We spent a few days up North around Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. We agreed that this part of Thailand is what you think of when you think Thailand, rice farmers and fields... Beautiful mountains that really compare to no other scenery I've ever seen.

One of the first things we did was take a long-tail boat down the river to the Karen village and ride elephants.

We went to an elephant show in Chiang Mai, which was surprisingly amazing. Those elephants are incredible animals - they can paint, play soccer, play darts, massage, and much much more! The elephant just may be my new favorite animal. I'll add pictures in a new post, stay tuned!

We then went and spent some time up close with the tigers... Olivier insisted on this little detour, I think this was the highlight of the trip for him. The rest of our time in Chiang Mai was spent Christmas shopping, getting massages, having incredible Thai food...

Christmas was spent on the road between Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai and although it was by far the most atypical Christmas I've ever celebrated, I felt so lucky to spend it with family.

On the 27th, we flew down to the spectacular Krabi province in the south near Phuket. We spent 5 glorious days, speed boating from one island to another, taking noisy long-tail boats from one beautiful beach to the next, getting many more massages, and lots of snorkeling...!

We spontaneously decided to sign up for an afternoon/evening snorkeling trip on the 31st with an interesting group of travelers from an array of different backgrounds and countries. We were taken to secluded rocky islands and saw fish like I've never seen. We picnicked on an isolated sand bar just hours before the new year. I met some cool people on the boat and we all went out later that night. Olivier, Victoria, and I danced the night away! This was definitely one of my more unusual and spontaneous New Year's Eves. Spontaneous is the way to go on New Year's ... :)

The next day, I said good-bye to my parents and Victoria, which was really hard. Luckily, Olivier and I spent the next 3 days in Bangkok together, which ended up being the perfect transition back to my life here in Chiang Rai. There is a lot to say about our weekend in Bangkok, and I will just have to write another post about it very soon!

So the last few weeks have been fun-packed and in the midst of all of this excitement, my best friends Lauren, Nikki, Liz, Dominic called me. It was so amazing to hear their voices. It was very hard to say goodbye to the family, but I only have less than 2 months left teaching. Time really does fly. Moreover, my good friend Liz has just landed in the country!

Finally, I want wish everyone a happy new year. I know that the global situation is tough and many are feeling it in their personal lives, I just hope you will all find happiness despite the challenges ahead, think outside the box!! I know I have :)