Two Months?!?!

So, it’s time for a two month update. Things are obviously going well halfway around the world. I cannot believe I’ve been here two months! I’ve done loads of traveling, met lots of people, and have enjoyed overcoming all the challenges of scams, the language barrier, the fact that Thai people are extremely anti-confrontational, and much more.
Classes get frustrating at times. I feel like I’m not learning that much and it’s a lot of common sense (especially in my Marketing Research class and Seminar in International Business). In one of my classes, the professor reads right off the slides…yet, if I don’t go to class, I get 3% off my grade every time I miss. So I’m already sitting on starting at a 97 because of my trip to Singapore, but I could learn everything just by reading his slides. The students also get tutors for every subject. I did not expect this competition in classes. When we received midterm grades back, the students were outright asking each other what they made. Even the professors will list everyone’s grades up on the screen. As I’m sure I’ve written before, the students are extremely immature. Right now, I’m sitting in class and a girl is giving a presentation and is cracking up which makes all the girls giggle, giggle, giggle. Just like Carolina, Chulalongkorn (or at least the International Business program) is overwhelmingly female. Anyways, I did OK on two of my midterms and really bombed one so I was disappointed. I didn’t expect to have to study much as I’d heard Thailand was extremely lax in classes, but I don’t think it holds true for students in this BBA program as they study constantly. But I suppose studying for midterms and then for finals is better than studying weekly.
The past week and next few weeks are extremely hectic for me. Last week was midterm week. This week, I had class Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…and I have class Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. So obviously, all those days I didn’t have class in January and February are all adding up now for MARCH MADNESS. This Friday, I have two one hour presentations which account for 40% of my grade which my group hasn’t started on. Then, I have to do another 20% of my grade in the form of a case study analysis within the next week because I’m having some pretty important visitors soon (my parents—G&L, Aunt Kay, and Mrs. Pat). SO LIFE IS CRAZY!
Last week, I had my friends from Singapore in for the weekend. While I had class on Saturday, I sent them off to the Grand Palace and Wat Po, and then we just hung out that night. Sunday, we went to the JJ Market and came back exhausted so took naps and went around town that night. It was fun to have some Carolina love around…I miss it a lot!
So my “important visitors” get here Wednesday night (March 11) and their tour starts the 15th. My plans are hitting up the Night Bazaar I love so much, Jim Thompson stores and the factory store, the Sirocco Sky Bar, perhaps the doll museum, maybe the JJ Market if it’s not too brutally hot, looking at the Paragon with its car dealerships, opera house, and movie theaters. I don’t know what else we’ll do, but I’m excited to see them. I wish Catherine could come though! She’s keeping Marley and Chip though.
Upcoming trips I’m planning: I’m stuck in Bangkok through my parents’ trip of Vietnam and Cambodia. I have a final exam the weekend of the 20th of March and again the weekend of 27th. I may be able to change my first final exam and head off to a nearby destination the weekend of the 20th, but right now, that’s not the plan. So currently, my first trip will be when my parents get back on March 28th. We’re heading up to Chang Mai and spending almost a week up there trekking, white water rafting, shopping, cooking, having massages, etc. etc. etc. Then, we fly back on the 3rd and my parents leave the 4th. Right after, I’m hoping to travel to Laos for a few days, then head back down to Thailand to Chang Rai and end up again in Chang Mai for Songkran (which is the Thai New Year).
So there’s a short update. Now I have to pay attention to presentations in class.  Miss you all! XOXO

P.S. if this didn't make sense at times, I apologize. I'm attempting to pay attention and type this. Multi-tasking doesn't work...

Singapore, A Taste of Western Culture on the Tip of Asia!

These are all from Singapore. Photo #1: Elliott, Katlin, and Me in front of the Singapore River with the typical Singapore background-skyscrapers.
Photo #2: the Merlion-Singapore's tourist emblem or something?
Photo #3: Some kinda monkeys in heat...makes me think of the song "Fat Bottomed Girls" hahaha
Photo #4: I don't know what's my infatuation with tigers on this trip, but this is an awesome picture! They were feeding the white tigers and snap, I got this picture!
Photo #5: Yong, Elliott, and me at the zoo! Yong has more Carolina shirts than me!

Pictures from Koh Tao and Ang Thong National Marine Park!

So #1 is from Koh Tao just walking down the beach. Can't complain with a view like that!
#2 looks like a monkey wai-ing! This and all the other pictures are from Ang Thong National Marine Park.
#3 is the island where we stopped for lunch. Notice the band-aids-I re-hurt my knee that I hurt at Erawan National Park jumping off the waterfall. Only this time it was my clumsiness jumping off the boat going snorkeling...
#4 is one of my favorite pictures I've taken on this trip. I love the colors and the islands in the background.
#5 is ME in front of the lagoon! The whole lagoon is only like 6 meters deep. It's the ocean water and it gets through via a cave in the mountain.

Long Awaited Post!

So…many of you have probably given up hope that I would EVER write again. Well, no worries! Here I am! A month later…
So I left off at January 18th. January 19th I had class—probably my first time EVER having class on MLK Jr. Day. A few of the American students went out after the inauguration on the 20th so that was fun. We expected to see more Americans out and were disappointed though. Koh San Road (backpacker’s paradise but not so clean or appealing when you’re not drinking) didn’t impress me like I had planned.
The exchange party I mentioned in my last blog went well. All the different countries represented were supposed to come up with skits to represent their countries. The Asians made sushi, the French talked about fashion and beauty, and the Canadians wore all red and declared that they were “NOT American,” etc. The Americans (although we had plenty to talk about with Obama and the Super Bowl coming up just to name two things) were a disappointment. Girls usually take the time to come up with something creative to do. Guys frankly usually don’t give a damn. This was no exception. We only have two American girls on the exchange program and like 10 guys. So, what did we do? We performed the all-American college drinking game—Flip Cup. SO BAD! Anyways, later that night a big group of us went out to RCA which is a club district and had a great time.
The 23rd I went to the Grand Palace with Roy. We were planning to make it an all day excursion and hit up Wat Pho too, but it was exceptionally hot (now, a month later, I’d probably love it to be that temperature again) so we just went to the Grand Palace. Remarkable place—lots of gold! The esteemed Emerald Buddha is only about 3 meters tall, but he sits on this massive mound of gold and is surrounded by lesser impressive Buddhas. He has three outfits for each season—winter, summer, rainy—that the King changes. We saw the winter garments, but it certainly was NOT winter outside! Anyways, it’s a beautiful place (you don’t go for the Palace, you go for the Emerald Buddha and all the temples surrounding the wat he’s in).
Saturday and Sunday the BBA program (my exchange program) took all the students on a trip to a Floating Market. The first night, we went to this one market, went on a boat ride to see fireflies (didn’t see any because it’s their winter and fireflies don’t come out in the winter even if it’s a hot winter), and stayed at a hotel where they split us up into random rooms. 9 girls (the 7 French and 2 Americans) stayed in one room with 9 individual beds! It was funny to see actually. A little difficult with the language though because a few of the French girls have very poor English. The next day, we offered food to the monks who came by boat on the river. Women aren’t allowed to touch the monks so they have these dishes you give the food to them in. Their boats were so small I was afraid they’d tip over with all the food we offered! Afterwards, they chanted blessings over us. I really enjoyed it. The second day, we went to the floating market (it’s supposedly the most famous in Thailand) and I finally started buying stuff. I’d restrained myself up until this point, but it’s been all downhill from there.
The next week was pretty uneventful—classes Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Friday the 30th, Roy and I headed down to Koh Chang for a restful weekend. For those of you who don’t have the privilege of knowing the marvelous Roy Upchurch, he’s good friends with Catherine. They went to Governor’s School together. He graduated from UNC last year and was active in ECM with me. He’s been in Thailand since September working for an NGO writing grants for them. He’s decided to head home (next week actually) and wanted to head to the beach before he left. We found a place and literally did not leave that spot the entire time we were there (Friday-Monday). We liked the restaurant, the room, and the beach there so what was the point? A few of my friends from Chula headed down Saturday so we hung out with them that night, but besides that it was just the two of us, Thais hiding under trees so they don’t get tanned, and some Europeans (the men were in Speedos…). I finished my book—Life of Pie—and just relaxed the whole time. Really nice.
Headed home Monday (which was Gracie’s birthday). I had class again Tuesday the 3rd. Thursday night, my roommates and two other Canadian girls headed to Koh Tao (another beach). We took a bus to a place called Champon and ended up getting there at 2:30 in the morning. This meant we got to the ferry stop at 3:00 in the morning. Well, the ferry didn’t leave until 7 in the morning. Needless to say, a few of you got phone calls if I could remember your telephone numbers. Koh Tao was fantastic. It’s supposedly one of the cheapest places in the world to get scuba certified, and I’m definitely considering it if I have extra time at the end when nobody will travel with me because it’s just a pleasant little beach. I only stayed one night. Thursday we stayed on the beach all day, Friday morning we did a 2 hour yoga class which was really nice, but I was so sore afterwards for a few days—hadn’t done that in a while! Friday afternoon I headed off on my own (yes, yes—on my own worrywarts) to Koh Samui. I took this catamaran which was really pleasant but fast so you couldn’t read or do anything because the waves made the ride so rough. Most of the people on the boat got off on Koh Phang-gan (I probably butchered that spelling) which is where the well-known Full Moon Party takes place. It happened that upcoming Tuesday and most of the exchange students went, but I had to get back to Bangkok because I had a presentation to give in class. I headed on to Koh Samui and stayed in the worst bungalow EVER and hardly got any sleep because the beach party that was going on right outside my door. Earplugs would never cover that intensity of noise.
Saturday morning, I had booked a boat tour of the Ang Thong National Marine Park. It was just beautiful! Pictures cannot describe it. This was the reason I left the girls because I really wanted to do this and they didn’t. We took a speedboat to the islands (42 in all I believe) and rode around, snorkeled, hiked up a mountain to see a spectacular view of a lagoon, and kayaked. Really great day. I met some nice Australians about my age and also the cutest couple from Scotland. The couple invited me back to their hotel after the tour so I could shower before taking a plane back to Bangkok that night. They were so nice and I could tell they definitely kept life interesting!
My team presentation went well in class that Tuesday—made an A-. I picked up another class that Wednesday which only runs a month and a half but meets all the time, so now I’m stuck in Bangkok until the middle of March which stinks. It’s actually a pretty interesting class—it’s called Business Management in Asian Countries and I have an American professor, but I wouldn’t call him American. He’s lived OUT of the US longer than he ever lived in it. He speaks like 20 languages and understands 30. If I called him anything, it would probably be Japanese because that’s where he lives now. I left class a little early because that night I went to the Kenan Institute Asia’s annual banquet. Kenan-Flagler’s Dean, as well as the Director of the Kenan Institute back home, was there along with plenty of other alum and all the UNC students studying abroad in Thailand right now. It was good to see all the UNC students and share stories and recommendations. I had a skirt made for the occasion and absolutely love it—red Thai silk! Thursday morning, I went to a bar with Dan and Drew (two of my friends) and watched the UNC-Dook game where we dominated! Friday, I was supposed to meet with the Dean and all the Kenan-Flagler MBA students for a morning meeting, but they changed the time to the afternoon and I had class from 1-5. Saturday, I had class from 9-12, went to a market and bought a dress I love, and went to dinner with Roy. That night, I headed to the Sirocco Sky Bar with friends which was FANTASTIC. WHAT A VIEW! Drinks are really expensive, but it’s so worth it!
Monday and Tuesday, I had class. Tuesday night, I jumped on a plane for SINGAPORE! What a change from the chaos of Bangkok! The transportation is fabulous. I took the MRT (subway) all the way from the airport to my hostel. Elliott, Catherine, and Katlin (all from my Dubai adventures) met me at the airport and we went for dinner and just hung out before they left me and went back to campus (National University of Singapore). Wednesday morning I ventured out on my own, but just headed to a mall—Singapore has SO MANY SHOPPING MALLS. That afternoon, I met up with Elliott and Katlin and their friend Yong (who studied abroad at Carolina) and he is just great! He took me on a tour of downtown and I saw all the famous sights…the steps where Singapore declared their independence, the old Parliament House, Raffles Place, the Merlion, etc. etc. etc. What a beautiful city! It’s so well-planned and they have such a vision of what they want to do in the future. Anyways, headed back to NUS and hung out there for a while until Yong came and picked me up to show me Holland Village (kinda like Franklin Street). We grabbed dinner in a hawker stall and coffee at Starbucks. Eventually we headed back to Clarke Quay (which is right near where my hostel was) and met Elliott and Katlin again to go out! It was fun, but very different from going out in Bangkok. It seems to be a younger crowd at the clubs we went to (the drinking age is 18 in Singapore versus 20 in Bangkok so that might have something to do with it). It’s also extremely expensive, but Yong bought the drinks all night. I know he spent over $200 without blinking an eye, but supposedly that’s how it’s like to go out with him!! Friday, I headed to NUS to drop off my bag because I was spending the next two nights there, and then went to the Asian Civilizations Museum in the morning and then Orchard Road in the afternoon before meeting Elliott for sushi at 5. We headed back to NUS because we were both exhausted from the night before and I’d been walking around all day. Friday, Elliott, Yong, and I headed for the Singapore Zoo. I was so excited about going because it had been so long since I’d been to the zoo, but I was a little disappointed! It wasn’t all I’d hyped it up to be (although I’m sure it was great compared to other zoo standards). Afterwards, I went to my cooking class! It took FOREVER to get there! I took a bus from the zoo to the MRT and then the MRT for a long time. Then, I couldn’t hail a taxi, so I had to power walk (and I do mean power) all the way there. I was 30 minutes late and so sweaty with a bloody stumped toe, but I had a great time and the food was fantastic! If you all buy crabs for me, I’ll make you chilli crabs—they’re super yummy! I headed back to campus and Elliott and I met Yong for late night waffles at the on-campus late night hang out to say goodbye. He invited me back to Singapore and I might take him up on the offer! I really loved the place—it was a nice change from Bangkok. A little western oasis some call it. I could definitely live there! I’m glad I didn’t study abroad there though because it wasn’t quite the drastic change I wanted out of my study abroad experience though. Saturday, I saw my first rain in two months. It poured! It was actually beautiful! I left Singapore with a big smile on my face.
I kinda hated the fact that I went to Singapore without studying a bit when midterms hit this week. Monday’s went horribly and I know I didn’t do well. The two on Tuesday went well I believe and I have one more Friday.
So folks, there’s an update on my life! Elliott, Catherine, and Katlin are heading to Bangkok this weekend since they’re on spring break so I’m excited about that. I have a lot of classes in the next few weeks. My parents, Aunt Kay, and Mrs. Pat get here in like 2 weeks so I need to start planning their adventures. Crazy how time has flown! I’m SO BUSY! Sorry it took me so long to write this. Now I feel like it’s really impersonal with no little quirky stories, but I have to study and wanted to get it all down! Hope everyone is doing well back home. If you know of any internships available, send them my way!

PICTURES (there are more in extra posts): Photo #1: Affie and I went and took pictures with Ronald one day giving wais (little bows-there are different ways you can wai depending on who you are wai-ing to-a friend, elder, monk, royalty, etc.). Photo #2: Grand Palace. Photo #3 One of the monks we offered food to. Photo #4: Sunset at Koh Chang=beautiful. Photo #5: the beach Roy and I did not leave the entire time we were at Koh Chang-we ate every meal here and sat our tooshies on this beach the WHOLE TIME!

First Impressions: "Same Same, But Different"

This is my blog for the Phillps Ambassadors on "First Impressions." Thought ya'll would enjoy!

First impressions are supposed to be lasting impressions…or so I’ve heard. Good thing this hasn’t been the case for me! I arrived in Bangkok after a few great days with some of our own in Dubai (as Elliott wrote about). I must say, it was tough leaving the other four in the Dubai airport and venturing out on my own. After flying over rice fields, picking up my baggage, and walking through customs without scanning a thing, I anticipated the cliché sign with “Christine Ezzell-Chulalongkorn University” to be awaiting me. I scanned the signs and saw nothing. Uh oh…I had sent a few emails detailing my flight information so I didn’t expect this problem. I took a few distressed walks around the arrival area and still saw nothing to ease my mind. LUCKILY, I have a friend from UNC living on the outskirts of Bangkok, and we had planned to meet later that afternoon. My day got even luckier when Roy was already in Bangkok and could save me 30 minutes later. What a relief to see a familiar face! Yes, Thailand is the “Land of Smiles,” but sometimes nothing can be as wonderful as a friendly reminder of home. As nobody from my university picked me up, I was actually a little worried I wouldn’t have a place to stay, but I had no problems checking into my service apartment. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the comfort of Evergreen Apartments as it has become my home over the past three weeks.

We trekked down the street to MBK—a huge shopping complex with everything you’ll ever need in it. If you’ve been to NYC, this is Chinatown in a mall (no joke when I say millions of cell phones, DVDs, purses, make-up products, etc.), plus an awesome food court, hair salons, three McDonald’s on one floor, a grocery store, a cinema, a department store and so much more. I didn’t appreciate until later the convenience of where we’re staying and the location of my campus in relation to Bangkok and transportation means. Anyways, I picked up my cell phone and my AWESOME uniform (black skirt with a slit up the front so the Thai girls can show a little leg, a white button down shirt, buttons, a pin, and a belt all with Chula’s emblem) in this ridiculous mall. Afterwards, we took a river boat down a few stops and my friend showed me an excellent view of Bangkok from a temple called the Golden Mount. I must say, at this point I was more than a little overwhelmed. I had gotten a cold while in Dubai and was running on no sleep whatsoever. Here I was…looking out over Bangkok with over 10 million people and I’m from the middle of nowhere. The city is actually pretty filthy compared to say Dubai but it gets so hot and then wet so it’s hard to keep buildings clean. Yea, so a little overwhelmed! I said, “Roy, what am I doing?” and he said, “Yea, I’m actually surprised you came.” Me: “Roy, one of my friends thinks I came to Thailand just to prove I’m a badass…are you aware that we’re two badass Americans living in Bangkok?”

But no worries! All my doubts have now disappeared. Kenan-Flalger’s email addresses have to be capitalized (ex: Chrissie_Ezzell@...) in order to work. Therefore, I was never on the listserv for the semester. So I never got class selections, exchange students’ information, directions in THAI (that would’ve been helpful) to my apartment, etc. Hence, all my problems were soon resolved.

So past the first day, here are my initial thoughts on Thailand…

I love the pace of this country. It’s constantly moving, but there’s always an appreciation for the present. I love that the venders overcharge foreigners, but as our group has become local now (or so we love to think) we can bargain with the best of them. Being here, some of my friends say they sometimes forget they’re white. They’ll see foreigners walking around and think, “Oh, fresh meat!” Funny thing is, we’ve just been here three weeks! I love the pad thai man down the street where I can get dinner for 30 baht (less than $1) even if there was once a rolley polley buried in my noodles. I love the markets (except for the animals for sale), especially the Suan Lum Night Bazaar. I love the fresh fruit on the streets, the pineapple in particular. I love the respect for their religion. One of the most moving experiences I’ve had so far was yesterday. We were on a trip with the university to Amphawa and offered food to the monks who met us at the river in their miniature boats and afterwards chanted a blessing for us. It was just so serene and peaceful…the chanting, the river, the breeze. I know next to nothing about Buddhism, but if any of you know of an interesting introductory book, I’d love to have recommendations. I love the adventures I’ve had so far. I’ve gone to Koh Samet for a short weekend trip to the beach, to Kanchanaburi to climb through cave temples and take pictures with tigers (drugged I believe and extremely touristy), to Erawan Falls on the back of a motorcycle to hike up a waterfall, to floating markets, and so much more! School? What’s school? I’m on vacation! OK…just kidding, slightly.

I’m not saying that I’m ready to move here. I think Bangkok (and Thailand) would be hard for me to venture on my own (especially without speaking the language). I cringe to think there’s so much poverty here. I hate seeing dogs suffering because they won’t put them down. I hate to see children begging on the streets. I hate to be asked over and over again if I want to go to a ping-pong show. I hate seeing women fall over white men in the clubs. I hate to see whitening solutions in the drug stores and know that my skin is considered ideal. I’m shocked to hear from Roy that the average Thai college graduate makes 5000 baht a month (approximately $145). Yet, the people for the most part are relatively happy.

“Same same, but different” is a common saying about Bangkok and it holds true. I can find whatever I want from back home here. I see Fords and Chevys. I eat Corn Flakes for breakfast. There’s even a Forever 21 coming to one of the malls. Some are agitated by the westernization of the city. But, walk down any side street and you’ll easily be engulfed by the anticipated Asian culture. The king is also everywhere, and coming from the US, it’s impressive to hold such respect for a ruler even if it’s in different terms of leadership. It’s strange to see his picture everywhere, and I mean everywhere. The Thai flag also flies proudly atop many buildings and along all highways. Such pride is quite impressive.

I’m constantly having new first impressions of Thailand. Some are wonderful and some I’d rather dismiss to the back of my mind. Yet, add all these together and you get such an awesome mix of people, culture, and history, it’s hard not to love this place.

Pictures from the Erawan National Park Day!

Photo 1: Getting ready to leave Kanchanaburi for Erawan Falls
Photo 2: on the trek up the mountain
Photo 3: We found it funny that they had these fierce monkey signs but...little did we know that we'd see Photo 4: A FIERCE MONKEY!
Photo 5: Me posing at the top (Level 7) of the waterfall

Cabbages and Condoms, Caves, the Jolly Frog, Tigers, Motorcyles, Fierce Monkeys, and an AWESOME WATERFALL!

So, I’ve been told by my parents that I need to get on this blog thing and update it! I guess I wrote about a week ago after Koh Samet. This past Monday, I stayed in, ate cereal and PB sandwiches and applied for 8 internships. Not fun! But I have to find something and I’m assuming many will not do phone interviews so I went over and beyond. Tuesday, classes went well—I had Marketing Research in the morning and then Seminar in International Business in the afternoon. Our professor for the seminar took some time out of class to give us ideas for 2, 3, and 5 day trips which was so wonderful!
So I know my parents have been sharing this story with people and I’m going to go ahead and apologize for my more conservative readers but…Tuesday night, I went out to eat with a group to a restaurant called “Cabbages and Condoms” where all profits go towards HIV and AIDS education. It’s a tourist attraction but so funny. The lamps are made condoms, there’s a Condom Christmas Tree, there are mannequins clothed with condoms and birth control pills and posed like super heroes, instead of mints, you can get condoms when you leave, etc. etc. etc. The food was more expensive than eating on the street, but it was pretty tasty and the experience was well worth it. After that, we ventured again to my favorite market—the Suan Lum Night Market—I wrote about before. I again didn’t buy anything but loved looking around. Even though I know nothing about purse brand names, I’ll probably buy one before I leave just for the heck of it because some of them are actually real unlike NYC’s Chinatown. After staying here a while, some of us decided we wanted to go out so we went to this jazz bar called Brown Sugar. The music was great, but that was about it so I doubt we go back there.
Wednesday, I just hung around for a bit. That night, my roommates were taking a 12-hour overnight bus down to a Koh Phi Phi near Phuket so I had the apartment to myself but I still ventured out with some guys in my program. We planned to go to Wat Arun to see the sunset, but didn’t make it that far and instead found out way taking a river boat down to where I got off for the Golden Mount my first day here. From this point, we walked a few blocks and saw the Democracy Monument, and the Giant Swing (which was in fact not half as impressive as I thought it would be) where a few local girls stopped us to take pictures with us (happens quite a bit). Right in front of the Giant Swing seems to be the City Hall or something of the sort. We hit here at exactly 6 PM which is when the National Anthem plays and everybody stands for the king. His portrait (along with everywhere else in the city and in Thailand) is on the City Hall. It’s amazing how much these people love their king—there is at least one massive picture of him on every street (probably more like 7), pictures of him in every store or restaurant, and even pictures of him traveling down highways. Oh—this is funny…after the anthem played, close to 100 people congregated in the square and did aerobics! After watching for a few minutes, we walked through a temple, Wat Suthatthepwararam (slightly long?) which was cool. There are paintings all over the walls, a beautiful Buddha, and a tablet that’s over 1000 years old. We were a little hesitant to go in as there are always tons of people praying in temples and you feel rude walking in to snap shots, but this nice man who spoke a little English was kind enough to walk us in. The guys and I decided to go back and hit the sack and some of us were leaving the next morning on our next great adventure!
We (Drew, Ben, Dan, and me) left Evergreen Apartments early and headed out for the Southern Bus Terminal and caught the next available bus for Kanchanaburi Province which is west of Bangkok. The province runs all the way to the Myanmar border and is home to some of Thailand’s largest tracts of preserved land and gushing waterfalls. For my history buffs, the town also played a role during WWII when the Japanese used POWs and Southeast Asians to build a demanding, deadly rail route to Myanmar (it was supposed to take 5 years to build but only took 17 months). All this information is thanks to my trustworthy Lonely Planet! Sadly (or not so sadly, depending on who you are) we didn’t have time to see any museums, but did see the Allied War Cemetery (it’s estimated over 100,000 men died constructing the railway) and the Bridge over the River Kwai. Besides seeing these sights on the first day, we also hired a taxi man to drive us to Wat Tham Mangkon Thong which is the “Cave Temple of the Golden Dragon.” Here, you have to climb a bazillion steps to get into the temple where you can climb through the cave to the top. You have to crawl through various parts of it so it was tight in spots but fun.
After this, we headed out to the Tiger Temple (another tourist trap) which is only great as a photo opportunity. This temple adopted its first tiger cub in 1999 after its mother was killed. After adopting a few more, the temple now has 38 tigers and anticipates 100 in a few years. Visitors pay an obscene amount of money to go in and see these animals and even more if you want “good” pictures with them. To me, the pictures made the price worth it as I will never again hold a tiger head, but I don’t think some of the guys were impressed. The sad part it, it’s supposed to be a sacred temple but it’s a business. There’s so much construction and no room for quiet prayer. I don’t see their vision because they’ve demolished all vegetation and wildlife for the random animals they’ve “adopted” and are building these fake waterfalls and things that look like show arenas. Maybe they’re planting an oasis of green grass and new trees, but it’s a forsaken area and you can’t help but feel sorry for the deer and cows (which we deemed might be the tigers’ dinner?). Also, I can’t help but believe the tigers aren’t drugged even though all the brochures and guides swear they’re not (of course), but I’m no expert on tigers’ sleeping habits. Anyways, it was fun and I’ll never do it again so it was cool.
Our hotel was also great! We stayed at the Jolly Frog, which according to Lonely Planet is not that clean. However, compared to our Koh Samet room…it was up a few stars! It was right on the river, and we only paid 100 baht each which is like $3.40ish. We met some helpful backpackers who gave us great advice on where to travel, where to avoid, where to take our parents, etc. That night, we went out for a few drinks and had a great time. Afterwards, the guys decided it was a smart idea to jump into the disgusting river. I (smartly) did not as it was freezing. I was so glad I had my blanket, jeans, a long sleeved shirt, AND my wind jacket this time. Who would’ve guessed I needed a sweatshirt in Thailand, but I wish I would’ve brought one!
The next day was filled with some of the most fun things I’ve ever done. After a recommendation from our backpacker friends, the guys decided they wanted to rent motorcycles (motorbikes I suppose, but I like the sound of motorcycles better) to drive to Erawan National Park (which is a little over an hour northwest of Kanchanaburi). This is something I would NEVER do without the influence of three guys. I couldn’t say no and be the unadventurous one who took the bus though…I did, however, refuse to ride on the manual bike. The first half of the trip was scary, but I soon got used to it and I wasn’t driving so I could look around. “I’m in Thailand and may never get back” I kept telling myself (and yes, yes, yes I’ll be careful all you worriers). The view once we got nearer to the park was breathtaking as we rounded the mountains and followed the river. With our Chula IDs we got into the park for 50 baht a piece and spent the entire day trekking up the mountain by the waterfall. Catherine, thank you for my Chacos! We’d jump in and Thais would take pictures of the crazy foreigners. It was actually a great workout and pretty strenuous at times. The path was really rocky and scary at times. You definitely would need to be in good shape and surefooted to do the hike. We even saw “fierce monkey!” It was nice to get out in nature—the waterfall, the trees, the mountains surrounding us with their own waterfalls peeking at us through breaks in the trees, and the sounds of flowing water and chirping birds…all were amazing. It was by far one of the best things I’ve ever done. A few scratches later and a skinned up knee after I jumped in knees first at the beginning of the trip, we headed back on the bikes. We were so glad to get back to Bangkok and hot showers, but it was fantastic! This is now my new favorite thing I’ve done and quite possibly might stay that way for a while!
Saturday, I had class all day long…it was supposed to go from 9-6:15, but ended early at 4. WOOOO! We went to the movies last night (for a nice theater, it’s about $5 and you can get them cheaper) and saw Yes, Man!
Well, there’s my last week! Today, I’m meeting Roy for lunch and some Bangkok exploration. Wednesday, we have an exchange student welcome party at a 5-star hotel somewhere in the city and this weekend the school is taking us on an overnight trip to a floating market. Miss you all back home! XOXO

Photo 1: Condom Super Hero, Photo 2: the Buddha in Wat Suthatthepwararam, Photo 3: in the Cave Temple of the Golden Dragon, Photo 4 and 5: with the TIGERS