Day two in Thailand is coming to a close, and I don’t know how else to explain it other than it has already been a roller coaster! The good and the bad. First off, I did not expect to experience culture shock that rough, especially the homesick part. I knew I wanted to be here and was so looking forward to this experience, but my first night was basically just an explosion of emotion combined with jet lag, no sleep, and culture shock. Anyway, I am definitely moving past that already, and day two has been so busy but such a blast.
When I first got here, I met my host family, and they are the sweetest, nicest people - my dad is Manop, the owner of a nonprofit organization here (not the one I’ll be working at), my mom is Yai, and they have one daughter, Ning, who is a senior in high school and very smart! Needless to say, they are not any trouble to like.
On to more exiting things... Today we had to be ready by 7am for a rot dang to pick us up (until we get our bearings and can find one on our own and figure out where the heck we are going and how to get back home, I’m clueless here.. Basically like a deer in headlights haha). So we met at the Wat Pra Sing (I believe that’s the one) - also wat means temple, and Chiang Mai has hundreds of them!! So we headed over to another temple where we learned about Sikhism, which began in India, and we were able to observe and be apart of one of their worship ceremonies and have breakfast with them. Yum! Other religions and practices are so fascinating, to see the comparisons between each of them.. For example, Sikh’s wear garments and pay 10% tithing like the LDS faith. Very interesting. The Sikh’s we met were very welcoming and happy to have us visit with Dr. Brown - my professor that has all the hookups basically anywhere in Asia and put this program together several years ago.
Probably my favorite part so far was going up to Wat Doi Suthep. It’s on top of a beautiful mountain that is just covered in lush green trees - exactly what I see when I think of a jungle. I’m actually quite frustrated that pictures do NOT do it any justice. You just have to see it in person!! We visited the beautiful wat, walked around barefoot again, enjoyed the cool air compared to in the hot hot city, and visited a little waterfall to do some more relaxing and eating of yummy foods. Fruit is so good here, well all I’ve tried so far basically is the pineapple - gotta ease myself in with this stomach of mine. Also, I had the best dessert EVER today at Wat Doi Suthep - a banana waffle on a stick with chocolate. I know it sounds great, but it tastes even better. Promise. I want one everyday. The wats are very beautiful, it is neat to see the Buddhists so dedicated to their practice. At Wat Doi Suthep we also gave some offerings to Buddha and then got blessed by the monks to have happiness... Buddhism is pretty awesome.
Also, mom don’t get mad, but I rode on the back of our rot dang going down the mountain. Pure bliss. I have some pictures but basically a rot dang is a little truck that you can take for transportation and it’s open in the back and has two little ladders to hold onto on the outside if that’s where you want to ride... I swear it’s like therapy or something haha.
Anyway before I ramble on too much (oh wait...oops)... I’m gonna have to learn how to jam pack stuff into shorter posts cause this was only one day’s worth!! Not enough hours in a day!! Anywho to finish off the day the girls and I got a Thai massage for $3, yes $3. And it was easily the best massage on this planet. Once a week, please. This little lady had me all twisted and yoga like, but it hurt so good. I almost had to fart when she was massaging my butt (which is great, btw, sorry not sorry for the TMI) but thankfully, I did not embarrass myself. We finished off the day with exploring the Saturday night street market, so much fun.
Now I’m home, showered - sweaty and sticky almost all day does not make for a good combo to sleep in, and exhausted, here’s to hoping I get a good full nights sleep before our adventures in the morning.
*I chose the title based off of a sign I saw today translated from Thai, I saw it on the grounds of a Buddhist wat
2 comments:
sounds great mer! the massage part at the end nearly killed me. hahaha
Sounds great, wish we were with you! Garments and tithing, interesting, I didn't know that about Sikhism (not that I know anything about it). The scenery sounds incredible, as do the pineapples. Keep the posts coming!
Love, Dad (your real one)
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