Eating cheap

I almost had a minor emergency this week... I locked myself out of my safe, in which I had left most of my cash, both US and Thai, as well as my ATM card (apparently this was a bad idea). I finally got the key for it the next day, but I was a little worried by evening!
We were off Wednesday and Thursday morning which was a nice change and I planned on going to Free Bird for brunch but when I tried to get money the safe wouldn't unlock. They told me they would reset it in the afternoon and I had 143baht (a little less than $5) so I wasn't too concerned and I switched my plans and went to the cheaper nearby cafe to have my regular Thai tea.
I got home from class and was eager to get money so that I could go get a decent dinner. I'd taught that night and wanted to splurge on Mexican food as a reward. Unfortunately they forgot to reset it and the only people who could had left for the day so I set out to see what I could find for 38 baht.
Thankfully the market has lots of cheap food. I even got dessert!

Buddha's birthday

Today was Wisakha Bucha, an important holiday in Buddhism which commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha.  One of the traditions in Chang Mai is to make a pilgrimage up to the temple at the top of Doi Suthep and I was lucky enough to be able to take part with one of my classmates.  It was an amazing experience.

It starts at the zoo which is right up the street from my accommodation.  We left at about 8:30PM and met up with my classmate's friends.  The walk is close to 8 miles (I think) and takes about 4 hours.  There were so many people, and lots of monks, it was incredible to see.  The whole way up there were vendors selling all sorts of food and people handing out water, tea and soup at the side of the road.

There was such an amazing energy throughout the crowd.  There were small children and some elderly climbing the mountain but no one seemed to be complaining.  And everyone was very inclusive and helpful.  I don't think it's an event foreigners generally take part in, I only saw a couple among the thousands of Thai, but they were all welcoming.  

The crowd outside of a temple on the way up to Doi Suthep

On the way up the mountain there were a few smaller temples.  Some had large tents where monks were speaking, there was music and areas for meditation.  There are also lookouts where you can see the sprawling city of Chaing Mai.  Of course it was dark by the time we started but we could look down and see the city lights.

At the top of Doi Suthep, people waiting to get into the temple

We reached the top of Doi Suthep a little after midnight but it took another hour to get into the temple, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.  There were so many people that the long wide staircase leading up to the temple was packed.  We ended up following many others and walking up through the trees alongside the staircase.  

Chedi at Doi Suthep

The entire temple area is quite large with several pagodas and a lot of open space within the walls.  The innermost area is the most stunning though.  The Chedi and many of the other features are gold plated which is an amazing sight to see at night.  We walked with the devotees around the Chedi three times listening to the singing and chanting of the monks.  People also bring flowers, candles and incense as offerings and to remind them of life's impermanence.  

People were sleeping all over the open areas of the temple grounds, waiting for the ceremonies I think.  When we left there was still a steady stream of people trying to get into the temple.  We spent quite some time at the top of the steps to the temple, completely surrounded by people and unable to move in any direction because the staircase was blocked by people coming up.

It was a unique and wonderful experience and I'm so glad that we were able to go.  I haven't had much of a chance to see anything since I came to Chiang Mai so this was definitely the most meaningful experience I've had here so far. 

Fortunately we didn't have to walk all the way back down.  We walked part of the way until we found a red truck with room to take us down the rest of the way.  I didn't get in til 4:30AM but it was definitely worth it!

Sneetches

I went to the store the other day to buy sunblock and made an interesting discovery.  At least half of the lotions here are ‘whitening’ lotions.  This seems completely ridiculous to me but considering how many self tanning products we have in the US, I guess we don’t have room to talk.  Still the thought of spreading something akin to bleach on my body seems like a terrible idea.  It just made me realize how crazy we can be about our looks.  We want to be darker, they want to be lighter... Dr. Seuss was right.

I found the walking market!

This has been a relatively productive and relaxing weekend. I slept in late yesterday after my long and stressful week and then walked to my vegan friendly cafe for a late lunch and some studying. The highlight was an amazing chai made with real spices.
I took a walk into the old city on my way home a discovered a dorm style guesthouse that is only 120 a night so it's a possibility for when my current lease is up. The first floor is a tailor shop and the room seemed clean. I found another one today that was only 80 but didn't have AC and the mattresses were on the floor, which honestly I wouldn't really care about, but I did like how the first place had lockers to put valuables in.
I stopped at the mall on the way back and there was a market set up outside with some interesting looking foods, I went with Starbucks as I had more work to do though. Everything else is cheaper here but Starbucks is still incredibly expensive. Actually at 135 baht, my green tea soy latte was even more expensive than a chai at home!
I woke up early today so I could finish up an assignment for my course and then walked to the free bird cafe for it's 4th birthday party. There was lots of food and delicious vegan treats to try!
I was excited to stumble upon the Chiang Mai walking market in the old city on the way home. I had heard about it, but it is in different locations on Saturday's and Sundays and I haven't really figured out where everything is anyway. The market is huge. Streets are closed for many blocks in all directions and there are vendors selling all sorts of things, even roasted insects.

Hooray for the weekend!

I am exhausted!  They weren’t kidding when they said that the CELTA was a rigorous class.  We have lectures in the afternoon and teach our class in the evening, and my nights and mornings are generally spent preparing for class so I haven’t had a lot of time to explore.

I’ve finally starting to adjust to the time change, although I’m not sure that’s a good thing.  It was kind of nice to wake up early on my own, I had a lot more time to do all of my work.  I went on another run yesterday morning and had to pry myself out of bed.  I went straight to the University and took a nice run around their campus.  As I was nearing the gate to leave I noticed that everyone suddenly had stopped what they were doing, the students stopped talking and the cars and bikes all stopped in the middle of the street.  I had vaguely heard a loud speaker but didn’t think much of it because there are trucks here that drive around blaring music and advertisements.  I turned the corner to see a man in uniform raising the Thai flag to the national anthem.  And then as quickly as it had begun, he finished and everyone went back to what they were doing.  It was kind of nice to see how everyone stopped what they were doing for a few moments to watch.  

I’ve been pretty careful about what I eat and drink here in Chiang Mai.  I haven’t been drinking water unless I see that it came from a jug or it’s a nice restaurant that caters to foreigners and I haven’t risked eating any uncooked and un-peeled fruits and vegetables like lettuce.  I’d also read something about staying away from crushed ice because it’s delivered in pick up trucks and you don’t know where it’s been and how many people have touched it.  Well I went to my favorite coffee shop and ordered my usual soy Thai tea, with crushed ice, and was relaxing and working on a lesson plan when to my surprise a pick up truck pulled up and two guys got out and carried large bags of ice into the cafe.  Oops!  I was worried about it in the market but hadn’t even thought about it at the cafe.  Although I was picturing guys shoveling the ice out of the dirty bed of a truck... it came in plastic bags, and obviously hasn’t killed me yet so I guess I’m just not going to worry about it.

I taught my second lesson last night and it felt a bit easier and less scary, still have a lot to work on and not feeling particularly confident.  Afterwards we all went out as a group to a local ‘English’ style pub.  My classmates are a great group of people and it was fun to relax and wind down after a busy and stressful week!

A pond I found on my run at the University

Raising the flag

Dirty ice?

Thai time and being backwards

I've been feeling guilty about being lazy so yesterday morning I went on a run. I woke up early while it was only a cool 80 degrees and I still barely ran half the time, although I'm also in terrible shape after the last few weeks of almost no physical activity besides moving boxes. I ran in the opposite direction from town and discovered the zoo and aquarium are not far from my guesthouse. The sidewalk ended shortly after and not wanting to put my life at risk by running in the street I turned around and decided to do a loop on the University's grounds, they even have a small lake.
I went to my cafe after the run but they weren't open and I met an expat outside who explained to me about the Thai and how time is flexible here.
One of the other things I'm having trouble getting used to is that they drive on the left. There is the obvious problem of looking the wrong way when crossing the street but there are other things that I never noticed before. In Thailand the escalators are opposite from what you would expect. I keep trying to get on ones that are coming towards me and walking the long way around to get the the next floor. It's also a problem when passing someone in a hallway or on the street because we both step to the same side.

Back to the grind

Well my course is definitely keeping me busy!  It's kind of nice to have a routine again, although I was enjoying my time off.  I taught my first lesson last night and it was pretty much a disaster.  I was a nervous wreck, my CD started skipping in the beginning of my listening exercise, and I was using the school's very old projector and writing on the board when one of my students interrupted me to tell me that it was smoking.  Teaching is definitely far outside of my comfort zone.
As a reward, and also because I needed some school supplies, I walked down to the shopping mall after class and had dinner at Pizza Hut, a guilty pleasure of mine.  I ordered a medium pizza expecting to have plenty to take home for later but it ended up being much smaller than in the US, probably only 6", still as delicious as ever though!

Malin market

Dinner last night was at the market again. I discovered that the market actually extends much farther back than I had originally realized. I found a Japanese section and got a cucumber roll and a beet-carrot-orange-passion fruit juice.

My first day of CELTA

I started my CELTA course yesterday. There are 8 other people in my class mostly from the US or England although one guy is from Hong Kong. They all seem nice and all have interesting stories, some have been traveling and living abroad for years and others, like me, have just recently packed up their old lives and are looking for a fresh start in Chiang Mai.
The course itself is going to be tough. I got enough work yesterday to last me a week! Not to mention the thought of being up in front of a class is starting to sound much less appealing. The day began with lectures followed by lunch. One of my classmates speaks Thai quite well and was able to order me a vegetarian Pad Thai. After lunch we had an Arabic class, to see what it is like to learn a new language, and then split up into our teaching groups. In the afternoons we work on preparing for our lessons and then the students arrive at 6 for two hours of instruction. Since it was our first night we just sat in the back of the class and observed our tutor teach the lesson. He made it look so easy! But in my mind I keep going back to presentations I had to make in high school and college, remembering the feelings of utter fear, stumbling over my words trying to finish as quickly as possible. The students all seem very motivated though, and although this is the intermediate class I was still very impressed with their English.

Exploring

A short but productive day. It seems very easy to get lost here so I decided to follow Hauykaew Rd towards the old city and then just stuck to the wall. My first goal was to find an adaptor and converter, although I charged my phone overnight and it didn't explode I was worried about plugging anything else in. I stumbled upon a large building which housed an electronics market of sorts and was able to buy the adaptor there and found a large electronics store a bit farther down which had the converter I was looking for.
In the market I was excited to meet another American! And better yet, he's looking for English teachers for a program that helps underprivileged Thai people. I also saw a flyer looking for a private tutor, so maybe it won't be too hard to find a job after this!
The highlight of the day though was stumbling upon the Free Bird Cafe, they have plenty of vegetarian and vegan options and a knowledgable American expat who gave me my first map and was able to point me to a market and a grocery store. The food was delicious too!
The grocery store is in the bottom of a large shopping mall with lots of American companies like Pizza Hut and Starbucks.

Day 1 begins

Today is my first full day in Chiang Mai! Class doesn't start until tomorrow so I have the day free to explore.
I decided to check out the Mac cafe across the street which I discovered on my walk to get water at the 7-Eleven last night. I was excited to see that they even have soy milk, although to be honest I'm not sure how well I conveyed my order to the barista so I'm not sure what I ended up with. My Thai milk tea refreshing and delicious though!

A new home

I made it!
I finally arrived at the Chiang Mai airport last night and took an overpriced taxi to the guesthouse I had exchanged a few very confusing emails with and where I hoped I had a room reserved. Fortunately they didn't seem too surprised when I arrived and although there ended up being several unexpected fees I was thankful that at least I knew where I was going to be sleeping, and it'll be nice to have my own room and bathroom for the first month while I get the lay of the land.
There is a market in the plaza right outside of my building which has lots of stalls with clothing, iPhone accessories, jewelry and, in the back, rows of food stalls reminiscent of Marrakech. I managed to order a vegetable stir fry for about $1.50, my first success!

How to entertain yourself for 12 hours at Changi International

I arrived in Singapore a little after 2am local time and have been roaming around terminal 3 ever since. The airport is huge, complete with all of the usual amenities... swimming pool, hotel, movie theater, koi pond, and of course a butterfly garden with a waterfall.
Although I have such a long layover I only have a few hours of actual daytime during which I could leave and according to the woman at information there isn't much to see in the area aside from a shopping mall, so I'm just killing time here instead. Fortunately there is free wifi throughout the terminal and I found a massage chair that gives full body massages. I think I might even head up to the snooze lounge and take a nap before lunch.

My adventure begins...

The time is finally here! If you didn't know, I left my job a few weeks ago, moved all of my possessions into my parents house, and bought a one-way ticket to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Exciting yet scary to be going off on my own... this is sure to be an adventure!