Vientiane, Laos

The last real stay of our trip is the capital of Laos. I knew before booking this stop that there was not much to recommend it as a city destination. Luang Prabang is the place to go in Laos because of its beauty. Vientiane serves as the capital and is functional but not beautiful. Circumstances of the trip began to dictate this choice. Originally I wanted to spend time exploring the beauty of Laos’ natural landscape. It’s so gorgeously green and unspoiled. August is, however, the rainy season and it rains some everyday. While we were in Luang Prabang, it stormed resulting in mudslides downriver that washed out small farms and trees. Laos suffers from deforestation. To help boost its economy, the government cuts lots of trees and sends the lumber to Vietnam where they make furniture. As a result after the strong rains, all kinds of debris floated down the Mekong River in Luang Prabang.

Everyone spent the day watching it with some workers trying to retrieve bamboo and tree limbs for use. The Lao people use wood to cook. Every shop and home has a small pot over a wood fire in front . For us, the end result of the August rains was a change in travel plans. Rivers and roads could not be counted on. The roads in Laos are bad anyway. Our hotel owners told us some of their guests had gotten delayed coming back from a car trip further north because the road was impassable. We were interested in natural protected areas in northern Laos, but decided going south was a better option. We had to make our final departure plane in Bangkok in less than a week. First we planned to hire a car to drive us from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng and then onto Vientiane along a beautiful stretch of highway. Then we find out Route 13 was closed because of fallen trees and that it would take days to unblock it. With the help of our Belle Rive staff, we ended up flying from Luang Prabang to Vientiane: the result being three nights in Vientiane before flying to Bangkok. Airports always divulge the economic status of a country. Laos is poor and we knew we were in a third world country. We never felt this way in Thailand or Vietnam. In Cambodia and Laos, we did. That’s not to say we were afraid, far from it. A nice young man from the hotel Ansara met us. He spoke virtually no English. Few Lao do. Wait people know the basics related to food service. If I asked them how they were, they didn’t know what I was talking about. The Lao people we came in contact with were very timid and therefore didn’t seem friendly. The Vietnamese always wanted to ask us questions and engage. The Lao lacked confidence or interest. We found that over time they became very warm. We have pictures of the staff in Luang Prabang because we were there for six nights.

Vientiane was by in large not an attractive city. It was hot, dusty, and torn up. Much construction was taking place. It was as if the city was having an identity crisis. It will host the huge Europe-Asia conference in November and needs more hotels. Infrastructure all over Laos is a problem. Vientiane wants to look like a world capital worthy of international dignitaries. We could tell that international investments underlined much of the building. They are building a new mall, a plaza with fountains, and office space. All of the architecture is modern and could be anywhere. The city lacks character. There are lots of good reasons for this, mainly historical. During the Vietnam War, Laos was ravaged. In what was called “the silent war” in Laos, the US dropped two million dollars’ worth of bombs a day for nine years. This knowledge alone made it difficult to go to Laos. Yet this is the country that took my heart. The land is extravagantly green and overgrown. The people are small, most of them are shorter that I am and a third my size. This is true of both men and women. They are extremely small. Most of them are young, born way after the war. Education is a problem and they are trying to keep up with their Southeast Asian neighbors. This is the only country where the novice monks stopped us to initiate a conversation in English. They take an hour of English a week, an HOUR, and also take an hour of Chinese. They viewed American tourists as an opportunity to practice their English. One told Tom he looked like Bill Gates and that he wanted to be a computer programmer. These ambitions did not fit my images of a monk. Being a monk is the only opportunity for them to go to school. I found it interesting that young monks would initiate English conversations with us, but the Lao people in tourism were intimidated. Although on the whole, the temples, wats, and sites in Vientiane were not as beautiful as in other places, we found two exceptions: the Patuxai, or Victory Monument, and Wat Si Saket. Built in 1969 with cement donated by the US for a new airport, the Victory Monument, commemorating the Lao who died in prerevolutionary wars, appears to be Vientiane’s Arc de Triomphe.

It comes off as Lao’s attempt at a grand monument with surrounding plaza and boulevard. However, what surrounds it is disappointing. Tom and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Wat Si Saket. We have seen a lot of wats and experienced a lot of heat at this point, but were both fascinated by this oldest of temples in Laos. What gives it distinction is the number of Buddhas. The cloister around the wat houses around two hundred sitting or standing Buddhas, all rescued by monks from other places. Small niches carved into both the cloistered wall and the temple walls hold tiny ceramic images of Buddha that end up conveying an intricate background pattern.

When we were leaving Vientiane, I told Tom that I bet if we ever returned to Vientiane, it would be a different city.

Luang Prabang, Laos

Since first committing to the Study Abroad Program in Thailand, I knew I also wanted to go to Luang Prabang, Laos. Reading about the old capital in travel magazines made it so appealing to me. Now that we are here, I have all the romantic images in my head confirmed. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the old city is maintained. The architecture of French colonial villas mingled with Buddhist temples and wats makes for a stunning fusion of East and West. The old town sits on a peninsula formed by the convergence of the Nam Khan river with the more well-known Mekong River.

Our hotel named the Belle Rive faces the Mekong River so our room looks out through palm trees and out onto the passing river. Each morning we sit at a wooden table on the hotel's narrow front porch, eat warm baquettes, butter, jam, eggs, and mangoes, drink small pots of wonderful Lao coffee, and watch Lao people pedal by on bikes and tuk-tuks park on the small street.

We also sit across the street at the hotel's cafe and watch the sunset over the Mekong while drinking Beerlao and Chilean red wine. We love this spot. It's the perfect place to spend time when you have been traveling a long time and want to surrender to another way of life. We have lost all tourist motivation to go see things.

The one thing we did do was wake up before 6am to see the procession of monks. For those of you who know me well, waking up early is a big deal, so you know I was highly motivated. Luang Prabang hosts many novice monks who come to school and live at the temples. Most Lao boys serve as a monk for a period of time. It is a way for poor families to send their sons to school. These boys and young men wearing saffron-colored robes with yellow sashes and handwoven shoulder bags are a common sight throughout the town. They often have umbrellas and walk in groups. Every morning they ritualistically emerge from their wats in single file and walk the street carrying rice bowls in their handwoven bags. Lao people, primarily woman, kneel on the sidewalk with woven baskets or bowls of sticky rice, from which they give a scoop to each pausing monk. This is the monk's food for the day. The whole stream of monks pass silently. The only sound is that of tourists' cameras.

The Lao people are very kind and somewhat timid, but we have made friends with the wait staff at Belle Rive. They work seven days a week. Most of them come from villages outside of Luang Prabang and live with friends or other family here. One day the whole staff (kitchen, reception, waitpeople) had a meeting all day under the awning by the river. The next morning Tom asked the lovely young woman who brings us breakfast what she learned at her meeting. She paused and grinned widely, saying, "to work."

We celebrated our 19th anniversary in this magical spot and have loved our time here.

Intrepid

Tom and I have had three adventures that I would call "intrepid." The first was the wonderful, yet muddy hike we took in Thailand on the hill tribe visit along a river and through rice paddies. The second was in the national park on Koh Lanta, the gorgeous island. We hiked through the jungle led by a sign that said it was a two hour hike. After 30 minutes of nothing but uphill 24 inch steps in the tropical heat, I was completely wet and unenthusiastic. I kept being lured by images of beautiful sea beaches. At several places the trail was blocked by fallen trees and other organic debris or a bridge was cobbled together with limbs.

After an hour the trail ended on the small road that we came from. No views, no payoff. Still I felt at the height of intrepidness yet very pleased it was over. Our third and last planned adventure came on Saturday in Nong Khiaw, Laos. After loving Luang Prabang and soaking up its ambiance for four days, we thought it was time to try a boat on the Mekong River. We had nothing planned and found getting information very difficult, unlike Thailand. It was hard to make a plan because it was the rainy season and the river got filled with floating debris from mudslides downstream. Most of the townspeople were on the riverbanks staring out at men in the water who were trying to safeguard their boats. Everyone was mesmerized. After formulating a travel plan and going online to make reservations with hotels or airlines, we would find out new information, such as the only road to Vang Vieng and onto Vientiane was blocked because of the storm. We had to make airline reservations to fly from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, the capitol, so then we could fly to Bangkok to make our departure flight. All of this led to a decision to hire a car to drive us north to Nong Khiaw and then take a boat up river to Muang Ngoi Neau. Our driver spoke no English, but understood "toilet" and also stopped at a Hmong village along the way. The car ride to Nong Khiaw was in place of an eight hour boat ride and we still got to see most of the scenery. We stayed at Nong Khiaw River Side Rooms, which was rated the best by Lonely Planet. Our bungalow was perched on stilts above the river with gorgeous karsts straight ahead. An absolutely gorgeous spot.

Our room had a mosquito net over the bed and a ceiling fan, with windows with no screens. The bathroom had a no-flush, eco-toilet (which promotes constipation).

The room was unbelievably hot during the day. We asked the Dutch guy who is the manager if there were any portable rotating fans. Some air movement was going to be essential for me. He asked if the ceiling fan was not working; we said yes. He said they had no other fans. I asked if there was a place to buy one. I am not proud of myself, but I was desperate at the thought of there being no way to escape the heat. Fortunately,it did cool down at night because the ceiling fan did not penetrate the mosquito net very well. I know I am writing about intrepidness, but .... We hired a long boat to take us to Muang Ngoi Neua about an hour a way along a beautiful river route. The water is muddy but the rising karsts are so incredibly green. Bright, bright green. Mountain rice is also growing. The vegetation is jungly. I think the water is shallow; there were no life jackets.

Some people kayak with adventure companies in this area, but again it is not high season. Our driver has his mother on board. He introduced her as "mama"; she looked to be about 90 and was belching and smiling and eating seeds. She sat behind us and as soon as we took off, she lay down on the bottom of the boat for a nap.

At one point she called out and the boat pulled ashore. Suddenly two young girls came down to the muddy bank and helped her unload her packages. She must have been supplying a small store. Lots of Beerlao. We passed several fisherman along the way and made another stop to drop off cardboard packages and about 48 eggs, and ... Beerlao. Our destination was actually a very poor small muddy village, Muang Ngoi Neua, in a beautiful area.

There is no access by car, only boat. The rural Lao know nothing about promoting tourism, yet they have gorgeous natural beauty all around them. The women have looms and do embroidery but no one is selling anything. We came across a coffee shop and three guys were sitting around with one Lao hippie playing the guitar. He spoke good English and asked us where we were from. When we told him California, he started playing "Hotel California." They were drinking Lao Lao, local whiskey, and offered us some. I told him it was too early and he said that their customs were different. We tried to walk to a local cave about an hour away but turned around after thirty minutes of mud crawling through pastures and dung laden paths. We saw rice paddies and pretty views. We returned to the village for lunch of curried pumpkin and chicken. The whole trip was about the boat ride there and back. We passed some kayakers who turned over in the rapids. They were fine, but our trip was intrepid enough for me.

Things That I am Tired of.... (Carol) Whenever you are away from home as long as we have been (June 11th), you can get tired of traveling. This is true no matter how much you may love a country, such as Thailand and its people. So now I am going to list what I am tired of.... I am tired of rice. I love rice but not three times a day. It also has a bad effect on the system that I did not anticipate. One of the students had such a problem, we had to take her to the hospital clinic. We heard later that there was a great celebration in the student hallway when she got relief. I have always loved Thai food, but I am tired of it. Tom and I have been craving salads and ever since we arrived at this island resort that caters to tourists, we have eaten salads and wraps with salad inside. The wait people seem disappointed and ask us if we are going to eat Thai food. I tell them we love Thai food, but I'm not sure how to tell them that we have eaten it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for almost two months and are tired of it. Also the Thai people want you to eat everything spicy because they love spicy food. The further south you go the spicier the food gets. I am tired of always saying, "Not too spicy." They look crestfallen, but it is so easy to turn permanently red and sweat. Which brings me to...I am tired of sweating. I sweat every day, copious amounts. Some days are worse than others. Showers are wonderful and also hopeless. I am tired of washing my underwear by hand. I got so far behind that I made a bathtub full of dirty laundry.

I would not let Tom spend $2 on each pair of underwear. At the student hotels the laundry was very cheap and nicely done. I still can't pay someone else to wash my delicates and knit shirts. So I miss my washing machine. Who would have thought! I am tired of crappy internet service. Actually Tom got more exasperated than I did. The university student hotels where we stayed for six weeks had lousy internet service. In Bangkok, I had to go sit in an un-air-conditioned hall to get online(another opportunity to sweat); then we would try to back into the room to keep connected, which seldom worked, but we kept the computer dance going. I am tired of Thai paper napkins. Each table has a tiny box with tissues smaller and thinner than kleenex. They do nothing so you end up using 25 of them for a single mouth wipe. It is so wasteful.

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!

The students were mostly a great bunch. We had a really nice farewell dinner at a restaurant nearby. We ate and then took lots of pictures.

Some were going out for a drink on the last night together and we might have gone along except they like to start the party around 11 - waay too late for me. And then ---Carol was embroiled in a drama last night when one of the students had not returned to the hotel by the time she was to leave for the airport at 4:30 AM. I voted to go back to bed and let her call her parents and explain why she needed to reschedule her flight home, but Carol and the other adults were more sympathetic. When the student stumbled back in not knowing what time it was, the Thai University liaison went way above the call of duty, called a taxi, rode with her to the airport, walked her through the ticketing process and escorted her to the immigration line. We are all concerned that the girl learned nothing from the event. After six weeks of "youth hostel" accommodations, we are ready to up scale a bit. Out of the University Hotel and into the Shangri-La. Soooooo nice. We have a very nice room on the 15th floor overlooking the river. We were able to check in early - around noon and have enjoyed an afternoon of luxury. Comfy bed, beautiful view, lots of hot water and it is clean to boot. Hard to beat.

It is nice to be in a completely different place and responsible for no one but ourselves. We plan to relax and have a comfy place for Carol to grade papers and then on to the famous beaches of Thailand.

Bangkok

Ya know - there are a lot of people in Bangkok. I must say - I am a little tired of the crowds. Yesterday, I walked down to the river and took a river taxi almost to the end of the line. When the taxis get to a dock - it stops only long enough to get on or off if you move rather quickly. I witnessed a couple of people jump back to the dock because all of the members of their group did not make it on. I got off the boat close to a Skytrain station and took that around that part of the town. I exited at Victory Monument and the good old #28 bus delivered me back to the entrance of the University. That whole trip around town using public transportation cost me a total of about 40 Baht or $1.35. If you are willing to put up with the crowds, it is a great way to travel and you can generally by-pass most of the traffic jams and incredibly long stop lights. If you want to go the more expensive route, you can get an air-conditioned taxi. However, in a taxi, especially during rush hours, you can end up sitting at a complete stand-still for 10 minutes or more. The University is situated in an area of Bangkok that is not conducive to walking around or exploring - so in order to go anywhere or see anything - you are thrust into the sea of humanity. The program ends on Friday and on Saturday Carol and I are checking into the Shangri-La Hotel right on the water. We will be steps from the Skytrain and water taxi and I am confident that we will have a much different experience for a few days. On Monday, we are going to Koh Lanta, one of the Thai beach islands. Then, the vacation part of our trip can start for Carol. A few days resting in a hammock looking out onto the blue water and sipping fru fru drinks or beer should set us up for more exciting adventures. We will keep you posted.

Three Days in Cambodia

Siem Reap and the ancient temples are magical. Cambodia has realized that they have a major tourist attraction and they are doing everything they can to make it a prime location for tour groups. In order to travel near the temples, you must have a ticket - good for three or seven days. You stand in line, pay the fee, they take your picture and present you with a personalized ticket. There are many check points on the road and entering each temple area where a guard checks the tickets carefully to be sure that your picture matches your face. They are serious about it being non-transferable. The hotel was a real dump but we weren't there very long so what the hell. We had a great guide for the three days and saw nine different temple ruins in our three days. One might think that it must have been boringly repetitive but it was amazing how different they all were. Angkor Wat was huge, partially restored and very impressive.

We also saw the wat that is being reclaimed by the trees.

And - the "faces" wat.

We have all seen these images in pictures and in movies but actually being there was absolutely incredible. I loves every minute - even being hot, tired, sweaty and over-scheduled. Back to Bangkok. - The students are exhausted but hanging in there - Carol and I doing rather well especially considering that we are about 40 years older that the students.

Night Train

We returned to Chiang Mai after our respite.  We were refreshed but the students were exhausted from their Homestay experience.  We (and they) had only one more full day in Chiang Mai before a whirlwind of activity started.  Tuesday afternoon we boarded our trusty red taxis for our trip to the train station.  We had purchased our tickets earlier so our only challenge was to find the correct train for our trip to Bangkok.

We arrived in Bangkok early on Wednesday morning and proceeded to our hotel. We were expected and had a nive buffet breakfast and proceeded to our rooms. Yuck! The carpet is grossly stained, the internet rarely works in our room and when I call the front desk to ask anything in English they hang up on me. Oh well - I can put up with anything for a couple of weeks. At least it is air conditioned and I can get coffee in the morning. Our whirlwind continued with a 4:30 AM departure to the airport for our flight to Siem Reap. Boy - did we blow it. I had trouble sleeping - looked at my watch at 3:30 and closed my eyes for just a second. I opened my eyes and looked at the watch to discover that it was 4:38. We slept through the alarm. I have never seen Carol move any faster than she did when I woke her up and told her we were late. We made it downstairs in a record 8 minutes. We weren't the last to arrive but we did not miss it by much. Off to the airport and three packed days in Cambodia

A Trip to Pai and Mae Hong Son

Carol and I had a few days free while the students were on their Home Stay.  We booked a car and driver and headed out Thursday morning for the drive to Pai.  The Lonely Planet says that there are 782 curves between Chiang Mai and Pai and I believe it.  It was a twisty turny two lane road with lots of potholes, landslide areas, cars and scooters.  I am glad I was not driving on this one.  Our driver and guide was a man named Kid who we found to be extremely knowledgeable, interesting, accommodating and an all around nice guy.  We enjoyed his company a lot.  We asked to see villages along the way and he stopped at a couple of them where we were able to view village life unaltered for any tourism.  The people didn't particularly care if we were there and made no effort to engage with us - actually they totally ignored us.  Kid stopped on the side of the road and asked an old woman if the road to one certain village was drivable.  She assured him that it was, so off we went on this one lane, very narrow road down a fairly steep slope.  In about a kilometer, the pavement stopped and the muddy ruts started.  I felt the car slide a time or two and started to be just a bit concerned.  About then, the car slid into the huge rut and got stuck up against the side of the hill.  MMMMMM what to do now?
Kid and I strategized
while Carol collected
branches and sticks to
place in front of the
stuck tire. I pushed back
on the car a little and

was then able to plant
my feet on the side of
the hill and my back to
the car and pushed out
as Kid eased forward
with the wheels cut
sharply out of the rut.
 Hey - it worked.





We were able to then turn around and decided to forgo the visit to that particular village.  On to Pai - a backpackers' and hippie haven.  Lots of rasta people, crafts people, street food, and a real laid back atmosphere.  We enjoyed a couple of days of R&R and then on to Mae Hong Son.  Another 700 or so curves and we were in an even smaller but really pretty town.

This is looking across the lake in the middle of the town out to the main temple in town.  We enjoyed our one night at the Fern Resort (Brad and Anjelina stayed there a few years ago).  Had dinner and lots of beer with a Dutch guy who comes to Thailand on his annual vacation, rents a scooter and travels all around the smaller provinces.

One of the highlights was a ride on a long boat down the river to visit a Koran Tribe Of the Long Neck Women.  The boat ride was fun and the villagers were very friendly.  They make their living now exclusively through tourism and selling their locally made scarves, jewelry and carvings.

We then had a rather long ride back to Chiang Mai but really loved our excursion.

Sunday, a Five Star Day

A fun group of the students who are close often rank their days. They will come to class and say they are having a one-star day. Well, Sunday after the hill tribe excursion, Tom and I had a five star day. Because I was giving my midterm the next day, I didn’t have any prep to do, a wonderful thing. It was the first day since coming to Chiang Mai that Tom and I had free time for ourselves. We set out at 1pm to eat lunch, visit  the city’s largest Wat, get a Thai massage, and visit a travel agent to make a plan for our free time.  Wat Phra Singh is famous for its Buddha, chedi, and lovely gardens where the monks sit and play chess. 

The trees have many signs with truisms posted on them. 

Before I left SLO for our trip, my brother Bill told me about Sasi, a travel agent he used about 5 or 6 years ago and recommended in Chiang Mai. When we located her closet-size agency downtown, she was seated behind the single desk. She didn’t recognize Bill’s name, but when we showed her his picture on our ipad, she immediately recognized the crazy American, although I am sure that he is not the only one she has met.  She set us up with a driver to take us to Pai, a serene village not too far from Myanmar.  We both want a break from Uniserve, the hostel, and this is the only time when I don’t have direct student responsibilities. They will be doing a Home Stay at a village north of here, and Proworld will be responsible for them for five days. Yeah! I will cross my fingers that there will be no emergencies to call us back.

Ahhhh, the Thai massage, our first of the trip, and we went to a nice place, beautifully decorated with lovely hostesses. I was relieved when my massage therapist was a bit on the chunky side for a Thai woman. And she was strong! She got up on the table with me, straddled me, and began her work. She also used hot compresses and lots of oil. After the hill tribe trek, elephant and raft riding, I needed a good muscle pounding. At one point I had to ask her to cut back her pressure a bit. After two hours, Tom and I greeted one another in the lobby and drank tea. 

 We caught a red taxi for a delicious dinner at the Riverside restaurant along the water.

This dinner was the first in the city and not in the university area. Afterwards we took a tuk-tuk back to Uniserve on the other side of the city. We had a perfect day and a happy ending.

Hill Tribe Overnight

The Karen village where we stayed the night had guesthouses along a creek. The setting was beautiful: the creek on one side and rice paddies on the other. Mosquitoes in between.  Tom and I sprayed Deet insecticide on ourselves and remained relatively unbitten. Our bed or mattress pad on the floor had a mosquito net, not as romantic as it might sound. The net was an ugly pink thing, the pad hard, and the pillows harder.

 Not the most comfortable, but we did fine for one night. We all ate supper together at a long table under a roof with views of rice paddies on the horizon. Meowing cats pestered us loudly for food and we succumbed, especially the cat lovers. The drivers were in the outdoor eating area near the kitchen with an old television watching the volleyball match between China and Thailand. We all ended up over there cheering for Thailand, who won the best out of five. 

Not incidentally, our day was made when we read online that Obamacare was upheld by the Supreme Court. Tom and I were ecstatic!

Elephants and Rafts

When I awakened the next morning under my netting, I saw that it was 7:15am and remembered that the village coffee place opened at 6am. We saw that the breakfast of hot soup also displayed a Nescafe mix with sugar and creamer. I am a caffeine addict but this turned my stomach. Tom and I marched up the hill to the village and drank wonderful hot cups of Thai coffee and talked to the young Thai guy who spoke English from talking to tourists like ourselves. The green spider hadn’t moved. About a half hour later, some students showed up as well to share in the java.

After leaving the village in our vans, we drove to an Elephant Riding tourist spot, and rode on elephants in sets of twos. Tom and I got the biggest and oldest. I felt guilty the entire time, not my favorite thing. The people have it set up so you buy banana and sugar cane to feed your elephant and keep it going. Pui, our elephant, kept reaching his huge trunk back for a snack. We had to buy another bag of treats to keep him happy.  He took us through the river but didn’t spray us. I’m afraid the guide ate most of Pui’s sugar cane.

After the elephant adventure, we arrived in the pouring rain at a river where white water rafting is offered on long narrow bamboo rafts with about six bamboo poles tied together.  I had on my rain poncho over cropped pants and a shirt.  No such thing as staying dry. As soon as I sat down, I had a wet, drenched bottom. A young boy of around 10 or 11 poled us down the river near the other rafts filled with students in their swimsuits. This was a kick! Everyone splashed everyone else, people fell in, the guys poling us slapped the water to get us wet, and at one point our kid let loose of his pole for Tom to catch. Tom couldn’t grab it in time and neither could I. We were adrift with no pole and the raft behind us got our pole to the rescue. There also were some rapids, only enough to make it fun. The whole trip on the river lasted about 45 minutes to an hour. We passed Thai and Chinese vacationers who were staying in grass huts on the river. As they were picnicking and sunbathing, they waved to us.

All in all, it was a wonderful day filled with experiences I never thought I would have. We got back to Uniserve around 4 and were ready to crash.

July 1, 2012 - Entry on Classes and Hill Tribe Excursion

Tom, Christina Firpo and I, along with all 23 of our students, got back yesterday from the overnight hill trip excursion. It was a high point of the trip. The students have been exhausted by the schedule: lots of class time. They begin each day with a 9am history of Southeast Asia class that goes until 11; then they have an hour break, followed by my literature class from 12 to 2. Their major complaint is that then they have a two-hour Thai language class from 2 to 4.  So they are in class for 6 hours. Two days a week, they have a cultural activity at 4:30 that doesn’t finish until 6:30. The cultural activities are Thai cooking and Muay Thai. These activities were supposed to be 3 hours, but I asked if they could be changed to two hours; then I asked if the Thai language could be changed to one and half hours.  The students told me that after an hour of Thai language they were mumbling incoherent baby syllables to pass as a semblance of Thai. One of the younger Thai female teachers started teaching her class Thai dancing after an hour of language. Needless to say, she is a favorite. These language teachers come impeccably dressed for class and are good natured and professional.

Ours students all wear their skirts and long pants with closed toed shoes to fit the dress code, yet they still look as if they crawled out of bed. We, including us profs, stand out from the rest of the university.  All of the students at Chiang Mai University (20,000 undergrads) wear black skirts or pants and white shirts. The majority of the students at the College of Humanities are Chinese and look as if they are in junior high. Our students look much, much older.

After two weeks of class, we were all ready for a change of scheduled routine, so the one-night trip was welcomed. Krith, Cal Poly’s liaison for the Thai study abroad program, who also organizes all international programs and therefore works constantly, took us on this trip along with Thai drivers in three very nice vans.  We first went to the Cultural Museum in Chiang Mai, an excellent museum, similar in theory to the Vietnamese Museum of Ethnology. Then we drove to a national park that has the highest peak in Thailand. After eating lunch, Krith passed out rain parkas and ponchos for everyone because it was raining (it is the rainy season). We hiked in the mud and I mean mud up a hill to an enclosed hut that they called a museum. We were introduced to a Hmong clan leader and his compatriot, both dressed in their traditional clothes. The Hmong are an ethnic mountain tribe who migrated from China many, many years ago to Laos and then Thailand. They fought for the United States during the Vietnam War. Their involvement in the war was unknown because they were recruited by the CIA to fight in Laos, where American soldiers were not supposed to be. The war in Laos is known as the Quiet War, and 30,000 Hmong were killed. After the war, most of the remaining Hmong people fled to Thailand for safety from the Communists and ended up in refugee camps in Thailand. Those who fought were promised asylum in the US for them and their families. About a 1,000-3,000 were airlifted to America; many were left. As a result, many Hmong live in Thailand and other areas of Southeast Asia.  Historically, they have never had a homeland because they were always a migratory mountain tribe.

In the Ethnic Literature class on Southeast Asia that I am teaching, the students and I had just gotten through reading and studying a non-fiction book on the Hmong people. Therefore, they were well prepared for meeting the Hmong representatives in terms of having some historical knowledge of them. The Hmong clan leader, who was characteristically about five feet tall, held himself with much stature and addressed us using a translator. I was extremely pleased because the students asked such good questions and did not fit the stereotype of ignorant or clueless Americans.

His talk was finished with the other man playing the Hmong musical instrument (a red pipe) called the qeej and dancing as a ceremonial welcome.

Krith had handed me a  white envelope with a donation inside for me to present to the Hmong leader.  In the dark of this shelter with it raining outside, I thanked the two men, bowed, and handed the leader the envelope.

In a parade of colored parkas slipping and sliding down muddy trails, we walked back to the vans to ride further up the mountain. The next part of the afternoon was a trek to the Karen tribe and its village. Krith did not trek with us. Three Karen  English-speaking guides led us through the woods (students called it “the jungle”) that followed a rushing, cold-water steam with enormous boulders and cascading water that intermittently plunged into spectacular water falls. Each waterfall was an opportunity for photos out on slippery boulders. One female student climbed out on a fallen tree, protruding out over the rushing water, and straddled it like a bronco while the whole time I was yelling “no.” The water drowned me out.

Several of us fell in the mud as it was so slippery. I established the precedent. Being the first to fall, I alarmed everyone and as they waited in an arrested silence to see if I were hurt.  Although I was startled and couldn’t immediately rise, I yelled out from my bottom-dwelling that I was fine. My pants were not.

This trek for me is one of the highlights in all our travels. We emerged from the green forest and waters into terraces of rice paddies. We hiked through them going down into a valley and out again into a Karen village of about 400 people.

I was separated from Tom and was with a guide and about two other students taking up the rear. As we walked through the guide’s village, we passed a wood and straw house with two women sitting on the steps and a man stooping on his legs. The guide said that they were his brother, mother, and grandmother. We waved. I hesitated, but then asked if we could go over and meet them. I have learned to seize moments like these because they do not come often. He said sure that they had met other trekking Americans. We didn’t take any pictures out of respect. The two women are indelibly sketched in my mind. They were in the Karen traditional red skirts and wore headdresses. The grandmother was 85ish with wrinkles and a kind, serene smile to prove it. The mother wanted to offer us a seat for hospitality; she was clearly proud of her son.

We were the last to arrive at an outdoor coffee shop. The rest of the crew was under a hut drinking the village’s coffee. The coffee trees with its beans were growing all around us. Best coffee ever. They ground it by hand, boiled water on an open wood fire, and poured it through a homemade cloth filter. We all sat at a long wood table ecstatically happy.  The coffee makers pointed to an enormous, exotic green spider hanging on its web above us. Many of the students are completely freaked by spiders; this number includes the tallest and biggest male student. He will flee before anyone. In cooking class one day, he leapt from the bench into the adjoining room so fast I couldn’t imagine what had happened. It was a bug.

Instructions for doing Laundry

There are lots and lots of small shops where you can do laundry.  In case anyone might be confused as to how this works - please see the instructions in the picture above.

Any Questions?

Red Taxi

I realized that I had not posted a picture of the red taxi.  Here are three of them waiting on a major boulevard for clients.  

Waiting for Customers

Carol in the back of a Red Taxi

 And this is Carol in the back of one as we were going to the Saturday Walking Street which is very much like the Sunday Walking Street.  Both feature block after block of vendors selling all sorts of products: bags hand-woven from bulrush, pottery, t-shirts, shoes, trinkets, food, purses and most anything else.  But I digress, back to the red taxis.

These guys cruise around and you wave them down, tell the driver where you want to go and agree on a price – usually 20 baht per person.  If he isn’t going in your direction, he waves you off and you find another.  You might be sharing with others or not.  He may stop to pick up others – or not.  He may take the long way around – or not.  If you decide to get off early – just push the red buzzer and he will stop and let you off.  The whole system makes a lot of sense to me.  They are officially called sorng-taa-ou but red taxi is a lot easier to say.

Royal Family

I happened on a scene today that was right out of a movie.  As I strolled into old town, some streets were blocked off.  I looked down one way and notices a line of official looking vehicles.  There were local police, Highway Patrol, and military vehicles all in a line with lots of unarmed soldiers in full dress standing around. I got a close as they would let me and took this one picture before a got a stern shake of the head.


I waited a bit, after those in the white uniforms lined the red carpet that let to a waiting car, 20 or so well dressed Thai people walked briskly to the waiting cars, opened the doors and stood by the open doors.  The solders then snapped to attention and saluted as band started playing while a person under a large purple parasol (held by someone walking behind) walked to the waiting lead car.  The solders remained at attention until the car drove down the street, did a u-turn and drove on the other side past where they standing.  Only then did they seem to relax a bit and asked one solder who that was, the king?  His English was minimal and he said "no king, but I don't know know how to say."  I pressed a bit and asked "Queen?" and he shook his head and said "daughter of king."  So, I am not completely sure, but I think I saw one of the princesses.  The entourage was certainly impressive.  In consulting my detailed map, it seems that she came out of a school for the blind.  I can only image that there was some dedication or ceremony there that she attended. 
                                                                Very impressive.

Settling In

Chiang Mai is a vibrant, beautiful and modern University town.  It is easy to navigate either by walking or hailing a shared “red taxi” or tuk-tuk.  Monday was orientation for the students (and professors) and then Tuesday and Wednesday were regular class days.

I had a chance to do some exploring on foot the past couple of days and have thoroughly enjoyed.  I walked in a different direction yesterday,  and using a very detailed and well documented “Nancy Chandler’s” map of Chiang Mai, I found lots of interesting eating and drinking places.  One was called Compassion Café.  The café features raw and vegetarian food – good beer and wine.  When I walked by there on Monday, it was hard to tell if it was closed for the day or forever.  I spotted a sign giving hours of operation and indeed they were closed on Monday.  Carol, Christina and I went there for dinner on Tuesday and it was incredible.  How does Vegetarian Philly Cheesesteak sound?  We split that for an appetizer and then Christina had raw Phad Tai and Carol and I both had vegetarian burgers.  I’m sure most of you know that Carol and I are devoted meat eaters but I must say this was extremely flavorful, filling and healthy to boot.  The owner/server was delightful – she was of Chinese/Thai heritage but grew up in England and had a very strong British accent.  The downer about this great find is that they will be closing the restaurant for good at the end of June due to health issues.  We will just have to go back soon to sample the remaining dishes on the menu and help them deplete their stock of BeerLao.

I had a lunch adventure on a walk to Wat Umong the next day.  Wat Umong is a temple with a tunnel.  There are many Buddhas at the end of tunnels where the ceilings are painted with – well, I really am not sure what was there.  It was quite dark and no flash photography allowed.  There were various shrines, museums and dormitories for the monks and a pond filled with fish waiting to be fed.   I saw several people buying bread at a small stand next to the pond and paying homage to the spirits by feeding the fish and pigeons.  Seems like the fish and birds really get the best end of that deal.

On the way to the Wat (rather while lost on the wrong way to the wat) I decided to stop for lunch.  There was a place that looked interesting – lots of students and even a couple of Westerners so I went in and took a seat.  I ordered Larb and soda water.  The server had some difficulty with my order even though I was pointing to my selections.  After a while, a different server came up and rattled off a question in Thai.  Getting no response from me, she called the owner over who asked if I wanted Larb.  I said yes about the same time the original server brought me a coke.  I shook my head no and told the owner I ordered soda water whereupon she looked at the server and said “soda water” which she promptly brought.  After quite a long wait, my original server brought me a dish of something that I was not expecting.  It seemed to be spaghetti in some sort of mushroom cream sauce and a glob of mayonnaise on top.  It wasn’t like any Larb I was familiar with.  I took a tentative bite and found it to be about as yucky as it looked.  I was however quite hungry so decided that I would eat some of it and chalk it up to some sort of different variety of Larb and a learning experience.  After three or four bites – server #2 appeared with a plate of what looked exactly like the Larb I was expecting.  She saw me eating this other dish, yelled at server #1, and took my plate of spaghetti away.  The real Larb was delicious and prepared me for retracing my steps and finding my way to the Wat.

There is no shortage of coffee shops here in Chiang Mai.  There is even a two-storied Starbucks.  However, we were concerned about having our morning two or three cups before breakfast.  Nescafe to the rescue.  We have a hot water pot in the room and we can get our caffeine fix while Carol preps for the day's class and I read the news on line or write blog entries.  

The internet connection at the hotel is very spotty.  It seems the head technician is in the hospital but the staff is talking to him by phone and will ask if there is anything that can be done.  I think it just needs a reset but it could be when all of the guests (students) try to access the internet at the same time with facetime, facebook, skype and you tube that the bandwidth just gives up.  Therefore, I am posting this without Carol's proofing and no pictures for now.  More illustrated posts soon.

Chiang Mai

Even from the air you can tell that Thailand is more developed than Vietnam.  After a short stop at the Bangkok Airport we flew here and could immediately tell we were in a more developed country.  There are fewer scooters (but still lots) and the traffic is much more orderly.  There are even sidewalks that you can sort of walk on.  And even a few crosswalks where cars actually stop and let you cross the street.  We are feeling spoiled.

We checked in and found the room to be quite serviceable - after all this is listed as a hostel.  We unpacked - made a huge laundry pile and set out to explore.  We are hopeless with the street names here.  The large street near us is Nimmanhaemin Road.  We will never get even close on that one so it has become the "N" street.  We located a cafe with air conditioning on "N" street and had some great Thia food and cold Singhai beer.  We crashed and both got up this morning ready to continue exploring.

Carol met with the Thai coordinator named Krith and Christina (the other professor). They clarified a few details about the schedule and red taxi pick-up. Then off we went with Christina to explore a little more.  Lunch and a little rest got us all ready for the "Sunday Walking Street Market."

There is a great system here of the little red trucks with covered benches that you share with whoever is going your way.  You tell the driver where you are going and if that suits him, you agree on a price, usually 20 baht per person, and climb in.  20 Baht is roughly 70 cents and almost all trips around town are 20 baht.  I will post a picture of this favorite mode of transport soon.  We walked around the market and surprise! surprise! Carol found a few things to buy. [ A Carol edit: I bought ONE thing]. I even found a cool t-shirt.  Dinner at an open air restaurant recommended by an American fellow who ran a used book store and then another little red taxi ride back to our home for the next few weeks.  We ran into a few of the Cal Poly students at the market who arrived today or yesterday. They were very polite and very zombified with jet lag.

That's it until tomorrow and the official start of the program.

Observation

We all know that we Americans are larger than many other groups.  The photo shows what happens when mannequins are made to display our clothes but are used to display Asian clothes.

This was typical of so many displays that we saw - they didn't snap the waist or zip up the zipper!

Halong Bay

Had a rather early call this morning for our trip to Halong Bay.  Our guide told us that you haven't really been to Hanoi unless you visit Halong Bay and we are believers.  That being said, many people do a one or two night cruise of the bay and we did just a day trip.  It made for a really long day - almost 8 hours in the car driving and four hours out on the water - but - with limited time it worked for us.  HalongBay is noted for limestone rocks sticking out of the water to form really interesting formations.  There are also some incredible caves to be explored.  It reminded us of the Li River in China.

Kissing Rock

Duck Rock

Just a Pretty Rock

And Naturally, there was food - tons of food.  When we got to the dock, we find this boat that would have held 30 people waiting for just us.  We saw the biggest and most beautiful cave and then had lunch - a feast.  Spring rolls, squid and veggies, whole fried fish, shrimp, rice, Water Morning Glory Spinach, crab cakes, fresh pineapple and off course a cold beer.






We got back to hour hotel around 8, showered quickly and then went out to get a close by dinner.  Food was great, cheap and plentiful as usual.  The scene on a Friday night in Hanoi was the star of the evening.  Near our hotel, there were bars with people spilling out onto the street, sitting on little plastic stools, drinking beer, eating peanuts and having a great time.  As they crept more and more out into the street with the scooters parked here and there, the traffic kept coming.   I am going to try to post a short video of the scene.  I don't know if you will get the full flavor or not but it was a real kick to watch.

 

Off to Chiang Mai tomorrow and a real early call.  Leaving hotel at 6:15 for a 9 AM flight.  I think the hotel staff is being a little overly cautious but oh well, better to be 30 minutes early then 30 minutes late.