A Hilarious Blog Post

I have been dreading writing my post about our rural village home stay because it is a lot of info to cover and let’s be honest I’m a busy person. Sorry to reveal the (wo)man behind the curtain but these blog posts do not just write themselves. Luckily, as I mentioned earlier, I am abroad with the my best friend. The thing about my best friend is that she is in many ways superior to me. It is a blessing and a curse. For example, Pegeen just wrote this hilarious blog post about our home stay and it is far, far more detailed and funny than anything I could come up with.

Given that Pegeen’s birthday is this week I figure the least I can do is get her some more hits on her own fledgling travel blog. So if you are interested in my home stay experience or if you just need a laugh (and don’t try to tell me you don’t need a laugh) please click on the above link and enjoy!

I stayed in a different house than Pegeen but other than that we did the same activities each day and lived in the same village community. I was able to effectively interact with only one member of my family (via a smart phone translation app… Oh the wonders of the globalization!) but, like Pegeen, I exchanged many smiles with my Thai mother, brother, sister, nephew, and potentially lesbian sister-in-law. So that was good.

The time I had to myself in Baan Ton Chok I usually spent running or walking on the surrounding roads. On my runs through the village I was stopped by almost every motorcycle and pick-up truck asking if I needed a ride. I swallowed a lot of bugs. I also met an American man who had retired from a career in aerospace engineering in Los Angeles at age 53 and resettled in Baan Ton Chok after falling in love with his fruit farm on a bike trip in Northern Thailand 2 years ago. He said I was the first American he has spoken to in 6 months! If you are looking for a unique retirement option email me and I will give you his information (seriously, he was very adamant that I spread the gospel of Northern Thai Retirement).

Happy Birthday Pegeen!

Gender Equality is an Uphill Battle

I spent the last week living in a rural village a few hours North (I think) of Chiang Mai called Ban Ton Chok (or something like that). And I had a great time! I will blog about how great of a time I had later.

Right now I must press on to cover an urgent issue that is very near and dear to my heart… women’s rights. Yesterday Pegeen, Olivia and I ventured up our local mountain on a pilgrimage to Chiang Mai’s most famous temple, Doi Suthep, only to find a few miles in that we were trapped on the precipice of what was clearly a “No Skirt Zone.”

We debated for a while about whether this sign meant no skirts at all, or perhaps just no mini-skirts, in light of the fact that we seemed to be nearing a smaller temple. I am ashamed to admit that I had a fleeting urge to leave behind Olivia, the only skirt-wearer, on the trail where she surely would have befallen a swift death via tigers eating her.

Ultimately, it dawned on us that this sign was intended for all women, probably even women who were wearing blue and grey/orange athletic shorts.

How could it have taken us so long to recognize this sign for what it was – a misogynistic ploy to spoil our fun! A thinly veiled symbol of systematized female oppression in the modern age!

Standing in the Thai jungle, staring down this literal and proverbial fork in the road, I felt the struggles of all the civil rights activists who came before me weighing heavily on my shoulders. Being the crusaders for gender equality that we are, it seemed there was only ever one path for us. We had to venture into the NSZ (“No Skirt Zone”).

Also the other path was too narrow and completely covered in leaves, plus we had already woken up at 8:00 am on a Sunday and walked like 3 or 2 miles straight up and were not about to turn around without seeing at least one temple.

At first our steps were timid, and then emboldened by the reality that no one dared stop us from marching onwards (including the other women visiting the temple). Once it became clear that our brave defiance against NSZs everywhere had worked, the rest of our day was tinged with the special kind of magic that can only come from true acts of feminism.

Of all the tourists that visit Chiang Mai and Doi Suthep, very few actually make the 9 or 10 kilometer hike. Instead, most prefer to drive to the top of the mountain and in doing so they miss the very special temple a little under halfway up that we enjoyed even more than Doi Suthep. There were only a few visitors at this temple, which was perched on the edge of a waterfall overlooking the city, and whose grounds contain countless small, special details including rainbow trees and painted shutters.

Of course, only a minority of visitors could access this temple prior to our arrival due to its status as a NSZ. On behalf of myself, Pegeen and Olivia I would like to say: you’re welcome world, for sharing this gem of a temple with the other 51% of the global population.

I’m not exactly sure how it happened (I wasn’t lead hiker at the time), but shortly after leaving the small formerly NSZ temple we lost the woodsy trail we had been following and ended up on a windy, cement road where we remained for the next 4 or so miles, all the way to Doi Suthep. Given that we were the only hikers on the road, and given the sheer volume of tour busses and giggling tourists that whizzed by us on the way up I expected that most people at Doi Suthep would express their admiration for the three strong, independent women who had steadily trudged alongside a constant stream of motorcycles and taxis. However, when we reached the top of the mountain and began to climb (read: crawl) up Doi Suthep’s 300-some steps, most other tourists seemed rather alarmed by the amount of sweat that was rolling off our backs onto the temple’s gleaming golden walls.

Doi Suthep would be beautiful in any conditions, but there is no way for me to describe how the temple, which is a staple of our daily mountain view from campus, looked after we made the trek straight from the front door of our apartment building. On the way back from our rural home stay on Saturday, our Thai teacher turned to Pegeen, Olivia and I and declared, “St. Lawrence students are adventurous!” He is right, of course. Little does he know St. Lawrence students are also the reason for the abolition of NSZs.

Figuring out Public Transportation

The above photo is proof that I have been riding an elephant to class!

I’m kidding, classes haven’t started yet. Actually, we discovered when classes would begin and where they would be held just an hour ago. That’s why I haven’t blogged yet – because I wanted to be sure of some crucial and previously unknown facts about this mysterious program before posting about my life in Chiang Mai.

I’m kidding, that’s not why I haven’t been blogging. While I am on a pretty mysterious program (the first time St. Lawrence has ever sent students to Chiang Mai through IPSL) the truth is that I have this new toy called a Kindle. It really is an incredible invention, but if you don’t have one yet I would highly recommend never ever getting one, as Kindles are also dangerous and addictive little machines.

Using my tiny electronic life-ruiner I started reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (a 784 page novel) on my plane from Singapore to Chiang Mai, and have been sucked into a whirlwind of terrorist bombings, oxycotin addiction, antique selling, and a very painful cocktail of emotions ever since. I know The Goldfinch is a bestseller and all but I really would not recommend binge-reading it in 4 days.

Of course almost every ounce of free time I’ve had in Chiang Mai so far has been consumed by my Kindle (aka miniature torture device) and so I have not yet had a moment for blogging until now. You will be relieved to know that I have also done a fair amount of exploring and now that I am finally free from The stupid Goldfinch I have plans to do a whole lot more. And I am not going to pick up my “handy” “portable” “e-reader” for the rest of the semester. Here are some highlights from my first week in Chiang Mai:

1. I am studying abroad with my best friend. Her name is Pegeen, and if you don’t already know her you are in for a treat! Rest assured you will definitely learn more my CBFF (college best friend forever) through this blog in the months to come. Pegeen now lives down the hall from me in our Thai apartment building and I feel so lucky to have had someone to race me up a staircase in the Seoul airport at 1:00am, to remind me where I put my passport, and to tear me away from my e-reader nemesis. The only other SLU student in Thailand this semester is our wonderful friend Olivia, who makes up the last third of our fabulous fun-loving trio!

The trio goes to the Elephant park

2. My roommate is clearly the cutest, most popular gal in Thailand! Her name is Few, and she also attends Chiang Mai University where I start classes next week. She has been kind enough to show me around and introduce me to some of her awesome friends, like her boyfriend Note and our favorite Thai diva named Arm. Note drives a motorcycle. Arm is sassy.

Arm has nicknamed Pegeen “Pax” because he can’t pronounce her American nickname “Pegs”. Here he is teaching Pax the power of a sexy wink.

Arm took me uniform shopping and introduced me to his “new boyfriend”!

Few, Note and I at my first Thai drag show.

3. I went to my first Thai drag show. I am pretty sure it was hilarious but all the jokes were in Thai, so there is a possibility that Thais are just an easy audience.

4. We went to a Thai massage parlor, where the masseuses were blind and therefore more sensitive to touch (or something like that). Since the massage my body has been feeling a little uneven and I know it’s because while my masseuse was halfway through my right side I was overtaken by an inexorable giggle fit that lasted so long he finally gave up and moved to my left side. While the nearby Thai customers seemed a bit perturbed, the blind masseuses giggled right alongside me… Laughter needs no vision (probably an ancient Thai proverb)!

5. I bathed with elephants. This I have no photographic evidence of, as I could not bring my camera in the pond with me but below are some more photos from our incredible day at Baan Chang elephant park. And no, I have no idea why we had to wear those strange denim outfits.

Why I Hate my Haircut (Also I’m in Asia)

My dream has always been to have long, flowing hair with the perfect amount of “beachy wave” while traveling abroad. My fellow travelers, locals, and the average Americans viewing my pictures from home will come to regard me as a beautiful, worldly and profoundly “go with the flow” kind of traveler. And just when it seems impossible, my hairstyle will show the world how to embody ruggedness and stoicism all at once.  Today, as I sit in the Singapore airport and await my flight to Chiang Mai, I am facing the harsh reality that my second chance at this dream has once again been foiled. By my mother.

If you want to learn more about why my mother is a saboteur of dreams, you’ve come to the right place.  Welcome to my second abroad blog! Well actually it’s the same one that I used last spring while studying in Kenya (see East Africa posts below) but the URL is different (see URL in your browser – www.goabroadwithally.wordpress.com). This semester I will be studying at Chiang Mai University in Northern Thailand and traveling around Southeast Asia for the next 5 months. And yes, this blog is back only by popular demand. Thank you to my crazed fan-base (my parents’ friends) who convinced me to keep blogging throughout my second semester abroad.

Not much has changed in the months since I returned home from Kenya.  I still attend St. Lawrence University, where I continued to pursue a Global Studies major this past fall.  I still love summer camp. I am still close friends with Max (featured in the very popular blog post “Making Memories with Max”, circa Spring 2013). The only thing that has changed, really, is my hair. Thanks to my mother, I lost 4 (felt like 6) inches of my hair last January just prior to my departure to Kenya when I visited the hair salon for a supposed “routine trim”. I am convinced that my mom persuaded (bribed) the hairstylist to cut off half my head while I innocently and unknowingly donned my robe in the fitting room.

I spent the rest of 2013 growing out my hair. And yes, I know it is unhealthy to go that long without a haircut but I was determined to redeem myself. Someone lucky enough to spend two semesters abroad should know not to make the same mistake twice! Enter my mother. A few weeks ago she made a dinner reservation for our family at a restaurant that happened to place candles on all their tables. Who does that?! Thanks to my mother, I dipped my wrist full of flammable friendship bracelets into a candle and subsequently held my wrist up to my hair. It was with a flaming head and a heart full of regret that I regarded my beautiful, now singed locks of hair lying woefully on the restaurant floor. My mother, on the other hand, “didn’t know whether to help or take a picture!”

So once again, I am embarking on a semester abroad with hair much shorter than I would like. Obviously I was forced to see a professional hairstylist last week, who evened out my hair and cut off all the burnt bits in lieu of what should have been another “routine trim”.  So I hate my haircut. However, I am still hopeful. I went abroad with a sucky haircut in 2013, and I can do it again in 2014! Here’s to a semester full of personal and, most importantly, hair growth.