Mythbusters: Thailand... Part Two

"You're moving to Thailand for a year?! Wow... you're gonna come back so skinny."


Do you know how many times I heard this before coming here? Everyone was so sure I would return to the States looking as skinny as ever because Thai people are so tiny. I would like to take this time to laugh in their faces. BAHAHA. This so-called "Thai skinny" isn't relevant to farang. Let's review why.


1. Food. Yes, I no longer spend my weekends baking tasty treats and devouring about 3.2 cupcakes as well as a solid 5 tablespoons of some sort of batter per week (my baking addiction is on a tragic hiatus while in Thailand), but that doesn't negate the fact that my diet is a constant flow of noodles, rice, and a whole lot of oil and chiles. Everyday, I am faced with the decision- "Do I want noodles or rice for lunch?" And it is always- ALWAYS- delicious. So delicious, in fact, that I feel the need to eat every last bite of my giant plate, even if I am about to explode. It's seriously a really good thing that 97% of my pants are elastic-waisted. There is no healthy salad option. No 'light' fare. Even if there was, am I supposed to turn down authentic Thai food? How could I ever say no to fresh Pad Thai, Phak Kii Mau, and Khao Soy? Despite the insanely heavy food coma I experience after every meal, making it nearly impossible to function, eating is an experience here. So much of Thai culture revolves around food. Dinner is an event. Thai people pride themselves on their food, as they should, so ya know what? Pass me some fried, MSG-laden, spicy deliciousness and Let's. Get. Fat. 

    



2. Exercise. You would think with my given diet, I would be more compelled to exercise and get rid of my rice belly. But, no. Just no. I've tried- I have. It started with long walks at night and some pool time a couple times a week. But once my nights got a little too busy, and my appetite got a little bit bigger, that failed. I tried a group outdoor jazzercise class once, but embarrassed myself. My few attempts at a run were trampled by stray dogs, chickens and the heat. I bought a yoga mat as motivation and went through a phase of using it, but now its covered in dead bugs. It doesn't matter that I've swept them off and cleaned the mat, because, the next day, it was covered again. So instead as a motivator, it's really just a decorative rug. The purple adds a nice touch to my room. I think my next option is to do as the Thais do and buy a hula hoop. Who doesn't love some hula hoopin' fun?  

Clearly, this woman agrees. 

3. Heat. Thailand is hot. And not just sunny hot, but ridiculously humid hot. Running/exercising outdoors is barely an option if you want to breathe. Walking from school to home (a whole 5 minute walk) is sometimes physically exhausting because of the heat. Such extreme heat can really do some damage. There are days that I literally can't even think of moving after a day of work. There was a period of time that I thought I had some weird disease and was probably going to die because I had zero energy after school. But then I realized that with the lack of iron in my diet and the intolerable heat, I was probably in need of some vitamins and AC. 


There you have it. The 'Thai-skinny" isn't real. I wish it was. Or I at least wish that being a little healthier was as easily accessible as it is in the States. I miss the gym. I miss dance class. I miss hummus. But, for the time being, I just need to embrace being anything but the 'Thai-skinny' and eat another heaping plate of Pad Thai. 

Random Ramblings

School has started. It has been about three weeks and it is completely different than last semester. I know what I’m doing (I think) and I have so much more control. During vacation, there was a good chunk of time where I thought “I can’t do this again.” I was loving the backpacker lifestyle, but now that I’m with the students- all my anxieties and dread went away and here I am, back in Suphan, as Kru Nell. And I CAN do it. What I can’t do, however, is write a coherent blog post. So here are my random ramblings....

1. I’m 25. Thanks to Kru Sarah, I have 120 birthday cards (and a tuk-tuk necklace!). Thanks to my friends, I had a great time in Bangkok celebrating and eating Mexican. Thanks to Thailand, I am not having a quarter life crisis....well, maybe Thailand is the quarter life crisis. Thanks to my family and friends back home, I had a big smile on my face the whole day. You all rock. 

2. I experienced Thai hospital #2 and it was so much better than round 1. I had an allergic reaction to a bug bite which led to me putting on a band-aid, to which I had an even worse reaction the adhesive, which led me to a swollen, disgusting, throbbing foot, which led me to the hospital where I was given lots of antibiotics and told I had a secondary bacterial infection. Fun! Slash.....gross!

3. I went to the Legend of Rock concert in Suphan last weekend. Four members from very reputable bands came together for one night and one night only for a night of pure magic. It was awesome. I fell in love with the drummer. 

4. A family of geckos has officially moved into my room. Pro: Less bugs in my room Con: The mother/father (how do you tell the sex of a gecko?) is a pretty loud squeaker.

5. I can’t stop listening to Adele or The Black Keys. I’m really digging the Coldwar Kids, too.

6. Should I go to grad school? I bought a GRE prep book as a motivator. Maybe I am having a quarter life crisis. 

7. One of my students is OBSESSED with Justin Bieber. All of the teachers simply call her Bieber. She puts it on her notebooks, her homework, her tests, her hand, her facebook name....you get the point.... she’s Bieber. Anyways, in a recent journal writing, she informed me that there was going to be a Bieber flash mob in Suphan. I committed. I think I’m a Belieber. 

8. I want to bake these....and these....and eat a lot of this. 

9. I bought a sketchbook and have spent hours consumed in it. I forgot how fun it was to draw. 

10. I re-watched Season 2 of How I Met Your Mother and was reminded of this gem. I’ve had Let’s Go to the Mall stuck in my head for 5 days.

11. Sarah found a photo hunt machine in Suphan. The next 4 months just got SO much better. It was an addiction back home...and I was pretty, pretty good at it, so this is really exciting news.

12. I miss my friends. 

13. I missed the NKOTBSB concert in Boston and it actually hurts to think about it. Seriously?! That duo is perfection. Jing jing!

14. I saw the Hangover 2. I thought it was funny, and I loved that I was in Bangkok while watching it, but it wasn’t as funny as the first one.  What did you think?

15. I have another student who randomly wants to learn Spanish, so I teach him what little I know and he is pretty darn good at it. His name is Arm (awesome). So, basically, I am teaching him two languages at once....no big deal. 

16. I want to play with Cam so badly. It breaks my heart that I can’t. 

17. It rains here a lot. It is officially rainy season and YIKES DADDY it rains hard. The rain brings out the frogs, which are, for the most part, cute. But the other day, on our way back from Pad Thai Lady, Sarah and I saw a pair of boys with a plastic bag chasing down the frogs and capturing them. So sad, but I guess they had a pretty good dinner that night. 

18. Thailand is hot. I’m sweating. I need to take a shower.

19. I still hate cold showers. 

Loungin' in Langkawi

Without a single rupiah to my name, and very little baht, Sarah and I continued on to the last leg of our adventure. Could we do Malaysia on a budget, too? Well, we really didn't have a choice since we went a little rupiah-wild in Bali, but we still had a ourselves a grand time.


Our destination was Langkawi, a small island bordering Thailand, but we had to stopover in Kuala Lumpur first. We had a long layover, so we had just enough time to see the sights, take the necessary jumping pictures, explore Central Market and eat the local food (Roti Canai= deliciousness). It was a hot one, so we were more than happy to return to the air-conditioned airport to get our flight to Langkawi. 

Petronas Towers

Langkawi was very different than what I had expected. For starters, it was much bigger than I had thought. I thought it was a walkable island, but it was far from that. We had to take cabs to get to most spots. What struck me the most, however, was how 'lost' Langkawi was. It was still trying to figure out what kind of island it wanted to be. Was it a party place? A place to relax? Resort central? It was a little bit of everything. And for now, that works, because it wasn't overly crowded or expensive, so you can have your choice of lifestyle. We went with the most budget friendly- cheap hostel, plop down on the beach, eat local food and go to the most popular tourist locations. But, I bet in 10 or so years, this place will be the ultimate paradise. I mean, it's gorgeous...it just needs a little tourism boost.


 It rained a lot, but in odd time increments, so we had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves. Langkawi was a great way to finish up our SE Asian adventure and rejuvenate ourselves for a brand spankin' new semester. 


TOP 5 Langkawi:


5. Cable Cars: The biggest tourist attraction on the island. You climb into a 4 person cable car and slowly and shakily make your way up, up, up, up and up a mountain to the peak, providing stunning views and a mild panic attack. Of course, once we made it to the top, the clouds rolled in and it started pouring while we were walking across a hanging bridge. So yea, I had about 4 panic attacks at the top, but hey, I survived and I saw a lot of pretty things. 

Nervous!

4. Breakfast: Okay- I lied a little bit. We didn't eat only local food. We splurged and ate a delicious breakfast almost every morning. We had fresh chocolate croissants, incredible iced coffee and a GIANT piece of toast with PB and banana. It's sad, but these are the types of things that get me really excited. But look at it- it's heavenly!

Booyah!

3. Babylon: We spent most of our nights admiring the sunsets, hanging out on the beach and then walking a long distance back to our hostel. We were on a budget- it had to happen. But on our last night we decided to check out a recommended local bar. It was a reggae bar, called Babylon, right on the beach and it was quite popular. It happened to be one of the employees birthdays, and his name was Pony, so OBVIOUSLY we had to celebrate with him. Duh. And celebrate we did...I regretted it a little bit the next morning for my flight, but it is always a better vacation when you hang out with the locals. And as a Bonus Jonas, we met a group of travelers from Boston (!!!!) Even better- one was living in Southie and another was a BC grad! I died of excitement. 


2. Private Beaches: The Tanjung Rhu Resort is the most famous resort on Langkawi because of its location and its private beach which places you directly in front of Thailand. It is an unbelievably beautiful sight.....buuuut it wasn't meant to be seen by us. It is meant to be seen by newlyweds having their romantic honeymoon and who are paying a good penny (or ringit) to spend time there. Backpackers on a budget aren't supposed to be there, but somehow, by pure accident from a mixed-up cab driver and a flustered doorman, we made it through the barrier and spent one of our afternoons lounging on the most gorgeous beach on the island. Pure awesomeness. We may have repeated the offense at a different resort, but let's not get into it. 


              

Hello Thailand

1. Sunsets: No matter if it was cloudy, rainy or sunny during the day, Langkawi provided us with amazing sunsets EVERY night. We spent hours walking up and down the beach, taking gazillions of jumping shots and enjoying the view. It was the perfect way to end each day. And i have about 500 pictures to prove it. 

Just a little sunset yoga

I love jumping!

Honorable Mentions:  


Zackry's Guesthouse: For a hostel that claims to offer the least possible assistance, it was great! Free wifi, cheap beds, big rooms, books, beach mats and.....only the greatest perk of all....STARWORLD. Sarah and I live for hostels with Starworld. It's just a TV channel with some of our favorites from America. But, really, it's so much more. 

What a beauty

PB M&Ms: Seriously, I don't think life would be the same without PB M&Ms. They don't exist here. I've sent way too many PB M&M package requests to my parents (and THANKS for the amount of times you've sent them) but they are inaccessible here...and it hurts. But then there was the Kuala Lumpur duty free. The airport was able to make my dreams come true. Right there in front of us, our beloved M&Ms. Of course I bought some but I refuse to admit the embarrassing price I paid for them. Worth it!

Aroi Maak Maak

Bali on a Budget

Recovery time from post-Gili depression was fairly quick. It would be pretty pathetic if Bali couldn't rid me of my sadness. Once stepping off of the ferry and through the crowd of persistent women selling sarongs, bananas, fans, quilts, etc, we hopped in a bus and made our way to Ubud, the cultural center of Bali. As we drove through rice paddies and by Balinese temples, I was super anxious to get off of the bus and explore. The place was teeming with culture and I wanted to be part of it. Also, I was starving. 

We found ourselves a cute little hostel and then made our way around Ubud, searching for a delicious meal and getting easily distracted by the array of stores. Seriously, I could have spent a lot of money in this place. BUT, alas, I was poor. Sarah and I realized that we were ripping through our limited baht a lot quicker than expected and would have to institute some sort of budget in our final days in Indonesia if we wanted to make it to Malaysia. Every time one of us was tempted by some beautiful decor or clothing, the other would yell out "Budget!!!" and then we would put it back down... breaking our hearts one souvenir at a time. However, our idea of smart budgeting was kind of skewed because this is basically what it came down to:


 In the Budget:
-Dinner at more bumping and social places
-An "I Heart Bali" tote, a sarong and a batik.
-Accomodation (a little off the beaten road, but, hey, we had beds)
-A 2 hour peppermint massage and body scrub. (Whoops! We almost spent even more of the chocolate option, but came to our senses.)
-Cornetto ice cream (they had new flavors!)


 Not in the budget:
-Lunch
-A trek up Mount Batur at sunrise (upsetting but it was raining that night, anyways).
-A social life
-Entrance fees to various temples and sights. 


Barely in the budget:
-Taxi fare to the airport
-Departure tax


Things got a little scary. We thought the fare to the airport was about half of the actual price and we were clueless about the departure tax until the day before leaving. We literally spent every last rupiah and had very little baht to get us through Malaysia. However, we were still able to see a fair amount of Ubud. We wandered around, saw a couple of gorgeous temples, saw the famous tiered rice paddies, frolicked through another rice paddy (very Eat, Pray, Love), went to a coffee farm and tried DELICIOUS blends, and hired a driver for the day to bring us to some of the more popular attractions. Unfortunately, the rain came...it came hard...and cut our day of tourist attractions short. It was definitely a buzzkill but it gives me a great excuse to come back to Bali. Which, by the way, I WILL. 

Rice paddies!

View of the mountain. Thank you, rain.

Jolly jaunt around the paddies

Gili T Lovin'

I've returned from paradise. I was in Bali...BALI (!!!) and ya know what? It was everything I hoped it would be and more. I felt like I was in Bali and I embraced it for all that it was. After spending a rough night at the airport to catch our super early flight, Sarah and I were very ready to plop down on the beach and enjoy our final weeks of vacation. 

Our beds for the night. Oy. 

We arrived in Kuta, the most touristy beach of Bali, and explored the area. It was nice- nothing special- but like I said....I was in Bali, life was good. 

Spiritual offering on Kuta Beach

Although we were staying at one of the nicest hostels I've ever stayed in (The Island- it's awesome. You should go.), we woke up before the sun to catch a bus to catch a ferry to the Gili Islands. What in the world are the Gili Islands? I'm glad you asked. They are PARADISE, HEAVEN, LIFE, UNBELIEVABLE, LEGEND...wait for it....DARY! The Gilis are three small islands about 2 hours (by speedboat) from Bali. We had heard from a few backpackers that if we ever found ourselves in Indonesia, we HAD to go there. We were told on multiple occasions that the Gilis were the most beautiful place in the world, so we decided to spend a good 4 days there to soak up its awesomeness. 

As the ferry neared the shore, it was love at first sight. Turquoise waters, coral filled beaches, volcanoes in the backdrop, blazing sun, and blue skies, all outlining a small mass of lush, green hills. We stayed on Gili Trawagnan (Gili T), which is the biggest and most social of the three, but it is still only a 2 hour walk around the entire island (which I advise you NOT to do at sunset, even if you are overwhelmed by beautiful sunsets on empty sands, but then suddenly find yourself even more overwhelmed by fear of being on a deserted beach turned unlit road in the middle of an island in Indonesia with no clue where to go and being completely dependent on the flashlight on your cellphone that looks like it was made circa 2000. But don't worry...that's not not what happened). ANYWAYS, it was true love. We spent our days lounging on the sand or in our own little hut on the water, and moved ourselves over to the array of beanbags/mats on the beach to enjoy some dinner and a mojito at night (that happened a lot). Once the sun was down and I showered in my open bathroom (roofless!), we made our way over to one of a few giant movie screen projectors, nestled into a beanbag on the beach and enjoyed a good movie with some delicious ice cream (that also happened a lot). The island was incredibly relaxed, made even more-so by the banning of dogs and motors (no cars, motorbikes, trucks, etc), so I was one happy chica. Basically, I've been spoiled. Gili stole my heart. It was truly heartbreaking to get back on the ferry to go back to Bali. But when I realized I was going on a ferry to go back to BALI, I knew everything would be A-OK.

True LOVE

Hut action.

This happened

And a lot of bit of this happened. Like my henna?

Soccer with volcanoes in the background. NBD. 

YUM

We're Soaring...Flying...

 First of all, if you can reference the inspiration for this blog title, I love you. Secondly, I may or may not be watching it as I type this. 


 Alas, Songkran came to an end, but the fun wasn't over yet. Sarah, her sister and her sister's friend had joined the party up North and we still had some oomph left in us. It was my last day in Chiang Mai and we decided to do something crazy to truly make it the best week ever.  We signed up for The Jungle Flight. The Jungle Flight is a ziplining tour through the jungle. We zip-lined from tree to tree (about 35 platforms in total), walked across shaky canopy walks high above the ground, and even abseiled (straight drops) down from a few of the trees. I thought I'd be a nervous wreck, but they basically give you some hairnets, a helmet, harness you in, give you a QUICK introduction and then push you off of a tree platform. I was soaring through the jungle before I had a chance to panic. 


It was unbelievably fun and a great way to see the jungle. The longest zipline was about 900 feet long, while the tallest abseil was 120 feet above ground (scary!) Our guides were crazy and kept us laughing the whole time. They loved to make us freak out by yelling "No NOT that one!" after we had unhooked ourselves 50 feet above the ground during the abseils. I think I only squealed once. 


I know Laos offers an extended version of this and I definitely want to try it out. Rather than a few hours in the trees, you spend 2 days zip-lining and spend a night in a tree house. I think it will be pretty awesome. 


Here are a few snapshots from way up high:

Hairnets? Check. 

Amy ziplining AND peace-signing. Impressive.

Sarah in action

Abseil!

View from the top

Srall with one of our guides.

   And here's a quick video I took while in flight!

Untitled from Nell Riccio on Vimeo.

      Now I'm off enjoying the sun in BALI and LANGKAWI. What is my life? I don't hate it.

Let's Do This Thang: Songkran 2011

Sawatdee Pee Mai!

A Songkran Haiku

Dirty and Icy,

Water is everywhere.

Bucket to the face.

Ok, so obviously haikus aren't my thing, but I honestly have no idea how to describe the gloriousness of this holiday. April 13th-15th marks the Thai New Year and this country seriously knows how to celebrate. The entire country shuts down and partakes in water fights to the most epic proportions. Chiang Mai is known as the Songkran hotspot so I obviously had to go. 

I arrived on Sunday night knowing that the events would definitely begin on Tuesday afternoon, but as of Monday morning, things were getting a little wet and wild. I met up with a few people, found the perfect weapon (a Doraemon gun) and walked around the neighborhood and attacked little children with water. They still owned us. From that moment on, I was in Songkran mode and only stayed dry for 5 minutes max until Friday night.

For 5 days straight, it was a pure water war. People filled the streets, squirting guns in your face, dumping buckets on your head, whipping buckets at your body, and/or spraying you with a hose. Nobody is safe. Truckloads of people (I'm talking 20+ people per vehicle) circled around town with trash barrels full of ICE water and doused you. If you tried to escape the frigid shower, you got attacked on the other side by 1, 2, 3, sometimes 36 buckets of dirty river water, while also succumbing to about 6 other people relentlessly squirting at you with more ice water from guns of all shapes and sizes. IT. WAS. AWESOME.

I have never been so happy. I spent the entire week with a huge grin on my face. It was impossible to not love life. Yeah, there were times at night, when I was dry and warm, hungry for dinner, and wanting more than anything to stay dry (to no avail), but it made everything more exciting. It was like an obstacle course to get from Point A to Point B, trying to avoid buckets to the face. I am still in complete shock that I am not dying of some weird disease after what I put my body through that week. Mai Pen Rai. 

To add to the fun of Songkran, I met a really cool, super fun group of people (Little Bird Guesthouse is the best!) that made my experience even better. I basically spent the entire week hanging out with the same group of people, some of whom included CIEE members that I hadn't seen in a while. Between Songkrannin', the people, the food, and the environment, this week goes down as one of the best of my life. 

Courtesy of Google

Game Face
(Photo courtesy of Sarah)

Tuk-tuk attack!

(via Google)

Wet and Wild
(Photo via Sarah)