Paradise

After Laos and Bangkok, we were paradise bound. Where we went was like stepping into one of those desktop screen savers I always saw on my father's personal computer.  Heaven on earth would be a bit of an understatement.... it was a vacation spot the gods chose to spend time at.
Not only was the view refreshing, but as was what I learned in that quaint little beach town: Ao Nang. Who knew my life wants would become clear on the beach in Thailand? That was of course with the help of my dear backpacking acquaintances who soon turned to be friends.
Advice to those youngsters out there- Hostels are fun! There are literally no social boundaries when it comes to making friends and what you do with them. Our first day there, a few of the girls, including myself, went off to the beach with a couple of chaps we had just encountered at the hostel. We were taken beyond where the tourists gathered, climbed many steps, steps which were infested by local monkeys

 to then approach a secluded beach which included underwater caves and a dock which we ran across
 to jump into the ever-warm emerald sea. We also found a hidden tire swing...

Due to lack of sleep, I retired to bed at about 8 o' clock that night, to then wake at 8 in the morning. Talk about being completely refreshed. The next day would include kayaking from beach to beach on top of that magnificent sea while taking a few breaks to jump into the sea. 

 I am not sure how the other days exactly went... as, my mind can't connect everything at the moment. Another day, included Kate and I escaping the other girls we had spent 24/7 with and were causing much anxiety whilst renting a scooter to explore what else this region had to offer. That was one of the greatest feelings I had felt in my life. Wind rushing through my air in a very tropical region in Thailand, while holding onto one of my best friends (Kate). Tropical mountains loomed over us as we finally agreed upon following a signs to a nearby (I guess if 40 km is nearby) waterfall... Eventually we hit a national park and took the trail to the waterfall and ran into our Dutch/Thai friend we met at the hostel.

Seeing as we didn't actually know we'd be hiking,  we were a bit underprepared. But nevertheless, I made it across the waterfall with the help of Iemka and I was finally able to mark hiking through the jungle off of my list. 

That was that. I awoke the next morning, not sure of exactly what I should do. That was until Lee (an adventurer by heart,) asked me to join him and his friend Conan to seek the emerald pool on the back of a scooter. I gladly accepted and the whole group joined along. It took much too long as the signs were much too misleading. But we nevertheless made it and enjoyed it with utmost satisfaction. 

Here are a few girls in the Emerald pool.











And just above the emerald pool there was a path filled with much mud that led to this sort of pool which had a sort of neon blue glowing effect.

Now, my mind is so confused with what days were which, so these days are a intertwined. Ehhh naja egal. So, as that is the case, ONE OF THESE DAYS all seven girls went on a snorkeling trip. It literally costed $10 for a 5 hour ordeal, bus ride, lunch, pineapple slices, water and 4 stops including 3 different islands/beaches and a stop just in the middle of the sea. Surprised as you may be, this was my first time going snorkeling. It was great fun, though the girls who had been snorkeling in Hawaii said that was better. Nevertheless, it was a great sunny day and the view was spectacular. I'll let the pcitures do the talking ;)

Emi jumping from the boat. 

As sunny days are nice, they also bring sunburns and tans. Here I am showing the world my native american roots. 

We ended the trip well on our last night in Ao Nang. We all went out as sisters to dance the night away at a local bar/club (no.. no alcoholic beverages were consumed). We enjoyed the night with many of the people we had gotten to know the past week.Our bodies swayed to the rhythm of the familiar sounds of american pop music, and nothing else mattered at that moment in time.

As all things must come to an end, this vacation followed that belief.  The sun slipped slowly beneath the tranquil waters, taking us back to the beloved town of Phichit, Thailand and leaving memories which will, hopefully, continue living on for years. 

Oh, yeah I also found a ronald McDonald waiing......

Holiday Part 1

      Yes, I have neglected this blog for much too long and, honestly,  I give my sincerest and deepest apologies, for I promised my typed words on this blog would be updated frequently. Not only do I leave my readers curious, but I leave myself in a self-loathing state, as these posts are very beneficial for myself, and it's not every day one get's to travel to Thailand for an entire four months. Enough said, for I feel like I am constantly apologizing and making promises.

I did make one promise though, and that included new blogposts written by me. So let the adventure begin!

HOLIDAY:
It all started on the night of Tuesday October 22nd, where my group and I set off in a van ordered specifically for us. We were to reach the border of Laos in the morning and we did just that. 6am we stepped into the neighboring country of Laos and got our passports stamped, giving ourselves the satisfaction of marking another country off of our world list. The goal and only point of going to Laos' capitol was for a visa run..... and as my group and probably any foreigner would tell you, a visa run is all that city should be used for.
Our weary bodies made it to the thai embassy, bright and early in hopes of beating the many other foreigners wishing to stay in Thailand a little bit longer. Much to our inconvenience, the Thai embassy turned out to be closed due to a national public Thai holiday. That being said, we were to stay in that hell-hole of a city one more night.
I guess I can't complain too much about Vientiane, as we did get to tour a prosthetic leg museum....

Not to mention get my nails painted..

In the end we received our visas. Thank the lord. 

and our tattered, homesick-for-thailand selves ventured on to the next destination: Bangkok. 

BANGKOK 

Our time in Bangkok, influenced much by the forces of tourism, was an experience nonetheless.  Despite the freezing hostel in which only towels were given as blankets, Bangkok offered us all some sort of thrill. Though if you ask any traveller backpacking through south-east asia, they would probably tell you 1-2 days spent in Bangkok is enough, for Bangkok carries a much different feel than the rest of Thailand. Scam artists flood the streets and should be avoided, not to mention the local prostitutes and ping pong shows... If wanting nature and the hospitality of dear thai people, Bangkok probably wouldn't fit to your wants. 

Anyhow, our trip to Bangkok began with the prominent floating markets. The markets literally reflect their name. We all boarded onto a boat to then set off down the canal filled with similar boats which were filled with merchandise, fruits (not to mention mango sticky rice :o), spices galore, picturesque paintings, etc. etc. We made our way to their boats and they made our ways to ours. 

The floating markets felt much like an attraction at Disneyland. The jungle cruise in real life, anyone? 

                                    

Afterwards we headed towards the grand palace of Bangkok. Unfortunately, we were running late on  time, and short on a few hundred baht  so we missed out on actually going inside the grand palace.

 so we quickly made our way to the reclining buddha

It's always hard to compare pictures with what you actually experience with your own individual eye. That being said: this buddha is HUGE. It looms over the many tourists admiring it. 

That temple was nice, though I must say being in Thailand after a while, the temples tend to blend together and each temple no longer has it's own uniqueness. I've quite enjoyed the spiritual peace each temple brings, though the floods of tourists seem to snatch that feeling away. 

As that was over and done with we were to journey onto the next temple: Wat Arun (also known as the temple of Dawn)........Now as I write about this temple, I take my previous words back. This temple was very unique. Unique in that it allowed me to face my fear of heights, receive a awe-inspiring view of the city of Bangkok, and believe in just one hour that I was a female version of Indiana Jones. And here are just a few photos to please the eye. 

As the evening approached, as did our goodbyes to Bangkok. We wished to end our adventures on a good note. Kate, Emi and I took the transportation of Bangkok.. The SKY TRAIN. A metro above the city, and being girls we thought shopping would end the night well as well as mcdonalds................. 

The shopping at MBK was overwhelming. With over 2,000 shops all in a 6 story building. Of course McDonalds attracted us first. Many ray-bans were bought and Kate and Emi prepared themselves for our next destination with corn rows. The mall was very impressive. A mall in which you can haggle almost any shop owner for a fair price. 

Here we are lookin bad @$$ in our newly bought ray-bans,  and sayin farewell to that Bangkok city life. 

Tame your weeping eyes, for this is just the start of our vacation, as we spent 1 week in paradise in Krabi, Thailand. That blogpost will follow. And and as the TV show announcers say...: to be continued.... 

The best words to describe how I feel about leaving Thailand in 5 weeks. Thailand has been so dear to me.

New blogposts to come ----->

Festivities

     Around this time each year, Phichit holds an annual boat festival. Your mind may just be asking yourself what a boat festival is. Well, I guess a lot of thais take a liking to long boat rowing races, and that's exactly what it was. A festival designated just for the long-boat races on the Nan River in front of the Laung Temple in Phichit (the city we are teaching in).

Watching the boat races alone were pleasing to the eye, but as were all the many vendors who sold everything from puppies, to milkshakes, to octopus on a stick, to shorts, to t-shirts, to tattoos, to ray bans, to iphones,  to instruments I had never seen before, and also nazi flags (whaaaaaaaaa?????) just about anything you wanted, you could probably find it there. Over the entire weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday I bought a total of 3 pairs of shorts, 3 shirts, 3 milkshakes, 1 neon colored orange drink, 7 pancake sort of things with a hazelnut chocolate spread in the middle which was like heaven in my mouth. 

White army of barbies 

It was hot and humid as it always is, and as crowded as could be. One thing I've learned here is how much attention you will get being white in Asia. Constantly we here the word: Phalang, which I guess a simple translation is just foreigner. Who knows... I am so oblivious to all that goes and is said around me here.  Constantly people shout "Hello!" to us in English and tell us how beautiful we are. And more often than not, we are asked to pose in a picture with multiple people. It doesn't make much sense to me, as they use a lot of white creams to make their skin lighter and also only had white barbies for sale. I'll admit, it's cool to be noticed at times, but honestly, being praised and stared at at continuously can get old. For, we were only born on opposite ends of the world.

Going off of continuously feeling oblivious to what is going on around us- I have never felt a language barrier more strongly in my life. We go out into the city quite a lot and and interact with the thai teachers here somewhat- funny thing is, as we speak in our native language, they speak in theirs and nothing is ever accomplished by it. Charades has now become a lifestyle. In fact, coming to think of it- the only legitimate conversation I have had in this town was in German. And zee photos speak the truth . What a sweet lady who showed me that my German does come in handy in Thailand. Seeing that even the packaging at the store is in thai and German and I am able to translate all words.

Along with boat racing competition, we were also introduced to a sport which requires much talent with the human foot and flipkicks. It is much like volleyball, but with your feet. Just a video to prove the swiftness, beauty and pure talent of this sport which we just discovered. America, you will be welcoming a new sport as I arrive back to your land.

The moves these young Thai men preformed were so amusing, my gal Paige and I even became fans of a team.

Funny story this though. At the end of the day on sunday we were determined to get a picture with some of the boaters. As seen in the photo below. For, we are fans of men in uniform. 

Anywho, I thought these pictures were sufficient, though my friend Paige thought differently; she didn't like the photos I took of her and the boaters. I told her that she should stay calm and we would continue looking for other boaters. Eventually we were disappointed in finding no trace of the rowing warriors.... Suddenly the idea came to mind that the Takraw players (foot volleyball) were also men in jerseys and proved to be skilled in a very fascinating sport. So we got there and Paige asked if she could get a photo with them, while chasing them to their headquarters. With much confusion to the english that was being spoken, eventually they agreed. After the agreed upon photos, they asked us kindly to watch the game they were to play in the next hour and a half. We agreed and came back to watch. They won of course and invited us to sit with them and converse. They knew a few words of english and us only a very few amount of thai prhases and words... so the night ended in laughing, language barriers and charades. 

And there you have it... A novel written by McKenna 

Alles bestens 

Three Weeks In

 Survived the first 3 weeks of my inhabitation in Thailand. It feels good, though time seems to be passing by much too quickly.

My apologies if you have been checking up on this blog to then find that I actually haven't posted anything new. I guess this blogpost just makes for a pleasant surprise. :)

It's hard to know what exactly to say or exactly where to start because all that I  experience and see is completely new to my eyes, mind and soul. It also does not help having no ability to organize anything.

I'll start with teaching, for that is where I left off with the last post, I believe. Teaching is quite the experience. My students are the cutest things you could ever lay your eyes on while at the same time- the most obnoxious. These kids could run around, hit each other, scream all day and still not show a small bit of exhaustion, I swear. They suck a lot of energy out of me, but I still continue to adore them.

For the most part, my students English is good and understand most everything I say while being able to get across what they need to say. It's hard knowing exactly what they need to improve on, as we are just replacing the last teachers who were here. My students are roughly the ages 6 and 7 with one child being 5, as he skipped a grade (he's quite the intelligent one.) They struggle with conjugation. For example, "she have a blue pen" while also not being able to get subjects down. Like- "Me want to play, teacher." And then you wonder if getting the point across is more helpful than actually getting the grammar. I believe they'll eventually pick up the grammar... it's also hard having kids be at all sorts of levels and trying to teach
These kids have also taught me quite a bit. One thing being that a monotone voice is never the solution. I'm a person that has never had the ability to produce a lot of emotion. Es ist einfach so. I'm not sure whether I should praise myself in being so, or should pity. Let's just say, it has had to change teaching children.

Here's a few photos of my little rascals

 Aomsin and Pan

 Pordee (the intelligent 5 year old)

Pordee took my camera and had a blast snapping photos

 Pan and Post

 Aishi

 Meephoo is my ninja

And there is a blogpost which is semi dedicated to the teaching life.

CIAO
All the best
M.C   Kenna