Thailand

So I have now been in Thailand for a week and it is time to go. What an amazing place. I am going to give some really great highlights, because I am a bit pressed for time, but the moral of the story is, I flew into Bangkok last Wednesday night, spent two days there before we headed to Chiangmai in the north, spent a night there, went out trekking in the jungle, and then spent one more night in Chiangmai. This afternoon we are going to Burma, and I can just tell that the adventures will do nothing but continue. P.s. I lost my camera, left it on the bus from Northfield to to the airport and it may or may not be sent. Basically, I don't have any of my own pictures of Thailand, but I will do better now that I just spent 8,090 baht on a new one. Ok, highlights!

Bangkok is amazing. We stayed at the Royal Princess Hotel, which is really really nice, and I had the greatest roommate. We both wanted to lay in bed in the morning, no one woke up before the alarm, and we talked into the wee hours. The best things about Bangkok were the Royal Palace, where I wore a wool airplane blanket as a skirt in 90 degrees (and humid) and saw some amazing gold on everything and the emerald Buddha. It's really interesting because every king gets a new palace and they're just everywhere, in completely different styles. We saw the throne the king was coronated on 62 years ago, and it hasn't been used since then. We went back to the hotel and that afternoon went on a great adventure with very little instructions to find the place we were going to meet a boat for dinner. Took a bus without marked bus stops, a Skytrain, and then a boat that didn't stop at the dock we needed to get off on so we missed our stop and had to navigate back from the next stop. It was crazy fun. Tried some Chang beer in the street, which was funny because none of them were cold and I just asked the guy selling them what was good and he told me one that was only warm, so I ended up with that one. Apparently it's the beer most Thai people drink. We went on a dinner cruise which was a little over the top, but really nice to keep the jetlag off.

Next day, Friday, we went to the Jim Thompson house... look him up, it's pretty cool and his house is amazing. Very traditional thai, which was cool. Biggest stingray in the world at that place, too. Scary. I thought it was a vacuum cleaner. Yikes! It was just in a little pool at the house. In the afternoon on Friday we walked around trying to find money and watches, with little success, but seeing people in the street, selling amazing food, and being as friendly and nice and gracious as the Thai are was just so great. That afternoon, we went to the train station, where professor Tun Myint told Vivyan, Mollie and me that some students nearby wanted to interview us for school. We said of course! and only one of them was outgoing enough to talk to us, Wittaya. We met his friend Surichai after that, who told us he graduated in January with a degree in English and he asked for my email address before reluctantly asking for Vivyan's and Mollie's and giving only me his. Vivyan and I now have a goal to have an Asian boyfriend in every country. So far, so good. We rode the train for about 14 hours, overnight, with sleeperbeds that were a little weird, and people went crazy, but it was fun. I lost 50 baht playing poker with Will T, but it was all for some fun on a long, boring trainride.

We were delayed a bit getting to Chiangmai, but we got there by 9am and went to the nicest hotel I have ever seen. The 4 star hotels in Spain have nothing on this place. A great buffet breakfast for all of us, a beautiful pool, and a wonderful, crazy city that is just about the perfect size, if not a little too touristy in the areas that are most evident and near to what we're doing. We spent the day exploring the city with a tourguide and a local university student in order to study our "sectors" that we each have to study. We were in groups of about 7, exploring the city by truck taxi and foot and it was an incredible way to see the place. I will write more about this after Burma, which we are leaving for right now. Lots of love! I will start taking pictures now! Comment, please!

To Asia I Go

So, friends, tomorrow I leave for Asia with the Carleton Political Economy Seminar. Mainly we'll be in Beijing, but not until about April 10. Until then I will be seeing Bangkok, trekking through northern Thailand on elephants, bouncing around in Burma, biking and cruising in Vietnam, and having a much needed break from the classroom.

With finals finishing today and my own term ending last Wednesday, it's been a school-filled winter, no matter how you look at it. I wrote 35 pages in the last three weeks and lost track of day and night as I stayed up until 4am writing most nights. For that reason, I just have to say: DO NOT be a political science major. But then I think about the joy of this trip and the opportunities I am going to have because of my major and how much I love the department and I realize that I really can't wait to keep taking classes that kick my butt the way they have this winter. 

So, at 6am tomorrow I will be on a bus to the MSP airport (no Humphrey terminal this time. this is the big time.) to catch a 10:30 flight to Chicago. From there I will spend 13 hours in the air to Tokyo, just like that time I went to Japan in 8th grade except now I'm a jaded 20 year old with too much time to think about life and what I want and how the past ten weeks have been. I think there will be some journaling going down. And reading my Lonely Planet China, reading books FOR FUN (WOW. i know, it's been a while), and making Chase let me curl up on his shoulder for some snoozies. It's going to be marvelous. In Tokyo we get on another plane (after doing the whole customs thing, which is intense in the Narita airport) and fly another 7 hours to Bangkok. Someday I know there will the option of teleporting and someday even that will be cheap. In Bangkok we'll go to our hotel, which looks pretty plush, considering the adventurous nature I expected on this trip (Royal Princess), where we'll be up early to beat the jetlag and see the city. After a morning of sightseeing and an afternoon of relaxing we'll be out for a dinner cruise with the whole group.

There are 36 of us, two professors, two spouses (one of them is a professor, too), one recent Carleton grad, and a lot of energy and excitement. I will be back in the states June 3rd for a couple days in Minnesota, a couple days at home, hopefully a couple more days in Minnesota and then we're hoping for a job. I'll let you know how that goes, considering I will have very little internet access for the first few weeks.

That brings me to my last point... Please email me! I won't have very good or maybe no internet access until about April 11, but I will do my best to keep you all updated on my travels. If you want to get some more personalized account, email or Facebook me and I will try to put pictures up, too (on Facebook, most likely).

Keep in touch, comment on this, keep the love coming. I will miss you all, have a great spring!! If you're at Carleton this spring, represent at Ole Ball, Spring Concert (p.s. I totally supported Wale coming so you'd better have an awesome time for me), Rotblatt, Mai Fete, etc. I will expect full reports and a general overflow of fun without me. Keep it real, Carleton in spring is wonderful.