Natural Nepal: Once is not Enough

A few months ago, I sat at my desk and began trip planning for the months that lay ahead of me. After a beautiful yoga class in Koh Samui, Thailand, I began to wonder if there was a cheap way to do a yoga retreat in Southeast Asia. Of course, there were plenty of yoga resorts that offered retreats for thousands of US dollars (which for the record, I don’t have lying around) and plenty of others that offered weeks or months-long stays (time, which for the record, I didn’t have available) but, while searching options on bookyogaretreats.com, I came across what seemed like the exactly the opportunity I was looking for. A four-night, homestay, yoga retreat in the Kathmandu countryside of Nepal: practice yoga twice daily with Yogi and Brahman, Rajan, who will also lead you on hikes through the jungle and mountains. Plus, get home-cooked, organic meals from his wife and mother as you stay with them like a family in their home. How perfect?! Even better? The price for the entire stay was only $100. Almost $300 cheaper than any other yoga retreat I could find, and with the opportunity to live locally for a few days and be with a family.

Instantly, I called my mom to ask her what she thought about it. My mom traveled to Nepal during her J-term in 1986 with two friends from college. She has always reminisced fondly about her time spent in this beautiful, backward country. Because I knew she had been there and loved it 32 years ago, it made it feel extra special that I stumbled upon this opportunity to visit as well. She obviously thought so too, because as soon as I told her I was thinking about booking the homestay, she started crying on the phone; I knew I had to go.

A month or two later, I was on the plane and on my way! Over the last five months, I have grown very accustomed to tiny and terrible Air Asia planes, so I felt like a princess sitting on a spacious Thai Airways flight! I was spoiled with in-flight entertainment, food, and free drinks– what a luxury! I decided to watch the Disney movie Coco, about a young Mexican boy who wants to be a musician. Like mother, like daughter… I guess we feel touched easily because somehow I found myself wiping away tears after only the first half hour.

Stepping into the Kathmandu airport, I couldn’t help but laugh a little. My mom had warned me that Nepal was so far behind the rest of the world but I had figured, that was 32 years ago and surely it had modernized loads since when she was here. However, even with necessary modernizations, this was still by far the most basic airport I had ever been in. Luckily, I had brought along extra Thai Baht because when I arrived, the only ATM available was out of order and I had to pay $25 for a tourist visa and get money to pay my taxi driver! So, I ended up having to pay the visa fee with my last $25 US dollar bills I had in my wallet and exchange my Thai Baht for Nepal Rupee.

The homestay I was visiting had offered to arrange for a taxi driver to pick me up from the airport and transport me to their home, which I graciously accepted since I had no idea how else I would get there. However, standing outside of the airport, I didn’t see anyone holding a sign with my name, or the homestay family’s name, or anything that looked familiar. I didn’t have any phone service with my Thai SIM card and the airport didn’t even have wifi so I couldn’t send an email or text, so I had no options other than just to wait and trust the system. I was thankful I had arrived in the middle of the day instead of in the middle of the night.

Finally, after about 40 minutes or so, sensing my helplessness from across the street, a driver walked over to ask me what I was waiting for. He introduced himself as Prakash and then lent me his phone to call Rajan at the homestay and figure out where my driver was. Extending his kindness further, he told me to come sit with him across the street and he would help me find my driver. It’s situations like this where one has to just rely on their intuitions. Whenever I am forced to put my trust in a complete stranger, I first listen to whatever gut feeling I’m getting from the person and second think of what my mom has told me (and herself) countless times since I started this journey, “Most people are good people.” So, I went to sit with Prakash and his other friends across the street, and I am still so thankful he approached me to extend his assistance. Right before my plane took off that morning my mom had sent me a text that said, “Nepal will take care of you.” And Prakash did just that. Whenever his other driver friends would come over to pester me and say, “I’ll take you. You can come with me, only 7 dollars,” he would give them a playful shove and tell them to go away; I had a driver coming. Eventually, when my driver did finally show, Prakash asked for a tip for his help which I was happy to give him.

The homestay was perfect from the moment I arrived. I was greeted by some of Rajan’s family on the porch, smiling hellos from other guests staying there, and a visit from the family’s friendly kitty. Situated on the mountain-side, the home consisted of a few different little buildings. Two with guestrooms as well as rooms for Rajan’s family members, one for cooking food, one for eating food, and one for practicing yoga. Rajan and his family take care of everything for their guests and give up most of the space in their homes for their guests’ rooms as well. They are friendly, selfless, kind and loving, and they treat you like part of their family while you stay there. While you are more than welcome to simply come and relax, you are also welcome to join in with some of the family’s daily activities. My first day there I helped Rajan’s father cut onions and bag buckwheat on the roof. Many people enjoy helping Rajan’s wife, Niru, and his mother cook in the kitchen and learn some authentic Nepali recipes (plus some original family recipes!)

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Each day at the homestay has a similar structure:

7:00 AM: Tea time!
Staring the day early, we woke up around seven every morning to a cup of homemade tea. Niru and her mother-in-law made the tea from a collection of their own spices, so it’s one of a kind.

7:30 AM: Neti Pot Time!
Rajan fully believes in the power of the neti pot. If you’ve never heard of one, it’s a little device that resembles a watering can that you stick in one nostril and tilt your head. Then, you let the water run into your nose and out the other nostril to clean out your sinuses. They’re growing in popularity in the U.S. too. I’ve tried it before because my mom has one, and I tried it here too, but I can never get the water to run to the other side and always just end up with a nose full of warm water.

8:00 AM: First Yoga Time!
Yoga classes, both morning and night, always begin and end with three deep breaths followed by Om, a traditional mantra or meditation technique. Rajan explained there are actually three sounds to Om, A – OO – MMM. Om is known as the universal sound because the vibration the sound makes represents the movement of everything around you in nature. “Like a bee buzzing,” said Rajan. Then we sang “Shanti, shanti, shanti,” which means peace. Here is an example of the mantra sang one way, but it is a little different than how Rajan teaches it.

Then, Rajan will lead you through a series of long yoga positions and stretches: warming up your muscles, faces, eyes, everything. The middle is marked by a few rounds of sun salutations, taught slightly different than what I’ve become accustomed to in flow classes back in the U.S. Then, he leads you through some balances or strength positions, sometimes helping you with more difficult headstands before you end with some meditation and breathing exercises again. Some of Rajan’s breathing techniques were very new to me. One, in particular, was interesting that involved closing one nostril while you inhaled through the other, then switching and exhaling through the opposite. Depending which nostril you inhaled or exhaled through, Rajan said you could make your body feel warmer or colder just by breathing this way. The whole class ends up usually lasting 1.5-2 hours.

9:30 AM: Breakfast Time!
Breakfast is the one meal of the day that differed from other meals the most. Niru and Rajan’s mother are fabulous cooks, and you will never go hungry here with Niru always popping in the door to make sure everyone has had seconds or thirds, of everything they want. Most of the meals are prepared with ingredients fresh from the family gardens and all meals are organic and vegetarian. Before eating, Niru always gets beckoned by the guests to come sing the mantra. I videotaped it the final day, and although I never got the hang of all the words, I always enjoyed hearing Niru sing it before we ate the food she so lovingly prepared for us. In the video, you can also hear Rajan’s version of “Om Shanti Shanti Shanti” at the end of the mantra.

Some of our breakfast meals consisted of: Riki kur (potato/flour pancake) with chutney (paste/sauce with Indian spices), a flat pancake topped with honey, beetroot paratha (flatbread), and always a side of fruit (bananas, apples, watermelon, Japanese melon) and tea. Niru’s beetroot paratha was one of the best things I ate during my entire stay.

Riki kur, chutney and fruits. The green one is the “Japanese melon” Rajan grows them in the garden but didn’t really know what they were. They tasted like a melon-tomato cross.

11:00 AM: Hiking Time!
After you let your stomach settle for a little while, Rajan will lead you on a hike through the jungle and mountains in the surrounding areas. Rajan knows lots of different trails and sights and does his best to lead everyone somewhere new most days. The hikes I got to go one were to:

1. The Monkey God temple
   The hike starts out steep but isn’t long and Rajan leads you through the jungle on the way back down. A holy man lives at the temple on the top of the mountain here, and I talked to him about his pet dogs for a little while.
   

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2.  Waterfall in the forest
   We spent a good hour lounging in the sunshine next to the waterfall after a quick dip in the cold, refreshing water. This is also where I picked out a rock to make into a necklace back at the homestay!
   

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3. Vajrayogini Temple (I think…)
   The longest of the hikes by far, an 18km trek up the mountain, down the mountain, through the Sankhu valley, and up another mountain to a temple at the top. This hike was HARD. Steep climbs with lots and lots of stairs uphill, but worth it. It feels good on your muscles and there’s plenty of opportunities to take breaks and catch your breath. Plus, passing women carrying heavy baskets full of wheat and hay from their heads will make you reevaluate just how tired you really are.
   

   

   

   

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   On the stairs going up the final mountain, you’ll pass a sacrificial area at a smaller temple about halfway to the top. When we passed, a sacrifice of chickens was happening and a stream of blood was flowing from the sacrifice. I was so focused on marching forward that I barely even stopped to process what was happening (probably for the better) but on the way back down, after the ritual was done, I took more notice of the smell of iron and red stained stones surrounding the area. At the top temple, there was also a goat tied tightly to a post in the middle of a town square-like area and Rajan said that goat was also most likely being prepared for sacrifice as well.
   

   

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4. There is a small family of monkeys that live at this mountaintop temple, and you can buy cookies to feed them in order to increase your good karma, which we did. Before heading back down we were also blessed by the holy man, but that of course came with a price in order to receive your good merit.
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1:30 PM: Lunch Time!
After hiking, lunch will be ready for you to devour as soon as you get back! Lunch always consisted of chapati and daal baht (unleavened flatbread and lentil soup with rice) with some pickled or curried vegetables (potatoes, cauliflower, green beans…) and, of course, tea.

Chapati (already ate oops), daal baht, and veggies

2:15 PM: Rest Time!
The time between lunch and evening yoga is time to rest, read, or explore as you wish. I did all of these on different days. One day I napped, one day I read in the yard with the cat, one day I fell asleep in the sunshine on the roof of the house, and one day a few of us decided to take the local bus into the neighboring town of Bhaktapur to visit. You have to pay $15 USD to enter the city, which seemed a little steep but I hadn’t spent money on anything else the entire week so I figured, why not? It was fun getting to be in a city, as I had spent a lot of time in the countryside up until this point. Bhaktapur is still recovering from destruction from the 2015 earthquakes, but you can still see some of the famous temples and go some souvenir shopping. We basically walked the city in a giant loop.

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We stopped for drinks and snacks at a little coffee shop where I got to try beef momos (dumplings) [Correction: These dumplings were actually Buff momos, made from Buffalo Meat as eating beef is regarded as a crime. Thanks to the reader who corrected me!] that were absolutely delicious. I could’ve gone for some more of those, oh wow.

Momos

It was quite an experience riding the local bus. The way there we had to stand, packed like sardines, for the 20-minute ride into the city. On the way back, we sat for awhile on one bus before being asked to move to a different one because the drivers wanted passengers who were traveling farther away so they would have to pay a bit more. Our tickets were only something like 15 rupees.

5:30 PM: Tea Time!

6:00 PM: Second Yoga Time!
Getting ready for the nightly yoga, the routine followed the morning class almost exactly. Rajan is an incredibly experienced yogi, and his classes are not easy, but he encourages everyone to listen to their own bodies and since I was always the most inflexible one in class, that’s just what I did. Luckily, although I’m not highly experienced at yoga, I’ve taken enough classes to know some of my own limitations and modifications so I was able to keep up without a lot of struggle.

8:00 PM: Dinner (and a movie) Time!
After yoga, the night always ends with everyone having dinner together again. Our dinners were fantastic, and always just a little different from the last. We had: Pulau (coconut, date basmati rice dish), gundruk (fermented leafy greens), curd (sweet yogurt), chapti and daal baht, ladyfingers (okra), and kitchari (lentils, rice, butter, spices).

Pulau with veggies and daal

My third night there, Rajan’s nephew had an idea to set up a white sheet and projector in the yoga studio so we could sit on the floor and watch a movie while we ate dinner! The whole family and all of us guests got pretty excited about it so we ended up watching After Earth with Will Smith the first night and liked the idea so much, we did it again the next night and watched The Terminal with Tom Hanks. Both nights, Niru made a giant batch of popcorn for us to share. You can imagine my excitement; popcorn is my favorite food ever. Even Niru’s popcorn tasted Nepali, it was perfect.

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The entire homestay was everything I hoped for and so much more. You really feel at home here with Rajan’s entire family. From playing games with his son in the yard to learning Nepali words from his dad on the front porch, they’ve done a beautiful job of making their guests feel comfortable in their home.

In my bedroom, there was one simple poster that hung on the way from the Nepali tourism department that said, “Natural Nepal: Once is not Enough.” I was sad to leave, but if there’s one thing I realized from my short stay in Nepal, it’s that once definitely wasn’t even close to enough. Of all the incredible places I’ve traveled, Nepal is first on my list of places I feel the strongest desire to go back to and spend more time in. Truthfully, I’m already mentally working on planning a trip to come back with my mom in the near future so we can experience it together finally. So, to both Nepal and Rajan and his amazing family, Thank you, and I hope to see you again soon!

From North to South: 11 Days in Vietnam

The Thai New Year (Songkran) provided me a good two-week break from my classes mid-April, and almost all of my friends already had previous plans: traveling with family or boyfriends or solo travel plans. So, after some research, I decided to book a tour through Vietnam. I ultimately decided to do a Geckos Adventure, 11-day Vietnam tour as it was one of the cheapest options, and I’d be traveling with only other 18-29 year-olds. Although I kind of felt like I was cheating my adventurous-self by not doing the trip alone, I knew the saved cost and stress of figuring out transportation between each city and accommodations was worth it, and I was excited to get to travel with and meet a whole new group of young travelers like myself. Plus, as well as being cheaper than most tours, Gecko Adventures makes a point to use local guides and take its travelers to local restaurants/tourist locations to make sure your money is going to reliable and sustainable places that will help local economies, which I liked.

The weekend before leaving, I spent in Bangkok celebrating Songkran. During Songkran, tourists and locals alike flood the streets with water guns and hoses and white, clay paint as a way to wash away the misfortunes of the past year. I was overjoyed that my good friend Sam Ness happened to land in Bangkok right before Songkran to begin his few weeks of touring in Southeast Asia. So, I spent most of the afternoons at the water fights and most of the evenings at whatever bar Sam was playing at that night. Plus, I was happy to get the chance to get to try lots of great restaurants in the area throughout the weekend.

Ready for Songkran!

Haven’t had delicious pasta like this in MONTHS. I was in heaven!

Fried seabass, egg, vegetable roll and grilled veggies for breakfast.

Churros and hot chocolate ohhh myyyy.

A caesar salad wrap!

Sam Ness in Bangkok!

Gabby and I after Songkran

The night before I left for Vietnam, I couldn’t sleep a wink at the hostel. Not only was I a little worried about making sure I had everything I needed in order, there was an older Korean woman sleeping in the bunk below me that was snoring so loudly. My flight was at 6:30 am, so I had to leave for the airport by 3:30. By 2 a.m., I still hadn’t been able to sleep due to the snoring below me so I just packed up my stuff and decided I was pulling an all-nighter. Thankfully, I checked my ticket once more before I left for the airport because I was getting ready to order a Grab to the Suvarnabhumi airport when really my flight was out of Don Mueang! With that big mistake thankfully avoided, I arrived at the airport way too early and napped for a few minutes here and there on the bench as I waited for my flight.

Hanoi:

Our tour began in the capital city of Hanoi. When I arrived it was rainy, and I was absolutely exhausted. The currency (Vietnamese Dong) was so confusing because everything was in the hundreds of thousands. After getting money out of the ATM, I freaked out a little when I typed 2,000,000 dong into my currency converter app and typed an extra 0 and thought I had taken out $800 USD worth of dong instead of $80. My taxi driver was a little confused where my hotel was and ended up dropping me off a few blocks away, so I had to lug my suitcase down the road and around the corner in the rain.

I was so tempted to just sleep in my bed the entire afternoon. But, I only had one day in Hanoi and so instead I forced myself to grab my camera and my backpack and explore the city. Right around the corner from my hotel was a little, local market that had some very interesting smells and sights. As I was walking through, something at a little, meat vendor down the road caught my eye and made me sick to my stomach. It was the type of meat they were selling. Standing across the road, wearing my “Dog Mom” hat, I stared with my chin dropped as I watched a lady with an entire roasted dog selling bits and pieces to some others in line. I had always thought the jokes about eating dog and cat were just terribly offensive and racist jokes insensitive people who knew nothing said (Don’t get me wrong, they still are.) But, it didn’t really even dawn on me that people might actually eat and sell dog openly. Being the world’s biggest dog lover, I was so traumatized by this and spent the rest of my afternoon with it on my mind (I couldn’t eat anything until almost 6 p.m. that day.) Worried I’d encounter this commonly for the next two weeks, I did some research and learned that eating dog is really only a thing in northern Vietnamese cities, mostly in Hanoi. Plenty of people go their entire trips without encountering it at all, I just got unlucky and was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The more I thought about it, the more I tried to reason that it’s a very different culture and to many people, it’s no different than eating pig or cow or sheep. But I couldn’t help thinking about it every time I saw someone with a cute pet puppy around the city.

I don’t know if it was the dead dog or the rain or almost being killed by motorbikes everywhere I walked or the person I saw sitting on the side of the road bleeding out from his hand or simply the nasty smells I caught so often as I walked down the street, but Hanoi was the first city I’ve visited in my entire four months in Southeast Asia that I can truly say I disliked and would never want to go back to. Something about it felt off to me. The people didn’t come off as friendly, the streets were practically unwalkable due to size, upkeep, trash and crazy driving… it just wasn’t the place for me.

However, its redeeming factor for me was that the day I got there happened to be graduation day for the universities in Hanoi, so streets that were typically full of cars and bikes were blocked off for the activities and there was tons of families and games and music. This made for a great opportunity to take photos: lots of great expressions and action. I saw some dance crews making K-Pop dance cover videos, children playing with bubbles and balls, couples walking along the lake, parents driving their kids in tiny, remote-controlled cars, and graduates taking hundreds and hundreds of photos with their graduating classes. Everyone seemed to really be enjoying themselves and their families, and that almost made up for everything else I disliked about the city for a little while. I had decided to do my finally photography class project on Vietnamese culture, and Hanoi really saved my project because my professor liked my photos of the people so much! So for that, I am grateful for this city.

I met with my Gecko group for the first time that night at the hotel. There would be 12 of us: me, two paramedics from New Zealand, my roommate from England, one other American girl from LA, a Canadian, and the rest were Australians. The local tour guide for our trip was a middle-aged Vietnamese man named Phat. He called our group the “Phat Boy Slim Group!”  (Always with an exclamation point.) We all went out to dinner together and, although I still hadn’t slept in over 30 hours and I was running on fumes, decided to join everyone else on the walk over to a jazz bar to get to know each other a little better. I slept like a log that night, nothing could’ve woken me up.

Halong Bay:

We woke up around 7 a.m. the next morning for our bus ride to Halong Bay. I was most excited for this part of the trip as we’d get to spend the night on a boat on the bay tonight. After about 3.5 hours on our private minibus (I slept soundly the entire first half), we arrived at the Halong Bay piers and boarded our cruise boat for the night. I was so surprised by how nice it was! I had been expecting to kind of rough it in hard bunk beds or something, but our cabins were big with the comfiest bed I’d felt in months.

We had the entire boat for just the 12 of us and a chef and bartender on board with us. We cruised the bay all day and stopped to visit a cave and a beach, and we were fed lunch, dinner, and breakfast on board — all absolutely delicious! We spent the evening enjoying the sunset from the top deck and then playing circle of death and drinking some beers before all heading to bed. I had a fantastic nights sleep, once again.

Halong beer, Pork, rice, oysters, tofu, spring rolls and more!

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One odd moment happened while exploring the Sung Sot cave. A man, who I believe was another local tour guide for a different group (but I could be wrong), asked me where I was from. I told him I was from the U.S. and he replied, “Congrats. You just dropped 200 missiles on Syria.” Luckily, I didn’t quite hear him (someone else nearby repeated it for me), because I would’ve had no idea how to respond.  While I understand that Donald Trump is not the best face for global relations for our country and that shines a negative light on all Americans’ intelligence and compassion, I also sarcastically had to joke around with my tour mates later that of course, it was me who had a quick phone call with Trump that morning to give him the go on dropping the missiles. Personally, yes, that entire attack was my decision, and I did it all while in Vietnam– I am very powerful.

In the morning a group of us woke up early again to go kayaking around the bay. I was ultimately so happy we woke up early because we got the bay to ourselves for a few hours before the other groups of tourists began their kayaking tours as well.

While Halong Bay was no doubt beautiful: the islands seemed to go on forever and we saw some amazing white jellyfish and the water was a vivid turquoise, it also made me really sad to see how many tourist cruise boats were allowed there every single day. While kayaking, I saw trash and the effects of pollution everywhere. Ironically, on our kayak tour, we stopped at a cave called Virgin Cave (because “it is beautiful like a virgin,” according to Phat) and I saw a Durex condom wrapper floating along the shore. Seeing the obvious effects of tourism on such a naturally beautiful place made me feel guilty for being there and contributing to its demise. I hope the Vietnamese government starts to regulate the use and destruction of Halong Bay more soon in order to keep it a naturally beautiful spot in Vietnam.

Hue:

From Halong Bay, we took the bus back to Hanoi with a little time to get snacks and dinner before our first overnight train adventure to Hue. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by the condition of the train! The cabin was small but it seemed clean enough, we had all prepared for worse. However, the A/C was blasting all night, and I was the level of cold where I would wake up because my muscles were so tense from shivering, even with three layers on, so I was very happy to get off the train that morning.

The rest of the group had decided to do a bus tour of Hue from a local guide since, you guessed it, we only had one day in the city. I decided to come along too because I figured if everyone else was, I might as well too. Our guide was nice and knowledgeable, and we toured a local market, got to see conical hats and incense being made, saw some American war bunkers and one of the Nyguen dynasty king’s tombs, we walked through the Imperial City and, highlight of the day, got to eat lunch made by a local family in the citadel.

Handmade incense sticks

All of the feasts that had been given to us as part of the tour so far had been incredible. This family also was making their own homemade, “medical” rice wine, which we were told a shot of would make us big and strong (“like the king with 500 wives” we had learned about today, according to our guide) But all it really made any of us accomplish was a whole lot of coughing and choking — it tasted about as good as it looks.

Fried morning glory, meat, rice, soups, and more!

Local Huda beer

Rice wine

It was interesting learning a little more about the impacts of the Vietnam war on this part of the country. Hue, being close to the border between North and South Vietnam had strong American soldier influence during the war. Our tour guide specifically said these soldiers were there to “protect the border against the North.” He also made a point to mention that in Vietnam, they let bygones be bygones and try to “forgive but never forget.” It was hard to tell if he was saying this because he truly believed it or because he was an educated tour guide who knew his tours consisted mainly of Westerners who feel good hearing that their harmful actions have fewer consequences than they truly do. At the base of the king’s tomb stood a large temple that we were not allowed to enter– work crews were just beginning to clean and restore it from bombing during the war. In the Imperial City, we could see bases of buildings that once stood but were wiped out from bombs. Our guide also pointed out the bullet holes in the stone walls around us. It’s beyond humbling being in a place where an entire country is still recovering from destruction your own country participated in and knowing back home a majority of the U.S. citizens’ lives aren’t affected in the least.

Temple with bomb destruction from war

 

Hoi An:

We took our private little bus from Hue to Hoi An, stopping at pretty views and sites along the drive. We also stopped in Da Nang for banh mi, a vietnamese baguette with veggies and bbq meat and chili sauce, at a local bakery.

Oyster Habitat at Rest Stop

Da Nang Beach

Overlook Rest stop

Overlook Rest stop

After checking into our new hotel, we walked around the city for a little while. Hoi An had a great feel to it. All the buildings were yellow and blue and color surrounded me everywhere. There were tons of fun, artsy shops lining the streets. Although it was hard to ignore that the town was obviously catered to tourists like me, I liked that the town made for amazing photography opportunities.

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While taking photos that day, two ladies with their fruit baskets saw me and stepped in front of my lens and smiled. I smiled at them and began to walk away, but before I could turn they had their fruit basket on my shoulder, tea hat on my head, and took my camera right from my hands! Of course, after snapping my (unwanted) photo they asked me to buy some fruit. Deciding to be nice, I told them I’d take some bananas… which they wanted to charge me 200,000 dong (almost $8 USD) for! After some back and forth, I finally handed over 150,000 and walked away thinking these had better be the best damn bananas in the world.

One of the great things about the city is the plethora of tailors available everywhere — and they work quickly, cheaply, and efficiently. I decided to have a nice skirt made for me.  Phat recommended a place called Blue Eye and after doing some comparison price shopping I decided to go there. My tailor’s name was Ann, and she was the sweetest person in all of Hoi An. I wasn’t sure what exactly made me decide I wanted it, but I think I was inspired by all the beautiful, bold color in the city. I got to pick my design, length, fabric, and pattern; I got to add pockets and they sized me to make the skirt fit perfectly. In under 24 hours, my skirt was made just for me! As I was paying, Ann asked me, “Are you happy?” I told her I was very happy. She said, “Good, if you happy, I’m happy.” 10/10 for customer service and for making me a beautiful skirt I can take home with me to remember Hoi An.

The next morning, I wanted to wake up before sunrise to take photos of the town without the hoards of tourists. It was a great decision. My friend Haley got up with me and the two of us walked down to the river. Although the sunrise itself wasn’t super colorful, it was fantastic seeing the town with just the locals awake with us. We were greeted by everyone with smiles or waves and able to actually get photos of the town without anyone in the way.

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The rest of the group was paying for a $25 biking tour through the local village, but, in an effort to save some money, Haley and I decided to rent bikes from the hotel for $1 and explore the countryside. I can honestly say this was one of the happiest moments of my entire trip — freely exploring such an incredibly beautiful place. We passed a man lounging on his water buffalo along the side of the road and stopped to take a photo. Before we knew it, he had Haley on his buffalo and me following soon after. Of course, like my favorite banana ladies, we had to pay him for our involuntary participation but it’s ok, my $5 goes much further for him than for me. Haley and I biked through some rice paddies and through a little fishing village down to the beach and then back. We were sunburnt and soaked in sweat by the end, but very happy too. That afternoon we shopped a little and found Bahn Mi Queen, the world’s best bahn mi shop. I do not say this lightly. This was possibly the best sandwich I have ever had in my life. I mean it, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

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Although I loved Hoi An, it’s a small town and besides shopping or biking, there wasn’t a ton to do. I was happy for all the picturesque photo opportunities and happy to do a little souvenir shopping, but by the time it was ready to catch our next overnight train out of the city we were ready to move on as well.

Nha Trang:

Even though Phat had warned us many times that the second overnight train would not be as nice as the first, I was slightly horrified when I first walked into our cabin. The beds had obviously been slept in before us and the sheets were definitely not cleaned. But the worst part, our cabin had a mosquito infestation. I thought Haley’s top bunk was covered in little pieces of fuzz when I first walked in there were so many mosquitos covering the mattress. One of the other girls on the tour gave me a bottle of bug spray and warned me, “be careful — it’s really strong.” But I was a girl on a mission to not sleep in a swarm of bloodsuckers all night. So, with Haley on the top bunk, I closed the cabin doors and just began spraying everywhere. I made clouded the entire tiny room. It wasn’t until I could taste it going down my throat (yes, I know how unhealthy that is and I’m sure I took a few years off my life) that I finally stopped and opened the door — bad choice. My cloud escaped into the hallway and the rest of our train carriage complained for the next twenty minutes about how bad it smelled. Oops…

On the bright side, I killed all the mosquitos…

When we arrived in Nha Trang that morning, we had about twenty minutes to change and freshen up then it was on to our snorkeling tour. The tour included a visit to a local island as the first stop. This was kind of weird to me, to just walk through local villages as a giant tour group. It felt like we were taking advantage of people just living their everyday life. I feel weird walking through a local street with a tour guide explaining how the local people live, right in front of the local people. It’s a very odd way to distinguish that there are differences in how we are all raised, and it made me uncomfortable. I enjoyed many aspects of the tour, but these types of activities were one of the things I despised. It’s one thing to explore a local village on your own, but to have a guide walk you through one makes it feel too much like watching other humans in a zoo. We did stop briefly at a little daycare center and the children were really excited to see us. One little girl held my hand and stroked my nail polish, she was so intrigued by the color, I wished I could’ve sat there and painted all their little nails.

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We snorkeled and swam in the water for a while in the early afternoon then had lunch and drinks on the boat. I was amazed at the amount of food they could cook for us right on our small, basic boat. And it ended up being one of the tastiest meals I had the entire trip! All of our drinks and cocktails were included in the price of the tour, so two others and I decided to get the most out of what we paid for and took advantage of the free beer. We spent about an hour just floating in the water, drinking beer and cocktails and enjoying the sun while everyone else napped on the boat or did some more snorkeling. This goes down as the second moment of pure bliss I had this trip — I was a little buzzed, I was with great, hilarious people, and I’m always happy when I’m in or near the water.

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The next day, we decided to spend the day at the mud baths, which is supposed to be a big thing in Nha Trang. It was an odd experience… You start by going into the mud bath, which is warm and grainy. It felt strange to willingly pour it all over myself. After soaking in the mud, you sit in the sun and let it dry on you, then you wash it off. After the mud, you have a few sessions in different warm, mineral water pools and hot tubs and such. We ended up spending most of the afternoon here. The mud is supposed to have magic healing powers. It’s also supposed to make your skin feel really soft… I’m not sure it had either of these effects on me, but hey — I’ll do anything once.

That night, before our next overnight train adventure (which I was dreading after the previous one) we decided to get something for dinner close to the hotel. Phat recommended a vegetarian place across the street and told us he’d come with us and order us the best meal. Oh wow… I saw the first plate coming out and almost stood up and walked out. Nothing but a pile of bitter vegetables I didn’t recognize with a pile of oddly flavored tofus on top of some white rice. Everything was cold; I’m sure it was cooked hours ago, and it was so so not tasty. None of us finished even half of our plates, besides Phat — he ate everything. We walked down to a bakery a few blocks away (for the second time today) to get a second dinner.

Ho Chi Minh City: 

I didn’t really have big expectations for Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). I had read it was chaotic and dizzying and truthfully didn’t think it would be much different from other cities I had been too, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Saigon! We arrived super early in the morning, but unfortunately, we couldn’t all check into our own rooms to sleep because check-in wasn’t until the afternoon. So, Phat walked us over to a local bakery and we got some breakfast and coffee.

I had been somewhat lazy with exploring the last few days, I really didn’t end up seeing much of Nha Trang, so I had done my usual research and a little planning for HCMC to give me optimal adventure and photo time in the city. Opting out of the $40 tour of the Chu Chi tunnels, I decided to spend the morning at the War Remnants Museum instead. Of course, this was a difficult museum to spend the day in, being an American and all. It was interesting seeing the war we know as “The Vietnam War” as “The American War” instead.

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The exhibits made little mention of America being teamed up with Southern Vietnam against Northern Vietnam, instead of making it clear that the history is rewritten that the war was the U.S.A. versus Vietnam. There was one room dedicated to MAG (Mines Advisory Group) on the efforts being made to clear up areas affected by unexploded landmines, which did shine a light on the U.S. attempting to reconcile the past. Still, I often wished I had my dad with me while I was looking through the rooms to help me understand how much influence Vietnam’s government might have on how the stories of the war are told here today. Either way, it was impossible to ignore the destruction we caused by participating in the Vietnam War. One room, in particular, made that clear: an entire exhibit dedicated to the effects of Agent Orange, the herbicide we spread across the country. The effects of agent orange have caused cancer, death, mental retardation and physical deformations you can’t even imagine — but you don’t have to at this museum because they have pictures to show you. And, unfortunately, agent orange is not just harming those alive during the war, but effects have been found in children two generations after those originally impacted.

I actually teared up reading a letter one second-generation agent orange victim wrote to President Obama when he was elected into office. Would someone even bother writing that letter to President Trump today? What’s the use when he’s already decided “shithole countries” don’t deserve his help or time?

After the museum, a group of girls came with me to visit a place I had been recommended by some other friends: A nine-story apartment building that used to house military officials had been converted into nine floors of cafes, art galleries, boutiques, and bakeries. We had fun exploring all nine floors before deciding to hit up a burger shop on the third floor to sit and enjoy some A/C for awhile.

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After some time cooling off in the hotel, I was joined by some others to explore a market and park nearby — with my camera in hand, of course, since I was still frantically working on my final photography project.

I found the market quite amusing. It was absolutely packed and every vendor was selling basically the same things. As we walked through the aisles we were hounded with people peaking around the corner and calling out, “Hello miss, you buy?” or “What you look at?” “You want t-shirt?” We couldn’t walk past anyone without having something called out at us. I couldn’t help but laugh at the whole thing. It was like celebrities trying to walk down the red carpet past the paparazzi.

The park was beautiful. I stopped for awhile to watch a game going on that was something like a mix of badminton and hacky-sack. I don’t know what the name was, but it was impressive to watch! Then, I stopped to photograph a group of men playing badminton nearby. After a while of watching them, they approached us and asked if we wanted to play with them during their water break. Seeing we weren’t very good, they set up another net just for us and lent us some rackets so we could play too. It was a perfect way to kill a few hours, and the men were so kind.

On the walk back to the hotel, I noticed a group of younger adults and teens sitting around in a circle smiling nervously at us from a distance. I had seen that face before many times here in Thailand; it is the “I’m about to ask you to speak with me in English and I’m very nervous so please be nice” look. I’ve gotten it by students practicing their English or working on an assignment in malls, grocery stores, restaurants, temples, you name it. Sure enough, a few of them approached us and told us that they all met in the park sometimes to practice English, and they wondered if we’d come talk with them for a while. We were in no rush, so we agreed and sat and talked about where we are from, where we had been, our favorite foods and more. They said most of the time when they try to ask tourists to come talk to them, the travelers cross the road or keep their eyes down; they act like they are going to be mugged! When we got up to leave, they were so appreciative we stopped that they gave us each a little paper fan to take home with us as thank you gifts. Of course, we had to take a group photo for their Facebook page too.

That evening we all went out for one last dinner as a group and went to some of the nearby bars to dance. Luckily, I was still able to get to bed early!

The next morning, the final day of the tour, a few of us met up for a brunch, then got ready to explore again. I had read about a military resale market I wanted to check out nearby. This was a very interesting find. Everything from old combat boots to old wartime journals and random bundles of family photographs, along with as much hardware, screws, bolts, nails and tools you could ever want, was sold here. I couldn’t figure out the authenticity or value of some of these items… If they were really from the war, why were they being sold in this little, sketchy warehouse instead of being displayed at a museum?

Then I walked us over to this street that was supposed to be an art market. However, when we got there all we found was a street of old antique shops that were of no interest to any of us. Oops! Deciding we were already hot and tired so there was no reason to turn around now, we took a long walk to the Notre Dame Cathedral and stopped along the way to do some souvenir shopping (I’m adding in here that I bought Austin a gift because I know it’ll drive him crazy to not get to know what it is, hehe.) Haley and I got some pho at a restaurant called Pho 2000 before heading back to the hotel to say our goodbyes. Pho 2000 has an interesting history. Its slogan is “Pho for the President” because its claim to fame is that President Bill Clinton stopped by their restaurant for a bowl of pho in the year 2000. It was a huge deal because he was the first U.S. President to visit Vietnam after the war, so it’s really kind of a beautiful story. I laughed a little thinking how if Clinton went to a restaurant in the states, that restaurant would more likely be trying to cover it up for the rest of forever instead of creating their entire brand around the moment.

After saying goodbye to all my new pals, I ordered my Grab to the airport. Although I loved my Vietnam adventure, I was so excited to get back to my apartment in Thailand. It was a weird feeling to only be able to picture my flight home taking me back to Bangkok. It was much harder to imagine going back to Wisconsin at this point. However, everyone else I was traveling with got to fly home at the end of their trip. They were excited to see their beds and dogs and moms and it made me a little sad to not be flying home to my bed and dog and mom too. But soon enough… I had Bali, Nepal, and Hong Kong to look forward to still! As well as an amazing two weeks traveling with Austin too. Still, so much good stuff to come! I’ll see Wisconsin, and everyone I love soon too. Until then, miss you all and can’t wait to see you soon. Thanks for reading!

Nothing like Longtail Boats to Cure a Little Loneliness

Since lots of my friends had prior travel plans in recent weeks, either solo or with family, last week I found myself in a predicament: a weekend with no plans and no one to travel with. But after exploring Thailand and the surrounding countries every week for the past three months I was confident I’d be absolutely fine traveling alone for the weekend, the only question was where did I want to go? Looking forward into my planner, I realized I didn’t have any other weekends that would work out well to visit Phi Phi Islands, a place I had on my bucket list since I first started researching what the heck was in Thailand, so this weekend seemed it would be the absolute perfect opportunity to explore.

I booked my flight into Phuket and figured out some accommodations (sadly pretty expensive on the Phi Phi Islands for a very basic dorm hostel) and was surprised a little that I actually had some nerves about the trip. After a short hour flight, an overpriced hour taxi to the pier and then a two-hour ferry to the islands, I had finally arrived! I was stunned walking down the ferry towards my hostel. The entire little town was settled between two giant limestone cliffs, and I’ve never seen more brilliantly turquoise waters.

View from the pier

View from the pier

My hostel was extremely small and sandy everywhere, but it would do. After getting my whereabouts, I decided to hike down along the water about 30 minutes to Long Beach, a beach that had been known for having blacktip reef shark sightings. The walk was beautiful and the beach itself was gorgeous, however, one downside of traveling alone on the beach is you have to leave your stuff unattended. I found myself a little too distracted to snorkel and search for sharks because I kept checking up on my backpack to make sure it was still safely where I left it.  The sun started to set, and I so I figured I should hike back before it got dark.

A little swing at a beach side resort

Sunset on the Andaman Sea

Sunset at Long Beach

Exploring solo!

As the sun set on one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my whole life I was surprised once again at how homesick I felt. I missed Austin and my family and Charlie and Karma and wished more than anything I could enjoy the beauty with them. It was a tough night, and for whatever reason, I felt myself on the verge of tears for most of it. I wanted to just go settle in my bed in the hostel and watch Netflix and feel at home, but instead, I made myself stay out just a bit longer. Knowing I needed to eat something for dinner, I wandered down along the water and found a little place called the Happy Hipper Bar that had someone playing live music on an acoustic guitar and seemed chill. Trying my best not to cry over my french fries as the singer sang Country Roads, Take Me Home and Leaving on a Jet Plane, the mood and tone of the bar took a sudden change when all the waitstaff suddenly got on stage and announced there would be a fire show. Nothing to distract you from missing home like a group of upbeat, high-energy Thai men playing with fire! In the end, I actually got sucked into “volunteering” to participate in exchange for a few shots of flavored vodka from the bar. It ended up being just what I needed to lighten the mood for the night and remind me that each of the incredible experiences I’m having, including missing the people I love so much, are new, exciting, unique, and beautiful and truthfully those moments of sadness are just as important as the moments of joy and wonder.

“Thai Fireworks Show”

After those few free shots at the Happy Hippie Bar, I fell asleep soundly through the entire night. The next morning I woke up feeling refreshed and spirited. I planned to hike up the hill to see the Phi Phi Islands Viewpoint. I had read there were two ways to get up: 1. By stairs (The most common and fastest route) 2. By local road (The less-traveled and longer route.)

Of course, I chose option 2, and I was so happy I did! One thing that had been bothering me about the island was that the town itself was completely built for and ruined by tourists. The souvenir shops all sold the same things, the restaurants and bars had Western food and names (labeled Thai Pancake instead of Roti, Serving hamburgers and fries everywhere, etc.), and I saw more tourists than Thai people by far walking around. And it obviously was beginning to take a toll on the natural beauty of the island when people traveled here and didn’t treat it with the respect it deserved, for example, littering in the oceans.

Cats rule the streets around here. Each cat has a shop and each shop has a cat (or two or three!)

However, on my hike up to the Phi Phi Viewpoint, I didn’t see a single tourist. Instead, I walked past Thai construction workers building new resorts, local neighborhoods and homes, families gardening alongside the road, mothers doing laundry in their front lawn, and tons of lizards, beetles, and other interesting insects. I’m not sure how long I ended up hiking (45 minutes maybe?) but the pathway, although paved, was sparsely marked so every so often I’d ask a local I passed by if I was going the right direction and get verification from a head nod and smile. The sun was beating down on me and my entire shirt was soaked with sweat but I felt really, really happy getting the entire trail basically to myself. Finally, arriving at the top viewpoint, I paid my entry fee of 30 baht to a man working the ticket station with a couple cats surrounding his desk. As I started up the last few stairs to the viewpoint, one of the cats decided to join me on the climb. However, much to my surprise when I looked down it wasn’t a cat hiking alongside me but a little monkey! She really was hiking with me too, waiting for me at the step ahead of me. That being said, she was probably just hoping I had some snacks in my backpack I could share (or she could steal if I was uncooperative.) The Viewpoint was worth the hot climb for sure. It was a stunning view of the town between the two rock formations. There was a little cafe at the top where I helped myself to a mango lychee smoothie and sat and enjoyed the view for a little while.

At the top!

Phi Phi Viewpoint

Mango Lychee Smoothie

That afternoon, I had decided to book a snorkeling/island tour at one of the numerous tour agencies. It was so hard to figure out which one would be best or would give me the most value for my money so, in the end, I went with one that was fairly cheap and had an English-speaking guide. In all honesty, I just picked it because the girl in line in front of me picked it and was alone too, so I was hoping at the very least I’d know another solo traveler was with me! It turned out it was just me and her who booked the tour, so we had the entire longtail boat to ourselves! She was a kind, quiet, girl from Belgium, and we had a comfortable amount of talking & silent times throughout the day. It was very enjoyable. Our “English-speaking” (barely) tour guide was nice and had a happy smile.

Our tour included Monkey Beach, which was mainly a lot of monkeys sitting on rocks waiting for tourists to feed them. We were both a little monkeyed-out after seeing so many throughout Southeast Asia that neither of us needed much time here. Then we went to a lagoon and swam and snorkeled a little. This lagoon had tons of colorful fish, sea urchins, coral, and sea cucumbers!! I had never seen one before, I can’t say I honestly thought they were a real thing but they look like giant, rotting turds on the floor of the ocean. It was so fun to swim so close to these fun colored, tropical fish. I had never seen a coral reef before or swam so close to so many tropical fish, so I really enjoyed snorkeling. Plus, this was some of the clearest water I had ever seen. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack my GoPro (I know — the one place on Earth a GoPro was literally created for.) So you’ll just have to trust me that it was gorgeous under the water too!

Boating into the lagoon

This photo truly has no edits – the water really looks like that!

Then we went to another bay, a less-clear water but supposedly this one had blacktip reef sharks in it! I wasn’t exactly sure what I was supposed to be looking for so I missed them. Others snorkeling there at the same time as us did say they had spotted some though!

Sandstone Cliffs

Chilling on the Longtail

Then we went to the famous Maya Bay, featured in the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach. This beach, however, has been so decimated due to tourist overload that they are actually closing it off from all tourists this coming June until September to give the coral reef time to recover. With almost 5,000 tourists a day, it’s long past time to give Maya Bay some much-needed rest and restoration. I’ve never seen the movie, so seeing “The Beach” wasn’t super necessary for me. However, you really can’t book a tour through an agency that doesn’t take you here, so even those who don’t really care to see it will end up here, which made me feel guilty contributing to the masses of people who have destroyed the once natural and untouched beauty of this bay.

Wading back to our boat before sunset

Maya Bay

Maya Bay

After, we went back into the ocean and watched the sun go down. Our guide had cut up some fresh pineapple for us to enjoy. Then, in the dark, we were able to snorkel once more with plankton. I was expecting the plankton to glow more, but instead it kind of just resembled glitter in the black water when you waved your arms in front of you — still cool to see I suppose but not really necessary.

Sunset on the Andaman Sea

Sunset on the Andaman Sea

Sunset on the Andaman Sea

Sunset on the Andaman Sea

Back at my hostel after the tour, I wasn’t tired but also knew I had no interest in joining some of the others for the giant parties on the beach. I already did that once for the Full Moon Party and, although fun at the time, that was about enough for me for the rest of my life. So instead, I walked over to a Mexican place a couple blocks away and helped myself to an extremely overpriced, giant margarita, a pile of chips and guac, and some chicken fajitas. They had nothing on La Mexicana but they subsided my consistent Mexican craving for the time being.

Lanterns lining the streets and trees around town

Afterward, I went and sat at another chill, beachfront bar and drank a beer. My favorite cheap Thai beer is called Singha, so that’s usually my go-to unless Chang is significantly cheaper. I started reading a book here called If Your Dream Doesn’t Scare You, It Isn’t Big Enough on the Kindle app on my phone. This book was great as it was so comforting to read about another solo-woman traveler who has struggled with and also loved some of the same things I had struggled with or loved myself while traveling. Knowing all of my confusions and uncomfortableness and also wonder and happiness was all normal made me feel better. One of my favorite excerpts from the book so far is…

“It just reinforced my need for acceptance and patience when faced with obstacles, delays or changes. Embracing this perspective was one of the hardest lessons travel forced upon me. I had been spoiled by American expectations — that if I paid for it, I would get it immediately; that schedules were meant to be followed; and that I should have 24-hour access to everything I wanted.”

Another one I can really connect with is…

“I had left my culture to explore others, only to find that this vantage point compelled me to examine my life in America.”

I don’t pretend that every moment of my experience has been glamorous or beautiful or that I feel strong every second. I face a lot of frustrating moments, and I miss home often. Somedays I’m bored and others I’m overwhelmed, but mostly, I’m really happy. But it is all so worth it. It makes the entire experience more memorable, and I know I’m learning more about myself and the people around me this way. And I kept reminding myself that I chose to study in Thailand because it would be uncomfortably different. When I chose Thailand, I knew I was going to be living somewhere absolutely different than anything I had ever known, and that’s what I get every single day.

The next morning, it was already time for me to leave the islands! I had enjoyed my few short days here, especially when exploring the natural beauty, but with the touristy city and the overpriced everything, I was ready to leave too. I was headed back on the ferry to spend an afternoon and night in Phuket before going back to Bangkok. I had booked a hostel in Old Town Phuket, which I ultimately was sooo glad I had decided on! I was far away from the “touristy, get drunk on the beach” part of town and instead in this really charming, artsy area that reminded me a lot of Georgetown in Malaysia. My hostel was absolutely beautiful and had a little cafe attached. Walking down the street you could pop into handmade jewelry shops, art galleries, cafes, dessert bars, and even an English bookstore! On one of the neighboring streets, I found the greatest cone of homemade salted caramel popcorn ice-cream I’ve ever had — it was perfect. I was so happy exploring here.

Homemade Ice Cream in Phuket

Chinese Influence in Old Town Phuket

European Architecture Influence in Old Town Phuket

A Wonderful Bookstore! I Spent a few hours here!

I also decided to take a motorbike taxi to the Chalong Bay Rum Distillery during the afternoon for a tour. The distillery was really tiny with a gorgeous outdoor bar. It was fun to learn how and why they produce rum in Thailand. Thailand is one of the world’s largest producers of sugarcane. While most commercially produced rums are made with molasses, at Chalong Bay they make their rum with 100% sugarcane. Every single one of the Chalong Bay Rum bottles are hand-filled (using a ruler to get the exact measurements correct) and all the stickers are put on by hand too. With the tour, I got a mojito and free tastes of their rum (flavors: original, lime, Thai sweet basil, cinnamon, Keifer lime, lemongrass.) I got the original, cinnamon, and lime down before I was pretty done with drinking rum straight, although I will admit it was much smoother and easier going down than any Ron Diaz I’ve ever had! I’m officially 21 in the states so here are my celebratory drinks.

Mojito

Rum

The distillery arranged a taxi driver back to my hostel for me, and she was an incredibly sweet young mom who wanted to talk the entire way about why I was there and where I was from and what I was doing and how her son doesn’t like speedboats and more. For the rest of the night, I chilled at the cafe in the hostel and drank a beer and read my book, and although I may not have gotten the typical Phuket experience, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

My flight the next morning was at 5:30 am, and it could take almost an hour to get to the airport. No matter how many times I explained I was only flying to Bangkok, everyone thought I was going back to the U.S., so I ended up getting a taxi to pick me up at 3 a.m., even knowing this would give me way too much time at the airport for a domestic flight. I was unhappy to wake up so early because my bed at this hostel was so comfortable, but even in the middle of the night, my taxi driver gave me a big smile and wave when I stepped out of my hostel. He had the trunk open and ready for my luggage and laughed when I showed him all I had was a small backpack. And although I would’ve been satisfied driving in silence or even taking a little nap, my driver wanted to chat! And he chatted my ear off in wonderfully broken English the whole way to the airport. I felt bad not being able to give him a tip when he dropped me off because I’m sure he was really hoping his friendliness would get him one, but everything in Phi Phi and Phuket was already so crazy overpriced, including taxi rides that I just couldn’t swing it. Clear sailing through the airport, about 30 minutes later I was ready to head home — a successful first solo trip finished and feeling fulfilled as I had continued to learn tiny, but important lessons with everything I did.

Chicken or Pork? Rice or Noodles?

While preparing to live in Thailand, one of the things I was quite worried about was the food. I’m known to get an upset stomach often after eating in Wisconsin, so I was expecting this to only get worse in Thailand after reading about some of the differences in food preparation and safety. I had also been advised different things from different sources from “do NOT eat the street food,” to “if you go to Thailand and don’t eat the street food — you didn’t even go to Thailand.” You can see how I was a little concerned. In the end, I just prepared myself for whatever issues may arise by bringing plenty of western medications.

However, I’ve been living here two months now (and yes, eating plenty of the incredible street food, fruit, snacks, and drinks) and I’m really happy to say I’ve felt healthier and more energized after eating than I typically do in the states! This might because of the practically nonexistent gluten and dairy in all the food products here, both things that are seemingly impossible to avoid when you live in the beer and dairy capital of America. Thankfully, I’ve dealt with very, very few instances of questionable food. Of course, I’ve also avoided some food entirely – like the live turtles you can pick from the market or the pork intestines you sometimes find in your soup or the fried-to-a-crisp-insects you can get on Khao San. But for the most part, I’ve come to absolutely love Thai cuisine.

I really worried that I would be missing Western food by this time, but I’ve truly been so satisfied with my meals here. Besides the occasional lasagna or pizza craving, it’s somewhat amusing that my mega-cravings haven’t even been for American food, but Mexican food instead. Seriously, all I want is a big plate of tacos and chips and guac and a margarita (I’m one month away from being legal in the U.S. ok?) from La Mex. The only Mexican restaurant I’ve found so far was in Georgetown in Malaysia – months ago now. I have even been searching out avocados in Thailand to be able to make my own guac to subside my craving. No luck so far, but I will not give up the hunt.

For the first few weeks after my arrival, I knew almost no Thai dishes, so when I’d go to eat my Thai friends would ask me, “Chicken or pork? Rice or noodles?” and that’s what I would get. Thankfully, I have begun to try and taste more dishes and have started to be able to differentiate what makes them each unique. But in all honesty, this is really the basis of almost any Thai meal – chicken or pork and noodles or rice.

Pork with chili sauce and white rice.

“Boat” noodles. Noodle soup with pork and fish balls.

(Scroll over the photos to see what the food is)

One thing I’ve really come to embrace about Thai culture is how the day, and many conversations, center around food. I can’t count how many times one of my Thai friends has greeted me with the phrase, “Are you hungry?” or “Have you ate yet?” It’s a beautiful thing. And I think this is largely because eating is such a social activity too, especially for students. Almost none of the apartments/dorms have kitchens, so we eat out for every single meal of the day. Before you think, “Holy cow, Mckenzie. You’re paying to eat at a restaurant every meal, every day?” Meals in Thailand cost anywhere from 20-150 baht. Mine are usually around 40 baht… this is the equivalent to $1.20. So I’m paying around $4 a day to eat full-blown plates of chicken and rice or pork and noodles — I’d say that’s doable. So typically, I meet up with a group of friends for meals around campus and we eat together and talk for awhile and have a good time. So, food is the center of my days because it usually determines when I will be seeing everyone next.

Luckily, my campus does not have a shortage of yummy and cheap places to find a meal at any point of the day. Here’s the layout:

So the big red house is where I live at Skyview. Across the street from me, you can see…

View down my road towards campus

Zone 1: I don’t have much over here but I do have a small restaurant under my building that will deliver food to me at my room. However, I do have to have a Thai friend call and order it for me because they only speak Thai. Then, I have a 7-11 which is very frequently visited by me. I often go if I’m feeling lazy or low on time. You can get food warmed up for you there, and as pre-packed meals go, they aren’t half bad. I usually go for the garlic chicken or basil chicken stir fry, always with sticky rice included. Although, after a night of drinking nothing beats a ham and cheese toastie. They are ALL the hype for drunk, Western food in Thailand. 7-11 has even teamed up with Lays to make a 7-11 special, ham and cheese toastie flavored bag of chips.

I also have a few small food vendors around here. I finally worked up the courage to order food from one of them the other night. I have been admittedly quite shy to order from some food vendors because I’m often wary of the language barrier. I mean sometimes people genuinely look terrified when I approach them knowing that I’m going to speak English to them! But I keep pushing myself to not give up because of it! Pointing and nodding works very well.

 

Fried chicken over rice and some type of sauce (siracha mayo maybe?) over the top that I got from a small vendor near my apartment. Came with a baggie of cabbage with a lemony-mayo dressing – delicious! Plus, nothing better than dinner in bed with Netflix.

Zone 2: This area is called U-Village. It has a nice set of proper restaurants and cafes but for one reason or another, it’s not very popular. I have yet to try anything here. But it’s nice to know it’s available and close!

Zone 3: U-Square. Ahh, the heart and soul to cheap eating at TU-Rangist. U-Square is basically just a large market area with a bunch of outdoor vendors who are set up permanently in their locations. But the food is delicious, there are lots of options (from fish to salad bars to crepes to noodle soup to steak) and it’s all very cheap. This is my most common stop for dinner. I can also find freshly cut fruit bags or fruit shakes here at almost any hour of the day, which I love.

U-Square at Night.

Fish & Rice from U-Square! Eaten right off the bones.

Zone 4: Zone 4 has a set of proper shops underneath the apartment buildings here. There is also a small bar (the only one located so close to campus) that gets pretty popular on weekends. I have two restaurants I like a lot here. One is called Poon Poon (supposedly, named after the sound of a train whistle) and it has some good Italian-style dishes. The other is called Clean Food. I was struggling for a while to find a well-balanced meal with enough vegetables to satisfy me — Clean Food has it. You get a large portion of lean meat, jasberry (whole-grain) rice, a side salad and cooked vegetables — all for $2.20. This is my favorite place to eat on campus by far because it’s healthy and so tasty.

Chicken breast, side salad, cooked veggies, jasberry rice and a sweet teriyaki sauce. Mmmmm

Zone 5: Another set of proper shops under apartment buildings. I haven’t tried a ton of these but you can find almost any craving (besides for Mexican food) you need to be fulfilled down here. They have sushi, dim sum, boat noodles, shabu, curry, American food, pizza, etc. A lot of these places are on my mental list of places to try when I’m craving something specific.

Coffee shop with ham and cheese crossiant

Edamame from Sushi restaurant!

Hawaiian Pizza is so popular here, and I am so here for it!

Zone 6: This area has a little market available on Tuesdays that I tend to stop by on my way home from class. There I can grab fresh fruit drinks or little sweets or my dinner for the evening, typically I can get all of the above for about $2.50. Plus they have some little boutique/thriftshop clothing vendors that can be fun to look through.

Melon shake – nothing but a 1/4 of a musk melon and ice!

Little waffle desserts with chocolate and strawberry jam

Chicken kabobs with chili sauce

Zone 7: This is the canteen (aka cafeteria) I eat most of my breakfasts and lunches at. It’s right next to my faculty (in the dark pink circle.) The food here is super inexpensive (about 90 cents per meal) and very tasty! When I’m low on time, I’ll have a mug of granola with chocolate soy milk at my apartment, but if I have the extra time I’ll typically go here for a plate of rice, fried chicken, stir-fried veggies and egg for my breakfast in the morning.

Chicken, Veggies, Thai Omlete, and Rice

Fried Fish, Sweet hard boiled eggs, and White Rice

Two weekends ago, I took a Thai cooking class that was offered through the Thammasat Office of International Affairs out in the countryside of Bangkok. It was so interesting getting to see what ingredients make up some of the dishes I’ve begun to enjoy so much, like spicy papaya salad! The menu, recipes, and ingredients are below. It was fun for me to read them and see how many I didn’t recognize, yet lots of these ingredients are very common in traditional Thai cuisine.

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Now, this entire post was really for my mom because I know she likes details and photos and maps and getting to feel as much as possible like she understands what my daily life is like here. Love you, Mom! But I also wanted to make a post about this just because of how different the culture surrounding food is! Getting my food from markets and small vendors and trying things I would probably avoid in the U.S. has been such a rewarding experience for me! I’m also proud to say that my spice tolerance has dramatically increased since when I left. So for those of you who stuck around till the end, thanks so much — I hope you learned something new!