A Westerner in a Chinese Home

This past weekend I had the opportunity to stay overnight at a local’s house in the New Territories, about 2 hours from the university via public transportation.  What I expected to be a series of cultural blunders turned out very well!  I just hope to be able to pay the family back soon.

Friday night, my friend and I set out on a series of rides on the subway, light rail, and west train line.  Sadly, we had to stand most of the time, but it’s not the worst thing in the world. We arrived in a neighborhood with a bunch of residential buildings, schools, and parks, and we made our way to the fifth floor of one.

We came inside, and dinner had been done for a while, so my friend’s mother got everything back out and set several dishes in front of us.  Chopped cucumbers on one plate, fish fillets and scrambled eggs on another, and a mushroom-meat mixture on the third.  We started out with some “Chinese soup” as he told me, which was very good.  Then we ate from the three dishes with a bowl of rice, and ended with another bowl of soup.  It was enough to fill even me up!

I was glad to have brought a bottle of water, because I drink a lot, and they filter and boil all of their water.  My friend’s parents were very generous, offering me things constantly.  Only on a few occasions did we misunderstand each other.  I tried using my limited Cantonese, but theirs was a bit different, so I couldn’t understand their answers.

His sisters came home briefly as well.  One worked with skin care, so she gave me a sample of face lotion.  I wanted to explain my avoidance of lotions, but her English wasn’t great either so I put some on.  She also gave me a seaweed snack from Thailand.  Too many gifts!  At this point I was feeling bad, but I had nothing to offer the family in return!

For breakfast the next day, I had an orange, although the parents repeatedly offered me cheesecake.  For breakfast.  I tried to point to my stomach and explain I didn’t really need cake, but they insisted.  After a while they stopped.  In Chinese culture, a refusal is just for politeness, to dispel any perceptions of greediness, so the host will offer multiple times until a refusal is accepted.

For lunch on Saturday, we ate food similar to that of the dinner the night before.  This time, the parents ate with us.  I thought it would be awkward, but it wasn’t, since there wasn’t much we could say to each other anyway!  Occasionally we would motion something to get a general idea across.  Either way, the mother definitely wanted to make sure I was full, and kept offering to get me more rice.  The meal ended with a hearty belch from the mother, and my friend and I promptly left for the Hong Kong Wetlands Park.

For most of my stay, somebody was trying to keep me occupied with something.  My friend and I watched the Hunger Games, and whenever I worked on my homework he would as well.  For most of Saturday, we went to the Wetlands Park and various restaurants nearby.  And in the morning, before my friend woke up, his father watched TV with me, and accompanied me outside when I went running.  I felt guilty, but apparently this is normal for a guest in a Chinese home; the host feels obliged to entertain the guest constantly.

The neighborhood itself was beautiful.  Aesthetically it was clean and open, but the best was the park area where I ran; people of all ages were there!  The elder members sat on benches, kids played on playground equipment, and even older teenagers were playing on different sets of equipment.  The jogging track was well landscaped, and as is typical in these neighborhoods, included fitness stops with pullup bars, balance beams, and parallel bars.

Even being so far from the city, the familiar Hong Kong atmosphere still pervaded; if desired, you could do a lot of shopping and eating.  Of course I loved the eating part.  Many snacks were had.

Upon leaving Saturday night, the father walked me out to the train.  Still different from what I’m used to, but it wasn’t surprising at this point.

Luckily I found my way home with no hiccups.  Hopefully next time this happens, I’ll be prepared with a gift for my hosts!  If you ever get a chance to visit China, make sure to try to go through a program that lets you stay with a family!

India

Hello! I am in India! Specifically, Darjeeling in Northeast India, in the armpit of Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan. Here is a map to help your visualization:

See that tiny dot labeled Darjeeling? That’s where I am! And see that other little dot labeled Gangtok? I was there two days ago! And hey, see that state right above New Delhi called Himachal Pradesh? I’ll be there in four days!

India is somehow exactly what I expected and nothing like I expected. When we crossed the border of Nepal, even after a few minutes, the scenery and landscape was just so Indian. Probably the next thing that came to my mind as I peered through the window of our jeep as it went careening down the road, using road rules as a rough guideline, was that it was really quite nice. I don’t know how many Americans who arrive in India for the first time would describe it as “nice.” But Americans who have lived for two months in the sprawling, polluted metropolis of Kathmandu in a country that effectively has no government, would and did.

I had never thought extensively about the lack of government in Nepal. I guess I just assumed that’s what a third world/developing/predominantly rural country looked like. But now, after being in India a mere week, I know that Nepal is what a third world/developing/predominantly poor and rural country without a government looks like.

Since the Maoist Revolution in Nepal officially ended in November 2006 with the signing of a peace treaty, the interim government has failed repeated times to agree upon a constitution. The country is fractured and still healing from the devastating civil war, which took more than 15,000 lives and left families broken and fragile. This history of heartbreak and hardship only fully hit me once I stepped across the border and into India.

India is a land of western toilets and public service announcements on leprosy and clean drinking water, of hot water and electricity all the time, of trash cans and road signs that say things like “drive slow – make today accident-free!”, of billowing advertisements for orchid fairs and paragliding festivals, of intellectual gatherings in bookstores and environmental movements, of tea leaves and street lights and correct English. It might surprise you that all of these things resulted in a little smoldering flame of culture shock in the pit of my stomach.

That little flame was a more than welcome change, especially when since it manifested in a hot shower and soft mattress. For the past week, we’ve been shuttling from lecture to lecture, seeing monasteries and museums (and Mt. Everest from the plane!), and mentally preparing for our upcoming month of independent research. For some strange reason, I really feel that I’ve learned more this past week than I have the entire rest of the semester. Everything I’ve seen and witnessed in the past two months is finally falling into its rightful place in my mind and it’s really gratifying.

Sikkim, the state that we were in for a few days, has a heap of religious significance related to one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most important teachers, Padmasambhava (usually referred to as “Guru Rinpoche”). He is said to have visited Sikkim in the eighth century and deemed it a “beyul demojong (“hidden valley of treasures”) along with converting the demons of Sikkim into protectors of the Dharma (sacred Buddhist teachings). I gotta say, I must be a lucky girl because I’ve now been to the “hidden valley of happiness” (Tsum Valley) and the “hidden valley of treasures.”

Tonight is my last night in Darjeeling, marred a bit by the fact that I’ve picked up a nasty cold. Then, I will be leaving at 3am in the morning to catch a train to New Delhi, where I will connect to another train to Patankot and take a bus to Dharamsala. The whole ordeal will take around 48 hours. I am looking forward to the adventure almost as much as I’m looking forward to having a solid block of time to read the book I just bought (Shantaram, a 900+ pg novel set in Bombay). After those forty daunting hours of travel I begin my ISP (Independent Study Project), a massive field study undertaking, after which I am expected to produce a 25-50 page paper and half-hour presentation of my findings. I am researching the politics of reincarnation and (fingers crossed) might be able to weasel my way into joining an audience with the Dalai Lama!

I leave you with the best poster ever, which hung on the wall of my village homestay in Sikkim (it’s the only picture you’re getting for now since it took me ten minutes to load):

Halloween in the Far East!

Season’s eatings everybody!  OooOooh!  Spooky spooktacular spookiness!

Ahem.  Anyway, as Halloween passed by, I figured I could share what’s going on in the old fragrant harbor of Hong Kong for this holiday.

Essentially, Halloween is not much of a thing in Hong Kong.  If you’re here and you’re looking to have some ghoulish fun, you essentially have the following options:

1. Go to Lan Kwai Fong.  The clubs and bars there attract most of the Halloweenies in the city.  ”Paul, that sounds awesome, why shouldn’t I go?” you ask, even though I explicitly told you to hold your questions until the end.  Apparently, that area wasn’t designed for such capacity, with the result being that you can get into a club and then get pushed right back out, just from the force of the crowd.  Average wait time from people attending I’ve heard is around 30 minutes.  And that’s to get into the street.  Pros and cons, pros and cons.

2. Attend Ocean Park at night.  Ocean Park is a kid-friendly, panda-exploiting, Korean grilled squid-serving normal establishment by day in October.  However, as night falls, the theme park becomes a scream park.  Okay, sorry about that.  Many costumed characters will jump out at you and shout in Cantonese, which is much more terrifying when you don’t know Cantonese.  Several haunted house-type attractions also await, as well as the normal rides offered during the day.  Most park-goers dress up too, so you don’t have to feel so embarrassed in that Spiderman outfit I know you’re wearing.

3. Disneyland.  Imagine Ocean Park, but it’s a little bit too childish and you spend the whole night pretending you didn’t waste your money, or perhaps wishing you had a kid so you had an excuse to be at Disneyland.

4. Dress up and go dance in the street.  Okay, this isn’t really a normal option, but I saw quite a few people dressed up in Causeway Bay.  So just make sure you’re not alone on this one.

I should mention as well that many malls, restaurants, and parks also offer special events, whether it’s a spooky menu item, a few fake cobwebs randomly scattered about, or a microcosmic trick-or-treat event.

Private Halloween parties don’t take off as much here.  For one, the living spaces are too small to host parties, and for two, it’s just not part of the culture.  So these things stated above are pretty much your options.

However, I think Halloween will become a bigger thing in Hong Kong in the future.  Westernization is a very real thing.  So look out for more as the years go by.  For now, just get to Lan Kwai Fong at 4 PM and hope for the best.

Appreciating the Arts

Hong Kong offers many chances to experience familiar things in a different way.  If you like plays, operas, symphonies, movies, paintings, or even pop music, you can always check out whatever may exist in a country you are visiting.

Just the other day, I went to see a small orchestra playing here.  It was a great chance to talk to locals about similar interests, as well as listen to music geared more toward Asian audiences.

I also went to see a movie in Cantonese (with English subtitles, thank goodness), and I must say, it was quite different from what I’m used to seeing in Western movies.  Also cheaper.  If you change your mindset a little bit, it’s very fun.  The whole movie was over-the-top, with a story arc bordering on the crazy, but in a believable sort of way:

Stop judging me; it wasn’t as sappy as it looks.  Also had nothing to do with hospitals really.

And if you’re really that interested in pop music, Hong Kong provides an experience similar to any you’ll find in the West.  Well, except for the whole Cantonese thing.  But the lyrics in popular music have never really mattered, have they?

On the other side of the spectrum, you’re never too far from a museum in Hong Kong; it’s a great way to see some of the interesting history of a new country from many angles.  No matter where you are, I heartily recommend visiting museums.  Just watch out for large tour groups.

Anyway, I’m off to go work on a project, so look for me to post again soon!

Taichung Ahoy!

This was the standard in Taichung. The city is in central Taiwan. Motorcycles were a common site in our area of Taichung. In fact, my catch phrase for the night was, “Always assume there will be a motorcycle! We will not die here!” Usually they would pass by close enough to touch, so this phrase was not invoked without reason.
Taichung houses the largest night market in Taiwan, thus we definitely had an awesome time here. Every time we walked down a street, another few streets filled with more stores would open up to us. Here’s a small section:

Tried a few strange foods while in Taichung, stinky tofu being the most memorable. You know those stinky cheeses that end up inexplicably tasting pretty good? Well, it’s kind of like that. It’s very stinky though, so be prepared; you aren’t allowed to pass it up while you’re in Taiwan, apparently.

I’m not much of a shopper so my other preferred activity in the night market was playing games I knew I would lose.  Games of chance, skill, whatever you please!  One of my friends won a Doraemon shower curtain.  I was pretty jealous.

Well, according to one of our cab drivers, there isn’t much for young whippersnappers like us to do in Taichung other than visit the night market (which I still loved doing), so we took off for Taipei on the bullet train.

The train traveled very quickly! Looking out the window, I could tell we were going fast, but I couldn’t feel a thing! The ride was very smooth, and I took a nap to pass the hour-long ride.  Onward to Taipei!  I’ll tell you about that another time.

Weird Differences

Sightseeing is good fun, but what I enjoy most about Hong Kong is the opportunity to see things being done differently.  Each time I run into these things, I usually embarrass myself.  However, it has helped me to not take myself too seriously.

For instance, apparently the way you place your chopsticks can mean different things.  I had the pleasure of going to Taiwan (essentially I ate food constantly for about 4 days), and while there I visited a small local cafe.  I got up from my rice dish to get some tea, making sure to place my chopsticks firmly into the rice before doing so.  Apparently this symbolizes death, and the Chinese can be a bit superstitious.  I didn’t see this part, but according to my friends, the waitress quickly strode up, fixed the chopsticks, gave a small bow, and left again quickly.  Rest assured that I was quite embarrassed.

On another occasion, I had been missing pizza (it’s all I eat in America!), so I went with some friends to a Pizza Hut.  To our surprise, Pizza Hut is a fancy restaurant in Hong Kong, instead of a fast food chain!  I felt under-dressed, but it was definitely a cool experience.

One huge thing I’ve also noticed is the attitude of the individual person here in Hong Kong.  In America, waiting in line is a fairly orderly thing.  However, in some areas here, if you don’t get a move on, you will be quickly skipped by the others who are waiting.  It seems to be just part of the culture of efficiency; cashiers may seem impolite when quickly answering questions and pushing you through the sales process, but it is necessary to behave this way when seven million people inhabit such a small city.

Anyway, those are just a few updates for now.  I’ll tell you a bit more about Taiwan in the near future.  Also, I may have a chance to visit the home of a guy who lives here in Hong Kong, so that should be interesting.  Peace!

Himalayan Musings

As I write this, I am mentally forcing myself to not vigorously scratch the red welts that have appeared all over my body since returning from my seventeen day trek to Tsum Valley in the Himalayan Mountains of Nepal. Needless to say, it was not a nice surprise to find that it was not only me trekking from Tsum, but a host of tiny, malicious, red bugs hitched a ride as well. Also not so nice was attempting to explain to my homestay family back in Boudha, none of whom speak English well, that I have infested their home with bed bugs, the most annoying and pestilential insects out there. Despite the fact that Tsum has handed me a most formidable foe to tackle, it wasn’t all bed bugs and bothersome bites for the past two and a half weeks.

To say that Tsum is beautiful is a massive understatement. Perhaps either changing the adjective all together or adding a few in front will do the trick. Stunning. Majestic. Unbelievable. Breathtakingly, insanely, magnificently beautiful. Really, though, Nepal in general is all of those things, too, once you escape the polluted, crowded streets of Kathmandu. But in Tsum the beauty is just so in-your-face, you almost want to say “Alright, Tsum, everyone can see that you always look like a postcard, but I’m running out of battery on my camera, so can you maybe stop being so damn pretty for a while?” Alas, the ghang-ri (snow mountains) were perpetually there, begging me to snap a quick pic because what if I forget what they look like in a few months, when I’m back in Florida, the land of flat and flatter? Ghang ri, you’ve outsmarted me again, as I pluck my camera from my pocket and take the same picture I’ve taken ten times already.

But the real beauty in Tsum, I found, isn’t only nestled in the mountains that tower above, harboring the capacity to take life as often as they allow it. Beauty lies in the life that pervades throughout the valley, life that is able to survive the frigid winters and the wrath of the ghang-ri with fierce spirit and profound dignity. The farmers that get no weekends because basic survival decrees no rest, the mother that passes up an extra pair of hands around the house so that her children can have the education she never did, the toothless old woman with the most genuine laugh I’ve ever heard, the countless women who devote their precious time to make their village free of trash, more influential in the community than the police despite the fact that they can’t write their name, the men who take time away from their families to carry provisions like sugar and salt from China or neighboring villages in baskets wrapped around their heads. When I really start to think about the times when I felt an overwhelming respect for the people in Tsum Valley, I could go on for pages.

It’s not only me who feels a respect for life within Tsum, it’s the Tsum residents themselves as well. The region, known in sacred texts as the Hidden Valley of Happiness, follows a unique killing ban, meaning that within the boundaries, killing any living being is strictly prohibited. Villagers follow this rule without question, viewing killing even a tiny insect as a sin (shedding some light on why bed bugs are a major problem in Tsum). Because of the harsh environment, however, it is necessary to eat meat as a dietary supplement, but it has to be killed outside the valley and brought in. In Tibetan Buddhism, every sentient creature deserves compassion because that butterfly or chicken could be a human in their next life. And showing kindness to animals ain’t bad for karma, either.

Before we left for our odyssey, our wise Tibetan language teachers un-wisely taught us all the word “inji,” technically meaning “foreigner” but used colloquially to refer to white people. Let me tell you, if I had a rupee for the number of times the only word I could pick out of a conversation in rapid Tibetan was “inji,” I could buy a yak. I could probably buy a herd of yaks. And if that rupee was for every time the word “inji” was followed by everyone in the room laughing, I could buy a chicken, at least. Granted, I do not begrudge their laughter, seeing how, while we injis appeared to be grown humans, we likely sounded and acted more like drunk four-year-olds.

For instance, on the first morning of my homestay, my ama-la set a bowl of barley flour in front of my homestay buddy, Caroline, and I. I inferred that this flour was tsampa, a staple of rural Tibetan communities that I had heard of, but never eaten or seen. We gazed at our bowls of flour, looked at each other as if to say “here goes nothing” and both navigated huge spoonfuls into our mouths. The flour instantly stuck to the roof of my mouth and my spit glands were working full force to make this substance edible. I wondered how this food made life easier when eating it was so hard. Luckily, our ama-la saved us from this awkward food experience by dropping a big hunk of yak butter in our bowls. Aaah, I thought, you eat it with a bit of butter. Makes much more sense. I got some butter on my spoon then scooped up more flour. The flour-butter combo was still kind of awkward to eat. Laughing, my ama-la came over a third time and poured Tibetan tea into our bowls, mixed it around a bit and I realized our attempts to eat tsampa could not be more wrong. After mixing the tea and butter with the flour, it was much more edible and pretty tasty! We laughed for a long while and I thought how our tsampa confusion was probably akin to a foreigner eating a big spoonful of ketchup.

Had “Just Around the River Bend” stuck in my head for seven days. Surprisingly appropriate.

Some village children getting in on the super fun pastime of “inji-watching”

Beautiful campsite

Stupas and mani walls and ghang-ri galore!

Horseback riding adventure

 

 

 

Cross-cultural exchanges were a definite highlight of the trip and because communication was never easy and usually mutually unintelligible, I came to appreciate how much you can learn without the presence of speech. Observation is an unappreciated skill and miming is surprisingly useful in breaking the ice of extended silences. In Tsum, I was miles away from my comfort zone, both physically and emotionally but, bed bugs aside, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

“We have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us, the labyrinth is fully known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.”
-Joseph Campbell

Tomb Raider

What do you imagine when you think of Cambodia? For me it was Angelina Jolie’s son Max, dirt roads and a lot of poverty. In a small way Cambodia is all those things, Angelina IS idolized, there are a lot of dirt roads and yes a lot of people are poor. But there is also a lot of beauty, a lot of culture, a rich history and this unexplainable sense of freedom.

My journey to Cambodia began on not such a good note, the train was leaving at 5:30 a.m. and well I got home at 4:30 from a night out. I realized then I hadn’t packed so I chucked the first few things I found in my backpack and headed to the taxis to meet the others. On our way to the station, I asked the stupidest question which I knew the answer to as soon as I said it out loud, “Do you guys think I need my passport?”. The taxi fell silent, the daggers of betrayal came out and everyone could not believe I was on my way to leaving the country and I forgot my passport. They basically threw me out of the taxi. I had to get home get my passport and make it back all in about 30 minutes. So I got to the first taxi saw and told him it was an emergency, the driver seemed worried he sped through to my residence as if someone was in real danger, I felt kind of guilty after. Then I get home and I didn’t have my keys so I had to run to reception and ask them to open the door. I got the passport got another taxi and literally made it the station with five minutes to spear. The group decided to buy 3^rd class tickets to Cambodia while I was gone, sure it cost $1.50 but we had no air and hard seats we had to share between 3 people for 8 hours. If only I had been there to talk some sense into them. To top it all off when we arrived we were first taken to a fake border, seriously people?!  Thankfully we were forewarned about this trick but basically it’s purpose is to make tourist pay 2 entry visas when you only need one. Once we got to the real border and into Cambodia we headed to Siam Reap home to the famous Angkor Wat temples. Our first night there was cut short from all the traveling but we still managed to try some local cuisine and get fish massages. This is the popular spa treatment in Asia where you dunk your feet into a tank of flesh eating fish that eat your dead skin. I don’t know in what word this is relaxing but I do know if you are ticklish this is HELL. The ladies that owned the tank (which was not in a spa but the middle of the street) were awesome; they brought us drinks and gave us shoulder massages as the fish feasted on our feet. After a while it kind of feels nice and it really did work, we were all pretty impressed at the fact our feet felt smoother.

The next day we got up at 4:30 a.m. in order to see the sunrise over the Angkor Wat temples. The temples were in complete darkness and luckily I had my phone flashlight to guide us through to the center. We stood around with the other early risers as the sky got brighter and brighter and shades of purple and pink poked through the clouds and over the magnificent Angkor Wat. We spent most of the day running around through the temples. We went to the famous Tomb Raider temple where Angelina Jolie first connected with Cambodia. From all the ones we saw this one was my favorite because the entire place was covered with trees and vines. We were really lucky to find a driver and a guide that only charged us $20 a day for the group to take us wherever we wanted. In the afternoon he took us to a long boat ride into a floating village. The ride was nice and relaxing after a day in the ruins, we could lie on the top of the boat and soak up the sun and the views. One of my more adventurous friends Xavier dove straight into the river with no regard for water snakes, catfish and other murky creatures swimming about.

 

Then for dinner we went for Cambodian BBQ on the menu was everything from crocodile to snake, kangaroo and squid. I decided I have to conquer my fear and try snake. If ever I were in a movie some form of this would be my arch nemesis. It took me 30 minutes staring time but I did it I ATE SNAKE AHHHH! We celebrated our bravery with some Angkor beers, Cambodian punch and dancing at surprisingly poppin’ Seap Reap nightclubs.

The next day we decided to visit a landline museum because Cambodia has so much history of war and violence; we wanted to learn more about it. The museum was small but seeing the victims of landmine explosion and how the US contributed to the problem really changed my mind about Cambodia. It made me understand their situation and how small actions by the US have big repercussions for small countries like Cambodia. On our way back from the museum we found a bunch of monkeys running around in the street and we had to stop for a photo-op. This is exactly what I imagined when I thought Cambodia, monkeys co-existing with people and yeah that’s the way it is in some parts. The smaller ones were friendly but the males won’t hesitate to growl at you and then steal your stuff, this ain’t no monkey business (I did not just do that). With darkness approaching but a few hours to kill we rented bicycles for $1 and rode around Siam Reap in search of some good local food. In the end it began to pour but we still rode through the rain and the dark in the crazy streets. It’s as if there are no traffic laws, cars, mopeds, bicycles are drive in the same place. I honestly did not see but one traffic light. Somehow this crazy ride was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Why do I say Cambodia is freedom? Well to begin with all laws in this place seem to be negotiable . Like Thailand, you can do anything for a price. Other than that it seems like the west hasn’t hit this country, you won’t find a McDonalds here or a magazine with Kim Kardashian on the cover. It’s definitely a place to get away from it all and live a simple life. The people are nice and helpful and honestly they’ve been through so much since the invasions of the Khmer rouge that all they want is peace. They appreciate the tourists, they try to educate you on their history and cater to anything you desire from Cambodia.

20 Candles

Looking back at most of posts I’m disappointed with the quality of my writing, mostly because there isn’t much of it. There is so much that happens in such a little amount of time that it is difficult to really sit down and evaluate everything that’s happen. My post lack the wonderful connections I’ve made with people and the small idiosyncrasies that make my experiences unique. Recently I celebrated a birthday in Bangkok, of course it was great but it also provoked the strangest feeling within me. I had never spent a birthday away from my friends and family and even though everyone here made the day very special, I felt so in myself. I also felt older for some reason, maybe I stopped to reevaluate my life and realize all I had accomplished by age 20. I was no longer a teenager but actually a person with a path. My life was headed in a direction and for the first time it seemed clear to me that I was growing up.

I don’t know why every time I have a moment to myself I stop and think about what  my life is right now. How did I get to this specific point in time? Most of the time I think what has gone right that I am lucky enough to be where I am. Not simply physically but mentally, it’s as if I can feel my mind stretchy to capacity, like I’m going to reach a cap. I always feel like a kid, in fact I clench to it with all my might but adulthood is taking me. It’s pulling me through the forts, the board games, the laughter, the wonder, the curiosity. It doesn’t hurt but there’s too much momentum to enjoy it. I can see my past from a distance now, not one so far that it’s unclear but far enough to know there’s no going back. I don’t know what to make of it all. I’m haunted by the fact that I am fully conscious of my growth. I always thought it would simply catch up to me all at once, but it’s creeping up on me like the changes of the season. All that is left is embracing it, taking the reigns and not letting go, steering it in the right direction and hope it takes me somewhere good. Maybe not where I want to be but somewhere to be.

So as you can see this was a very self-reflective birthday but nevertheless a very fun one. Although my birthday was on a Monday the festivities began on the previous Thursday. Thursday night a group of us headed to Bed Supper Club supposedly the best club in Bangkok. Well if you like tourist, over priced drinks and crappy “hip” music then this the place for you. Nonetheless the place was impressive; everything from floor to ceiling is white, very sci-fi if you ask me. There is an entire section with two-dozen beds where you can lay and have a drink or conversate with other high-class crowd members. I thought the beds were genius but personally I would use them for napping. There is always a crashing stage in the night and what better way to recuperate then a swift power night right in the club! But noooo no one joined me on this one.

The next night was my last minute party at my apartment. Back home I’d have to plan everything days in advance, send out a million texts and not to mention spend a lot of money. Here I woke up I decided to have a party, posted it on the exchange Facebook group and bam I had a party. I still don’t understand how and why things are just less complicated and less stressful here but they just are. Through the fuzzy parts I can remember having a great night with lots of my new friends. Everyone poked fun at the fact it wasn’t even my birthday yet but of course I explained to them that that’s the American way. Your birthday especially at this age lasts at least an entire weekend. I don’t know if this is remotely accurate but it’s the way I’ve always done it and anyways most of the Europeans bought it.

Sunday we had an exchange group field trip to the Royal Palace. I’m not going to lie I’m not much of tour person, I find myself constantly disinterested and thinking more about the tour guide’s personal life than the facts they’re spilling. I much rather wander around and get lost in places like this. Still, it was a beautiful site and I got some awesome photos out of it. Not only was the trip free but the school treated us to an awesome lunch after, so no complains on my part.

Finally Monday came around! All my roommates had class on Monday so I had the day to myself which was nice considering I’m never really alone here. I started my day by treating myself to an enormous breakfast. I had an delicious omelet with rice from a street cart, a fresh banana smoothie from my favorite fruit lady and a pizza made of donuts (extreme treat yo self day). Well all this was under $5 and in walking distance, that’s what I love about Bangkok. Then I bought myself the new Two Door Cinema Club album on iTunes because seriously I needed new music and they’re so good I don’t mind paying for their music. So the soundtrack to the rest of my day consisted of great songs like “Handshake”, “Sun” and “Wake up”.

I had been thinking of getting a tattoo in Bangkok since the day I arrived and what better to do it then on my 20^th birthday. Saying goodbye to my teenage years yada yada it was emotional I promise. So after researching a few places I had found a place that was up to American standards or even better. I hopped on the sky train and wondered the city for a couple of minutes before I found the quaint little place on the hipster street full of little shops and coffee joints. I decided to get a lyric from one of my favorite Arctic Monkeys songs “Old Yellow Bricks”. The song is about the Wizard of Oz my favorite movie! So I along with the lyric I got a poppy flower from the original children’s book. Poppy flowers induce sleep in the movie and the quote is about sleep and dreams, it really was a full circle kind of thing. The tattoo artists were super professional (and English speaking hooray!). They helped me pick out the best flower and were really patient with me as a looked through hundreds of fonts. Then as I was getting my tattoo done they let me play Arctic Monkeys. It was definitely the best of my 4 experiences getting a tattoo.

Afterward when I got home my roommie surprised me with a trip to the nail salon and got me a manicure and a pedicure, which was much needed after an intense weekend in Koh Phangan. After, everyone from the residence building came over we sang happy birthday and I blew out the candles of my wonderful makeshift cake. We then decided to try out an Asian karaoke place. The rest of the night consisted of great laughs, some awful songs and yet another great birthday added to my memory bank.

Party Monster

I cannot even begin to explain the craziness that was the Full Moon Party at Koh Pha-Ngan! Thousands of backpackers, European ravers and party people from around the globe flock this little island for what is the biggest beach party in the world. A bit on the history of this party, apparently it started in 1985 when a couple of travelers decided to party under the full moon. It was so fun that they decided to continue the tradition on every full moon; well news spread and now there are crowds of 20-30,000 people on Haad Rin Beach. What no one told me is that the festivities in Koh Pha-Ngan begin 3 days before. All over the island there are parties that don’t end until sunrise. I’m pretty sure is the Asian version of Ibiza.

 I’m not going to lie the journey to get there was not an easy one. Lets start by a 30 minute metro ride to the overnight train station, then 13 hours on the overnight train to Surat Thani, then almost 2 hours on a bus to get to the pier and 3 hours on a ferry to get to the island and then a truck taxi for another 30 min to get to the bungalows. All I have to say after all that is that it was 100% worth it. Since the moment you land on the island you are bombarded with flyers for all the events going on, pool parties, waterfall parties, jungle parties, boat parties, the parties are endless. Rather than trying to recall all the shenanigans that occurred in my 72-hour rager-fest I made a video on some of the parties I attended.  The quality’s not great considering it was a really crappy camera (they warn against taking valuables for full moon) but it gives a tiny glimpse at the madness that was my full moon weekend.

full moon from Barbara valle on Vimeo.