Thailand: Take Two!

I enjoyed Thailand so much during my weekend trip to Bangkok that I decided to go back to see more of the country for recess week. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, Thailand is very culturally rich and diverse. This time around, I visited Southern Thailand (Phuket, Ko Phi Phi, and Krabi) and Northern Thailand (Chiang Mai). 

In Phuket, we went elephant trekking, visited the Big Buddha and Wat Chalong ("Wat" means temple), watched the sunset, and then went to a local night market.

Elephant trekking with my parents

The Big Buddha

Thailand's natural beauty

It is very common for both locals and tourists to enjoy the sunset

Outside the Big Buddha, you can donate money to the Temple and write a message on a bell

Inside Wat Chalong

In Ko Phi Phi, we went island hopping, cliff jumping, and enjoyed the beach. This beach was easily the most beautiful I've ever seen, but it is packed with tourists.

Enjoyed relaxing and reading for class here

In Krabi, we went to Railay Beach, which was also nice, but the main highlight was visiting Tiger Cave Temple. The temple is located on the top of a hill and requires you to climb over 1,200 stairs. The journey up was tough and stands as one of my foremost life accomplishments. It was very rewarding to make it to the top and enjoy a 360 degree view of Krabi, especially because you know that you physically climbed up it. Moreover, the peacefulness and tranquility at the top was unlike anything I've experienced in my life. I truly felt at peace. After this experience, I have become interested in learning more about Buddhism and meditation.

Railay Beach

You don't realize how much this is until you actually do it...

At the top!

Crazy to see how high up you climb at the end

WE MADE IT

While I loved all of Thailand, my absolute favorite was Chiang Mai. The people were very friendly, life was calm, and the food was (somehow) even better than the other places I travelled to in Thailand. We visited various different temples, explored the historic "Old City", enrolled in a Thai cooking class, and even had the opportunity to speak to Monks at a program called "Monk Chat." Through this experience, we had the opportunity to learn more about Buddhism and Thai culture, while the monks (who were English majors at their University) were able to practice their English. This, to me, is a genius idea and should be applied to other places of worship (or any place where one group wishes to practice English and another group of English speakers wish to learn more about that culture), as it presents an opportunity for meaningful exchange between two groups. Toward the end of our discussion, we asked the monk what his favorite TV Shows were, and, to our surprise, he responded Teen Wolf and Vampire Diaries. May this serve as a reminder not to judge others without first having met them, as I know I at least was not expecting that from a monk.

After monk chat, my friend Jeevan and I met a friendly teacher from the local Buddhist School/Temple. He recognized us as tourists and began sharing with us the values of Buddhism, Thai culture, and giving us recommendations for places we should see in our limited time in Chiang Mai. He was a monk for 6 years, and has since been teaching English, history, and physical education for 15-16 year old boys. He was nice enough to even offer us a ride to where we needed to go, since we couldn't find a cab or tuk-tuk to get there. On the way there, he expressed that "friendship and family are the most important things there are in life" and discussed karma with us. To have this impromptu encounter with a local was really cool, and I am sure he has plenty of good karma coming his way in the future.

"Chat with us about Buddhism, Monk's life, and Thai culture. Don't just look from afar and walk away."

Words of advice from the monks

The local thai market where I shopped for my ingredients for the cooking class

Chef Mark in action... Thai food is the best!

The best Cow Soi in all of Thailand, according to a local. It was delicious. I aspire to cook Thai food like this one day.

THE SPICIEST food one could have... papaya salad! 

This is the temple where we met the local, Wat Phra Singh

Legend has it that an earthquake destroyed the temple and then they decided to keep it as is

In other news...

I have accepted an offer to intern with New Sector Alliance in Chicago this summer! This program consists of New Sector’s Leadership Curriculum, an internship placement with a nonprofit organization, and a specific management-consulting project that I will work on over the course of the program and deliver for the nonprofit (more info on the program here). By some fluke, my sister actually will be participating in the same program, so I am very excited to spend time with her this summer as well!