http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6PGxLLkCXg
Expedition 3- Oceans
Day 1&2- overnight train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok- arrive and go straight to Jatujak market.
Jatujak: Somehow this market has everything you could possibly want to buy and then a lot of things I think no one should ever ever desire to, let alone actually purchase. Some examples. - I bought a water proof bright orange and blue backpack. Sensible, cute, and as I will explain later...extremely vital for later in my trip. A bamboo mat that folds up for easy transport, perfect for keeping items sand free on the beach. Shirts with misspelled or just simply mistranslated English ("Don't make sexy in the garden")- providing great entertainment and souvenirs. Okay so maybe that last one could go in the second category, but there were far worse things to buy, such as sedated squirrels that were glassy eyed and breathing heavily in their cages. Overall though it was just enormous and filled with everything from second hand clothing to endangered marine life and I had a blast exploring and bargaining all day, until we had to catch the 2nd overnight train to Trang province down south.
Day 3- Arrive at Hat Jao Mai
We stayed for around 8 days with a muslim community, living with a host family and taking trips around to learn about the area and how the people on the coast interact with their marine resources- mostly food (fish, crab, squid etc.) and then mangroves, which they have been struggling to protect because of all the help they provide to keep the area ecologically healthy.
Some things I did
- Went fishing with my neighbor and 2 other students and caught over 50 fish. I personally went back and forth between "Tok blah geng"- really good at fishing, and "Mai geng" Really really awful several times throughout the one trip. I caught some big fish sometimes two at a time, but somehow managed to tangle my fishing line more often than successfully casting.
-Swam with dolphins. No joke. Maybe 6 or 7, there were actually two groups of them swimming by our two boats and we stopped and jumped out, then got back in followed them for another half hour. Glorious.
-Went to a talent show and watched some prepubescent boys shake their asses better than I can, while wearing tutus or hula hooping.
-Danced on a stage with over 50 Thai people and at least a dozen other fellow students until we were covered in sweat and the power went out. Probably good timing, the stage was shaking so vigorously I feared for my life. BUT SO FUN.
- Got dressed up as muslim barbie. pretty literally. Bright pink traditional dress. Bright orange head scarf. Make up Make up Make up. And bright pink knock off Ray bans for an added pop. Everyone found this quite amusing. We took so many pictures it was hard to adjust to using other face muscles to eat my dinner. Everyone looked so great though. after dinner we exchanged thanks with our host mothers in front of the group and laughed/cried/said goodbyes.
This is exhausting so I'm going to write more later,
I'm getting home sick so write me some love somehow if you have time
k08aw03@kzoo.edu
sawasdee bee mai ! (Happy new year)
