It's All Coming Back to Me Now

Lately I've been struggling to get out of bed to get to school and I take an extra deep breath before I walk into each classroom to face a room full of rowdy students. I find myself daydreaming for the summer days when I was globetrotting across Asia and exploring new places. Thank goodness this weekend we have our first break in the semester - a four day weekend - holler! Nell and I are off to the island of Koh Mak, a very small island in the Trat province near Koh Chang. If the Google Images of the island weren't enough to convince me, I discovered that every beach bungalow for rent seems to feature its own hammock outside - sign me up!

To reminisce a bit on my summer of freedom, I put together a video of all of my trips in the Tour de Asia - Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam - it's all coming back to me now! Check it out below...

Summer Vacation, Asia Style

Starring: Nell Riccio, Meghan Hart, Emily Rall, Amy Wallace, and heaps of cool locals. 

Song: "Go Do" by Jonsi

Summer Vacation: Asia Style from Sarah Rall on Vimeo.

THAIsland Time!

I made it home from the epic adventures with Megh and Nell on a Tuesday and had just enough time to do some laundry and repack my backpack before heading into Bangkok to pick up my sister Emily on Thursday.  We met up with Emily's college roommate Amy and after spending Friday checking out Bangkok we hopped on an overnight bus to Khao Lak, about 100Ks north of Phuket and known for its amazing scuba diving sites. We arrived to Khao Lak at 7am and Emily and Amy immediately took off for scuba diving while I parked myself at the beach for the day.

The next day I opted to join Emily and Amy out in the Similan Islands - about a 2 hour speedboat ride from Khao Lak. There was only one other person snorkeling with me so it kind of felt like I was on my own in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fish, of course.  At one point I nearly had a panic attack when my fellow snorkeler grabbed me with a nervous look and started pointing at something right next to me, but I was relieved when I turned just in time to see not a shark, but a large sea turtle swim right past me.  It was quite a beautiful sight and I was tempted to grab on and go for a ride but still also recovering from my momentary freak out, so I snapped a pic with my underwater camera and found my way back to the boat.  I love snorkeling, but there's no way I'll ever try scuba diving, I tend to get way too scared by the unfamiliar animals swimming with me.

Our last day in Khao Lak we decided to do a tour of Khao Sok National Park, a gorgeous rainforest full of limestone mountains and one of the world's largest flowers (which was not in bloom, unfortunately!)We rode some elephants, took a canoe ride, tried our skills at a rope swing into the river, and stopped at a viewpoint for some great scenic shots.

After grabbing some banana shakes the next morning we made our way to Ko Phi Phi for an experience that is thus far one of my favorites in Thailand.  I had some friends a few months back who found out about the opportunity to camp overnight on Maya Bay, one of Thailand's most famous beaches due to its appearance in the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio.  If you head to Maya Bay during the day, and I had been there twice before, you will find the beach teeming with tourists and longtail boats, so as soon as I found out about the chance to have the beach to yourself at night, I was all in.  We started off the trip with some snorkeling stops on our way to Maya Bay from Ko Phi Phi and once we arrived we waved good-bye to the tourists and waited until the last longtail boat left before the party got started.  Since it is Thailand, there were of course buckets to be served and fire shows to be seen, and as soon as the clock struck midnight Songkran, or Thai New Year, had officially begun so we were immediately involved in a full scale water war.  Luckily our fellow campers - there were only 25 of us - were good people, so we had a really fun time.  We went to sleep on straw mats in the sand watching for shooting stars (I saw 3!) and trying to remember the names of various constellations.  Maya Bay Camping is definitely the way to experience Maya Bay away from all the crowds, and easily one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

When we made it back to Phi Phi the next day, Songkran revelry was in full effect and we were eager to catch our plane up to Chiang Mai to join in the party...

Thailand: It's Easy!

Time for some deets on exactly what I've been up to while I've been wondering around SE Asia for the past few weeks. The adventure began with a trip to the BKK airport to pick up Megh to bring her back to show off our little hometown among the rice paddies.  Suphanburi is small so we were able to show her the whole town in a day - the school, the market, the dragon, the tower, and then on to our favorite Som Tom restaurant.  If you've never had Som Tom - spicy papaya salad - I highly recommend you test it out, I'm not sure if it's as good in the States as it is here with all the fresh fruits and veggies, but add some sticky rice to the meal and you are golden.

That night we headed into Bangkok to hit up the bumping backpacking hot spot that is Khao San Road, home to countless street vendors, beer tanks, and blasting techno music.  It's definitely the place to be for backpackers.  The next day we tried to cram in as much of Bangkok as possible - The Grand Palace, Siam, and Chatuchak Market before hopping an overnight bus to the island of Koh Chang.

 Unfortunately, the overnight bus ended up only taking 4 hours, so we left Bangkok at 11:30 pm and were dropped off literally on the side of the road at 3:45 am.  Luckily, we were dropped off at a tourist office where we hopped in a songtow for a ride to the island ferry and we finally made it to the island and to our hostel (exhausted!) around 7 am.

Koh Chang is a gorgeous place and one of my favorite island stops in Thailand so far.  We stayed in a great little hostel called Rock Sand Resort with a balcony that was directly over the clear blue ocean. Our first major character of the trip was the hotel owner who we lovingly nicknamed Mr. Whiskers due to the very long hairs growing out of his chin - a trend we spotted all over Asia.  We could not understand anything he said to us, in Thai or English, during our stay there, but he would finish almost every answer to our questions with "It's easssssy." One of our first stops was a trip into the main area for one of the more interesting massage experiences I've had so far in Thailand.  As soon as we got there they had us strip down and covered us with little hand towels... interesting.  Due to some lucky timing on our part, there just so happened to be a parade going through town at that very moment, and the ladies doing the massage couldn't bear to miss it so they opened the curtains wide, and as we lay there covered in hand towels a line of children dressed like dragons and beating drums strolled past the windows while we put on a show of our own for the crowds outside.

Our last day in Koh Chang we had to give Megh the typical Thailand experience of riding an elephant.  We had a friendly elephant named Hong Thong (after a brand of Thai whiskey) who took us on a journey through a bit of jungle, over some rocks and through the trees.  Megh got her turn to sit on the elephant and play mahout and was quite the driver, if not a slightly nervous one.  We finished up our time in Thailand with another sampling of Pad Thai for dinner and toasted with some Singha beer.  Next stop: Cambodia!

Tour de Asia by the numbers...

I have returned from part 1 of my epic summer adventure! It was a whirlwind trip with two of my best friends that was full of delicious food, beautiful scenery, crazy characters, lots of shopping, immigration lines, jazzercise, Asian beer brands, florescent body paint, dim sum, tuk-tuks, flash mob dances, tour guides, and jumping shots. Sadly, it ended this morning with a tearful good-bye to Megh at the Hong Kong airport, but it was so much fun having a visitor from the US and checking out so many amazing places together, definitely a trip I'll remember forever.

I'll post some more details on each stop later, but for now here's a breakdown by the numbers of my 3 week jaunt around Asia:

• 3: Countries visited.  Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam.
• 2: Special Administrative Regions (SARs) visited. That would be Macau and Hong Kong, which are SARs of China. 
• 10: Cuisines sampled.  While my life in Thailand revolves around rice or noodles, the rest of Asia sure has a lot to offer.  I ate some of the best meals of my life in the past 3 weeks, including a few Michelin starred hot spots.  It was definitely a treat for the taste buds! We tried out some Cambodian, French, Vietnamese, Chinese (Cantonese), Italian, American, Thai, Mexican, Australian, Portuguese - delish! 
• 16: Passport stamps added. With lots of back and forth and in and out for the odd day trips, the trip to Bangkok a few weeks back to add pages to my passport certainly proved to be necessary. 
• 13: Modes of transportation.  Tuk-Tuk. Cyclo. Minivan. Chartered Bus. Longtail Boat. Airplane. Ferry. Cab. Bicycle. Canoe. Songtow. Car. Elephant. 
• 1: Number of poisonous snakes held. Yep. For some reason we decided to take a photo with a boa constrictor. Booyeah! 
• 348: Impromptu singing sessions.  Megh and I tested our harmonization skills and Nell attempted to tune us out but joined in with the occasional high note, for some reason we were human jukeboxes for the entire trip, not necessarily a bad thing in the land of karaoke. 
• 5: Currencies used. To put our singing skills to good use, we decided to make up a song for every currency: Thailand - "I like big BAHT and I cannot lie" (Sir Mix-A-Lot). Cambodia: "I've got RIEL" (J-LO and Ja Rule). Vietnam: "Let me see that DONG." (Sisqo). Hong Kong: "DOLLAR, Dolla bills y'all" (Wyclef and Akon).  Macau: "Who's down with MOP? Yeah you know me" (Naughty by Nature). 
• 5: Types of accommodation. From the room full of dead creatures in Koh Kong to the 3-floor private apartment in Phnom Penh, we definitely hit some highs and lows in our choices of accommodations.  There were mosquito nets, hotel slippers, overnight buses, dead cockroaches, bunk beds, cold water showers, beachfront views, t-shirts as towels, and outdoor toilets. 
• 896: Pictures taken. My camera ran out of memory the very last night of the trip -success! Here's a very small sample and a couple of my favorite shots from the trip. 

Off to the Souuuup!

I am finally set up in my new apartment and my home for the next year in Suphan Buri (aka The Soup) - it's a great little town in the midst of a lot of rice paddies - I dig it.

We finished up Orientation with a trip to Kanchanaburi - which is a beautiful city - I think for a lot of us the area made us fully realize that we live in SouthEast Asia.  It had a very tropical/jungle/muggy feel to it, and there were some really beautiful mountains in the distance.  We didn't have time to explore the waterfalls of the area  but we did get to go rafting on the River Kwei and ride elephants - which is definitely a highlight.

The bamboo rafting was so relaxing, our guide was singing Thai songs the entire time and a few people remarked that it was "just like Venice"...only not at all.  Elephant riding was amazing and terrifying at the same time.  Nell and I were on the same elephant, Kondi, she was a cutie, and I think her mahout thoroughly enjoyed making fun of my Thai skills - I must be pronouncing Thank You (Kob Khun Ka) completely wrong, because whenever I say it to a Thai person they laugh and repeat me.  Good thing I have a year to practice!  At one point the mahout hopped off and must have given Kondi a command to run because she went buckwild - my back was banging into the seat and I currently am sporting a huge welt because of it - Kob Khun Ka, Kondi.  The mahout then let me take the reins and I got to sit on Kondi's neck - I definitely got a new perspective on how strong and enormous elephants are.  Once I relaxed I really enjoyed my time as a mahout and may consider a second career while I'm here.

My other big adventure yesterday was a trip to the grocery store in town - it pretty much blew my mind and completely overwhelmed me.  While some of the other Americans rooms came with a microwave or a kettle - mine came only with a fridge - so there wasn't much I could buy in terms of food - I'm hoping I'll figure that out as I go.  I did have fun exploring the options though, found some really great Pringles flavors: Seaweed, Blueberry & Hazelnut, Grilled Shrimp, and Soft-Shelled Crab.  I'll let you know when/if I ever try them.  As I said I'm still working on that whole "try new foods" thing.  Once we left the store, 5 American girls with lots of purchases, we were told that the van had left so we were taking tuk-tuks home...it was quite the "We Live in Thailand" moment.  We managed to squeeze it all in though and I'm feeling much more settled now.  

Nell and I are going to walk around Suphan Buri today to check out our surroundings and try to get our bearings.  Hopefully tonight I'll have time to post some pics on facebook.

Interesting Thailand tidbits: 

• The number 5 in Thailand is "Ha", so instead of writing "LOL", Thais will say "555"
• The animal sounds are totally different - we demonstrated our version of a bee, a cow, a dog, a monkey to our Thai teacher and she then showed us how Thais would demonstrate--it was quite hysterical, hopefully at some point I can capture my students on video and send your way.
• The Thai words for curry and prostitute are the same - it depends on the tone used.  So you could think you are asking for "curry powder" and really be saying "whore dust".  I think I'll stick to plain rice for now...

You're Doing What?

Sawatdee! (that would be Thai for Hello!)


I started this blog for anyone who may be interested in following my travels and experiences over the next year.  A little background...I've always had a slight addiction to travel, and 2 years of sitting in a cube in the lovely Kendall Square - with no window in sight -  really fueled my desire to see more of the world while I was still young and free.  As I started crafting my plan to go abroad and when I gave people the official word I heard a lot of  "You're doing what?!?!" So here are the deets on exactly WHAT I'll be doing...


What:
Teaching English in Thailand through CIEE - the Council on International Education Exchange.  Do I speak Thai? No...but I'm totally fluent in English.

Who:
Me!...and my BFF DJ and about 80 other people participating in the program all around Thailand.

 Where:
The Sanguan Ying School, a secondary school, in the province of Suphanburi. 

 When:
Departing October 11th on Korean Air, arriving in Bangkok on October 12th for 2 weeks of training.  Signed on for 2 semesters through October 2011!

 Why:
Thailand, or "The Land of Smiles," has been one of my favorite spots since I went there on my first trip out of the country in April 2004.  Right away I knew I wanted to go back and live there at some point...and now seems like a good time. Also, I miss hanging out with kids, learning about new cultures, and riding elephants!  There are also a few countries in SE Asia I'd like to check out while I'm there: Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia...


It feels weird to leave Boston after 6 years--I'll miss a lot of things here: going to BC games and events, my BC friends, family dinners with the lil' bro, SPC crowd, my co-workers at Weber, and even some of my clients!  But... I'm excited for the next chapter in my life and can't wait to get this party started.


*BTW, for those of you curious about the name of the blog: "Trunks Up" - an elephant with its trunk up is often seen as a symbol of good luck and optimism. 

Shipping Off to Thailand